My current commute brings me to within a block of the Harold Washington library, a 9 story monstrosity in the Loop. I had some time last night after work and needed some books that my local branch didn’t have, so I decided to pick them up rather than have them sent. I now remember why I hate that library.

I need a fiction title; fiction is on the ( Read more... )

Some of my clothes were starting to get a little tight, so I thought it was about time to get back into the only two forms of exercise I actually enjoy: biking and swimming. Biking in Chicago is easy: there’s beautiful bike path that runs all along the lake, right past the downtown skyscrapers into the southern side of the city. We’re only a few ( Read more... )

From a CNN article about a new heroin blend popular with teenagers:

"A double whammy -- you're getting two downers at once," says Dallas police detective Monty Moncibais. "If you take the body and you start slowing everything down, everything inside your body, eventually you're going to slow down the heart until it stops and, when it stops, you're ( Read more... )

Although this is my second summer in Chicago, it's the first one I'm working in an office rather than from home ( Read more... )

We called our first cat Loki because when we were watching him for his previous owners the first summer he managed to escape from a locked up house three times. We ended up adopting him later that year, and while we were in England he and the other cat we got became outdoor animals ( Read more... )

US detainee 'mentally tortured'

While I have no doubt Gitmo inmates are tortured (and would be happy to get into a long discussion on whether torture is ever acceptable), this guy really lost me on the last paragraph:

Later, Mr Khan produced a list of further examples of psychological torture, which included the provision of "cheap, branded, ( Read more... )

Ooo - my downstairs neighbor says there's a big box sitting in the hallway, and according to UPS it's this, which the mean nasty eBay fairies forced me to buy from our tax refund. They did too force me. They were vicious

I want to go home now and play with it.

I just got this email; nice subject line. So now spam comes with truth-in-advertising standards?

******
from "Grant, Leopoldo"
to Areia
date Mar 26, 2007 1:59 PM
subject Fraudulent Spam.Dear Homeowner ( Read more... )

My heart is racing, my throat is dry and I feel like hiding under my desk. What's caused all this? I made an appointment with a dentist ( Read more... )

The future is now:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6425927.stm