Fighting The Suburbs

NYT Article on Chicago's L

Let me preface this post by saying, I rarely ride the L. It’s been six months since I last rode it. And while I've lived in the city for 10 years, I've never once taken a city bus. Yes, I’m polluting the environment by driving my gas sucking SUV five miles to my office every day, but I don’t care. It’s convenient and it’s a 20 minute trip, if that, door-to-door.

Dave, on the other hand, was taking the Blue Line from Logan Square to downtown most days and it more than doubled his commute time. Now that he has a parking space (required for test driving cars), thankfully, he no longer has to deal with the L especially since the Blue Line is undergoing some major repairs.

Gapers Block tipped us to this New York Times story about Chicago’s L system that also features photographs, such as the one featured here, by our very good friend Peter Thompson.

The L is more popular than ever, but it’s increasingly becoming a huge headache for those who ride it on a regular basis. Whether it’s construction, such as the work that will begin on the Brown Line next month, or smoke filled and delayed trains, like that of the Blue Line recently, people can’t stop bitching about the L. In the NYT story, an L rider who takes the same route Dave used to take said it used to take him 35 minutes, but due to slow downs through construction zones on the Blue Line, it’s now taking an hour and 10 minutes. We don’t know about that but Dave averaged around 40 minutes every morning leaving before 8 a.m. and 30 minutes on the return trip from the Logan Square stop to the Loop.

We’re completely spoiled by getting to drive to work and not having to pay for parking, but L riders, we feel your pain. When it comes time to move again, look for a place by a Metra stop...it's way better!

Halloween in the City, Sucks Eggs

Last night was action packed on Logan Blvd. On the walk home from the L station there were tons of kids trick or treating at 5:30. This is unlike our last neighborhood just a mile west. It was nice but surprising and one thing I didn’t expect to happen was to get an egg thrown at me.

But that’s what happened. I just crossed Fullerton on California and an egg landed squarely at my feet as a car drove through the intersection. Now, I wouldn’t have cared much if I was just in normal work dress, khakis or jeans and a nice shirt. That would’ve been ok. However, today I got a call around 10 a.m. saying I had to go on a business talk show. I borrowed a test car, drove home, changed quickly into a nice suit because I didn’t have time to coordinate a coat, pants and tie so soon after our move, and went to the TV station.

So there I am, walking home at night in a nice dark suit, with my bag slung over my shoulder. I could have told people I was a Republican strategist for Halloween, I looked so straight laced. And then the egg came. Splat. When I got home and inspected the suit from about the calf down on both legs had egg all over them. All I can be thankful for is the kid’s bad aim and the fact he and his friends were too stupid to use rotten eggs.