Category: Rock Bottom Brewery

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Your Table Is Ready, Sir…

I normally don’t get the “sir” part but I have a favorite table at Rock Bottom, which for those of you keeping score at home is now “Roc Bottom” right now.

The servers know it as 241 and my favorite place in the restaurant to people watch. George Wendt ain’t got nothing on me. If I’m there, I’m looking out the window at the people entering and exiting the Powerhouse. If you come dressed appropriately, I probably won’t say a word but if you come looking like Aretha Franklin dressed in Beyoncé’s outfit, you probably won’t want to hear what I say.

Last night, I saw 241 was open from outside the door and I actually sprinted up the steps to claim it. If I was another 10 minutes late, another group would have claimed it. Their friends were sitting at the next table, don’t know if it was 240 or 242. They were going to push the two tables together. Hmmmpf, the nerve!! Anyhow, last night was a treat because a lot of people were dressed up for Halloween. Don’t get me started about the “holiday”, I’ve never been much of a fan. I stopped dressing up a long time ago. There’s also too much pressure associated with having the perfect costume. I always stink at my final choice. Someone asked me what I was dressed up as and I said “a high schooler, don’t you see I’m wearing Hollister?”

Back to the table, I’ve been known to get a little upset when someone’s sitting at my table. No, I never say anything to them but I have shot them some dirty looks. I’m sure they don’t know why but maybe they just think I’m a jerk. That’s okay, they’re in my spot. I have talked to Marco about putting my Mug Club medal on the front of the table. He’s apparently still mulling that decision over. He wants to put them on the backs of chairs, I’d be okay with that but it would have to be on the back of MY chair at MY table.

I first discovered the sheer awesomeness of 241 when Rebecca and I were sitting there one night. We were relentless to a part of the universe where rentlessness lived and frolicked. Since then, it’s my place to dine, partake, and watch the people who enter/exit the Powerhouse.

The game “Who’s dating up?” is also played at 241. It’s a great game for sociology. The rules are simple, either he’s dating up, meaning she’s hotter than him or vice versa. There are exceptions when there is parity between the couple. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re hot/average/ugly, it just means they’ve found their appropriate looking mate. Good for them!

If I’m not there, please feel free to sit at 241 and experience the totally tubular experience. If you see me come in, I hope you’ll at least have the respect of getting up and moving to an open table so I can enjoy my time at the Rock.

(a lot of what I said is for your enjoyment, I really do love 241, it’s a great view but you don’t really have to move for me. I will probably shoot you dirty looks from another table tho.)

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The Game Of Catch-Up

The week has arrived, the birthweek. At the risk of seeming cocky, I don’t celebrate just a birthday, it’s an entire week of fun. Hey then getting older isn’t as stressful and depressing. The last sentence was there to pacify anyone who would claim I had a big ego or something. Truth is, I don’t, get over it.

Friday night was a night of absolute rest. I loved it, every minute of it.

Saturday night was the Emmy’s you saw the update, I didn’t win, again it was just an honor to be nominated. The after-party for me was a lot better than the Emmy’s themselves.

During the ceremony, something went awry in the Marriott and the fire alarms went off. Everyone looked around wondering it was part of the show, then we got word, we had to evacuate the place. Half way to the end, everyone had to leave their table and head outside into the sticky Saturday night Cleveland air. Just as I hit the door, one of the worker told me it was okay to go back. I then walked back up the escalator and once again took my seat. NewsChannel 5 took several awards. I’m not going to list them here but congratulations everyone!!

Sunday was filled with sleep and then getting ready for the game. I wondered was Father Time effing with my clock because it was 5:00pm somewhere and that somewhere was Cleveland. That creeped up on me. My friend, Kevin, brought up some cornhole boxes and some beanbags. I’m now a proud member of the clan of people who own them. My grandparents made them for me. How awesome are they? Seriously!

We got some Rock Bottom (Sign Update: ROCK OTTOM) and I want to tell you the sliders are great on Gamedays. Shameless plug, if you haven’t gone to Rock Bottom, check it out, or check it out again. It’s got a great group of servers, great food, brews and management. Thanks Marco for the birthday present food. I love the Big Cuba Melt (you’ll find it on the menu as Little Havanna Melt, I have to be different) There several tappings coming up this week. Don’t miss them.

We headed down to the game, got to hang out with Rebecca, Rodger, Dave, Marie, Kevin and Nicole for a little tailgating. The game’s outcome wasn’t what I wanted. There are a fun group of people in Section 514. One woman’s thong was riding so far up I thought it was almost her bra. Thanks to the guys in the row below us for providing witty commentary.

During the night as Kevin slumbered on the couch, I got about 7 text messages and calls. Many of them about power. Having no power can be both scary and inconvenient. That’s why if you have a home phone, corded phones can be your friends. I hope the power is restored soon. It does give you an excuse though to be late for things. “My power was out!” Sometimes you just need days like these.

So here I am, sitting on my floor (I’m a big floor person) and thinking about the last year and all of the changes. That’s another blog. I looked forward to this week for weeks and I’m contently bored. There’s a strange phenonomen I experience I look at the clock a lot when it’s 9:20pm. That’s a special day… ‘tember 20! The countdown is on folks to the age of 36. It should be a good year. Hopefully one of the best, I’m ready to take it all on, sign me up, coach, sometimes it’s better not knowing what you’re getting yourself into and just going one step at a time. That’s my new motto, it’s good advice!

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Hyperclicking

Wait until you see where this post goes.

I love Wikipedia but I hate that I start out looking for information about bumblebees and end up reading about the life and times of Queen Elizabeth twenty minutes later.

The same thing is true about the blogosphere. I wanted to catch up on my blog and everyone else’s today. I’ve been working crazy hours this week and haven’t had time to do much posting. I started going through the blogs when I got to Narm’s.

Ironically, I went to Ro k Bottom with Narm last night. Ro k Bottom is Rock Ottom now. (c’mon Marco, you gotta fix that sign and the wiring) Narm’s just as hilarious in person as on his blog. If you haven’t read the Secret blog, spend 5 minutes or less of your life and read it. It’s one of the funniest posts I’ve ever read. I was happy to tell him apparently there is a new scent of Secret out there that smells more manly. My neighbor bought two of them but then pitched them because she didn’t like the smell. He even made me curious to see what the stuff’s all about. I’ll never tell anyone that I actually used the stuff though. See my comment on his page. By the way, if you go to Ro k Bottom, you can’t order a GLBC beer or let’s say a Miller Lite because Ro k Bottom is a brewery. I’m just trying to keep you from embarrassing yourself. I can never spell “embarassing” correctly.

So back to the Wikipedia connection. I was reading Narm’s blog and his comments on one of his posts and I clicked through to Hebrewhero who had a funny retort. I, of course, read his post about going to the dentist. It got me to thinking about my hundreds (I mean hundreds) of trips to the dentist over the years. I apparently had bad mouth of chompers. I love the dentist over a trip to the doctors.

When I was down in South Texas one of the hygienists told me that people gag all of the time at the dentist and that’s the best part. I don’t need to remind you what follows gagging. I was shocked by this revelation. In all of my professional visits (I can claim professional because I went to the dentist so much, I actually have a degree. One of my procedures actually allowed my dentist to buy a hot tub. I’m not joking.)

Starting over…

In all of my professional visits, I can claim I never gagged once… until that dreaded woman told me of the phenomenon. Now, I have to watch my reflex closely when I get x-rays or impressions taken. I mean, did she really have to tell me about that? It’s engrained in my brain now and I think I have to be like the cool people, kind of like Britney Spears following Paris Hilton’s trend of going commando, and start gagging.

She was nice enough to tell me that the secret to avoid the gag is breathing through your nose. I practice that now and rule the day she ever told me such a thing.

See I told you we were going to be all over the place.

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Embracing My Singleness

One of the hardest things for me after I got out of a long term relationship was figuring what the heck I’d do with my time. I didn’t have someone wanting me to do this or that anymore. My life was again my life. It wasn’t something easy for me to comprehend, I’d forgot what it was like.

Last week, as noted in previous posts, I worked days and kept a busy schedule after I left my employer. I did Cleveland things, grilled out on the Superior Viaduct, went to a production at Quicken Loans Arena and got to see Omar at Progressive Field. Friday night, I went to Rock Bottom. The restaurant has anchored the Powerhouse for years.

I didn’t clear any of those visits with anyone. Anxiety didn’t fill my mind about deciding my priorities, I just did it. On Saturday, I volunteered at a non-profit organization and I loved every second of it. There’s confidentiality involved so I probably won’t detail much about my altruism. On Sunday, taawd rested.

At times, people have nicknamed me the “Mayor”. I know a lot of people and probably do too much a lot of handshaking and hugging around town. I’m proud of the people I know, I guess you could say it’s a hobby of mine. Meeting good people is my priority. That’s not something easily accomplished. You can meet a lot of people, but meeting quality people doesn’t happen often.

Those people are the ones who help me decide what I’m doing with my time. They’re the people who make me laugh, hope and leave with a smile on my face. If I want my alone time, it’s my decision not to answer the door, pick up the phone or return the text messsage. However, that sort of thing doesn’t happen that often because I love being around other people… good, quality people.

this blog entry partially inspired by my fellow blogger at the Cleveland Bachelor.

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My Week: A Look Back

The last week was an interesting one.

I didn’t think I’d end up getting a stomach bug that would knock me out for Monday at work. My friend/co-worker’s father died so I worked dayside.

Tuesday quickly came and Stacie, Josh and I grilled out on the Viaduct. We forgot the fact that sometimes you want dessert after BBQ’ing. Next time, add s’mores ingredients to the grocery list.

Quickly up for Wednesday which proved to be a long day at work and play. I got out of work and rushed home to see the Dinosaurs. If you have young kids who aren’t afraid of very realistic dinosaurs, don’t hesitate to go. I didn’t get to post much of a review about “Walking With Dinosaurs” but the show is very well done. I think it’s just as fun for the adults to figure out how the dinosaurs work as it is for kids to see them in action. I was surprised at all of the kids around me knowing so much about the animals. They shouted out their names when they’d take the stage. There are some fun moments with the announcer when he talks about “poop”. Rodger, Rebecca, Stacie, Josh and I all had a good time. We stopped at Flat Iron Cafe for dinner after the show. The production at the Quicken Loans Arena started around 7:00pm and ended by 9:45pm with a 20-minute intermission.

Eight hours of sleep later, it was Thursday already. Jason, Russ, his friend and I braved the elements and watched the Indians take on the San Francisco Giants. We won but we didn’t sit through the entire game because it got started so late. The crowd gave Omar Vizquel a standing ovation as he returned again to the place he knew as Jacobs Field. We apparently made STO’s coverage of the game several times because of where our seats were. Several foul balls came whirling out our way. I think a fan got hit with a line drive foul ball. The ushers brought someone in to check the person out. I didn’t see them take the person out on a stretcher so I only could assume she was okay. I will have to admit if it got all of the way to me, it’d sure knocked me out. The Indians ended up winning the game by a score of 4 to 1. C’mon comeuppance!!

By Friday, I was tired by the time I left work. Josh, Dan and I went to Ro k Bottom to get some food and it was low-key. We played table shuffleboard, I took the first game against Dan. Josh won the next one but only by a couple of points. In bed and done by 11:30.

This morning, I’m off to volunteer at a non-profit. I get to hang with some kids and hopefully brighten their day with some ice cream. No plans yet for tonight but part of my day will be spent working out and cleaning up my place that is certifiably a bachelor pad. It’s a right mess!

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A Relaxin’ Weekend, A Busy Week Ahead…

I had one of the most relaxing weekends in a long time. On Friday night, we went to Rock Bottom for dinner. By the way, for all of the complaining commenting I do about the sign outside of the restaurant, I really do like the place inside a lot. The manager, Marco, is a great guy. I was in bed by 12:30am. I worked that day from about 7:45am until about 6:15pm. That’s after switching by body schedule around from the overnight shift. I liked being “dayside” because it’s different and provided me with some variety in my job.

Saturday, my friend, Kevin, came up and we played frisbee in the Powerhouse parking lot. We started up on the Viaduct but that idea quickly played itself out as a bad one when one of the frisbees landing in the parking lot below and the other one on the rooftop of a building on the other side. We recovered one of them I hope to recover the other one as well. Kevin doesn’t own up to the bad throws but claims my lack of catching them. I played/helped with “Zelda” for several hours. Basically lounging around until about 11:30, again, I was in bed by midnight-ish.

Side note about “Zelda”: We experienced something we call “Sand Foot” when we were inside of the Arbiter’s Grounds. Link starts moving outside of the sand like he’s walking in it. You most likely have bugs on you, use the nunchuk to shake them off of you and you’ll move faster again. We honestly thought it was either a bug in the game or the Wii was malfunctioning. How could that be? Side note out…

I got up this morning around 8am. Wow, eight hours of sleep. Amazing! I got a full workout, laundry started and I’m going for another killer run with Molly. I think she’s trying to kill me. Really, if I turn up dead on the side of a Cleveland street in a running outfit, you’ll know who to question.

After that, I’m off to my sister’s house for the second Sunday in a row. I’m getting bonus family points for this. Yes, you don’t have to warn me, I’ll wear the sunscreen because I’m not going through another week with burn and blistered shoulders like I did last week complaining to all of my co-workers. They’re tired of hearing me complain but they don’t have any choice.

I’m not getting into everything I have on the schedule for the upcoming week now or I won’t have anything to blog about later this week. Hey, it’s a tease, I’m in the TV news business, it’s what we do!

If you haven’t read my blog entry about my dad, please check it out.

To all of the Dad’s out there, have a happy one!