‘CTA’ Category

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15 February 2008

Welcome to the Chicago…now go home

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Chicago, CTA, family, Food

Tourists in Chicago are like death and taxes…all are inevitable. Normally, tourists clog up the streets and stores in summer (when the American Girl cult is heavily recruiting new members) and the holidays (when tourists buy items they can get at home but with the cache of saying they bought in…Chicago.)

I bring this up because tonight by brother, Andy, and future sister-in-law, Jessi, came to the city to see Rent at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. It’s always fun to see a visitor’s response to how we city-dwellers live day-to-day. Walking for longer than two blocks? Really? Why are we rushing to get on and off the bus? Why are people weaving around us on the sidewalk?

Tonight, they both arrived early into the city while I was stuck downtown leaving work. And because I was feeling better, the universe started screwing with me by making my 146 bus stall ten times on the way up to Lakeview. 1-0 times, including once on the corner of Michigan and Wacker. Fortunately, once we eventually made it on LSD, we were cruising, thank goodness. So we met for dinner at Angelina Ristorante, where I joined them during their meal (thanks to the bus) and the waiter proceeded to not ask me the entire time we were there if I wanted anything to eat or drink. My brother had to ask the waiter to fill an empty and unused glass at their table with water and he offered it to me to drink! So according to the restaurant’s Web site, it’s “committed to offering a quality dining experience…” but apparently that did not apply to our table.

The thing I love about spending time with my Andy is that he is the “male version of me,” according to my friend Anne and Jessi. We speak the same language and can even finish thoughts without fully verbalizing them. At dinner, he and I went into our own language about movies and quotes from random television shows that we both like, while poor Jessi sat there, looking at us, saying, “I’m so confused.”

So now it’s time to watch last night’s “Lost,” because Andy is apparently chomping at the bit to talk to someone about it, so why not his doppelganger?

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08 February 2008

Home Sweet Home

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Chicago, CTA, travel

I’m beyond exhausted as I write this, but I’m finally home in Chicago. I won’t lie, I miss the perpetual sunshine and 85 degree weather, but in the end, I always enjoy coming home. The last two days have been insane. Fortunately, the plane from Miami was delayed by 15 minutes and we had a very productive flight home, taking off at our rescheduled time, arriving on time, efficient landing, very pleased. While in Miami security though, Emily made new friends, particularly a guy who works as a ward at a New York state psychiatric facility. He was harmless, until he mentioned that one of his “patients” is not allowed to have pens or pencils with her because she could stab someone in the head with them. Good to know. The conversation ceased after that.

My bag also arrived in a timely manner at the baggage claim (very exciting), but the cab stop line was literally 50 people long. So rather than freeze in a light coat outside for god knows how long, we jump on the Blue Line to Irving Park to catch a cab. An attractive pilot sitting near us on the El was a nice distraction, but the real winner had to be a man sitting 10 people down from us, who looked like a vampire – until I realized he didn’t have his front four or five teeth! Quite a picture to see Emily and I dressed respectively in Lacoste and Nordstroms/Banana Republic with this company. I even have a picture of us near a palm tree that I will post tomorrow.

Okay I’m off to finish unpacking and then go right to bed, after peeling my contacts out of my eyes adn wiping the “plane” smell off me. Night.

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17 January 2008

Rant: CTA funding – are we saved?

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Chicago, CTA, pet peeve

Well the big news ’round here today is that the Illinois legislature approved the CTA mass transit bill, which means I won’t be meeting Ryan at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday to pack on the Red line like sardines to get to work. Inevitably he’ll be crabby and so will I, and that never is a good combination. That’s right, I get to keep my 135, 145 and 146 routes home and I don’t have to worry too much about a packed ride into work (or more packed than usual), so why am I still so pissed?

Two words: our governor. It makes me more than upset that the transit bill went down to the wire like this because of his BS-last minute addendum that seniors got to ride free to work. I know this will make me seem much meaner than usual – denying grandma and grandpas a free ride while they live on a fixed income, but let me explain. I don’t agree with rides being free but I do agree that they should have heavily discounted rides. I have a set of grandparents living on a very fixed income, I get it, but I do not agree with the Governor doing this one thing at the last minute and not even because he’s that concerned about seniors. He’s doing this because he already looks like an ass for raising taxes, after he was elected heavily-based on his statement that taxes wouldn’t be raised. I’m not nuts about paying 9.25 percent sales tax down here, but if it solve the crisis, okay. The Governor all but forced the legislature to approve this bill because if they didn’t, then they’re the jerks who are cutting the 80-some bus routes and forcing 2,400 CTA workers to be laid off. I wouldn’t want that on my conscience.

As much as I believe in the good of people, “elderly” people will abuse this once it’s enforced. I know because I watch people abuse the senior citizen seating on the bus all the time and that makes me upset because I will be paying more (when I don’t make a lot already) to cover this. I fully plan on telling my dad, who will be 60 this year, that once this is enforced we should ride the bus downtown, because technically he’s a “senior” so he should ride for free.

Okay, blood pressure is going down and I feel much more relaxed. But with the Nevada primary coming up this weekend, I could go “batty” again. Time to hit the gym again ASAP to keep me off the clock tower.

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15 January 2008

Attack of the ugly hats

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Chicago, CTA, Random, television

So tonight on the 145, I was treated to my very own ugly hat attack – a first for this season. Tonight bus ride home featured two faux pas: the Sanjaya and the puppy.

The Sanjaya came on the bus at Wacker and was rocking a knit hat with ear flaps and yes, a faux hawk of yarn. At first I was rather shocked at what I saw and who thought it was a good idea to wear it. I couldn’t stop staring at it on the bus until the next fashion offense came on the bus.

Before I tear into this girl, I should say that she could not have been more than 15 years old…I hope. The first thing that caught my eye was a fleece hat that also covered her ears but also had floppy puppy ears, that kept getting in her face. And of course she had a matching pink Jansport with pigs or a pink check pattern on it, I couldn’t see. Wow. Let’s hope she’s just too young to know better.

On a quick side note, I’m VERY much enjoying the Conan O’Brien show since the writer’s strike. I’ll even be bold enough to say that it has not been this grassroots funny in years. It reminds me of when my brother and I would watch Conan on tape, before DVR and before he became popular. Keep it up Conan, but definitely bring the writers back, I miss my other shows!

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15 January 2008

Don’t be a 135 hater, be a gym quitter instead

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Chicago, CTA, gym

So yesterday while riding on the 135 to work, we encountered an unusually disgruntled woman around the Belmont stop. I’ll set the scene for you: it’s about 8:20 a.m., the bus is jammed as always and people are starting to get finicky because it’s the realization that we will all not be in to work on time today…again. So we stop at Belmont and per usual the driver asks us to move back, but we can’t because there is no room (where would you like us to go honey?). So we move through the Belmont stop and onto the LSD on ramp, where we slow down because of all the traffic merging at that light.

So while we’re waiting, a woman runs up the bus out of no where (for those who don’t know, there is not a stop near the on-ramp) and begins knocking on the bus to see if she can get on. I shake my head at her through the window because it’s not going to happen and I know that, and she continues to bang on the bus harder, thinking this will just cause the driver to get annoyed and stop to let her on. But fortunately my bus driver did not, she shook her head and continued on to LSD, which caused the woman to begin screaming obscenities and give the woman her stubby middle finger, which was covered by a black glove. I couldn’t help but laugh at this because I have also chased a bus at a non-stop, hoping they would let me on and I have been denied (although I never reacted that way).

But somehow, hearing this woman scream “f*ck you, f*ck you,” while giving her the finger was just too amusing and I laughed, before having a flashback to the woman who nearly kicked my ass this summer near the CVS on Broadway, who shouted the same thing to me and gave me the finger as well.

Also – These post-New Years exercise fanatics need to stop going to the gym. I know they’ll start dropping more at the end of the month, but I’m ready for that to happen now! Last night they totally ruined my workout because I could not get on a machine! And the gym doesn’t have “courtesy times” established for peak hours. Not cool. Just face it post-New Years workout people, you’re going to fail at this resolution and quit going to the gym so stop being selfish and ruining this for the rest of us. You’re a quitter and that’s okay, no one judges you, but just own up to it and give me my f*cking elliptical machine when I arrive to the gym!

Thank you.

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