Chicago MMXII

Gas is $3.20 a gallon!!!!!!!!!!! Wowwwwza!

North Carolina. Raise up.

Are you going to live blog your whole trip?

dammit i wish the weather could wait to be hellish til after i get a new a/c. my old one was limping along reasonably before, but today it's 87 in my apartment.

jesse did you get a new a/c and what brand and is it quiet and etc?

87??!?!? eek!

I don't know what size you need, but we have a Kenmore (two - smaller one for the bedroom, and a larger one for the living room/office room) like the ones pictured in the first two row of search results here - http://www.sears.com/shc/s/s_10153_12605_Appliances_Air%20Conditioners_Window%20Air%20Conditioners

The living room unit rattles a little bit sometimes, but all we have to do to stop it is move the vents a little bit. (It was rattling earlier today but that's because I had cleaned the filter and not shut the cover firmly.)

ALTHOUGH the very first window unit we bought from Sears a few years ago broke shortly after we got it and getting them to come out and take it back required me to yell at them on the phone for about an hour. So while I've been very happy with the two we have now (second summer for the bedroom unit, third summer for the living room unit), it was kind of a rough start so it's hard to enthusiastically recommend buying something from Sears.

my current one is your old kenmore. it was good while it lasted--it's old.

my new one will be whatever my parents are willing to buy at costco, which i will research when it's no longer a holiday.

I think ours in the living room is the 15100 BTU unit. Basically the biggest one you can put on a normal outlet.

whoa. that's big. my now-uninstalled new one, which was wonderfully cool but rattled/squeaked like a mofo, was 12k, so i'll prob get another 12k. dunno about getting the same one tho, after having such a neg experience. it was defective! it would be great if not defective. but i dunno.

We also have a kenmore a/c and I fully endorse them. My mom has all kenmore and has had them for more than 10 years. Tanks.

We finally put ours in just now. It's a Kenmore as well -- no issues in the ~5 yrs we've had it.

Our two doors down neighbors are drunkenly singing the national anthem in the back yard.

Julia- no, I did not get a new one. I have two last summer, one of which I got for free, but the one I bought new is keeping up even in the worst heat so far and I decided to sell the free one on CL. I didn't think to tell you since you were exchanging your new one. But if you want we can discuss via email. I am selling it with a summer long guarantee to friends, but full disclosure: I have barely used it and while it was cold, I haven't had a chance to learn any quirks or squeaks.

I had the most infuriating encounter with a stereotypically rude, power mad, petty airline guy today. My shaving kit fell out of my bag on the plane, which I discovered as I got in my rental car.

The bastard at baggage management was a bastard all around, eg when I begged, harassed, and begged again if he could make another call to ask the gate staff to check my seat specifically. He said numerous times, "No sir. I told you they already. cleaned. the plane. and didn't find anything."

He finally called and said, "Yeh this is Angelo calling back. This customer wants me to ask you, when y'all cleaned that plane, you checked it pretty good, right? All right i figured you did. Okay, thank you." and hung up.

We yelled at each other, then suddenly out of nowhere* he completely changed. He became polite and helpful. He actually said, "Aw, who knows, maybe the cleaners missed your bag. Everybody makes mistakes," and voluntarily called the gate a third time and asked the attendant to check seat 3F, but lol the plane had left the gate.

* I think that he saw that i was broken and he'd won.

Then someone texted me: "I found your bag and checked it and it will be waiting for you in baggage claim at Frankfort." After a round of Who's On First texts, the person texting called me. Seems that on his report, Angelo mixed up my phone number with the number of the girl from St. Louis who lost her bag on her way to the gate for her flight to Germany.

please give me the most icy A/C'd bar on the Blue Line.

The Blue Line bar is likely to be icy and fully A/C'd -- it's directly to the right when you exit at the Damen stop. (I've never been there myself and it's likely to be full of tools but you can truly crawl there from the el stop exit)

I'll probably wind up at the Chi Diner and Big Chicks tonight, but may enter that bar as soon as it opens tomorrow.

Blue Line is okay, another option is the Green Eye at Western. You might even se Chicago Kevin there.

much better idea

NC has hills. Chicago does not.

Hot guy at the consulate: baby-faced gringo meatwad with jeans up past his navel and giant Texas belt buckle who spoke Spanish with his wife and staff in a Deep South drawl and who had a lot to say about ignorant xenophobes. His Spanish consonants were dead on - impressive "r" and "rr" sounds - but he worked every vowel over like by damn bubble gum.

Violet Hour is also an option if you're into fancy cocktails.

Is Morbs still in town, or did I miss him completely?

I feel bad because I totally stood him up on the 4th. He called, and I didn't call back. But then again, I wanted to go to Big Chicks with him, but he declined because he didn't want to "straight up the place," so on second thought, fuck him.

something must be wrong with me, it's so hot out but i am craving pho or ramen

something must be wrong with me, it's so hot out that i am considering going to see magic mike

Nick, you're missing some salt, clearly.

Magic Mike is probably the movie currently in theaters that I am most interested in seeing. Kind of doubt I'll end up seeing it, though.

(Mostly b/c Kr's not interested, and I don't want to see it ~so bad~ that I'd go by myself.)

jesse and i saw it, it was decent

Nick, you're missing some salt, clearly.

That sounds very OTM.

I have lunch paralysis. I'm really hungry! I'm willing to *shudder* go outside! I don't want any food that I can think of!

me too. actually asian food sounds good but i can't decide where to go.

wow bao is really close but i always feel kind of cheated when i eat there. maybe siam rice, but it's further.

That's kooky because I was thinking of Wow Bao but I want something sturdier.

Sometimes when I get like this, I got to Chipotle because I find Chipotle to be really tasty and indulgent but kind of gross, so it's a thing I can usually talk myself into eating (and also a punishment for indecision).

Oh. Duh. I'll just go to Corner Bakery.

is there a tokyo lunchbox nearby?

i love their udon noodles a lot

At least you don't go to Subway, like I sometimes do. Chipotle sounds really good right now, actually.

there is a tokyo lunchbox very near me! should i eat there?

There's a TLB in my building, but disappointingly, it's not as good as the one over on Wells, which is delish. So yes, you should eat there.

I hate Subway with a fiery passion. Every time I have eaten at Subway in the past six years, it's made me feel really, really sad.

yes you should get the vegetable udon and have them add the spicy

As Pete Holmes said, "I ate at Subway today, because I gave up."

ok. thanks guys.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I remember the first time I ate a Subway sub! It was the summer of 1990 or 91 and I was kind of broke so my friend Jay and I split a foot long veggie sub and it was delicious! Like, it was amazing to me and I was so happy that there was this cheap food with lots of vegetables on it, and also black olives and cucumbers... what??!?! So weird and good!

I've never been able to replicate that happiness.

Oh, the halcyon days of Subway veggie subs, before we all became so jaded...

Haha. I actually remember the first time I ate Subway, too. It was in Providence, R.I., in the summer of 1989, and I don't think I liked it.

I remember the first time I ate a Subway sub because I had never eaten a cold cut sandwich from a restaurant before.

It was a BMT.

Bowel Movement and Tomato?

i used to get the veggie patty subs at subway, which are even grosser than the veggie subs, with little bland gardenburger things in the middle

When I want Asian food for lunch, I'll decide between

a) Tokyo Lunchbox (sushi, or a tofu teriyaki rice bowl)
b) Wow Bao (combo of veggie DUMPLINGS! and spicy peanut noodles)
c) Green Apple Grill (veggie bi bim bop)

(G.A.G. is in the food court at 201 N. Clark.)