Chicago MMXII

you break it open and it's full of blood, like a mosquito

hey look
a carmen miranda costume for your dog
http://www.mydoghalloweencostumes.com/images/calypso-queen-dog-costume.jpg

Your dog maybe!

That reminds me, my mom sent us a dog baseball cap for Vonn which, unsurprisingly, he refuses to accept being strapped onto his head. We tried all kinds of treats and cajoling and it didn't work. Can't say I blame him.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-abbate-bar-beating-trial-20121022,0,6092676,full.story

It is infuriating that the city won't settle here. It's possible that they'll get a jury of people sympathetic to the police, and juries can be very unpredictable, but that seems like a big gamble to me.

Also: does anybody know about the three "public questions" on the ballot this election? I know I'm still getting AFSME robocalls (with no way to inform them that I'm no longer a public employee or member of their union GRRRR) telling me to vote NO on the second question about teachers' pensions (and the wording of that question makes me v. angry because it is a dishonest oversimplification) but the other two I have no idea about.

Here are some completely unsurprising state shenanigans for you: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-10-20/news/ct-met-admin-leave-20121020_1_employees-state-investigators-pat-quinn

xp

1. electricity confusing WAHT
2. teachers' pensions (obfuscatory wording WHOA)
3. corporations/political funding

iirc. sealed my absentee ballot this morn.

:)

yeah -- otm on all three counts

Sorry, I was not clear. I have a sample ballot so I know what the questions are, I just don't have enough information on how to vote on them and I was hoping one of you fine folks had an opinion.

we talked about it a yesterday, j and i, and came to some conclusions. i don't know that i can articulate them concisely enough to feel comfortable putting it out there for the world to read though. not that the ballot had even TRIED to articulate anything clearly and concisely!?!?

are there organizations to which i can donate my time and support that advocate for clarity and average readability in public writing?

Attn Lechera:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisritter16/50-best-costumes-at-tompkins-square-dog-halloween

omg by a wide margin this is my favorite

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web05/2012/10/21/10/enhanced-buzz-30961-1350828986-1.jpg

16 oz soda

The @bb@7e thing makes me fucking furious.

The people I work with say that the city never settles. Liggy's explanation is that no one wants to be responsible for making the call.

We sued shortly before I started working here for a case that most other defendants would have settled. The verdict was $1M, and Liggy said they could have easily gotten out for 1/4 that.

And then they didn't pay for almost 3 years (per Ligs this was, again, b/c no one wanted to have their fingerprints on something unpleasant, even though they had a federal judge wanting to skin them for not paying), so the judgment accrued interest at the statutory 8% APR. Not a bad investment.

So my stupid grocery store was held up at gunpoint right in the middle of the evening.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/inside-booster-news-star/the-market-place-latest-victim-of-string-of-armed-robberies-on-north-side/464607103560528

Sorry for talking to myself a bunch here, but I wanted to share and it might be interesting to others, too.

According to store manager Michael Proce, “I could tell just from the body language something wasn’t right as soon as these five black men came in with their heads down."

Sigh.

Yeh, no kidding. The first site where I read about the robbery was a blog post w/ a title about "bandits" robbing a grocery store. And it called them "hooligans" and of course said right off the bat that "five black men" robbed the store.

I say fuck the city if they hire thugs like that asshat, take 'em for all they're worth. Yes I realize that means we're paying taxes to cover their losses.

My parents are coming on Thanksgiving and it's my (unpleasant landmark age) birthday and I dropped the ball on making a dinner reservation and all of my first choices are taken and now I don't know where to go. Some nice restaurants are doing buffets, but I refuse to stand in line for food on my 40th birthday.

Any suggestions?

are they only going to be here on thanksgiving? you could just go out the day before or after, fuck a holiday

No, they will be here before and after but Thanksgiving is my actual birthday. But yeah, maybe..........

http://urbanunionchicago.com/

Posted about this a few months back when R and I went there. It was really good & decently easy on the wallet (but you could definitely still have a fancypants time), and getting a reservation was pretty easy afaik.

Their menu made my mouth water.

B/c of watching a movie w/ multiple lobotomy scenes, I keep thinking of stabbing that POS cop in the heart w/ a lobotomy probe. Gah. q

My parents are coming on Thanksgiving and it's my (unpleasant landmark age) birthday and I dropped the ball on making a dinner reservation and all of my first choices are taken and now I don't know where to go. Some nice restaurants are doing buffets, but I refuse to stand in line for food on my 40th birthday.

Any suggestions?

Sun Wah in Uptown does an awesome Thanksgiving turkey a la their Beijing Duck. Call or email to order.

>773.769.1254
sunwah✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧

hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa

No, probably won't take my rural parents to Sun Wah.

(I love it, though.)

Urban Union looks amazing, but they are either closed or booked on Thanksgiving. I'm not quite ready to give up on going out on the actual birth/holiday, yet.

If you don't/can't go out, you can always get a great bird at Publican or Butcher & Larder.

xp dang

really haven't gone anywhere else fancy recently, been trying to save $ for wedding & honeymoon (looking like Puerto Rico!)

Takeout is a good idea.

xp nice!

Good afternoon! PQM will be offering Turkeys for the holidays. Our prices are $3.75 per pound for non-organic turkeys and $9 per pound for the Heritage organic turkeys. Weights range from 12-14 pounds up to 26-28 pounds. Please call PQM at 312-445-8977 to plae your order! Thank you

http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?pid=1&m=3

you probably already saw this but if not...

Longman & Eagle did Thanksgiving last year:

The L&E is pleased to announce a special series of Thanksgiving tastings, focusing on a very special ‘family style’ menu created by executive chef JARED WENTWORTH. The menu will include…

Roasted Heritage Turkey
“Green Bean Casserole”
Piggy Brussel Sprouts
Bourbon and Orange Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Spaghetti Squash, Chanterelle Mushrooms, and Tarragon
Chestnut Foie Gras Stuffing
Pommes Roebochun
Sweet Potato Pie

2 seatings are available (3pm or 6pm)

tickets are $65 and available HERE.

(Please note that beverages and gratuity are NOT included in the ticket’s purchase price.)

Dunno if they're doing it again ...

Oh, snap, they are: http://www.longmanandeagle.com/blog/2012/10/thanksgiving-family-style/

Announced 30 minutes ago, hah ha!

October 15, 2012

The L&E is pleased to announce that we’ll be accepting Thanksgiving reservations, where we’ll be offering a very special ‘family style’ menu created by executive chef JARED WENTWORTH.

Roasted Heritage Turkey
“Green Bean Casserole”
Piggy Brussel Sprouts
Bourbon and Orange Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Spaghetti Squash, Chanterelle Mushrooms, and Tarragon
Chestnut Foie Gras Stuffing
Pommes Roebochun
Sweet Potato Pie

Taking place Thursday, November 22nd, the price will be $65 per person, and reservations can be made by calling 773-276-7110 between the hours of 11am and 6pm.

so hungry

Yeah, Dan, I've been checking out the Open Table list. That's where most of the fancy restaurant buffets are. David Burke's is doing a decent looking sit down meal, so I was thinking about that one until I started looking more thoroughly. I LOLed to myself at the thought of taking my family out to Beef & Brandy for Thanksgiving.

L&E is very promising.

I might steal their menu -- I feel too lazy to think of my own and it sounds SO GOOD.

FWIW, we made a bourbon and orange cranberry sauce last year, and it was awesome.

usually i just do orange cranberry, but bourbon is sounding awfully good with those two things (although generally i don't like hot booze)

We had a very delicious dinner at Bristol with my parents recently.

This will be very nice:
http://www.balsanrestaurant.com/menus/thanksgiving.pdf

Whoa that does look really good.

http://www.tv.com/m/news/19-highlights-and-lowlights-from-lifetimes-drew-peterson-untouchable-with-gifs-27635/

Oh dear.

I won two tickets to the Swans show from CHIRP!

Hey, awesome! We'll see you there!

http://www.tv.com/m/news/19-highlights-and-lowlights-from-lifetimes-drew-peterson-untouchable-with-gifs-27635/
404 - Error retrieving page
:(

sarah doesn't want to go to the swans show so if anyone wants my +1, let me know ASAP

i might have a taker

Not interested in Swans, but on a related note, I have an extra ticket to Tinariwen at Old Town School on Sunday at 6 PM. (Kr is going on a last-minute biz trip.)