[Quick reminder about this countdown ... in 24 calendar days, my position is being eliminated at my job, and so I'm looking back through my files, mental or otherwise, representing nearly 11 years with the company ...]
#24: When I started back in March of 2004 (after responding to a classified ad in the local Sunday paper [*that's* how old I am!]), I was only two and a half years into my time in Chitown, and so "working in the suburbs" seemed very very doable, especially with the prevalence of public transportation.
However, what started as a half hour daily ride on the Metra and a PACE bus and a short walk to our Schaumburg site, quickly turned into a trip on the el (the Blue Line to Harlem [pictured above]), followed by a CTA bus to the Woodfield Mall, followed by a taxi ride over to the center location -- a commute that could easily be two hours each way most days. And don't get me started on the evening trip back home, when I waited in the suburb bus terminal in the cold for the last bus to leave for the night.
Is it any wonder that, as soon as a job in the city became available, I jumped at the chance to transfer to run that center (where I spent the most of my company time)? Although I did manage to perfect the art of sleeping on public transportation, trusting my body to know when it was my stop, and wrapping the handle of my messenger bag tightly around my wrist so no one could snag it from me. Speaking of which, maybe I should go add that to the skills section of my resume, no?
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