Grumpy

^LOL!

^Shouldn't the Chinese be able to spell Canton?

Isn't this going to make them more likely to keep it as a parking lot? If the Gateway garage is specifically for Valet parking (or even if it isn't only valet) it's going to be relatively expensive compared to other options including the parking lot you speak of. Therefore I fear they will get more parking business because the of the casino and have even less incentive to build. Hopefully I am wrong? It might encourage building a garage, which is far from ideal, but better than a surface lot.

Agreed, I think that's more our parent's generation that has a problem with the city than those of us with kids. I still recall my father being horrified that we looked at apartments near Shaker Square. "Why would you want to live that close to the city?"

As a suburbanite parent that loves downtown, but doesn't bring my kids down here often, I don't have a lot to add to the conversation except this. Downtown is interesting, and there are things to do here with kids, but the things to do aren't a lot more interesting than what I can do near home. To compel me to come downtown more often, there would have to be things to do that are significantly more interesting than things I can do near home. For example, there's a great library downtown, but there's also a library half a mile my house. Sure when it's not under construction there's a great mall, but there's a park 100 feet from my house with more ball fields than teams to use them. From Voinovich Park I can see the lake, but there's also a park on the lake half a mile from my house. When the weather's bad, we could visit Tower City, or the Arcade, or we could go to mall. (True Story: My 4 year old daughter and I were in the Arcade this spring and she told me it looked like Great Lakes Mall, except taller, shinier, and without a playground in the middle.) So I guess I'm saying that having equivelant attractions isn't good enough. They'd have to be better than what I can find near home to get me to bring the kids downtown. For example, the kids love taking the rapid (Almost as much as I do). They like the Science Center (Though it's a bit expensive). I keep meaning to take them up to the observation deck at Terminal Tower. Once the aquarium opens up we'll absolutely visit it. The occasional children's themed show at playhouse square is fun. In a few weeks we'll be downtown to watch the planes at the Airshow. In a couple years I'm sure I'll be bringing the kids to ball games, rib cookoffs, the taste of Cleveland, etc.

I did see it, but apparently some old lady didn't. http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2011/08/blimp_moored_in_columbus_float.html

Our office is pretty flexible; as long as we do our 8 hours everyday at some point between 6am and 6pm no one can say anything to you, but most managers have an unwritten rule that if you expect to get decent reviews and ever have a chance at advancing you get to work by 8. A few of my coworkers show up right at 6 every single morning thinking the early bird gets the worm, which I find to be stupid because my supervisor doesn't come in till 8. I'd rather work hard when she's here to notice than before she turns up. (Plus who wants to eat worms?) So I generally work 7:30 to 4.

I've spent most of the last two days sitting at a certain hotel here in Cleveland, that I will not name, in a small convention. During that time I've discovered that someone involved with the construction or remodeling of said hotel's restrooms didn't know standard height at which to put the bathroom counter or to hang the toilets/urinals from the wall. I'm 5'10", I shouldn't have to bend over very much to wash my hands, or require the handicap bar to help me up off the john. There's a reason these things are usually a standard height. (Handicapped accessibility would provide a good exception, but there's no way a person in a wheel chair would have been able to navigate in.)

Midwest without the Canadian sounding accent.

Wouldn't that encourage people to move to the next county though?

Stretching before and after helps. Also, do some light running up and down your stairs today to keep the muscles warm and so they wont get tight. For me stretching before feels like a waste of time, however starting slow and warming up for a bit before really pushing myself works. Um thats why people do a warm up and stretch before and a cool down stretch after. I have to stretch after a game or I'm sore and tight as hell. Yeah, warming up helps, but the stretching before you exercise isn't necessary.

If we went that far, we'd be encouraging sprawl because suburbs without many roads (or with new roads) would have lower road maintenance costs than cities with older roads.

Stretching before and after helps. Also, do some light running up and down your stairs today to keep the muscles warm and so they wont get tight. For me stretching before feels like a waste of time, however starting slow and warming up for a bit before really pushing myself works.

Texan Offended By Pride Parade But Not For Reason You Think http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/01/texan-offended-by-gay-pride-parade_n_914995.html

Of course this might be their motivation... Nearly All States Received More Funding Than They Contributed in Highway Taxes Since 2005 http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10780.pdf

I'm not quite as pessimistic about it. From my perspective, it seems more about states getting all their transportation funds back, rather than some states supporting others. I don't think it's a great idea, but if it allows states to get funds faster, with less review, and saves a little money, it might not be the worst idea around.

Senators Introduce Bill to Allow States to Opt Out of Federal Highway Program http://www.fedsmith.com/article/3031/senators-introduce-bill-allow-states-opt.html Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) and 11 more Senate Republicans have introduced legislation which would empower states to free themselves from "wasteful mandates and heavy-handed interference from the federal government" by enabling them to opt out of the Federal-Aid Highway and Mass Transit Account (MTA) programs. Under the current system, the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) often spends more than it receives in user taxes, which has resulted in Congress bailing out the fund three times since fiscal year 2008 for a total of $35 billion. Hatch said a large part of the problems with the fund is due to the fact that Congress keeps expanding the type of projects eligible for HTF revenues. Further exacerbating matters, Congress often links the release of the funds to mandates – beautification projects, museums and landscaping projects, for example – that are unrelated to transportation needs. This causes significant delays and drives up the cost of transportation projects. States opting out of the HTF under the State Transportation Flexibility Act would give up their annual authorization from that fund in exchange for their share of the 18.3 cents per gallon federal gas taxes collected within their boundaries. The states would then be free to use that money to set and finance their own transportation priorities, subject only to their pledge to abide by certain federal safety and maintenance standards.

Turbine project adjusted but still going ahead http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2011/07/28/news/doc4e305ce83cd71949187880.txt New wind turbines are expected to be up and running by year’s end, but the North Perry-Painesville partnership has been adjusted from its original plan, local officials say. Instead of the proposed seven to nine turbines, Colorado-based NexGen Energy Partners is expected to install two wind turbines, but they will be taller and more powerful than the original plan had specified, Painesville City Manager Rita C. McMahon said.

i love the heat! id rather have heat than snow. hello, remember all those snow storms?! I do, and I'm one of those crazy people who prefers a foot of snow over hot and humid weather. Mid 70s to lower 80s is my idea of perfection though. Personally if I could find somewhere with lows in the 50s and highs in the 60s year round I'd start packing.

http://www.nrdc.org/media/2011/110720.asp Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida Lead List of "Toxic 20" States with Most Toxic Air Pollution from Power Plants Worst States: OH, PA, FL, KY, MD, IN, MI, WV, GA, NC, SC, AL, TX, VA, TN, MO, IL, WI, NH, IA

From a giving of directions point of view you can't really beat the directional road names in Tallmadge. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tallmadge,+OH&hl=en&ll=41.103027,-81.440964&spn=0.051094,0.103855&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=27.561629,53.173828&t=h&z=13

My grandmother passed away a couple weeks ago and the Obit actually said that the funeral was "dress casual". I was pleased that most people ignored that advice and still dressed up. As far as shoes, I think I have 5 pairs. Hiking boots, Snow boots, Black Dress, Cordovan Dress, and running shoes. I'm tempted to get rid of the hiking boots since I haven't hiked in a couple years. In college I once went 2 years on a single pair of shoes. They were really comfy loafers that looked nice enough I could get away with them when I dressed up, but didn't look stupid with jeans and a T-shirt. I miss them.

Yes, you can just walk the bike through, but you should expect security to harrass you anyway. They seem to like doing that.

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^Too true.