Splooshin'

[mamagotcha]

Splooshin'
Originally uploaded by mamagotcha.

We're taking a break from tearing around Chicagoland to enjoy the rays
at Foster Beach, possibly meeting up with some local homeschoolers in
the process. Gorgeous weather.

Looked at maybe 8 or 10 places yesterday. I'd love to do one of these
snazzy condos, but drums and dog will require a house, I think. Too bad,
because in our price range, we won't be living near anything very
walkable. And it will make Bill's commute significantly longer. I wonder
how much commuting is gonna cost, hadn't thought of that.

Got boys some Giodano's pizza last night... was hailed on Yelp as
transcendent but it was only eh. I'm seeing a LOT of different
ethnicities represented in little mom-n-pop places all over. Not so much
urban decay and boarded up places, but I might be missing those
neighborhoods.

Still no "I wanna live HERE" moments, but we're still hoping to narrow
down our option on this trip.

Drove by DePaul, looks like a nice place!

Comments

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm totally out of the loop. Did Bill get something in the Chicago area?

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

Ah. I has now seen your Flickr feed, with the info. Huzzay!

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

Odd... you should be on my LJ friendslist, and I know it was trumpeted there. When I'm back at a laptop, I'll double check your status. You definitely qualify as friend!

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

Well, I just looked and one f'locked post of yours *is* showing for me, fwiw. ("A pretty kettle of fish") If there were more, colored me baffled.

[1firefly.livejournal.com]

SUNSCREEN!! Glad to hear your having a good time.

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

We bought some on the way in to the beach. It was a little windy, and the combo of water, oild and sand has created a layer of grit all over us. I can't wait to get into a shower!

Hope your preparations for Alaska are going well!

[via-lens.livejournal.com]

Please do consider fuel costs (not just based on mileage, but also the idling done in rush hour traffic) and time costs (see infra re rush hour traffic) when you decide how much you can spend for housing. I know that I'm a little bit obsessive about trying to drive as little as possible, but another consideration would be whether it's a bike-able commute. In areas with significant rush hour delays, having a route that can be ridden on a bike might actually mean less time spent commuting in addition to the reduced costs. (It takes me the same amount of time to ride my bike 17 miles on trail from Redmond to Lake Forest Park that it takes to drive 24 miles on highways between the same two points during rush hour.)

When we first moved back to WA, we each had a 64-mile roundtrip commute daily. That meant we were putting 128 miles on our vehicles per workday. I sat down and calculated how much more I could spend on rent if I lived close to work. Here's how I did it (using today's numbers) --

Federal mileage rates are $0.55/mile, which is supposed to take into consideration fuel costs plus vehicle maintenance costs. It's a good way to think about what commuting costs monetarily (putting aside time for a moment). If I live 30 miles from work, each day I work costs $33. Assuming 20 days a month at work, that's $660/mo. Best case scenario, I wanted to find someplace where I could walk, bike, or ride the bus (which I did), meaning I could safely assume I had $600/mo more to spend than I was spending in Federal Way. If you live someplace where the alternate commute is only possible in favorable weather (you can bike, but not take the bus), then you should only figure you have the monthly commute cost available during those favorable-weather months.

Anyway, you can see how commute costs really do add up, and can drastically change what you think realistic rent rates would be.

I've actually been to Foster Beach! I loved that place.

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

Since we are down to one car, he has to do public transportation (I'll be doing kid-schlepping and shopping; Costco runs are pretty much car-only).... Metra commute train, buses, and/or the El (light rail? in any case, a smaller train than the Metra). I'm confining the search to as short a trip as possible, with as short a walk as possible to whatever stop or station he needs. Many people live car-free here... you have big garage fees with the condos, for example, if you have a car. So when I said commute costs, I meant public tranportation.

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

I visited Chicago just the once, but I used more than one kind of transit, so this might be correct: the El is light rail, equivalent to BART, called that b/c it's ELevated. There are commuter trains that sure do look like real trains, equivalent to Caltrain, which might be the Metra.

(When I rode the commuter train out to visit Bean's aunt etc for dinner, it was *very* different from being at home. Every Single Person was dressed up in business clothes. I was the only person I could see in a black leather jacket. That would *not* be true on BART in downtown SF.)

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Is Clay the one in the bikini? :P

[lunacow]

I have been meaning to alert you about the Harry Potter exibit that's currently running in Chicago (though perhaps you already know). It's there until late September, so it will still be there when you move, but if you're looking for something to do this week...

http://www.harrypotterexhibition.com/

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

Very cool, thanks so much! No, I hadn't found it... there's a big "Pirates!" banner on the Natural Science museum, though, and the boys have been lobbying to see that. I think today will be more house-hunting, though, with a visit to Millennium Park and then a homeschooler's trapeze performance.