• Billy Goat Tavern – Ah, the history. My colleague kept calling this place “The Stinky Goat”, which was pretty accurate. We went to the original location, which is hidden in the depths of Chicago below Michigan Ave. It was pretty cool trying to track it down, but it wasn’t too hard because of all the signs. According to history, a goat fell off a truck and wandered in the tavern. The owner, Billy Sianis, adopted the goat and then brought it to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field. Because of the goat’s odor, Sianis was kicked out of the park and supposedly placed a curse on the Cubs.I didn’t make it to Wrigley Field (which is nowhere near the Billy Goat Tavern by foot) on this trip, but I hope to someday.

• Ed Debevic’s – When I was on vacation in the Florida Keys, I watched a little bit of the Food Network and saw a special on Chicago. They mentioned Ed Debevic’s and showed how the waiters and waitresses would be rude to you. I thought it was hilarious and wrote down the name of the restaurant.My colleague and I didn’t get picked on that much… I got called a “nerd” when I called a waitresses buttons “flare” (as made famous by Office Space). The group of guys behind us weren’t so lucky. One got called four eyes and the other was called “an old Tom Seller” due to his mustache and curly hair. When they brought out a pitcher of water, the cups were face down in the pitcher! Pretty clever.

  It’s a 50s style restaurant and the waitstaff will take turns singing songs… sometimes they will dedicate songs to their table. On our night, one of the waiters dedicated a song to his table and then sang “The Lady is a Tramp”.

• Cloud Gate aka “The Bean” – Just finished in 2006, “The Bean” has quickly become one of the top symbols of Chicago. It is the centerpiece of Millennium Park, which has many impressive features including an ice rink and the very intriguing Crown Fountain. The Crown Fountain is a video sculpture of two different faces. There is a hole near the mouth of both faces that will spot water out in the summer.

  I find it hard to believe that “The Bean” is made of stainless steel welded together and highly polished on the outside. I now understand that it took a couple years to build. It’s very cool to walk around and underneath.

  Across the road, we wandered in the Chicago Cultural Center, which is home to two impressive domes. One is the largest TIffany Dome in the world and the other is a yellow-toned stained-glass dome.

We did try to go to the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), but it was cloudy so we decided against going up. Check out my full set of Chicago photos on Flickr.

Yes.

But you’ll occasionally be told to turn them off anyway. That’s because of a 10-year-old FAA regulation that’s not really doing anything but causing delays. Gizmodo published a great opinion piece this week on the issue.

Bose QuietComfort 2′s take one AAA battery that takes about 36 hours to drain. But. because of the switch, flight attendants will ask you to turn them off. I always make sure I’m sitting on the right side of the plane so that they can’t see the red light on the headphones.

Gizmodo also points out the Amazon Kindle e-Reader isn’t drawing any power unless the screen is refreshing. That means that a digital watch is probably drawing more power than a Kindle. But, flight attendants will ask you to turn the Kindle off because it’s made of plastic and has a screen.

It bugs me that I am told to turn off my QC2s, when there are probably at least a half-dozen cellphones on board that aren’t turned off (either the passenger forgot or doesn’t know how to actually turn it off). Even the iPhone isn’t the easiest device to turn completely off.

The action starts at 1:00 and continues till about 4:00.

Click here to view the embedded video.

One thing that surprised me about this project is that it is not funded by a travel commission. Videos like these can help promote travel by easing the worries of travelers.

As designers, we need to recognize that different gestures and actions mean different things across cultures. For example, the video shows that in Bulgaria, shaking your head left-to-right actually means “yes”, while nodding your head up-and-down means “no”. By the way, if you’re ever in a library or a book store, look for a little book called Field Guide to Gestures. You’ll get some good laughs in.