photo courtesy hippie via creative commons license

Don't think about bringing any balloons filled with helium to Millennium Park in Chicago. Security will tell you to HIDE the balloon. A visitor to the park recently left a comment on one of my blog posts about their experience with the ban:

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Today we took our toddler to Millennium Park just to have some fun. We got ridiculously surprised when one of the security people from the park approached us and politely asked to hide a helium filled balloon that was tide to our son's stroller. We were told that for some reason helium filled balloons are not allowed in the park. Does someone know why they make such ridiculous rules? People who witnessed the conversation with security guard exploded with laugh ! Does that make sense to anyone?

Posted by: Ag on Sep 28, 08 | 7:25 pm
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I can't tell what's more ridiculous, trying to hide a balloon or why helium balloons are not allowed.
Here are four ideas why security bans helium balloons at Millennium Park:

1. Lift-off
   If someone gets too many balloons, the person will lift off--causing a security threat.


2. High-pitched voices
   Someone will inhale the helium causing the person to speak in a high-pitched voice. If a crowd of people start enacting in this action, the result will be a crowd of high-pitched speaking people. They might even start to sing, or imitate Michael Jackson. A crowd of Michael Jackson impersonators? Beat it!


3. Sky pollution
   A child might accidentally let go of the balloon, causing it fly away into the sky that is owned by the investors of Millennium Park. "Our sky! Our sky! Our precious sky!"


4. Illegal photography
   Someone might take a photograph of a helium balloon and try to sell it.

Do you have another reason why helium balloons are banned? Leave it in the comments below. Thank you.

Here's the second spudart iMix available on iTunes. Every four months I create a mix of funky, groovy songs from around the world.

Spudart iMix 2 starts off with four delightful songs from France. I especially like the tropical feel of Koop's "Come to Me." The mix moves onto Germany's Peaches electroclash sound of "Do ya" and then a eurodance diddy "Keep the Spirit Alive" by Jan Wayne, also from Germany.

Then we fall into some Japanese breakbeats and funk by Halfby. After that Junior Senior hops us over to Denmark for some electronic funk. We end on a high-energy bubblegum DDR by Italy's Giovanna (aka Jenny Rom). Don't you want to be a wuki wuki? Come on and be a wuki wuki just for me.

Click on any of the songs below to listen, or check out the entire mix on iTunes at this link: Spudart iMix 2. (also check out Spudart iMix 1)

View the hi-res version.
View full word frequency count.
View full transcript.


View the hi-res version.
View full word frequency count.
View full transcript.


View hi-res version
View transcript

Everyone loves Trader Joes--the grocery store with fun food and delightful employees. Trader Joes even has a location request form on their website.



Here's my location request that I sent to them today:

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Want to know the best new place to put a trader joes? I'll tell you where. In the bustling city of Chicago, there lies a neighborhood that has a lack of grocery store options. That neighborhood is right where I live--in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago.

I'll tell you the nexus of the lack of grocery stores. Right at my my intersection. There are no grocery stores within sight. In fact, there is a blank open field just READY for you to build upon. And it's right next to my apartment! It's on Lawrence (a nice high-traffic street) between Bell and Leavitt.

I tell you what. This IS the perfect spot for the next Trader Joes. This location used to be home to D&L Laundry at 2206 W Lawrence Ave. But it got torn down last year, and nothing is getting built at this location. 2206 W Lawrence Ave is YOUR location. 2206 W Lawrence Ave is THE spot for the next great Trader Joes.
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Let's say you want to know which of your friends are fans of the tv show "Lost." Just search for "lost" and hit the "people" tab, and it will bring up all your friends who are fans of Lost.

Recently I was racking my brain trying to remember all of my friends who are designers. Pretty handy.

There's an "OFFICIALLY LICENSED CHICAGO CUBS 3-COIN SET" being sold that features three accomplishments by recent Chicago Cubs players. But uh, hello. Alfonso Soriano did not join the 40-40 club while with the Cubs in 2006. Soriano got 40 homers and 40 stolen bases while playing for the WASHINGTON SENATORS in 2006.

Nice to see that this is fully Licensed & Authorized by the MLB Players Association.

Image courtesy dewo via creative commons license

It's overtime in a NFL football game. Your opponent is pinned all the way down to their one-yard line. Your defense goes in and sacks the quarterback! Safety! Two points! Your team wins!

How many times has this happened in NFL history? A safety in overtime. If you are able to answer this question please leave your answer in the comments, and I will give you a high-five. (If you answer, please give your source. Otherwise, I will welcome guesses, but please state that you are guessing).

Print something mysterious on the printer at work. Let the printout sit there, so someone else discovers it. It's fun to make aliens come out of the printer. Here's what my alien said:

GREETINGS
EARTHLINGS.

THE HP LASERJET 4200
IS ACTUALLY AN ALIEN SPY
HERE TO TAKE OVER YOUR PLANET

JUST THOUGHT I’D LET YOU KNOW
HAVE A GOOD DAY.

You can download this file as a pdf. Print and let the takeover ensue.

Chicago was hit with record rainfall this past weekend. My family and I did a bunch of vacuuming to hold back the floodwaters in the basement. It can get pretty monotonous, so here's a couple things that I did to keep it more entertaining:

1. Count the seconds it takes to fill up the tank with water.
The fastest times I got were around 30-40 seconds.

2. Pretend the water is a bunch of aliens.
It's funny to think of all the aliens you are sucking up into a vacuum.

3. Ask yourself if the water is a bunch of aliens, do they like being sucked up?
I like to think the aliens are running in droves to get into the party vac. "Look guys! Its a party vac! Weeeee! Let's go!"

4. Make jokes about how this vacuum really sucks
My brother brought an wet/dry vac that has incredible suction power. My dad kept saying, "Wow, this thing really sucks!"

5. Perfect your squats
Every time you empty the wet/dry vac into the sink, try to perfect your squatting technique. I never do them at the gym, so I was kinda clueless. I know they say "lift with your legs and not your back. I found it helpful to look at the ceiling as I lift--that kept my back more straight. And you should feel it in your abs and not your back muscles. I just looked up how much 12 gallons weigh and it's 100 pounds. I'm glad I didn't throw out my back.

6. Keep track of the time
Point 1 was about counting the seconds in your head. This point is about writing it down. I wrote down records of the time when we started, when it started to really rain harder and when it stopped raining. That helps make you feel like you have a little more control (at least it did for me).

7. Watch the weather reports
We found that weather.com had the best forecast for the rain. Check out the hour-by-hour section for the percent chance of rain. They update it all the time. This point also helps you to feel a little more control. While you can't control the weather, it does give you some handle of the situation when you kinda know what lies ahead.

8. Stare endlessly at the water
Zone out by just looking at the reflections in the water, and think of nothing else. It's kinda like meditating. But better than meditation is the next one...

9. Pray
For anything. For the rain to stop. For your friends. For family. For those who are in worse conditions than you. Anything. Just pray.

This was a crazy weekend in Chicago with record rainfall hitting our city.

Most rain in one day:
"O'Hare International Airport recorded 6.64 inches of rain Saturday -- breaking the all-time record of 6.49 inches set in 1987, according to the National Weather Service. Records have been kept since 1871." (cnn.com)

Most precipitation in one year (projected):
• 40.19": 2008*
• 38.28": 1993
• 35.69": 1957
• 34.22": 1882
• 34.18": 1885
* If normal precipitation (9.71") falls the rest of the year in 2008

Third wettest month:
• 17.10": August 1987
• 14.17": September 1961
• 12.61": September 2008
• 12.06": October 1954
• 11.28": August 1885

These stats and a map of rainfall totals across chicago are on the WGN Weather Center Blog.

Tomorrow I cover 9 ways to make vacuuming a flooding basement more entertaining.

Image courtesy kmccaul via creative commons license

There are only four google results for "hopscotch world championship"--probably because hopscotch is really quite simple. How about making the sport MORE EXTREME‽ Place the squares farther apart, so you really have to make a good leap to land in the square--and remember, no part of your foot can touch the line. The ideal hopscotch athelet would be able to jump far and have really tiny feet. Or wait, maybe pretty big feet to stick the landing.

Maybe include some hurdles.

Oh wait. Nine-year-old Erica has made one of the world's finest hopscotch courts ever. Check it out on Bernie DeKoven's blog post, "Hopscotch 2.0." Her court includes a "clap square" where you are required to clap upon landing in it. Oh yes, I like this idea of requiring an activity when landing in a square.

How about a square where you have to do a 360 spin jump. OH YEAH!

How would you make hopscotch court more extreme? (without using crocodiles or ninjas)

Check out some of these creative hopscotch courses:

Hopscotch on stairs

Image courtesy asleeponasunbeam via creative commons license

Over 365 boxes hopscotch

Image courtesy mikelove via creative commons license

Spiral hopscotch

Image courtesy staxnet via creative commons license

America ranks low in average vacation time compared to other countries. To make up for this, let's declare every Monday in September to be Labor Day.

It's totally weird that every time I go to type Sarah Palin's name, I accidentally type Sarah Pain.

Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M’s
Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M’s would be great for currency. I love dark chocolate peanut M&M’s. Vocalo.org recently asked what is the best way to fund public schools? My response? Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M’s. Although if they were currency, I would end up eating all my money.

US History Trading Cards
How about trading cards? They already have a specific form of value. But it would take awhile to learn which cards are more valuable than others. So why not make the cards something of educational value about our history and government? Right now we only have xx historical figures on our dollar bills and coins. Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton,

Why not make an entire set of cards that people can use as currency. Sure, the dollar coins are going to feature all the presidents, but these coins don’t include fun facts or stats about all our presidents. The trading cards would. And their value would change with the market. Sound crazy? You bet. Let’s bring back the days of bartering. I can see it now, “Oh dude, you totally know a loaf of bread is worth one Rutherford B. Hayes.”

Pens and pencils
Have you ever been without a pen or pencil, but wish you had one at that moment? If pens and pencils were our currency, they would become much more abundant. When you go to pay for your restaurant bill, instead of a pen or pencil being in with the check, you’d pay with a pen or pencil. A sharp pencil would be worth five more cents than a dull pencil. Just by keeping your pencils sharp, you can increase your money.

What else would make for a good form of currency?
Please leave a comment with your ideas for currency.

Here's a letter of praise I just wrote to Walgreens:

Hi there, I am a HUGE fan of Walgreens. The rebates, the employees, and the general Walgreens love. My comments here touch on these points, and I even offer some great ideas at the end of my comment. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to read it over.

THE REBATES:
I LOVE how I can submit my rebates online via your website. It’s FANTASTIC how I can save my rebate savings until the end of the month in case I have more items you want to add, so you don’t have to mail multiple cards. Saving postage. NICE!

And then once I do get a card, I can just enter the card number online, and you will add the rebate savings onto your existing card. Saving plastic. NICE!

WALGREENS ROCKS!

THE EMPLOYEES:
I was discussing this greatness with some friends, and we determined that we have a vast love for Walgreens. There is one across the street from our workplace in the Tribune Tower, and we frequent it often. The workers at the 430 N Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL location totally rock. I’d like to give a shout-out to my favorite Walgreens employee, Pilar. She is an extremely gracious and helpful person. She notices what I buy and makes friendly suggestions. She gets authentically happy when I save money and get great deals—which Walgreens always has tons of deals!

Then there’s the Walgreens just a couple blocks from my apartment. (the 4801 Lincoln, Chicago, IL location) The workers there are also fantastic. It’s fun to talk with Chicagoans about their favorite Walgreens employees. We all have our favs. It’s true. Ask any Chicagoan, and they will tell you about a Walgreens employee that they always enjoy seeing.

Now here’s an idea for you. I’d love to see the Walgreens newsletter feature a different Walgreens employee every time.

In fact, let’s step it up a notch and offer Walgreens trading cards. Each card would feature a different Walgreens employee. And then you could mix in some bonus cards about the history of Walgreens, and maybe even a card with the Walgreens creed. Oh yeah, you know all about the Walgreens creed! Walgreens believes in laughing, not weeping. :-)

C’mon, you totally know you should create these trading cards. Imagine the publicity you’d get from this. It would very much show how Walgreens is good for the community and loves their employees.

If you want someone to help you design the cards, I’m a senior graphic designer with the Tribune, and I would be more than happy to offer my services free to you.

Matt Maldre
Senior Designer
Tribune Media Services

Imagine being able to design the Walgreens trading cards! That would roooooooooooooock!

Why is Labor Day called "Labor Day?" It should be called "No Labor Day." Or maybe "Relax Day." And then the day after Relax Day would be known as Labor Day.

Since it would be too confusing to change the name of Labor Day, let's call the day after labor day, "Actually Working Day."