Tim K.'s Profile

The evergreen that was planted two years ago in my front yard had last Fall decided that it no longer wanted to be evergreen, turned brown, shriveled up and died.  Thus, I was looking for new tree, waited until the Spring then headed out in search of a new evergreen. I found NIck's on line and decided to go over and take a look at what they had to offer.

First of all, the place is HUGE, anything you could want for your garden or landscaping is THERE. Acres and acres of stuff, including an astounding amount and variety of evergreens. I found a salesperson, a friendly chap from New Zealand, who knew just about everything about all the trees that were available for adoption. He showed my several varieties. I settled on an Austrian Pine about 7 feet tall. I asked about deliver and installation, he made a quick call to the person who handled that work, turned to me and asked if today at 2pm would be OK.  OK, that would be great. We went to the counter, sat down and wrote up the sale, the worker who would be planting the tree came over, introduced himself and asked where I lived and if there were any special instructions. Pretty cool !

Be mindful that the cost of evergreens (and other trees) is not cheap no matter where you go. And the tree is only about 70% of what you pay if you want it delivered and planted. But, you do get a guarantee of one year.

Great place for all garden, landscape, etc needs. Knowledgeable salespeople, friendly atmosphere, good prices.

What a place for Arts & Crafts stuff. I was looking for some picture frames for some Hokusai posters I just bought and this was THE place to find them. Not only did I find some that worked well with the prints but almost the entire stock of frames was 40% off, that's almost 2 for 1.

While there I cruised around, just looking at stuff. If you want some plants that will stay green all year around or some bright flowers that will not wilt, then Michaels is again THE place to go.

Lots of hand craft stuff, some of which I have no idea what you would make with it. But, it is fun to look around.

Highly recommended by ME

Hate to write this, but.......I had lunch at Whole Foods today and was VERY disappointed.  Got a plate from the Indian section, just about everything was COLD and the yellow rice was hardly cooked,felt like I almost broke a tooth on it. Rice is suppose to be cooked until done, not until it merely looks done. Guess I should wait and write a glowing review until after I sample more of what they are offering.

Plus, it was over priced, at $7.99 lb. the two plates (about 3 dishes, not too much) came to close to $23.00. Didn't seem like almost 3 pound of food, especially when the rice was uneatable and it was ALL cold.

I love these old theaters. They are not the new, shiny, Dolby sound, stadium seating, mega refreshment stand ones that proliferate nowadays. The seating is old style, there is a balcony, you buy your ticket from an outside box office, the refreshment stand is about 8 feet long, the lobby is small and the interior is rich with design and architectual features.  Reminds me of the theaters of my kidhood and many throughout Europe. The popcorn is still great , the screen is big, the sound is good; you also may have someone behind you bounce their knees off of your seat, but what the heck. These theaters will not be coming back, no one will build them like this again and once they are all torn down and become a new shopping mall or theme store, they will be just a memory....ah nostalgia !

Anyway, the Mayan mostly shows films that are not yet in mass release, it is a delight to sit in the splendor that was once the standard for movie goers.

After almost two years of dealing with dry skin, being "shocked" when I touch anything in my house, my furniture cracking and other dry air related maladies I decided to look into a all house humidifier . Did some research on makes and models, then made a few calls.

First of all, the contractors I called all seemed to use the same Honeywell products. And the choices were a by-pass humidifier or a powered humidifier. The former being a passive type unit, the latter being able to provide a higher level of humidity. The former requiring a duct from the unit to the ventilation system, the latter being attached directly to the furnace. Both units were about the same in price when purchased from various sites, about $260. I also looked into a new thermostat  and found a Honeywell IAQ that allows the % of humidity to be controlled from the main unit, about $170.

I then talked to various contractors, all of them seemed to say that the installation would take about 3 hours, and all of them seemed to make a pretty good profit on the total bill, so no matter who I chose, it was going to cost me a few bucks.

I went with Infinity Heating & Cooling after talking to the owner Shane Diltz. He arrive 30 minutes early on Monday and went right to work. He even had to do some modification to my furnace to install the humidifier. He also did not mind my asking questions as he worked. He got it all hooked up,  it looks great and is whirring away upping the humidity in my house. Going to take awhile to get in the 35-40% range but I will be happy when it gets there.

So far I am pleased with the whole process. I will report back it problem arise and if they do, the response to them.

Thus far, A-OK

Movies are one thing I have always enjoyed, even more, I love fresh popped popcorn. In the past I have been know to see a junk movie just because I wanted some good popcorn.

Anyway, Harkins Theaters at Northfield is a great theater offering a wide variety of movies each week.  They also have the Cine Capri which is a big screen where they show a feature movie each week. They also have specials where you buy a t-shirt and get FREE popcorn for a year...my kind of special. You can also buy a large plastic cup and get free soda for the year.

Besides all of this, the personal that work at Harkins are always friendly, happy to assist and generally just nice to the patrons..

I am usually there at least once a week, I am the one with the large popcorn. If you see me say HI.

Was looking over places to practice and play golf, mainly practice now that it is winter and found South Suburban from a search.  Called and got some information and decided to drive down and check it out. I was primarily interested in their driving range which was "heated".  Being that there was snow on the ground I imagined that any outdoor facility would be closed. I was surprised to see that this was not the case and indeed the range was open. The range is a double decker set up with the lower deck having a timer switch every two stalls. Turning on the timer activates an overhead heater does does a nice job of heating up the area. I decided to give it a try and it worked well. The only problem was that I was hitting a white ball through a white (cloud filled) sky to a field of snow. Out of the 80 balls I hit, I maybe saw 4 or 5 of them.

So, I was impressed with the facility, the little of it I saw as it is a huge complex with all kinds of sport related options. I will have to go back and spend more time in order to comprehend the full scope of this great complex.

Another franchise place, but again I was surprised by the service and the food. Got lucky and was seated in the back of the house, near the fireplace, where the sound level was much lower than the main area of the restaurant. The menu was not large, but the selection was enough to suit most tastes, except  true vegetarians. However, the waiter new enough about the menu that he could tell if any beef/chicken was used in preparing the dish. You start off with a big hunk or warm bread.  Started with an artichoke appitiser that was very tasty. Salads were OK, nothing special for the price they were more than adequate.  I had the Pesto Pizza with chicken, ricotta cheese, dried tomatoes and basil. It was quite good and more than I could eat. So I had a good lunch the next day.

Two iced teas, appitiser, two salads, two entrees (1/2 of both taken home) for $40.  Not bad and good enough to go back again.

This may be a franchise restaurant but it is quite good.  Had some reservations about a "chain" restaurant and I was very surprised. First of all the staff could not have been more friendly, helpful and genuinely  service oriented, from the hostess to the server to the bus person. The menu had a good variety of offerings with moderate prices. My son and I both ordered house salads and an entree. We also received all the warm bread we could eat and my Diet Coke got refilled as soon as I had downed half of what was in the glass.  Portions were enough to fill you up nicely and the food was tasty, well seasoned and the pasta in both dishes was done correctly, not soggy at all. Check for two salads, two entrees, soft drinks came to $38.00, not bad.

Not your true Italian dining experience but good enough that I will return. I can do without the fancy tables, dinner ware, singers and often times arrogant staff.

Everyone in the area seems to be able to count on Pete's Kitchen for good food at all times of the day.  It is the kind of old time place, small, comfortable, busy and friendly that I have always been attracted to. Pete's is all that and is clean, bright and has good energy. The menu is large enough for anyone to find something that they either like or would like to try.
I had the Greek Salad which was more than enough for me. It included a good amount of Feta, couple of stuffed grape leaves and all of the rest of the typical Greek salad including a side of Pita. My son had the Gyros Melt which came with fries. Both were ample amounts of food. Others in Pete's were ordering breakfast specials and these appeared massive. Service was quick and friendly. The crowd was varied with everyone smiling and enjoying their food.

Your check is taken at a cash register, yep and old cash register where you have to press the buttons and the total comes up on the top viewing area. Hadn't seen one of those in years, not much can go wrong with this machine.

All in all, Pete's is a place that has loyal patrons as well as those who just stop by. But those who are the latter, then become the former.