Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin' in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight
But where it's headed everybody knows
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' downhere in the campfire light
With the ghost of old Tom Joad

Brewers!!!!!!!!!

Ahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

Lisa Edelstein and Rena Sofer

I can't be the only one who didn't realize that these were two different actresses. Here I had been thinking for years that Zack Morris picked up Bobbie Bernstein in a Hawaiian airport and nope that's not true.

Somewhat related I also thought for some time that Paula Marhsall and Carla Gugino were the same person. I picked up on my mistake faster but just now realized that Marshall is seven years older than Gugino.

The El Word

I've been thinking something over lately as I take my morning train ride to work, and to a less extent during the ride home as well. It's the idea of chivalry vs. feminism.

I get on the train early enough in the route that I have a seat on all except the rarest occasion when the train is irrationally late. There's a joke to be made here about the train always being late but seriously unless it's a half hour behind I'm just too close to the end to be on a full car.

So then it falls to me that when the train fills up at say Belmont or Logan Square that I have to decide if I'm going to stand up and offer my seat to someone.

Now I always do this in the case of an elderly or handicapped person without question. But many times I find myself sitting while a woman is forced to stand. There was a time when such an act would have me branded an uncouth ruffian and forcibly removed from the Hunting Lodge that very evening. There was also a time when people died of ptomaine poisoning and blamed it on ghosts.

I'm a staunch advocate for women's rights and gender equality. So by not giving up my seat I am treating a woman no different than I would a man. However I'm also a firm believer in just being a nice person so giving up my seat to a woman is just something polite I can do for a weary traveller on her morning commute.

Many times I'm too tired to make any rational decision or too focused on my reading to let the outside world interfere. Still I find myself more often than not just sitting and riding it out. Does that make me ungentlemanly? What's the consensus view on this?

Another quandary: does anyone else get worried that when they get off the train they spend the whole day smelling like the train?

Stone Cold Gunner

I don't have many other places to post this but I need to talk Arsenal.

So obviously I'm upset today. We lost to an inferior team in a game that we controlled throughout. It's frustrating to be sure but some fans are basically bagging the season already. This is insane to be sure and I'm certainly not ready to do that. They are also saying that Wenger should be sacked. This is profoundly insane.

Sacking Wenger means starting over from scratch as I'm positive that at least half the roster would leave. Many players come play at Arsenal just to play under Wenger and losing him means losing the core of the team as well as the youth. Sacking him is not an option. Restructuring his position could be. Wenger is known for two things: being a great manager and unwilling to spend an extra penny on what his determined value for players are. (Ok third thing: the "I didn't really see it" post-game interview.) If we want to change his decision making power in terms of personnel decisions that might be worth considering. But at the same time he is a tremendous judge of talent in general so he definitely still needs to be involved.

With regards to the season I think it's ridiculous to start making judgments. Many of our significant signings have been playing with the team for two weeks. To make an assessment of their abilities as a team now is rushing. That being said I thought that was a major mistake at the time. The signings should have been locked up much sooner to give the team time to adjust and understand each other prior to the season.

The Fabregas saga drug on too long though and Wenger wouldn't spend until that was over. (Nasri drug out too but that wasn't as distracting, although it was frustrating.) I wish it would have gotten done in the early summer to avoid this very problem but here it is. Related to that I am super pissed now that Gas is tearing things up for Barca that their president realizes that Wenger had him valued correctly and he was worth more than they paid. Thanks for saying that, wanker.

Regardless the main issue is how is this team going to be better than last year? We lost the middle of the field in Fabregas and Nasri?

I said when we sold Fabregas that we have to sign someone spectacular to replace him. That hasn't happened. Fabregas is an elite level player and Nasri is a good player who's shown signs of brilliance. Looking at who has come in there is Arteta, Benayoun and Chu-Young. All good players but no one of the elite talent of Fabregas. I said at the time that replacing an elite player with two or three good ones will not make this team better. My hope was that they spun the money directly and bought Wesley Sneijder. I still wish they had.

You can't count the defensive signings because those needed to be made anyway. Mertesacker is decent but can't be the anchor of the line. If Vermaelen were back there it would be different but he's made of glass and instead we have Koscielny, who is terrible. I'd be so much happier with Cahill but of course that meant spending an extra $4 million or so. Wenger didn't think he was worth that much. The difference though is that Cahill is much better than Mertesacker and to get that you have to pay for it. It's the market not the player sometimes.

Hazard would have been a nice addition but that fell apart. Supposedly he'll come in January and that might be a nice midseason upgrade. Still I maintain that Arteta, while good, is a player in a downswing of his career. Benayoun and Chu-Young are fine but really how much better than Arshavin or Ramsey are they? I'd take Sneijder and either of those two over any combination we can throw out right now. I realize that would mean spending more money. Great players are worth more money.

And how great would Van Persie play with Sneijder behind him?

Sorry for ranting. I needed to say some of that.

Colorado Trip Day 5,6,7: Centennial State Elastic Coils (Colorado Springs)

Colorado Trip Day 5: Happy Anniversary, I love you

Colorado Trip Day 4: I Believe I Can (Butter)Fly

Colorado Trip Day 3: I almost killed a clumsy coyote

Colorado Trip Day 2: That John Denver is full of...no actually it's pretty Rocky here.

Colorado Trip Day 1: Midnight Plane to Colorado

It made me smile and I don't know if I can explain it.

We went out and met up with some friends for Dave's birthday this past Friday. He chose Wrigleyville to try to get more of his friends to come out. I didn't really want to go to Wrigleyville and my concerns were somewhat validated when I had to dodge vomit three times on my from the car to the bar and that's not counting having to park more than a half mile from the bar. Admittedly that's not the worst case scenario for Wrigleyville at all.

Anyway we still wanted to go see Dave and other people regardless of of the fact that the atmosphere was noisy, hot and annoying and the clientele was just noisy and annoying. Still I enjoyed myself and could ignore most of that. Then I used the bathroom.

Posted on all the walls of the bathroom were pictures cut out from various issues of Maxim, Playboy and god knows what other magazines are out there giving me rankings of the top five places to take a date to ensure I'll get some. The women were scantily clad or unclad and mostly bleach blonde clones. I just rolled my eyes and focused on my task. Then my eyes drifted up and caught something that held my attention. In the midst of all these pinups and bikini bombshells was something unexpected: Maya Rudolph.

I don't really know why she was there but there she was, ripped from a page of something with an article she wrote. She was pregnant and dressed in a casual top and a spring skirt. And she looked gorgeous. Probably not to the kind of people who hung those other pictures but she looked absolutely beautiful.

I'd like to think that there was one employee at the place with good taste. If so, then kudos to you sir for making it public. I don't know why but it made me proud.

As far as omens go...

The other day I boarded the Blue Line on my way home. Not too odd, I do that many days unless I decide to take the Pink into downtown and transfer there. The day was ordinary, classes and labwork and not much else.

The platform had the normal amount of people on it. As the train pulled up I saw it had the normal number of people in the cars. The nice thing about working and living towards the edges of the Blue Line is that it's never full when it gets to me and I only have to stand when I transfer downtown in the afternoon.

I entered my car. I have the spacing worked out so I know which car will be close to the stairs when I get off. As I stepped in I saw all empty seats towards the front of this car so that's where I turned. I then caught nothing out of the corner of my eye.

Exactly that. Nothing. Rather nobody. The car was empty. Save for me and the feeling of unease this brought with it.

I've been on cars alone before, but that had always been really late/early after long nights or occasionally a strange time on a Sunday. This was a Tuesday afternoon at 4:15. I said cars are never full when they get to me but empty cars happen less than never. They are a myth.

My first instinct is something was wrong. There must be an offending odor or something disgusting somewhere on this car. I cautiously walked up and down looking for some explanation, my nose being notoriously desensitized. There was none to be found.

It lasted only a short while, although longer than a single stop. We passed Racine and got to UIC before other passengers boarded. The whole time I tried to figure out what it meant and why it was happening.

But it was just an empty car. An oddity, but nothing more.

Where does the time go?

I'll never get caught up. Screw it.

Favorite story from this past weekend:

Stripper: "Hey baby, you're cute. Want a dance?"

Oba: "I have to poop."

And the rage goes on (2010)

Time to wrap up the year again. This was the most important year of my life so far and it's hard to imagine it being topped. But what about pop culture?

GOOD

Movie: Inception
Cass and I just rewatched this and for all its flaws the movie is still incredible to watch. Good performances helped it out.
Runner-Up: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Like last year I didn't get around to seeing a lot of movies that down the line could easily become favorites (i.e. True Grit, The Social Network, others)

Television: Community
The evolution of this show has been incredible and I am in love with all of the cast members almost as much as I love all of the characters. I hope this show has many years so that we can see how the characters grow, which is the fundamental thing that happens in college.
Runner-Up: Louie

Music: Kanye West - My Dark Twisted Fantasy
For all of his flaws (and there are so so many) Kanye has never been one to release a boring album. This one is maybe his best yet although the hashtag stuff stands out a little too much.
Runner-Up: Motion City Soundtrack - My Dinosaur Life

Athlete: Landon Donovan
Landycakes gave us the greatest and most unforgettable sports moment of the year and of US Soccer history. It was amazing to see live and somehow still exhilarating now. Even though the tourney didn't finish out on a high note at all the moment remains.
Runner-Up: Georges St. Pierre

BAD

Movie: Hot Tub Time Machine
It takes an especially stupid script to mess up what is at its heart a mess of a movie. The funny parts were barely funny enough to make up for all of the stupid unresolved/unnecessary side plots and pointless scenes. The ending is one of the worst I've ever seen in a film.
Runner-Up: Date Night
Again I didn't see a lot of movies so I'm sure there were worse ones made.

TV: Lost
Thanks for validating my decision to never watch the show.
Runner-Up: MTV's Teenage Pregnancy Showcase

Music: OKGo - Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
Really underwhelming with ony one or two tracks worth adding to my playlist.

Runner-Up: Nick Hornby and Ben Folds - Lonely Avenue (need to listen to this a few more times but nothing stood out)

Athlete: Brett Favre
$50,000? If any of us did that we would be facing criminal charges. It's illegal to do that. Ugh.
Runner-Up: Ben Roethlisberger is a vile scumbag.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a good holiday. This song was chosen not based on nothing.

You and me we were the pretenders
We let it all slip away
In the end what you don't surrender
Well the world just strips away
Girl, ain't no kindness in the face of strangers
Ain't gonna find no miracles here
Well you can wait on your blesses my darling
I got a deal for you right here
I ain't looking for praise or pity
I ain't coming 'round searching for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch

Ain't no mercy on the streets of this town
Ain't no bread from heavenly skies
Ain't nobody drawing wine from this blood
It's just you and me tonight
Tell me, in a world without pity
Do you think what I'm asking is too much
I just want something to hold on to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch

Oh girl that feeling of safety that you prize
Well it comes at a hard hard price
You can't shut off the risk and the pain
Without losing the love that remains
We're all riders on this train

So you've been broken and you've been hurt
Show me somebody who ain't
Yeah, i know i ain't nobody's bargain
But, hell, a little touch up and a little paint...
You might need something to hold on to
When all the answers, they don't amount to much
Somebody that you could just to talk to
And a little of that human touch
Baby, in a world without pity
Do you think what I'm asking is too much
I just want to feel you in my arms
Share a little of that human touch
Feel a little of that human touch
Give me a little of that human touch

OMG

So one of the things that Cass does that makes me love her so is sending me pictures during lunch. Cass gets to stop home for lunch now that she's so close to home. I used to do this when we lived in the West Loop and it was great to see the pups in the middle of the day. Cass knows I miss this so she sends me pictures during her break of the pups or sometimes of random things (i.e. a bag of Oreos we forgot about that she stumbled upon).

Today I get a message with the only text reading "OMG." Here is the picture that came with it:

So just a quick note that if anyone out there thought they had the cutest dog in the world they were wrong.

Colin and Kristin's wedding was a blast. It was great to see O'Holl and Jenny, Dave and Mendy, Nate and Laura, Angela and all the other travelers in addition to everyone else. I had a great time and they really did things right.

I think we are removed enough from the event that I can reveal that Cass got ridiculously sick after the wedding. That's why we were only at the afterparty for maybe ten minutes. Sorry we couldn't hang out more but you can only cram so much enjoyment in one night.

To Colin and Kristin: I think you guys managed to beat us for farthest guest voyage for attendance. I am impressed.

For Colin and Kristin

It's not Thanksgiving yet but it's a more important day.

I've been working real hard, trying to get my hands clean,
Tonight we'll drive that dusty road from Monroe to Angeline,
To buy you a gold ring and pretty dress of blue,
Baby just one kiss will get these things for you,
A kiss to seal our fate tonight,
A kiss to prove it all night.

Prove it all night,
Girl there's nothing else that we can do,
So prove it all night, prove it all night,
And girl I'll prove it all night for you.

Everybody's got a hunger, a hunger they can't resist,
There's so much that you want, you deserve much more than this,
But if dreams came true, oh, wouldn't that be nice,
But this ain't no dream we're living through tonight,
Girl, you want it, you take it, you pay the price.

Prove it all night, prove it all night girl and call the bluff,
prove it all night, prove it all night and girl,
I prove it all night for your love.

Baby, tie your hair back in a long white bow,
Meet me in the fields out behind the dynamo,
You hear the voices telling you not to go,
They made their choices and they'll never know,
What it means to steal, to cheat, to lie,
What it's like to live and die.

To prove it all night...

HIMYMYABTT

That stands for How I Met Your Mother You Are Better Than This.

A while back I had a conversation with someone not imaginary (this isn't a standup bit) about the best shows on TV and they picked HIMYM for best comedy. I said I could respect the decision but couldn't agree because the show falls back on sitcom conventions a lot and while it does them well I like a show like Community that tries off-the-wall things and uses conventions to misdirect. But this post isn't about how great Community is, it's about how terrible this past episode of HIMYM was and how the show is capable of better.

The episode was a post-Halloween one and the plots were all trite and dumb. Examine:

- Marshall fires a coworker and has an attack of conscience. The guy wanted to be fired for the severance so Marshall when hires him back and he purposely tries to get fired.
THE TRITE: This is pretty standard for a sensitive-male character on a sitcom. Also the guy getting fired and wanting to be fired so he does his job poorly is pretty well worn territory too.
THE DUMB: First any attack of conscience Marshall had should've been gone when he found out Randy wanted to be fired. It takes bizarre sitcom logic to decide that hiring someone back who wanted to be fired is a moral highpoint. Second, no one can make you take a job back. Once he was fired Randy could've just walked. And lastly a person actively trying to get fired and doing so much wrong can be fired for cause. A standard clause in any job is that if you are fired for cause you are not entitled to benefits. This is a storyline that only works in a sitcom universe that ignores real world logic.

- Ted is popular with his students and is the "cool teacher." This all changes when the girl who is protesting the building he designing for GNB joins his class and turns his class against him.
THE TRITE: Someone from outside a character's job invading his job life and wrapping personal issue up in the professional life is basic sitcom storyline #8.
THE DUMB: This storyline bothered me like crazy. Ted can be really hard to like at times but this was a time when I hated him. Being the cool teacher who's friends with all his students is not a good thing. The only people who like those kinds of teachers are idiots. As a professor you don't want your student's friendship, you want their respect. This is obvious to anyone who has ever taught and the more you try to be a friend the less respect you will get. I'm not saying you have to be mean and humorless. Students respect human beings so be human but playing hackysack and grabbing beers with your students is the dumbest thing ever and doesn't make him sympathetic. I can't believe it took the whole episode for him to come even close to this realization and tell his students to stop behaving like petulant brats. Also the protest is dumb and the argument against it isn't "boo-freaking-hoo," it's "if no buildings ever got torn down because they were old then no buildings would ever get built." It's New York and old buildings are everywhere. If one is run down and falling apart ripping it down isn't a disgrace, it's a good idea and progress.

- Robin is feeling jealous of the attention her co-anchor is getting for a commercial she did and because she's cute. Robin goes out and shoots an embarrassing commercial for adult diapers.
THE TRITE: Embarrassing commercials are pretty standard and adult diapers is a pretty easy target.
THE DUMB: This commercial would never exist. It is beyond stupid even in a sitcom world. Also compromising like this makes it seem like Robin's professionalism is a mask and that she really wants attention. I can understand her feeling a little miffed at all the attention Becky receives but I can't understand her deciding the best thing to do is sell-out her ideals and do a commercial just like Becky did.

All of this stuff is annoying and made for a crappy episode even if some moments were amusing. What really pushed it over the top was the guys and their after Halloween ritual of standing on the stoop mocking the people doing costumed walk-of-shames in the morning. I don't have a problem with this as a premise in itself but the problem was the execution. The guys stand on the stoop and mock women for hooking up with people the night before. The jokes are all costume based but it comes across as incredibly misogynistic. Mocking guys in the same way should've been no problem and Lily could've joined in too just for some balance on the other side as well. It seems especially misogynistic for Barney to be out there doing it when he is guilty of hooking up with random girls all the time. It really made me hate all of the guys on the show.

The point is HIMYM can be a really good show at times and the writing is clever. This was not their finest moment; it may have been their worst. There was little to no purpose to anything in the episode at all and the morning-after slut-shaming scene is one of the worst things I've seen on TV in a while. Keep in mind I watch like four TV shows. I'm sure there are people on reality TV that are doing worse things as I type this.

I voted based entirely on funny anagrams I could make with the candidates' names.

Random Tuesday Thoughts:

- I voted today. It felt good as it had been some time since I did that. I don't know, when I was renting year to year registering to vote seemed like a hassle. Well now I'm a homeowner and have opinions that can be translated to an integer increase next to someone's name. USA! USA! USA!

- Congrats to the Giants. I didn't have any vested interest in the series and would've been happier to see it go to a sixth game at least. Oh well. That pitching staff is awesome (seriously that MVP trophy should've read "Every Giants Pitcher except Jonathan Sanchez) and all locked up until 2012 at the earliest. Pretty awesome. Hahaha the highest paid player on their roster is Barry Zito. People who don't laugh at that don't know what a baseball is.

- Chicagoween was a success. I married the right woman.

- Fielder gets cuter everyday and Charlie is seriously the best big brother. Hi Luke.

- Community is still the best show even though Parks and Rec not being on is bumming me out something crazy.