too kool or just a fool

1.31.12

2012-01-31T07:00:00.005-06:00

So much to write yet so little I can write... So many layers to the stories and rumors are flying in from all over the place... The truth? It is Rashomon all over again... It is up to the real reporters or lawyers to dig deep, I am not quitting my day job...

Big guitars are coming to town... Artists are scrambling to get designs in... Some other noise out there... not too fair to Bike Rack people... and despite it is from certain side of the divide, there are some valid points. I had brought that up to Lynn and she said there will be a trust and the guitars will not stay out there in the winter. The rushing and lack of detail of things are somewhat troubling and I am hearing it from artists... To be fair, both sides know secrecy and last minute rush are the new best ways to get things done in Waukesha... As a biz owner, the choice is being a team player and go with the flow, or else? That is the frustration, one does not want to be seen as obstructionist but there sure are a lot of unanswered questions and who is pulling all the strings... I just hope the day had not come that going to certain place for a drink means you lean to one side, and big money means you get whatever you want, but there is certainly an air of uneasiness in downtown Waukesha...

The whispers were out there on all the other important meetings Mayor Scrima missed, not just water commission's; it is not easy going to Harvard B. S. to learn about leadership, and work in the same time... Perhaps the water commission is dazed and forgot the two weeks advance reservation rule... Golden Gate sure did not forget.

Red Tape stops biz owners from going after thieves...

Perhaps the Bikers can comment about this.

5:12 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012

Awesome...I am going back to bed now...

453 project update

2012-01-30T12:40:00.001-06:00

What would Huck do...

2012-01-29T08:03:00.007-06:00

(Just paying tribute to Huck from Spring City Chronicle... )

One can never be too careful these days...

Sorry to PBR and Patch for lifting this photo...

By the way, I like to thank HBR and Freeman for reporting this front and center, it is called holding public official accountable. All the sarcasm and street rumors, that is for the underground pirates such as we the band of bloggers, but we REALLY want to keep a check and balance thing going too. I thought the big point of the New Day campaign was transparency, and we have less and less of it as his term goes on.

Trust me, the Gibson Guitar Town people likely wish there is a "safety distance" about now, it is a distraction and a horrible PR moment and we likely have not seen the end of this. This is the winning comment of the day:

tootsieraul

I wonder if Peoria County Ill. is hiring IT employees???

Bob Melvin for a day

2012-01-28T21:12:00.005-06:00

Let's say you are the general manager and you have a chance to pull a "Change of Scenery" trade, would you pull the trigger on a Jeff Scrima for Bob Ryan trade?

Rather curious....

2012-01-28T20:36:00.003-06:00

This is on Patch:

Bird
11:58 am on Saturday, January 28, 2012
The rest of the story... the city employee who made these allegations is the same employee that has filed over 100 complaints against the City of Waukesha - most of which are allegations against fellow Information Technogloy co-workers... interesting... (feel free to verify this with open records and interviews)Log in to reply

Sunny
12:14 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012
Bird, thank you for bringing some rational thought here. Everyone else-the Mayor clearly DID yield if he DID NOT hit Derek... Someone needs to stop whining so dang much....

Now this is my question, who the heck has this kind of information? Most HR can't and won't release this I would think, unless you are an insider. Is this the beginning of a smear campaign from the Scrima camp?

Wiggy might find humor in this, I think this might be getting serious...

1.28.12

2012-01-28T06:09:00.006-06:00

The Emperor strikes back or is it Death Race 2012?... Patch's version here... but it is still a PR nightmare for the Smart People no matter what. Not sure where this is going but would this lead to opening of the Lori file? There are more outcry for threats to Meghan, but the pattern of abuse is not new from City Hall to Downtown Waukesha. Where is the buck stopping?

Some excitement at Freeman lot as well...

History Lesson 10 of 10... Would anyone know what happened to Jen on Clinton recently?

Awesome stuff for Waukesha...

Field Trip!

Once again, we would like to thank everyone for the kindness: flowers from Danger Girl 1 and Mr. Nipple Gate, blog entry from Wiggy, messages from Kodiak, HBR, email and the card from the WTC family and comments from all of you. I want to say Georgie is a special boy, but aren't all of our fur kids special? I am thankful for them being in our lives, and words can't express how thankful I am for all of you as well.

When our first greyhound Sadie passed away from Bone Cancer, I spent a lot of time on an online support group called Circle of Grey, I have learned and found peace that I am not all powerful to change the outcome, and death is just the end of the broken body, the spirit is free and is everywhere. Life is beautiful when you stop and savor the little things, and the angels are there when you need them. Once you mourn, you know the healing process will never stop, but we also heal when we help each other along. That is the good chi, and if we ever learn anything from our faithful companions, that should be it. Thank you for honoring us, Georgie and ultimately your own love for your angels.

Update: Some fear the Jeff Scrima Driving School incident might morph into something racial... Read The Freeman article carefully.

Today we gained an angel

2012-01-27T09:00:00.005-06:00

Georgie Junior, Show name Gorgeous George, was almost a champion when he came into our lives. Today we sent him off to cross over to the other side. His broken body and his big heart had made him tired, we had to do what we had promised when we signed up to love him. The angel pack of Sadie, Aussie, Whitie, and Molly is getting bigger, and it will not stop growing until we are there one day ourselves to lead it. Bitsie will miss her big little brother and the ears to lick, but we will all be together again, and Georgie, you know where the home is, please do wait patiently. Safe crossing, baby boy.

1.27.12

2012-01-27T06:25:00.003-06:00

Alderman Patton came to see me today with my request for more information, I expressed my concern for angle parking once again and I went through all the safety issues. With the proposed downtown task force deciding, he said there will be 4 from each side and 2 neutral. I went down the list with him and I figure it is more like 6-2 with 2 neutral. What he did not tell me was a petition he is passing around for support... I also talked to one mentioned task force member and she said she is concerned how Community Development is going to ram this through no matter what, I told her my concerns as well and I am still waiting for some dialogue on solutions instead of saying We spend X amount of money in this study and we are now pushing it through; for round 1 it was We need more parking space for bar patrons, and Round 2 it was We need to build this for Kendal Lofts... I hope the city take note of all the safety issues seriously because when someone actually get hurt with this experiment, it is more than just I TOLD YOU SO. By the way, the lack of discussion with affected property owners and biz owners prior to memo or referral is also a big issue, because if the city is doing this to us, persistent with many different excuses for the same end goal, it can happen to you too.

The whole threat to Meghan thing is getting a lot of buzz. Lynn G. went on record with me to say she did not threaten her and was in her selection committee. Freeman said Norm and Meghan met with Mayor Scrima, some said because he is an expert in hostile working environment... The mystery remains because there were two people from the pro street closing camp doing the threatening I was told... The City Key holders rumor is yet to be proven.

Lynn also told me more about the guitar project. She assured me the big guitars are going to be permanent fixtures of downtown. I asked about the New Day Fund and I was told Mayor Scrima does not have to disclose anything because it is not non-profit. She will be happy to take some money from the New Day Fund, I said the money will come with political baggage. I guess now I know my guess few days ago was right...

I do need to thank Man on the Street for bringing me some chicken noodle soup mix, you will know soon what is going on in my private life and I needed some chicken soup for the soul more than you know...

History Lesson 9 of 10

453 project is also on its way, the inside is getting torn apart, the latest idea someone suggested is Wedding Chapel... I do have an Elvis suit.

Someone also told me there were a Waukesha sighting of Chef with Many Names, he was telling people HE is remodeling D Mo's in Clarke Hotel and will open back up soon... Can't wait (to get in line to collect the debt.)

Sorry for a rather short entry this morning, "life" happens.

1.26.12

2012-01-26T07:00:00.003-06:00

Last night I was talking angle parking with someone for it, we were no Harvard debate team but we were civil and we talked out a lot of issues over a beer, which a lot of downtown hot topic should be. We went though the safety concerns and possible solutions were talked out, but in the end nothing can be done with the U turn and Y turn issue into all the driveway/parking lots, unless we put roundabouts on Maple/Main and/or on West/Main, which will not have enough room. The unique nature of far West Main with lots of driveways is what set that part of Main apart from the rest. We did agree on two basics, we both suspect it is not about Kendal Lofts, it is about finding more parking for/or because of People's Park; also we both know that this is gonna get jammed down far West Main biz owners/property owners' throat.

The debate is still going strong over Street Closing, Wiggy has his say. ( One possible correction, Scott is from American, likely wrong tattoo shop in the article.)

More stores going in on Sunset while downtown fights.

The next hot topic? Freeman should have more in depth detail coming, I think. We see the PR statement, now let's talk money.

Greyhound people know pet first aid too well because of the thin coat.

History Lesson 8 of 10

Good news.

Nude ping pong girls coming to Waukesha? I am telling you, there are people cheering for it... Isn't it close to a bike trail?! ha ha (inside joke)

I did confirm the Bodway incident, even though most of the downtown were at City Hall earlier that night.

There is still no hint on who had threaten Meghan, we do know they were in person and not emails, that took out some usual suspects.

Downtown Waukesha is like a chemistry set, and it is really dangerous in the hand of someone not knowing what to do... but let's form another committee to study that... (sigh)

1.25.12

2012-01-25T07:00:00.007-06:00

Mr. Otto can't come back to active blogging in a better time... and the debate raged on elsewhere in cyberspace... Darryl threw in his two cents, while Meghan realized her job is in a lose-lose situation to keep all the BID happy. (I had witnessed when arrows were shooting at Karen from the pro street closing side and ultimately cost her job.)

Eat did have a great point from the comments yesterday, did the street closing regulation argument get hijacked and redirected to FFNL killing or is that the true agenda? Did the unsolicited big binder of sample regulation backfired? Yet this mayoral committee is also a questionable mix... No one is playing fair but accuse each other of playing dirty.

(One is truly one's own worst enemy at times, and giving bulletin board material to your opponent is just not a smart move for the rest of your team...)

Sometime I try to take a step back and remind myself that people outside of downtown don't really give a darn about all the political fist fights, they just want to have a beer and listen to music...

Speaking of music, do you know Love Monkeys was holding audition at Bodway's on last Sunday and Monday? For more detail, please read today's police blotter...

Last night was also the county wide homeless people count, I was told in summer there could be up to 200 people on the street or in shelters... I am thankful for the roof over my head...

History lesson 7 of 10 and extra story...

Kinda a big deal...

Gregg's column.

University town!

Bye-bye, Prince.

POLICE BLOTTER-Hey, I like my $1.17! ;)

1.24.12

2012-01-24T05:11:00.008-06:00

I was late getting to the City Hall, but even after 45 minutes of public comments, the place was still packed. Adam and Ronsta were out by the door with me, Wiggy was also there.

About all the downtown notables were seated inside, Mayor Scrima was sitting next to one camp, likely indicate where the wind is blowing in his handling of downtown politics. No wonder one of his former supporters wanted her money back... The best line I read was He is more Larry than Larry... Once again, I am sitting on my pointy fence and watching this significant power shift with concern. As flawed as the opposing voice might be in some people's eyes, there is still a need of check and balance or this chaos in downtown is just another political tool, with no regard of the further fracturing of downtown and deepening the divide between merchants and property owners. I understand FFNL stage sponsors concern, it is about money, but I can also honestly say there are real needs for public bathrooms for street closing events (but not to the extreme of 34 port-a-johns), not just for FFNL but for Christmas Parade as well.

Angle Parking round 3... Enough already... Would Mr. Crandell come and talk to biz owners/property owners at least before the memo?

Is this a task force or a cage match? You might need a lawyer or two in it.

Jersey Mike's is pretty good...

History Lesson 6 of 10.

Sarah has a good positive blog entry...

Brien is also above the muddy politics...

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER

The chaos in the city hall is spilling out to the streets, even though it is great blogging material, it is not good for the city in the long run. It might just come down for the Jedi Council to deal with the Emperor...

P.S. I was twisting Wiggy's arm...

Email bag

2012-01-23T18:38:00.003-06:00

From Kerry of Steaming Cup:

CALL FOR HELP:
On Monday 1/23 at 6:30 PM there is a meeting in the Waukesha Common Council Chambers of the Ordinances and Licensing committee. They will discuss a dramatic increase of regulations in the street closing policy. This increase will most likely make the street closing too expensive for the businesses that sponsor stages for Freeman Friday Night Live.

It seems that there is a street closing proposal that asks for these expensive new regulations - some of which look to be highly unreasonable.

Do we need an increase in the number of porta-potties (at 3000-6000 people, the proposal asks for 34 porta-potties)
Are the animals on the street causing high concern? The proposal restricts animals from being at any of the events. We ask why?
Do we have such security issues that we need a dramatic increase in police/security presence? (at 3000-6000 people, the proposal asks for 14 security personnel) We have been operating with two police officers who believe the FFNL assignment to be an easy assignment. The police describe that FFNL might be the cause of a 50% decrease in some crime statistics. Why the call for increased security?
The proposal also asked for a $2,000,000 insurance policy to cover all closed streets - is our city that unsafe?

We, at The Steaming Cup, cannot understand why this is wanted, we are sure that the originators will plead that they are only concerned about the liability to our city. This is the same group that gave their best efforts to try to stop street closing last year. This looks to be a new effort to do the same thing. Please do your own research and come to represent your position on this serious issue. We will be there to say our piece! Will you? If we lose the ability to host our events, the cost to our businesses and our community is incredibly high. The Committee needs to hear the voice of the people, not just the plans of these few!

From Roger

Please read the attached email and show up tonight to show your support for Freeman Friday Night Live!

Thanks,
Roger

Roger Igielski, President
Waukesha Downtown Business Assn

From Mayor Scrima

Roger,

Thank you for your leadership, collaboration and planning for downtown safety, business vitality and a positive future!

Everyone, please share your comments with all your friends and encourage them to contact their aldermen, come to the Ordinance Meeting tonight (Monday night) at 6:30 at city hall, and write in to the newspaper.

Thank you

Jeff Scrima

Mayor, City of Waukesha

Happy Chinese New Year!

2012-01-23T08:00:00.002-06:00

Did I sleep through it again?!

It is the Year of the Dragon if you like to know...

P.S. Credit my niece Lyra for some very nice modeling... and Yes, I did call home.

Ouch

2012-01-22T18:09:00.001-06:00

Had a fight with the ground, the ground won...

It is icy out there, the banana peel style fall pretty much ended my long to do list, and I wonder if Carol had it on video before she came out to check on a disoriented me... It truly knocked the wind out of me for a minute but I am up, my back is a bit stiff but I will be okay...

As a smart tattoo artist, I did not break the fall with my hands, Bill had taught me well.

1.22.12 extra

2012-01-22T10:37:00.009-06:00

The private party last night was a success. Moxie raised $306 and we did more than that with all the change, not even counting the controversial big checks, but we did decide to have Moxie donate to Women's Center with what they raised. Once again, we are not fighting with them and for both charities, it is a win-win. :) We should have over $1000 ready to our $2000 goal for Riverwalk for Breast Cancer come May, we are very happy and proud of everyone involved...

Gray Vacation's world debut was also a success, they were great even without two singers. Adam from the Waukesha Biker Gang thought Brewers owner Mark Attanasio was the lead singer...

Carol had people write on the wall about what they would like to see at the 453 property; gauge from what people wrote, there is an overwhelming need of adult entertainment in downtown Waukesha, but I am not touching that one living through the City News days. ;)

People did enjoyed Magellan's pizza, Starbuck's coffee and cake pops, and Subway's sandwiches. Would this be an annual event? We have to see what facility we'll have next year.

Thanks to the Moxie gals, Carol and Wayne, they did a lot to make this happen and it is a great send off for the demo phase of the interior of 453 project.

In other news, Monday night meeting is still the big topic. I am personally concerned about the battle cry of so and so is gonna kill FFNL. People are not acting rational anymore when they feel threaten, and some said downtown is at its most vulnerable at this fractured state.

There were also a lot of back stories on the Gibson Guitar Town and a said "secretive" re- branding of downtown Waukesha. Not wanting to sound like a conspiracy theorist guy but the promise of transparency seems to be a thing of the past and I better not "attack the past".

By the way, I feel like I had offended Mr. Otto somehow and I did not mean to. I am very sorry, sir and I have all the respect for you. The doomsday bunker crack could be just a secret wish from me since I do not have one ready for the end of 2012. I do feel like the rooster all alone at Five Point at times...

P.S. Mr. Otto and I are kool, it is just a case of me being super sensitive. He is really building a doomsday shelter however, I have to build mine under the 453 building...

Side note: Perhaps the Smart People stepped in and took away the "like" from Mayor Jeff Scrima on one of the rallying cry posts for the meeting Monday night on People's Park FB page. Good call.

For equal time, here is the other side.

1.21.12

2012-01-21T06:00:00.007-06:00

WackySha is getting cray cray, the latest rumor is that there will be Round 3 on the angle parking. Now Community Development is said to pick it up where Alderman Patton left off... Someone behind the scene really wants to get street parking for Kendal Lofts...

I have also heard whispers on the street that Gibson project could be another Mayor Scrima shell game. Even though I am supporting it as I support the convention center for downtown Waukesha, I am weary of what the surprise would be after we are all in. In art we call this SEDUCE THE VIEWERS IN AND HIT THEM WITH THE TRUTH. I would think the project, while in hurry up mode, would have secured massive funding from Gibson for all the PR, party, kick off and logistics, but the word on the street is that the "gift" from Gibson is the use of the name, all else is yet to be fund-raised. When things are being rushed through with a lot of secrecy, I start having flashbacks of Couri mural and Kendal Lofts... Once again, I am a supporter but I would like the whole truth please. (...and what is up with the tree cutting?)

D day for the downtown war is Monday... I am Swiss on this. ( I am ready to post position papers on both sides if anyone care to email me.)

I was almost in this report... Be careful out there!

Why not, another character for WackySha...

JanBoree is here!

Final plan for Woodman's.

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER

Hey, Mr. Otto, is that doomsday bunker ready yet? We needed it now!

(See you all tonight at 453? Moxie gals did a lot for the party already...)

1.20.12

2012-01-20T05:40:00.003-06:00

Monday is the Ordinance and License committee meeting in the City Hall, it is shaping up to be quite a battle for downtown Waukesha. If alderwoman Cummings' proposal on street closing passes, some said it is the end of FFNL and Art Fest. I personally don't think it is that dramatic and there are real logistic issues with street closing events like bathrooms and stuff. I am, however, concerned about the mentality on the street that if you are not for something, then you are against something or if so and so is for it, we have to be against it. There are a lot of gray area in these issues, but that also put me in the no man's land. Check and balance, give and take, I hope all parties find that middle ground and make downtown Waukesha better.

I know others in the middle think this is headed toward a lawsuit, I certainly hope that is not the case.

There are also hints that big money is eying downtown, with the large investment the Taylors made for People's and pending convention center, that will attract bigger hospitality groups to come in. The chemistry and power structure of downtown will change again and the long view favors the property owners somehow...

Still no purple hair...

I did not know there is a Southside Biz Council.

Waukesha is really a super college town now...

Good stuff.

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER

From Moxie

2012-01-19T18:46:00.002-06:00

Here’s what’s happening for the FIRE AND ICE CHARITY COMPETITION on Saturday, January 21^st!

Ice Sculpture Carving starts at 10am. Moxie’s sculpture will be located right outside the salon.

Moxie Beauty Lounge will be running in house specials all day including buy 1 get 1 half off all retail. We also have end of the season clearance items.

Stop by and donate to Moxie’s charity for the best ice sculpture and receive a $10 gift card to be used on any service at Moxie’s.

Help Moxie raise the most money to support the Women’s Center of Waukesha for domestic abuse and sexually abused women.

FIRE AND ICE PARTY STARTS AT 6PM!!!!

We will have light food and refreshments along with a live band – Gray Vacation!!!!

Starbucks and Subway have graciously sponsored food and drinks for this event. Also our competition, Waukesha Tattoo has sponsored a keg of spotted cow with any donation.

So come check out the fierce competition between Moxie Beauty Lounge and Waukesha Tattoo! Help the Moxie girls beat the Tattoo boys.

Party Located between Moxie Beauty Lounge and Waukesha Tattoo at the old carpet store.

Look for the RED Tent!

See You There!

For additional information on the city wide event, check out the Waukesha Janboree’s website www.janboree.org

:) We don't fight with them Moxie gals...

1.19.12

2012-01-19T06:11:00.003-06:00

I hope this is not opening a door to more drama from Mayor Scrima and the Smart People.

Wiggy is not a fan of recall.

Waukesha represents!

Kodiak had some rather interesting experience with this builder group...

SOUND OFF- I think one of the artsy bike rack designs is a guitar, and they can all work together within this Guitar Town look. A customer already said we need a huge guitar at the far West End to go with our mural...

POLICE BLOTTER

Everybody is doing it...

I am proud (with a tear) to say that my ("donated") money is going toward this project...

Parents, watch out... However, this is even worse... ( Our piercer Kelly is a big fan, she wants them NOW! Wiggy, do you still have some from last year?)

After reading this in-depth review of Ryan's Pub ( on the Strand ) from Ronsta, we decided to order the $1 taco Wednesday special. The crew said the chicken is better than the beef. We will be trying other items...

Erik does Fuzzy's.

It must be a new year, there is even a new blog entry from Curt! He is likely too busy building that doomsday bunker...

I had him on my first online fantasy baseball team... My computer was running 486 DX2 and the service was Prodigy.

Stay warm, everyone... It is gonna be a cold one.

1.18.12

2012-01-18T06:50:00.005-06:00

Carrie gave me a quick report on the Gibson Guitar Project after the West End Artist meeting. I guess the kickoff is Jun. 1st with a party on May 31. The deadline for artists to submit bio, portfolio and design is Feb.1 and sponsors are being courted for the hard cost of the guitars while these guitars will benefit the local non-profits. We will have a busy day today sending out info to artists we know and perhaps help to shape this project. It is a very big deal being named the Guitar Town, and we have Les Paul to thank...

Carol, our neighbor, is now in charge of decorating for the "private party" at 453 building. The interior will be demo-ed next week to start the first phase of the remodeling. Once we have everything opened up, then the engineer/designer can have a better idea of how to design the new front. So you know that you are all invited, just bring your change jar or check book to add to our little bucket for Breast Cancer fund that we will donate to Riverwalk for Breast Cancer in May, we hope to challenge $2000 this year. In exchange, we will give you some Spotted Cow and Magellan's pizza... That is a good deal, right? Moxie got this JanBoree ice sculpture extreme competition thing in mind, but we just want to raise some money and have a good time with our friends and customers...

This site is being readied for convention center.

Gregg's column.

Good stuff.

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER

We are professionals, do not try this at home...

I hope Aoki is anything like Ichiro at his prime and I am glad Counsell is gonna be around, he was Sadie's favorite.

1.17.12

2012-01-17T06:27:00.004-06:00

Jason and Rich witnessed this tragic accident happened on their way to the tattoo convention... Sadly, the victim is also from Waukesha. Our thoughts are with the victim's family.

Better pay that overdue charge...

Strange meeting last night, the reason for angle parking kept changing, it was for bar patrons last time and then it was for Kendal Lofts again, but even people from Kendal Lofts had said they do not want their tenants park on the street... After the comments from audience, there was a request from Alderman Patton to table the referral, one alderman felt time was wasted and another said it is crazy. In the end of the day, it is still a safety/liability/visibility issue for me. ( I have heard whispers about Kendal Lofts looking at the Ogden land directly over the bridge, that is much more realistic than the proposed bank owned lot. )

I also learned several locations for artsy bike racks are identified, but none is near WTC, but we will take care of that ourselves with the coming remodeling of the 453 project. We are tight with the Waukesha biker gang.

Wisconsin, you win some, lose some. Bring on the Brewers...

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER- Burning couch... Wiggy reported first on Twitter and now it is in the blotter...

Brien has a job for you... It is a (white) gold mine!

I had spoken to a few people and they urge all to give Montecito another look. Some said it is a very relaxing hangout with cheap beer and pool table, some said more site improvements are coming... It is an unique space in downtown Waukesha...

Mayor Scrima is presenting the Gibson project at West End Artist tonight, our manager Carrie will attend in my place. I have an appointment with M.H., I have to catch up on the insider J Lo info.

1.14.12

2012-01-14T06:30:00.007-06:00

Again? What happened to waiting for Parking Task Force? Come on, Alderman, I do have a job.

Packer fans, don't jinx them by talking about Super Bowl already...

Good stuff...

SOUND OFF-Not sure why there is such resistance to the giant Gibson's. It is the home to Les Paul after all and it is likely the only reason we are even considered.

POLICE BLOTTER

Yesterday was another successful Friday the 13th. Even though Rich and Jason were away at tattoo convention, Barry and I were still able to do 33 #13s, Kelly did 11 piercing specials, and Chelsea also did a few $13 massages despite coming later in the evening. We did, however, have to turn two groups away around 7 pm (sorry!). Even though we ended the waiting list by 6pm, I still tattooed past midnight... We do need to thank the Moxie girls for bring us lunch, the soup was delicious. Late night snack was from Pat's Rib Place and Bodway's... We will do it again on 4-13-12, don't be surprised if there are people waiting for us to open again just like yesterday...

Sorry for a short blog entry yesterday, a loyal reader said it was boring... That can happen from time to time I guess... I will try harder but walk that line...

Waukesha JanBoree is next week, make sure you save the date on 1-21-12. Bring your change jar or check book down by us to support the breast cancer effort at Waukesha Memorial and we will treat you to Spotted Cow and Magellan's pizza after 6pm. Gray Vacation (band) is making their world debut in our little private party with Moxie.

We will also offer the sneak preview of this print created by artist Cory Albrechtson that we will be offering during the May Art Crawl with proceeds go to the same said Breast Cancer research above...

P.S. A personal thanks goes out to Jim from Klinks, his new toy helped out a lot while I was out there practicing my favorite winter sport...

1.13.12

2012-01-13T07:06:00.002-06:00

Today is Friday the 13th, it also means #13 tattoo specials again but this year we will try not to tattoo until midnight since there are two more coming later in the year. Kelly is gonna have $13 piercing special and Chelsea will come after 5pm to have $13 massage as well.

I got home okay last night, but there were some people out there forgot how to drive in the snow...

I do not quite understand this...

The guitar town is a big deal... The only thing I would ask is for BID to put out an informational to all the people in the BID district so everyone is on the same page on what is coming.

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER- I just want to say that I tattooed a sister whom lost her little brother on similar stunt. Young kids, riding on a hood of a car is incredibly stupid and when things go wrong, you can hit the road pretty hard and die in a painful way, not counting the pain you leave behind for your families...

PBR asked what is the winter sport of choice yesterday on twitter, the only winter sport I know is shoveling snow... :( Well, gotta go sporting...

1.12.12

2012-01-12T05:42:00.006-06:00

Someone from both sides of Main told me I missed a good WDBA meeting the other night, and I wonder what "good" means. Was there fireworks? No one told me the detail yet...

I also need to announce the good news that Danny from Magellan's is gonna be a father, his wife is expecting their first child together... Congrats! There are some changes there as well, Lovely Rebecca is no longer there but likely at Hannon's and there is now a dress code for bartenders.

The word on the street is that some are up and armed about Darryl's last article about the West End renters... Are you beating on the red haired stepchild, Darryl? ;) Don't forget it is gonna be a secret senior housing project, we just need to watch out for senior drivers on meds plow into parked cars.

Wiggy has an interesting article...

Plan Commission passed another apartment project...

...but "tabled" the table tennis bar... Does the commissioner think it will be a nudie bar? HBR did not spell it out... I think the only place in the city that is zoned for adult entertainment is by Pearl Street.

Carroll's Founders' Day.

Free retirement seminar with donation to JDRF!

I don't care who searches, I just think the new hire will be a guy. Any gal applicant can research the news and realize it can be a hazardous working environment...

A Winter Snowball?

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER

Thanks, Darryl

2012-01-11T16:52:00.001-06:00

Famed Waukesha Freeman columnist Darryl Enriquez brought in an orange vest for me... Just in case I guess... :)

1.11.12

2012-01-11T06:46:00.004-06:00

It was interesting yesterday, we were watching Fred the city public work director driving around at the far West End while people made u turn in front of him and passed him while he hug the right lane. I had some thoughts about what he said that angle parking would do... He said angle parking will take out the needed room for people to make U turns... yes, it will increase the turning around in all the private parking lots and driveways and a potential liability issue with visibility issue on a narrowed street. Mayor Scrima had told us that if we do not like it, we can fence in our own property... Why are we responsible for a problem someone else created? A No U turn sign will definitely not help.

My friend who supported the project had asked me what can be done to make things safer, and I had been thinking about it. Speed bump at the turn from West to Main? Stop sign and/or light at that same corner? But it still does not change the fact that people need a place to turn around (including semi's, beer trucks...). More parking spots do not change that, (lazy) people turn around to try to find a spot right in front of the store they want to go to; now we have Kendal Lofts happening with its unresolved parking problem, the parking question just got more complex and the excuses are changing again... I sure hope our voice is represented in this Parking Task Force and not a group cherry picked to make things happen (again).

It will come down to money...

Thank you, sir.

Gregg's column.

It is primo stuff, dude...

Thanks for the warning, Darryl...

SOUND OFF-The proposal does have some merit, there is a need for more public bathrooms during FFNL like how the cycling classic does and actually there is a need during Christmas Parade too. I am just saying...

POLICE BLOTTER

Brien on the Gibson project.

I actually went to Au Bon Pain yesterday and I had some tasty Thai peanut chicken wrap and a cup of curry soup (of 8 soup options). I have to tell Rich and Robin about the vegetarian and gluten free options in there... It is also a pretty sinful bakery... Be warned... ;)

1.10.12

2012-01-10T05:35:00.005-06:00

Two of my 2012 predictions are coming true today! The Gibson project were talked about in West End Artist meetings for a while, it is truly an honor being picked, but not sure why the mayor is taking the credit in the Patch article. Mr. Seymour and Ms. Gaffey were the ones pushing this I thought. The word on the street is that they might have to cut some trees for this project... Here is Freeman's take.

The Kendal Lofts is back to life, but most people on the street were expecting it to be anyway. Too many power-to-be's in the city want it to happen. I am personally happy for Eric, however, I am puzzled over the Red Headed Stepchild comment from Ken, I hope he is not offended by the Weaker Sister comment like everyone else in the West End. ( side note: Red Headed Stepchild was one of Bill's favorite sayings.)

Here comes the next battleground... Saturdays. It is shaping up to be property owners/residents vs. merchants/renters in some way and since I have skin in the game and on both side, I strongly urge the two sides to deal with this on a rational level. I also urge the side with all the power positions to avoid the perception of tyranny of the majority, some communication would be nice.

They did not say the shooter was Asian, right? I don't want to get shot while getting my mail by paranoid hunters.

What a waste of their lives... That is a lot of jail time and for what little amount of money...

Brien had a wild weekend...

Mud bath is pretty historical...

Don't be surprised if I wear bright orange all over town... I like to live... ;)

Game on!

2012-01-09T21:13:00.003-06:00

According to Freeman, Kendal Lofts is back on. We should know more detail tomorrow...

If you are a betting man, what would you be putting money on tonight?

A. Ken decided to pay Eric more and the full project is back on.

B. Ken sent in lawyers to make Eric sell at the old price.

C. Ken decided to give up on Eric's building and scale back to have only the O'Brien property.

D. A combo of A and B?

E. None of the above?

1.7.12

2012-01-07T07:57:00.003-06:00

Phil from Carroll U. informed me this sad news yesterday, Troy was one of the people went on the infamous NCEP trip to California to study Edward Weston with Kodiak and I. He had done well after Carroll U. I think the last time I saw him it was early 90's in Club 400. The proposed reunion trip just now has an element of paying tribute.

Thank you for your service!

What is ahead... A ping pong bar!

I did not realize these are two separate incidents. So much for getting my news from twitter...

Action packed night...

There were more discussions on angle parking, I expressed my feeling once again to a supporter of it and we had a good conversation. If you have a problem, come talk to me, I will hear you out but you also have to hear me out. I am my own person. Please don't talk down to me or try to jam something down my throat. Once you set up that one side vs. the other positions, it becomes another emotional hot topic downtown and another emotinal battle in the war... There are some of us do not want to be the casualty of the war.

Something from Moxie and WTC

2012-01-06T19:04:00.002-06:00

FIRE & ICE

CHARITY ICE SCULPTURE COMPETITION

Join Moxie Beauty Lounge and Waukesha Tattoo for a

night of fun and extreme competition.

1/21/12

6 PM – 10 PM

*Donate to Moxie’s charity bucket and help the girls beat the boys for the best

ice sculpture and receive a $10 gift card towards a service at Moxie’s.

If Moxie wins all donations from both ice sculptures will be donated to The Women’s Center in Waukesha for domestic violence, sexual assault and abuse.

There will be light refreshments and snacks provided.

Moxie Beauty Lounge

443 West Main Street

Waukesha, WI 53186

262-547-4867

I don't know what they mean by extreme competition, but we will just get a keg of Spotted Cow and yummy pizza from Magellan's and share with our customers, and we hope people will donate whatever change jar they have at home to our charity bucket. We hope to win both buckets for one of our favorite charities: The Center for Breast Cancer Care in Waukesha Memorial Hospital whom is responsible for the Riverwalk for Breast Cancer... We will be doing this during Winter Jamboree and have this private party at 453 W Main.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

2012-01-06T14:42:00.002-06:00

From WTC FB site:

We are honored and humbled to be voted the #1 Best Tattoo and Piercing shop in the WISN A-List in the Milwaukee/Waukesha area for the second year in a row. We'd like to tip our hats to Solid State Tattoo for a close match. We'd like to thank all of our supporters, the people of Waukesha, and especially our loyal clients for the love and encouragement you've given us... Thank you all!!!

1.6.12

2012-01-06T05:19:00.004-06:00

Sarah is starting the Burger War talk again. Bodway's did come in Top 5 on Milwaukee A-list/ Have not had J Lotti's for a while but I need to introduce new shop crew to it/ People's is always good, just don't split your burger 4 ways/ I do need to give Fuzzy's another shot.

Not a good way to win the hearts and minds of West Enders...

Better luck next year with the purple challenge... ;)

Gosh, give the poor guy a break, he is still mourning.

Is this officially a trend? Bill had always said Adam took his tattoo shop/gallery idea when he left...

Yikes...

Yet this is even yuckier... and disturbing... Wiggy reacts 1 and 2.

Crybaby goes south... You know Sveum won't put up with that, even as a hated Cubs.

Just In: New entries to Burger War! ( Warning, it is a trap!) ;)

EatWisconsin's parking plan

2012-01-05T22:36:00.003-06:00

I just want to make sure Eat's idea does not get lost in the comments, I would think he will be great sitting on the new parking task force.

Here is Eat's comment reacting on what I said people working in downtown need to park off the street.

Maybe they should explore a way to make employees park in the two municipal garages but have it be subsidized parking where the employer pays for it. There are 1,800 spaces in the ramps. I cannot fathom a scenario aside from FNL that they are at capacity.

My plan would operate the way sites like Hotwire work. The City could determine, by day and workshift, how many spaces are available in the ramp. The City could then offer up a certain number of spaces for downtown employees at a discounted monthly rate. Maybe $5 per part time and $10 per full time employee (the regular rate is 20 bucks a month).

Its a win-win-win

The employees get a place to park for "free" since it is subsidized by the employer. They won't need to move their cars or deal with snow removal in the winter.

The employers have a very inexpensive way to free up on-street and surface lot parking. If you have 10 part time employees you are only paying $50 a month.

The City wins because they are taking spaces that they are receiving NO revenue from and are at least getting something from them (the hotwire comparison). Lets assume even 5 businesses with a total of 10 full time and 20 part time employees take advantage of this deal you now have $2,400 a year of revenue you didn't have before. Its not a lot but it is revenue.

1.5.12

2012-01-05T05:25:00.007-06:00

Perception is reality? It is a game we all play: a business needs to guard itself against a negative perception, a politician needs PR people to spin the news to change/create public opinion, yet once a bad perception has set in, it is done.

I had always thought the building at the end of Main was not occupiable as deemed by the city, but that was just the perception, I was told otherwise.

Clarke Hotel had to fight perception problem all along too, and in Waukesha, that can be dangerous. Believe or not, there are a lot of people out there missing spending time in the bar, but just not missing the questionable restaurant owners. It is truly the crown jewel of downtown Waukesha, and I will support it all I can even with my bad experience with the chef with many names.

(I would guess most of the people in Waukesha do not understand TIF financing, myself included, and I sincerely hope Freeman would do a big article explaining it and show what downtown buildings are TIF projects and how it helps or not help. I like to learn about it rather than it being a very vague concept in my head.)

Tattooing is totally at the mercy of perception too. There will still be people refusing to walk in a tattoo shop or flat out asking me why I would choose such a profession if I had gone to college.

I guess if I report rumors, I could be perpetuating a false perception, and I am trying to be mindful of that. It is a thin line, and I hope you readers can understand that I can be the messenger or just a tool used by someone else... Yes, I can be too kool or just a fool... I just hope I am not the fool all the time...

Thanks to HBR, this rumor is now real news. It also means there were some B.S. salesmanship from the mayor,( and Eat, remember my "done deal" feeling?) Once the trust is gone, everything looks fishy with all the conflict of interests issues out there like his appointments and the whole New Day Fund secrecy thing, even if it is the perception again. Some rumor is even out there about possibility of Mayor Scrima's personal stake in the Kendal Lofts project but I think it might be a confusion with a different apartment project, it better be.

Oops on that.

The FFNL street closing is a hot issue in winter? Bathroom is an issue for sure. I do hope all of these talks fix the valid concerns and not turn into another emotional battle in a long war. The new BID executive board also needs to fight the perception and reach out to ALL downtown, this is more important now than ever.

Wiggy's column.

Enough of my ranting for the day, now as a businessman and property owner, I too have to deal with the uncertainty if Kendal Lofts pulls the plug or not...

(Yes, my 2012 predictions is having a glorious start... I guess I don't need an excuse to buy Wiggy a beer.)

Rumor central update

2012-01-04T14:17:00.006-06:00

Stay tuned, the whole Clarke hotel for parking structure thing might be a false rumor, and at last check, Kerry form Steaming Cup is still alive and kicking as well... :)

Update: Okay, it might still be a valid rumor... just attributed to a different person... Why Clarke? Because some feel the city will get it back anyway... Help? Someone get to the truth of it?

Update 2: Please see the comments. The crazy idea was rumored to be said by someone important but now it seems it is not even possible to be acted upon. That is good to hear.

1.4.12

2012-01-04T05:51:00.009-06:00

Yesterday was quite a crazy day... With a tip from a man on the street walking by, I found out that the approved Kendal Loft project might be on thin ice. Eric did indeed take down the For Sale sign on the 444 W. Main property and off the market because he was disappointed at how his interest was represented but no ill will toward Ken. My #1 prediction might be in trouble but it can still be done, it just might cost Ken additional $100,000+ for both 444 and 456 properties if he is still serious about it. I really thought it was a done deal, but more behind the scene stuff is coming to light. Rumor has it that there were $500,000+ TIF money in play for a while but state put a stop to it. It means the sale pitch by the mayor about how this project is so rare that it is all private money could have a shade of half truth... but I guess I won't understand it anyway because I am not taking the $41,000-66,000 Harvard B.S. seminar.

There is also a map of angle parking proposal floating around town but I was not given a copy. The rumor is that the need for more parking spots at the West End switched from for Kendal Loft to for more bar patrons, and some crazy idea was out there about turning Clarke Hotel into a parking garage... There is also some talks that Kendal Loft will be Avalon Manor 2 if it is built because there is a waiting list of 300 people on Avalon itself. Yesterday was truly a rumor galore day, it is up to HBR and PBR to find the truth in all these cray cray talks...

Now this adds to the craziness that $1000 parking money is being fought over for a whole city, we donated more than that on that day of Riverwalk for Breast Cancer as a small business last year... Thanks, Mayor WackySha, I am sure the WaukeshaNow poll was right on... ( Update: It had become a dead link.)

HBR's light story.

Gregg's column.

Darryl's column, and it is not about Mayor Scrima again.

Spring election.

So the Town of Waukesha is fighting the City of Brookfield and the City of Brookfield is fighting the Town of Brookfield... This is almost a John Woo movie...

New bar and grill!

Do the Dew!

Erik reviews Montecito.

An interested party is coming to talk about 453 property today, I will listen even though there is a renovation plan being drafted and I am meeting with Flux Design next week. Who knows what will happen with Kendal Loft, we will just go ahead with our own goal of rehab-ing one downtown building at a time.

1.3.12

2012-01-03T06:27:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! I wish yesterday went better in Rose Bowl, but those were some pretty fast Ducks... :( I also blame Kodiak for this second straight loss, only if he had a real party with larger than life projection of the game on the wall as tradition would dictate...

Ms. Kool and I spent the New Year day celebrating Mrs. Nipple-Gate's birthday with the rest of the Danger Girls... We discovered what really made one of the Danger Girls dangerous...

I did not make any resolution, but I do want to promote the far West End better. I do wish for a more peaceful downtown and I wish the power players reach out to the other side. I wish there is some true city leadership instead of a lot of shameless BS self promotion. It reminds me of something I read about Kung Fu masters in the movie: One writer pointed out that if at a duel, one guy starts to do all these fancy moves trying to scare off the opponent, he is likely a fake...

This is cray cray... There is no shame being the hibernating bear... ;) (Brien, thanks for this interactive video, I experienced shrinkage just by watching it...)

Wiggy disagrees. I assume the bet is on...

This is the year of revolution!?

How about we end this entry with some firework from Taipei 101. I wonder if my sister and my niece were there.

12.31.11

2011-12-31T06:58:00.003-06:00

Alderman Patton came in yesterday to poll my concern with his angle parking proposal. I just told him all of it, and he said he is learning new facts. He said we need more parking on the street for Kendal Loft, I said that is a problem created by the huge project itself, but safety should not be sacrificed just for that. He went on to say he is somewhat concerned that the parking across the river deal is just an agreement, not a lease... I thanked him for coming to talk to me and I hope our concern will be reflected. ( My gut feeling is that a few of people in town are now realizing they were manipulated by certain someone pulling all the strings behind the scene with some serious conflict of interest issue... JMO )

I also need to give a shout out to Wisconsin Foodie Girl... Yes, I have a lead on the mystery name saga...

2011 in review.

WackySha in review.

It is war!

History Lesson 5 of 10- Hey, I know where some of the buildings in the photos! Wow, there really were a lot of barbers...

Darryl used the C word in printed media...

Jumbo Police Blotter from Florida

Thank you for sharing another year with me, 2012 is gonna be awesome.

2012 predictions

2011-12-30T08:26:00.004-06:00

Wiggy did his. Perhaps I should do mine with downtown Waukesha in mind.

1. Kendal Loft will be built.

2. Streets will be closed for FFNL.

3. Clarke Hotel bar will start renovation, David will come back...

4. Major art event comes to Waukesha. ;)

5. Parking issue become headlines in Freeman.

6. Mill Reserve TIF issue comes to light.

7. Mayoral veto on budget for third year in a row.

8. No show for Mayor Scrima during Christmas Parade for third year in a row.

9. Crocs will be back!

10. Wiggy will not be on the cover of People for any reason.

11. Convention Center will be pushed through city level in record speed until DNR steps in.

12. New City Administrator is going to be a guy.

13. Cry Wolf measure being discussed in Common Council.

14. At least 2 new murals in downtown Waukesha.

15. I will not be on the cover of People for any reason.

16. HBR makes the leap to TV news or as the Freeman online video reporter.

17. At least two new dining options in downtown Waukesha.

18. The end of the world does not come.

19. Local tattoo shop owner discovers a basement!

20. We'll finally learn the real name of the chef with many names.

I am pretty confident I will win the prediction war on % with Wiggy. I will even bet him a beer.

12.30.11

2011-12-30T06:24:00.011-06:00

I stopped by the WDBA social and Norm had a nice spread out for guests. It was nice to talk to fellow merchants in a more relaxed setting. I found out a few things too...

I was told the mystery artist whom had been leaving art around town did it again. He had left stuff at Freeman and now Almont Gallery. The latest is a red, white, and blue key... Does Waukesha have its own Banksy?

It was also confirmed that DNR is asking Kendal Loft to prove there is nothing historical buried. There will be an independent study... Likely just red tape.

This did not come up however, and I think the far West Enders' opinions are not being heard. There are driveways/parking lot entrances in far west ends not presented in the rest of West Main Street, and there is that big turn with people flying around the corner on the center line of the road. People also use the far West End to make U turns, or park and talk on cell phones. How about weather and semi's? If you add all that together and people backing out of angle parking, it can be a recipe for many traffic accidents. This is not just about painting the lines on the street and if people do not LIKE it, it can be changed back, this can be dangerous... I would invite anyone to come down to the shop and just sit and watch the traffic pattern. This is not about Kendal Loft, that is a done deal in my mind. Please do not rubber stamp this without some serious safety study, this can come with some human cost... Parking in downtown should also be a much bigger discussion than this little band-aid.

The frozen custard war.

History lesson 4 of 10. I guess back in the day, there were barber shop crawl and Freeman's Friday Night Shave in downtown Waukesha... Holy cow, there sure were demands for barbers...

How does Mayor Scrima rate in your book?

Wiggy, are you sure about No.5?

Sarah is gonna eat her way through 2012.

Congrats to Allo! Chocolat, Discount Liquor and Rochester Deli for being No.1 again! Bodway's and Pat's Rib came in at No.4 in top 5 too!

P.S. A beer truck/semi just made a u-turn right in front of the shop right on Main, this is the kind of driving we see everyday...

David tracker

2011-12-29T10:22:00.002-06:00

Darryl just informed me that he went by Montecito and was told David had left the job... I too went by last night and did not see him so I went home instead...

There is a following for WackySha's favorite part time psychiatrist... Where are you, David?

UPDATE:

Email from David:

Hi George,
Right now I'm working at North Star American Bistro, 191115 W Capitol Dr, Brookfield. They have a great menu of seafood (Bourbon Salmon), Steaks, Salads, and hard to resist items like Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf and Duck Confit Pizza! I do miss all of the Clarke Hotel folks, and hope to return some day. It pains me to see it empty, and to not be there with friends like you. Best wishes to you and Mrs. Kool.
Sincerely, David, WackySha Bartender/Psychiatrist.

Kool... Now we know.

12.29.11

2011-12-29T06:35:00.004-06:00

I ordered some dinner over the phone from El Palmar, and I wanted a horchata to go. They asked Small or Large? I said Large... Oh, it was LARGE! I am very thankful that Ronsta and the gang told me about this place, it is one of the shop favorites...

This is quite a sad news and my friend Maia works there... :(

Today is also the day Cathy Morris says goodbye to her mom Eloise. I know Cathy from Carroll days and Salvation Army. As recent as Day of Care at Avalon, Cathy was helping Eloise draw a boat as one of the activities. I saw Cathy the night before the sudden passing at Salvation Army as she volunteered to count the red kettles. My deepest sympathy goes out to her.

History lesson 3 of 10- I can not get enough of seeing these old photos!

Good to have them in the West End!

New Year Eve plan? I am working I think...

I thought Wiggy was talking about some bad Mexican food experience until I noticed the extra N.

Another Waukesha notables passed away.

No worries, I am a subscriber.

Sorry, not liking them Cubs...

Who did it? Someone has a theory... See comment.

WDBA social is tonight, maybe I will drop by if I finish my appointment early...

12.28.11

2011-12-28T07:05:00.012-06:00

I sat and talking to people all night around town, and Montecito kept coming into the conversation. I did hear that David, the long time fixture at Clarke Hotel bar, is working nights there now, and I was also told that Chef Nate of now Bodway's is available for consultation work if needed.

Moxie's Sabrina had issues a challenge to WTC on ice sculpture and the preliminary plan is to hold a private gathering for clients of both establishments at 453 W. Main building on 1-21-12 during Waukesha Janboree after 5 pm, Magellan's will be catering for pizza and beer. Some thoughts are being formed about making it a charity event.

453 building also dominated the conversation, and the 600 amp service could be good for a frozen custard stand? Gosh, who on the street has a frozen custard connection? ^^ Kendal Loft project is for sure on hold until Spring. Ken came out and put hay on the grass already to plan for a Spring digging. Someone said DNR is going to make sure the land is not a Native American burial ground, and that is the whole holdup. I did not now that is a DNR thing...

History lesson 2 of 10. I am just trying to figure out where is where on all these photos...

Gregg's column.

New children's book from Waukesha.

Still a little time on Purple challenge, I guess...

I too declare my candidacy... NOT!

If any year to do this, this is the year... Brien is all about it.

Happy family needs a happy ending to 2011...

Happy Birthday, Waukesha Patch and PBR! That scream after the taser shot will live forever in cyberspace...

Where in the world is HBR these days? I am guessing she is eating a cheese burger in paradise... Make a note to see if most of cats there have extra toes, would you? They are called Hemingway cats...

Did you make your New Year Eve plan yet? Magellan's is offering AYCD, AYCE and a ride home (within 5 miles).

Oh, make sure you pick up a copy of Wisconsin Trail magazine. Tattooed Lady historian Amelia wrote a nice article on tattooing in Wisconsin and I was honored to be included in it... It also mentioned Art Crawls.

12.27.11

2011-12-27T06:37:00.003-06:00

History lesson 1 of 10, hopefully one day there will be one on the history of Waukesha tattoo shops, and the guy to talk to is Chicago Ed. ( Wow, they did cupping in a barber shop, far out!)

Montecito must knew of the two weeks rule to get Mayor Scrima.

Did you check out the expanded River's End Gallery yet?

Thieves are desperate these days...

There was an incident at People's the other night, we were charged to split a burger to 4 x 1/4 so we can all have a taste. In the menu it said if you split it to half, there will be more fries and a $2 charge. We were charged $8 to split a $10 burger with no extra fries. The waiter had even assured us there will be no splitting charge before he handed us the bill, the manager said the bill was closed after I protested so he handed me two coupons for appetizers instead because the server was new and not familiar with the system. I even pointed out that if splitting has a charge, it should be $6 instead of $8... Get the yummy Valley burger and cut it yourself is the lesson of the story... ;) Perhaps the correct lesson is DO NOT SHARE the Valley burger and sweet potato fries...

I did not get any of these... but I am not complaining...

Brien, we did White Elephant at the shop and no gifts at home, and it just has to be known as such. We do appreciate you a lot for what you do for the community, we need more good heart-ed people like you in the world...

For WDBA members

2011-12-26T16:52:00.000-06:00

Please join us on Thursday, December 29^th, from 6:30-8 PM for a chance to express how much we have enjoyed working with you during the past year in downtown Waukesha. Refreshments (appetizers, desserts & beverages) will be served as we take this opportunity to reflect on all that has been accomplished in our community.

We hope to see you Thursday!

With warm wishes,

Norm and Eve at Martha Merrell’s Books

Your RSVP would be appreciated, but not required.

Red Kettle update

2011-12-24T23:18:00.001-06:00

Total bell ringing funds as of 12/24/2011 end of the season IS (drum roll) $404,984.01without the kettles of Saturday from Mukwonago (projecting about $2,500), the kettles left on the stands for Monday - Tuesday pickup of stands - people throw in donations as they shop the after Christmas sales, the counter kettles in 62 locations (of which we've already switched several throughout the season and changed locations of lower producing to higher visible stores.

(of course we have to wait for the official total when the bank reconciles yesterday and today's deposit.

The total could potentially be nearly $410,000. The bell ringing goal was $400,000 - unless we meet the challenge of $500,000 for the purple hair affair - who is holding out??!!!

We will extend the mail appeal drive until the latter part of January to allow for end of the year donors, matching gifts, etc.

We owe so much gratitude to the thousands of volunteers, our faithful paid bell ringers who filled in when volunteers weren't available, the media, our prayer warriors and to the best staff of any Salvation Army Corps. This is only one of many big projects during Christmas and we heard laughter, shared tears with some of our program participants, sighed when we needed to "pull back" a moment and then everyone went full speed ahead to accomplish the mission of affecting the lives of "others" every day.

Major Ron and I are rich in blessings and relationships. We look forward to serving Waukesha County in 2012. We are excited for greater things and how God will use every day for His honor and glory. Merry Christmas.

p.s. not sure how many children received gifts, I think about 100 attended the Christmas Eve Community Dinner. I think I saw about 50 pies from various "elves", treats everyday for our program participants and so much more. Trust my excitement is spilling out on you. May you be blessed and continue to bless others and the Lord. Thank you - now we'll rest a few days, enjoy our family, and be ready serve our community.

Carol Lemirand (Major Carol)
Corps Officer
The Salvation Army
445 Madison Street
Waukesha, WI 53188
Phone: (262) 547-7367
Fax: (262) 547-5709
www.waukeshasalvationarmy.org

12.24.11

2011-12-24T06:36:00.005-06:00

Last night was the huge Festivus celebration at Nice Ash, some of downtown notables were there. I aired my grievances like the rest of the crowd but I did not stay to see if Joette were pinned to the ground or not, so Festivus might be still going on...

I also did visit People's Park and saw Mayor Scrima there with Duke and Duchess, it appeared to be the royal hangout. My group just have to try the Valley Burger and sweet potato fries before the kitchen closes. Yup, the burger war is back on... We sat in the second floor and I like the booth and the lights. It gave the right compression to anyone sits in the booth to have a sense of intimacy and it acted the same function as our huge gear lights in the shop. Nicely done.

Someone did ask me about Clarke Hotel the other day and they missed the bar. I mentioned that I too feel that a John Hawk's Pub style bar with familiar bartenders is more of my speed. You just can not fake the marble counter top and the fireplace...

I did notice Neil's barber shop has a FOR RENT sign on it, does anyone know what happened? Jenny was always super nice to me.

Time to save some more money?

Update on the Red Kettle campaign and some helpers... Yup, I had the honor of pulling that $1000 check out of the kettle.

Les Paul Foundation.

Wiggy and I discuss the finer things via blogs...

The shop had the White Elephant gift exchange yesterday and there is a photo of Jason we can not post anywhere...

Chelsea, Kelly, and Jason took me out to celebrate my birthday (I did thank my mom for this day when I went home, Brien) , and sad to say that if you take the two numbers of my age and flip it, I would still be older than Chelsea... No country for Old men I say... ( Yes, I am still celebrating Festivus...)

Shop will be open until 3-4pm today, if you still need to get the last minute gift chips for your love ones...

Happy Festivus and Merry Christmas...

12.23.11

2011-12-23T07:36:00.007-06:00

This is not that kool, I thought it was already established that the "garbage fee" was not really about garbage but a poor attempt to cover the shortfall of the budget... Are Scrima supporters gonna go back on the "mistake" and argue it again? Talk about "Attacking the Past"...

Wow, 40 years...

Dakota is doing well.

I did not know that...

Unsolved mystery

This reminds me of this.

I had lunch at Montecito yesterday and I had what was recommended: the Sicilian Steak. I sat at the bar and the bartender was a former client so we talked a little. There is a house beer called Mr. Monte for $2( and Miller Light is $3). I was still on the clock so I did not try it. The big bowl of soup came with a fried bread which was tasty and I wish I had more. The steak was huge but I was told it is larger than usual because it was just their second day of being officially opened. The only thing I can compare it to was the Sicilian Steak at Michael's. I like the grilled vegetable on the side very much and I was certainly full as I left.

I would have a suggestion for this brand new business trying to get off the ground. I would pour a product called Bar Top over the tile surface of the bar. The un-even surface is a distraction a new biz does not need. I must say also that a lot of work were put in to transform the old El Ranchito place and the glass garage door is coming yet. When there is more light to that front area, it will change the mood of it.

It is not easy to start a new biz in the dead of winter and I would think the whole place is still a working progress for the owners and I am looking forward to try the rest of the menu... Welcome to Downtown Waukesha!

12.22.11

2011-12-22T06:17:00.006-06:00

It was my lucky night counting money at Salvation Army last night, I found a check for $1000 in one of the red kettles from a Sally supporter from Delafield, it could be one of the bigger ones this season... I then found two $100 bills in a different kettle, that would be the first Ben Franklin for this season for me. Big donations are nice but anything helps! I think with some push, they might reach the minimum goal in a very difficult season for charities, but safe to say the purple challenge will not go unless someone step up to fill that $100,000 gap... Three days left... Thank you for your support!

Today is Men's shopping day in downtown Waukesha, and we are expected to sell a lot of gift chips. We had been selling a bunch, including people bought and used them the same day to take advantage of the saving and a chance to win prizes... It might be an even better deal than the Moxie's discount ( hint: buy lots of $50 GC... ) :) Erik has a reminder too...

Sarah went to the party... I could not make any of those After 5 parties because I work until 7pm... Sounded very nice... :(

Wiggy, Wiggy and more Wiggy...

94 units on 7.95 acres and a density issue? Kendal Loft passed with Mayoral support with far greater density... I am confused.

Let's build it and see...

Anti-Crocs Grinch?

The only one I saw was Contagion while sitting in a packed plane traveling in Asia with people coughing all around me...

New show at Almont.

< Yawn > Boring Wiggy again... ;)

Ms. Kool said Le Duc's likely will have competition from Culver's that will be built near... Oh, boy...

Barry said rumor has it that Ryan Braun got something that last forever as a medical issue, I wonder if it is type 1 or type 2.

Someone said my former friend with many names had been using people on the street as references to obtain credit ( but on which of the three rumored Social Security numbers? ), oh, please call me.

12.21.11

2011-12-21T07:58:00.000-06:00

This was the big thing last night. Rich was asking me why a copter was hovering for an hour south of us, we did not know until we looked at Patch.

Half of downtown was at the City Hall for the key. Adam asked if we handed out so many keys all at once, doesn't it make it less special? However, 12+ people did worked hard to better Waukesha, for that we thank you.

The question remains... If the Mayor is getting 4% raise and 4% next year, asking the rest of the city workers to freeze their pay or cut their pay during the city budget mess is kinda strange. The other big catch phrase is "conflict of interest"...

How do you avoid the last minute VETO drama...

Men's shopping day, as to Diva's Day... Yes, WTC is also a part of it! We also have a special raffle going on for every $100 of gift chips, you get extra $10 in promo chips and a chance to win 1.5 hours of free tattoo and other prizes like jersey, tee shirt, tattooed lady book, piercing or art DVD.

Gregg's column.

HBR had a hard time with this article... It is not easy stepping into someone's healing/grieving process.

Maybe I'll see Wiggy there...

Darryl, you forgot to talk about Mayor Scrima as some people accused you of doing in EVERY column of yours...

SOUND OFF- that boring Wiggy has a new fan with a name.

POLICE BLOTTER

A special get well wish goes out to Holly at Moxie, the flu bug is hitting hard all around... Walgreen does have preservative free flu shots, so you all know. When I was in Asia, there was a warning that a strain outside of what the flu shot was covering is out there...

The rumor had come back to me as DNR killed the Kendal Loft project, I doubt it. DNR gave Mill Reserve a hard time too until they put in the correct system to process waste/storm water. It is likely just a delay to April. JMO.

From WDBA

2011-12-20T16:26:00.001-06:00

Hello WDBA members,

As you may have read, the Mayor will be giving out 12 keys to the city tonight at City Hall, 7:30PM and several of our downtown business neighbors will be honored. I know it's a busy week, but I encourage you to attend and support our friends if you are able.

Thank you,
Roger

12.20.11

2011-12-20T04:50:00.005-06:00

I drove by People's Park and there were a lot of people in there. Parking was full all the way out past Maple and it was a Monday night...Not bad for the first day reopening...

The man, the legend.

Speaking of bad PR for the Glorious Leader... Hey, even Wiggy made a guest appearance in the comment list... 4% pay raise plus 4% more coming? Yet ask for budget cuts? I am confused.

That is a done deal...

A nice attraction for Waukesha ahead... How about extending the old style street lights down West Ave from downtown as visitors would want to visit Prairie Home too.

Hmmm, I live in District 12 and I do own a tie. Oh, wait, the pay is not so good compare to the mayor's...

Hey, I went to school with Heidi.

Snowbirds... Well, kind of.

Oops.

POLICE BLOTTER-it said 400 East Main, right?

Big new?

2011-12-19T16:34:00.000-06:00

Here is something from Patch...

There is also a rumor on the street that Kendal Loft is on hold due to issues with DNR, the demo date might be moved to April.

Hey, People's Park is open today, see you there soon...

Erik just showed me this.

Home Sweet Home

2011-12-19T08:23:00.003-06:00

With an hour to go until boarding, I was wondering around in Narita airport and I found the hourly rate day hotel and shower... I could had been taking a nap! It would be an expensive nap however, the first hour is 27 dollars...

The flight to Newark was in a new Boeing 777-200, the video system was touch screen and the movie collection was vast. I watched 4-5 movies but did fell asleep through some of them. About 40 minutes before landing, there were a frantic moment in the plane: like you saw in the movies, they were calling for a doctor to come forward... (No, I did not have the fish.) Flight attendants were grabbing the first aid kit but quickly put it back. When the plane landed, people were asked to stay in their seats as officials rushed in. It was happening up in the front by first or business class, so I could only see so much, but as we walked out of the plane, we did see a disoriented guy sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by cops being questioned.

The wait at Newark was supposed to be another 4 hours but the delay in Narita made it a short one, and Broncos game was on. The final flight home was in a tiny jet that could not fit anyone taller than 6 ft. and it was quite uncomfortable for a two+ hour flight; I did not even know that type of aircraft can fly that far with a full load. The rocky landing was not as bad as the one I had in Scotland but some people were freaking out in the back. I just want to get out of this death trap...

All the pups and cats were happy to see me, and Ms. Kool helped me unpack. The soft bed felt great and I was able to sleep without effect of time change. The alarm clock called cats were waking me up right on their feeding time... It is good to be home.

Squatty potty

2011-12-18T00:11:00.001-06:00

I grew up with these and it is the Asian alternative for a toilet. It is pretty hard to use if you do not have good balance, I once saw one on a moving train...

Can't you tell I am bored out of my mind on my 5+ hours layover in Japan? So you know, Netflix and HBOGO or Hulu do not work outside of U.S....

Narita

2011-12-17T23:26:00.001-06:00

Warm and sunny here... I wish I am wearing shorts...

Maybe I am warm because I just had a bowl of noodle soup, but this time I paid cash... Just from Taiwan to Japan, the noodle soup went from $3 to $18...

I then decided to buy some small gifts like keychains and stuff... After the counter lady converted to U.S. Dollars, it was like $185!Yikes!

I thought London was expensive...

A little bigger parking problem than Waukesha

2011-12-17T11:17:00.004-06:00

The two side of the street all have red lines, that means no parking... I suppose safety in number, police are not going to tow every cars and scooters on both side.

12.17.11

2011-12-17T05:25:00.003-06:00

Wiggy kinda enjoys the ever-growing fame... but, it is safe to say "No key for Wiggy"... (Nice BEFORE picture of Norm)

Last chance to vote WTC and Wauksha for A-list...

Some change at the City Chamber.

People's Park will be open on Monday...FINALLY!

What is to come next week.

My trip diary is posted below... :)

12.17.11 diary

2011-12-17T05:00:00.004-06:00

It must be dampness that is getting to me, I was having a hard time walking up and down the many stairs of the family home this morning. I did have an appointment with Master Khan later in the day. I did not get a chance to see Master Drew, I will do that next trip.

We had lunch at a Thai place, it was Taiwanese Thai as in relation to Chinese Sushi back in the states. It was pretty good, and the food is not as sweet as back in the states. You know when service was TOO GOOD when they ask you about your every move, this was that place.

I was not ready for more beating but I sure got two hours worth of it. The worst part was that my mom was sitting next to me, so no crying or screaming. Master Khan went kung fu on me and the pain was almost too much in a S & M kind of way, and there were no safe word. I was getting elbowed in inner arm, inner thigh, and sternum, but my body was so messed up that it had to be done. When she got to the toes again, this was all I can think of doing...

I think that was the most painful massage I have ever gotten, there were zero intent of relaxation involved... Perhaps this is the karma I get for giving other people pain for a living... ;(

We had dinner at a new place that is said to be packed all the time. I thought their hot and sour soup was not as good as Le Gong in Waukesha, but they had very very good service and the turn over of the food was very fast. For the amount of servers in there, it will break an American restaurant...

Now I am all packed and I will put the rest of the blog entries online... I hope you enjoy reading about my adventure and I shall see you soon back in Waukesha!

Things you see oversea...

2011-12-16T11:07:00.005-06:00

An automated parking system: Imagine Red Box machine and your car is the DVD.

Yes, boys and girls, that is a real Betamax machine, it was before VHS.

This is a town hall decorated in pink...

This is a toilet with its own garbage disposal... Kramer would be proud.

12.16.11 diary

2011-12-16T09:03:00.007-06:00

It is funny how things get done in Taiwan, sometime business is conducted while double parked and it is not kinky business. I guess it is a way of life I am not used to but it sure is here. People do adapt to lack of parking, I should think about roadside tattooing... ;)

It is raining cats and dogs in Taipei, and this bag of old bones is feeling every bit of the moisture. I have most of my stuff packed for the return trip but I am sure not looking forward to the long journey.

Since my returning trip is coming soon, I have to step up a little to overload my feeding schedule with all the goodies. With Ms. Kool's urge, I sneaked out to have some green onion pancake from the breakfast place we used to go, and it is by far the best street food I ate this trip. I think it is the economy that everything cost the same but taste less due to cost saving measures. I also went to 7-11 to get a bunch of Pinky's for Ms. Kool, they are little packages of candy/mint.

Of course there was lunch, we went Korean. I had a Taiwan beer with my food, which I think it tastes like a Corona. It was a little shocking for people around because people don't drink that early unless you really drink drink.

The best part of the meal was the Kimchi tofu/fish hot pot (far right upper corner in the photo), I thought it was delicious. Every time I put kimchi in soup, it always adds to the flavor but I can not escape the occasional sour taste but this one was perfectly balanced.

As we walk down the street after the meal, someone who had a few more drinks than me stopped me to tell me to lose weight and cut my hair so I don't look like a girl. It is not the first time random people tell me to lose weight on the street of Taipei... :( but feeding schedule continues...

We drove to the Tamshui to visit the Hello Kitty store for Ms. Kool, and I am surprise there were red carpet rolled out for us when we arrived. With all the stuff we bought, I looked up to the prized 35yr anniversary edition bag, it was about the same for what we spent for just that one bag. (Sorry, no sale there.)

Sadly the Taiwanese ice cream place was gone as I frantically looked for it in the rain, but the old fish ball and bun place was still there. I ate at that place since I was a little kid when it was down by the river.

We were planning on having Thai food at night but I was done... sleepy time for me...

12.16.11

2011-12-16T08:25:00.005-06:00

Looks like Wiggy and Darryl have a few fans, but I do not think Darryl wrote about Mayor Scrima in EVERY column of his, or he would be as big as Wiggy...;) Mayor Scrima is bread and butter for some of us and it is getting more and more interesting as his term continues... (See SOUND OFF.)

Meghan, don't forget to show us orphan biz at far West End some love...

Not much time left for the purple challenge...

<Cough> Now I don't feel so good...

Dakota keeps on improving...

Don't go stand in The Corner(s) yet...

Old gas station might be gone soon.

JS's comment on parking is late in the game and the answer is yet to be determined.

I just realized Casey is gone.

Sorry for a late start this morning... Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

Holiday bonus

2011-12-15T15:23:00.004-06:00

As seen on Twitter:

waukeshatattoo Waukesha Tattoo Co.
We have a Bonus Raffle attached to our Gift certificates. Go tofacebook.com/pages/Waukesha… for more information!!! Thank you!!
1

As seen on WTC Facebook fan site...

Waukesha Tattoo Company

‎* Bonus Raffle*
For every customer that purchases a $100.00 gift chip you get $10.00 free and your name entered into a raffle for the following: 1st place 1.5 hr of tattoo time with the artist of your choice. Other prizes are: small metal spider, t-shirts, jersey, Tattoo Lady book and Guthrie DVD. Stop in Before Dec 24, 2011 for your chance to win. Drawing will be held Dec 24th.

Also,

Waukesha Tattoo would like to thank the following Business in Waukesha. Please go to www.wisn.com/alist to vote for these busineses. Voting ends Dec 18. Lets make Waukesha Business #1 for 2011.

Best Burger:

Bodway's Grill http://wisn.cityvoter.com/bodway-s-live-music-grill/biz/640588

Best Neighborhood Bar:

Boscos Social Club Waukesha http://wisn.cityvoter.com/boscos-social-club/biz/639758

Best Art Galleries:

Allison Art House http://wisn.cityvoter.com/allison-art-house-gallery-and-gifts/biz/640842

The Clinton St. Gallery http://wisn.cityvoter.com/the-clinton-st-gallery/biz/286556

Almont Gallery & Gifts http://wisn.cityvoter.com/almont-gallery-and-gifts/biz/496733

River's End Gallery http://wisn.cityvoter.com/river-s-end-gallery/biz/502236

Best Sandwich Shop:

Rochester Deli http://wisn.cityvoter.com/rochester-deli-inc/biz/52100

Best Dessert:

Allô! Chocolat http://wisn.cityvoter.com/search?q=All%C3%B4%21+Chocolat&x=1&y=10

Best irish Pub:

House oof Guinness http://wisn.cityvoter.com/house-of-guinness/biz/26783

Best Arts and crafts:

Beading Heats Studio http://wisn.cityvoter.com/beading-hearts-studio/biz/280683

Best Gourmet Grocery:

Poppin' on Broadway http://wisn.cityvoter.com/poppin-on-broadway/biz/492064

Best Coffee Shops:

Sprizzo's http://wisn.cityvoter.com/sprizzo-s/biz/433878

Cafe de Roastery http://wisn.cityvoter.com/cafe-de-arts-roastery/biz/479025

The Steaming Cup http://wisn.cityvoter.com/the-steaming-cup/biz/49556

Best Theater Group:

Waukesah Civic Theater http://wisn.cityvoter.com/waukesha-civic-theatre/biz/107438

Best Caterer:

Chef Jack's http://wisn.cityvoter.com/chef-jack-s/biz/27652

Best live Music Venue:

The Nice Ash http://wisn.cityvoter.com/the-nice-ash/biz/56411

Best Museum:

Waukesha County Museum http://wisn.cityvoter.com/waukesha-county-museum/biz/129693

Please vote Waukesha #1 this year...

12.15.11 diary

2011-12-15T12:23:00.009-06:00

Speaking of parking, my father got a parking ticket today and the amount was $15 NT, and they can go as high as $20 NT. Well, $32 NT makes one dollar. Yet one pretty much plan one's trip out because of parking even the tickets are so laughable, because the police can come back to give you multiple tickets or have your car towed. (I late found out you only pay about $30-$35 to get your car out.)

I spent a lot of the day in court house and offices getting some business done... It was like going to multiple DMV's all over the city but the the layers of bureaucracy is even more distinct. One cashier is in charge of taking your money, then hands paperwork to next person to pay out your change...

Here is what I had for lunch, the famous oyster omelet (and combo for $110 NT, less than $4) and Taiwanese shaved ice dessert.

At the evening I had a few hours to myself at the night market. I was shoe shopping... A pair of Merrell can be had for 30% off of the going rate, and we are not talking about fakes. There were also whole line of Hello Kitty shoes on sale... Shugar would want to buy half of the store and Ms. Kool the other half...

From there I went to the dogs and cats store, and needless to say I had a lot of people to shop for. I will be going to a different night market today to get what I was looking for yet, but I have fun stuff for people in the shop already...

I took the express rail back and it was rush hour but I did not have much trouble. A lot of students still have cram school or private tutor to go to yet. When I arrived home, the missing suitcase was finally here, I have to pack it for return trip now...

...and I am just getting used to the time zone change...

12.15.11

2011-12-15T04:58:00.006-06:00

Wiggy said Kendal Loft passed but there is a moment when they are not sure if it is for young professionals or for seniors... I am now confused too with whom should be the target audience for the 453 project.

HBR reported that Plan Commission made it a conditional permit with parking issue to be resolved, even though I do agree with Alderwoman Francoeur that it could have been a smaller building, it is what it is and I am glad at least the commission took parking issue seriously and not completely "sold out" as Mayor Scrima did (as I was told how upset he was when parking was even brought up). (PBR's report here.)

... but then, it was Wiggy, the anti-Scrima whom told me that, and now he has an "unhappy family" partner in crime, you just have to read the SOUND OFF... (You can do it, Wiggy, the showdown we had been all waiting for... or is Darryl throwing his hat in the ring again? You can play poker better...)

Who is that and why does she look familiar?

Sysco will likely get a funny letter about how he has no job but live in fancy condo too...

I had been keeping an eye on the Ryan Braun thing and I am a little concerned about next season...

A-List is almost over and we need your vote! All downtown Waukesha biz need your vote! Tell all your friends... Vote for WTC and vote Waukesha!

12.14.11 diary

2011-12-14T15:16:00.006-06:00

Well, I have to talk about parking now since Taipei is all about parking and there is even great public transportation. People double park all the time with one person "watching" the car sitting in the car while the other ran into the store and do whatever business. Every available space is taken by cars, scooters, bicycles, or even the merchants. Signs are everywhere from current business to many former business. Not much of Urban Planning in small details, but a free-for-all.

It does reminds me of NYC when people would park in a different part of town to take express rail in, but here parking in a building can cost you $30,000 or higher just for one parking space. You want to talk about parking games, everyone with a car or scooter is a master here...

It was a rainy day in Taipei, and most of the day were spent in my old neighborhood. I had a chance to sneak out to have a cup of Bubble Tea from the 50 hill place which Ms. Kool and I've found a liking to over Ten-Ran tea place. The smaller tapioca did the trick for us.

I met up with my old classmate Samantha for dinner along with my mom. We ate at a Shanghai place at top of the department store. I would not even mind just eat at the food court. For $20 a person we had seven courses... it was a foodie heaven to DIE IN. We left so much food behind it was obscene.

Samantha threatened me with old letter and pictures twenty five+ years ago, that will totally destroy my street cred in Waukesha for sure... She is quite successful in her field these days, she is in charge of getting foreign students to her college and even deal with leaders of small nations... I told her that she should look into an exchange program with Carroll University, I think with their recent professor exchange with a Hong Kong university, it might not be a bad idea to ask... She did explain the challenge is that some of Taiwanese practice is against U.S. federal law, for example, if one's parents want to see the grades of their kid in college, it would be a matter of asking here; In U.S. that would be violating the privacy of the college kid.

By the way, United Airline finally found my luggage, it was likely still in Chicago... I am just glad it was found, or it will be really hard to explain to my niece that all her gifts are gone...

12.14.11

2011-12-14T07:04:00.008-06:00

The big question of the day is that is there a Wiggy-copycat at Loyal, Wisconsin?

Dakota is big news in Waukesha...

About time we get the bill...

Three way contest right now...

The ALTA plan...

Way to go! Purple contest needs some serious help yet...

Gregg's Column

Darryl's Column

De De is awesome...

The big meeting is tonight... Someone please say something about the wishful thinking on parking for crying out loud...

Editor's note: Thanks for a lively debate, I truly respect each one of you, sometime a good discussion is all I can hope for... How about Kendal Loft have one of these in every parking space? Or that is too much trouble? ;)

Oh, and I missed this...

12.13.11 diary

2011-12-13T16:14:00.013-06:00

Tuesday I was looking forward to see Master Drew, but I was informed that the family had switched the go to person. I had an appointment with Master Khan instead. She is closer to the family home and I think that is a big factor.

What I noticed first was that this is not going to be a relaxing massage, she had kung fu training so she was evenly strong and fast with her hands. It does not help when your mom is next to you telling you it is okay to cry. I thought rib cage and neck was painful, she found all these fine trigger points on my big toes and that is PAIN, my friend. She beat me up for one hour and half for about $40 bucks... I completely crashed in late afternoon and managed to sleep for the next 12 hours...

I still would like to go visit Master Drew tomorrow to say hi. He is close to the Taipei 101 building.

Can you believe I have yet to have bubble tea?

For lunch, we had a multi-course meal for about $25 a person...

Oh, there were all vegetarian...

12.13.11

2011-12-13T07:26:00.005-06:00

Had a little computer issue this morning, but here is the latest from Waukesha:

Two non-profit to merge. "Happy family" it should called.

Dakota is doing fine... but anyone lost a kitty cat?

News from the city.

Mayor Scrima is not afraid of Santa.

SOUND OFF-Wiggy has a friend.

Big meeting tomorrow... I guess we'll see...

12.12.11 diary

2011-12-12T17:02:00.010-06:00

The 26+ hour journey to Asia was pretty rough, with early flight departure and late arrival in Taipei, I did not see a bed until 48 hours later. My parents are known for their belief in hard beds, and this time I am on a larger day bed with hard wood and a topper... Oh, I actually felt great with about 5-6 hours of sleep on that...

The All Nippon Airline was actually pretty good. The flight attendants were nice and the food was rather good. I had the Japanese choice for dinner, and it was pork cutlet with curry. The tray even had cold noodle and miso soup.

I had miso ramen noodle soup at the Narita airport, and later had some sushi. I can cross one thing off my foodie bucket list now that I actually had sushi in Japan, even though I had only seen the airports so far.

The terminal was not the updated part of Narita so the bathroom was not technologically sound. I was a little disappointed the toilet did not come with heated seat, warm water wash and white noise, I could have burn off a couple of hours in one of those bathrooms in my 4 hours-turned-into-five+-hours layover.

The flight to Taipei was delayed and I had to wait until the last bag came off the baggage claim; they had lost one of my luggage. I filed the paperwork and hope for the best, but most of what I need did make it in the other luggage, but a lot of gifts were in the other one.

I waited in line for the official airport taxi, but it did not really help. The taxi was nice, do not get me wrong, it has video screens on both headrest and on the dashboard, the driver also had GPS on his left and a video screen on his right to record and display the road ahead, and then he had his cell phone... He was doing 75 mph down the highway with all these media overload...

Stay tuned.

12.10.11

2011-12-10T06:40:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Allison and Jimmy of Bosco's Social Club, we had a great 2nd anniversary party! The keg of Spotted Cow was gone a little after midnight and we had a great turn out! (Thank you all for coming!!!) It is so kool Allison and Jimmy had turned that place into quite a local trendy hot spot... Don't forget to vote for them and us on the A-list!

Christmas came early... here is the speech from your "happy family" life coach. Who really wrote this PR stuff and the anonymous Sound Offs in the same systematic style of writing?

SOUND OFF-... and Wiggy gets it... You know everyone still loves you, Wiggy, don't cry in the corner...

Charity Yoda speaks.

A good idea?

The final approval. My main concern is still the parking... So far all the stuff proposed are still quite unrealistic and wishful thinking like a year to year lease of a parking lot across the river. If the rest of the downtown and the city rubber stamp it, it will become a gazebo-like legacy... I know the mayor really wants it, or he would not have his team of people spoke at the last plan commission meeting, yet no one dared to suggest lowering the unit count to achieve the two cars per unit requirement. We will be fine with or without the apartment project, and we will adjust and adapt to the biz condition. However, the parking will have a ripple effect throughout downtown, and it will be long term. I do hope people think long and hard about it.

That is a lot of zero's.

I bounced off the biz lounge idea off a few people, and I wonder what the interest would be in Waukesha.

My heart keeps coming back to this... Wiggy, my friend, do you need a hug?

Bosco's, not Bodway

2011-12-09T11:40:00.001-06:00

Just want to make sure everyone is clear on where the WTC party is tonight... See you all after 9 pm...

12.9.11

2011-12-09T07:01:00.006-06:00

Daisy Chain rocked Potawatomi last night, Chelsea and I both made some "donations" to the tribe as well. Jason also showed up with his girlfriend Jen, and even though a lot of the music played came out when he was a baby, he was pretty impressed.

Man on the street came in to tell me about the big shift at BID. Here is the new executive board. All I have to say is that please don't make the Far West End an after-thought.

Dakota looks like a Furby...

Who is "Victory" and why are we recalling him?

Yes, that is what the inside of the building looks like.

I have a coupon and I will use it...

I am surprised that Santa Run is not starting at Veterans' Park this year... Editor's Note: The new route is People's Park to South to Gaspar, then all the way to Verterans' Park on Main going west instead of East, then down Wisconsin to East, around Frame park and back to People's.

I drove by Clinton Street Gallery on my way to Potawatomi, a lot of people were inside. I would think Ryan had a good turn out for his event, they are not #1 on A-list for no reason...

There is also a rumor shared that Antique Mall might be moving which pave way for proposed convention center...

Tonight is our second anniversary party at Bosco's after 9pm. Come have a Spotted Cow with us...

12.8.11

2011-12-08T04:32:00.006-06:00

Kodiak, friend and I hit the All-You-Can-Eat crab legs at Bodway's pretty hard last night, it received a big thumbs up from my fellow foodies. I think Kodiak and I had a tie on the amount consumed.

Several people also came by to look at the 453 building... A lot of ideas... I wonder why it has a 600 amp service in it... Some pointed to the floor that it once had some kind of car repair business in it. The word is that the Water Tower lady is in charge of demolition of O'Brien's and Eric's, it is all waiting on the next plan commission to resolve the parking issue and perhaps the design issue yet. Some said a balance between the # of units and indoor parking # should find a better medium, but not sure if the city will stand its ground or rubber stamp the whole "the other (required) parking spot is across the river" thing.

Something like this for the Far West End? Is downtown Waukesha ready for it? I did sneak into River's End Gallery and Joan did a great job combining the two buildings... That is also an option on the table...

***

A twitter tip yesterday: (Thanks to A.)

rumor has it an east main tavern owner may or may not have been stirring up something with the city

...word was some late night poster hanging on city hall

My guess was the dispute between Fuzzy's and the plan commission over some work Fuzzy's had done.

***

This is kinda of a surprise...

Kool... Welcome home, Dakota.

"Former North Street Market"?

No flame thrower used in training...

Here comes more drama... and the "Past-Attacking" Wiggy has an answer for that...

Nicely done...

Good tips

Mayor Scrima, your beer date is doing cray cray stuff...

The WTC crew will be going to Potawatomi casino tonight to see Barry's Daisy Chain perform, I am hoping not to make any "donations" to the tribe...

Don't forget the party at Bosco's tomorrow night and here is the latest WTC newsletter.

Venue change

2011-12-07T18:03:00.002-06:00

Due to some scheduling conflicts, WTC have decided to move the 2nd anniversary party to Bosco's Social Club on 12-9-11 Friday at 9pm. Even with the change, Bodway's is still our regular hangout, and we still love the burger, we will just have to plan it better next year...

The free Spotted Cow is the same, come have one with us until the keg is all gone...

Thank you for all your support, we appreciate all the business and friendship.

12.7.11

2011-12-07T05:51:00.003-06:00

70 years ago... Taiwan was a colony of Japan then.

Big Packers showing at Waukesha. Are you a owner yet?

Gregg's column.

CCC needs your help.

Flag retirement.

I have to do more research on how this works...

Merry Christmas... Common Council.

11:35 am on Saturday, December 3, 2011

Darryl on Santa. I saw him in the back room of a department store when I was 12, I am pretty sure he is Asian.

I went by but it was not open, now I know why... Will try again at store hours...

Just saw this yesterday near Grandview....

People's Park news... It will be great to have it back in downtown Waukesha.

Bike Waukesha updates...

Waukesha Now makes it official. I am getting some interests and proposals on the 453 property across street, but whatever it goes there, I do hope to complement the Far West End merchants and not turning it into a residential district... The Sign Shoppe is going to be relocated in the River's Edge gallery, the building by Veterans' Park. The West End will change, Moxie's and us will work as a team to make things better...

Speaking of Sally...

2011-12-06T22:45:00.000-06:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

12.6.11

2011-12-06T07:06:00.005-06:00

I missed the benefit at M2, but here is the story on my friend Carol.

County throws in some $$$ to help.

County wants to make things easier for students...

City and HAWS join forces on pet cemetery.

SOUND OFF-Here comes the Scrima PR writers, note all the repetitive sound bytes...

POLICE BLOTTER

OOPS

Wiggy is back!

Brien thanks.

Anyone know what happened to West End apartment project's zoning petition last night? I was at the Sally helping out. Someone put some silver coins in one of the red kettles from Pabst Farm, one of the coins might be extremely valuable and rare... Thank you. The purple challenge campaign still needs help and is behind, we need some big time corporate matching program...

Some bell ringers said they would hear people go up to them and tell them why they will NOT give to the Sally because of this and that. I don't really pay attention to all the ideology fight but just hold my own belief true. You all know by now that I am a Buddhist. Personally I believe, it is not which path you take but where you end up... Doing the most good is what I hope to achieve and I hope people will know that a lot of effort are there to help the local community, a lot of people are knee deep in the trenches.

***

Note the correction on Bodway's free burger/free beer voting party is on 12-18. Lonely Hearts will not be playing for the anniversary party this Friday also.

From Moxie

2011-12-05T19:19:00.000-06:00

LAST MINUTE HAIR SPECIAL!

40% off Highlights and/or Haircut

Receive an extra 20% off a Shellac Manicure with same day appointment

Special available only on following days

12/6/11 – 12/8/11

12/12/11 – 12/15/11

Services provided by; Berry, Trisha or Shawna

*Special is for new appointments only! Excludes pre-existing appointments and Limited Spots Available*

CALL TODAY TO MAKE YOUR APPOINTMENT!

MAKE SURE TO REFERENCE PROMO CODE (MB2011) WHEN MAKING YOUR APPOINTMENT

MOXIE BEAUTY LOUNGE

443 WEST MAIN STREET

WAUKESHA, WI 53186

262-547-4867

Misc. from the street

2011-12-04T08:59:00.010-06:00

Saw this on Patch:

Lindsey

Having an administrator like Lori Luther usually prevented the foolishness that we saw during this year's budget debacle. She came in prepared with a commonsense budget and there was little to do but tweak the fine points. Scrima presented ridiculous ideas, flip-flopped, showed little leadership, dissed city employees, and sat on his throne with his smirk on his face, refusing to answer questions. He held the budget hostage until the last possible minute, forcing the aldermen to do all of the work in order to get the tax bills out on time. We are in desperate need of a new city administrator, one with the same duties as the last, and one who reports to the Council. Unfortunately any qualified administrator who might have an interest merely needs to Google the words Waukesha and City Administrator to see what a snake pit they would be walking into.

Darryl was too kind the other day... or is he just being sarcastic?

***

Someone said that a Cry Wolf fine is being talked about at the last Common Council meeting for people who complain excessively to the city on everyone, the rumored figure is like 1000+ counts a year from same people on noise to garbage bins to quality of life... I will just report it "as is" because that figure is cray cray high. Stay tuned.

***

Another somewhat "vicious" rumor is that there is some "house cleaning" is being done for People's Park, not sure if Dan is aware of it. Not all the former employees are being asked back as said. There were also talks before that after the fire, an offer was made by now defunct D Mo's to hire the displaced but someone did not pass the word down, that one I have heard first hand from my former friend, but he is not known for telling the truth these days. Just a messenger... No word on Clarke Hotel's next dining establishment yet by the way.

***

I was told that Alderman Hernandez gained a guardian angel with his mom passing away. That is quite a valid reason to miss the budget meeting... My condolences...

***

Someone said the new addition to River's End Gallery is just awesome. It sure looks great from the outside, now I have to pop my head in there to see what Joan had done.

***

The word is that the new Italian place on Broadway should be opened soon, like this coming week... Not sure if it is true.

***

A new place on the Strand is open or has a new owner or chefs, I was told the food is fantastic from more than one source... Might have to check that out soon.

***

Santa Run is this coming Saturday, no sure if Magellan is offering the cheaters' hideout again nor if Mayor Scrima is running. Wiggy would likely said I should wait for the famous last minute memo on Friday night.

***

You will soon hear a lot of mentioning of Poppin' on Broadway on WKLH, the people there are just hooked. We have people coming just to get the WTC popcorn last night so we know it must be true...

***

Tony Bodway said there will be free burger and free beer on 12-18 for an A list voting party for best burger, don't forget to vote WTC too...

***

Erik, like the other big time blogger Wiggy, was also a victim of Middle Eastern hackers recently. The most beautiful local blogging site is now back online.

These are just what I have heard, it is up to HBR or PBR to verify and make things official, I am just saying...

12.3.11

2011-12-03T06:53:00.006-06:00

Darryl is giving Mayor Scrima a lot of credit... That is coming from a seasoned WINNING poker player...

A Public Health issue...

OOPS...

Thank you, sir.

Have you seen Dakota?

What is coming up next... Is the Common council gonna go after the downtown parking game?

Good feature...

So I am not the only one dressing up my dogs...

Flag retirement.

Want a tee shirt?

Good to know...

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER

Nice feature story, PBR.

See you at the Art Crawl tonight... Even the artist is asking if we will have the Badger game on... Good thing we have five TVs and we will have pizza and beer...

We have some free carriage ride tickets for our loyal customers to give away but the supply is limited. We also put our remaining stock of tee shirts and jerseys on sale with limited size/ quantity options in men and women. We still have the 100=110 gift certificate chip promotion for the holidays, so come see us soon.

12.2.11

2011-12-02T06:01:00.004-06:00

No veto, what a relief... Until next budget season I guess.. Alderman Payne does have a point, you do not wait until last minute to have drama.

Wiggy is missing this.

Season of giving, if you can.

Can't call it self defense? By the way, I think a trebuchet is okay.

Yup, Art Crawl, be there or be square.

You and what army?

That is a big win...

SOUND OFF

POLICE BLOTTER

I went through the detail with Tony B. on our anniversary party at Bodway's on 12.9.11, I will post more detail soon. He did tell me that there will be a benefit next week for anyone bringing in an ornament in exchange for a free drink; a tree will be decorated and given for a young cancer survivor for the holidays.

I also spoke with the lovely Rebecca from Magellan's and Angie will play host again as our private bartender at the Art Crawl opening...

Yes, the Badger game will be on TV...

Look for Moxie and WTC on the Carriage ride poster designed by Mary from Spontaneous Gallery...West End, represent!

From Allo! Chocolat

2011-12-02T04:53:00.005-06:00

December greetings to you chocolate lovers!

Well, Thanksgiving is over and the countdown clock in our store currently states that there are only 23 days, 12 hours, 28 minutes and 35 seconds until…….CHRISTMAS!!! Better get to that to-do list that we know you have…cuz we have one too! Doesn’t everyone? That’s what creates some of the stress we experience during this month of the year.

Our best stress busting solution is to create a “Christmas Family Calendar” that we adhere to. It assigns days/time for shopping, cookie baking, wrapping, decorating the house, trimming the tree, viewing outdoor lights, visiting relatives, etc. We even have a “red day” and a “green day” just for fun….the only rules are that you have to wear red or green depending on the day and eat a red or green food item at dinner. We also use those days as “floaters” where we schedule nothing else, but use them to take care of needs that arise out of surprise or procrastination! We hope your month is filled with the excitement of the season and that you’re able to relax and enjoy Christmas once it arrives!

As you plan your December, don’t forget all the activities taking place in our downtown such as Horse Drawn Carriage Rides every Friday 5-9PM and Saturday 1-5PM leading up to Christmas. Tickets can be purchased from participating downtown businesses. Cost is $5.00 per adult and $3.00 per child or $15 for a family. Allô! Chocolat has a “treat” for some of you. We have purchased 50 tickets to give away to some deserving customers. With every $10 of in store purchases we will give you 1 ticket free, but you will need to request it. In other words, this is a “thank you” to those of you who receive and read our newsletter! Unfortunately, once they’re gone they’re gone, so hurry in and enjoy your free carriage ride! Tickets can be used any weekend.

The 3^rd annual Santa Run/Walk will take place on Saturday 12/10 at 10AM. You can register at http://www.active.com/running/waukesha-wi/waukesha-historic-downtown-santa-run-2011. If you haven’t attended this in the past, it’s a lot of fun to watch or participate in. Participants dress in their Christmas finest including Santa costumes, Mrs. Santa, the Grinch, elves, reindeer, etc. We understand that a 9 foot Santa will even participate this year!

Another downtown activity for the 2^nd year in a row is the Gingerbread House Competition. Get together with a couple of others and create a house that will benefit your favorite charity. Details can be found at www.downtownwaukesha.com

Interested in Christmas Caroling? Get a group together and call The Steaming Cup (262-522-3605) to schedule a time to stroll through the downtown singing and collecting donations for our 2011 designated non-profit, NAMI-National Alliance on Mental Illness.

All of these activities are brought to you by the 65 businesses in the Waukesha Downtown Business Assn. We call it Silver Bells after the famous song: Silver Bells, Silver Bells, it’s Christmas time in the city….get it? We have decorated our store, the music is playing….tonight they predict that the snow will even be falling. Come on down alone or with a gang to enjoy the streets of historic downtown Waukesha.

Downtown Waukesha is a busy place these days. Breakfast with Santa, Pictures with Santa, Christmas Clearing Council Toy Drive and many other fun happenings and merchant discounts/giveaways(a free Grandfather Clock from the Little Swiss Clock Shop….sign us up!) can be found at www.downtownwaukesha.com

This Saturday 12/3 is the last Art Crawl of the year. We have the info flyers in our store. Come down between 4-10PM and get some gallery shopping done! We will be open 10AM-10PM for your chocolat desires and we will have a full pot of Sipping Chocolate to warm you. What? You don’t know what this is? Think what it would be like to drink a truffle….pure decadence….mmmm! Ask for a sample!

*News Flash* If you haven’t heard, Taylor’s People’s Park which closed after a fire last winter has set a re-opening date of Dec 19^th! The newly expanded site will feature 1^stfloor, 2^nd floor and roof top dining! Most of us can’t wait to satisfy our sweet potato fries cravings!

There have been a couple of business relocations in the downtown recently. Beading Hearts Studio has moved and is now located on the Five Points at 308 W Broadway. Three Sisters Uniquities has moved to 914 Clinton, across from the Springhouse Tea Room.

New businesses to the downtown include Restyle Studio 401 W Main--low cost home decor with a high end look, Cake Pops by Design 128 W Broadway--delicious bite sized cake on a stick, and the soon to open Montecito Ristorante Lounge 257 W Broadway--Italian Cuisine, and Healing Forest Studio 807 Clinton--a place for those 12 and older to learn to draw and paint.

We have also been told recently that Key Westconsin 331 Riverfront Plaza offers several Gluten Free menu items!

After dining at La Estacion last week (one of our favs!), we visited RT and C Trains and More right across the street. It’s a small toy shop that is filled with old fashioned wooden toys, trains, puzzles and more. The owner was very friendly. Check them out and mention we sent you! More info at http://waukesha.patch.com/listings/rt-c-trains-and-more

Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you may have heard the advertising declaring that last Saturday was Shop Local Saturday! To the many new customers who shopped on that day, as well as those who have continued to support Allô! Chocolat and the other downtown businesses over the years, thank you so much!! We encourage you to think about the downtown businesses FIRST this holiday season and ask yourself, “Of those on my Christmas gift list, who loves chocolate, loves artistic and fine jewelry, could use a good book, would love a restaurant gift card, would enjoy a Waukesha Freeman subscription, etc?” As you continue to support the downtown business community, we’ll continue to offer you a vibrant downtown to visit!

Whew, there is a lot to communicate this month….thanks for hanging in there. So, “what about the store?” you ask???

Well, the A-List competition is in full swing again! We’ve been voted #1 in the Best Desserts category in the past, so please vote and help us to achieve this honor again in 2011 at http://wisn.cityvoter.com/all%C3%B4-chocolat/biz/437413 The next time you’re in the store, mention that you voted for Allô! Chocolat and we’ll give you a free turtle to enjoy! …another perk to those who read our letters! Don’t forget to vote for the other downtown businesses as well.

We have a new employee….welcome Megan. She is currently a junior at Waukesha West and has been a great addition to our staff!

The Sweet of the Week is new for this year, Candy Cane Truffle! Cute and delicious! $2 (reg $2.50). Next week, enjoy Gingersnap Malted Milk Balls at 25% off the regular price of $10.95.

Other seasonal items include: Peppermint Bark, Old Fashioned Hard Candy, Peppermint Pillows, Chocolate Dipped Nutter Butters decorated like snowmen, Coconut Snowballs, Foiled Santa’s in all sizes, Foiled Bells, Presents and Ornaments too!

New items at Allô! Chocolat include our Candy Cane Truffles, the cutest Marshmallow Reindeer and our new Silver Bells Artisan Chocolates.

Don’t forget that Saint Nick’s Eve is Monday Dec 5^th. We have all kinds of stocking stuffers to make your loved ones grin from ear to ear! We also have Christmas Countdown Calendars for a daily chocolate treat!

Our new space in the former Coffee N’ Beans location is coming along. It has been freshly painted, the floors have been professionally cleaned, tables and chairs have been purchased, a new TV with DVD player for our chocolate classes and a retired home ec teacher (customer and friend too!) has been hired to teach our classes. We are currently booking Girl Scout classes for after New Year’s….more info to come!

As we did last year, we are again offering chocolate delivery for Christmas. Our very good friend Don has agreed to put on his Santa Suit and get behind the wheel for us again….he makes it so much fun…thanks Don! He is available to deliver on Wednesdays and Saturdays before Christmas. A delivery charge will be based on distance from the store.

Whew! This took a lot of time to write so thank you SO much for taking the time to read it. We know it’s long and folksy, but we hear from so many of you that you read and enjoy our letters every month. Some may think it’s corny, but we really do consider you part of our Allô! Chocolat family. Enjoy the month, the season and we’ll see you soon!

Blessings,

Carrie and Roger

PS. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter if you’d like…..AND vote for us on the A-List.

Editor's note: Vote for WTC too and vote Waukesha!

also: WTFudge, Santa is not real!?

12.1.11

2011-12-01T07:27:00.008-06:00

I was called in to help at the Sally last night; a lot of behind the scene stuff to make the Red Kettle campaign work. On my way home at 10pm, the parking lot at City Hall was still packed. I thought about stopping in but I was not sure if I can deal with all the overwhelming drama with an empty stomach...

(For the following paragraph or two, you need to do the hand gesture when you see " ".)

Alderwoman Francoeur: "Sound Byte" is bread and butter for the mayor and us underground media... WackySha "vigorously" needs a "coach" not to "attack the past" and give us a "New Day" while we dig some "trench" for water and perhaps a "tunnel" for Carroll students.

So, it is not "zero %" and no "mistake" of a garbage "fee", Mayor Scrima has to veto it again or no? Either way he has to flip-flap again and bless us with another speech and endless PR about job well done by him. Can't wait...

IED in WackySha and a suicide by Civil war era gun? Depression kills, and my condolences to the family.

Shelters will be opening soon.

Wiggy is not a recall fan.