Dress Up. Cause Chaos. Do Good.

CHIditarod is Chicago's Urban Shopping Cart Race, Food Drive, Costume Contest, Fund Raiser and all around Good Time. It is also one of the largest mobile food drives. The event gets it's name CHIditarod, from the Alaskan Iditarod. The date of the event was chosen to coincide with the kickoff of the Iditarod.  The annual event is in it's 10th year and takes place in the Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village Chicago neighborhoods. There are some basic similarities between the races, but the Chiditarod is more focused on fun then coming in first.  Instead of sleds, they use shopping carts, and instead of dogs, they have teams of five people: four pullers and one musher. Also, each team is required to start with 60 lbs of food in their cart for donation.

Chicago Communications, LLC sponsors many different types of events throughout the year. We sponsor runs, festivals, trade show venues, picnics, and believe it or not, snowmobile racing. Yes, snowmobile racing, also known as Snocross.

What is Snocross? Snocross is a sport involving racing specialized high performance snowmobiles on natural or artificially-made tracks consisting of tight turns, banked corners, steep jumps and obstacles. Riders race at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. Now you might be wondering ….. do they actually race in Illinois? While there are tracks all over the country – New York, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan -- the southern-most snocross track in the country is, yes, located in Illinois – Wauconda, Illinois to be exact. Races take place pretty much every weekend from December to March, and as you might expect to coordinate practices and race days takes a village. It also requires two-way radios.

Well, it’s hard to believe but the holiday shopping season has begun. How do I know? As luck would have it I spent one of my days this past weekend at the mall with my daughter. The mall was absolutely packed. It was wall-to-wall people and wall-to-wall parking. Here I thought I was getting a jump on my holiday shopping by going before Thanksgiving, but apparently everyone else had the same idea.

This veteran's day we'd like to take the time to pause and thank our Veterans! Let's salute and honor those for being American soldiers, Marines, and sailors, and Coast Guard members, and National Guard members — all those who have served and currently still serve our country—for we deeply appreciate the sacrifices they have made in serving to keep our freedom intact.

10 Tips from the FREQ SQUAD for a Safe Halloween

1. Cross the street at corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks.

2. Decorate costumes and bags with reflective tape or stickers.

3. Have kids carry glow sticks or flashlights to help them see and be seen by drivers.

4. Always make sure children are accompanied by an adult.

5. Stick to trick-or-treating in well-lit homes in familiar neighborhoods.

Employee Spotlight

Raised in Elmwood Park, Illinois, Barb graduated from Trinity High School and decided early on that she had a plan for her life, her family and she was going to make it work. Armed with an Associate Paralegal Degree from Harper College, Barb found a place at Motorola as an Administrative Service Assistant. Shortly after, she was asked to assist in starting up five Motorola Owned Company Service Centers in Chicagoland; Barb says, "That's where I was educated on radios".

How many of you received a local trade flier indicating “Hi Power Radio, Built for Heavy Duty Use” or  “Feature-Packed, and Promises Uncompromising Performance.” Or maybe you purchased some radios from your Industrial Supply Company who carries them in their catalog. You buy a handful and they suit  your needs. You buy more and then more and then more. Now you have over 70 low cost radios all working against each other and your solution just became your problem. We see it day in and day out. People buy the cheap inexpensive FRS (Family Radio Service) radios for commercial use. It solves an immediate need, but creates a headache in the long term.

Update: Learn about our activities for Customer Service Week 2017 here. 

These past few weeks, we have been busily planning and preparing for Customer Service Week, celebrated October 6^th – 10^th this year. What is Customer Service Week, you ask? In 1992, U.S. Congress proclaimed Customer Service Week a nationally recognized event, to be celebrated annually during the first full week in October. It was designed to be an event devoted to recognizing the importance of customer service, and to honoring the people who serve and support customers with the highest degree of care and professionalism.

Employee Spotlight

Owen Lauerman began working at Chicago Communications two years ago. He will be celebrating his 2-year anniversary with the company on September 4^th. (Happy Anniversary, Owen!) But how did the stars align, landing him here at Chicago Communications? In Owen’s case, it’s clearly all about timing.

For most people, a vehicle is a very important tool in everyday life. It is a sizeable investment to own a vehicle and it requires regular care to ensure it performs as intended. When you purchase a vehicle, you therefore typically make sure there is a warranty or an extended service plan on the vehicle in order to minimize the impact of potential, expensive repairs during the time in which you own the vehicle. In addition, you sometimes find that when purchasing the vehicle that a preventative maintenance plan is included in the price of the vehicle for services such as regular oil changes, filter changes, tire rotations, and belt replacements. Did you ever wonder why these services would be included in the price of a vehicle or in an extended service plan?

Research has shown that when vehicles have regular preventative maintenance performed on them, they operate more efficiently, generally have fewer large, costly repairs, and experience almost no breakdowns. Since a vehicle for many people is “mission-critical” to their daily lives and or livelihoods, breakdowns cannot be afforded (and you know they ALWAYS happen at the worst possible time), so having some sort of service plan that includes preventative maintenance as part of it is an absolute must. These plans also kind of “force you” to do the preventative maintenance. Reminders are sent out regarding them, and in some cases the warranty or repair coverage is diminished if the proper maintenance is not occurring at the designated points in time.