A Thin Blue Line

When I was in high school I used to go down to the city quite a bit for various reasons. In college this continued as I made a lot of friends who went to DePaul.

At some point, I started riding the blue line a decent amount. I'm not really sure when, but before I moved to the Wicker Park area I was definitely on it from time to time.

There used to be two blue line stops which were absolutely my two favorite stops in the entire Chicago public transportation system. They were Chicago and Grand. The reason they were awesome is that when you got to the stops the nice pre-recorded train announcer would tell you what stop you had just arrived at.

"This is Chicago."

I always thought that was hilarious because clearly you knew you were in Chicago.

"This is Grand."

Hehe. This is grand, isn't it?

Ok, I'm a nerd. As if we hadn't already established that. But now, sadly, they say "Chicago & Milwaukee" and "Grand & Milwaukee." Stupid blue line pre-recorded train announcer. I can't believe they spent money to change that.

the view from across two ponds

I have been traveling around the world since about the time Obama announced that he would be running for the presidency, and here and there I have heard people talk about him and ask me what I think, etc etc. But I could not believe the excitement of all the people here in Tel Aviv about the election, almost every person I encountered yesterday on my first day here was just as excited for the election as I was; they were equally as excited about the prospect of Obama winning.

Which brings me to the point I wanted to make... I have a lot of respect for McCain and I don't think our country would be in a bad spot with him at the helm. But the amount of hope and excitement that Obama brings to the entire world is something that just can't be equaled.

Seeing everyone out in Grant Park tonight while I am out in Israel made me kind of sad, I wish I could have been in Chicago for this historic moment in our history, but I can't wait to see what is to come for the next 4 years.

we really do need a 20 foot wall on the border

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27407564/

This is truly a fantastic story.

If I had a dollar for every time someone said "I wish I had a nickel for every time _______ happened," I’d be a lot fucking richer than those idiots.

my life's calling

is it too late in life to quit everything i'm going and become a video game tester? i think i missed my calling with this whole finance thing...

Spell "I cup"

What fricking moron designed the modern day urinal? Anyone who understands even the simplest aspects of physics understands that if you shoot something at a flat, vertical surface it is extremely likely that it will shoot right back at you. Why isn't the back of the urinal angled away from you (from top to bottom) so that it shoots DOWN instead of right back out of the urinal???

for those days when there isn't enough change between the seats

thanks to EBell for finding this one

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27167122/?GT1=43001