1. There is major, traffic-inducing road construction on 90/94 between Tomah, WI and the Wisconsin Dells. So if you’re driving from the TC to Eastern Wisconsin destinations or Chicago (or Costume Con in Milwaukee – just two weeks away! – like I am), pack a snack and be prepared for a delay. Also, 290 from the Illinois Toll Road to the Harlem exit (the exit you take to get to my nephew, Piglet’s, house) is TORE UP, YO. So yeah, another delay for your driving pleasure.

2. If you find yourself exiting 290 and Harlem in the Chicagoland area, it behooves you to keep driving until you reach The Buzz Café. Here, you will discover tasty organic breakfast, lunch and dinner at excellent prices, an awesomely attentive staff, and if you go Saturday morning at 7 AM-ish, The Farmers Market Band. I deeply love this old-timey fiddle/banjo/guitar band, as does Piglet. How will you know if you’ll love them? Simple, did you enjoy the music from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? If you did, you’ll love this band. If you did not, what is WRONG WITH YOU?

3. If you’re in the TC, or within a 50 mile radius of the Cities, get your booty in the car and drive on down/up/over/across to Nu Look Consignment in Minneapolis. Why? Because today is the kick off for Nu Look’s $2 Sale. Here are the deets, straight from the horse’s store’s mouth: “Join us for our incredible $2 sale which includes anything dated 12/31/09 and before out on the floor. This includes thousands of fall and previous summer season items! This sale will last one week only so mark your calendar – Monday April 26th through Friday April 30^th. Store hours are Monday-Friday 9AM-8:30PM.”

4. From my bloggin’ buddy, the Marketing Mama, comes the 411 on another inexpensive TC event – this one for the kids: “I’m writing to tell you about an exciting event coming up next Friday, April 30, in Maple Grove. It’s a special concert featuring Rachel Coleman of Signing Time. If you have little ones, chances are you’ve come across Signing Time on PBS, Nick Jr or even at the library. It’s an amazing educational show that teaches sign language through singing fun songs.” And here is the online press release, also from Marketing Mama. Thank you, Missy!

5. And from the Midwest Comic Book Association, comes this freebie: “This weekend the biggest promotion in the history of the Comic Book will take place. On Saturday May 1st Free Comic Book Day will take place at hundreds of comic book stores around the world. It’s estimated that somewhere north of 2 million comic books will be given away at local comic book stores!” The Source Comics and Games will be taking part in the worldwide event, so if you’ve never visited this TC landmark, now is the time to motor on over to Lauderdale, MN and check them out.

Now, here’s a question for the whole Empire – whether you live in the Midwest or not. The Stunt Girl and I have been checking out a resale option on Amazon.com, called Buyback, where you can trade in your old textbooks, DVDs and video games. I was wondering, has anyone used this program? And what was your experience like? If you’d like to give it a try, you can find the Help page here.