Sometime back in 1997 – it was in the summer, I think – I decided that I wanted to learn more about photography. I had been back in Milwaukee for about a year, and I talked my oldest friend, Eron Laber into letting me borrow his medium-format Hasselblad camera. He had just started his own business, Front Room Photography, and was happy to teach me how to use a real, expensive film camera.

This was before I’d ever touched a digital camera, when my Photoshop 3.0 skills weren’t so great. I didn’t understand aperture, shutter or film speed. I didn’t understand how to take photos at night without a flash, but I wanted to learn.

Eron and I waited until it was a dark, clear night with a beautiful moon and we composed three photos. The first was looking east on Wells toward City Hall. The second was standing on the Wells Street bridge, facing south.

The third was in Walker’s Point, looking up at the Allen-Bradley clock. We shot the first two photos in color, and the third was in black and white. That third shot was actually my favorite, and one of Eron’s departing acts at the camera store he worked at while starting Front Room, was burning in the clock’s hands (in a dark room) and blowing up the square photos to 15x15. I remember it cost a fortune – to my 23-year-old wallet, anyway – to frame the photos, but Eron gave me the prints for free.

Over the years, I’ve hung these photos at apartments, homes and offices. In fact, they sat packed in boxes for the last six months until we officially moved to our new OnMilwaukee.com office on the 11th floor of CityCenter, 735 N. Water St., on Monday.

Preparing to hang them yesterday, I noticed something amazing about the second photo that I had never noticed before: the building in the center of the frame is CityCenter. The viewfinder is looking right at our office suite. When I shot that photo, I had no idea what that building was. It just looked cool.

Cool enough that I’ll spend at least the next seven …

I watched the series finale of "The Office" last night, but before I did, I had to blow through the previous five episodes gathering dust on my DVR. In the end, it was worth the night of marathon television, but when I think about the entire final season of "30 Rock," also unwatched on my DVR, I wonder when I’ll get around to it.

Honestly, I’ve lost interest in "30 Rock," and "The Office" didn’t make me laugh out loud anymore. But these shows – like most shows I watch – I’ve seen every episode in order. I feel like the least I can do is see them through to the end.

These aren’t the only two series that I’ve watched in their entirety. "Big Love," "Breaking Bad," "Mad Men," "Hung," "True Blood" and "LOST" come to mind. "LOST" was, as I recall, the first show that every episode was unmissable. I certainly don’t remember feeling this way about "Three’s Company."

The problem is that almost every show "jumps the shark" near the end of its run. Some much sooner, like "The Simpsons." A few don’t, like "Breaking Bad," which continues to get better until its series finale this summer.

But if I’ve invested years in watching a show like "The Office," I feel the need for television closure. I’m not sure if it’s loyalty or stubbornness, really.

Fortunately, in the case of "The Office," its writers thanked my loyalty/stubbornness with an excellent final two episodes. The last one was really, really great, reminding me of why I started watching this show in first place.

I like the long-form storytelling that comes with a serial show, in which episodes can be strung together to form a long, long movie. But I wouldn’t mind throwing in a few more shows like "Always Sunny In Philadelphia" into my roster, in which I could watch when I feel like it, and skip when I don’t.

I just don’t have that much time to devote to my TV, and my DVR is still pretty full.

Plenty is written about baseball’s jerks. I’ve met and interviewed plenty of them.

But rarely do people talk about how nice some players are. They may not have been the best players, but if personality counts (which it doesn’t), they’d be in the Hall of Fame.

To compile a list of the all-time nicest Brewers, I spoke with a smattering of fans, media types and former front office people, all who wished to remain nameless – my former colleague Drew Olson broke a lot of ties. Here’s what we came up with. And imagine this as a September roster, with 40 men on the team crowding the dugout. I venture to guess this friendly squad would win a bunch of games, too.

Please add, edit and boo politely using the Talkbacks below.

C Bill Schroeder / David Nilsson / Mike Matheny
1B Lyle Overbay
2B Jim Gantner / Fernando Vina
SS Robin Yount / Jose Valentin / JJ Hardy
3B Casey McGehee / Kevin Seitzer / Jeff Cirillo
LF Geoff Jenkins
CF Mike Cameron, Darryl Hamilton
RF Jeromy Burnitz
DH Paul Molitor

Bench: Jack Voight, Brady Clark, Matt Stairs, Mark Loretta, Pat Listach, Henry Blanco, Damian Miller, Sean Berry, Mike Coolbaugh, Eddie Zosky

SP Don Sutton
SP Ricky Bones
SP Seth McClung
SP Randy Wolf
SP Steve Sparks
SP Cal Eldred
SP Chris Capuano

RP Curtis Leskanic
RP John Axford
RP Ray King
RP Mike Fetters
RP Matt Wise
RP Trevor Hoffmann

Last night at about 3 a.m., I woke up to go to the bathroom. I used my phone to light my way, so as soon as my eyes adjusted, I noticed that my mom had sent me a death notice. My friend and neurosurgeon, Dr. Spencer Block – the guy who did my back surgery in 2011 – had died yesterday at age 51.

I spent the next several minutes confirming it was him. I think I forgot to go to the bathroom.

Just a few weeks ago, I sent Spencer a direct message on Twitter about grabbing lunch and catching up. Before that, he suggested we go to a future Brewers’ fantasy camp sometime. Twitter was how we’d communicate. I never knew his personal phone number, and he didn’t check his e-mail very often.

I’m not going to say that Spencer was my closest friend, but we were more than acquaintances. He read my stuff on OnMilwaukee.com, a fact I first learned when waking up from general anesthesia after my L5-S1 microdiscetomy in August 2011. After doing his rounds and checking how I was feeling, he smiled and said, "On, Milwaukee" as he walked away.

I don’t yet know how Spencer died, but he was tweeting just this week. I’d usually run into him at Brewers games – he performed surgery on both players and front office people during his career. He gave me a piece of cake when I came in for a follow-up appointment on his 50th birthday last year. He invited my family to a tailgate party he threw last season, and I accompanied him on the field at Miller Park to snap photos while he threw out the first pitch.

I do know that Spencer was an excellent surgeon. He was sometimes prickly. He was occasionally, deservedly and lightheartedly cocky. But he was a very funny and caring guy. I’m thankful that he didn’t paralyze me while cutting around my spinal cord. And he did many more important surgeries than mine during his career. While I didn’t know him well, I knew that he loved the Brewers, the Bears and his alma mater, the University of Michigan. He also loved Miami and traveling wit…