March 31, 1998: Subleasing & New Apartment

It was a hard day for me today, as I was so nervous about finding someone to sublease my apartment.    I paid the management of Dearborn Plaza $200 to help me find a tenant.  It was a cute apartment, but only 325 sq. feet.  I wanted to have a roommate to hang out with.     I learned so many lessons with making this decision to move.     I was worried about coming up with $1100 on the new apartment up near Wrigleyville.  I know that God didn't give me more than I could handle.   
I put in ads in the Chicago Reader and newspaper.   A guy named Matt Peters came to look at my apartment to sublease and said it would be perfect.   I was so relieved.

After work, I went to my old apartment on Dearborn to pick up some things to move to my new apartment at 905 W. Cornelia, Apt. E.   It was just 1 block south of the Addison 'El' stop.   My roommate was Katy Kiech, whom I met in my bible study. 

March 14, 1998: Metra & St. Partrics Day Parade

Deyoung took us around Arlington Heights, Elk Grove Village, and Schaumburg.   We stopped at this Japanese grocery store in Arlington Heights.    I never realized the books in Japanese opened up on the left side and you read from the back pages.    Then, we drove around the forest preserve and got to see where AC Nielsen was located. They were a competitor of Information Resources.  We stopped at a Dominicks store. It was beautiful inside.  It had a Starbucks with a fireplace and couches.    It wasn't your typical grocery store.

Took the Metra back to Union Station in Chicago.     On my walk home down Dearborn St, I got to see a good portion of the St. Patrick's Day Parade.   They dyed the Chicago River green, which was a tradition for St. Patrick's Day.  

Nina Ganesh invited me to her friend Betty's engagement party.    I took the El up to the Granville stop and walked over to Sheridan.  Betty lived at 6121 Sheridan Rd, Apt. 2E.    Betty had bought her fiance a 32 inch TV for an engagement present so all of their friends from Northwestern University were playing video games on it.   Betty and her fiance Steve dated for 6 years before becoming engaged.  I took the bus home at 1 a.m. There were some strange people on it.    I was nervous walking alone home that late.

March 13, 1998: Metra Train to Bensenville

I took my first Metra train to the suburb of Bensenville to visit my friend Deyoung.  He lived in Elk Grove Village.   I sat on the 2nd floor of the train. It only took about 30 minutes to get there.   Met Deyoung and his friend at the train station and we had dinner at this Chinese restaurant.    Deyoung tried to set me up with his friend, Sal, who was doing his residency for medical school through UIC.     My co-worker, Wayne, was turning 25 today and going to see the Megadeth concert at the Ballroom tonight.