MayDay

Probably a little bit of going to the gym, and then spending three 10-hour days of holding up my camera and toting gear around a tradeshow and yeah, the way my arms are folded probably helped. And it's all good - I didn't take it as being hit on :-) One thing I noticed after the photo was taken - you would think they'd line up the points of the horseshoe on the 50 yard line, but it was a bit off kilter? :wtf:

Thought some Browns fans might enjoy this :-D

That's not the problem... you can question the browns. It's the personal insults that you can drop. Yep.

I go by it (well, a block or so away) each day and it looks like they've made progress but I haven't had time to stop and snap photos lately. Might be able to this weekend.

"Why's that? Isn't she an Avonite?" Yep, and garden variety cul-de-sac at that. Remember, she was the one who used her column as a bully pulpit against Downtown Cleveland Alliance's "Give Change Where it Counts" campaign to curtail aggressive panhandling. She had no qualms vilifying DCA and anyone who had an issue with aggressive panhandlers - an easy stance to take when you get to retreat to exurbia every evening.

Well, last Goodtime III trip for me for this year. I went on a company sponsored outing at the end of August, and of course took my camera. After meeting/greeting quite a few people I finally made it to the top deck: I *may* have groaned when I overheard someone say "is that going to be the new casino?" :roll: New Flats, old Flats: Not the prettiest buildings but it's good to have market rate apartments and condos downtown: Jack-knife bridge: Looks like there are a few unsold penthouse unit in Stonebridge Plaza :| Center Street swing bridge is open to river *and* vehicular traffic again: A few have said that my photos don't show enough grit or "non postcard" shots; I say stick these in your cud and chew it! :-D Anyway, the Cleveland Rowing Foundation: Oddly, we didn't go any further down the Cuyahoga than this :wtf: A group practicing for the Dragon Boat Races: Powerhouse (soon to be an aquarium): The venerable Shooters - it's not on the top of my list but I do love the setting right on the water: Lakewood's Gold Coast apartment and condo buildings: Depending on the view, the Ernst and Young tower will fill in some gaps... or create new ones: Hope you enjoyed!

Love the shots, love the area - I guess I've never thought of it as being off the beaten path. I'm not sure how long they've been open but Sainatos added a bar/tavern and outdoor patio; it's quite popular with the rowing groups.

Alright folks, let's get back on topic.

Co-workers who don't use sick days when they should. Especially co-workers who don't use sick days when they should and have a tendency to invade your personal space. :shoot:

"Coast looks beautiful, but as an urbanite I feel so relieved to be back in a real place again. Hope you made it to Alberta St which went from worst ghetto to seriously gentrified with the artists and hipsters getting priced out: Portland's Short North. If not, Belmont-Hawthorne will definitely suffice." I know what you're saying about being back in "a real place" but as someone born and raised in a working class Appalachian family now living in inner-city Cleveland... my life is *full* of 'real'. ;-) We wanted to check out Alberta Street but time wouldn't allow it and honestly, while I know it's not an apples to apples comparison, it sounded pretty similar to Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood albeit on an accelerated pace of gentrification. Belmont-Hawthorne was nice - reminded me a lot of Ohio City and Tremont as well as Lakewood/Cleveland Heights.

Thanks everyone - I didn't make it to Hall and Oates (had no clue they were there until I saw the marquee!) but had a great time anyway.

Glad to see one of my many enterprises doing well ;-)

^We actually parked one block from the beach - asked one of those yuppie types if we could park in front of their place and they were really cool about it, but yeah there were some uppity-types (especially some of the gallery owners). And I think we both know your hubby laughed and told you it was fake so you wouldn't be like me and scream "OHMYHOLYGOD!!!DRIVE!DRIVE!DRIVE!!!!" :-)

Up early the next day, we rented a car to go to the Oregon coast and maybe dunk our toes in the water. The natural scenery of the area in between is lovely, but the built environment wasn't exactly the pinnacle of beauty - yes folks, even Portland has grit: I will say that the St. John's bridge was impressive: Kitsch-arrific! Sauvie Island bridge: Saw a lot of this: We were too early for the sauerkraut festival: Kitschety kitsch kitsch: After Scappoose, it was a lot of signs for "Snow Zone" aka we're going waaay up and around some winding mountain roads. How I kept breakfast down, I'll never know: Woodsy grit: We finally made it to our "mid point" break, Astoria. Astoria has been the setting for quite a few films, my personal favorite of the bunch being "The Goonies". Taking in the sights along the water - there was a small strip plaza and there was a bike/walking path alongside so we stretched our legs a bit: Holy crap these sea lions (seals) were loud!!! Downtown Astoria: Maritime museum: Some beautifully detailed historic buildings: The Flavel House museum - sorry for the wonky angle; this house was up on a hill and so d@mn tall it made it difficult to photograph: Building on the left was the jail in "The Goonies": Anyway, time to head out: We got to Seaside which was waaaay too touristy and full of idiot tourists who couldn't parallel park in the two parking spots left to save their lives... Not wanting to spend our vacation looking for parking, we headed over to Cannon Beach which was much more our speed: Haystack Rock: Beautiful beach, but being the northern Pacific, it was ice water so I only dunked my feet in. I think anyone who jumped in had non-functioning nerve endings: Ah well, time to get back to Portland - someone has one hell of an expansive compound up on that hill! Easily my least favorite part of the trip - the scenery between Cannon Beach and the periphery of Portland reminded me way too much of Applachian blight; just swap out deforestation for strip mining and there you have it. I sh!t you not, as we were driving along, I lost count at how many places had a "Deliverence" vibe - and one had a pickup truck in their driveway at the edge of the road - with an elk carcass being "cured" on the hood :-P The cherry on the top of the whole trip - people being toted around in the back of a pickup truck. It wouldn't have surprised me to see them advertising "Wayward tourist jerky" :-o Glory halleeelewya, it's civilization again! Next up, the Belmont-Hawthorne neighborhood and waterfront area.

"The only odd thing was the populace. So many were striving to be so alternative, but in the end they all looked the same-unwashed, pierced, tatooted, same facial hair...you got my point." Yep - I know that the "bike messenger chic" look is in, but there were areas where it looked like they were having a convention.

When we last left off, we were exploring the Pearl District - it reminded me of a hybrid of Cleveland's Old River Road and Warehouse District areas, with some newer residential towers thrown in the mix. That night we checked out the "First Thursdays" artwalk: The next day, we headed out to Canby, where the Swan Island Dahlia Festival was held: Back into the Rose City, and of course over to the International Rose Test Gardens, on the way we pass the South Waterfront area: Downtown Portland from the Rose Garden: Back to downtown, Mt. Hood in the distance: Up to the City Grill lounge in the "Big Pink" office tower: Back down to earth, back to more historic buildings: And over to the waterfront: And the much maligned (deservedly so - this thing is wrong on so many levels) Portland Building, designed by Michael Graves: And Portland's tallest has nothing on Key Tower or Terminal Tower: These two beauties were a pleasant surprise: Next up, a trip to the Oregon Coast!

I had just been downsized from a job at an ad agency on Friday, September 7th, 2001. On the evening of Monday, September 10th I remember telling my (at the time) S.O. that "ugh, I hate being unemployed, there's nothing on TV at all". The next day, I was watching the Today show - I remember Katie Couric talking about some other news story around 8:45ish and then somewhat awkwardly saying "we're getting reports that a plane... has crashed... into the World Trade Center???". They switched to live footage of smoke pouring out of the north tower - as others have said, I think the entire eastern half of the US had the most beautiful clear weather... I remember thinking "what kind of idiot had problems flying in this weather?". I was (and still am) a member of another geekboard, skyscraperpage.com - a few of us posted something in the Current Events section; I had to tell one person that "no, it's not a joke!". It was a little surreal to be sharing (and getting) news about the event from people all over the world. I still couldn't tell what kind of plane had hit the tower - a Cessna? Lear Jet? Did the pilot have mental issues? Did they have a coronary in flight? And then while they were showing the footage of the first tower, something zipped across the screen - and with a ball of flame shooting out the other side, the second tower had been hit. I thought it was a missile - I thought maybe we were being invaded... and then they replayed and slowed down the footage. I kept thinking of the time I went to the WTC observation deck in 1987 and "how the hell are all those people going to get down from up there?" and thinking the smoke would be too much for helicopters to do a rescue from the rooftop. After a few minutes, I was flipping channels and I thought to myself "wow, that's a lot more smoke than what was just there". It wasn't just smoke from the fire, it was the cloud of dust, debris and everything from the collapse of the south tower. It never dawned on me that they would collapse - when the north tower went down, I lost it. One of the things that's stuck with me - in January of 2002, I got a job working in Key Tower - everywhere I'd worked there had been a lackadaisical attitude about things like fire drills, etc. That wasn't the case anymore, especially in a high profile building. Even where I work now (a 2 story building), the alarm goes off, I am outta there. The next time I would visit NYC was in March of 2004 - and while the site had been cleared of debris, one of my favorite buildings in lower Manhattan (90 West Street, designed by Cass Gilbert) had some serious damage and while it was under repair, there was still a ways to go; I remember very clearly gasping out loud when I saw this: And another thing that's stuck with me - I appreciate the sentiment that we should honor and remember those who passed away, and I hold those in the safety forces who were lost in especially high esteem; but - I find the whole over-the-top nationalism and "NEVER FORGET!!!" mentality insulting and repugnant. As if it's possible for anyone with a sense of decency to forget such a horrific day.

The basic premise of this vacation was that my partner and a friend are into gardening, and especially dahlias - the dahlia farm they order the "starts" (aka tubers) from is near Portland. Good enough reason for a visit I guess :-) Flying into PDX, I was on the wrong side of the plane for Mt. Hood, but I caught Mount St. Helens (foreground) and Mt. Rainier (background): This was reminiscent of Oahu, except with coniferous trees instead of palms: Like so many visitors, our trip began at the MAX station at the airport: And being turistas, we landed at Pioneer Courthouse Square - loved Jackson Tower; I have to say - Portland needs to really ramp up the promotion of their historic architecture. Sure, the bike-friendliness/eco-tourism is lovely, but that's one thing that really surprised me: Pioneer Courthouse Square - the "heart" of Portland's CBD: The first of many, many, oh so many hipster sightings: Another thing Portland has going for it - the craft/micro brewers - Great Lakes is still my nearest and dearest but Portland impressed me. Quite a few local (non-brewery) dining spots featured nothing but local brews: And then of course, Portland has some quirkiness - being from Cleveland that's nothing new, but it was interesting to see their spin: I'd love to see Cleveland's Asiatown have something along these lines: Does Portland get a lot of well-deserved praise for their urban planning? Sure. Do they have a few "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" moments? Uh yeah - while downtown Cleveland's urban fabric needs some work, I don't think we have a gas station across from our signature office towers - I'm just saying: On the other hand, they have some great residential re-use and of course, Powell's City of Books: Over to the art museum's courtyard - a sculpture by Ohio native, Roy Lichtenstein: And about a block over, a church that happens to be a United Church of Christ (based in Cleveland) congregation: And around the corner, the Portland answer to Cleveland's Playhouse Square: More photos to come :-)

^Let's not get off-topic; that's a discussion better suited for private messaging.

Moving, err... floating along?

^Love it! :-)

"It is currently at 280ft and will grow to 380ft, but we wont talk about that, because then we'd be off topic..?" Not really, but if people want to get too far into the minutia, or endlessly speculate about the final height of the building... that's a different story. :-)