In the loop in the Loop

It's been one week since I started work, and my worst fears (e.g. being asked arcane econometrics questions point-blank) did not materialize. The senior economists in my group have been quite helpful, and the other AEs my age have turned out to be pretty cool kids. (There weren't pre-formed cliques! No one made fun of the color of my Trapper-Keeper!) And after a week on the job, I have abandoned all pretense of wearing "business casual" to work and gone back to my usual khakis instead. My aunt will be so disappointed.

Friday night, I was hanging out with some Fed kids at a happy hour of sorts, and heard that someone was throwing a (studio apt) house party later that evening. My initial reaction was: 1) I don't know if I'm in the mood for a party, 2) er, was my last house party dilj's Chinese New Year party? In February? 3) damn, I sucked at being college, 4) never mind, I need to bike home in traffic so forget drinking.

I spent the bulk of the next day apartment hunting with Katherine, who is currently squatting at some friend of the family's house. After seeing closet-size "bedrooms" and being told that the nearest "grocery store" was a CVS, we decided to give David's house a shot. Whistles*, the place had a beautiful open kitchen (let's be serious, it's the most important room in the house) and a roof-top patio. Afterwards, we grabbed tacos at a tacqueria joint around the corner and set off on a walking tour of Ukrainian Village led by David. This was probably the most informative thing I've done in Chicago, a great insider look at a neighborhood. I'm probably a little jealous that I can't move into this house.


Final thought: regardless of what the locals say, the Manhattan street numbering system is better than that of any other city I've seen. Yes, Chicago has a grid system, is a planned city, etc. but the way the addresses are constructed, you only know one coordinate (x or y) at a time. Washington's street system has too many spokes and similar-sounding street names (the alphabet?), while Boston doesn't have any system to speak of. I like the idea of actual street names, which are used here for most streets, but there's something to be said for the simplicity and immediate comprehensibility of numbered streets.