This is the best/funniest thing I’ve seen in awhile. If y’all want anything you should get it while the gettin’ is good.  Don’t forget to use the coupon code.

http://chicagoist.com/2008/11/11/goose_island_clybourn_to_remain_ope.php

I’m not sure why the Goose Island on Clark sucks so much d!ck – but, the good news is the Goose Island Clybourn location will not be closing its doors on December 21st!

One of my favorite watering holes, I assume Goose Island was getting forced out of their location by overly inflated commercial real estate pricing.  Seeing that this market has nosedived and absolutely nobody would fill the vacant spot left by Goose Island, we can only hope the powers that be renegotiated a lease that keeps them alive and well for years to come.

Shawn, thank you.

Update: 3 to 5 more years.  Fair enough – http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed_goose_islandnov12,0,4219937.story

Photo taken by a friend – a local photographer in Chicago.  Shot with a Nikon D40.  Chicago, IL -Rush & Walton.  Unknown graffiti artist – stencil on wood.

Support local artists!  Down with the photo? The digital version (so that you can make edits/print at your leisure) is available for $35.  An unframed 18 x 24 poster is available for $50.  Email bcclistblog@gmail.com for more information.

I’d love to be the freely moving cart but I’d surely would hate being a locked cart. I’m not sure why I found this sign so amusing other than it’s sort of weird…

Unbeknownst, the journey to inauguration day began awhile back after being bumped from a US Airways flight in Charlotte bound for Chicago. Offered a free ticket and first class for the next flight home – 6 hours later – both the wife and I agreed that sounded like a tempting offer. We had work to do, I had my laptop (with slingbox and 3g card) plus an iPhone, and growing up we always wanted to be bumped from a flight so that we could sit first class.  Soulmates. We took the bump.

Of course, I immediately – as the ink dried on some paperwork we signed – wanted to make plans to fly somewhere. As in – while we were waiting in Charlotte – I was checking out destinations that US Airways flew to. I wanted to go everywhere. The first class seat on the flight back to O’hare was nice~ish – nothing special.  Hey, it’s US Airways.

Eureka! Obama just became President Elect. I’ve been first row at the Super Tuesday Rally, attended the Grant Park Rally on election night, and we have two free airline tickets and friends that live in DC.  Obama’s swearing-in is the day following MLK day – meaning, that’s less time off work for my wife. Let’s do this thing!

Wow, January 17th – January 20th has some pricey flights – on all airlines flying out of Chicago into DC. In fact, they’re so pricey on US Airways – $4,000 for both of us on through their partnership with United – that apparently the aforementioned free tickets can’t be used though coach seats were showing availability.  It’s worth noting, we were told at the time of the bump there were no black out dates and you could fly with any of US Airways partners.  By the way, don’t try to say “so, that means there are blacked out dates” to a airline customer service rep over the phone. Convenient. Frustrated by repeated calls into US Airways customer service, I decided to head to the airport. Yup, to O’hare.

What a difference talking to a human being makes. Sort of.  Side note – I never realized how stressful traveling has become. You could cut the tension everywhere with a spoon from the CTA stop to baggage claim to the terminal. Regardless, I walked up to the waiting ticket agent (nobody books tickets at the airport) and explained – in some elaborate story – that I needed to get to DC on January 17th and back to O’hare on January 20th on the last flight. The swearing-in is at 12 noon. My free ticket seats were still unavailable. Shocker. But, we brainstormed and I was able to land a ticket out of Detroit non-stop to DC on the 17th. Perfect, you say?  Yes. The return flight from DC is at 5:45 pm to O’hare with a stop in Philly.

Now, how do you get to Detroit on Saturday morning facing a 4 hour drive? We’d usually just drive to my parents’ house, drop the car (and probably dog off), and go on our way to whatever we were doing back in the home/mitten state. That return to O’hare on the 20th makes this common scenario tricky.

Flights directly into Detroit on Saturday morning from Chicago are dirt cheap on Southwest.com. $49 each. The flight gets in 35 minutes before our 10:08 flight to DC leaves. Ugh, that’s a tight window. Renting a car turns out to be $129 plus gas. Scratch that idea – I thought car rentals were cheap. Amtrak from Chicago to Ann Arbor leaving on Friday night after work – $48 each business class. Done. We just have to convince some favorite relative to pick us up Friday night and drop us off at the airport Saturday morning.

Why? I’m not sure. I guess a free airline ticket, plus seeing friends, and being part of history will be worthwhile enough – ha! Now for those Inauguration Day swearing-in ceremony tickets – I’ve got some calls in…thanks to everyone giving us a hand.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

As originally seen on the Huffington Post under the header “Building the Obama Administration,” the following picture almost made me throw the computer and/or throw up.

Thankfully, this picture was simply from Obama meeting with peeps regarding the economy. Since Michigan is in the sh!tter solely because Granholm didn’t realize until 2007 that she needed to react on a HUGE economic collapse that started in Q4 of 2000, I hope Obama only invited Granholm into the meeting for data gathering and not any sort of advice. Please dear god don’t let Jennifer Granholm be ANY part of Barack Obama’s administration.

P.S. No, I am not sexist though – as noted on the blog – I despise Kathleen Sebelius (voice and Democratic response to bush’s last state of the union address), Hillary (voice, facial expressions, and fakeness), Claire McCaskill (voice, facial expressions, and inability to debate on meet the press), sarah palin (everything), Nancy Pelosi (everything but policy), and Jennifer Granholm (everything). Lisa Madigan, Caroline Kennedy and Michelle Obama get props!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/05/soruces-mccain-aide-fired-for-trashing-staff/

The above link is “old” – it’s from Wednesday – but, we now know who talked to the NY Times Magazine a few weeks back as seen here…

I can’t wait until a good book comes out regarding mccain’s 2000 campaign.  It’s going to be one of the best reads EVER.  Schneunemann wasn’t nailin’ palin, correct?

That nailin’ palin link is safe for work – it’s from wikipedia.  Weird they spelled palin as Paylin in the actual video title.  It must go hand and hand with the “pay people for sex” plot line.

P.S.  Yeah, yeah – of course Randy Schneunemann would say he wasn’t fired.  Right.

Over 4 million views so far so I’m undoubtedly behind the times – but, yesterday didn’t count…blur!

Gavin, thank you.

Update: Ah, it was popular on Digg yesterday.

From mccain’s concession speech…

And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours.”

No, I’m not talking trash and this isn’t meant to bring more division.  I simply think the feedback/results would be interesting.  Feel free to leave a comment if you’re thinking “Other.”

Yes, I know he’s only President-Elect.  In my humble opinion, the following was the victory speech highlight…

“And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.“

Transcript here…

http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2008/11/200811535457909527.html

Alaron is a great financial firm to work with. No, I’ve never worked for them.

Regardless, as seen originally on BccList.com here, any misjudgments over the last 6+ months (there are a few) will be compiled into a weekend post I’m currently drafting.

P.S. Trading is risky.  Ha!

Update: Looks like those gains in Asia last night post election didn’t cross over into the European and American markets.  Bummer.  Regardless, this was not a BccList “call” – I’ll make sure it’s clear when I make a “call.”  I was just pointing out (at 5:03 am in the morning when I posted this – errrrr) that the Asian markets were up 5%.  And, 5% of 9,000 points (Dow Jones Industrial Average) is around 250 points.

As seen originally on BccList.com here…

Obama will win with 53.4% (actual was 52.6) of the popular vote and 323 (after NC going to Obama, actual was 364) electoral votes.

Alabama (Correct)
Alaska  (Correct)
Arizona (Correct)
Arkansas (Correct)
California (Correct)
Colorado (Correct)
Connecticut (Correct)
Delaware (Correct)
District of Columbia (Correct)
Florida (WRONG)
Georgia (WRONG)
Hawaii (Correct)
Idaho (Correct)
Illinois (Correct)
Indiana (Correct)
Iowa (Correct)
Kansas (Correct)
Kentucky (Correct)
Louisiana (Correct)
Maine (Correct)
Maryland (Correct)
Massachusetts (Correct)
Michigan (Correct)
Minnesota (Correct)
Mississippi (Correct)
Missouri (Correct)
Montana (WRONG)
Nebraska (Correct)
Nevada (Correct)
New Hampshire (Correct)
New Jersey (Correct)
New Mexico (Correct)
New York (Correct)
North Carolina (WRONG)
North Dakota (WRONG)
Ohio (WRONG)
Oklahoma (Correct)
Oregon (Correct)
Pennsylvania (Correct)
Rhode Island (Correct)
South Carolina (Correct)
South Dakota (Correct)
Tennessee (Correct)
Texas (Correct)
Utah (Correct)
Vermont (Correct)
Virginia (Correct)
Washington (Correct)
West Virginia (Correct)
Wisconsin (Correct)
Wyoming (Correct)

As I’ve noted several times, fivethirtyeight.com was fcking dead on.  Their final pre election day predictions (seen below) are some freaky shi!t…

P.S.  My projections had nothing directly to do with fivethirtyeight.com

Update: North Carolina went to Obama so fivethirtyeight.com wasn’t as dead on as I thought but close-a-damn-nough.