Carpet
 

We saw this commercial recently on whatever channel that comes from up there and shows Cubs games incessantly and Mr. could not believe it was still playing - took him waaay back.

Carpet
 

Ask him if he remembers a 70's era commercial from a company called Victory Auto Wreckers, where a guy is trying to open the door to his old beater and it comes off in his hand. Still see that occasionally too.

Carpet
 

They'll pay you cash for your car, no matter what condition. They'll even tow it away free!

Carpet
 

I'll ask him.

If anyone grew up in Houston, they'll know this one:

If your transmission's got you down
And your motor falls apart,
Just bring it down to Thunderbolt;
You don't need a brand new car!
We still believe in value
And we pass it on to you.
At Thunderbolt we fix it right
And we guarantee it, too.
We put the YEEEEE-HAW
Back in your motor and transmission.

I think it still plays once in a while, but without the 70's busty blonde in the convertible.

Carpet
 

They lost the blonde? Curse them and their stupid modern sensibilities!

Carpet
 

He remembers the name, not sure about the commercial.

He was going on about some guy called Ray Rainer (?) that hosted cartoons and such and was singing a song about Little Susie Snowflake....?

Carpet
 

Ray Rayner -- former clown on Bozo's Circus who went on to have his own kids show on WGN:

Link

Suzy Snowflake was a black and white film short shown around Christmas on WGN, along with the very bizarre Hardrock Coco and Joe:


Link

Carpet
 

Wasn;t little Richie Daley a professional clown before he went into politics?

Carpet
 

Nope. After passing the bar on his fifth try, according to rumor because Dad paid off the bar examiner, Richie was a State's Attorney.

He became a professional clown after being elected mayor.

Carpet
 

Aww, thanks...I'm sending him the links.

Carpet
 

Touche! I stand corrected.

Little League World Series
 

Was watching the game between Lemont, IL and Staten Island NY last night. Lemont won 1-0. Two kids ended up in the hospital and another ended up dropping an F Bomb on ESPN2 when he yelled that they needed ONE FUCKING RUN!!!! after his coach, miked for sound, delivered a G-rated pep talk.

Deadspin has some funny comments on this here:

Warning -- Comments and video are uncensored

My favorite comments:

I hope that kid got yelled at after the game when his dad drove him home in his I-Roc.

ESPN Announcer: "Every Little Leaguer dreams about getting to Williamsport and participating in something truly special."
Staten Island Little Leaguer: "Fuck that shit."

MCLE
 

Why!?!?!

MCLE
 

Another opportunity for the establishment to take care of their friends?

MCLE
 

Don;t the daleys have enough ways to skim the public till without this~?~?~

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

1. Any chance we actually manage to nip one political legacy in the bud in a few weeks?

2. Does Sachnoff merging with reed smith bode ill for the remaining 100-200 attorney hometown firms?

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

Reed Smith has been looking in Chicago for a while now. It was only a matter of time before they found a merger partner. That being said, my guess is that the future model for law firms is going to be under 50 lawyers or mega-franchise office.

That's the way it has almost always been. It's only a short historical blip that allowed for a 150 lawyer "small firm." Twenty years ago, 100-200 lawyers was a big firm, and the rest of the profession was a couple dozen lawyers at most. Anything in between was either on its way up or down.

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

I have a friend who had an offer from RS a few years back and declined as her duedili indicated they were moving in the mega-firm direction.

By the by, am I on ignore?

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

Nope. You're not on ignore. What would make you think so?

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

An email I didn't get, but perhaps I already knew in other in other fora, sts. Anyway, I am heartened by this development and see the potential for bi-partisan growth.

Also, more topically, I willl be in Chicago in January and am open to any suggesstions. Legal or otherwise.

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

I thought you were fully apprised. I will send you my new contact info.

As for January, I suggest dining but not al fresco. As you know, Chicago at that time of year is likely to freeze your frescoes right off.

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

Smashing. And yes, inside, I am planning on going skirted and don't appreciate a draft.......

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

Al Fresco? New Place? Does he work for Streets and San.?

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

It's a gelateria on Taylor Street.

Toddler & Sachnoff
 

Mmmmmmmmmm, gelato.....

5 More Years of Lollapalooza...
 

City and organizers reach a new five year deal to keep the festival in Grant Park...

Link

travel tips
 

I will be visiting Chicago in January. Any tips on hot new restaurants and other interesting things to do and places to be seen for a preternaturally youthful hipster doofus?

Kitchen Remodeling
 

Is it worth it in this housing market? We plan to stay in this place for another 4-6 years (bought in 2/2006), so we'll get some enjoyment from a new kitchen, but I'd like to know what everyone's thoughts are on potential ROI. I'd like to recognize a decent portion of my investment.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

Sort of depends on how bad your current kitchen is. If it hasn't been redone since the 80s, I think its pretty important. Just don't spend $40,000 on a wood-fired brick oven and you should do okay on the ROI. From what I recall, in recent years, kitchen remodels have the 2d best ROI after bathrooms.

That said, I also think, with the major slowdown in construction, if you wait 6 months, you can get much better pricing (and responsiveness) on the work as there will be a glut of underemployed construction workers.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

What sort of remodel are you talking? I am trying to figure out if mine is going to be a $5,000 remodel (new floors, cabinets from IKEA (which as far as I can tell are pretty damned good) and countertops), a $10-15,000 remodel (above plus new appliances) or a $50-75,000 remodel (expand kitchen, add laundry room, half bath and master suite to that side of the house). I tihnk any of the above will add value to the house, but Houston hasn't really been hit by any discernable housing slump.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

We had planned on starting on April, so hopefully our timing will be right.

The kitchen is pretty bad. Green formica countertops, white appliances, late 80s cabinets with gold hardware (the kitchen hasn't been upgraded since it was built in '88).

We want new countertops, appliances and cabinets (either new or refaced*). I don't want to spend more than $20k (and would prefer $15k).

Thanks for the input, Cletus.

*the cabinets are actually of decent quality, but significantly out of style.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

Your mid-range remodel is what we're shooting for, except that we won't need new floors.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

i just read this on cnn money last night. a midrange kitchen remodel can be expected in the current market to recoup about 80% of the cost. midrange was estimated at, gulp, 54,000.

i'd say your own enjoyment of it over 4-6 years is worth 20%, even your kitchen weren't so bad as to make it harder to sell the house down the road.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

I agree.

I can't spend $54k, though. Yikes.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

If you do new appliances, you may well need new floors because of the differing footprints. Unless you have, e.g., everything sitting on wood floors.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

Based only on my own observations, yours is exactly the sort of kitchen which must be upgraded to improve resale. And, whatever you do, make sure you have a significant holdback in your progress payments or you may never get the project done--everyone I know that has had major work done recently has had problems with getting things completed.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

It's all hardwood, and the appliances are hopefully going to be installed in the same location as before (as are the countertops). The layout will not be changed.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

Mine started because of the floors. An appliance leaked, which seeped under the floor, and I have to rip the floors out (which I don't really mind, since they were Pergo installed as a DIY by the previous owners and I've never really liked them, and I found a really nice tile that will look good instead). In order to get the floor fixed, I have to rip out the cabinets on that side of the kitchen (and of course, get that appliance fixed). Since I'm ripping out the cabinets on that side of the kitchen, I might as well rip out the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen.

It's a giant expensive snowball from what I suspect was just a clogged drain.

I've been doing a lot of research on kitchens in the last six months, though, so if you're looking for advice on how to keep costs down (IKEA, Silestone, Sears), lemme know.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

Huh. Mine started about 3 hours after we closed when my wife said, "we're really going to have to do something about that kitchen".

I don't understand why cabinets are so expensive. They're freaking boxes of wood.

I will probably email you some questions if that's okay (sometime down the road). Thanks.

Kitchen Remodeling
 

Having only looked at them out of curiousity, the potential issue I see is with the runners on the drawers--I get frustrated with flimsy drawer runners and the Ikea cabinets I looked at seemed to have less than robust runners. May be that I was looking at the cheap, cheap stuff, but it's something to consider.

Coltrane--if you're existing cabinets are good quality and you're happy with the layout and storage options, it's definitely a good idea to just reface everything.