WIXY's Gone Bananas

I've been getting very irritated at some of the posts at the Listening Party over the past couple of days. First you have JimOhioLottery (pick 3) thinking he's the Trivisonno of that particular venue, posting things that you would only think someone who was delirious would be posting. Then you have the real Mike Trivisonno spewing about all the imbeciles in the "chat room" and mentions Jim by name. You know one has to be hard up for content for a show on a 50,000 watt station when he wants to stir up the posters on an internet forum. Triv , if you can't do better than that, go home and play poker on the internet . Along with Jim's posts come unsavory responses from those who want to egg him on. I'm all for first amendment rights, but this come along the lines of "yelling fire in a crowded theatre". And when these asinine posts get more intense, people like newsnomore , Bizdecision , and others quit posting. Some of these folks are not only m...

In 1977 I moved to Cleveland with my family. It was January and we were in the midst of one of the coldest months ever in N.E. Ohio. This was shortly after the picture above my profile was taken. the road we lived on, Eve Ave., had two tire imprints in the snow. It looked like inverted railroad tracks. Anyway I was shoveling snow one morning and the temperature was below zero. My hair was tucked under my hood . One of the neighbors come by to welcome me to the neighborhood. We got to talking and he told me that the folks who lived around there were mostly decent people, except for the fact that there were some hippies around, and they weren't worth a (darn). About that time my head was getting too warm, so I opened my hood and out come my shoulder length hair. The neighbor then said , "But you know looks can be deceiving." I love shock value at times. And speaking of hair guys , what is the fascination with Sanjaya on American Idol? At this point I think his fifteen minu...

I was just notified by Tim Lones aka TimL , that he has joined the ever growing Northeast Ohio blogging community. He has started a blog about one of his strong points, Cleveland Classic Media . One thing that I've admired about Tim is his knowledge of area television and radio from the past. Of all the posters, his enthusiasm of the area's media history is rivaled only by Nathan Obral . I think Cleveland Classic Media is going to be a hit.

Bulletin - Burger King, the world's second largest hamburger chain, said Tuesday that they would begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers that did not confine their animals in cages and crates. Ah yes, eggs taste different when they don't have that cage flavor. Okay I'm being facetious when I type that but it upsets me when this country bows to groups like PETA, and treat animals better than we treat unborn children. I don't usually talk political issues. I leave that to my good friend, the Danemeister . But it upsets me when folks take these restaurants to task because the suppliers don't let the animals roam free. The same folks probably think nothing about the slaughter of the unborn in the name of embryonic stem cell research. Too bad I'm not eating a sausage sandwich now.

About the picture: The picture above my profile link is what I looked like on Christmas Day 1976. I thought I would have some fun and place it there at least for the next week. Whats th e m atter, slow day? As I left work this afternoon, I decided to listen to what Trivisonno had to say. Somebody had taken his special gold microphone. He has one of his own because he is a germophobe . Well, our boy Mike supposedly grabbed his briefcase during the 3:30 news break and went home. I then listened to the next half hour as Paul Rado and Alison(she doesn't give her last name, but in case you are curious, it's Pucci ) played detective, and were trying to find out what happened to the missing mike. After the 4:00 news I turned on my mp3 player as I got two new audiobooks yesterday. Which leads me to my next observation. One of the recordings I received was "The 360 Degree Manager" by John C Maxwell. I heard a quote I like-"A bulldog can beat a skunk anytime, but he k...

This past week, I've listening quite a bit to a couple of pod casts of radio programs that originate from out of the area. The first one I've mentioned a few times in this blog. It's called 48 Days to the Work You Love" and it's hosted by Dan Miller and Tim Knox. It comes out of Nashville. Dan and Tim discuss trends in the work place, and take calls from people looking to find the work they love. 48 Days is live from 7-10pm EDT on Sunday evening. The second Show is the "Tim Knox Show" hosted by Tim K nox(same one) and Paul Finley. It originates from Huntsville, Alabama. Tim describes himself as a "serial entrepreneur " . they take calls from those who want to set themselves up in business. The reason I bring these up now is that after reading on message boards and on OMW thoughts from people who give their views of their perfect world, and what they want to hear on their radio stations. I think at times there isn't enough variety in local...

I had a gray moment this week and forgot that there was a concert of the combined bands yesterday evening at Rittman High. WIXY's Gone Bananas correspondent, Brenda Fry reports that the sixth grade band gave a good start to the concert. The seventh graders are going to be a promising addition to the high school band(Rittman High is grades 8-12)next year based on their performance last night. In the reporter's words "the HS band was fabulous, absolutely fabulous." The jazz band put on their best performance in the past couple of years, as they had twice the students of past jazz bands. Thank you Brenda, for that special report. Coming up will be the Rittman band's performance at Universal Studios.

Going through my storage unit this evening, I came across this gem, pictured to your right. A 1983 Cleveland Indians program. Notice the price of this program was one dollar. With opening day 2007 just around the corner I will tell about memories of the 1982 opener. My older brother gave me two tickets and I took my younger brother with me, as Mrs74WIXYgrad is definitely not a baseball fan. I don't go to too many ball games nowadays as I have to get up very early to go to work, so getting tickets anytime is a treat. Anyway back to the game. It was very cold that day, and fans were having snowball fights in the stands. About the seventh inning, somebody was walking up the ramp to go to the upper deck and dropped their beer. Guess who the beer hit? The tribe played the Texas Rangers that afternoon. Buddy Bell played third base for the Rangers and he hit two home runs against his old teammates. The big star for the Indians those days was first baseman-designated hitter Andre Thornton....

Good news as I am back on line. All it cost me was a new computer. I wasn't wanting to get familiar with Vista this soon but that's the breaks. Funny how life progresses. When I was young, my dad used to take a tube out of the television before school let out so we would play outside. If the TV went on the fritz in the winter, then that was a catastrophe. When we got married my dad bought us a television which lasted over ten years. It still was a primitive set as it did not come with remote control. Then came the late eighties and we got our first remote VCR. As we had three small children, we recorded just about everything. We had to send it to the shop right before Christmas one year and you would have thought our kids world ended, as they could not record the specials ant watch them over and over and over... One more thing about our first VCR is that was one of the first chances my wife had to watch the Wizard of Oz, as it used to play on Sunday night, and her dad said they...

The computer at the WIXYranch has crashed, so while I am assessing the situation, my blogging will be limited. I will be checking in by using my work computer, as I am right now(during breaks, of course). Hopefully I will be up and running at home within the next week or so. My home computer is four years old so I am leaning more towards getting a new one. Windows Vista is too new at this point, so I am a little apprehensive about it. Things will work out.

A big WIXY's Gone Bananas salute to the Rittman boys basketball team, as they drove through and beat the previously unbeaten McDonald Blue Devils yesterday in the regional tournament and advance to the elite 8. Knowing how much the sports programs in Rittman have taken a beating in the recent past due to budget cuts, this accomplishment is nothing short of remarkable. Guys, you have done the whole town proud, so let me say that you deserve a break today. And best of luck against Berlin Hiland on Friday as they will be going for the regional championship and for a berth in the state final four.

I noticed at about 6:40 this evening that the sign at the National City Bank in bee- utiful downtown Rittman said it was 68 degrees. I noticed that as I rode past on the WIXYcycle , my 2 wheeled, human powered, chosen mode of transportation this evening. Hopefully I will be on the WIXYcycle often in the coming months as I have to get rid of some excess baggage I've picked up of late. Driving home from work, I had my window all the way down and it felt great. Once again, Mrs74 WIXYgrad , and I discussed getting her a MrsWIXYcycle . I hope it happens, as it's easier to ride when you're with someone. For the record, it's 7:30 as I type these words, and yes, I am now sore. C'mon , I'm 51, am overweight, have arthritis in my right knee, and the left one is not original equipment. But it's a real good sore. I had to mention my evening exercise, as the Danemeister mentioned his morning constitutional in his blog today. And Danemeister was right when he said y...

This evening, when I went out for some sandwiches, I went to the Rittman Subway , which had recently had a change in ownership. I got there and was treated to a pleasant surprise. Good service and good food. Let me explain. The previous ownership had left a bad reputation in the community. They weren't a good place to work, or so I had heard. They were also closed by the health department for violations. I believe that more people hear about it when you have a bad experience, then when you have a good one. I like to be positive when I post about local businesses, so I will tell you that when I was there, that the food I got was fresh and it was tasty. The owner was there getting ready for a new promotion which starts tomorrow, so we exchanged pleasantries, as he was ringing up my order. Yes, the owner of the franchise was helping the counter help, as she had gotten suddenly busy. If you are one of my Rittman readers who were turned off by former ownership, come back. You will enj...

If my constant movement was any indication, country breakfast went well this morning. I deliver the meals for the phone orders we receive, and I delivered 34 breakfasts to various locations in Rittman. The anniversary has also went well today. I normally am not much of a movie watcher, but we went to see "Wild Hogs" this afternoon. It was a very good movie. I'm not much of a John Travolta fan, but I thought he gave a very good performance. Any middle age person who feels that they haven't lived life like they would have liked to should see the movie. I also like the fact that it wasn't a chick flick. Even so, my wife also enjoyed it. She also enjoyed the fact I didn't fall asleep in the theatre. But then again I took a nap before we went.

Having been away the past five days, I thought I'd check in with my faithful few. I had a bit of a relapse of depression this week, so I haven't hit the blog. My presence on the message boards have been minimal also. Anniversary coming up: Tomorrow, March 10, my wife and I will celebrate 28 years together, as it will be our wedding anniversary. We did it the old fashioned way. We got married, then had our family. I remember going to a parent teacher conference for one of my daughters, and the teacher said that she told both of my daughters that they should consider themselves fortunate that they had both of their parents living at their home. One thought I had this past week as we got the most recent blast of winter, which made me 35 minutes late for work: Somewhere in Pennsylvania there is a blind groundhog. Last blast should come opening day. If you are in Rittman tomorrow morning, March 10, stop at the South Main Street Church of God , 261 S. Main Street, for our monthly ...

I probably spend to much time in front of my computer, especially thinking of new topics to write about here, but I have found a special irony about this. Today I took WIXYjr to the Treasure Chest, the official thrift shop of WIXY's Gone Bananas, as he needed some clothes to take back to college with him. Anyway, going through the store, we saw an original Nintendo for sale. WIXYjr told me that some of the students at Hocking had Super Nintendos in their rooms. I then asked him if anyone had Atari 2600s there. He said he didn't know, but one of the ladies there said "We do" and showed me one behind the counter. They remarked that those old game systems are making a comeback and they were selling big on eBay. With all these gaming systems out, games on cell phones, and games on the Internet , it made me wonder out loud "Why can't Johnny read?"

Hell is about to freeze over : WIXYjr is home for the weekend, and the WIXYjrmobile was in need of some minor repair. The driver side windshield wiper wasn't moving and the passenger side door could not be opened from the inside. I fixed both without going to a mechanic. Everybody at the ranch was shocked! As a mechanic, I make a good blogger. March is beginning better than February, and that's a good thing. Before we knowing it, spring will be here and hopefully the streets of Rittman will be graced by the sight if me in my bicycle. Springing foreword will be three weeks early this year. That's right. Remember to set your clock s ahead next Saturday night. Brings back memories of January 1974 when, by proclamation of President Nixon, we went to Daylight Savings Time on Janua ry 6. This was to try to save energy during the Arab oil embargo, when the price of gasoline soared to above 50 cents a gallon. On a somewhat related note, I've been told that if the price o...

It felt great leaving work this afternoon hearing Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan on the radio. Spring training exhibition games have begun and the local good guys won 13-2, beating the dreaded Houston Astros. I picked up the game in the bottom of the eighth, when the scrubs were playing. But who cares? It was live baseball. It's March, and everybody's in first place. Too bad the reality of it is we can only get attached to the uniforms. You know what happens. They become free agents, and leave for greener pastures. Will the leaving ever end for the die hard Cleveland (team) fan? I hope so. But for now PLAY BALL!