The Appleton School District Calendar is available online. It shows important events that parents need to know, like Spring Break from March 29 to April 2. Wanted to make sure you knew where to find it.

FYI, the Menasha District has their spring break the following week, April 4-9, 2010. The Menasha District Calendar is less convenient, IMO. If you can figure out the online Neenah School District Calendar and see when spring break is, let me know. I don't see it there.

At a "Pinewood Derby" cub scouting event, of all places, I ran into the local entrepreneurs behind Hot Tub Medic (HotTubMedic.com). Illustrating the kind of thinking that can lead to success for other local entrepreneurs, these businessmen told me why they decided to get into this business. With the economy down, people are less likely to spend their money on travel, new cars, or new homes, and more likely to focus on enjoying or improving what they already have. That's where hot tubs come in. Expect them to be used more, maintained more, and upgraded more. Many home owners might be adding hot tubs to upgrade their homes as well. Looking for the opportunities the seismic shifts in the economy might be creating, acquiring the business made sense to them. Coupled with years of experience in the market and a lot of business savvy in other areas also, they may have what it takes to succeed.

I don't have a hot tub and have no financial interest in the business nor financial incentive to mention it. I iike the thinking, like the owners, and like the example of looking for opportunities in whatever situation we are in.

The Appleton area actually has a thriving community of entrepreneurs and innovators, part of why it's an exciting place to live. I even understand that the innovator behind the successful new mobile phone application, Pandora, is here in Appleton. That might be a story for a future post--would love to learn more about that one.

In my previous post, I mentioned Fox Banquets as a classy place for meetings and other events. At the Fox Banquets event I attended this week, I had the privilege of meeting Reid Ribble, a business man who has decided to run for Congress. I'm especially curious about something I heard from Mr. Ribble - maybe some of you can check this for me. He said the voting record of Rep. Steve Kagen is (nearly? virtually? exactly?) the same as California's Nancy Pelosi, which would be shocking if true since Kagen campaigns here as if he's something of a conservative. I think Ribble even said "100%" - but I'm not sure if that applies to all votes and issues. If Kagen's voting record is the same as Pelosi's, I want to know why! I know, I need to do my own homework on this, but I've been a bit distant from politics recently. Maybe that needs to change, given the importance of the issues we are facing today. If we do have a stealth Pelosi clone, someone who follows her lead 100% of the time, well, I'll be ticked.

If you know of an easy way to quickly compare the voting record of two people in the House of Representatives over a specified period of time, let me know. Seems like that should be easy, but I've been too far from politics to know the right resources to go to, and I'm feeling lazy today (meaning it's time to get back to my day and night job!).

This week I was at a reception held at Fox Banquets, formerly known as Michiels. The website is MichielsFoxBanquets.com. My visit reminded me of what a classy place this one, one that we used a few years ago for a wedding reception for one of our sons. It's in the heart of Appleton, overlooking the Oneida Flats area from the edge of the steep hill that goes from downtown Appleton toward the river, just east of the Oneida Skyline Bridge. They have one of the nicest views of any place in the Valley and a beautiful interior as well with two floors and a variety of rooms for meetings and events. They also have a catering service, Rivertyme Catering, which is an approved caterer for events at the Performing Arts Center, so you know they are good.

In the past few weeks, for business and social purposes, I've been able to try a number of places. I really enjoyed the pizza and desserts at Wise Guys in Menasha. Great smoothies and burgers were found at Red Robin in Darboy. Awesome prime rib sandwich at the Red Ox in Appleton. Pretty good steak at Beefeaters in Appleton. Solea in Neenah is always good for sure-fire Mexican. Wonderful Chinese was experienced again at Confucius in Appleton as well as Dong Po on College Avenue. Also tried the Boba Tea again at Pooh Saan in Appleton.

I'll provide more details soon.

Say, could you let me know of real estate blogs for the Fox Cities that I could list as resources for people looking for homes in the area? I'm aware of "Ask Laurel" by Laurel Stone. Are there others you can recommend?

Here are portions of two photos of Queen Anne's Lace, a prolific wildflower in Wisconsin. It's beautiful in full bloom during the summer, but I haven't paid attention to it much during winter. Yesterday, though, I noticed how interesting it can be when coated with frost. Winter can bring out unexpected beauty in many ways--one more terrific reason to live here in Wisconsin. We get plenty of unexpected beauty during the long and cold winter. (Click to enlarge.)









A couple other plants:

Taste of Thai on College Avenue has a small but delicious lunch buffet. I was there for a late lunch today with a visitor from Milwaukee who was looking for a quiet place for conversation and good food. We both enjoyed the meal. There were seven main hot items to choose from, including a couple of rich, creamy curries with chicken and beef, a flavorful but light veggie and chicken dish, noodles, and other items. My favorite, though, was probably the unusual hot and sour soup. Unlike the standard Chinese soup that I'm used to, the Taste of Thai version has a light broth that looks like a chicken broth instead of the dark brown stock of Chinese hot and sour. It had some of the same ingredients otherwise, but with a lighter, more delicate flavor. Delicious!

Selection was certainly limited for a buffet, but it was more than adequate for my needs and very pleasing. Service was excellent. The interior is comfortable and quiet. We had a large table, good for taking notes and animated conversation.

Here are a few photos of downtown Appleton before the snow hit in December 2009, with one from earlier in the summer showing Larence Chapel. Click to enlarge slightly.