Jim Flanigan Looks at the World
Wasting Your Time & Mine Since 2015
You may have heard about this recent story about a man swallowed by a whale that then spit him out.
No, not that “whale swallows man” story. This one that’s a bit more recent.
I want you to look very closely at the title of this video and at the very beginning of the video. What do you see?
Continue reading “A Whale of a Forgotten One-Hit Wonder”
I received this notification from Facebook.
I was hoping that Street Sweepers was a band or a political organization or anything other than this …
Continue reading “Facebook Hates Me”
Well, not literally, but also not figuratively or metaphorically since I will actually be swimming. Maybe cumulatively is a better term. I should explain first about Lake Michigan for non-Midwestern United Staters.
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes.
What makes them so great? Well, they contain 21% of the world’s fresh water, duh! You can swim, surf, boat, fish, and not worry about jellyfish or shark attacks.
Except land sharks. They’re all over. Big nuisance.
I have personally enjoyed 4 of the 5 Great Lakes, so here’s my Great Lakes Ranking with reasons.
And so, I have decided to swim across Lake Michigan this summer. Here’s how I’m going to do it.
Continue reading “I’m Swimming Across Lake Michigan”
It’s been very hot in Chicagoland, especially out west where we live. We’ve had a stretch of heat with highs daily around 90F/32C. And this weekend, we have 2 outdoor parties. How will I cope with the heat? Two words – crop top.
A nice bare midriff will keep me from being a Hot Child in the City, which just happens to be the name of our Forgotten One-Hit Wonder by Nick Gilder.
It’s kind of a mess of a music video about the exploitation of teenage runaways. I’m not a big fan of the song either. I just included it because of the heat theme. No wonder this feature doesn’t normally get many likes. The real point to this post is this newish song …
Continue reading “New Music For Old Rockers & Forgotten One-Hit Wonders – Combo Heat Wave Edition”
I attended my first monthly meeting as an elected Township Trustee. I have been somewhat disappointed. While I discovered that I now have an official nameplate which is very nice, I learned that I will NOT be receiving any of the following:
The disappointment is hard to hide, so I don’t even try. I openly weeped through most of the monthly meeting. But then, my spirits were lifted when this arrived for me …
Continue reading “Post-Election Disappointment”
It’s important to vary your workouts to keep them interesting. I have some wonderful walking routes that take me down paths to creeks, through the woods, and over hill & dale. However, Dale always complains when I walk over her.
But this morning, the thought of trodding the same paths bored me. I decided to take a couple normal paths through prairie and woods, but then come home via the local business park. Wow, doesn’t that sound exciting? Well, it didn’t disappoint as the first interesting thing I saw was the miracle of life taking place. I took this picture …
Continue reading “Vary Your Workouts”
There are those who experience some weight loss, can’t seem to lose any more, and accept that they may have to be comfortable at that weight. But who has 2 thumbs and won’t accept that?
That’s right. For the second month in a row, I have maintained weight but not lost any.
I know, and I agree. My dreams of losing 10 more pounds by the end of summer are gone. That is just unrealistic now. Maybe if I can try for a pound a month June through September, I can get to a slightly lower weight than at the end of last summer. Would that be cause to celebrate?
Continue reading “Weight News Not Worth The Wait”
At the height of the pandemic, I ordered some PPE items directly from China for resale through my medical equipment sales company. It was a modest success and good experience ordering direct from China suppliers. At about the same time, my electric shaver died, as had my income because of the pandemic. I ordered a new shaver from China at about half the price of a Norelco. It works! That’s about all I’m willing to say about it. It functions as it should. Nothing special.
When I wanted to purchase a 10 gallon Stetson hat during the pandemic, I found them to be very expensive.
So, I looked once again to China to see if I could find a deal on a similar “Stetsen” or “Stetzon” hat at a fraction of that price. I was successful and eagerly placed my order, Unfortunately, I was ultimately disappointed when it arrived. Due to China’s use of the metric system, the hat I received is a 38 liter hat rather than 10 gallon.
Wow, that was a long way to travel for a bad dad joke. That’s for coming along for the ride.
I am starting to think my priorities are out of whack. I find that I’m planning my business banking on the day that a local store that houses a branch of my business bank offers discount sushi.
Frankly, I’m not sure bargain raw fish is ever a good idea, but it was delicious.
And now I’m sad because writing about sushi reminds me that I never saw Fee Waybill and The Tubes in concert.
But they are still touring …
I recently dedicated a blog post to Lollapalooza, so I wanted to be fair and give some free blog publicity to an event hosted by the My Pillow guy that I think is most accurately called Loserpalooza.
I’m currently not busy that day, but I swear I’ll find something, anything to do that doesn’t involve seeing that train wreck. However, that didn’t stop me from getting these …
Continue reading “Lollapalooza Doppelganger”
In my real life, I have a customer who is terrified of Chicago. I’m guessing he listened to Trump and Fox News as they have framed Chicago like a war zone. My customer would always warn me about staying away from Chicago. We love to visit the city, and have never felt in danger. Chicago is truly one of the great cities in the world. I finally told my customer in no uncertain terms about what a wonderful city Chicago is, and I haven’t heard anything about Chicago from him since then. Good! If I want to hear lies, I’ll tune in directly to Fox News.
Look, Chicago is a big city, and murders happen, mostly with guns coming from deep red Republican Indiana. Damn Hoosiers! Chicago has almost 2.7 million people within its city limits including my 2 oldest children. They live in a neighborhood that 30 years ago was dangerous. Now, that neighborhood is absolutely delightful … except for the rats. The rats chewed through wiring in my son’s car, and my daughter has seen rats in her apartment’s basement while doing laundry. I noticed this rat-related sign during our last visit to see our kids in Chicago.
Continue reading “Is Chicago Dangerous?”
Summer has arrived early in Chicago with temps around 90F/32C this weekend. And you know what that means – shirtless driving! Come on, it’s easy. First step, take off that shirt.
And then jump in your car and start driving or riding.
Flags are totally optional.
Ladies are welcome to participate, too. Just stay legal …
Continue reading “Shirts Off, Chicago!”
I judge people by whether or not they will eat a piece of old food that was stuck in their teeth after it becomes dislodged. If so, welcome, friend. We can both expatiate about the wonders of bonus food.
If not, elitist.
Lollapalooza returns to Chicago in 2021 after being Covid-cancelled in 2020. The line-up for the 3 day music festival has been released. I heard on my transistor radio that you can tell how cool you are by how many rows down the Lolla poster you can recognize acts.
Editor’s Note: The mere fact that this idiot is listening to a transistor radio negates any potential coolness gained by knowing music performers.
Hey, you pompous ass, what am I supposed to do? I suppose you want me to listen to the radio on my phone.
Editor’s Note: YES!
On my new flip phone?
Editor’s Note: Ugh, never mind.
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, the word I hear is that you can consider yourself moderately musically cool if you are familiar with music acts in at least the top 7 rows of the Lolla poster. Let’s take a closer look at those first 7 rows. I have identified the acts I know with red boxes around them.
Continue reading “Lollapalooza Coolness Test”