TBideon

There, I just watched it. Guess what. My opinion is the exact same.

I would say that Drew Carey has done a lot for Cleveland. His show was a huge success, and it took a very positive look on our city. I mean, how cool was it to see Shooters on tv once a week. In fact, the "Cleveland Rocks" song has stayed with us ever since, and it has contributed to our "vibe" as being a city of Rock and Roll. Drew's won $500,000 from Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and that all went to the Ohio Library Foundation. That's certainly something, and I'm sure that funding did a lot of good, not to mention other collateral and intangible effects, for the state and by extension Cleveland. (credit http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/05/04/entertainment/main191844.shtml) Drew is the reason for this documentary about saving Cleveland, and while I haven't actually seen any of it, I'm sure it's a fair look at our city's problems and offers ways to repair them. Maybe they're redundant or obvious, but that doesn't make them wrong by any means. Not to mention, this show took time and budget, and I'm sure Cleveland probably received various benefits from it, intangibles and real. Finally, I don't think Bill Gates and Warren Buffet could fix our cities' problems - they are far greater in scope than simply throwing cash around. Look how many billions have been poured into African nations from the Gates Foundation - has it really had any real impact??? Drew has done his job promoting Cleveland, more so than any other celebrity I can think of, and even if he could potentially do more, well, why the heck should he? He has his own life to live and we don't know the state of his investments and charities - perhaps he quietly gives millions a year to local foundations. Who knows? And don't get upset with the guy. He's not patting himself on the back with a holier than thou attitude - he's just trying to right by the city.

There seemed to be some kind of incident at Mayfield/Richmond today (Monday) on the number 9 going eastbound. I was driving by around 3:45/4ish, and a bus was stopped with an RTA security car in front of it. There seemed to be some kind of commotion in the bus, but alas there was too much traffic and I could only take a look for 5 or 6 seconds. Anyone have any info?

I think a cementary or private park would be kind of neat there. Lyndhurst doesn't need more retail, especially in that area, and I can't imagine there's a major demand for even more high income housing these days. The real fear, I guess, would be low income housing/section 8.

Guess everyone's in bed here. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/04/human_body_exhibit_coming_to_c.html Human body exhibit coming to Cleveland's East Fourth Street entertainment district in June By Michelle Jarboe, The Plain Dealer April 09, 2010, 12:01AM "CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The newest tenant on East Fourth Street won't be searing steaks, frying frites or dishing out duck breast. Rather, this upcoming addition to downtown Cleveland's restaurant row aims to serve up a meal for the mind."

Those laws haven't done much good so far. While you may want to be left alone from morons in office, we, as in reasonably minded drivers, want to be left alone from idiots who are busy texting while driving their cars.

Girls with hairy arms. It really is kinda gross.

It's a fun city to live in if you're south of Mayfield, but I would strongly consider private education for your kids if you want them to eventually attend Heights High. I can't speak about middle and elementary schools in the area. Maybe you could take a tour of the schools, get a feel for what they're like. I've had some friends who've graduated the high school in the 2000s and have heard some alarming stuff regarding safety and and gang violence. Then again, I've also heard that there are some kids who go to really good colleges and do very well on various standardized testings. Maybe things are different for the better now, I can't say.

Joe Calabrese was on Feagler and Friends last night. Of the top of my head, he talked about how 98 percent of all RTA users will still have access to public transportation after the route cuts, that 70 percent of RTA funds comes from sales taxes, that the 1990s were a golden age for RTA (though they didn't realize it at the time), that the inner city and downtown neighborhood trolleys (like the one in Lakewood) were major major money losers, and he asked viewers to write to President Obama so that the RTA can get more funding. Mr. Calabrese also discussed RTA cutting other costs with layoffs and selling buses. Mr. Feagler pretty much softballed the interview.

At the Mentor Headlands, you walk on the rocks (well, not sure if you're actually "allowed to") in order to hit up the area by the light house. It's very calming there, kind of isolated from the rest of the beach.

What a cool idea!

You can't go wrong with the Evil Dead trilogy.

Anyone know if LemonGrass in Cedar/Lee is closed? I was just at the Colony and it looked pretty close-ish to me, but the Colony bartenders couldn't confirm. The website is presently down too.

Where Home Prices Are Rising by Francesca Levy, Forbes.com Feb 25th, 2010 "...No. 2: Bay Village, Ohio Median price: $240,015 Year-over-year price change: 32% Year-over-year inventory change: -8% Year-over-year price per square foot change: 8%..." http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/where-home-prices-are-rising

Interesting reading

It depends on the region. Just some opinion here... Seattle has a history of crappy sports' teams (though the Mariners are going to studs this year), yet this has no real bearing on the aggregate misery of the city. It's a beautiful city with a phenomenal economy, and even when the Mariners, Seahawks, and (until '06) Supersonics played badly (and man did those teams have some bad years), I don't see the city's populace feeling all that bad. It's just not a sports' city despite having had three major teams. In Northside Chicago, when the Cubs play poorly, everyone is depressed (I lived in Skokie for a a few years so this is just in my experience). However, the White Sox playing badly doesn't have the same kind of overall effect at that area. When the Bulls were hot in the 90s, everyone was having a great time in Chicago. Right now, when the Bulls lose, it isn't that big a deal, at least when compared to the Cubbies losing (again, just affecting Northsiders). I would say people in San Diego (with its garbage sports' teams) are generally pretty happy. San Fransisco has no real sports teams, yet its populace seems to be in relatively high spirits. But in cities like Dallas and Houston, when the Cowboys and Oilers play badly, I've heard it really takes a lot out of the people. So in Texas, sports are correlated to a city's overall misery, which is virtually impossible to qualify anyhow, but maybe not so much in California. In Cleveland, sports are absolutely a huge part of our city mood. When the Brownies lose, it takes everyone a few days to recover. Even nonfans have got to notice the overall gloomy feel those Sundays and Mondays after the game. When the Cavs lose, well, we're so studly these days that it isn't a huge deal; still, imagine what our city psyche would be today if we had lost yesterday's game. And imagine how we'll feel if LBJ leaves for another team after this summer. We will definitely be completely crushed and far more miserable, at least in the aggregate. I'm a baseball guy and when the Indians lose, I'm crushed. I still can't think of the '97 World Series without getting a little down. Right now, people are furious with the Indians for its terrible contract signings (Wood, Haffner, and Westbrook = waste of money), some of the worst trades in the history of baseball (the Victor and Cliff Lee trades were inexcusable and IMO unforgivable), and a disastrous off season (oh boy, Russel Branyan). It's going to be an ugly summer (they didn't even try to get Lackey - we literally have no pitching), and I guarantee it's going to affect our aggreate misery. So sports can matter on the region. Here it does; other places it might not. ...One last thing. I see a lot of people are getting worked up about this Forbes study on this cite, the PD, cleveland.com, etc. Reminds me of the reaction to those funny Cleveland tourism videos. I think this is way way overblown. I can't imagine people in Chicago or New York are reacting the same way, even though they too are labeled as being among the most miserable cities. It's fun for discussion to a limited degree, but honestly, who cares what Forbes thinks? No one's perception of Cleveland is changing due to the report. It just isn't that big a deal.

I'm not familiar with the Youngstown-Warren area, but it's definitely a good week for the city and region. NE Ohio can use all the good news it can get.

That's some answer

Those operating costs are scary as hell, especially since I've so pessimistic as to people actually using the train lines repeatedly. Unless gas really skyrockets in the next few years, I just don't see the appeal of the 3-C line. There are too many issues - lousy schedule, slow travel time in a society that demands fast speeds, no real interest by private investors, travel issues once you actually arrive to your destination, remarkable amount of pessimism with everyone I've talked to, and I doubt there's even a substantial demand for this specific rail line. Outside the novelty of the experience, I just don't see the train filled with passengers. Something like a Megabus line - cheap, comfortable, safe, free wifi, FAST - would probably a lot more effective IMO. If we can't build it right, read FAST, then let's not do it. Just reject the 400 million and let it go somewhere else. Just because we romanticize the idea of rail doesn't mean it's worth increasing our local and national debts by so much.

going tonightttttttttt

I just want to harp on the backlight issue for a minute. The ipad really has an opportunity to begin a true transition for newspapers and journals to become natural parts of the electronic medium. Yeah you can read the New York Times and Wall Street Journal online right now, but a computer screen is simply not the same experience. It's not as comforting; the LCD monitor and backlight are too straining on the eyes for longterm reading, and it's a chore to a limited degree. If anyone has ever used a Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, you will see how E Ink is a different way of reading electronic news that is closer to hardcopy than LCD monitor quality. I've used both readers before, and it is simply much more comfortable reading books on them than a computer screen - no one's going to argue that, I'm sure. And so I'm just shocked and disappointed that the ipad does not utilize that technology, at least as far as we know so far. Reading the NYT or WSJ on the Ipad will simply be akin to reading them on a laptop in terms of eye strain, and we can do better than that as seen with the ipad's competition. If it turns out that there's a way of maybe activating electronic ink on the ipad, then you can sure I'll buy that thing as an electronic book reader first and foremost. 500 bucks is definitely an acceptable price - who needs 3g? But as it stands right now, it really is just a suped up ipod touch and my iphone does more than enough.

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Just some thoughts on the ipad. 1. Iphones and ipod touches run without flash, and they still have crazy sales. It would be nice to go to hulu.com or play video games off some website, but think about how much bandwith would be eaten up. 2. Granted it's a dumb name, but I doubt that will affect consumer interest. If you're making this kind of investment, the name isn't a top priority. 3. As I understand it, there are portable keyboards that can be attached to the ipad in addition to small stands. So you can treat it as a conventional laptop to some degree. Also, I'm hoping the electronic keyboard has some kind of vibration response so you can "feel" the keys. 4. It is a TERRIBLE idea not to use electronic ink. Backlight accounts for far too much eye strain, plus the reading experience isn't as "real" as an electronic ink screen i.e. the Kindle. 5. Why would you need a camera? I can understand a webcam being cool, but could you really see yourself taking a picture with that ten inch hardware? 6. That picture of the 4ipods taped together is hilarious. 7. I can't see the appeal of iphone game on the ipad. It's one thing to have an iphone/pod touch that you can play games while on the crapper or on a bus, but if you invest in this machine primarily due to the games, then I'd say you're better off with some of the other portable consoles. No matter how advanced the games, the accelerometer and touchscreen cannot compare to buttons. I've been happy with my iphone for the last few years and the games are cute, but the apple commercials definitely overemphasize the gameplay capabilities, especially with poor controls. Then again, game sales are huge (look at gameloft's numbers) so what do I know? 8. Ibooks will be really interesting and I wonder if it will be the equivalent of itunes. Of course, if the Stanza application is available on the ipad, then you have access to 10s of thousands of free books as it is, which is very appealing since I view the ipad as an electronic book reader first and foremost. 9. Other than the Apple TV, Apple hasn't made a mistake in quite some time. Why should this be any different. especially when most of the jokes are not about the quality but just superficial crap like its name.

So, I wound up at Barley House last night and the DJ kept saying MTV Real World Cleveland 2011 all night long, anyone know anything more? I doubt the show will be featured in Cleveland in the near future, but Issac Stout from Real World: Sydney is from and still lives in Shaker Heights (he's always at Coventry, in particular City East), perhaps he was at Barley House and the DJ recognized him?

According to a friend's facebook away status from a few days ago, "The Chocolate Bar... it's a new addition to E 4th. You might wanna take a deep breath... http://originalchocolatebar.com/2009fallmenu.pdf :) :) :) it was awwwwesome." How's that for a review!