So, Viddler wouldn't play nice with Blogger and post the vid. So I'm doing it manually:
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
What I WON'T miss about Chicago
OK, so I posted a list of things I'll miss about Chicago. And while I really liked living there, there are some things I won't miss.
1. The Cold. Cold weather in and of itself isn't that big of a deal to me. As a matter of fact, I would always laugh at some of those native Chicagoans who would say it's bitterly cold when it's in the 40s. What I don't like is the practically 6-8 months of having to wear a jacket, coat, or some other winter gear to go outside. I realized when I moved to Ohio about 11 years ago that I had some unconscious rule that I only wear a jacket from 12/1-2/1. In Ohio, I was able expand that to 11/1-3/1 for the most part. In Chicago I stubbornly had to modify that to I wear a jacket from 10/1-6/1 (sometimes in May I didn't need one). Ugh, it's cold for too long.
2. The Cost. It's expensive to live up in that mug, yo! Now my rent wasn't extravagant, but for what I paid I had a small 1-bedroom apartment in an OK neighborhood with none of the amenities of a suburban apartment. Though I rarely used said amenities when I did live those places. Food and drink are high-priced. Mostly downtown. In my 'hood the regular bars were a little bit cheaper. Owning a car in the city. If you can't always find a place to park on the street at home, then you could pay anywhere from $75-300 PER MONTH for an assigned parking space at your apartment. PLUS if you drove to work, pay upwards of $20-30 A DAY at a garage unless your job had a 1/2 price deal or, even better, free with a garage. I had that with Dave & Buster's. Then the City sales tax is over 10% there. And there's a State income tax too. Don't have a State income tax in Texas (maybe the Fed can remember those days too). I could go on even more, but I think you get the point.
3. Sports. Yes, I raved about Chicago being a great sports town. However, for someone who's a Spurs, Astros, and Longhorns fan, you don't get much coverage up there. The only favorite team I do have in that part of the country is the Minnesota Vikings. And they get as much coverage as any other non-Chicago team. I'll be back in a part of the country where I won't have to do PPV to see the Longhorns, or go to a bar to watch one of my teams if they are not on a national feed like TNT or ESPN.
4. Being 1300 miles away from my parents. It's a lot harder to celebrate those family-centric holidays or occasions when you are that far away. Maybe I'll stop being apathetic about Christmas now.
5. The inconvenience of public transportation. While I praised it earlier, it's really only good if you just have to take that one train or bus to your destination. More than one? It'll take an hour or more to get somewhere, while by car it's 15-30 minutes. Also, the recent (as in the past 6 months) issue of the Red Line not going underground on the weekends. That sucks when you close and that's normally the easiest way to go home at night.
6. Mayor Daley. Or more specifically the corruption of Chicago politics. I'm not saying they're saints down here in San Antonio, but there's a lot less of it here.
And that really seems to sum it up. So since I only came up with 6 things here and 23 things on what I will miss about Chicago, why did I move? Pretty much for most of the reasons above. They outweigh the positives. I do miss living there and hope to visit again some time.
L8r,
Marz
1. The Cold. Cold weather in and of itself isn't that big of a deal to me. As a matter of fact, I would always laugh at some of those native Chicagoans who would say it's bitterly cold when it's in the 40s. What I don't like is the practically 6-8 months of having to wear a jacket, coat, or some other winter gear to go outside. I realized when I moved to Ohio about 11 years ago that I had some unconscious rule that I only wear a jacket from 12/1-2/1. In Ohio, I was able expand that to 11/1-3/1 for the most part. In Chicago I stubbornly had to modify that to I wear a jacket from 10/1-6/1 (sometimes in May I didn't need one). Ugh, it's cold for too long.
2. The Cost. It's expensive to live up in that mug, yo! Now my rent wasn't extravagant, but for what I paid I had a small 1-bedroom apartment in an OK neighborhood with none of the amenities of a suburban apartment. Though I rarely used said amenities when I did live those places. Food and drink are high-priced. Mostly downtown. In my 'hood the regular bars were a little bit cheaper. Owning a car in the city. If you can't always find a place to park on the street at home, then you could pay anywhere from $75-300 PER MONTH for an assigned parking space at your apartment. PLUS if you drove to work, pay upwards of $20-30 A DAY at a garage unless your job had a 1/2 price deal or, even better, free with a garage. I had that with Dave & Buster's. Then the City sales tax is over 10% there. And there's a State income tax too. Don't have a State income tax in Texas (maybe the Fed can remember those days too). I could go on even more, but I think you get the point.
3. Sports. Yes, I raved about Chicago being a great sports town. However, for someone who's a Spurs, Astros, and Longhorns fan, you don't get much coverage up there. The only favorite team I do have in that part of the country is the Minnesota Vikings. And they get as much coverage as any other non-Chicago team. I'll be back in a part of the country where I won't have to do PPV to see the Longhorns, or go to a bar to watch one of my teams if they are not on a national feed like TNT or ESPN.
4. Being 1300 miles away from my parents. It's a lot harder to celebrate those family-centric holidays or occasions when you are that far away. Maybe I'll stop being apathetic about Christmas now.
5. The inconvenience of public transportation. While I praised it earlier, it's really only good if you just have to take that one train or bus to your destination. More than one? It'll take an hour or more to get somewhere, while by car it's 15-30 minutes. Also, the recent (as in the past 6 months) issue of the Red Line not going underground on the weekends. That sucks when you close and that's normally the easiest way to go home at night.
6. Mayor Daley. Or more specifically the corruption of Chicago politics. I'm not saying they're saints down here in San Antonio, but there's a lot less of it here.
And that really seems to sum it up. So since I only came up with 6 things here and 23 things on what I will miss about Chicago, why did I move? Pretty much for most of the reasons above. They outweigh the positives. I do miss living there and hope to visit again some time.
L8r,
Marz
Monday, June 23, 2008
In Honor of George Carlin
Holy.....
Shit
Piss
Fuck
Cunt
Cocksucker
Motherfucker
Tits
AND
Fart
Turd
Twat
That is all :(
Shit
Piss
Fuck
Cunt
Cocksucker
Motherfucker
Tits
AND
Fart
Turd
Twat
That is all :(
Friday, June 20, 2008
What I'll Miss About Chicago
Well, I'm now down in San Antonio. I'm very happy to be down here, but there are quite a few things I'll miss about Chicago in really no particular order other than #1:
1. My Friends. Awww, yeah I know that's sweet and all, but I did live there 7 years. And I have some really great friends. I also have many "work friends" or acquaintances that I'll miss. I had a small group of friends that I hung out with or talked with on a regular basis. I'll miss being able to do that. I have a couple friends here in SA from high school and we'll get together occasionally I'm sure. I also have a friend that I worked with up in Chicago who is now here in SA.
2. CTA. As much as people in Chicago complain about CTA, it's better than 90% of the rest of the country. Only places like NYC, Boston, and DC really have public transportation (not sure about LA or San Fran). CTA was very convenient for me. Especially since I lived in a part of town that had 24hr service via the Red Line or 151 bus. If I was out till all hours of the night, CTA kept me safe. Can't really do that in most places. You either called for a cab and waited forever (I'll talk about cabs later), or you drove - which is stupid. CTA got me to many of the places I needed to go with relatively little hassle. Unfortunately, if I needed to take more than one bus or train, that convenience lessened.
3. Cabs. Dude, I could ALWAYS get a cab within 5 minutes outside my apartment if I needed it. Usually I could walk out and there was a cab driving by. And since I worked downtown and hung out downtown cabs were plentiful too. Very nice for those 4AM nights when I didn't want to ride on a stinky train.
4. Sports. Just about every professional sport league - actually I think every professional sport league - has a team there. I truly became a baseball fan by living there. Here in San Antonio we are a one sport town - NBA. Chicago? I lived 5 El stops from Wrigley Field. And I could take the same train to see the White Sox. Bulls/Blackhawks games were easy to get to. And Bears games too. Not that I went to many of those, but when I did I didn't have to go out to the 'burbs. The only major team I didn't get to see was the Chicago Fire. While I could get there, it would take like 2 hours.
5. Food. My God, does Chicago have some phenomenal food! And most restaurants are good. Just about all ethnicities are there. I'll especially miss all the Italian restaurants there.
6. Snow. Yes, I like snow. Granted I never had to shovel the stuff, but I thought it was still a novelty. Growing up in Texas, snow is a rarity. So I did like it.
7. The apparent lack of bees/wasps. I think there was a handful of times I saw a bee living there, and I cannot remember a time I saw a wasp. I hate them. Seriously. I'll run like a little girl to get away from them. Mostly that due to a fear of being allergic to them. As a kid I had a nice group of allergies, and from that there was a possibility of being allergic to them. So I've never been stung by one and don't want to be.
8. Summer. While I love it hot, Chicago summers are really nice. Even today (6/20/08) it is 73 degrees there right now (2:50PM). It's 89 but feels like 91 here in San Antonio. I love that actually, but when you need to be outside for a few hours, a la a baseball game, you don't get drenched in sweat.
9. Festivals. Not that I went to a lot of them, but I did go to a few. There was even one in my neighborhood (most 'hoods have one). And from May - early September there are festivals every weekend. Plus the Taste of Chicago. One of the biggest in the country.
10. Hook ups. In Chicago, your business card is like an AMEX. Don't leave home without it. If you are in the F&B industry, a business card is like a VIP card most of the time. No cover, getting discounts/freebies at bars/restaurants, etc. Chicago works on the hook up. I give you mine and you give me yours.
11. 4AM/5AM bars. This is mostly if you worked a close shift you still could hit your favorite watering hole after work for an hour or two. Most places everywhere else close at 2 and last call is 1:30. So you go home. Which will be good for me here.
12. The Residents. People in Chicago are genuinely nice. Yes, there will always be jerks, but people there are nice.
13. Walking to the beach. I lived a couple blocks from Lake Michigan. While it's not a beach in the sense of an ocean, it still has sand. For the couple of years I went just about every day during the summer, that was nice.
14. Lake Shore Drive. This is that road you see along Lake Michigan in every movie made in Chicago. I took that to work every day when I worked at the Zone. Especially nice in the Summer when you passed by all of the harbors. Side note - it was also cool to see all the places in the movies that were made in Chicago.
15. Two airports. I had plenty of choices for airlines when I flew. And both took about the same amount of time to get to via CTA.
16. My neighborhood. While I didn't live in the best of 'hoods, it wasn't bad. I could walk 5 blocks in any direction (except East cuz that would be the lake), and encounter the entire world just about. Seriously. The variety of languages I heard on a daily basis was awesome.
17. Walking. Related to #16, but also downtown. You learned to walk everywhere. Even when I did have a car up there, I learned that walking was more convenient much of the time. There is nowhere to park in most places. So you walked. I could walk to my bank, the grocery store (two as a matter of fact), the dentist, the eye doctor, to get a haircut, several restaurants and bars, the post office, a few fast food places, the El, etc. Very few of my needs could not be met by walking from my apartment. In downtown, same thing. You walked. If it was 20 degrees out and you had to go 5 or more blocks, then you took a cab.
18. The guy at my bus stop. He lives in my building and sits at the stop just about everyday (except the really cold days in the Winter). He reminds me of the guy, Norman, in the movie Ghost World that keeps waiting for a bus. Except in that movie, the bus line wasn't active.
19. Delivery. When I was lazy, I could order a meatball sub and have it delivered. I could have Chinese Food delivered. Not that I did it, but Jimmy John's (sandwich shop) delivered. Most local places delivered anything on their menu. You weren't restricted to just pizza from Domino's.
20. 4/5AM Pizza places. When you had a late night, there were a couple places that delivered till 4 or 5 AM. Not the best pizza, but hey, it's food.
21. Patios at restaurants. Yeah, I got a lot of food stuff here. This is mostly downtown, but a few places where I lived had patios.
22. No Smoking. I loved the law that prohibited smoking in restaurants and bars. However, I personally think the government had no business doing that. But that's politics and I won't get into that in this post. And this isn't strictly Chicago, but I don't think that's the case here in San Antonio yet.
23. The Tourist Factor. Chicago is a great city. And it's got a wealth of cool things to see or do. Here's a plug to one of my Twitter friends, go to her site The Local Tourist .
Well, I guess that's about it. I'm sure I can come up with more, but I'm having a harder time of picking Chicago-only things. There are plenty of things I'll miss, but I can do that or get that here in San Antonio. I'll have a "Things I Won't Miss About Chicago" post in the next few days.
L8r,
Marz
1. My Friends. Awww, yeah I know that's sweet and all, but I did live there 7 years. And I have some really great friends. I also have many "work friends" or acquaintances that I'll miss. I had a small group of friends that I hung out with or talked with on a regular basis. I'll miss being able to do that. I have a couple friends here in SA from high school and we'll get together occasionally I'm sure. I also have a friend that I worked with up in Chicago who is now here in SA.
2. CTA. As much as people in Chicago complain about CTA, it's better than 90% of the rest of the country. Only places like NYC, Boston, and DC really have public transportation (not sure about LA or San Fran). CTA was very convenient for me. Especially since I lived in a part of town that had 24hr service via the Red Line or 151 bus. If I was out till all hours of the night, CTA kept me safe. Can't really do that in most places. You either called for a cab and waited forever (I'll talk about cabs later), or you drove - which is stupid. CTA got me to many of the places I needed to go with relatively little hassle. Unfortunately, if I needed to take more than one bus or train, that convenience lessened.
3. Cabs. Dude, I could ALWAYS get a cab within 5 minutes outside my apartment if I needed it. Usually I could walk out and there was a cab driving by. And since I worked downtown and hung out downtown cabs were plentiful too. Very nice for those 4AM nights when I didn't want to ride on a stinky train.
4. Sports. Just about every professional sport league - actually I think every professional sport league - has a team there. I truly became a baseball fan by living there. Here in San Antonio we are a one sport town - NBA. Chicago? I lived 5 El stops from Wrigley Field. And I could take the same train to see the White Sox. Bulls/Blackhawks games were easy to get to. And Bears games too. Not that I went to many of those, but when I did I didn't have to go out to the 'burbs. The only major team I didn't get to see was the Chicago Fire. While I could get there, it would take like 2 hours.
5. Food. My God, does Chicago have some phenomenal food! And most restaurants are good. Just about all ethnicities are there. I'll especially miss all the Italian restaurants there.
6. Snow. Yes, I like snow. Granted I never had to shovel the stuff, but I thought it was still a novelty. Growing up in Texas, snow is a rarity. So I did like it.
7. The apparent lack of bees/wasps. I think there was a handful of times I saw a bee living there, and I cannot remember a time I saw a wasp. I hate them. Seriously. I'll run like a little girl to get away from them. Mostly that due to a fear of being allergic to them. As a kid I had a nice group of allergies, and from that there was a possibility of being allergic to them. So I've never been stung by one and don't want to be.
8. Summer. While I love it hot, Chicago summers are really nice. Even today (6/20/08) it is 73 degrees there right now (2:50PM). It's 89 but feels like 91 here in San Antonio. I love that actually, but when you need to be outside for a few hours, a la a baseball game, you don't get drenched in sweat.
9. Festivals. Not that I went to a lot of them, but I did go to a few. There was even one in my neighborhood (most 'hoods have one). And from May - early September there are festivals every weekend. Plus the Taste of Chicago. One of the biggest in the country.
10. Hook ups. In Chicago, your business card is like an AMEX. Don't leave home without it. If you are in the F&B industry, a business card is like a VIP card most of the time. No cover, getting discounts/freebies at bars/restaurants, etc. Chicago works on the hook up. I give you mine and you give me yours.
11. 4AM/5AM bars. This is mostly if you worked a close shift you still could hit your favorite watering hole after work for an hour or two. Most places everywhere else close at 2 and last call is 1:30. So you go home. Which will be good for me here.
12. The Residents. People in Chicago are genuinely nice. Yes, there will always be jerks, but people there are nice.
13. Walking to the beach. I lived a couple blocks from Lake Michigan. While it's not a beach in the sense of an ocean, it still has sand. For the couple of years I went just about every day during the summer, that was nice.
14. Lake Shore Drive. This is that road you see along Lake Michigan in every movie made in Chicago. I took that to work every day when I worked at the Zone. Especially nice in the Summer when you passed by all of the harbors. Side note - it was also cool to see all the places in the movies that were made in Chicago.
15. Two airports. I had plenty of choices for airlines when I flew. And both took about the same amount of time to get to via CTA.
16. My neighborhood. While I didn't live in the best of 'hoods, it wasn't bad. I could walk 5 blocks in any direction (except East cuz that would be the lake), and encounter the entire world just about. Seriously. The variety of languages I heard on a daily basis was awesome.
17. Walking. Related to #16, but also downtown. You learned to walk everywhere. Even when I did have a car up there, I learned that walking was more convenient much of the time. There is nowhere to park in most places. So you walked. I could walk to my bank, the grocery store (two as a matter of fact), the dentist, the eye doctor, to get a haircut, several restaurants and bars, the post office, a few fast food places, the El, etc. Very few of my needs could not be met by walking from my apartment. In downtown, same thing. You walked. If it was 20 degrees out and you had to go 5 or more blocks, then you took a cab.
18. The guy at my bus stop. He lives in my building and sits at the stop just about everyday (except the really cold days in the Winter). He reminds me of the guy, Norman, in the movie Ghost World that keeps waiting for a bus. Except in that movie, the bus line wasn't active.
19. Delivery. When I was lazy, I could order a meatball sub and have it delivered. I could have Chinese Food delivered. Not that I did it, but Jimmy John's (sandwich shop) delivered. Most local places delivered anything on their menu. You weren't restricted to just pizza from Domino's.
20. 4/5AM Pizza places. When you had a late night, there were a couple places that delivered till 4 or 5 AM. Not the best pizza, but hey, it's food.
21. Patios at restaurants. Yeah, I got a lot of food stuff here. This is mostly downtown, but a few places where I lived had patios.
22. No Smoking. I loved the law that prohibited smoking in restaurants and bars. However, I personally think the government had no business doing that. But that's politics and I won't get into that in this post. And this isn't strictly Chicago, but I don't think that's the case here in San Antonio yet.
23. The Tourist Factor. Chicago is a great city. And it's got a wealth of cool things to see or do. Here's a plug to one of my Twitter friends, go to her site The Local Tourist .
Well, I guess that's about it. I'm sure I can come up with more, but I'm having a harder time of picking Chicago-only things. There are plenty of things I'll miss, but I can do that or get that here in San Antonio. I'll have a "Things I Won't Miss About Chicago" post in the next few days.
L8r,
Marz
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
3G iPhone
So they finally announced the new iPhone. As I type this entry from MY
iPhone I am excited about the new one. It's not everything yet but
there are some major improvements.
iPhone I am excited about the new one. It's not everything yet but
there are some major improvements.
No, I have no plans on buying one on or about July 11th when it comes
out. Depending on how things work out my potential new job will buy
one for me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Let's talk about what's good. First 3G. This is the biggest thing
about the iPhone that everyone wanted originally. Now they have it.
3G is nice. Broadband-like speed in your phone. I've experienced this
on a Razr. It's nice. Even better with a real browser.
Microsoft Exchange. This will have the iPhone directly compete with
the Crackberry and other business smart phones. However, not only did
they implement this, they also implemented push services for native
applications. This means that your app won't run in the background
eating up resources and battery life.
GPS. I personally haven't had a need for it here in Chicago, but with
my move it would be nice. Especially for the move itself. Others have
made a big deal about the pseudo-GPS already available not being enough.
Back to apps. This wasn't a revelation as they were announced earlier
this year. And I only got to listen to the audio feed as Apple no
longer does a live video stream. But from what I heard and the
comments from those there apps are going to be incredible.
Price. The biggest obstical for most. Now an 8GB iPhone will be $199.
Now we are talking. 16GB $299. This is huge. The same price all over
the world. And it's going to launch in over 20 countries July 11th.
The mail app is better. Better integration of MS Office and iWork
docs, searchable contacts, and more I can't remember round it out.
What's missing? How about Multimedia Text Messaging? I'd like to not
have to go home to a website to view an MMS a friend sent me. And I'd
like to be able to send one too.
Video recording. It can be done. The iPhone's camera is basically a
video camera. I have an app that will do it with sound. I have the
trial version, but it seems to work pretty well.
Camera settings. It's only a point and shoot thing. With great light
the pics are really good. Poor light not so much.
Flash. Yeah we all know Steve Jobs said it doesn't work right. C'mon
Apple and Adobe work together on this. No flash really hinders web
browsing.
That's really all I got. I still think the new phone is a great
improvement over the old one.
L8r,
Marz
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Friday, June 06, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
facebook friend
twitter friend
viddler friend
myspace friend
