Chicago MMXII

Bus tracker completely stopped working from what I can tell. Tried numerous routes, all = no buses.

Including at stops ahead of the bus I'm currently on.

Sorry Corey. Hope you get to enjoy snowing in later maybe with him.

now there's a bus

@_@

Two hours five minutes to drive from HP to LS.

It only took me three hours to get home. Lucky I left an hour early.

I'm home. That was not that fun

Train wasn't bad, 97 down Howard was a shitshow though. Cars stuck at every other intersection blocking traffic.

I think there is a homeless person hanging out in the lobby of my building. She is in her 50's, kinda haggard looking, Ace bandage under her swollen calf (pant leg hiked up), sitting in one of the chairs by the elevator and mailboxes, a rolling suitcase next to her. She was asleep until I opened the elevator gate, and she was back asleep when I got back from 7-Eleven.

There is a similar character who hangs out in the locker room at my gym. He even has a big swollen leg. I see him every couple weeks slumped practically in half on the same bench in the back, sometimes w/ his shoe off.

The woman in my building I get, but how does the guy have a membership card to the gym? Could have found it, I suppose, but I've been seeing him since 2008 or 2009. That's a long time for a lost card to work.

I just shoveled so much snow. We now have the clearest, most well-salted patch of sidewalk on either side of our block.

Why is all of the salt blue this year? It reminds me of when raspberry suddenly turned blue for no reason and then from that point forward, "raspberry" was "blue raspberry", which means nothing to me.
It's either a mystery or Walter White's fault. Either way, I don't like the blue salt.

There was blue salt and regular old gray salt at Home Depot. I bought the gray because it was waaaay cheaper, but some of the blue salt was advertised as being dog paw friendly. So maybe blue salt is good!

tell that to my little three legged limpers! i guess they mean nontoxic, though. i guess the blue raspberry salt is ok then.

Aww

I do feel bad about getting the big bag of cheap salt w/r/t dog paws. The paw-friendly salt was like twice as much money for a third as much product. Also the melt rating was lower than the regular salt.

But I still feel bad.

Amanda, do you put shoes on your dogs?

Wait, the melt rating was higher. So the dog salt was rated to melt down to like 20 degrees and the cruel salt was like -5.

Amanda, do you put shoes on your dogs?
I don't. They're ok without them, and they are already whiny/wimpy enough and I can't handle one more additional "put the shoes on the dogs" responsibility in addition to everything else, esp. when they are doing ok so far.

It's not a big deal about the salt! I was really more alarmed that it was blue and unnatural looking than the melt rate/poisonous nature tbh.

Yeah, we always buy the paw friendly salt because of all the dogs in our neighborhood, but its ridiculously expensive compared to regular salt and it works maybe half as well.

We're going to switch to bacon salt.

Truly the most dog-friendly salt.

GUYS GUYS (esp NICK because his music is on it)

R0tters just won audiobook of the year Odyssey award!!

So proud.

woohoo!

AWESOME!!!!

also jenny and gang -- i am officially a contestant in the 9th annual you know what contest
questions:

do we know anyone who has a fog machine i could borrow?
do we know anyone who has a thing that would alter my voice as i read into a microphone?

:D on both counts.

i'd look at the toy store for some kind of voice-altering toy, that would probably be the most cost-effective option.

congrats to DK

it's been a long time, but i just heard from my old buddies, the ski bro CPAs:

Guys,

I'm sorry as well. I wanted to see that T.V. I just came from my doctor and I have an appointment with the surgeon next Monday the 30th. He said I might have hernia's on both sides. Ever since I got a copy of the Kama Sutra for my iPad I've been a wreck. Have fun.

Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 11:01 AM
Subject: I just need to pack

Guys-
Sorry if this is a duplicate, I thought the first didn't go through. My skis are tuned, and I am starting to hydrate. Jeff and I leave on Friday morning and get in around 10:30. When do all of you arrive? Please count me in for Second City and whatever else is planned.
Peter I am sorry that you wont be joining us, it will not be the same. Ho
Looking forward to catching up.
Les

"it will not be the same, ho"

this is the music i did for dan's audiobook by the way:
http://www.myspace.com/vorvolakas
it's me trying to do black metal.

it was great!! i don't know why you never piped up about it aside from maintaining the mystery of vorvolakas.

also good advice about the toy store. will do. thx.

yeah it was supposed to be mysterious. so mysterious that no one heard it.

i tagged it on lastfm
did my part

so mysterious that it is on myspace

veeeery mysterious

Now that the secret is out, there goes your Decibel cover story. You'll have to wait for the oral history of Vorvolakas when it gets inducted into the hall of fame.

good to hear jordan's bros are still skiing, hope they're weathering the economic downturn OK

"it will not be the same ho."

my hernia's hernia

sounds good n/a. very blackened. i never would have guessed it was you. some cool sound effects in there too.

thanks! it's crazy how well you can approximate screaming by whispering.

vorvolakas will be robbed in the EOY traxx poll

I keep thinking about signing up for Alan Salami's class.

hahaha

Performance art. Do it.

Jesus, this Chicago Mag story from 1989: The Boys of Rush Street.

A few special lines:

“Lotta tuna walking,” says Jack.

...

Sunglasses on a strap hide Jack’s blue eyes. The strap reads VAURNET FRANCE, which is more important than any protection the glasses may provide.

...

In a cab Dwarfboy says to the driver, “Can I have your shoe?” The driver turns way around to look at him.

“You wacky?” he asks. This cabby’s from Chicago

And then at the end the author/narrator refers to himself in the third person for no good reason Dwarfboy gets out in front of his coop near Wrigley Field and says to the other passenger in the cab “I got an extra bed downstairs."

I guess it's too late to corral anyone for pub quiz?

Anyway, the second and third rounds are on The A-Team (which I know zip about) and feminism.

Oh I forgot about pub quiz and now I got a pizza in the oven.

too late.

The Panera by my house is kind of weird - it's like an old folks social club in the evenings. There are 5 tables with at least one old person at each, a couple with 5-7 of them, and a couple guys going around working the room, chatting, regaling, mackin'.

And now one guy....I truly can't tell if he's laughing or sobbing into his phone.

that was like when i was commuting to evanston at 6 a.m. and i'd go in dunkin donuts to get a bagel or something and there'd be 8 old dudes in there drinking their small coffees

i can't wait until we're those guys