10 Things I’ve Learned After a Month in Chicago

[note:  This is a post that I started after my month in Chicago, May '09.  I thought I'd posted it already, but apparently I hadn't]

The bus system here is better than the train system.

Chicago is not so much with the independent coffeehouses.  Mostly Starbucks, some Caribou.

I don’t walk enough.

BYOB Restaurants:  They sound exactly like what they are.  Go to the liquor store, buy your favorite booze, and bring it in to the restaurant to have with your meal.  I’ve even have servers suggest that I go to the store even after I’ve sat down.  I don’t really know why since I’m not buying from them and thus will not be tipping them any better.  People here really like to drink.

People think Minneapolis is cold.  But since I’ve been here, the amount of rainy, cold, windy days make me miss the warm Minneapolis weather.

There are  flowers that smell like semen.  They line the entryway to my bldg.

It seems as though people here are more apt to just strike up a conversation with a stranger.  It makes a bigger city seem a bit warmer than the standoffish Twin Cities.

Even though people say that it rains a lot in Seattle, it really doesn’t rain the way it rains in the midwest.  Apparently in Seattle, it’s more of a mist.  According to another cast member who’s from Seattle, “This is CRAZY!”

You can’t find a Totino’s Party Pizza in any grocery store (at least not in the ones I’ve been in).  Pizza Rolls, yes.  I think Chicagoans have a snobbery about their deep dish.

True Cubs fans don’t need the jersey, hat and accompanying paraphernalia.  True Cubs fans are there to watch the game.  If you’re there to get wasted with your buddies, you’re just a fan of beer.