Chicago MMXII

I only remember making joke after joke about the name of Nightwood, but I guess I could eat there. Is it easy to park? I need to chauffeur my date most of the time.

It's in the middle of Pilsen, so parking is easy and hailing a random cab might not be.

Also, Publican Quality Meats has a burger night on Tuesdays that would be very worth trying.

Kr and I had our 1st anniversary dinner at T-men. E's take is good -- creative food, unusual flavor combos w/o any conceptual gimmickry. Cocktails were great, too.

I like Publican, but I'm less eager to return there than to check out their offshoot, Publican Quality Meats. Keep meaning to hit it up for a weekend lunch.

Was so-so on Bristol the first time I went (late 2009) but enjoyed it a lot more when Kr and I went on a whim a few months ago and sat at the bar. Seemed like the menu had changed a fair amount. (More pescatarian options, at least.)

I still don't mind communal seating, but I guess I haven't had any experiences that have been worsened by it.

xposts (Didn't see that PQM had been mentioned.)

Would like to try Nightwood again. The location sometimes feels like a hindrance, but I know that it also makes it easier to get into than a lot of comparable establishments.

I'm a broad broad so communal tables mean having to sit hunched up and curled in all through a meal to avoid encroaching on my neighbor. And that only works if the neighbor is equally as mindful, which never happens. I just hate it. I like to relax when I go out to eat, which means I want a constructive bubble around my table. Having someone else's knife on my napkin or elbow in my ribs shatters that illusion.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Btw, Lula is continuing its tradition of "dressing up as" another restaurant/bar for Halloween. This year's it's "The Violent Hour."

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/10/durhams-bridge-death-will-decapitate-any-tall-truck/3707/

I encourage you to watch the video of all the trucks trying to drive under the bridge.

the campers were my favorites

ahahahaa

The ones that just keep on going, leaving the top of their trucks behind, are my favorite.

Actually, no. The two hay trucks are my favorite.

The hay trucks are awesome.

great video.

we have nothing planned this weekend
i'm so excited

lol @ your display name

La Lachera (or any chilxors ?) hitting Afghan Whigs tomorrow ? Gotta highly recommend - good musicianship all around ... Now to gear up for Metro oversold BS...

Afghan Whigs were so good at Metro over the summer that I almost don't feel the need to ever see them again. Like, game-over level set.

metro wasn't as packed as usual for swans, i was pleasantly surprised. i have had a couple of claustrophobic issues at shows there.

I'll be there!

I hope they turn down the lights. SWANS were under some kind of blasting surgical lamp and it kinda distracted me from my full immersive experience.

Has anybody found out more about the various questions on the ballot for the upcoming election? Alderman Joe Moore's site (http://www.ward49.com/site/epage/138795_322.htm) has some pretty good recommendations, but I guess I'd like info from more than one source.

I posed the question about ballot initiatives on my fb and twitter, and this is the only response I got. I make no claims as to its veracity/nonpartisan-ness.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Illinois_Public_Pension_Amendment,_HJRCA_49_%282012%29

please tell me if i am on/off base wrt the pension question:

we are being asked to decide if we want to fulfill the state's obligations to pension funds first (at the expense of schools) or to funding schools efficiently and fairly (at the expense of pensions)?

why does it take a village to answer this question?!

I also saw this from a very pro-union friend.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/420470_3899883381346_967843496_n.jpg

That doesn't really help because it seems awfully skewed toward favoring the pension over the funding of education.
Is my interpretation accurate or am I off base? I truly don't know.

I'm not voting on any of the referendums. Can't find enough information regarding them.

Oh yeah, it's completely skewed because it's put out by the firefighter's union.

I'm not sure how the pension question connects to schools, other than it all comes from the same pot of money?

I don't think it does directly connect, seems like it's being used as a wedge in this case.

I hope they turn down the lights. SWANS were under some kind of blasting surgical lamp and it kinda distracted me from my full immersive experience.

I figured that's Mr. Gira wanted it. Remember there was that guy climbing around on the lights? I can picture Gira sweating, screaming, and pointing furiously until the roadie got it right.

Oh, I was going to tell you, right after you left, he did that thing where he he spits straight up into the air.

My former union feels similarly about the pension question. It's something about how state employee pensions are governed by the constitution and if we open up the constitution for an amendment, it gives the gov a chance to really get in there and restructure or eliminate the whole pension system. Given the level of animosity between Quinn and AFSCME (girl, you should see the proposed contract provisions that man was putting I the table; he doesn't give a fuck about union endorsements anymore, which is a little scary for state workers) and the Midwestern trend of mauling public sector collective bargaining rights, that's a realistic fear.

The school thing is a distraction, IMO.

he spit the water into the air while i was there too
i saw some spitting

the lights though, i can't dig that
maybe he was trying to punish us
(i can dig that i guess)

also are you trying to say that the education thing is a complete red herring or ?

The wording of the pension question that's like "do you want to let us tinker with the constitution so we can reduce pension money and use it for education or are you some kind of a monster who hates children and murders kittens?" It's stacked and per AFSCME, not honest.

i'm be totally honest and say that this conversation has not really helped to clarify the issue for me
:(

Per unions: The people who wrote the question want you to vote yes so that legislators can gut state worker pensions, which will negatively impact state workers. Legislators might use some of the money they save in retirement benefits to state employees to fund schools. But more likely they will somehow manage to not do that.

I say "per unions" bc that's the bias. However as a former (yay) state employer who was privy to some of the less publicized pension tension, I think the unions are OTM.

Yeah I don't take this to be a defunding of education as much as a wedge to get people to vote against the interests of big scary union commies.

Also, lol "defunding of education" in this state, as if they could do much worse.

I guess I am very clear about what the union side is; I don't understand what the other side is. The union side is not particularly convincing to me so I'm just curious what the other side is suggesting.

It seems to me the other side is suggesting that if govts were able to more easily rewrite contracts & pension arrangements that money would be saved and the pension system made more sustainable.

Yes.

And let's be clear - the problem with the pension system is not that people have pensions. It's that the state govt has used the pension fund as its own personal payday loan provider for years, to the point that they cannot pay it back. So their solution is to erase their pension obligations, thus erasing the debt. It's ugly.

here's a mobile page with the recommended judge votes, copy the link into your phones

http://www.mobilejudges.com/

Ok that last part is what I've been missing. Thanks!

Oooo nice. xp

The counter argument is that since the state govt cannot pay back their pension obligations, the only hope is to hardman the pension fund and get the state out of the hole. Breaking eggs for omelettes, etc.

HELLO. I am here to tell you about voting for judges. The mobile page Nick posted is awesome, and if you want a little more info, here it comes.

First, for a handy chart of various bar associations' "JUDGES: C or D" list, see here: http://voteforjudges.org/2012_GENERAL_ELECTION_RATINGS_from_the_Alliance.pdf
For detailed information about the evaluations conduced by the Chicago Council of Lawyers, see here: http://voteforjudges.org/State_Judicial_Evaluations_for_November_2012_final.pdf

Or, if you want Carl Agatha's Judge Voting Cheatsheet, read on.

Supreme Court
Vote for Mary Jane Theis
She's rated as highly qualified, and while her opponent, James Gerard Riley, doesn't sound like a bad guy, he lacks the breadth of experience that you really want in a supreme court judge. These are the big leagues so you want your best people on the bench. Also, let's be real, Theis is a Democrat and Riley is a Republican and with my fundamental right to bodily autonomy somehow still under debate, I don't want any conservatives anywhere near any high courts, and you probably shouldn't either.

Appellate Court
Every appellate court judge is running unopposed, and they are all democrats (HI CHICAGO), and nobody seems to have any problems with them, so you can save your poor fingers and just skip this part.

Circuit Court
If you happen to live in the 8th Judicial Circuit and want to make a statement, you can vote for all of the qualified candidates and skip the one candidate rated as not qualified. That's Elizabeth Mary Hayes and she's a political hack with no judicial experience who got the nomination because of who she knows and not because she is going to be a good judge. If you don't live in the 8th Judicial Circuit, you're on your own.

Retention Elections
Based on unanimous or near-unanimous "no" votes from the afore mentioned bar associations, vote NO on the following judges:
Cynthia Brim
James Egan
Joyce Marie Murphy Gorman
Gloria Chevere
Christopher Donnelly (he has a few "yes" votes, but he's rated as "Not Qualified" by the CCL because he's reported to be a demeaning, mean-spirited bully with a bad temper and an "unabashed" pro-prosecution bias, and fuck that.)

I'm also going to vote "no" on Lisa Ruble Murphy even though she's rated as qualified because she's a family court judge and discourages people with "irreconcilable difficulties" from going to trial, which to me is code for "makes people in abusive relationships sit through mediation with their abusers," and I think that's terrible. The CCL rated her as qualified, so YMMV.

Also, just some straight up polliticking: Mike Quigley and Anne Williams are AWESOME and if you are in their districts, you should vote for them. Like, I actually feel good and excited about voting for them. And if you're in Jan Schakowsky's district you already know how amazing she is, probably.

Anybody have any input on the freaking Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioners? I swear to god, I can't vote for where to eat lunch without having to vote for a water reclamation commissioner.