One week from today, the Chicago Bears open the new Soldier Field on Monday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers. Unfortunately, the only thing uglier than the Bears' on-field performance is the new stadium. Even Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin cannot refrain from calling it crashed spaceship (login: lipsmancom/lipsmancom).

This analogy is especially apt for the west side of the stadium, where a curved silver mass hovers over the once grand colonnades. The project was supposed to modernize a grand old stadium, but in effect all they did was shoehorn a modern stadium within the confines of the old stadium's outter wall. There is no continuity to the designs and the architects didn't even make an effort to match colors--the warm sandstone and the cold steel and glass stand in stark contrast.

While the city is busy railing against the stadium's exterior, the interior has received much praise for the doubling of concession stands and restrooms, as well as the intimate feel of the stadium. It should feel intimate, considering that the new stadium seats 5,000 less than the old one did! So in a football town, where people have packed the stadium in below zero wind chills to watch a horrible team, they decide to make do with less seating. And don't think that they accomplished that by reducing the number of luxury suites or club seats. Nope, it's the average fan who will now have an even more difficult time getting inside the new stadium.

In what seems to be one of the worst idea I've heard in years, Disney is releasing disposable DVDs. Once opened, they will only be viewable for 48 hours. But they will sell for $6.99, when renting the movie is only about $4.00. Disney claims that it's a benefit because you don't have to worry about late fees, but most movies are 1 week rentals now at Blockbuster and even if you paid a late fee half the time you rented movies, you'd come out ahead.

On top of that, they are bad for the environment! To which Disney responds that you can mail them in for recycling. But if you're too lazy to return the movie, why would you bother mailing in the dead disc?

For those interested, here's the list of titles available when these EZ-D's hit stores.

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I am constantly amazed at how little effort many businesses put into their customer service. It's like they don't seem to realize that their customers, in most cases, have dozens of options from which to buy the identical or nearly identical goods and services. And we care about more than just price.

Last week, while looking for a pair of New Balance running shoes at Sports Authority, I asked if they had more pairs in stock because I did not see my size in stock. The salesperson replied, "Everything we have is out" before walking away. While this may have technically been true, some of the stock "out" was 10 feet up in the air above the main shelves, and may or may not have been rows deep up there. But did he offer to get up and look for my size? Of course not! So I left the store empty-handed.

In stark contrast, today I went into the New Balance store around the corner from my apartment. The second I picked up a shoe off the rack the salesperson commented that they were the updated model to the ones I was presently wearing. He noticed a crease in the shoes I was wearing and said that meant they were a size too small. Tried on the shoes and success! So maybe I paid $5 more than the Sports Authority sale price, but the service I received was worth it.

In another interesting customer service experience I encountered today, I tried Treat, this this new frozen yougurt place nearby. When I got the the table, I realized that the cup of my blizzard-like dessert was barely half full. For $4.25, I expected a full cup! I went back inside and the staff was appologetic and topped off my cup to the appropriate level. When I returned to the table outside, I found out that the owner's wife had overheard my comments! She explained that they were still learning to deal with the new blender, asked whether they remedied the problem and was relieved to hear that they had She thanked me for speaking up. While I may have intitally written off the place, the staff's response and the owner's concern changed my perception of the place 180 degrees in the matter of 5 minutes. If only more businesses could appreciate the importance of customer service.

With the Bears opening game only 5 days away, the city of Chicago continues to instead shower its collective attention to not one, but two possible pennant races in baseball! We're now past Labor Day, and both the White Sox and Cubs are hanging tough in the playoff race. The Sox currently lead the AL Central by one game, while the Cubs are in 3rd place but only 1 1/2 game out of first place. The last time both teams entered September in contention for the playoffs? Try 1908. We could be in for one hell of an October!