I-go car sharing (Chicago)

Chicago streets are stop and go at rush hour and anyone who rides up and down the grid everyday knows this. I-go car-sharing, a Chicago non-profit company and alternative to "Zipcar", proves itself a sensible alternative. I attended a member event at their headquarters last night (I came with a member, but forgot to to get her the driving credit offered). They're launching a new reservation system, which for anyone that used it before knows that it lacked the function to show all times that the car was being reserved for a single day, which now shows a thumbnail image of the car as well as its reservation schedule. The CEO was present to demonstrate the new website features which also include a built in message/e-mail feature that users can use to inform I-go of any problems with the vehicle before or after use. Of course accidents should they occur are still best reported via the emergency phone number in each car. Finally, in addition to the website which launches April 1st, I-go will also be acquiring new vehicles including some gasoline-electric hybrids.
The only question that I hadn't remembered to ask was this: although reserving a car through I-go usually requires that it be returned the same spot at the end of use, would a system that allowed the user to park the car in a different location in the city be a possible addition to the flexibility of reservations? Granted, that possibility might complicate the reservation system if a there wasn't a car available in a specific location, but if a few cars were specially designated as flexible parking vehicles the option might be still be feasible.
I have used I-go for very few number of trips so far, but Chicago winters are cold so that it is almost a necessity during harsher conditions to have some way of getting to the supermarket. Renting a car versus Car-pooling/car-sharing are up for debate but car-sharing definitely has the advantage when you only need the car for an hour and the nearest rental place is not easily accessible.
I dropped a resume off with the secretary as I left, but certainly need to follow-up with this company because it has sparked my interest in these uncertain times. Far away is the prospect of ever owning a vehicle for me, but working for a car-sharing service might have obvious benefits.

Note: the event was invite only but tonight will be the followup event downtown at an Italian Restaurant in the loop. The address is 23 Hubbard St. in the loop of Chicago, but I'd have to check the message in my archives to know which restaurant.

Do-It-Yourself Vs. Do-Unto-Others

The onset of Easter weekend brings a time of renewed consideration for my Catholic upbringing...

From the Blog of Revelations... Amen: With all the focus on DIY projects like these nifty earbud holders, where do you find time to schedule doing things for others (DTFO?) Or for you hopeless hippie tree huggers, doing it for the environment (DIFE?). Is four letters too long to be catchy? I can think of a lot of other four letter words that are just as catchy (and perhaps offensive).

In other news, I'm off to Maryland tomorrow till Sunday. Putting off the bulk of job stuff till at least sunday. I may bring the laptop that I retro-loaded with Windows 2000 and compatible wireless USB key just to have something to do in airports, but I have to figure out what I need to do in order not to get molested by security --->

Awareness Test

Fat Cyclist's blog gave an interesting link to a short commercial for bike safety (a must for Chicagoans and city rats alike).

Operation: Recession Pressure Cooker

It looks like the heat is on and the recession has hit. It's hard to tell when it started since this young blogger hasn't ever had any valuable assets to evaluate, but Lord knows he needs to start saving. Will the growing rates of unemployment inevitably pressurize the job market forcing the cream to rise? I'm looking to create an arena style comment base now and again, check back soon (RSS feed, maybe...).

To Do this week:
-3-4 Job Applications
-Re-post to Job Websites via Resume Rabbit?
-Check backstage jobs, stagejobs pro

Also phonecalls are in order as well. I'll get back to actually doing stuff now.