This lady took up an entire seat on a crowded train, for food for her and her friends. What the heck?!
I saw this chair during one of the NeoCon classes I attended on Monday. What the heck?!
Dato Potato was meowing outside at a turtle on Sunday, but when I took him outside to see him, he got all scared. What the heck?!*
My sunburn is barely visible anymore but it still hurts big time. What the heck?!
This “June” weather. Seriously. What the heck?!
Have you said, “what the heck?!” about anything lately?
*Grow a pair Data! LOL, just kidding, mean joke.
Life
| 
Butt, Cat, Chair, Data, Dato Potato, food, Naked, NeoCon, scaredy cat, sunburn, train, transportation, turtle
My neighbor and I are running a 5K together this Saturday at a forest preserve in Libertyville, a town about 12 miles from where we live. He wanted to run the course before the race, so we plan to run it tonight after we pick up our race registration packets.
All of those stupid details don’t matter. The point is, I woke up at 4:20 and left the house by 5:00 so I could drive to the Libertyville train station instead of my normal train station. Theoretically, I could hop off the train in the evening, pick up my packet and drive right to the forest preserve.
Only, I get to the Libertyville train station this morning and all of the parking spots in the main lot are permit only before 8:30 am with a $500 fine for offenders (WTF?!). I remembered there was another lot so I drove to it and saw that all of the pay slots for parking were boarded up, and a sign was put up telling commuters to drive to ANOTHER TRAIN STATION.
Are you fricking kidding me?! I actually called the police station to ask if there was anywhere I could park and they told me to go to the other train station, which would be back-tracking from where I came, and make me miss the train.
I was so pissed. I didn’t want to park at that other train station and miss my train AND have to back-track YET AGAIN in the evening to get back to Libertyville. I could have asked my neighbor to drive me there after our run, but I left my alternate running outfit (I took the one I plan to wear with me) and some running gear in my car and I wanted it with me and I DIDN’T want to carry it to work.
I just started driving, and called Steven, to bitch a little bit about it (what a great way to wake up, right?!), and asked him if he remembered how to get to the next train station, in Lake Forest. He was nice enough to get out of bed and look up the location for me on the computer. I got off the phone with him and sped my way there. Let me just say, I love my husband and I love my new car. I wouldn’t have made the train without his guidance and that V6. Lake Forest had permit parking AND regular parking (it was $3.00 though – I pay $1.50 at my station).
This really shouldn’t make me so angry, BUT IT DOES. I got up extra freaking early to save myself time in the evening, and all I got was STRESS. Now I have to deal with traffic tonight as I try to get back there.
And how was I supposed to know there was no non-resident parking? It doesn’t say it anywhere on their website! I guess I learned my lesson – do MORE than plan ahead. I thought I was pretty smart getting up early to drive to this station, but I guess what I REALLY need to do is start planning things like this a week in advance so I can call the parking contact and figure out where the HELL I am supposed to park.
Yay, happy day.
Rants
| commute, driving, fitness, Health, husband, Illinois, Infiniti FX35, Libertyville, Metra, parking, planning, public transportation, race, run, train, V6, Work + Design
Hey ladies (or men, what the hell!), where do YOU like to paint your nails?
- At home
- At the salon
- On the train
- Other
To the ghetto fabulous woman on the train painting her nails this morning – what the fuck hell is wrong with you? I don’t want to smell nail polish at 6:30 am in the morning! Paint your goddamn frickin’ nails at home! Sure, it may be convenient to paint them on the train, but it’s also very convenient for me to get out of my seat and punch you in the face. Take your pick.
And this is me in a GOOD mood.
I guess I should just be happy it was her fingernails and not her toenails. And that she was sitting on the complete opposite side of the train. I feel worse for the people closer to her. Smells like that bother me (I get migraines). Would it bother you?
- I’m awake on the train ride to work and read the paper
- No one gets in my way on the walk to work
- I ride the elevator alone on the way up to my floor
- There’s no wait at the microwave to make my oatmeal
- No emails/phone messages at my desk
- My pants and shirt are hole-free (unlike yesterday…)
Hmm, makes me seem a bit anti-social, but that’s how like I like to start my day.
What’s your perfect start to the day?
I have a lot on my mind lately. There are some other things I want to post about, but I am going to split the topics up into two scheduled posts later today. I hate to bombard your reader, but I don’t want my topics to get lost in a “bullet list of topics” post.
My wish didn’t come true.
My Metra wish, that is.
All I could think about at the end of the day was getting home. I had a wonderful Christmas, but I am exhausted. I feel dead tired – more tired than I’ve felt in a long time. This month is just wearing me out, and our travels aren’t over yet – we’re flying to Kansas City on Thursday. It’s fun to spend this time of year with family (or any time), but the back to back traveling just kills me.
The holidays just aren’t the same as they used to be.
Anyway. The train I was taking out of Chicago tonight went about 500 feet then stopped for an hour. We saw cop cars pull up and a stretcher go by. No announcements were ever made. People on the train started to complain to one another. One man said “We’re like hostages on this train!”
Why tonight, on a night when I just want to get home? I tried to relax and make the most of my time sitting there… but really, I’m stuck on a train. There’s not much “making the most of my time.”
Bleh. When will I feel energized again?
Soon, please, soon!
(Even though this is written in the past tense, I am still on this gd train as I post this!)
If you could receive one non-tangible item for the holidays, what would you choose?
I would like my train to be on time, every night.
No more “mechanical problems,” “signal problems,” “accidents not related to this train” (yeah, that was an excuse for one of the delays on Tuesday), no more leaving the station late, no more sitting on the train not moving, with no explanation…
Yeah, I know that is too much to ask for. I think my train is on time in the evenings 20% or less of the time when I take it. I think if it is ALWAYS going to be late, they should just adjust the schedule to accommodate the later time. Then I wouldn’t get as upset, because I would expect it to arrive at that later time.
This may seem like a dumb answer to this question, but it takes me a long time to calm down from the anger the late train causes. Steven can attest to that! It’s silly to let something like that upset me, but it does. I have limited time in my evenings, and I want to make the most of them. So, I would love to get rid of that anger, and anxiety, of wondering when I will EVER get home.
I love riding the train, I really do. But I hate feeling like my evening is out of my control when I get stuck on it. (I hate feeling like anything is out of my control…)
Ask…
… and you shall receive!
My parents arrived bearing gifts last night. Yes, I know I am spoiled!
I am so completely exhausted right now. I don’t think my body has felt this physically exhausted in a long, long time.
My sister, mother, grandma and I got up early and took the train to Chicago My grandma had never been to downtown Chicago! We mostly shopped, but I also had a chance to meet up with my friend Clare, WHO I HAVE NOT SEEN SINCE SHE WAS A BRIDESMAID IN MY WEDDING OVER A YEAR AGO! (Yeah, I was a bit excited!)
Kim, Clare and Katie (a college roommate of hers)
It’s really crazy that you can feel so close to someone, after not seeing them for an entire year. I meet Clare the last semester of college, and I always wish we had gotten to know each other sooner. We immediately clicked. That doesn’t happen often. I wish we could have visited longer today, but she was in town for a conference and had to leave.
We had a lot of fun in Chicago, going to the shops on State Street and Michigan Avenue. We took the train home very late. I am so happy Steven had dinner started when we got home. We cooked, ate, did dishes… and started in with the treats! I made all of my sugar cookie dough so it could cool in the fridge overnight, and my mom started in on the caramel popcorn!
Yummy… cookie dough! I resisted!
It’s just as good as it looks!
Even though it was a somewhat stressful day – not because I am unhappy, but because a lot is going on – I still managed to be in control of my eating. Yes, I ate more than I do on a daily basis, but I didn’t stuff my face. I suppose I just hope to make it through this weekend and next week without gaining weight. It’s going to be hard though. I cannot do my normal exercise for a few days this week, and I get pretty stressed about food around Thanksgiving. But, like I’ve said before, I am just going to keep going and trying.
Health + Fitness, Life
| baking, Bloody nose, chicago, Cookies, Eating, family, Health + Fitness, humidifier, Metra, train, treats
How would you feel if you got to the train station parking lot, after a long day at work, and an annoying commute, to find someone had broken the driver’s window of your car, and possibly stolen items from inside?
I can’t imagine.
Someone broke into a Jeep Cherokee parked two spots away from me at the train today. I saw the glass all over the ground, then noticed the window was gone. I didn’t see anyone go to the car. I can’t even imagine walking to your car, tired and worn out, ready to go home for dinner… and finding a broken window. What a way to ruin someone’s day. Or week.
Last year, someone keyed the rear driver’s door on my car. It still makes me angry. People not respecting other people’s property is a big problem for me. Especially when it comes to cars. And nothing was even stolen from me.
What is wrong with people?
If you could experience someone else’s job for one day, what type of job would you choose?
I often wonder what is it like to be other people – what their day-to-day schedule is like. Maybe their job, which seems so fun to me, really isn’t.
Anyway. I am really curious about transportation. What is it like to fly a plane all day? Or drive a train all day? Is it fun, is it boring? Is this post really boring? Am I losing my mind?
It seems like Steven and I get a lot of inquires about our commutes from our family and friends who don’t live in the Chicago suburbs.
With him, the question is “how many miles do you drive to work each day?” and “how long does that take you?” and “why do you live so far away from your office?”
With me, it’s “how long does the train ride take?” and “why do you live so far away from your office?”
We find ourselves answering these questions, but slipping our common justifiers in with our answers. Mine are “At least 100 other people get on the train stop with me in the morning to go all the way to the city!” (i.e. I am not the only crazy one), and “it would take me three hours to drive to the city!” and “I think I am only going to commute like this while I am young!”
His justifiers (which I usually provide to him) are, “when I bought my house I worked at an office that wasn’t so far away,” and “we could buy a house closer to the city, but it would be 1/10th of the size of ours now, and be in poor quality.”
I think it is funny that I feel like I have to justify commuting on the train to Chicago. When people ask me about it they are just curious, not mean or spiteful, but when I am talking about it, I realize how ridiculous it sounds, so I try to rationalize it.
The truth is, A LOT of people commute from the suburbs to Chicago. We live in the suburbs so we can have yards, and garages, and decent houses. But just because a lot of people do it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck, and I don’t get to work each day thinking, “why the hell do I live so far away?” Because I do.
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