Madopal
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madopal.bsky.social
Madopal
@madopal.bsky.social
680 followers 1.5K following 4.4K posts
Chicagoan (Portage Park), bungalow owner, recovering gamedev (Jaleco, Mindscape, Midway), data engineer, bike/transit advocate(ish) (former NW MBAC), aspiring historian/baker/woodworker, White Sox fan (heavy sigh), music nerd, just zis guy, you know? ✶✶✶✶
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madopal.bsky.social
If I have my date correct, Jorge Orta was playing in the first game of this doubleheader on 5/28/78. Me and (probably my cousin) at Old Comiskey.

(To rejuvenate the baseball spirits with spring training starting soon, quote skeet this with a random baseball player.)
Shot of a small toe-headed kid and an older kid sitting in the upper deck of the first base side at Comiskey Park on 5/28/78 vs the Oakland Athletics. Shot is from behind looking down on the field with a great shot of the manual scoreboard and Philips 76 logo. Game looks like it has yet to begin. Getty Images picture of Jorge Orta in the 70s dark blue away White Sox uniform, complete with a collar.
January 23, 2026 at 9:19 PM
madopal.bsky.social
Based on the current pricing, doesn't look like demand is too bad, so I'd say "go for it."
Graph of ComEd's on demand pricing at cents per kWh. Spiked over $0.18 just before 8am, but hanging under $0.05 as of this post.
January 23, 2026 at 4:56 PM
madopal.bsky.social
Especially because when I met him at Chicago Gourmet, I got Takashi to admit that udon > ramen. I *think* the Japanese he wrote to me refers to udon.

Either way, HomerSimpsonHoldingPennantThatSaysUdon.jpg
Cover of Takashi Yagihashi's book "Takashi's Noodles" Page signed by Takashi to me (Joe). He wrote some things in Japanese, I've never totally been sure what he wrote
January 23, 2026 at 4:34 PM
madopal.bsky.social
-8.5F in Portage Park so far. Nice temp hill to sled down.
A graph from Home Assistant showing a current temp of -8.5F with a nice falloff graph showing a high of close to 30F yesterday around noon
January 23, 2026 at 1:19 PM
madopal.bsky.social
The 1968 Orange Julius logo/mascot. A jaunty little devil with a widow's peak, eyebrows, and a pencil moustache, winking while holding a drink. He is sitting on a large orange with a pitchfork sticking through it. His left hand is holding the pitchfork, while he has a prehensile tale curling around the bottom of the protruding pitchfork handle. His tail has a cute little arrow on the end. The caption says "Orange Julius c. 1968"
January 22, 2026 at 4:54 PM
madopal.bsky.social
Aaand here comes the ABC7 copter
January 22, 2026 at 2:58 PM
madopal.bsky.social
I think this is the same one, just heard it.
January 22, 2026 at 2:55 PM
madopal.bsky.social
“Our American Dream is dead,” said an EU diplomat from a country that has been among the bloc’s transatlantic champions. “Donald Trump murdered it.”
January 22, 2026 at 1:32 PM
madopal.bsky.social
In case they pull it
Screenshot of article showing a picture of a green storefront, but instead of "Amazon" it says "Retail Sign"
January 21, 2026 at 2:48 PM
madopal.bsky.social
This is exactly what they should do
Instead of buying back the meters, Koch said the city would be better off leveraging the authority it has to approve an ownership transfer. That way, the mayor’s office could negotiate certain changes that benefit the city before allowing a deal to go through. “I would tell them there’s a fart in hell’s chance of selling this thing unless you deal with us first, and here’s the concessions we want,” Koch told the Sun-Times.
January 20, 2026 at 2:05 AM
madopal.bsky.social
A throwback in every sense of the word
“He was a real hot-shot pitcher,” remembered Roland Hemond, the former Sox executive who then was a minor-league director for the Milwaukee Braves. “I first met Wilbur in 1960 when our scout Jeff Jones sent him to Milwaukee for a tryout right after he had graduated from high school. He was a fuzzy-faced, chubby little guy who didn’t throw very hard. I watched him throw batting practice but I couldn’t get very excited about him. “After his workout I brought him up to the press room in County Stadium with my wife, and we fed him hot dogs. We did discover he had a good appetite. He was such a likable little guy, it was tough to tell him he didn’t throw hard enough and we weren’t interested.”
January 19, 2026 at 2:43 PM
madopal.bsky.social
"I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace."
Greetings Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend Greenland against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada!
January 19, 2026 at 1:30 PM
madopal.bsky.social
It is, and always has been (when it was first named that), Soldier.
Photo of Soldier Field, complete with name on building
January 19, 2026 at 4:43 AM
madopal.bsky.social
Hey @robertloerzel.bsky.social, gotta light?
Ephemera for the Modern Woodmen of America, showing what looks like their HQ in Rock Island, IL
January 19, 2026 at 12:54 AM
madopal.bsky.social
[Sniff]
A hunter green small paper bag from the Jackson Square mall in Lagrange, IL. The writing is in gold, and besides the name, it says "vintage, home decor, furniture" underneath the name. The website is also printed to jsqmall.com
January 17, 2026 at 7:10 PM
madopal.bsky.social
Love the work the city financial folks did here.
Rights to the meters were sold in 2008 by then-Mayor Richard Daley for more than $1 billion. It is believed that revenue since then has more than double that price.
January 17, 2026 at 1:37 PM
madopal.bsky.social
Gotta light?
The woodsman from Twin Peaks: The Return, asking a frightened driver, "gotta light?"
January 16, 2026 at 10:14 PM
madopal.bsky.social
I still maintain that cuccidati are Italian Fig Newtons.
A plate of Italian Cuccidati cookies, they're Fig Newton-like but usually with icing and possibly sprinkles, cut a little narrower, and slightly taller.
January 16, 2026 at 4:36 PM
madopal.bsky.social
The clasped arms meme with 'architectural preservationists' and 'supervillain billionaires' united over 'saving every historic blimp hangar', this time WITHOUT typoes
January 16, 2026 at 4:09 PM
madopal.bsky.social
Stop hitting yourself
January 16, 2026 at 3:57 PM
madopal.bsky.social
Summarizing this morning's weather
January 14, 2026 at 6:14 PM
madopal.bsky.social
This was forecast as of 6am-ish this morning. Even though video below showed the radar at 5:15 with quite a monster line coming through.

Models failed bigly.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dbf...
Forecast from CBS Chicago showing .3" at O'Hare predicted today thru Thursday. We've got over 2" already. Shot of radar from 5:15 am this morning with quite a band of snow coming down from Milwaukee
January 14, 2026 at 2:45 PM
madopal.bsky.social
I mean, roads look like hot garbage in #portagepark, and close to 2" in last hour
A snowy street scape in Portage Park. Streets and cars completely covered. Backyard shot showing snow covered hanging lights and deck
January 14, 2026 at 2:10 PM
madopal.bsky.social
This is one hell of a miss. Radar looks like we've got at least another hour of this, minimum.
Radar showing snow from Chicago north to the border of Wisconsin
January 14, 2026 at 1:48 PM
madopal.bsky.social
A hand holding money, but instead of looking like US currency, it's white bills that say "this is your god" from the John Carpenter classic "They Live"
January 14, 2026 at 1:43 PM