Where Am I? What Day Is It?

Normally I ask myself these two questions after a night of drinking. Now I am asking these questions because we are going to be traveling all over Ireland and Northern Ireland in 12 days, so I might be a little confused. Follow along for yourself:

Day 1: Fly into Dublin, tour the city and go to the Guinness Brewery*
Day 2: Fly to Galway on the west coast, pick up a car and head to the Cliffs of Moher*
Day 3: Drive the southwest coast of Ireland for 8 hours and end up in Cork*
Day 4: Drive to Cobh and then head north to see the Rock of Cashel*
Day 5: Walk around Cork, check out Blarney Castle, go to the English Market and then fly to Belfast, Northern Ireland*
Day 6: Spend the day touring Belfast*
Day 7: Pick up a car and drive the north coast of Northern Ireland ending up in Bushmills*
Day 8: Tour the Bushmills Distillery, Giants Causeway and bike on Rathlin Island*
Day 9: Drive back to Belfast and take the train to Dublin*
Days 10-12: Enjoy Dublin including a day trip to the beautiful town of Howth*
*Enjoy local pubs

The Bright Side Of The Cavs Losing

Yes, it was heartbreaking to watch the CAVS season end yesterday. Yes, I wish they were going up against the Pistons in a conference finals rematch from last year. However I have to look on the bright side of yesterday's loss and think: At least I won't be walking around Ireland the next two weeks trying to find a CAVS score. I have a feeling their games are not front page news over there.

Five days until Ireland!

Popeye For Vice President

John McCain should be working at the Tarot Card shop in Ohio City. Apparently he can tell the future because he sees an end to the war in Iraq in 2013. It looks like he is already campaigning for his second term with this brilliant plan. In essence if you vote for him now, he will put an abrupt end to the war just in time for his second term. I don't know about you, but the first image that popped into my head was Wimpy from Popeye and now I can't get: "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" every time I see McCain on television.

One more observation for McCain supporters. Remember how you chose George Bush over McCain in the primary eight years ago, and now even you can't wait for Bush to leave office? In summary, you want to vote for someone that you didn't like as much as George Bush who now has the lowest approval rating of any U.S. president. That adds up about as much as McCain's proposed economic plan.

Home Tour Sweet Home Tour

Looking for something cool to do in Cleveland this weekend? Even if you aren't, you should go to the Ohio City Home Tour. The tour highlights houses, condos and businesses in the Ohio City neighborhood. These kind people let you walk through their houses and businesses to view either the unique history or the modern touches they have added to the neighborhood. Its a great way to become more familiar with the near west side of Cleveland or just a good excuse to stop into The Old Angle for a pint.

The Trials And Tribulations Of Tivo

I love Tivo. It has changed my life. Hopefully for the better. We have Tivo on three of our televisions. The main television in the living room can record two things at once, while the other two televisions can only record one thing at a time. Unfortunately you can not watch live television if the television is recording at it's maximum, which can create a funny situation, such as the one it created last night.

In the middle of the CAVS game, a message came up on the screen telling us to decide between the CAVS game and (don't laugh) Grey's Anatomy and Don't Forget The Lyrics, which were both about to start recording in one minute. I yelled: "Oh No!" I obviously wanted to watch the CAVS, but not recording those two shows is not an option in our house, so we had to move and we had to move fast. Julie ran upstairs to record Grey's Anatomy, but she realized we were recording The Office up there, so she then ran down to the basement and was able to record Grey's Anatomy in time leaving me with the ability to watch the CAVS game live in the living room as I cooked dinner. I felt bad as I watched her run back and forth because I had already given up on the game and the CAVS were down by 20 points, but I wasn't about to tell her that.

Don't let this blog fool you, we don't really like Grey's Anatomy. I could see how you might think we do from reading this entry, but we really don't. Seriously. Don't let the fact that we were frantic when we thought we wouldn't be able to watch it lead you to believe that we are actually in any way interested in this show, and if you do draw that conclusion from this entry, please don't tell anyone else.

In other more important, yet unrelated news: 15 days until Ireland.

Rap Stars And Pizza Wars

I am so glad the Cavaliers finally beat the Washington Wizards. Of course I am happy because the CAVS won, but I couldn't take this series anymore. It was giving me a headache. I couldn't take the trash talk, or all the new rap songs that were coming from it. I thought this would all be behind us after Friday night's victory. However with the series over, we are now dealing with PapaJohnsGate.

Last Friday, D.C. area Papa Johns Pizza stores handed out white t-shirts to Washington fans that had LeBron's number and the word "crybaby" underneath. This was probably not a good idea for a NATIONAL chain. Sure its good advertising in D.C., but Cleveland fans seemed a little miffed. There is nothing worse for a business owner than miffed consumers. In a surprising move to coutner the bad publicity, Cleveland area Papa Johns stores are now offering 23 cent pizzas and donating money to the Cavaliers' local charity. Talk about clean-up work. I am hoping for this next series against the Celtics that Boston area Buffalo Wild Wings will make t-shirts that say the same thing, so we can get 23 cent wings and beers. A sportygrrl can dream, can't she?