Good and Bad Times

In a city boasting more hotel rooms than anywhere in the U.S. outside of Las Vegas or Orlando, the Hyatt Regency Chicago is the reigning king.

in fact, at 2,020 rooms it is one of the largest hotels in the world and unmatched by any property without a casino or theme park attached to it.

It is a massive complex of restaurants, shops, ballrooms and convention halls, all buzzing with activity 24 hours a day.

On a normal day, it is not uncommon to encounter a dozen employees and pass by hundreds of guests In just the course of walking from the main entrance to the elevators at the rear of the two-story atrium lobby.

We are a long way from normal.

These days the Hyatt sits nearly empty. The few guests staying on property are squirreled away in their rooms and only a skeleton crew of staff is on hand, working diligently to maintain their high standards of service.

Like its counterparts across the City, the Hyatt is suffering the fate of C-19 and the devastating impact of shutting down an economy dependent upon tourism and conventions.

The hotel community in Chicago is made up of some of the finest people I have ever worked with, all of whom are doing their very best to weather this storm with positivity and generosity.

So it was not surprising to me that, despite all the other things they have to worry about, the Hyatt team reached about finding a way to give back to the City of Chicago during this crisis.

We brainstormed on the best options, reached out to our friends and partners, and last week began broadcasting daily messages of gratitude and inspiration from a large LED video wall along Wacker Drive and from a temporary sound system installed on the roof to play music for 10 minutes each night at 8:30pm.

These efforts tie into the "Unite at Night" celebrations that began earlier this year in the South Loop and have spread across the City. Each day, two new songs are chosen via social media polling to be played across the City in celebration and unity.

I am proud that Arena Partners was able to donate our services to help make this possible. And we are incredibly grateful to the team at Frost Chicago for their support and equipment donation.

You can see & hear the results below.

We plan to keep the installation in place until things are back to normal.

While we'll hate to see it go, we hope that day comes very soon.

Spurious Correlations

Tyler Vigen has a knack for finding interesting data from divergent sources that seems to have a relationship.

At a time when we are being bombarded with data about transmission, case numbers, deaths, and co-comorbidity, it is wise to always remember that correlation does not equal causation.

That said, an r ² above 99% makes me wonder what in the hell is going on with margarine in Maine?!?!

And The People Got Confused

Some of you may have come across the poem below, which has been making the rounds on social media.

It has been attributed to a 19th-century Irish author, originally written about the Great Irish Famine in the 1800s and then reprinted after the Spanish Flu epidemic of the early 1900s.

In fact, it is contemporary; written this year by a teacher from Wisconsin and in reference to the current pandemic.

Still, it is worth sharing...along with a reminder to take everything you see online with a healthy dose of skepticism.

"Good day!"

A Poem by Kitty O’Meara

And the people stayed home.

And read books, and listened, and rested,

and exercised, and made art, and played games,

and learned new ways of being, and were still.

And listened more deeply.

Some meditated, some prayed, some danced.

Some met their shadows.

And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed.

And, in the absence of people living in ignorant,

dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways,

the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed,

and the people joined together again,

they grieved their losses,

and made new choices,

and dreamed new images,

and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully,

as they had been healed.

And, The Good Parenting Award Goes To...

...the parents of this outstanding young man, who turned in $135,000 in cash that was accidentally left outside a bank in New Mexico.

This brief article is worth reading, both for it's feel-good message and his humorous reference to his mother's "chancla".

No word on the fate of the ATM serviceman that left the money laying on the sidewalk.

Thanks to Scott L. for suggesting the article.

Star Wars, ad infinitum

If you can't get enough of the Star Wars universe (okay, galaxy)...you are in luck.

The article below details every confirmed or rumored project in the works, and there are a lot!

My favorite: a new series on Disney+ that will be a prequel to Rogue One and star Diego Luna and his sidekick K-2SO.

New Wave fans will recognize Robert Smith and his bandmates from The Cure in the photo below...

...but are you familiar enough with their music to get the reference below, which is a brilliant follow-on to the original meme?

This concept is my way of sharing information and staying connected with my personal and professional network in these crazy times. Content is chosen based on what I think is interesting, entertaining and relevant, and there is no commercial aspect to any of it.

The last thing I want is to be an annoyance...so please click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email if you don't want to receive any more of these messages.

If you'd like to access past dispatches, they are archived HERE , along with a link to subscribe if you didn't receive this directly.

Have a great day!

John