Category Archives: Work

Top Five Friday: Top 5 Rules for Surving the CTA Bus System

Posted on November 2, 2012 | 1 Comment

Ah, the CTA. Such a wonderful thing for those of us who require transportation around downtown Chicago, yet who aren’t willing to suffer a heart attack due to stress in exchange for commuting by car.

The majority of my commute is spent getting to the Metra train station, parking the car, paying for my spot, waiting (while shivering) for the Metra, then actually on the train itself. But it’s those damn CTA busses that are the tricky part.

After working four whole weeks in the city, I’ve learned there are CTA rules, and there are CTA rules. Behold the top five rules to surviving the busses in downtown Chicago!

5. It all starts the moment you leave your house.

Leaving on time doesn’t only influence catching the Metra.

You have to get yourself to the station, parked, paid for, and immediately start walking to where the head cars will soon be stopped. Don’t do this? You miss out on a seat up front. And then? You have to walk through more people and a greater distance to get out of Ogilvie. So? Well, as soon as you cross the street to get to the corner of Canal and Madison, you make it just in time to wave goodbye to the back of your bus.

Like what happened to me on Monday.

…and Tuesday.

4. Be willing to get lost.

Because when it’s cold, raining, and windy, waiting another 17 minutes for the 157 isn’t an option.

That’s when it’s time to put on your big girl pants, go outside your comfort zone, grab your smart phone, and try a new adventurous route to work.

3. Google is a helpful tool.

Google Maps, to be specific.

Thirty-five seconds after waiving goodbye to the 157, you can pull up the nearest alternate bus routes, directions to the nearest stops, and time frames on everything!

2. Google sucks, get a bus tracker app. Or three.

Google, actually, is great.

For routes, planning, and directions.

…but for timing? Not so much.

Using Google in conjunction with bus tracker apps, you can find out the most accurate route, and the most accurate time. But I’d download a couple tracker apps. Every so often, one doesn’t update correctly, causing you to miss your bus.

Like what happened to me on Wednesday.

1. Hold on!

No really, hold on. At all times.

But at least for sure when you’re paying, walking, standing, moving, and sitting.

Those corners come fast, some people walking on the streets think it’s ok to dart out in front of large busses, and cars are constantly racing to cut in front.

You guys, I may look like a scared tourist, one hand with a death grip on the nearest handle, the other tracking our route on google maps so I don’t miss my stop….but I haven’t fallen once.

Yet.

There’s always next Monday….

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Chicago, Top 5 Friday, Work

It’s My Kind of Town

Posted on September 24, 2012 | 14 Comments

I moved up to Madison, WI area in October of 2002 as a bright-eyed, naive, recent college graduate from the University of Missouri.

I was a resident of a new city, hopelessly in love with a guy I had met on a plane. A guy who was also from the Chicago area, but who lived in Wisconsin for the time being. And so, I relocated with the intent of moving back to Illinois with him one day.

And then proceeded to act like a doormat for a few years and that relationship ended.

Ah, the lessons we learn in our 20′s.

But I stayed. I had, after all, purchased a condo in Sun Prairie, had established a network of friends, and had started exploring career options.

The thing is, whenever I traveled and people asked where I was from, my answer was always “I’m from Chicago. But, I live just outside of Madison, WI at the moment.” Seems I never really had mentally committed to leaving Chicago.

So after going back and forth in my mind, over analyzing, and bracing myself to handle change, I put my condo up for sale, applied to jobs, and prayed.

And in October of 2012, exactly one decade later, I will be moving back.

It’s just my kind of town.

→ 14 Comments

Posted in Chicago, Family, Traveling, Work

Tagged ,

“One Bar at a Time”

Posted on June 28, 2012 | 2 Comments

As a kid, I played the clarinet. Rumor has it I was a halfway decent band nerd, and heeding the advice of my band teacher, my parents signed me up to try out for a youth symphony orchestra. I made it in! And then I showed up and wanted to cry.

The music was ridiculously hard, the other kids were talented, and I was quickly lost and overwhelmed. The next evening, suffering through my required 30 minutes of daily practice, I nearly threw a temper tantrum. Luckily, I was rescued by my dad with advice I still turn to as recently as yesterday.

He took a look at the sheet music and asked me what the problem was. I held back tears of frustration and told him I just couldn’t do it. It was too complicated. I was in way over my head, I was embarrassed, and I wanted to quit.

“Just take it one bar at a time.”

How the heck was that supposed to help?

“Each bar only has a few notes. Learn it, then move on to the next. You already know how to play the notes. Get through the entire song, one bar at a time. That’s all you have to do”

He then grabbed paper and tape and covered up the rest of the sheet music so I only saw one bar and nothing else. Without an overwhelming and complex situation in front of me, I had a simple task to get through. I calmed down, learned the song, went back to the youth orchestra group the next week, and became an even better clarinet player because of it.

As adults, we still get in over our heads. Sheet music is replaced by a daily calendar. Work demands, social obligations, and family priorities take over as we over-schedule, overwhelm, and frustrate ourselves. Only as adults, were technically not supposed to throw temper tantrums and no one comes in to rescue us. So instead, I take a deep breath, and tell myself to take it “one bar at a time.” I break up my day by hours, or by appointments, or workouts, or whatever else is filling my schedule. I concentrate on segments of my day, instead of the entire 24 hour period at once, and it helps.

And hey, if that doesn’t work there is another option. As adults, we always have the option of taking it one bar at a time “grown-up style.”

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Family, Friendship, Marathons, MISC, Running, Work

It’s a lot harder to keep an A, than it is to earn an A.

Posted on May 23, 2012 | 4 Comments

Sophomore year of high school, day one, third period English. A classroom full of 15 year olds, a new teacher, great news.

“You are all starting out with an A.”

Wait….really?

Yes, really. We could go home and tell our parents we already had a grade in a class and it was the best there is. In English. Third period. Sophomore year. But what the teacher said next stuck with me forever.

“I am going to warn you. It’s a lot harder to keep an A, than it is to earn an A.”

Wait…what?

You have to do the same amount of work, right? Studying, reading, writing, test taking. How could this teacher think this was harder? But as I sit here, 31 years of age and far past the sophomoric stage of my life, I often think about that statement.

Because, yes. Really. It’s when you don’t have an A, that you do everything in your power to get it.

When you’re the underdog in a sales market, you strive to be the leader. You think of creative, new ways to approach clients and earn their business. Or how about when you move to a city by yourself? You want to establish a social network, so you focus on connecting with people and being a great friend in order to earn friendship. When you sign up to run your first marathon, you train hard in order to cross the finish line.

You earn your A.

But what happens when we are already at the top? What happens when we lead our sales market? When we have a great circle of friends? When we are approaching our 13th marathon?

We stop trying to earn our A. And things slip.

Our competitors, now the underdog, are the ones driven to outsell us. Our already established friends may not get as much of our time. We may not train as hard, try as hard. And the list goes on.

When you get to the top, when things are good, when you’ve finally made it to where you want to be, remember third period English.

And always keep trying to earn your A. 

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Family, Friendship, Marathons, Running, Weight Loss, Work

Tagged , ,