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‘Trouble, right here in River City’

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Win or lose, Sears’ chairman may still come out on top

<p>Well, well, well.</p><p>Sunday has arrived.</p><p>Maybe it&#8217;s just me, but it seems like the weekend just started.</p><p>And maybe it&#8217;s just me, but it seems like last week was particularly draining. Returning to work for five days in a row after two holiday weeks. What&#8217;s with that?</p><p>All complaining aside, I did enjoy getting back onto a regular schedule again.</p><p>My routine of meetings, presentations and reports picked right back up.</p><p>I had several important meetings, in fact, that weren&#8217;t necessarily work-related.</p><p>The first was a planning committee meeting for NEPA Sings, the amazing music contest heading into its second year that serves as a fundraiser for CASA of Luzerne County.</p><p>If you&#8217;re not familiar with CASA, it&#8217;s the organization that works with court-appointed special advocates and children to give foster children better experiences and opportunities.</p><p>I was humbled to be asked to help with the event this year.</p><p>The grand-prize winner receives a three-hour studio recording session and a one-track demo with Little Room Studios.</p><p>Can you say awesome? Go ahead; say it twice.</p><p>The second-place winner receives a $500 gift card to the Guitar Center.</p><p>If I had any musical talent at all, I&#8217;d register, but since I don&#8217;t I&#8217;ll just help with the planning.</p><p>If you, however, can carry a tune, consider heading to luzernecasa.org/nepa-sings/ and registering to audition on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 9:30 a.m. Auditions will be at the Kirby Center for the Creative Arts at Wyoming Seminary, 260 N. Sprague Ave., Kingston.</p><p>You must be 16 and have already registered to attend (no walk-ins).</p><p>The very next day I stopped by Catholic Social Services for another planning meeting for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bridge&#8217;s Bowl for Kids&#8217; Sake.</p><p>It&#8217;s a major fundraiser for the organization that pairs responsible adults with children needing a little extra attention in life.</p><p>We discussed the event coming up at Chacko&#8217;s Family Bowling Center on April 13.</p><p>We&#8217;re busy planning raffles, food, getting teams and securing sponsors and donations. If you&#8217;d like to donate, I&#8217;m your go-to guy, so shoot me an e-mail and we can discuss. Similar to my work with CASA, there&#8217;s nothing I&#8217;d love more than to help this group out and reach the goal of $119,000 raised.</p><p>But, don&#8217;t think that last week was nothing but meetings. I also found time to stop somewhere new, which you know is something I strive to do regularly (of course, so I can share the experience with you).</p><p>Friends and I popped into Elsewhere Corner Bar &amp; Grill for some drinks. The spot on South Main Street in Hanover Township was formerly home to Tubbies, but was recently purchased and upgraded.</p><p>There&#8217;s constantly live music I&#8217;m told and the place appeals to all age groups, which was evident the night in question.</p><p>I spied people from all age groups at the bar and in the dining room.</p><p>While a bar pie was positively delicious, I fell in love with the meatloaf sliders, which I debated ordering, but was ever-so-thankful that I did after eating.</p><p>Stop in and try for yourself.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Mike McGinley</p><p>Around Town</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Mike McGinley is the Times Leader Media Group&#8217;s major accounts executive. Reach him at mmcginley@www.timesleader.com or 570-704-3945.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Their view: NEPA Sings, Bowl for Kids’ Sake on the horizon