We have a Chinese restaurant near our apartment in the West Loop. It's called Jim Ching's and I used to be a fan. I used to enjoy some curry tofu after football on Sunday evenings. We've gotten carry-out from this place approximately 12 times, give or take. My problem comes from the awful service we've gotten there.
Out of the approximately 12 times we've ordered from Jim Ching's, they've screwed up our order 4 times. We've been shorted items, received (and been charged) for items we didn't ask for, gotten completely wrong dishes, and been given incorrectly prepared special order dishes (food allergy). Those occurrences alone are bad enough (we're talking about a 1 in 3 change of having an order come out wrong) but what has really pissed me off is how they address these things.
Each time this happens, I call them up and tell them that the order was wrong. Each time, they argue with me, almost always blaming us for the problem. The most infuriating (and recent) conversation was two Sundays ago. My wife placed our order (I was sitting next to her when she did), getting me a "curry tofu, extra spicy, no chicken broth". We picked up the order when it was ready. Upon returning home, I found that my curry tofu was actually "curry tofu / only tofu" - not even close to what was ordered (and inedible as I can't eat meat). I called them up and they told me that "curry tofu / only tofu" was what my wife had ordered and that we had screwed up somehow. I was livid, as I was next to her when she ordered (not to mention that I get the exact same thing every time I order). They refused to do anything about the problem. I informed them that I would never order from them again.
I've since done some digging, and they're not exactly revered in the community either (big surprise there). Over on Yelp they've got a 3.5 star ranking, which I can only assume is bolstered by some fake vote padding. The text reviews are less than stellar.
When looking for other options, I found a listing for Ming Choy, (three stars on Yelp) also in the West Loop, which surprisingly and sadly is just a separate guise for the shoddy Jim Ching operation. The Ming Choy number rings right to Jim Ching's.
So, I warn anyone who might read this and have occasion to eat at Jim Ching's in the West Loop to stay away, if you value customer service on any level. Also, if anyone can recommend anyplace good for Chinese food in the West Loop area, let me know. I'd love to find someplace near home that's actually good.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Some internet, lots of frustration
The Comcast saga seems to be over. After MANY more visits by Comcast techs, multiple line re-runnings (including the major line that connects floors 2 through 6 of oru building to the world) someone FINALLY listened to us and gave us a new cable modem.
Guess what? It worked. The new cable modem fixed the issue. I've been monitoring the connection for a month now and connection quality is nearly perfect. What really irritates me about the whole thing is that we asked every single tech who came out (somewhere in the range of 15 - 20 of them) for a new cable modem, just to be sure to that wasn't the problem. None of the techs would give us one. We were told repeatedly that "the cable modem isnt' the problem". Odd, turns out it was.
I still hate Comcast, but at least I have workable internet now.
Guess what? It worked. The new cable modem fixed the issue. I've been monitoring the connection for a month now and connection quality is nearly perfect. What really irritates me about the whole thing is that we asked every single tech who came out (somewhere in the range of 15 - 20 of them) for a new cable modem, just to be sure to that wasn't the problem. None of the techs would give us one. We were told repeatedly that "the cable modem isnt' the problem". Odd, turns out it was.
I still hate Comcast, but at least I have workable internet now.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The internet hates me
That's the only thing that I can reasonable figure after it's tried so hard to avoid me these past two months (and succeeded).
I ordered and received my DSL modem equipment from AT&T. The equipment arrived and I had an appointment to have my dry-loop DSL turned on the next day. On that day, activation was supposed to occur by 8:00 pm, so when 8:30 rolled around I was rather curious as to why I didn't have internet yet. I called and was told to wait and see if it got activated the next day.
The next day was completely uneventful on the internet activation front, so I got back on the phone with AT&T. Again, I was told that I should wait another day.
The day after I was still completely surrounded by no internet, so I called up again and started to raise hell (after what literally amounted to two hours on hold with AT&T). I finally got connected to someone who seemed to know what he was talking about and got a new work order set up to activate the DSL line. Unfortunately, the first day that they could activate me was a full week later. Fine, I'll wait.
My new activation date arrived - a Friday - and lo-and-behold I still have no DSL. Who could have guessed? So, in a fit of desperation and vodka-&-O.J. I called up Comcast. After explaining my situation to a customer service rep (leaving out the part about my massively-read blog posting regarding how much I hate Comcast - 5!), I begged her to have someone come out to my apartment the next day and fix my Comcast internet. I told her that if Comcast would fix my internet that Saturday, I would stay with them. Regrettably, she informed me that they didn't have any appointments available on Saturday. Even more regrettably, I informed her that she couldn't help me and that I wanted to be escalated to a supervisor.
After explaining my story to the supervisor, he somehow found me a Saturday appointment between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm (funny how that just came out of nowhere). Hooray. Now, I've been stood up by Comcast before, recently, and it still hurts so I made sure that they noted to the tech to call me when he arrived at my building. All I had to do was wait.
The next morning, I woke up around 8:30 am. At 9:00 am, Comcast dispatch called me and said that they had a tech in my area that might be able to be to my place before 10, if I wouldn't mind. I told them that that would be preferable. No promises were made, but I took this as a hopeful sign that my internet would be fixed earlier in the day, rather than later.
1:00 pm arrived with a total of zero Comcast techs. Back to the phone line I went. Dispatch told me that the tech was running late (clearly) and that he was scheduled to be to my place by 2:15.
He arrived at 2:30. I would normally have been pissed, but I was just ecstatic to see him there!
He was relatively normal, personable, and knowledgeable. The first thing that he did was find our junction box, replace the splitter, and re-crimp some ends... and the internet was fixed! All of the packet loss that I was seeing cleared up and I had solidly connected internet. Perfect! He even hooked me up with a new remote for our cable box and a new length of coax cable so I could move my cable modem to my desk (which is on the other side of the room).
The tech left and things were great! I very carefully routed the new coax and set up the cable modem on my desk, being careful to monitor my connectivity as I did so (adding more cable adds more potential for interference, which could once again ruin my connection). Everything was great and as of 4:00 pm I had perfect internet. I left Ping Plotter running just to monitor the situation and we went out to run some errands.
We returned about 3 hours later and the internet was still perfect. Oh happy day! I started playing some online games that I had been waiting almost two months to play. About two hours in, I started getting disconnected over and over. Upon investigation, I discovered that the intermittent internet connection had mysteriously returned. Drats! I was too tired to worry about it Saturday night, so I left it for Sunday morning.
Sunday morning, I woke up and decided to fix the internet if it was the last thing I did. The first step was to open up the junction box that the tech had replaced. I did, pulled out the splitter and looked at it. It looked like a splitter. I wasn't really sure what I was trying to do but whatever it was didn’t fix the internet.
Then I realized that the splitter only split once (two outputs from one input), but we have three outlets in the apartment. There had to be another splitter! I couldn't find another blank panel that might house a junction box anywhere in the apartment, though. I decided to take apart the panel on the wall where my cable modem connects, hoping I might be able to ascertain which direction the wire came from. That turned out to be pointless because behind that panel, I found the junction box that I was looking for as well as an extremely janky looking splitter.
Within 5 minutes I had the splitter removed and replaced with a pass-through connector (we don't even use the outlet that it splits to anyway, so losing that isn't an issue for us) and my internet was perfect. It's now been two days and it's remained that way. Thank god. I can now play all the games I want and surf as much as I want without disconnects or anything.
I still need to call up AT&T and break up with them. I don't think that relationship is going to be too difficult to end though, since I doubt they even knew we were dating. It was a very one-sided affair. I thought they were going to be my knight in shining armor, but it turned out that they were just as abusive to me as Comcast. At least Comcast has faster service.
EDIT: After I got home last night, things started acting up again. Grrr....
I ordered and received my DSL modem equipment from AT&T. The equipment arrived and I had an appointment to have my dry-loop DSL turned on the next day. On that day, activation was supposed to occur by 8:00 pm, so when 8:30 rolled around I was rather curious as to why I didn't have internet yet. I called and was told to wait and see if it got activated the next day.
The next day was completely uneventful on the internet activation front, so I got back on the phone with AT&T. Again, I was told that I should wait another day.
The day after I was still completely surrounded by no internet, so I called up again and started to raise hell (after what literally amounted to two hours on hold with AT&T). I finally got connected to someone who seemed to know what he was talking about and got a new work order set up to activate the DSL line. Unfortunately, the first day that they could activate me was a full week later. Fine, I'll wait.
My new activation date arrived - a Friday - and lo-and-behold I still have no DSL. Who could have guessed? So, in a fit of desperation and vodka-&-O.J. I called up Comcast. After explaining my situation to a customer service rep (leaving out the part about my massively-read blog posting regarding how much I hate Comcast - 5!), I begged her to have someone come out to my apartment the next day and fix my Comcast internet. I told her that if Comcast would fix my internet that Saturday, I would stay with them. Regrettably, she informed me that they didn't have any appointments available on Saturday. Even more regrettably, I informed her that she couldn't help me and that I wanted to be escalated to a supervisor.
After explaining my story to the supervisor, he somehow found me a Saturday appointment between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm (funny how that just came out of nowhere). Hooray. Now, I've been stood up by Comcast before, recently, and it still hurts so I made sure that they noted to the tech to call me when he arrived at my building. All I had to do was wait.
The next morning, I woke up around 8:30 am. At 9:00 am, Comcast dispatch called me and said that they had a tech in my area that might be able to be to my place before 10, if I wouldn't mind. I told them that that would be preferable. No promises were made, but I took this as a hopeful sign that my internet would be fixed earlier in the day, rather than later.
1:00 pm arrived with a total of zero Comcast techs. Back to the phone line I went. Dispatch told me that the tech was running late (clearly) and that he was scheduled to be to my place by 2:15.
He arrived at 2:30. I would normally have been pissed, but I was just ecstatic to see him there!
He was relatively normal, personable, and knowledgeable. The first thing that he did was find our junction box, replace the splitter, and re-crimp some ends... and the internet was fixed! All of the packet loss that I was seeing cleared up and I had solidly connected internet. Perfect! He even hooked me up with a new remote for our cable box and a new length of coax cable so I could move my cable modem to my desk (which is on the other side of the room).
The tech left and things were great! I very carefully routed the new coax and set up the cable modem on my desk, being careful to monitor my connectivity as I did so (adding more cable adds more potential for interference, which could once again ruin my connection). Everything was great and as of 4:00 pm I had perfect internet. I left Ping Plotter running just to monitor the situation and we went out to run some errands.
We returned about 3 hours later and the internet was still perfect. Oh happy day! I started playing some online games that I had been waiting almost two months to play. About two hours in, I started getting disconnected over and over. Upon investigation, I discovered that the intermittent internet connection had mysteriously returned. Drats! I was too tired to worry about it Saturday night, so I left it for Sunday morning.
Sunday morning, I woke up and decided to fix the internet if it was the last thing I did. The first step was to open up the junction box that the tech had replaced. I did, pulled out the splitter and looked at it. It looked like a splitter. I wasn't really sure what I was trying to do but whatever it was didn’t fix the internet.
Then I realized that the splitter only split once (two outputs from one input), but we have three outlets in the apartment. There had to be another splitter! I couldn't find another blank panel that might house a junction box anywhere in the apartment, though. I decided to take apart the panel on the wall where my cable modem connects, hoping I might be able to ascertain which direction the wire came from. That turned out to be pointless because behind that panel, I found the junction box that I was looking for as well as an extremely janky looking splitter.
Within 5 minutes I had the splitter removed and replaced with a pass-through connector (we don't even use the outlet that it splits to anyway, so losing that isn't an issue for us) and my internet was perfect. It's now been two days and it's remained that way. Thank god. I can now play all the games I want and surf as much as I want without disconnects or anything.
I still need to call up AT&T and break up with them. I don't think that relationship is going to be too difficult to end though, since I doubt they even knew we were dating. It was a very one-sided affair. I thought they were going to be my knight in shining armor, but it turned out that they were just as abusive to me as Comcast. At least Comcast has faster service.
EDIT: After I got home last night, things started acting up again. Grrr....
Thursday, September 4, 2008
I hate Comcast
I used to work at a marketing agency in Detroit that did a lot of work for Ford Motor Company. One day, Alan Mulally, Ford's then-new CEO, came and addressed the entire agency. I recall him regaling us with a story of how when he first started he conducted an exercise to gauge public opinion of Ford. He Googled both "love Ford" and "hate Ford" and looked at how many results Google came back with to determine what the relative magnitude of love and hate was out on the internet for his new company.
In the spirit of that exercise, I have decided to entitle this post "I hate Comcast" to accurately bucket my Google result when Brian L. Roberts does the same.
So, my wife and I have moved to Chicago and obviously we needed new internet service here in Chi-city. I did my research and decided on Comcast's "double-play" package of digital cable television and a cable modem (we both use our cell phones exclusively, so there was no need for a landline).
My wife's response when I told her about the choice to go with Comcast was this: "I HATE Comcast" (that's 3 if you're counting). "Please, let’s get anyone else." She has had such terrible experiences with Comcast in the past that she begged me to go with anyone but them. I decided to give Comcast my business anyway, mostly due to the fact that the service that they offer promises faster theoretical download rates, up to 16Mbps, and I want "fast". It pains me to say this, but my wife was right.
Now, I had never in the past had any overly horrible service from Comcast. There have been some issues here and there with service calls and the occasional modem downtime, but nothing that would make me turn away from the provider of the potentially fastest internet service available in my neighborhood. That was all before I moved to Chicago, though.
I had decided on Comcast. I called, ordered the "double-play" and set up an installation date.
For anyone curious, Google gives “about 23,100” results for “hate Comcast” (5) but only “about 4,570” for the opposite phrase (which I don’t want to type for fear of being indexed against it).
In the spirit of that exercise, I have decided to entitle this post "I hate Comcast" to accurately bucket my Google result when Brian L. Roberts does the same.
So, my wife and I have moved to Chicago and obviously we needed new internet service here in Chi-city. I did my research and decided on Comcast's "double-play" package of digital cable television and a cable modem (we both use our cell phones exclusively, so there was no need for a landline).
My wife's response when I told her about the choice to go with Comcast was this: "I HATE Comcast" (that's 3 if you're counting). "Please, let’s get anyone else." She has had such terrible experiences with Comcast in the past that she begged me to go with anyone but them. I decided to give Comcast my business anyway, mostly due to the fact that the service that they offer promises faster theoretical download rates, up to 16Mbps, and I want "fast". It pains me to say this, but my wife was right.
Now, I had never in the past had any overly horrible service from Comcast. There have been some issues here and there with service calls and the occasional modem downtime, but nothing that would make me turn away from the provider of the potentially fastest internet service available in my neighborhood. That was all before I moved to Chicago, though.
I had decided on Comcast. I called, ordered the "double-play" and set up an installation date.
- The installer came out to my apartment, installed the cable box (which worked fine) and attempted to get my cable modem working. After about an hour and a half trying, he told me that "the entire system must be down" and that it had “been happening all day long". He had me sign a sheet and advised me to try again the next day.
- The next day I tried the self install to no avail. I got on the phone and the tech remotely connected to the modem to set everything up. After everything was working, I was connected to a customer service rep so I could inquire about a refund of the $50 that I was charged for a cable modem installation that never happened. The rep told me that a refund wasn't possible and that I shouldn't have signed the work order when the installation tech was out. She argued with me for about five minutes until I asked her to clarify whether it was Comcast or the tech on their behalf that was responsible for defrauding me. She then agreed to refund my money.
- My modem worked ok for about two weeks. Then one day I suddenly started getting disconnected every couple of minutes from the various online games that I play, which persisted each time I logged back in. I downloaded Ping Plotter to see what my connection looked like. For anyone interested, Ping Plotter is a great utility that will do a trace route to any site that you give it on any interval that you set. I went with the default 15 seconds, pointed it at Google, and let it go. What I discovered was that every 2-3 minutes my connection to the internet was interrupted for 15-30 seconds. The oddity here was that the modem lights never shut off, indicating that the modem was still connected to Comcast but I wasn’t receiving service from them.
- I called Comcast and spent literally HOURS trying to get someone on the phone that knew what they were talking about AND serviced Illinois customers (my cell phone is in area code 517, so when I call 888-COMCAST, I automatically get directed to a Michigan call center, EVERY TIME). When I finally did get a tech that seemed mildly intelligent, I explained the situation. He remotely connected to my modem and told me everything looked fine. I then had to explain to him again that the problem was an intermittent connection issue, so SOME of the time it SHOULD connect fine. We went through this a couple more times until he said "well that doesn't look right", but sadly, whatever it was that didn't look right started looking right once again (hence the concept of intermittency). I asked for a tech to be sent out to my apartment to try to show someone in person what was happening.
- My service appointment was scheduled for Saturday, August 23 between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. My wife and I sat home waiting for the tech between those times. I was told when I made the appointment that the tech would call 30 minutes before he was going to arrive, so I kept my phone near me and charged. 4 p.m. rolled around and we hadn't seen nor heard from the tech, so I called Comcast. The service rep told me that the appointment had been cancelled. I was amazed and appalled at that news and demanded to know who had cancelled it, because I sure didn't. According to her, the tech cancelled it with a note that said that nobody was home. Now this couldn't be farther from the truth, as we never even left the apartment for fear of missing the tech. Furthermore, the tech NEVER called me, not to say he would be there in 30 minutes, not to say that he was there and wanted to be let in, not to tell me that my appointment would be cancelled if I didn't answer the door. NOTHING. I was furious. I told the rep that I would be cancelling my service as soon as I had another ISP lined up, and I meant it. I’m sure I was charged for a “missed appointment” so I’ll probably have to get on the phone with them to battle that as well.
For anyone curious, Google gives “about 23,100” results for “hate Comcast” (5) but only “about 4,570” for the opposite phrase (which I don’t want to type for fear of being indexed against it).
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
I get around
Well, sort of. I've noticed that getting from place to place in this city can at times be incredibly easy and at other times be incredibly difficult. There are just too many options - walking, L train, cab, driving, biking, etc. In Detroit you only had one choice to get somewhere. You drove. Detroit doesn't have a very well developed public transportation infrastructure. This was mostly the result of a cultural phenomenon stemming from the fact that it's the "Motor City".
So, now I need change the whole way that I think about traveling. Here are a few of the options available and my take on them:
"L" Train and Buses
Inside the city, I'm fond of taking the "L". The tracks and stations are pretty easy to locate, and they (mostly) all have system maps posted, so its easy to figure out where you're going and where you need to transfer.
I find this to be in rather sharp contrast to the bus system. I can't ever find a stop. When I do, I don't ever know what route the bus that I'm waiting for runs and there isn't ever any clear way to find out while I'm riding. However, the bus will take you nearly anywhere in the city whereas the L will not. The farther away you get from "the loop" of the L (the middle part of downtown, where the trains go in a loop) the more likely it is that you're going to end up needing a bus ride to get where you're going.
The buses and the "L" are both run by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). A ride on either will cost you approximately $2 - although this is another thing that I have yet to figure out completely. I think bus rides might cost $1.75 and a ride on the L costs $2. I believe I've read something about transfers available for $0.25, but I think that might only be if you're going from the "L" to the bus, not the other way around. The point is that I have no idea how this works, or how to figure it out.
Knowing when the bus is going to arrive is extremely helpful. The CTA Bustracker is useful for figuring out how long you have to stand on the corner. One nice aspect is that there is a text-only feature that can be used with a web enabled phone. I've got a Blackjack II and I find it works pretty well.
One of my major gripes with the whole thing is that there are not any portable system maps available anywhere that I can find. They're not on the trains, the buses, or the stations. This results in me spending a lot of time staring at the maps on the train and station walls, which may or may not make me look more "tourist-y" than if I was walking around with a system map anyway. Another problem that I have is that even when I do know what train or bus I want to take, I don't know what the optimal stop to get off is. The best solution that I've found to this is Google Maps Mobile for my phone, which shows bus and train stops on the map, but not the system itself.
To complicate things even further, not all buses and trains run all the time, and not always on the same schedule. Make sure to check the bus schedule or train schedule before using them.
Other Trains
Speaking of complicating things, there are three different companies that run passenger trains in the greater Chicago area. The CTA runs the "L", which I've already talked about. Amrak handles long-haul travel (which I have yet to use but it seems to me that it costs roughly the same as a plane ticket and takes three times as long) and Metra manages (and I use that term loosely) short distance trains to and from the suburbs.
I take the Metra train to Naperville every day for work. The trains are often delayed, particularly in the evening when I want to get home as quickly as possible. It's extremely irritating. Passes are priced based on origin and destination and can be purchased in one-way, 10 ride, and monthly unlimited packs, which each carry a slightly larger discount over the previous. The train arrives and departs downtown at Union Station in the West Loop.
Driving
I've found that if you have a car, driving places is only beneficial if you know where you're going and that they have their own dedicated parking available. For example, I would drive to Target because I know there is an attached, free, parking structure. I wouldn't drive to the Art Institute because there isn't anywhere to park, so I'd end up paying $15 or $20 just to park the car somewhere. Also, when shopping, it's nice to just be able to load the groceries in the the trunk then unload them at home.
Cab
I've only taken a couple of cabs so far. They're usually easy to catch, they get you where you're going relatively quick, and you don't often have to wait long for one. On the downside, they can be expensive. It pains me to pay $12 for a ride that I know I could have gotten for $2 on the bus.
Walking
I have to admit that walking is my favorite option of them all. I get exercise, fresh air, and I get to explore the city more. Plus it's free. I've found a ton of great restaurants and stores that I want to visit while walking places too. So far I've been fortunate enough to really only have nice weather to walk in, if not a little bit hot. I may change my tune once I have to walk in the snow and rain.
Other Stuff (mostly for hippies or yuppies)
There are other ways to get around the city like biking (I don't really ride my bike) or Segway (seriously, I saw a guy riding a Segway to work one day) but I don't know much about them so I can't really tell you about the ins and outs or ups and downs. If I find out more, I'll post it. Also, if you have a Segway, let me ride it. I've always wanted to try one of those things.
So, now I need change the whole way that I think about traveling. Here are a few of the options available and my take on them:
"L" Train and Buses
Inside the city, I'm fond of taking the "L". The tracks and stations are pretty easy to locate, and they (mostly) all have system maps posted, so its easy to figure out where you're going and where you need to transfer.
I find this to be in rather sharp contrast to the bus system. I can't ever find a stop. When I do, I don't ever know what route the bus that I'm waiting for runs and there isn't ever any clear way to find out while I'm riding. However, the bus will take you nearly anywhere in the city whereas the L will not. The farther away you get from "the loop" of the L (the middle part of downtown, where the trains go in a loop) the more likely it is that you're going to end up needing a bus ride to get where you're going.
The buses and the "L" are both run by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). A ride on either will cost you approximately $2 - although this is another thing that I have yet to figure out completely. I think bus rides might cost $1.75 and a ride on the L costs $2. I believe I've read something about transfers available for $0.25, but I think that might only be if you're going from the "L" to the bus, not the other way around. The point is that I have no idea how this works, or how to figure it out.
Knowing when the bus is going to arrive is extremely helpful. The CTA Bustracker is useful for figuring out how long you have to stand on the corner. One nice aspect is that there is a text-only feature that can be used with a web enabled phone. I've got a Blackjack II and I find it works pretty well.
One of my major gripes with the whole thing is that there are not any portable system maps available anywhere that I can find. They're not on the trains, the buses, or the stations. This results in me spending a lot of time staring at the maps on the train and station walls, which may or may not make me look more "tourist-y" than if I was walking around with a system map anyway. Another problem that I have is that even when I do know what train or bus I want to take, I don't know what the optimal stop to get off is. The best solution that I've found to this is Google Maps Mobile for my phone, which shows bus and train stops on the map, but not the system itself.
To complicate things even further, not all buses and trains run all the time, and not always on the same schedule. Make sure to check the bus schedule or train schedule before using them.
Other Trains
Speaking of complicating things, there are three different companies that run passenger trains in the greater Chicago area. The CTA runs the "L", which I've already talked about. Amrak handles long-haul travel (which I have yet to use but it seems to me that it costs roughly the same as a plane ticket and takes three times as long) and Metra manages (and I use that term loosely) short distance trains to and from the suburbs.
I take the Metra train to Naperville every day for work. The trains are often delayed, particularly in the evening when I want to get home as quickly as possible. It's extremely irritating. Passes are priced based on origin and destination and can be purchased in one-way, 10 ride, and monthly unlimited packs, which each carry a slightly larger discount over the previous. The train arrives and departs downtown at Union Station in the West Loop.
Driving
I've found that if you have a car, driving places is only beneficial if you know where you're going and that they have their own dedicated parking available. For example, I would drive to Target because I know there is an attached, free, parking structure. I wouldn't drive to the Art Institute because there isn't anywhere to park, so I'd end up paying $15 or $20 just to park the car somewhere. Also, when shopping, it's nice to just be able to load the groceries in the the trunk then unload them at home.
Cab
I've only taken a couple of cabs so far. They're usually easy to catch, they get you where you're going relatively quick, and you don't often have to wait long for one. On the downside, they can be expensive. It pains me to pay $12 for a ride that I know I could have gotten for $2 on the bus.
Walking
I have to admit that walking is my favorite option of them all. I get exercise, fresh air, and I get to explore the city more. Plus it's free. I've found a ton of great restaurants and stores that I want to visit while walking places too. So far I've been fortunate enough to really only have nice weather to walk in, if not a little bit hot. I may change my tune once I have to walk in the snow and rain.
Other Stuff (mostly for hippies or yuppies)
There are other ways to get around the city like biking (I don't really ride my bike) or Segway (seriously, I saw a guy riding a Segway to work one day) but I don't know much about them so I can't really tell you about the ins and outs or ups and downs. If I find out more, I'll post it. Also, if you have a Segway, let me ride it. I've always wanted to try one of those things.
Friday, August 8, 2008
An Introduction
My name is Doug and I'm a new guy in Chicago. For my whole life (save for a 6 year stint spent in East Lansing, MI while in school) I had lived in the metro Detroit area. Recently I finished my MBA at the University of Michigan and with that set out to find myself a new job.
The job that I found ended up being at a large company with an office in Naperville, IL. As my wife and I are not exactly part of the Naperville set, we decided to find a place in the city and I would make the daily commute.
My new job has me working in interactive marketing. I've never been a "digital marketing guy" so a lot of this is new to me. I recently attended ad:tech in Chicago and came to the realization that I was pretty disconnected from the whole social media scene. I'm not on MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter, I don't read blogs, and I certainly don't write one. I figured I'd better make a change and get involved and the best way that I could think to do that was to start this thing. So here it is.
I asked myself "self, what do you have to say that people would want to read?" The answer was easy - "nothing at all". So, instead I've decided to use this as a space to chronicle all of the things that I've learned and will no doubt continue to learn as I adjust to living in Chicago. My hope is that someday, somebody, somewhere, somehow might glean a little bit of useful information out of this to make their own transition a bit easier. Also, any pertinent Chicago-related information that people might have would be appreciated. Like I said, I'm new here.
So, with this post, I've entered a digital age that I've been fighting for some time now. I'm "that guy that blogs about stuff". Great.
The job that I found ended up being at a large company with an office in Naperville, IL. As my wife and I are not exactly part of the Naperville set, we decided to find a place in the city and I would make the daily commute.
My new job has me working in interactive marketing. I've never been a "digital marketing guy" so a lot of this is new to me. I recently attended ad:tech in Chicago and came to the realization that I was pretty disconnected from the whole social media scene. I'm not on MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter, I don't read blogs, and I certainly don't write one. I figured I'd better make a change and get involved and the best way that I could think to do that was to start this thing. So here it is.
I asked myself "self, what do you have to say that people would want to read?" The answer was easy - "nothing at all". So, instead I've decided to use this as a space to chronicle all of the things that I've learned and will no doubt continue to learn as I adjust to living in Chicago. My hope is that someday, somebody, somewhere, somehow might glean a little bit of useful information out of this to make their own transition a bit easier. Also, any pertinent Chicago-related information that people might have would be appreciated. Like I said, I'm new here.
So, with this post, I've entered a digital age that I've been fighting for some time now. I'm "that guy that blogs about stuff". Great.
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