Controlled Chaos

QUOTE (AJUribe @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 11:13 AM) out of the four major sports the lombardi trophy is the hardest to win. As opposed to the other three sports there is no series and in one game virtually anything can happen, you can dominate the entire season and have a bad game or one costly mistake (see Favre) and your done. I think that makes it the easiest to win. In football you have to beat a team 4 times to win the Lombardi. In hockey, at a minimum, you have to play 16 games to win it all. I mean the Hawks this year played more games just in the playoffs then the Bears would play in a championship winning season ...with the same amount of brutal hits and about 6 days less to recover from them. The NHL regular season ended on April 11 and the Hawks won the Stanley Cup on June 9 after playing their 22nd playoff game. I guess the answer depends on how you interpret the question...but I define 'toughest' or 'hardest' by including the sports physical factors. Along with certain degrees of physicality comes injuries and that takes it's toll on winning. A non contact sport has to take some sort of hit for that and for me...that hit puts baseball below hockey, but not below football. While football is physical, it's a cake walk of a season and playoff format. Win your conference and you have a tough week of rest with a bye, followed by two home games over 14 days, and another 2 weeks of rest and the Superbowl.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 08:46 AM) hopefully everything is OK with Bobby and his family and he comes back in the form he was showing of recent. Everyone is going to have to step up, hopefully Sergio can find his control Sounds like something with his wife. Hope all is well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 27, 2010 -> 09:49 PM) Unless they have decided to make Huet the worlds highest paid minor league goalie... I think that is a done deal already. No way his contract will be on the books this year. Still though...the numbers just don't add up unless they dump another guy.

Born 1973 and living above Jimbos..or what is now Cork and Kerry in 76...

Pretty nice rope by Becks there. good to see.

Lets rattle this cage early and often. Come on CQ

Ideal summer attire.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) It actually relates to someone trying to look flashy, but has nothing to back it up. Similar to someone swinging really hard at a pitch, but nothing good happening. It somewhat makes sense. I guess it's better than having Hawk calling people poseurs. Yeah it always made sense to me. All show and no dough. Big swing, no contact. Matt Abattacola I never did understand though. I guess Matt asked Hawk to make a syaing up with his name...so broken bat hits became Abattacolas. go figure.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 01:52 AM) Yeah I think one more guy for sure (probably Steeger) has to go. After that, it's kind of a guessing game in my opinion. I'm not a capologist by any means, but here's what I come up with. They are at $53,414,670 with Huets contract. His $5.625 will not be on the books which puts them at $47,789,670 for the players below. Kane, Patrick Toews, Jonathan Hossa, Marian Sharp, Patrick Bolland, Dave Versteeg, Kris Kopecky, Tomas Reasoner, Marty Brouwer, Troy Campbell, Brian Keith, Duncan Seabrook, Brent $11,610,330 under the cap. They need to sign Niemi and Hammer both with pay increases. Let's say their at 3 and 1.5 respectively. Ladd was at 1.6 lets say they bring him up to 2. If Crawford is the backup, he should stay at 800. That would leave them at $4,310,330 under the cap and they'll need 3 more forwards and 3 more defenseman. Pretty tight. Maybe they can get Ladd at 1.8. Good resource for cap info. http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=11#

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 02:49 PM) Really, I think it's pretty well understood that in most places, Walmart isn't a tax revenue generator. We've gone over that on things like dumping people onto government services, etc., but at the local level, the 2 key issues are the amount of additional construction and spending the City has to put out to create the Walmart, and the fact that a huge percentage of Walmart stores wind up closed within a handful of years if they don't produce well enough, leaving a nearly unusable large retail space that the city winds up owning and having to police. People like Daley can win because of campaign contributions, but the city as a whole at best will come out with essentially a draw. In terms of the worst of the worst areas though, there probably would be an offsetting benefit of allowing better access to supermarket-quality food and prices just on improving the area, so I probably come down on that side in the most blighted areas. The inability to get standard supermarkets into poverty stricken areas and the results on the diets in those areas is a huge negative quality of life issue. Well not much tax revenue coming from garbage infested empty vacant lots where I assume most of these stores will go.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 02:14 PM) By the way, it looks like Walmart is indeed coming to Chicago, and not just one or two stores - a whole lot of them, and it has Daley's backing. That means its highly likely to make it through the City Council. I thought it alwyas had Daley's backing. It's the unions who are against it and they bring the mighty influence with em. Also, this.... "Walmart has this strategy of entering the urban marketplace, but they want to bring the rural wages with them," he said, adding Walmart's pay scale is a drag on the wages paid by competing retailers." is bulls***. They pay what every other retail job would pay. What do cashiers at fast food restaurants make? Cashiers at Kohls? Video stores?? Nobody is boycotting McDonalds or White Castle....What are those...ideal career paths with a high end salary structure?? People need and want these jobs. They need and want the food. The city needs the tax revenue.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 01:48 PM) I'm just shocked, literally shocked, that you're advocating that being unemployed, making ZERO dollars of income, is the same situation as having a job, that may or may not be a s***ty job (as if any retail job is a GREAT job), that pays 8.75 an hour. Shocked. Next time I talk to your boss i'll be sure to remind him that a raise of 8.75 is insignificant. I'm sure he'd be happy not to have to pay that out. I'm not talking about situations where you're putting a Wal-mart in the middle of lincoln park or lakeview (although how wal-mart is any different than the 100 Targets in the city is beyond me), i'm talking about putting them in the poorest neighborhoods of the city (or on the edge of them....anywhere in the vicinity of them) and how that'd be beneficial to the people there, regardless of any benefit Wal-mart might get from that. Like I said, they're the only store willing to build in those areas. There's nothing else coming down the pipeline. The unions are arguing that a couple bucks more would be better. Yeah, it'd be better, but it's not better than having a worse job or no job at all. As to the tax burden, who cares if they pay less property taxes? You're starting from zero. So ANY taxes would be a gain. And gov't assistance? Now you have a problem paying out government assistance? To people who actually work? So confused... Also, Rex, even if propping up current businesses is an option (in these areas i'm talking about, they probably don't exist anyway), that's you and me paying for that, not a big company. Where do we fit that into the budget? Raise taxes? The whole argument against Walmart in Chicago is just bananas!!!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 09:32 AM) I know an overwhelming majority of us in here "know" he'll eventually turn it around but what makes us so sure that he ever will? He's a ballplayer. It's probably the 1st time he has really struggled in his life. He's trying different things and thinking different things. There are no guarantees in life, but I'm pretty dam confident that this kid will get back to his normal self.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 09:04 AM) I graduated in 2007, passed the bar in 2008, and didn't get this gig until Fall of 2009. It took FOREVER. I worked as a solo guys b**** (glorified clerk/new attorney) during that time. I randomely found the posting on craigslist and just happened to find a place with a good fit with my experience and personality. Over that year and a half, I probably went on 12-15 interviews, but nearly every one ended up being "you know, in a normal market I'd hire you, but as it is I'm getting people with twice the amount of experience as you willing to work for less money." That was the same whether it was a small, medium or large firm. I'm guessing the situation is the same now. There's a crazy amount of new attorneys each year, and while most will find a job, others will have to wait a while. So I guess my answer depends on your grades. If you're a law review/dean's list kind of student, go for it, because you'll have an easier time finding a job. If you're a 3.5ish gpa kind of student like me, competing with a bunch of other people right in the same area (i.e., no discernible difference), you're going to have a more difficult time. And really, I'm finding that the small firm route is actually kind of tough to get. Normally they're run by partners at bigger firms that decided to leave and start up their own thing. They hire clerks from law schools who eventually become associates, or they hire other colleagues they've known for years. I think my situation was unique in that they sought out an associate with 1-2 years experience. Lol, so in the end, I have no advice. Just know that it's possible you'll be waiting a while, unless you have the credentials/experience to land something. But that's probably the same situation in any field. Were you a summer associate anywhere? I would say about 95% of the time we hire our summers the following year, when they graduate. They'll work for a little while and then take the bar. Now we merged with a larger Firm last year, so I'm not exactly sure how they do things here with regard to summers, but that's definitely how you get your foot in the door and make some contacts.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 04:27 PM) Eh, discrimination in the sense that more would be expected of a male probably, at least from old school lawyers like in my firm. I'm downtown Beast. We only have the female paralegal, and I know the prior paralegal was also a female. I think for a "career" paralegal you're probably going to get mostly women. Most of the male paralegals are law students. But like everything else, if you know how to do the job and you do it well it shouldn't matter who/what you are. A "needy" personality isn't a good fit within a firm though, especially a litigation firm. You have to be proactive and live with the fact that everything you do will be questioned and everything that you didn't do/forgot to do you should have done 2 weeks ago. Or maybe that's just my experience! CC what kind of law do you practice? I'm way more important than a lawyer. I'm in IT.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 11:31 AM) You can, but most of the "professional" firms require a paralegal certificate. But really, at least as an attorney, I love working in the small firm without the office politics. Pay isn't as good, but value of life is immensely better (actual contributing member to the firm versus bring a grunt working 80 hrs a week). I'm sure it's the same feeling for our paralegal. Do you think he would suffer gender discrimination? In my 11 years at this law firm I have seen 1 male paralegal come through here and he didn't last more than a couple months. I think there is a reluctance by male attorneys to work with male paralegals. Any thoughts? Also, lawyers are some of the most difficult people to work for. Their job is very demanding, hence they are very demanding.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 01:27 PM) http://www.tvduck.com/Breaking-Bad.html Grazie!

Is Breaking Bad online anywhere?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 11:54 AM) I made it up. haha....that's what I want...made up ones. When he makes love to a woman...her mother has an orgasm.

Any good ones you have either heard or made up? When he goes to a strip club....they tip HIM. He is TMIMITW

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Jun 14, 2010 -> 06:22 PM) Same here... I played for the 1st time last weekend and had a blast even if I was inconsistent. Made me want to get out there ASAP, but work really gets in the way of those plans, huh? I typically shoot around 100, which is not good but not terrible either. I did birdie a Par 4, though, because of a nasty 150 yard shot over trees (my drive went into another fairway, haha) that landed about 10 feet from the pin. Then I putted in for birdie. I see you got the lying about your score thing down.

Thanks fellas!

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 15, 2010 -> 01:59 PM) That is awesome...I am going to start exclusively referring to it as the octothorpe and refuse to acknowledge this "pound key." You could really screw with people on your voicemail. "Please press the octothorpe to skip this message"

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 15, 2010 -> 01:04 PM) Of course you offer Niemi a fair deal. Just saying, what if you offer him a reasonable, 3 yr., 10.5 mil deal, and he says, no, I think I can make more on the open market. He does not have to accept the Hawks' offer. The Flyers say f*** it, we need to finally have a franchise goalie and Niemi is it and offer him like a 5 yr., 25 mil deal, you can take our 1st round pick. Then its not as simple of a decision. I'm a big fan of Niemi, but it would be simpy bonkers for any team pay him franchise money and give him a long term deal. I guess stranger things have happened, but I think we see him back here 3 years 10-11 mil.

The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.