If you love all things tech, startup and Chicago and are either looking for a job or know someone who is (that should cover just about most of you who are reading this), you’ll want to learn more about how to become involved with UNCUBED Chicago.

ParkWhiz co-founder, Jon Thornton, as well as a few other ParkWhiz members attended the   Uncubed Chicago event yesterday which was held at the River East Arts Center. Uncubed brings the word “job fair” to a whole new level while providing good food, music, art and beer throughout the event. We were there on the lookout for a few open positions we have here at ParkWhiz. From recent grads to experienced developers to those looking to make a career change, we were able to talk to a ton of different talent about all things ParkWhiz and where we’re headed in 2013!

One of the coolest parts about attending Uncubed is networking with all of the different companies who attended. While ParkWhiz emerges from the startup phase, we still love to stay connected with up and coming companies. Their energy and drive is unmatched and it always seems to make us remember where we came from and where we are headed!

Apply for any of our open positions today or share with your friends!

Frontend Developer

Backend Developer

Mobile/UI Developer

Office Manager

Customer Experience Manager

It’s Hump Day and we have another installment of our Whacked Out Wednesday, featuring parking shenanigans and the world’s worst parking jobs…ever!

We are not sure if the driver was taking a power nap and decided to put the vehicle on cruise control. Either way,  snoozing behind the wheel is a HUGE no-no.

Here are some of the warning signs that should let you know it’s time to take a break from driving:

- Have wandering or disconnected thoughts
- Experience difficulty focusing or keeping your eyes open
- Have trouble keeping your head up
- Drift out of your lane or hit a rumble strip
- Yawn a lot
- Follow other traffic more closely than normal
- Make sudden steering corrections

The next time you feel sleepy while driving, pull over and rest, or pass the keys to your bud.

Enjoy the video and feel free to like, share and comment below. We’d love to hear what you all think.

Yes! You heard right. April is National Car Care Month and we like to think of it as spring cleaning for your automobile. Just like we declutter and clean away winter’s leftover grime at home, we definitely want to treat our cars the same. You know, our automobiles are usually the second biggest investment.

A complete auto inspection can help keep our cars dependable, safe and help us avoid higher costs from major repairs down the road.

So, since we are overachievers here, we thought we’d share some tips to help get your car in tip-top shape and geared up for the warmer months to come.

Tune-up

Schedule a tune-up to help your engine operate at its best. Tune-ups will help your engine’s fuel economy and produce lower levels of emissions.

Battery

Check the battery and make sure it’s replaced if necessary. Also, make sure connections are cleaned, tightened and corrosion-free.

Brakes

Inspect brakes regularly. This includes checking brake linings, drums and rotors, and brake fluid.

Fluids

Be sure to check all fluids: engine oil, transmission, power steering, brake, antifreeze/coolant and even windshield solvent.

Hoses and Belts

Make sure all hoses and belts are not showing wear and tear, and if they are, simply replace them.

Tires 

Lastly, check your tires often, this includes pressure and tread. Uneven wear means your car might need a wheel alignment.

If you are in the Chicago area, you know that street sweeping and cleaning is in full swing as of April 1st. Keep your eyes peeled for all of those signs because we would hate for you to start raking in those parking tickets, or worse, getting towed. Check here for Chicago’s street sweeping schedule and map.

Happy Hump Day!

We are always looking for ways to keep you entertained while searching for your next parking destination. In doing so, we are helping you get over the hump by bringing you Whacked Out Wednesdays (WOW!), where you can get your weekly dose of all-things parking in the wackiest and weirdest form. These crazy acts will literally make you say WOW!, and not in good way.

Who doesn’t love watching parking shenanigans at their best! We certainly do, especially while making your lives easier.

So here’s to keeping you motivated and finishing off the second half of the week on a lighter note.

As reported yesterday in the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, and other sources, at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced an amendment to Chicago’s parking garage tax ordinance which would restructure the tax to a flat 20% rate for weekdays (and monthly parking) and 18% for weekends.

This would greatly simplify accounting and tax filing for garage owners and operators compared to the current tiered system. The impact on consumers would be mixed; while certain parking rates would go up, others would go down, such that the total tax collected by the city remains the same.

The proposed amendment has been referred to the City Council’s Committee on Finance. In the meantime, if you’re a parking facility owner or operator, you may want to contact your Alderman and encourage them to support the measure.

We’ll keep an eye out to see if and when the change is approved. Even if it passes, Chicago will continue to have some of the highest taxes on parking in the U.S. Check back here in a couple weeks for a follow-up post comparing parking garage tax rates nationwide.

St. Patrick’s Day is around the corner and it’s time to brush up on some of the fun facts behind this beer and beef filled holiday.

1% of the annual world’s consumption of beer is consumed on St. Patrick’s Day. For 2013, that 1% is equal to 528 million gallons or 4.2 billion pints of beer!

The New York parade has become the largest Saint Patrick’s Day parade in the world with an estimated two million attendees every year. Fun fact within a fun fact: ParkWhiz is partnering with the St. Patrick’s Day Foundation of New York allowing some of those two millions parade go-ers to reserve parking in advance at a discount AND a portion of their proceeds will go to the St. Patrick’s Day Foundation!

The Chicago River has been dyed green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day since 1962. What they’re actually spilling into the Chicago River is top secret. The few organizers who keep the secret say it is similar to the way the formula for Coca-Cola is closely guarded. They also contribute some of the magic to none other than a special leprechaun.

The very first St. Patrick’s Day parade was not in Ireland. It was in Boston in 1737 beating Ireland by almost two centuries. In fact, the percentage of Massachusetts residents who are of Irish ancestry is twice as high as the percentage for the nation as a whole.

The real St. Patrick was born in Britain. He was captured at age 14 and taken to Ireland where he spent six years in slavery herding sheep. He returned to Ireland in his 30s as a missionary among the Celtic pagans.

We’re just two weeks away from the tipoff of the 2013 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament (March 14 – 17), and this year it’s returning to the United Center after being held in Indianapolis for the last five years. If you’re hoping to reserve tickets for the tourney, it’s a little too late. For the first time in this event’s history, tickets are sold out and we think this year’s tournament will set some new attendance records.

Currently leading the pack are Indiana (12-3), Michigan State (11-4), Wisconsin (11-4), and Michigan (10-6). If these guys continue racking up the wins throughout the remainder of the regular season, they will each receive a bye right into the quarterfinals. Be sure to keep an eye out for the tournament brackets that will be announced on Sunday, March 10 – the final day of the regular season.

If you were lucky enough to score some seats to this year’s tourney, you already know that ParkWhiz has you covered. And, just because we dig our ParkWhizzers, we are giving away some free parking to three lucky people that can be used at the Big Ten Tournament or any ParkWhiz location.

Enter the ParkWhiz Tweet-A-Way for your chance to win free parking (valued up to $25) at the Big Ten Tournament or any ParkWhiz location. Just follow us on Twitter @ParkWhiz and retweet “Celebrate the #BigTenTournament and RT for a chance to win #free #parking ($25 value) from ParkWhiz.com now thru 3/12.”

Winners will be contacted on Wednesday, March 13 at noon CST.

Be sure to book your 2013 Big Ten Tournament parking now via www.parkwhiz.com! We would hate for you to go broke parking elsewhere and miss out on the soda and hotdogs.

If you will be attending multiple games during the Big Ten Tournament, ParkWhiz has VIP Parking packages available.

Chicago public transportation you’ve done it again. For all of you who are accustomed to the inconveniences the CTA has thrown at you over the years, get ready for another bundle of fun. Starting Friday, March 1, our beloved 90 year old Wells Street bridge will be receiving a facelift. In effect, the Red and Brown Lines will be significantly impacted. As you read through the changes below and on the CTA website, it starts to get a bit confusing. If you’re a CTA rider who doesn’t want to mess with this, check out the parking lots available on ParkWhiz.com and use the coupon code BustedCTA to get 10% off your parking through March 11th!

Brown Line service during rush periods will operate with substantially reduced frequency.

Some rush hour Brown Line trains will operate between Kimball and Merchandise Mart, only.

Some rush hour Brown Line trains will be rerouted into the Red Line subway after Fullerton, making all stops through Roosevelt. The destination signs on these trains will read “Roosevelt” on a red background to differentiate them from trains operating to the Mart.

Some rush hour Brown Line trains to Kimball will originate from Roosevelt on the Red Line Subway, making all normal Red Line stops through Fullerton, where they will continue making all Brown Line stops to Kimball.

Purple Line Express service will be suspended (Purple Line local service will continue to operate between Linden and Howard).

The countdown to Super Bowl XLVII continues, and we’re back with interesting Super Bowl and Super Bowl parking trivia.  Let’s start by talking about one of the most important parts of Super Bowl Sunday: the food.  In the United States Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest eating day of the year behind Thanksgiving.  So what are we eating?

- Pizza is a big winner on Super Bowl Sunday.  It’s the biggest day of the year for pizza  sales, and sales are even higher if the Super Bowl game is close.
- Dips and spreads are the #1 Super Bowl snack choice.  Chicken wings are the #2 most eaten snack with more than 1.25 billion portions consumed over Super Bowl weekend.  Now that’s a lot of chicken!
- People eat an average of 4,000 tons of popcorn, 14,500 tons of chips and 8 million pounds of guacamole on Super Bowl Sunday.

Although all this food sounds delicious, it appears to take a toll on some as antacid sales increase 20% the day after the Super Bowl and an average of 6% of workers call in sick.

Super Bowl attendees eat 5,000 pounds of hot dogs during the game, but hot dogs are one of the cheapest expenses of the day.  Last year’s Super Bowl tickets cost 2427% more than tickets to a regular season game, and  Super Bowl parking cost 890% more than parking during the regular season.  Here are some Super Bowl parking facts gained from Super Bowl parking reservations made through ParkWhiz last year.

- The number of Super Bowl parking spaces sold increased 17% over the previous year.
- The average cost of a Super Bowl parking spot for a car was $82.43, which was 2% higher than the previous year.
- The average cost of a Super Bowl parking spot for RVs was $545.71.
- The most expensive Super Bowl parking spot was $900 for RV parking, and the least expensive Super Bowl parking spot was $29 for car parking.

If you’re planning the menu for a Super Bowl party, the phone number of a local pizzeria may be all you need to please your guests.  If you’re planning a trip to New Orleans to watch the Super Bowl in person, ParkWhiz is all you need to easily reserve Super Bowl parking.  Parking spots are going quickly, and good Super Bowl parking spots often get more expensive closer to the game.

Like us on Facebook for daily Super Bowl and Super Bowl parking trivia.  We’re testing the knowledge of football fans with questions like “How much was the most expensive ticket to Super Bowl I?”

The countdown to Super Bowl XLVII has begun. The San Francisco 49ers will face off against the Baltimore Ravens in New Orleans in less than two weeks. We here at ParkWhiz like to think of ourselves as Super Bowl aficionados and Super Bowl parking experts. We thought it’d be fun to share some interesting Super Bowl and Super Bowl parking trivia over the next few days.

Last year more than 111 million people watched the Super Bowl. 22 million households tuned into the Super Bowl, and 13.5 million of them hosted parties. One out of every 12 people watched the Super Bowl just to see the commercials, which cost an astounding $3.5 million for 30 seconds.

Last year 68,658 people attended the Super Bowl, and a large percent of them needed parking. Super Bowl parking reservations jumped exponentially as soon as people knew which teams would be playing in the game. In the 24 hours following the conference championship games, Super Bowl parking reservations increased 83%. We’ve already had people reserve Super Bowl parking for this year’s game, and we expect to see reservations soar over the few days.

If you’re lucky enough to be attending the Super Bowl this year, you’re probably in the process of planning your trip to New Orleans. While looking for Super Bowl accommodations and Super Bowl parking is exciting, it can be challenging too. Sites like Orbitz make it easy to research, compare and book flights and hotels. We at ParkWhiz like to think of ourselves as the Orbitz of parking, making it easy to reserve Super Bowl parking. While we can’t promise your team will win the game, we can promise you guaranteed Super Bowl parking if you book with us.

Check back in a couple days for more Super Bowl and Super Bowl parking trivia, including interesting stats on Super Bowl snacks. You can also like us on Facebook for daily Super Bowl and Super Bowl parking trivia.