Why I Oughta...

Still neck and neck with Governor Pat Quinn and Senator Bill Brady in the Google Insights for Search unscientific poll.  Based purely on "interest" of searches on Google.com across the state, the race is a dead heat.  Other, official polls show Brady with as much as a 10 point lead.  I'll keep track of this right up until election day.  If you are looking for the inside scoop and not this drivel, might I suggest reading CapFax ?

According to the Google Analytics account for this site, someone is barking up the wrong tree... Is it because of all the posts on gardening?  Or was it that Hybrid Vehicle Tax Waiver  that I got passed?

Last Saturday, Nat, the Babe and I, went up to Park Ridge to hit their Farmer's Market.  We were in Michigan and missed the Elmhurst Market earlier in the week.  Both Nat and I were after some produce; her for baby food, me for pickling and such. The Market, itself, is pretty nice.  Small and compact, it gets hot because it is, like many, in a parking lot that reflects the days heat.  Saturday was also the same day as the Taste of Park Ridge, so I can't tell if the crowds were heavy/light compared to other weeks.  Some of the vendors were vast, some were pretty sparse when it came to produce.  They do have a really neat knife sharpener with a HUGE old-fashioned wheel that uses to sharpen knives on site. All that was great, but the one vendor that stuck out for me was the Park Ridge City Council.  They have a Listening Post set up each Saturday morning and it was filled with elected officials and residents. Not sure when this started, but this is a pretty smart move.  Talk

We really are in the summer slump.  It appears that just about NOBODY is paying attention to the Illinois governor's race with both Pat Quinn and Bill Brady barely registering any query volume on Google.com from Illinois searchers.  One thing is certain, Brady has closed the gap with Quinn that existed over the pat year.  As a challenger facing a sitting governor, I'd give him a slight edge based on that fact alone.  Quinn took a hard nosedive over the past two weeks, so he may be able to rebound.  Past month's results are linked below.  I'll keep tracking the race up until November. May Update (Quinn with slight lead) April Update (Dead heat)

Back in April, Google showed the Governor's race in Illinois as a dead heat .  Both Pat Quinn and Bill Brady were running neck-and-neck.   Turning to May, it seems that Governor Pat Quinn has regained a bit of ground in the query game and is now running a bit ahead of Senator Bill Brady.  Here's the chart as of this morning.  (click the image to blow it up bigger) Was the spike for Brady related to his tax return releases? I think public polling is showing Brady a bit ahead, so we'll see if the query volume will match the polls or lag behind.  Check back in June for the next update!

The General Election is 7+ months away, but that's no reason to not start thinking about who the Governor is going to be come 2011.  For the past year or two, I've been (in my day job) sharing some charts with various folks about using Insights for Search - a Google tool - to "predict the present". There aren't many better mechanisms to discover what is on people's minds than using what they are searching for as a barometer.  Towards that end, Google has a tool that marketers use to unearth trends and gain key insights into what their customers are buying. As a means to see what the tool can do in practice, I've decided to chronicle the Illinois Governor's race via Google Search.  Can Google "predict" the winner?  We'll see. Here's what I'm using for search terms.  I am using all searches in Illinois - not just Chicago.  (click on the image to make it bigger) As of today, it is neck-and-neck.  Following the Primary, Bill Br

This Friday, Nat and I drove down to Frankfort to see my folks.  We dropped the babe off for a sit with her Noonie and Papa and we quickly ran to the movie theatre in New Lenox.  We caught Avatar - more on that later - but I also picked up a box of items from my mom.  Amongst some childhood treasures were two Abraham Lincoln busts pressed in Illinois coal.  I only know they're from Illinois coal because of the "certificate of authenticity" that accompanied them in their boxes! To the untrained eye, they look like cheap black plastic molds that should be sold at a garage sale for a buck or two.  But...now....when you come across a black bust of Lincoln at your local flea market, take a second look and grab it while you can.  For, it could be pressed of downstate coal and now you'll have a story to tell about your old pal Abe sitting on your bookshelf.  

There's plenty going on down in Champaign and it's not all football related. First, Yahoo announced that they're expanding to bring an office to campus , then Valleywag reported that the U of I will partner with the Library of Congress to preserve Second Life as a museum artifact. All of it makes sense. It's a great engineering school who's churning out great talent. We need to do everything we can to keep those bright minds here in the state.

The tragic story of the disappearance/killing of Plainfield resident Lisa Stebic took a bizarre twist yesterday. Her husband, who by all accounts is the chief suspect, apparently had some company in the form on NBC5 Reporter Amy Jacobson. That's her on the right with one of my other favorites from NBC 5, Anna Devlantes. ( I sound like Steve Dahl with my " top 5 newsbabes ", don't I ? ) Apparently, "the Jake", as we like to call her, dropped by the Stebic's house in her bikini for a pool party with the accused husband, and brought along her kids. Amy Jacobson, a reporter for WMAQ-Channel 5, is in hot water with her bosses for going swimming on her day off with the estranged husband of a missing Plainfield woman. Dressed in a two-piece swimsuit, Jacobson brought her two young sons, ages 3 and 2, with her Friday when she swam in the backyard pool of Craig Stebic. Lisa Stebic vanished from the southwest suburban home April 30. She and her husband, parent

Last week, just like my colleagues , I spent some time in the New York Office. There were plenty of things that were mentionable, but one item struck me particularly: in the cafe, they listed on a grease board all of the local farmers where their food supplies arrived from. They were boasting about the "Localness" of their offerings and for good reason. Serving the volume of food that they do, a company of our size can have an impact on local growers. I'm glad that they're so proud of helping bring local food and produce to the employees. There's a movement afoot in places like South Carolina to try to bring more locally grown food to residents. Sometimes it's hard to determine where things are coming from. Unless you go to your local farmer's market, it's difficult to know for sure if something is local or not. In South Carolina though, things are changing. Agriculture officials there have unveiled a new effort to brand locally grown produ

Dear Illinois Legislators, More often than not, I know that more and new laws are not the answer to problems facing residents in Illinois. Many times, they aren't the solutions - they're the problems. That's why, it is with great trepidation that I am requesting your sponsorship of a bill that would modify the Illinois Vehicle Code. As any commuter, or for that matter - any driver in Illinois, can tell you, road construction is the source of many headaches. While we all understand that constuction and improvements are a necessary part of the roadway system, most drivers try to avoid the construction areas at all costs. Avoiding the construction zones is good practice, but sometimes it's unworkable. What makes travelling the construction zones worse is what, for lack of a better term, I'll call "Cheaters". These are the folks who run up the right lane, when 2 miles back there are merge left signage that indicates that the right lane is closing. Most

Anil touches briefly on Blogging awards and their explosion : The last reason that blogging awards are so popular isn't usually mentioned, but a powerful incentive for hosting and running an awards competition is to help make the host a center of power in the community. By creating the forum, inciting the inevitable drama, setting the rules, and (likely) helping to entrench one's friends and supporters as powers within the new community hierarchy, those who create awards are likely to reap significant benefits from doing so. Hmmm...there's an 'awards' deal that we're still working on for JoinCross.  Illinois Fifty is set to 'rock out' during the Spring Legislative Session. I'm awaiting some information before development is complete. Should be cool. Maybe Corederoy Partners needs to give out 'Political Blogging' Awards. Hmmm....that may not be a bad idea...