buckeyemike

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. So you're all accounted for.

I just got a Sony Vaio laptop with a Blu Ray player. You CAN tell the difference...I never thought it would blow me away, but it did.

I'm not sure I'll ever forget the look in Neda's eyes...right at the camera. Then she bled out. Horrific to watch. There are comments on YouTube stating that the Neda killing was staged. An outrageous accusation that proves, once again, that many people are idiots. What I fear is another Tianamen Square, but I think that doesn't happen in this day and age. The use of the Internet, and sites including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube show the outside world the atrocities that are occurring there. The Iranian people want freedom. The clerics who run things think that democracy is an affront to Allah (read: themselves) and will attempt to clamp down on everyone. The Islamists were successful 30 years ago. They may not be for much longer. Thank God for that...the mullahs need to lose power, and lose face, quickly.

I will also add the following: Starbucks The New York Yankees HD radio...I can understand HDTV, but do we really need HD radio?

I'll go with Buddy Rich, because I actually saw him live in 1984, not too long before he died. As with many on this board, I'll also say Neil Peart (best in the rock category), but I'm surprised only Dean has mentioned Gene Krupa. To Exiled: Belinda Carlisle played drums? I never noticed.

The Duggars are devoutly Christian, so I think that has a lot to do with what they're doing. I wouldn't call it creepy. My grandparents had eight kids, were devoutly Baptist, made a lot of what they wore and ate a lot of what they grew. They didn't even have electricity or indoor plumbing until 1951, when my mother was in high school. I don't think they ever went into debt, or even used a credit card. No, I don't call the Duggars creepy. This I agree with. Television has changed a lot of people's perceptions. I really believe that the American obsession with materialism and "living large" grew largely out of being able to see it in your living room every night. The other part of your statement is the idea of schadenfreude...seeing rich, young, hot people being taken down a couple of pegs from their seemingly perfect lives.

R.I.P. He had some problems, health and financial, over the past couple of years.

A while back, he did one in Cleveland. Harvey Pekar was a major part of it. It was the first time I'd heard of the future Iron Chef, Michael Symon. The show, which I downloaded off iTunes to DVD, was complimentary of the city, its architecture, and its dining (especially the foods available at the West Side Market). Problem was, Bourdain apparently visited in March, when the predominant colors are gray and white.

This may be for the specific thread, but I'll say it anyway. Jon and Kate, and their whole sordid story. (well...now that I think about it, reality TV in general...)

Yes, they're all over the tabloids. Every time I go to the grocery store, or Wal-Mart, or the gas station... Kate's attractive (moreso than you'd expect for someone who's had eight kids), but I wouldn't want to be within 50 feet of her. And BTW, I have only seen the show channel-surfing. I haven't stopped to watch the carnage...er, show. I think the show has destroyed, or is well on the way to destroying, that family. Hey Kate, some things are much more important than the show going on. Like those 8 kids you have, all under 10.

Listening to Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer" at full blast. Somehow, that song gets better with age.

Yes, but Cedar Fair owns a number of other parks besides Cedar Point.

You're still around? Haven't you been banned yet? The birth certificate thing is a red herring. I'm a Republican and I don't believe it. What it really stems from is a complete and total dislike for the man based on two reasons: 1) his race, and 2) his policies. To the racists, the President is an uppity member of his race, and must be slapped down. That's all I will say about that. It's been disproven. Obama was born in Hawaii and the certificate is real.

Hey now! But seriously, I cannot believe that Cleveland made the most courteous list. We don't have terrible rush hour traffic (it's more like a rush 10 minutes, since the freeways were built when Cleveland still had close to a million people), but the drivers are, shall I say, not up to the challenge. In other words, they suck.

Good call. I listen to the Sinatra channel on Sirius, and I found a station out of Youngstown that plays that type of music (WNIO.com) that's also the affiliate of the Indians' NYP league team, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. I kept the things I like out of your post as well. Can't smoke cigars, which I do like, b/c of my asthma. The porn and the horse track? My wife would kill me. I would also add a minor league baseball game, as well as a round of golf.

Welcome to Costco. I love you. Great film.

Correct. Should I have said b!tch?

...and some are still complaining, because we all know how evil Wal-Mart is. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the Youngstown-Warren area, but it is probably the worst area in this country economically. Since the mills closed 30 years ago, the Steel Valley has been in a death spiral. It's gotten bad enough that the city of Youngstown is now starting to bulldoze entire streets b/c the houses are vacant. What amazes me is that people b---h because it's Wal-Mart. I would wager that's the first major store opening in the area this year. I understand it's a lot of minimum wage-type work, but whatever happened to the attitude of "work hard, and you'll make it"? You advance in the company if you do good work. That's what my parents drilled into my head and my brother's as well...show up, do a good job, and be dependable. Instead, we want everything handed to us. This seems to be the attitude of a LOT of people these days. No wonder this country's in serious trouble.

I nearly got killed by a wayward minivan in downtown Boston in 1987. He was going 45-50 mph on the street that runs right outside Faneuil Hall. I was in the crosswalk and that SOB almost ran me down.

Cedar Fair stock did reasonably well...at least until the economy collapsed. I did a probate estate that had thousands of shares of Cedar Fair.

I'm reading a book about Notre Dame football called "Touchdown Jesus" and it mentions in detail a bar owner named Eddie Gadawski. When the book was written in 2003, he was 84 and still running his bar in Niagara Falls' old Polish neighborhood. As of last September, Eddie was still alive b/c he and his wife Irene celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and Eddie made a trip to South Bend to see a Notre Dame game. The bar is a Fighting Irish shrine, according to the book. I hope Eddie is still with us, because he's closing in on 90, and wonder if anyone here has patronized his place.

You watched Independence Day again last night, didn't you?

It's like poking a stick at a dead animal. I can think of nothing good or productive that can happen.

Too bad, it's the only place I can think of where I can have a chocolate shake with an Italian sub.