So I've been interviewing recently and I've been told that I should send thank you notes to my interviewers. My usual default is to wait a week after a job interview and then send a follow up. But I've heard everything now from that's correct to send a hand-written thank you card to their address. What to other people think is appropriate ( Read more... )

So I have a job interview for a web content producer position on Friday. I'd been worried since I met all the journalism-based requirements but I don't know HTML, so I got Meg to give me a lesson today. Now I can do all sorts of things like caption photos and turn them into links and make tables. It took about 45 minutes to learn. I feel pretty ( Read more... )

I'm a huge fan of P.F. Chang's chicken lettuce wraps. There was a P.F. Changs a few minutes from my office when I worked for The Downers Grove Reporter and when I had to stay late for a meeting I'd sometimes go there for dinner and just order the appetizer. There isn't a restaurant anywhere near me so I tracked down a copycat recipe and decided to ( Read more... )

I recently became underemployed due to budget cuts at one of the primary publications I work for. I've managed to call on some connections to get a little more work so I can keep paying my bills. So long as I keep my expenses down I can maintain this state almost indefinitely while I look for other options. Lisa, my editor at The Daily Herald has ( Read more... )

Roger Ebert recently decided to condemn games again with this story http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/04/video_games_can_never_be_art.htmlRead more... )

I don't normally get really involved in trying to recruit people to my causes. I give money to a few organizations that support protecting the environment and animal conservation efforts because they are causes that I feel very strongly about but I know that other people have other priorities in their lives. But Kevin and I just watched "The Cove" ( Read more... )

About a month ago I decided to start working on getting enrolled in cooking school. It's something I've been thinking of for a while because food and cooking it have become such passion for me. I've been interested in food writing since I started doing it for a student publication my junior year of college but all of the jobs I've been looking at ( Read more... )

Hey all. I'm covering an event for RedEye Saturday and was wondering if anyone wants to come. It's the opening for a gallery exhibit featuring pages from kids' books by Chicago authors. There will be free beer. The event runs from 6-10 p.m. and I haven't decided when I'll be going.

More more info: Leave a comment

This year I added a list for shows which include both plays and concerts I've seen. For next year I'm also planning on doing a list of restaurants just because I'm curious. This year I read more books almost entirely because I've been reviewing them. I haven't gotten a new book to review though in a while since things have slowed down for the ( Read more... )

There's an episode of Batman: The Animated Series where Batman realizes he's trapped in a dream because he can't read anything. That's not true for me. I can read in dreams. The surest way I can tell I'm dreaming is if I try to drive. I can never drive in dreams. I've always forgotten how or something is wrong and usually my car goes out of control ( Read more... )