PLEASE HELP- I'm moving to Chicago and the

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by S'portTiger, Jan 18, 2005.

  1. tigerleg24

    tigerleg24 Guest

    The company I work for has an offic ein Chicago. A sales exec left on Monday to come to New Orleans for a meeting. It was 3 degrees above zero and a wind chill of -10. I will take the hot summers down here over the cold a$$ winters. Good luck to you.
     
  2. lsuirish

    lsuirish Founding Member

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2003
    Messages:
    47
    Likes Received:
    1
    cyo and accounting ring a bell?
     
  3. goldengirlfan

    goldengirlfan simple man

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2003
    Messages:
    2,832
    Likes Received:
    175
    Chicago is one fine town. :thumb:

    Nothing like an afternoon at Wrigley.....but, wear a hard hat. :lol:

    As for the winter, glad it's theirs and not mine. :nope:
     
  4. StaceyO

    StaceyO Football Turns Me On

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2003
    Messages:
    15,643
    Likes Received:
    8,487
    My husband's extended family is from Chicago, and I've only gone in the summer. The traffic is horrific at any time of the day on any day of the week. But everyone I've encountered there is super nice. I really liked it, and if it weren't for the horrible winters and traffic, I would consider it as a place to relocate to.
     
  5. LSUsupaFan

    LSUsupaFan Founding Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2003
    Messages:
    8,787
    Likes Received:
    1,207
    I'm in Chicago now. It is damed cold. It has been steadily warming up though. It is gonna be all the way up to 20 tomorrow. It was 6 below when I got here. That has nothing to the 30 below i fealt in Minnesota last week.
     
  6. Indiana Tiger

    Indiana Tiger Founding Member

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2005
    Messages:
    509
    Likes Received:
    26
    You seem to be a little further along in the process, so

    the following advice probably doesn't apply to you, but others may get something from it. About 25 years ago (good grief that's a long time) when I moved to Chicago, I had never lived north of Baton Rouge; I had seen snow only 3 times---once when I was about 8 and twice in the same year at LSU. While I was excited about the move, I had my trepidations. I was determined to minimize dealing with the nastiness, particularly since I moved there in October.

    I lived in Lincoln Park (about 2500 North on the park itself). The bus stop was just across the street and it would drop me off about a block from work. Snow shoveling was taken care of by the landlord. The hardest decision was getting rid of the car. The closer you live to downtown, the less necessary a car is, and in many cases it can be a lot cheaper and more convenient to just rent a car when you need one. Public transportation is quite good in Chicago and it's generally easier to get around by walking or biking or using cabs, buses or trains.

    Depending on where you live, if you don't pay for parking, you can waste quite a bid of your life searching for a space. I managed well without a car for about 3 years, but eventually got one and paid for a spot in a nearby garage. While it was cheaper to just rent a car, I found myself many times deciding not to do some things based on the transaction costs, so I just bit the bullet.

    When deciding where to live, the commute should be given a lot of consideration. If you have kids, affordable housing in the best school districts will the the primary driver, but don't forget about that commute. It will have a major impact on the quality of your experience. Having to walk a mile across the loop on a cold, miserable day or even on a warm rainy day is not very satisfying. On such days it can be hard to flag a cab. Time and distance is not that much of a concern if the majority of travel time is by train. Trains are great for commuting.

    Overall, the winters are not that bad. There were times living in south La where I was just as cold. Of course I was kind of stupid then, going out with just a windbreaker in wet, windy 38 degree weather. However when it is cold and miserable here, it is cold and miserable. Learn to dress for it. Chicago averages somewhere around 33-35 in of snow a year. While this sounds like a lot, it isn't really, a lot melts between storms. These are averages though. Some years you will get more and some less. Sometimes the winters are colder and it hangs around a lot longer.

    The summers are quite pleasant. People will tell you it gets humid up here in the summer because of the lake. It doesn't really. It hardly ever gets like a typical day in south La. When we do have a fairly humid period, it's usually only for a few days. I believe there are only something like 25 or so 90 degree days/year. Make sure you get over to the Indiana Dunes across the lake. While the water is too cold for my taste, there are some beautiful beaches. The eastern side of Lake Michigan is almost all sand. Sleeping Bear Dunes in northern Michigan has sand dunes over 400 ft tall.

    As I said in a previous post, if you have the right attitude, you can have a great time up here. Chicago is a beautiful city. Some people, regardless of how far they travel, never really leave home. Those people miss out on a lot.

    [sidebar: Chicago addresses: You may or may not be aware of this factoid. Chicago addresses are laid out on a grid. Madison and State is 0/0. Distances from this point is measured in terms of blocks. Each block is 100. There are 8 blocks to the mile. I lived about 2500 North, so I was a little over 3 miles north of Madison. It was also about 400 West so I was about a half mile west of State.]
     
  7. Geauxld Member

    Geauxld Member Founding Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2003
    Messages:
    334
    Likes Received:
    1
    I visited Chicago about 8 years ago took the el to a Cubs Carninals game at wrigley, & the cubby bear Terrifific! Rush street was cool. Great art museum. Great pizza joints

    It was the coldest I've ever been in April. I did freeze my A$$ off. Next time I'll dress better.
     
  8. Ralph_Wiggum

    Ralph_Wiggum Founding Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2003
    Messages:
    344
    Likes Received:
    0
    Chicago winters aren't that bad. Traffic is bad, especially if you're not used to it. Chicagoland is big. Main thing if you drive around is to know what the Edens, Dan Ryan, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Stevenson, Tri-State, Bishop Ford are. They are highways. To ease confusion highways in Chicago are named, believe me, once you get to know them it'll be easy. But, there's nothing worse than 90 minutes on the inbound Kennedy.

    The superficial politeness and so on isn't evident in Chicago, but it doesn't mean everyone is rude or pushy. Chicago is great and Milwaukee is nice to visit. Detroit isn't as bad as people say. The twin cities in my opinion is just as good as chicago, not as big, but you can actually drive around to stadiums and downtowns.
     
  9. TheDrunkenTiger

    TheDrunkenTiger Founding Member

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2004
    Messages:
    323
    Likes Received:
    38
    I know the vice president of that club, so I could find out (Ill post when I do) where they meet, etc..

    Good luck, either way, Chicago is a pretty sweet city.
     
  10. S'portTiger

    S'portTiger Founding Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2003
    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    1
    Many thanks to everyone
    2005 :crystal: 2005 LSU! :champs: AGAIN!
     

Share This Page