Interesting: Tag, I'm it

Cody says
I'm it, so here you go. Five things you don't know about Matt Kuzma:

1. I have performed karaoke in three countries, including "You Were Always on My Mind" during a high school trip to Switzerland and a recent performance of "Careless Whisper" in Mexico. What makes a great karaoke song? A groove, little to no instrumental solo, words like "la la" or "na na" that the crowd can sing along to. Please, no American Pie. Thanks.

2. I hate The Cure, but secretly like them.

3. I love running, but secretly hate it.

4. I need to buy new pants.

5. I miss my Aunt Linda.

Interesting: Helsinki Complaints Choir

From the new I+H favorite, Very Short List.

Not Helpful: Don't make a decision

From Talking Points Memo:

November 2006:
"President Bush said Monday that he has made no decisions about
altering the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, and he refused to discuss
the pros and cons that would accompany such a decision."

August 2005:
President Bush said Thursday no decision has been made on increasing or
decreasing U.S. troop levels in Iraq, saying that as "Iraqis stand up,
we will stand down" and that only conditions on the ground will dictate
when it is time for a reduction in U.S. forces.

April 2004:
"Gen. John P. Abizaid, the senior commander in the Middle East, has
asked for contingency plans for increasing the number of troops in
Iraq. No decision has been made to supplement the 134,000 troops now
there, and White House officials said it was unclear whether such a
move would help the situation."

November 2003:
"The President is going to do what is most effective in Iraq, and he
gets recommendations from his commanders on troop levels and what is
needed. No decisions have been made about future troops levels," said
National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice.

Helpful: Best pillow ever

I've had neck and arm problems for a long time, and one of the worst symptoms is sleep difficulty. Thanks to a cheesy infomercial featuring a guy who looks like a washed up old rocker, I found out about the Homedics Therapy Pillow, which has turned out to be amazing. Buy it.

Helpful: Google Bomb the Elections

It's worth a shot.

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

Interesting: Benson

Who knew sleeping was such hard work?

Interesting: A nightmare

No more Bell's in Chicago?

Helpful: Eight more things I learned

1) The ladies love Jeremy Piven.
2) Replacing a bike seat is expensive.
3) Replacing the numbers from a lost cell phone is impossible.
4) Guess what? No matter how powerful you are, your e-mail and IM's will NEVER be private.
5) Everything wrong with America can apparently be traced back to Bill Clinton's penis, which shall forever be referred to on this page as "The Clenis."
6) Trader Joe's is the best grocery store ever.
7) The HP 12-C calculator can figure out just about anything.
8) Want to hear something loud? Sit inside an 'L' car when it's hailing outside.

Helpful: Ten things I learned this week

1) Taxicabs have little magnets in their seats that attract and steal cell phones.
2) I can still understand 60% of the Spanish I hear.
3) The crucial question when writing standards of detainee treatment is: What would Jack Bauer do?
4) Running an actual website is hard, but great.
5) The rule of thumb Debt Coverage Ratio is 1.25.
6) Powerpoint animation is teh shnattt.
7) People who smoke weed while playing softball should not be surprised when they start playing poorly.
8) Today was a bad day for the CTA.
9) Entourage is an awesome show--I'll be meeting Jeremy Piven next week.
10) Riding your bike home in the rain after your seat gets stolen is a sad, effective workout.

You Faithful Tube Democrats dot com

Interesting and Helpful: Faithful Democrats

FaithfulDemocrats.com is up and running!

Interesting: Bookeaters and The Long Winters

We went to a fundraiser concert for 826CHI on Thursday at Park West. Saw some amazing things:

1. Ira Glass of This American Life worked his magic, producing a brilliant audio piece right in front of our eyes and ears. Ira had an iPod in a big white DJ dock which he somehow used to mix interview clips, music, and his own voice. Sublime.

2. John Roderick of The Long Winters played a great acoustic set just 30 seconds after jumping out of a cab from O'Hare. The website has five free MP3 tracks; I highly recommend them all.

3. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie played a nice mellow set on guitar and piano. He even played Cindy's favorite song from their new album.

Helpful: Framing the health insurance debate

Here's a tip: Lose the phrase "cover the uninsured."

Helpful and Scary: Katrina flood graphic

From nola.com

Interesting: One cartoon says it all

Helpful: Win by not fighting?

This post by Kevin Drum today is exactly what I have been thinking about lately. Does massive military retaliation actually achieve the goals we want it to?

Panic! on the Disco Ball

Panic! on the Disco Ball
Originally uploaded by kuzmatt9.

Indigo Steve at Lollapalooza.

Offensive does not equal offense

Just to clarify: delusional, unobjective support for the Iraq War is not the same thing as being "tough on the war on terror." Hear that, Joe Lieberman?

Helpful: Google Send to Phone for Firefox

No surprise that I love this new Firefox extension. It has:
1. Google
2. Firefox
3. Cell phone texting
4. Usefulness

What more could I want?

Interesting: Secret Radio Project!

My hometown NPR station, Chicago Public Radio, has a secret. Me likey.

IL-10: Is Mark Kirk a Republican?

Look at his website, and you tell me. Wonder what he's ashamed of.

I+H: Happ arrives

After years of anticipation, I can finally read Mike Happ's political writing at my leisure, thanks to his new blog. And you can too.

Interesting: The costs of war

$2 Trillion?

Helpful: Weather Underground

When I look for weather online I want two things: 1) a current radar map, and 2) a 5-day forecast. I've found a site that gives me that without having to click through a million links. Weather Underground does it. And for $10/year, it's ad-free. Animated Doppler!

Interesting: Latest from Fair Illinois

Just got this word from my friends at Fair Illinois, the campaign I helped run this summer. Good progress!

Interesting: Being Evangelical but not Republican

A fascinating story in the NY Times. I'm helping out a friend who is working on this exact issue. Be on the lookout...

Interesting: Bush is clueless

Where to begin?

Helpful: Back to the gym

After this long of a layoff, it's good to have a plan...

Helpful: Plastic Bag Empanadas

Justin from Too Many Chefs has a great trick for making the puffed pastries perfectly.

Interesting: Salmon Teriyaki at Mt. Fuji

Salmon Teriyaki at Mt. Fuji
Originally uploaded by kuzmatt9.

Since everybody's doing the Food Porn thing these days, I thought I would share this pic from our NC trip. Yummy!

Helpful! Google Notebook

Do you understand how helpful this is????

Google Notebook.

13. Can I access my notebooks from multiple computers?

Yes. That's one of the best parts about Google Notebook. You can access your notebooks from any computer at any time. Simply log in to your Google Notebook account from www.google.com/notebook. This will give you access to the full-page view of your notebooks. And if the notebook extension/add-on is installed on the computer you're using, you can use the features of the mini Google Notebook, too.

[Tear.]

Interesting: Dan Seals

I've been volunteering out in Wilmette for Dan Seals, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the tenth district. Throw a few bucks Dan's way. He would be a great representative.

Helpful: Courage!

A friend recently told me that she was afraid to take a next step in her career.  Then the next day I saw this quote from Ambrose Redmoon in a book I was reading:

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

Go for it!

Interesting: The Coronation

I was at the Cook County Democratic Committee meeting today where Todd Stroger, son of County Board President John Stroger, was elected to succeed his father on the November ballot after President Stroger's stroke and withdrawl from office this spring.

There were about 80 voting members of the committee--50 ward committeemen from Chicago and 30 from the suburbs. There were also plenty of media and probably 60-80 public spectators.

The Players:
House Speaker Michael Madigan presided over the meeting. Two candidates were named: Stroger and U.S. Rep Danny Davis. (IL-7) Each candidate was given a few minutes to speak, then committeemen were invited to speak on their behalf.

Davis went first. Man was this guy good.  Ph.D. in Health Administration, 26 years in elected office, served on the County Board for 6 years, great speaker. On the nepotism of nominating Todd Stroger, Davis said, "We all have lineage, heritage, and ambition. But family ties  and pedigree should not trump experience."

Davis also alluded to some of the Cook Democratic Party shenanigans of the past, saying, " I don't want my children growing up, feeling that they have to move to another part of town in order to work in city government."

Finally, he hinted that he knew he would lose the battle, but warned the party that their actions were being watched. "I have a strong feeling that your decision today may not be with the people. You should listen to the beating of the not-too-distant drums. There are indeed rumblings."

The crowd in the gallery was nearly 100% for Davis -- he received great applause during and after his speech.

Alderman Stroger then spoke. Stroger seemed to say all of the right things, laying out all of his experience bit by bit. He took care to list every committee and task force he took place in while in the Illinois House, which seemed a little like resume padding, but not too objectionable. Stroger was not nearly as impressive a physical presence as Davis, but he didn't screw anything up. He left that to his supporters!

Davis' supporters spoke very well. Stroger's supporters made some dubious arguments. Especially bad was that of Ald. Burt Natarus, who said that when he talks to constituents about what's wrong with government, they say the Post Office, and since Danny Davis is on the subcommittee for the Postal Service, "Actions speak louder than words. He didn't deliver." Natarus then went on to say that "afro-Americans" have good jobs at the Post Office, and that "they can go ahead and have it - they're good jobs."

One suburban speaker made an interesting point: "Who better to carry on the Stroger legacy than Todd Stroger?" Kind of speaks for itself. Other speakers did their best to avoid giving any compelling reason to vote for Stroger, instead seeming more obsessed that electing Stroger was not part of some sort of "back-room deal," in a "smoke-filled room."

The final speaker on Stroger's behalf said it best, however.
"Todd Stroger has what it takes. He has the experience. As for acadmically, I don't even want to talk about that. We have elected a Board President before who only got it because he had the money!" What a compelling argument! LOL.

The final vote was 50-10.
Here are the committee members who voted for Davis:

Chicago Wards
7, 15, 16, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 33, 35, 37, and 48.
Peg Roth of 43 voted "present"

Suburbs: Evanston, New Trier, Northfield, Oak Park, Palatine, Proviso, and Wheeling voted for Davis. Riverside voted "present"

All others voted for Stroger. Find your committeeman at http://www.cookcountydems.com/

Helpful: Billy Returns!

Striding Lion will be running Billy the Mountain again for three shows only before heading out for the New York Fringe Festival. Come see the show!

Interesting: World Cup photo

Zidane
Originally uploaded by Kaptain Kobold.

The crucial moment from yesterday's World Cup final, captured in Lego form.

Congrats Sid and Dianna!

Congrats Sid and Dianna!
Originally uploaded by kuzmatt9.

Just got back from three days of Indian wedding festivities in North Carolina. Sidharth and Dianna looked great and seem very happy these days. So fun to see Sid's family and old friends from high school, and to meet new friends as well. More pics to come.

Sid on a horse

Sid on a horse
Originally uploaded by kuzmatt9.

Helpful: Google Video

Where else can you find great movie trailers like this one?

Helpful: Great recipes, no spam

The kids over at Too Many Chefs have been fighting some nasty comment spam lately, so they came up with an ingenious plan, not to mention a fabulous side-dish for fresh carrots. Bravo!

Interesting: Great campaign ad

It doesn't get better than this:

Bye bye, Joe Lieberman.

Helpful: Pay up, Wal-Mart!

My urban planning program starts back up again in two months, so it's about time I started catching up on the latest news. His title is cut off in the introduction, but Nik Theodore is Director of the Center for Urban Economic Development and an Assistant Professor at UIC.

Interesting: Back from vacation...

And I brought presents...

Blog Hiatus

I can't blog too much for a while. I'm busy!

Interesting and Annoying: Jim Nayder

Packing up here at Eggs McKuzma central for Monday's move, and The Annoying Music Show came on.  It's the most painful 5 minutes in radio, and I love it. NPR has a few of his choice clips here. Prepare to be amazed.

Interesting: David Mead!

We've been fans of David's since his first album dropped in 1999, and in the summer of 2003, I even had a chance to go to a song writing workshop where he was teaching. I've always been amazed by his death-defying hair, his high, meoldic voice, and his catchy, catchy hooks.

His new album, Tangerine, comes out Tuesday, and rather than me writing a lame review, just listen to it and buy it, ok?

Early favorite:  #3, "The Trouble with Henry"

Interesting: Meanwhile...

Eight and a half months later...

Helpful: Don't take this on the road

I guess this is how these LiveJournal meme things work:

Look at your MP3 collection. What is the worst possible mix tape you
could make? Now these don't have to be songs you personally don't
enjoy. But these would be songs you know if you forced your friends to
listen to it on a long road trip you would be left at the road side,
even if it was your car.

1. "Magazines," Wes Cunningham - An ode to Jenny McCarthy
2. "Bugs," Pearl Jam - Accordion abuse
3. "Seed to a Tree," Blind Melon - Even the Bee Girl hates it
4. "In the Springtime of his Voodoo," - Tori Amos - Exhausting
5. "P-Poppin'," Ludacris - Wow is that song filthy
6. "Winding Road," Bonnie Sommerville - This was on the Garden State Soundtrack?
7. "How Does a Duck Know," Crash Test Dummies - Deep question from a very deep voice
8. "Lilac Wine," Jeff Buckley - Stick a pen in my eye!
9. "I'm Going to the Place," Lyle Lovett - I love Lyle, but his gospel stuff gets old
10. "Freaks," Live - Choice lyric: "If the mother goes to bed with you, will you run and call Geraldo?"
11. "Trees," Rush - Nerd war in the forest!
12. "Cup of Tea," The Verve Pipe - It's not, it's not, it's not my cup of teeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaa

Interesting: Corner of the Sky

Well, more like an ellipse, actually. UIC just unveiled a public art space on campus called a "skyspace." It's a public plaza with fountains and an observatory that are open year-round. I'll have to check it out and post some pictures Tuesday when I will be near campus; until then, check out the press release and this post with pics from local blogger John.

Interesting: Flickr Fire pic

Gas Fire 2
Originally uploaded by Mountain Mike.

Hey, just thought this was cool.

Interesting: US gets no respect

At least, not for World Cup soccer. The latest Tradesports index shows that the US isn't even favored to make it out of the first round, and has a 1% chance to win it all. Ridiculous.

Helpful: Memory Master

I was gonna link to this earlier, but, um, I forgot to.

Helpful: Crossing the chasm

Kid Oakland makes a brilliant point here that I hadn't expected. Now I need to go back and reread The Tipping Point.

Not helpful: Eight minutes on Ticketmaster

On a whim, I thought I'd try and get tickets for Radiohead that went on sale this morning. I entered the Ticketbastard waiting room at exactly one second after 10:00 AM and was kicked out at 10:08--all of the tickets were sold out.

Update: Some people have already listed the tickets on ebay and the price is up to $400 for 2 tickets. Not bad for 10 minutes' work.

Helpful: RCN

The modem fritzed out today, and the service call to the cable company was actually tolerable and helpful. The agent suggested I buy a new modem myself and gave me model numbers for compatible modems. That way, I would save the $5/month rental charge, get a $3/month credit, and save the charge of the service visit. Oh yeah, and there's a Best Buy half a mile from my house, so I had it purchased and installed in 30 minutes. So thank you RCN, Motorola, and Best Buy. Have a great weekend everybody.

Helpful: Go for it!

If a football team keeps kicking or punting on fourth down, statistical analysis shows that the coach is a big ol' wuss.

Helpful: Make Money by Blogging

I checked my Google Adsense account yesterday, and so far, I have made $1.12 this year. Woo hoo! Looks like I need to read this article by Steve Pavlina.

Helpful: Mint Julep time

One reason I love the Magical Computer Internets: no need to retype the recipe for Maker's Mark Mint Juleps. I can just do this.

Interesting: Pay more, get sicker

So, we pay $5,200 a year on health care in the U.S. and Britain pays half as much. Yet we're sicker, even if you pretended that Brits were as fat as us. National healthcare now, man.

Helpful: Blogger Navbar

A quick template note--the blue bar at the top of the screen now has functional search for this site.  So if you want to search for some junk, go right ahead. This update let me remove the Google search bar from the middle of the screen--phew!

Helpful: Immigrants

With any issue in current events, there are always lots of theories being cast about, but not too much data. Once again, I've gotta give credit to the Center for Urban Economic Development at my college; its research about the positive economic impacts of immigrants plays those Minutemen for chumps.

Just a year ago, Republicans made a huge deal about Social Security--who will be around to work and pay taxes when the Baby Boomers retire? Oh no! Now, they want to evict 10+ million relatively young workers and families that pay payroll, sales, and property taxes. Brilliant. Since the data isn't on their side, I believe that the real issue for conservatives, as always, is the fear of people who are different. Different languages, different food, different customs.

Get over it people. This is a big country. There's room for everybody. Now lets set up a program so we can let as many people come in as we need, give anyone a chance to earn citizenship, and make sure that anyone who is here has ID. Done.

Interesting: Free Audible Trial

Audiobooks and podcasts are great; I took advantage of a free trial from Audible.com a few months ago and listened to Bill Clinton read his autobiography. Ah, good times. You can get a free 14-day trial, too. Just be sure and tell 'em kuzmatt9 sent ya.

Interesting: Happy MA Day

As in "Mission Accomplished."

Helpful: Bush gets burned

Stephen Colbert took President Bush behind the woodshed last night and gave him his whuppins. If you haven't seen this, I can't possibly do it justice. Just watch it. I mean, he's busting George Dubya, who's sitting ten feet away. Amazing. Oh, the transcript is here, in case you can't get video. Enjoy.

Helpful: Where to find more cowbell

I have a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.

Helpful: Ween Radio

If you need to listen to Ween, 24/7, go right ahead.

Helpful: Very Special Saved by the Bell

Who else remembers this moment?

Thanks Cindy!

Interesting: Segway Polo

Maker Faire
Originally uploaded by quinnums.

When the nerd war begins, this will be the world's official sport.

Helpful: Jane Jacobs and used boxes

Moving boxes are expensive, and if you don't have a car, they're a pain in the butt to collect and bring home, even if you can snag them for free. Luckily, and just in time for my move, someone in Chicago figured this out. (The link goes to a craigslist ad which isn't permanent, but if you search "used boxes Chicago" I'm sure you'll find others.) This particular service picks up "gently used" boxes from the people who have moved in, then delivers them anywhere in the city for a flat fee. Brilliant.

It's just another example of how, in a big city or big company, smart people can take waste and turn it into profit. 3M didn't plan to make Post-It's--they wanted to make sandpaper. Turned out, the leftover glue from the sandpaper was more valuable than the sandpaper itself. Jane Jacobs, a social activist and prolific writer in economics and urban issues, wrote about this concept of economic advancement in her book "The Economy of Cities," which I'm just now finishing. Jacobs died this week at the age of 89; if you want to have just a little taste of what urban planning program is about, read Jacobs' book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" from 1961. RIP, Jane.

Helpful: Find a poem

Need to find that perfect poem for a romantic evening, a wedding, or Kwanzaa? The Poetry Foundation can help.

I recommend this one. That Lord Byron sure was smooth.

Helpful: Free phone*

*results may vary.

Someone around here needs to read this...

Helpful: How to find a new apartment in two hours

1) Look at ads on Craigslist
2) Find great-looking ad; call number.
3) Reach agent on first ring; tell her you will be there in 30 minutes.
4) Head to the 'L' platform; catch a train with no delay.
5) Get off at Argyle; walk by a dozen Asian markets and restaurants.
6) Get to apartment on Winnemac right near Clark St. in Andersonville; see that it is same rent as your current apartment but way, way nicer.
7) Realize that you have met the agent before--you bumped into her at a friend's garage sale where they were all drinking margaritas.
8) See one other apartment; realize that it can't compare to first one.
9) Call agent; set up lease signing for Wednesday. Done and done.

Interesting: Flickr overload

Flickr was always a procrastination danger for me, but the fact that they have a separate stream of interersting pictures for Google Homepage absolutely sealed my doom.

Helpful: Move it!

Anyone else need help moving? Or is it just me?

Helpful: Google Calendar

I've gone through a lot of gadgets and software on my path of Getting Things Done, from a Palm III to Outlook to Yahoo! Calendar to Microsoft Entourage. But I think I've found my home. This Monday, Google released their long-awaited Calendar, and it took me all of 60 minutes to adopt it 100%. Last year, I had read about how you could use GMail as both e-mail and to-do list, and with GMail open in one tab, GCal in another, and the personalized Google homepage in the third, nothing gets past my kung-fu force field.

Oh, and Evite, your days are numbered. Google events in Calendar are faster to set up and respond to, way easier to use, and don't have annoying registration nonsense or big ad pages. Happy.

Helpful: Keep that Band-Aid on!

Domo arigato, Lifehacker!

Interesting: Growing into a Democrat

Between running, applying for jobs, and watching the European soccer championships today, I read this article by Kos that expresses why he's a Democrat now. I didn't serve in the armed forces, but instead, it was moving to a big city seven years ago that helped wake me up to an important article of my faith: we're all in this together.

Interesting: Kos is short

Just got back from Kos' book-signing tour. I only bought the book today, so pics and a review are on the way. Good times.

Interesting: Protests

Immigration Rally 4
Originally uploaded by Boss Tweed.

Here's I pic I found on flickr from today's pro-immigration rallies. So I guess The Onion was right...

Helpful: Open Space

March 19-23, 2006
Originally uploaded by kuzmatt9.

Today was so warm in Chicago. 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. I don't have class on Mondays, so I went for a run and took care of some errands.

One thing I've learned in my urban planning classes so far this year is how valuable parks are, even when it's too cold for anybody to use them. The weather turns, the people come back, and urban life carries on.

This pic is from the baseball fields in Central Park when it was 30 degrees out on a Tuesday morning. It makes me smile to imagine what they will look like this weekend.

Interesting: Lex

March 19-23, 2006
Originally uploaded by kuzmatt9.

Walking back from Central Park down Lexington Ave. was a real highlight of the trip -- can you believe this shot?

Helpful: Euphemism Generator

Quit cleaning the kielbasa!

Interesting : Pics from NYC Trip

March 19-23, 2006
Originally uploaded by kuzmatt9.

Be cool.

Helpful: DING!

Southwest Airlines, thank you so much. Ya know it's hard out here with a Mac.

Interesting: Notrivers

Yahoo! hot shot, Weezer frontman lookalike and "Best Best Man of the Year - 1999" Cody Simms has a new blog up. Right now, he's writing about AJAX, microformats, and other magical tools of the "computer internets." But soon, he'll be writing exclusively about the L.A. music scene. Hey Cody! Check out these guys!

Interesting: Forget Coachella

For the same price of flying to LA and 3 tix to Coachella, I just snagged 6 three-day passes to the best music lineup of the year. Who's in?

Interesting: A furry lobster

Scientists are cool.

Interesting: Eddie Rocks!

Apparently, guitar gods are still mortal. Really mortal.

Helpful: Up with SXSW!

Would you like 942 free mp3 tracks? No, it's not a trick question.

Helpful: Down with HCFS!

Devil juice, man.

Interesting and Sad: Cabrini Green

Towers of time
Originally uploaded by raypride.

Jennifer's posts about Cabrini Green reminded me to tell a quick story from my bus ride last week.

CG is an infamous housing project on Halsted St., halfway between my place and school. The picture here, which I found on Flickr, shows the status of one of the towers. Eventually, all of the 4,500+ residents will be moved to other housing.

Anyway, it was a Tuesday morning, and we stopped at the bus stop at the north end of the project. A black woman and her two young daughters got in. They sat a couple of seats in front of me. As we drove south, past the demolition, the girls looked out the window. One asked her mother, "Are they going to tear down our house too?"

I couldn't make out the mother's reply.

Interesting: What about the Houston Hemp?

Well, now it looks like the team owners of Houston 1836, the stupidest team name in American sports, have decided to change the name to something else.

What caused the change? I'd like to think logic or my persuasive skills had something to do with it, but alas, it was just politics. You see, 1836 was the year Houston was founded. It was also the year that the Republic of Texas declared independence from Mexico. Uh oh.

My suggestion: the Houston Humidity. It's unbearable!

Interesting: Lolla Peppers!

Lolla!
Originally uploaded by kuzmatt9.

Your Lollapalooza 2006 update courtesy of the Chicago Tribune Red Eye.

Interesting: Pi will blow your mind

Really.

Interesting: All Ira, All the Time

Here's a nice interview with Ira Glass of This American Life about the show leaving Chicago.

Helpful: Run, Forrest!

Here in Cook County, we've got a hot race for President of the County Board. The current president is John Stroger, an old-school patronage chief who has just about every one of his family members on the county payroll. He even built a new hospital a few years back to replace Cook County Hospital and named it after himself. That takes stones.

The best choice this year is to throw the bum out and put in Forrest Claypool, who cleaned up the Chicago Park District and has been a reliable good-government type on the County Board. If you live in Chicago or Cook County, there is early voting available from Feb. 27-March 16, so you don't even have to stand in line or run late for work in order to vote this year.

Way I look at it, voting in Forrest and Deb Shore is the second-best thing we could do politically this year.

Interesting: The Shining, Part 2?

Starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

I+H: Podbop!

Brilliant. Type in your city, and
Podbop finds the bands that are coming to your town soon, and podcasts for you a list of any free mp3's that are available. Sweet!

Interesting: The last 4 episodes?

Episodes 10-13 of this season's Arrested Development are airing back-to-back on Fox, Friday night at 7:00 Central.
I love this show, and I hope Showtime picks it up for next year. Where else can you get such honest debates about fashion:

Tobias: "Well, excuse me for liking the way they shape my junk."

Helpful: Performancing!

I loaded Firefox on my iPod Shuffle so I can use it at school instead of Internet Explorer (aka the devil.) Little did I know there was an easy-peasy blog editor for Firefox! It's a little cleaner than Blogger's interface, so I'm excited to use it.

In fact, why not start things off with a fun link, courtesy of StillWorkingHitz.

Helpful: The tough questions

Today, somebody found this site by asking ask.com a very interesting question.

Somehow, I don't think he found the answer.

Interesting: Let's go Wiz!

So maybe they didn't play all that great, and maybe they got some help from the refs, but a win is a win. Go Steelers. You can find game wrap-ups everywhere, but this morning, I want to direct you to a sports issue that you may have missed which will change the city of Houston, TX forever.

As you may know, I can enjoy watching virtually any sport, including the major four, plus billiards, golf, mixed-doubles tennis, lacrosse, boxing, world's strongest man, obscure olympic sports (especially water polo and curling) and lumberjacking. This broad appreciation of sports has helped me notice a major trend in the world of competitive athletics:

Team names in all sports are getting more and more ridiculous.

In the major American leagues of baseball, football, basketball, and hockey, the majority of teams have names that refer to living creatures or otherwise tangible objects, such as:
Animals
Human Occupations or Classifications (Packers, Steelers, Pirates, Mariners, Yankees, Redskins)
Articles of Clothing (Sox, Reds)

Starting in the 90's, with the expansion of more minor league teams in even more sports, I guess they just ran out of scary animals. The main offender here was the WBNA, which is full of bogus mascots:

Natural Phenomena: Storm, Stars, Comets, Sun, Sky
Unwanted Mental or Physical Conditions: Shock, Fever, Sting
Singular animal that sounds like it's plural: Lynx

Now, in a show of collective incompetence unseen since the Enron debacle, the people of Houston have decided to name their new Major Soccer League team:

Houston 1836.

That's right--it came to a vote, and the people of Houston named their team a number. Now, I love soccer, and I know that a few German teams have similar names, but that doesn't make this any less stupid. This is America, and if we can't have a cheer that goes "Here we go ________, here we go (clap, clap)" how are we supposed to follow along?

Interesting: New Navy Pier?

Yes, now that I'm a planning student, I'm paying attention to these things! Navy Pier, the top tourist attraction in Illinois, is looking at doing $400 million of improvements. See the plans here.

I think the water park, huge Ferris Wheel, and floating parking structures are a little obnoxious, but I love the monorail is a great idea -- anything to help improve the transit getting to the Pier and getting around. Oh, and monorails are always cool.

Update: I forgot to mention that I heard about this on "Hello, Beautiful", a radio show about art, design, architecture and urban planning. Who knew?

Helpful: The Rules

I'm glad I found this book on clearance at B&N last weekend. According to Esquire:

#217: Melon should be more popular.

#140: The best vowel modifier is the umlat.

#162: You can't think of the Gutenberg Bible without thinking of Steve.

#247: Any word employed as a prefix for "pants" results in a word that is funny, e.g.,
finickypants
funkypants
happypants
googlypants
nancypants
and boogly-booglypants.

And so on...

Helpful: PBWiki

I've been using PBWiki for about a year now. I used it to help manage our church fundraiser, and now I'm using it to help do a group project at school. The great thing about wiki's is that anyone in the group can easily add notes, photos, data, and links, and everyone in the group can check them out immediately. The user interface is pretty easy, too.

Oh yeah, and the basic account is free, too. Click the sandwich to check it out.

Helpful: Translation

Alberto Gonzales, at his confirmation hearing last year:

"I can't answer hypothetical questions."

Translation:

"I can't answer hypothetical questions truthfully."

I+H: An inclusive church

Just came over the wire:


Holy Covenant United Methodist Church invites all people to our

Reconciling Sunday Worship Service
celebrating ministry with
people of all sexual orientations

Sunday, February 12
10:30 am
925 W. Diversey Parkway, Chicago


Guest preacher: Beth Stroud, recently removed from the clergy for being in a covenant relationship with another woman.

Beth will offer wisdom from her experience and hope for all of our journeys. Come to be inspired. Come to be sent out for justice.

All are really welcome!
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Holy Covenant United Methodist Church
making room for all God's people + seeking justice for all God's people + finding joy with all God's people

Interesting: A new obsession

Did you watch last night?

Not Helpful: Blogger!

All of a sudden, my colors have changed and the sidebar is on the left. I'll see if I can fix this, but I may not be able to get to it until next week.

Interesting: UIC in the news

Nik Theodore, one of the professors in my college, is all over the news these days with a study about day laborers. This is an issue that I just don't know much about yet, but with immigration sure to be a top political issue this November, I'm glad to have access to such learned experts.

Helpful: Why I'm a Democrat

Because I want to do things.

I+H: Go Steelers!

What a game! If only the Super Bowl were being played at General Motors Field, I might have a chance to score a ticket. Since that isn't the case, and I don't have a spare $2,440 to spend, two Sundays from now I will be at home, wearing my lucky shirt, listening to the "Pittsburgh Steelers Polka," and watching as the black and gold take home a fifth Super Bowl trophy.

Polka link from SteelersFever.com

I+H: Go Steelers!

What a game! If only the Super Bowl were being played at General Motors Field, I might have a chance to score a ticket. As it stands though, two Sundays from now I will be at home, wearing my lucky shirt, and listening to the "Pittsburgh Steelers Polka" as they take home a fifth Super Bowl trophy.

Polka link from SteelersFever.com

Podcasting test

I'm trying out Audacity, the free, cross platform audio software so it won't take me so long to publish audio posts. Right now, my quickest podcasting tool is my cell phone, and as you know, the audio quality is less than perfect (not to mention the call waiting and telemarketers.)

The main advantage of Audacity is that it automatically exports to MP3. Very nice.

Helpful: Grow stuff!

Man, the Chicago Reader has been great this month. Very interesting stories about water policy, Debra Shore, and now urban gardening. [.pdf links] I remember seeing the Earthbox at the Wired Magazine NextFest last summer -- it was not as entertaining as the virtual nerd reality videogame deathmatch machine they had set up there, but it was far more helpful, in the long run. Apparently, this technology allows anyone to start growing produce out of this self-watering container. Inner city schools, prisons, and hipsters alike can grow fresh tomatoes, which of course makes them happy. I'll probably have to check with my landlord to see if she'll let us put one outside. I hope she says yes!

Interesting: Fire!

Pic of the Day.

Helpful: 100 free MP3's

Emusic.com has mostly indie labels, but free is free, people. You normally get 50 free MP3's during the trial period, but thanks to Schuba's Tavern, you get 100 instead. Sweet.

Helpful: Find a place to study!

Just in time, some good advice from Lifehack.org for my first day of school.

Helpful: Resolution?

2005 brought some big changes, but mixed progress on the 2005 resolutions.

1. Work out avg. 4X a week -- I was close to that until after the Half Marathon, getting sick, and hurting my knee. Then it all went downhill.
2. 36" waist -- getting closer.
3. Reading 20 books -- I did that. In fact, remember when I was reviewing ten books a month? That was crazy. I'm happy with my reading, for sure.
4. Blog 30,000 words -- Blogger's word count feature doesn't exist anymore, so I have no idea what my total was, but with it not being an election year, I know that output and traffic was down for the year. Oh well. I still enjoy it.
5. Work hard at Kaplan and see what shakes out -- Did that!

As for resolutions for this year, I want to:

1. Get my knee healthy and run 4 races, including the half marathon. I'd like to take another 10 minutes off of my time.
2. With school, I want to make straight A's and land a part-time and/or summer position in the field of urban planning or government.
3. Raise $10,000 for the church.
4. Travel to Coachella in April, somewhere great (and unknown as of yet) in July, and maybe Austin City Limits?
5. Get down from 215 to 195 pounds. That would be a normal weight for my height.

That'll work. Now I gotta go fix my lunch to get ready for school tomorrow. Sweet.

Helpful: Make up for your stinky car

If you drive a car, TerraPass gives you a way to make up for all that CO2 you're putting in th air. Get to it.

Helpful: Inspiration

Maybe it's the snow or the cold medicine, but I'm in this kind of mood.

Interesting: New Year's Eve Quotes

Heard on Saturday night:

"The curse of being a Walker is small genitalia -- a curse I've lived with my entire life"

"Has anyone ever told you look like that Jake guy from Brokeback Mountain? I'm not saying you look gay, by the way."

"I don't make it easy - don't do the flirt, eye contact thing. You have to come talk to me."

-Rebekah: "Matt, you could put your knee down so you don't fall."
-Matt [crouching]: "Rebekah, I'm not going to do that." [falls over]

"I said, 'Excuse me, are you a hustler?'"

"I wanted to buy him a vodka that would be impressive so I went with Thor's Hammer. Thor is a pretty kickass god."