Ok... all you robbers SUCK!

There have been a ton of robberies at gunpoint lately in the general vicinity of where we live. I've always assumed the area to be relatively safe, when you consider we live in a huge city with an off the charts crime rate. Especially now that it's summer, it seems like someone is always outside walking a dog, jogging, etc. but a lot of the robberies were taking place on weeknights between 2-4 a.m. in Lincoln Park, which is a little bit south of where we are. I wasn't overly concerned until Monday night, when a young guy got robbed about a block away from us at gunpoint at 9:30 p.m.! It amazes me that no one else was around but we do live in a nice section of quiet streets right off of some main streets. We were sitting in our living room then completely oblivious. Most of the time it's people that are by themselves so we're trying to be a little more cautious after dark to stay together.

What that means for me: no more buses to and from work if it's after dark (or before sunrise, which is actually more common, grr). I got royally screwed by the crew desk last night and was made to stay at the airport for no reason until almost midnight (oh how I love being "owned" by United Airlines 24 hours a day when I'm on call). Luckily, I was able to hop into a cab pretty soon after getting off the train and he was nice enough to make sure I got inside and Adam came out of the condo to meet me since it was almost 1 a.m.

It really sucks because I like walking around my neighborhood. I don't like living in fear. It's not cool to wake up literally every morning to the newscasters reporting yet another robbery in the area. My first thought was that the economy is causing people to lose their jobs and they are getting desperate (but maybe they should use that money they used to buy a gun on food or what not... let's get logical here). But they arrested four teenagers in connection with some of the robberies so maybe it's just the dog days of summer and the hooligans are getting bored and my theory might be bunk. Maybe it's a giant conspiracy by the cabbies of the Northside to drum up business? Who knows but I hope it stops. I don't want the last few precious days of our summer to be ruined by a bunch of jerks!