On Chicago’s south side, there is a place called Gatlings Chapel. Gatlings Chapel is located in a building that used to be a small grocery store. It also shares its space with pre-paid law firm. I’m guessing it already sounds like a strange place, and it is, not just due to these features, but also because they have a drive-thru visitation.

I used to make fun of the drive-thru marriages and divorces in Vegas, but here at Gatlings, the drive-thru visitation is provided for those who would like to pay their respects to friends and loved ones, but who either don’t have the option of being seen in public or who don’t have the time to pay their final respects to another.

I’ll admit, the first time I ever went to Gatlings and saw the booth for the drive-thru visitation, I was a kind of disturbed by the prospect. I mean, who really wants to see an embalmed corpse transmitted to a television outside? Well, generally speaking, I’m not terribly enthusiastic about the idea. And I certainly hope that I never feel like I’m in a position where a drive-thru visitation seems to be the only option for paying my respects to the recently deceased friends and family.

Now, Gatlings really seems to provide cookie-cutter funeral services. Which I always find unsettling, but when you convert a grocery store to a funeral chapel, I guess you can’t expect much more than generics…or even a drive-thru.

Posted by: Conci N.

Technorati Tags: Chicago, IL, Chicago funeral homes, Chicago funeral chapels

So, honestly in Chicago there are two different ways of marking the passage of time: the normal seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall), and construction/no construction. Unfortunately, as soon as the weather gets nice enough, many streets and thoroughfares become impossible to use or navigate. Such is now the case with the Dan Ryan (90/94 E) reconstruction.

At this point, it’s almost impossible to get anywhere on the Dan Ryan in a reasonable amount of time. Now, I know that traffic is part of city life, and honestly so is construction. But, it can be terribly frustrating when you haven’t figured out an alternate route to deal with construction as intense as the Dan Ryan reconstruction.

The only way to deal with such extreme reconstruction projects it to either be prepared to deal with the delays or to have an alternate route planned out. I, personally, am more inclined to plan out an alternate route because I hate dealing with construction and the stupidity of some drivers when confronted with construction. And now that I’m back to making sure I’m informed about traffic in the city, I’m resolved that knowing alternative routes to all construction projects, but particularly those as big as the Dan Ryan reconstruction, is imperative to city driving. So, take my advice, Folks, make sure you have a second or even third way planned out to wherever you want to go.

Posted by: Conci N.

Technorati Tags: Chicago, IL, Dan Ryan Reconstruction, 90/94 traffic and construction

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