All posts by cemego

Chronicles of the Absurd, Connect-O-Pics, Cool stuff, Grinds My Gears, Midwest Musings, silly, Travelogue

Chicago is Freakin Cold!!! EEEK!

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Spent the first time in my life actually IN Chicago for a few days thanks to Will and Spamalot.

Stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites on E. Ohio St. in Chicago.

Not a bad hotel but had a totally USELESS couch in the living room.  It was like a small broken fold out bed love seat thing.  The cushions didn’t even match the couch.  It was like dumpster reject furniture.  Word of advice for this hotel:

Look, you are a hotel in a very VERY cold city.  People sometimes just want to stay in the room instead of go out into the “balmy” 10 degrees you got flyin around your streets.  This means your TV’s/Internet will be used and so will the couch!  If the couch sucks, don’t synthesize a passable one from other broken couches… THROW THE DAMN THING OUT!

This obviously didn’t occur to them because you couldn’t sit on the couch for longer than 5 minutes without severe back pain or a wedgie!

Other than the couch, the hotel was pretty nice.  Beds were clean and comfortable and bathroom was clean and shower had great pressure.  The view from the room was pretty cool too!

Click for a big picture
View from Comfort Inn and Suites Chicago. Click to download a better image!

Had a great visit to the skydeck at the Willis Tower (the former Sears Tower).  It was 103 stories up.  (And NO, the skydeck was not “calling to me” as the stupid website would say.  I just like tall buildings.  (Stupid marketing copyrighting dorks!!))  The elevator ride was wobbly and scary.  The view was incredible.  I took a few pictures and tried to make a “connecto picture” like I did in Atlantic City. This is out the north east side of the Willis/Sears tower overlooking the city with hancock tower (black tower), trump tower (silver tower), and lake michigan (big blue body of water!)

Click for a biggy version!
Northeast view from Sears/Willis Tower! It's a "Connecto-pic" ala cell phone! Click to download a better image!

Also did the thing at the tower where you can walk out on the glass box and look straight down.  It’s really creepy.  I found looking up at the very top edge of the building to be the most dizzying.  Looking down at your shoes was pretty common:

Looking out the side of the glass box to the OTHER glass box made ya kinda queezy.  Seeing the city from 103 stories up BEHIND other people floating on the side of the building was pretty sick!

In summary, had a great time.  It was REALLY nice to see/spend time with Will.  He made all sorts of fun arrangements so we could get around and see as much as we could despite the cold weather.  (MY GOD PEOPLE, IT’S THE COLDEST PLACE I’VE EVER EXPERIENCED IN MY LIFE!  I DON’T SEE HOW PEOPLE LIVE THERE!)

I must say, the ride to and from Chicago was really fun!  I took 476 north from Philly then I-80 all the way across.  Witnessed some very beautiful mountains and very bizarre weather patterns.  My car looks like a salt lick right now (real pretty on a black car).  It was an 800 mile commute one way.  Took a perfect 12 hours each way.  Not bad!  Had to fill my tank 3 times each way.

Indiana still has the best turnpike with the 70 mph speed limit but their self serve “insert dollar into the sucker” tool booths suck.

Stupid Toll Booths

Ohio still smells funny and takes forever to drive through.

Stinky Ohio

And I still wasn’t “welcomed” by a sign or anything into Illinois!

NO! You are NOT welcome!

So there is my Chicago trip in review!  Sorry about the reused graphics, but somebody has gotta recycle around here!  Shiz!

Chronicles of the Absurd, silly, Space Weather Alerts

Way to go NASA!

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With all the hate going towards the government and anything it pays, yet still cashing their checks these days, the rocket scientists at NASA announce that they have “an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life ” that exists in arsenic ponds on….Mars?….Venus?…no Earth.

If life can exist in arsenic ponds here, it has to on other worlds which contain arsenic. And oxygen. And carbon. And nitrogen. And water. So, when looking for other life, we need to look for other Earths right? So how is this a breakthrough? In a time when space travel, space telescopes, space shuttles, and even NASA itself is on the chopping block, this is not the kind of PR campaign that is going to keep your doors open and keep the enlightenment of finding out about the universe we live in ALIVE from the those whom want us to live in the DARK and under the FEAR of an all seeing and all knowing celestial dictator.

Political

The BEST View on Obama and the Economy I Have Read So Far!!

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Robert Reich put it best!  It isn’t the government that is causing our economic woes and tearing it down and downsizing it is destroying any protection the middle/working class in this country have!!

Read the article!  This guy is putting it better than anyone so far!

And if you are a republican or fox news fan, don’t even bother reading it.  You wont agree with it anyways!

The big question is:

Quiz: What’s responsible for the lousy economy most Americans continue to wallow in?

A. Big government, bureaucrats, and the cultural and intellectual elites who back them.

B. Big business, Wall Street, and the powerful and privileged who represent them.

(And if you are wondering, I think it is TOTALLY answer “B”!!!  Answer “A” is totally a tea party ignorant Fox News viewer answer!)

Cool stuff, silly

A Little Laughter has Died! Long Live The Legacy of Leslie Nielsen

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Leslie Nielsen

Possibly one of my all time favorite comedy actors has passed away.  Leslie Nielsen! I will miss him!  I will honor his memory by watching all 6 Police Squad episodes (in color).

A quote to remember him:

“Sometime, when the crew is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to get out there and give it all they’ve got. And, win just one for the Zipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Doc,” he said, “but I won’t smell too good. That’s for sure.”

“I just wanted to tell you, good luck and we’re all counting on you.”

Political

Nothing like a fresh morning pinch of justice!

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Here’s something to be thankful for on the Thanksgiving holiday!!

When real justice in our country is so hard to come by, THIS just made me want to dance!

Tom DeLay, that money laundering prick, is finally getting his due… IN TEXAS no less.   They should send him to the chair since they enjoy that sort of thing so much down there!

Smile for the camera, JAILBIRD! Don't drop the soap!

Good blog posting from the Wonkette in DC.

Maybe there is still some hope left for this stupid country and its system of justice.  I wont hold my breath until they lock up Dick Chaney to end our long political nightmare!