comments about Chicago
Being in Chicago for almost a month now, I have noticed certain things that come to mind. Now, mind ya, I'm from 3 diff parts of California and this is only my 2nd time IN Illinois, my first experience being in Sept 2004 when I spent a week in Springfield.
Ok, here goes.
1. There are no buttons on poles to push to walk across the street. you go when it says walk.....PERIOD.....there's no buttons to get cued up to have it say walk. Interestingly enough, when I was in Charlotte NC, they don't have buttons either, but what they DO have is a countdown timer next to "walk" telling you how long you got to get your sorry butt across the street....lol
2. Whoever owns the brick business in this town must be a gazzillionaire. I don't know if this all came after the big Chicago fire, and all buildings started going up as brick, but damn there's a shitload of brick in this town.
3. Cigs are 5-8$ a pack in Cook County. Go outside Cook and they're back to almost tolerable price.
4. People, especially women, look at you like you're nuts when you say hi or ask a question. One lady today however, walked by me with a big smile outside of trader joes and said hi, how are you? When she came out, I asked her, you must not be from around here orginally eh? she said, no, actually, why? I told her why and she said, oh well that sux, I always say high to people. I asked where she's from, and she said MN originally. I said ahh, that explains it.....lol
5. 6 way intersections. The town is full of them. They can be quite confusing if you don't know what you're doing or if you don't know the lingo when someone is giving you directions. they'll say take a soft right or hard left turn here, take a hard right there, a soft left on such and such, and if you don't know what they mean, you're like WTF?
6. EVERYONE and their mother has a diff set of directions to get somewhere. Even the cops can't give you a straight answer as to what is the shortest route to somewhere.
7. Cops are EVERYWHERE, prostitutes are NOWHERE, (not that I'm looking to buy one). Cops run their sirens whenever it suits them.
8. In resturants, its required that your utensils be delivered to you, rolled up in a napkin.
9. Most of your better places to eat are holes in the wall. For example, Clara-n-James, 2 bacon, 2 eggs, 2 hotcakes, $2.50. After 11 it's $3.50.
10. Most of the good places don't take credit or debit cards. And the best way to tell if the food is good is NOT to go in and eat, but see if a lot of cops eat there. If they do, it's a good place.
11. Chicagoians love their pizza and gyros. I have had Chicago pizza and it's not all its cracked up to be. I would like to take a bunch of them to Round Table and see what they think.
12. Dunkin Doughnuts/Baskin Robins combo resturants are EVERYWHERE, as is Starbucks.
13. I have only seen ONE dog turd on a sidewalk in Chicago. I hear it's a pretty hefty fine to let your dog crap on the sidewalk or even someone's lawn or burm and not pick it up and dispose of it in a baggy or trash can. Same applies for letting him go on the street too. Oh and while we're on the subject, I have yet to see a stray dog running around, and only ONE stray cat.
14. Tax in Chicago is like 9Geeez
15. You wake up, go outside to look to see what the weather is like, and it's nice out. Go take your shower and get dressed and look outside again just to make sure, and it's now cloudy and cold. The weather changes more than I change my underwear. (and I do that daily, FYI)....lol.....and YES Chicago IS The Windy City, and I got me a Starbucks mug that says so....lol
16. The "L" train makes a lot of noise.
17. If you come out, and find your car gone, DON'T assume it's been stolen. Call first to see if it was towed. What they call the revenue department here, and yes it's even on the side of their vehicles, will tow your car in a NY sec.
18. I have only seen a couple of what I would call mentally deranged people here. I guess they do a pretty good job of hiding them or keeping them out of the public's eye.
19. Scratch off tickets for the lottery can range from $1-$20 per ticket. I think the most expensive one I have seen in California is $5. But the tickets sell like hotcakes here, even the $20 tickets. Must be all that non-smokers money, since a great many quit when smokes got over $5 a pack. So they buy scratchers instead.
20. I think it's a requirement that toilets be the kind that you have to hold the lever down till you get enough water flow for the load you just dropped, then you let up on it and hope it goes down.
21. Bars and night clubs are EVERWHERE.
22. For those of you who don't know what a California stop is, it's where you roll up on a stop sign and don't fully break the plane of forward motion, in other words, you pretty much fake stopping and glide right on through. Well California stops or "rolling stops" are the typical stop one makes here. And people will pass you on the right like there's no tomorrow. On the expressway, what we call freeways, everyone drives like there is no such thing as a speed limit.
23. Shopping carts........most stores have these bars around the store with openings big enough to walk through but NOT big enough to get a cart through, so you can't walk your large load of groceries to your car, it's always a good idea to go to the store in pairs so that while you wait with your groceries at the baracade, your partner can pull your car around to load up.
24. I have never seen so many stores (course I have been stuck in mt shasta for the last 8 yrs) where you do your own checkout. Now they have some stores where you take a scanner with you while you shop, you scan each item as you go, and when you get to the self serve register, it gives you your total without having to play grocery clerk, scanning your items. Course you do have to bag them yourself, but they have even added one new feature, and that's one touch pay. It scans your fingerprint and sucks the money right out of your checking account. Now, some of you may be saying, well hell, we've been doing that for years now......this is not new news.......well go back and read the first line of #24 again.....lol
25. If you have half a brain for remembering where things are, it's NOT that bad to try to learn the city.
Well I think 25 things is about enough for this post, I'm sure I have forgotten some that I wanted to mention, I will have to catch those next time around when I'll start with #26.
peace out
Ok, here goes.
1. There are no buttons on poles to push to walk across the street. you go when it says walk.....PERIOD.....there's no buttons to get cued up to have it say walk. Interestingly enough, when I was in Charlotte NC, they don't have buttons either, but what they DO have is a countdown timer next to "walk" telling you how long you got to get your sorry butt across the street....lol
2. Whoever owns the brick business in this town must be a gazzillionaire. I don't know if this all came after the big Chicago fire, and all buildings started going up as brick, but damn there's a shitload of brick in this town.
3. Cigs are 5-8$ a pack in Cook County. Go outside Cook and they're back to almost tolerable price.
4. People, especially women, look at you like you're nuts when you say hi or ask a question. One lady today however, walked by me with a big smile outside of trader joes and said hi, how are you? When she came out, I asked her, you must not be from around here orginally eh? she said, no, actually, why? I told her why and she said, oh well that sux, I always say high to people. I asked where she's from, and she said MN originally. I said ahh, that explains it.....lol
5. 6 way intersections. The town is full of them. They can be quite confusing if you don't know what you're doing or if you don't know the lingo when someone is giving you directions. they'll say take a soft right or hard left turn here, take a hard right there, a soft left on such and such, and if you don't know what they mean, you're like WTF?
6. EVERYONE and their mother has a diff set of directions to get somewhere. Even the cops can't give you a straight answer as to what is the shortest route to somewhere.
7. Cops are EVERYWHERE, prostitutes are NOWHERE, (not that I'm looking to buy one). Cops run their sirens whenever it suits them.
8. In resturants, its required that your utensils be delivered to you, rolled up in a napkin.
9. Most of your better places to eat are holes in the wall. For example, Clara-n-James, 2 bacon, 2 eggs, 2 hotcakes, $2.50. After 11 it's $3.50.
10. Most of the good places don't take credit or debit cards. And the best way to tell if the food is good is NOT to go in and eat, but see if a lot of cops eat there. If they do, it's a good place.
11. Chicagoians love their pizza and gyros. I have had Chicago pizza and it's not all its cracked up to be. I would like to take a bunch of them to Round Table and see what they think.
12. Dunkin Doughnuts/Baskin Robins combo resturants are EVERYWHERE, as is Starbucks.
13. I have only seen ONE dog turd on a sidewalk in Chicago. I hear it's a pretty hefty fine to let your dog crap on the sidewalk or even someone's lawn or burm and not pick it up and dispose of it in a baggy or trash can. Same applies for letting him go on the street too. Oh and while we're on the subject, I have yet to see a stray dog running around, and only ONE stray cat.
14. Tax in Chicago is like 9Geeez
15. You wake up, go outside to look to see what the weather is like, and it's nice out. Go take your shower and get dressed and look outside again just to make sure, and it's now cloudy and cold. The weather changes more than I change my underwear. (and I do that daily, FYI)....lol.....and YES Chicago IS The Windy City, and I got me a Starbucks mug that says so....lol
16. The "L" train makes a lot of noise.
17. If you come out, and find your car gone, DON'T assume it's been stolen. Call first to see if it was towed. What they call the revenue department here, and yes it's even on the side of their vehicles, will tow your car in a NY sec.
18. I have only seen a couple of what I would call mentally deranged people here. I guess they do a pretty good job of hiding them or keeping them out of the public's eye.
19. Scratch off tickets for the lottery can range from $1-$20 per ticket. I think the most expensive one I have seen in California is $5. But the tickets sell like hotcakes here, even the $20 tickets. Must be all that non-smokers money, since a great many quit when smokes got over $5 a pack. So they buy scratchers instead.
20. I think it's a requirement that toilets be the kind that you have to hold the lever down till you get enough water flow for the load you just dropped, then you let up on it and hope it goes down.
21. Bars and night clubs are EVERWHERE.
22. For those of you who don't know what a California stop is, it's where you roll up on a stop sign and don't fully break the plane of forward motion, in other words, you pretty much fake stopping and glide right on through. Well California stops or "rolling stops" are the typical stop one makes here. And people will pass you on the right like there's no tomorrow. On the expressway, what we call freeways, everyone drives like there is no such thing as a speed limit.
23. Shopping carts........most stores have these bars around the store with openings big enough to walk through but NOT big enough to get a cart through, so you can't walk your large load of groceries to your car, it's always a good idea to go to the store in pairs so that while you wait with your groceries at the baracade, your partner can pull your car around to load up.
24. I have never seen so many stores (course I have been stuck in mt shasta for the last 8 yrs) where you do your own checkout. Now they have some stores where you take a scanner with you while you shop, you scan each item as you go, and when you get to the self serve register, it gives you your total without having to play grocery clerk, scanning your items. Course you do have to bag them yourself, but they have even added one new feature, and that's one touch pay. It scans your fingerprint and sucks the money right out of your checking account. Now, some of you may be saying, well hell, we've been doing that for years now......this is not new news.......well go back and read the first line of #24 again.....lol
25. If you have half a brain for remembering where things are, it's NOT that bad to try to learn the city.
Well I think 25 things is about enough for this post, I'm sure I have forgotten some that I wanted to mention, I will have to catch those next time around when I'll start with #26.
peace out
posted by fast_rush | Friday, April 28, 2006
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