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Post by lizdarcy on Oct 12, 2015 17:57:20 GMT -5
Even for someone not interested in living in a big city, Peoria may not be your happiest choice. Been there and done it many times.
Since those up for consideration in 2016 now know that they will not be able to transfer for 15 months, you might want to narrow your potential GAL and visit every city on it before you commit. Otherwise, you could end up in Peoria with no warning.
Commuting from Chicago to Milwaukee is like commuting from NYC to Philadelphia People do it, but not willingly or for long. Doing it every day is really tough. The Chicago commuter rail goes as far north as Crystal Lake IL (a town known very well in our family) which is a 90-minute trip.
The Gilbreths ("Cheaper by the Dozen") lived in Montclair, NJ.
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Post by christina on Oct 12, 2015 18:01:47 GMT -5
ok, next up for our city of the day includes the Chicago, particularly the Cook County, suburbs. i may have gotten started with wayne's world above and we also have some board input from people who actually know Chicago, but for those who wish to chime in, now is your chance!
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Post by gary on Oct 12, 2015 18:05:03 GMT -5
ok, next up for our city of the day includes the Chicago, particularly the Cook County, suburbs. i may have gotten started with wayne's world above and we also have some board input from people who actually know Chicago, but for those who wish to chime in, now is your chance! Beirut by the Lake. Chi-beria. Chi-raq.
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Post by christina on Oct 12, 2015 18:13:21 GMT -5
lizdarcy, that is some great advice! i learned a similar lesson the hard way a long time ago and ended up in a city i did not like much. To those in this adventure, living somewhere you don't like can drain the life out of you.
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Post by christina on Oct 12, 2015 18:21:04 GMT -5
www.wildonions.org/Neighborhoods-Suburbs.htmThis looks useful, it gets into all Chicagoland suburbs(i think). I will sign off and let those who know Chicago take it from here. Tomorrow, will be another Illinois city or cities, and perhaps may include the ever so popular Peoria and i nearly forgot to add a memorable Chicago legend so here goes!
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Post by lizdarcy on Oct 12, 2015 19:01:32 GMT -5
Does this town look familiar? www.kjmultisport.com/woodstockevent.htmlWoodstock, Illinois is the town where Groundhog Day was filmed. It boasts the Woodstock Opera House, the Dick Tracy Museum and the jail where Eugene V. Debs was held before his trial in Chicago. McHenry County is a good place for a family to live. The Crystal Lake Montessori School (actually located in Woodstock) is excellent and known throughout the country. You can get to Chicago on the METRA. When I first saw it, 15 years ago, McHenry was almost entirely rural. Now it is full of bedroom communities for Chicago commuters and lots of shopping. I miss the cows and corn.
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Post by mamaru on Oct 12, 2015 23:18:59 GMT -5
I agree with lizdarcy about the Chicago/Milwaukee commute. Most people who commute from Chicago to Milwaukee do not do it willingly. My Chicago friends who do it have done it to take jobs that represented career offers they could not refuse, but they did not want to disrupt their families who were thriving professionally and/or doing well in school in Chicago. They use the Amtrak, which shoots directly out of Union station with only one or two stops en route so it makes pretty good time. Their experience tells me it's doable, but I really don't think you should accept an offer in Milwaukee because you want to live in Chicago. You need to be OK with Milwaukee and enjoy Chicago as a visitor.
The Steve Martin movie is set in the Midwest - it's very loosely based on the original book, "Cheaper by the Dozen." About the only thing in common is the size of the families.
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Post by christina on Oct 13, 2015 5:55:53 GMT -5
question, not for me but generally. it sounds like a couple/family could live in between Chicago and Milwaukee if needed so one parent could have an easier commute to Milwaukee while everyone else was in a decent northern Chicago suburb? or if one spouse worked in Chicago and one in Milwaukee, you could live in between the 2 and that is doable although far from ideal? do the trains that connect the 2 major cities have an express that makes maybe one or 2 stops in between?
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Post by christina on Oct 13, 2015 6:08:46 GMT -5
And to all, our next city of the day is Evansville, Indiana. in looking over the Illinois cities, the only one left is Peoria, which we have adequately covered so let's move onto Indiana cities. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evansville,_Indiana I'll start with Wikipedia link and look for local song artists later on today unless someone beats me to it. Evansville is about as south as one can get in Indiana and is actually south of St. Louis, Missouri and Louisville, Ky. i believe it is right on the Ohio river and i know there are several universities there, including one with a highly regarded theater program so for those who wish to attend a show, there are options! in peeking at Wikipedia, looks like it still can pretty cold in the winter... For those who know more about what appears to be a lovely town/area, please post! Thanks!
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Post by numbersix on Oct 13, 2015 6:37:32 GMT -5
Jumping back to Fort Wayne, I have to share (because I care about you guys!) that unless you are married with children and love long and difficult winters, or are actually from Fort Wayne, I do not think you would enjoy living there. Admittedly, it has a great state university and some really nice people. But, people from there stay there so it's not easy to connect as it is in places where there are new people coming and going all the time.
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Post by christina on Oct 13, 2015 6:53:31 GMT -5
Thanks numbersix! Good advice!
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Post by christina on Oct 13, 2015 7:10:16 GMT -5
All right, Neal Doughty from REO(keyboard player) is from Evansville and i am hoping he was at the time of the above video. if so, at about 2 minutes in above video, there is a nice keyboard solo. Enjoy!!
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Post by quesera on Oct 13, 2015 7:15:02 GMT -5
Back to the Chicago suburbs, it looks like Woodstock and other far suburbs are about a 90 minute commute from Chicago city center. Yikes! For those of us with children who don't wish to be in child care 12 hours a day, where in Chicagoland is there a reasonably affordable community with decent schools and reasonable commute to one of the hearing offices?
I had an aunt who lived in Evanston many years ago and it was really nice as I remember with the university town vice, but expensive, I assume.
So, that begs the question, what are the transfer waiting lists like for all cities and how do I get my hands on a copy? If, say, Evanston has a long list, I won't bother doing any research there.
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Post by christina on Oct 13, 2015 8:13:57 GMT -5
there is a September transfer list in the polling section, not the most up to the minute but it will give you an idea. feel free to pm me if you are looking for above settings outside of Chicago area. i might have some insights there.
do you want to live in/near a big city or would you be ok with small or medium city? better options for commute/affordability in the smaller areas imo.
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Post by yellowbird on Oct 13, 2015 9:20:04 GMT -5
I've lived in both Valparaiso and Fort Wayne. I am not familiar with the SSA office, but generally, many people commute from Valpo to Chicago, and there is a commuter train that runs daily to downtown. It is an hour commute each way, and fairly reasonably priced (especially when you consider the tolls that you are saving by not driving).
Fort Wayne has a small town feel even though it is one of the larger cities in Indiana. It has a minor league baseball team (Tincaps), many parks, various festivals, decent medical care (including multiple hospitals), and is known as the "city of churches."
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Post by mamaru on Oct 13, 2015 10:09:01 GMT -5
question, not for me but generally. it sounds like a couple/family could live in between Chicago and Milwaukee if needed so one parent could have an easier commute to Milwaukee while everyone else was in a decent northern Chicago suburb? or if one spouse worked in Chicago and one in Milwaukee, you could live in between the 2 and that is doable although far from ideal? do the trains that connect the 2 major cities have an express that makes maybe one or 2 stops in between? Christina, as lizdarcy pointed out, there is pretty much continuous urbanization between Chicago and Milwaukee so there are lots of options, including small towns, burbs and small cities, such as Kenosha. I think it depends so much on individual circumstances that it's difficult to speculate. Many people with kids in school prefer to have the family home near one of the jobs rather than in the middle so that if there's an emergency at school or bad weather or whatever, at least one of the parents is close to the kids - but that's totally a family choice. Not knowing about traffic, I have no idea what the car commute would be. It's my understanding the Amtrak makes only a couple of stops but that the commuter line lizdarcy referred to makes lots of stops, it just doesn't go all the way to Milwaukee. If anybody wants to check out the train schedules, they are on line. And the internet also has a wealth of information about the communities between the cities and commutes if somebody is seriously interested in adding Milwaukee to their GAL, should the opportunity present itself.
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Post by wingnut on Oct 13, 2015 15:37:07 GMT -5
My friend asked about the process today and I mentioned that Peoria was singled out as a less-than-desirable place to live. He said Peoria wasn't that bad; he lived there once. He said it is hot in summer, freezing cold in winter, and there are tornadoes "because it is so flat." He said I could live on the outskirts of town if I wanted, "you know, in the corn." He was dead serious. Luckily he couldn't see my face because we were on the phone as I was trying hard not to laugh. I don't think he should go into sales.
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Post by christina on Oct 13, 2015 15:52:56 GMT -5
My friend asked about the process today and I mentioned that Peoria was singled out as a less-than-desirable place to live. He said Peoria wasn't that bad; he lived there once. He said it is hot in summer, freezing cold in winter, and there are tornadoes "because it is so flat." He said I could live on the outskirts of town if I wanted, "you know, in the corn." He was dead serious. Luckily he couldn't see my face because we were on the phone as I was trying hard not to laugh. I don't think he should go into sales. that is great
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Post by christina on Oct 14, 2015 8:35:13 GMT -5
City of the day is ft Wayne Indiana. We have touched on the city already but today is its official day!
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Post by christina on Oct 14, 2015 10:14:27 GMT -5
I've lived in both Valparaiso and Fort Wayne. I am not familiar with the SSA office, but generally, many people commute from Valpo to Chicago, and there is a commuter train that runs daily to downtown. It is an hour commute each way, and fairly reasonably priced (especially when you consider the tolls that you are saving by not driving). Fort Wayne has a small town feel even though it is one of the larger cities in Indiana. It has a minor league baseball team (Tincaps), many parks, various festivals, decent medical care (including multiple hospitals), and is known as the "city of churches."
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