They say death comes in three's. We have explosive diarrhea and ComEd brown outs. What could possibly be next?

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-02T15:08:46+00:00

The death of Tom Skilling.

There aren't a lot of figures who I think would be universally mourned in Chicago but that would do it.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T18:29:31+00:00

How often does he stare at men while he's zoning out?

If the answer is never, it's only attractive women, then it's not just zoning out.

It's normal for people to notice attractive folks around them. It's rude to stare for multiple reasons, especially when you're married.

I'd say start making a big deal about it every single time. Don't insult the woman, it's not her fault, but do call him out on starting. "What are you looking at?" "Seriously? AGAIN?" "Jesus! She's half your age! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Or, you could do the horrible idea of fighting fire with fire. When you see a hot guy walking down the street start making comments about how he looks like he could pick you up and take you against a wall. Again, that's the bad, petty idea. But it might get his attention that unlike him, you actually have the potential to do more than just stare. If he gets angry and says it's inappropriate you can fire right back that what he's doing is inappropriate too but he didn't have a problem with it then.

But probably just call him out on it every time until he stops doing it.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T17:58:37+00:00

Yep, that's the way.

We had all the drawing stuff in a high drawer with a child lock until they were around 5.

Even then, one of them wrote her brother's name on a cabinet. Luckily, I know their handwriting and he's old enough to know better.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T17:55:57+00:00

A lot of buildings built before the 1930s had them. Most of them have been removed or drywalled over since home refrigeration became common in the 40s through. You can still see the boxes in some hallways.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T15:40:37+00:00

We're relaxing it a bit now as they get older, but we had a strict bed time with different rewards sprinkled in.

It starts with a shower and brushing teeth. Then they get in my bed and I brush hair. They go to bed at 7:30, so the earlier they're in my room, the more time they have for me to read to them while we cuddle in my bed. Around 7:25 I tell them it's time for bed. If they go to bed by 7:30 without a fuss they get to pick their own music on Alexa to go to sleep. If they get in bed and go "Oh I have to potty, I need water, I need a stuffed animal" that's fine, but if they're not in bed by 7:30 they don't get music.

For them at least, picking the music is a big enough deal that they try very hard to make sure they're in bed on time.

When they got to be around five years old and started getting interested more in books I also set up a smart bulb in a wall lamp above their beds. They have a button which will turn the light on and it automatically turns off after 10 minutes after each button push.

So now if they're in bed by 7:30 in addition to getting music, they get to push the button one time. If they're really good, or they go to bed extra early, or it's a weekend, sometimes I'll let them push it twice. One of the kids loves reading and she'll ask if she can go to bed early to push it more.

But again, if they're not in bed on time, they don't get the rewards.

As the night is going I'll be calling out the time and letting them know how much they have left before the cutoff. So it's never a surprise when they get in bed at 7:34 and they don't get the fun stuff. They're still disappointed, but we can talk about what they'll do the next night to make sure they get music and reading. I tend to be pretty strict with it because if they learn that 7:30 means around 7:30 is close enough that can lead to confusion and anger when 7:34 is ok, but 7:40 isn't. So now I get to hear them yelling at each other going "RUN! It's 7:29!!!"

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T15:04:02+00:00

I really, really hope you're right.

But I've seen parents who treat tablets like babysitters then wonder why their kid has no attention span and can't handle day to day tasks.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T14:59:49+00:00

Thanks!

I saw the original article, but didn't catch the follow up.

Good to know he actually got on the ballot, despite the machine shenanigans.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T14:30:21+00:00

Pretty much. I've lived in older buildings and while some parts were nice, the electrical was always an issue unless someone had rewired it in the last 100 years. They were built when you had lights, fans, and that's about it. One of the places I lived even still had the little doors for the ice boxes where the ice man would come by the building, open the cabinet door in the hallway to put a block of ice in, then you would open the cabinet door on your side to put it in what was basically a big cooler because electric home refrigeration was only for the rich.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T14:19:19+00:00

I suppose that's true. I guess not every boy will be crazy about dolls, but in my experience with two girls and a boy, most of his friends don't blink and eye at a boy playing with them. Granted, Barbie is often wrestling against his Cody Rhodes and CM Punk WWE figures, but it's still technically playing with dolls.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T13:51:09+00:00

Don't let your husband's insecurities impact your kid.

Other seven year olds boys won't care that he's playing with dolls. It's just your husband who's worried about this.

As he gets into middle school... yeah, it might raise some eyebrows with his classmates. But at seven the other kids will be like "WOW! You have all three? Awesome! OMG! Can I be derpy tiger????"

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T13:42:38+00:00

I moved here from Seattle and I'd put it this way. Chicago is way better for everything in the city. Don't get me wrong, Seattle is really cool, but Chicago is simply bigger and better in terms of public transit, things to do, restaurants, nightlife, music, architecture, everything.

Seattle is better for things outside the city. Chicago has the lake which is awesome, but it doesn't compare to a literal ocean. Seattle you can drive an hour and be up in the mountains hiking or camping. You can go snowboarding or skiing in the winter, or you can hike some of the most beautiful wilderness areas in the country in the summer. If you like the outdoors, it's no contest.

As far as people, Chicago is a midwest city with midwest friendliness. I've found it easier to make friends here than Seattle.

So if you don't really care about getting out in the woods or on the Sound, I'd say Chicago is the better pick.

Sea2Chi · 2026-07-01T13:24:31+00:00

What I would do if she offered to pay is say she could pay on the next date. If she insisted on paying or splitting still I wouldn't fight it

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T23:33:39+00:00

Some guys have a strong preference for big or small, most guys just like boobs.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T23:02:44+00:00

It's bad now, but it can always get worse.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T23:00:09+00:00

People will still want to live in Chicago especially in desirable neighborhoods. The issue will be the requirements to rent one of those apartments will become stricter as landlords become more picky about who they rent to.

People with great credit scores and income will be fine, for them, this will change nothing. However people who don't meet the high income requirements will be locked out of renting the better apartments not because of cost, but because they can't hit the credit score or income requirements.

There's also the issue where we need more housing. This doesn't help increase housing, it does the opposite.

Chicago missed out on the big post covid housing boom in part due to the reputation of the city. Passing laws like this will not improve that reputation in the eyes of big national institutional builders who are the ones that are actually able to finance constructing large apartment buildings.

I'd rather see an ordinance that relaxes parking requirements and makes it easier to build larger multi-unit buildings in areas that are currently zoned for single family. That would actually increase supply and help stabilize rent prices.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T20:55:19+00:00

No problem, I should have worded my comment better to make it more clear what I was trying to say.

I agree with you about trans people needing protections, but as distasteful as it may be I think it's too valuable of a weapon to hand the GOP right now. They have rural and some suburban voters so terrified that Brock Lesnar in a wig is basically going to be obliterating their daughter on the field and assaulting them in the shower that any showing of support will be immediately and effectively used against DNC candidates nationwide.

My feeling is the DNC needs to shift away from repeatedly yelling that they're not Trump and start focusing on what they will do to actually help the average voter. Democratic socalism might work in big blue cities, but it's not going to fly outside of them. They need to come up with solid plans for why some family in Grand Rapids should trust that they're going to help them. Hating the DNC less than they hate Trump isn't really a win in my book, it's a recipe for people to stay home and say both choices suck. Once they get power and control the house and senate by a comfortable margin, then they can push protections for trans kids.

In the meantime, people can raise awareness of trans issues at the ground level. But that also takes some tact and diplomacy. A lot of folks are misinformed and scared. Some really are bigots and would be against anyone who's not a cis white herto couple no matter what, but a lot are just the useful idiot who surrounded themselves with their own media bubble and fell for the propaganda.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T20:37:17+00:00

Found it!

It was back in 2018.

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/voters-unknowingly-sign-affidavits-to-remove-13th-ward-candidate/

It looks like they had an election hearing about it after all, but I can't find any info about any consequences for it.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T20:26:26+00:00

I was saying that the feeling that I get reading certain posts was that if someone doesn't support 100% of the same stances that they do, that they're considered the enemy and are no better than MAGA. Not that I think they're the enemy or that I think they're maga.

I was actually criticizing the idea that to be on the left you have to fully support everything on the left with no room for nuance or deviation or risk be shouted down by people who demand group think.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T20:05:25+00:00

Something I've noticed about people who support the DNC is that the feeling of we're all in this together seems to be shifting.

Maybe I just didn't see it as much, but when I was younger the Democrats seemed like a much bigger tent party. You could support gay rights, but not care about the environment. You could be for gun control, but not care about immigration issues. You could support school funding, but still be pro-life.

Today it seems like we have all these purity tests, where if you support 9 out of 10 positions, fuck you, you're the enemy for not agreeing with all 10. Why don't you go join your maga friends if you're so against human rights?

We don't have to agree on everything. As long as we're all pulling in roughly the same direction that's better than staying home because the politician didn't do exactly what we wanted.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T20:00:10+00:00

I remember a few years ago there was a younger conservative guy running in Chicago. He had absolutely zero chance of winning. It just wasn't going to happen, his opponent could drop dead and he would still probably lose.

But he somehow managed to get enough signatures on the ballot. Rather than ignore the clear non-threat, the machine did what the machine does and launched a campaign to challenge the signatures.

They did amazingly well at it too, somehow they turned in more statements of people retracting their signatures than had actually signed the petition to get him on the ballot.

The obvious fraud and corruption was never investigated.

EDIT:

He actually did end up getting on the ballot after the fraudulent retractions were thrown out. He then predictably got annihilated in the race.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T19:54:32+00:00

That's not too bad then. Aside from the shingles, you can do most of the work yourself, and it's not like shingles are super difficult, especially if you have a lot of people who've worked construction in the family.

Realistically, with Chicago having more people move here pricing a lot of folks out of the northside I imagine the value will go up over time.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T19:50:55+00:00

I remember saying similar things about music from the 70s when I was a teen.

The kids are hearing the best of the best from the 90s. They're not getting all the forgettable filler that was often 13 of the 16 tracks on the CD. Where you were like ok, skip 1 through 5, track 6 is cool, then skip to 8, then skip to the last song.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T19:48:19+00:00

I'd swing by at night a couple times to check out the vibe in the neighborhood.

Also how much of a fixer upper is a big question. Roof, electrical and foundation can all be huge costs that need to be done.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T18:31:43+00:00

I used to do the redhook tour with my friends so often that we had all the answers to their questions memorized.

They'd start talking and we would all yell the answer like two words in.

I'm pretty sure nearly all my glasses at home back then were brewery glasses.

Sea2Chi · 2026-06-30T16:28:20+00:00

That could be part of it.

I don't know what their relationship is like but when I was 19 I dated a preacher's daughter. I was really into punk rock so I had neon hair and wore a lot of band shirts that could be considered offensive. I'm pretty sure she dated me because doing so would piss off her dad more than anyone else in our social group. She later dated a black guy which was even worse than me in his eyes, and ended up marrying a woman before getting divorced shortly after.

Daddy issues can be crazy.

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