So, a non-major city wants to bring in a minor league baseball team and build a brand new ball-park in the downtown area. No private companies have made this investment so far, because they don't believe that ticket revenues, etc. would make up for the huge cost of the stadium and believe it to be a non-viable investment decision. What other financial considerations need to be looked at before a city nixes the idea of taking on this project with city money?

So, last week when we were on vacation, one of my wife's patients gave us a couple of free passes to this local private pool/waterpark nearby. So, we head off there one afternoon thinking that we're about to enter the world of "haughty-taughty". The pool was beautiful, but the people didn't quite match the country-club atmosphere. See, we live in a far SouthWest suburb of Chicago since the property values are so much more affordable there. So, we live in a very nice neighborhood full of blue-collared folk. I wrongly assumed that redneck social skills were a product of economic condition and not a lifestyle choice. I was wrong. Last night proved it again. We were sitting out on our back porch last night and got to witness about 8 different firework shows coming from houses all over the neighborhood. And these were NICE fireworks. So either you can't buy your way out of a lifestyle, or these people simply see no reason to. Either way, I enjoyed the show, and next year maybe I'll sell tickets.