May 23, 2009

The Girlfriends Got Dumped

Yesterday, I was syncing my ipod with freshly downloaded podcasts when I noticed that one of the WGN Kathy and Judy Show uncut podcasts was titled "The Final Kathy and Judy Show". BWAH?! K & J had been on WGN radio (AM 720) for 20 years, and both R. and I enjoyed listening to them. I never completely agreed with their opinions, and sometimes they were overly catty, but in general they were really good radio. They always had interesting discussion topics, even if sometimes the directions they took the topics were kinda loopy. You could tell that they let their show evolve naturally, never forcing anything.

I have been reading some of the blog posts and articles covering the cancellation. What was more interesting than the articles are the comments about the programming on WGN. I understand that not everyone who listens to a talk radio station will like every on-air personality on the radio station. Example: we don't go out of our way to listen to Steve Cochran. What surprised me was how vocal people can be about not liking whichever host they happen to not like.

I'm surprised at the number of comments by people who don't like John Williams. I'm surprised there aren't more comments by people disliking Steve Cochran. Can you tell which ways my opinion tends to sway? What I learned is how varied opinions can be on the various shows.

And this change to the morning line-up is just the latest in recent changes to the programming, thanks to "Pig Virus" programming director Kevin Metheny.

So, I don't want to get all mad and huffy and threaten to never listen to WGN again, but I'm seriously going to look for other radio entertainment while the Cubs are not on the radio.

May 22, 2009

A. wins 303-288


A. wins 303-288
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

No bingos tonight, but we were at new (to us) coffeeshop in Batavia.

May 17, 2009

When I actually started to write this entry, it was Sunday, but now the clock has already flipped to half past midnight, and I'm not even remotely done with anything I wanted to accomplish before finishing a write-up of today's events.

Our main activity today was a bike ride to Graham's 318 in Geneva. This place is rapidly becoming our favorite coffee shop. We rode our bikes there and back, 28.4 miles in a little over an hour and forty minutes. JB Weld, but never made it to the hardware store to get any. The adhesive worked well enough to keep the magnet on for this ride. Renae's bike computer and mine matched up until the last tenth of a mile of the ride, which was pretty impressive.

Here's a photo of the magnet, and you can get a sense of how far away the magnet was from the pickup. No wonder it never gave very accurate readings.

May 12, 2009

I found the way to the Fox River Trail that starts in Aurora and goes runs along the the river. My goal was to bike to a coffee shop where I could work on my presentation for DePaul. I found that I reached Geneva in just over an hour, and it probably would have been quicker had I been more familiar with the trail. I'm not saying that the trail is poorly marked, but there were places where I pedaled into a town and couldn't see exactly where to pick up the trail again.

The other thing I learned is that I tend to over-estimate the lengths of the trips that I am planning. I had assumed a ride to Geneva would be closer to 20 miles one way, but it was only 14 miles. Good to know; next time I can go further north and then come back to Graham 318 if I don't find a good cup of joe.