Links

Music and Events

Kalamazoo

• Bell's Eccentric Cafe
• Louie's Trophy House
• Old Dog Tavern (Facebook)
• Papa Pete's
• Shakespeare's Pub
• Traveler's Cafe and Pub
• Sporcle Live in Kalamazoo

Chicago

• Chicago Tribune: Things to Do
• Chicago Reader: Event Search
• Beat Kitchen (Roscoe Village)
• Burlington Bar (Logan Square)
• Cole's Bar (Logan Square)
• Empty Bottle (Ukranian Village)
• Hungry Brain (Roscoe Village)
• Liar's Club (Lincoln Park)
• LiveWire Lounge (Irving Park)
• Mustache Cafe (Logan Square)

News and Politics

• AlterNet
• Daily Kos
• Electoral-vote.com
• FiveThirtyEight.com
• Huffington Post
• News Hounds
• Political Wire
• Slashdot

Local - Southwest Michigan

• Indian Trails - regional bus service
• Kalamazoo Gazette - has local event info for the Kalamazoo area
• Niles Daily Star - from my home town
• SW Michigan Dining - guide to eating out in southwest Michigan

Local - Chicago

• Chicago "L".org - huge collection of information about the "L"
• CTA Bus Tracker - find out where your bus is
• CTA Train Tracker - find out where your train is
• Eater Chicago - Chicago restaurant blog
• South Shore Line - commuter train service between South Bend and Chicago
• TimeOut Chicago - entertainment, culture, and things to do in Chicago

Literature

• Carrie McGath - poet and arts & entertainment writer
• Margaret Atwood - author of Oryx and Crake
• David Moody - author of Autumn and Hater series
• John Grisham - author of legal suspense thrillers
• Philip K. Dick - science fiction and alternate history author

Urban/Suburban Exploration and History

• Bearings - urban exploration blog
• Forbidden Places - urban exploration database
• Forgotten Chicago - urban history and exploration in Chicago
• Silent Buildings - Detroit urban exploration
• Vanished from Kalamazoo County - photos of Kalamazoo County's past

Travel

Flights

• Airtreks - cheap multi-city international flights
• Kayak Explore - flight finder finds deals to wherever

Trains

• Amtrak Status Maps - find out where your train is

Hostels / Hotels

I've stayed at all of these and can personally recommend them:

• Ca' dei Fuseri, Venice, Italy - cozy bed & breakfast on a quiet street
• LITiNTERP Guesthouse, Vilnius, Lithuania - affordable bed & breakfast near Cathedral Square
• Loki Backpacker Hostel, Cusco, Peru - has a great view
• Sawasdee Sukhumvit Inn, Bangkok, Thailand - great value, nice rooms with A/C and television

Other

• CIA World Factbook - collection of data about every nation on Earth
• In Your Pocket - European city guides for travelers
• Thorn Tree Travel Forum - lots of good travel info here
• Wikitravel - free worldwide travel wiki
• Working Nomad - one man traveling while earning money from the Internet