WhistlinDixie

The Great Chicago Adventure

I came back to Chicago this quarter in need of a new place to stay, since the place that I had stayed the past two work terms raised their rates by $500 a month. I had arranged to stay with another Chris in the suburb of Berwyn in an older apartment. When I arrived on Saturday, I was less than impressed. It ends up that Berwyn is an "inner" suburb, and is therefore rather tightly packed and is not very attractive. The apartment had a bad smell and looked to be in worse condition than my grandma’s house, which is over 100 years old. To top it off, I could have sworn that someone was already living here. The cabinets in the kitchen were brimming with food and the bathrooms even had towels and partially used bars of soap still in the shower. One of the rooms still had some of the landlord’s stuff in it. I slept in the master bedroom that night and was serenaded by the sound of traffic on Ogden Ave and the occasional jet plane. (Our apartment happens to be right on one of the approaches to Midway Airport.)

I woke up and spent the day trying to get a hold of someone at another place that I had been looking at that was only a mile or two from where I had stayed previously. I found out that the place that I was looking at, L’ Marquis, was going to be demolished midway through the work term to make room for townhouses. Their sister operation, Oakview Terrace, in Westmont, was not accepting any new lessees because they were holding all of their empty apartments for the people who were living at L’ Marquis who were being displaced. I was rather discouraged to find this out because I wanted to get out of Berwyn as fast as possible.

I have been using a service called RelocationCentral to help me find a place to live. (Note: RelocationCentral did not set me up with Chris. That was my own mistake.) They called on Tuesday to tell me of a place in Bolingbrook called Innsbruck Apartments. I went to visit right after work and liked the place. The downside is that it is an unfurnished apartment, so I have to rent all of my furniture. Also, I have to handle my cable and internet service myself, as it is not included in the lease. After a little number crunching, I figured out that, even with all of the extra stuff that I would have to take care of each month, I would still be paying less than I had paid previous terms. To top things off, I got a $600 a month raise this quarter for having junior status. Now my biggest concern is being able to handle all of the payments that come with the first month: credit check charges, security deposit, administrative fees, setup charges, etc. Add to that the fact that I am paying $100 a week for my current residence and that I don’t get paid until the 24th of the month and I foresee a loan from my parents.

I went in today to give them my application (they closed yesterday before I could turn it in) and found out something: Having a $12,500 yearly income doesn’t sit well with the administrators when you have to pay $629 + electricity every month. It ends up that you have to earn at least $21,600 a year to qualify for a studio apartment. I was in a bind, to say the least. I got lucky and they allowed my dad to co-sign on the lease. They faxed him the application and he will have to fax it back since it is a little inconvenient for him to drive all the way from central Ohio to Chicago just to sign a lease. I got a nice warning from him to not be late on a single payment and mess up his credit, which is very near perfect. So, at this point, I am not so patiently waiting for the credit checks to go through for both my dad and I so that I can get around to moving in.

Boy, Am I Lazy!

I had no idea that I had let almost a month pass since I last posted. Blame it on laziness if you like, but I prefer to simply say that I have been busy. I think that a brief recap of what has been going on in my life over the past month is in order.

For Thanksgiving, I went to my Grandma Lieb’s, which is only about two and a half hours away since I am in Chicago. This actually was my first time that I made the trip to a relative’s by my self. Anyway, I had a good time even though it was freezing that weekend. This Thanksgiving was extra special because, for the first time (I believe), we had the entire family there from my dad’s side. When your grandma lives in Illinois, an uncle in Dallas, an aunt in Iowa, and us in Ohio, things like this can be somewhat difficult. However, they aren’t the ones that really made the day special. It was the presence of my uncle’s family that live no more than half of an hour away! Let’s just say that a little bit of tension exists between his wife and the rest of our family. Thanksgiving day was the best having everyone there. We went on a hike in the woods and got to hear lots of great stories form my uncles and my dad. While I was at my grandma’s, we also took a few evenings to look at some old slides. Boy, were some of them funny. We even ran across some from my grandparent’s honeymoon! I hope that I can have stories like that to tell my kids and grand kids in the future.

The next weekend, my fried CJ from high school came to visit me here in Chicago. That weekend still has me confused. I am normally a great driver when it comes to getting places. That weekend I must have at least quadrupled my time being lost behind the wheel. I think that it was the pressure of having someone else there that was depending on you to get them there. For example, I had to drive all the way around Midway just to find the parking garage simply because I freaked out when I thought that I had missed my exit and took another way. When I left the airport, I turned the wrong direction, so instead of heading back toward the interstate, I ended up in a truck yard.

Anyway, CJ’s flight from Port Columbus got delayed because the flight before him had a mechanical difficulty and ended up taking his plane to St. Louis. Even then, I barely got to Midway in time to get CJ (see above for a reason why). We stayed up until 1 o’clock in the morning making our itinerary for Saturday. We ended up settling on five places: the Ba’hai Temple, the Hancock Observatory, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Navy Pier, and the Shedd Aquarium.

The Ba’hai Temple was amazing. It is one of eight or so temples of this religion in the world. According to CJ (the religion major of the group), the Ba’hai are a pluralist religion. They have no formal worship services and he believes that they have to make a yearly pilgrimage to one of the temples.

Next up was the Hancock Observatory, perched upon the top of the Hancock Center. I believe that it is the second highest point in Chicago next to the Sears Tower. The parking garage was interesting in the fact that it was totally enclosed. It even had garage doors! We took the express elevator to the observatory, which is actually the fastest elevator in the world, moving at around 20mph. The view from the top was amazing. They even had an open air walkway (which was quite cold, being December). When we got back to the ground, we got some pictures of the Hancock Center, to give a sense of size. We then took a quick walk over the the Museum of Contemporary Art. CJ was right when he said that I would look at a lot of things in there and wonder why they were even in a museum. I think that I could have produced better art than some of what I saw back in elementary school. All I would have needed was a snazzy title like "A Study of Motion Using Lines and Curves" and I could have gotten a stick figure in there. They did have some interesting pieces, but when one of your permanent displays is a room with pink and yellow florescent lights, you have to start considering the credibility of the institution, or even the art form itself.

Next up was Navy Pier. We really didn’t see much there, but that could very easily be because it was the winter, so all of the fun pier stuff was closed. After that, we continued down the lake shore to the museum campus to see the Shedd Aquarium. They had some interesting stuff there, but the most entertaining part was probably watching the beluga whales be fed. Ok, it was actually watching the tricks that they would do to get fed. I got some movie clips of the tricks on my camera.

We decided to go to the original Pizzeria Uno for supper. They had a very unique way of taking reservations: when you put your name on the list, you also place your order. Added pressure, sure, but a smart idea, nonetheless. While we were waiting to be seated (we were outside since the inside waiting area was full), a guy busted out his sax on a nearby street corner and started playing Christmas tunes. My pictures of him were horrible. Anyway, the pizza was great. What more can you expect of a pizza that has to be over an inch thick, most of it topping? When we finished up, we decided to go walk the Magnificent Mile, otherwise known as Michigan Ave. On our way back to the parking garage to drop off our leftovers, we got hit up for the leftovers by some guy on the street. After we dropped the leftovers in my car, we were approached my a guy who offered to shine our shoes. One problem: I had on tennis shoes and CJ had leather shoes. Not exactly what you normally shine. By the time we made it out to the Magnificent Mile, the snow started coming down. By the time we decided to turn around and go back to the car, the snow was blowing enough that we had to shield our eyes from the snow.

The drive home was uneventful, save for the snow. The next morning, I gave CJ a ride back to Midway so he could fly back home. For once, I didn’t get lost or require directions to get me going in the right direction. Instead, I followed the road signs. It’s amazing how helpful they can be.

Since that weekend, I have been getting introduced to a Chicago winter. I seems like it snows almost every day. Talk about a change from Ohio, where we are lucky to have a white Christmas. I’ll just be happy if the snow can stay away for the next couple of weeks until I am back in Ohio.

This coming week is my last week of work for the quarter. On next Saturday morning, I am going to fly down to my Grandma Pat’s in Mississippi to celebrate Christmas and her 80th birthday. We’ll have my mom’s entire family together for the first time since the Christmas of 1995 when we all got together in Heath for my grandma’s 70th birthday. This is going to turn out to be a landmark year for me. Never before have I taken part in two family get-togethers where the entire family was present. I’ll be on a busy schedule while I am down there, but it will all be worth it. I’ll get back to Chicago on the 29th and drive home on the 30th. If I drive fast enough, I will even be able to make it back to Newark in time to catch a swim meet.

Drive By!

Before anyone has a heart attack, my car is free of bullet holes, as am I. I, however, was a victim of a drive by yesterday on my way home from work. This was a drive by that I never even imagined, even in my wildest dreams. I was a victim of the dreaded drive by advertisement! Confused? Don’t feel bad. I was too when it first happened.

I was driving home from work with my windows down since my AC is not working, again. Right after I pulled out of a stop light, I noticed a blue van driving along side me and its driver was shouting at me. After my experience with downtown Chicago, I figured that he wanted over since he was in an exit-only lane. I slowed down to let him into my lane, but he stayed driving right along side me. I was starting to get agitated, so I looked over at him to see if I could figure out what he was shouting. No sooner did I do so than he asks, "Hey, you want a home theater system?" I looked back at the road for a second, wondering if I had heard correctly. I turned my head back towards him, only to hear him ask, "You want a home theater system?" At this point, I had had enough, so I shouted an emphatic "NO!" back at him and tried to put some distance between that wacko and myself. And to think that I thought that pop-up and pop-under ads were annoying.

The Beach, Just Not Myrtle

This morning I took part in a charity sand volleyball tournament for the United Way that was put on by UPS. When I signed up, it sounded like it would be fun. That is, until I found out that it started at 8:00 in the morning. After all, what teenager wants to get up at 6:10 in the morning on a Saturday? It was about a forty minute drive to get to North Avenue Beach for the tournament. I am just glad that they were late getting started since I showed up at 8:05. Anyway, my team, CACH TSG, lost the first match 15-7, 9-15, 13-15 to Metro TSG. However, since we had an odd number of teams, there were a couple of "wildcard" spots in the bracket for teams that lost by the fewest points. It just so happens that we fit into the first wildcard position. We were feeling pretty good heading into the second game against CACH Finance. Unfortunately, we did nowhere as well as we did in the first match, losing 4-15, 7-15. We were horrible. Only explanation that we could come up with was that people were tired. Afterwards, I decided to walk down to the lake and dip my toes in Lake Michigan. It was freezing (apx. 65°)! Since it was so cold, I decided against actually taking a swim in the lake to cool off. After watching another one of the games for a while, I decided to leave so I wouldn’t get a sunburn.

In other news, my last day of work for the quarter is Thursday. I get to drive home on Friday, then turn right back around and leave for Myrtle Beach with the family the next day. I get back the next Thursday. Then, just a few weeks later, I get to leave to go back to school, which starts on the 11th of July. I guess that I won’t have too much time to get bored this summer.

What A Guy Has To Go Through (To Get A Library Card)

Since I’ve been learning many new things at work, I figured that I would go and get a book from the library so I can catch up on some things. The book that I want happens to be in a library in southern Chicago, but they have interlibrary loaning set up, so that is a plus.

On Wednesday evening, I went to the Hinsdale Library to get a library card so I could put out a request for the book. I give the librarian my driver’s license and she looks at it for a few seconds and then hands it back to me. She says that it must have my current address (which of course it doesn’t, since it is an OHIO driver’s licence). She asks if I have a piece of first class mail addressed to me. Of course I don’t since I saw no reason to bring mail with me to the library. When she discovers that I live in Westmont, she tells me that I have to go to the Westmont Library to get a library card, even though it is good throughout ChicagoLand. I left, broken hearted since I had no shiny, new, library card.

Today, I went to the Westmont Library. I hand the librarian a large envelope that I had received from my parents a few weeks ago. She asks for picture ID to go with it, and I happily oblige. Then she informs me that the mail has to be something official, like an electricity bill or apartment lease. I tell her that the librarian in Hinsdale told me that I could just send a letter to myself and that would be good enough. She then tells me that different libraries have different policies for giving out library cards. Really, what is the point of having universal library cards if each library has its own guidelines on distributing them? Anyway, she goes and asks a supervisor about my situation, then goes to the phone and gives someone a call. She hangs up and tells me that I really need a bill or something. However, she took down my name, address, and phone number so that the library can contact me when a decision comes down form the higher-ups. Really, does it need to be this hard to get a library card?

Oooo….kay….

Check this out:

I guess that some people in Chicago just don’t understand what symbols like a sun and clouds and rain mean. What better way to get the point across than pictures of how you should dress for the weather?

Chicago, Part II

Know how I said that I was going to visit Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday? Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned. When I was watching SportsCenter on Saturday morning, they mentioned that there was going to be a soccer game between the US and England at Soldier Field. It just so happens that on big event days at Soldier Field, all of the museum parking is reserved for the stadium, so to visit, you have to take public transportation to get there. After a quick check on bus schedules, I discovered that to get from MSI to Shedd, it would take half and hour and require me to change buses twice. All of this to go five miles up the road! I decided to cut Shedd off of my plans for the day. Also, just out of curiosity, I checked the ticket prices for the soccer game. For the seat that I had for the Fire game last week that I paid $30 for, you would have been out $95! I guess that I got a pretty good deal.

Anyway, since I was going to spend the entire day at MSI, I decided to splurge a little and get a ticket for one of their "Omnimax" shows. I’ll tell you what, Omnimax is amazing. Beats the crap out of IMAX. The movie is projected on a slightly spherical screen and you are in very steeply elevated stadium seats. The image fills your vision entirely, and, due to the curvature of the screen, objects at the periphery of your vision don’t distort and seem odd like they do in IMAX. When the movie does a flyby in a small plane, you feel like you are banking right along with the plane as if you are the passenger.

My one beef with MSI is that they have some exhibits that you have to pay extra to see. I actually did one of these since it was part of a student discount package. It was called Body Worlds, and has to be the most awesome exhibit ever. It is not for the squeamish, though. If you watch Discovery Channel, you might have seen this exhibit mentioned in a few different shows. Body Worlds is an exhibition of many "plastinated" bodies and organs, dissected in different ways to display different aspects of the human body. The exhibit was even better for me since I ran into a guy who had to be a doctor or surgeon who really ran a very interesting commentary on some of the displays. If you want to see it at MSI, you’ll have to visit before September 5th, when it moves on to Philadelphia. However, you can see Body Worlds 2 at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland through September 18th.

Oh, BTW, congrats to Danica Patrick, the first woman EVER to lead a lap at the Indy 500.

Fun, Fun, Fun

You know what? It can be fun to get out on the weekends. Today, I visited the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum and the Field Museum. You probably figured out what kind of stuff that they have at Adler. The Field Museum is mainly natural science. I spent pretty much the entire day at those two museums. The cool thing is that those two museums, plus the Shedd Aquarium, are all on the same campus, within easy walking distance of each other. I greatly enjoyed my time at both museums.

While I was making my drive in to Chicago, I heard on the radio that the Chicago Fire were playing tonight at home at 7:30. I was intrigued. After all, not only are Adler, Shedd, and Field all on the same campus, but it just so happens that Soldier Field, the home of the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Fire, is part of that very same campus. I figured that tickets to a pro soccer game would not be that expensive, and, at the same time, I would get to experience Soldier Field. After I left Field at 4:30, I walked over to Soldier Field and got my ticket to the game: Section 107, Row 2, Seat 15. For all of you who have never been to Soldier Field, that puts me at about the 35 to 40 yard line in the second row from the field level. It was an awesome seat! How could you call it a bad seat when you could hear the sound of the players kicking the ball and cursing at the refs? Unfortunately, I had to use stadium food for dinner. Not cheap.

Next Saturday, I am going to visit the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry. Then, the next weekend, CJ comes up here! It’s a pity that Chief can’t make it too, but he’s already been here, done that. Can’t wait!

The Benefits of the Big City

Check out the concert lineup for this week: Garbage, Fall Out Boy, U2, Nine Inch Nails, System of a Down, ColdPlay. You’d be lucky to get just one of those tours to hit Columbus in a month at this time of year. The ColdPlay tickets I hear are going for $500 – $1000 a piece! One radio personality described it as diarrhea: it all builds up until it gets to the point where it all just comes out at once. A decent analogy, but pretty funny.

Money!

Ahh, my first paycheck. Ever. In paper that is. I normally have direct deposit set up (a great convenience), but UPS didn’t have it set up for my first pay cycle, so now I have a nice check in my room that I’ll have to cash over the weekend. It is kind of weird getting paid for the month of April when the month has yet to finish. I guess that is one of the advantages of being salaried.

In other news, CJ is planning to visit on the first weekend of June. It’ll be great to see him. Now all I have to do is scout out downtown so I can be a good (or at least decent) tour guide. I just want everyone to remember, you are more than welcome to come and visit sometime. It gets lonely sometimes being here alone. (It’s almost pathetic how much time I spend with my computer.) If you feel like visiting, give me a heads up and I’ll get you hooked up with directions. Remember, you are always welcome.