Short, dark tea times of the soul

by Colleen

I'm frequently up between the hours of 1 and 2 am. I don't mean to be; it just happens. One of the things that sucks about San Francisco is living in the butt of the continental US time zones. Being up at 1 am Central used to mean random gchats with friends in the east coast and west coast as we wound up our evenings and got ready for bed. 1 am Pacific is pretty much a dead zone: 4 am is about as somnolent as the city that never sleeps gets; at 3 am, Chicago and Indy are well past their REM stage; over here my friends are morning people; even in Asia most people are finishing up work or eating dinner - at least the ones in the time zones that matter are.

What's a night owl to do?

Tonight, or rather early this morning, I got this idea - for the same reasons above, my twitter feed basically dies after 1 am too - I'm now searching to see who people consider to be the "best" twitter accounts of the UK*, France, Germany, Spain...the EU, basically. Midnight in the Bay Area means the kickoff of a brand new day in Europe, so hopefully they'll end up acting as something of a "3rd shift" for news and links.

Stuff that's come up -

• @stealthmountain, probably not going to follow it, but conceptually it's pretty hilare, especially the tweets the account has favorited (favourited?)
• @pundamentalism may be the UK version of @bazecraze
• A surprising amount of Top UK Twitter Account lists suggest following @common_squirrel. Well, maybe I shouldn't be that surprised #british #subtlety. In the same vein, HuffPo makes up a surprising amount of these 'Top Twitter' articles. Is that all they report on these days?

Anyway, here's hoping twitter will generate me something of interest during this time-zone induced quiet time. Although, nothing too engrossing - I do have work in the morning.

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*OK this post contradicts almost everything I stated in the last post. eh.

2010-04-11

by Colleen

Pig tchotchkes. Sighted walking back from Flattop Grill where we celebrated Joe's birthday early. The pigs are out! Spring is here!

A Free Review of the Free Agency, To Date

 by Colleen

Yeah, yeah, I do realize we're about two weeks into this now, so this post is hardly timely. But you know what? You can call my writing a lot of things - untimely, unseemly, sloppy. Jeeeust don't call it late for dinner! ba dum dum.

Oh, and I'm writing this from work which means I can't back this post up with stuff like supporting facts from ESPN and NFL.com because then it would be really obvious what I'm not doing. So without further ado, here's my review of some of the FA transactions from memory (mostly):

Sean Hill out, David Carr in

Ah Sean Hill. He left a memorable mark on the great 49er QB Debate of 2006 2007 2008 2009 as commentors on both sides debated the finer nuances of Hill's 'it' factor and Smith's 'upside' using questionable statistics and a lot of repetition. In the height of the frenzy, Hill was praised for his cat-like instincts and nick-named Swan. Some comments even started off with "Montana, Young, and Hill..." and did NOT end with "...and one of these things is not like the others." Yes, it was cray cray. Sheer insanity.

Sean is heading out to a fresh environment in Detroit where he's designated as backup QB to a former-first round draft pick with a shoulder injury. Oh wait...
Best wishes, Hill! Thanks for the memories, for sure!

Hello Carr, we don't want anything less than 5 more rings in the next decade, and chances are you probably aren't going to be the one to do that - that's what we expect from Alex Smith. So just step back and keep the bench warm. Welcome to San Francisco.

Pashos

Tony Pashos left the 49ers to go somewhere...and do something...more than he did when he was in San Francisco...probably. I draw a blank when it comes to making any relevant comments on a defensive position.

Chester Taylor to the Bears!

Am I the only resident of Cook County excited by this?! Chester Taylor is a decent running back who was overshadowed by Adrian Peterson for most of his young career. Martz should be an ok OC for a running back to work with. Taylor may see a decent amount of carries this year, and I think he'll take take the ball and run with it. (ah ha ha ha)

2010-01-02

by Colleen

Sometimes you see or feel something and you just know you have to capture it on camera. This was one of those times. I had just come up the stairs at the Addison red-line stop and was waiting on the platform for the southbound el. It was clear, sunny, and insanely cold. The kind of cold that makes the air shimmer, gives concrete that ashy white glaze, brings out the color of each color, and makes everything look more real. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you haven't experienced it. Anyway, Chicago's city government has just been through a year and a half's worth of meetings and hearings about our local sales tax, property tax and income taxes. Tax sales at 10.5%. Raise it to 11%! Lower it 0.25% - vetoed! Reconvene, this time with 2/3rds approval. Lowered! Raise income taxes to 4.5%. And up and down and up and down. Behind the initial legislation to increase the sales tax to 11% was Todd Stroger, and throughout the financial crisis, general local government chaos, and his declining approval rating, he has un-apologetically backed this increase. Something about this clear morning, waiting for the el, the bricks and the light, just all came together to set off this election sign in a way that seemed fitting for this to be the 1/2/2010 picture.

As the bicennquattuordecimtennial, plus a score, (234th) anniversary of our nation's independence approaches...

by Colleen

I would like to point out that I heard yet another British accent today in the crowd of people waiting to cross the street with me. That's about the 5th one I've heard in the past 6 months. And no, these Brits are not dressed like tourists. How many British expats are living in our city right now? Why? And what are they up to? Fair citizens of Chicago, they are up to no good!

Well I have a message for them:
We kicked you out of this country in 1776 and we'll do it again!

Evidence of Tory Sleeper Cells in Chicago:

- Increase in Tea (and coffee) Tariffs
That's right, all soft drinks including coffee and tea went from a 1% to 6.25% tax rate effective this past Sept. 1st.  Brits arrive in our city and taxes go up. Coincidence? I think not. Is Daley just a Limey shill?

- Chicago loses 2016 Olympic bid, Britain hosts 2012 Olympics
In possibly the most understated, albeit classy, handing off of the Olympic flag yet, Beckham sat atop a red double-decker bus and some British dude slowly waved the Olympic flag as Bei-Jing handed the reins over to London. Stately London, who you know will manage to host a smashing Olympics on probably half the 2008 Olympics budget. Bah.
While the English get 2012, Chicagoans get - nothing! Alright Britain, you can have your scone and eat it too....this time.

- Did I mention I heard 5 people speaking the Queen's English in the past 6 months?
 That's a lot.

Possible updates later. In the meantime, remember: Tory Sleeper Cells - If you see something, say something. Thank you for your time.

Yikes: