May 2008
57 posts
Mem Day Weekend
Hit up Pukesburgh-PA, Cleveland’s rival on the rivers, to visit a friend this past weekend. We mostly stayed in and cooked and drank and locals came over in the evenings, playing some Trivial Pursuit and Foodie Fight, as well as watching Knocked Up again. All hail Paul Rudd. My team killed at FF and lost a narrow one at TP — everyone won in watching KU. We did make it out to PNC Park...
Talk Radio Inanity
Filled up my tank for over $50 for the first time today. Definitely going to try the bus/bike thing. Just before my debit card was raped, coincidentally, NPR did a story on people dealing with higher prices. One woman said: “I’m not filling up my tank as soon. Now I’m waiting until the light comes on, and putting in maybe $10, where I used to never let it get below 1/2.”...
When do you want to go?
That’s my new cocktail party question — a meaningless conversation starter. It may sound like it’s been uttered at scads of gatherings before, but it’s not about departure, it’s about time travel. I’m sitting here watching in stunning HD one of the all-time (no pun intended) classic comedies, Back To The Future. Dr. Emmet Brown, he’s gone and built a time...
If it says Libby's-Libby's-Libby's on the...
…then you’ll loveit-loveit-loveit on your table-table-table. I think it’s usually the rock bands, not the critics, who complain about labels but here a food writer, Michael Ruhlman, is bellyaching that “molecular gastronomy” doesn’t have meaning. I’m not too sympathetic. Labels don’t really need to convey much information on their own, because labels...
Things Men Should Be Able to Do @ Esquire →
Usually full of annoying bravado, this take on what it is to be a man was pretty interesting/readable. I might leave out anything about Christopher Columbus in favor of “Drive Stickshift”, but still.
Phone>Twitter>gCal>gSpreadsheet Update
Just a quick update — after a day (or some time span) my new Google Calendar private XML feed did show up within Google Spreadsheet, so my data train is ready to pull out of the station. Sweet. Now I just have to parse that effer up.
Sic transit gloria mundi
Which in Latin means “Google Transit rocks the world”. Seriously. In our mid-sized berg it is tough to use our public transportation. Not only do we sprawl with the best of them, but their website is not the greatest. It’s all PDFs and you have to decipher the system map to figure out which bus schedule to download. Google Transit just recently added Cleveland, and at the least...
Derek Anderson Trade @ Bleacher Report →
This one is for The Developer. I’m slowly coming around to thinking we should stick with DA, and this article’s holes are part of the reason. 4 & 5 are just dumb.
Minor Leaguer Traded →
How many bats do you think we could get for Pronk?
Syracuse Wins LaX Championship →
Go Orange! Wish I had ESPNU
Tremont Chef Plays With Pigskin
Everything about this article (combining two of my top interests — food and football) was cool, until the end. Chef Rocco Whalen from Fahrenheit is the new Cleveland representative at the Taste of the NFL, a charity event right before the Super Bowl. What town could have a better combination than Cleveland (OK, I’ll grant you Chicago)? We have a lot of kick-ass restaurants serving fun...
Payne, No Agony
Inspired by a blog post with some gorgeous photos, we carried out from the Wonton Gourmet last night. Mixed results unfortunately — I more-or-less felt positively, but the fianceé not so much. The Roast Duck over Noodles sounded excellent, and looked nice. Carry-out might not be the best way to go as the noodles were cooked but in a ramen-like block. The real disappointment was the duck...
FDA warns of harmful nipple cream @ CNN.com →
Heh heh… heh.
Local Color
There’ s an apparent raging local debate I was unaware of — the Cleveland Police Department, who doesn’t do DNA profiling without a suspect, may have been hoodwinked by a local artist into putting an image of a pig on their door. Here are the details in text and in cable-access-level video.
Li'l Miss Adventures
I’ve had a number of misadventures in approximately the last week, allow me to recount: The car (yes, Hyundai) was broken into for the second time in two months. Since very little is kept there, very little was taken — just some change, my cell phone charger, the power for my Sirius unit There was some blood in my car, presumably the bastard cut himself a bit, so I called the CPD to...
Ahh, balls.
This guy was a legit star in the pop-acedemic world. Hate for Cleveland, and CWRU, to lose him. PS The Star Trek BS was crap, but still.
Rockin' Fat and Happy →
A great local sandwich shop/bar on the West Side is having an awesome promotion with an East Side staple rock club. Did I mention awesome?
Most Intriguing Food... Evar. →
The plating is right in line with what I would expect of the Euc, but this makes me want to go even MORE. I hope they still have beer in the Apple Juice jars.
Bad Attitude →
(via)
Online Tools Fun
So, I was thinking of capturing some data. Cuz I’m like that. Turns out you can use Twitter to put data into a Google Calendar using the “twitter-bot” TwitterCal. How convenient! If you didn’t know, you can easily post to Twitter using your cellphone, and by putting “d” at the beginning it will send the message directly to one of your “Friends”...
Ringing the changes →
This, I am very proud to say, is my uncle.
Strong Bad's new brother, Stone Mad
Had a really fun evening (after a rather annoying day) at Stone Mad. For one thing we met and chatted quite a bit with Jimmy, the floor manager. Jimmy is an ex-Coast Guard rescue swimmer, has a pencil mustache and a tattoo around his wrist, but like all those working at SM he was dressed nattily. We drew Jimmy over with our backgammon set — for no particular reason I decided it would be fun...
Call it "brushetta" or "brusketta", just don't...
Local news celebrity posts a range of crostini toppings and calls it a bruschetta buffet — and I discover that she’s right! Bruschetta’s about the toasted bread, not the topping!
Mobile Phone Company Hatin' @ kottke.org →
Reading this and doing some research (at Cellular Abroad) made me just give up on the cell phone for my 2week honeymoon in October. I never cared about calls, really, and data seems prohibitive. I better start weaning myself from my inter-nest now.
A giant WTF for this one...
… Werner Herzog is remaking Bad Lieutenant. That movie was brutal to watch so I don’t see any point, commercially or artistically, in remaking it shot-by-shot or nearly so. And I just don’t get why we would need a more watered down bad cop movie after Harsh Times and that clunker with Keanu Reeves that came out this year.
Ninth St @ CLEVELAND DAILY PHOTO →
Cookin' this weekend
Celebrated my mother, my dad’s bday, and my fianceé’s mom (and our sisters-who-are-moms) this weekend. Minimized our cooking by grilling out both places. The soon-to-be-in-laws got pork chops (got a 1/2 loin cut into chops on special at the WSM) while it was burgers and brats at my folks’. Made a couscous salad along with some bruschetta for both, and so while there wasn’t...
Ned's Reunited →
I think it’s funny that they managed to get themselves mentioned in the same breath as the Smiths. But I did like them.
1001 Books To Read @ 1morechapter.com →
Looks like I can recall reading some 64… I probably missed a couple (for instance, I know I read some Hemingway, but can’t recall what right now). I used a similar list issued by my high school library (go E.P.I.S.D!) to improve my depth in the college years. I probably have a couple dozen others purchased in the house but only begun or not even started. Perhaps as interesting is the...
Destro →
I heard Chris Eccleston = Destro in the upcoming GI Joe movie… and I get this? Disappointing. More.
Eye of the tiger
Between Cavs playoff games, family stuff, work and life I’m desperately behind on Tivo. Watched this Thusday’s Survivor this morning, and Holy Crap. This show has been ho-hum for the last two or so seasons and was only useful as Tv to put on in the background. This season has been awesome, so awesome that tonight’s finale won’t be nearly as interesting as the post 6 or so...
Speaking of Muppet Perversion...
… if you ever want to see some truly twisted humor check out Meet The Feebles, it’s by pre-LOTR, pre-Frighteners, pre-Heavenly Creatures Peter Jackson. It’s a disturbing laugh-riot. With puppets.
More Muppet Perversion →
There's a light... →
…over in the Frankenstein place. I’m digging the cognitive dissonance of something as modern as a light bulb being over a century old. Not to mention that all current technology is more-or-less designed to croak in less than 10 years. Cool.
Why Superman Will Always Suck @ Bam! Kapow! →
Wouldn’t the most brilliant re-invention of Superman be as an allegory for the US as a superpower? His “moral absolutism” could be replaced by aww-shucks “common sense” so he does what seems right with the info he has but that decision is frequently wrong or has unexpected consequences. Basically instead of making him more complex make the world more complex, where...
Constructed Languages @ Cleveland Public Library →
I conlang,you conlang,he/she conlängses — we conloong,youses conlo,we conninify.
Q&A...
…as in Quinn and Anderson, the QB “situation” in Cleveland (let’s not call it a controversy). ESPN has a story on the situation, and I’ve been meaning to post my thoughts for a while now. The difficulty, for me, is that I want to know what we’ve got in our QBs. Last season Charlie Frye won the starting job out of training camp and was sacked 5 times in one half...
30 Rock Trivia →
Shamed to only get 9/13.
Pale Hose Go Pink @ MLB.com →
Did they put a red shirt in the wash? No, they intentionally dyed their beards (soul patches) pink to “raise awareness for breast cancer”. Seriously? Is anyone unaware of breast cancer at this point?
Whole heap of zing
I always thought it was “wooly pa-zing”, so I’m happy to have that cleared up. New questions emerge, however, like what is RizLa?
The Station Restaurant in Berea Ohio →
Yakima ain’t alone. (I haven’t been yet, btw)
Baking ain't to be trifled with...
On Sunday, in preparation for a “Cinco de Miah” dinner party, I made this trifle for the second time. The first time I relied heavily on TJ’s — used their Lemon Curd, Frozen Berries, and Gingerbread Mix. The second time I branched out by adding fresh berries from the market and making my own gingerbread. Making the Gbread is really not very hard and in my book doesn’t...
Theta Chi Busted @ The Associated Press →
This fraternity, I always heard, was the basis for Animal House. However at the midwestern engineering college I attended, it would be safe to call it the nerdiest group on campus. I always thought that distinction was was… awesome.
Cleveland fans have it best @ The Vancouver Sun →