This is a simple list, Milwaukee.  Many of these ideas are far from game changing, but they all have good pay-it-forward qualities.  

So, if you – like me – want to continue to move our city and area forward try a few of these in the coming weeks.   

• Take a day off and be a tour guide for an out of town guest.
• Drive a different way to work.  Get out of your routine and explore new areas.  
• Make a local restaurant list and include those places that you’ve "always wanted to go to but never have."  Here’s mine from 2007. 
• Have coffee with your alderman/woman, and provide feedback and ideas.  
• Pick up garbage when you see it.  Don’t just walk past it.  
• E-mail/contact/tweet a company/retailer/restaurant that you want to open a location in Milwaukee.
• Mail a "Milwaukee gift" (local coffee, sausage, a photo) to a friend with this note, "I love Milwaukee, and thought you’d love a bit of it too."
• Attend a different place of worship.  
• Buy season tickets and/or a membership to a local team, institution or group.  Then, take a kid who’s never been to Discovery World, the Milwaukee Art Museum, Betty Brinn, etc. there for the day.  The experience can be transformative for you and the kid.

Onward and On Milwaukee! 

I missed this last Friday, so maybe you did, too.  

The Chicago Tribune's Christopher Borrelli did a nice piece on Milwaukee restaurants.  Of course it had to have beer and brats in the the headline, which read, "Beyond brats, beer."

But the sub-headline, "there is plenty to recommend Milwaukee, which doesn't worry whether you think it's cool," confirmed more of what we already know about our hometown.  

Borrelli 's Milwaukee visit took him to Roots, Cafe Hollander, Comet Cafe, Peter Sciortino's Bakery, the Milwaukee Public Market, Best Place, Alterra at the Lake and Honeypie.  

Read the full article here.  

Ryan Braun, Nyjer Morgan and Prince Fielder are on the the cover of the Aug. 29 print edition of Sports Illustrated that hits news stands today.

The always entertaining "John & Cait ...Plus Nine" blog on Brewers.com has the full story and some great history on other SI covers featuring the Milwaukee Brewers.

With online media's domination, print covers aren't what they used to be.  But, it's always cool for Milwaukee to get national buzz.  So, let's cheer and share today's news!  Go Brewers.  

Henry Sanders, a life-long Wisconsinite, ran for lieutenant governor last time around. Of course, he didn't get the nomination, but today he's working hard on behalf of Wisconsin businesses.

As the founder of the Madison Area Growth Network (MAGNET) and Propel Wisconsin Innovation – non-profit organizations dedicated to job creation and attracting/retaining skilled professionals to help grow the economy in Wisconsin – the UW-Whitwater graduate has always been a civic champion.

I've known Sanders for a while, and we're somewhat kindred spirits as we both helped found and grow young profession networks in our communities. In fact I met Sanders while we were starting Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM), now called Fuel Milwaukee.

Sanders was in town recently so I asked him a few questions about his new job and life.

OnMilwaukee.com: What are you up to now?

Henry Sanders: I'm with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The Regional Advocate for the Office of Advocacy's Region V, which means I'm in charge of six states in the Midwest.

The Office of Advocacy deals with regulations with small businesses at the Federal level. We are the watchdogs for small business at the federal level. Policies that affect small businesses at the federal level – we're the ones to say yay or nay, this is good or bad. A perfect example of that is the 1099 and the health care bill that said that anyone does over a $600 transaction would have to fill out a 1099 form. Our chief counsel was the first one to come out and say that should be repealed. So those are the types of things that we do.

OMC: A lot of statewide travel?

HS: I travel a lot. In a lot of ways, I'm the person that talks to the people on the ground. I talk to small businesses, chamber and trade organizations, and a lot of senators. I talk to them about what's going on. A lot of times in D.C., we don't know what's going on with small businesses, so the only way you're going to know that is by going o…