Chicago, IL

Starting December 1st, this blog will present the 12 days of Chicago. Each day I will write about a fun holiday event that you can do in Chicago. Most of them will be free, so that is a bonus.

To make this project more enticing for my readers, I will be offering it in conjunction with a contest! The winner of the contest will receive $25! Here are the rules:

HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this blog entry or send an e-mail to winnieblogs(at)gmail.com (replace the (at) with @) in which you tell me your favorite holiday event to do in Chicago. If you have never been to Chicago, you can tell me what holiday event you wish you could do the most in Chicago. You will get plenty of ideas from my posts over the next 12 days, but feel free to come up with your own. The deadline to enter is Wednesday December 12th at 12:00 p.m. central time. This will coincide with the final day of the 12 Days of Chicago event. Only one entry person please.

HOW TO WIN: I will chose one winner via a random drawing of all of the eligible entries.

THE PRIZE: $25. Any applicable taxes are the responsibility of the winners. If you win, in order to receive the money, you must have a valid Paypal account. The prize money is coming directly from 451 Press, so this is how it has to be done. If you are the winner, I will e-mail you and you must reply with your valid Paypal e-mail address in order for me to give you the prize.

Questions? Leave in the comments or email me at winnieblogs(at)gmail.com. (replace (at) with @). Good luck!

I also have another contest going on at my View blog. Check that out as well!

Holidays in Chicago, Christmas, Chicago, contest

In the near future, various parts of Chicago could be brought to you by various sponsors. Mayor Daley has spent $285,000 to hire a consulting firm to determine what options are available to the city for naming rights on the el, Navy Pier, and other important parts of city life.

You would think that a consulting firm might suggest that spending $285,000 on a project like that is rather silly, but I suppose then they would be shooting themselves in the foot.

As a purist, I would hate to see the city taken over by corporate sponsorships, more so that it already is at least. Isn’t it bad enough that they are advertisements on the buses, on the trains, at the bus stop, at the train stops, on the tops of taxi cabs and on random signage throughout the city? Do we really need to rename things, like “The CTA brought to you by Target”?

This is all just part of a larger picture of this country being saturated with commercials. Remember when the Rose Bowl was just the Rose Bowl and not “The XXY Company Rose Bowl brought to you by ABC company”? Remember when a timeout in a basketball was just a timeout and not “a timeout by GGG company which reminds you to take a timeout and shop with them…” Those were the good old days, I guess, and now we should brace ourselves for a further influx of advertisements.

Any ideas that the outside firm comes up with must maintain “the integrity of the city of Chicago’s brand image.” The plans must pass the scrutiny of “an advisory group of civic leaders.” I have a feeling, though, that the group of “civic leaders” will be a bunch of Daley cronies who are ready to rubber stamp anything with big dollar signs on it.

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Chicago, Mayor Daley, corporate sponsorship

This was an excellent weekend for football teams in the state of Illinois. On Saturday, The University of Illinois toppled the number one team in the land, The Ohio State University. Then on Sunday, despite having to go to back-up quarterback Rex Grossman, the Chicago Bears managed to beat the Oakland Raiders with a couple of late game scores. (Granted the second of the two events was certainly not as exciting as the first, but it is worth mentioning).

I had a feeling that Illinois could play spoiler to OSU and their national championship hopes. They have been playing well this season and I knew that OSU would not be taking them seriously, already thinking ahead to next week game against The University of Michigan.

After Illinois had the lead toward the end of the game, it seemed like OSU was so stunned that they could not put together anything at all offensively.

I was very happy for Illinois, especially the coach and quarterback Juice Williams who were both so obviously touched by what had taken place. The coach revealed that two years ago, after a rough season, he told Williams and the other players that in two years things would be very different, as the team would rebuild and become a force to be reckoned with. The coach obviously knew what he was talking about as Illinois had its biggest victory in years.
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In what does not come as much of a surprise, today the husband of missing Bolingbrook woman Stacy Peterson was named a suspect in her disappearance. Will County authorities visited the home of Sergeant Drew Peterson today to notify him that he has been suspended from the force.

Stacy Peterson, who was Drew’s fourth wife, has been missing since October 28th. Drew told police that Stacy called him and told him that she was leaving him. That story seems unlikely because none of her family or friends has heard from her. While he was previously a “person of interest,” he is now a suspect.

This is the second wife of Sergeant Peterson to (apparently) meet an untimely end. His prior wife’s death was labeled an accident at the time, but the police have re-opening the investigation. The body of the other woman is being exhumed and will be tested to attempt to determine why the woman became unconscious before drowning in her bathtub. That seems to me something that they should have determined the first time, but I am no medical examiner. There was evidence of blood in the bathtub and it appears that it was made to look accidental.

If he is really responsible for the deaths of both women (presuming of course that Stacy has indeed been murdered) this guy is seriously disturbed. What concerns me is the likely fact that the the first death was ruled accidental because he is a police officer. There is a long history of the wives of police officer having difficulty when their husband is abusive.

Of course there will be much more to come in this case, so stayed tuned for updates.

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Chicago, Stacy Peterson, Drew Peterson, Bolingbrook

It was revealed today that malls in Chicago are at risk of a potential terrorist attack this holiday season. According to Police Superintendent Dana Starks, “Chicago is as safe and secure as any big city can be.” The Governor’s office said that they have “not confirmed the legitimacy of the reported threat, we are working closely with them and will keep the public advised of any developments. We encourage people to go about their holiday shopping and preparations as they always would.”

Upon hearing the news, I did not express alarm, concern, or rethink my holiday shopping plans. Rather, I said, “What malls?” The actual city of Chicago proper does not really have any malls. There is Water Tower Place and that Nordstrom building with shops, but neither of these are “malls.” To me a mall has to be sprawling and have a large contingent of mall walkers. Maybe that is just my rural background coming in to play. I am sure plenty of people in Chicago consider those places to be malls and that has confused the terrorists.

I think that perhaps the terrorists need to get their ducks in a row before making such an elaborate plan. They obviously are not past the first steps of planning if they are thinking of blowing up “Chicago malls.”

Of course, if you are worried, you can visit Shopping Tips online and get some tips about online buying so that you can take care of your holiday purchases without going near any malls.
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Chicago, terrorists, malls

Just like last time, State lawmakers gave the Chicago Transit Autority (CTA) enough stopgap money to avoid the service cuts and layoffs called the “Doomsday” plan just in the nick of time. This time, the cuts were scheduled to take place this Sunday.

The CTA announced this afternoon that they received $27 million from the governor and State lawmakers and will not have to make the planned cuts this weekend.

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CTA, Chicago, Illinois, transit funding

The Chicago Bulls opened the 2007-2008 NBA season with a loss last night to the New Jersey Nets 112-103 in OT. The Bulls started poorly, but managed to rally from a 17-point deficet and send the game into overtime. The Bulls have not won in New Jersey since 2001.

Of course the real story so far in this young season is the possibility that Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant may be wearing a Chicago uniform. Today, however, General Manager John Paxon said that, despite reports, they were never close to a deal to acquire Bryant. He said that talks are now over with the Lakers.

I definitely think that they were actively pursuing Bryant and that Paxon really wanted him. I also think that Paxon was letting himself get wooed by the idea of a superstar celebrity player and what that can mean for ticket and merchandise sales. Has he thought about what it will do to team morale? Has he thought about how it will alienate fans?

Granted, there are a lot of Kobe Bryant fans out there. I am just not one of them. I am happy to forgo his scoring ability and not have his strong defense if it means that I don’t have to deal with his cocky attitude and ability to whine.

I like this young group of players that the Bulls have, especially Luol Deng and Ben Gordon. I also love Ben Wallace. If one, or all, of these players would have been sacrificed to bring this nuisance to town, then I would have had to start watching more hockey.

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Chicago Bulls, Chicago, Kobe Bryant, Luol Deng, Ben Wallace, Ben Gordon, John Paxon