Dinner is a good place for conversation, but it also has a beginning and the end. If it's not going well, you just have to get through the meal. Don't order dessert. This year, having it be on a Tuesday night, just say you have something to do the next day, that you have an early morning.

The holidays are a hard time. You can go anywhere and read articles about how hard it is for people to be alone around the holidays.

We spent about $140,000 for the rollout at the pilot site, which included everything from beginning to end — software, licensing and consulting.

We spent about $140,000 for the rollout at the pilot site, which included everything from beginning to end - software, licensing and consulting.

There is a general and growing sense in the region that we are becoming the dumping ground for things that the coastal regions don't want. I don't think that there's any requirement or inherent obligation that the valley take waste products from other regions. Every region should have to take care of its own waste, and exporting it to a region that is poor is inherently unfair.

The fact of the matter is that the process MCAG went through a few years ago gave them the background to do this.