tedders55

^ I think that the Crew's new owner is going to be pushed to make some upgrades to the stadium. It is nearly 15 years since it was opened and is in definite need of some upgrades.

^^ Was Clint Dempsy's late penalty miss to preserve the "dos a cero" score line? Perhaps ... It has been a rallying cry against Mexico for the past 3 WC cycles. The game was extremely tense at first, Mexico came hunting for a goal and nearly got one on a few occasions. But Tim Howard proved again and again that he is the rock you need back there. After about the 30 min mark you could see Mexico begin to stiffen up and the US realize that with that early pressure withstood they could begin to take the game to Mexico. Nearly scoring too on a corner, although Eddie Johnson got his fantastic header of a goal just after halftime. Once that first goal went in you could feel the "Dos a Cero" scoreline coming.

I would have thought with Eaton's purchase of Cooper Industries last year that there would have been a push for a non-stop to Dublin. They are technically headquartered there, although their real headquarters likely remain here, and I'm sure that Cooper has a good deal of mfg plants in that area. Maybe Eaton is finally pushing this and making things happen? The press release stated it should close around this time last year, but having been through a merger it usually takes an extra year or two before all the ripples have reached the shore.

^ speaking about that; Pour, the coffee shop on the Euclid side, is building out their interior. I would guess they will be open middle of next month. Also, there will be a tea shop inside, opening in Sept. but I can't remember when.

The Comedy Cellar. This is a funny little place. It feels like nothing there has changed in 20 years, from their operation to the people running it, but it does run pretty efficiently. It was fun and normally I like having multiple comics do 20 min sets as opposed to one or two doing a 30-40 min set each, but it just seemed like an off night. There were only 2 of the 6 that really seemed to connect and get the crowd rolling. Strange night there. After all that it was well after midnight, and we felt beat from the day. I actually got a little sunburn from the few times the sun did come out so I think that added. It did amaze me how warm it stays there even once the sun is down. It never even got that hot out, and during the day it seemed quite nice really. But at night the humidity seemed to increase significantly and just made the heat weigh on you.

After returning the bikes we needed some rest before dinner. Really needed a lot of rest, because we just rode damn near 30 mi. After resting, showering, and getting ready it was off to dinner and a show at the comedy cellar. I mentioned before, but dinner was at Blue Hill. Fantastic place, tucked into the ground floor in the West Village by NYU. I found a new style of wine that I like, Tempranillo. We had a bottle from Spain and I really enjoyed it. Which is going to prove expensive as we need to restock our wine collection. This Morning's Farm Egg as an appetizer was wonderful, rich but the corn in it complimented nicely. I had The Berkshire Pig while the wife had Gnocchi (I think they have taken that off the menu and changed the pig around a little bit, I don't recall orka being in there). The pork was very nice, cooked wonderfully and came with 3 or 4 different cuts. Her gnocchi was interesting as it seemed like it was stuffed, but not completely. The pasta was more like a semi-circle around the filling. It was still very good, but not exactly what was expected. Dessert was Chocolate Bread pudding, and honestly that was the disappointing part. It was ok, but when compared to everything else seemed flat. I think the fruit options would have been more interesting, but nothing was jumping out at the time. Overall it was a very, very enjoyable dinner. Even though we were a little worn out from the bike ride. The wine though is going to be an ongoing expense from that meal.

So I thought I should give everyone a little rundown of the weekend. The travel aspect of the trip was the worst part, like I mentioned before 2+ hours on each leg. The worst was in LaGuardia. Which earns every one of it's terrible bits of information. There aren't really any redeeming qualities to the airport either. My wife had gotten in to NYC earlier on Friday as she had a training event there. Well due to my delay and her extended Happy Hour (how she got back to the hotel by Union Square from Midtown shes not too sure) Friday night was a bit of a bust. We did go to Heartland Brewery for some food, made the next day for everyone better. It was surprisingly good, but our expectations at this point were just bar food and this was better than that. Saturday was a mostly beautiful day, which almost worked against us. We had made Bike Rental reservations, but were a bit lazy about getting to the rental place, just past Times Square on Broadway. We figured with reservations there wouldn't be any worry. But the Saturday we were there was one of the 3 Saturdays in August when they close down Park Ave to cars, meaning bike rental places were swamped. By the time we got to our rental place they were down to 2-4 bikes!! We got ours and basically hoped that there was nothing wrong, there wasn't so off we went. Now the rental shop told us repeatedly "Don't Ride on the Sidewalks! It's against the Law!" I figured that with the bike lanes seemingly everywhere, and Park Ave closed we wouldn't have to worry. Not quite. As we were riding down Broadway the bike lane seemed to just disappear (really it jogged over, but not well marked) suddenly we were in the street, it worked out but definitely not the best way to make sure you are fully awake. After that we made our way over to Park Ave, probably a little south of 42nd st, and rode all the way to Foley Sq. Where I got a not so decent shot of Frank Gerhy's building, 8 Spruce St. DSC_0152 by tedders55, on Flickr It gets better though once the sun comes out. I actually got a light sunburn too, Damn Irish-ness. Anyway a couple more pics Not sure where this was exactly but neat little building/art piece. DSC_0156 by tedders55, on Flickr Riding through Grand Central Station, well around really. But there was a tunnel! DSC_0177 by tedders55, on Flickr After that we made our way to Central Park, and honestly neither of us thought it was that much fun to bike through there. It's a park ... so no pictures. Now the Hudson River Greenway was a lot of fun to ride down. Being boaters we always find water and other boats more interesting. However, the marina's down there are pretty fugly and probably un-godly expensive. But there is some interesting ... art DSC_0178 by tedders55, on Flickr DSC_0177 by tedders55, on Flickr One World Trade Center DSC_0189 by tedders55, on Flickr DSC_0194 by tedders55, on Flickr Statue of Liberty DSC_0197 by tedders55, on Flickr So after eating and a few cocktails we were feeling pretty good. The weather was nice. And really riding up and down Manhattan was all I had been planning to do; well the wife decided we were going to ride across the Brooklyn Bridge. Sure why not. It's not like we had been riding all day or anything. DSC_0203 by tedders55, on Flickr Ohh and here is another shot of 8 Spruce, with One world Trade Center too DSC_0206 by tedders55, on Flickr What do we do after crossing the BB? Cross the Manhattan bridge. We couldn't have spent more than 20 min in Brooklyn, I think the wife just wanted to do it to say she'd done it. Women ... Now at this point I am starting to get a little tired. I'm over 30 damnit the body is starting to break down!! Really I'm just out of shape. I'm thinking we should just take the subway back to drop off the bikes. The wife nixed that, said "we are going to ride, it will be just as quick and more scenic". I disagree with the first part but was not going to win this fight. That was a nice extra 7mi to end the day. There's more to the night but that is for a later post as I need to get to sleep.

@Skylift, love the idea, but I believe there are too many stations. Especially around the Muny Lot/Burke area. I think this would be better served by a station at the Muny Lot with a connected pedestrian bridge over the shoreway. Then from the Muny Lot go to the area where the skate park by the Rock Hall used be, then onto your First Energy/Harbor West stop. This would eliminate the zig-zag portion, to Burke and the convention center, that would add to the overall cost and not be that much quicker than walking between them. The convention center is better suited to have the pedestrian bridge/parking garage as a connection to the lakefront IMHO.

This would be nice, and you can have more than one gondola too!! A Tram may work as well, but you wouldn't need a 80 person tram like Portland, probably 50 would suffice.

I think the proposed pedestrian bridge is a far better solution, I understand it's difficult because of the need for permanent clearance for the ships...but certainly less difficult than a tram. I don't think there is a pedestrian bridge to connect the east and west bank of the flats. Also, I believe the proposed link to Wendy park used the existing lift bridge by the salt mines. If you had 200 Million dollars to spend, you could build 4 pedestrian lift bridges. and pedestrian bridge from the flats to the stadium. If we want the river used by more than just Arcclor Mittal and the rowing community when FEB opens then we don't want to add more lift bridges that effectively block the river to boat traffic. The railroad lift bridge is already a hindrance to the boating community on Cuyahoga as nothing bigger than a dinghy can fit under it. I do have imagination, but the idea that this will encourage development, or resurrect the dead is false. there are issues with connectivity but having a link from the flats to the Lakefront that can only move <750 person per hour. completely inadequate for events at the lakefront or in the flats. at least if they use the gondolas pictured Above. If you want more capacity like in Portland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Aerial_Tram prepare to spend a lot of money. Portland aerial tram was 400% over budget and ended up costing 57 million dollars to travel 1Km with only 2 stations and 3 towers. using 78 passenger cars to put it bluntly either this guy is super naïve or intentionally misleading the public on what this is. 200 million dollar tourist trap? as to whether this is " transportation" their website states: Transporting people The fastest-growing technology in moving people from place to place. Here in Cleveland, we'll be able to solve parking issues and increase access to our waterfront and parks. SkyLift will amplify Cleveland's ability to provide outstanding public transportation to its community. Public access to various waterfront amenities is currently limited and congested. SkyLift would boost accessibility and use, allowing the public to enjoy the many diverse offerings of the coast without having to worry about the logistics of getting there. so yes this should go in the transportation section there is NO development involved with this project. Portland has a Tram system which as I explained is completely different than a Gondola System. Trams transports between 2 fixed points while a Gondola operates on a loop and can have multiple stations. Also, to your point about the capacity that isn't accurate either; while Telluride's Gondola is only currently set up for around 500 persons per hour it has the capacity for 1200 pph. See the "Moving People Around" section" here, also more info about their set up. Their system was built by CTEC, which is a competitor of Leitner-Poma, in 1996 so the design specs may be different and have likely improved. Having said all of that, this could still end up as a lemon. But at this stage I don't think it is justified to dismiss it as un-workable. I would say there are a good number of variables that we do not know, and until more information is released, or there is a public forum, we likely won't know. There is a giant difference between an Arial Tram and a Gondola though, so make sure you are citing the correct system. the site you cited uses much larger Gondolas than what is being proposed. My point being they are showing a demo of a gondola type that is woefully inadequate for what they are proposing 200 million on this? That is incorrect. The Telluride Gondola is the same 8 passenger system that is proposed here. Whether or not that size gondola is adequate for the level of service is not known at this point. There has been no feasability study to determine what the demand would be, so seems strange to dismiss this out of hand. Note that I am not in favor at all of the connections between Muny Lot->Burke, Voinavich Park->Convention Center, or the connection from the flats to Tower City. In my mind the only portion that makes any sense is the connection from Edgewater->Wendy Park->FEB->Rock Hall area->Muny Lot. This East-West configuration connects many of our attractions that are currently disconnect. Also, I do believe the pedestrian bridges that links Wendy Park and the West Bank, along with the bridge from the convention center are sorely needed.

And his curling free kick was a thing of beauty. I can't link to it as I am at work, but look it up. It puts Beckham to shame.

Totally forgot about this, but London has a Gondola system that was built for the Olympics last year. It was way over budget and has had declining ridership, but that could be because it was built as a showpiece. And for the Olympics, which like the World Cup, always means budget overruns. Anyway, this is an interesting project but there are a lot of hoops that are going to need to be jumped through to show that this can work.

I haven't been to KI in years, but that looks like they are reusing the station from Son of Beast, or at least the foundations. Would make sense to save some money. Should be a fun ride and I am really happy that KI is finally getting these B&M coasters. I think they make some of the best, but it seemed like Paramount and previous owners would never spend the money to get on by them. I wonder if Cedar Fair has bought some kind of package though, Diamondback, Gatekeeper (at Cedar Point), and this one are all B&M rides.

I think the proposed pedestrian bridge is a far better solution, I understand it's difficult because of the need for permanent clearance for the ships...but certainly less difficult than a tram. I don't think there is a pedestrian bridge to connect the east and west bank of the flats. Also, I believe the proposed link to Wendy park used the existing lift bridge by the salt mines. I do have imagination, but the idea that this will encourage development, or resurrect the dead is false. there are issues with connectivity but having a link from the flats to the Lakefront that can only move <750 person per hour. completely inadequate for events at the lakefront or in the flats. at least if they use the gondolas pictured Above. If you want more capacity like in Portland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Aerial_Tram prepare to spend a lot of money. Portland aerial tram was 400% over budget and ended up costing 57 million dollars to travel 1Km with only 2 stations and 3 towers. using 78 passenger cars to put it bluntly either this guy is super naïve or intentionally misleading the public on what this is. 200 million dollar tourist trap? as to whether this is " transportation" their website states: Transporting people The fastest-growing technology in moving people from place to place. Here in Cleveland, we'll be able to solve parking issues and increase access to our waterfront and parks. SkyLift will amplify Cleveland's ability to provide outstanding public transportation to its community. Public access to various waterfront amenities is currently limited and congested. SkyLift would boost accessibility and use, allowing the public to enjoy the many diverse offerings of the coast without having to worry about the logistics of getting there. so yes this should go in the transportation section there is NO development involved with this project. Portland has a Tram system which as I explained is completely different than a Gondola System. Trams transports between 2 fixed points while a Gondola operates on a loop and can have multiple stations. Also, to your point about the capacity that isn't accurate either; while Telluride's Gondola is only currently set up for around 500 persons per hour it has the capacity for 1200 pph. See the "Moving People Around" section" here, also more info about their set up. Their system was built by CTEC, which is a competitor of Leitner-Poma, in 1996 so the design specs may be different and have likely improved. Having said all of that, this could still end up as a lemon. But at this stage I don't think it is justified to dismiss it as un-workable. I would say there are a good number of variables that we do not know, and until more information is released, or there is a public forum, we likely won't know. There is a giant difference between an Arial Tram and a Gondola though, so make sure you are citing the correct system.

^I was going to say that was likely the case. Titan's is actually on the street level along Prospect. This has probably helped them attract people, along with their more involved marketing, via Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. If you checked in anywhere downtown in the 6 months after they opened it seemed like they had a message promoting themselves.

Couldn't this be considered analogous to the cable cars in SF? For the most part they are tourist attractions with limited public transit benefit. I would view this proposal similarly. We can debate the stops and set up to death about this project, but one thing I think everyone would agree with is that there are some severely disconnected areas; FEB->West Bank particularly along with Wendy Park. It is this area where I see the most benefit. If anyone has any better ways to connect these areas I would be interested to hear them.

One thing I have to wonder about besides the zig zag nature of the initially proposed plan (I favor a direct line from Voinavich park or CBS to Edgewater), is how many towers are going to be needed? When these are built on a mountain side many more are needed to keep the line going uphill, and the mountains tend to be fairly steep. Over a flat terrain I could see less being needed and obviously this would reduce the overall cost. This may cause more sag on the line, but that would not affect the actual performance of the gondola. I think there could be a real benefit here in connecting some of the disparate parks/attractions that are near downtown, but hard to get to. Hopefully the Leitner-Poma people can shed some more light about the technical details that the project would require.

^^ Why can't they take my terrible 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe! The car still runs and doesn;t have quite as many miles as your did, but it would not be the worst thing to have that car disappear.

I had forgotten about this until just recently but there is a gondola system used as public transit. It just happens to intersect with the Telluride Ski Resort. It's interesting in that you do not need a lift ticket from the ski resort to ride, and it's free. It is actually pretty innovative the way it is set up, if you are skiing they scan you as you exit the station house otherwise you can hang out at a restaurant they have at the top of the mountain. Some info I think something like this linking FEB->West Bank->Whiskey Island->Edgewater would be fantastic.

Not possible to mix. Generally a tram is two large cars on the same fixed wire, both dock at the same time just on opposite ends. A Gondola system, which I am pretty sure this is as well, runs on a loop, usually with the cars detaching from the main wire when in a station. This allows the cars to slow down for loading/unloading, but travel at higher speeds between the stations. I think this could be doable, especially from the Flats to the west. I would only want it to go as far east as Voinavich park and def not anywhere near Terminal Tower or the Convention Center.

MTS where the hell do you fly back to CLE from? I can't picture you in one of those little crappy RJ's I was taking out of LGA this weekend. Those are the absolute bane of flying, loud as hell and no real comfort. Truely flying tin cans. Add to that that each of my flights was delayed 2+ hours. Absolute insanity. I will probably post more later, but I am tired and just trying to make it through work today. Ugh.

Where do you want to shop? What's your budget? Not too sure, but she has been on a banana republic kick recently. Didn't have much of a problem dropping $400 a few weeks ago. We are going to cole haan as she loves their shoes and I need to return a pair as well. Banana Republic? Cole Haan? Oh laaaaaaaaaawd! Shop at a store not in Cleveland. Step up your game! That was more so used as an example. Not where we were going to shop. And I can only do so much. Lead a horse to water and such. Also, pretty sure there is no Cole Haan in Cleveland. Also we did go to Gallows Green, that is a fun little place.

Where do you want to shop? What's your budget? Not too sure, but she has been on a banana republic kick recently. Didn't have much of a problem dropping $400 a few weeks ago. We are going to cole haan as she loves their shoes and I need to return a pair as well.

The Wife just informed me that we will mostly be shopping on Sunday before our late flight home. Last time this happened MTS was grasping his pearls because of the stores she went to, so I am thinking I(she) will need some advice as to what is in the area. Especially since it is Sunday, always a day of strange hours. BTW, I love you guys.

^ Unfortunately by that time the old Huntington Bldg will be empty and be the new drag on the corner. I have no idea if it would even be feasibly to convert that massive of a property into apts.