Chicago MMXII

I was on my third go-round of Possum Kingdom when it occurred to me that with the windows open, I was surely not the only person listening to the song (just possibly the only person voluntarily listening to it).

I also like Twitter for keeping up with people that I used to be FB friends with but don't know well enough to communicate regularly via email, and for following writers who don't have dedicated RSS feeds for their stuff (so for example, Lindy West, because fuck following all of Jezebel on Google Reader). It's not idea for the latter because at least three times/week I have to declare Twitter bankruptcy and just mark all 100000000 tweets as read. Also sometimes I want to reply to someone but it's been four hours since their tweet and the tweeter has long since moved on.

Come to think of it, Twitter kind of sucks.

Anyway, I follow the LL's tumblr output via Google Reader because if I just followed it on Twitter, I'd miss half of the posts and that would be :(.

Also it is definitely very warm in the direct sun, at least out in the auto-centric wasteland that is the Elston/Logan big box shopping center mecca/gateway to hell.

I don't know that I would be all about Twitter if I weren't tweeting as part of my job. Even though we can technically tweet whatever we want, the context in which I'm doing it definitely shapes the kinds of things I tweet -- lots more links that I would normally share, for instance. I'm not really a "hey check out this out" guy, but it's a useful Twitter mode.

Also, I just tweeted at a noted jazz musician, and he tweeted me back. High five!

i have a professional twitter account too but it's pretty boring, mainly i just use it to tell people if we're going to be closed during weird times, i can't really figure out how to make it more interesting.

of course it's got like 4x as many followers as my personal account

I gave up on my professional twitter. I even locked it when I was interviewing for my last job, since it's one of the few related results that come up if you search for me via my full name.

I'm better off keeping my dumb thoughts to myself even if it means I'm a little lonely for jibjab.

I like your dumb thoughts.

I think 85% of my twitter followers are spam bots, but then I also rarely have anything worthwhile to say. I'm so bad at tweeting though, I always see so many clever people on there that I feel intimidated into trying to be clever and I try too hard and suck at it. Super jealous of clever tweeters.

I don't like spending a half hour figuring out a precise wording that conveys the right tone, is comprehensible, and is also within 140 characters.

I bought some dryer ballz today.

see deez dryer ballz

I made a deez nuts joke to my cat this morning.

I also like Twitter for keeping up with people that I used to be FB friends with but don't know well enough to communicate regularly via email

See, it doesn't meet my expectations for this purpose. It's tiny-information overload, it's too fleeting, and it's too one-way.

exactly

i'm not jealous of clever tweets at all, and i don't even aspire to produce them, i just don't really like the medium because it's not how i interact with people

i'm just going to start calling you all on the phone. i'm all about phone calls now.

How retro!

my experience of twitter was basically "i feel so god damn alone"

Yeah, I think it helps that I am doing it alongside colleagues.

Which I realize is also kind of weird and brings its own set of challenges.

i guess i am not looking for more opportunities to put on the La Lechera show and that's what twitter feels like to me

Yeh that makes sense. It feels like announcements instead of socializing in a way that FB, MySpace, etc don't or didn't, so it feels isolating.

Just pretend you're mingling. That's the way I do it.

Hey if anyone is interested in going to the Hideout block party today/tonight R and I have two tickets we're not going to use.

So this strike is about to get really real, isn't it? Rahm went nuclear tonight.

I was out of state, but I gather on Friday they were close enough that they thought there was a chance students would be back in school today. And now I hear at least three more days of striking (?), which makes me think someone moved the football. If Rahm went nuts, I imagine it was the teachers.

....makes sense considering his chill, amenable way.

He thought he'd have it wrapped up by Rosh Hashanah.

Apparently the CTU wasn't happy with the deal Rahm was trying to force through over the weekend, unsurprising when I heard the details and it sounded like wins for him on almost every count, but something happened and Rahm decided to call the strike "illegal" today and is going after a court injunction to have it stopped. This is gonna get messy.

Thanks. I was wondering if I had missed anything. The news is full of Rahm wringing his hands with concern for the children missing school tomorrow, which agony led him to seek an injunction.

....makes sense considering his chill, amenable way.

― (*・_・)ノ⌒ ☆ (Je55e), Monday, September 17, 2012 2:34 AM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, yeah really.

I need to remember to keep my headphones on in the elevator up to work tomorrow so I don't need to listen to the personal injury hack lawyer on my floor whine about the teachers' $70K salaries. I swear instead of going to work last week he just rode the elevator and said "Seventy-thousand dollars!" all day.

!

http://www.suntimes.com/news/15193205-418/chicago-terror-bomber-targeted-my-bar-co-owner-of-cals-says.html

Was wondering which bar that was!

Me too, holy shit!

I'm supposed to go meet some friends there this evening.

is this one of those terrorist bombings where the FBI basically goaded the guy into doing it, bought him supplies, then arrested him?

answer: probably

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-teenager-charged-with-trying-to-bomb-chicago-bar-2012-9

Friday night's arrest of Adel Daoud, an American aged 18, marked the end of an undercover sting operation during which agents provided him with a fake bomb that he attempted to set off shortly before he was detained

...

According to an affidavit in the case, two undercover FBI agents contacted Mr Daoud around May in response to material he posted online and began exchanging messages with him.

From late May to mid-June, Daoud sought guidance on whether to carry out a terrorist attack in the United States, the affidavit said, and "confirmed his belief in the propriety of killing Americans in a terrorist attack." He then began looking for online resources on how to carry out an attack.

On July 17, Mr Daoud met with an undercover FBI agent introduced to him as a purported cousin of one of the other agents and an "operational terrorist."

At a subsequent meeting in early August, the pair discussed "plans to carry out an attack in the Chicago area with a vehicle containing explosives," the document added.

don't get how this isn't entrapment

Yeah, I can't find a quick link to it because the Trib's website sucks, but the article in yesterday's paper said the feds even gave him the vehicle and the explosives.

don't get how this isn't entrapment

― congratulations (n/a), Monday, September 17, 2012 10:16 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

idgi either

I think a local house cleaning service may be running a scam b/c I bought a Swoop for cleaners and it's been impossible to get a response to my scheduling request, and then I read on Yelp that they've screwed over a bunch of other people. http://www.yelp.com/biz/clean-green-chicago-chicago. :( Beware.

thank fuck we clean our own house

i briefly considered buying the "hour in a floatation chamber" coupon but thought twice about it

it's not the sensory deprivation experience i thought it was :(

See things like that are why Yelp can actually be a good thing.

i might be ready to try DDPP again if anyone's interested in joining me
i've shaken off the taylor dayne incident, but this time i'm not afraid to just walk out if i can't handle it

lol what was the Taylor Dayne incident?

it was a particularly difficult to stomach night at DDPP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Dyouvtb98

na na na na na na na

not once, but twice
it was awful and so so so very hot in there and i wanted to die and then i felt shame for being snobby and then i wanted to leave, but i didn't
but i should have