WindyCon, and Chicago Driving

[filkertom]

All in all, a good con. Financially, not so hot, and some rough times with travel and the hotel (and two fire alarms that some lackwits thought would add to the entertainment, and may the get the dry rot in their Fruit of the Looms); but janmagic was wonderful above and beyond the call and catalana was a great roomie as usual and Nate and Louie Bucklin were excellent and Erin Gray is still gorgeous and Bill Holbrook is very nice and I didn't have enough time with billroper and daisy_knotwise but I did get awhile with Mark Osier and I got a little time with both Pam and Pat Sayre (I used to be really sweet on Pam; she was part of the game that "Divine Irregularity" came out of, and she's been married to a lucky guy for about nine years now) and ericcoleman and lukeski and tigertoy and jrittenhouse and Eloise and Duryea and Lee and Terry and Kit and Sally and and and and and. Next year, I'm Toastmaster, and it should be excellently fun.

But.... I truly despise Chicago traffic. And I admit that I have a big problem with Chicago residents looking at me incredulously and saying, "You took the Skyway!? Yes, I took the frickin' Skyway. It's, how shall I put this, the main artery through town that all the maps say is the most direct route to the airport. I don't want to hear about how I should take 94 to 80 and then go north, completely circumventing town. Any detour that involves different freakin' counties is, in fact, a side quest, and unimportant to the main adventure. Which means that Chicago is basically allowing itself to be unfriendly to out-of-town drivers, accepting that with a shrug, and blaming out-of-town drivers for not knowing better.

Now, it might just be a rush-hour Friday thing. It might be a northbound thing. The over-two-hours trip Friday afternoon took thirty-five minutes the other way Sunday. I noticed that, for most of the way (until we hit a construction bottleneck), the northbound traffic was considerably heavier.

But still. I still have no idea what was causing traffic to go so slowly, other than, "Well, it's Friday, I guess traffic goes slowly, so I won't drive very fast". Five lanes wide open, and nobody moving. Aiee.

Anyway. Onward to the rest of the week. Editing, going to see Serenity at last and most likely Doom, getting ready for Goblet of Fire on Friday and a house concert (again, driving through ratsa fratzin Chitown) Saturday. How's your week lookin'?

Comments

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

I am SO looking forward to GoF. Made a Beauxbatons hat from felt and a hatform, spending tonight sewing the actual uniform. It's turning out quite nice.

Serenity's still open somewhere near you? Lucky. I'd love to be able to see it again on a big screen. Oh well. I'll just have to lean in real close to the computer screen when it comes out on DVD right before Hannukah.

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

I still have no idea what was causing traffic to go so slowly

Two words:

Chicago. Drivers.

Not the best in the world by a long shot. I moved to Chicago (from New Mexico - talk about culture shock...) in '89. I moved to Aurora (IL) last December. My blood pressure has dropped noticeably in the last 11 months...

I'll see you (and meet you) at the house concert on Saturday. tarsa is definitely looking forward to seeing you as well.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

Chicago. Drivers.

Do you call them FIBs? :)

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

Among other things...

[holzman.livejournal.com]

"Chicago is basically allowing itself to be unfriendly to out-of-town drivers, accepting that with a shrug, and blaming out-of-town drivers for not knowing better."

[Sean Connery]That's the Chicago Way![/Sean Connery]

[jss]

If you're heading to the airport, it's worth not staying on I-94 and instead taking I-294 (Tri-State Tollway). It'll cost more than the Skyway toll, but I-94 W from Ann Arbor to I-294 N to the River Rd exit taxes you right to O'Hare.

Traffic is always a parking lot at the spot where I-80, I-90, I-94, and I-294 all hit each other at the IN/IL border, worse entering IL than leaving.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Toll prices don't matter. I just don't want to go too far afield, and literally every mapping service said "go this way". I actually ended up getting off the Skyway at State Street and found myself at Chinatown, which was way cool. And I got back on to the freeway and was trying to maintain a good mood. But after it had taken yet another forty-five minutes to go two miles, I was way past fed up. I'm gonna make it a point to learn my way around Chicago just so I can avoid the freeway, and doesn't anyone else see how wrong that is?

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

Tom, you're old enough to know NOT to trust MapQuest or ANY of it's competitors!
Get a good map, pick your friends' brains, and use an orange hilighter on the route they recommend, if you MUST drive in Chicago.

[jss]

If you mean "doesn't anyone else who is able to do anything about it see how wrong that is," then no. The people who see it can't affect change; the people who can affect change refuse to do anything about it because short term pain increase for everyone isn't worth it to them to fix it in the long term.

getting arrround chicago

[janmagic.livejournal.com]

i feel your pain.
one day betsey jason and jan were driving west. after getting gas at indiana exit 15B we noticed a lot of cars heading east at a snails pace.
we got a street map and wove through the side streets of indiana untill we could connect with 294.
it was a good decision.

chicago traffic is so bad because by the time we need more road, it takes 10years to build, and then it runs at capasity. repeat , repeat.

the 94 that runs through the city has to handle ALL the city traffic. 294 tristate, is intended for those traveling through. yes the toll booths are a pain, which is why we all have ipass. even milwaukee folks have ipass.


on your way to waukegan try taking 294. it will usually speed up once you out of indiana. it will meet up with 94 further north and the housefilk is only a couple of miles off of 294/94

[kender42.livejournal.com]

Going to see Serenity? Woo! Did you finish Firefly yet? :)

Yes, Goblet of Fire. I am torn between IMAXness and not. Or Both. Argh!

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Hey, if you can find the IMax tickets, go for it. I did in fact finish Firefly on the OryCon trip, and Anne has informed me that her cell phone will be on so that I can call her right away as soon as I'm out of the theater. Let the twitching and squeeing commence....

[kender42.livejournal.com]

*SQUEE!* :)

Out of Gas was still my favorite episode. :) I hope you enjoy the movie. I saw it in May and STILL refuse to give spoilers, but I will say be prepared for a GOOD movie. Not a fluff piece of crap like some people who shall remain rich and nameless write :)

[kightp.livejournal.com]

My week is looking wonderful, if somewhat up in the air.

I'm all but finished with the set for Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, just need to add a few bits of fake ship's rigging. Two whole weeks before the show opens, which is practically unheard-of at our theater, woohoo! Yay for competent builders who plan ahead of the day we hit the stage.

My darlin' johnpalmer is back from a mercy mission to the wilds of Idaho and planning to take advantage of his current unemployed status (this is not a bad thing, he hated his job) to come down sometime mid-week. Among other things, we need to sit down and plan our menu for Thanksgiving, which I'm spending at his place this year, yay.

And, um, knitting. Lots and lots of knitting.

[sylverwolfe.livejournal.com]

set constructio all but completed two weeks before the start of the run? that's all but unheard-of in any theatrical experience i've had. where's your theatre and do they need a multifunction techie? *hopeful eyes* i'd love to work where such miracles are possible...

[kightp.livejournal.com]

*smile* We're here. But we're all-volunteer. Which makes it even more of a miracle when everything gets done ahead of time.

We do 10 shows a season, so no show gets more than three weeks on stage before opening, and we've learned to get a set up *fast*. Still, this one is unusual, in part because my head of construction is retired and had lots of time during the day to pre-build some of the critical elements. It was just a matter of piecing them together and locking them down the day we took the stage, and everything else has been decoration.

[ericcoleman]

There are two reasons to come to Chicago this weekend. Your house concert and Keaton's The Cameraman on a big screen out in the burbs somewhere sunday.

The wife and I are trying to work out the cash for me to do this, but it dosn't look likely, so probably into the studio with me on saturday to work on the 2nd round of scratch tracks for the next CD.

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

The usual job stuff.

And we need to talk about . . . that THING. O_O

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Dunh-duhn-DUHNNNNN....

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

My week is looking crafty.

Being here in WV and away from my normal social circle is giving me large amounts of time for crafting projects that have been sorely neglected. I'm crocheting myself a cardigan, I've translated a 16th-century Italian dance text and a script for another 16th Century Italian Commedia dell'Arte scenario, and finished embroidering a baby sampler.

Hopefully this week I'll get some work done for the big Italian dance manual I've got online, and I may set aside the cardigan to crochet a shawl for a friend who needs a long-distance hug. And this weekend is a local SCA event.

Also, I've been filling large amounts of spare time writing letters and posting unnaturally long comments in my friends' journals, for lack of anything else to do. :)

[sylverwolfe.livejournal.com]

gonna be popping tylenol like candy, 'cause i stupidly agreed to take on more responsibility at work, which involves doing my best to shelve about 150 boxes of bargain books that we have no room for by wednesday, while continuing to shelve magazines. but it gets me more hours, and by january may lead to me getting health insurance at long last (which will make me a happier diabetic). and they offered it to me because they know i'm a self-starter and they trust me to do my best rather than whine about it being hard (like the guy they kicked off the project). so i think i'm willing to work through the pain. i just ask, if i DO wind up doing this full time, for *gentle* hugs at marcon. 'cause i'm gonna be hurtin.
congrats on being next year's toastmaster. you're gonna love serenity. as for chicago, i was there overnight when shopping for colleges, and while it's lovely, the minimal driving my aunt and i did was atrocious, so you have my complete sympathy on that count. lots of hugs.

[cleverthylacine]

I have a new (well, to me) ThinkPad, which always makes me happy. I love ThinkPads.

[lukeski.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tom. I use the skyway most of the time as my passage to Indiana and Michigan, and it's all the throw of the dice whether you're going to get screwed or not. Rush hour traffic sucks twice a day every weekday, and precidting when the weekends will have inexplicably timed rushes is impossible. But, on the rare occasions when I am driving through the Skyway and downtown Chicago during the middile of the night when there is no traffic, it's fast and has some cool views. Plus, the Skyway has that McDonalds which is great when you need to pee intensely and want an Arctic Orange shake (for a limited time only). You did a great show on Saturday, good luck on finishing 24HCD2, I'm gonna get to drawin' stuff. :)

To everyone else that was at WindyCon, did anyone go to the Masquerade? How was it? I'm curious because my concert in the filk room happened at the same time, yet I somehow managed to pack the Erie/Michigan room full of people watching my show. So I hope they had an audience too. :)

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

I didn't go to the masquerade, but I heard that they had only 16 entries.

Being a Chicago area resident for 40 years....

[madmanotl.livejournal.com]

Chicago area driving from 6-10 AM and 3-6 PM on weekdays is horrible no matter where in the city you are. There are not enough roads to handle all the drivers on them and the commute is usually slow. That is why I am so glad that I live 2.7 miles from my work.
I have found the area at the Chicago/Indiana border the worst as it crams many lanes of traffic into few.

Chicago traffic

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

Don't, then, try to drive in Boston. I sometimes think that the street department is actively hostile to auslander -- and even I find myself screaming at people who stop and try to figure out what they're looking at. "Don't think, just drive!"

It can get ugly here.

How's my week?

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

Quilting Ivory-bill woodpeckers as Christmas tree ornaments for gift-giving.

This...

[stdharma.livejournal.com]

Is precisely why I never drive when I go to Chicago. I usually doss with old friends and take the El or walk if I need to go somewhere. Of course...I did take the Grey Dog into Chicago, so maybe that doesn't count...

Anyway, I would never ever want to drive in Chicago. Atlanta was bad enough.

Saint Dharma, patron saint of kicking out the JAMS.

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

Heh, shoulda taken the *ahem* scenic Route 41 from Hammond, IN to oh... Lake Shore Drive, then get off that on the WAY north side, take Touhy till it twists into Route 82 around Higgins, and take that winding road to Mannheim, etc.

Like I said... *ahem* scenic. Couldn't be much slower than the *ahem* expressways. Thursday night, I was in Naperville, and wanting to go to the con hotel, then karaoke at Cicero & Montrose. Since my car accident, expressways at night have been freaking me out a bit. Starting at 4pm, I did Route 59 to Golf Road, to Higgins, to Mannheim, to the hotel. Got there at around 6pm or so. Spent maybe 15-30 minutes at the hotel. Then took Mannheim to Higgins to a construction roadblock at Harlem, turning and going to Montrose, then to Cicero. Got there at about 8:30 or so. Not bad, considering I had the radio on, and they mentioned all the construction and accidents on I-88, 90, 94, etc. and damned near every main street.

[arcane-k.livejournal.com]

Uhhhh ... don't try driving in Montreal.

[skaramine.livejournal.com]

I was at Windycon too... I took my girlfriend, who's from out of town, to get a small tattoo over on Belmont, which is a ways from the hotel. She drove there. Me, being the "Chicago native" took over for the drive back since she was a little high from the new tattoo.

She got us there no problems. Me, I had to drive for two hours to find our way back to sanity. Egad!

[bardicwench.livejournal.com]

Yay! Serenity! Yay!

*giggle*

FINALLY!!!!!!!

LOL. Hope you love it. Email me (or aim me if I'm online) and tell me. *grin* And I promise I won't say "I told you so too many times."

Ohhhh... Goblet of Fire... I HAVE to see that on friday. The trailers looked awesome.