A Good Day

 

Today was the day scheduled to get my COVID vaccine.  My appointment was at a hospital 23 miles from at a hospital in Chicago.  I was like many others I know that were getting their vaccines wherever they could.  I have a friend in Detroit that somehow arranged to get his vaccine in Grand Rapids, clear on the other side of the state. 

My appointment was at 9:15 in the morning.  Even though it was Saturday morning, I left at 8 am as one can never predict how good or bad traffic might be in Chicago.  There was very little traffic.  It was a breeze driving and only took 40 minutes.  It was a gorgeous spring like morning to drive.  At a stop light in the city, I took the photo from the car of the impressive steeple behind a build out of the 1930s or 40s.  A simple pleasure. 

Just after I got my shot in the room with ten vaccination stations, a nurse asked for everyone’s attention.  She was standing next to a fellow and she said, “I would just like to announce that this gentleman, getting his first dose of the vaccine, is 101 years old.”  Wow.  That was awesome.  He was a veteran of WWII and looked amazingly trim and younger than 101.  I would have easily believed he was 70.  Another simple and special pleasure.

After the vaccine shot, as per the protocol, I waited with others in a room to make sure we didn’t have any adverse reactions to the vaccine.  It was no biggie, just time to peruse a section of the Wall Street Journal. 

It was time for the drive home… which, as it turned out, was kind of a nuisance.

GPS guided me to I-94 a few miles away.  Cool.  I would hop on I-94 West and head North (yeah, I know) home.  The on ramp, however, was closed for construction.  No problem, I just headed North on the next main street.  After a few miles of stop and go traffic, there was another sign to turn right onto an eastbound street to turn left onto I-94 West again to go North again.  This second on ramp was also closed for construction.  Are you kidding me?

So, I headed further east to the next main north bound drag.  I turned left and went few more stop and go miles, to the next sign that said to turn left to get on I-94 West.  I turned left and head home at something more than a crawl.  But, as you might have guessed, this third on ramp was also closed… for construction.

I repeated the go West, head North again, until the next que to turn right again drill.  Luckily, the fourth time, a full 40 minutes later, was the charm. 

My operations management sense of things was on full alert.  Who was responsible and how did they come up with the idea to close at least 3 successive I-94 West on ramps?  This seems to be a very Chicago thing to do.  It makes no sense.  Do every other one for crying out loud. 

Why do I say it is a very Chicago thing to do?  Well, there are like six exit ramps closed on eastbound I-94 in downtown Chicago.  Six exit ramps in a row are closed in the main freeway through the downtown of the third largest city in the US.  To top it off, it has been like this for like two years and they are still not done!  The words pork-barrel, graft, corruption, and ineptitude are bandied about in my head every time I drive through the city.  I hope the closures I experienced today do not last anywhere near that long.

Despite the delays and the inconvenience, getting the second dose of the vaccine, the beauty of the sunny springlike day, and the simple pleasures dominated and kept any frustration at bay.  I called my cousin and caught up with her on the way home.  I then called my friend and he invited me to his office for some tacos. 

All in all, it was a good day.