Men in the Window

     As this semester wraps up I can't help but feel like life outside the window is slowing down too.  McDonald's seemed almost dead this week.  Every time I looked out my window it was practically a ghost town - only a few cars and customers and no entertainment to be seen!  However, one thing did catch my attention through the window this week.

McDissapointment

     No, nobody's order got screwed up.  No, they weren't out of apple pies or hash browns.  This was much....much worse.  This didn't just disappoint two or three people; lives were impacted here people.  McDonald's....is closed!

Spring has Sprung

     With spring comes increased foot traffic at McDonald's.  Which means more opportunities to catch the oddball McConsumer in the act.  I feel like as soon as weather starts to get nice, people go through one crazy week where their cabin fever comes to fruition and hits a peak before they can finally escape into the great spring weather.  There were a few oddballs this week that just left me scratching my head....

Missed Connections

     So I walk into my apartment after my evening class, hangry as can be because who decided having a class in the middle of the dinner hour was a good idea?  Anyways, I go to set my bag down and glance out my living room window and behold, my favorite site and yours too - cherries and berries lighting up the McDonald's window.  As I rush to take off my jacket and get a better view I realize something...

Hours: Optional

      Alright ladies and gentlemen.  Sit down and buckle up because there's a rant incoming.  As an occasional customer of the golden arches across from my building a regular viewer of its customers (because, well.. I'm weird), a few things have bothered me about how it operates and it's time to let them out. 

Through the Windshield Episode 2: Rapid Fire, Snow Birds, and Local Life

     As I mentioned in last week's blog, this week we'll be covering more of spring break 2017. In the first blog we talked about everything from Nazis to drunk frat boys.  This week we'll be covering a large variety of topics including the 'snow bird' lifestyle, and a rapid fire section covering my first impressions of each state I traveled to, among other things. 

Through the Windshield Episode 1: Nazis and Frat Boys

          As most of you know, this week is my Spring Break.  For the first and last time in my college career (since I’m a senior) I'm taking a trip over break.  I’m spending half the week flying down to Sebring, FL and spending time with my grandpa at his winter home in an RV park. The second half of the week I’ll be helping him drive this bus of an RV back to Illinois.  So we’re taking this people watching blog mobile, and let me tell you: nothing makes you feel young again like vacationing with retirees.  This week’s blog will focus on my activities, conversations and thoughts over break; a lot has gone on this week so you may be in for a long read.  So let’s start the ride with some humor!

Where Have The Parents Gone?

I wish I could tell you that this rant was spurred on by some child getting left behind as their parents drove off into the sunset, but it's nothing nearly as exciting as that.  The reality is that during my time observing throughout the semester, I've noticed an interesting trend, and now I've decided to rant about it.  That trend being the absence of parents or the lack of parenting all together.  Now, I want to start this off by saying that I'm not a parent, and I am no way telling anyone how to raise their children, this rant is specifically from a 'through the window' perspective and from the perspective of someone who has babysat, spent time with kids, and has been a kid.  But back to the subject at hand, I've noticed a trend that parents seem to be letting their kids wander to the golden arches on their own, or paying no attention to them if they're with them.

The Peoria 10-Speed

     This week we're going to talk about another experience unique to Peoria.  Right up there with the McBreeze, the vomit trees, and factory smells, but this one isn't a smell: it's a sound.  Ben and I were taking full advantage of the waning warm weather with our windows wide open (yay for alliteration).  And then I heard it: a loud, high pitched whine coming from what seemed like a mile away but coming in hot.  This unmistakable sound is what Ben and I refer to as the 'Peoria 10-Speed'.  

A Series of Unfortunate (and confusing) Events

My time through the window was full of the confusing, the inexplicable, and the just plain odd this week.  I wasn't sure how to explain each of these individually or as whole, so I figured I'd give you brief peaks into each event.  So here we go. 

Chapter 1: The Voices out the Window

The Smells of Peoria

Peoria has been experiencing a warm spell over the past week, which obviously nobody is complaining about.  This heatwave was made even more savory given the fact that it had dipped down in temperatures LITERALLY the day before.  I think we went from 20 degrees to 55 degrees the next day....welcome to Illinois right?

Culture Shift

Culture Shift

Last Sunday, I was sat at my window: watching.  While I was waiting for something to happen (nothing did), I noticed something.   It was shortly after 1pm when it clicked, the tail end of the lunch rush at McDonald's but it was still relatively busy. Over the course of the time that I sat there, car after car after car pulled into the drive through, but it was only a slow trickle into the actual establishment itself.

Killer Fast Food

 Killer Fast Food

So this past week, there I was, just relaxing in my apartment.  Homework done, dinner eaten, and about 2.5 hours deep into Netflix.  I was hardly paying attention at this point but you darn well know I kept telling Netflix I was "still watching".  Then I see the wall by my living room window start to have that telltale red and blue glow.  "It's going down!" I yelled to my roommate (my obsession with people watching is shared, or at least has rubbed off on him).

Introductions

So for my first ever blog post I figured some introductions and explanations were in order.  First and foremost, I'm Jacob.  I'm a senior Business Management & Leadership major with a Social Media Marketing minor at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. 

I have a lot of different hobbies including working on my 1970 Chevelle, spending time with friends, reading, playing games, playing music, and competitive shooting.  From a young age I was taught the value of being a 'jack of all trades' and being as well-rounded as possible. As proud as I am of that and as beneficial as it has been, it may make it extremely difficult to stay focused on just one topic for this blog since my mind is always bouncing around so be ready for anything!

I live in a fourth floor apartment in a complex called Main Street Commons near campus and my apartment over looks a relatively busy intersection and a well known fast food chain, commonly referred to as 'the golden arches'.  Over the years my roommates and I have seen everything from robberies, to fights, to love stories, to drug busts through my livingroom window and I figured now was a good time to share those stories you guys. 

This semester I will be setting aside time each week to sit and watch 'through the window' and share my observations and thoughts with you.  Some weeks I may see nothing, some, I may be witness to the crime of the century (although highly unlikely given the IQ of some of the criminals around here).  No matter what I see, I'll be sharing stories (both old and new) here as well as my observations and thoughts while spending my time watching the world pass by through the window.