otm, I’m hoping all week won’t be this bad, but I’m betting it will. Things get so hectic just before the holidays.
it’s so unpredictable when things are going to suddenly get crazy at this job. no rhyme or reason.
living the bachelor life for the next few days.
my work is ridic too, but I’m taking like 6 days off so it’s not that surprising
still I could do w/o this headache and the prospect of staying until 6
there’s nothing like explaining something to four adults and then 5 minutes later eavesdropping as they try to puzzle out how to do the thing you just explained to them
lol
I’m struggling with a deadline for a project on Tuesday the 3rd. This deadline was chosen long ago by our clients so we’re kind of stuck with it, but its turning into a nightmare because, for whatever reason, our firm is giving us Friday the 30th off but not Monday the 2nd. So we’re here that day, but all our consultants on the project are off.
if i can just straight-up be a dick for a second, there are too many olds trying to figure out databases in the library today
My work is extremely slow, as it always is around the holidays. Which is great, after the ridiculous 2 months we’ve had around here. And Liggy mentioned in passing that she was going to give herself and me bonuses. Hoping the Jerkstore firm is feeling generous after last week’s trial victory and the hundreds of billable hours we put into it last month.
if I’m gonna be here past 5PM I am eating several holiday theme packaged york peppermint patties
That is fair.
when sarah’s out of town i watch lots of movies. last night i was really wiped out so i watched “scream.” it was funny how many times they talk about the “cellular phone” in that movie. then last night and this morning i watched the david hyde pierce-starring horror/thriller/black comedy “a perfect host,” which was pretty ridiculous but had some funny stuff in the middle and a complete unnecessary twist in the last 20 minutes.
jesse, z_s, et al—any idea for a time to meet at delilah’s on thursday?
So we are having lunch brought in today to celebrate the wedding of a coworker, which is super cool and so glad for free lunch. But we get an email five minutes before it starts saying, “please provide your own beverages”. Except, we don’t have a fridge to keep drinks in or vending machines anywhere in our building, so we’ll all be stuck with water. How hard is it to plan to have beverages too when you get food catered?
What kind of beverages were you expecting? (I just drink coffee and water at work, but maybe that’s just me.)
I typically drink water too, but like if we have an outside lunch presentation they usually bring a narrow selection of like sodas and juices. I’m weird, but I don’t like drinking water with meals since I drink so much of it throughout the day.
I think it’s reasonable to offer soda with a catered work lunch if you work at a for-profit, private sector place.
Linguists and language enthusiasts: I would like to talk about leaving the object off prepositional phrases beginning with “with.” Examples: Do you want to come with? Just bring it with.
Specific questions: Where do people say this? My childhood BFF’s PA Dutch grandmom said it all the time. Why have I started saying this now that I live in Chicago?
I feel like I’ve heard that all over the place, really. I mean, I don’t think I could pin it to a certain demographic without paying closer to attention to who says it.
I can say for 100% certain that the quickest way to annoy my wife is to end a sentence like that, particularly with “at”.
Sentences ending in a superfluous “at” make me crazy. Just leave off the at!
The “come with” is a sin of ommission.
NICK: I don’t care. It will be at ZS’s convenience, I suppose.
ZS: Report to Chicago thread, plzs.
I mean, I work on Thursday, so probably 6 at the earliest.
jaymc, are you joining us?
Why have I started saying this now that I live in Chicago?
I am pretty sure this is a Chicago/Midwestern thing.
jaymc, are you joining us?
Possibly. I haven’t decided yet.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/tribu/ct-tribu-words-work-midwest-20101208,0,2295075.story
Which brings us to “come with,” probably the most common example of Midwest speak. “I’m going for coffee. You want to come with?” (Also works for “bring with,” “go with” and most verbs indicating movement.)
John Spartz, assistant professor in the department of writing studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth, explored the famous phrase in his PhD dissertation: “Do You Want to Come With?: A Cross-dialectal, Multi-field, Variationist Investigation of With as a Particle Selected By Motion Verbs in The Minnesota Dialect of English.”
He says “come with” can be traced to the upper Midwest’s heavily German, Norwegian, Swedish and Dutch roots.
“Basically these immigrants landed here, and in learning English took some of the nuances of their languages and mapped them on to English,” Spartz says. “There are some super technical linguistic reasons that happened, but essentially the phrase is prevalent in a variety of those languages so it makes sense that it would find its way into English as well.”
interesting graphical representations of a few different ‘hoods
John, thank you. That is interesting.
I am finding it kind of fascinating how the designer focuses on the present for some of the neighborhoods and the past for others. I don’t aesthetically like all of the logo designs, but it’s a really neat project.
Yeah those are interesting, although I’d kind of like to see a couple different designers take this project on, if only to get some alternate views on what they’d come up with.
That would be cool.
jesse, z_s, et al—any idea for a time to meet at delilah’s on thursday?
sorry, today’s been insane, just now getting online. i’m with jesse, i’m flexible. but in general, the earlier the better for me. i’m finishing up interview stuff around 3 to 4pm, and will probably just kill time shopping and hanging out wherever until we meet up because the friends that i’m staying with won’t get home from work until later in the evening.
Me and my hair will be ready to board the party train at 7:45 so just text me if you’re all still around and I’ll come over.
I couldn’t get there until like 5:30–6 at the earliest.
how about we just say 7pm?
Sounds good to me
OK, I think I should be able to stop by at least. I may be going out after work with coworkers, but I can easily hit up Delilah’s on the way home.
7:00 p.m. at Delilah’s. I will be there, forcing Malort down Zach’s face hole.
They don’t have food, huh. They’re going to have a DJ playing Otis Redding and Sam Cooke songs though. That’s nice.
Maybe Sam can “Cooke” you some food.
If Delilah’s is too loud or whatever we have 1 bajillion other options, by the way.
Other options w/in a block or two: Witts, Paddy Longs, Racine Plumbing*, Rocks Lincoln Park*, Rose’s**.
*High likelihood of dudebro clientele.
**No food.
Racine Plumbing? Is that really a bar?
Yes it is.
Paddy Longs is selling Malort t-shirts now fyi guys
sorry if hueg
I want to try Delilah’s at least, if it sucks we can meander over somewhere else.
Totes. I just like contingency plans.
So what are we going to do if there’s an unexpected, sudden, and apocalyptic blizzard while we’re at Delilah’s?
If I didn’t live in Chicago, I would totally want a Malort shirt. I would kind of feel like a tool wearing it around here, though.
What is our contingency plan if the DJ plays the song “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s?
Answer: burn down Lincoln Park.
JOHN: have you heard/read about Tha Grimm Teachaz album? It’s supposedly a lost rap album recorded for a major label but shelved in 1993, recently rediscovered and rereleased. In reality it’s Serengeti and a couple of other dudes doing straight 1993-style rap (like Cypress Hill/early Wu-Tang) and it’s also the origin story the Serengeti character who does “Dennehy.” all the cultural references are circa the early 1990s and the guest rappers are old dudes who were rapping at the time, like son doobie. It’s pretty fun.
you can also stream the album on bandcamp and they have a bunch of videos on youtube
I think I read about it but haven’t heard — thx for the tip!
i don’t know if it’ll be your thing but thought you might be amused by the dennehy connection
A vendor gave me a gift bag that included this toy beach chair, in which, per Jenny’s request, I am letting my Wite Out relax.
wow that’s a large image. sorry.
Your White Out has never looked happier. It’s positively glowing!
Ah, the beach chair is for a cell phone, according to the rep’s email.
Her email tone was weird. It almost sounds flirty.
Thank you so much for taking a moment out of your busy day this morning to meet with me! It was a pleasure chatting with you for a bit in the conference room. I hope you’ll get good use from the Starbucks card. I seem to need that caffeine fix right after lunch…and then again at 3pm… I hope your cell phone is in your little beach chair too!
I think our boss just gave us off on Friday!!!
Merry Christmas!
Haha yeah! I love Jesus now!
we get out at 3 on friday which is cool except i’m flying out of ohare at 8 and was planning to go straight from work to the airport. i don’t want to come home because it’s more awkward to get to ohare from my house. so i guess i’ll go to a museum or a movie or wander around wicker park for a little bit.
i feel surprisingly good this morning, aside from a little tired. i went to the diner near my house this morning and had an omelet and potatoes, which i think helped.
I was tired and headachey this morning, but I drank some coffee and that helped. Now I just want to go home. Also I’m annoyed at how obscenely productive I’m being today. I have churned out more work this morning than I sometimes finish in two days.
I made it through without a trace of a hangover. I could go for a nap, but that’s no different from any day.
I think the plan for the rest of the day is:
Shower
Take shirts to cleaners
Haircut
Sit at the neat little locally-owned tea shop and organize my Firefox bookmarks.
i’m eating a chipotle burrito. i decided that i will go straight to o’hare when i get out at 3 and gamble on trying to get put on an earlier flight. it’s too cold outside to wander around.
I’m bored. Who is in town this weekend? I want to do some shit. I want to see people and I want to see life.
Jesse: me too! We could do that kind of thing together, if you would have any part of that.
Heaven help, my parents gave my grandmother a laptop and set up an email account for her for Christmas.
I’m at Ohare and through security 3.5 hours before my departure time. My flight doesnt even have a gate yet. But there’s a semi competent lite jazz band playing Xmas carols.
And directly across from the band, seats with electrical outlets!
This band is not very good.
Oh shit they’re doing a seriously awful blues jam now. I guess they didn’t learn enough Christmas songs.
Ask if you can sit in and then
AND THEN STEAL THEIR BANDWIDTH
Haha, it took a minute for me to figure out that the image had been replaced. V. funny with the wrong one. What was the image supposed to be?
Kenan, what are you up for? I may not want to drink? Email me.
It was Michael J Fox totally shredding in the prom scene from Back to the Future.
My mother sent us six pounds of scrapple for Christmas.
BAND WITH THEFT
hey if any of you dingalings want to go with me to ikea tomorrow around 11 (date and time not negotiable) lemme know
i’m driving there anyway, might as well have some company
We are at Maria’s in Bridgeport and it is everything I hoped for and more. Also I might be drunk.
Amanda how was Ikea? Normally I’d be on that invitation but we were just there not too long ago.
Oh hey I added TWO SONGS to the spread sheet.
It was fine! Not too busy, no traffic, and I got exactly what I wanted. Now my records have a slightly more dignified home.
Expedit?
yup, what other options do i have? it’s tons better than what i was using before.
We have two! It’s a delightfully versatile and cheap piece of furniture.
And we don’t have any records.
i have one of your records and i cherish it
before today we were using this “coffee table” i made for dan for his 25th birthday to hold the stereo — and knowing me, you know that tables/precision work/carpentry is not my strong suit. it was ridiculously conceived, painted red and aqua, and covered in superman comics and that lacquer people use to make decoupage or cover the wood on a bar. still, we’ve been using this monstrosity to hold the stereo for all this time.
today, on this very day, we have graduated to expedit.
i realize that the superman table is an object of love, but i’m tired of looking at it and wondering if it’s ever going to collapse. still, not going to pitch it, don’t worry.
Wow, Kr is throwing up tons of pictures of us from the wedding. My nap was interrupted by a fury of iPhone alerts of being tagged.
guys my sister is going to be in chicago for a few days later this week, with old college pals: what should she do???
Dance like no one is watching and judging her clothing choices.
Maria’s in Bridgeport
xp lolollllll
lol
rw, what is she into, where is she staying, etc?
Also, you know the town, so I guess you’re asking for special events, new discoveries?
well i was pretty terrible at doing chicago-stuff while i lived there, i just hung with pals and went to bars, so i dunno??
Wow, Kr is throwing up tons of pictures of us from the wedding. My nap was interrupted by a fury of iPhone alerts of being tagged.
Argh — sorry about that. It was actually me. I had no idea it would sent multiple notifications to each taggee.
I will think about what I would do. Is she going to be on her own?
A cop in front of Water Tower Place just remarked to another cop “it’s like fuckin Ford City out here tonight.” I can’t think what that might mean besides that there were large numbers of black people pouring out the doors at closing time.
Xp its fine, I just wondered where all the pictures went.
rw i don’t know what your sister should do — i would probably just send her to time out or the reader and look for things that are interesting to her. if she’s hanging out with gal pals, she probably isn’t like TOURISM, so they will have the resources to figure out how much or little they want to do while they’re here.
also guys? totally going to this tonight, pls join if you feel you would enjoy it
Free with admission, takes place in MCA theater
J.R. Robinson is a Chicago-based sound artist who works under the name Wrekmeister Harmonies. He has exhibited his videos in numerous museums. Robinson screens his video, “You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me,” and conducts a live score that is sonically similar to ambient black metal. Several renowned artists participating in this performance include Jef Whitehead (Leviathan), Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors), Bruce Lamont, Sanford Parker (Twilight), Stavros Giannopolous (Atlas Moth) and Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded) as well as a string section and harpist.
I remember seeing bloodyminded back at the wire fest several years ago. All of his songs were really short.