Hibernum’s Journal

A little over 2 years ago I had a co-worker who kept crying at her desk.  Eventually her department imploded and everyone, including her, was fired.  Problem solved.

There is a room in the S.S. Badger called the quiet room.  It is for reading or napping or some sort of silent activity.  The chairs are real nice.  Dawn thought it was a place for old people.  Sounds like my kind of place.  There was ferry memorabilia on the walls from ye glory days of car ferries.

I liked to imagine what this room was like before this was a passenger car ferry.  Did it have seats back when it was a railroad car ferry?  Did young sailors come in here and pray during those fierce Autumn storms?  After all, the S.S. Badger originally operated year round.  The propeller is designed to be able to mash up ice and the hull is reinforced to break up ice flows.  It is something to think about when listening to Gorecki’s Misere.

It’s like a movie theater where nothing is showing.

Good news comrades; I have secured, for the glory of the revolution, the instruments of the workers’ revolt. Yes, I have assurances from Minister of Propaganda Giancola that our essential posters, with which we will radicalize the Proletariat, are scheduled to return from the Motherland in August. I have my assurance that if our Deputy Minister of Culture Sackett does not bring them to our August Congress for Party Ministers, that they shall be sent by courier by the Minister of Propaganda himself. Glory to the revolution! Glory to the People! Workers unite!

I’ve been hearing murmurs about Chicago lately.  One of Dawn’s co-workers has a relative gobbling up investment properties in the Second City like Snickers.  Some of my friends mentioned Chicago as an option for down the line.  I’ve made no secret of my desire to move to Chicago proper in two years time.  But why Chicago?

Location:  Chicago is, for me, ideally located. Close enough to home that I can visit more often, but still far enough away. The extra three hours is a big deal. A 6 hour drive is a lot more manageable than 9.  It is located on Lake Michigan The Michigan Sea, so one might not worry about fresh water for a while. Though there is always the possibility that the source of water for the Great Lakes will dry up, and the Michigan inland sea will end up like the Aral Sea.  But probably not.  It is also close enough for a summer cottage on the dunes.  For some reason Chicagoans go to the Wisconsin shore.  I don’t get it, but more for me.

Lots of water

Basic infrastructure: Chicago is well connected. It is connected to the ocean via the St. Lawrence Seaway. It is also a freight rail hub, and a hub of air transport. It has a high degree of interconnectivity. Amtrak stops there, and it has a well planned and maintained highway grid (under construction since 1973).  It also has the 2nd largest mass transit system in the country, surpassed in number of track miles only by New York. It has one of the largest electric interurban railways in the country, the Metra.

Subways, not just in New York anymore

Potential energy: New York City is at an all time population high. It has never had more people than today. Chicago, by contrast, is at about 2.8 million people, almost a million shy of its peak at 3.6 million. So while New York is expensive in Manhattan, and rapidly increasing housing costs in the outer burros like Brooklyn, Chicago is pretty cheap. I’ve tracked REO properties in the city proper that go for well under 6 figures. But will the city rebound? If the city has competent administration, then yes. There are some problems with the schools and the El, but these things can be fixed. In the mean time, commuters are sick of traveling from the collar counties to downtown for work with gas prices looming ever upwards. If population continues to rebound in Chicago, there is a lot of money to be made in equity, even in these bear times.

Ideally I’ll be able to take this places instead of driving.  Who wants the hassle of traffic and parking?  Not me.

Chicago’s motto is Urbs in Horto, or city in a garden

Good news for sport fans, Chicago is one of the best sports cities in the country.  They have 2 baseball teams as well as football, basketball, and hockey franchises.  And, unlike most cities, all of their franchises play in the city proper.  It’s probably cheaper to see Wings games in Chicago than in Detroit, especially if that game in Wrigley Field goes through.  And if you happen to like a certain Big Ten school, then they have bars for you.

The view from the Southside, where things are ghetto and industrial, but slowly re-developing

I was really hoping to make this move before 30, but I don’t think that will happen.  Hopefully it will be worth the wait when things are finished here in Wisconsin.

I’m probably going to be without a camera for a few weeks.  So in the mean time, I am going to be working backwards through time and digging through the archives.  It is a pity, because I really wanted to work on some new black and white pictures this summer.  It looks like I’ll be making some old black and white pictures instead.

How many happy couples will be in Georgia next month?  Hey ladies, we’ll all smell better, I promise.

Grain looks much better in black and white, I’ve found.

I am really happy with the way I was able to really push the available light this last trip.  It helps having the right tools, and though Dawn isn’t a fan that Nikon is pretty good at sucking in the light for 30 dollars.