Chicago: They paved a fetid swamp/and put up a parking lot

DC is the worst city for driving that i have ever driven in. as an architect, you should check out the masonic temple in alexandria. i always wanted to do the tour, i heard they have animatronic presidents and a room you're only allowed to look at for like 30 seconds.

a room you're only allowed to look at for like 30 seconds

Oh man this is so so so intriguing.

that might be apocryphal but i hope not

huh they have an interactive tour on their site, i'll have to take a more detailed look at that later: http://gwmemorial.org/index.php

apparently their elevators are angled at 7.5 degrees

DC is the worst city for driving that i have ever driven in.

God, yes. I have stories dating back to the time I was nine years old and crying in the car with my mom because she had been driving in circles for over an hour and I believed we were never going to get home.

I went to a Phish show at American University and dropped acid and when we all met up at the car, I was the only one in any shape to drive. That was interesting.

DC is the worst city for driving that i have ever driven in.
omg yes
when i moved there with my two friends i drove the uhaul around and around the beltway until i managed to get lost in the city -- we lived near adams morgan and i was driving a uhaul and wow was it terrible. there was also a huge murder mystery that happened in my building years later.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/05/AR2007120502585.html

the weird thing is that dc was a planned city! pretty shitty plan if you ask me.

worst plan!

That's b/c it was planned by a ... FRENCH guy.

DC was the first real city I ever drove in (second largest city I had driven in before then was Hickory, NC) and the circumstances made it even worse than it would normally be for an inexperienced city driver:

1. I was 18 years old
2. My mom was the only passenger (she can't read a map and she FLIPS THE FUCK OUT in a car ("iAy ay ay, Jesse! iNos vas a matar!"))
3. I suffered from crippling, untreated anxiety
5. A few months earlier I had totaled my first car and I was petrified of 4 lane streets
6. Our hotel was in a terrifying part of town (Capitol Heights) and we had to drive through other really rough areas, and my mom and I were pretty countrified.

Still, it's a good memory and I love DC so much b/c it was my escape from NC for many difficult years. Even the driving is a fond memory.

We were there b/c my mom needed to transfer some property in Mexico and at the time our people hadn't yet defeated this nation, so the nearest Mexican consulate was in DC.

Anyway, on the way back to the hotel from the consulate I got lost, wound up back in VA, then circling the Beltway. Somewhere in SE DC, I got scared of running out of gas. The fuel gauge read almost full, but I didn't believe it, and when the pump kept cutting off after only a couple gallons, I thought it was broken (b/c see #3). I pulled the nozzle out slightly and forced it to pump more gas, which overflowed copiously, soaking my hands, jeans, and filling my shoes (high top basketball sneakers) with gasoline.

The gas fumes gave me a pounding, pukey headache, which made driving even harder. We crossed in and out of Maryland and we kept winding up at Gaullaudet University and we got back to the Motel 6 around 10 p.m. The next day we took the Metro and the bus which was only slightly less of a muff-up, but with the added benefit of also being a spectacle for the public.

I'm kinda tipsy at work. I want to go home.

I'm kinda tipsy at work. I want to go home.

^^ this

Although we just had a really nice shower thrown for us at my office, so it was a nice break to get to hold Q for a bit in the middle of the day. But now I'm even less motivated.

n/a OTM

I'm just glad to have confirmation that I will not be working this weekend.

I will be working the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving though.

yall need to have a CHILI FEST at your works too w/ a 50gal barrel of ice + beerz

I'm going to start lobbying PQ to institute a Friday Afternoon Beer Party Tax.

hey all, don't forget this is next week: http://www.dusablemuseum.org/events/details/john-work-chorale-50th-anniversary-concert-and-symposium

I just learned we might be on the hook to sing on Sunday morning so probably no serious partying after the concert ;_;

The answer is, of course, silly partying.

work hasn't been that bad today actually. i got to interview a potential library intern, which helped break up the morning. i would just rather be at home, by default.

ljubljana, I wanna FAP-ette!

Speaking of They Live, check out the awesome costumes: http://youfail.com/blog/?p=3015

Any one have any interest in attending a potential clusterfrak in the tapping of some Canadian Breakfast Stout and other Founder's beers tomorrow night at the Map Room with me?

sup guys

i just was listening to 848 and it was first carolyn br0nstein talking about the battle against pornography from a feminist perspective, then two suburban mayors yakking about how chicago is putting the squeeze on suburban residents ("the perfect storm", he called it) and never ever ever getting to his point of how exactly this affects his constituents.

i need a break :-/

i'm listening to neil degrasse tyson, eugene mirman, and guests talking about ghosts via http://startalkradio.net/

talking seriously or talking haha

the tone is light-hearted and superficial, but still entertaining. i always want tyson's podcast to be a little more scientific since he's a big famous scientist but it's still a fun listen.

NICK GUESS WHAT

Jeff and I started watching Damages. I hope you're happy now.

I like to think that Peter Francis Geraci runs his firm just like Patty Hewes does.

brief derail: Every time I hear that guy's name I think of Sonny Geraci, who I saw perform once with a bunch of washed up oldies acts. It was a big venue, tons of old ppl, and I went with this friend of a friend and had so much fun. Just some random dude whose name I completely forgot. Mike something? Anyway, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Geraci

He was in this band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy3ZZO9rguk

I have been meaning to watch Damages btw

woop woop

It's pretty good! Better than I thought it would be, actually. The logistics of how that law firm works are pretty LOLno but that's the risk we run by watching law shows while being legal professionals. I don't mind because Glen Close is totally o_O and I'm unexpectedly fond of Rose Byrne and if Hewes and Assoc worked like a real firm then ZZZZZZ. Also I like watching a show where both leads are badass but complex women.

Rose Byrne was so good in Insidious!!

Parts of that movie were super cheesy but they gave her character more interesting and understated characteristics than most.

damages is totally ridiculous, which is why i love it. it's also not really a "lawyer show."

i feel like rose byrne is usually kind of bad? maybe something to do with her being australian but always acting as an american character. in damages she's the most boringest character and i thought insidious was pretty bad all around. i loved her in bridesmaids though.

she was pretty funny in "get him to the greek"
i liked that movie more than i should have, kinda like Insidious

she also reminds me of my super good friend, so that helps

oh yeah i liked her in get him to the greek as well. she should just do comedies.

Insidious scared the bejeepers out of me (and Jesse and Sarah) for the first hour. Then it got kind of dumb but I was so fucking tense from the first hour of being scared shitless that I continued to be scared through the ending. (While also being relieved that it got dumb bc I prob couldn't take a whole movie as scary as that first hour.)

I was actually going to say that RB is kind of a Mary Sue in Damages but we've seen all of three eps and don't know her involvement in The Big Mystery so I didn't want to be premature.

my favorite thing about Insidious was its use of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0

jenny, my reaction exactly
i was so traumatized that i cried quietly through like 2/3 of it like a self indulgent third grader and spent the rest being like "yeah ha ha spray them with your special equipment"

also i loved that song when i was a little kid
i wish youtube had existed when i was in elementary school

What song is it? I have a cruddy data connection today and can't load the video.

tiptoe through the tulips