| This
week on @Chicago:
Ask
Chelly - Chelly helps you find ways to build relationships
with veterans in your career field.
Around Town - Get behind the scene details of the making of "RIP:
Chicago Graves."
Cars
- Find out if the new Hybrid car tax deduction will be helpful
to you.
Finance
- Find out how an IRA can make you a millionaire.
Nightlife
- Part one of a series on how to enjoy punk music.
This
week in the Chronicle:
Image
consultant Lauren Solomon, helps others pull their images out
of the closet.
Lauren Solomon,author of "Image Matters," will be at
Transitions Bookplace, 1000 W. North Ave at 7 p.m. Giving a free
workshop called, "Quick Start: Image Matters." Solomon
will discuss the importance of creating a true-to-self image and
demonstrate techniques on audience volunteers. One way to find
a new look that is comfortable and unique is to "closet shop,"
Solomon said.
Chicago
Shoe Outlet owner Randy Shifrin, offers Chicagoans high-quality
shoes at low-quantity prices.
The Chicago Shoe outlet at, 77 W. Monroe has women shoes for $9.99
and men's shoes for $19.99. The shoes range from casual to dressy
and rival many of the same brands that are found at large department
stores.
"I believe if you keep the customer happy, they'll return.
Selection, savings and service equals satisfaction," Shifrin
says.
The prices never change and and new shoes are brought in daily.
Pining
away for a chance to live in that new development that is going
up nearby?
Chronicle reporter Karen Klages reports on the hidden upkeep responsabilities
behind owning state-of -the-art homes and fixtures.
Like: having to insulate your custom-made, 24-inch-deep, stainless-steel
soaking tubs because they don't retain heat well, states Klages.
Or: installing a big motorized fabric shade over the kitchen counter
in your loft, presumably because all that wide openness isn't
so great when the sink is full of dirty pots.
It is possible to be too trendy for your own good, Klages said.
Here
are some things you can do to lower your long distance phone bill:
To lower your long-distance phone bill drop your carrier, use
prepaid cards and comaparison shop, according to Chronicle staff
reports.
"Phone bills are set up to be misleading and confusing,"
said Kate Dean, a spokeswoman for The Telecommunications Research
and Action Center, a non-profit group based in Washington. "A
lot of people don't have the time to study the bills each month.
They just pay them and don't notice when a couple of bucks here
and there are added onto the total."
Charges for universal service, connection fees and billing fees
can easily add up to $3 a month in long-distance billing even
when no calls are made, said Seamus Glynn, associate director
of the Citizens Utility Board, a Chicago-based consumer group.
In some states, local phone companies also offer long-distance
and have taken significant market share from AT&T, MCI and
Sprint. Also, more people are using wireless phones--which come
with buckets of minutes for a fixed cost--to make long-distance
calls.
"The long-distance carriers get squeezed from many directions,"
said Andrew. "So they've turned to yield management--they're
raising prices for those customers who are cost insensitive."
Lawmaker
vows to push PC lemon law
State Rep. George Scully (D-Flossmoor) sponsored a bill that makes
it easier for consumers to get their machines fixed by the manufacturer
or get their money back.
Although Scully said he is skeptical that Illinois legislators
will approve a lemon law this year, he said he will continue to
sponsor the bill until it becomes law.
"Next to buying a house and a car, this is probably the most
major purchase people are making," said Scully, an attorney
who scrapped with a computer-maker after his daughter's computer
went on the fritz. "There's no excuse for the shenanigans
a lot of people have to endure when something goes wrong."
As of right now no state has such a law, but advocates say Pennsylvania
is close to becoming the first.
Take
your workout on the road
More than 1 in 4 Americans visited a fitness center or gym in
recent years while traveling, a survey by the Travel Industry
Association of America shows.
More than two-thirds of U.S. hotels have health or fitness centers,
compared with about one-third in 1988, according to the 2001 Lodging
Survey that Smith Travel Research did for the American Hotel &
Lodging Association. But it's also getting more expensive to use
them. Nearly 90 percent of U.S. hotel gyms were free to guests
in 1994, compared with 62 percent last year, the same survey found.
When traveling you should consult the concierge or a local running-gear
store about routes before striking out, and wear a pack carrying
ID, the phone number and address of your hotel, and a cell phone.
I would add one more item: a compass, said Suzanne Schlosberg,
a Santa Monica, Calif.-based health and humor writer who has written
"Fitness for Travelers: The Ultimate Workout Guide for the
Road," to be published soon by Houghton Mifflin.
As for hotel gyms, Schlosberg said Generally, the larger and more
upscale the lodging, the more likely you are to find a gym there.
Only 12 percent of budget hotels have gyms, compared with 83 percent
of luxury hotels, according to the 2001 Lodging Survey.
Spike
Lee to direct ads for K-Mart
Spike Lee will direct several ads for K-mart, featuring Martha
Stewart Everyday and Jaclyn Smith brands, as apart of its "Stuff
of Life" campaign.
The retailer hopes that the ad campaign will help establish an
emotional bond with its customers and it also hopes to discover
a niche in the discount retail market.
Some retail experts have said K-Mart needs to show consumers what
makes it stand out from other discounters.
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