Evernote Openbook: Ocono.com

Congratulations to the 2009 winners of Idol Mainia of Oconomowoc, a Geordie A. Markham Memorial Event. Thank you to everyone who participated! Click here to see photos of the 2009 winners.

7-12 yr olds
1st- #8 Kamilah Lay, 11 of Milwaukee
2nd- #26 Nikki Christensen, 12 of Oconomowoc
3rd- #31 Lyssa Yehle, 12 of Nashota

13-18 yr olds
1st- #35 Bridgette Well, 18 of Oconomowoc
2nd- #21 Alyssa Sylvester, 17 of Racine
3rd- #38 Samantha Burkard, 14 of Greenfield

Posted: October 27th, 2008 under Main.
Comments: none

Oconomowoc bed-and-breakfast foreclosure draws' investigators scrutiny - JSOnline

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:24:38 GMT

Oconomowoc bed-and-breakfast foreclosure draws' investigators scrutiny

By Scott Williams of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Jan. 25, 2009

enlarge photo

William J. Lizdas

This historic property on Lake Road is known as the Great White Queen Anne of Oconomowoc. Built in 1889, the three-story mansion overlooking Fowler Lake was listed for sale at $1.3 million in 2005.

more photos

William J. Lizdas

This historic property on Lake Road is known as the Great White Queen Anne of Oconomowoc. Built in 1889, the three-story mansion overlooking Fowler Lake was listed for sale at $1.3 million in 2005.

Oconomowoc - Nicole Hemm was saving for college. Eric Williams needed to pay for car insurance. Kaylee Schmidt just wanted some extra pocket money.

All three teenagers were excited to find jobs during the summer of 2006 at a stately lakeside mansion that had been converted into a bed-and-breakfast.

All three got burned.

The owner of Lake Manor Bed & Breakfast turned out to be a mysterious character who, according to police and witnesses, used multiple aliases, kept a gun in her office, hid from bill collectors and never paid many employees.

A bank has since foreclosed on the property, and a sheriff's auction today could place the 19th-century estate into new hands.

But long after Lake Manor's controversial run came to an end, investigators continue piecing together a troubling profile of business owner Alexis Michael.

"You know Oconomowoc, we're a small town," contractor John Abel said. "And she came in here and took everybody to the cleaners."

Michael, 33, an attorney who previously lived in Wauwatosa, has been investigated by police in three counties, and now could be the target of a state criminal probe.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Japanese men lap up new comfort

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:21:40 GMT

Japanese men lap up new comfort

Three thousand laps have been sold so far

Japanese men without a shoulder to cry on this Christmas are being offered a woman's lap - made out of foam - to rest on instead.

The "lap pillow", shaped like the bottom half of a kneeling woman, is selling for about 9,429 yen ($90), the French news agency AFP reported.

"Single men find this soothing," said Mitsuo Takahashi of the manufacturer Trane KK.

He told AFP that the Hizamakura, or lap pillow, fulfilled a primal need.

Boneheads of the Day: The Oconomowoc Common Council « Spring City Chronicle

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:16:24 GMT

Boneheads of the Day: The Oconomowoc Common Council

January 21, 2009 in Boneheads

Hey Cooney, did that explosion downtown crack your brain pan? I suppose you have visions of high speed rail rolling majestically into your refurbished passenger train station with Glen Miller playing Pennsylvania 6-5000 in the background.

Here’s the thing: If it stops at every podunk town, it won’t be high speed, will it?

It will cost you and me billions of dollars and it’s not going to stop in your little, tiny, one-horse, raccoon-frying, whistle-stop of a “city”… with a strip mall where a useful farm used to be. You will be spending your money so someone else can ride a train. Boneheads.

(hat tip BBA)

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Fwd: Metal in Otown!

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:31:19 GMT

Yes Yes I do.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Pete Prodoehl <pete@rasterweb.net>

Date: July 30, 2008 6:25:54 AM CDT

To: Gabe Wollenburg <gwollenburg@gmail.com>

Subject: Metal in Otown!

You *have* to write something for ocono.com on these guys:

http://www.myspace.com/fallofthemasses

P

Fwd: Google Alert - Oconomowoc

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:53:06 GMT

Begin forwarded message:

From: Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply@google.com>

Date: July 28, 2008 4:27:08 AM CDT

To: gwollenburg@gmail.com

Subject: Google Alert - Oconomowoc

Google News Alert for: Oconomowoc Fans of LED’s Say This Bulb’s Time Has Come
Tuscaloosa News (subscription) - Tuscaloosa,AL,USA
When the Sentry Equipment Corporation in Oconomowoc, Wis., was considering how to light its new factory last year, the company’s president, Michael Farrell, ...
See all stories on this topic
This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google. Remove this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

Coffee And Tee’s?: Tim Bikes Around for Stone Creek and TeeCycle « Arms, Distance.

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:55:48 GMT

Arms, Distance.

A Place Where Nothing … Nothing Ever Happens

Coffee And Tee’s?: Tim Bikes Around for Stone Creek and TeeCycle

Heyo,

Tim’s… got time on his hands. Inspired by Milwaukee-based Coffee House Stone Creek’s offer to give a free pound of coffee to anyone that visits all their stores, Tim took ‘em up on the offer. And did so BY BIKE. Check it on the Stone Creek website here:

A few weeks ago we launched our Stone Creek Anniversary Road Trip in which you can visit our stores in the metro Milwaukee area to get free coffee. We were delighted to hear that one of our amazing customers, Tim Cigelske went the environmentally friendly route and took the entire Stone Creek Road trip by BIKE! Which is about 100 miles! Tim also documented his journey, Tour de Stone Creek on his website TeeCycle.org . For every Stone Creek location on his trip he has a photo of himself in a cool vintage t-shirt that is available for sale on TeeCycle.org . Like Tim, we encourage you to share your amazing Road Trip story with us. Send your story or photos to cboivin@stonecreekcoffee.com. You still have a lot of time! (until August 31) So get out there and take the trip no matter what kind of transportation you have! Sip slowly and be safe! Thanks again Tim!

Tim at the finish in Oconomowoc with his free pound of coffee!

Anyway. This was an INSANE trip, 40+ miles one day, then nearly 70 miles the next. I decided to map the coffee & commerce bike trip on Google Maps, which you can check out by clicking here.

View Larger Map

All this effort was not in vein, because Tim is not training for a bike ride from Colorado to Milwaukee at the end of this month. That shizzle’s crazy.

Also, Go Go White Sox.

This entry was posted on July 10, 2008 at 4:54 pm and is filed under In The News, Local Biz, Pics, Press Coverage, Shamless Name-Dropping, Sports. Tagged: bike, bike trip, coffee, greater milwaukee, milwaukee

Fwd: Ocono.com

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:12:25 GMT

DONE! THis is a tory now.

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Caren Pilgrim"<bessie@cpilgrim.com>

Date: July 7, 2008 11:26:24 PM CDT

To: "'Gabe Wollenburg'"<gwollenburg@gmail.com>

Subject: RE: Ocono.com

Bessie was ordered on my birthday in November of 2002. I had been looking at
buying a Mini since about 1999, but as a poor college student it was really
just pipe dreams. But out of college with a couple pitiful jobs and a set of
loving parents with money to loan, I was able to order the car of my
budgeted dreams. About a month and a half of exhaustive waiting, she
arrived. She was named for a car on the British TV show called Doctor Who.

The site was a sort of development of having a MINI before Americans knew
what it was. Bessie was a celebrity of sorts for a while. People would walk
up to me and ask me "what is that?" And what celebrity doesn't have a fan
page? In a way, minibessie.cpilgrim.com is hers.

The site went up after a RoadTrip down to Texas and back. Owning a MINI
really inspired the trip. Who goes from Wisconsin to Texas with three girls
in two days and all our luggage in a little, British sports car? We did. It
was great! So, we've gone back 4 times. No boring vacation photos website
for us. We've got the Adventures of Bessie the MINI.

These were the days before facebook, myspace and flickr when I had to build
the site from scratch. It helped that I was a starving web designer out of
college and needed somewhere to show off my humble html skills.

Now, I don't really write from the perspective of Bessie. I'm more of her
scribe, since she's a simple machine with a small vocal vocabulary and
prefers to evoke emotion with her performance. I almost wish I too could
stop using words as I'm running out of ways to say "Bessie drove us to ___."

Certainly the most inspiring of Bessie's adventures has been the Ice Cream
Escapades. This is not surprising as everybody loves ice cream. The two
local Mini Clubs, Milwaukee Minis and Mad City Minis, have added ice cream
meets to their schedules. It also seems to be a favorite with the fans of
Bess...