Chicago Update

Hey guys, I haven't heard anything yet on a possible meeting with Susquehanna. My gut tells me this will be a phone conversation if anything and not a physical meeting in the next 4 days while I'm here. I did however stumble in to a contact yesterday. I was looking at apartment buildings and the leasing agent asked what I did, or why I was coming to Chicago from LA. I told him what I did and what I was looking to do, turns out he's a former pit trader, his sister is a retired options trader, and his brother-in-law is currently a trader downtown. He also said he knows of at least two traders who live in the building. He said these guys are like me and just trade their own accounts from their apartments. He was genuinely outgoing and helpful. I asked him if we could talk outside the business deal of the apartment lease and he said yes. So without even trying to network I might have stumbled across a potential 5 more people to talk to.

So I think all my questions about a possible move have been answered. I was able to find a few buildings I would like to live in. The only downside is they are all about the same price as what I'm paying now. I was looking to reduce my expenses. I could save money and go down to $900 but you would be living in gangland on the south side. Or you could pay $1200 and live in the city but in really dilapidated buildings with crappy amenities. But for $1400 I could have a state of the art building that looks and feels like a 4-star hotel. I walked the neighborhoods from north of Wrigley to the financial district. It really comes down to do you want to save a few hundred bucks for a trade off in amenities or distance from downtown. I would view a move as a 6-month experiment. If I wasn't able to network myself in to something by that time then I would have to reevaluate my game plan. So I guess I'm OK with paying high rent for that period of time until I can figure things out. I'm still debating in my head, I haven't made a decision. I'll think about it over the next few months and make a decision about moving late this year. I think at the moment I feel that unless something comes up, I'm probably heading to Chicago. We'll see. It was a good trip and I'm glad I did it.