I love finding exactly what I'm looking for.
You know that feeling you get when you're searching for something specific, have trouble locating it for a while, and never end up finding what you're looking for? Or maybe, just by chance, random luck, or persistence and devotion, you manage to discover whatever it is that you're so earnestly seeking?
Maybe you only like one obscure flavor of energy drink, and you drive to multiple grocery stores and gas stations, getting ready to give up after seeing that the third gas station is sold out. But then you spot a single glowing can hidden within a row of other lesser energy drinks.
Maybe you're traveling to Europe for the first time, and are trying to meet up with your friends who've already been in Paris for a couple of days. You get lost in the wrong lines at airports, train and subway stations, try to use the wrong forms of currency, lose all of the phone numbers and addresses that you wrote down on a sheet of paper, get hassled by customs security, get randomly delayed, and wander around the city for hours. 12+ hours of travel, confusion, frustration, and anger later, you find yourself sitting hopelessly conquered on the steps outside of a hostel. But then you catch sight of your friends walking down the street towards you, waving and shouting.
You know that feeling?
I'm moving to Chicago soon, and I'm going on a trip to the city next week. I've planned meetings with employers and subletters to see if I can get established before I just get up and go. I am unfamiliar with the town, so I decided to do some extra research beforehand to make sure that I can get everywhere on time. I used Google maps to find addresses, and tried to use the Chicago Transit Authority's subway maps to figure out how I'm going to get everywhere. It was difficult to see how the subways related to the city streets, and I could not, for the longest time, find anything that could help compare the separate maps. But then I found this:
http://www.tastypopsicle.com/maps/cta.asp
Man, I love finding exactly what I'm looking for.
Maybe you only like one obscure flavor of energy drink, and you drive to multiple grocery stores and gas stations, getting ready to give up after seeing that the third gas station is sold out. But then you spot a single glowing can hidden within a row of other lesser energy drinks.
Maybe you're traveling to Europe for the first time, and are trying to meet up with your friends who've already been in Paris for a couple of days. You get lost in the wrong lines at airports, train and subway stations, try to use the wrong forms of currency, lose all of the phone numbers and addresses that you wrote down on a sheet of paper, get hassled by customs security, get randomly delayed, and wander around the city for hours. 12+ hours of travel, confusion, frustration, and anger later, you find yourself sitting hopelessly conquered on the steps outside of a hostel. But then you catch sight of your friends walking down the street towards you, waving and shouting.
You know that feeling?
I'm moving to Chicago soon, and I'm going on a trip to the city next week. I've planned meetings with employers and subletters to see if I can get established before I just get up and go. I am unfamiliar with the town, so I decided to do some extra research beforehand to make sure that I can get everywhere on time. I used Google maps to find addresses, and tried to use the Chicago Transit Authority's subway maps to figure out how I'm going to get everywhere. It was difficult to see how the subways related to the city streets, and I could not, for the longest time, find anything that could help compare the separate maps. But then I found this:
http://www.tastypopsicle.com/maps/cta.asp
Man, I love finding exactly what I'm looking for.
posted by Ted Miin at 3/29/2007 05:06:00 PM
4 Comments:
Ted, wow! Thanks a lot. It was great to read about how much my CTA Google Map has helped you out. I LOVE stories like yours. It's why I still actively work on my Map even after nearly two years since I first introduced it.
It's also cool to know that you're coming Chicago. Seriously, when you get into town hit me up and I'll buy you a beer.
Thanks again for the kind words.
-Ed
Blogger is F*cked right now! It refuses to let me login with the right username! Anyway, I'm not Lauren Ponce so I don't know why "she" just left that comment. Everything else is true.
-Ed || http://www.tastypopsicle.com
You're welcome Ed, and thanks for the great work. That map will save a lot of time and frustration for a lot of people I know.
you should call me...
db
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