The Summer of Drinking Smart

Back in early June my friend Alison won a free happy hour party at The Garage Bar. Part of the prize included a bunch of free alcohol-related stuff, such as wristbands, t-shirts and a hat. In particular, a Jim Beam racing hat. Because the party was outside and my face was getting burnt, I decided to snag the hat and wear it for the rest of the night, and the rest of the summer for that matter. The best part of the hat is that it has the words: Drink Smart in tiny letters on the side. When I noticed that I declared the Summer of 2007 The Summer of Drinking Smart. As Labor Day approaches I decided to create a slideshow to reflect back on my summer of drinking smart. (Slideshow courtesy of Alison, Julie, Mindy, Roz and anyone else I hung out with in this hat)

Fantasy Football Trumps Wings

Last week I went out for wings and beer to celebrate losing thirty pounds. I love irony like that. Last night, however I decided to make a healthier "wing" to calm my wing craving. I grilled turkey breasts and threw them in a homemade wing sauce I created, which was extra spicy and extra garlicy-better than any sauce I have had eating out and less fattening as well. I still had a beer with them because you can't completely cut yourself off from the whole wing experience. While the "wings" were healthy and the sauce was mouth-watering, they didn't have the full wing crunch that you get with fried things-go figure. I would have to give myself three and a quarter wings out of four for last night's healthy wing dinner.

As many of you may know, I have a certain penchant for fantasy football, and with my draft being tomorrow night, I am getting excited. While eating "wings" last night, Julie asked me how fantasy football works. You can imagine how my eyes lit up when someone actually wanted me to describe one of my favorite passions. As I started talking about the draft process and how everyone chooses their players, I actually pushed my wings aside so I could use my hands to talk. At this point, she said: "Whoa! Fantasy football must be pretty serious if you are pushing your wings aside." For those of you scoring at home: I do love wings (of any variety), but I love fantasy football more.

Public Service Announcement

I got an e-mail with the following DUI checkpoints in Cleveland for the rest of the summer. I have decided to post them because you can never be too careful. The one on Friday, August 31st on West 25th is only a block from my house. I was thinking of bringing a lawn chair and heckling people. Perhaps I will even go to each one and make t-shirts like a concert tour. Nonetheless, drive safely Clevelanders!

Friday, August 24:
1. Mayfield / I-271 - The briefing will begin at 10 p.m. at the South Euclid sobriety checkpoint at 4130 Mayfield Road; five police departments will be working the detail.--
2. Euclid Ave. - The briefing will begin at 11 p.m. on E. 185th at Neff; three police departments will be working the detail.Saturday, August 25--
3. Columbia Road - The briefing will begin at 11 p.m. at the Olmsted Falls sobriety checkpoint on Columbia Road one mile south of I-480; eight police departments will be working the detail.--
4. Lorain / I-90 - The briefing will begin at 10 p.m. on Lorain at W. 150th; five police departments will be working the detail.Friday,

Friday, August 31:
1. Royalton Road - The briefing will begin at 10 p.m. at the North Royalton sobriety checkpoint on Royalton Road at Abbey; five police departments will be working the detail.--
2. US 42 / SR 3 - The briefing will begin at 11 p.m. at W. 25th at Franklin; five police departments will be working the detail.

Saturday, September 1:
1. Mayfield Road / I-271 - The briefing will begin at 10 p.m. at the Lyndhurst sobriety checkpoint on Mayfield Road.; five police departments will be working the detail.--
2. E. 185th / SR 2 / Euclid Ave. - The briefing will begin at 11 p.m. at the Euclid sobriety checkpoint (location TBD); two police departments will be working the detail.

Lions And Biking And Wings...Oh My!

I did enough on Saturday for three blog entries, but I will try to fit it all in this one entry. I woke up to a beautiful Saturday morning knowing I wanted a new bike. I debated and debated buying a new bike, but it made sense to me to invest in my new hobby. I ended up buying a gorgeous bike at Spin in Lakewood. I even got to test drive it before I bought it. I think I spent more time with this decision than I did when I bought my last car. I took my new bike to the North Coast Inland Trail, which is an old railway that has been paved over for biking. We started the trail in Oberlin and went about 12 miles. The trail is fascinating because some of the railway markers are still standing (see picture with marker and my NEW bike).

After biking, I decided to treat myself to wings for the first time in a month. That's right...I haven't eaten wings in a month. This along with the biking would explain my weight loss this summer. I thought about going to Winking Lizard because I know what I like there, but I have already rated their wings, so I branched out to the Parma Tavern. I was unsure of what to expect from this establishment because I have never been there. The tavern had over ten televisions showing the Browns game with a full house watching the game. I thought it would take awhile to get our wings, but they came out quickly. We ordered the following flavors: Teriyaki, Hot Buffalo, Cajun and Garlic. I was impressed by how fresh the wings tasted, but the sauce was lacking as well as the spice. They did serve the best teriyaki wings I have ever tasted though. Overall the wings had great taste but not enough spice; the blue cheese was watery, but the beer was cheap. Considering all of these things, I would give the Parma Tavern three wings out of four.

Finally I would be remiss if I didn't mention the performance of Brady Quinn against the Detroit Lions. Yes, he played well against scrubs from Detroit in the fourth quarter, but Detroit's starting defense isn't all that good to begin with, so I am taking it all with a grain of salt. It was exciting and this town needs some excitement in a quarterback. I look forward to see what he can do next week against Denver. I also look forward to Bernie Kosar's commentary. He is the worst commentator in the history of sports. The man sounds like he just left a wedding reception with a great open bar. As a matter of fact, I am starting the Bernie Kosar commentating drinking game. It goes like this:

1. Bernie stops mid-sentence: take one drink
2. Bernie mentions the word "quarterback" for no reason at all: take two drinks
3. Bernie acts like he just woke up and just blurts something out: take three drinks
4. Bernie slurs every word in his sentence: All drink!

As you can see, it was a great Saturday, which might explain why I was so tired on Sunday.

Helmet Addendum

I bought a new helmet for my city biking adventures. Yesterday as I was walking through the house, I was wearing my helmet before I got ready to go biking. I went to close my bathroom window and hit my head on the wall, as I always do, but this time there was no pain. There was only the sound of my helmet against the wall. I then decided I should probably wear the helmet full-time. I would feel a lot safer not only biking around downtown Cleveland, but also walking around my apartment in Ohio City.

Bad Religion

Yesterday I participated in an Ohio City Biking Scavenger Hunt. To say I was excited about this event puts it mildly. I have been biking almost 45 miles a week this summer, and on top of that I live in Ohio City, so I thought I had a good chance to win the $100 dollar prize. I even bought a new bike helmet to wear for the event.

We got our list of things to find five minutes before we took off and then the race was on. Things started out well as we captured the Franklin Castle on our camera phones, and then we were on our way to Church Street to captue the St. Johns Episcopal Church followed by a bed and breakfast, the Glass Blowing store, a mansion and made our way to Monroe Street to get a picture of the cemetary. We biked quickly back to the finishing point and realized we were the first ones there. As I showed my pictures for proof, I quickly realized my picture of the church didn't save. I immediately jumped back on my bike and went as fast as I could for a mile and a half to get another picture of the church. I made it back completely out of breath and found out that we had finished in second place. Instead of collecting the money prize, I found myself holding a ten dollar gift certificate to a local coffee shop. I was in disbelief. I have since found the humor in the fact that the one picture that didn't save was a picture of a church on a Sunday morning. I wonder if this was a sign that I should get to church more often.

Yum! Crow Tastes Good!

I was mistaken. There is indeed a bed and breakfast in Barberton, Ohio and I was there on Sunday to make sure for myself. Sure...I had to be lured by the smell of Barberton Chicken, but I ended up at the CasaBella Bed and Breakfast that sits right next to the lake. It was a beautiful place and a wonderful getaway spot, but just keep in mind you are getting away to Barberton, and once you are done bowling and eating chicken, there isn't a whole lot left to do.

Just Like Mapquest

Many of you may be aware that Cleveland was flooded yesterday. My direct route home and the route of many other people in the area was filled with water, up to two feet of water in many places. My office let out at 4:30 because the electricity went out in my building, and I was excited to get home early. Normally if I am let out at this time, I get home by 4:45. This is one of the advantages of living downtown. One of the disadvantages of living downtown is that it floods when we get a storm like we got yesterday. Instead of getting home at 4:45, I pulled in my driveway at 6:30. As I sat in traffic, I dialed up my inner Mapquest and came up with the following route.

1. Get on the Shoreway like you normally would to head West toward Lakewood.

2. Sit still in traffic for 40 minutes.

3. Drive on the side of the road to the lane you usually get in to exit onto 2 West.

4. See the exit for 2 West (as pictured) is flooded and head back three lanes to get onto 90 East. 5. Drive through the flooded lane until you get on higher ground.

6. Get on 90 East and call Roz and say “I’m home free!” until you realize that all the exits on 90 East are also flooded, and there is no way to turn around in either direction because of the traffic jam.

7. Jump onto 271 South and get off to go to the bathroom at the McDonalds in Willoughby because of the iced coffee you drank before you left work.

8. Sit in traffic with all the other people who live in the East suburbs.

9. Take the exit for 480 West and head to the State Road exit which puts you Southwest of the city.

10. Get off at State Road and head home.

11. Don’t forget to have a small panic attack every time you are stuck on a bridge or under a bridge because of what happened in Minneapolis yesterday.

Once I got home, I jumped on my bike and went down to Lake Erie, which was quite calm. I can only assume this is because half of it was sitting over on the Shoreway.