An analogy

This tidbit from the N-G made me laugh:

Alderman Dennis Roberts, D-Ward 5, said he's inclined to leave the ban in place in Urbana, no matter what Champaign does.

"It's a choice between the business interests and the public health benefits to the community," he said. "I hold the business of bars is to sell liquor, and smoking is peripheral to the business of a bar."

The fact that he *isn't* in the bar business aside, here's a nice analogy that shows the ignorance of that statement. (And note: I didn't say stupidity---I said ignorance.)

The business of restaurants is to sell food, and the chairs are peripheral to the business.

While factually valid, if the restaurant next door has chairs, you know where you are going to eat....

The bread and butter of any bar is your regular customers---that is, the customers that come in regularly and drink beer, eat food, and establish a residence in your business. The fact is that many---if not most---regulars at bars *smoke.* And, while I am *for* a ban in restaurants where children are, children do not belong in bars. Period. I don't care if it's legal for children to be there before 9pm. Bars are places for adults where drinking and foul language and questionable behavior occurs. They are not tea rooms. And going to a place once a month or every other week doesn't make you a regular. Regulars are there day in and day out.

I'm not talking about attendance at a bar during a special event or on a Saturday night. I'm talking about Thursday afternoon at 3pm or Monday night around 8pm (when it's *not* football season) or a Saturday afternoon when it's nice out and most people are spending time outside.

I think what most people don't understand is that bars are places where people feed their addictions---whether it be alcohol or tobacco or gambling or other questionable behaviors. Bars aren't meant to be family-friendly, expletive-free zones. I mean really, if you are so concerned about your health, why are you drinking in the first place? It's not anymore healthy than smoking.

I had a father come and complain to me that people playing pool were using foul language around his kids. This guy---who was playing the poker machines for about two hours while his kids ran free in the bar---was concerned his kids would pick up some bad habits from hearing these two twenty-something pool players talking to each other about their previous evening.

See something wrong with that picture?

Favor?

So, anyone else out there use Bloglines?

I've had some problems with Bloglines in that sometimes blogs disappear from my list and sometimes I don't see posts unless I go to the actual site.

I think this was brought up at the Blogger Meet-Up a while back, but honestly, I can't remember a thing anyone said about *that*....

A little help here? Anyone? Bueller?

Tasty tidbits: To Lazy To Count

Does this mean they aren't going to be repairing Prospect from Windsor to Curtis Rd. anytime soon?

Cuz that road is a mess....

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We have an election coming up here in C-U, and here's my advice.

Google is your friend.

Don't know anything about candidates for a particular race? A little bit of research will help you do the right thing---which isn't just voting. It's making an informed choice.

No, not everyone is google-able and, no, not everyone is techy enough to know to do it, but I'm confident that if you are a blog reader, you know how to use google just fine, thank you very much.

Here's a perfect example of some of the tasty tidbits you can find on the great wide internets.

Course, wikipedia can be your friend as well....

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Leeanthro has a post up about some dirt she heard regarding a favorite blog pet, Trader Joe's. Time for another round of store requests?

Speaking of Leeanthro, we had a baby shower for the Baby Thorbert on Friday. He is due to arrive in about a month. The shower had pirate ballons (since the baby's room is done in a pirate theme) and was at Kennedy's.

I'm sure we'll have some pictures of the fun soon.

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Isn't there a Murphy's Law about this?

Maybe I'm just thinking about karma....

I'm glad the nephew is taking karate.

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One down, a zillion more to go.

The really *sad* part is that this kind of thing goes on all the time and nothing ever comes of it.

In case you've never seen the movie, here's the clip these bozos were referencing. See if you can figure out how their comments were supposed to be funny in context with this musical number from the movie.

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I'm going to Beloit next weekend and I'll be stopping off in Bloomington on the way back to celebrate my birthday with some friends. Anyone ever been to Beloit? Got any travel tips? Restaurants to try?

So far, I've learned it's the home to Hormel Chili and the Beloit Snappers baseball team.

An exercise in humility

So I ran to the mall yesterday to get my brows threaded.

I'm a new convert to threading, but if you haven't tried it, it's awesome. Basically, they take some white, cotton thread and twist it while running over your skin. The thread grabs the hair and removes it from the root.

What I *especially* like about threading is that:

(1) because they use the string, they keep the angles from your nose and tear duct and whatnot in alignment so your brow is shaped right. I *love* how my brows look.















(2) the procedure doesn't pull your eyelid skin away from your skull---thereby not helping gravity and age in giving you those fun puffy upper eyelids.


















(3) it removes *all* the hair---my eyelids are smooth as baby's bums. (We don't need a picture of a baby's bum---do I?)

Anyway, I'm at the mall, and the only thing I don't like is the fact that the threading is at a kiosk in the center where people can walk by, but I go try to go during the day when it's less crowded.

So, she's doing my eyebrows, and I'm pulling my lid down so she can thread in the crease and I hear someone walking by the kiosk and talking about the threading.

Then, I hear this passing lady say, "Oooh, what's that on her lip?"

And the threading lady says "It's her eyebrow."

Now, I'll admit, the first time I had the threading done, it was pretty painful. But I go every two weeks or so, and now it doesn't hurt so much.

But thinking of how my eyebrow mustache must have looked is more painful than *any* of the threading I had done.

I just kept my eyes closed.

La-la-la....

Torn

So I'm getting ready to turn 35 and I don't like it. I didn't like 30 and I sure as f*@% don't like 35.

And the other day I went to a local establishment to pick up lunch for me and a co-worker to eat at our desks. When I walked in, the guy who usually waits on us was behind the bar and I walked up to him and said "I'm here for the to go order."

Tall, thin good-looking guy says "This isn't your order."

"Yes it is," I say.

"No, it's not," says dude. "You get a bacon cheeseburger with fries and side of blue cheese sauce." (which is absolutely fabulous, by the way....)

"I know, but today we wanted Elaine's salads," I say.

And I go to pay for the bill---all with ones because I didn't get a chance to cash them in for larger bills.

And dude says "I'd ask you what you do for a living, but I'm afraid you'd tell me you're a stripper."

And, immediately, I am offended---and equally flattered.

Offended that he would think that *I* was a stripper. Not a bartender or a waitress, which would be *my* first assumption, but a *stripper.*

And flattered because he thought I could be a *stripper.*

The true geek test

Because I know too many people that have played this or others like it....

I have no idea what this is, but I *want* it....

If you wanna see what all the fuss was about in Boston...

Apparently the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie comes out Friday the 13th of April.

The title is:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Colon
Movie Film for Theaters

Trailer here. You can also fill your friend's inboxes with "customized" animated emails from meatwad, master shake, or carl.

By the way, you can be Carl Brutananadilewski's friend on MySpace. I bet those bulletins are interesting....

Because it made me laugh...

...and because "emo" came up today in conversation.

From C-U Music-Schmusic.

They have cute kitty pictures and emo jokes---like this.

What more could you want in a blog?

Thank you, TPTB

Turning off the heat
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facilities & Services is beginning its annual transition from heating
to cooling. The conversion can take up to several weeks, so we are
asking our campus users to be patient.
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So, our office boils. It always boils, but this time of year it's especially bad. Fall, too. Cuz the heat is still boiling and it's hot outside, so there's no relief. And, yes, O&M&F&S has been by *numerous* times. They are just as puzzled as we are. It's a real head-scratcher.

If we don't run air conditioners, stuff melts. I shit you not. It doesn't help that there is a zillion computers in our room and some servers and some other wiry and expensive looking stuff, but the non-stop heat is the real culprit.

I can't *wait* for the heat to get turned off. I'm sure it will get turned off *just* in time for Thursday, though....

Thu, Apr 5
Sunny
High 42°/Low 28°