Lots of Interesting Links

I was very surprised to run into an old pal the other day who said he reads my blog but didn't visit any of my web sites.

I explained to him that I very rarely post to the blog but the websites get new stuff every day.

So for those of you who didn't know, here are a couple of cool postings on some of my web sites.

On GreatLakesGeek.com we have some great pics and video from Jim Cookinham's retirement party.

Also more from the Tech Czar, Mike DeAloia.

On ClevelandPeople.com we have some great pics and videos from a Chinese New Years Lion Dance at Asia Plaza as well as pics from the Cleveland Cavaliers Black Heritage Celebration and the visit to Cleveland of the Ambassador from the People's Republic of China.


The ClevelandSeniors.com site has a great profile of Fox 8's Tim Taylor as well as the life of Jim Cookinham Both with tons of photos!

on ClevelandWomen.com we have new fashion and makeup experts that are getting a great response. And we have some fascinating Cleveland Women profiles about ready to post.

So as he scolded me to post more to the blog, I reminded him (and now you!) that the real action is on the websites. But I will try and do better.

Euclid Construction

We have been fortunate to have unseasonably dry and warm weather. One might expect this to positively impact the progress on Euclid Avenue repairs, no?

No, is right.

After a week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I returned for my daily commute to nice weather and one, count 'em, one solitary worker on Euclid between Mayfield and Chester.

So this vital stretch that covers University Circle, CWRU and University Hospitals is still torn up and limited to a couple of lanes that must be shared with emergency vehicles.

I'm not saying it's as bad as this photo where the guys block their van in but...

In addition I am less than impressed at the completed sections of Euclid. In the past, bus riders on Euclid, around 36th or 40th say, would simply go from the curb to the bus. Now they have to navigate and cross to that space-sapping and ugly island in the middle of the street. The 3 lanes of traffic each way are now down to 1 lane.

This is progress? Heads should roll.

Deja Vu all over Again - Kardiac Kids

I can't wait for the Browns - Bills game Sunday. I hope it snows 2 feet! The Christmas season and the return of the Kardiac Kids reminded me of this classic:

On the 12th Day of Christmas Art Model (boo! hiss!) gave to me...

Dave Logan leaping

Doug Dieken blocking

DeLeone a'hikin'

Kardiac Kids a'Winnin'

Darden interceptin'

Newsome a'catchin'

BOTH THE PRUITTS' MOVES....

Alzado attacking

Brian Sipe a'passin'

Don Cockroft Kickin'

on a Rutigliano Super Bowl Team!

Go Browns!

More on the real 12 days of Christmas including a great video by the Indiana University a capella group.

Euclid Ave Construction

I have been pretty quiet recently about the lack of progress and the poor planning on this job because I see a handful of workers out there every day. Of course, the planners should never have counted on late November as having good enough weather to work but that’s just another example of their ineptitude.

What bugs me the most the last few days is that sections of the street are now a single lane! So, for example, turning from Mayfield onto Euclid this AM, cars were backed up in the intersection because a bus was loading/unloading a block down Euclid and there was nowhere to go. This extremely busy stretch of road that includes University Hospital (and all the emergency vehicles!), bus lines, CWRU and all the University Circle Institutions is limited to a single lane.

That’s beyond poor planning.

If there was some great new benefit that the community would enjoy because of this, the hardships would be more easily digested. But if/when this is ever completed, the quality of life won’t be improved – except for those few who were awarded huge contracts for this work.

With all the issues Cleveland has, throwing money away like this is a crime. Someone should be held accountable.

Ed Corrigan

Assistant County Prosecutor Ed Corrigan was killed Thursday morning in a car accident.

For those of you who didn't know, Ed was instrumental in the original incorporation and then the 501c3 status for Computers Assisting People (CAP) Inc.

He volunteered his time and expertise and was with CAP from the beginning. Though extremely busy as prosecutor in the major case group - prosecuting homicides and sexual assaults - he never turned down a request for help from CAP.

He was a straightshooter, hard-working and honest - the kind of guy we wish there were more of. I (and others) always asked him when he was going to run for judge. That was in his near-term plans - he was doing such great work as a prosecutor that he wanted to help there for a while longer. He would have made a fantastic judge.

He served on the CAP Board of Directors from day one.

Ed was only 48 years old.

Please keep Ed and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

He will be missed greatly.

6 boys on Iwo Jima

Sometimes when we look at statues or monuments we think of the "old-timers" that they honor. Often, in reality, the statues honor very young people.

The "men" in the famous Iwo Jima photo and monument were teenagers with the "old man" being 24.

When you read about who the 6 boys were and what happened to them, hopefully it will open your eyes, as it did mine, to the true meaning of Veteran's Day.

iCheap

I just got around to reading the Forbes 400 issue of Forbes Magazine. No, I didn't see my name there.

They had one section called "Cutting Big Checks" that lists the Net Worth, Donated Wealth and Percentage of Wealth given away.

As you might guess, Bill Gates leads the pack having given away $42 billion or 42% of his wealth.

Gordon Moore, Ted Turner, Eli Broad, Alfred Mann and Warren Buffett all come across pretty well too.

But of the $5.7 billion that Apple chief Steve Jobs has, he has given away ZERO, NADA, NIL to philanthropic causes. ZERO!!!

How this marketing genius keeps his "cool" image is beyond me. Having that kind of wealth and not donating any of it is iPathetic, iCheap and iDisgusting.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Usually I just post reviews of business, tech or science books on the GreatLakesGeek site.

But I try to do other reading as well and just finished an interesting novel called The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michale Chabon.

As is stated in the review, "I like detective stories. I like alternative histories and I love the Yiddish language - it is so rich and descriptive. So I should have really enjoyed The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. I did enjoy it but not as much as I thought I would."


The framework of Jews finding refuge in Sitka "Alyeska" instead of Israel during/after World war II is a great place to start. But it never developed enough, in my opinion.

Yiddish is so rich, yet the alternative history development was not as deep as it could have been.

Still it's a worthwhile read. Check out my complete review.

Celebrity Double Standards

It kills me when a "celebrity" - famous by birth or because of a TV, music or movie career - dispenses advice for the rest of us - the great unwashed.

Madonna and her ilk tell Joe Blue Collar to cut back on energy consumption as they whiz around on their private jets and limos - not to mention the energy used in their mansions.

But I understand that the Nobel people wanted to make a statement with their Peace Prize this year, just as they did with Yasser Arafat years ago.

As Robert Faletra says in CRN, "Remember, Gore spent $30,000 in electricity and gas bills for his mansion in 2006."

It's a 10,000 square foot house and he used 221,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006 - more than 20 times the national average.

Read Faletra's column and then comments on his blog. It's not political - left or right. More of a statement about celebrity. Whatever the heck "celebrity" is.

Maybe that's why messages from people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa will endure. They walked their talk. Unlike most current "celebs" and politicians.

Elves, Clowns and Road Construction

I can't really comment much because my friends and I used to paint our faces and wear dawg noses for Browns games. I haven't done that in the new stadium yet - it seems too corporate.

But, for some reason, the girls a few rows ahead of me last Sunday wore Elf/Fairy/Brownie costumes complete with masking tape pointy ears.



But the funniest/strangest get up was from a guy I saw after the game. He was a big guy and not a kid - probably mid-40's. He had on a huge orange clown wig and red nose - just like Krusty the Clown's wig in the Simpsons except it was orange, not blue.



On the back of his jersey it had the name Krustofsky. Too funny!

Not so funny is the same sad situation on Euclid Avenue between Chester and Mayfield. While there are a few infrequent spottings of workers, this prime real estate and important road (hospitals, CWRU, University Circle, commuters, police, fire, EMS, etc.) is largely without any workers.

They could have completed that vital strecth in a few weeks - especially in this great weather - instead of the eternity it is taking.

Maybe they should all be issued Krustofsky jerseys - they are sure acting like clowns.

University Circle Update

Some of you have asked why I stopped posting Euclid Avenue updates. One suggested I was captured by the RTA Police and silenced.

No bus jail can hold me! ;-)

Basically, I have seen 1 or 2 or maybe even 4 on a good day, workers on the important stretch between Chester and Mayfield.

But not much progress. On this beautiful sunny day today, there was 1 guy puttering around this morning. Meanwhile the few lanes were all blocked and an emergency vehicle had to do some crazy maneuvering to get to the hospital.

The other day we spent over 20 minutes going from Chester to Mayfield on Euclid and if an ambulance, police or fire vehicle had needed to get through, they couldn't have. No way.

It's just poor planning and slow progress and someone should be held accountable for this.

I was planning on attending One World Day at the Cultural Gardens on Sunday before the Browns beat the Rave-Hens, but with the construction and now East Blvd torn up too, I may blow it off.

I didn't attend the Midtown Anniversary last night where they offered free preview rides on the RTA Silver Line but I am sure there was plenty of self-congratulations and mutual back-patting going on.

I still have that fear that some emergency vehicle is going to be delayed enough on that 1 mile stretch of Euclid to cause unnecessary suffering or worse. It's inevitable the way the streets are clogged.

Ahoy Matey!

It's that time of year again. It's Annual Talk like a Pirate Day.

The creators of the day have added a new celebration for tomorrow: Walk like a Pirate Day

Before we make anyone walk the plank, there was some roadwork activity on Euclid Ave yesterday. I didn't see anyone there this morning (sigh) but at least they've dusted off some of the equipment.

Is it that the crew is spread so thin or poor planning or what? If no activity on this beautiful sunny day, maybe a keel haul would be in order for the project planners after all

University Circle Update

This morning was a perfect example of the mess on Euclid between Chester and Mayfield.

Besides the usual ugly, torn up streets that students and pedestrians must traverse.

Since they are down to 4 narrow lanes (2 each way), if something goes wrong, it's a major problem. This morning a delivery truck was blocking one of the lanes going West - so 1 lane was open westbound.

Then the sirens started and 2 fire trucks and a rescue squad started coming up Chester. The westbound lane had nowhere to go and the 2 eastbound lanes were packed so everyone had to do some fancy and dangerous maneuvering.

The whole time, I spotted 1 worker sitting in a vehicle.

I hope nobody is injured or killed while waiting for an ambulance or other emergency support while the road sits torn up and practically untouched.

And for what? As Feagler (I think it was him) pointed out, Do you really think the Severance Hall crowd is going to suddenly abandon their cars and decide to hop a bus down to East 4th? The same people who ride the bus now will ride the bus then.

Most people will not abandon their cars because there is a shiny new bus line going up Euclid.

Now if we hadn't sold (for a song) our street cars to Toronto, that would have been a cool, workable option. Don't get me started on that fiasco.

Life in Cleveland is Cyclical

That's the first line in an article called Cleveland Chooses Revival in LastMile Magazine.

It was a surprise to get the mail this morning and see the cover of the July/August 2007 issue. It features former Tech Czar Mike DeAloia standing in front of the Free Stamp holding an award.

Of course, DeAloia has moved on from the Tech Czar post.

The article won't bring anything new to Clevelanders but it gives an insightful look into the process of our municipal broadband initiative. The best part is a callout box that explains "Just what the heck is Michale DeAloia standing in front of on the cover of this issue of Last Mile."

The Free Stamp itself (love, hate, love, etc.) is a good example of the cyclical life in Cleveland.

*******

Euclid Ave Update. 2 workers (1 was sweeping) were spotted between Chester and Mayfield this AM.

Free printer ink - today only

Walgreen's has a special today

Details here.


And I am happy to say that there was significant activity (maybe a dozen guys) working (well, mostly observing) on Euclid Ave. between Chester and Mayfield this morning.

ALL CAPS is like shouting - Duh!

I just finished a very disappointing book.

Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home

With e-mail being such a killer app, I thought a NY Times editor and an e-i-c of Hyperion Books might offer some useful tips.

Instead they share such nuggets as explaining the CC and BCC fields and warning not to use all caps. How lame.

Read the review here.

Euclid Ave Update: There was some activity this AM as 4 or 5 workers again stood around a hole in the street and peered in. No shovels lifted or repairs attempted but their studious gaze was the most activity witnessed in many months.

Ups and Downs

Up: Fun pre-game activities at the Brown's Opener.

Down: Do I have to tell you? The game was an embarassment.

Up: Huge flag that covered the entire field was unveiled before the game.

Down: Uh, did I mention the game?

Up: Great halftime tribute to newly inducted Hall of Famer Gene Hickerson. See pics here.

Down: #66 should have been inducted many years ago and maybe he would have been able to appreciate it more.

Up: Fun people with me at the game (Gary Baney and Heidi Hooper from Boundless Flight and Lev Gonick from Case)



Down: Did I mention the game?

Up:The Tribe came through on National TV agaisnt the Angels

Down: OK, no more mention of the game.

Up: There were about 4 guys looking at a huge hole on Euclid this morning about halfway between Mayfield and Chester. WooHoo!

Down: Summer sand volleyball is over

Up: Indoor volleyball starts tonight

And no more talking about the game.

It's on the tip of my tongue

I admire people with a rich vocabulary. Especially those who use it effortlessly as opposed to those who try to impress.

I've always said that an old high school chum (who later went to law school at the University of Chicago and is now with a DC firm) had the best vocabulary I ever came across. He lived off 146th in Cleveland and read every book in their relatively small library branch when he was growing up. He started at the top of one shelf, borrowed as many as they would allow, read them and repeated the process.

Last night I heard Dr. Luis Proenza, President of the University of Akron, speak at a Neosa event at Lockkeepers. I expected him to have a well-prepared presentation. But what impressed me most was his excellent word choice in the extemporaneous Q&A session.

What a great example for his students and the community.

***
Euclid Ave. update - my excitement yesterday may have been premature. There was zero, zip, nada activity again today. Drat.

Could it be?

I think I saw a guy in an earth-moving truck on Euclid near Mayfield today.

He wasn't digging or working with the truck but just having someone in the area is a major accomplishment after the last many months of zero activity.

Hopefully I'll have something good to report soon

What got you here...

As I was finishing up this book - What Got You Here Won't Get You There
How Successful People Become Even More Successful - I realized how many of the 20 bad habits and practices covered in the book were on display in the ongoing Euclid Avenue repairs.

I thought the book would be fluff - and some of it is - but it has some good ideas and you will see yourself and people you know in some of the examples.

Read my full review.

Today is the day after Labor Day and students are back in school and workers are back at work. Except, once again, there is no activity on Euclid Ave. construction between Mayfield and Chester (and as far as the eye can see in both directions). But the street remains torn up and lanes are closed.

Maybe I should buy them a copy of this book.

On a clear day...

On a clear day, maybe you can see forever but again I could not see any activity on the roads.

I made a point of looking far east from Mayfield and Euclid and again as far West as I could down Euclid before turning down Chester and not a sole was in site doing roadwork.

Perfect weather again and one of the city's most popular spots is all chewed up for the big Labor Day weekend without even an indication of progress being made.

Thanks for the many responses from other frustrated Clevelanders.

Cleveland +

It was particularly frustrating being trapped on torn up Euclid Ave. yesterday afternoon. It took about 20 minutes to go less than 1 mile between Chester and Mayfield on Euclid.

As usual there was no sign of any workers - just the torn up streets and closed lanes. So all the University Hospital emergency vehicles and the CASE traffic and the buses and regular commuters sat and steamed.

But the good news (sarcasm intended) is that we were able to glance up and look at the brand spanking new Cleveland+ banner hanging from a building.

I'm sure others were as proud and inspired as I was.

This morning? Not a worker in sight - as usual.

Could it be?

I was cautiously optimistic when I turned onto Euclid this morning. I spied a truck parked in the construction area.

As I got closer I saw that it was parked – probably doing some work at Case or UH.

No activity on the road except for lots of students traversing the torn up avenue. What a shame. Another beautiful day.

University Circle Construction - continued

Not a worker in site Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Beautiful weather.

It just doesn't make sense that the streets were torn up months ago and there has been very little work done. If they couldn't schedule workers to repair the road they shouldn't have torn it up months in advance.

University Circle Countdown - Continued

Thursday afternoon (8/23) was a nice sunny day, and not a soul was working or in site.

Friday 8/24/07 I took different routes but Saturday the 25th there was nobody there.

Monday 8/27 - beautiful weather again and not a worker to be seen from Mayfield to Chester.

When I travel to my Thursday night volleyball games in Mentor or Sunday afternoon vball at the beach at Headlands, I always see people working on Route 2. Even late at night they have bright lights and work on the road. I don't know why such an important part of the city of Cleveland remains untouched.

University Circle Countdown

As someone who regularly travels on Euclid (twice daily through University Circle and frequently from 4th Street up through Playhouse Square and beyond), I have almost become immune to the deplorable conditions while construction is supposedly going on.

I say "supposedly" because it is rare that I witness any activity.

I was so bummed when the world's spotlight was on us for the Cavs-Spurs series and our major avenue looked like a war zone.

If I have someone in the car while I am commuting from Mayfield to Chester on Euclid every day we always comment about the lack of progress. There is usually not a worker to be seen. Occasionally there will be a pickup truck with someone on the phone inside the vehicle but not much more.

So today I am starting a public posting. I don't expect it to shame anyone into activity but it will make me feel better (grin)

Thursday 8/23/07 9:15 AM. There were Zero, 0, nada, nil, zilch workers on the stretch between Mayfield and Chester on Euclid. No activity at all.

Hogan the TV Star

My black lab Hogan, who blogs here, is going to be on the Golden Opportunities TV show Sunday August 12th at 11:30 AM on Channel 3.

He will be with my sister Debbie who will be discussing, with host Armond Budish, how pets can be a great addition to a seniors life.

Made To Stick

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die is a marketing book for the Internet age.

The book itself is an onomatopoeic marketing test case with its Cleveland Browns-orange cover with a piece of duct tape seemingly stuck to it. The cover was meant to grab your eye and be remembered - made to stick.

The author brothers admit that they got the idea of stickiness from the 2000 Malcolm Gladwell book called The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. The Tipping Point looked at what forces caused something to grow from small groups to huge populations. What we would now call, going viral.

Read my complete review.

Listen Up

I have been a longtime fan of audio books and now podcasts. Anything that lets me get the information without having to dedicate my eyeballs and single task is great for an A type like moi.

I just finished a great bio of Ulysses S Grant on audio and posted it (along with other book reviews) on the Great Lakes Geek site.



Now I am listening to Made to Stick.

What are you reading/listening to?

Cleveland Women networking

The experts from our Great Lakes Chic section hosted a networking event last Monday night at a trendy spot on the Superior Viaduct.

The next one will be open to all my blog readers(that means you).

In the meantime, check out some pics from the event.

Euclid Beach Park

Are you old enough to remember Euclid Beach Park? It was a great amusement park right on the Lake Erie beach off Lakeshore in Cleveland.

It closed after the season in 1969 so I don't remember much but my grandparents lived about 1 mile away so they took us there several times.

I do remember going there as a kid and seeing then Vice-President Hubert Humphrey speaking. He was shouted down by hippies and student demonstrators chanting "Dump the Hump!"

My friends and I picked up the chant and brought it back to the playgrounds in our neighborhood.

When I stopped in at the Arts Collinwood Gallery last week and saw some of the memorabilia, it brought back some of those memories.

We have some great pictures at ClevelandSeniors.com and a profile of Dudley Humphrey whose family has been making those Euclid Beach popcorn balls (and taffy and...) since the turn of last century.

We invited people to share their memories of the park and I am inviting you too. Do you remember Laughing Sal? The Thriller? The Wild Mouse? Dodgems? Tilt-a-whirl? Laugh in the Dark? The Fun House? Let me know

SharePoint and Pizza

Microsoft SharePoint is becoming the next best thing on office workgroup productivity. It's still a little confusing to many though.

We are having a free special Intro to SharePoint on Thursday June 28 from noon to 1:30PM at the Microsoft Office in Independence.

We'll have pizza and pop too so send your lunch with us.

RSVP so we can plan the food.

More details

Cleveland Firefighter Memorial

I think I was one of the first to see this new Memorial. I was driving by Browns Stadium last month and the brightly colored flames caught me eye.

I pulled over, checked it out and took some pictures.

Later that week I heard they were going to dedicate the memorial.

On Memorial Day weekend I was down at the Rock Hall for GuitarMania and was fortunate to be there when the Cleveland Firefighters Bagpipers performed around the new memorial.

I shot a couple minutes of video of the pipers and it's embedded from YouTube on the page.

Mickey Katz, Joel Grey and Jennifer Grey

I get a kick out of this one.

You know that Joel Grey, star of Cabaret, is from Cleveland. His father Mickey Katz was also a performer as is his daughter Jennifer "Dirty Dancing" Grey.

The father, Mickey Katz, did humorous songs in a heavy Jewish accent accompanied by a Klezmer style clarinet.

On a Conan O'Brien show, Mickey's granddaughter Jennifer did one of his songs - complete with the accent and clarinet. Way cool.

Check it out.

Cleveland Powwow

I'm a big fan of the annual Cleveland Powwow held at Edgewater. Native Americans and others show up for a weekend of music, dance, camaraderie and mutual respect.

This year was the 13th annual Powwow and featured some Aztec dancers from Mexico City. What a treat to see them perform a few minutes from downtown.

I posted photos and some of the drums to listen to here.

I am always impressed by the great respect they have for the people who have served in the military and in our country. One would think that this group would have an ax to grind against the government but they are most respectful as you will see in the photos and in the 3rd audio clip.

Free Comic Book Day!

WooHoo! Not only is Saturday May 5th Cinco de Mayo, but it is also Free Comic Book Day!

Check out the recipes for a Tijuana Margarita and Fabulous Fiesta Guacamole for Cinco de Mayo.

Bu then visit your participating local comic book shop to get free comics. Find a store via zipcode search and get more details here.

I'm a 15 year old girl

Everybody has heard about, or been trained to expect, that the person on the other end of that chat or IM is lying egregiously about their age, social status, weight, height, hair and maybe even gender.

All guys are buff fighter jet pilots and all women are supermodels.

Two funny reminders of this. This photo of who is on the other end of a chat will scare some sense into your teenage daughters.

And there is a company called Nerdy Shirts that offers this classic (on the left). (Check out some more of their funky shirts.)

Golly, fellas, I’m hitting 4.000!

Remember when Tribe rookie Gomer Hodge opened the season going 4 for 4 and exclaimed, "Golly, fellas, I’m hitting 4.000!"

Sadly, Gomer is suffering from ALS and can't speak and is in the final stages of the disease. Fans should send a letter or card to
Gomer Hodge
Autumn Care of Saluda
P.O. Box 488
Saluda, NC 28773

Read Terry Pluto's article about Gomer Hodge

Gomer's 83 at bats are a good example of a Villanova prof's recent study. Using a once-controversial statistical method called Bayesian analysis, a Villanova University professor has determined that a lower batting average can indicate better hitting ability than a higher batting average.

Read more at GreatLakesGeek.com

Bob Feller and Billie Jean King

I still am not convinced that most videos (with a business focus at least) are not a waste of bandwidth and a waste of eyeballs. If you just display a headshot of a speaker, that doesn’t bring value. And if I have to dedicate my eyeballs to a video (rather than multitasking by listening while walking the dog or driving) I am less likely to consume that content.

I shot some video on my camera at the ribbon cutting of Heritage Park at Jacobs Field last week. Bob Feller cut the ribbon and the whole clip is about 14 seconds. So I posted that on YouTube and embedded it in a few of my websites. That I think is valuable - or at least fun.

I also shot about 40 minutes of Billie Jean King at the Wolstein Center last week. I did not post that anywhere because, while the content was interesting, the images were basically Billie and her Q&A partner Christine Brennan from USA Today sitting there and speaking. I may pull the audio out and post it but I don’t see the value in the video - do you?

Bill Gates Live

One of the good things about being a Microsoft MVP is the annual MVP Summit in Seattle. On Tuesday March 13, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates gave the keynote address to about 1700 MVPs from about 90 countries.

I can't relate items from the speech because I am under non-disclosure but did post a few general interest items here.

Including a snippet on our old friend Microsoft Bob. ;-)

CompUSA Update

I stopped in at the Chagrin CompUSA today. The good news is most items are 10% off. The bad news is they are NOT honoring the sales prices that were published in the Sunday flyer.

I expect the 10% to grow to 15, 20% and more soon. They are even selling store furnishings and fixtures.

Of course, 10% off CompUSA prices is still much higher than what you can find on-line in most cases.

Cleveland Cooks

Debbi Snook wrote a nice piece on the Cleveland Cooks cookbook in today's PD in the Taste section.

Besides all the great recipes representing Cleveland's ethnic diversity, Snook mentions some of the many local celebrities who have recipes in the book.

Check out her article

or get more details on the cookbook, including purchase options.

Y2K Vu all over again

There's a lot of buzz about the imminent early Daylight Saving Time.

Most of our devices pre-date the recent law adding the 4 extra weeks (3 before, 1 after) to DST.

That will affect some PCs and other devices.

Learn what you can/should do at GreatLakesGeek.com

The Name Game

OK, this is frivolous but it's fun.

Check out the new Name Game either here or here and see what you new name would be as a:

Gangsta, Drag Queen, Soap Opera Star, Goth, Detective and so on.

Just call me Danizzle.;-)

Or Joseph Montford or ...

Beat up by a Woman?

That used to be a school-yard taunt. “A girl could beat you up!”

After meeting professional boxer Vonda Ward at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards banquet last night, I humbly submit to the fact. She could beat me up!

The 6’6” Ms Ward was one of many amateur and professional athletes at the event.

Check out photos

Also, check out the brief podcast with Good Morning Anchor and event MC Robin Roberts who told me about the state of women’s athletics and why we shouldn’t compare the NBA and the WNBA.

Rock and Roll Memories

I’m of that age where I used to practically live at the old Agora (on 24th and Payne) on weekends and for concerts. I saw some amazing local and national bands there including The Cars, Todd Rundgren, Meatloaf, Ian Hunter, Southside Johnny, Bruce Springsteen and plenty more.
So close to home, so intimate, so cool. I miss it. (I know, the new Agora is just down the street on Euclid but it’s not the same (or I’m not.))

And I am one of the few who really saw Bruce Springsteen twice on the same night. We saw him at the Coliseum and heard that Southside Johnny would be at the Agora. After the last song at the Coliseum we hauled a** and drove to the Agora and got there about 2 minutes before Southside introduced his “surprise” special guest. Wow – what a night.

I was also fortunate to be working with the electricians for most of the World Series of Rock concerts so I got to hang out backstage with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bob Seger, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart and the Faces, J Geils, and so many more. By luck I took the best close-up of Peter Frampton in history. Better than the album cover.

I have a million stories from the World Series of Rock and the Agora days (not to mention the Euclid Tavern, The Flipside, Peabodys, etc) and got called by Carlo Wolff several months ago to share some for his book. The timing was terrible for me and after about a dozen calls and e-mails, Carlo gave up.

But he did produce the book, Cleveland Rock and Roll memories. Maybe I’ll have to write my own sometime.

Book review

Pics from the launch party

Neosa Webcast

I will be doing the Neosa webcast Wednesday (Jan 17) at 11AM with Jim Cookinham.

We'll be talking about/showing some new items from CES and MacWorld. Also taking a look at Microsoft Windows Vista and the new version of Office.

You can register at anty time or view the webcast Wednesday here.

Viva Las Vegas

I made the annual trek out to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While I miss Comdex and the strict IT focus of that show, I have to admit that CES has some fun stuff.

I used my new Olympus digital voice recorder to do a bunch of podcasts from the show floor. They have a lot of crowd noise but I think it adds to the audio.

I've started posting them on the Great Lakes Geek site here

While there it was Elvis Presley's birthday so there were flowers and signs by his statue in front of the Las Vegas Hilton.

The Mysterious Tin Fu Club Meets Again

The Mysterious Tin Fu Club Meets Again.

The Tin Fu Club had a Holiday Gathering on Thursday, December 14th and a very diverse group met.

Check out some pictures of the 45 or so Tin Fu Clubbers

Bill Gates for President

Dilbert creator Scott Adams has jumped on the bandwagon to elect Bill Gates as president of the USA in 2008 citing his business success and charitable efforts.

(Hey, we've had worse)

What do you think? Ross Perot was a businessman as was Jimmy Carter, so it's not unheard of (though Steve Forbes never got more than a few percentage points)

Visit the Gates for President site and then vote in the Great Lakes Geek survey.

The Office

I am a big fan of The Office. I was even given a Dwight K. Schrute bobblehead which sits atop one of my PCs.

Read Dwight’s blog

But it’s that other Office that can get confusing.

You won't be able to upgrade your Microsoft Office 2000 in January so you will miss out on the less expensive upgrade price.

Read about some strategies you might want to try to get the lastest office and spend the least.

Get your own Dwight Schrute Bobble Head

Very short stories from Wired Magazine

Last month’s Wired magazine (which I just got around to) has an outstanding section called Very Short Stories. It’s based on Hemingway’s six word story which Papa called his best work. Here it is:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.


Brilliant! So Wired got 33 writers to come up with 6 word science fiction stories and some are just incredible.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Computer – Did we bring batteries? Computer?
By Eileen Gunn

Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth.
By Vernor Vinge

Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses
By Richard Powers

The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.
By Orson Scott Card

Check it out:

OSU-Michigan or Six Sigma?

Former GE CEO Jack Welch spoke at Tri-C Corporate College this AM about quality and innovation. Throughout the day there will be classes on lean manufacturing, Six Sigma and other processes.

Welch began his presentation with an announcement of a special Six Sigma presentation to be held the next day (Saturday) at 3:30 PM that will go for about 3 hours (during the Ohio State-Michigan game). Moderator Les Vinney, CEO of Steris, countered that “Hopefully by halftime we’ll be able to attend.”

Welch said he didn’t know who would win the big game. “I went to Illinois – we can’t beat anyone.”

Ohio State Buckeyes vs Michigan Wolverines

Here's a bunch of jokes trashing Michigan for this Saturday's big game. Feel free to replace Michigan with Pittsburgh Steelers in time for Sundays game. ;-)

Go Bucks and Go Browns!

Hidden Treasures

I also checked out the preview of the Hidden Treasures of the Diocese of Cleveland at Josaphat's Art Hall on 33rd. Not a lot of items there but it is such a cool place and the items were interesting. Check it out while you can - it's free.
More information.

Fabulous Cleveland Women

I spent much of the weekend at the Fabulous Food Show at the IX Center. ClevelandWomen.com had a booth and there were about 35,000 attendees!

The celebrity chefs get treated like rock stars.

We posted a bunch of pics on the ClevelandWomen.com site - Robin Swoboda (remember her? She'll have a new show this January on Fox 8) , Paula Deen, Bubba Baker, Carl Monday and more

Absolutely Fabulous

The Fabulous Food Show is Friday-Sunday at the IX Center.

I’ll be in booth # 467 for ClevelandWomen.com a good chunk of the time though may be sampling some vino occasionally.

We (ClevelandWomen.com) are giving away over $35,000 in spices and seasonings from Durkees/Tone Brothers.

Also, some great raffle prizes from Dollar Bank (4 Tribe club seats with food!), Plant Magic (a holiday centerpiece), John Roberts Spas (Spa package) and more.

Stop by and say “Hi”

17 Seconds in Heaven?

Time is relative of course but 17 seconds isn’t very long (unless you are underwater or in terrible pain or…)

But Dr. Miles Jones of Net Doctor International told me that on average, we only have 17 seconds to explain our situation to our doctor before he or she takes over the conversation.

And then the whole visit is only 13 minutes including the greeting, checking the chart, small talk and writing up the new information.

That’s just one of the reasons that Dr. Jones is an advocate on on-line healthcare. For more, listen to the podcast from the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit.

Oy Vey

I’ll admit that I don’t know any Hebrew (outside of a few characters used in mathematics) but I do get a kick out of a lot of the Yiddish terms I hear used. There’s a bunch of them here.

It's a really rich language and some words describe the situation better than any English counterpart I can come up with.

And I haven’t yet seen a Microsoft Zune. I’ve been happy with my Creative MuVo mp3 player that I've had forever.

What’s the connection?

Some Hebrew linguists (they are divided on this issue) say that the word “zune” is pretty darn close to the Hebrew vulgarity for the “f” word.

Microsoft says they are aware of the similarity in pronunciation
to the Hebrew zi-yun.

I think it’s bobbyemseh that Microsoft did this on purpose. Probably some alter cocker came up with this. Some people will kvetch about anything. Be a mensch, not a schmendrick.

Zie Ga Zink. ;-)

Bang a Gong

Yikes! The Bell of Free Speech has been Silenced as the Historic City Club of Cleveland Gong goes Missing.

Missy Toms just sent out this message.

City Club employees believe that the gong and gavel, which are valued at $4,000, were taken sometime between 6 p.m. on Friday, October 13, 2006, and 11 p.m. on Saturday, October 14, 2006. City Club officials are reviewing building security tapes in hopes that they will be able to determine what happened.

The gong was donated to The City Club by Dr. Louis Siegelstein, a City Club member. His family obtained the gong from what was then Shanghai, China in the 1930s. Since then, the gong has signaled the beginning and the closing of all City Club Forums and programs. It is heard every Friday on the live radio broadcasts of City Club Forums on WCLV-FM and on The City Club’s radio network, which includes more than 200 stations across the country. In addition, viewers see it every week on the WVIZ television broadcast of Friday Forums.

The City Club will not seek prosecution if the person returns the gong. Anyone with information about the gong is asked to call The City Club at 216.621.0082.

”The City Club gong is an immensely important artifact for The City Club and the city of Cleveland. It has become a symbol of free speech, ringing in historically significant speakers for many years, including several U.S. presidents and Cleveland mayors, Babe Ruth, and Rosa Parks,” says City Club executive director James Foster. “We hope that the person who took the gong will realize its value to our region and the nation. We welcome its return with no questions asked.”

Let' get that gong back!

Guns and Websites

We’ve all been to way too many business and/or tech presentations in some stuffy conference room. Yawn.

But the folks at Aztek Technology know how to do it up right.

They hosted a new technology presentation on Thursday September 28th that covered a lot of new and interesting technology. But what set this demonstration apart from others was the location and the after-meeting activities.

Aztek’s Kevin Latchford is a long-time member of the Beaver Creek Club in Amherst so the event was held in the clubhouse on their 500+ acre spread. After the presentation the attendees were taken out to use the extensive shooting facilities at the club. (That's Aztek's Stacie Baske in the photo)

Check it out

Larry Ellison in Cleveland?

Hard to imagine isn't it? Gary Baney, Founder and CEO of Boundless Flight thinks so. Gary is a kindred spirit to the Oracle founder. He works very hard and plays very hard and sees Cleveland as too often accepting comfort and mediocrity.

What do you think?

I did an audio interview with him and it’s the current show at GreatLakesGeek.com. It’s 16 minutes but worth the listen. I’m really interested in feedback from both the native Clevelanders and some of you transplants. Comment here or via the e-mail link on the Baney interview page.

Guy Kawasaki

I posted some details and pics from the Guy Kawasaki keynote address last night on
the Great Lakes Geek site

Chairs were set up on the stage of the State Theater so now I (and a bunch of other folks) can claim to have appeared on stage at the State.

Ah, End Users

I know it’s almost a cliché to talk about the “ignorant” end user. You know, the person searching for the “any key” or using the CD tray as a cup holder.

But this one was new (to me) and funny.

A help desk guy got an end user on the line and started walking through steps to try and troubleshoot. He asked her to go to My Computer and in a few moments, there she was with phone in hand. She did what she was told and went to “My Computer”

Sudoku, Podcast... De-crapifier?

Look out Sudoku and Podcast. You may have been the most popular words for 2005 but there is a new kid in town.

A guy who was tired of uninstalling all the, uh, stuff on new Dell PCs created a script that would automatically remove it all.

He called it the Dell De-Crapifier and after hearing from Dell he has since renamed it the PC De-Crapifier.

Let's all conjugate together:
I de-crap
You de-crap
He/She/It de-craps

and so on. More details and a link.

Mike Douglas

Mike Douglas passed away this AM on his 81st birthday. He was a cool guy and way ahead of his time as a TV host. In the turbulent 60's this rather unhip guy was bringing people like John Lennon and Yoko Ono on his show.

We did an interview with him a few years ago. Check it out - some pictures too.

Health Care Shockers

I listened to Kaiser Permanente’s Patricia Kennedy Scott speak at the SmartBusinessLive luncheon on August 10th. “Our health care system, in my view, is fundamentally broken.”

The most amazing stat to me was that 90% of the healthcare dollars are spent on 10% of the population! Wow!

Read more and see some pics of the event at GreatLakesGeek.com

Botanical Gardens 7-21-06

As I often say, if you can't find something fun to do in this city you really aren't trying. Even the weather cooperated last Friday night for the Young Professionals in the City event at the beautiful Cleveland Botanical Gardens.

Mayor Frank Jackson was very accessible and held an extended Q&A session with the several hundred in attendance.

I shot a few pics and so did Thomas Mulready.

Cleveland Cooks

You know those special recipes that have been your family's favorites for years? Maybe they were brought over from the "Old Country" by a relative. Maybe there's a unique or funny way that you always serve it. Or maybe it's just a tried and true recipe that always gets raves.

We've gathered these best recipes and assembled them all in one cookbook to show that Cleveland Cooks!

There are over 350 recipes from your neighbors and friends as well as local celebrities such as Dick Goddard, Wilma Smith, Romona Robinson, Lee Jordan, Al Roker, Stacey Bell, Sister Mary Assumpta, Mary Ann the Ghost Whisperer, Les Roberts, Food TV's Jack Hourigan, Hoolihan, SuperHost, Miss Barbara, George Nemeth, Thomas Mulready and many more.

Look for delicious recipes celebrating the diverse ethnic makeup of Cleveland - Hungarian, Jewish, Italian, Armenian and many more.

The cookbooks are available at many local summer fests and shows or you can order online.

Part of the proceeds from the book will benefit Computers Assisting People (CAP).

Get details at ClevelandCooks.com

Best Cut?

A lot of us in the tech world complain about the commodization of our products and services. It’s hard to attract and retain customers when price is the only differentiator.

Imagine a service such as haircuts - there doesn’t seem to be a way to differentiate and attract loyal customers and make decent margins. After all, a haircut is a haircut. But John DiJulius, has managed to do just that.

John is the president of John Robert's Salon and Spa, which has been selected one of the top 20 salons in America. I saw him speak at the SBL Live luncheon at the Forum yesterday.

Check out the details.

Irish Summerfest tickets

The Irish Summerfest is going to be at Classic Park in Eastlake this June. Not sure how they will handle the logistics - I always liked it at Euclid Park.

ClevelandWomen.Com and ClevelandSeniors.com are sponsors of the event so we are holding a raffle for some 4-packs of free tickets.

Check it out - good luck.

Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and...

Wild Turkey?

My favorite bourbon is a brand called Rebel Yell and you can’t find it above the Mason Dixon line. My friends and I first tried it because we saw Keith Richards holding a bottle of it in a photo in the Rolling Stones Exile on Mainstreet album.

If it was good enough for Keef, we had to try it.

But I digress. Yesterday when heading down Forest Hills Blvd. I saw a – wild turkey! – near Forest Hills Park. Not a buzzard, not a goose but a real wild turkey. Then today coming home along Monticello, traffic was forced to stop as this (I assume there’s only one but who knows) wild turkey crossed the street at a leisurely pace.

Enough to drive a man to drink. ;-)

CAAO Auction

If you don’t know about the Consortium of African American Organizations (CAAO), you should. You can hear a podcast interview with their Executive Director Connie Atkins on the Great Lakes Geek site.

One of their most interesting events is their annual executive auction which is going on now till Thursday May 11th at 11PM.

You bid on time donated by bigwigs from the Clinic, UH, Key Bank and other institutions that you probably would never get to schmooze with otherwise. Or go for a fun bid like watching a Cavs game with Dan Gilbert in his loge or shooting hoops with Eric Snow or getting a tour of the Rock Hall from Terry Stewart.

Connie told me that winning bidders have generated over $5 million (much more but many are private about giving out numbers) in new business from the relationships they made after winning a bid.

So if you don’t golf with Henry Meyer or belong to the same clubs as Dan Gilbert, here’s your chance to sit down with them.

Blame AC (not Austin Carr)

On the way to hear Dick Pogue speak at a Neosa event last night I saw a bumper sticker on a car on 24th and Payne that said “Who is John Galt?”

Of course, that’s the expression used in Ayn Rand’s classic “Atlas Shrugged.” Great to see something like that on a car instead of the usual “If you’re rich, I’m single” tripe.

Mr. Pogue gave kind of a history lesson starting before his arrival in town in 1957. One thing he said I had never considered before. We all know that in 1950 Cleveland was the 6th largest city with a million people. What I didn’t realize was that the proliferation and economy of air conditioning made it possible for a lot of our manufacturing jobs to move to the South and West. Before AC those climates were just too hot for a lot of the work that we did up here.

Of course there are numerous other reasons we started to slide but that’s one component that was new to me.

Wrong side of the tracks?

I just finished Crossing the Road to Entrepreneurship, the autobiography of Bart Wolstein who passed away just before it was published.

Wolstein made millions in real estate developlment - starting on the then undeveloped suburb of Twinsburg. He developed many similar outlying suburbs, got into big box stores likes Kmart and eventually shopping malls, hotels and country clubs.

Two things really jump out at me from the book. First is how relative “humble beginnings” can be. He was raised in the 1940’s on Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights. Even today, that is not exactly the inner city or a depressed area. In the ‘40’s, living in Cleveland Heights would certainly not be considered a hardship by most. Yet in the book he constantly talks about (and the title refers to) crossing Taylor Road. Eventually he did – ending up in Beachwood and Pepper Pike – but Cleveland Heights was certainly not the 3rd World in the ‘40s.

The second thing is how this multi-millionaire with all his connections and acclaim (he owned the Cleveland Force soccer team) always felt like an outsider and/or that he was being betrayed. He cites disloyalty and dishonesty from his closest partners and workers, in many of his business deals and just about everyone he ever dealt with except his wife Iris.

He felt he never was accepted in Cleveland’s inner circle and uses his rejected plans for a downtown arena, buying the Indians, a convention center, the Rock Hall and many more as evidence. In particular he was stung by his treatment by the board of Cleveland’s Jewish Federation. He tells of being silenced at a meeting when he didn’t want to increase his contribution and says “I kept quiet with tears in my eyes. It still hurts when I think about that moment.” He speaks of being ostracized by part of the community after that and the thread running throughout the book is that he never felt accepted or that he fit in.

On the surface you would have thought this guy had it made - tons of money, sports team ownership and so on. But you never really know what's inside someone's head I guess.

XP on a Mac?

In Tracy Kidder’s book called The Soul of the New Machine you can read how IBM, in its heyday, didn’t recognize what the market wanted. They owned the Big Iron world and pretty much ignored the minicomputer. This allowed DEC and Data General and others to change computing.

But IBM learned from this lesson. When they introduced their PC in 1981 they went with an industry standard architecture. This allowed for clone makers such as Compaq to spring up and for component manufacturers to get a piece of the pie. But this move also greatly expanded the pie so that everyone benefited. By using standard components and software, a consumer could shop around and find a variety of add-ons all at competing prices.

Apple didn’t get this. They claimed to produce the “computer for the rest of us” but by rigidly controlling not only the hardware but also the software, they doomed themselves to the 3% or so of the market they now hold.

Plus, “The rest of us” could not always afford Apple’s products because there were not alternatives and/or third party vendors producing goods for their stuff and hence the prices were always way above IBM clone prices.

Now after 30 years they might be catching on. With an Intel CPU inside and the ability to natively boot Windows XP, the Mac will finally be able to run the plethora of Windows software that is out there. Years ago there were always a few good apps – usually graphics apps – that only ran on a Mac. But in recent years, anything you can find on the Mac you can find many more choices (and usually less expensive choices!) in the Windows or open source world.

Is it too little too late? So far the voters in the Great Lakes Geek survey don’t really care that the Mac will be able to boot to XP. What do you think?

Wi-Fight

I hate reading articles like in the April 2006 CIO magazine. (Only available in print for a month). This one’s called “Wi-Fight” and it’s about the struggles that cities that want to provide a public wi-fi network face from the telcom and cable providers.

What I really hate is that Cleveland, with our huge early progress in turning on dark fiber, is not even mentioned in the article. I hate it even more that both Dayton and Akron are mentioned and shown on the Wi-Fi America map that accompanies the article.

Now do you think if Akron were to get some great wi-fi technology and they decided to share it with surrounding cities, including Cleveland, do you think they would leave “Akron” out of the name and call it something generic like “Community?”

No way.

Aretha and Feelings

No, don't worry. Aretha Franklin isn't going to sing Feelings.

I attended an interesting presentation Thursday evening at the JCU Dolan Center. The Harvard Business School Club of Cleveland and the John Carroll University Entrepreneur Association brought in Dr. Richard E. Boyatzis for a keynote address. Though based at Weatherhead at case, Boyatzis was described as being better known in Barcelona and London than her in Cleveland - another hidden gem of the city.

The keynote was titled Resonant Leadership: Inspiring the Best in Us. Boyatzis launched into an MP3 of Aretha singing Respect. Then he started clapping and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap. He even jumped up on a front table and clapped along. I love the Queen of Soul but I started looking for the nearest escape route. I’m not into those touchy-feely interactive sessions.

But he soon got down to business. This guy really knows the brain. He said that when we stimulate the limbic system of the brain (like with music or smell) we retain better. Without a limbic stimulus, we have only 40% retention after 3 days. So hum along while you read this.

He spoke about leaders and what makes a great leader (they are not born). He got into the sacrifice of being a leader - the stress it causes - and what that does to our bodies.

One big eye opener for me was the role of feelings. He said that people get convinced of something by emotional arguments and only then does it get reinforced by rational arguments. It takes 8ms for the neurons to travel from the feeling center as compared to 40ms from the rational part of the brain. So feelings don’t just color our thoughts, they determine them.

History is full of examples of evil people using this to gain followers. Of course, good leaders use it too.

Free wi-fi?

Here’s an ethical question for you. Is it OK to regularly glom onto someone’s (company or individual) wireless Internet access without them knowing it?

That’s the latest poll question at the Great Lakes Geek site.

I see no problem in using a connection once or even twice in a crunch time situation, as long as you’re not sending/grabbing huge files and hogging all their bandwidth.

I know some would argue that since it’s out there in the ether and the people were too inept to secure their access, then it’s OK. I’m not so sure of that. Someone is paying for that access and to routinely use up some of their bandwidth doesn’t seem right.

I might be more forgiving if a company’s access was used rather than a family who just doesn’t know to secure their wi-fi. But still, I think the regular use of such access is wrong. What do you think? Let the Geek know.

OneCleveland or OneCommunity?

I know that the OneCleveland is expanding to Akron and other venues outside of the traditional “Cleveland” geography but I wish they had kept the name OneCleveland.

Can you imagine if a project was developed, spearheaded, financed and brought to fruition in say Boston or Detroit and the name was changed to exclude the home city? It just wouldn’t happen.

I think I am sensitive to how Akron, Canton and beyond might feel but this was a Cleveland project and I think it dilutes the credit and prestige that Cleveland has earned. If Akron people and orgs had developed the project and we wanted to tap into it, I would expect to refer to OneAkron. I wouldn’t expect a name change.

OneCommunity sounds bland and amorphous to me and smacks of political correctness. How can we build an identity and civic pride if we bend in the wind like this?

So far visitors to the Great Lakes Geek site have felt the same way as 90% of voters say they do not like the new name.

Tiny, free utility

I found a tiny but useful utility you may be interested in.

It’s called TinyResMeter and you can download and run it for free.


TinyResMeter is a free utility that displays useful realtime system resource information (CPU speed, usage, RAM, processes, disk space, swapfile, etc) in a customizable format.

It’s not as pretty as the meters in Norton SystemWorks or other commercial programs but it is under 100k, doesn’t modify the registry and doesn’t add any new DLLs to your system.

The next version is supposed to have net connection speed info too.

Pretty slick

Great quote about CAP in PD

There’s a great article about Garden Valley Neighborhood Center (on Kinsman) in the Plain Dealer this AM. Arts & Life F1 and F3. In the article, Garden Valley executive director Tinah Mischer is quoted as follows:

“I love that man,” Mischer sang out happily from her office recently, greeting Henry Birney of Computers Assisting People, a local non-profit. “They just gave us 17 new computers. They brought ‘em here and set ‘em up. For free. Do you hear me? I love them guys.”


That’s one of the main things that CAP, and super volunteers like Henry Birney, does – help community centers, schools and the like in needy, underserved areas with their technology so that the residents in the area have a safe, educational, productive place to be empowered by the technology that many of us take for granted.

Your support and interest in CAP has let our volunteers assist over 260 local non-profits like Garden Valley.

Kielbasa and a Strohs anyone?

I admit it. I am a big fan of the Milan Jacovich stories written by Cleveland Heights author Les Roberts. The stories of the tough private eye are good enough on their own but Roberts uses the city of Cleveland as the setting for his 13 Jacovich titles. So we are inundated with references to local streets, suburbs, restaurants, businesses and institutions.

It’s a blast to read about places you know so well and the streets you travel daily. The first 9 of the Jacovich series are now out in paperback and the final 4 will be out sometime in March. The first in the series is called Pepper Pike – start with that one and read them in order for the best experience.

Sometimes you take for granted the richness of the diverse cultures we have in this area. It reminds me of a business trip to Des Moines, Iowa a couple summers ago. It was so uniform – and boring. The closest I could find to an ethnic restaurant downtown was a national pizza chain.

The proudly Slovenian Milan Jacovich character is a refreshing reminder of what we have here in town.

Look for a special Lolly the Trolley tour this spring of some of Milan Jacovich’s haunts.

Read more about Les Roberts

Read more about the Milan Jacovich books

Listen to a podcast interview as the Great Lakes Geek speaks to Les Roberts

Lute Sr in Houston?

I have to admit I was surprised when I read my sister’s profile of Lute and Sue Harmon for ClevelandSeniors.com. I knew much of the story but was not aware that they left Cleveland in 1983 to start a magazine in Houston. They didn’t come back till 1991. Wow – where was I? I guess I didn’t pay attention much to the local journalism scene back then.

It’s interesting to wonder how Cleveland Mag and Cleveland itself would be different if they had not returned. For people with so much power – and buying ink by the barrel still gives you power – they are genuinely nice people who really care about this city.

Red Room Revolution News

The comprehensive business calendar that I am starting on the Great Lakes Geek site is starting to come together as more people and orgs discover it and send in their stuff.

Example - I think we are the first to publish the information on the next Red Room Revolution event. Check out the calendar. It will be Feb 23rd.

Also, the speakers bureau is starting to fill in nicely. The first 3 listed are definitely heavy hitters with international credentials and experience.

Let me know if you or someone should know should be listed. We're looking for a variety of expertise not just biz and tech. Have already had requests for a speaker on eBay and one for women's issues.

I had a cheese sandwich for lunch

I've been dissing bloggers who write about stuff like the above title for years.
So, I deserve to be treated with equal disdain for the following post. But a lot of people have been wondering where the heck I have been and it’s not the kind of thing I want to send out in a broadcast e-mail.

So if you could care less about my recent health woes – and I don’t blame you – stop reading. Go find something more interesting – even the cheese sandwich stuff is probably a better read.

But for those of you who haven’t seen me around, here’s the last few months episodes of Marcus Welby MD rolled into a few paragraphs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I woke up December 12th, and couldn’t move my neck or left shoulder or arm and the fingers on the hand were either numb or tingling. When my doc heard “left arm” he sent me to the ER and I’ve been to several doctors since. They all diagnosed problems with discs C6 and C7 in the neck, pressing on the spinal cord. That’s what caused the problems with left shoulder/arms/hand. So basically, I have only been out of the house since 12/12 for doctors. Missed Christmas, work, my Vegas CES trip - everything. Been a looooong few weeks.

There was no cause of this – it just happened. The week before I was my usual active self – volleyball, lifting weights, carrying computers, walking Hogan, my 100 pound lab, and so on. No twinges or problems.

I have been able to do a lot of work from the home network but can only use the right hand, have to stop after about 20 minutes, etc but I am on 24 hour days because I can’t sleep much with the pain. Yeah they gave me some good drugs but they admit that when it’s nerves on the spine, they just don’t do much.

Actually pain is a pretty interesting thing. I know that the pains on my left side aren’t the normal warning signs – like a burn warning you to pull away from the fire. The damage is in the neck but there is pain on left – weird. But it’s something you can learn to live with. If you had told me in advance that I would have 6-8 weeks of constant pain from stuff pressing on my nerves and spine I would have said get me a gun. Sure there are good times and bad times – nights can be verrrrrry long sometimes but lots of people have it a lot worse than me so I’m not complaining.

Different docs tried all the non-surgery things and none worked so they sent me to the surgeon. But first they scared me telling me not to lift more than 10 pounds or get jostled or I could have some serious permanent problems (you don’t mess with the spinal cord). Yikes!

The spine surgeon said there is too much swelling still so he can't operate yet. I have to go back Feb 1st to be re-evaluated. The good news is he says with the large size of this problem, in the majority of cases the body will correct itself in 6-8 weeks without surgery. That would be great.

More good news is that they said with my age and otherwise great health, I should be 100% about 6 weeks after surgery- plenty of time to recover for sand volleyball this summer. And I do feel I can move the neck more (when I take the darn brace off) so maybe it is healing. I am lucky that I can do so much via e-mail, phone and web.

Yes it sucks that I have this and time has been dragging a lot but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not a permanent thing. Plus, look at the gas money I have saved since I can’t drive.

I am so psyched to get back and see people and do stuff. So if you wondered if I was blowing things off – I wasn’t. Just been out of commission for awhile.

And I don’t think I had one cheese sandwich for lunch this whole time.

More from Philanthropia

Two numbers really stood out in Ronn Richard’s presentation today.

1) He said that only 12% of African-American males graduate from Cleveland Public schools – the other 88% drop out. That is staggering.

2) For whatever reasons, many students move homes, and hence schools, numerous times each year. Some have moved 6 times in a single school year! How can a kid develop any educational or social continuity if they are in 6 different schools in a year?

Neosa gets funding?

Yes, but don’t get excited. At the Philanthropia event today at Landerhaven, almost 900 attendees heard Cleveland Foundation president and CEO Ronn Richard talk about Cleveland, philanthropy and the economy.

When asked how to get Cleveland back on track he offered 3 ways:

1) Convince TRW, BP and others to come back – but he, of course, doesn’t think that will happen.

2) Fund startups. He pointed to the work of Bioenterprise, Jumpstart and Nortech in particular

3) Do what made Cleveland a great city in the first place. That is, by becoming the leader in a new industry. Make Cleveland the home town of not just some new companies but of new industries – stem cell, wind power, etc. Just like the semiconductor industry transformed Silicon Valley, one industry could transform our region.

He added that Cleveland was in some way a victim of its own success. By being so good and important in manufacturing all those years, it may have stayed too long at that party. While manufacturing is still strong here, he suggested it was time for new innovation.

I was schmoozing with tablemates during much of this but my ears perked up when I heard him use Neosa as an example. He said the Cleveland Foundation had just given a grant to an organization called Neosa. I was surprised but thrilled to hear it.

Then he went on to talk about how this regional group lets cities buy salt together in a better way. So the “s” in his example Neosa was for salt, not software. Sigh.

How to Differentiate your Business

Marketing and Branding always seemed to be somewhat lame disciplines to me - something that people who couldn't do science or tech or heavy duty business like accounting got into.

But in an increasingly competitive global market, branding and differentiation are essential.

At the JCU Entrepreneur’s Association meeting last Saturday at Landerhaven, 3 experts – Sara Stashower, Kathy Ross and Jeanne Hauer - gave some ideas to the crowd.

I hadn’t heard of Kathy but when a Stashower (yes, of Ligget-Stashower) speaks, you listen. And Jeanne Hauer is not only Regional Marketing Director at Anthem but also author of Millionaire Women.

They had some interesting, if not revolutionary tips which I listed on this page.

What might be of greater interest is their combined recommended reading list – also available on that page.

Nottingham-Spirk Tour

The common perception would be that a building with 42 miles of Internet cable would be a modern steel and chrome edifice. But there is nothing common about John Nottingham and John Spirk - or their new Innovation Center.

I went to the Neosa meeting at the new Center last week and was blown away. Another world-class facility in that world-class mile or so around University Circle.

Check out some pics and details of the event.

The Man behind the Microchip

The Man behind the Microchip.
Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley by Leslie Berlin.

Because the modern tech industry is still so young, people may have personal recollections about some of the events when reading histories of the times. As such, they may also have a personal bias.

This book about Robert Noyce will probably not be a favorite of fans of William Shockley or Jack Kilby with whom Noyce shared credit for innovations. Nor to fans of Gordon Moore and Andy Grove who maybe don't get the credit they deserve from this book.

But in general, it's a very interesting look into the birth of a technology, industry and ultimately Silicon Valley.

I ended up giving it 3.5 (out of 4) pocket protectors.

Read my review

Clevelanders and others in the US should consider that in Noyce's last interview, he said that if he was "emperor" of the US he would "make sure we are preparing our next generation to flourish in a high-tech age. And that means education of the lowest and the poorest as well as the graduate school level."

tech skills=power, no tech skills=dependence - simple as that.

No Video for You

OK, it's not as catchy as the Soup Nazi's "No soup for you!" but I have not bought in to the video - streaming or otherwise - craze.

The new Apple iPod lets you watch video, like missed TV shows, on your device. Oh boy. If the shows are that importnat can't you Tivo or record some other way and watch on a decent screen?

And video webcasts seem like a waste. Even though most of us have decent speeds and bandwidth to support video, too many webcasts just show the speakers head; which may or may not move from time to time. Or they display a Powerpoint slide. Yawn. What a waste.

Plus, video has the same drawback as text - you have to focus your eyes on it whereas with audio (podcasts and the like) you can listen and still do other things.

Just because we have the technology to do video we need a more compelling reason to use it IMHO.

Great Lakes Geek

I have way too much to read. There are all kinds of interesting books out now it seems. Not to mention all the business and tech rags I devour.

Plus there are a ton of blogs that have interesting things to say. But even with RSS, I just don’t get to a fraction of them.

But I have found that I can listen to audio and still do other things – work, walk the dog, workout and so on.

I figured others might feel the same way so I started up a new podcast radio show called the Great Lakes Geek Show. Basically it’s a bunch of audio interviews with local and national people in the business and tech world – and some other categories too just for fun.

So I have a great interview with Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Publishing. Great article in Wired this month about Tim titled the Trend Spotter.

Also have Chuck Geschke, founder and chairman of Adobe, but I mangled the mic and the audio has some annoying imperfections. It’s worth the snap, crackle and pop though.

Much of the show will be local people – Tech Czar Mike DeAloia is up as is Neosa's Jim Cookinham and some others.

Most will probably just click on the MP3 link and listen at their PC but I did wrap some in XML to make it a real podcast. XML rocks!

Take a listen when you get a chance and let me know what you think – and who should be on the show.

The Myth of Dell

CRN's Michael Vizard had a great column in the 7/18/05 issue.

One of the comments was: "The myth is that Dell is the low-price leader. The reality is that Dell is exceptionally good at marketing systems that appear to have a low price to end users, but more often than not, when one actually configures the system with the appropriate amount of memory, drives and graphics cards to be really useful, it winds up costing as much as any other compatible system. In some cases, the price tag may come in at even more than what rivals are charging for the same fully configured system."

I have run into this for years. The advertised price sounds great but it has a low quality graphics card or insufficient RAM or... Something else.

Throw in the lack of local support and other options (like Magnum! ) look a lot better.

Ars Gratis Ars

I’m not really an art aficionado. I like to visit the CMA and other venues to see interesting stuff but I’m not a student of the field by any means.

So it is unusual that I would be at 2 arts events in a few days. Sunday I went to the Cain Park Arts Festival. It’s only a few miles from home so I popped in to check it out. Tons of people on a sweltering day and lots of interesting pieces from Cleveland and around the country (and even a booth from Israel).

Tuesday I only had to travel a couple miles more to get to the NEO Show at the Art Museum. Hahn Loeser is sponsoring the NEO Show - formerly the May Show - and they had a private viewing with some tasty drinks and hors d’oeuvres. It was sweltering again so not many people ventured out to the gardens where a harpist and other musicians played. Lots of bigwigs in attendance and CMA Director Katherine Lee Reid spoke for a few minutes.

The show itself was pretty wild. Some interesting pieces and mediums but a few items just flabbergasted me. One was some crates stacked with what the artist claims are exactly 100,000 clippings from the phone book. Another was a horizontal freezer. You were invited to lift the lid and yep, it was a freezer. Empty. That was the entire piece! Someone clue me in to the art behind that one. ;-) I see the same on tree lawns the night before trash pickup.

The best of show had me scratching my, admittedly untrained, head too. It was a black and white video displayed on one of the walls that featured the head and torso of a man screaming and contorting his face for 2 minutes and 27 seconds. That was “best in show.”

Well, it least it got people talking.

Maybe the coolest thing is that I could see these 2 shows without travelling more than about 4 miles.

Lose a few pounds?

If you've ever tried to shed a few (or more) pounds, you'll get a kick out of Claire - the self-acclaimed "Lumpy Girl"

She went public with her weight loss attempt - even posted a picture - and has been updating her progress for all to see. She's a riot to read - even for you skin and bones types.

Check out Claire

Nothing to do?

Ok, the worst thing about blogging IMO is posting a bunch of personal stuff that nobody really cares about anyway. But this is just a taste for all those who claim there is nothing to do in this city.

Where to start...Last Wednesday was a Community of Minds event at CPL downtown. George Nemeth spoke about blogging. The gardens at the library are wifi enabled and a great destination. The weather didn't cooperate that night but it was still a good event. Have you been there?

Thursday - my sand volleyball league out at Bumpers. Indoor is fun but nothing beats sand vball. You don't have to play - lots of people come to watch, drink, eat, listen to tunes, hang out.

Friday - went to the SeniorFest at the Zoo for ClevelandSeniors.Com. I try to get to the zoo a couple times a year. It's so close and so cool. Should do it more. When's the last time you went to the zoo?

Saturday - The Powwow at Edgewater. The American Indian Education Center sponsored their 11th annual Powwow all weekend and it was a new experience for me. Represenatives from various Tribes came from all over - Ontario, North Carolina, Minnesota, etc. Great costumes, dancing, music, crafts - even buffalo meat burgers.

I ended up with a poster featuring Geronimo and 3 others holding guns. The headline says "Homeland Security - Fighting terrorists since 1492."

Sunday I caught the Tribe (9 in a row!) and then headed over to the Irish Summerfest in Euclid for some Guiness and some tunes.

A million other things going on too but still I have friends who complain that "there's nothing to do in this city."

My only complaint is those pesky bugs that have been swarming for the last week.

Perfect for the Dawg Pound

Heard a new term today - migth be old hat to many of you - but it was new to me.

Blawgs - Blogs for law firms.

A consultant sent out a press release called "‘Blawgs’ Little More Than An Expensive Hobby for Many Law Firms."

Wish I had thought of that name.

Windows Server Installfest

We will have a special meeting of the Windows Server SIG this Saturday May 21st. We will be doing live installs of Windows Server 2003 on some donated Compaq servers. Time permitting we will bring them up to SP1 level.

Sky Bank donated the servers and Microsoft donated the server software. The completed servers will then be donated to several non-profit sites through Computers Assisting People - CAP.

Paul Stork will lead the session and because it is hands-on, attendance will be extremely limited. RSVP if you want to attend - first come, first serve.

The meeting will be at the CAP Resource Center at 3154 Payne Ave from 10AM till noon.

Deja Vu all over again

I was reading Crain''s today.

There was a frontpage headline about business leaders pledging an "allegiance to regionalism." Seems these 30 business leaders from 18 counties are getting together to form a far reaching business development group. How promising.

Also on Page 1 is a story about public companies dealing with criticism from people posting about them on the Internet. Damn bloggers

The Op/Ed page has an item titled "Academia, corporate worlds need better link." Sounds like a plan.

The type of stuff we read about every week.

But this is from Vol 19 No. 14 from April 6-12, 1998. I was cleaning up some stuff at the office today and discovered this issue stuffed in a box.

7 years and just how far have we come? It would be funny if not so sad.