My New Job: Real Estate Agent

We’re getting two new reporters at NewsChannel 5. This week, part of my job is to help them find a place to call home here in Cleveland.

On Tuesday, I took one of them and toured more than a few apartments. I really got a good sense of what’s out there right now. The good news for Cleveland, many places report high occupancy rates and high demand. I also realize I got a really good deal on my place.

Of course, my blog entries have been a lot about my sleep schedule and yesterday put another dent in it. It’s kind of nice to get out and see what’s out there. Just four months ago, I toured a lot of places and got my own firsthand look at different apartments.

I feel almost like an expert on it now. Thursday’s another tour of different places.

Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts,

Has Spring Sprung?

Let’s hope it has. What a beautiful Monday! I got to open up my screen door and enjoy the clean Cleveland air. Enjoy…

Remembering The Gibber

One of Cleveland’s wittiest sportscasters has died. Gib Shanley had been sick for a while and lost his battle this weekend.


I remember watching him as a kid on television. My parents always watched WEWS Eyewitness News. I also can say I had the chance to work with him at NewsChannel 5. There is a distinctly strange feeling getting to work with someone who you basically grew up watching on television.

Gib would come into the station on Sundays to tape a segment for Sports Sunday each week. I got to talk to him one Sunday about the old days in TV. He talked about Tom Haley, another broadcasting legend and Linn Sheldon, TV’s “Barneby”.

People will remember him for his announcing of Browns’ games, his sportscasts, his pairing with Don Webster and his burning of the Iranian flag on TV. One of my memories of Gib was the time we were trying to get him to come in for our Browns “Countdown To Kickoff” home opener special. We’d sent him an e-mail inviting him and he responded agreeing to the special but asking the question, “Who’s Stan?”. He was our Senior Executive Producer. I’ll never know if Gib was joking or he really didn’t know who the third person in charge of the newsroom was. I don’t know if they’d ever met. It made the entire newsroom laugh.

My thoughts and prayers are with Gib’s family as they go through this difficult time.

Weekend Update

Nope, this isn’t a post about Saturday Night Live. It’s already been an interesting weekend.

My friends and I went to the aforementioned Domestic Violence Center benefit at St. Helena’s Church. On the way there, we made an ATM stop. I never carry cash so I needed money for the donation to get into the fundraiser. Remember, the fact about me not carrying cash by the way. While at the ATM, a couple pestered us for a couple of bucks for bus fare. They weren’t violent just persistent. I didn’t wan t hang out for too much longer so I think in my haste I left my debit card in machine. I didn’t even notice this had happened until this morning. Since I had cash, I didn’t use my card. Only today at lunch did I notice the missing card.

Remember the whole thing about not carrying cash? Now, I only have what I have left in my wallet. I need to locate my original ATM card. Remember, it’s not a debit card though. I called the bank and cancelled my last card and ordered another one. It’s going to cost me five dollars to get the card to me quicker. I can expect it on Wednesday. I can go to the bank and get any money on Monday. I now also have to change over all of my online bill payments to reflect the new card number. That’s just going to be a little bit of a pain.

You’re probably wondering if there was any activity on my card. No, there wasn’t. I only assume the above story is correct becuase I don’t remember getting the card out of the machine but I don’t remember not getting it either. If that didn’t happen, it slipped out of my pocket at the benefit.

So, this whole process is a little bit of a pain but no real trouble came out of except I have to go without a debit card for four days and it cost me five bucks.

On another topic, both of my neighbors, Dan & Molly are sick. They have the flu and I hope they get better. They’re struggling right now. Dan just got a Wii and he hasn’t even played it because he doesn’t feel up to it. I, on the other hang, am feeling good enough and I love bowling, golf and trivia. I beat their brother, Kevin, on baseball. He beats me on bowling though.

I do have a couple of thoughts and questions about the Wii though. Why don’t the baseball players have any legs? Also why do some of the people on the Party Pack keep rubbing their stomachs during the game?

Don’t expect me to go out and buy a Wii though. I don’t have enough time to get the things I need to get accomplished without the temptation of the Wii. I will tell you however they are addicting and they will tired you out, especially if you’re playing boxing.

On yet another topic, I’m sore. I put in two good workouts with the toughest being Friday. My abs are still sore, my neck aches, my elbows are are tight. I guess it’s all about no pain, no gain.

I’m excited about hanging out with my friend, Missy, tonight. I haven’t seen her for a while. We’re going to have dinner. She, too, has been sick recently and traveling a lot so I haven’t gotten any rock star time with her.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend, here’s to being cashless!

Sleep… Who Needs It?

I haven’t had much sleep over the past couple of days. As I mentioned in a post yesterday, I went to an event at the Foundation Room. Thursday, I went to Media Day at the Progressive Field. The Indians lost to the White Sox in what was a very quick game.

I got to see some people I haven’t seen in a while. My friend and former co-worker, Joey Morona, came up to me. I wouldn’t have known him if he’d bumped into me on the street. He’s worked at cleveland.com for years since we worked together at WKYC.

I talked with Del Donahoo for awhile. Forever, I’ll be “Scott” to him. I apologized for not getting him on the phone this year for his birthday. His number changed since he’s moved. It’s the first time I missed talking to him on his birthday in about 15 years.

Jeff Maynor spotted me and we immediately started talking about music. You think you might be able to stump Jeff on an oldies hit but you won’t. I always have to laugh because he’ll reply to your question with the answer in the form of a question. “Wasn’t that the Nightcrawlers?” I know he’s just being nice to me. I’ve yet to get him on a song. He’s always telling me the newest singer or band that’s interesting him.

Well, even though I started this post on Thursday, here it is Friday and I have the Domestic Violence Center benefit tonight. That’s my plan for this evening. I have to clean up the place tomorrow and Sunday. Ah, to think I have my weekend ahead of me. It’s a great thought!!

I hope you enjoy yours!

Getting Involved

I’m part of the media and I cover some horrible stories about what can happen in the community. I’ve always wanted to get involved on the opposite side and see the good side of what people can accomplish by themselves or together as a group.
There are two upcoming events I hope you’ll consider attending. One of them benefits the Domestic Violence Center. The organization needs to renovate their facility and the money goes to that fund. You can click on the art card to find out more about this Friday’s fundraiser. There are three bands, including the Boys from County Hell. If you’ve see them you know how good they are. The doors open at 7pm and stay that way until Midnight.

Also, if you’re looking for something with a little more notice, check out the Foundation for Community Betterment’s Black & White Ball coming up in May. Tonight, I attended a kick-off event at the Foundation Room at the House of Blues. The organization is a “Pay It Forward” group. They believe in giving back to the community in a big way. One of their board members is an example of what the group can accomplish. The price might be a little steep for some people. But, if you read some of the things the group has done, you’ll change your mind.

The Domain Switch

If you’ve been following along with my blog, you may have noticed taawd.blogspot.com wasn’t working a couple of days this week. Now, both that URL and https://taawd.com/ will get you to my blog.

I have goddaddy.com as my domain supplier. I had to modify the CNAME to google’s servers and then delete the “A” portion. If anyone is trying to do this, don’t get worried if your dot blogspot dot com URL doesn’t work for a couple of days, this is somewhat normal as all of the Internet catches up to your changes. I got freaked out and it was all for nothing. You can test to see if its slowly coming up by going to that dot blogspot dot com URL and hit ctrl+F5 a couple of times. At one point, you’ll notice it will eventually point to your new custom domain. I was thinking blogger was going back on its promise that they wouldn’t “leave your readers behind.”

I search the Internet and all of the message boards to figure this out mostly by myself. Blogger does make it seem a lot easier than it actually is. Deleting that “A” record, for godaddy.com users, it’s the top section on your MX Records page.

Good luck with the switchover. Hopefully, my newly found knowledge will help everyone else not fret like I did.

Free Music From My Balcony?

The Plain Dealer Pavilion has announced some of its 2008 schedule on its website. I’m excited to hear some of the different bands that are coming to the venue.
I can’t wait to hear how the music sounds from my balcony. I already have people lined up, ready to sit on my patio to hear the music.
The Superior Viaduct is also a great place to hang out during the concerts. During the Barenaked Ladies’ concert, boaters sit on the Cuyahoga River and listen for free. The band even yelled at the boaters for not buying a ticket to the concert.
I hope more acts will be added soon.
Here is the schedule as of today:
Fri, 06/13/08 – 8:00pm
Death Cab for Cutie
Find Tickets
Sat, 06/21/08 – 8:00pm
First Light
Find Tickets
Tue, 06/24/08 – 8:00pm
Return to Forever
More Info
Tue, 07/08/8 – 8:00pm
Chicago
Find Tickets
Sat, 07/26/08 – 8:00pm
Earth, Wind & Fire
Find Tickets

photo credit: netnerd (thanks for the great looking picture of the Flats & the Plain Dealer Pavilion)