Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 7/21/13

What Chicago is talking about this week:

Free wi-fi at the beach.

A few years ago, the company for which I work went through a change that resulted in me being a remote workplace employee (I roll out of bed, and get connected to my laptop for a day's worth of activities in and about nearly three dozen internet based systems -- it's fun and modern and makes me gain weight easily!).

Today, Chicago has decided to "see" that overall experience, and to "raise" it by one -- as they have announced free wi-fi at certain city beaches.  I am actively exploring how to make my equipment waterproof, and determining the life of my existing laptop battery, and figuring out if I can string a number of industrial style extension cords together to render the battery life question moot, and I am now realizing that my dream of making my skin sizzle whilst listening to the crash of the waves of Lake Michigan, all at the same time I'm busily producing work output, is one step closer to reality.  Now how do I handle the glare?

Co-workers of mine -- listen closely to the background of my skypes and google hangouts, and you just might hear the sounds of summer playing out all around me.

WORK FROM HOME EVEN IF HOME IS A BEACH:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/redeye-free-wifi-at-5-chicago-beaches-20130722,0,3823783.story

THE EQUIPMENT WAS DONATED (WONDER IF THE NSA IS LISTENING?):
http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2013/07/19/free-wifi-now-available-at-five-beaches.html

TIME TO STUDY UP:
http://toomanyadapters.com/five-tips-keeping-laptop-alive-tropical-climates/

Random Soapbox for Saturday 7/20/13

I don't mean to go off on a rave here, but ...

[still committed ... once a month ... to rave instead of rant weely ...]

... thank goodness the Sochi folks caved when it came to their plan to mass exterminate about 2000 stray cats and dogs before the Olympics.

Who cares about Snowden living on the cold frozen tarmac spilling spy secrets, when it comes to suggesting a boycott, I was ready to join the effort based on the approach of "we must kill them for the protection of the athletes and the improvement of our city's image".  Supposedly, (and very very quickly after news first broke, I might add with just a touch of suspicion), a non-profit will now build a shelter, and efforts will be undertaken to treat and sterilize instead of annihilate in advance of the games.

Want to make me rave more?  If you are in the market for a new family member, please visit your local shelter to adopt today (I just stopped by the local PAWS to donate the rest of Baby's experimental old-cat food and I can attest that there are many animals seeking a forever home).  And, in the words of the late great Bob Barker (he is dead, right?) ... don't forget to spay or neuter your pets (to help control the stray population)!

THE PLAN THAT REVERSES THE ORIGINAL PLAN (HOORAY)!:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2013/04/18/sochi-russia-winter-olympics-cats-dogs-/2093817/

OOPS -- MAYBE HE'S JUST GREAT AND NOT LATE:
http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.Nsf/bnames/Barker+Bob

A NOBLE CAUSE, THIS PAWS:
http://www.pawschicago.org/

Random Flashback for Friday 7/19/13

Twenty years ago this summer, I was in my apartment in Uniontown (pictured elsewhere in this series of 1993 photos) ... and so were these seldom seen members of my family -- my niece and nephew Ashlyn and Nic!

["Seldom seen" is all relative when it comes to my relatives -- as, thanks to the Facebook, I get to virtually see them much more nowadays -- which is nice, since the event that brought them into PA twenty years ago was the last time I was in the same room as these youngsters.  Life flies by so quickly ...]

By the way, that's my biological mother in the middle.  In my adult history, I've seen her once a decade (my high school graduation in the 80's, for this event in the 90's and for a nephew's graduation in the 00's).  I state that factually, not judgmentally, as I am fully aware that you play the hand that is dealt you (in this case, dealt by a Lebanon County judge in a seventies style divorce, and exacerbated by a jealous new wife of the baby daddy of 60% of your kids) and I want to try to salvage the tone of this post to something as celebratory as that which brought us all together twenty years ago (more to come about that in subsequent Friday flashbacks).  [Plus, let's face it, I'm old enough and well-traveled enough to take matters into my own hands should I so choose.]

So -- here's to what was a happy visit in the summer of 1993!  Be sure to cherish the times you have with your family!

Random Thought for Thursday 7/18/13

I'm not ashamed to say it.

I root for the bulls each year.  And I don't mean the local team that plays bball at the United Center.  I mean the ones in the picture.

I know that they all die in bullfighting later.  But I am perfectly fine with the fact that they might take out a few idiots as they stampede through the streets on the way to their certain death.

Sorry all you Hemmingway fans.  Find some other way to prove what manly men you are.  I scoff at you and the chance you'll be gored -- as a matter of fact, I welcome it.

Go Bulls!

WARNING:  THESE PICS ARE, INDEED, AS THEY SAY, GOREY:
http://coed.com/2013/07/12/running-of-the-bulls-best-worst-gores/#photo=15

WAIT A MINUTE -- THEY DO THIS IN VA AS WELL?:
http://forcechange.com/66160/call-for-the-end-of-inhumane-bull-run/

HOW WE GOT HERE:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1908948,00.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 7/17/13

Low-roller reprise.

Used in a sentence:  "Nothing makes me realize that I do not belong in Vegas than reflecting on my second annual work trip I'm on to Sin City -- truly a low-roller reprise from last year."

In 2012, I found an old fashioned one-armed bandit quarter machine, put in my twenty bucks and cashed out the first time it went back over my original investment (and I was ecstatic to make twelve bucks).  In 2013, I did not have such luck -- my winnings were incremental and never sizable, so I watched them all disappear (admittedly, I was playing a five-line one armed bandit machine, and I think I passed up a few payouts being stingy by only playing singular credits before I caught on to the options I had).

Truth be told, my budget for the trip was wiped out on the first night when I went seeking the third burger in my quest to partake of all twenty-five listed on the 2013 Zagat list.  It turns out "just outside of town" in a Vegas taxi is a pretty penny when the to and the fro trips are added up.  I'm embarrassed to say exactly what surcharge I paid to check this off my list, but suffice it to say that the task of eating the slider meant that my social budget was all but eaten up as well.

Oh well -- it's not like I needed it to gamble, what with my low-roller status and all.  Maybe next year!

THE SOURCE MATERIAL INFORMING MY LATEST QUEST:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2013/02/18/get-your-buns-to-zagats-top-25-burger-joints/1928829/

SURE IT TASTED GOOD, BUT THE CAB RIDE TO AND FRO WAS EXPENSIVE:
http://slidinthru.com/

GUESS I'LL HAVE TO DO THIS NEXT YEAR:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/mar/06/construction-underway-slotzilla-part-new-downtown-/

Random Tune for Tuesday 7/16/13

They are back.

A new album this October.

A new release that is a perfect choice to be the tune for today.

A new concert tour (happy to be in the fan club, but sad to have my discretionary income tied up in other things so I can't participate in the lottery this year).

A visit to my back porch (kind of -- the proximity of my domicile to Wrigley means that I can sit outside and listen to any concert there, like the one they are providing this weekend).  It's even better if the wind is blowing just right -- but I have no fear that these boys will be loud enough for me to hear regardless.

Welcome back PJam!  Looking forward to October (and to reliving so much of my youth in your music that I'll play whilst waiting in the months preceding the release).

A MESSAGE FOR OUR TIMES?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhODYyZVL6Y

Random Memorial for Monday 7/15/13

Gone but not forgotten:  Cory Monteith.

Contrary to my usual tone, you'll find no snark here.  I briefly toyed with stating that I think Dean/Brody should contact his agent and negotiate a return to the show, but this doesn't seem to be the place nor the time for that.

Instead, I'll just mourn the loss of yet another young actor long before he should have left this world.  And I'll reiterate that the best of the best demonstrate full functionality even as they toy with the deadly mix of drugs and alcohol.  And I'll lament the fact that the walking wounded among us see no other recourse but to self-medicate instead of seeking the help they need.

It will be difficult to return gleefully to the quality show that is Glee this fall (assuming they find a writerly way to address this), for you, young man, will be missed.

THE MOST DANGEROUS THING TO DO IS TO MIX A SEDATIVE WITH A SEDATIVE:
http://www.scu.edu/wellness/topics/alcohol/mixingalcohol.cfm

SEEK HELP -- ATTEND A MEETING:
http://www.chicagona.org/

THE LATEST ON THE PLANS FOR THE FIFTH SEASON:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/07/20/lea-michele-cory-monteith-ryan-murphy/