The thousands of you - well, make that the 18 of you that actually read my blog post from last week - may be wondering how the pre-Hallowe'en weekend worked out.  Well, do I have a story for you...

Thursday evening, (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Baby Brother, St. Jon, called with another potential doin' for the weekend.  I had forgotten that Downtown West Allis was holding its Meet & Treat from 10:00 AM to Noon on Saturday along W. Greenfield Ave. 

So during the best weather segment of last weekend, My-Sugar-Na and I took the daughters (Gooey and Sloppy) and met St. Jon and his wife, Strawberry Fields, and kids Jelly Bean and Mr. Cranky Pants behind City Hall to start meeting and treating.  The three girls ranged from scary to cute (clockwise from upper left, Gooey, Sloppy and Jelly Bean)...

Also in tow was Vier Pogo Squad 51, dressed as his "separated at birth" twin, Law & Order charachter Max Greevey...

Along the way, St. Jon mentioned that Jelly Bean was afraid of big, mascot type charachters.  But not too long after he said that, we found favorite Sesame Street charachter Elmo (on the left, with St. Jon in the center and Jelly Bean on the right)...

(Side note:  Nobody believes me when I tell them, but the puppeteer and voice for Elmo on Sesame Street is a 6'5" black guy.  Don't believe me either?  Read this.)

 Following closely behind on Greenfield Ave. were Strawberry Fields (pushing Mr. Cranky Pants) and My-Sugar-Na...

Overall it was a great time.  We started right about 10:00 AM and the volume was light as we headed east from S. 75th St.  But by the time we reached the turnaround on S. 70th St., there were kids everywhere!  At a couple of stores, the lines were at least 10 deep.  However, we completed the loop in about 75 minutes, and the kids got quite a haul.

After bidding adieu to St. Jon's family, we went home and plotted our course.  Still expecting bad weather all day Sunday, we let the girls talk us into driving to our previous neighborhood in Bay View for their nighttime Trick-or-Treat that Saturday evening.  (Side note:  I have lived in three different Bay View neighborhoods in my life, and some of the areas can get a little seedy.  However, there are a lot of nice homes in Bay View, especially between Howell Ave. and Pine St. just south of Oklahoma Ave.  It was in that area where I was stunned by the number of Obama yard signs.  They outnumbered McCain signs 10:1.  So the first house that we approach that has an Obama yard sign allows me to comment "Kids, get your candy here this year.  By next year if Obama wins, they won't be able to afford to give away candy".  Right next door was another Obama yard sign, and I said "Kids, get your candy her...." at which point, My-Sugar-Na says that kids dressed in costume don't care about what I think.  Sigh.  I'd better keep her occupied on November 4th, just in case.)

We get home around 8:30 Saturday night with enough candy to compete with Freese's.  Once the girls collapse into a sugar coma and go to bed, My-Sugar-Na and I discuss the fact that I only procured a cannister of 240 Tootsie Pops. Because I - as man and blogger - know everything, I assure her that due to the weather forecast, of course it will be enough candy.

So Sunday morning rolls around, and it is beautifully bright and sunny.  A little chilly, sure, but not nearly as bad as had been predicted.  Sigh.  So not only do I start worrying about my 240 suckers, but the girls start begging relentlessly about allowing them to Trick-or-Treat AGAIN.  I give in to them, and at 1:00 PM, my wife dutifully begins passing out the candy to the children.

Although the weather slowly deteriorated to cloudy and windy (and with a few rain drops for good measure), the kids kept coming...

OK, so we ran out of candy.  Sort of.  You see, two prior Trick-or-Treating events gave us lots of, um, let's call them "reinforcements".  I dutifully counted 25 suckers (Dum-dums, Charms, you name it) from both Gooey's and Sloppy's stashes, snuck them into the Tootsie Pop cannister, and we made it stretch until all children had been serviced.  And until they read this (unless they stop looking once they see their photo) they are nonethewiser.

(Side note: When Mitten was way, way younger - as in "pre-Gooey", he was to small too eat all of the Hallowe'en candy and Easter candy that he received.  One particular year we ran out of candy for handing out, so we actually went into the cannister of Easter and the previous year's Trick-or-Treat candy that we never finished [actually, I think we had plum forgot about it until it was "go" time].  At least the re-candying we did Sunday afternoon was only a day old instead of that year old stuff!)

Now with that said, why isn't Trick-or-Treat on Hallowe'en Night?  It worked out great in Bay View, and also in the Wedgewood Park neighborhood (in which I lived in a prior life) where Trick-or-Treating is at night.  It is way cooler than on a Sunday afternoon.

There will be one last event for My-Sugar-Na and Vier Pogo Squad 51, that would be the "Howl at the Moon Dog Walk" in New Berlin on Wednesday, October 29th @ 6:30 PM.  Our own Max Greevey will hope to win the costume contest.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Animals and those creepy alien-type things on Stargate:  Today I am pleased to turn over my humble little blog to my favorite wife, My-Sugar-Na!  Please give her your undivided attention. 

After attending a MyCommunityNOW bloggers meeting last night I decided that my husband doesn't talk about West Allis enough in his blog so I am guest blogging.  Here goes.....

West Allis really is a great place to live.  I've lived in many parts of Milwaukee, from Bay View to the NW side of the city.  I even moved down to Racine for a while and then left WI all together for a few years, only to be lured back to Milwaukee.  My family has only lived in West Allis for a few years, but I really like the community.  The residents in my neck of West Allis are friendly enough and tend to keep their houses and yards well-kept.  A bonus, I thought, is that the city trims the tree branches away from the utility lines once a year.  That's a great service and saves me the time and money of having to hire someone to do that chore.

Recently the trees in our neighborhood received their annual trimming.  I didn't think anything of the tree trimming sign in the road (except that is was blocking my drive way and I had to drive up the curb to get into the drive) and I didn't even pay attention to the workers with chain saws or the wood chipper doing its thing.  I was actually glad to see my tax dollars at work.

Then it happened.  The tree in front of our house was really trimmed down; way down.  All the branches were gone; the only thing left was the bare trunk.  I didn't even notice.  My husband told me when he realized that the dog's two tree potty stop was a little brighter than usual.  Maybe the trimmers got carried away and took off too much or we misbehaved in the community and were being punished or maybe the tree was just sick.

Not knowing what was going on and being too lazy to call someone to find out, we just accepted that fact that we now had a bare tree trunk in the front of the house.  At least we would have an interesting landmark to tell people about when giving directions to our house...when you get to the giant stick in the ground, you've found us.

A few days ago I got home from work to find the tree trunk was gone.  Wow, either vandals were at work or we really did something naughty!!!

Yesterday I got home from work to see that the "Digger's Hotline" workers had made a visit to our front yard.  The underground utilities were pointed out with spray paint and little flags.

I asked my husband what he planned to dig for in the front yard - this is the same guy who made us use the broken kitchen faucet for two years because he didn't think he knew how to replace it and then boasted on his blog about practically being a plumber!!!  Needless to say, he's not very mechanically inclined.  The thought of him digging holes in the yard scared me to death.  Come to think of it, if he dug holes in the yard where would he park cars during State Fair????

After a whole lot of reassurances that he was not planning on nor intending to dig anything resembling a hole in the front yard we realized that the tree that was first shaved and then cut down would be completely gone.  The stump was going to be dug up.

Poor tree.... I wonder if we will ever we worthy enough to have another tree in out yard again?   I'm sure this is my husband's fault.  He probably wanted the tree gone to make it easier for State Fair parkers to get in and out of the yard.

The United States Bowling Congress made official today what I had predicted weeks ago... they are moving to the Dallas-area by the end of 2008.

• 230 jobs?  Gone.
• The income taxes and potential spending of those 230 jobs?  Gone.
• Prestige as the Bowling Capital?  Gone.
• The Milwaukee 7's credibility?  Gone

In the press release, the USBC has said that one of the attractions of Dallas was that this "bowling campus" was to be in close proximity to the Dallas Cowboys new stadium, the Texas Rangers stadium, and a Six Flags amusement park.  Supposedly, this would make it a "destination" that Milwaukee couldn't offer.

I don't see why anybody would think this.  The USBC is basically an office with employees working on computers and the phone.  The USBC could be in Paducah, Nome, or Mumbai and nobody would notice a difference.  A training facility (to be on this bowling campus) would be an attraction for the most elite players, but those players would most likely visit the training facility if it were anywhere in the USA.

Nah, Milwaukee blew it.  USBC (and before that the ABC/WIBC) had been putting out feelers for years (one of which was a bowling campus to be bulit in Orlando that fell through when some tax-based financing didn't come through).  But when did the proposals come around?  Right.  AFTER the anouncement that they were planning on moving.

The biggest failure was in the Milwaukee-area business leaders and politicians for being so far behind the curve, despite plenty of warnings over the past 10 years.  They waited until AFTER the USBC board made their preliminary decision before putting any serious proposals together.

By then it was too late.

In other words, its another Blogger Clip Show.

First, Mary Ann (from a couple of blogs down) blogged that the Pick-N-Save on 67th & National stopped carrying the official West Allis recycling bags.  She writes...

"I walked to the other end of the store where I usually saw the bags stocked. Nothing there. HHMMM! There was a young man stocking so I asked him. He called "someone" in the office and was told that this Pick and Save would NO LONGER be carrying the West Allis recycling bags and would only be carrying the Roundy's brand. I was furious!"

And in a later paragraph "Shame on the new manager at the Pick and Save on 67th and National!  Your decision to stop carrying the 'official' recycling bags was a bad one. If anyone in this area needs the bags, I'm told that Walgreen's carrys them and a small grocery store on 59th and Lincoln. These are the closest stores in the east end of West Allis that has them. I sure hope that this problem can be resolved as I surely don't want to be chasing from store to store to store for the bags. So, dear readers, we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll have to stop shopping at Pick and Save.

On her blog, I responded with...

Why is it up to Pick-n-Save to carry a product because the city has decided to only allow a particular product for its recycling program?  Answer, Pick-n-Save is a business that has every right to (or not to) carry the items that they choose as a business decision.

Your issue is with the city making you buy one particular bag, not with a private business that is in business to make a profit.  A profit which, by the way, allows it to pay TAXES to the city of West Allis, and thereby limiting the property tax increases.

Actually, I applaud Pick-n-Save for their decision.  Besides the fact that I feel that recycling programs are a WASTE of resources and expend more energy than they save, I also feel that governments should stay out of business.  Maybe if more stores stop carrying the blue bags, then West Allis may be dragged into reviewing their onerous recycling policy.

I have my own issues with Pick-N-Save, but this is not one of them.  Way to go, Pick-N-Save.  I am actually going to thank the manager for choosing to carry any product in which they can make a larger profit margin."

Then last night, I was reading Don Walker's blog on the main JSOnline page.  Walker blogged about the pending move of the USBC from Greendale to Dallas.  Although the USBC board voted to move pending the resolution of land and building issues in Dallas, Walker writes...

"The U.S. Bowling Congress' board of directors will meet Monday night to make a final decision on whether to move its headquarters from Greendale to Arlington, Texas.

The organization, the governing body for bowling with a membership of 2.6 million people, is looking to move to Arlington to partner with the Bowling Proprietors Association of America. The USBC is negotiating to buy land and a building near the BPAA in order to create a "bowling campus" for the two organizations.

Since that plan surfaced, the Milwaukee 7, a group formed to grow, expand and attract business to the region, has made a run at keeping the USBC in town. The Milwaukee 7 has since sent the USBC a detailed proposal, which USBC officials said they would review."

On his blog, I responded with...

It's too late to save them.

About five years ago, the USBC was already looking to get out of Milwaukee when central-Flordia was working on a bowling villiage which was to include a stadium for national tournaments and the headquarters for all of the national bowling groups.  That plan never happened, but the Milwaukee-area did nothing to sweeten the pot to prevent the then-ABC/WIBC from continuing to look around.

Last summer, Channel 12 for sure (and possibly Channel 58) had stories about how the new USBC president, Jeff Boje, had planted a seed about the area taxes being too high and that something had to change to help keep the USBC in the area.

That wasn't a trial baloon, that was a warning.  One that was not heeded by the city, county and state leadership.

Those people that are active in the local bowling community saw this happening months ago.  There is no secret that Boje is a proprietor at heart, and he actively stated that the USBC needs to work more closely with the BPAA.  The Dallas area has been rumored almost the entire time.

A couple of months ago, the USBC Board approved the move to Dallas based on getting the land and building issues lined up.

Lo and behold, here are Johnny-come-lately government groups waving their hands and saying "Hey, what about us?"  Where were these guys five or six years ago when Orlando was wooing them?  Where were they last summer when Boje took over?  Nowhere.  Where was their aggressive plan to have the BPAA move to Milwaukee instead?

All the Milwaukee 7 are doing right now are trying to save face.  When their proposal gets the thumbs-down, and when that beautiful building across from Southridge sits empty, the government bodies and the Milwaukee 7 will say 'We gave them a better proposal and the left anyway.  There was nothing else we could do.'

And I'll know the truth.  I'll know they were a year too late. "

Finally, a couple of months ago, Julie from a few more blogs down from mine, had written a blog about the good job done by the city plows.  A week or so later, she followed that up with this, which unfortunately, was prior to the early-February blizzard...

I'm sure you read the response from Boxster.  I, for one, had no idea that the same guys who collect our trash and recycling are also trying to keep up with the plowing.  That just makes me want to give them an even bigger pat on the back.  I watch my maintenance staff out there shoveling until their arms fall off, changing clothes 3 times a day because they are soaking wet with snow, only having to then carry a new dishwasher up a flight of stairs.  I see the hard work and I see others not noticing the hard work.  The city is pretty big.  Just because they aren't on your street right now, doesn't mean they aren't out there working overtime.  What would happen if they weren't out there all all? 

It's impossible for plowing to be perfect with all the factors out of the guys' control (like parked cars to name just one).  It's not about the job being done perfectly -- it's about respecting the folks out there who are breaking their backs and giving up valuable sleep or time with their families, doing what they can to keep us safe on the roads.          

I struggled with the decision about responding (or not responding) at the time.  The plowers are civil servants, and when they took the job they knew part of the deal was sleepness nights and time away from the families.  That is what they are paid for.  But I didn't respond right away... rather, I first read a comment from "Boxster", who identifies himself as one who moves snow around...

"Wish more people were as understanding as you are about what DPW does for the city. Though most people look at how much money public employees make it is what you mentioned at the end of your blog that is often overlooked. One is the loss of sleep. This winter I have lost about 5 nights of sleep working on snow removal. With the snow we had on Monday I worked 25 hours straight! Sorry, but the workers in the Sanitation Dept. didn't have enough energy to go out and pickup garbage today, that means we will be working Saturday to get caught up. Put even more than the lost sleep is the time away from your family. Can't say I have alot of fond memories playing with my kids in the snow. Was either working or to tired after working long hours.

I see that there is an article about how much money the city spends in overtime. That $865,000 could be spent on more policeman. Well if it wasn't for overtime being worked your street would not be nice and clean when you wake up in the morning to go to work. Or your water working because a crew spent all night repairing a water main break. Funny, those that complain about how much is being spent on overtime are the first ones complaining when their street isn't plowed perfectly or on their timetable."

But I still didn't respond (not that I didn't want to) until a few days after the blizzard.  Our street was almost unpassable at the time, and that particular morning was the time to say something...

"This is a disgrace.  It is now 9:15 AM on Sunday 2-10, and it is -5 outside.  The city had almost 4 full days to take care of this.  Lapham (between 73th & 84th) and Orchard (between 84th and 92nd) has 6" deep tire treads, and ice under that.  Now that the temp has dipped, it is all frozen.

My taxes are too damn high to pay for this lack of service.  News flash to politicians and Boxster... winter in Wisconsin can sometimes be ugly (like this winter).  Get money in the budget for this (and take stupid spending out of the budget) for street cleanup FOR AN ENTIRE WINTER, and don't whine about being too tired to do your jobs.  It wasn't my decision that you drive a plow or garbage truck, so don't tell me to be understanding."

Boxster did reply, so in fairness I will also post that reply...

"It was one of the worst storms I have worked through. Plowing was made difficult because of the moisture content of the snow. It packed down from the traffic early in the storm and then when it really started to snow we could not keep up with it. I spent 12 hours on National Ave. alone.  DPW is not asking for sympathy, just understanding. We are working around the clock.

Don't confuse whining with frustration and outright exhaustion. We are people not machines. I worked 21 hours on that storm. If you have never done it you will never understand how difficult it is. The city has cut back so much through the years to keep your taxes down that this is the result. We don't have shifts of drivers coming in to relieve others. When we have a storm it is all hands on deck. We don't go home till we have attempted to plow every street. We can only do so much with the amount of people we have. If your street is not being plowed tell people to get their cars off it. Plus Mother nature has not been very helpful. We haven't had warm temps to aid in the melting of the ice pack on the roads. Believe me plowing is being done each and every day."

That was a fair enough reply from Boxster, however I need to reiterate that if the city hadn't cut down on the budget in the wrong areas, this mess would have been avoided.  We need more money without raising taxes, how about reading this.  Steve wrote that blog.  Read some of the comments (especially the ones from Stubbornoldman) and tell me we couldn't have made sure there was enough city money available for an entire Wisconsin winter's worth of snow removal.

Last Thursday, February 7th, I sent this exact same E-mail to all four mayoral candidates...

Dan Devine devineformayor@yahoo.com; Mark Nisenbaum mnisenbaum@msn.com; Thomas Tilley tilley2003@yahoo.com; and Linda Dobrowski ldobrowski@ameritech.net.  To this point, not one of the four has responded.  I don't think any of these questions are insulting, rude or otherwise offensive.  They were asked as an undecided voter.

I would like to know a little bit about your ideas on topics that are important to me...

Taxes - Will you audit city budgets in midstream?  How reactive will you be when a citizen calls you and says he caught a garbageman asleep in his truck?  Do you feel our taxes are too high?  If so, what fluff is in the budget that you feel can be cut?

Crime - A neighborhood boy is 15, and has been arrested in the last year for shoplifting from a department store, and for possesing weed.  Both times, he was given "First Offense" treatment which basically includes some community service.  As someone who knows the kid, I know he doesn't "get it".  Big picture... if all kids "don't get it", then what good are these programs?  Other cities have had success with "Broken Windows" types of poicies where small infractions are treated as big deals.  Do you think that may be successful in West Allis?

City services - I think it is stupid that I have to buy blue recycling bags, and that they have to be blue.  Although it is fine if people want to wash their garbage and cut down boxes, but I don't feel that the city should force me to do that, and I certainly don't think I should be required to pay for my recycling supplies.  I have read studies that suggest that communities spend more in resources for recycling programs than the benefit derived.  Do you feel the recycling program should be revamped, and if so, how would you approach it?

Economic development - What's the point if the roads are so clogged and slow moving that the business aren't worth getting to?  Those condos on the east side of West Allis on Greenfield Ave are going to be a road clogging disaster.  All of those condo owners and apartment residents will have cars, and they will be coming and going at all hours, all day.  With that added traffic, how many people from West Milwaukee and Milwaukee are going to want to navigate that traffic to get to downtown?  Traffic is already slow on 76th, 84th, 92nd Streets, so why shouldn't residents go towards Southridge (with two lanes of traffic past Lincoln) or Hwy 100 to shop?  How is spending resources to spur development on Greenfield Ave. worthwhile if the traffic isn't worth the hassle to go there?

Other than listening to Mark Belling, I am not very political.  I also don't have any desire to be an activist or volunteer.  I want the next mayor to believe what I believe.  Please let me know your thoughts on these topics.

For the record, I am asking these as a citizen, however, I do have a blog on West Allis Now.  Please let me know if there is anything you do or do not want me to blog about.  I don't know if your responses turn into a blog, but if they do, I would like to know up front what your boundries are.  Thank you.

1.  My-Sugar-Na and I stopped by Tommasino Italia' for dinner last night.  The restaurant on 74th & Greenfield (formerly the beloved Doyle's Milwaukee Inn) is owned by Thomas Doyle.  During dinner (fantastic pizza, by the way, with fresh giardinara and parmesan on the side), I spoke with Mr. Doyle.  He stated two very interesting and believable things. 

First, he is amazed that more of his business wasn't from West Allis residents.  Both the Milwaukee Inn and Tommasino Italia' were/are by no means George Webb-priced, but they aren't Eddie Martinis-priced, either.  My large, three topping pizza was about $16, and the restaurant featured checkered tablecloths, linen napkins and good silverware.  Some of the entrees were in the $15ish range, but that certainly compares favorably with other sit-down restaurants.  He said that business has improved since he changed the offerings to Italian, but there is certainly room for more.

The second thing he said was disappointing.  He said that the chain restaurants opening near Mayfair and Brookfield Square are killing the independant restauranteur.  The Cheesecake Factory, Maggiano's Little Italy and Bravo Cucina Italiana - though their employees are locals - take all the profits to their corporate ladder.  Sure, many of their offerings are good, but as Mr. Doyle said, if you ask for a Hollandaise sauce, Maggiano's will open a plastic bag that they received from their supplier.  Mr. Doyle would make his own for you.  All this, and a 60 minute wait for a table at Maggiano's, too. 

I have always, always preferred independant restaurants over chains (that's part of why the Devil Reincarnate has been replaced by My-Sugar-Na).  When I go out of town, I try shun chains (Do I really want to go to Applebee's in Durham, NC?).  I think West Allis residents - in order to keep local businesses healthy - owe it to themselves to make a point to go to independant restaurants... whether it is Tommasino Italia', Painted Parrot, or The Little Cafe.

2.  That nutjob, Mike McGee, Jr., made it on the local “bleeding heart or scare people needlessly entertainment program” (aka the news) from jail the other night.  Why, exactly did channel 4 do this?  McGee didn't say anything other than the garbage he usually does ("I'm a political prisoner", "I will be acquitted", etc).  McGee terrorized his district - and as far as he is concerned - "white" Milwaukee for years to the point where is ego is larger than Terrell Owens.  So channel 4 seeks him out to let him prattle on some more?  He has been held in jail since Memorial Day (that is seven months now) with no end in site, as he awaits both State and Federal trials.  He's done.  Toast (burned toast at that).  Let's leave him be.  We will all be better for it.

3.  Professional Bowlers Association exempt player Chad Kloss, from Greenfield, is back in town after completing the first half of the PBA schedule.  Because of an elbow injury, I am done bowling for the season and Chad bowled as my sub yesterday.  Not only did he shoot 792 for three games (and nobody else on our lanes had more than 650), he also made a bet with teammate one of my good friends - I'll call him Brad.  I don't remember the exact details, something about if Chad makes the Round of 8 in any event in the second half, Brad will shave his head, and if Chad qualifies for TV, he will shave his head.  I could be wrong on the specifics, but it is definatley worth keeping tabs on from early-January till the end of March.

4.  The Federal 2008 omnibus spending bill has been released, and Republicans are calling on George Bush to keep his committment from the 2007 State of the Union address to reduce both the number of Pork Barrel projects and overall pork spending.  I took a look at some of the pork projects (thanks to some prodding from My-Sugar-Na), and I can't believe one particular item that I saw.  Las Vegas is planning to open a Mob History museum in a shuttered post office in downtown.  Well, $200K in federal pork is earmarked for "a post office museum in downtown Las Vegas".  Now, that doesn't mean that they are connected, but they appear to be.  In a city in which billionaires are spending as much as $5,000,000,000 (that's five billion bucks, folks) to build a resort to outclass the guy next door (whose resort is only $4.8 billion), why in the world is my federal tax money going to finance yet another Las Vegas attraction?  A Las Vegas Mob History museum would really satisfy two of my loves, but my discretionary money should pay for it, not my tax money.

5.  To keep the karmic alignment proper, since I praised one West Allis business, I need to talk down one of them.  My-Sugar-Na is starting a new job in late-January (let's keep this to ourself, as her current employer doesn't know yet).  Panicking, she is now trying to find occasional doggie day care for Vier Pogo Squad 51.  I've learned not to argue this with her, and the pastures at the new place are, um, greener, so today she visited one potential place.  Playtime Doggy Daycare on Hwy 100 near I-94 told my wife that pomeranians aren't good at day care, but "we'll give it a shot".  My-Sugar-Na is horrified that her dog has been profiled by The Man (maybe she should talk to Mike McGee, Jr?).  Playtime also wouldn't show her the crating area, where they park the dogs during rest time.  Needless to say, Playtime Doggy Daycare is off of her list and she will continue looking.

6.  Work has been quite slow the past couple weeks for a variety of reasons, allowing me plenty of time for mindless internet searching.  I have seen a couple other blogger's lists of horrible Christmas songs, so I decided to make my own short list.

A.  My Favorite Things, What a Wonderful World, Let There be Peace on Earth, and Same Old Lang Syne.  These are not Christmas songs... they aren't even winter songs (like Jingle Bells and Sleigh Ride).  These songs don't belong during the Christmas season, and I believe that they only exist because they have too many hours to fill when radio stations go to "all-Christmas" formats.

B.  Any "new" Christmas song, because they attempt to be commerially saleable.  If a writer wants to pen a new Christmas song, how about something fun, like Rudolph's new girlfriend, or a strike at Santa's workshop, or something else fun.  But listening to some pop star warbling about how she misses her boyfriend at Christmas time... nah.

C.  Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer is about 20 years past its expiration date.  Kind of a dark song for Christmas, no?

D.  Any song where the singer (usually female [sorry, but true]) whose entire goal is to cover as many octaves as possible to show off (a la Joy Bach) and thereby ruining the song.

E.  Some song (don't know the name) about "Mary did you know / that your baby boy" somthing or other.  Pure schmaltz... Jerry Taff-esqe schmaltz (As Lisa Simpson said "They want cheap sentiment? I'll pump 'em so full of sap they'll be blowing their nose with a pancake".)  That song is extra bad when sung by Mr. Schmaltz, Kenny Rogers.  I need to take a shower.

F.  Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt or Madonna (or anyone else).  Christmas songs should be religious or Santa-ish.  Songs sung from the standpoint of a horny golddigger just don't cut it.  Eartha Kitt was fine purring as Catwoman on Batman, not so fine purring for this song.

You know, maybe this post was long enough to justify multiple entries.  But the damage is done.  If I don't post again this weekend, have a blessed Christmas.  Don't do something stupid like celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by drinking yourself into oblivion and shooting your neighbor because he bought his wife a new SUV for Christmas and your car broke down.

Since I've been to Reno five times (and Reno isn't really that big) I know the city well enough to occasionally glance at the Reno Gazette Journal and read some of the local news.  For example, when the Mitzpah hotel burned down in October 2006 and killed 12 people, I knew exactly where that hotel was located.  This past summer when fires threatened Lake Tahoe's southern shore, again, I knew the affected area and now check in on the reconstruction of the area.

Today, trying to kill off the last five minutes at work, I surfed over there and read the headlines.  I was intrigued by one, titled Washoe board freezes 5% of budget spending.  I read it, because earlier in the day I had read on JSOnline that the Milwaukee County board overrode most of County Executive Scott Walker's vetoes.

So Reno can (in midyear) notice an economic downturn and - gasp! - take steps to deal with it.  As a matter of fact, the Washoe County board is going to monitor the situation BEFORE taking further action.  Near the bottom of the article, Washoe County Manager Katy Singlaub said "We've been talking about this systematically, including freezing vacancies earlier this year. This isn't a sudden shift to, 'We have to cut this money out of the budget.' We cut $11 million out of the budget last year."  Fascinating... budget cuts followed by freezing spending.  What a concept!

I forwarded the JSOnline story to Katy Singlaub, and I forwarded the Reno story to Scott Walker.  Maybe they can get together and figure out how to get Milwaukee County's board to stop raising taxes.  If it works, we'll forward the conversation to Jim Doyle, the West Allis school board, the MPS board, the Franklin school board, etc.