Manpower Update

Panel endorses city financing for Manpower

A city financing package for the proposed Manpower Inc. corporate headquarters picked up a key endorsement today from the Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.

Committee members voted 5-0 to send the proposal to the full council with a recommendation supporting the city financing plan. The 15-member council is scheduled to review the plan at its Feb. 7 meeting.
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Hooray!

Happy Birthday To Me

Oh what fun it is to enter the last year of being a 20-something. Going to the Old German Beer Hall tonight if anyone's interested!

My lovely wife got my tickets to Coldplay for March 19 at the Bradley Center and a pretty sweet GPS unit. Very excited about both. She also made me brownies which are my favorite (I don't like cake). Now that I have a GPS, I can give Geocaching a shot. If you don't know what that is, you can read more about it on Erin's wonderful Play in the City blog. As soon as it gets warmer outside, I'll be scurrying about the East Side and Downtown.

On another note, the UWM Panthers were victorious again last night, beating Loyola on the road 68-57. They are still in first place by a good margin in the clogged Horizon League. Still a semi-long shot for an at-large bid to the Big Dance, so they need to keep sharp!

Just once

Ok, so this blog is intentionally not very interesting. That's because I promised myself I wouldn't talk about three things, 1) Religion, 2) Politics and 3) the Minnesota Vikings. Well, I need to break that rule just once to bring you the most ridiculous thing I've seen in a while..

Cindy Sheehan is considering running for Senate. Cindy Sheehan is considering running for Senate. Saying that sentence out loud is worse than when it was running throuh my head. Personally, I think the woman just needs to go back home, but hey, this is America and she is entitled to her opinion no matter how ridiculous it is. But COME ON, even those of you out there who think she's "incredible" and "an inspiration" have to admit that the mere idea of her running for Senate is just down right laughable. What possible qualifications does she have? Anyway, just had to break my rule just once...

Good cause

My sister is starting a program at the school (our old high school) where she works. Please take a look and see if you can help!

Good morning everyone!
I’m writing you to ask if you (or your company) have any old inkjet cartridges or old cell phones that need to be recycled. I’m starting a program at our school (which is non-profit) through a company called Funding Factory (www.fundingfactory.com) where we send in old cell phones and inkjet cartridges to be recycled and earn points towards technology equipment. These items are desperately needed due to low enrollment in the next year and upcoming years.

If you have any of these items that you would normally throw away, I ask that you keep them and I can send you shipping packages to use. If your company regularly throws these away and/or would like the PR in helping a non-profit school, they can contact me for more information or start a collection box.

I do have a page on our website also if you’d like to look at it. The direct URL is here. It will also show our counter of points for recycled items.

Thank you for any thoughts or donations!

Gina
Notre Dame de la Baie Academy
610 Maryhill Drive
Green Bay, WI 54303
Phone: (920) 429-6111

I know some of you techie geeks like me have a couple old phones laying around. What better way to get rid of them!

Movin' On Up....or Downtown

Manpower Inc., a Fortune 500 company currently based in Glendale, WI, has reached a tentative agreement with the City of Milwaukee to move their International Headquarters downtown. This would include 900+ employees currently working in Glendale and also 100+ employees currently working in Brookfield at Jefferson Wells, a subsidiary of Manpower. This is a great thing for Milwaukee and especially any of the employees who are lucky enough to work there. ;) The pic posted here is an artist rendering of what the new building may look like.

NFL Final 4

Well, the final four is upon us and I just thought this picture was interesting because of the final remaining teams, there isn't really a "big name" quarterback like Favre, McNabb, Brady, Manning, Culpepper, etc. Maybe the QB position is overrated? Each of these teams have a "superstar" at another offensive position though. Shuan Alexander in Seattle, Steve Smith in Carolina, Ward in Pittsburg and ... and....and how the heck is Denver in this yet??

It's Miller Time

Today Miller Brewing Company announced the launching of a new marketing campaign in "an attempt to revive its slumping Genuine Draft" brand. Slumping? Is this news? Of course it's slumping. Everyone knows MGD cold-filtered taste is like drinking water that someone's feet have been sitting in all day. High Life is the way to go. Granted, it's sales are down a little bit as well with the ever increasing popularity of light beers but hey, does Genuine Draft have a semi-successful blog named after it as High Life does? Didn't think so. I of course support you, Miller, since you're a important part of Milwaukee, but step up and admit, High Life is where it's at.

Annual Pilgrimage

Happy Friday the 13th everyone...

So tomorrow is the 4th annual trip to Green Bay for the UWM vs. UWGB basketball game. Like last year,the mighty Panthers are in first place in the Horizon League. However, hopefully unlike last year, we'll leave the Resch Center with a win. Should be a good time. We are up to 7 attendees this year for our modest fan section, but we've grown every year! Within a couple years though our travelling band will rival that of Grateful Dead groupie caravan.

I also had some thoughts to share on the new Green Bay Packers head coach, Mike McCarthy, but I don't really want to post such negative things on my happy-go-lucky blog. Have a great weekend everyone and go Panthers!

Emotional Rollercoaster

Thanks for the kick in the butt Binsk...

The last few weeks have certainly been an emotional rollercoaster for my family. First as you may have read on my sister Gina's blog, we had a close call with our Dad late Christmas Eve. He was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. You can read more about that on her blog if you like, but it looks like he's going to be fine.

Then a bit of good news. On January first, my cousin Cari and her husband Drew welcomed baby #2, Luc Andrew, into their family. He weighed in at 6 and a half pounds and is doing great.







Then some more bad news. This past week my uncle Dan (my Dad's brother) passed away at the age of 63. Far too young and yet another example of the DeGroot curse that seems to always happen around Christmas time. There are others but I don't think I need to rehash them at the moment. Yesterday Kirsten and I headed up to Green Bay for the funeral. It was tough as all of them are. The worst part is that it could have been prevented.

Anyway, here's to looking forward to the rest of 2006. Last year was crazy for us with the wedding and both of us changing jobs/positions so I'm looking forward to hopefully slowing down a little and taking the time to enjoy 2006. Cheers!