This week Wilmette-Kenilworth and Winnetka Patch are running countdowns of the top news stories of the year. So I figured I’d get in on the action and do my own little year in review piece. How unoriginal is it to write a retrospective column right before New Year’s? Pretty freaking unoriginal. But it’s either that or some equally uninspired fluff piece about things to do around town for New Year’s Eve. So with the sun setting on 2011, I thought I would comb through all of my previous columns from this past year and attempt to put a little bow on the whole shebang. Strolling through the back …

With Hanukkah currently under way and Christmas still set for this weekend, I am left concerned with the same thought I am sure all of you out there are also currently preoccupied with: What should go into Edens Plaza where Borders used to be? Seriously. Long time readers know that I am emotionally invested in seeing the local shopping scene here in Wilmette bounce back. I’ve worked all over town. I even worked in Edens Plaza sporadically during high school and college. Considering its proximity to Old Orchard, Edens Plaza is typically dismissed as an after thought. The three things that …

I’ve been trying. I really have been. It’s just that with no snow and my general disdain for obligatory gift giving, I’ve been having trouble getting into the holiday spirit. With the holidays less than two weeks away, I run the risk of just missing the season all together, which would be a shame. People need December to be festive. We need to romanticize this season with eggnog and carols and nights spent sipping hot chocolate beneath a blanket next to a roaring fire because there is nothing warm and cozy about January. If I don’t find some Christmas cheer soon, I’m going to be S.O.L. until …

There’s that chill in the air. All semblance of fall is gone and the bitterness of winter is poised to bury us all once again. I am not eluding to the weather, though watch out for the drop. Rather, I am referring to the holiday shopping season. In less than three weeks the deadlines will have either been met, or you’ll have to invest in some apology cards before New Years. I figured now would be an opportune time to talk about a subject very near and dear to my heart; customer service. Last year I wrote on this subject after the holiday season, which in hindsight was probably a wasted effort…

Assuming that all the gutter leaves get picked up before the first major snowfall, I love this time of year. At this point of the season, I feel fall has sufficiently worn out its welcome and has become a drag. Winter brings with it all sorts of new headaches: blizzards, whiteouts and sub-zero degree weather, but it is difficult to think about all that when my neighbors are busy decorating for the holidays. I make a point every year, once the snow has fallen and the lights are up, to get bundled up at night and walk around the neighborhood. The neighborhood streets are remarkably quiet around…

Two things for those of you out there who have been reading An Extra Shot for awhile: you’re what I am thankful for this year and you might recall that I am a bit of a grouch when it comes to holiday shopping. I feel all of America’s problems are encapsulated in the spirit of Black Friday.  No, spirit is a poor choice of words. Spirit implies that Black Friday has a soul. It doesn’t.  It’s a cold and loveless thing, a mass of impulsive humanity clamoring and clawing on top of one another for flat-screen TVs. Of course I have been accused of being overly dramatic in the past. I’ve also been …

The controversy emanating out of Penn State has managed to capture nationwide headlines and leave us feeling disgusted. That is because the story is a multi-prong attack.  So much of what we value in our society is mired and sullied by this story. Unfortunately, it has been the football aspects of the story that have received the lion’s share of the media’s attention. The dismissal of Joe Paterno, the coach of the Nittany Lions for nearly half a century, is a story best suited for the over-enthusiastic sports analysts on ESPN. What I find more newsworthy, and far more disturbing, is how this …

It is almost unsettling what a Bears win does for my mood. I swear my morning coffee tastes better after Monday night. There is a lot of topical news I could write about this week. Sexual molestation and misconduct have been at the forefront of the national spotlight. In both the controversy at Penn State concerning top administrators accused of failing to report sexual molestation charges to the authorities, and in the ever-growing list of women claiming to have been harassed or assaulted by one-time presidential hopeful Herman Cain. And yes, I am assuming that by the time this makes press …

I remember her walking into the coffee shop for the first time. It was about a year ago. The weather had just started to turn and everyone was still in the process of getting acclimated to the chill in the air. For most, that meant windbreakers, fleece jackets or those trendy penny coats that were in vogue last year. She dressed like a heroine out of a fairy tale, not the cutesy Disney ones, the dark modern reinterpretations where the Big Bad Wolf does more than just huff and puff. She wore a massive scarf, which encompassed her entire torso and most of her face, which she hid beneath raven …

Fall means different things to different people. Some folks look forward to the crisp afternoons and beautiful changing foliage. Others with slightly more foresight know that winter’s brutal assault lies just over the horizon. And others are mesmerized to find that their high school careers are flying by, and now they have to get serious about what to do and where to go after senior year. This week’s column is targeted specifically to high school students who will be venturing forth on college trips sometime this fall. Having gone through the process not that long ago, I’d figure I’d offer a …

Last week I wrote about the Occupy Wall Street demonstration currently going on in NYC and across the country (perhaps you’ve heard of it). The point I was driving at in my column, and perhaps I did not do so effectively, was that I was concerned and alarmed by the organizing protesters failure to clearly define the message of their movement.  And then we had ourselves a good old fashion flame war. Unfamiliar with the term? A flame war is a heated debate between individuals held in the confines of an internet forum. In this case, the venue for the flare up was the comments section found …

Howdy Patchers, How ‘bout them Cubbies? I kid I kid. First off, I am pleased to announce that this here column is now being simul-published on the Winnetka Patch. So welcome Winnetkians (Winnetk’ers? Winnies?), I’m James, this is my column and I am always right. On to business. By now I imagine a good many of you have caught wind of a social demonstration/protest currently under way in NYC. The organizers of the event have named it simply Occupy Wall Street and have managed to garner nationwide media attention by staging protests and by being victimized by the NYPD. Earlier: An Ode to Steve …