We Have Survived

After getting out of work yesterday at 3, I began the adventure to get home. Waited on Columbus for a bit…no 134s…waited on Michigan for a bit…no 151s or 143s. So Lindsay and I made our way to the train, where we smashed in and fought not only for space on the pole to hang on to, but also just space to allow our lungs to breathe. When we finally arrived at Diversey (nearly 30 minutes later), we fell out of the train, on to the platform and looked that blizzard right in the eye as we walked down Diversey to home.

 

Had I hopped on a bus after work, would have had to abandon it on Lake Shore Drive

 

 

Seeing as it was a snow day, we decided to grab Maggie and head to the neighborhood watering hole as we anticipated being locked up for a while. Mags had grilled cheese awaiting us as we pulled our coats, boots, gloves, hats, scarves and socks off. Had we been 10 years younger, we would have been coming home from a sledding day instead of a work day.

 

We just walked through that tundra.

 

 

The storm wasn’t that bad when we walked into Duffy’s. But upon leaving, we walked into something none of us had ever imagined. You couldn’t see anything in front of you and the wind was just throwing us around as we climbed through snow banks to get home.

I should mention the distance from Duffy’s to our apartment building is literally 30 feet. Yet it took 20 minutes and some strategizing as we climbed/crawled across Sheridan.

We got a snow day today from work (woo!), yet this storm hadn’t appeared to lose any of its luster until about 10 minutes ago. I mean, the winds opened our windows twice last night. And our windows have those old school handles that you have to turn to “unlock”, then pull the window down.

Chicago, I love you, but man did you test that love.

 

An abandon bus this morning on Lake Shore

Navy Pier this morning. See that ferris wheel? Exactly.

 

 

Plug in and Chug along

Found this in NYT last week, but just haven’t had time to write about it. I love bike riding, I love crowds of people enjoying themselves and I like music. So why not combine all three?

Reason #38743843 why I want to be in NYC this summer (the other has everything to do with the community pianos everywhere in the city called “Play Me, I’m Yours“): Joyride.

The concept is simple. The group picks songs, everyone loads up their iPods with the playlist and when they all start the ride, they all hit play. Everyone rides along at their own speeds. But the cool part is, what you’re hearing is what the person next to you is hearing. So you can rock out, and compare bike moves with your neighbors.

While I have yet to fully take the leap into the biking world of Chicago (I only ride on LSD), I think something like this would make me more apt to ride around town (should the roads be blocked of course). Biking can be a chore and something very stressful in a city full of buses, cars and people. This is a way to bring back the ease of bike riding days.

My favorite scene in Now & Then is the one where Thora Birch cues up her radio on her bike and they cruise down the road singing Knock Three Times. That and I would like to think it’s very easy to turn your everyday life into a musical sequence. Watch it and just try to tell me you don’t feel the same way.