Yesterday I decided to get out of the city, or at least… more towards the “outskirts”, so I chose Evanston. I needed a Sam’s Club and Evanston appeared to be the closest option. This of course requires a fairly lengthy journey up the Red and Purple lines. I get on at Fullerton, so I’m not too far from the Loop.

I boarded the train and instantly lit with joy when I found the quiet seat hidden at the front of the car empty and available. Continue Reading

Last Friday was a day of laziness and rest. I planned on doing quite a bit of work, but that went out the window once I agreed with my body that I would just lay around all day and watch Family Guy. It was nice until about 4:00 PM when it came to the point in the day where I decide whether I leave the house and do something or plan on staying in for the evening.

I jumped online to hunt around for something completely random. I knew it was cold, so I had coffee on my mind. After a quick search of local events I came across “Caroling in the Park”, a Holiday season series of Friday night gatherings at Millenium Park. It isn’t something I would normally do, but I was in need of something different. Plus, Starbucks was there giving away free Holiday blend coffee!

Normally the guy who owns my apartment would jump up to go run around town. He loves getting out of the house, but he’s in New York to visit family during the Thanksgiving Holiday. That’s fine. I don’t mind being alone and quite frankly… I enjoy it.

So I get to Millenium Park with little effort and virtually empty train and bus rides. There was a sleeper on the inbound CTA Brown Line who stunk up the entire car by simply existing in one of its seats, but I ignored it and turned the music up. Other than that it was a flawless ride in.

The park was bustling with excitement. The ice rink had opened up literally as I walked into the park, so I got to see the action unfold. It took less than twenty minutes for the place to be jam packed with happy faces and little ones willing to brave the ice.

I snapped a picture, but it came out terribly blurred and grainy. You get the idea though… Continue Reading

Back in Reno we had some outfits that tried to put together some kind of coherent database of places that deliver good grub. I remember seeing menu’s all over town that had a good assortment of places you could call for delivery.

Here in Chicago, a web based business called “GrubHub” takes this to a whole new level. It might not be limited to Chicago, but it’s Chicago database is healthy and you can find just about any kind of grub your tummy could possibly desire.

And the cool part is, the site is built on a 2.0 socially powered style platform. Users can comment on each order. This comment is posted on the page of the business the order came from. Users can also rate each business on a 1 to 5 scale, giving you a decent idea of the overall experience without having to dig too deep.

Each business profile has full menu’s, hours that update daily (for example, most of them said closed today because it is Thanksgiving), minimum order prices, delivery charges, and much more. There is also an online ordering feature that businesses can take advantage of, giving you the ability to place your order and pay for it without ever talking with someone.

Now the real question is… why am I looking at delivery options for Thanksgiving? I guess having your entire family on the west coast has its disadvantages.

That being said, it’s been a very relaxing day and I’m getting ready to watch some football.

Happy Thanksgiving!