OpenTable pre-Thanksgiving Restaurant Week
OpenTable is sponsoring what they’re calling the “Appetite Stimulus Plan,” November 17-21. Prix Fixe menus will be offered at selected area restaurants. [via]
Samsung Propel Ozzy Osbourne Commercial
Check out this hilarious commercial with Ozzy Osbourne for the Samsung Propel.
Running list of places AT&T has failed me
After several years of relatively complaint free wireless service with Verizon, I switched to AT&T so I could get an iPhone. It’s been a few months since I’ve switched and so far, here’s where AT&T has failed me:
- US Open at Flushing Meadows in Queens, NY: No Service for the first several hours I was in the grandstand. Spotty coverage after that.
- Lollapalooza ’08: My phone was pretty much worthless. My phone claimed it had signal, but I couldn’t make or receive calls and sending text messages only worked some of the time.
- Aragon Ballroom during a Beck concert: No Service inside
- Soldier Field at the Bears/Vikings game (10.19): Internet (EDGE and 3G) didn’t work for most of the game.
- Lakeshore Drive around Illinois Street: Guaranteed dropped call here.
- I-290 a few miles West of the city: Call dropped
Note that AT&T has a knack for failing when you need your phone the most (e.g. when you need to find your friends in a large crowd). Sometimes I’ll have five bars of signal and the phone will spontaneously drop to No Service. I’m loathe to take conference calls when I’m on the road because of the likelihood of the call dropping. I never had this problem with Verizon. I’ll be updating this list as AT&T continues to disappoint.
I’d like world peace and more maps!
I’m impressed that A.C. Slater doesn’t totally lose it while listening to Miss Teen South Carolina respond to an interview question with a completely incomprehensible answer.
Arellano Deported
If you were holed up in a church seeking sanctuary as an illegal immigrant–I mean, undocumented worker–wouldn’t leaving be the last thing you should do? Elvira Arellano has been deported to Mexico after leaving her sanctuary in a Chicago church. She’s been deported before, so who knows, she may make a repeat appearance in the States.
It is so choice
This is a great article where the author relives a good chunk of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off by driving a Ferrari replica. He starts at Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, drives to the parking garage at Madison and Wells in the Loop, and eventually ends up at Cameron’s house in Highland Park. I love the article because it was obviously written by a true fan.
South Loop Whole Foods Now Open
The Whole Foods in the South Loop is officially open. Chicagoist has the lowdown.
Boycott BP
BP plans on dumping more industrial waste into Lake Michigan from their Whiting, Indiana refinery. Most of the metropolitan Chicago area uses water from Lake Michigan. Even if we didn’t get our water from Lake Michigan, this would still be a bad idea. Boycott BP! Even Eddie Vedder thinks you should.
Biggest Whole Foods in the Chicago Area Opening Soon in the South Loop
The largest Whole Food store in the Chicago area will be opening in the South Loop on August 8: Sun Times article. The opinions on the store’s opening are mixed, but I think it’ll be good for the South Loop. I’ll be happy as long as the South Loop doesn’t turn into anything like the Clybourn corridor in Lincoln Park. Although, it would be nice if they opened a Costco here. I’m just glad that the Ikea store never materialized here.
Speaking of groceries, I really like Panozzo’s, the local Italian market down the street from me. It’s a small neighborhood market. The people there are very friendly and the service is great. They have a great selection of salumi and a decent selection of cheeses. Whole Foods and Sam’s Wines and Spirits both have better cheese selections, but you can’t beat the salumi at Panozzo’s. Panozzo’s carries the artisan La Quercia Rossa prosciutto. It’s made in Iowa, but even bests prosciutto made in Parma.
They don’t have the big sport bottles of Panna that I like, but you can buy those by the case at Sam’s Wines and Spirits. I’ve also found them for sale individually at Target of all places.
[via Chicagoist]
Screw Ticketmaster!
I’m disgusted with Ticketmaster’s ridiculous “service charges”. There have been several shows I’ve wanted to go to that I decided not to go to because the service fees were outrageous. Well, it looks like you now have an alternative for certain venues. You can purchase tickets for selected venues at certain box offices in the Chicagoland area. Check out Jim DeRogatis’s article in the Sun-Times for more information: Service fees got you down?.
