Month: October 2007

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Weird Dream

I think everyone who’s gone to college has had this dream once – you dream one class stands in your way of getting your degree. Of course, it’s the class you didn’t attend all semester or you walk into the class, realize it’s the day of the final exam and you don’t have any idea about the course. There are several different ways this dream plays out.

dreammoods.com has this explanation of this type of dream:

To dream that you are in college, indicates that you are going through some social or cultural changes. You may be wanting to expand your knowledge and awareness. It also suggest that now is a good time for you to experiment and try new things. If you had gone to college in your past, then also consider your personal experiences and memories of your college days. However, if you are currently in college, then it may be a reflection of your current surroundings. It may also represent stress.

The past couple of nights I’ve been having a different dream that I’ve gone back to college. I remember moving into a dorm, wondering how I was going to pay my bills and then the dream was over. Last night, I dreamed I attended one class but then didn’t have the schedule for the rest of my classes. I spent most of the academic day trying to find the registrar’s office to get my schedule. I remember everyone in the dream knowing my name. It was very surreal.

I know I work in television but I’m having a “dream mini-series”. It’s been playing out over the past couple of nights. Thank God I don’t see “To Be Continued” pop up at the end. Normally, I don’t recall all of my dreams but these are different.

Do you have any recurring dreams or worse, nightmares?

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Up Early!

I don’t know why but I’m up this morning already. My body summoned me around 8:30am. Why? I’m not sure but I am sure I’m not excited about it.

I’ve been having problems with my laptop. It goes into hyper hard drive mode and the fan starts going at full throttle then it shuts down but not before giving me a blue screen of death error message. I’m trying to be gentle with it until I figure out what the problem is. I need to back up the hard drive. Maybe I’ll do it when I take a nap in a little bit.

One more thought before I post this. This fall has been one of the most beautiful I can remember. Last night on the way home one of the trees was so brightly yellow it honestly looked like it glowed in the dark.

p.s., enjoy the new fall look, notice I’m not rushing Christmas like all of the retailers…

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The Yearly Photo

Aren’t my nephews cute? I’m actually holding them but you can’t tell. We’ve taken this picture each year around my birthday. I figure this will be the last year that I can pull it off. They are getting big. Maybe one more year if I keep working out. The one in the red turns 10 in December. The one in the blue is 8. They’re both great boys, each with their own definite personality.
I love them both very much!
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No HD Again!!

Well, CBS Sports did it to Browns fans again. Today’s game is once again not being broadcast in high definition and WOIO is again running the crawl explaining that CBS is not producing today’s match-up between the Browns and the Rams. Of course, up to now, there isn’t too many hilights for Browns fans. The Rams are moving the ball up the field like champs.

More to come, but c’mon CBS, what’s with the trend of not broadcasting Browns games in high def.?

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Terror In Tremont?

The following e-mail has been hitting inboxes all around Cleveland. I’m comparing it to a viral video. This isn’t an urban legend, it happened but I don’t know if I totally agree with the sender’s advice. I’ve removed their name but read for yourself.

Dear Friends & Family,

You all know that I am the first person to encourage others to visit
restaurants, venues, and bars in the city of Cleveland. However, I have to
urge all of you to STAY OUT OF TREMONT. Friday night I had dinner at the
South Side restaurant in Tremont. As I was walking back to my car with two
friends, we were approached by 4 young men. They robbed us at gunpoint
with a sawed off shotgun and another handgun.

The three of us are fine and not hurt – thank God. However, we were almost
standing directly in front of Parallax on the main street (W.11th) at 10pm –
never thinking that this would be dangerous. The police are all over the
case and have one person in custody. They also acquired the guns involved.
They know who the other three men are and are very confident that they
will be arrested soon. There has been 6 armed robberies in this area (by
Parallax and South Side restaurants) since October 10th.

We are working with the detectives and they have been great but until they
catch these guys you should all stay out of that area. These guys are gang
members and are not messing around. Please forward this on to anyone you
think would visit this area.

Anyone who knows me knows what I think of The South Side. The Restore Tremont organization calls the neighborhood, dynamic with a fascinating past and an exciting future. It has a tremendous nightlife anchored by The South Side, Parallax, The Treehouse and Lolita. People living around the area have their choice of no less than 20 churches. There are also about a dozen places to do some shopping. The neighborhood was once named University Heights because it hosted the city’s first institution of higher learning, Cleveland University. You’ll notice street names “Professor,” “College,” “University” and “Literary” reflect that history.

I’ve been going to the South Side after work for food and fun for months and I’ve never had a problem down in this area. Police should step up patrols and more streetlights need to be installed.

With the opening of Wal-Mart and the rest of the stores in Steelyard Commons down the street from Tremont, now is crucial time for the Cleveland neighborhood to get together against this sort of crime. Cleveland needs to use this opportunity to start attracting younger and older suburbanites, not scaring them away.

Tremont is no different from downtown Cleveland. Look what happened outside of Spy Bar in the Warehouse District. A man was shot in the street. It’s not out of the question to find a fight on the streets of West Sixth on a Friday or Saturday night. Are the actions of what happens there any different than any other entertainment district in any city of the country?

Look what happened in the Flats. It was once the entertainment destination in Cleveland. Often times when I tell people on flights where I’m from, they often mention the Flats and wonder if it’s still a good time. Sadly, I have to tell them no and what happened to cause its collapse. Hopefully, the redevelopment of the area will happen and bring another rebirth to Cleveland.

So is staying away the answer? I think the way to get rid of this violence is quite the opposite. Why should we let great businesses, like Parallax, Lolita and The South Side, die? Why should we allow an area that shows signs of life to decay? So is staying away the right idea? No! Is being alert of your surroundings a better one? Yes! We shouldn’t allow criminals to pull the plug on what many people have invested their time, money and sweat to create.

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Monday TV Mash-Up

Since I’ve only been home for about an hour and a half, I can’t give you too much information about my favorite Monday TV shows that range from NBC to CBS to Showtime. Thank God for the dual tuner and DVR.

Let’s start with “Heroes”. I can’t think of too much new to say about this incredible series. It’s well written and keeps everyone guessing what will happen next. Tonight, we got to find out more about Matthew Parker’s dad, who Molly calls “the boogeyman”. We quickly found out he’s not a nice person. We also find out more about Peter and him regaining his memory. He’s also being stalked by a woman with electric powers who fried Peter’s girlfriend’s brother at the pub. Next Monday promises to be just as good as the producers claim more questions will be answered.

Next, “The Big Bang Theory” – Leonard gets lucky with a fellow scientist, Leslie. She’s played by Sara Gilbert, Johnny Galecki‘s love interest in “Roseanne”. The interesting thing about this show is it’s the first time that Penny (Kaley Cuoco) appears interested in Leonard. She also smiles whens she walks away after hearing there isn’t probably a future with Leslie. This continues to be a good show.

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VHS Dilemma

I have probably about 100 VHS tapes that I haven’t used in years. I’ve got “Meet The Parents”, “Star Wars”, “So I Married An Axe Murderer” and a bunch more. I hate throwing them away because I do believe there are still people out there who, for some reason, haven’t switched over to DVD yet.

Do I just throw them away? I’m not keeping them but is there a library that’d take them?

The stuff that I taped off the TV or from work I want to digitize them and put them on DVD because they will last longer. Of course, that’s really time consuming but I hope to do it sometime soon.

Your thoughts?

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If you want the definition of courage…

I cover news for a living, I’m a journalist. In previous posts, I mentioned how easy it is for you to become a little jaded and unattached to the violence and tragedy that happens every day in this world.

Last night, I stepped back a little while watching Jeff Mackel’s interview with Johanna Orozco. She is the Cleveland teenager who was shot in the face by her former boyfriend, Juan Ruiz. She endured hours of surgeries and has many still ahead as doctors work to try to undo what Ruiz did to her with just a blast from a sawed off shotgun. With each of those procedures her medical bills inch closer to $375,000.

Even with the almost deadly attack, her rape by Ruiz and everything she’s gone through so far, the teenager still has her sense of humor. Her personality is bubbly. She laughs, she jokes and if it weren’t for the scars of the domestic violence, you wouldn’t know anything happened to this young woman.

One word you can’t help thinking when you see Johanna is courage. What courage it took to stand up to the person who tried to kill you. What courage it took to take off the veil that covered her scars. What courage it takes to go through the painful surgeries she’s already been through and the upcoming ones. During Ruiz’s sentencing Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty used that word to describe Johanna. He then sentenced Ruiz to 27 years in prison.

Johanna is writing a book about her experiences. While penning it, she’ll have to relive all of the trauma she’s gone through in her life. Hopefully, it will somehow work to heal some of her wounds.

She’s definitely an inspiration. She loves life, something that someone else almost took away from her.

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Not Feeling My Age

You probably know I recently had a birthday. It was my 35th. Hard and unbelievable to write that. I’ve been kicking around this big blue marble for a while now. Even with that number I don’t feel anywhere that old. Let’s agree that it’s NOT that old. I still feel like I’m living life in the 20’s.

I do things like lay on the floor by crawling under my coffee table. I like to sit on the breakfast bar when I’m talking to my friends on the telephone.

Do you feel your age? I think that’s what we’ll all have to deal with for the rest of our lives.

GO TRIBE!!!

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Blog Block

Anyone else ever experience this? I’ve written three different blog posts just to save them thinking I’ll complete them later. I get about two or three sentences out and then stop.

I write for a living and really never had to worry about what to write about because the subject matter is always there. But besides sports recently I haven’t had too much that I wanted to write about. The holidays are coming so maybe that’ll motivate me a little. I need a shake up in my life. Something to ruffle my life’s feathers.

The next couple of days could be interesting. The Indians are as aforementioned so close to the World Series. I’ll end up working Sunday if the Tribe hasn’t beat the Indians. I hope the Indians win and advance before then. I don’t think Cleveland sports fans can take too many more games against the Boston Red Sox. The Colorado Rockies are next. They scare me. They’re on some crazy rollercoaster of winning and not loses.

That’s all for now…