Where's George Hits the Rails

Some of my fellow 'Georgers' do an annual Amtrak trip from NY to California. This year's trip featured a layover in Chicago, so I decided to meet with them.

Turns out, before they left Penn Station in NYC, a few of the folks I would meet were interviewed about the hobby by NPR:

When you hear the words "social network" you probably think of Facebook or Twitter. But years before either of those websites — when most of us weren't using the Internet at all — a smaller, stranger community was emerging around something called WheresGeorge.com, a 15-year-old subculture that's dedicated to the $1 bill.

At Kabooz's Bar and Grill at New York's Penn Station, Jennifer Fishinger is covering her table in stacks of ones. There are 500 $1 bills laid out.

At the next table over, David Henry has his stacks of cash in plastic bags. They're paper-clipped $1 bills in groups of 10.

Not just the $1 bill. I get some grief at home that there should be a Where's Abe? site for $5s, etc. Sorry, that's not my call.

We ended up at Giordano's Pizza, home of one of the True Chicago Style Pizzas, and David had a little ambivalence going in, as a New Yorker with pride in his local pizzas. Turned out he really enjoyed the stuffed pizza, and was a little sheepish in admitting he enjoyed it more than NY's thin crust offerings.

Good fun, good people. Be sure to check out the video attached to the NPR article. Most fascinating to consider the flow of money as relates to human movement. I can tell you from my own county hit map- the money moves along the Interstate Highways. Now, if considering epidemics in the future and how we can expect them to spread, yes, I would consider getting away from a county with an Interstate in it. Naturally, I live within two miles of an Interstate exit.

Best Protests Money Can Buy

If I ever open a chain of businesses, I think I'll take a controversial stance on something as fast as possible. Chick-Fil-A has two lines running long today: the protest lines, and the drive-thru's. From CNN:

Former GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum encouraged people to show their support for Chick-fil-A by buying food there Wednesday. Huckabee dubbed the day "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" and touted in his TV and radio shows and online.

Over 550,000 visitors to Huckabee's event page on Facebook have responded that they will participate. The action enjoys the support of the Rev. Billy Graham.

Proponents of same-sex marriage have organized a simple counterprotest for Wednesday, asking people to donate the approximate cost of a Chick-fil-A meal, about $6.50, to gay and lesbian rights groups, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

I've never eaten at Chick-Fil-A in my life. I'm not in any hurry to start. But I can't help but notice how it's been more free advertising for a business than I've seen in a long time.

The dialogue is all good, far as I'm concerned. The only real danger is when cities like Boston or Chicago threaten to either not approve future expansions in their cities, or threaten to ban them outright. It's one thing for individuals to act upon their consciences, but quite another for municipal governments. There's no such thing as a collective conscience- or if there is, there is no such thing as individual freedom of speech.

Update: The Indy Star (yeah, yeah) covered the long lines at Chick-Fil-A stores around the central Indiana region.

Off To St. Louis

Kinda strange going back to St. Louis today, just over a week after having vacationed there with the family. But today I go back alone. Today is Game 2 of the NHL playoff series between the San Jose Sharks and the St. Louis Blues.

It's tough being a Sharks fan some 1,500 miles away from San Jose, but Indy is somewhat favorably situated between five NHL cities- Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, Nashville, and St. Louis. The longest drive is to Nashville, at just over 5 hours.

I'm hoping my luck holds out. The past two seasons, I went to playoff games in Detroit, and in both cases the Sharks won the games, both in OT, both by a 4-3 score. You can't expect to have your team win a majority of the games on the road, especially in the playoffs. I saw a playoff loss in Nashville 4 years ago. This will be my first playoff game in St Louis.

It will be interesting to see how the crowd is. Nashville was definitely more hostile than Detroit. Red Wings fans have drawn the comparison to fans of the Atlanta Braves, and I agree. The fans are used to their team making the playoffs, and they don't get caught up in crazed, irrational hatred if your team takes out theirs. In fact, they were somewhat playful with me.The Red Wings fan behind me held his sign too near to my head such that I finally said, "Okay pal, let me see your sign". He showed me and the whole section burst out laughing. I had to get a picture.

Yes- that is a 1991-92 Doug Wilson jersey I'm wearing. Anyhow, time to hit the road!

Photocopies = Housing Fund?

Stuff like this drives me crazy.

In my work, I often have to get copies of the deeds and easements of record that encumber a property. My current project is an acquisition of easements on 39 parcels on a run in Lorain County, Ohio. I get these documents because they detail any potential conflicts for the areas of land I am trying to gain rights to.

I'm a captive audience. I have to pay the fee, whatever it is, because I need the information.

In my home state of Indiana, copies are $1/page for deeds. In Ohio? They are $2/page.

Does it intrinsically cost more to make a copy in Ohio than in Indiana? Of course not. Look at the itemization on the receipt:

That extra dollar goes into something called the 'Ohio Housing Trust Fund'. Well, isn't that nice. Here I am, coming to get documents, not even an Ohio resident, and I am taxed to pay for someone's housing in Ohio. If this isn't taxation without representation, I don't know what is.

I guess I can console myself in the knowledge that Cook County Illinois (Chicago) charges $10/page. Yes, that's right 1-0, ten dollars per page. It used to be $50! No kidding. Apparently, Cook County figured out that for that money, you'll go to the title companies for copies, since they have extensive files in-house. The heavens only know what that money is going towards there. But to record a document in Cook County, they nail on a $10 fee for support of rental housing. Anything these governments can do to redistribute wealth, they will do.

I can also console myself that I am reimbursed on this cost. So, get off it, right? Well, that cost is passed on to my client, a utility, who will then pass the cost on to you, the consumer. This is about as hidden a tax as I can think of. It will never show up on any balance sheet. So many ways the state finds to make doing business more expensive- for a good cause, sure- but more expensive all the same.

Gas Prices & Chicago Taxes

(Valparaiso, IN)- It's been interesting to note gas prices over the past two weeks, as they've been dropping. One thing that remains is that there is a huge difference between what you pay in Chicago and anywhere else. Here's what I've observed, and what I've paid for regular unleaded in the past two weeks:

9/18, Chicago: $4.60/gallon

9/21, Fishers, IN: $3.69/gal

9/22, Rock Island, IL: $3.74/gal

9/23, Prairie du Chien, WI: $3.56/gal

9/24, Viborg, SD: $3.29/gal

9/25, Western Nebraska: $3.14/gal

9/26, St. Louis, MO: $3.39/gal

9/27, Fishers, IN: $3.53/gal

10/1, Fishers, IN: $3.39/gal

10/4, Fishers, IN: $3.24/gal

10/5, Lebanon, IN: $3.18/gal

10/6, Joliet, IL: $3.79/gal

10/7, Blue Island, IL: $3.78/gal

10/7, Valparaiso, IN: $3.39/gal

Chicago and the adjacent small towns & cities are consistently 60 cents a gallon higher. I make it a point NEVER to buy gas in the Chicago area. Fill up by Merrillville at the latest when going up I-65, as a rule.

Cost of living is certainly one difference to explain it. I imagine taxes are another. What I can't explain is why Chicagoans are good with it.

Update: Three more prices to report from last night:

10/8, Joliet, IL: $3.79

10/8, Gary, IN: $3.36

10/8, Lebanon, IN: $3.07

Really- Why do Chicagoland residents accept being gouged so? It isn't merely on gas prices, but on all prices. I bought in Gary on the drive back. I ran the tank down pretty low to get the heck out of Illinois. At 43 cents/gal difference, on a 12-gallon fill-up, I saved $5.16. Imagine how many times per day this decision is made, and how the Illinois economy suffers, and the Indiana economy benefits accordingly.

Chicago Again

We go where the work is, and for the next couple days, the work is in Chicago. I'll be in the western part of the city, right next to Oak Park, and then up north to Woodstock, in McHenry County. I'm really looking forward to another great lunch at the restaurant in the old jail at Woodstock. The last one was fantastic, with a pot of roasted root vegetables that was amazing.

Speaking of vegetables, here are some pics of the garden.

From left: sunflowers, seet basil, cilantro, simpson leaf lettuce, and two rosemary plants hidden in there.

We kept the bunnies out this year. This pic goes back 3 weeks. Amazing how fast it takes off!

Three weeks of rapid growth. I may tire of salad soon.

Picked three perfect cucumbers today. There will be about 50 more in three days.

Time Woes

(Marco Island, FL) I've been wanting to comment on the time zone issues facing Indiana for a while, but it seemed like petty nonsense most of the time. It still is, but here's the two cents anyhow.

There are some who clamor for a statewide switch to Central Time. To them I say, please just move one state west. Not only do I strongly prefer Eastern Time, I'd be even happier if Eastern Time occurred one hour earlier than it currently does.

I've been working in the Chicago suburbs for the better part of the last month. Now that DST has ended, dusk begins around 4:30pm, and sunset happens at 5:15! It seems like endless night time, especially to someone who is doing outdoor work on projects that pay by the job rather than the hour, and would dearly love to continue field work beyond a mere 10-hour span. How great Summer EDST was, working outdoors until 9pm! Now I'm vacationing in Florida, far to the east of the eastern time zone, and the sunsets come around 6pm. It's crazy early! I'm not ready to get off the beach yet!

I can understand those in NW Indiana wanting to be linked with Chicago time, what with the obvious business links and the convenience of knowing what time your favorite TV shows will air on the Chicago stations. Apart from that? Darkness before evening? Hermits may not care, but those of us working outside would like to finish the day with natural lighting, thank you very much.

I was always chucking at the opponents of DST who argued against it on the basis that mornings were dark, leaving kids waiting for buses in the scary darkness. Well, where are the complaints about kids arriving home from school in the dark?

Here's the business argument for Eastern Time:

New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Baltimore, Atlanta, Miami, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toronto, Montreal, Detroit.. to say nothing of Buffalo, Rochester, Cincinnati, Columbus, Newark, etc.

Compare that list and the populations there with the list of Central Time cities:

Chicago, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Memphis, Kansas City... with places like Tulsa, Omaha, and Birmingham.

It's really no contest from this standpoint. In fact, Central Time is downright foolish in these terms. But at the end of the day, most arguments are purely subjective- just as my main argument is. I'm not a morning person, and I like daylight late into the day. Morning people seem to complain the most about the recent institution of DST in Indiana. But if you are going to be objective and make a business oriented argument, look no further than the lists of the cities within the zones. Let NW Indiana associate with Chicago, but the rest of the state really belongs on EST.