Hayward

I had to go inspect a project site the other day. Couldn't help but take some pics out the windows. Coast of Lakeshore East Dev 500 N LSD Optima Chicago

For whatever reason, this has been an incredibly popular photo on my fickr. I took this exactly 7 years ago.

From my experience, dress codes are always violated a little bit. If a workplace has a strict dress code, people will follow it most of the time but push their luck a little bit till they get called on it. If a workplace has a really relaxed dress code, people will relax and generally follow it, but eventually push their luck a bit. Not in my office! I had a fail thursday, but patched it up quickly. I was supposed to do laundry thurs night. Fell asleep at 8:00 pm for a 20 min nap and woke up at 8:00 am. Just enough time to shower, dress fast, and get to work. Clothes were all piled up and I refuse to wear unwashed clothes to work. I put on a Run DMC shirt and put a fedora hat to be deliberate. HR had plenty of opportunities but said nothing. I think even they've forgotten the rules, or they just said screw them after the fitness room was mistakingly placed too close to the executive conference rooms. The other piece of good news was most of the day I was just out doing construction inspections at various projects. I took a few of these as well:

Picture of our family pet from awhile back Tigger. 1988-2009

I've thought about this, but people can already do that without the car. Here in Chicago we have commuter rail that travels out to the distant countryside. You can take the train for less than the price of driving a car. Yet, there still remains tons of empty land in the municipalities near these stations. Ultimately, lifestyle preferences will shape growth patterns. Whether people want to be in the city where there's more stuff to do or that big house with the huge lawn in that sprawling subdivision.

1. Elimination of street parking. It won't be necessary. Driverless cars will be stored centrally in each neighborhood. They will arrive in minutes when the driver calls for it on their cell phone. The car will arrive heated or air conditioned ready to go. 2. With parking eliminated, sidewalks will widen considerably. There will be more room for bicyclists, and more space for children to play. The average driving surface will be no more than 20' wide. 3. Lower fatalities, lower injuries...by alot. Humans make mistakes, computers don't. 4. On board computer systems will do more than drive the car. I think there will be community expectation...possibly laws that require the car to talk to the city grid. Cars will report pollution levels, noise, and congestion of their surroundings. They'll feed information on road conditions and collectively build complex data to prioritize repairs and maintenance. 5. Though cars will continue to be a major part of transportation, they'll have less of a noticeable footprint on the city. Cars will be far more adaptive to the urban environment, but we will be smarter about where they go and how we store them. The above points are sort of the futuristic vision of the automakers. More than half a century ago, automakers had completely the opposite vision.

By my recollection, the deliberately-dissheveled look arose as part of the anti-war, anti-establishment, draft-resistance movement that gained momentum in the mid- to late-1960s. At first, most of the clothing (ripped jeans, etc.) was created by peole mutilating clothes they already owned or could find in a thrift store, and it didn't take very long for the marketing folks to wise up to the opportunity. By the early seventies, much of the establishment public had come to associate style elements like facial hair with anti-patriotism and America-hating. I remember a lunchtime conversation at work (General Electric), in which a department manager asked if he could fire an employee because he had a beard. He acknowledged that the employee was diligent and proficient in his job performance, but he interpreted the employee's beard as a sign of disloyalty to God, Country, and The Flag. I grew a moustache and got incredible amounts of flak from upper-level managers because of it. I didn't shave it, and I wasn't threatened with dismissal nor did it appear on my performance appraisals, but at every meeting I was the target of snide, insulting remarks. The Beatles' hair received as much denunciation from older folks as had Evis's "obscene hip-gyrating" peformances ten years earlier. Amazing how people today can just show up at work looking like whatever. Even if the company has some sort of work casual dress code and you come in below that, HR or the higher ups usually just don't say anything about it to avoid friction. We have a simple rule at our office....no clothing with Text. It's too distracting. But people occasionally violated by wearing jerseys or college themed shirts before the weekend which normally got a passcard.

LOL at paradox in that one shot. Love this one:

Love this shot ------------------------- City Target quietly awaits throngs of shoppers that will pass through its doors in a few days. The store is located in the historic Sullivan Center. Ahhh, sorry it's big. Guess that's what I get for uploading a photo straight from my phone.

Shoot, picking up a car from the impound lot is more punishing and costly. Here in Chicago's its an absolutely horrible and unfriendly place to go. There's this non-descript hard to find staircase on Randolph and you must go down to the city's sub level basement to pick up your car. It's an awful place, and the people who work there don't see much light, so they aren't the friendliest. I know your car was towed, but really you can't be walking down here. So here's another ticket for you! #1 rule of parking in the city. Follow the rules. They are very clear and easy to understand. If the sign has a picture of a towtruck on it, that means that your car will be taken by one of those.

I'm tired of people parking in my building's loading zone when I'm coming back from the burbs with groceries. I don't own a car so when I use zipcar I'm entitled to at least 10 minutes of parking per month in front of my building...At least! They park in the temp spot and then go into one of the stores to shop. The two spaces out front have been purchased by our building and translate through rent, so I'm paying for it. It's for tenants, guests visiting tenants, delivery and repair vehicles. I'm also sick of people double parking on our street which is very busy. Sometimes they'll double park-double-park. So basically no one gets through!! Today that happened. By now I've had the towing company speed dial to clear the people that block my space, but also create backups for blocks. One of those cars was pulled away in a record 7 minutes. How does someone that idiotic think they can double park on a busy street and get away with it for more than just 5 minutes!!

What the hell, I've done nothing to update this thread lately and there's been tons of construction excitement and proposals! All the last updates show the buildings all squatty! Time to make my rounds. Here's some phone shots of K-Station the other day

Funny you mention that. I had a friend in Noble Square ranting about rent increases and moved down just south of Chicago Ave. I was at Five Star recently and just shocked how that neighborhood has changed.

The old modes were inefficient and the city of Chicago described historically in books, pertaining to horse drawn transportation, was a horrible place. I agree modern transportation has its problems, but innovation will make them less of an issue and improve health and safety. Back to my original point, if it weren't for the collective interests of area business and residents over the carriages as a nuissance, there would be no regulation. I'm happy the tourists like them, but they don't have do deal with a single business daily creating a foul stench.

Of course tourists make the city better. If it werent for them there wouldn't be a Michigan Avenue. But 99.9% aren't using the carriage services, so it's a non-essential nuissance to visitors, residents, and business owners. This is why alderman for decades have layered restrictions and ordinances against them.

Walk to Lunch

Horsedrawn carriages in downtowns. I don't understand what couples find so romantic about sitting behind a bag full of 5 hour old festering horse poop and some loud 35 year old girl who wishes she had a pony at the age of 16. When the horse takes a piss, the driver has to stop and wash it down with some disinfectant. "Oh sorry folks, I have to stop while I clean the pee of the ground. Sorry if this hose mists a bit, no worries it smells like bathroom cleaner!" I say banish the carriages to more open areas where they'll get a good cross breeze. The streets of Chicago are not for leisure with large slow vehicles. They are places for transporting goods, commuting to work, or trips to the store. And instead of a carriage, why not a horseback ride through the woods? Yes, that's where horses belong..in open space. Not the confines of a city in traffic.

Westside

I have a Google+ account, but I'm waiting for more in my network to join. And even though I've added friends...at least enough to create circles, none of them are using it as much as facebook. In the end, the service that's least invasive in giving out my information will win. I remember the good old days when you could put anything and everything on facebook and only your closest friends would see that information. Then they let everyone in.

Alright, the holidays are coming up, where you all going? I'm staying right here in Chicago to enjoy the festivities. I might have traveled but I used a lot of PTO for an Atlanta trip last April and a two week trip to LA and SF this coming August. I got a small day trip to Milwaukee planned later this month and maybe a visit home to the parents in late August. Not quite as busy as 2011 was, but should be a good summer

Wonderful pics. I see you stayed at the HI. I liked staying there back before I moved here

This thread is a collection of images from the past 3 years at my office. My company is moving to new offices down the street while our existing building is converted (possibly into a hotel). 2008 2009 2010 2011 The years roll faster now. Pictures decrease, but selective opportunities peak 2012 - New Camera - Well that's it for now, possibly a few extra additions before we leave. My next installment will be photos from the new view. Stay tuned!

I do not understand, why should you move (and be inconvenienced) instead of just saying, "NO" and meaning it?? Sounds like your "no" was just very convincing. Similar to rob's story, many guests simply came unannounced. At times, they'd just say, "hey we gotta problem with accommodations, can we crash here tonight?" Being on Michigan ave, it's so easy for people to "just be walking by in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by. I do have a shortlist of friends that are welcome anytime and these people can just invite themselves. It's just a lot of friends from back in college that come by on weekends and most often overstay their welcome. Right now I have people trying to convince me to move to Logan Square.

I did something I might regret. I'm tried of people who I thought I could trust coming by my place / visiting over the weekend / stopping by to party etc treating my place like some cheap resort and abusing my trust. Whether its stealing from me, using my computer to illegally download stuff, leaving my place a mess, or just outright being disrespectful. I moved near the beach and Michigan Ave to fulfill my dream of living in the city, not to be a convenience of others. After being pushed to the limit this weekend, I terminated my lease and paid the $200 penalty. I'll be living downtown into next month but after that, I'm moving elsewhere in the city....probably somewhere on the west side. Part of the reason is to get away from all the noise, but I've grown tired of the list of people calling wanting to stay on weekends. You can only say no so many times.

Hahaha that starbucks photo had me laughing. Usually I get creeped out walking by restaurants and seeing people staring at me. From my eyrie looking toward the Great Blue Sea