This Wednesday, March 21 starts the second, 4-week run of performances for my improv comedy troupe, Blue Shampoo. If you are in Chicago, come see some Blue Shampoo Presents: Spring Break 2K7 at the Gorilla Tango Theatre. We are performing long-form inprov, in a form called “The Mirror.” More information on us, our director and our dates are available on our Web site.

How this came to be is a story about balancing my life. Throughout my day I think analytically. From solving business problems to writing code to the tasks of running Dunkirk Systems, my thinking is methodical, with a mix of troubleshooting. Some of my results may be considered creative, but in a business way. About a year ago I realized that I did not have a creative outlet. Where I was a DJ back in Boston, I did not have my own equipment, so I went on a quest to find an outlet here.

Improvisational comedy, or simply improv, is what I found. With no preconceived illusions (delusions?) of grandeur, I enrolled in the beginning improv program at the Second City Training Center here in Chicago. Second City is where many actors, improvisers and TV and movie writers got their start. It is a year long program broken into five courses. You can just take one class or all 5 over the course of a year. I decided to take it one step at a time, not knowing where it would lead me.

The program starts with the “building blocks” which boils down to the basics – in the first few classes of level A, we didn’t speak! From the basics we moved onto improv games similar to what you have seen on the TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Following levels C through E, we staged a performance on the Second City main stage... on weekend mornings, where friends and family paid a couple of dollars to see us.

It was an amazing experience. Improv is not stand-up comedy, and it’s not about cracking jokes. The comedy comes from your interactions with other actors. Common terms in improv include “yes, and” and “build and heighten” – if someone says you are holding an alligator egg in your hand, you don’t deny it, you respond that it is a rare Egyptian egg and it is about to give birth! I was lucky to get into a group of amazing actors, and as we neared the end of the program the idea of putting on our performances on came to light, and we all “yes, and-ed” it.

For as much fun as it has been, improv has also been a tremendous learning experience. I have learned to let go, trust in others with common goals and create an amazing product. It goes without saying that this has carried over to my business.

Editor's Note: This post was modified from the original to remove and correct broken links and images.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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I don’t believe there is hope for the United States Postal Service, an oxymoron of a name if there ever was one. And this is not just me, as the Chicago Sun-Times has reported on the lack of service, delivery and accountability this past weekend. I will spare you my own mail debacle stories, for now at least.

About the only smart thing the post office has come up with is so-called "forever stamps" where once you buy the stamp, you can use it whenever, and it will be valid at the current rate at that time. So if you buy a 39-cent stamp the day before the rate increase and use it a week later, you do not need to add additional postage. After witnessing the insanity at Chicago’s Loop post office on the day of the last stamp price increase last year – where they literally ran out of two-cent stamps – I am actually surprised that the same organization came up with this idea.

This article from spudart.org on the historic stamp price increases has a cool stamp design they should consider for the first forever stamp!

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Today is Election Day in Chicago and many other cities around the country. Winter or spring elections in the U.S. tend to be more for local offices and positions rather than national offices. If voting is going on in your city, town or other name for where you live, please vote.

As much as people think they do not have a say in whom their elected officials are and what they do, this is the one opportunity to make your voice heard. With record lows in voter turnout around the country, imagine what would happen if it were record highs instead. And all of the people, who didn’t vote because they didn’t think their candidate would win, went ahead and voted?

If you are not registered to vote, please let this be a reminder to do so.

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This past week the language got hot between Chicago and Los Angeles, the American cities vying to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Once a decision is made between the two, that city will be competing against cities around the world to be the host. A decision will be coming in April on the US entry.

Various elements of the plans for the Olympics have already been released. Most of the Olympic village will be on the South Side of the city, and will feature a “temporary” stadium as the main venue for the games. Temporary means it will be torn down after the 2 week event. Other elements will remain, namely the residences that will become housing afterwards. Other existing venues in the city will be used for the games, including Grant Park as a main party spot and Millennium Park for medal awards.

The notion of temporary structures is not new to the Second City. Most all of the buildings and landscape of the 1893 Columbian Exposition were designed to be temporary and are gone, with the exception of the rebuild building now housing the Museum of Science and Industry. Temporary structures is not unique to us, as the stadium from the 1996 Summer Olympics became Turner Field in Atlanta.

I hope this is not completely a case of history repeating itself. Granted, Chicago is a city that believes it has to continually improve and in some cases reinvent itself, which is part of the reason I live here! I only hope that in the planning of changes to the city, consideration is made to develop some structures that, long after 2016, are blatant, lasting symbols that the world came to Chicago to compete. The spirit of the Olympics would build leading up to the event, but those symbols would make it last a lot longer.

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If you are "ferrously challenged" like I am, which means you can't iron a garment to save your life, you probably use dry cleaners to get your shirts and other clothes nice and crisp. Over time, you probably accumulate many wire hangers. So what do you do with them? Allow me to make a suggestion – return them to your dry cleaners.

Recently I brought back a whole stack of hangers to the cleaners. After pulling them out of my garment bag, the owner thanked me profusely, telling me that the cost of hangers has been on the rise. So as a result, I am keeping their costs down, which will hopefully relate in keeping my costs down.

There’s also the question of recycling hangers that are used for clothing. When I take a garment off a dry cleaning hanger I do not reuse it, as I prefer to use a more stable hanger. Thus the hangers I return are, as far as I am concerned, clean.

Is that the case for all hangers? Am I thinking about this too much?

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