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Post by Christian Page, RAI on May 3, 2008 9:23:02 GMT -5
All of my once free time is gone for at least the next 48 hours, although I may have some during the coming week.
I am at Clover's Garden Center on Cermak Rd. in Berwyn today from 3-7 manning a table for the Oak Park Art League. Then, I am at the gallery in Oak Park from 8-9 for the dog show. Tomorrow, I am back at Clover's from 12-5. Next weekend, I am at the gallery from 1 to 5 on Friday and 10 to 5 Saturday. Weekend after that, back at the gallery from 1-5 on Saturday.
In between, I am engineering my move out of this Berwyn house that I unexpectedly ended up sharing with two, shall we say, "animated gentlemen" after I had to vacate my Oak Park flat because the person I was sub-letting from decided to sell the joint. I found a place - my OWN place - on Forest Ave. in Riverside. It's a great area, and if all goes as planned, I will be there June 1st. If I continue to move south like this, I'll be living by Midway in no time... ;D
So, my time will be once again limited, but at least the "beast" is with me and I will be working behind the scenes when I can. On top of everything else I am doing as posted previously.
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Post by Andy on May 3, 2008 13:29:44 GMT -5
If I continue to move south like this, I'll be living by Midway in no time... ;D Hey, I grew up near Midway right after the big exodus to O'Hare. Still, I can remember a few old pistons (they were probably old DC-6s and DC-7s) chugging in and out. I sympathize with your time constraints. I've had no time for flying in the past month or so. Will be anxiously awaiting the update. Riverside is nice but watch out when the Desplaines River overflows its banks. Andy |
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Post by Christian Page, RAI on May 4, 2008 8:19:38 GMT -5
If I continue to move south like this, I'll be living by Midway in no time... ;D Hey, I grew up near Midway right after the big exodus to O'Hare. Still, I can remember a few old pistons (they were probably old DC-6s and DC-7s) chugging in and out. I sympathize with your time constraints. I've had no time for flying in the past month or so. Will be anxiously awaiting the update. Riverside is nice but watch out when the Desplaines River overflows its banks. Andy Hence he reason the place I'm moving to is on the 3rd floor. ;D I grew up in northwest Oklahoma City, where if it just looks like rain it floods. Remember the news footage about a year ago of the two girls that had to be rescued from their car when it got stuck on a spillway? That was Ski Island, about 3/4 of a mile from my dad's house, same house I spent my high school years in. The dams at Ski Island - the low-water one those girls were crossing and the high-water one abutting Hefner Road, they both hold back Spring Creek, which runs right behind dad's. The Lake Hefner Dam is being shored up - if that 10-story tall monster fails, everything for about two miles is going to be under 10' of water. That includes my dad's place and my mom's - she had no idea until recently that the rather large empty field by her new place that is also sunken-in is a retaining pond for flood control in the area. It's dry most of the years, but come a deluge, it's a lake! One of my best friends also grew up near Midway - she may have even been a neighbor of yours. She lived on Keating, between 62nd and 63rd, right behind the White Castle at 63rd and Cicero. She took me by her old place a while back, and I know I would have loved living there, as right as we got out 0of the car, a Southwest 737 came overhead, just feet from landing on 31R. My gentlemanliness prevents me from saying her age, but she was born around the time most of the airlines had abandoned Midway, but was in grade school when it started up again after deregulation. Myself, I first flew into Midway in 1989, and when I came back lasy year - I was totally lost. I loved that old terminal where you walked down to ground level from the jetways and just having the street-level parking on Cicero. Today, it's a freaking nightmare - I think there might actually be a free parking space somewhere in that garage, but damned if I can find it! O'Hare - the thing that really stood out to me when I was finally landside to pick up a friend at the United terminal - it is so SMALL! I'm used to DFW, MCI and Hartsfield since I'm often in Dallas and have family in Kansas City and Atlanta. Hell, I think KCI is much bigger - at least feels that way. Even Will Rogers has a bigger feel, and it only has 26 gates. ORD is so crowded, talk about the proverbial ten pounds in a five-pound bag... |
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Post by Andy on May 5, 2008 17:33:19 GMT -5
One of my best friends also grew up near Midway - she may have even been a neighbor of yours. She lived on Keating, between 62nd and 63rd, right behind the White Castle at 63rd and Cicero. She took me by her old place a while back, and I know I would have loved living there, as right as we got out 0of the car, a Southwest 737 came overhead, just feet from landing on 31R. My gentlemanliness prevents me from saying her age, but she was born around the time most of the airlines had abandoned Midway, but was in grade school when it started up again after deregulation. I was just a little bit south of there, in the 7900 block of S. Kilpatrick. I remember the White Castle. We used to stand near there to wait for the bus to go to the Loop. Actually, in those days there was a Henry's Hamburgers I think right where the pizza place is at 62nd and Cicero. At any rate, I'm not shy about my age. I was born in 1960 so by my earliest memories the airlines had pretty well moved over to O'Hare. By 1970 there were only a handful of fights at Midway: Northwest, maybe Ozark, and then Frontier came along with a milk run to Omaha, Denver, and Phoenix. Northwest strikes me as being the last major to leave. I was long gone from the area by the time deregulation and Midway Airlines arrived and I myself did not fly into or out of Midway until the 1980's on Southwest. Andy |
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Post by braniffops on May 5, 2008 20:49:09 GMT -5
I believe the phraseology you seek is 'needing a crowbar'...just ask any UA 1K or Premier Exec about checking in through the lobby. We've been screaming about the size of Terminal 1 for years now -- some of the folks that have been here longer than I have said it was small when they opened it up back in 92. It was so small, in fact, that when we did the 'flip' of the Express operation from B20 and B22 in Terminal 1 over to Terminal 2, all of the 757 trips that UA was operating got kicked back over to the main terminal. How's that for operational planning?  |
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Post by Christian Page, RAI on May 7, 2008 13:27:23 GMT -5
I believe the phraseology you seek is 'needing a crowbar'...just ask any UA 1K or Premier Exec about checking in through the lobby. We've been screaming about the size of Terminal 1 for years now -- some of the folks that have been here longer than I have said it was small when they opened it up back in 92. It was so small, in fact, that when we did the 'flip' of the Express operation from B20 and B22 in Terminal 1 over to Terminal 2, all of the 757 trips that UA was operating got kicked back over to the main terminal. How's that for operational planning? Crowbar, axle grease...whatever works  I spent an evening (like so many late winter evening) camped out in the then-new UA terminal on the way back from Boston. Our 737 was mired in snoa at Madison and finally got in three hours late - then another hour or so on the ramp before getting cleared out of O'Hare. I doubt seriously Hizzoner's expansion plans will really alleviate the incessant delays. Too many planes, not enough airspace. I have a friend who works the tower, and can get me up there - I'd really like to see how they coordinate that delicate balance of operations. It is amazing that runway incursions and near-misses are not more frequent out there. The Peotone idea makes sense, but then Gary is expanding and can easily accept some overflow, particularly for those living in the far south and Indiana suburbs. Not to mention that by using the South Shore Line, it's only 30 minutes from the Loop - half the time it takes from O'Hare on the Kennedy on a good day. Since I usually use Midway, I come around a back way via 1st Avenue to Archer Rd. and then either Archer to Cicero or duck off onto 55th, depending on traffic flow. Cuts easily 30 minutes off the travel time via the Eisenhower, Ryan, and Stevenson - which I drove only once because I was still learning my way around. I'm booking a friend in Wichita up here in September, and it will likely be on United since they have the only "real planes" in non-stop service between the two cities and she does not like the RJs. My only other option was Southwest out of MCI or OKC, but once I figured in the car rental (she doesn't own a car), it worked out much the same price to just fly her out of Mid-Continent than anything else. I'll be sure to get ahold of a crowbar - but then she can scare people when necessary and is from NYC originally, so if you hear of a beautiful woman dressed in black scaring people in the terminal, you know Kat has arrived |
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Post by Christian Page, RAI on May 10, 2008 14:14:43 GMT -5
I wish I had a little more than 2 hours notice of my trips down to Schiller Park. I'd let you guys know when I was going to be around if it was possible. If I'm not at home in bed or in front of a computer, I can be hard to track down. But, I never do turn my cell phone off - I can PM it to you when you might be in the area - and during regular business hours and at least three nights out of the week, I'm in the Oak Park area. The other evenings, I'm in the city - usually the Lincoln Park area. What can I say, I'm reasonably young, newly single, and there are lot of girls there... ;D |
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I spent an evening (like so many late winter evening) camped out in the then-new UA terminal on the way back from Boston. Our 737 was mired in snoa at Madison and finally got in three hours late - then another hour or so on the ramp before getting cleared out of O'Hare.