Right now, eager 20-somethings are graduating college and diving into “the real world,” but not all of them have careers lined up. For many students in these uncertain economic times, graduation leads to an awkward transition period that often involves moving back home with their parents.

That can really take out the glitz and glamor of a promising career for the students, but it also gets parents wondering about ways they can help after investing thousands of dollars into their children’s college education.

Peter Gudmundsson of Preston Hollow has a few tips in his forthcoming book, “Not Done Yet: The College Career Transition Guide for Parents.” He and his wife Kathy started Career Foundations Academy to help young people ages 19-26 navigate the transition from college to career. The program aims to build confidence and connections for recent college grads through special curriculum and coaching.

Peter is also the CEO of the Dropout and Truancy Prevention Network that keeps high school students on track to graduate. He is the former CEO of Jobs.com.

Amid a plethora of the typical girly-girl spas in our neighborhood comes a new concept for men only. The Gents Place will open in the Preston Oaks Shopping Center at the southeast corner of Preston and Royal by the end of June.

The upscale men’s grooming and lifestyle club offers high-end haircuts, colors, shaves, facials, waxing, massages and shoe shines. CEO Ben Davis started the company in 2008 when he was 25 years old. He was recently featured in Forbes for using social media to build his business.

This is the third location for The Gents Place – the other two are in Frisco and Leawood, Kansas.

Taste Addison, the three-day food festival, kicks off this Friday, from 6 p.m. to midnight. This year’s event will feature food from more than 60 Addison restaurants, live music, celebrity chef demonstrations and wine tasting seminars, carnival rides, midway games and more.

The 5th person and the 10th person to email “I Love the Advocate” to mriney@advocatemag.com get four passes to the festival and a gift card to either On the Border or Nate’s Seafood and Steak House.

On your mark, get set, GO! …

The Dallas Police Department today released new details about a string of violent assaults and/or robberies along the Katy Trail as well as other parts of the city. As many as 11 recent incidents — including the mugging of both a jogger and of a woman leaving the Katy Trail Ice House — might be related, according to a press release. The following is a description of the suspects:

First suspect is a black male, approximately 20 to 30 years old. He is 5’8 to 6’2 tall and weighs 150 to160 pounds. He has been armed with a blue steel semi-automatic handgun.

The second suspect is a black male, approximately 20 to 22 years old. He is 5’8 -5’10 tall and weighs approximately 160 pounds. He may have a gold tooth and moles near his eyes. He has been armed with a silver colored semi-automatic handgun.

The suspect vehicle is gray/silver 4-door sedan. The vehicle may be a Chrysler or Chevy Impala. (more…)

After winning 52 percent of the vote on Saturday, Elizabeth Jones became the new Dallas ISD District 1 trustee, replacing veteran board member Edwin Flores.

Throughout the campaign, Jones has addressed the need for a more results-minded board with people who know the exact steps to take on any initiative – someone who can navigate financial reports and provide better accountability for the district.

“There is too much time spent on things that don’t have anything to do with educating children,” she said during an earlier debate.

Jones has extensive experience in the corporate and financial business and budget analysis as well as community service locally.

The waitress speaks in a melodic accent — I’m no dialectologist, but something European — and tells us why Grimaldi’s offers the best New York City style pizza in these parts. It’s the coal-fired brick ovens set to the precisely perfect temperature … she says (what that is, exactly, I can’t recall).

The aroma, the flavor, the crisp crust cannot exist in a gas or even a wood-burning oven, she says.

This might be true. The pizza is quite flavorful, exceedingly aromatic and crispy indeed. At Grimaldi’s, you sort of build your own pizza. Select pizza or make it a calzone, which is like a pizza sandwich. Choose your sauce: red or white. I tried both and prefer my pizza with plenty of the red, but the white with garlic or pesto is a delightful twist on tradition (when I’m in that kind of mood). Then, you add your toppings. I stuck with artichoke on one side, because I am barely a carnivore, and the kids had pepperoni and pineapple, a longtime family fave, on their side. The salads are nice and big enough for two.

The menu is simple. Hey, it’s pizza. Good. Simple. Pizza. And don’t get out of their with out trying the creamy, chocolate-smattered cannoli or the tiramisu for dessert. Pizza start at $10-$18, and most toppings are $2. The ambiance is all dark woods, Frank Sinatra wafting through the air (though, if the Rangers are playing, there’s a screen for that) and jumbo posters of old movie stars and Brooklyn New York skyline (from where the original Grimaldi’s hails).

Located at Shops at Park Lane, 8060 Park Lane, Grimaldi’s is open from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. daily.

Here’s a question for Mayor Vision: How did he get to Fair Park for last week’s Texas-OU announcement? He didn’t need to take a signature bridge.

Nothing illustrates the short-sightedness that dominates the thinking of those who run the city better than Fair Park. They whine and bellyache about the need to build things — signature bridges, convention center hotels, toll roads in river levees. That we already have something that exists nowhere else in the world is something they seem to be happy to ignore.

Unless, of course, it’s budget cutting time, when they always notice Fair Park. It has lost 12 percent of its funding since the 2007-08 budget, though we’ve managed to build the bridge and the convention center hotel despite the budget crisis.

I’ve always wondered why the bosses downtown dislike Fair Park so much. Is it because it’s not in a “convenient” part of town? Is it because it’s not new, and the only way to have a world-class city is to have lots of new things? Call me a cynic, but I’ve always suspected that Fair Park gets short shrift because it doesn’t lend itself to the sort of real estate development that motivates the people who run the city. You can’t tear it down to build something new.

If you didn’t do it early, tomorrow’s the day to cast your vote for the Dallas ISD District 1 trustee who will replace long-time board member Edwin Flores. Read our exit interview with him in the May issue.

It’s been a hotly contested race particularly between DeGoyler dad Michael Greenberg and businesswoman Elizabeth Jones. Greenberg made a final pitch to voters via YouTube. He has a lot of support in the neighborhood for his personal investment in DISD and hands-on involvement in the community. Jones released an open letterthis week to voters, touting her unmatched financial expertise and knowledge of public education; she also has some key endorsements from Flores, the Dallas Morning News, Educate Dallas PAC, council members Ann Margolin and Linda Koop, and “citizen” Mike Rawlings.

There’s been a fair amount of support for the underdog, too – Jennifer Levy, a stay-at-home mom with a special needs child. She recently questioned Mayor Mike Rawlings’ ethics when he, as a citizen, endorsed Jones.

As for Roland Love – he’s still on the ballot but hasn’t really campaigned much.

See what our readers had to say about the candidates after one of the first debates.

Here’s a list of polling locations open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday. Stay tuned for the results.

The Relay for Life of North Dallas is Friday and Saturday at the Episcopal School of Dallas and raises money for the American Cancer Society. During the overnight event, participants take turns walking around the track, honoring those who have battled the disease. It all starts at 7 p.m. Friday. Sign up here as a team or individual.

The Motherhood Matters Pregnancy Expo is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at Fellowship Bible Church. The free event provides resources for new and expectant moms with 50 exhibitors, educational seminars, children’s activities, goodie bags and more.

North Haven Gardens celebrates its 61st birthday Saturday and Sunday with the popular mobile bakery Trailercakes 11 a.m.-1 p.m. each day. There are giveaways, plant specials, free advice and activities all weekend.

The Inwood Theatre screens the classic Coen brothers film “Raising Arizona” during Midnight Madness Friday and Saturday night. Admission is $10.

Photo by Wesley Stringer

Our neighborhood’s stunning piece of architecture known as the Rachofsky House will open to the public 10 a.m.-1 p.m. June 1. Yes, that seems like a long time from now, but you have to make reservations by May 31, and space is limited. To RSVP, email Thomas Fuelmer. Admission is free, but there is a limit of two people per RSVP, and guests must be at least 14 years old.

You can view the house’s current exhibition Portraits and Not, a “collection that connect with ideas of portraiture and self-portraiture.” There are three spaces of works by three different artists: Janine Antoni in the gallery, Troy Brauntuch in the library and Mark Grotjahn in the bedroom.

The Rachofsky House is the private home of art collectors Howard and Cindy Rachofsky. Designed by architect Richard Meier in 1996, the home blends indoor and outdoor spaces. There is a permanent art collection, including some interesting sculptures in the front and back yards. The house hosts tours by appointment only for school groups and individuals.

Located just a stone’s throw from the busy Preston and Northwest Highway intersection, we featured the Rachofsky House in our Janurary 2011 issue, “Things We Love About Preston Hollow.”