Some Times Green ain't Easy

Last spring when I took an inside job I was looking forward to doing some of my commuting via bicycle or mass transit.

I live in the busy North West suburbs and work in one of the South West suburbs. The second busiest freeway route is the one that connects the two parts of the metro. So you think that would make it easy to find bike or bus routes, right?

Guess again. I found out you could not get there from here, unless you drove you doubled your distance and at least tripled your time.

The Metropolitan Transit District seems to think everything needs to run through down town, even if you do not want to. All the bus routes, the new light rail and even the bike trails are oriented to running through down town. I really do not want to ride busy streets in the Ghetto to get to work which is what MTD is trying get me to do....or make me take a 2.5 hour bus ride with 3 changes to replace a 25 minute commute....uh uh...NO WAY

Thank goodness there is hope on the horizon. Last October a non profit site, Cyclopath, went on line and its goal is to find decent bike routes around the metro. I now have a 23 mile route to work that keeps me on fairly safe streets and out of bad neighborhoods.

Sadly, it came to late to be of help this year. Today the high was -3F. We have some tough local bike commuters but I am not THAT tough, so I am thinking spring thoughts.

Ride On!

Gloom and Doom?

I just don't know. No question the situation is ugly.

I have been on the new job for 8 months now. I really enjoy what I am doing and I know I am making a significant contribution. In a $2 MM company I am the only person that does what I do. We just finished a very solid quarter. So you think everything would be great?

Wrong. I work within another group that has a "downstream" function from what I do. There are 6 of them and last Friday 2 of them were laid off. The company has taken the attitude they need to restructure before the numbers go bad.

Great proactive thinking, right?

I just don't know. No question the situation is ugly.

By the time any one notices we are in a recession, we are half way through it. Can it get THAT bad?

I just don't know. No question the situation is ugly.

*a small footnote of history, this iconic picture was taken about 10 miles from where I grew up