At first we kind of thought it was over once they had found the poor family and girlfriend of Steven Kazmierczak. We didn't get any calls beyond the messages on our machine that first night for a while.

But it has continued. I talked to someone from ABC news yesterday, and a lady from the NY Times just left a message on our machine today. It hasn't really been all that bothersome, so I'm not trying to sound all woe-is-me; I'm just pretty surprised that they're still relying on blanket-calling this far down the line though. The NY Times message seemed to imply they are specifically digging for medical/mental history information about him.

The interesting thing is the reports I'm getting from others in my family - apparently they are not just calling Kazmierczaks in Chicago. My dad in Houston got at least one call, and my brother's poor landlady (he's in Boston) has gotten three calls from the media trying to get to him.

Well, as most of you know by now, I share a last name with the NIU gunman. I was pretty freaked out upon hearing the news, because it's not exactly a common name. But I'm not related to the guy in any way, so it's just a weird coincidence.

I got home today to find this among my mail - in an envelope with just my name on it, no stamp or address. According to my downstairs neighbor, "a friend dropped this off for you".



And there's more. Checked the machine and there were three messages from news organizations - some TV channel in Denver, the Tampa Tribune, and Good Morning America - asking to talk to me.

( Note transcribed in case you can't read it )

Part of me wants to email or call this guy and ream him out, tell him what a soulless exploitative prick he is. But I'm sure he gets that all the time. What a depressing glimpse into the world of the media. How awful it must be for people that actually are related to him and are getting harassed by these assholes.

Voted this morning for the first time in our new precinct. The process was... not as smooth as back in Ward 47. There were 2 precincts voting in the same location. When you walked in, the workers started shouting at you "48 or 30? 48 or 30?" to direct you to the correct table. Almost everyone was there for 48, including us, so a line formed. The three men checking people in and handing out the ballots bickered constantly about stupid things like pens. The first guy was asking people what party they want to declare, which is incorrect (it's just what party ballot you want) and was confusing people. They bickered about pens some more. The guy running the thing that coded cards for the one electronic voting machine didn't appear to know what he was doing - to be perfectly honest, I'm glad I did not vote electronically because I would have had little confidence my vote was actually counted. More bickering about pens. Finally we voted and left, lacking confidence in the poll workers for our precinct, but fairly sure everything was mostly ok.

From what our election judge friend textybeast has said about elections, people (the workers) get testier and testier as the day goes on - it's a long, sometimes busy, sometimes boring day with little break. I am concerned if these guys were fighting over pens at 7:30 am, that they may come to blows by the end of the day.

Dear NFL Network,

I just watched a piece on Total Access by Marshall Faulk, in which he goes behind the scenes at the NFL episode of Deal or No Deal. I didn't know this until today, but apparently Howie Mandel, host of Deal or No Deal, has obsessive-compulsive disorder and mysophobia (fear of germs), to the extent that he refuses to shake other people's hands. Marshall Faulk was aware of this, and decided that his mission for the day and main plot of the segment as aired on Total Access was to shake Mr. Mandel's hand.

In the clip that aired, Mr. Faulk asked Mr. Mandel if he could shake his hand. Mr. Mandel refused, and while he was protesting, Mr. Faulk grabbed his hand anyway. Mr. Mandel yelled and ran backstage. Back in the NFL Network studio, Mr. Faulk laughed about how Mr. Mandel had to go wash his hands for 20 minutes after the prank.

I find this clip to be incredibly insensitive and unfunny. Making fun of a disorder is not comedy. Nor is ignoring someone's right to decline physical contact with another person, whether or not they have OCD.

As a comedian, Mr. Mandel may be able to laugh at himself and the incident (although whether or not he was amused was unclear from the clip). However, I believe that implying to your viewers that it is ok to "mess around" with those suffering from OCD is irresponsible, insensitive, and insulting.


Note: I'm still trying to find an email for NFL network. The contact us form on NFL.com specifically says it is for comments about NFL.com only. Update: sent to nflnetwork@nfl.com

http://lol.ianloic.com/

Find the bookmarklet link (it's about 2/3 of the way down, right below the space where you can enter an rss feed). Drag link to your firefox toolbar. Then go to any webpage. Click the bookmarklet in your toolbar. Lolcats ensue.

For example, this is the LOLcast of my LJ (but only the public posts). http://lol.ianloic.com/feed/misskaz.livejournal.com/data/rss

DO IT. IT IS FUNNY.

Thanks to Sharada's Ticketmaster website skillz/luck, we attended the Arcade Fire show at the Chicago Theatre last night. It was Sharada's birthday, to boot! We had pretty good seats in the center of the balcony - good sight lines even if we were a bit far away from the stage. The show was super incredible and tons of fun. Danced all night (at our seats) and didn't want it to be over! I'd put this band's live performance up there with Gogol Bordello, Broken Social Scene, and the like - very lively, dozens of (ok, 10) people on stage running around dancing and playing all different kinds of instruments. Arcade Fire's sing-along friendly anthems were just perfect for that kind of show.

I still don't own their new album - I think I may walk down to the Virgin Megastore during lunch today to pick it up. I worry that I won't love it as much as Funeral but I do think it will be good.

Alina was a super star today. We didn't have to do any work at the new place tonight, so she and I just headed over there for a quick practice session on the stairs. I brought these mini chewy treats that she likes that are just tiny bite sized pieces. Anyway, with a lot of encouragement and treats, Alina came up the stairs all by herself! It took a while, but once she got started she was pretty much ok. Still timid, but she did it. I even tried to give her a treat halfway up and she was like "thanks, but lets just get this over with" and got up the rest of the stairs. On the way down she was just as good. Scared to take that first step, but once she got started she managed to make her way down all by herself. Yay!

And on to the bad: Our current, but soon-to-be-former neighbor's dog(s). They have 2 - both pit bull type dogs. One is an older male, the other is a young female. They have... issues, which are exacerbated by an apathetic owner. The male dog is incredibly aggressive. His owner says it's leash aggression, and he's definitely completely psycho on a leash, but he's gotten really bad even when he's not leashed. (Due to his leash issues, his owner just lets him out in the front yard to do his business). Tonight I was taking out a bag of trash. I opened the door and saw the owner's boyfriend. Didn't realize he was out there with the dogs. So I say Hi and turn to take the trash to the back, and then the dogs come rushing at me. The male dog (who is huge, by the way) kept jumping on me and barking and snarling. I was backed up against the side of the building and had to use the bag of garbage to block him. At one point before the owner's boyfriend managed to grab him, the dog bit into the garbage bag and tore it. I scurried back inside after the dog was relatively under control.

It was terrifying, and this is not the first time something like this has happened. I think this dog is really out of control, and I'm at the point where I feel like we need to tell someone about it. I'm afraid to call Animal Care and Control, because I know their attitude about pit bulls and they'll probably put the dog down. But I don't know if I want to leave this apartment without at least warning the landlord. This dog needs training, new owners, or (if he cannot be trained or rehabbed) sadly, to be put down. I hate saying that. I'm a dog lover. The owner is a nice girl, and I'm sure she loves her dogs dearly. She's always very sweet to Alina whenever we run into her around the building. But the fact is she can't or won't do what she needs to do to control her dog. What happens when we move out and a new tenant moves in? What if it's a family with smaller kids? What if their dog ever gets loose in the neighborhood?

To make it worse, there's the younger dog, Oreo. Oreo is still a puppy, really, although she's getting bigger every day. Oreo is terrified of the entire world and everyone in it, and her response is to chase, then run away, then bark at everthing. I worry that Oreo is learning exactly what she does not need to learn about how to interact with the world from the older dog. Oreo needs lots of positive training to build up her confidence so her fear doesn't turn into fear aggression. Instead, her only doggy role model seems to want to attack any person it sees.

Right now I'm leaning towards talking to the landlord about it when we move out. If nothing else, he has a liability on his hands with a dog like that on his property. And I know he's a dog lover too, so maybe he can find a way to persuade the owner to get help in handling her dogs.

Well, painting is finally complete. Operation: Stairs Are Not Scary continues.

I've uploaded a bunch of pictures to flickr - the set is here.

( Some highlights below the cut... )

Several months ago, we upgraded from Comcast Digital Cable to add the High Definition service. When doing so, we also chose the Motorola DVR so that we could record regular and high-definition shows.

I have never used a piece of electronics that functions as poorly as this DVR. It is absolute garbage. Just as an example, we are currently trying to watch a recorded episode of a one-hour TV show. The playback has stuttered througout the hour. Not only that, but it keeps freezing. When the playback freezes, eventually the screen goes black. The only way to get it to play again is to go to live TV, go to "My Recordings", select the episode, start from the beginning, and fast forward past the freeze point. This has happened EIGHT times so far while trying to watch this show tonight. Eight times, while trying to watch one show, we have had to go back to live TV, select the episode from My Recorded Shows, start from the beginning, and fast forward past the point where the playback froze. (Trying to stop, fast forward, or rewind without doing this just doesn't work - believe me, we've tried.) Just think about how disrupting this is when you're trying to watch a TV show. This is far from the only time it has happened - it seems especially bad when the recorded show is in HD, but has happened with regular definition shows as well.

I'm not sure what can be done about this - clearly this piece of equipment is not capable of performing the tasks that it is intended to do. I suspect it is a hardware issue, although it may be the software as well.

We are looking into alternative DVR options, because this DVR is so barely functional as to be practically worthless. Those options include getting rid of Comcast entirely and switching to Direct TV or some other service. In the meantime, we are warning all friends and family to NOT get the Comcast DVR if they have any choice. It is simply not worth the extra fee.

My suggestion to you (Comcast) is to get hardware that actually works. TiVo manages to do it, people build their own computers that are able to do it; it is not impossible. It merely takes respecting your customers enough to believe they deserve a quality product, not the cheapest piece of junk you can pawn off on them and charge them for the privilege.

Update: Just got a response from Comcast, and of course it makes no sense.
"We apologize for the inconvenience you've experienced.

To fix your service issue you will need to set up a free service call to adjust your levels."

Adjust your levels? WTF?

Is there a such thing as a sports blog that isn't regularly or occasionally sexist on some level? Just wondering. I don't think I'm being oversensitive (maybe I'm wrong here) but come on. The most recent cause of this rant is Deadspin - in which a blog post about Subway Jared having a hot girlfriend is somehow sports news; accompanied by a profile shot of the girl's rather large chest. And to make it worse, I followed the source of the link to Foul Balls, a Chicago sports blog. The author made the endearing statement, "You can get a lot of exercise on that thing," referring to the young lady. More obnoxious comments from readers follow as well.

Even Signal to Noise, a blog run by someone I know and like in the internet realm, finds the need to post videos and pictures of a female sideline reporter's ass.

I'm not saying these folks have to stop posting what they're posting. I know it's completely unheard of that a woman would want to read about sports. But the truth is, I'd love to find a sports blog that I could read regularly that would not annoy me or make me feel unwelcome on a regular basis. (And that doesn't fall to the other extreme like the Prilosec-commercial-turned-lame-ass-website Herfootball.com.)

It's the Combination #predicate-Cornell Mid-January Extravaganza!
Never before in the history of mankind have two groups of people come together in such spectacular fashion!
You don't want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime event!

For a limited time, you too may be included in this exciting opportunity. By becoming a Combination #predicate-Cornell Mid-January Extravaganza member, you will earn more money, make friends, drink more drinks, lose weight, and look years younger, all in the comfort and convenience of your local neighborhood bar.

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Offer not valid in North Dakota, New Jersey, or Hawaii.

When: Friday, January 19, 2007
Where:
Before 8:00 pm - 4882 N. Ashland Apt. 1, Chicago, IL 60640
After 8:00 pm - T's Restaurant and Bar, 5025 N. Clark, Chicago, IL 60640
How: Drive, cab, CTA, fly, bike, walk, run - whatever it takes, do not miss this!

My pictures can be found here. More to come!


Edit: A few of Bo's picures are at kazbo.org.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow (if you haven't already taken care of it with early voting)! I just finished my election homework. Some helpful/entertaining links, if you're in Chicago and still deciding:

The Beachwood Reporter election guide

Judges! (P.S. Please vote no on judges that suck. There are too many that just hang around because people are too lazy or busy or confused by the retention votes. I know it sucks and takes forever, but it's important.)

WTTW candidate free time - I found these 2-minute video tidbits from the candidates themselves to be very interesting.

VOTE!

"Beans, were you a good girl today while Mom and Dad were at work?"

A coupla reviews for you:

Title: White Noise
Author: Don DeLillo

I read White Noise because it was on that list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and we had it in the house. The story is that of a small town college professor (who created an entire department of Hitler Studies) and his family. It was an interesting book, but I have to say that it felt very detached. The more I try to think of other ways to describe the tone of the book, the more the word detached comes to mind. I can't say I didn't sympathize with the protragonist, because to some extend I did, especially as the plot advanced more quickly towards the end of the book. But rather than feeling like I was engrossed in the story, I felt like I was watching it from very, very far away. There were some characters that I just didn't like because they seemed forced and unrealistic or completely stereotypical and ridiculous. To me, the most potentially interesting part of the book (a release of a toxic cloud) in terms of character or theme development seemed to just be another thing that happened. There didn't seem to be a point to the professor teaching something as odd as Hitler Studies - I missed how it advanced the point of book and wondered why it was there at all.

It's been a long time since I've taken a literature class, and perhaps my analytical skills are rusty and I missed the point somewhere. After all, based on the title one might surmise that my feeling of detachment, the feeling that potentially important events were lost in the haze, was purposeful.

Title: Neverwhere
Author: Neil Gaiman

Perhaps I've become a Neil Gaiman fangirl, because to me he can do no wrong. I really enjoyed this one. The book (the first half especially) was much darker and more depressing than his other novels that I had read, American Gods and Anansi Boys - appropriately so, given the setting of the story in the sewers and tunnels of London Below, and the lost and forgotten creatures that inhabit it. Gaiman seems to like the somewhat bumbling or inept would-be hero/protagonist, and although it can get irritating or frustrating at times, it works well.

I'm sure most of you have already read this anyway, so I won't go into too much detail. If you haven't, you should.

I think it was a 2 hour premiere just so that they could fit one hour of commercials into it.

Sure, we have a TiVo and might be a little spoiled about FFwding commercials, but we also watch live TV a lot. And I'm telling you, the commercials were so often and so long that it severely interrupted the flow of the episode, and subsequently my enjoyment.

Is it just me?

(P.S. That's Battlestar Galactica for you non-geek folks.)

Last night we saw Sufjan Stevens play at the Riviera. It was a *fantastic* concert. He had like a million people on stage - okay, not really, but there were 4 violins, 1 viola, 2 cellos/bass 1 drums/percussion, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, a guitar and a bass guitar, plus a piano. When they first came out they were all wearing masks and butterfly wings - it was actually pretty beautiful.

He played a good mix of songs from Illinois and his other albums, although I must admit I'd have been happy if he just played Illinois straight through. But he played some good ones - Casmir Pulaski, the Chicago song, the zombie Illinois song, etc...

It was really the best live show I've seen in a while. I even found a spot where I could almost see everything with just a little bit of neck craning and tip-toe-ing, despite this guy that was 8 ft tall whose head was right in my line of sight of Sufjan. I must be getting old though, because my feet and knees and back were aching by the end of the night.

I was mildly annoyed by some of the crowd, but I guess that's to be expected. But what the hell is up with people that have complete conversations at full volume throughout the entire concert? If you want to hang out with your friends and talk, there are a lot better places than a venue with a live show going on and $6 shitty beers. Sufjan's music is very orchestral, with lots of LOUD then quiet parts, and it's irritating to hear all these people blabbing away during the quiet parts. Rude, even.

Anyways, it was well worth going and I really enjoyed the show. And I took today off in advance so I didn't have to go to work all sleepy. I've even got an appointment for a much-needed haircut. Yay!

I've been thinking - how's about a football-watching party at our place on Oct. 8? Kickoff for the Bills - my former hometown team - vs. Bears is at Noon. I have no idea who to root for (other than my fantasy players, of course)!

I'll make some Buffalo wings. It will be fun and delicious.

Kitty loves this shoebox. As this picture was being taken, she was so sound asleep that she was snoring.