I just had no idea! I was literally just at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and I even visited the polar bears (what, it was really cold out, and I especially like to visit the polar bears on those kind of days, because then it's like I'm seeing them in their natural habitat).
Little One, the only male polar bear in residence in Cleveland, is being loaned to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden for at least two years. And why? Breeding! Yes! We are desperate for more young polar bears in Cleveland, apparently, and we certainly couldn't mate Little One to his sisters here in Cleveland. It's actually even bigger than that, because polar bears are being considered for the threatened species list. I shouldn't mock too much - I would be really saddened to see the polar bears go. But I am seriously surprised - I feel like I should run back over to the zoo and figure out if there's anything else there that I missed. Are they shipping out the tigers? The rhino? Anything?
And when you think about it, isn't that one of the biggest ones? We don't have a lot of mountains, we have no enormous canyons, we have no volcanoes - I'm thinking that we do however have quite a few really amazing bodies of water, like Lake Erie!
According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (and frankly, they're great for giving good information), Lake Erie is a fairly recent phenomenon, less than 4,000 years old. It was formed by glacial deposits (which is one of the reasons it's one of the smallest Great Lakes; by the time the glaciers got this far south, they were pretty thin and didn't have a lot of gouging power). Various natural and geological aspects of northern Ohio caused by Lake Erie include the Black Swamp region (up by Toledo), beach ridges (the dunes!), a score of other lakes and rivers, and a lot of the soil makeup of northern Ohio. It's also part of the Great Lakes, and a part of the Erie Canal and larger waterways that allowed trading to go from the Midwest to the East and Canada! You might also want to check the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio organization, which gives a lot of good information about the lake.
Although there's lots of man-made efforts currently going to keep Lake Erie contained, it was one of the first natural-made wonders of Ohio, and was the cause of a lot of others!
Has anyone else read this story? I'm frankly pretty appalled. According to a few different newspapers now, Tashina Byrd (of Springfield, OH) and her boyfriend Brian O'Neill (of Columbus, OH) went to a Wal-Mart with a pharmacy in Columbus and asked at the pharmacy for the Plan B pill. According to Byrd, the attendant said that the store did stock the pill, but nobody would give it to them. Byrd has written Governor Ted Strickland, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Wal-Mart Watch. The pharmacist claims that he was right in refusing to fill the prescription. As of right now, Wal-Mart is investigating the incident, as are the other operations.
Without opening the door to a lot of arguing about birth control and abortions, etc., let's just acknowledge this fact. If the morning after pill (or Plan B pill) is now legally available, which it has been decreed as by the Food and Drug Administration, then it must be legally available. That is the only part of the story that I'm horrified about.
For as much time as I end up spending in coffee shops, I really feel that I ought to drink coffee. But that's ok, since the hot chocolate and on-the-spot-made bakery at Gypsy Beans & Baking Company more than compensates for my not knowing how their coffee tastes (according to Sidekick Girl, it's awesome).
Today the coffee shop, restaurant and bakery will have been opened for exactly two weeks, and it's been a packed two weeks! As owner Niki Gillota says, "I didn't expect the place to be packed every day!" And it has been - I've been in twice during these two weeks, and there have always been people in there. And they are wildly flattering. In a quick survey of the larger room this past Saturday, I received these quotes about Gypsy Beans:
"I was here the other day and the whole neighborhood came through here!"
"I love it here."
"This is the second time this week that I've been here."
"Better than the commercialized coffee shop - it's your own little place."
"Loving it - I'll never go to Starbucks again."
"The neighborhood needs something like this - there's no other little cafe here."
I'm sure you've all been reading along with David Beckham's change to the LA Galaxy from Real Madrid. No? I'm quite shocked. I thought most young women, I mean young men, would be excited at this revitalization of professional soccer. The man's got a five-year deal that could end up being well over $50 million! Major league soccer in the US is hoping to be revved up with all of this attention, and Cleveland is going to benefit!
Yes, we are. Cleveland and Twinsburg are the new homes of the Cleveland City Stars, a member of the United Soccer League and owned by the Cleveland Soccer Foundation. We can expect to see them play other pro soccer teams from Baltimore, Maryland; Cincinnati; the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts; the country of Bermuda, and Charlotte, North Carolina! Big doings. I myself am really excited at this, both because I love soccer and because the team will be holding their home matches at Cleveland State University's Krenzler Field, and that is so close to me! I think this is going to be tons of fun.
Listen, I know you're not going to be doing anything on Thursday January 11 in downtown Cleveland. Come on! You know that you have a free evening, and I think you should come spend it with me, and with the Rockstar comics. This is late notice, I know, but I'd like to pretend I have the power of the Internet enough that when I point out an entertaining, fairly cheap evening of comedy that you might like to come to it!
Plus, there will be some dynamite entertainment! Carrie Callahan will be hosting the evening (she'll do a little bit at the beginning and then introduce comics in their turns). A variety of local funny people will be there, including Jim Tews, Joe Howard and Bill Squire. Headlining (we think) the event will be young Erik Myers, who was at the Cleveland Improv only yesterday! He apparently gave a hilarious performance, although doing a quick search for him on the Internet gave me nada. So come on!
I was reading the New York Times article on Jim Tressel and the bizarre dichotomy between his sterling behavior and the not-so-sterling behavior of his players, and it mentioned a great statistic: how many Ohioans would vote Jim Tressel in as a major politician, based solely on his performance as the head coach at OSU. Quite a few, is the response. (Exact number?) I can't really blame them; I'm from Berea where the Tressels are from (I once had his brother as a teacher in sixth grade; and there is a Tressel street), so we love the Tressels without question.
But I'm also a Clevelander, and so here's my thought: who would win in a political race between LeBron James and Jim Tressel? That is a tough question. You have LeBron "King" James, bringing the Cavs and Cleveland's sports back into the national spotlight (sportlight?). He's young, he's energetic, and he'd obviously be able to get the entire youth vote. But what about Jim? Been around for a while, also getting national recognition for his team. A little more of a leader (corralling young football players year-round has got to be good for leadership) and obviously a little more mature than 22-year-old LeBron. But who would win? Let's see some votes!
I am always so behind the times - although that's not really kind to myself! Isn't it more along the lines that I was just not away, and now I know more about more cool things to do in Northeast Ohio? Yeah, let's look at it in that light. It makes me seem more on top of things and less clueless.
The Parma Theater (located on Ridge Road in Parma, Ohio, of course) has been showing Bollywood hit movies fairly regularly, as has the Solon Cinemas (Solon, Ohio). Bollywood, for those of you even more out of touch with what's hip and worldly than myself, is the cinematic glory of Mumbai (what used to Bombay), India. Bollywood films find huge audiences anywhere that there are Indian immigrants, who enjoy the glamorous colorful picture of life in the extremely lovely subcontinent of India. The films are also quite popular with non-immigrants - I myself am a big fan! I just recently re-watched Bride and Prejudice again, a Bollywood interpretation of the British Pride and Prejudice, and it's so much fun. I love it!
This weekend, the Parma Theater and Solon Cinema will be screening Guru, which stars Aishwarya Rai. Rai has been described as the most beautiful women in India, and frankly, I think she could be the most beautiful woman in the world. She is incredibly glamourous, and a stunning actress.Check out the showtimes here - and don't worry, there will be English subtitles.
I'm a little behind on this assignment. I blame my terrible cold and the fact that I may have broken a bone in my foot - more on that exciting news tomorrow! But since the end of the year has come and gone, I want to join the ranks of my fellow bloggers and talk about what I think were some of my better posts from 2006.
Most recently, my review of the Bazaar Bizarre craft fair. Start saving up for the December 2007 version! In October, I talked about two things that I thought were pretty interesting, and completely unrelated: Toni Morrison and her anniversary of getting the Novel Prize, and being filmed in November on Election Day. I really like to review restaurants, local fairs of any kind and books. So, in a quick sampling, my review of Sullivan's restaurant in Lakewood, Ohio; a review of my annual pilgrimage to the St. Rocco's Festival; and a review of Cleveland native Les Roberts' memoir, We'll Always Have Cleveland! Obviously, I love Ohio - you may have gathered that piece of information from my working for a website wholly devoted to Ohio! But I like when our great Buckeye state makes it into the news in weird ways: like when I found an mention of our major cities in Forbes' discussion of best cities for singles. I really have become involved in the wholly stand-up comic scene here in Cleveland, for which you may totally blame my dear good friend, Sidekick Girl! But I like helping her and her fellow comics out with a little bit of free publicity, like when I reviewed the first Rockstar Comedy event.
I also love getting to take pictures for you, Blogging Ohio! Enjoy an old Ohiopic of the Day! Let's go to '07!
It's regime-change time! Governor Taft left office on Friday, and had a day full of activities and work, which I admire. He was getting things done! But with turn there comes time for change, which means time for Ted Strickland. And I've got to confess something. For reasons not totally clear, in my head, I like to refer to him as Big Ted Strickland. I think it's got a nice ring to it!
Anyway, Ted will be shedding the title of Governor-Elect this morning, bright and early. He and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher will head over to the state house in Columbus, and I personally can't wait to see what they have in store for us! In a quick search for articles about Strickland, it seems that quite a few people would like for him to focus a bit on Ohio's education. I've got to say: me, too. But we'll give him a month or so to figure out the twists and turns of the statehouse before we start expecting massive reform. Good morning, Governor!
Mwa-ha-ha! I found this story to be quite hilarious. Apparently, some 30 students and others who were arrested after the OSU-Michigan game for underage drinking and disorderly conduct were sentenced for community service. And when will the community service take place? It will take place tomorrow! Ahh! They won't get to celebrate during the pre-game festivities for the national championship between OSU and University of Florida (team name: the Gators)! The judge who sentenced them apparently wanted them to realize that they still have to obey the law while at Buckeye football games - a wise ruling. So the students have to clean toilets, pick up trash and do some gardening work at the state fairgrounds tomorrow. Hopefully they'll get done before kick-off!
Hooray! It's almost time for the Miss America pageant. What? As a filthy liberal, I shouldn't support the event? Well, technically, it's still a scholarship contest, and I will always support people trying to get more money for their education. Plus, Miss Ohio deserves my support not only because she is representing me (and therefore, I think for her talent she should sing the OSU fight song while dressed as a buckeye candy), but because she is from Brook Park, Ohio!
Clearly, Melanie is a winner. She was a Cavs girl, for crying out loud! That's way tougher than any silly beauty pageant. Sadly, the Miss America website does not tell us what her talent is going to be - I can only hope that she does a dance routine! I'm going to be watching on January 29, and if you had any buckeye love in you, you would too!
I love sunset - that's the one benefit to this crazy unseasonabl weather. Beautiful sunsets. I especially liked this one in Public Square, of the top of the Soldiers and Sailors monument.
Ah, the Internet. What would I do without it? Certainly I would not find out about all these crazy little happenings around Cleveland. For example, did you know that there is a great blog being written by a local Ohio chef/food lover? No? Well, neither did I, so who can blame us. But here's a link to Michael Ruhlman's site (which is quite good, if much smarter than me), and if you scan back a little ways, you will find his post called "For Those Who Can't Get Enough Televised Paintball," which was posted on what appears to be December 27.
In that post, Mr. Ruhlman challenges Anthony Bourdain (celebrity chef, author of Kitchen Confidential, and star of own show "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel) to do a show in Cleveland! Apparently, Mr. Ruhlman knows Mr. Bourdain, they've cooked together, they scrap, etc. Well, after Bourdain was challenged (and rightly so, as Ruhlman says: "Come to Cleveland, Mr. Soft Palms. We gotch ya cultcha right heah, pal."), he commented back on Ruhlman's blog. If I can correctly quote Mr. Bourdain here: "I am taking you up on your challenge. There WILL be a Cleveland episode of NO RESERVATIONS." This was posted on December 28, and if my hawk-eyed watching of the other comments is accurate, although Ruhlman and Bourdain have apparently had way too good of a time in Vegas, Bourdain didn't take it back!
Pay attention, Cleveland. It's time to step up and offer awesome food. And let's think of something other than pirogi, hmm? I think everyone knows that Cleveland is a somewhat Polish town. Just a bit.
Hum that to the tune of, "Where does all the time go?"
Holy cow. I'm quite busy, and I wanted to apologize to you, Blogging Ohio, since between my horrific cold (my voice is two steps away from being gone) and baking 5 pans of brownies for work, I've been swamped! You may have recently read in the Cleveland Plain Dealer an article in the PDQ section about people at work swooping in on food in your kitchen/common area/what have you. They chose some classics (cookies and candy) and some not-so-classic food items (pickled pimento loaf), and timed how long it took for the food to disappear. Obviously, some things went faster than others!
In the spirit of that article, and in light of the fact that I have zero energy but wanted to write something to you guys, here's a recipe that I've thematically christened Buckeye Brownies (with a slight variation, they could be OSU Brownies, which I'll explain at the end.) Please don't hate me, Blogging Ohio: take my offer of brownies and patiently wait for me to come back to you!
I just had no idea! I was literally just at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and I even visited the polar bears (what, it was really cold out, and I especially like to visit the polar bears on those kind of days, because then it's like I'm seeing them in their natural habitat).
And when you think about it, isn't that one of the biggest ones? We don't have a lot of mountains, we have no enormous canyons, we have no volcanoes - I'm thinking that we do however have quite a few really amazing bodies of water, like 
Has anyone else read this 
For as much time as I end up spending in coffee shops, I really feel that I ought to drink coffee. But that's ok, since the hot chocolate and on-the-spot-made bakery at 
I'm sure you've all been reading along with 
Listen, I know you're not going to be doing anything on Thursday January 11 in downtown Cleveland. Come on! You know that you have a free evening, and I think you should come spend it with me, and with the Rockstar comics. This is late notice, I know, but I'd like to pretend I have the power of the Internet enough that when I point out an entertaining, fairly cheap evening of comedy that you might like to come to it!
I was reading the 
I am always so behind the times - although that's not really kind to myself! Isn't it more along the lines that I was just not away, and now I know more about more cool things to do in Northeast Ohio? Yeah, let's look at it in that light. It makes me seem more on top of things and less clueless.
I'm a little behind on this assignment. I blame my terrible cold and the fact that I may have broken a bone in my foot - more on that exciting news tomorrow! But since the end of the year has come and gone, I want to join the ranks of my fellow bloggers and talk about what I think were some of my better posts from 2006.
It's regime-change time! Governor Taft left office on Friday, and had a 
Mwa-ha-ha! I found this 
Hooray! It's almost time for the 
Ah, the Internet. What would I do without it? Certainly I would not find out about all these crazy little happenings around Cleveland. For example, did you know that there is a great blog being written by a local Ohio chef/food lover? No? Well, neither did I, so who can blame us. But here's a link to 
