Playing in Brew City

Another goal of this blog is to display all of the fun things I do here in Brew City, USA. There's this blog I sometimes read called Play in the City. Play in the City is a blog that is sponsored by visitmilwaukee.org and written by a young lady named Erin. The purpose of the blog is to highlight fun stuff to do in Milwaukee through Erin's exploits. I think the sponsor provided a digital camera and a computer or something. I read the blog because I really love Milwaukee and I'm always up for doing new fun stuff. However, every time I read one of Erin's posts, I say to myself, "I would have done that post... differently." Erin seems like a nice young lady and I certainly don't mean to insult her writing. I'm sure her style appeals to more people than will ever read this rag. But sometimes her posts just seem to miss the mark. Here is an example of Erin's writing:

"The Brewers season is officially underway! The first game is going on as I write this – which means I'm not there. After being at Miller Park yesterday and after having sold the tickets we originally had for the game, we just didn't want to try to get different tickets and head back there today. Plus, Opening Day is much more fun in a group – I'm not sure how much fun we would have had just the two of us. Penny and Carlo weren't able to go, either, so we all just decided we'll plan for it next year. Besides, we're having plenty of fun at home! We cooked fat free hot dogs on the grill for lunch and had a little picnic during the first couple of innings."

Keep in mind that the blog is sponsored by a group that promotes tourism in Milwaukee. Now I'm not suggesting that Erin should lie. If she doesn't like baseball, she doesn't like baseball. That's fine (in actuality that's not fine, there is something seriously wrong with people that don't like baseball but we'll save that for another post). But if I'm the guy trying to sell Milwaukee as a summer tourist destination, I'd probably want a baseball fan to write my corporate blog. I would also probably want someone that would grill some Usingers Brats or something on opening day. Fat free hot dogs? Seriously?

Anyway, Erin left Play in the City and VistitMilwaukee had a writing contest to determine who would replace her. I considered entering, but I didn't think I had time to commit to posting at a rate that is any more consistent then "when I feel like it." The three finalists for the job all write just like Erin. Here is an example of two sentences from the front runner:

"Most inland cities don’t get the perfect blend of city-life and nature’s charm as Brew City. St. Louis and Minneapolis are both great, but neither have anything comparable to the breadth and beauty of Lake Michigan and its neighboring park system—especially this weekend as multi-generations gathered at Veterans Park for Milwaukee’s free Family Kite Festival to share an afternoon of child-like amusement and simple pleasure.

Besides the awkward hyphen use in this run-on, I'm not sure that I would bring up the comparison of Milwaukee to Minneapolis in the "perfect blend of city-life and nature's charm" department. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Milwaukee and would strongly prefer to live here than Minneapolis. But let's stop kidding ourselves Erin #2. We dump millions of gallons of raw sewage in that lake for Chrisake.

Anyway, my point really isn't to knock these two birds. I'm sure Erin and Erin #2 are a lot of fun. But they've inspired me to do what they do, only my way (half-drunk and with excessive sarcasm).