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

It’s a power grab out there, and it’s every woman, man and child for themselves!

No, I am not talking about politics, rather something even more daunting of a challenge – the battery life of mobile phones and other portable devices.

The more we use these devices, the more we need them powered. In addition to this take into consideration that these devices can drain power from batteries unbeknownst to us, due to everything from leaving features turned on when unneeded to poorly written software running on them. Add to it that batteries are not made to last forever as well as many devices are not made to let you change the battery, it is no surprise a market has been unleashed over the past years for portable, external battery chargers.

When I heard about the Viivant Powerbank product line, I was interested to see what they were bringing to the marketplace for batteries – from design to features. I just received a Viivant Powerbank set to evaluate, and below is the video of the unboxing of the batteries (yes, 2) and my initial thoughts and impressions. You can view the embedded video or click here to view the Viivant Powerbank unboxing video on YouTube.

My initial thoughts can only be related to the appearance of the batteries, prior to me putting them to the ultimate test of charging my various devices around the household. As I mentioned there are 2 batteries – a larger one which can charge a device up to 7 times and has the ability to charge 2 devices at once. It also has a stylish case and power remaining display. Also included is a smaller, short cylindrical battery which can hold a single charge for a single device. It also has a color indicator for charging, but the light is within the case and is only illuminated when something is plugged into it.

Compared to other batteries I own and have seen, these are very comparable in size and weight. The larger battery has a unique design to it, and the fact it can charge 2 devices at once is an extremely functional and needed feature. I am also impressed that both of these are bundled together – most other batteries I have seen are only sold individually, and I bought my own current high-capacity battery and smaller-capacity ones separately. Couple this with competitive pricing on Amazon, the Viivant Powerbank batteries are also a very affordable option as well.

Next Stop, Wonderland

As I write this I am charging the batteries and will put them to the true test. I plan to report on how they do – either here and/or on my Twitter account @thehotiron.

I must also note that I did receive these batteries from Viivant for evaluation, and there was no expressed or implied contract as to how I use them or what I say about them. Why am I saying this? Read this post here on The Hot Iron about the FTC and I’ll leave it at that and wait for these batteries to charge.

Do you own a Viivant Powerbank? Are you considering getting one? Do you have any questions for me as I evaluate them? Please leave your message 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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Mobile Technology • Strategize • Technology • (0) Comments • Permalink

Happy 2015! As today, the second day of January, officially marks the first business day of the year, and by now most have recovered from the merriment of New Year’s Eve, I would like to wish you all a great new year.

Where rolling to a new calendar also comes with resolutions, mine is simply to mix it up in 2015. I started the new year off much differently than I did in past years: sans kids, just me and my lovely wife at a Spanish restaurant, where just about every year that I can remember has involved Chinese food (a Boston tradition) and the past several years have been with our kids, even if they were sleeping in the next room. This was a fun change, and a great way to ring in 2015.

So in mixing it up in 2015, I am not looking to make major strategy changes, but smaller, incremental changes that I see as adding up to something bigger and better. Maybe I take a different route to go someplace, or a different approach to reaching out to someone, or simply wear a different color socks on occasion – I am hoping to stop and think when I get into doing something routine or that comes too natural to me, and think how to change it in some way.

The Hot Iron at 8

December 30 marks the official anniversary of the launch of this little blog which is now 8 years old. It’s almost wild to think I have been at this, at varying degrees, this long. Writing is something I have enjoyed more and more over time, and it has been both a creative outlet as well as a way to vent some of my frustrations over business and technology – the overarching theme of this repository. Whether this is your first time reading or you are a long time subscriber – thank you!

I have written an anniversary post of mixed sorts over the years, and if you’re so inclined you can read them for the following anniversaries of The Hot Iron: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

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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 • Strategize • Technology • Thrive • (0) Comments • Permalink