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. ;-)