We hired The Professionals to do our move today and they arrived right on time at 8:00 a.m. It’s been a long day and will probably be a lot longer. I’m just taking a break right now. This was the first time I’ve hired movers and it was SO worth it. It cost a lot, but in the scheme of things, given how much money we laid out yesterday, it was a drop in the bucket. Our movers were fantastic and it was so much better than doing it ourselves or begging friends to help. When the movers were almost done I jumped in a cab to go to our new place so I could open the doors and get ready for them. I noticed in the cab that the fuel surcharge has dropped to $0.50. Back in July I noted it was $1.00. More on the condo soon. I know everyone’s requesting photos, but I don’t know if I’ll get to them today yet.
Movers backing into our Roscoe Village alley, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Fuel Surcharge, Chicago
Entries from October 28th, 2008
Moving to Logan Square
October 31st, 2008 · 3 Comments
We’re Homeowners!
October 30th, 2008 · 12 Comments
I’m just happy the process is over and we made it through. Our legs are tired from jumping through hoops and our hands tired from signing paperwork. And I’m just tired in general. It was about a month ago that we viewed the property we bought and while the purchase happened really quickly, it was excruciatingly slow at the same time. I’ve been so stressed out. It didn’t help that the market collapsed in the middle of it all and that its a scary election year.
I am so so so thankful to have had trustworthy people to help us out. I can’t imagine how frightening it would be if it was strangers leading us along. Our good friend David Finnerty (Limey) took care of all of our banking and loan needs. If you need a loan call him. No matter how many photos I have posted of him downing an Irish Car Bomb, he is really great at what he does and was professional and fantastic to work with. As well, our realty agent Eric Marcus is a friend of a friend (and now a friend) who has helped many of our friends find homes. He owns his own firm, ESM Realty, lives in our neighborhood and was wonderful to work with. If you need a Realtor, call him up. Both David and Eric have worked with our attorney, Nick Jakubco. I was glad to have a great recommendation for a real estate attorney. Lots of our friends are lawyers, but don’t specialize in the field. Nick was not only very knowledgeable, but was also very patient with my many many questions.
We are moving tomorrow to a really beautiful new condo in Logan Square and believe that we have made a really great move for our future. Plus, hello less than five minute walk to the California Blue Line. And in-unit laundry. I cannot wait for those two things the most.
I’m sure there will be many photos and posts about our new home coming up. Like I said… what a relief today, to finally be done. I haven’t blogged really at all about our move, except the post about cleaning the closet and the one telling the Brown Line that I couldn’t wait for us to break up. I felt like at any time it could fall through. But we made it.. and about a week and a half ago Eric was like “you better buy some boxes” and we were like “shit! we’re moving!” It is feeling more real today… but I don’t think I will believe it until I’m at the new place and all my stuff is there.
Tags:blue line·california blue line·Chicago·cta·eric·limey·logan square·nick
Everyone is welcome… except for jerks
October 30th, 2008 · No Comments
Tags:Chicago·crunch gym·gym·river north
Aldo Castillo Gallery Street Writing
October 29th, 2008 · 5 Comments



River North, Chicago
My office is located right next to Merchandise Mart but if I haven’t gotten a lot of exercise in a day I’ll sometimes walk up to the Chicago/Franklin brown line stop for my commute home. I’ve been walking past the Aldo Castillo Gallery a lot and seeing these artistic faces drawn in chalk. The gallery’s building is also the one that has the mean goat and sexy mother earth murals. Last night the gallery had signs in the window that said “Store Closing Sale” but I can’t find any mention of the store closing online. Update: Clarified int he comments, Aldo Castillo Gallery isn’t closing, the store upstairs is.
Tags:aldo castillo gallery·brown line·Chicago·cta·river north·street writing
Veggie Bite
October 28th, 2008 · 3 Comments



Veggie Bite opened in the building where Threadless used to be, on my old street, a few blocks from my old apartment in Wicker Park. I was intrigued by the concept… vegan fast food. I’m not a vegetarian or a vegan, but a fair amount of the meals I eat are meat-free. That being said, I do enjoy eating meat. I considered going to Veggie Bite one day when I was in Wicker Park, but 1) it wasn’t open and 2) I didn’t realize that they weren’t just veggie, but also meat-haters. Their pushing an agenda on the windows turned me off. To each his own, but it doesn’t seem like anyone was enjoying their food anyway.
