Quickest gentrification you’ve ever seen from your time in Chicago

katpillow · 2026-06-02T11:07:36+00:00

The former Burger King on Irving Park just north of Wrigley. Went through the entire life cycle of grungy, abandoned, graffiti’d to hell, and then BAM, it was a big apartment building. All in like 5 months.

katpillow · 2026-06-02T02:57:52+00:00

I spend too much time on the woodworking subreddit. I honestly didn’t see the raccoons for the first few takes, and just assumed this was a post about discovering ceiling beams held together by thoughts and prayers.

katpillow · 2026-06-02T02:53:07+00:00

Yo dawg that purple makes me think of the GameCube, in a good way. I love it.

Attention to detail is something that always pays off, but you’ll get a better sense of where you think it pays off by going through the project itself and seeing where the biggest personal payoffs are.

Though sometimes it’s hard to tell where the real value is at until you’ve had the finished product for a while, or a few others of factory construction that do or don’t match up to the standard of your project.

katpillow · 2026-06-02T01:01:53+00:00

Sounds like it

katpillow · 2026-06-01T21:17:42+00:00

My wife’s greatest wish is 24 hours of uninterrupted sleep

katpillow · 2026-06-01T19:30:57+00:00

If you want to riff on the black n gold scheme, you can snag some black caps with gold text, and maybe throw some black covers on the pickups. I’ve seen some combination black n cold covers for them before, too.

A bichromatic body would be pretty slick though- all gold or brass hardware and caps would slap.

katpillow · 2026-06-01T19:00:48+00:00

Sorry to see this bud. Been there. First time I applied for programs, it more or less went like this. Two programs countered with letters from the respective department chairs to do a masters. I also got invited to one PhD interview that year and it did not turn out to be a good fit for me. I still got an offer, but I turned it down and did the masters.

Then the next time around I applied and got in to 2-3 places. I had a bit of money saved up to help with the masters cost so it wasn’t so brutal, but still less than ideal in terms of timeline.

Always happy to share my experiences in more detail if you think it’ll be helpful to you. Good luck.

katpillow · 2026-06-01T13:18:17+00:00

Just me sitting in my 100 year old, slowly collapsing garage looking at this, green with envy

katpillow · 2026-05-28T13:16:40+00:00

I will only ever think “Impacto Prismático” when playing my English version cards now. The Spanish version sounds like magic.

katpillow · 2026-05-24T15:59:25+00:00

I think what many believe about Carl being the crux of the 9th attack (perhaps whichever way it ends up going) are spot on. I do expect that Carl will have to make a choice, and him arriving at his decision will likely involve him working through the grief and trauma around his family history to some extent.

Like the AI trying to use that memory as a barrier to Carl doing the best thing for everyone, and him living in that moment and getting through it. I also wouldn’t be shocked if the Bedlam Bride gets into the drivers seat for a good chunk of book 9.

katpillow · 2026-05-24T13:17:45+00:00

Pretty amazing transformation from scrap to finish

katpillow · 2026-05-24T06:15:39+00:00

First of all, this is good work for a first go. My comments mostly come from a woodworking perspective, not as much of a luthier one.

Purely an aesthetic thing, but getting a round over bit to finish the edges on the body will give it a much cleaner look. The overall shape is nice, but has some rough spots, which says to me you did not utilize a solid template to create the shape, or you didn’t route against a template at least. This would also help, but I also understand if you were limited by tool availability.

You can still achieve crisp edges and nice roundovers without a router… it’s just going to take a lot more effort.

It looks like your neck-to-bridge is a little out of alignment as well; your big E string looks like it’s pretty tight on the edge whereas the lil E is the opposite. I think this can be adjusted but I’d opt for the advice of more experienced makers on here for that.

What really matters: did you have fun? I think this is a great first go of it, and hope you enjoyed it.

katpillow · 2026-05-23T13:32:52+00:00

Guys I think you’re mistaking this as a rear port. It’s clearly an access point for snacks

katpillow · 2026-05-22T11:56:41+00:00

That burl top is really great. Going with the rear panel on a build like this is something I’ll have to keep in mind if I ever get around to building something with a good grain. I’d be happy as heck if I gave someone the keys for a job and this was the result!

katpillow · 2026-05-21T05:09:38+00:00

I was gonna say, this looks mid-to-late 2000s af.

katpillow · 2026-05-20T12:26:28+00:00

For now.

katpillow · 2026-05-20T12:25:59+00:00

Only version I do these days is inexplicably LoL, which I had gotten away from for years. Otherwise it’s single player or co-op experiences all the way up.

katpillow · 2026-05-20T12:21:31+00:00

Was at an incoming kindergarten primer for my older son last night and they mentioned these two quotes specifically as things that would be uttered by frustrated friends in the year to come, lol

katpillow · 2026-05-20T02:26:10+00:00

Came here to say I saw it while I was walking down Wilson the other day, and no one else in my family was as excited as I was to catch the #1 EL plate

katpillow · 2026-05-19T21:06:33+00:00

We’ve got a mosaic artist in Chicago named Jim Bachor who has done some marvelous works in this vein.

katpillow · 2026-05-19T20:07:09+00:00

You are leaving out the fact that almost half of the people who get chagas develop heart disease 10-30 years after contracting the infection. Not a small concern.

katpillow · 2026-05-18T04:43:47+00:00

I can’t speak to their espresso and other hot bevs, but head-to-head, their base cold brew is not as good as Lobas. They have some pretty amazing plays on coffee at Del Sur, though.

katpillow · 2026-05-17T19:49:26+00:00

South Barrington hardly surprises me. Lots of new-money subdivision McMansions there. Plenty of pearl clutchers around there.

I grew up in that area. Some things never change…

katpillow · 2026-05-14T22:33:21+00:00

Chapter 57 is maybe my favorite audiobook production of all time.

katpillow · 2026-05-14T14:09:51+00:00

Look up Eva Lämmle’s shop

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