What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[Luke]

Glad to hear you're handling it alright Luke. Always take care of yourself first.

The last month all I can think about is how hard life is. Too hard sometimes.

It's preferable to the alternative though.

Frown: I feel like I have the potential to do brilliant things in my life. No motivation to do them in the last month or so though. You'd think that recognizing the problem would help but it hasn't gotten me to kick my ass in gear yet.

Thanks man. Not to sound cocky, but there's not much I can't handle. Also, (I probably already mentioned this) I can already tell a positive increase with my health. Used to feel like a rhino was on my chest, 24/7, and that rhino has left the building.

Ya know Ryan, you're doing good kid. And I don't mean any disrespect by typing "kid". You know you want to do something, but not sure of what.

That's something people in their 40's don't even realize. Plus you have ideas of what you'd like to do. Most people just get jobs and don't even think about careers.

I firmly believe people should evaluate themselves as if they were a business. Like Jay-z said "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business man". Take an afternoon to write down your core strengths.Write down your likes and dislikes. Write down words that describe you. Write down your interests.

Take all of that and then ask yourself "what career does this all relate to?". You might be surprised at what you find.* Then ask the people closest to you in your life what they think about your conclusion. This process takes time, but is worth it.



*For example: I like to talk. I love helping and comforting people. I love to read and interpret words in creative ways. I have high moral standards. I love challenging people to think.

I never thought about being a pastor before (I'm quasi religious) but that seems like a career I would excel at. You never know unless you really lay things out and think about it.



Smile: Started Independence off with a bang. Interpret that anyway you'd like

[lisalover1]

Smile: I had a lovely trip to Chicago! I went shopping, saw the Blue Man Group, and walked around the city!

Frown: Not much right now other than usual stuff.

[Luke]

Smile: I had a lovely trip to Chicago! I went shopping, saw the Blue Man Group, and walked around the city!

Did you visit the Palmer House?

Duder, pm me if you plan on visiting Chicago again. I'm a Chicago aficionado and can lead you to all the "secret spots".

[AppleQueso]

Well I went to Dallas yesterday... I don't think I like that place very much. Austin was much nicer.

Unfortunately I have to go back on Saturday. Sigh....

DFW highways are scary, especially the ones in Fort Worth. Doesn't help that Abilene doesn't have any real proper highways like that, I had no idea how to drive in them and I thought I was going to die.

On the way back there were some traffic jams and honestly I was relieved because it was actually moving at a pace I could keep up with.

[Ziggy]

Man, the highways here are pretty bad at times. If you're going the speed limit (55 here) you're going way too slow. Most people wont let you in, you have to just force yourself in when merging most of the time. And they're overcrowded.

The Long Island Expressway has the HOV lane, a lane that you can only get in and out of every so often and has restrictions to drive in. Buses, motorcycles, clean pass vehicles, and passenger vehicles with 2 or more people can ride it any time. A vehicle with no passengers can only ride it during off peak hours and weekends. Trucks and commercial vehicles can never ride it. But it fucks everything up. During rush hour and even for a while after, every one trying to get in and out of the HOV lane in addition to every one trying to get on and off the Expressway just brings traffic to a stop. Makes me wonder if they should just turn the HOV lane into a fourth lane with no restrictions. And after having to deal with it on a daily basis for about two months now, I really think they should just turn it into a fourth lane.

[darsparx]

Getting some work done on my car. Oh boy. This bill is gonna be like a kick in the testicles. And an estimated wait time was just given to me - three hours. Think I'm going to take a walk to another town to have lunch.

Yeah, I've already planned to do the 100k maintanece on my car and may that's going to hurt just like that....good thing I'm getting some help from my dad to get it done...(especially with how much that costs )

Is 100K maintenance really needed?

In general though, I tend to avoid a lot of maintenance and work that other people get done on vehicles. I don't personally see a need for most of it, and a lot of it tends to be stuff that is practically made up to suck up a bit more money out of consumers.

I'm going to say on my car probably. The car is pushing 11 years(it's a '03 civic) and I know it's been awhile since it's had maintenance done on it so everything included might not be a bad idea, especially since I'm barely pushing 300 miles per tank and i used to get 380+ when I got it as a "my first car". I'm sure with that big of a change something is wrong but I've just not had the chance to get around to actually getting the thing looked at and tuned up...(though honestly I really want to once I get a few more storage things for my room and everything to start saving up for a newer used car...I'd love to have a '08-'10 car right now that would have better mileage(and not have the a/c pointed at my hands when it should be different so that it hits the face without making my hands ice cubes). Though if I did get a newer car it'd probably still be a newer civic

[BoneSnapDeez]

DFW highways are scary, especially the ones in Fort Worth. Doesn't help that Abilene doesn't have any real proper highways like that, I had no idea how to drive in them and I thought I was going to die.

On the way back there were some traffic jams and honestly I was relieved because it was actually moving at a pace I could keep up with.

I have a bit of driving culture shock whenever I leave Maine. Even New Hampshire is a lot different/harder to drive in.

This state is shockingly easy to drive in. Even in the "big" cities. I never feel nervous or anxious about traffic situations. And there's essentially only one highway that runs through the state. Civilization is clustered close to it and it gets more woodsy the further you fan out.

There's also no such thing as a traffic jam here either - except those causes by accidents and heavy construction.

[Luke]

Smile: There is a high possibility I'll be meeting Vanilla Ice.

He seems like a super douche bag, but go ninja go.


Smile: Man. Roger Ebert was the best:

An open letter to sports columnist Jay Mariotti, who resigned from the Sun-Times and lashed out during a TV interview announcing that newspapers were dead:

Dear Jay,

What an ugly way to leave the Sun-Times. It does not speak well for you. Your timing was exquisite. You signed a new contract, waited until days after the newspaper had paid for your trip to Beijing at great cost, and then resigned with only an email. You saved your explanation for a local television station.

As someone who was working here for 24 years before you arrived, I think you owed us more than that. You owed us decency. The fact that you saved your attack for TV only completes our portrait of you as a rat.

Newspapers are not dead, Jay, although you predicted the death of the Sun-Times and the Tribune. Neither paper will die any time soon. Job-hunting tip: It is imprudent to go on TV and predict the collapse of a newspaper you might hope would hire you. Times are hard in the newspaper business, and for the economy as a whole. Did you only sign on for the luxury cruise? There's an old saying that you might have come across once or twice on the sports beat: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

Newspapers are not dead, Jay, because there are still readers who want the whole story, not a sound bite. If you only work on television, viewers may get a little weary of you shouting at them. You were a great shouter in print, that's for sure, stomping your feet when owners, coaches, players and fans didn't agree with you. It was an entertaining show. Good luck getting one of your 1,000-word rants on the air.

The rest of us are still at work, still putting out the best paper we can. We believe in our profession, and in the future. And we believe in our Internet site, which you also whacked as you slithered out the door. I don't know how your column was doing, but we have the most popular sports section in Chicago. The reports and blog entries by our Washington editor Lynn Sweet have become a must-stop for millions of Americans in this election year.

After a recent blog entry I wrote about the Beijing Olympics, I woke up at 5 a.m. one morning, when North America was asleep, and found that 40 percent of my 100 most recent visitors had been from China. I don't have any complaints about our Web site. So far this month my Web page page has been visited from virtually every country on earth, including one visit from the Vatican City. The Pope, no doubt. Hope you were doing as well.

You have left us, Jay, at a time when the newspaper is once again in the hands of people who love newspapers and love producing them. You managed to stay here through the dark days of the thieves Conrad Black and David Radler. The paper lost millions. Incredibly, we are still paying Black's legal fees.

I started here when Marshall Field and Jim Hoge were running the paper. I stayed through the Rupert Murdoch regime. I was asked, "How can you work for a Murdoch paper?" My reply was: "It's not his paper. It's my paper. He only owns it." That's the way I've always felt about the Sun-Times, and I still do. On your way out, don't let the door bang you on the ass.

Your former colleague,

Roger Ebert

[Forlorn Drifter]

I'm going to say on my car probably. The car is pushing 11 years(it's a '03 civic) and I know it's been awhile since it's had maintenance done on it so everything included might not be a bad idea, especially since I'm barely pushing 300 miles per tank and i used to get 380+ when I got it as a "my first car". I'm sure with that big of a change something is wrong but I've just not had the chance to get around to actually getting the thing looked at and tuned up...(though honestly I really want to once I get a few more storage things for my room and everything to start saving up for a newer used car...I'd love to have a '08-'10 car right now that would have better mileage(and not have the a/c pointed at my hands when it should be different so that it hits the face without making my hands ice cubes). Though if I did get a newer car it'd probably still be a newer civic

I have an '03 F150 and my '79 Ranchero. The truck has around 225K miles on it, and I'm going to drive it until I can get something more to my liking or it blows up. The '79 is for sale, though it only has 75K miles on it, amazing considering. (I put about 5K of that on myself).

If your mileage is changing, that might be a reason to get it looked at though. I don't know much about Honda's, but if I had to guess, it could be a computer problem or some such.

[Hobie-wan]

If your mileage is changing, that might be a reason to get it looked at though. I don't know much about Honda's, but if I had to guess, it could be a computer problem or some such.

If maintenance hasn't been kept up with I'd more suspect things like plugs, fuel, and air filters. I hope oil has been kept up with at least.