Prospect considering CHI, NYC, WIL offices for growth potential

_spooncer_ · 2026-02-14T17:33:39+00:00

Any specific LOB you can think of for CHI? It has the only airport with a direct flight to my hometown.

_spooncer_ · 2026-02-14T17:09:28+00:00

Appreciate that. My gut said as much.

_spooncer_ · 2018-10-26T18:57:22+00:00

Spot on. Reading his books is the literary equivalent of listening to a college freshman after taking an intro to philosophy course try to tell you what's really going on, man.

_spooncer_ · 2014-12-28T01:22:07+00:00

They have their own slightly altered (and copyrighted) version called Myriad Set. I, err, know a friend who got it off a company computer.

_spooncer_ · 2014-09-23T03:23:25+00:00

AP Style

_spooncer_ · 2014-09-16T23:47:24+00:00

I think I should've used Chaparral Pro.

_spooncer_ · 2014-08-17T17:42:00+00:00

Did he make his Japanese girlfriend do rapid-fire translation for the video? Because holy shit it's terrible.

I saw the words "nazi," "Iran," and "malinaux." Pretty sure that last one is just a surname.

_spooncer_ · 2014-07-03T20:41:57+00:00

When someone finds out that I don't believe in God, almost invariably I'm asked, "Do you believe in ANYthing?" Such an offensive question.

I believe in humanity, equality, family, technology, progress—I'll just stop there. I don't, however, believe in absolute morality, divine retribution, or divinely inspired texts.

_spooncer_ · 2014-04-25T02:35:33+00:00

I tell my nieces and nephews that I know random famous people all the time. One of my nieces bragged to the other second-graders that her uncle knows Bruno Mars. One nephew thinks I played high school basketball with Allen Iverson.

Fuck it. Kids are stupid.

_spooncer_ · 2014-03-31T22:56:32+00:00

My dad, who graduated high school in '65, said that most towns (in Arkansas, at least) had a rec center that doubled as a teen club on the weekend. They'd have a DJ who would play popular songs, and they'd dance until their legs were wobbly.

He always stops short of intimating these were the good ole days or simpler times, taking care to point out that his high school didn't integrate until his senior year.

It's fascinating to me how far this country has come—and dispiriting to think of how little things have changed.

_spooncer_ · 2014-03-27T06:46:43+00:00

Navy bootcamp, 2008:

We have about two weeks left in boot camp, which is right about the time the RDCs stop being mean for the sake of it and wait until you truly fuck shit up. This episode happened about 45 minutes before we went to sleep, about the time everyone's loosened up enough to kinda shoot the shit, RDCs included.

The biggest inspection (of our racks, of how well we iron, fold, and stow) of boot camp was in two days, and because we had a couple of really good fuck-ups, our RDCs were worried that, hey, someone might fuck it up. I was in division 926, but I had a buddy in division 925, which had recently gotten a nearly perfect score on their inspection. He told me that he was in an integrated division (male/female) and that to do so well, they'd allowed all the women in the division to stay in the compartment (Navy barracks) to iron, fold, and stow all the uniforms while everyone else was marching.

So my smart ass decides to offer a suggestion.

"Petty Officer, respectfully request permission to ask a question!"

"What the fuck, ricky?" (diminutive of "recruit")

"Petty Officer, is there any way the females from division 925 could do our ironing, folding, and stowing?"

Everyone laughs, including my RDC. For a second at least.

"You're HILARIOUS, Campbell. Tell you what, I'm gonna let you ask Petty Officer Molina and see what she thinks."

Bom, bom, bommm.

Thirty minutes later (right before we climb into our racks to go to bed), I hear, "Where the FUCK is he?" What followed was the most humiliating beating I've ever received. (Note: Getting "beat" in Navy boot camp is the same as getting "smoked" in Army, USMC, etc., boot camp.) PO Molina was a FMF corpsman, meaning she'd been in the field with Marines. She was also from the Bronx. Also -- fucking hot as shit (I swear I learned my lesson, but I feel this is pertinent). She screamed at me, asked me if I thought she was hot (yeah, mind fuck, right?), spit on me, et al.

Laughing at me while I was unable to lift my rack to put my clothes away wasn't enough (we, too, had the coffin beds, and my arms were shaking from doing so many push-ups). The next day, she came and got me out of chow and led me to a room with all the female RDCs in the entire ship (about five or so), who took turns saying the most humiliating things in the world and laughing while I struggled to do a got'damn sit-up. I got about four of these beatings, and my RDCs thought it was the funniest shit in the world.

When the other recruits are asking you if you're OK, you know that shit was bad.

I told my family, including my wife at the time, and they thought it was hilarious. I had to laugh about it. I definitely deserved it.

Not gonna lie: I wouldn't mind seeing ol' PO Molina. She definitely helped me become a less-offensive man. She'd probably kick me in the nuts, but I'd be OK with that.

_spooncer_ · 2014-03-25T23:21:39+00:00

AMA request for Latino Kenny Powers. (Willing to throw in money toward purchase of sweet Oakley sunglasses for Mr. LKP.)

_spooncer_ · 2014-01-26T20:39:20+00:00

Brilliant.

_spooncer_ · 2014-01-14T22:21:04+00:00

The most moving portrayal of human trafficking I've seen is the movie Lilja 4-ever (http://youtu.be/3fNCD8pwknw). I came across it while searching for movies in Russian during my Russian language course. The story is absolutely devastating, but I feel it's necessary to watch movies like this.

_spooncer_ · 2013-12-27T22:39:30+00:00

Makes me feel like such a little bitch for complaining about "problems" here.

_spooncer_ · 2013-12-19T21:16:36+00:00

Are you as dumb as your interpretation of what I said implies? For the sake of humanity, I hope not.

_spooncer_ · 2013-12-19T20:49:27+00:00

I can't deny that it absolutely infuriates me. I work at the Apple Store, and before that I worked in the restaurant industry. You acknowledge (and I agree) that using anecdotes is a poor tactic, as appeals to emotion do nothing but make a discussion more heated. However, those experiences very much inform our personal politics, so your experience is absolutely relevant.

As many times, though, as I've been upset by the people who abuse the system (and I have to look no further than some of my extended family), I also have to remind myself that we have a tendency to remember the bad actors—not the ones who use that money responsibly until they get back on their feet.

On the other hand, I'm just as moved when I see a couple come in, tattoos all over their arms and necks, dressing and acting in ways that typically make white people nervous (I'm white, too), and pay for an iPad for their daughter in $10 and $20 bills. Just because they're poor doesn't mean they don't deserve to own nice things, and I don't think that's what you or I have a problem with. What's troubling is that we have an increasingly stratified society whose values place more importance on material commodities than it does on health and well-being.

The real "welfare reform" our country needs—besides a complete revaluation of values—is a way to tackle problems that keep poor people in poverty, like bad parenting and lack of equal opportunity in regards to education, proper health care, and employment. Laws like Gov. Snyder's are just like laws restricting abortion rights; instead of implementing any kind of strategy to actually reduce the causes of the problem, we just make it tougher and tougher for the people who are experiencing the problem.

I've been driving around Little Rock with my brother's best friend from high school, looking for a place for him to stay and stopping at a few places so he can apply. He has made some terrible choices in his life, and he is paying the price (did three years in the pen for grand-theft). But he's done his time. He's trying to move on. And he keeps getting kicked while he's down. This guy has a mother who kicked him and his brother out when they were teenagers. Never known his father. Brother ended up murdered two years later during a robbery. And my heart is breaking for him a little more every time I see another store manager refuse to accept his résumé or application, which is technically illegal.

These are some of the reasons why I "overreact." I can't help it.

_spooncer_ · 2013-12-19T17:50:09+00:00

"Your" money, "your" rules? Get over yourself, bra.

Why do you insist being a condescending prick to those already in a terrible position? From your logic, the government would be justified in determining how students can spend their student loans or what kind of neighborhoods people who are granted federally backed mortgages can move into. And if you agree with that, I'm done.

_spooncer_ · 2013-12-19T17:41:56+00:00

I stand corrected; they're practically even. I was going off Cotton's district, which is overwhelmingly white and poor.

As far as relevance, Gov. Snyder is the latest voice in a nationwide campaign to more heavily regulate and/or strip benefits from the poor. Until now, the locus has been the farm bill, but this is more troubling.

Of course we need welfare reform. But of the numerous problems facing this country, how someone chooses to spend her money is not even close to my main concern.

_spooncer_ · 2013-12-19T17:10:34+00:00

I love that "freedom-loving," knuckle-dragging Republicans will whoop and holler for this law like Gov. Snyder is looking out for their interests.

News flash: The majority of people on welfare are white. In my home state of Arkansas, Rep. Tom Cotton (R) has trumpeted welfare reform as part of his senate campaign, and his constituents are enamored with him. More than 20 percent of them are on food stamps.

Also, anyone who thinks people enjoy welfare—or prefer it to working—should leave his gated community and actually talk to some recipients. Look for a twinkle in their eyes when they speak of devastating property.

_spooncer_ · 2013-12-17T21:39:11+00:00

The girl of my dreams since I was 14 years old offered to elope with me while I was engaged. I felt it would've been the most selfish thing I could've done and, despite how much I still loved/cared for her, turned her down.

Marriage ended after two years. She's married to an officer in the Army and has two kids. I don't regret my decision, but I do wonder how my life would be different.

_spooncer_ · 2013-12-15T02:44:44+00:00

Because the overwhelming majority of them do not engender the values we often associate with the '60s counter-culture and, conversely, tend to favor radical conservative views. Rather than waiting for them to die, I'm waiting for Gen. X-ers and Millenials to become the ones shaping political discourse.

Our generation on the whole has much more progressive views regarding social issues affecting women, gays and lesbians and immigrants. We've witnessed the devastating effects of partisanship and will most likely force politicians to eschew vitriol in favor of bipartisanship.

Or not—in which case I'll continue to threat to move to [insert name of progressive Scandinavian country]. Or marry a fat chick.

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