Chicago Firsts! (train, cars, station)

[chicagocubs]

Originally Posted by Drover

I take it then you won't be visiting the new "walk-out" decks on the Sears Tower any time soon?

nope!!

the idea make me nauseous

[chicagocubs]

How could I have forgotten?

Chicago is the home to my first major league baseball game...any guesses which one?

Saw my very first rock concerts in Chicago...saw Ted Nugent before he was big and Gordon Lightfoot.

First time seeing Chicago in concert.

First college-level classes were at Circle campus.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Chicago was the first place:

I stayed at a bar until a 5 a.m. closing time

Oh yeah, me too. I'd forgotten about that one.

Originally Posted by aragx6

Had a four-hour commute home during a snow storm that included a car, the metra, a couple of mile walk, an el ride and finally a taxi.

I once had a 3-hours-and-45-minutes commute home during a snowstorm, driving only. That was back when I worked in Hoffman Estates (lived in East Lakeview). For me it was driving only, though. I recall I was trapped in a one-mile stretch for a solid hour. What a nightmare.

[chrawnick]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Chicago was the first place:

I stayed at a bar until a 5 a.m. closing time

Found a prostitute and drug addict in my apartment basement

Had a four-hour commute home during a snow storm that included a car, the metra, a couple of mile walk, an el ride and finally a taxi.

I remember the first time I rode the el I thought to myself how much I felt like I was in line for the batman ride at Six Flags -- what a little suburbanite I was back in those days lol

Christ..........

[aragx6]

^It's, when I look back on it, a pretty hilarious story. I've probably told it before but:

I was carpooling with a friend out to our jobs in Lemont at that time but he had tickets to the Opera that night and had to leave early -- no biggie, I thought; I'll just hitch a ride to the metra and take that back in. By the time we left work, it took more than 30 minutes to get to the Lisle metra (the coworker from whom I got a ride lived right near there). It was snowing balls to the walls at that time.

An express train was scheduled to come, but problems with the tracks right behind us forced a delay of another 30+ minutes. They had to unload folks from a stuck train and get it off the tracks, so we had to run local instead.

If only I had just taken it to Union Station all would have been well, but here is where I made a tragic error: I thought, "To hell with this; I'll just get off at Western and take a cab home. BIG mistake -- and I knew it the moment I disembarked from the train. The roads were gridlocked in a way I'd never seen before.

I headed up to Roosevelt and then over to Damen and then Ashland, hoping one of them would be better, but I was walking faster than traffic and knew I'd need a better plan -- Wicker Park was too far to walk (I'm also in tennis shoes and there's a solid 7+ inches of snow on the ground at this point).

If, at first, I'd gotten off at the Western stop and then just headed down to the Western Pink Line stop, I would have been fine too, but by the time I realized all the roads were insane, I'd walked way too far to go back, and was even already past the Pink Line stop in the medical district (somehow I thought if I walked just one more block, traffic would ease, but no such luck) so I had to continue on to the Ashland and Lake stop. The snow made me so slow that I seriously walked for well more than an hour out there, I'm freezing, it's dark and I'm in a fairly lousy neighborhood.

Thankfully when I got downtown to transfer to the blue, there was no traffic left and I was able to take a cab home.

So I left work at 4 and didn't actually walk into my house until almst 8:30.

That was a tough day.

[A2DAC1985]

This happened a while ago, but it certainly warrants a "First" for me.

I was leaving work and heading to the train stop at Clark and Lake. I'm just trying to make it home, not really paying attention to what's going on until I hear some cab drivers laying on their horns.

I look up and see three (homeless, I assume) people, literally in the middle of the intersection, having a 2 vs 1 fist fight. The cabbies finally get their way after an incessant amount of honking and the men move out of the road.

But that's not the strange part. They all moved to the same exact corner and stood beside each other, not fighting, letting the cabs go through the intersection. The lights change, and the 3 guys go back into the intersection to pick up where they left off. At that point in time, I had my fill of bum fights and made my way to the station.

It was, not to throw around a cliche, surreal. It was like they were having a boxing match at rush hour, the cab drivers rang the "bell", they all went to the same corner until the next round started, then proceeded to fight like that's what the intersection was intended for.

My respect for homeless/bums has grown since that day. They may be on the lowest rung in society, but at least they kept an appreciation for and practiced sportsmanship.

[ChiGuy2.5]

1. First time I myself have been hit by a guy on bike while I was the walking pedestrian. I was okay, he wasn't so good though. My airport luggage took most of the blow and I found out later it was bent and broken.
2. First time I have ever witnessed a homeless person straight up talking to themselves.
3. First time I have ever witnessed a homeless person who has defecated themselves on the L.
4. First time dropping 5 stories in an elevator. My old office building in the loop was notorious for falling a few floors when you least expected it to.

There are a lot of firsts once I moved to the city, but the above are those that I feel are worth talking about.

[nidex]

First place I climbed a building being constructed- got all the way to the 51 story skydeck. The stairs stopped at the 30 something floor, and it was ladders the rest of the way up. Also went in the construction crane at the top. And smoked a blunt.
First place I saw hookers in mini skirts and boots on a 0 degree night in January.
First place I saw a crackhead dancing naked in the street with a cigarette in her mouth.
First (and only) place I got caught driving in excess of 120mph.
First place I saw a guy with tourettes talking to someone on the phone. It was hilarious.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

[A2DAC1985]

Today was the first time I saw the shell game in person. It was on the Red line.

I'm now out $3,500.

[jwaiter]

I had a 5 hour commute in a snow storm, all in my car. Rosemont to Orland Park.