Apparently I Blog Too Much

I walked down to The Old Angle tonight to get some wings, but the bar was full, so I just kept walking. I think I have been talking The Old Angle up too much and now people are starting to infiltrate my favorite bar. Perhaps I should say this: I hate The Old Angle and Major Hooples and The Winking Lizard (only the downtown and Lakewood spots), and The Parkview and Twist and Touch Supper Club and McNamaras and Lincoln Park Pub and Lava Lounge and Prosperity and Bounce. If you are considering going to any of these spots, you probably shouldn't (unless you are with me).

RIP Ruby

I got news yesterday that Ruby's motor had gone out on her. It doesn't make sense to put $1,300 into my car due to the fact that she is ten years old, so I decided to let her move on to car heaven. She is not a person or even an animal, so my sadness seems unjustified, but she was my first car and I had her for eight wonderful years. Eight years that included her driving me downtown to Cleveland for work, living in Florida, driving back and forth to Kent on many many many occassions, getting towed away a few times for several mishaps and taking me anywhere I wanted to go, whenever I wanted to go. I am sure I will love my next car, but it just won't be the same without her.

Finally!

Finally after weeks of planning, my vacation is here and I couldn’t be more excited. Tomorrow at this time I will be eating fresh seafood sitting in a city with a playoff-bound basketball team. (I haven’t given up complete hope for the Cavaliers but things are looking bleak). I will spend the next week trekking around Boston, Salem, Cambridge, Jamaica Plain and Cape Cod on an overdue vacation. I realized yesterday since I have started working full-time six years ago I am yet to take a real vacation which makes this even more exciting. Being a history and sports buff, this trip is going to be incredible. I can’t wait to go to Fenway Park but I am also so excited about going to Salem to see the Witch Trial Museum. And the ocean. I can’t wait to see the ocean! Pictures and entries to follow at some point during the week and after my trip.

Something You Probably Didn't Know About Me

Every now and then I might surprise you or at the very least startle you a little bit. This might be one of the those times. One thing I was reminded of this weekend is how much I love Shakira. Go ahead read it again. I like her music so much that I believe at one point this weekend I could have been quoted as seriously saying: “She is amazing—do you think she writes her own stuff?” She is definitely a skeleton in my closet and I thought it would be fun to share this with you on this Monday morning.

Also of note today is the fact that if North Carolina wins tonight I win the office pool here at work. Believe me I have no problem being a huge North Carolina fan for $300.00. I am easy like that.

Shakira: One of the skeletons in my closet

Its Time to Start the Music, Its Time to Start the Show

Last week Liz rolled over, pulled me close to her and and said...Can we get the Muppets from Netflix? The Muppets from Netflix. What a novel idea. I haven't seen an episode of the Muppets in over twenty years. On Saturday the dvd arrived with episodes starring Steve Martin, Carol Burnett and Gilda Radner (what a great combination).

We decided to watch it together Saturday evening when Liz came home from work. In honor of the big event, I decided to run out and buy food for the Muppets viewing that evening. When I was a kid my parents would give my brother and I a bowl of ice cream or some sort of dessert surprise, sit us down in front of the television and let us watch the Muppets on Saturday night. In honor of this tradition I bought everything we would need for sundaes that evening. The toffee ice cream with bananas and Reeses hard shell to top it off was a fun accompaniment to the show. As soon as I saw Scooter run into Steve Martin's dressing room with the theme song following, I got goose bumps and immediatley remembered how much I used to love this show.

I began to think about how lucky I was to have a show like this around when I was a child and I think everyone in my age group should go out and rent the Muppets. It's great to remember the things that made you laugh as a child and also to finally get the jokes that made your parents laugh as well. The best part was waking up early Sunday morning, making two more sundaes and watching the next episode together. The Muppets is pure goodness and I am pretty sure all the world's problems would be solved if everyone would just sit down together and watch the "Dance Marathon" episode starring Carol Burnett.

Countdown to Selection Sunday: Six More Days.
Congratulations to my brother Mark who said Illinois would lose before next Sunday night.

Eternal Sunshine

I don't have much time but I did want to say I couldn't be happier with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind winning Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars last night. It is by far the best movie I have seen in years. It is great to see originality awarded and Charlie Kaufman's story was definitely unique alongside much of what Hollywood has to offer us these days.

Countdown to Selection Sunday:
13 days

The King and I

Dear LeBron,

Its just a few days before the first of many of your All-Star Game starts, and I would like to take this opportunity to say a couple of things to you as an admirer, a CAVS fan, a sports enthusiast and a Clevelander.

First and foremost, I never thought a ping pong ball could make me well up and cry but on May 22, 2003, this was exactly what happened. When that little ping pong ball went the CAVS way and gave them, deservedly so after only 17 wins, the number one pick in the upcoming draft, I am sure I felt the same way as many Clevelanders. I remember Austin Carr crying as well. Here was a grown man, the all-time career scoring leader at Notre Dame, the number one pick in the 1971 draft, crying over a teenager. When the card flashed up on the screen indicating the CAVS would indeed be picking number one and in return keeping you in Northeast Ohio, I ran and called everyone in my family. My brother Mark, handling business in California, thought there was some sort of family emergency so he picked up his phone. The only thing he said he could make out was me saying: “We got LeBron, We Got LeBron.” I have a feeling Jim Paxson may have been making similar calls at the same time.

I am too young to remember the impact of Jim Brown on the city and I hardly remember Bernie Kosar requesting to play in Cleveland, though I am sure that was a glorious day as well. This however was the biggest Cleveland sports event in my life. I have followed Cleveland sports for all of my 29 years and this surpassed the 1986 Browns overtime win over the Jets to make it to the AFC Championship game, John Stollmayer winning Rookie of the Year in 1987 for the Cleveland Force and the 1995 and 1997 Major League baseball seasons for the Tribe. When you were drafted you said you were going to light up the city and that is exactly what has happened. Draft day parties were just the beginning, I personally saluted you with a cheap bottle of champagne that evening, and the excitement has yet to cease. You have made people want to come out and see the CAVS play. Let me reiterate that last statement: people are paying big money to get into Gund Arena. The public address announcer sounds better, the lights seem brighter, Gund Arena seems more comfortable. You have added excitement to this small market professional organization deprived of history, which is illustrated by Shawn Kemp making the All-CAVS first team next to Carr, Price, Daugherty and Nance.

We know we are small-market. We have heard the supposed rumors you would have rather played in Los Angeles, Miami, New York or Chicago. Rumor also has it there is a clause in your Nike agreement ensuring you would make more money working in a big market city. Let me just say we will all be watching over the next two summers to see what kind of moves you make in preparation for free agency. We will also watch to see what moves the CAVS will make to keep you here, such as signing Michael Redd to get you another running mate.

The people of Cleveland don’t want you to stay just because of what you do on the court. You have class and you are so humble for a superstar your age. More times than not, you have done the right thing, at least in the public eye. When Carmelo Anthony made a comment about not winning Rookie of the Year over you I felt insulted. You didn’t. He said he didn’t care about the award and all that mattered to him was being in the playoffs, an obvious biting remark to you about not making the playoffs. You did the right thing though. You flew to Denver and watched your buddy play in those playoffs. You never said anything back, as you could have, because he only averaged 15 points a game as the Nuggets bowed out in five games. Instead you lobbied the United States Olympic Committee to get Anthony on the Olympic team with you. You have worked as an ambassador for basketball and for the city of Cleveland and for this I am thankful. You appreciate sports in general and you have shown respect to the legacy of the game. The summer you got drafted, you went to watch the Rockers during their home games and you wore several different jerseys including your Austin Carr throwback jersey. What Cleveland sports fan, of any gender, wouldn’t have been excited to see what you had to offer this city, as you supported the Rockers and Cleveland’s historical sports icons.

Whenever I watch you play, I feel proud, though I hardly know you. We have never met and the only connection we share is that we had the same high school principal, Dave Rahtz, at two different times, at two different schools. However, before your first All-Star Game start, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for what you have done for me and for the city of Cleveland.

P.S. It is a little ironic (and completely conincidental) that both Sports Illustrated and myself are honoring you on the same day. Congratulations on your fourth cover by the age of 20.

What the Heck am I Eating?

On Sunday my parents came up to Ohio City for lunch. They wanted something simple like a burger but unfortunately Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings are a hard time to get something fun to eat in Ohio City. I wanted to take them to the Old Angle but it wasn’t open yet and the Flying Fig was closed. This left me with Heck’s.

For those of you not familiar with Heck’s, people drive into Ohio City just to get a burger at this place. As we walked there, my mother noticed I only lived a block away and she asked if I went there all the time. I said actually we don’t really care for the place and contrary to popular belief, it’s the third best burger on the block. Every year, the annual awards come out for best burger in Cleveland and every year Heck’s wins this award. Is this one of those awards that just keeps going to the same place because of the name and how long the restaurant has been there? To get the best burger in Ohio City, you must go to the Flying Fig for happy hour (Tuesday through Thursday until 7:30). The burger there is incomparable. A very healthy serving of beef, cooked exactly the way you want it, topped with a mound of blue cheese, sitting on top of bacon and carmelized onions. During happy hour, this burger is less than five dollars and worth every single penny. Can’t make it to the Flying Fig in time for happy hour? Walk down to the Old Angle. A very similar burger, sans the bacon. We have walked through snow and freezing rain for this burger when we had plenty of food at our house. . Can’t make it to these three places? Then I would personally recommend the hot dog stand on Randall and Lorain but Heck’s is always a viable choice as well.

Speaking of burgers….when did McDonalds become party food and brain food? They advertised their McDonalds fish sandwich as brain food this morning. “Studying late? Get some brain food with the fish filet at McDonalds.” This doesn’t make me chuckle as much as the guys who go out and get Chicken McNuggets for their rockin party. If I walked into a party and saw McNuggets, I would do a double take especially if they also had quarter pounders as an appetizer like the other commercial. If there is one thing I feel like doing after eating a quarter pounder, its gotta be dancing and mingling, though usually I just lay down with a stomach ache.

Guilty Pleasures

Marlboro Reds, People Magazine, Page Six, The Bachelorette, Arbys Market Fresh Sandwiches, Sleeping Past Noon, A Beer and a Cigarette After Working Out, Salad Bars with Lots of Fatty Toppings, Two-Buck Chuck, Elaine Benes, Dave and Busters, Doing My Taxes, Word Problems, Mindy’s Blog, 50 Cent, Athens Ohio, March Madness, Happy Hours, Cooking Unhealthy Meals, The Nineties, Getting my Chest Autographed at Bitch and Animal Concerts, Cheap Champagne, The Episode Guides to Seinfeld and Six Feet Under, My Blonde Highlights, Weekends Spent on the Couch Watching Bad TV with Liz, Carbs, Weddings, Wearing Neck Ties, Cable Television, Personal Calls at Work, Getting Tattoos, Pirated DVDs…My Blog.


Speaking of guilt, there is this store two blocks away from me in Ohio City called Hope Unlimited, Inc: A 12-Step Store. While that is funny enough to me, the best part is the sign hanging next to the door which reads in bright red letters: Under New Ownership. A fun game here is to try and figure out what happened to the last owner: could only help people make it to ten steps, fell off the wagon, etc….(feel free to add your own in the comments section).