sugarcrook

Packing up now to head to LA for a few days to wrap up a client project. Hopefully, this trip will have less suck than the previous two for this client. I haven’t been to LA often, so I’m interested in checking the place out. With winter coming in Chicago, a new venue might be needed.

The toll booths for eastbound I-90 are undergoing construction, removing 4 toll lanes, which really slows down traffic. During the construction, the brilliant minds behind the IDOT decided to swap the I-PASS lanes and the cash lanes. If you don’t know what I-PASS is, it’s that piece of alien technology that allows you to pay tolls automagically.

I don’t believe in reading road signs, so I missed the lane change notice and rolled right through the I-PASS lane with $0.80 in my left hand. As visions of getting a $50 violation filled my head, I remember that Illinois was offering toll amnesty until Oct. 21st. Then I promptly forgot about the entire matter. After all, I was on my way back from a golf lesson and had more important things on my mind.

Fortunately, I remembered over my eggs benedict with side of bacon and just got off the phone with a pleasant woman who assured me that I wouldn’t be getting a violation. Apparently, you don’t get one until you’ve had a handful of violations. It just doesn’t make sense for the State to track you down for $0.80.

I’ve been wrapping up the various projects in my condo to get the place ready to sell. The last major event is building a mantle for my fireplace now that it’s been mortared (thanks Anthony!), which means a trip to Wood World. The name isn’t an exaggeration. It’s truly a world of wood. It’s also a world that I know nothing about.

My dad can walk into one of these stores and he’s completely in his element. I can’t tell the different between crown whatever and end caps. All I know for sure is that maple is fucking expensive. Over $400 in wood. I got wood, baby. Well, I’ll have wood on Tuesday when they deliver it.

And there’s some new math I’m not privy to. No matter what, you need 14′ of shit when your measurements come out to 27.75″. And you need four different kinds of that shit.

It better look perfect when it’s done.

In case you haven’t been following along, I have two cats. They’re starting to hit the teenage months, which has been hell for me. The constant fighting, condescending stares when I tell them to get off the island in the kitchen and late nights have really taken their toll.

The most aggrevating thing by far is when Hannibal jumps onto the kitchen counter when I’m in the office. He announces his disobedience with multiple meows, only to jump down when he hears the casters on my office chair sliding on the floor. He mocks me because he knows I can’t do anything to him. After all, I can’t prove that he was on the counter, even though I heard him land. So I glare at him, which isn’t as effective as a three-round burst from the spray bottle.

At least Clarice kicks his ass when they fight.

With my condo going up on the market in December, it’s time to find a new place. I’d prefer not to end up in another condo, so I’ve been looking for a slightly run-down single family that I could do some work to in the Wicker Park/Bucktown area. However, after looking around, I think I’m going to have to head farther north, towards Ravenswood Manor or Lincoln Square.

I’m looking for a house with at least 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The rest of the house doesn’t really matter since I’m going to gut the kitchen and probably the garage. Some yard or the potential for a roof deck is required. Any suggestions?

An EU commissioner (whatever that is) has stated that long summer holidays hurt the European economy. Ya think? Take six weeks off at a time and it’s going to hurt your GDP. But it’s not the fault of the citizens. Why work like a dog if your government is going to tax you 2 euros for every 1 you earn?

Then there’s the ridiculous labor laws in European countries. Easy to hire people, impossible to fire, so employers don’t have any flexibility in staffing. France’s 35-hour work week has been hurting their GDP for years.

My infrequent vacations are the ideal. I only work half days (12 hours).

Slashdot is carrying a story that some test equipment found life in Mars-like conditions, near volcanoes. Then the story goes on to explain that the gear found a “complex microbial community.” I’m unimpressed. I have a complex microbial community in my shower.

If I can clean it up with SoftScrub, it’s not life.

The Economist has named Vancouver as the world’s best city to live in. I’ve only been there a few times and wouldn’t mind going back. However, I’m not sure I could live there, being that I hate Socialists and all. The top ten cities to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, are:

1. Vancouver
2. Melbourne
3. Vienna
4. Geneva
5. Perth
6. Adelaide
7. Sydney
8. Zurich
9. Toronto
10. Calgary

And for the adventurous, here are the bottom 10 cities in order of suck:

1. Tehran
2. Douala
3. Harare
4. Abidjan
5. Phnom Penh
6. Lagos
7. Karachi
8. Dhaka
9. Algiers
10. Port Moresby

    I can’t believe there are no cities in New Jersey on that list.