colinmorris.net

"Electrification has the potential to improve or solve many problems facing Metra and the Chicago..."

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Fri, 25 May 2012 09:35:28 -0400

“Electrification has the potential to improve or solve many problems facing Metra and the Chicago region. The savings on fuel will improve Metra’s bottom line and make it virtually immune to changing fuel prices, while the elimination of emissions will dramatically improve air quality around each line. Most importantly, electrification could begin to alter the fabric of Chicagoland, stitch the region back together and link inner-ring suburbs both to downtown and to growing areas farther out, all while costing far less than expanding the ‘L’. In an era of ever-shrinking public resources, ever-growing demand for transit, and stiff global competition among cities, Chicago can’t afford to spend too much on transit or to be satisfied with the status quo. Electrifying Metra is the right move to make.”

- You know Metra runs on expensive and pollutant diesel fuel, right? Except the Metra Electric line, which has been electric for a century. Really interesting article.

Our education system

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:02:44 -0400

Our education system

Just moments after buying our new bikes on a balmy spring night,...

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:42:00 -0400

Just moments after buying our new bikes on a balmy spring night, a rainstorm rolled in and cut our picnic short.

ActionPotato: “BEST FRICKEN GAME IN THE WORLD *****”

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:14:56 -0400

ActionPotato: “BEST FRICKEN GAME IN THE WORLD *****”

Too far, Moleskine.

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:27:15 -0400

Too far, Moleskine.

Skip to 0:19 and repeat as needed. Voicemails like this are...

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:14:24 -0400

Skip to 0:19 and repeat as needed.

Voicemails like this are part of the reason I used Google Voice for so long, despite the hassles that came with it.

The doorman always knows whodunit

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:47:23 -0400

In the three and a half months we’ve enjoyed free housing through my fiancée’s job, I’ve befriended one of the doormen in the building. His name is Frank, and he looks a bit like an older Barack Obama, provided the POTUS loses a few of his bottom teeth after leaving office and starts talking like an old blues guitar player. Frank pronounces this, “GIT-tar play-AH.”

He pronounces it often because we’ve bonded over music. When he was in high school, he played congas in a band that recorded at the now-historic Chess studios[1] on South State Street. He’s seen me lugging rig after rig in and out of the building during our move into the apartment and my move into a rehearsal studio, and he’s generous with his insights into the music business and life in general.

Today he surprised me when he turned the conversation from music to a video he saw online of an interview with Tupac, Biggie, Suge Knight, and Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs. Frank became suddenly and inexplicably irate, insisting that he done TOLD them mufuckas Puffy did it, that it wan’t Biggie, that he and Tupac wasn’t even bickerin’, but no one believed him, and that Puffy, you can look at his eyes in that interview and see he do’ won’ even look at tha camera.

This went on for some time. Frank was so engrossed in his revelation of Puffy’s guilt, he even dismissed a call from his girlfriend, quickly answering and explaining he was with a tenant.

The real culprits, he went on to explain, were the Illuminati. Up to this point, I’d been carefully reacting with a mix of skepticism and polite interest while actively trying to not seem patronizing. But the Illuminati? OK, Frank. You got me. These idiot tenants will nod along to anythang.

He told me quite a bit about how the Illuminati control everything, especially the outcomes of elections.

If I hadn’t needed to get on with my day, I would have told him about the reptilians. Alas.

I love the man, but sometimes I wonder if he drinks on the job.

Do they still do the downer part about the zombie in the cave?

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:11:11 -0400

Coworker 1: Today's Good Friday.

Me: Oh. Is Easter still a thing?

Coworker 2, Catholic, of a certain age: O_O

Oak Street beach pedway. Monday, 19 March 2012.

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:30:05 -0400

Oak Street beach pedway. Monday, 19 March 2012.

Grand, Milwaukee, and Halsted at sunset. Monday, 19 March 2012.

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:10:05 -0400

Grand, Milwaukee, and Halsted at sunset. Monday, 19 March 2012.

We had some wild fog last Friday. Here it is on the Magnificent...

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:30:05 -0400

We had some wild fog last Friday. Here it is on the Magnificent Mile, Chicago River, and at Superior and Rush Streets.

Friday, 23 March 2012.

My unearned but compelling morning view. Sometime on or around...

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:05:06 -0400

My unearned but compelling morning view.

Sometime on or around Saturday, 17 March 2012

"I was in the middle of a dream about the Titanic. I’d rather go back to sleep and die on the..."

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:00:05 -0400

“I was in the middle of a dream about the Titanic. I’d rather go back to sleep and die on the ship than go to work.”

- Liesl, immediately after disabling her alarm this morning.

"The majority of [Illinois GOP voters] surveyed believe the President is a foreign born..."

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:11:23 -0400

“The majority of [Illinois GOP voters] surveyed believe the President is a foreign born non-Christian, and some of them are still scared he’ll let your children marry outside his or her race or force them to believe the Earth is more than 6,000 years old.”

- The Chicagoist, reporting on a poll by Public Policy Reporting.

PPP disclosure: PPP is a Democratic polling company, but polling expert Nate Silver of the New York Times found that its surveys in 2010 actually exhibited a slight bias toward Republican candidates.

Links

The Chicagoist post

PPP press release and complete poll results are available here.

"[The Foo Fighters’ production contracts] also include a recipe for ice (Get some water. Clean..."

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:00:05 -0400

“[The Foo Fighters’ production contracts] also include a recipe for ice (Get some water. Clean water is preferred. Put it in trays. Store at freezing. Repeat as necessary. …), while noting in the legally binding contract that “chicks dig scars,” “men should never wear turtlenecks,” and “Ty Cobb was the greatest baseball player of all time.””

- NJ.com article about the Foo Fighters’ concert production contract rider. Full document available here.

Tribune op-ed: What Romney wants to 'get rid of'

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:39:04 -0400

Tribune op-ed: What Romney wants to 'get rid of':

It’s a real bummer that social conservatives (and, by necessary extension, Republican presidential candidates) are so determined to remain confused about whatever it is Planned Parenthood actually does.

This is my life right now. I’m 25, engaged to my best...

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:17:50 -0400

This is my life right now. I’m 25, engaged to my best friend (pictured). I live in my favorite city on the planet, I’m no longer hopelessly broke, and I’m working my ass off at music.

I thought it would take me a lot longer to get here.

I’m really, really fortunate. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way.

Friends, I humbly present to you, for your consideration, my tax...

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:22:41 -0500

Friends, I humbly present to you, for your consideration, my tax refund.

This thing plays like a dream.

I love the everyday views the most. Taken here just after...

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:08:05 -0500

I love the everyday views the most.

Taken here just after 4 o’clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, 22 February 2012. It was 42˚F and cloudy.

"…exterminators call the CTA #151 bus “the bed bug bus.” Running through Uptown,..."

mail@colinmorris.net (Colin Morris) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:54:20 -0500

“…exterminators call the CTA #151 bus “the bed bug bus.” Running through Uptown, Edgewater and Rogers Park, the bus is believed to be one of the major transporters of the blood suckers.”

- edgevillebuzz.com — Your source for news about Chicago’s Edgewater and Andersonville neighborhoods.