Month: September 2007

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Rock Hall Nominees

If it involves music, I have an opinion. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame released its list of nominees for the 2008 class.

They are:

  • Madonna
  • John Mellencamp
  • Beastie Boys
  • Donna Summer
  • Chic
  • Afrika Bambaataa
  • Leonard Cohen
  • The Dave Clark Five
  • The Ventures

The top five vote getters get induction. There’s little chance Madonna will get passed up. Mellencamp has the same chances. I’d like to see The Dave Clark Five and The Ventures get the nod. The Ventures defined surf music and made a name for themselves without any vocals. I defy anyone to listen to “Because” by the Dave Clark Five and not love it. Their music ranges from the slow harmonic love ballad to the rowdy “Can’t You See That She’s Mine”.

British groups like the DC5 have a place in the Rock Hall but many of them still haven’t gotten the nomination, let alone the induction. How about the Moody Blues. I’m not a huge fan but they certainly have left their mark on rock and roll.

Some 500 musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote on the inductions. The ceremony will be held in New York City again. Not in Cleveland which is something that needs to change. If Cleveland’s good enough to have the Rock Hall, it’s good enough for the induction ceremony. ’nuff said!

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Warehouse District Spruce Up

I know a lot about the warehouse district. Before D’Vine, Liquid, Wish, Blue Pointe, XO and all of the apartments and condo, the effort was on to fix up the area. The Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation threw “Hats Off Parties” trying to raise money for the restoration project.
Now a bigger push is underway on several fronts. Robert L. Stark, of Stark Enterprises, is planning a multi-million redevelopment. He’s going to build retail, office, housing, and structured parking. The first phase is supposed to be finished by 2009. Stark already has opened a downtown headquarters for the project. Stark has the cash. He developed Crocker Park and it’s thriving in Westlake. Stark told the Jewish News “People want to live in a mixed-use environment and engage in the aesthetics of the urban experience. It’s about that buzz you get in urban places like Chicago and New York.”
Last week, (ironically while I was in Detroit) the Cleveland City Planning Commission approved plans from the Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation to add greenspace, banners, lights (my friend, Brad will love that since he’s moving to the area) and other developments which embrace the Warehouse District’s history. For the cleveland.com article, click here.
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Middle Name Meme

I’ll bite… Mom2Amara strikes again with one of those myspace-ish memes. Not my phrase but Jennie’s.

Here’s the deal, participants basically list one fact/word that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name.

M – Music – I love it. Just go through my blog and you’ll get the picture. It can sweep me from mood to mood and control my emotions.
I – Intelligent, or so that’s what people have always tell me, I always feel stupid or inferior but that could be covered by another letter.
C – Casual – in live and dress. I’m the person often asking others what they want to do. I’m easy and low maintenance.
H – Headstrong – I have a stubborn side but you have to knock me into a corner for it to show. Don’t challenge me not to do something. Same thing with dares.
A – Advice – I love to get it and give it. I sometimes think I live my life a little too much at the advice of others. I’ve at least thought it out then. No rash decisions here.
E – Entertaining – Whether it’s entertaining someone else or someone else entertaining me. I love laughing and having a great time.
L – Love, all you need is love…

At least, there’s no tagging involved on this one thanks Mom2Amara.

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Cleveland Blogs…

That’s not blogs in the noun sense… that’s blogs as a verb. If Cleveland Rocks then the city also does its share of blogging. A simple search on blogger will turn up around 3,600 profiles from people who claim Cleveland (proper), as I do, as their home.

I grew up Cleveland, suffered through the jokes, the questions on why I would want to live there, watched Cleveland TV, left Cleveland but ultimately came back to live. Will I spend the rest of my life here, I don’t know. My heart will always be here. People who know Cleveland, love Cleveland.

I just can’t believe how many people blog. I don’t know too many other people at my workplace who blog. I’m the recipient of some jokes but I’m okay with that. I’m intentionally linking to Christine’s blog. She’s moving back to Cleveland. Our region needs more of that. We need to stop the brain drain and convince people to stay here. We lose a lot of people to Chicago, the big Cleveland. I dare you to go to the Windy City and not bump into someone from Cleveland.

Cleveland has so many hidden gems people don’t know exist. Everyone knows the Orchestra but what about Ohio City, Tremont, Little Italy and the Metroparks.

Todd’s listening to: Barenaked Ladies – One And Only

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Tube Time

It’s premiere week and that means the new shows are debuting on the networks. What am I watching?

Heroes: The show continues to twist and turn beyond anyone’s expectations. During the second season’s premiere, Hiro’s father is killed, we find out Peter is alive and the cheerleader attracts the attention of a new hero. No specific cliffhangers to mention but you have to wonder

How I Met Your Mother: Ted and Robin are split up. We learn Robin didn’t get over the break-up easily. She found a boyfriend Gael (Enrique Iglesias) to cope. Lily & Marshall both swoon for him. Ted makes out with a wild girl with tattoos. Mandy Moore plays the character who takes on Barney with a barrage of one line zingers.

The Big Bang Theory: Great first episode. Hally Cuoco plays Penny, the new next door neighbor for Leonard & Sheldon. They’re both geeks who aren’t good with women. I like what I saw but I can’t wait to see where else this show can go. You have my attention so far…

Two & A Half Men: The show wins me again. Great comedy, guaranteed laughs. It’s an overall great comedy.

Ugly Betty: I can’t wait to see where they will pick this show up. The previews show Betty racing around her office concerned about her “boyfriend”, her dad, her job and her boss.

Finally, it’s not the premiere but I’m enjoying “Coupling” on BBC OnDemand. It’s hilarious. The BBC does comedy right. “Mile High” was a great comedy/drama before they ended it.

What are you watching? Jennie, I know what you’re watching…

Todd’s listening to: Jack Johnson – Banana Pancakes

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Seven Random Things About taawd

The meme: 7 random facts about me

The rules:

  1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
  2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
  3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
  4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1.) When I was a kid, I thought Jack Frost was real. I didn’t think he was human but I was scared to death of him. My parents would tell me “Jack Frost was here” and I wouldn’t get out of bed.

2.) While I was kneeboarding back in high school, I hit a wake the wrong way after landing a 360 flip. The kneeboard came up and hit me in the face. I had braces at the time. The impact slit my lip and rearranged my teeth. The dentist I saw told me if it wasn’t for the braces I would have lost about a half dozen teeth. I got nine stitches in my lip and still have a scar. I haven’t kneeboarded since that accident.

3.) My cousin swung a croquet mallet like a golf club and hit me squarely in the nose. I have never lost so much blood in my life. My nose is still screwed up because of that accident. I have since forgiven her but will never let her forget it.

4.) I really don’t have that many fears of living, breathing things. Spiders don’t bother me, snakes don’t either, however I don’t have either as pets. I’ve somewhat conquered my fear of dogs after getting bit by my aunt’s german shepherd (she claims he scratched me). My fears are more life-oriented.

5.) I grew up on a farm even though my parents weren’t farmers. We rented the century home. Our landlord’s daughter’s family demolished the house and built a similar home on the same spot. Our house still exists but only in our memories and the hundreds of pictures my parents too over the years.

6.) I used to wear hoodies back in the day when they weren’t even popular. They were my security for some reason. I wore them to school everyday. I even forgot to take it off for picture day and my mother was furious mildly upset with me.

7.) My local newspaper named me and Janey Haskins as “Teenagers Of The Month”. Yes, I like other people who were trying to be cool sported a hockey hairstyle (yes, others call it a mullet). For pride purposes, I am not including a picture. You’ll have to trust me!

Here are my tags:
Bruce: He claims to be getting back into the blogging business. This will give him easy content.
Jennie: She’ll be a wiz at this and we’ll all learn something about her.
Megan: I read her blog every now and then.
Wet Cat: Apparently, his name is really Carl but for some reason everyone calls him Wet Cat.

I know I’m supposed to do 7 people but this is all I can muster. They will have to do.

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Construction Chaos Complete

When I lived in Detroit, it quickly became a pain to get back home to northern Ohio to see my family and friends because you’d have to go through Toledo. In 2001, ODOT began construction on what is now called the Veterans’ Glass City Skyway Bridge. It takes traffic over the Maumee River.

The cable-stayed bridge is the largest, most expensive single project in the history of the ODOT. It did not open without tragedy, five workers died during construction. A gantry truss on the main span collapsed in 2004. Four workers died and four others were hurt. That halted main construction for 16 months. Earlier this year, another worker died when platform gave way and he fell from the structure.

During construction, traffic was rerouted through all of the large cement supports. You ended up literally winding through a maze of huge columns. It severely slowed traffic to a crawl. Drivers didn’t have much choice but to take their foot off the gas for their own safety. I dealt with the construction almost every trip home during my three years in Detroit.

Now, I have to say it was worth it. Take a look at the picture at the top of this post. It gives Toledo’s skyline a modern update. It is a little scary crossing it. If you don’t like heights, you will probably want to stick to the inside lanes. On the outside lanes you feel as if you’re floating over the Maumee River. This weekend only four of the six lanes were open and they are still finishing up construction on parts of it.

ODOT’s next big project will be the Innerbelt Project in Cleveland. Ohio has to replace the aging span that crosses the Cuyahoga River. This summer, workers replaced a portion of the bridge because concrete was falling from the bridge. NewsChannel 5 reported on newsnet5.com this about the project in January 2007:

ODOT chose what is called a single tower cable stay for the new bridge.The new I-90 west bridge will be built north of the current Innerbelt Bridge, which carries almost 130,000 vehicles each day.The $275 million bridge is scheduled to begin construction in 2010 and is expected to wrap up in 2016.The entire project could end up costing more than $900 million.

We have a couple of years before Cleveland’s skyline gets a similar look as Toledo’s.

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The Battle Of The Sexes

There have been books written, TV documentaries produced, studies conducted (see my thoughts on studies a little later in this post) about the battle of the sexes. I have to take exception with the constant comparision between men and women. I’m so sick of things being a “guy” or “girl” thing.

“Girls get over relationships faster than guys.” someone will say. “Guys get over relationships faster than girls.” someone else will counter. We’re all human, people, we all deal with life in our own ways. Stereotyping one sex a certain way is just that, a stereotype. We are all human!

In one of her recent posts, Mom2Amara blogged about “girl talk” and how a new study says it’s bad for women to do. Focusing on the negatives and trying to one up the other person with their story of misery. Side note: I think we should study the amount of studies being done out there.

As I commented on her blog, it’s not just a girl thing. Again, we are all human and everyone out there likes to know they’re not the only people out there who are suffering or feeling miserable. What do we share more often, our happiness or our discontent? I’d argue the latter.

How many time have you heard on the phone, at work or at home these kinds of phrases?

  • “I work too much”
  • “I didn’t get enough sleep last night”
  • “I have so much to do”

Conversely, when was the last time anyone of us started our sentence with “Hey, what’s up, i’m having a fantastic day”? If you do that, people will think you’re mentally unstable. We’re for the most part, a negative group, humans, that is. In fact, most times at work when people ask me how I’m doing I normally answer back “Fantastic” but it’s not in a believable fashion. It makes people laugh, mostly and allows me not to lie.

Do you believe all of these studies? Do you think men and women are that drastically different?