Bah. There is construction at the Red Line station in Evanston (new condo going up across the street). So the bus I was in got stuck against a flatbed semi that was unloading construction supplies. The truck pulled forward and I could feel the bus shake as the two scraped against each other. It looked like the bus would stay there for a while while everyone filled out paperwork, so I walked to work from the station instead.

On the bright side, I got my xmas bonus today.

I think the canned chili bothers me most. One, I'm not a fan of the whole beans/ground beef/tomato chili thing. Two, canned? It smells like dog food when it is first opened. A common problem with canned beef in anything.

With an extra vacation day to burn!

I'm out of vacation days,but I do have a personal day left to use up. If the strike lasts more than two days, I'm totally giving myself a 6-day weekend. (We're already off next week M-W.)

It smells like dog food when it is first opened. A common problem with canned beef in anything.

Yeah, that's probably true.

Do people think the strike will go on for a while?

Maybe it's dog food that smells like canned beef.

I mean, isn't a lot of dog food technically canned beef?

A sort of vegatarian chilli I've made in the past is really simple. Can of bean, can of tomato sauce, bunch of heated up southern style potatoes, and a bag of taco seasoning with a bit of water to thin it out. Probably with some fritos or crackers and some grated cheese.

So they were there to report a crowding that - at the time - they were the ones creating?

American media at its best.

My sympathies to the strike-affected peeps. Do they have estimates on how long it will last?

Gud, what are southern style potatoes?

For Perkins, if she's still up: [link]

The Squeakaboo is just ungodly beautiful. That is all.