it's...

sometimes we all just need a tunak tunak break...
via google video or youtube
Though i don't know why these people felt compelled to put up a video of themselves... everyone get an isight and we can video conference a tunak tunak break, just like old times.

And because I've always kinda wondered, here's a translation of the lyrics (highlight to read as I realize some of you may not want to know...) They are surprisingly
Dholna, the strings of the instrument play
listen to what the heart says
come and love me, Dholna
the world is a colorful place
its not good nor bad
listen friends the iktaara

Sometime's I hear about astronomy "events" and I drag my friends to them. Sometimes they turn out to be pretty cool... here's where I'd link to a blog post about a cool one, but I don't actually have anything to link to from my own blog. Chicago/Evanston really needs a Cafe Scientifique or a Categorically Not!. Well, last night there was a public lecture at the very cool Harris Theatre at Millenium Park. This was an extension of the Pale Blue Dot conference that... you know what, just go read Tim's post about this. I was a little dissappointed (by the talk not tim's post). There was a wonderful chance for three really top-notch scientists to discuss the burgeoning field of astro-biology and instead almost the entire time was spent speculating about catastrophic impacts, and not at a very high level. Still, it was well worth it just to have spent some time with Tim and Kat. Hooray for Tuesdays with friends!

My latest obsession, chicago supermercados... First of all I went shopping on Saturday and picked up nearly two weeks worth of food for $15.28... That's like maybe lunch and dinner in Evanston. And I have never seen such an amazing selection of beans in my entire life.

Additionally I thought how cool would it be to have a Supermercado shirt. It's far better than those neighborhood hoodies (unless of course it sports some little know statistic, Edgewater: <1 rape per day!). I'd mentioned as much to Annie, and on one of her post-Leona's bar hops she found some poor guy wearing a "Supermercado Azteca" shirt. Naturally she demanded "My roommate just has to have that shirt." And, of course, he goes home and changes out of it so she can have it for a round of drinks. (Note: This was not exactly what I had in mind...)

At any rate, here's a list of the Supermercados I could find in Chicago:

• El Alacran De Durango
  
• Almita
  
• Azteca
  
• Barrera
  
• La Canasta
  
• Cardenas
  
• El Centro
  
• Chapala
  
• Chapultepec
  
• Cuauhtemoc
  
• Garivaldi
  
• Garza
  
• Guerrero
  
• El Guerrerito
  
• Guzman
  
• Oriente
  
• Morelia
  
• La Palma
  
• Pepe's
  
• Perez
  
• El Ranchito
  
• Rio Grande
  
• Rivera
  
• Roman
  
• Sanchez
  
• Spinney's Supermercado One
  
• Tampico
  
• Torres
  
• Victoria
  
• Villarreal
  
• Zacatecas
  

Let me know if I've missed any!

Wouldn't this make for just an awesome list of club names in some Chicago-wide liga de deportes? It's so good they've probably already gotten together and done this. At any rate, claim your Supermercado. Mine is Supermercado Roman (not that creative of a name, but gotta go with the local pride). Will gets Supermercado Morelia, because he has some thankless Pavlovian reflex causing him to scream it at the top of his lungs in a faux spanish accent everytime he passes by.

A week ago Annie and I (with much help from Jeremy) moved into the new place. Everything is out of its box, but hasn't yet found a place; Annie is painting the living room ("zen mist" a shade lighter than "3-green" green and a bit more vibrant) and we still are some living room furniture shy of entertaining. But from all initial indications it's a great apartment. The location is wonderful. I've tried three ways of getting to work (biking, L, NU shuttle). The cafe down the block "ennui" is very much to my liking. Still much exploring of Roger's Park to be done. The Tacquerias. The Supermercados. Hamilton's. If I could only find more time to spend at the beach...

Coming back from Observing Friday night I had dinner/worked on a proposal at Standee's. The Rueben is a bizarre concoction I had yet experienced. I think I approve though (in moderation). Ran into a Chicago street-rap cd hawker Calloway getting off at Morse (on the way back). Apparently I "look like a guy who likes independent hip hop"... which is true, and yet entirely bogus. Despite some interesting free samples right there but declined the $5 disc (which I later found a review of). A shame Evanston can't have street peddlers like this guy. He said he sometimes does slam poetry at the Heartland Cafe on Thursday nights. I'd go check that out, because the guy displayed some pretty nice slame poetry skills even if his rhymes are a little over-tread.

Here's a picture of the place and of the nearby beach. Sorry, no pictures of me driving the 16 foot truck (over a couple curbs) from moving. But coming soon*... interior shots and my tv-quarium.









OK, it's kinda blocky on the outside, but it's still a great apartment.

*by "soon" I don't actually mean soon, I mean a couple weeks.