Chicago, Illinois is a great city to visit. And for some reason unbeknownst to me, most people I know visit this fair city in the winter. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty to do, see – and eat – in Chicago at any time, including the winter, but summer for me is the best time to be here in the city along Lake Michigan.

That being said, people come, and you may well be one of them. This is why I am sharing these tips for you, things to do or be aware of specifically when you are here in the winter months, as you won’t want to waste any more time outside than you need to.

#1 – Get a Ventra transit card ahead of time or when you first get to Chicago – In 2014 the Chicago Transit Authority (also known as the CTA and the “El”) outsourced its fare system which calls it Ventra. The Ventra card is technically a MasterCard debit card with the paywave feature, and can be used as both a transit card or as a standard debit card (but you don’t have to, or most likely won’t want to). You can buy a Ventra card online or at retailers in the city. If you register it online, you will get the US$5 you paid for the card as transit value on the card. You can also set it to autoreplenish from a credit card so you don’t have to spend time in the cold reloading the card at a kiosk.

#2 – Use ParkChicago for mobile on-street parking payment – Chicago also outsourced its parking meters and one benefit from it is the ParkChicago mobile payment system, where you can pay for your parking using a mobile app, mobile Web site on your device’s browser or even pay by text message. It requires a registration and the system works very well.

#3 – Familarize yourself with the Pedway – Below the streets of Chicago is the Pedway, a system of mostly interconnected tunnels in and between city buildings downtown in the Loop. Note you can’t get everywhere through the tunnels and walkways, but it is convenient to get to some places, like public transit stations, without going outside.

#4 – Look into joining a museum you are visiting to save money – Chicago has some great museums, and the larger ones charge admission. If you are bringing the entire family, the cost can add up. When you get to your destination museum or aquarium or planetarium, look at the cost of joining. Depending on how many people are in your party and if you are looking to see special exhibits for added cost, it may be cheaper to become a member and get free admission. If you think you may return to the place, membership is a no-brainer.

#5 – Bring your own ice skates to Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park – Chicago has 2 skating areas downtown, the McCormick Tribune Rink at Millennium Park and the skating ribbon in the newly-opened Maggie Daley Park (formally called Daley Bicentennial Plaza before the park was literally dug up as it’s on top of a parking garage, and you can read more about that here). Where skating at both places is free, there is a fee to rent skates. That in itself is not the issue; it is the logistics of renting them, which usually requires a long, long wait in the cold. This is why I recommend bringing your own skates to the rink, then you can lace up and hit the ice. If you don’t have your own skates, take a short train ride to either Sports Authority in River North or Dick’s in the South Loop and buy a pair – the time saved will be more than worth it.

#6 – See a show – Whether it’s walking or waiting, the cold can get to you. Fortunately just about every night of the week there is quality entertainment at the over 100 theatres in the city. From plays to sketch comedy to improv, Chicago has plenty to offer for all tastes and genres. You can learn more on the theatres at the League of Chicago Theatres and get half-price tickets to shows at HotTix. On Monday nights, you must see That’s Weird Grandma by Barrel of Monkeys!

#7 – The sales tax in Chicago is 9.25% – Though you have no control over the sales tax here, it is something to consider, as at is rate it can add up quickly. Not to mention taxes on hotels, meals, parking and even bottled water. There is a tax on candy too, but it is cheaper for Tix and KitKat, as both contain biscuits made of flour, and since grains are grown in Illinois, it has a lower tax. I am not joking on this!

Enjoy your trip to Chicago, and especially the food. If you like it in the winter, come back in the summer as it’s even better.

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

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Diversions • Thrive • (1) Comments • Permalink

When we think of major national and international events that occur in our lifetime, we also remember the impact of it on ourselves – where we were, what we were doing and how we felt as it unfolded. As today is the anniversary of the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, I would like to share my day after first hearing about it and how I remember it today.

Twenty-nine years ago I was in the production studio of my college radio station, WNEK-FM in Springfield, MA, preparing for my first newscast of the semester. Where our newscasts were far from anything that would win a local Emmy and could easily be called “rip-and-read” reports, we always did a professional (or as professional as we could) job at presenting world and local news on the air. I was sitting at the console board recording audio clips from a network audio feed we had to accompany the stories I had collected thus far from the Associated Press teletype printer, or commonly referred to as the AP machine.

I was well aware of the Space Shuttle Challenger launch, especially as the crew included Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher from the neighboring state of New Hampshire, around whom there was a lot of buzz for her being on board. I listened for the reports from the audio feed and there was to be one for the Challenger launch, so I was prepared to “cart it up,” or record it on a tape cartridge to play along with what I was to read from the AP machine story.

As I was listening and getting ready to record, the audio feed cut out. I recall calling out something like, “what the hell?” and then I heard the bells on the AP machine ringing as I had never heard them ring before. The AP machine, which was nothing more than a dot-matrix printer that printed on rolled paper, would sound bells when there was urgent news. In the few months on the college radio station I would hear bells ring, maybe once or twice, but not non-stop, or what it seemed. As I and others went to look at what was printing out, we saw initial stories about the launch of Challenger, then that “there appears to be a major problem after the launch of the shuttle ‘Challenger.’”, which was then followed with what is pictured above, “’NASA’ says the vehicle has exploded.’, which was then followed by messages about the successful launch of the shuttle, which apparently were written and sent before the explosion message.

My memory of this is amplified by the fact that for some reason I kept the initial news feeds that came off the AP machine on the explosion. Typically news stories are ripped, read and then discarded (thus, rip-and-read). I kept about 2 feet of the scrolled paper, which included the above alert, and the complete scanned images of the entire scroll are at the end of this post. Note the above alert went across 2 scanned images, thus I made this composite from both.

Following these alerts, there was a lot of activity in the radio station, which was located in our campus center. As there were no TVs in the campus center, we became the primary source for information on the explosion, and we even got the radio signal piped in over the campus center PA system. What was to become a 10-minute newscast at noontime engulfed more time from music programming and more people as well, as we were reporting on what was coming off the AP machine, as well as the network audio feed, which we had cut to directly, unedited, for a portion of time.

For most all of us, in our late teens to early 20’s, we had really never lived through a large national tragedy like this. Then add to it our role in broadcasting it. Where we tried to not be chaotic and somewhat organized about it, for most of us we were making up our approach as we went along. There was plenty of stepping on each other’s toes and voices and literally bumping into each other as we moved around our small studio space. The doors from the broadcast studio and lobby were all open – a major faux pas – as station members and students and faculty were coming and going to hear what was transpiring.

As the day went on, TVs were brought into the campus center, allowing all of us who had only heard about the explosion to actually see it. I remember being in awe as I saw the video played over and over and over and over. I also recall a mix of emotions, from tragedy and sadness, to thinking of all the school children who were watching this live, to why it happened after so many successful launches. The last loss of life for NASA happened before I was born, and after growing up seeing other launches, moon landings and successful returns to earth, this was something entirely new to think about.

Nearly three decades later, we know about O-rings, known engineering flaws, the loss of another shuttle vehicle and the remaining ones are now on their way to museums. Then President Ronald Reagan’s speech to the nation was perfect for the moment then and reflecting on it today, and you can view it here on YouTube. I share the images and memory of this as the these types of stories need to be told, not just the headlines but what happened behind and around them, as these show the complete fabric of our society.

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

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Announcements • Diversions • (2) Comments • Permalink

I was recently invited to write a guest post on the blog for CorporateStays.com, a service which matches luxury accommodations for travelers in select cities in the world like Montreal, Miami and Panama City. Digging into my experience with travel, I decided to write about tips for traveling in the winter months. My post, Travel Tips for Travelling to a Wintery Destination, is now live.

Where my typical writing is about business and technology, I file this under the “occasional diversion” I refer to in the description of The Hot Iron. The more I write, the more these come to mind, and the more these may be available to read by you and others.

Thanks to my good friend CT Moore and the staff at CorporateStays.com for the opportunity to write this.

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

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Announcements • Blogging • Business • Diversions • Guest Post • Thrive • (1) Comments • Permalink

To all of my family, friends and readers who celebrate the holiday, Merry Christmas! To everyone else, have a great Thursday!

As the origin of Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, I share the above picture of my nativity scene. This was a gift from my Mom many years ago, as she gave myself and my sister identical nativities. I am proud to share it with my little ones.

So that is the traditional celebration of Christmas. Now for the non-traditional way.

I ran across this video the other day and I was speechless. It is a Star Wars Christmas special that aired on TV back in 1978. You can read the full story about it here if you’d like, or you can just view the show embedded below or by following this link to Vimeo.

Though I was a young lad back in 1978, I don’t remember this show that aired only once. After watching it – ok, even reading the premise of it – that is probably a good thing. If you are a die-hard Star Wars fan or just a casual one, you will find this amusing to say the least.

If you like it, then consider it my gift to you. If you don’t, then we can just forget about it.

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

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Announcements • Blogging • Diversions • Thrive • (0) Comments • Permalink

Earlier this year I decided to write weekly posts here at The Hot Iron about what I learned over the past 7 days. Over 8 months I wrote 32 posts sharing numerous things that I learned. I wrote the last one on August 29, 2014, which will be my last in this series.

Fun for me while it lasted

The catalyst for this topic thread was simple - I had too many things I learned and/or wanted to write about but not enough time to write the posts. As much as I would like to simply “bang out” my thoughts on the keyboard, for me the writing process is more elaborate than that, from the thought on the topic to writing, to editing, to an accompanying photo… it takes me time. That being said, writing is something I enjoy and is a great creative outlet for me.

Writing posts that were more of a collection of nuggets of information was a good idea at first and something that interested me. I was also hoping to write single-topic pieces as well. Over time though the thrill waned and then it got to where I was not writing one every week, then the most recent gap of a couple of months. As for those single-topic pieces, they were few and far between.

Back to where it began

I've decided to retire this thread and return to writing as I gave before - posts on single topics on business and technology and other occasional diversions. For those of you who are my loyal readers I thank you and I hope that you'll enjoy this change as well. As always, I will never fully promise any number of posts, but am hoping to at least write one a week.

Still learning

As I still get disappointed when a day goes by when I don't learn something, I am still logging those thoughts and will be sharing them on my Twitter account – you can follow me there at @thehotiron. Of course there may be more diversions than in the blog itself, as well as more conversations and other thoughts but I still share all the business and tech news with my unbiased opinion as much as possible.

I hope you won’t miss my “learned” posts – or will you? Please let me know either way in the comments to this post.

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

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Announcements • Blogging • Business • Diversions • Strategize • What I Learned • (3) Comments • Permalink