Chicago: Where have all the serial killers gone?

I am excited about seeing Chicago.

SARAH! We MUST go to Tweet Let's Eat. It's up north on Sheridan and Argyle/Carmen and it's a wee bit pricey and there can be a wait, so it's not an every weekend kind of place bust sister, their brunch rocks socks. Plus if there is a wait, you can sit at the bar in Big Chicks (it's owned by the Big Chicks lady and is right next door) and drink delicious free coffee (no, seriously, it's wonderful) or not free but also wonderful bloody marys. Then you eat awesome food.

I have heard such wholesale ringing endorsements of Jerry's Sandwiches that I trust their secret sauces are wonderful.

Today looks to be a busy one.

Maybe. What time and where? I have to clean the bathroom, but it's small and shouldn't take very long.

1. What's your closest CTA stop?
Paulina

2. Which do you take more often: buses or trains?
Combo

3. Have you ever walked between cars on a CTA train?
Yes

4. Do you own a car? How often do you use it?
No.

5. Own or rent?
Rent.

6. What neighborhood do you live in right now?
Roscoe Village

7. If you could live in any neighborhood, housing costs be damned,
where would you live?
Can't decide. Nice house in Oak Park? Nice house in Wilmette? Roscoe is fine for now.

8. Are you *from* Chicago?
No

9. Did you go to high school here?
No

10. What's your favorite local band? (Other than the one you're in...)
Patricia Barber

11. What's the best Chicago music venue?
HotHouse, South Union, Old Town School, Ice Fac

12. What's your favorite bar and why?
Hopleaf at 5 p.m. - good beer, good natural light, wide array of periodicals

13. Mayor Daley: Will he die in office or what?
Sure

14. Who, besides Rich, would you like to see in the mayor's office?
Albini

15. Big Box Living Wage Ordinance: Good or bad for Chicago?
Good

16. Wal-Mart: Disaster waiting to happen or good way to revitalize the
south-side economy?
$1.50 for a tube of toothpaste would be better for the health and economy of the South Side than the same tube for $3.95 at a corner store.

17. Ever been further south than 95th St.?
Been on 95th Street, in Beverly, a few times.

19. Ever been further north than Jarvis?
Sure. Mostly visiting friends who've bought their first home/condo.

20. Did you go to college in Chicago? If so, where?
No. Kind of wish I had.

21. Who is your favorite CTA busker?
Japanese lady. And 3-4 years ago I saw three amazing freestyle rappers at the Jackson stop.

22. Weirdest [non-]panhandler story...
Walking down State St. just south of Division. 1 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Guy starts to approach me; I give a gesture of "I don't have anything" - and he says "Naw, man, I'm not asking for money, I'm sellin' shit."

23. Macy's: Retail vampire sucking the life out of State St. or a the
wave of the future?
Sad.

24. What's your favorite shopping district?
Maybe Quimby's/Myopic, though I like all the mall stuff too.

25. Chicago dogs or deep dish pizza?
Both sparingly.

26. Smoking ban: Mike Ditka or the American Lung Association?
ALA

27. Kanye or Common?
I like the Kanye video where he's driving around the department store. I like the Common video where he's in outer space. I've never gotten a song by either stuck in my head. Rhymefest put out a great mixtape last year, but the great songs didn't end up on the album.

28. One place you always take first-time visitors.
Oak Park, Green Mill, out for Thai food.

29. Have you ever called your Alderperson?
No

30. Have you ever called the mayor's office?
No

31. What's your favorite place to eat breakfast?
Orange (on Printer's Row)

32. Have you ever ridden a Metra train and where to?
To Lake Forest to visit a friend at a writer's colony; to Downers Grove to interview someone for my job; to Ravinia; to Arlington Heights...

33. Have you ever been swimming at a city beach?
No.

34. Where is your favorite place to order delivery pizza of any style?
Art of Pizza

35. How many places have you lived in Chicago?
3

36. What are you most embarassed by in the city when guests visit?
My clutter

37. How often do you go to the Harrold Washington Library?
Goes in binges

38. What do you like best about living here? Like least?
Best: Culture; cultural criticism; how people who are both progessive and geniuses in their field live here (in art, food, etc.); how there are always new subcultures to discover and get immersed in.

Least: I really want some hills. And maybe a mountain or two on the horizon.

the lube?

Jeff and I are hosting out-of-town visitors that we know from... THE INTERNET. And not ILX! We're cheating on you all. But we have discussed the possibility of going to brunch, and going to brunch at Tweet would be marvy-loose. So I will get back to you!

As for a drink after work downtown... How about Old Timer's? I get done work at 5.

My legal ethics prof just said, "I'm not your god, and I don't pretend to be." Kind of funny.

Nastassja Kinski, then?

john got the little bottle of lube, and kenan got the biggie.

There is a co-worker's farewell lunch today, which means INDIAN BUFFET.

"Yes. Now eat it out of my ass."

OOOPS. They didn't giggle, but I did, secretly.

Independently of each other. Two different signs of intellectual laziness: 1) cursing; 2) expressing yourself via badly drawn cartoon that relies on absurdism for the funny.

When the union folks have their meetings next door to my office it is a curse-fest. Cursing is not even used for emphasis, just randomly. "On today's agenda we've got the fucking minutes from the last meeting." "One great way the Laborers can recruit is by stripping other worksites of their best goddamn workers."

These meetings include males as well as females.

They do tend to tone it way down when they have meetings that include community and faith-based organizations.