Hotel deals for Leap Year birthday folks and their pals, goldfish included

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’ve looked ahead to February’s calendar page, you may have noticed the extra day tacked on. Yep, this is Leap Year. When I was talking about it with people earlier today, we wondered if that meant one extra day of work. It’s on a Friday this year.

For those folks who happen to have been born on February 29th and have identification to prove it, head to a Kimpton Hotel. There’s a deal with your name on it. Plus, this is the hotel company that provides you with a gold fish for your room. This goldie was hashcOde’s last September when he stayed at the Hotel Monaco in Seattle.

To those of us without this auspicious birthday date, we need to cozy up to someone who has it so we can get the discounts at one of these boutique hotels too. Maybe you’re one of those people whose dearest friend was born on February 29th. I don’t know anyone who was.

Even so, here is an overview of some of the cleverly packaged deals:

The Muse Hotel and 70 park avenue hotel are offering the “Forever Young” package. This includes a $229 per night rate, champagne and birthday cake.

At the Hotel Burnham and Hotel Monaco in Chicago, your February 29th birthday will get you 29% off on a two night minimum stay. (Thurs.-Sat.)

Leap Year folks can check into the Hotel Monaco and Hotel Vintage Plaza in Portland for a $29 for the night room rate on the night of February 29th. (I’m not sure what else this involves.)

For one free night stay, head to Washington D.C. There, at the all seven of the Kimpton Hotels, if you book two nights (Feb. 28 and March. 1) the 29th is free.

And, if someone is planning to propose to someone, the 29th is the day when there’s a deal for this too. In Denver at the Hotel Monaco, there’s the “Dare to Propose” package that includes a Leap Year themed cocktail.

All of the 29 Kimpton Hotels will have some Leap Year special. Here’s the link at the Kimpton Hotels Web site that lists all the properties and links to each one. As of now, I didn’t see all of the the deals I’ve mentioned, but we were tipped off by the company. There are other specials that are offered year ’round no matter what your birthday date. Perusing the Kimpton Web site is one way to imagine living the high-life. There are other deals for other occasions. I have an eye on the Dreams of a Muse at The Muse.

Try the Red Savina chicken wings at Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap

by Justin Glow on

Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap, a tavern located in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, announced last Thursday that it will begin selling chicken wings coated in one of the world’s hottest chili peppers: the Red Savina. For reference, the Red Savina is roughly twice as hot as the habanero, and 65 times hotter than a jalapeno.

The wings, according to a Reuters story, “will be served with an alarm bell for patrons to summon waiters with sour cream, milk sugar and white bread if things get out of hand.” Those brave enough to sample the three-alarm wing “must sign waiver agreeing not to sue for injuries.”

Sure, the move is no doubt a bid for publicity (hey look, it worked) similar to those serving up overpriced dishes like the $1,000 brownie, but some hardcore wing connoisseurs might actually make the pilgrimage. I’d try one.

Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap
41 E. Superior St.
Chicago, IL 60611
312-266-0400

[Via All Night Surfing]

Flu shots at the airport: It only takes a minute

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s news I found out about through Intelligent Traveler who got the heads up from the Winging It blog at the denverpost.com. who got their info from the Associated Press. If you happen to be passing through several U.S. airports, right before you hit the gate, you can get a flu shot. Airports in Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Newark, N.J are participating so far.

This has turned out to be the biggest success for business types–frequent fliers who have no time to hit the doctor’s office between business meetings and traversing the globe. In the future, according to the AP article, cholesterol tests and blood pressure screening may be added to the list of things to do that you have no time for. Get your shoes shined and a little health fix. In the future, you also might be able to get other shots. A bit fuzzy on just how long ago that tetanus shot was? Maybe you can get that booster without putting it on your to-do list. Seeing the shot kiosk will remind you.

I wonder though if you’d need to have your shot records with you in that case? Someone with a hazy memory, like myself, might get a little too booster happy just “to be sure.” Maybe all the way to Cincinnati or somewhere else, people who didn’t stop to get the shot will fret and wonder if they should avoid rusty pieces of metal at all costs. Certainly, I can see how when the person sitting next to you is wadding used tissues and shoving them in the seat pocket or coughing particles, that flu shot you passed up might come back to haunt you.

Flu shots cost $15 to $35, only take a minute or two to get, and take 2 weeks to go into effect. Get one now, and you’ll be ready for flu season. With the recycled air on planes, that’s probably not a bad idea.

Sigmund Freud is not suicidal even though he’s hanging from a building

by Jamie Rhein on

There’s a life-size statue of Sigmund Freud hanging high above the ground outside the Trade Center Building in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He’s created quite a stir. Good Samaritan types saw the statue hanging by one hand from a pole 7-stories up and thought it was a real man in distress. After they called the police and the truth was discovered, there must have been a sigh of relief. “Oh, it’s just Freud.”

This statue of Freud by Czech sculptor David Cerney has been hanging around in a variety of spots for a year or more. Most recently, Freud was hanging in out in Chicago. Before that, he was hanging from a pole in Prague. Freud will be in Grand Rapids, possibly accumulating more than a dusting of snow, until the spring thaw.

As for Cerney, here’s an intriguing interview with him in the Compass Prague. He moved back to the Czech Republic since the Americans he met in New York City were a bit too friendly. That’s not something you hear that much. (Actually, this is my interpretation of what he said. I may be off the mark.) [via New York Times]

Chicago’s Festival of Maps

by Kelly Amabile on

The Field Museum exhibit I mentioned yesterday is part of a larger cartographic celebration that kicked off in Chicago earlier this month. The Festival of Maps is a citywide event that celebrates exploration, discovery and mapping. It began on November 2, and will continue into 2008, as over 30 scientific and cultural institutions participate with activities and exhibits highlighting these themes.

The exhibit at the Field Museum is the cornerstone event, featuring over 100 maps created by ancient navigators and modern Internet pioneers. Other organizations with exhibits beginning this month or in the weeks to come include Encyclopedia Britannica, The Polish Museum of America, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

There are plenty more galleries, museums and libraries around Chicago with map-themed exhibits on the horizon. Keep up to date with announcements about exhibits and events at the Festival’s blog, which most recently posted news about 16th century maps of Rome currently on view at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library.