November 26, 2007

From TheKCGuy

Today is apparently Cyber Monday. Wanna cyber? Shop.org, an organization of online retail merchants has put together CyberMonday.com to help you find online deals today. You didn't really do any work last week, did you? Why start today? I recommend that you close your office door and get some of your Christmas shopping out of the way.

I caught an article in the Star this morning about the growing trash problem in Kansas City. Since I moved from KCMO to Johnson County, it has really surprised me that they ask us to put our yard waste in plastic bags and put it with the rest of the trash. They pick it right up and plop it into the same truck. They sure don't do that in KCMO! It's good to hear that someone else has wondered about this and that perhaps we can make steps to improve the way that we dispose of some things.

I read that KCMO.org ranks in the top for sites for large cities. It's a pretty good site, I have to admit, but I think this is more of a commentary on the competition than anything else in my mind. I'm surprised that cities aren't saving a bundle by putting stuff online in a "self-serve" fashion. It seems that they could easily outsource a lot of their paperwork to their citizens in that way. I'd think that a private company that helped cities do this would absolutely rake it in, but I guess they'd do that at the expense of a lot of employees in City Hall, so it may have a tough time gaining much support.

Weekend Wrapup

• I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving weekend. My smoked turkey came out pretty good, but I'm kind of worn out on Turkey now.
• Apparently, turnout for Black Friday was pretty good. I slept through it after deciding that I didn't really want to get another TV this year.
• We learned that Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was Caroline Kennedy and Don Heneley told CBS that Hotel California is "basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream, and about excess in America which is something we knew a lot about."

Looking Ahead This Week

• Kansas firearm deer season opens on the 28th

Today's Events

• Defense Secretary Robert Gates is speaking at K-State at 2:30pm today.