Chicago MMXII

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/05/24/new-morgan-station-open-on-green-pink-line-l/

Cool. I wonder if there will now be an asterisk on this record:
http://timeoutchicago.com/things-to-do/this-week-in-chicago/15116941/chicagoans-set-new-cta-riding-record

^^which, all joking aside, is something I'd LOVE to try to do

Somebody who writes for a local publication is riding all of the bus lines start to finish and writing about it. I think that sounds kind of cool. Or the guys who walked the entire length of Halsted. I don't think I'd want to beat the CTA record, because there's no much running, but I'm generally interested in this kind of stuff.

I had a friend who visited all of the dive bars directly off the red line south of Jackson. I don't remember how it went for him, but it sounded like fun.

cta record seems pretty beatable with luck, based on the descriptions in that article

That new train station is a block away from Haymarket, which brings that bar into reasonable happy hour territory (especially for me since I can get the Green/Pink Line here).

The woman riding all the CTA bus lines has finished.

Did she write something about it somewhere? Or is she going to the grave with her observations?

Yes I believe it is all in her redeye blog.

Ohhhhh Redeye.

I have a p strong dislike for stunt-based memoir writing shit.

I don't know, depends on whether or not she used it as an excuse to write about herself or if she took advantage to really write about what she saw. I'm definitely interested in the latter, not so much with the former.

I only followed the twitter account of the endeavor. It was entertaining.

I just went to the RedEye website to see if I could find her blog, but goddamn I'm actually impressed that they managed to make navigating their website an even more horrible experience than reading their shitty rag in the first place.

I like stunt-based memoir writing if it is on blogs and is about Chicago public transit. And jvc OTM - bonus points if its about Chicago and not her personal journey.

But shit like "The Year I Wore Diapers All the Time" or "Rooney: How One Woman Lived Her Life According to an Old Fart's World View and What Her Eyebrows Looked Like at the End" is not appealing to me.

Oh LOL at the Red Eye sucking online, too. God I hate that paper. "paper"

http://www.ajjacobs.com/images/page/cover_yolb.jpghttp://robynokrant.com/LIVINGOPRAH_bookcoverSM.jpg

Oh! I just grasped where the new Morgan St. is, exactly. That's great b/c there was a long dead patch there.

I was going to say it wasn't that big a dead zone, but it's over 1 mile between Clinton and Ashland, which is quite a ways. Esp. considering the Red line in Uptown where there are a bunch of stations 1/4-1/2 mile apart.

Yeah, you no longer have to get off at Clinton and walk over the highway.

(That is, if you're going from downtown to Restaurant Row, which I've done on a handful of occasions.)

Of course, I'm sure there are vast stretches of the South Side that are also in need of a new el stop.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8c/Debbie_Downer.PNG/215px-Debbie_Downer.PNG

Or train service at all.

Well, yeah, that's what I mean.

What's going on I the Loop with all the people in running gear and numbers pinned to them??

Chase corporate challenge

Kr is there.

I did it several years ago. Too crowded.

For a 3.5 mile race.

There appeared to be a disabled/mobility-impaired/injured contingent. People with canes following a map.

My company doesn't do the Chase challenge anymore. I'm not sure why. We used to have a Committee for Athletic Excellence, I don't even think that exists anymore. What's the point???

Man, I wish I'd have known about that Chase thing before I left work last night. If I knew it was there, I would have gone around the park instead of cutting through it at Balbo like I typically do. Took just under an hour to go from Michigan Ave to LSD on Balbo. I hate Thursdays when I have to drive to work.

@dvance b@se record release show at schuba's on sunday, if anyone's looking for something to do. i can probably get at least a couple of people on the guest list if you don't want to pay.

Maybe I can bring my parents.

I'd make them pay.

That sounds so threatening.

we're a fairly parent-friendly band, aside from having a drum machine. the other bands might be a little loud for them though.

maybe parents like drum machines in this day and age.

What time are you playing?

Also FYI The Music Box has a midnight showing of Dead Alive tonight.

we're listed for 8:45, i think schubas is pretty good about staying on schedule

yo chicagovians!

my movie (starring someone u might recognize from tv) is playing at just for laughs chicago in june.

http://www.justforlaughschicago.com/justforlaughschicago/stories/story/0,,262043,00.html

i dont think im gonna make it but if you feel like watching funny short movies then there ya go!

cool

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1216/1408154388_b34a66bdcf.jpg

(actual screenshot from my film)

Is your movie better than Battlestar Galactica?

(starring someone u might recognize from tv)

I assume you are referring to J@c0b T13rn3y's celebrated stint on Are You Afraid of the Dark?

yes.

So I'm at the Chase on LaSalle and there's this older man next to me standing at the machine and... grunting and talking to himself in a way that seems somewhat aware and not entirely crazy. He kind of sounds like the vamping section of a James Brown song - "Uh, yeah, hey, uh, what, uh, yeah, hey." So of course, he turns to me and asks me how to use the ATM machine (I know, but it's possible). I step over and show him where to put his card, and how to orient it, and then to pull it right back out. The whole time I'm showing him, he's going "Huh, yeah, hey." Once I finish, he adds, "That's right, I got it, you got it, that's right, oh yeah, thank you, that's right, I got it, you got it" to his rotation. I can't tell if he's talking to me, so I say, "Are you good?" And he says, "I'm good! You're good. You're real good. Hey, that's right. I got it. We got it. Yeah, uh, hey!" I say goodbye and tell him to have a nice day, and he says, "I hope they appreciate you like I do," which was actually kind of nice.

Then I saw a panhandler holding a sign bearing his T-cell count (74). :(