Posts Tagged ‘chicago’

moving on up / to the east…

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

You may or may not know of the move in our very near future. The T.C. staff is off to the northern end of the Windy City. It’s a big change. (Mainly because CHI is considered a city even outside of the regional area.)

The relocation is only part of it.

Girlfriend and I are reducing our television consumption to three hours per week for the summer. What better time to start than after a one-way trip with a sixteen-foot truck?

I’ve gotten into bicycling-as-transportation. (Stifle your applause, hippies; I still shower often.) CHI has more on-street lanes and paths. We’ll also have nearly all of our staples (including ice cream) within two miles.

We’re moving to a residential neighborhood. There won’t be any drunks yelling after midnight. There won’t be the seventeen roaring past every fifteen minutes (or planes every hour, for that matter). I won’t sleep well for a bit.

Tired of all the gradients on this site? Want a splash of one other color? (Do you even read it here?) You’re in luck, because T.C. is getting an overhaul in the near future. (S’bout time, right? ‘Get in your car’ was the 800th post!)

Most importantly, Girlfriend and I will live in a place people actually want to visit. My sunny disposition is adequate but that’s with friends only threatening visits every two years or so.

It’s been awhile since there has been so much flux. I’m excited.

Photo courtesy Mikeyexists on Flickr

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friday free for all

Friday, January 29th, 2010

… As of yesterday, I’ve been working as a contractor for seven weeks. By Monday afternoon, I will have moved into three different cubes; spent about fifty hours on-bus; worked past 8p twice, on three different computers and three sites; and haven’t been paid. (You read that correctly.)

After a particularly long (cou*12 hour*gh) day, I received a pitch about the many benefits and great things about signing up full-time. I was not impressed and, as my newfound stability isn’t all that stable, am still unimpressed. (I’m scheduled for a check on the 15th, as their accounting system defaults to a 60 day wait.)

… (Speaking of unimpressed.) The Apple i[Tab] (what an incredibly terrible name) was introduced Wednesday and will ship in two months. Some people will find a use for it but until I can justify paying for books instead of the library (on top of some UX choices), I’m out. My next Mac will be the Mini that runs my television after the move.

… Yesterday was my sister’s twenty-second birthday. We went to the restaurant she suggested and had a pretty great time. Afterward, Girlfriend, two friend and I went to a show. After a drink or two and waiting in line for about fifteen minutes, the power went out.

About a half-hour later someone told us they were getting information for refunds; thirty seconds after that the lights went back on. Roma di Luna‘s (if you’re not listening to them, you should be) set was cut short for time and we left before the headlining act. I’m fully exhausted today.

… and finally:
This is the first FFFA since a month and a half after I was unceremoniously and involuntarily removed from my former place of employment. Since has been a whirlwind. I very much enjoyed my summer but didn’t enjoy the finance-related stress.

I’m now actively looking for work in Chicago and if any of the threes of you dear readers know of anyone that could help, please let me know. I’d love to find a local job board or hear about some specific places looking to hire.

Thanks in advance. You’re all glorious beacons of light in this dark, dark world. Well, most of you.

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Posted in friday free for all, haha, media, random schtuff | 2 Comments »

hitch in the plan

Monday, April 20th, 2009

My job hunt has now expanded to Chicago or… well… anywhere, I guess, because my desperation has suddenly blossomed. Why you ask? Even after the fame of my burgeoning photography wealth is only just settling (and non-existent)?

I’ve been kicked out of the capitalist system and am awash in socialist frustration. My UI may be denied. This, obviously, was an unexpected blow to the spleen.

The next course of action is appeal. According to the notice, I can do this online. Golden, I’m there watching terrible television on Hulu anyway. But no. The log-in is disabled so now I have to call.

This is why universal health care will be ignored by 85% of everyone. There’s just not enough incentive in a free service to take on the tedium of government-sponsored services.

No one would want to waste their time on such things if rates for useful health care were reasonable. There would be incentive to have a job that pays for most of it too. Which brings me back to jobs…

I would love one. ::sigh::

Yes, that’s Mussolini, who was technically a Fascist leader. Still, the vast majority of the US doesn’t know the difference.

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chicago in review

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Chicago, the Windy City: awesome. I got there Friday on time (despite taking the “express” Megabus) and met up with Nate. We went out to Millennium Park, Navy Pier and the Freedom Museum, meeting up with Andrew after work.

Dinner turned out to be some sort of Top Chef-esque dinner party (courtesy @joejanas). There was a lot of drinking, followed by Tuman’s for more.

Saturday, Andrew started things off with a gigantic breakfast and then we went to Wicker Park, wandered Milwaukee and stopped in for some local retail at Urban Outfitters. For dinner, we went to Coast Sushi Bar.

Andrew talked up the specialty roll, named White Dragon, as if it were a mythical potion of sex, drugs and teen pop hits. Turns out, he downplayed it slightly. From there we went to Horseshoe to watch Fox and the Grapes and the Screaming Bulldogs. (All while drinking; obviously.)

Sunday, I went grocery shopping with Andrew and we headed downtown to meet Nate so he could head back to “the Burgh.” We had obligatory (and delicious) deep-dish at Exchequer. Andrew headed off and I wandered downtown a bit before catching the bus.

Thanks to Andrew for the hosting, Joe for the grub and Coast for a reason to live. (I’d apologize to Jo for not meeting up but she’s not a reader.)

With the drunk sleep and only two hours rest last night, the excessive walking in cold weather and the brutal ingestion battle that raged between myself and the part of my brain that recognizes limits, I’m the worse for the wear. My head and legs ache, my right foot had some sort of shooting pain last night and I’m serenading my co-cube-dwellers with a tone-deaf dry cough.

Snaps are, or will be, in the usual places. As I wander through occupational tasks in a groggy mist of wish-I-wasn’t-here, I’ll leave you with this, unrelated, question: why is this desperate call for spousal commitment seen as empowering?

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friday free for all

Friday, November 14th, 2008

… Headed to Chicago for the weekend (technically I’m on a bus already), visiting a buddy from way back in college. Another buddy is meeting up too. Should be wicked entertaining.

… Word is (as of when I’m writing this on Thursday) that the auto industry’s desperate plea for cash is being denied. One can only hope this catches on and more idiot industries don’t ask for handouts. (Not that the first set of handouts didn’t work out just swimmingly.) Accountability is impressively lacking among those that should be held accountable.

… This weekend out of town is just one of many in the next few months. I’ve writ ad nauseum of the two major trips but I’m away from home eight of the next ten weekends. Ridiculous.

… And finally:
Why aren’t we realizing we need to scale things back? Why don’t we see the Iraq and Afghanistan fuckups as signs we should reign in the imperial empire? Why don’t we see major sectors of our economy (Credit, Housing, Autos) failing as a sign we need to rethink how our business structure is built? (Obvious answer: those making money off the current system are making a lot of money.)

Ah well. I’m reducing my spending and hoping maybe to get some money directly into the market by Jan01 so I can benefit from the baby boomers’ short-sightedness. Not everyone went broke during the Depression.

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