Chicago: Beef, Love and Understanding

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I also like pinhead oats but they really do take forever. It's like cooking dried beans.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:07 (seventeen years ago) link

I had oatmeal this morning already. I just can't keep the names straight on NuILX. And for some reason, harassing people about voting seemed more like a Jesse thing than an Amanda thing.

― n/a, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:07 (seventeen years ago) link

steelcut oats are where it's at.

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Oatists.

― n/a, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:13 (seventeen years ago) link

I love regular oatmeal with brown sugar, but these packets are great for throwing in my bag and having quickly at my desk at work.

― KitCat, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:15 (seventeen years ago) link

I had to harass Jesse into voting. Three times now. And he's still one ahead of me.

Oatists = LOL

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Dudes - and yes, I say 'Dudes' - I am about to go remind my boss of the review I was supposed to have a month ago. WISH ME WELL!

― KitCat, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:36 (seventeen years ago) link

So, a guy from my band and a friend of his are doing this thing where they live on $30 worth of food (each) for the month of March. Dollar a day. You're not allowed food that people give you, but discarded food is okay. Do you think you could do it? What would be your strategy? Bulk rice? Ramen?

― Jordan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:36 (seventeen years ago) link

i could do it and since i've been flat broke for at least two weeks a month since december i've probably been close to it but the real question is why the fuck would i want to?

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:37 (seventeen years ago) link

You're not allowed food that people give you

That's silly! I could get free lunch at school three days a week if I wanted to. Learning to work the free lunch/free food happy hour circuit is an integral part of eating while very, very broke. And what's the difference between somebody saying, "Do you want the rest of this pizza? I'm just going to throw it away" and you waiting until they toss it and just dig it out of the trash.

Your friends clearly have no legitimate hippy life experience with that kind of arbitrary limitation.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:40 (seventeen years ago) link

I think it's to get some perspective on how much they overspend/overeat normally. For context, one of these guys is a rugged dude, he has been known to pick up roadkill and cook it at home.

― Jordan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:41 (seventeen years ago) link

He isn't in his office!

I think you should be able to accept food people give you, because otherwise it might be wasted. Anyway, if I did it I'd make up a huge thing of black beans and rice. You can eat that as is or put it in a tortilla and make a quesadilla... Basically, I'd eat Mexican food. It's cheap. Speaking of... I plan to make beans & rice tonight.

― KitCat, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:41 (seventeen years ago) link

But yeah, what Jenny said. (Stupid not seeing x-posts...)

― KitCat, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link

I very briefly considered doing a year of NO BUYING then remembered that:
a) I have a wedding this year
b) Who am I kidding? I would give in after a day and then just feel guilty. Better just not try!

― KitCat, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:44 (seventeen years ago) link

But that said, my most awesome weapon during my "Wow, I actually can't afford food WTF" days was a vegan cookbook that had recipes for biscuits and pancakes that required neither eggs nor milk and were, IIRC, fairly tasty. Flour is cheap.

Your friends should stick with staples and get ready to do a lot of cooking. Buy in bulk. Go as whole grain as affordably possible. Get big bags of frozen store brand vegetables or better yet, buy fresh veggies yourself and clean/prep/freeze them so you save money and don't waste any food.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:44 (seventeen years ago) link

Sarah is right - dried beans are where it's at. Bags of dried beans cost CENTS. A big bag of brown rice, some sacks of dried beans, a head of garlic and small bag of yellow onions are less than $10 and will feed your ass for a week.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:46 (seventeen years ago) link

I think it's to get some perspective on how much they overspend/overeat normally

this isn't something i am familiar with so i have no point of reference.

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:49 (seventeen years ago) link

How to eat cheap as hell, for Christ: http://hillbillyhousewife.com/

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, if your friend is willing to EAT ROADKILL, he should seriously be allowed to eat roadkill while on his $30/month experiment. Wowsers.

Does the $30 include beer?

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:51 (seventeen years ago) link

not to get all jaymc on you but doesn't the word "disempowered" infer that someone's power is being TAKEN from them

No, but it implies that. "Disempowered" is a word, though. (Wait, why is questioning word definitions "all jaymc"?)

I mean, shit, we voted for Todd Stroger in November and then he put through devastating budget cuts!

I voted for Peraica.

Huh. Helen Schiller won by a smaller margin that I expected.

Doesn't surprise me too much. At the fundraiser, Cappleman kept referring to some League of Women Voters gaffe that Schiller had made, which he thought would tilt the election his way. He kept saying "the numbers look good." I know that's what you're supposed to say when you're trying to rally the troops, but still.

I will admit that I didn't vote yesterday. I know that theoretically local politics are supposed to have more of a day-to-day impact on my life, but in a weird way, it's harder to actually see those effects because they're not reported like national news is. Like, I have no idea what Gene Schulter has done or not done that has affected my way of life. And if, as Kevin suggests, it's mostly a matter of patching potholes and fixing burnt-out streetlights, it's not really anything I can get worked up about one way or another. Plus, since we live in Chicago, most of the candidates on either side of the ticket are Democrats, it's hard for me to feel strongly about voting against someone, because I don't have a simple label ("Republican") to clue me into the fact that we're probably going to be pretty ideologically different.

I'll also say, though, that I don't really pay much attention to local politics. I don't watch Chicago Tonight or listen to 848 on a regular basis, and I didn't even read the Ben Joravsky article in the Reader, so I don't really know why Daley is so awful, except for the usual complaints about croneyism and the fact that his stronghold on the office is sort of scary and undemocratic. The point is, even though that sucks, I don't know how that's affecting me personally. Which is not to say that that should be someone's only standard for voting -- your higher moral principles should also come into play -- but when I'm repeatedly told that local politics affects me more, I just have to ask, "How?" I'd rather pay attention to state and national politics, because they're more interesting to me.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link

I've known some roadkill eaters, but they were picky ones. They'd only go for the "best" cuts if they were intact, which I thought was awesome.

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, roadkill is definitely in. You're OTM about the people giving you food thing too, I think the non-roadkill guy said that rule is being relaxed. He's a social worker and his plan was for his students to give him the fruit from their lunches that they normally throw away.

I imagine it'll be a beer-free month. I'm sure there's some liquor in the cabinet though.

― Jordan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:54 (seventeen years ago) link

Speaking of which my present for helping with/playing at my friend's wedding was a flask with my name engraved on it, pretty cool.

― Jordan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow, I almost got sonned by Steve Edwards from Eight Forty-Eight. They did a bit where they called a made-up alderman (Ed Bus, 54th Ward) and I couldn't believe what an asshole this guy was and I was starting to post about it! And then I found out he was not a real alderman. And then I told you all about how dumb I am.

See, this is the thing! Nobody knows who these aldermen are! I have no idea who was running against Gene Schulter, anyway. I got a couple brochures from Schulter in my mailbox but nothing from anyone else. Now, if you want to harass me for not knowing stuff, then that makes more sense to me than harassing me for not voting, because if I had gone to the polls yesterday, I would've just made a bunch of random selections.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Taking fruit from your students, when you are a social worker, should be a flogging offense. Kids need fruit!

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link

i have taken to assuming anything grammar-related or etymological in nature is in the jaymc domain, just as all legal matters are jenny's. dan, you get hockey.

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link

That 848 shit is genius. They had a whole series of those bits last week.

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link

But they refuse to eat it!

― Jordan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Insert harassment of John for not knowing stuff here.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

i know who my alderman is because staffers (campaign workers?) would come around twice a year and ask how everything is going in the neighborhood and how responsive the city was to our needs.

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

dan, you get hockey.

w00t

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Dan also gets GEOGRAPHY.

― n/a, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow! That's pretty awesome. I have never seen nor heard from Helen Schiller OR Tom Tunney (it is still up in the air who my actual alderperson is. I'm on the border, and calling their offices gets me one response, and plugging my address into the alderperson finder gets me another). Except during this election time.

I would like to unseat whoever is responsible for never clearing the sidewalks around here.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:59 (seventeen years ago) link

i know who my alderman is because staffers (campaign workers?) would come around twice a year and ask how everything is going in the neighborhood and how responsive the city was to our needs.

This has never happened to me in the six years I've lived in Chicago. Also, I have no idea what I would even say to such a question. What could I possibly complain about? What sort of "needs" could I have that the city could fulfill? I mean, maybe if I lived in a gang-infested area and I wanted more cops on the street or something, but I literally don't know what else I could say.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Aw shucks, I get all the fun topics. That reminds me, I was taking this online quiz the other day, and I got sonned by Oceana.

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:00 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm sure you could come up with a couple of things to say about the CTA. And if you couldn't, you either aren't trying hard enough or you're not paying attention.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:01 (seventeen years ago) link

I imagine you guys would all pay a lot more attention if you were property owners and/or business owners.

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:02 (seventeen years ago) link

(me too)

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:02 (seventeen years ago) link

Has anyone read up on the TIF zones at all? I think I would yell about that a bit if an alderdrone came by my house.

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm sure you could come up with a couple of things to say about the CTA

I have no complaints about the CTA.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

What sort of "needs" could I have that the city could fulfill?

the things the aldermen are supposed to take care of; filling potholes, replacing street lights, putting up stop signs at dangerous intersections, taking care of graffiti, affecting police patrols. those are the first things that come to mind.

― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Dan OTM about being a property/business owner.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:04 (seventeen years ago) link

Kevin -- like I said earlier, if my car hits a pothole once in a while, that's not enough to get all up and arms and demand someone do something about it. We live in an urban area = there are potholes. No big deal. And like I care if there's graffiti. These don't seem like serious problems! Again, gangs = totally. But I haven't seen any gangs in Ravenswood.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

clearing the flippin snow off the sidewalks

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:07 (seventeen years ago) link

I want to live in John's world with no CTA hassles or civic complaints.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:08 (seventeen years ago) link

How about when the alderman signs off on huge condo developments that just so happen to be financed by their largest campaign donor? Or when your tax money gets collected, sent to a different ward, and used to finance business development instead of your local school?

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:08 (seventeen years ago) link

Sidewalk clearing is (at least in part) the civic responsibility of the people who live on the sidewalk, IMHO.

― dan m, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Everyone should read Off the Books. It talks about how alderman, police, and pastors deal with a lot of these ward specific issues, specifically. Also how that jives with the city government.

― Jeff, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:10 (seventeen years ago) link

My No.1 complaint about my hood would be too many new condos, but I doubt my alderman would be willing to do anything about that, considering all the $$$ they bring in.

― n/a, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:10 (seventeen years ago) link

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