Entries from March 20th, 2004

Chicago Card Plus

March 24th, 2004 · 13 Comments

Chicago Card Plus

Yesterday I applied online for a Chicago Card Plus which will allow me to manage my transit card online and reload it automatically from my credit/debit card. It’s kind of like EZ Pass, but for people! Other benefits of getting a Chicago Card Plus as opposed to getting a card from the vending machine is that if your card is lost or stolen it can be replaced without losing your balance, you get a 10% bonus each time your card is reloaded with $10 or more, and you only have to touch your card to a touchpad instead of inserting your card into the turnstyle. The Chicago Card Plus works in any CTA rail or bus. No more CTA vending machines and no more wondering how much is on my card. It’s usually $5 to get a card, but through the end of this month the $5 fee is being waived. I’m so excited!

The Washington D.C. Metro has a system similar to this called SmarTrip but without the online feature or the automatic reloading. I wish New York City had something like this when I lived there.

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Spring Has Sprung

March 23rd, 2004 · 13 Comments

Buds

Buds
Mystery Buds, Wicker Park, Chicago

This weekend I was poking around the front yard* and saw a wooden board in the flower bed. When I lifted it up there were these buds growing out of the ground. Does anyone know what they are? Tulips? They have to be a bulb, right?

*By front yard I mean the 6′ x 15′ patch of grass in front of my house. It’s fun to call it the front yard even though it barely qualifies. When my landlord first showed me the apartment he apologized that it wasn’t much and I said “Hey, it’s 100% more grass than my apartment in New York has!”

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Satan Gave Me a Taco

March 22nd, 2004 · 9 Comments

Satan gave me a taco and it made me really sick. The chicken was all raw and the grease was mighty thick. The rice was all rancid and the beans were so hard. I was getting kinda dizzy eating all the lard. There was aphids on the lettuce and I ate every one and after I was done the salsa melted off my tongue. Pieces of tortilla got stuck in my throat and the stains on my clothes burned a hole through my coat.

My stomach was a’tremblin’ and I broke out in a rash. I was so dry and thirsty and I didn’t have no cash. So I went and found a hose, tore off all my clothes, turned on the water and it shot right up my nose. Some old lady came along and she thought I was a freak so she beat me with her handbag ’til I could hardly speak.

I was lying there naked, my body badly bruised in a pool of my own blood, unconscious and confused. Well the cops came and got me and threw me in their van and I woke up on the ceiling and I couldn’t find my hand.

They took me to the judge, his eyes a’glowin’ red. The courtroom was filled with witches and the dead. Well the sheriff was a hell-hound with fangs and claws. The prisoners were tied up and chained to the walls. The air was getting thick, the smoke was getting thicker. The judge read the verdict, said “Cut off his head!”

Well they placed me on the altar and they raised up the axe. My head was about to explode when I noticed the Marshall stacks. I noticed all the smoke machines, cameras, and the lights. Some guy with a microphone runnin’ around dancin’ in tights and I noticed the crew and the band playin’ down below and I realized I was in a rock video.

So I went and joined the band and I went out on tour and I smoked a lot of heroin and I passed out in manure. I made out with the groupies, started fires backstage, made a lot of money, and I gave it all away.

Well the band got killed so I started a solo career and I won all the awards and I drank all the beer and I opened up the taco stand just to smell the smell. Cookin’ with the devil fryin’ down in hell.

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The lyrics to Satan Gave Me a Taco by Beck have to be some of my favorite lyrics ever. EVER. I love it. I only know one other person who is into this song as much as me and we’ve had several conversations about it over the years and have sung it together on occasion. Every time I play it for anyone else they’re kind of like ‘uh.. yeh.. ” But I can’t get enough of it. Beck is genius.

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Shopping and Then Dinner on My New Table

March 21st, 2004 · 19 Comments

Crate & Barrel
Looking Down 5 Floors, Crate & Barrel, Magnificent Mile, Chicago

Crate & Barrel
Looking Out the Skylight, Crate & Barrel, Magnificent Mile, Chicago

Dining Room Table
My New Dining Room Table, Wicker Park, Chicago

Rachelle
Rachelle, Wicker Park, Chicago (Photo by Nancy)

Seared Scallops with Lemon & Dill
Seared Scallops with Lemon and Dill, Wicker Park, Chicago

Nancy's Salad
Nancy’s Salad, Wicker Park, Chicago

Rachelle & Nancy
Rachelle & Nancy, Wicker Park, Chicago (Photo by Josh)

Nancy and Josh came down today from Milwaukee to go shopping on Michigan Avenue and to help me with some things around the house. We went shopping first and then came back and Josh assembled my dining room table and chairs while Nancy and I cooked dinner – seared scallops with lemon and dill. We also had rolls, a garden salad, and shoepeg corn. Dessert was apple pie a la mode. Josh also helped me hang a full-length mirror and some miscellaneous hooks around the house. Josh is my rent-a-husband.

I am so excited to have a dining room table now.. Also, two days ago I bought a set of silverware because I knew Nancy and Josh would be over for dinner. In New York I survived for 2 1/2 years with only one knife, one fork and one spoon and that is all that I had before I bought the new set. I feel so grown up. Now I just need to get some dishes and glasses. Tonight we had to eat our delicious meal off paper plates and disposable bowls! I’m getting there little by little. It can be annoying to have to get everything from scratch, but it’s fun because this is the first time in my life that I’ve been able to go to the store and pick out everything, exactly what I want, and not be hanging on to hand-me-downs that I have just because they were free but that I don’t really like.

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Anti-War Protest

March 20th, 2004 · 8 Comments

Anti-War Protest

Anti-War Protest

Anti-War Protest

Anti-War Protest
Anti-War Protest, The Loop, Chicago

Nancy and Josh and I came up from the subway at Clark/Lake today and found ourselves in the middle of an anti-war protest. Today marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war. Over 5,000 demonstrators flanked by police officers met on Michigan Avenue to march through the streets of downtown Chicago. Jesse Jackson addressed the crowd beforehand and urged everyone “It’s time to fight back: Remember in November.” The march was one of 250 anti-war protests scheduled around the country by United for Peace and Justice.

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