Chicago Weekend Fun!

Times are tough for the Tribune company, so tough that 19% profit margin on everything they sell isn’t enough anymore. So, the latest plan hatched by the new quirky Tribune owner Sam Zell is to sell the naming rights to Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field to the highest bidder. Will we see Ebay Field? Amazon Wrigley Field? Google Field? Kraft [...]

Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 AM on Sunday March 9th, 2008. This is the first Sunday in April when you turn your clocks forward one hour before you go to bed so that we get more light earlier in the morning. We turn them back in the fall to get more light in the [...]

I just got a message forwarded to my entire office about Com Ed giving customers back credits from 2007 usage costs because of a second rate hike of 22% in January 2008. (the first rate hike of 22% was in January 2007, this is just pure greed now)
Is this rate rebate for real? or is it a Joke?
Well I [...]

We have all watched Oprah Winfrey turn a daytime talk show into a mega billion dollar business over the past 20 years and also launch movies, theater and a flagship magazine. Why wouldn’t Oprah be able to open her own line of retail stores? Oprah’s web site has sold everything from jogging suits to her [...]

I just read that the very popular American Girl Store near Michigan Avenue in Chicago is closing and moving! The Chicago American Girl Place Store at 111 East Chicago Avenue will close its doors it will re-open at Water Tower Place further down Michigan Avenue. They also mentioned that they will be closing down their basement [...]

Every February despite the cold weather, Chicago’s Chinatown comes alive with decorations, lions and lots of food in celebration of the Chinese New Year. This year it falls on Thursday February 7, 2008. Last year in 2007 was the year of the Pig and in 2008 it is the year of the Rat. Each Zodiac animal [...]

I just learned that you can go to the Oak Park, IL town site and view daily crime police report summaries for the last 10 days. It is a PDF file you download with icons on the map where each was crime committed. I think this is good to view if you live in Oak Park or [...]

There is a guy that rides the train every morning that has a segway and literally parks it at the station chained up and leaves it there. It hasn’t been stolen yet either. I don’t know what he does for a living but he loves his gadgets. I ended up sitting next to him this [...]

Nursing is a hot area for jobs in Chicago. I have some family members that are nurses and they talk about how they can never find enough nurses to work all the shifts at the hospitals they work in. It’s a problem of more demand for Nurses than there are people trained for the job. [...]

I am hearing rumblings about what people are giving and getting this Christmas in Chicago. I have friends and family that are secretly shopping for gifts for loved ones without them finding out but want to know what is cool and hot this season. It’s a good Christmas season and sales are up already over last year [...]

I was sad to hear that John Drury passed away yesterday. I heard about it on the ABC Channel 7 10 O’clock news. He was a news broadcast anchor on ABC channel 7 in Chicago for many years and I remember him from watching the news every night as I was growing up in the suburbs. He [...]

I have been writing this blog since this summer and it is time for a little check in as far as how it’s doing. I have to say that I am hosting the URL and working with wordpress software in a self hosted situation for the first time. It has been a huge learning experience [...]

Cook County is looking to add new taxes on phone, gas and electric bills of consumers. The most contested new tax is the one for $4.00 added to everyone’s phone bill.  don;t know when the last time was that you looked at the details of your phone bill (especially if you have auto pay by [...]

This weekend there will be a historic new tollway opened in Illinois. The Veteran’s Memorial Tollway (I-355 South Extension to I-80) has been in the works since the 1950’s and various states of completion since the 1990’s but soon I-355 will connect to I-80 and give millions of people access to cheap housing and truck based shipping [...]

Martha Stewart will be in Chicago at the Macy’s State Street Store on November 10 at Noon to light the official historic Macy’s (Marshall Field’s) Walnut Room Christmas tree. It is the 100th anneversary of the christmas tree in the Walnut Room so what better way to celebrate than have Martha come light it in person? (The Walnut Room opened in [...]