:: Number of consecutive years the Journal-Clarion’s Leslie Sellers has reviewed the ballet company’s annual production of The Nutcracker– 28
:: Number of these reviews in which she has called it “mesmerizing”- 27
:: Date by which all of the city’s (and the nation’s) broadcast stations have to be switched from analog to digital- February 17, 2009
:: Percentage of city’s households with digital receivers- 11
:: Average cost of a digital television set at the Circuit City on Clawson Boulevard- $834
:: Did the guy from Circuit City try selling me an extended warranty when I phoned for prices, though I hadn’t bought anything?- Amazingly, yes
:: Saturday night is the strongest night for hotel occupancy here in the city, with an average of 81%
:: WIAC-FM disc jockey Rich Stillman once spent eleven days living in the Santa’s Workshop attraction at the downtown Macy’s as a stunt to raise money for the Human Fund.
:: The least envied holiday job in the area, according to a recent poll in the News– Having to put the Santa hats and beards on the sharks for the Fleming Aquarium’s annual “Christmas Aquatacular.”
:: Second place- Reindeer Stall Assistant, Santa’s Village
– R. White