The big move update, part 1

Well, it's started -- the big five-person move to San Francisco. The car shipper guy came this morning to pick up our cars.. after the big inland hurricane last night left trees down and roads flooded all over Chicago, I wasn't so sure they'd be here; but they were -- ninety minutes early! The phone rang at 6:30am.

It's fun when all the neighbors think your cars are being repossessed... I can only imagine what they were thinking -- "Why is he standing there, talking to that repo man as he puts the cars on the truck? Why isn't he mad?"

The company that we're using to move cars is eBay Motors' "preferred" car shipper, so the driver had lots of fun stories to tell about cars he delivered to people who'd never seen them, and the reactions that they give. He told about one guy who'd ordered a 70's-era Charger. This car looked mint in the pictures, but when it actually arrived, it apparently was a different story. It'd been in some kind of accident, the firewall was all jacked, axle kind of bent, etc. The sad thing is, once you get to that point, you've already purchased the car so you're kind of screwed. The guy who bought it didn't even want to sign for it, but he had to; he owned it so he was responsible for it. After delivery, you have to fight it out with the seller and eBay. Good luck with that!

Next on the hit parade -- packing, which starts Monday. We all will move into a hotel while this process is going on. Our place is way too small for five people and eight million half-packed boxes.

New pictures...

I've also added some new pictures on flickr. Go check them out...

The new gig.

I started at the new place in San Francisco last week... so far, so good. There's quite a lot of travel, especially at first; the family is all back in Chicago so I'm doing a fair amount of 1,800-mile commuting via American Airlines. Everyone's moving the last week in August, so it won't be for long.

Much electronic ink has been spilled over the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Fortunately, to the best of my knowledge, no one I know was on the bridge or around it when it happened. It's kind of disconcerting to see the bridge in the river, knowing that I have been over that thing probably 500 times in my life. I was in San Francisco when it happened, driving out to our new house in Oakley, and they broke into the radio newscast to announce that it'd happened.

This week, I'm in New York City. We stay in downtown, not far from Ground Zero, because the bank's offices are on Wall Street. One of the ways to coming into Manhattan from LaGuardia Airport is via the FDR Drive.. of course, Manhattan is an island, and how do you get onto islands? Bridges. The FDR runs along the eastern shore of Manhattan and not only did we pass over a bridge to get to the FDR, it runs under every bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn/Queens from 113th Street south. Check the google map -- there are probably 20 of them, all told.

Not to mention that every time I've been to NYC -- and this time is certainly not excluded -- all of the bridges seem to be under some kind of repair.

No one seems to know what happened in Minneapolis.. whether it was the repair, whether it was as stress cracks, the deicing system installed several years ago, whatever; but it makes you think. I'd always been a "no-fear" bridge guy -- I did the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Walk, even -- but I thought twice passing under all of the bridges on the FDR.

Of course, chances are the guy driving the black car was going to kill me long before any crappy NYC bridge fell on my head... but there it is.

The big news...

Well, the story can now be told.

Today was my last day at ABN AMRO Bank. I've been offered -- and have accepted -- a job in San Francisco. The new company is going to move the whole family out there. I start in San Francisco on July 30th, with everyone coming sometime in the first week of September (give or take.)

In true Inter-tubes style, here's a FAQ:

Q. Why San Francisco?
A. That's where the new bank wants me. It was either that, or New York. Those who know me know I have no love for the Center of the Universe.

Q. Won't you slide off the earth when the Big One hits?
A. We'll be living in East Bay, past the San Andreas Fault. If I'm at work, yes. If I'm at home, probably not; although our place may or may not become beachfront property.

Q. Just how far away from San Francisco do you need to live if you want to avoid paying $2 million for a 700 square foot studio condominium?
A. Sacramento. No, really. Well, almost; eastern Contra Costa County. It's about 50 miles from San Francisco by car.

Q. Hell of a commute, no?
A. Thanks to the wonders of CTA and Metra (Hi, Lunt Bus!) my place -- a whopping nine miles from my office now -- is 75 minutes to work. Out there, it's about 80. A rounding error!

Q. What are you doing for the next two weeks, since you're not going to work?
A. Thanks to the bank's policy of asking people to leave when they resign, if they're going to the competition, taking a two-week paid vacation!

Q. Do you have new phone numbers/new email/new addresses?
A. No. No. No. We will in September.

Q. Will you update your blog more frequently?
A. Probably. I've been on embargo for a while, what with the negotiations and such; it's pretty much all that's been going on in my life for quite some time. Now that I've resigned, and I don't need to keep that particular secret any more...

Q. You're not renting a U-Haul to drive to San Francisco, are you?
A. Nope. The bank has hired this guy to take care of it.

Image ganked from I Can Has Cheezburger?

Identify the city.

Aw, crap, what am I getting myself in to? They need signs for this?

There's a 95% chance of some big changes coming up here soon... I will post more about it once I get some arrangements made.

**chirp**

That sound you hear? Yes. Crickets.

Not cicadas, although those are supposed to be around here; the Great Cicada Invasion of 2007 never materialized (at least, not yet) here in Chicago. The burbs are reported to have a bunch, but I haven't seen one yet. I live in an older neighborhood, too; nothing's changed here since 1990 when the last bunch of these guys laid eggs and croaked. So, who knows where they went... but that's ok. I don't really want to hear three kids running around, screaming about the "icky bugs." Spiders are bad enough. Three-inch long flying cockroaches would cause heart attacks.

There's been some stuff going on around here which cannot be posted.. yet. Stay tuned. I promise to update more frequently than every month, starting with the resume-polishing that I've been doing. I sat in a small cubicle (smaller than my own!) in the burbs today taking a three and a half hour exam (which, yay for me, I passed!) that now allows me to put the letters "CTP" after my name on my resume. High excitement!

Policy change...

So is this farewell to Zimm's Blog (and others?)

Looks like the Army has decided to impose censorship on blog posts from members of the Army in Iraq and other places. According to the article, some leeway is supposed to be given to individual unit commanders.

Now I don't have any military experience, but I do have management experience. I can tell you, from experience, that when you leave things up to "manager's discretion," 90% of those managers immediately enter "cover your ass mode." That means that whatever the activity that's up to "discretion" is, is immediately disallowed. No manager wants to be called on the carpet and asked to justify why their employee did something that was allowed by "discretion," when the boss's boss doesn't have the same idea of what's ok and what's not.

I can only assume that this holds true for military commanders as well.

From a political standpoint, it's pretty obvious that one of the few remaining strong PR voices in favor of our presence in Iraq is that of the folks on the ground themselves. The political leadership in the US lacks credibility (that's being polite, I think) and many of us look to the opinions of the people actually in the country to find out what they really think.

While I understand the need to make sure that people aren't leaking anything important -- what's that WWII saying, "Loose lips sink ships?" -- this broad brush is limiting everything. Are any of these bloggers really saying "hey, Iraqis, we're attacking HERE tomorrow?"

I certainly haven't seen it on Zimm's Blog...

aw, crap.

I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. I've been busy, my travel schedule has been hectic, three children have been vomiting (although not at the same time, good thing,) yada yada.

I visited Clark Devon Hardware (see this picture) and it was as expected - completely old school. I'm going back tonight to have three screens made.

But, what brings me from my hiatus? This little tidbit. For those keeping track, this makes my fifth corporate merger in twelve years.

I promise, I'll be posting more frequently...

Got Any Jacks?

Miami Airport
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

The American Airlines terminal in Miami is undergoing "modernization" right now. Rumor has it this will be done in 2015 -- apparently in Miami, like most other places, public works projects take eons to actually complete. Going through Terminal D, it looks like you're in the middle of a giant construction war zone.. then you get to the "smoking room" - they still have one! - where all the smokers are in a hermetically-sealed glass room surrounded by clouds. It kind of looks like a "cancer under glass" exhibit. Further on, you get to the completed part..

There's some pretty cool public art in the completed spaces, too. This one, titled "Got Any Jacks?", are replicas of actual fish found off the coast of Florida.

Busy-ness

I seem to be on a posting schedule of about once a week here, so in the best tradition of infrequently updated blogs, let's do the Week In Review:

This week, I..

• ..went to Miami on Sunday evening, didn't get there until 11:30pm, and got to see absolutely none of the city except for that part of it between the airport and Coral Gables. Which, just sayin', isn't much.
• ..went to Troy, MI on Tuesday. Flying into Detroit was interesting. Now that I'm an American Airlines flyer, we get to fly into the "old" terminal at Detroit (also known as the Aviation Ghetto, apparently.) Wow. Someone described it as "retro." They were being generous.
• ..drove from Troy to Grand Rapids on Wednesday. Dear Western Michiganers: Why do you insist on putting "Gd Rapids" on all of the expressway signs? Is it really that difficult to spell "Grand?" I mean, really; budgets are tight and all that, but three letters per sign can't be that much.
• ..flew back from Gd Grand Rapids to Chicago on Thursday. The airport there is pretty nice, comfortable and certainly not busy. The flight was interesting because of chaos caused when one of the luggage conveyor trucks at O'Hare ran into the E-145 that American Eagle was flying into GRR, thus causing one full flight to be canceled. Not many rebooking options exist from GRR-ORD, unfortunately. I feel sorry for the gate agents at GRR that had to work that flight!

Next week brings Houston and Dallas. Then, believe it or not, I'm back here for about a week and a half, so I might actually be able to get used to sleeping in my own bed again!

Separated at birth?

Separated at birth?
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

Elmer Fudd, cartoon superhero and nemesis of "Wascally Wabbit" Bugs Bunny..

and..

Bernie Stone, Chicago 50th Ward Alderman-For-Life

Whoever advised Alderman Stone to put his picture in the 'o' in his name apparently has no recollection of Looney Tunes cartoons. There's another version of this campaign poster floating around which has his picture actually larger than the 'o' - his head kind of sticks out the top - making it much more like the Looney Tunes thing. Alas, these campaign signs have disappeared.

This ward, like most in Chicago, has a history of aldermanic election dirty tricks, including campaign poster/sign theft. I can't imagine why, but I think all of Stone's signs with his mug in the 'o' have disappeared except for this one, located way up the side of a dry cleaners on California and Rosemont.

Why steal it when you can take a picture and make fun on the Internets?

Stone's platform for re-election this year seems to be basically "I'm around, I've done some stuff, who the hell are these guys running against me?" His campaign lit brags up achievements from 1978 (!) I think he's actually running scared this time.. he's in a runoff, and he's sending his precinct captains (read "hired goons") around to bully voters into coming out for the runoff election in April. Usually no one gives a crap about the runoff elections, so the more people his hired goons captains can drag up, the better off he is.

part two in a series..

Urban Planning
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

..of pre-teen snickering..

This is in Troy, Michigan. My company's main office in Michigan is located on this road.

Yes, you perverts. There is also a Hooters on this road.

I suppose if there's one thing in my travels I'm finding, it's the ability to take these kind of pictures. Sad, isn't it?

the graffiti of love...

Walter Payton?
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

see on the bus stop bench at the corner of California and Lunt, Chicago. I wonder if "Jayne" knows that she's Sweetness? ..or that she shares a nickname with Walter Payton?

Down, down, down...

What's this world coming to?

In the Cleveland airport, the "muzak" is currently playing Rock Lobster by the B52's. And not some crappy "instrumental" mix, either; it's the real thing, Fred Schneider and all.

Hooray for the 80s (actually, 70s? wasn't this from then?) being considered elevator music.

Sweet merciful crap, I'm old.

*snicker*

boobys
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

I don't know what's better:

a) this dog stand is called 'Booby's'
b) Hank Hill apparently is holding up the sign

Discuss.

PS - for anyone in the area, this is in Niles on Milwaukee, a little southeast of Golf Mill Mall. I've never eaten there, so I don't know if it's any good. If anyone's checked it out, leave a comment.

It's much warmer than this now.

Remove before flight
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

Nothing interesting has gone on this week.. it's sort of been the "calm before the storm."

My travel schedule picks up in earnest Tuesday night. In the next week and a half, I'll be in Cleveland, Livonia and Grand Rapids, MI, and Houston (and perhaps Dallas.)

I'm beginning to feel like my grandfather. He traveled around the country fixing large industrial saws and other machines. For what it's worth, I'm glad I don't have to tote around his enormous case of tools. The laptop weighs much less. However, he didn't have to go through the ridiculousness that is the TSA screening... I suspect if he was told that he couldn't take his regular-size can of shaving cream through -- you know, more than three ounces! -- it would have been an interesting sight to say the least.

Hopefully more will come soon. If nothing else, I'll have some more pictures of the inside of airports. Try not to hold your breath in anticipation.

Part Two of an ongoing series...

metra
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

...titled "Goofballs On The Metra"

This evening's commute featured this fine specimen, who you can see loudly gabbing on his cell phone. This conversation was about his (hopefully ex-) wife. He regaled the entire half of the train car with stories of this woman, how childish she is, and how much he can't stand her because he's a "saint" and puts up with all her "shit." And so on, and so on. For at least twenty minutes.

Sir. Do you not realize that we can ALL HEAR YOU? Do you think we all WANT TO HEAR YOU?

No.

See that empty seat to your left? That person got up and went into the vestibule because he didn't want to hear you talking smack about this woman any more. He got sick of it. We ALL got sick of it.

Oh, and by the way. A piece of fashion and comfort advice might be in order. It's 25 degrees outside and there's still snow and ice around. No matter how nice that sun looks, it's still cold. Socks may be an appropriate attire choice. Consider it.

First commenter wins the prize!

Congrats, Corey.. sorry, no prize.

The car in the terminal is a 1949 Buick Roadmaster Riviera.

Random Chicago Holiday: Casimir Pulaski Day

Happy Casimir Pulaski Day to all six of my readers!

Happy what, you might say? In Chicago, the first Monday in March is Casimir Pulaski Day. Read all about it from our friends at Wikipedia: link.

I didn't even know this holiday existed until I moved here. Despite all the crap I take about "bankers' hours" and excessive holidays, I am actually at work today as are 80% of the rest of the people in town. City workers are, of course, off. Chicago schools are closed -- surprise! -- in their effort to move towards a blissful goal of zero actual instructional days in a year. And there's no garbage pickup today.. leaving piles of crap in our alley for the squirrels to rustle through. (a side note: these alley squirrels are vicious. They chew through thick plastic garbage cans. They're almost as bad as the rabbit in Monty Python's Flying Circus.)

I can't find in any of the CP Day lit (well, the two websites I saw this morning doing my diligent research for this post) why Chicago in particular would celebrate this holiday and other areas would not.. other than the fact that Chicago is the second largest Polish city in the world (actual statistic, not made up.)

for those old car buffs..

The most interesting thing in the Flint airport.
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

identify the car and win a prize! *


* no actual prize will be awarded