The first blog entry is tough, like a pilot of a TV show, you need to introduce the characters and make the plot interesting enough for viewers to come back. I'll do my best.
My name is Kevin Buckley, and I moved to Milwaukee in 1987 from St. Paul, Minnesota to attend Marquette. I studied accounting and even passed the CPA exam only to find that the profession wasn't for me. -- That epiphany occurred at my first job out of college. Gary, a cheesy moustache wearing,
Sheepshead playing, fifty-something accountant in my department, would occasionally break the silence and whisper, loud enough for everyone to hear … "I … HATE … ACCOUNTING." -- Two years later, I'd changed careers.
At that point, I'd also moved to the North Shore, living with a buddy in Shorewood. Those were the days, I worked and played hard, and eventually met my future wife. When it was time to buy a house, I wanted to keep that same youthful neighborhood vibe. Shorewood or Whitefish Bay. They gotta be the same, right? When the right house came along in the Bay, I took it.
I remember moving in and being greeted by many neighbors, but one in particular was memorable. Paul, who lived a couple doors down, welcomed me to the neighborhood and asked to meet my wife. When I told him I wasn't married, he asked about my fiancée. "Nope, not engaged either." He gave me one of those looks, as if to say
"Dude, what are you doing here? This is family-town where everyone has a 1.5 children, a minivan and a dog."It dawned on me I might have made a housing mistake. Whitefish Bay is not like vagabond duplex-central Shorewood. Especially to a single twenty-something year old. I spent that first month giving the evil eye to kids as they rode their bikes past my house.
Eventually, I succumbed to the charm that is Whitefish Bay. The neighborhood that I grew up in St.Paul is very similar and WFB has always felt like home. A year and a half later, I'd married and given up the "only-single-guy-on-the-block" title. Forward another 8 years, and I'm in the same house plus wife, plus 11 month old son, plus cat.
So what's this blog going to be about? I'll tell you straight away, I'm not in the Whitefish Bay gossip groups. I don't know what's going on at Village Hall past what I read about in the Herald. I volunteered because I have opinions on what's going on here and in the North Shore. I'll write about sidewalks and taxes, Bayshore and Klode. Budgets, media, and weeds. Police reports, websites, and restaurants. Also .. if you have any comments, want some publicity for your WFB event, or want your issue heard, send me an email, I'll do my best.
Stay tuned.
KevinBuckleyWFB@gmail.com
