I've been attending steering committee meetings for an exciting aerospace event coming to the area in 2009: AeroInnovate, a forum for innovation. It will be held May 13-14, 2009 in Oshkosh. Sign up for more information at AeroInnovate.org.

Just took my family to Good Company, the popular, lively, and long-time-standing restaurant on the corner of Richmond Street and College Avenue. The menu used to be huge, now it's just large, with an emphasis on Italian and Mexican cuisine. Dishes are reasonably priced and generally good. While I've had negative reports about the Mexican dishes, the Italian food tends to be very popular, especially the lasagna. I recently tried the linguine alfredo and found it bland, as were some other pasta dishes, though still OK. Many people love the place. It has great old-stlye ambiance, with some amazing photos of movie and TV stars from 40+ years ago, along with other relics of the previous century or beyond. Worth a visit just to see and enjoy the interior, but enjoy the food also!

One of Appleton's coolest citizens, a friend of mine from Cameroon, let me know about the very exciting African Heritage Celebration and Family Picnic this coming Saturday, August 16, 2008, at Telulah Park in Appleton. The fun begins at noon and continues until about 4 pm or so. Show up anytime. No need to bring food (though I suggest bringing some to pass around anyway). I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Telulah Park is one of the nicest in the area, with a pleasant trail along the Fox River, some beautiful views, a disc golf, a skateboarding area, tennis courts, baseball diamonds and big fields, etc.

Come celebrate African heritage this Saturday and get to know more of the amazing people that live in this Valley.

Mihm's Charcoal Grill in Menasha is a surprisingly good little dinner, just north of Main Street in downtown Menasha (342 Chute Street, Menasha). A friend took me there for lunch yesterday. While food always tastes better when someone else is paying, I think I would have enjoyed my meal under any circumstances. Home-cooked food, basic but done right. I had a hamburger with extra veggies in it and was pleased with the flavor, the good bread of the bun, and the service. Inexpensive, fast. Ambiance is classic "old Midwestern diner." Phone (920) 722-0306.

Recently after a tough night of finding a couple of suits for my son before his two-year trip to Taiwan, I suggested we cap the evening off with a trip to nearby Bakers Square. Our waitress was very kind and helpful. We ordered a variety of pie slices, and she went the extra mile to customize our order (she knew my wife and I were sharing a slice with a scoop of ice cream, so she split the slice on different plates and put some ice cream on each -- didn't have to ask for that). And wow, what pies! The berry pie I had is about as good as they get. My youngest son had the key lime pie, and it was also about as good as they get -- and I'm a big fan of key lime. My third-youngest son, the one who got the suits, choose a peanut butter cup pie, which he said was great, but he felt the other two choices were better.

I'm a big fan of pies, and don't think I've found a more reliable source for good pies than Bakers Square. They also offer a lot of other good food on their menu, and you can buy whole pies to take out. I think the cost for all of us (3 slices and 1 scoop of ice cream) was about $15.

I tried the $12.95 oil change at two different places this week (yes, two different cars). First was Bergstrom's Express Lube in Neenah on Green Bay Road, just north of Main Street. Very professional, nice 25-point inspection, no sales pressure. While waiting, patrons can have free cookies and soda. Talk about luxury treatment! They did find that two side blinker lights were out on my son's car and offered to replace those. With the extra charge for replacing the lights, the total was $27 -- about the cost of an oil change at other places. Took about 20 minutes.

The next day on the way home I took my car to Saturn in Appleton for their $12.95 oil change. Luxury plus! Same good service, but they have a much bigger waiting area with a television or a TV-free area (I chose the latter, where I typed out this post). They also offer patrons cookies and soda. Saturn had better cookies.

The winner, by a crumb, is Saturn. But I was impressed by both.

Given the price of oil, they aren't making any money off this service. The cost of the oil alone eats up any profits. Could this have something to do with selling cars?

Had to find a couple of suits for my 18-year-old son who will soon be leaving for a two-year mission in Taiwan. Found a good one at Penney's, which is often a surprisingly good choice for low-cost suits. Then we went to my favorite place, the Men's Wearhouse on the west side of the Fox River Mall (separate strip mall). We found just what he wanted on a "2 for $350" sale, so I got a suit, too. John Gunther took care of us. I felt a little guilty because we walked in just moments before closing, but John and the others were totally helpful and told us it was no problem at all and made it very positive. We both found suits we really liked. John urged me to look at one other and I was surprised at how much I liked it. We were both surprised when we checked the price and found it was on some kind of ridiculous sale for $99. We got a better deal at Men's Wearhouse than we did at Penney's, and I often have found excellent bargains there, yet Men's Warehouse somehow has a reputation of selling expensive suits. Well, you can find them, but you can also find great bargains and great service. All their suits are 100% wool. They might make for some low suit prices with higher prices in accessories like shirts and ties. All their shirts are elegant cotton shirts often in the $40-50 range. So tightwad Jeff didn't get any shirts there -- but fellow bargain hunters, I strongly recommend them for suits.