(no subject)
Jun. 16th, 2009 05:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogI'm getting used to the new commute. I get the 5:51 train out of Kenosha, arriving at Ogilvie station at 7:30. From there I walk to the building I'm working in, which would have taken less time yesterday if I hadn't started out going the wrong direction. I'll probably get it right this time.
I left work about quarter to five to try to make the 5:05 train back north. Fortunately, I'd misremembered and it was a 5:10, which meant that I made it in time.
I largely napped on the way south yesterday, and read my three volume Fushigi Yugi compendium on the way back home. I seem to be having some trouble with Fushigi Yugi; It's a bit difficult to tell the characters apart. They look more similar to me than most manga characters do.
Speaking of such things, the place I'm sitting on Mondays and Tuesdays has me a little bit anxious. Those of us who are sharing a desk in this office are going to be rotating in and out of the one that's nearest the door to our office space. That means I'm going to be up front as people come with questions, and will probably be expected to recognize the people in the office. That's probably not going to happen. I'm going to wait and see how much of a problem this poses, but if it looks like it will be significant, I may finally have a talk with my manager to explain the issue. I don't know why that makes me so nervous, but it does.
The walk back to the station was kind of fun. I went with one of the other help desk guys on a bit of a shortcut route (which involved walking down a vehicle ramp in some other building's parking structure!). We also went by a very neat, out of service railroad draw bridge, now permanently raised up over the Chicago river. That bridge is now on my list of places to photograph; it's just beautiful! Maybe I'll stay 'til a later train some time and do some shutterbugging around Chicago.
The long day wiped me out yesterday. When I got home, I was exhausted. I microwaved a pizza (yes, we're having issues with our oven; fortunately![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
posicat explained an alternate method of pizza preparation to me some time ago), watched an episode of Clone High with moiracoon, and and went to bed around 8:30. I'm still a little tired this morning, but no more so than when I usually get up at 6:30 or so.
And on the life-experience side of things, I'm really grateful to now be able to say that I've commuted to work by train. It's an experience that's really novel to me, and I'm happy to add it to my collection of life lived.
This should save me at least a little money too. A ten-ride pass from Kenosha to Chicago is $59.95. At four rides per week, that comes to $23.98 a week. In gas, at three dollars a gallon, that's about 8 gallons a week. To get to work and back, I was driving 300 miles per week (sometimes less whenserinthia and I carpooled with her car) at about 30 miles per gallon. That comes to about ten gallons of gas a week. Plus, I'm saving maintenance costs on the car, which should add up significantly, if mostly invisibly. And the ratio will only get better as gas costs rise.
The train's just getting into Waukegan. An added bonus to this method of commuting is the ability to read, write, or sleep on the way. I like that. I think I'll end my entry here and either catch up on other people's lives, or take another nap.
I left work about quarter to five to try to make the 5:05 train back north. Fortunately, I'd misremembered and it was a 5:10, which meant that I made it in time.
I largely napped on the way south yesterday, and read my three volume Fushigi Yugi compendium on the way back home. I seem to be having some trouble with Fushigi Yugi; It's a bit difficult to tell the characters apart. They look more similar to me than most manga characters do.
Speaking of such things, the place I'm sitting on Mondays and Tuesdays has me a little bit anxious. Those of us who are sharing a desk in this office are going to be rotating in and out of the one that's nearest the door to our office space. That means I'm going to be up front as people come with questions, and will probably be expected to recognize the people in the office. That's probably not going to happen. I'm going to wait and see how much of a problem this poses, but if it looks like it will be significant, I may finally have a talk with my manager to explain the issue. I don't know why that makes me so nervous, but it does.
The walk back to the station was kind of fun. I went with one of the other help desk guys on a bit of a shortcut route (which involved walking down a vehicle ramp in some other building's parking structure!). We also went by a very neat, out of service railroad draw bridge, now permanently raised up over the Chicago river. That bridge is now on my list of places to photograph; it's just beautiful! Maybe I'll stay 'til a later train some time and do some shutterbugging around Chicago.
The long day wiped me out yesterday. When I got home, I was exhausted. I microwaved a pizza (yes, we're having issues with our oven; fortunately
posicat explained an alternate method of pizza preparation to me some time ago), watched an episode of Clone High with moiracoon, and and went to bed around 8:30. I'm still a little tired this morning, but no more so than when I usually get up at 6:30 or so. And on the life-experience side of things, I'm really grateful to now be able to say that I've commuted to work by train. It's an experience that's really novel to me, and I'm happy to add it to my collection of life lived.
This should save me at least a little money too. A ten-ride pass from Kenosha to Chicago is $59.95. At four rides per week, that comes to $23.98 a week. In gas, at three dollars a gallon, that's about 8 gallons a week. To get to work and back, I was driving 300 miles per week (sometimes less when
serinthia and I carpooled with her car) at about 30 miles per gallon. That comes to about ten gallons of gas a week. Plus, I'm saving maintenance costs on the car, which should add up significantly, if mostly invisibly. And the ratio will only get better as gas costs rise.The train's just getting into Waukegan. An added bonus to this method of commuting is the ability to read, write, or sleep on the way. I like that. I think I'll end my entry here and either catch up on other people's lives, or take another nap.
