Moving Day!

Just when I thought the city couldn't get any better . . .
Friday was moving day, and while there were a couple hiccups, I am so happy to be in the new place.  The apartment is huge (probably one of the biggest I've ever lived in), inexpensive, and I ADORE the neighborhood!  There's still quite a bit of work to do, as the apartment was left a little too dirty for my taste, but most everything is now unpacked and I can start enjoying my new home.  All I have left to do is hang pictures and unpack the bedroom.  Not bad for two days of work! 

On Friday, when Eric dropped me off to get the UHaul, I quickly discovered what moving in the city was REALLY like.  They had originally given me the truck for TWO HOURS (two hours? seriously?), and upon making it clear that there was no way in hell I could have it back in that amount of time, they extended the rental until 1:00PM with a $50 fee for each additional hour (how nice of them).  The only problem was I couldn't get the keys to the new place until noon and the movers were coming AT 1:00 to unload.  After a few phone calls and much begging and pleading, I got the keys and the movers rearranged to about 2 hours earlier than originally planned. 

Joy, Chris, Eric and I hustled all morning and had the truck loaded and ready to go in about an hour and a half (have I mentioned I love my new friends?).  And off I went, arriving at the new apartment at about 11:45. Upon my arrival, I found the maintenance men in the kitchen replacing tiling with the radiator and stove unhooked and in the next room.  They promised to come back in two hours and finish up so that I could get move in easier. The movers showed up quickly, and after a promise of $20 each if they could get the truck unloaded in an hour, they started hustling and I was headed back to UHaul by 1:15. 



Here's when I began to realize that in the city you definitely get what you pay for.  Below are just a few incidences that have happened over the past two days:

• The apartment was FILTHY, and it looks like it hadn't been painted in about five years - not even spackled to cover up the holes in the walls.  In two days I have gone through 1/2 a bottle of spic and span.
• They moved the stove out to finish the tiling with the promise of returning in two hours, however I got a call saying an hour later saying they weren't coming back until MONDAY.  What the what? 
• Apparently the dishwasher and microwave cannot be ran at the same time because the entire kitchen is on the same circuit, with the circuit breaker locked in the basement.  It took them TWO HOURS to switch the circuit breaker so that I could have power back in the kitchen.  
• The toilet flooded for absolutely no reason at about 3 AM Sunday morning.  I guess I had used all my flushes for the day.
• I am now the dungeon master, as I received EIGHT keys on Friday just to get in and out of the apartment and building.  Yup, you heard me, EIGHT keys.  

I have a feeling this is going to be a great place to live, but that I am totally on my own in terms of minor repairs.  After unpacking, I will definitely be taking pictures to document the damage that is already done to the apartment so that I don't get fined for it. 

However, all that being said, I LOVE this neighborhood and cannot wait to discover more little hidden gems as I explore further.  I can see myself staying here for a very long time. 

Lincoln Towing

I know it's been a while, but I think this one is definitely worth mentioning.  
 
My car was towed from my paid parking spot on Friday night.  I went to bed at 2AM and when I went out to the car at 8AM, IT WAS GONE.  MY. CAR. WAS. GONE.  Naturally, I freaked out.  For a brief moment, I thought it was stolen, but then Eric suggested it had been towed.  Of course, I called the company and the guy swore there was no sticker - even put me on hold to go check (or take out?) the sticker.  Still swore there was no sticker.  

When I arrived to pick it up (and protest), they would not even allow me to look at the car without paying $200.  FINALLY, Eric and I got the car back and they had stolen my sticker out of my car.  Yup. No sticker in my car ANYWHERE. Slim jim markings on my door and everything.  Lincoln Towing is the devil.
 
When I went up to try and get my $200 back on Tuesday afternoon, there were about 4 cops sitting outside Lincoln Towing.  I went up and asked them about the slim jim markings, and the women officer immediately asked if I was there for the towing company.  Without even telling her what my theory was, she immediately said that they had stolen my sticker and that I would not be getting my money back.  

Apparently, Lincoln Towing has an F- with the better business bureau and has so many violations, police reports and complaints filed against them that no one can believe they're still in business.  One of the cops even said HE had been towed by them and refused to park in any lot that has a Lincoln Towing song.  

It's so bad that there was even a song written about them.  (Lincoln Park Pirates by Steve Goodman).  I'm pretty sure that they are mobbed up and they're paying off the people of importance that will keep they're business open (including my rental company - who refused to do anything to help me).    

Freebies in Andersonville

I'll be honest, I've always known that I'm pretty good at getting things that I want, especially when it comes to retail or food service.  However, last night took the cake.  I was at my finest. 

Eric's parents came into town last night for his step-brother's birthday.  Dan and Chelsea live up in Andersonville, so they made reservations at Anteprima on Clark St.  Eric and I got there a little early and went next door to Acre for a drink.  Once Kathy, Bob, Chelsea and Dan arrived I talked the host into getting us a table (there were none left that sat 6), and we sat down for drinks.  And sat. And sat.  Anteprima was supposed to come get us as soon as our table was ready (they're owned by the same people), but at about 8:35, five minutes after our reservation, she came in and said that the people at our table just ordered dessert and they weren't sure how long it was going to be.  So we started scrambling, as by now we were all hungry.  Bob and Kathy have some dietary restrictions, and it was 9:00 on a Friday - neither of which left us with many options. 

We decided to go over to the restaurant and stand in the waiting area in hopes that it would spur on a little movement from the host or the people at our table.  I went inside to talk to the host, and the manager happened to be standing right there. I think I've figured out the key is to start a little bitchy, but then start kissing ass as quickly as possible.  So that's what I did.  I asked him about our table and told him that we were already 20 minutes past our reservations, and that we had shown up at 7:30 and been waiting for the past hour.  Then I turned on the charm and told them how our parents were in from out of town and had been driving all day, and were starving.  I said no matter how much we desperately wanted to stay and eat there, we were going to have to cancel our reservations.  The manager told me to wait, that if we had to cancel he at least wanted to give us a gift certificate.  He left for a moment and came back with a hand-written $100 gift certificate.  That deserved a hug. 

I walked out and handed it to Danny with a "Here's the best birthday present ever."  It was pretty amazing, I have to admit. 

A little scary . . .

So, living in Chicago brings both the good and the bad.  I was on my way home from work today, driving down Kedzie, and noticed a group of high schoolers all dressed in white walking quickly down an abandoned part of the road toward another group of kids dressed in red.  My initial thought was,  "Boy that's a little strange and rather disturbing."  Not 15 seconds later, as I was driving down the road, I heard three gunshots and saw a dozen or more people scatter like jack rabbits.  As I drove, I saw people come out of their businesses looking in the direction of the shots, and then a cop car screamed by.  There was no denying it.  I just drove by a gang shooting.  About a minute later five more cop cars pulled out from the local high school with their lights flashing, where a group of women stood anxiously awaiting some news.  Then an ambulance, fire truck and another ambulance.  My heart was racing and I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that this is just over a mile from my school.

The not so good part of living in Chicago.

Chicago Tribune article

The beach and Frances'

This picture is definitely not from my wanderings this morning, but I just downloaded some pictures from my camera and thought this came out really well.  I went for a long walk up to North Avenue Beach a couple weeks ago and took this from a pier that goes quite a ways into the water.

This morning I went to breakfast at Frances' with Joy.  They honestly had some of the most heavenly french toast I have had in quite a while.  We walked in and were a little shocked by how loud it was - it seemed as if all the noise was just reverberating off the season.  But once you get used to it, you can really enjoy the atmosphere.  It's a great little deli that has been in Lincoln Park for almost 80 years that has outside seating and a room where the front window completely opens up.  It was so beautiful this morning (about time!) that everything was opened up and the breeze was absolutely lovely.  Joy had a great fried egg sandwich with spinach, avocado and loads of other goodness.  The Bloody Mary was the perfect amount of spiciness with plenty of goodies and the coffee kept coming.  It was reasonably priced, and I will definitely be going back to this place SOON.

Least favorite things . . .

One of my least favorite things about moving, especially to a big city, is finding new "things."  New mechanics.  New doctors.  New dentists. New vets.  New everything.  I am still in that phase where everything is being replaced, and as I have been so busy over the school year, it is all piling up this summer.  Something is wrong with my left tire, and I have to find a mechanic to fix it.  First of all, I HATE HATE HATE dealing with car stuff.  Secondly, EVERYTHING is so expensive in the city, and thirdly I don't trust the majority of mechanics.  I have to do this as soon as possible, as I really would prefer my tire not fall off while driving down Lake Shore Drive.

On a positive note, most of my "news" have been taken care of in the past two weeks, and this is probably one of the last ones.  Here's hoping things go smoothly.

Birthday Extravaganza!

Saturday was Eric's 35th birthday.  We have both slacked off over the past few years in terms of holidays and birthdays, so I decided to crank the dial up a little.  This weekend was also our friend Cate's birthday, so her husband Russ and I took matters into our own hands and planned a birthday extravaganza for the two of them.

The morning started out fairly normal, until Cate and Russ arrived at about 2pm.  We had decided to go to the aquarium, dinner, concert in the park and wrap the whole night up with "The Dark Knight Rises."  Once they got here, we headed out to the station on Fullerton and decided to take the Brown Line downtown because it's such a pretty view.  I had never been on the brown line past Chicago Ave, and they weren't kidding!  What an incredible view of the city.  No more pee-smelling-dark-and-dingy red line for me; I have been revolutionized.  Once we arrived downtown, we hiked over the Shedd Aquarium, cutting through Grant Park and waiting in line for at least 30 minutes before we could even go inside.  For one of Eric's birthday presents I bought him a member pass, and right then and there he started giggling, he was so excited.  They had extended the Jellies exhibit, and the first time we went through there were so many people that I kept stepping on toes and knocking over children.  We went downstairs and looked at the otters, dolphins (a new baby this year!!) and Beluga wales, then went back up to where the Jellies had thinned out considerably.  It was amazing to see these curious creatures.   

We spent a few hours there and as they closed, we realized that not only were we hungry, but our feet were KILLING us, so we decided to go find some dinner.  Somehow, not one of us realized how hard it was to find a place to eat at 6:30 on a Saturday night in the South Loop.  We found a small diner on Plymouth near the library and gorged ourselves, forgetting that our backpacks were filled with food for the concert. 

About 7:50 we made it over to the Grant Park Music Festival where Danny (Eric's step-brother) was waiting.  It was just lovely to sit on the grass, talk, enjoy some food and listen to live music.  Going to the concerts has quickly become one of my favorite things to do in the city.  It is always stunning to me how many people show up.  What an incredible time.

After the show, we caught a cab to the Icon Theater at Roosevelt and Clark to see the "Dark Knight Rises."  It's a relatively nice theater with a lounge and bar/restaurant area upstairs that has an AMAZING view of the city.  Our show started at 10:45, so we had a drink upstairs and then found our reserved seats.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous throughout the entire movie given the fact that the shooting in Colorado had happened just days beforehand.  I did notice, however, that there was a security guard sitting in the theater with a gun and handcuffs through the entire show.  Probably not necessary, but it definitely put my mind at ease.

By the time we all got back to my place, we were so exhausted we just collapsed on the couch.  I had not anticipated that much walking or how muggy it was going to be.  After a quick, cool shower I climbed into bed and passed out until 11:00 the next morning.  A true abnormality for me.  As I say almost every day, I LOVE living in this city.