Today, my colleague Renee Lorenz was talking about an article that looked at couples costumes for Halloween. Unless the man is gonna be the socket and the woman the plug, these seem sorta cheesy. But, who am I to talk. This year, I'm a bit player in someone else's Halloween.

My oldest child is obsessed with "101 Dalmatians" in all its forms: the live action movies, the cartoon movies (yes, there are more than one), books, etc. So, the costume choice seemed almost like a given: Cruella De Vil.

Bless her heart, my wife has been working like a demon to assemble a credible Cruella costume since there were no good pre-fab ones to be found. Perhaps needless to say, it has been, by far, the most work-intensive and most expensive costume anyone in our household can remember.

You've perhaps already seen the photo of me in my Dalmatian costume. I, along with my wife and youngest child, have a supporting role.

Cruella is the star and we are the bit players (though also the crew in some cases) and I'm OK with that. I loved Halloween as a child but until I had kids I didn't pay much attention to it as an adult.

Even now, I can take it or leave it for myself, but I love watching and participating in the fun they have with it.

So, this year, I thank my wife for her hard work to make us look like Cruella and her potential fur coats. And I'm quite content to be a part of making my kids' Halloween a memorable one.

And, bonus!, the costume also helped prevent me getting fired from my job here at OnMilwaukee.com.

We have a running joke at OnMilwaukee.com -- or should I say an ongoing ban (which I guess I may or may not have just successfully skirted) -- about stories that start with the kind of phrase that's in the headline. Another one that will get you in trouble is the phrase "century old."

They invariably lead us to guffaw and then launch into versions of Bart Simpson's United Nations class essay. "Webster's defines (blank) as ..." "In conclusion (blank) is a (blank) of contrasts."

But waking up this morning and looking out the window definitely seems cause for a rumination that begins, "Now that autumn is here ..."

We like to say "only in Milwaukee," when we have a sunny, 70-degree end of summer day like yesterday, followed by a dark, wet, cooler, gust-fest like today. Of course, we know this doesn't happen only in Milwaukee. Maybe saying it is a coping mechanism.

As a fan of the seasons, I don't think I'd be happy in a place like Arizona. I love spring and summer and I love autumn, too. The only problem with fall is that it leads to winter.

Really, I don't even hate winter. I might even enjoy it if it lasted two or three months. It's just that by February, when we are, for all intents and purposes, in month four and there's at least one more month to go, I've long since had enough. It's just flogging a dead (well, frozen) horse by then.

Yesterday when Tony the crossing guard said he hoped the day's weather would continue through Turkey Day, I agreed and crossed my fingers. But the digits didn't do their job and kill the jinx.

Now, as I look out my office window, it's a little brighter than it was an hour and a half ago when I arrived on the East Side, but not bright enough. Luckily, the rain has slowed a bit and I think I can make it to Alterra for a warming coffee.

Maybe I'll make it a cappuccino and croissant and pretend I'm enjoying a brisk vacation morning in Paris (yes, cold and rain -- and the smell of diesel fuel -- remind me of vacation. How sad is that…

Harlem Children's Zone's Geoffrey Canada gave the closing keynote address at the Alliance for Children & Families' conference Friday morning at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee, giving me my first taste of the Canada charisma in person.

The spry, youthful-looking Canada, who has been working nearly three decades running the HCZ's charter schools and wraparound social programs, is a force on stage. He's funny, he's personable and he's got a wealth of compelling and entertaining anecdotes. Thanks to Davis Guggenheim's "Waiting for Superman," he's a movie star. Thanks to Oprah, he's a TV star, too.

He's also a common sense guy. So, when he says the United States is on a path to destruction calling it the last superpower and one that provides Third World-grade opportunities for our kids, you listen.

Canada kept the full house rapt and drew frequent applause for his ideas and laughter for his stories.

But what America's kids face is no joke, of course. Canada made that quite clear.

He noted that the factory jobs and trades that once held opportunities for Americans who didn't go to college are gone and are not coming back. The world is changing, he said, and we're not preparing children for the new reality. Schooling, he added, is the same now as when he attended elementary school half a century ago.

In the past, joining the military was an option, but Canada cited a report that noted that 75% of all young Americans are unfit for service, due to obesity, felony records, an inability to pass the entrance exam, disability and a lack of high school diploma.

Canada delve more deeply into schools until later in his roughly hour-long talk and even then he didn't focus heavily on specific reform ideas.

As expected, he railed against bad teachers, about chancellors who move from one district to the next and about the fact that while some deride spending $5,000 to educate a child few seem unwilling to spend $37,000 to house a felon in prison for a yea…

At the dawn of the 1990s, The Clams were making music unlike that being created by anyone else in Milwaukee. Rooted in jazz, The Clams blended a punk attitude and other genres of music into its decidedly unorthodox approach to jazz.

The Clams morphed into Clamnation and has had a long life on the Milwaukee scene. In fact, tomorrow, the group celebrates its 20th anniversary with a gig at The Nomad, 1401 E. Brady St.

"Various lineups will be featured," promises saxophonist Mike Pauers, "starting with the current members of the group. The highlight of the night will be a reunion of The Clams, the group that started it all; there are four original members still performing with Clamnation. We'll also have past members of Clamnation dropping by and sitting in all night."

The core band is drummer Jay Arpin, trumpeter Jamie Breiwick, guitarist Brian Dietz, bassist Dave Dinauer, percussionist Tom Presser and Pauers.

The guests on tap for the evening are harmonica player and singer Sean Maroney, guitarist Jamie Shavers, saxophonists Dan Sjogren and Aaron Gardner, trombonist Max Day, percussionist Jhames Finlayson and guitarist/saxophonist Robert Pavliscek.

In addition to hearing some great live music, Pauers says gig-goers will get music to take home, too.

"As a reward for anyone who comes down, they'll get a free copy of our latest recording, 'Cookin' at the Fox Note,' recorded live at the now defunct Fox Note jazz club in Green Lake."

How can you resist?