Seriously guys, I hope you can get your money back on the new service. I got about 20 minutes worth of the show downloading from Firefox 3.08 on Windows XP over a 768K DSL and about 15 minutes worth from a Fedora box running over a T1.

If you can, take in a show at Second City. Or look up a guy named Mike Toomey who does a great one man show and has, hands down, the best Adam West impersonation EVER.

I just now noticed that on your schedule, guys, I see “Aug. 28, Vienna, VA.” I’m banging my head against the wall. I’m considering moving back home but I can’t do it that quickly.

1. Field Museum
2. Shedd Aquarium
3. Adler Planetarium

4. Museum of Science and Industry

5. Navy Pier

6. Lincoln Park Zoo

7. John Hancock Observatory (not as tall as the Sears Tower, but the views are better and it’s less crowded)
8. Michigan Avenue (“Magnificent Mile”)
9. Millennium Park
10. Art Institute of Chicago

That’s a partial list of interesting things you might want to check out. I don’t know if the family will dig it, though.

-M

BTW mea culpa for missing the fact earlier that the Storms aren’t traveling until the end of the month…guess I’ve been so busy preparing for my trip this weekend. I’d say go with the suggestion posted by Robin (and check out the Goose Island and Rock Bottom breweries for the CMBs).

I’m not as die-hard about Pixar as many seem to be, but I am a fairly rabid TV junkie. Just now I’m really enjoying Merlin imported from the BBC, Burn Notice, the already-cancelled Kings, as well as Eureka and Leverage, both of which return in the next week. (To say that I’m enjoying the new series of Torchwood would be to admit to vaguely illegal activities, so I plead the fifth on that one. But it is AWESOME!) On the reality show front, I also tend toward Top Chef and I’m quite amused by their current “Masters” competition. Being a former dancer myself, I’m also a big fan of So You Think You Can Dance.

If you don’t fix this soon, I’m going to spoil the 5th season of The Wire and reveal that Omar is really a chick.

Browser: Firefox 3.0.11
OS: Vista
Connection type: I’ve tried Comcast Hi-Speed via router and via direct connection, the wireless at my university, and getting my guys down in IT to hook my computer directly into the school’s T1 line.
Problem: The podcast will download anywhere from 487 KB to 21.1 MB, and then cut off.

I also had a friend try to download it direct from iTunes, receiving an error message, and direct from the site, which resulted in the same issues I’m having. He’s running Ubuntu and Vista, on Comcast Hi-Speed.

Browser: Firefox 3.0.11
OS: Vista (aka. crap)
Connection type: uhh if I remembered, I’d tell you. It’s a wireless connection that we installed ourselves on top of a cable box provided by the company
Problem: Podcast starts but cuts off somewhere in the middle

When you guys were talking about the glass cubicles on the Sears Tower, I shouted out, “Don’t do it!” I’m sure it’s perfectly safe, but something about the idea of standing on glass that high up seems crazy to me. As far as other things to do in Chicago, it’s not off the beaten path at all, but I really enjoy the Art Institute. It’s just too bad Taste of Chicago has already happened for the year; that would be right up your alley.

Despite the issues with connecting to it, I really enjoyed the podcast this week. Storm, I especially liked your thoughts on manufactured celebrity.

The Venture Brothers is probably the greatest animated series of all time.

I’ve only been to Chicago a couple times in the past few years, so I have no suggestions there, sorry.

Cloverfield I still liked watching several times, same with like Eagle Eye. Even though I know how they end (and in the latter, the ending kind of sucks) I still like the cool action-explodiness to the whole thing.

BTW, with the new kung-fu in Firefox that handles Vorbis and Theora from within the browser, as opposed to requiring some plugin, wouldn’t it make sense to release an Ogg podcast as well, since MP3 only exists for “some” people while Ogg is for everybody? And lest you think this is something only Firefox is doing, that shouldn’t be the case. The next major version of HTML, which is HTML 5 defines VIDEO and AUDIO as standards – in short, any browser worth its weight in chocolate will have to implement the new VIDEO and AUDIO magic.

We’ll forward these reports on to our help desk people; the best thing you can do in the meantime is to post as much of the following details as possible:

- browser (with version if possible)
- OS
- type of connection
- brief description of problem (file wouldn’t download at all, file starts but then cuts off, etc.)

That will go a long way towards helping us/them diagnose what the hell is going on here.

Our apologies to everyone who is having trouble with the files. It’s not on purpose, we promise (though it does sound like the kind of lame stunt we’d pull just to mess with our minions)

Thanks,

P&S.

I will warn you that the American Library Association annual conference is this weekend, so watch out for the hordes of librarians (myself included) roaming the streets. Hmm, perhaps I should now wear my various P&S shirts?

Cheers,