This Morning and the Crazy Bus Driver

So the wife is off to Rockford for a day and I am home alone. It has been a very busy week, with the final revision to my globalization paper pending. I was hoping I was going to be done last week, but my instructor came back with some revisions. Last night I fixed up my Work Cited and today I am going to finish it all:). When the wife goes away she takes the car, and that means I have to hoof it. I am a die hard Dunkin Donut's fan and since there is not a single Dunkin Donut's around her, it means I have to take the bus. I could just have easily taken a bus to Clark Street, but that is the dirty Dunkin Donut's, so I decided to take the bus down to Ashland and then walk a mile down Lincoln Avenue to the good Dunkin Donut's.

I waited until it was somewhat light out and I made my way to the bus stop. The bus came along rather quickly and the entire bus trip would take only a few minutes. If I was a healthier man I would walk it but who cares. Now comes the Crazy Bus Driver story related to you the reader through our dialogue. Please let me tell you this conversation-three minutes in duration-came out of nowhere and I am really making it more PC then it really was. Gotta love the #77 Belmont at 6 a.m.

Me to the Bus Driver: Good Morning.

Bus Driver: Good Morning, afternoon and evening. I have been on this bus for the last 12 hours.

Me: Wow! Is your shift almost over?

Bus Driver: Oh yeah, and then I am going home to get me some.

Me(giggle): Great

Bus Driver: I've known this woman for 6 years and all she wants is for me to ****. (I am leaving this part out for the PC audience but it involves a sexual act that is not sex).

Me: really, for 6 years?

Bus Driver: 6 years I have been doing this, and now I am going to bang".

Me: well good for you.

Bus Driver: My only problem is the kids. She has four kids and I gotta watch out for them before I get me some.

Me: Sounds tricky.

Bus Driver: It is!! She has jet black hair that goes down her back. Oh yeah I love white woman.

Me: Ok (I stand and tell him I am getting off the bus at Ashland).

Bus Driver: Have a good morning man, hope you get some too.

Me: I just need a coffee.

Bus Driver: Well think of me getting some while you are drinking it.

I get off the bus.

I have no idea why the bus driver felt compelled to tell me this story but it seems it was monumental enoguh to share with a complete stranger. For your information I am drinking my Dunkin Donuts and trying really hard not to think about the bus driver getting some. This city is amazing.

Conversation Overheard

If you ride the Red Line you become privy to some great information. Case in point the three guys who stood over me today. By looking at them I could tell they were Art students, but the conversation alone was amazing. I have named them Dweezil, Johan, and Kevin. Please not I have taken some liberty with the dialogue, but the topics were true.

Dweezil: You know I am excited about graduating.

Johan: So it is your Masters, right.

Dweezil: Yep, but in writing. I am going to write the Great American Novel.

Ken: Then why are you working in the video department.

Dweezil: Digital media is my hobby, writing is my passion. That is why I am not living in Seattle.

Ken: Seattle? I thought you were from Kentucky.

Johan: Seattle, Kentucky..It is all relative.

Dweezil: No I was living outside of Seattle and was taking classes at the community college.

Ken: Tacoma?

Dweezil: Bellevue, and I was in community college and working at Nordstroms

Ken: Nordstroms is for girls.

Dweezil: no way man, I was pulling down some serious cash..enough cash that I almost didn't leave. I was shining shoes and pulling nearly 250 a day.

Ken: 250 a day for shining shoes.

Dweezil: yep, and it was cushy. I would get into work at 9 and work until 5. I would sit in a big leather chair and watch sports center and shine shoes for a living. It was the greatest job in the world.

Johan: Why did you leave?

Dweezil: It was a girl Johan, a girl made me leave my home and then I was living in Chippewa Falls for a while with her and doing the whole domesticated thing, and then when she left I came down to Chicago.

Ken: Sounds like you should have stayed in Seattle.

Dweezil: No Seattle is overrated, but shining shoes is amazingly profitable. I am thinking about taking it up again if I cannot find a publisher.

Johan: Great I have a few penny loafers at home you can start with.

ALL GIGGLE.

So for Dweezil, Johan, and Ken life went on when I left the train, and I have really no idea why I felt compelled to tell this story, but that Nordstroms in Bellevue sounds amazing.

The Red Line

For those who do not live in the city, riding the rails to and from work often brings some colorful situations. Case in point was the blind man who wandered onto my Red Line train today and was asking for change.

I have seen this guy on the train before, and although the CTA claims that solicitations on the train are prohibited, that is really an empty warning. Anything the CTA warns about is really just a suggestion.

The blind guy plays this game very well. He gets on the train at whatever stop ( This time is was Clark and Division) and quietly asks for change. His story is that he is blind (which is true if you see him) and that he is not a threat to anyone but wants to eat. Some people will give him change right away, and for some homeless people that is enough.

The blind guy is different. The blind guy will get his initial change and then will walk up and down the aisle, using his cane to hit people's feet. He will ask everyone for change openly and get louder as the train cruises down the track. By the time the train got to Belmont, the guy was screaming for change. SCREAMING. This annoyance was enough for him to pull down by my count, $5.00 extra dollars. If this guy can pull five dollars each train ride x 15 train rides, he is sitting with some good dough.

Depression Cooking

I saw this feature a few weeks ago and found it quite amazing. Depression cooking, it seems is a hot topic right now. The economy tanking means that people need to look for alternatives for food and shelter at an alarming rate. Maybe it is time to look to our elders for strength.

Some of them, the generation who lived through the Great Depression, may be able to bring some insight to better living in these tough times. Please note: It completely freaked me out how quick Clara was dicing the potato and onion!! Speaking of that, most of these recipes use potato and onions-a staple of depression cooking.

WOW

I apologize in advance for people being offended by this video...:)

Tuesday Rain Means No Work :(

Sadly the rains have come back and I have taken a day off from work to monitor the ceiling. Luckily the landlord is going to fix the situation along with the rest of the condo association, but truly this has been a nightmare week so far.

While I am sitting here watching the water and working on my big paper. I am listening to two stations on my Itunes Radio. The first station is the 90's hits which as I type is rocking out a little Bryan Adams (Everything I Do) I Do it For You. Gotta love early 90's Adams and his complete sell out to Hollywood (This was a part of the Robin Hood soundtrack). I was listening to the Beatles station earlier and it pissed me off. I do not understand why a popular stance has been taken to only play the acoustic version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. I mean, I know it is more melodic and dreamy, but for the love of god, give me some Clapton and Harrison.

Meanwhile, check out this awesome rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps on the ukulele!

The CTA nightmare

I have mentioned quite a few times my disdain for the Chicago Transit Authority. Today sealed the deal.

After a quick walk down Wabash Avenue to Macy's( I was trying on a new suit), I found myself at the height of rush hour needing a train back home. Now as any Chicagoan will tell you, trying to board a train during rush hour can be a stressful experience.

In the Randolph station of the Red Line, I stood for almost thirty minutes waiting for a train I could board. Each train shooting down the tube was filled to the brim with people. Then came one that was somewhat empty. I saw an opening, and new this was the train for me. The doors open and at the opening of the door comes a handicapped woman trying to get off of the train. The problem with that is there is a gap between the train and the platform. The train was delayed for almost another ten minutes while the woman waited for a CTA official to show up with a ramp that sits between train and platform, so the woman can get off. Then the doors closed before anyone could board and the train left. The next train came and was packed.

This was enough for me. At this point I was forty minutes behind schedule and wanted desperately to get home to work on my paper that is due this week. I finally left the Red Line, walked up the steps and headed for the Brown Line where I found an easier time boarding a train. I walked into the apartment at 6:05.

When is the CTA going to get its act together. Security on the train sucks, the workers are either talking to the cops assigned to watch the stations, or they are on their cellphones. Isn't there a rule that you cannot use your cell phone while you are working? I cannot sit at work all day and talk on my cell phone.

I wish in my deep hidden wishes that I keep in my heart that I could be the CEO of the CTA for one week. I would deplete the existing workforce and give the jobs to people who want to work sans cell phones.

** Addition- Someone got stabbed hours earlier a stop away. Security and/or the Chicago PD was probably standing around doing nothing.

Ryan

Rainy Sunday In Chicago

Today is rainy, and with the rain comes the inevitable leak that sprouts from our ceiling. The wife and I rent, so it is really that landlords issue, but just the inconvenience of moving the couch, and the lamp, and my Guitar Hero drum set, is enough for me to be "put out". The weekend has been lazy, with a stack of work that I need to get done for school. I will get to it, just needed to blog my headache away. If anyone wants to read a good article, check out today's Chicago Tribune.

The article is about 27 year old Jon Favreau, the president's chief speech writer. At 27, he is working in the White House, and through the power of written word, changing the world. It amazes me the dynamism of the presidential team. I saw Jon on the evening of the election. We were standing in the press pit, looking up at the stage, and for that moment, when Jon stepped in front of me, he looked like any guy walking down the street, or working in my building, or standing in the hall at DePaul. The thing to remember is that each day, when you feel the walls of the cubicle closing in, or the monotony of life on your shoulder, remember that there are people like you changing the world.

It can be done.

Jon Favreau

Saturday- The Deluge Begins

A big rainstorm is blowing through and my meteorological guru Tom Skilling is predicting a wicked weekend of weather. For anyone who does not know Tom Skilling, I am including a Wikipedia entry on him below. I have been watching him since I was a child, always telling you the technical aspects of the weather, leaving out the charming fluff that seems to follow TV weatherman. I wonder of he has ever been approached by the Weather Channel. Nationally he would be a superstar. For his part he is a superstar here in Chicago, and I am glad we have him.


Tom Skilling Wikipedia Entry

Tom Skilling's Blog

Friday

My pal PezCore decided to do a little video mashup this week. Let me know what you think




AMAZING!!

Danger Danger

This is not very encouraging. (Courtesy of Bloomberg)

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the deposit insurance fund could dry up if the agency doesn’t impose additional fees on the industry amid a surge in bank failures.

“Without these assessments, the deposit insurance fund could become insolvent this year,” Bair wrote in a March 2 letter to the industry.

“A large number” of bank failures may occur through 2010 because of “rapidly deteriorating economic conditions,” Bair said in the letter. “Without substantial amounts of additional assessment revenue in the near future, current projections indicate that the fund balance will approach zero or even become negative.”

The FDIC last week approved a one-time “emergency” fee and other assessment increases on the industry to rebuild a fund to repay customers for deposits of as much as $250,000 when a bank fails. The fees, opposed by the industry, may generate $27 billion this year after the fund fell to $18.9 billion in the fourth quarter from $34.6 billion in the previous period, the FDIC said. The fund was drained by 25 bank failures last year.

U.S. community banks plan to flood the FDIC with about 5,000 letters in protest. They are outraged over the one-time fee, which could wipe out 50 percent to 100 percent of a bank’s 2009 earnings, Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said today in a telephone interview.

“I’ve never seen emotions like this,” said Fine, adding that he’s received more than 1,000 e-mails and telephone messages from angry bankers.

‘Significant Expense’

“The FDIC realizes that these assessments are a significant expense, particularly during a financial crisis and recession when bank earnings are under pressure,” Bair wrote. “We did not want to impose large assessments when the industry and economy are struggling. We searched for alternatives but found none better.”

The agency, which has released the change for 30 days of public comment, could modify the assessment to shift the burden to the large banks “that caused this train wreck,” Fine said. “Community bankers are feeling like they are paying for the incompetence and greed of Wall Street,” he said.

Bair dismissed that suggestion.

“For risk-based assessments, our statute restricts us from discriminating against an institution because of size,’’ Bair wrote.

Bair rejected arguments that the agency should use government aid to rebuild the fund. The FDIC has authority to tap a $30 billion line of credit at the Treasury Department.

“Banks, not taxpayers, are expected to fund the system,” Bair said. Asking for taxpayer support “could paint all banks with the ‘bailout’ brush.”

The FDIC “will revise the interim rule, if appropriate, in light of the comments received,” the agency said in a Federal Register notice posted today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net.

SCARY

RYAN

The Book I am Reading.

I am now reading "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell. It is amazing. I am including a review from the awesome Amazon.com below.

This completely revised and updated third edition of Thomas Sowell's instrumental work includes a new chapter on government finance. Basic Economics is a citizen's guide to economics--for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Sowell reveals the general principles behind any kind of economy--capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.


Guess what song is playing on my 90's Greatest Hits. Hint Hint..The band's name before their current name was the Shrinky Dinks.

I Just Discovered....

I just discovered the radio list on my Itunes. I have spent the better part of an evening listening to 90's greatest hits. I bet you cannot guess what song is playing right now.

Hint Hint...It is from the Pretty Woman Soundtrack and I believe with my eternal nerdiness that JC Chasez sang this song in the Mickey Mouse Club Version.

I am nerdy.

My friend Newsgator/NetNews Wire

A couple of months ago I discovered what has to be one of the best APPs for my Iphone. It is called NetNews Wire and is is sponsored by the site Newsgator. Essentially what Newsgator does is compiles a list of RSS feeds that yu plug into your account and beams them to the Net News Wire APP. From your phone you can access everything from The New York Times to Blogs. I wanted to list some of my favorite feeds that I labor over daily. Most of them could be pretty nerdy, but I do not really are.

Core Economics (From Australia I believe, pretty insightful)

Freakonomics( from New York Times)

FT.com - US Equities

Game Theorist

Got2BeGreen

Lifehacker

Macworld

New York Times

Politico.com: Politico 44 (Up to Date information on the Obama Presidency)

Talking Points Memo

Time Magazine

Wall Street Journal

Generation Y (Generacion Y: A blog from Cuba)

White House. Gov

Zen Habits

The Economist

Wired News

These sites can be updated daily or every so often, and on average I can read nearly 200 new items a day. Most of the time they are abstracts or at least enough information to tell me if it is worth my further attention. I can Add an article to My Clippings, and then access Newsgator and retrieve the article. The service if free and awesome.