Spring is in bloom (in theory) and with the turning of the seasons comes an annual tradition...award season.

Local business, local artists and local musicians are all coming into focus this month and it's time to celebrate some of the things that make it pretty great to live and work in this community.

The best part is - you get to decide.

This Presidents' Day weekend, take time to stop and think about your favorite president. Is it Rutherford B. Hayes, William Howard "Party Boy" Taft, or Dwight "My way is the highway" Eisenhower?

Then again you could always attend a presidents' day party. You know the type, everyone dresses up as their favorite president, makes policy jokes and chases around first ladies.

Hail to the chief indeed.

There is nothing quite like the fear, tension and unease you feel when you're hosting a Super Bowl party and things go south for the home town team and you've got few fans for the opposing team in attendance.

I didn't know whether to hide the booze, knives and easily flammable furniture, or as a neutral party (Vikings Fan) appeal to reason.

Since I didn't have time to put together The Scanner yesterday I thought we'd double things up today for the weekend.

If only it was politics.
The debate I am talking about is not as far–reaching, but could be just as divisive.

I'm talking about Old Port vs. Congress Street.

What happens when you have airtight New Years Eve plans, coordinated with Danny Ocean-esque perfection right down to the minute Ryan Seacrest says "2007...out!" tonight?

For those of you just tuning in this afternoon, that's the question on more than a few people's minds.

Yeah, you read that right. Girls Gone Wild, as in "reliably-sketchy-
always-getting-sued-for-not-getting-girls'-permission
-to-air-their-drunken-exploits" "Girls Gone Wild."

Ah yes, another summer Friday in Portland.

Bars, decks and all that is golden. Which begs the question again, what makes for a good summer time bar? I’m going to keep asking until we get a conversation going, and I know there are people out there who like to enjoy beer and assorted cocktails.

This wet, dreary, overcast and overall morose weather is rough. Seriously, I look out the window here at Press Herald Plaza and want to put on some Ben Folds and crawl under my desk.

Would you believe we’ve got one of America’s best bars down on Fore Street?
Any guesses? It’s not Liquid Blue or Gritty McDuff’s.
It’s Rosie’s.
Yes – Rosie’s!

Holy freakin’ crap, there’s a lot going on this weekend! If I was an anchorman I might say something like, “Better super-size your weekend because there’s a lot going on around town! Let’s send it to Tom for the fast-cast!”

For all my MegaStorm 2007 jokes, guess who ended up manning the phones and chasing power outages yesterday. Sadly, I did not get access to anything with the word Doppler in it.