As the campus computer labs upgrade to the newest version of Microsoft Office, you can avoid compatibility problems with older versions of the software on a personal lap top or computer by upgrading. DePaul students can purchase the upgrade at a discount. Check out Demon Discounts for the other great deals on I-Go membership, Kerasotes and AMC movie passes, and lots more!

Chicago’s a vibrant theater town and ‘tis the season for many local troops to pull out old standards including It’s a Wonderful Life, Christmas Carol, and The Nutcracker as well as new favorites such as The Santaland Diaries. Between spoofs, fairy tales, musicals, and contemporary plays with holiday themes, there’s something for every theatergoer on stage this month. Both Metromix and Time Out Chicago highlight a range of local options and be sure to check Hot Tix for cheap last minute tickets.

Even as snowflakes fall and the roads ice over this winter, biking remains an all-weather method of transportation for prepared Chicagoans. Here are a few insider tips from library staff members who brave the cold on two wheels:

* Exchange your road bike tires for mountain bike tires or other tires with more tread.
* Invest in a balaclava, windproof jacket, and protective glasses.
* Grease your chain and gears to avoid icing.
* Keep your tires fully inflated.
* Watch for frost bite on your fingers and toes.
* Attach fenders over your tires to catch the road salt and dirt.

 

For more information, check out Winter Biking: Go For It and Chicago Bike Winter.

Fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit is the predicted high temperature in Chicago this week. Darkness is approaching earlier in the afternoon. Across the city, radiators are banging into action (some leaking through the ceiling of the apartment below). On an autumn weekend, skies may be dismal gray or sunny and cloudless, the air chilly or warm, cold rain may fall and the wind will very likely blow, so make a Saturday plan that can be adjusted for indoor or outdoor entertainment.

Outdoors:

Pick apples at one of the many orchards in Northern Illinois
Visit a pumpkin patch and sharpen your knives for carving
Bike through fallen leaves
Jog outside in a sweatshirt and running shorts
Visit the Green City Farmers Market before it moves indoors in November
Fly a kite on the lakefront

Indoors:

Convene friends for a chili cook-off or cookie bake-off
Sign up for Netflix or peruse the library’s DVD collection
Attend the Chicago International Film Festival
Rearrange the furniture in your dorm room or apartment
Try out DIY Projects you read about in ReadyMade
Work out at the Ray Meyer Fitness & Recreation Center
Study for finals

 

From Resurrection Mary to the serial killings chronicled in Eric Larsen’s Devil in the White City (364.1523 M944YL2003), from the Billy Goat Curse at Wrigley Field (the curse that keeps on giving!) to hauntings at the Red Lion Pub and the Biograph Theater near DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus, Chicago’s sometimes brutal history and frightening legends are worth revisiting during this month’s Halloween celebrations.

To hear spooky stories and glimpse hidden alleys and creepy cemeteries, consider taking a bus ride around the city on a ghost tour. Time Out Chicago reviewed four popular tours.

Many of the notorious haunted houses in Chicagoland necessitate a trip to the suburbs: Statesville Haunted Prison (http://www.statesville.org/main.php) in Crest Hill, IL; Dungeon of Doom, Grayslake, IL; Eleventh Hour Haunted House in Elk Grove Village, IL; and Dream Reapers Haunted House in Melrose Park, IL. Or stick around the city and visit the Haunted Sanitarium at the Theater on the Lake (Lake Shore Drive and Fullerton). Check out this web site for a complete list.

This Chicago “web publication” highlights a variety of topics related to city life in distinct blogs including Merge on general issues, Slowdown with a calendar of events, Detour with weekly features, Transmission on music, Drive Thru on food, and Book Club on literary events, as well as editorial columns and a stunning photo on Rearview.

My favorite story about this blog happened in 2006. Some readers of Gapersblock were complaining online about This American Life’s move to New York City to begin the Showtime television series. Among all the comments posted in this conversation was one from Ira Glass himself explaining the move. You know you’ve found a blog worth reading when a local personality both reads the blog and responds to its news thread.

If you read this blog and Chicagoist, consider yourself an expert on the city.

I read this Chicago blog for its snarky political commentary, suggestions on where to spend my time and money, concert features, goofy videos and photographs, restaurant reviews, reflections about the day’s weather, CTA updates, and sports news, among many other topics. The articles use a first-person plural point of view (“we”) and refer to the writer as “Chicagoist,” which creates a communal and strangely omniscient tone to the blog. The entries tend to be short, succinct, and informative but not journalistic, offering a gossipy snapshot of life in Chicago. 

More than 40 bands will perform at three stages in Union Park this weekend, July 18-20, playing indie rock, world music, and a variety of other styles. Three-day passes and two-day passes are sold out, but individual passes can be purchased for $30 to hear a jam-packed schedule of bands. On Saturday and Sunday, the music starts at 1:00 PM and the last act takes the stage at 9:00 PM. Among the top acts are Spoon, M. Ward, Dinosaur Jr, Ghostface and Raekwon, Les Savy Fav, and Bon Iver.

On Friday night, scheduled bands will play entire albums on the main stage. This year features Public Enemy playing “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” Sebadoh playing “Bubble and Scrape,” and Mission of Burma playing “Vs.”

To purchase tickets and find out more information on the bands, check out the website and don’t miss out what has become a staple summer music festival in Chicago. 

Some highlights of the weekend’s festivities include:

Thursday, July 3, at 9:31 PM; City of Chicago, Grant Park
Friday, July 4, at 9:15 PM; Evanston, Clark Street Beach
Friday, July 4, at 9:30 PM; Naperville, Knoch Park
Friday, July 4 at dusk; Oak Park, Oak Park River Forest High School Stadium

Click here for a comprehensive list of fireworks displays in the Chicagoland area.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Among the many bicycling enthusiasts in Chicago are those who ride bikes as a method of transportation to work and others who work as a bike messengers, some who enjoy a leisurely ride down the lakefront path and others who are masters of the sometimes unnerving art of urban biking. Both nonprofit groups and the City of Chicago (Mayor Daley is a bicycling enthusiast) provide a variety of programming, resources, and events to promote cycling.

For an immediate introduction to these enthusiasts, join the herd on wheels at Daley Plaza (Dearborn & Washington) tomorrow (June 27, 2008) at 5:30 PM for Chicago’s Critical Mass, which convenes the last Friday of every month to celebrate riding bicycles.

The City of Chicago publishes a map of safe biking streets that is particular to the DePaul campus and its academic buildings. There’s also a general form to search a particular neighborhood.

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation organizes annual rides and events that are staples in the bicycling community, including Bike the Drive and Bike to Work Week. Check out their web site for information on their outreach and advocacy programs, including how to sign up as a Bike Ambassador.

Don’t forget to wear your helmet!