August 9-10, 1997: Camping with the Gonyos, Klees and Lawvers

Stopped at the deli at Plumbs and spoke with Lela, Cindy, and Kendra Kirk.    Then, I drove up to Sleeping Bear Dunes (Platte River) for the annual camping trip.      Skip, Jo, George, Marianne, Dawn, Joy, and I went to Beulah, Michigan, to look at the flea market and antique store.    Jo said Chad was doing well in Mexico, but didn't like students that were there drinking. He hung out with just a few people.    He didn't care for the host family he was staying with because they were not receptive.    Jase was sweeping parking lots.     Skip just bought a 7 yr old boat for $27,000.   We went to the Cherry Restaurant and got some pies.    Wendy was living and working up in Empire, Michigan at the time.  

Owen, Kim, Dawn, Joy, and I decided to go tubing. It cost us $55 for the 5 of us to go. We tied the tubes together and floated down the river. It was alot of fun. 

On Sunday, I went to church with Cheryl, Harold, and Dawn.     Dawn said she had been lazy lately and just coming home from work and watching TV

Her roommate moved out in October, so she liked having the apartment to herself.    

When I got back to Muskegon, Sarah Systema came for a visit.   I hated to leave, but had a 3 1/2 hour drive back to Chicago.   

July 31, 1997: Lilly Martinez Dunson/Bruce Willis

A new girl at work, Lilly Martinez and I went through the Metra station to the Amtrak station to get a ticket for my return trip to Kalamazoo on Sunday.    I happened to listen to the radio station, 100.3 that said Bruce Willis was filming his next movie, 'Simon' on the corner of Wacker and Wabash so I told everyone at work.   Josh Bulak said he liked Demi Moore.  Dave said he was going to check it out.    I called my friend, Shawn Young, who said she would roller blade down there and meet me at 5:30.  I was able to see Bruce Willis very well.   He was only about 50 ft. away from me.   The scene he was taping showed him in a brown leather jacket walking with a young boy in the movie.   

July 26, 1997: Venetian Festival

I went to the Venetian Festival downtown Chicago.    On my way there, it started to storm.  I had to wait under an awning on Michigan Ave.   I saw the boat parade.  All of the boats were decorated and got voted on.   They also did some fantastic fireworks, that echoed off the buildings.  It was great for people watching.  

July 25, 1997: Peter Schumacher

I met Peter Schumacher through Kim and Owen.  Peter and I walked down the aisle at Kim and Owen's wedding.      Anyway, last night, Peter came over for help on typing up a paper for school.  He came around 10:30 p.m.    We finally finished it in the early morning. He took me to breakfast in Greektown before work.      My supervisor, Yolanda Thomas, couldn't believe that I hadn't fallen asleep at my desk, as I hadn't slept since Wednesday night.     Also,  I went to the eye doctor today and had my eyes dilated and then went home.    I was exhausted.    I went to sleep at 6:30 p.m. and slept for 12 hours.   This was the first time I ever stayed awake for 24 hours straight and hopefully it would be the last time.

July 18-20, 1997: Mom and Charlene's Visit to Chicago

At Information Resources, we had flex time where we could work an extra hour Mon-Thurs each week and get every other Friday off, which was fantastic for when I had visitors and went back to Michigan.     

Today, I had a half day of work, as my Mom and Aunt Charlene were coming to visit me.    When I got home, I came to this beautiful plant sitting on my table from Grandpa, Grandma, and Charlene.   Mom brought me some magazines to read.    

We took the 'El' to Marshall Fields because I had a haircut appointment.   My mom bought a Coach purse.   It was raining and thundering outside.  I showed them around the Merchandise Mart.    Charlene was quite impressed with how well I was getting around the city in just the short time I had lived there.     We had dinner at the Thai restaurant on Huron and State.    I showed them the Cathedral on State St and around my neighborhood. 

On Saturday,  Charlene, Mom, and I walked down to Lake Michigan via the Division Street pedestrian way and walked around North Beach.

We walked around the Drake Hotel.   Then, we took the brown line up to the Armitage stop to the Sheffield Garden Walk.   We saw Charlene's brother-in-law, Eric; nephew, Brandon; and Eric's wife, Jenny.   We got to see Eric's first apartment building he owned.    Met Jenny's friend, Carol, who had been an extra in many films such as 'My Best Friend's Wedding".    They used to pay extras $100/day, but then when they started getting too many people, they paid only $45/day.    We got our faces painted.   

Took the 'El' back downtown and ran into a movie being made, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Downey Jr.  They changed the license plates on the cars in the background to New York City.    They changed the Chicago Board of Trade to the New York Board of Trade.    It was so cool seeing the extras dressed in suits and beginning to walk in the background.  They kept doing this scene over and over.  I stood right next to Tommy Lee Jones and tried to get an autograph.  A lady gave him a dollar to get his autograph and his response was that he doesn't take US currency.   I didn't think he was very friendly at all.    Charlene managed to get a good close up picture of Tommy Lee Jones, though.         We had dinner at Portillos.   

On Sunday, Mom, Charlene, and I went to church at Park Community Church in Lincoln Park.    The pastor said that you have to have a little conflict in any kind of relationship in order for it to strengthen.   He said not to stand alone and that often in our society, we are taught to be individuals, but each of us needs someone to help us out.    God is our #1 friend.  

Charlene and my mom really liked my church.  They said it was so fun to see so many young people going to church.    

We had breakfast at West Egg Omelette on State Street, near my apartment.  We had lunch at Maggianos restaurant on Clark Street.

Charlene's  nephew, Brandon, and his mom, Liz, came to my apartment for a visit.  It was sad to see my mom and aunt go back to Michigan, as I had such a fun time with them this weekend.

May 1997: First Full-Time Job at Information Resources

I was so excited that I had a full-time job lined up when I got my diploma.   I moved to Chicago a week after graduation from Western Michigan University and started my new job as a Retail Database Specialist.     My work station was next to Yolanda Thomas and Tony Dragel.          I took the 'El' to work.       I was so nervous about switching trains, but was so glad I had taken the route a few days before to make sure I had it down.    

Information Resources was located at 150 N. Clinton in downtown Chicago.     It was near the Metra Station.  

The original members of my team were:  Chris Blackwell, Yolanda Thomas, Tony Dragel, Wayne Onak, Jeanette Walls, Dave, and Alison Basista. A few months later Josh Bulak and Lilly Martinez joined the group.      Then, Jennifer and Ed Slivinskas started in our department.    Bryan Kerr, Don, Liz, Joe Idstein , Ceylon Hayes, and Crystal Cooper were the last members to begin in our group. Right before I left, Ian Stevens and Darren Hobson were transferred into our group, along with several others.    

This was the best group of people to work with.  We had so much fun together after work.    We went out for lunches to celebrate birthdays and went out occasionally after work.      

My position was to work on running reports and fixing the data for different grocery store item categories.  Each of us had a group of retailer accounts that we worked on.    We had to use the Unix system to run the reports.     On the weekends, we were on a rotational schedule and were responsible for monitoring the systems.   There were some weekends where I would spend 8 hours on Saturdays and 4 hours on Sundays working.     We didn't get paid for the weekend work, as we were salaried.  Some time later, we got paid a small amount for our weekend work which was really nice.

Our company had flex schedules, as well as every other Friday off, if we put in an extra hour Monday-Thursday each week.  I was on that schedule which was so nice for me, as I took the train home many weekends over the 4 years that I worked in Chicago.      

May 1, 1997: Moving to Chicago

My goal was to have a full-time job lined up when I got my diploma from Western Michigan University.   In fact, just a few days after graduation, I was packing up to move to Chicago.      My first full-time job was at Information Resources at 150 N. Clinton in Chicago.

My friends, Deyoung Yap and Fontrise, came with my Mom and I to Chicago a few weeks prior to look at apartments. I fell in love with the studio apartment at 1030 N. Dearborn.   I was on the 2nd floor in a 325 sq. ft apartment that had recently been renovated.      I paid $595/month.

My Mom and Aunt Charlene came to help me move in.  I was able to fill 2 cars full of my stuff.      When we got to my new apartment in Chicago, I had no furniture. I had to order a couch and kitchen table and chairs.     I had a small TV and my computer that I brought with me, along with my clothes.   

When we got to the apartment, we went inside and thought we had the wrong apartment as it looked so small.  We asked the lady at the front desk and she said that was the correct one.   I guess we had forgotten how small it was.       

The first night, Charlene, my  Mom and I slept on the hardwood floor which was so uncomfortable.  I bought a cheap swimming raft and slept on that for about the first 2 weeks I lived in Chicago.   

I will never forget my Mom and Charlene leaving to go home and here I was in this big city all alone.  I wanted to run after their car and go home.

I bought a couch at Jennifer Convertibles and had a major problem with the delivery.    The company stopped at my apartment, but no one was in the office, so they left after 5 minutes. Then, they wanted to charge me an additional delivery fee and I was so mad, so I cancelled the whole order. I ended up losing 20% of my money, which made me even more mad.    So, I went to Marshall Field's and ordered a creme colored sleeper sofa for about $600.     

The apartment complex turned off the heat on April 1st, so I had no heat in May.   My mom ended up having to ship my electric blanket to me so I would not freeze at night.      

I was so happy when Shawn Young, whom I met in college in Phi Chi Theta, called me about a week after moving to Chicago.   She was such a blessing.   Shawn and I hung out all the time in Chicago.  She only lived about a block away from me.   I know that God was watching over me.