Winnie

no more livejournal. auf wiedersehen.

have not been posting much here....alice's wedding was lovely....in other news, i never get cramps, but i swear to god i felt my egg drop last night while i was doing laundry....gross.

have been taking part in fairly adult events of late (maybe because i'm almost 28!!!)....wedding last weekend...house warming last night, standing for lsd's wedding next weekend.... must write speech.

in the meantime... my tonsils are the size of golfballs. ugh. my day so far has consisted of chugging a bottle of water, laying in bed, getting up to pee and grab another bottle of water. repeat process many many times...

today has been.....bleh. but at least....

i booked my ticked to puerto rico!!!

friday: due to my getting off work at 4pm, missed the insane truck crashing into the chinatown red line station. dinner at lou malnati's followed by uber classy viewing of harold and kumar escape from guantanamo bay. lots of college kids laughing like hyenas. there were definitely some good laugh out loud moments. good mindless entertainment after a long work week. i'd say the movie kills about as many braincells as 3 shots of tequila.

saturday: woke up "early" (before noon)...oil change, got fitted for two dresses at the tailor, then alice's bachelorette party...burlesque dance lesson, dinner at tizi melloul, soundbar.

sunday: slept in...tried to move around the house with a guilty conscience to avoid getting in the cleaning lady's way.

monday: could not find my foundation and decided that going to work barefaced on top of the cold and rain was too much to bear. called in and slept all day. hehe.

i ordered in haste...it was only for a pattern, not the actual pillow. phooey.

Nancy: blah
me: blah yourself
Nancy: my stomach is full of gas
me: eew
Nancy: gesous masseous
hehe
yah
i'mi quietl farting nonstop
hehe
me: are you going to fart up a storm at the gym?
eew
Nancy: at least it doesn't smell
haha
probably
me: how do you know?
Nancy: but it doesn't smell
hehe
so it should be ok
me: ok
Nancy: you can smell your own fart stupid
you can smell your own fart stupid
me: but you smell bad already
Nancy: whatevers
that's be you smelling it up
stupid
moopid
me: no
it's your upper lip
Sent at 3:56 PM on Wednesday
Nancy: hehe
hot
i have a hot upper lip
hehe
me: no you don't
Sent at 3:58 PM on Wednesday
Nancy: yes i do
yours is rotting
me: you're has already fallen off
everyone sees you from far away and thinks you're smiling
but no
it's just because you have no upper lip to close your damn mouth
sick freak
Sent at 4:01 PM on Wednesday

Chicago Sun-Times

City revamps minority contracting program

April 23, 2008
Recommend

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Three years ago, Mayor Daley bounced his purchasing chief and ordered Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey to clean up a minority contracting program disgraced by scandal.

Dempsey was asked to do a “total scrubbing” of the program to weed out white-owned fronts, such as members of the mob-connected Duff family who engineered a $100 million minority business fraud. Dempsey responded by imposing rigid requirements designed to make certain that minorities and women benefited — even if it meant waiting longer for the certification that gives them a leg up on city contracts.

Today Daley walked away from the minority certification headache.

A group of business, academic and civic leaders appointed by the mayor to take a fresh look at the “scope and structure” of local government recommended the idea — and Daley wholeheartedly embraced it.

Instead of struggling with a 1,600-case backlog that has forced minority businesses to wait two years for certification, Chicago will rely on groups that do certification for the federal government and some state and local governments. They include the Women's Business Enterprise National Council and the National Minority Supplier Development Council.

ÒIt's a whole cumbersome process we're going through. É It could be a century by the time someone gets certified through Procurement. It's just too slow É We should not be in this business,Ó Daley told a City Hall news conference.

ÒWill there be fronts? Yes. There'll always be some way for someone to get around the system …. [But], if the federal government has certified disadvantaged businesses, we should … automatically accept that. …We’re not washing our hands. … Other organizations have done it. We should accept that. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has accused Daley over the years of allowing Chicago’s program to be manipulated by the politically-connected at the expense of minorities.

He has pointed to the Duffs and Chicago-Sun-Times stories that shined the light on: a company brokering plumbing supplies owned by the sister of Daley political enforcer Victory Reyes; a minority telecommunications company partially-owned by the late Mayor Richard J. Daley’s longtime patronage chief Tom Donovan and an O’Hare Airport restaurant owned by Billy Goat tavern owner Sam Sianis that was placed in the name of Sianis’ wife, apparently at the city’s direction.

Jackson called the minority certification bombshell a “positive move.”

“The city has shown a capacity to hook up insiders and, in some cases, actually certify companies when minorities were not actually doing the work, which threatens minority certification programs, not only locally, but nationally,” Jackson said.

“I’m not suggesting that the federal government or the state are much better at it, but there’s certainly more transparency and they have a better history of certification through their processes than the very troublesome history the city has shown.”

Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) acknowledged that the city’s certification program was slower than molasses. But, he said, “I don’t understand why we concede that we just can’t do it. It doesn’t make sense to me. We should be able to find somebody talented to come in and do that job — like we do other jobs.”

Getting out of the minority certification business is not the only cost-saving change proposed by the so-called “21st Century Commission” and embraced by the mayor to save millions of taxpayer dollars.

Five years after talking about the idea, but never fully-implementing it, Daley also plans to allow the owners of large buildings that have no history of enforcement action and at least some commercial space to “self-certify” their own inspection documents for the city’s review.

That should free the city’s inundated army of building inspectors to concentrate on problems in the neighborhoods.

He also plans to: centralize management of the city’s $1 billion real estate portfolio; merge the Department of Human Services with domestic violence, prisoner re-entry, veteran’s assistance and homelessness programs and offer “meaningful rewards,” but not cash to city employees who generate new ideas to cut costs, improve services or raise revenue.

friday i had a haircut with bobby, light dinner/serious imbimbing directly afterwards next door at tryst, followed by bjork night at berlin....capped off with cinnamon roll french toast. home by 3:30am.

saturday i woke up at 6:30am for traffic safety school for that bogus speeding ticket i got on valentine's day...the class lasted from 8-12, and i thought i was going to die. i was hungover, tired, and just out of it. somehow after class i mustered up the strength to go to target to pick up my prescription, and i got some pizza that i ate on the drive back home...crashed from 1-8pm. had no plans, and didn't feel like making any last minute, so i went out and bought myself a copy of juno and some popsicles and chilled. managed to fall asleep around 5am and woke up at 1pm this afternoon. hopefully i will be able to fall asleep at a decent hour.

which brings us to....now. my mom decided to hire a cleaning lady for us once a week and she's coming over for the first time later this afternoon....so i have to do some preliminary cleaning in my disaster of a room. i feel weird about having someone come clean. a little bougie, but relieved.... oh well. i just have to make sure my room isn't too scary when she gets here. she might not be able to figure out where the dirty pile ends and the clean clothes begin.

A shirt stop is needed
Offensive image on hot-selling item doesn't reflect positively on city

April 18, 2008
Recommend (20)

BY GORDON WITTENMYER gwittenmyer@suntimes.com

Kosuke Fukudome didn't have to wait long for the ugly American part of his welcome to Wrigleyville.

A Fukudome T-shirt with a racist image is the hottest-selling item at a souvenir stand that sells unlicensed Cubs-related merchandise across Addison Street from the ballpark, according to Mark Kolbusz, who's in his fourth season operating the stand.
» Click to enlarge image
A t-shirt for sale outside Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon.
(Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)

On the front of the shirt is the traditional Cubs cartoon bear face but with slanted eyes and wearing oversized Harry Caray-style glasses. It's accompanied by the words ''Horry Kow,'' scrawled in cartoonish ''Japanese'' script. Fukudome's name and number are on the back.

''That's the No. 1 seller this year, by far,'' said Kolbusz, who estimates one in 10 customers complain about being offended.

While Kolbusz was answering questions, two white guys stopped by the stand and pointed at the shirt, with one affecting a 1960s B-movie accent while reading aloud the words on the shirt.

His friend responded in a similar offensive accent, ''Oh, you tink dat funny?''

They walked away laughing.

Nice.

Apparently, it's not only the Cubs' World Series form that's stuck in a 100-year time warp.

For all the innocently mistranslated signs, bows and zealous cheering from right-field bleacher regulars for the franchise's first Japanese major-leaguer, the mere creation of this shirt -- but especially its popularity -- sends a raw, vulgar message about Fukudome's new hometown.

''I don't know what the creator of the shirt meant this to be, but they should make it right,'' Fukudome said through his interpreter after being shown one of the shirts Thursday. ''Maybe the creator created it because he thought it was funny, or maybe he made it to condescend the race. I don't know.''

Regardless, it's not funny. The image feeds not only ugly, arrogant and ignorant Japanese stereotypes, but also the stereotype of the obnoxious, profane, drunken, booing, garbage-throwing Cubs fan.

How much truth is there in either image? And how funny is either one?

Kolbusz said he's ''indifferent'' to the image on the shirt.

''I'm making money,'' he said. ''It doesn't offend me. If other people are offended by it, it's just a silly T-shirt. Nobody is trying to offend anybody.''

Which is probably true -- and, if so, sadly ignorant.

Kolbusz went as far as pointing out that the shirt's creator is ''an Oriental guy'' and also pointed out an Asian woman he sold a shirt to.

But the customer in question, Laureen Hom, had no intention of wearing the shirt, she said.

''I bought it for my mom, who has a collection of racist images of Asian Americans,'' she said. And, she added, the fact the creator is Asian ''is no excuse.''

Both of Hom's parents are Asian-American Studies professors at San Francisco State University, and they're in Chicago this week for the annual conference of the Association for Asian-American Studies. Hom, originally from San Francisco and now living in New York, met them in Chicago and attended the Reds-Cubs game Thursday with her friend Kimberley Ma.

''It's always weird buying that stuff,'' said Hom, who was startled to see the bear image on the shirt with the slanted eyes as she walked toward the ballpark. ''And then I got closer and saw the lettering and thought, 'Oh, my God.'''

Ma called it ''shocking'' and ''insulting.''

Hom compared the shirt to a series of Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts five years ago that stirred outrage and controversy before quickly being pulled from shelves. One version featured caricature faces with slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats and a slogan that said, ''Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White.''

Cubs officials made it clear they have nothing to do with the creation or marketing of the image, which also is being sold on headbands. The team had no official comment.

Fukudome did not seem shocked.

''I knew I was coming to a different country, so I expected something like this,'' he said. ''Maybe not necessarily racial, but that anybody could take any context of my words and degrade me if they wanted to. But if I make a big deal out of it, it's not going to benefit me, so I'm not going to make a big deal of it.''

so this morning during the earthquake, everything fell off our piano... it woke me up, and i thought someone had broken in....i got really scared and thought maybe i should check it out since i had to pee anyway, but i was so tired i passed out again in under a minute.

www.roche-bobois.com

evidently the only thing i can afford is their CATALOG, which they will mail to me for $15.

btw, it's not even a catalog of all their collections...just one of the three.

i'm totally having a good day at work...tattoo is out for the day, i just had potbelly's with a dreamsicle smoothie, and i'm humming along to danse macabre.

yay friday.

another red line story...

so i'm at the jackson stop after work today, heading back to chinatown to get my car. get in the el, not too crowded, i'm standing, but at least i'm not spooning anyone. anyway...this guy is standing across from me. think...greasier crispin glover with bad, dirty clothes and an uneven goatee....so anyway, i feel him staring at me, so i take a look to see what his deal is. he's got a december issue of playboy wide open and he's leering at me...and i should have just looked away with a blank stare but i immediately gave my usual look of disgust (which some of you should be fairly familiar with) and let out a somewhat audible "fucking creep" which i think only turned him on even more because he smiled. ugh.

i keep imagining that i'm still in bed, not sitting at work wanting to die.

spring/summer fragrance purchased.

is it bad that i really really want to go see george michael at the united center? i've also gotta get my avenue q tickets soon.

Ohio man facing charges for having sex with a picnic table

(BELLEVUE, OH) -- Police say a man in Bellevue, Ohio was caught on tape having sex with a picnic table.

Bellevue Police Captain Matt Johnson says Art Price, Jr., 40, was seen on four occasions between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and noon having sex with his picnic table. What makes this a felony, Johnson says, is that it took place in close proximity to a school, which made it likely that children could have seen Price.

The neighbor -- who wishes to remain anonymous -- saw Price walk out onto his deck, stand a round metal table on its side and use the hole in the umbrella to have sex.

The most recent instance took place March 14, we're told. A neighbor videotaped Price.

"The first video we had, he was completely nude. He would use the hole from the umbrella and have sex with the table," Johnson says.

Police say Price admitted to the crimes -- four charges of public indecency. Usually these sorts of things are misdemeanors, but in this case, they are felonies.

"What boosts it up to a felony is that the statute says if it's likely to be viewed by a minor," Johnson explains.

The Price family did not want to talk with us, but neighbors did. Some are not happy Price was released on his own recognizance.

"He shouldn't be allowed just for the fact that he could do that again -- and nude that close to a school. That should be zero tolerance," says Brice Jacobs, a neighbor.

Price is married with three school-aged children. Neighbors tell us they're now worried about the kids.

"Hopefully it stays between the adults and the kids don't get a lot of the information so they aren't so cruel to the little kids," says Emily Grote, a neighbor.

This case has police in this small town shaking their heads. "Once you think you've seen it all, something else comes around," Johnson says.

Report: WTOL, Toledo