Renaming a Chicago Landmark
As a native of Chicago, I was astounded to hear rumors about the potential renaming of The Sears Tower. The famous Illinois skyscraper reigned as the tallest building in the world for quite some time, and still remains among the top ten loftiest structures. Appropriately named, The Sears Tower was designed as the headquarters for Sears, Roebuck & Company (the largest retailer in the world in the late 60’s) whose employees were previously scattered throughout Chicagoland.
If you’ve shopped at Sears lately, or heard of Wal-mart, you probably know that Sears, Roebuck & Company no longer stakes claim to the ‘largest retailer in the world' title. Sears sold the tower in the early 90’s and eventually gave up the naming rights.
The Sears Tower will now be known as The Willis Tower, a tribute to the building’s current largest tenant. Willis Group Holdings is an insurance brokerage based out of England.
We often hear of stadiums changing names, but this is a national landmark. How long will it be before people start to use the new name in place of the old? Probably a long time.
The Willis Tower website website includes future plans for several on-site green initiatives like wind turbines, solar energy and conservation. Funny, it doesn’t mention all the trees that will be eradicated to reprint all those history books and encyclopedias.
Contributed by Laine Beyerl
Welcome back Elizabeth!
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Just in case you've been under a rock for the past few months, on April 6th Zoey Elizabeth McGaha arrived a healthy 17.5 inches long and 6 lbs 9 oz. Congratulations Elizabeth! We are so happy for you and look forward to hearing all of your baby-mama stories. Plus I'm sure you'll have plenty of volunteers should you ever desire a baby sitter.
Contributed by Evelyn Chapin
Dating? Try "Going Dutch"
Inspired by a recent discussion on the NYTimes about Dating in a recession I was curious to find out the origins of the term "Going Dutch".
Definition: When every participant in a shared activity pays his or her own way.
Etymology: First of all it appears that Dutch etiquette has always promoted the act of paying separately when going out in groups. However, during the Anglo-Dutch wars in the 17th and 18th centuries (4 in total) the rivalry inspired the English to concoct many phrases referencing the Dutch in a negative manner, "going dutch" being one of them. Other phrases include:Read more
Hilarious Movie Promotion
I was watching the Discovery channel last night and saw a commercial that still has me cracking up. The commercial was for an upcoming episode of Man vs. Wild with host Bear Grylls but featuring the comedian Will Ferrell as a special guest. The whole stunt is to promote Will Ferrell’s new movie “Land of the Lost” which is about surviving an alternate universe with aliens and dinosaurs. However, the strategy of promoting the movie by having Will Ferrell survive the wild in this universe is creative and hilarious! It’s also effective as I will definitely be tuning in tonight at 10pm to watch. Click here to watch the commercial.
Contributed by Evelyn Chapin
For What It's 'sworth
Stand up,
It's time to shout,
Come on ‘Sworth fans,
Yell it out,
Yell R – A – S!
(ok, so our group insisted on doing a creative photo at the wedding… top right is what we came up with)
Congratulations to Ryan and Ashley Hollingsworth, or the ‘Sworth’s as we like to call them, on their recent nuptials held at the Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC on Friday, May 5th, 2009. Ashley is a verbal branding coordinator at Addison Whitney. The whole Addison Whitney gang wishes you a lifetime of happiness together!
Word(s) of the Day: Cisco Fatty
Cisco Fatty: a term inspired by a recent tweet (post on the social networking site Twitter) by someone who had just received an offer from Cisco. The writer shared:
“Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”
As you may have guessed, a Cisco employee caught wind of this tweet, and responded to it. Rumor has it the offer was rescinded shortly thereafter. Since this news broke, a Web site called www.ciscofatty.com, has been created, with the tagline, “How to Lose a New Job with 1 Tweet.” The story, much like the many accidental email mishaps that have preceded it, has become a viral hit.
The lesson learned here is, of course, an oldie but goodie: don’t post anything online that you are not comfortable having the whole world read. In other words, look both ways before you send a tweet.
If you chose to ignore this advice, be prepared to become the next Cisco Fatty.
Contributed by: Maghan Cook
Green Beer to Save the World
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This week, green dye and food coloring fly off the shelf to "vertify" everything from frosting to the Chicago River itself. Green beer is a popular St. Patrick's Day libation, but some brewers are taking a different turn and working to be green all year long. This time we mean eco-friendly green.
Breweries are going green by recycling spent grains, reducing packaging, or boosting the energy efficiency of the brew house.
Adnams, a UK brewery, has gone so far with one beer that it has received the endorsement of TheRead more
Uptown is Downtown
Most people, when they first come to Charlotte, are confused by the use of “uptown” and “downtown” to refer to the center city. Typically, cities refer to their center business district as “downtown.” Is “uptown” different than “downtown”? Not in Charlotte.
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Mother’s Day As We Know It
For most of us, Mother’s Day is a day to honor, thank and pamper the mothers in our lives; but Mother’s Day as we know it today, started out a little differently.
In ancient cultures, people didn’t worship human mothers, but rather mother-like female deities. The Egyptians celebrated one of the first annual festivals in honor of the mother deity Isis. The Romans celebrated the Phrygian goddess, Cybele, and the Greeks celebrated Rhea, the Greek mother of the gods. Both the Roman and Greek celebrations occurred in the early spring.
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Cinco de Mayo!
Cinco de Mayo, or the 5th of May, is a regional holiday that commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle of Puebla in 1862. This holiday is often confused for Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually September 16.
Check out Kaboose for some fun activities for this celebration!
