WIXY's Gone Bananas

I got some new visitor comments lately, so I want to give some shout outs. First is Melanie . We've crossed paths on Frasypoo's and Pat Jenkins ' blogs. She come over to pay me a visit last week here. She's had a rough past week and a half, so I delayed going to visit her blog, Monday Through Sunday , until today. Her blog is faith based and written in devotional form. It's a good read for those who want to meditate on things of the Lord. Melanie lives in Denver. Melanie, if you see Mark Sanborn, say hi for me. Next I want to welcome Michelle from Scotland . She comes here from Amel's Realm. We had a discussion in the comment section today. I told her the story of why I identify myself as 74WIXYgrad. Her blog is titled Crow's Feet . An email today came from a fellow poster on the Cleveland.com Listening Party board(no link because I won't link trash). He posts as weezel and the two of us, along with another poster named Lynnpuskas , had several of our ...

Cliff Note:The following is taken off the comment section from one of my local friends, who identifies himself as WZZP. He is a school teacher who doesn't have a blog, but he does have a heart. WZZP is a teacher of the developmentally disabled in a school district in the same county where I reside and I'm sure that as such he has heard more than his fair share of offensive comments from ignorant people. His comments pertain to Chief Wahoo, the Cleveland Indians mascot. They are very thought provoking and I thought they deserved a post of their own. I think Chief Wahoo is offensive. A real Chief receives feathers as a sacred gift that symbolizes his beliefs of the tribe. Chief Wahoo wears a feather, as part of his depiction. Many Native Americans would view that as degrading towards the sacred meaning of a feather. Simply put, I would think there would be an outcry if there was a team named the Columbus Christians Their "mascot" is Jesus on the Cross. This Jesus on the...

There are times when I feel the "thought police" assume too much power. Often in my life, I have been told when I should be offended. I've also been told that some issues I take offense to are trivial matters and that I am behind the times. As a Northeast Ohio resident, I am reminded every opening day of baseball season that Chief Wahoo, the Cleveland Indians Mascot, is offensive to Native Americans. Now there are times that I get tired of seeing Chief Wahoo everywhere, but I don't equate him with the Native Americans that I know. I also don't get offended at high schools with the nickname of "Indian" or some variation of it. As a Caucasian, I do not take offense at such terms as "cracker" or "white trash." Matter of fact, I have referred to myself as white trash on occasion, though I am neither white nor trash. I do get offended when I hear the "n" word. I have heard too much hate expressed when I have heard that word. I ge...

I was first awarded with the Biggest Heart Award from Michelle , who was the originated the award. This afternoon, Sindi also awarded me with the very same award. Since the two of them covered most of my blogroll, there are two I do want to award this to. Jessica , for the heart she has for her family. Amias for the heart she has for her unique style of writing. Oh and by the way Michelle, your latest post may lose you your Family Friendly site seal ;)|

Amias is one who thinks outside the box. In this world of change, we can ill afford to go with traditional ways. I have seen this in both the church world and the professional world. We need intellectual leaders, ones who will help us all to think outside of the box. I have seen this in Amias' writings. She had needed to take a few days off from blogging to heal and to recharge. Some very ignorant people decided that she didn't write to satisfy them. She doesn't hold the "traditional black" opinion of the Confederate flag. She feels that it is part of her history as a black woman who was raised in Mississippi. Click here to read her views . Amias returned to her Liquid Plastic blog early this morning to express her struggles and how she had to delete over 200 emails from ignorant and hateful people. I admire her for going off the "cow path" and sharing a different, non traditional view with all of us. And Amias, like everyone else on my blog roll, you a...

Surfing around the blogs this evening, I have noticed my friend Tim Lones has posted a clip from the very first "Tonight" show, which was broadcast in 1954. In it, Steve Allen talks about the show, and it following the success of the Today Show. I suggest you go take a look over at Cleveland Classic Media at the clip. And while you're there take a look around at other posts. Tim puts a lot of research in his blog. I had heard a blooper on the radio this morning. About 7:30am(EST), on WMJI/105.7, newsman Chip Kullick had read a report that Ted Kennedy was going to endorse Barack Obama for president, and that he was the second member of the clan to do so. I guess he realized what he had said and quickly added, "the Kennedy clan." I thought it was quite funny and shot off some emails. One of the folks who I had emailed was Struke (of Media Matters fame). Struke, a former radio and television news reporter is a self proclaimed "news geek," and being such...

Cliff Note: This goes out to Amias. Sleeping Under Her Wing At night when all is quiet I notice my toes are warm despite the snow on the ground beneath me. I curl into a ball at the foot of my bed hiding the hurt and the tears from little patters of feet. I wail so hard silently my head wants to explode. She with her wing wipes my tears. She with her words sings to me and twiddles my hair. I rub a single feather I plucked from her wing and stroke my cheek with it. It soothes me. I am warm. I am safe. I pull it together. I send her that same feather. Although she has tons. ~Liquid

Boogity Boogity Boogity: Being married to a NASCAR fan, who can make a lucky guess, paid off for Mrs74WIXYgrad this morning. We were on our way to the Waffle House( ironic, isn't it ) and listening to Sports Country 104.5/WQKT Wooster, Ohio. 2 of my readers are former employees of that station, BizDecision and David5258 . The personality asked who of four drivers did not finish last years Daytona 500? Dale Jr., Elliot Sadler, Jeff Burton, or Mike Wallace? My wife started calling while asking me who it was. I first said Elliot Sadler, but after awhile I changed it to Dale Jr. She got on and gave the guess and it was right. She won a DVD of the Johnny Cash Show from 1969-1972. She was very excited. Congratulations to Frasypoo who has celebrated her second anniversary as an American citizen . On her post commemorating it she relates taking the test about government and United States history. Sad thing about that test is that there are many natural born American citizens who don...

You Are 64% Happy You are a very happy person. Generally, you feel content and that all is right with the world. Occasionally, you have a down day - but you have the ability to pick yourself right back up. How Happy Are You? Michelle of Rusin Roundup fame tagged me for this. I am not tagging anyone else. But I will give a plug for Michelle's new blog, Rusin Review's . She will be our resident critic on books, movies, etc.

The bumper has been promised.

Some of the best donuts. To CollegeDJ86: I met your mother this morning. She's a nice lady. For some of the best coworkers. From a very grateful QA Inspector

I've been tagged by Jessica, who's been doing a good job of coming out of her shell lately. I just have to give four of each. Four jobs I have held: 1. Quality Assurance Inspector-current job 2.Retail Associate 3. Activity Therapist 4. Floor Maintenance Four movies I watch over and over 1. M*A*S*H 2.American Graffiti 3. Grease 4.Smokey and theBandit Four places I have been 1. Terre Haute, Indiana-this was in 1974, so if any of the Terre Haute gang would have seen me, they would have been too young to remember. 2. Long Island 3. Pax, West Virginia 4. Frostproof, Florida Four places I've lived 1.Rittman, Ohio 2. Cleveland, Ohio 3.Breiningsville, Pennsylvania 4.Hinckley, Ohio Four TV shows I watch 1. MASH 2. Law and Order 3.Everybody Loves Raymond 4. Sanford and Son Four people who email me regularly 1. Brenda 2. BizDecision 3.Scott 4.Liquid Four Favorite foods 1. Chicken from Milich's Village Inn, Barberton, Ohio 2.Ice Cream from Hartzler's Dairy, Wooster, Ohio 3.Donu...

No sooner do I update my profile picture that it appears on someone else's blog. Amias , the most unique wordsmith on my blogroll, has made an acrostic of my not so secret identity on her blog. This is all because I had decided when I started this blog 17 months ago I had decided to be the only person I knew how to be when writing it...ME Believe me, this was a great way to start my day today. Also non fattening, but leaves a good taste, which also reminds me that I have good taste in choosing my online friends. The picture, by the way is copyright Amias, and snagged from her blog.

UPS delivered my new book today. It's called "No More Mondays," by Dan Miller . This latest work by one of the top career coaches give tips on finding your "values, dreams and passions," and using them to either advance your position in the work you're presently doing, or find your true calling. The book was just released last week, and I am looking forward to reading the nuggets Dan has to share with his readers. I ordered my book through Amazon, but you can get information about this and Dan's other book, "48 Days to the Work You Love" at his website, 48days.com . Audit Update :The auditor completed his work at our other Cleveland plant today and we passed with no transgressions. It was our first audit since we were acquired by a foreign company. Tomorrow, I will keep my promise and take in the donuts. I may even take in the WIXYcam to show you some of the best donuts around, and some of the best coworkers around. WIXYmobile Update : Tomorr...

Being the textbook example of a nice guy, I sometimes get my share of the shaft. the past couple of weeks have been the exception at work. We just went through a quality audit and the shop I work at passed. I had a panic attack this morning thinking that I was going to mess up real bad(my strong suit has never been self confidence.) Well this morning we had our quality audit at work. I am the only quality inspector at the shop where I work. We have another shop in Cleveland and that's where the quality manager's office is located. The past year, has not been my most productive and this morning I saw things that needed to be done and promptly had a meltdown. My plant manager saw the latter end of this and took a few minutes to calm me down and let me know that I had done my job well and we would get through the audit fine. He left and I got online and sent several of you emails asking for your prayers, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart. God is good-All the tim...

As I was driving home on I-77 this afternoon, I spotted a tow truck with a BMW attached to it. The beamer had a vanity plate on it. The tag read... THE JRNY I figure this was supposed to be pronounced "the journey." I know expensive cars break down also, but after a little while ago, bemoaning the fact that there are some cars with the special yellow plates with red lettering(DUI) that are in better shape than mine, it did my heart good that the WIXYmobile was following a disabled BMW. For those not in the know, the WIXYmobile is a 1999 Chevy Metro that was in an accident last summer. If the car would have had full coverage, I'm sure it would have been totaled out. But since I can't afford a new car, I had someone from work make the car street legal. Oh, it gets over 35 miles to the gallon too.

During the 90's when the Cleveland Indians were winning the American League Central Division every year from 1995-1999, there was a record set. Jacobs Field was sold out for 455 straight games between 1995-2001. At the park along with all the retired player's numbers there is one that says "455 The Fans." One of the funny things about that is early on many people would brag that they were at Municipal Stadium when only 3,000 people were there. I figure that if that was the case, the Indians would have had to play 150 home games(instead of 81)there a year to support all the bragging. On May 15, 1981, Indians pitcher Len Barker pitched a perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Announced attendance was 7,290. There were probably less than that there that night,as I remember that it had been raining for most of the day. Game time temperature was 49 degrees. I watched the game on T V at my parent's house with my younger brother, but if you would tally up all those ...

Right now I want to do a local post that may be of interest to all my friends who stop here. This past Friday, the Jacobs Field sign came down from the front of the ballpark where the Cleveland Indians play their home games. The park is now called Progressive Field, and that sign will be up before opening day. The original name of the venue was supposed to be called Indians Park, but then Indians owner, Dick Jacobs purchased naming rights that expired in 2006, so the Indians sold the rights to Progressive Insurance for the next 16 years. I sort of hoped the Eaton Corporation would buy the rights and call the field Eaton Park. The vendors would really have loved the subliminal message. Of course the natives have become restless because the name has changed. Hello! It's still on the corner of Ontario and Carnegie, and the Tribe still plays there. If you are screaming for tradition, call it League Park. My biggest problem is the big building next door. It's currently called Quicke...

This is what Michelle copied from Amel who awarded her this award: This award originated from Ann , who elaborated the meaning of this award as such: "Most of us know who and what cheers us up- what we don't know is how we cheer up others or if we're making a difference in their lives. That's because we let too much time go by without telling those we appreciate how much they mean to us, until it's too late and the opportunity slips away." "The bloggers I nominated cheer me up like Charlotte from Charlotte's Web, a box of Peanut Butter Panic from Blue Bunny Ice Cream, and a copy of a picture I have in my home of Lucy and Ethel on the job at a candy company." Thank you for this award, Michelle! Liquid was also awarded the award from Michelle. Here's what she had to say about it: "I recieved this award from Michelle over at "Russin' Round Up". WoW! I am speechless and overwhelmed at the kindness this chick continues to sho...

The Bible states that you reap what you sow, and there are some folks who should pray for a major crop failure.

I think most who read my blogs know that I regard Liquid as one of my dearest blogging friends. Up until I discovered her blogs, I was writing for a faithful local readership. When I started visiting Liquid Illuzion, I also discovered her blogroll. Through it I discovered Pilgrim and Frasypoo. From Frasypoos blog, I discovered Kathy's Klavier, Jessica, Pat Jenkins, and Bella and so on and so forth. I owe all my outside blogging buddies to Suzanne. Right now Suzanne is going through a very rough time. I want all of us to express back the love she shows us when she visits our blogs. Suzanne, we all love you.

Okay, I work until 5:30 this evening I get into my car, hit the AM/FM button on the car stereo when I heard a voice from Cleveland radio past- Ed "Flash" Ferenc . I had to listen to 1100 and you-know-who. He actually had a good interview with Flash, and I will have to go to iTunes and download that hour to listen to the whole broadcast hour, which is about 32 minutes after the commercials are taken out. Traffic was steady so I didn't mind only hearing the "lockout" for Moose and Moose when Fred McMurray gave the traffic report. For those new to this blog and outside of Northeast Ohio Ed Ference was the newsman for Jeff Kinzbach , morning personality on the Home of the Buzzard- WMMS . WMMS was the premier radio station in Cleveland from the mid 70's through the 80's. In September, I wrote a post about this legendary station. There will never another "Buzzard." For the record, I do not hate or dislike Mike Trivisonno . I have never seen the...

Remember to vote on the traffic report poll to your right. I called the sponsor of the traffic reports I didn't hear yesterday due to some inane ramblings by the host of the show. The sponsor is one of these chains of law firms that are basically "ambulance chasers." I won't give their name, so we will just call them "Moose and Moose" . Well the receptionist at Moose and Moose told me that they just pay to have their name mentioned and for content of what was said during the traffic non-report, I would have to take it up with the station. I'm glad that I have an attorney I can use that actually takes responsibility to something her name would be associated with. I did call the radio station and left a voice mail message for the program director. I figure it will probably be used as a running gag but then again I made my voice heard. I don't care because I didn't listen. I got off work at 5:30 tonight and put my car radio on ESPN850/ WKNR . I lis...

Tonight is the Rittman Band's winter concert. However I have opted to stay home tonight as Mrs.74WIXYgrad has had a rough day and I feel that my first duty is to her. Hopefully I will get some photos emailed to me via the Brendacam. This afternoon I worked until 4:30 as we are getting ready for the quality audit. The weather has been cold and sloppy so it was a relatively slow ride on I-77. The WIXYmobile needed some gas, so I got off 77 on the Harvard Ave. exit. The BP station had regular unleaded for $2.86 a gallon, which is over 10 cents less than in Wadsworth. Of course the pumps were busy and two were out of order. I get behind this person in an SUV. He went inside to prepay, and to get sandwiches from the Subway inside the store. I decide it was a good time to do some reading. As I am still waiting on this person to get out and pump his gas, the van in front of him(which pulled up to the pump at the same time) had finished. He pulled away, and I pulled around and up to the pu...

This was the program for the Rittman High Steel Drum concert this past Thursday. The first couple of selections were traditional Caribbean tunes. the selection Mbube is the Swahili an title for the number which we know as " The Lion Sleeps Tonight" If you look closely at the names of some of the arrangers of these numbers you will get a sample of the sense of humor that Rittman band director, Ed Sims possesses. I had to put that last sentence in as I get the credit at times for things like that, but then again we do have have the same twisted sense of humor.

Bella-Nurse, mother, wife, and the brains behind "It is What it Is" , as well as the recipient of a coveted Top Banana in the category of Southern Cuisine- Has given me the Thinking Blogger award. Here is what Bella has to say in awarding me this honor: "Wixy's Gone Bananas. This guy is great. Very kind and caring. Not only that, he has given me two blogging awards!" Now this is a real honor to be given an award for being kind and caring and for putting some thought behind my words. I feel that a blogger who interacts with others (not all blogs are set up that way) is also one who understands others. All those on my list do understand each other and will drop a line when someone is down. What I want to do now is nominate some of my fellow bloggers and also set up a challenge. I want to challenge those nominated to state why they are passing on the award to their intended recipient. So without further adieu... Frasypoo - This and That : We get to understand w...

I open my email at work Thursday and have this message from Liquid . In the subject line, it says "Urgent!" Seeing that I knew the sender, I was sure it wasn't anything about any new medication or cheap Rolex watches. The message she sent was for me to call her. So seeing that I was doing paperwork at the time, I gave her a call(they call that multi-tasking.) Suzanne was excited, and the reason why was that Oprah Winfrey was coming to her store, Around the Corner. She had to go there and get ready, since she only had a litle time to get things in order. This was a total surprise for her because the folks over there(her store and others) had only thought Oprah's trainer, Bob Greene would be there. Suzanne's landlord had called her and told her that Oprah would also be there. I felt honored because I was one of the first that she had told this to. I promised Suzanne the news would not leave my fingertips until she had posted something about it. She has posted ...

In my last post Wednesday, I mentioned the name Alicia Battle . She was the one trying to scam the Ohio Lottery Commission out of 162 million(probably more like 95 million before taxes.) Last drawing of 2004 found Ohio with it's first Mega Millions winner. The ticket was sold in South Euclid at a convenience store. The winner of this ticket did not come forward for about a week. Enter Alicia Battle. She had claimed that she had bought the winning ticket, but lost it in the parking lot of the convenience store. After the news of this broke, people came to this store in groves looking for this missing ticket, searching every square inch of the parking lot. The next day, the actual holder of this ticket came forward. Ms. Battle then threatened to sue this lady and the Ohio Lottery Commission, saying that she was the owner of this ticket. She told the media that she picked out the numbers by dates, ages etc. The next day, Alicia recanted, saying that she wanted the money real bad and ...

Liquid , thank you so much for this award! and Here's how the award works: “Distribute this award to those people who have blogs we love and can’t live without, blogs where the writing is good and powerful. I thought interested members could kick things off by publishing the award on their own blog, naming five people they would like to give it to, and accompany the image with three things they believe are necessary to make writing good and powerful. 1. Write for your audience. 2. Blog what you know about. 3. Be yourself. The recipients then do the same, passing it on to five other people, and so on.” I now award: Amel Stacy- My Thoughts Jessica-Five Pines Tim-Cleveland Classic Media Struke- Media Matters All five of these recipients show high moral values and are interested in the spread of good, positive material on the World Wide Web.

I had an appointment with my friendly neighborhood optometrist today. Except that the friendly neighborhood happens to be 16 miles away. Well, being diabetic, I have to have my pupils dilated every time I go and today was no different. It was recommended that I get trifocals. It's a drag getting old. It was partly sunny here in Ohio today, and I forgot my sunglasses. Being the fool I am, I hopped into the WIXYmobile and headed west. There were times that the sun was so bright and I started getting sick to my stomach. I headed towards Wadsworth to get some items at the Evil Big Box Store. As I was going to the the store, I was listening to our resident loudmouth afternoon radio lack-of-personality, Mike Trivisonno . I do have to give Triv credit for my record day, as far as hits go. This was when I called his show and he cut me off and was rude to me. But that was then and this is now and he's still a buffoon . Back to my story. One thing I heard Triv say was that the democrats...

Cleveland Classic Media , a blog written by my friend, Tim Lones , received a record number of hits yesterday as a result of a story he did on former Cleveland television anchor, John Hambrick. I know we have several common readers and some of my out of town readers go over and see what he is posting every once in awhile. Tim does a good job in blogging media history, something he is passionate about. Go over to Cleveland Classic Media and congratulate Tim for a job well done. Yeah, I feel that there some good blogs here in my back yard .

The Recipe For Cliff 3 parts Humor 2 parts Impishness 1 part Daring Splash of Wit Serve over ice What's the Recipe for Your Personality? I was tagged by Liquid for this one. Bottoms up!

My teacher friend over at Media Matters would like the help of the blogging community. Struke wants to hear what we want to see from the next generation of filmmakers and broadcasters. If you can go over there and give your views(and they do like those folks who go over there and puts their 2 cents worth in) Struke will share this with his communications class and will share their comments with us. Help shape the next generation of broadcasters, and stop by Media Matters . Let your voice be heard.

Yesterday I posted about snow on Seek Him First . Today we saw a record high temperature in the Cleveland area. And you know what? My sinuses are rebelling against the drastic change. It's said that in Northeast Ohio, if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change. Some delayed gratification : Last week, Liquid had written a post in my honor. She had found a photo of a Banana Splits game. She said that she thought about me when she saw it. Of course Liquid was one of the first to associate the "bananas" in the title of this blog with me. At this time, though I have been using the title for sixteen months, which is about four times as long as the promotion went on at WIXY/1260. She has been a very good friend to me and I really appreciate the post. Another thing I can't say enough about is the friendships among this group of bloggers. I enjoy going to my computer and seeing what one of you are posting about. To me it's one of the best th...

Mel Kaye of Attitude, the Ultimate Power has given me another award, called Bloggers of the World. Thank you Mel! Now I want to pass this along to these good people: Suzanne of Liquid Illuzion fame Frasypoo of This and That fame Warren Peace of Peace of My Mind fame Kathy of Kathy's Klavier fame Val of Life of a Valley Girl fame Amias of Liquid Plastic fame Pat Jenkins of Pat J(at least in my mind) knows it all fame Jessica of Five Pines , Through the Viewfinder , and Seadra and Zoe fame Diamond of A Day in the Zone fame and last, but hardly least Bella of It is what it is fame- Come back soon. We miss you! Editors note: Mel had also awarded the Terre Haute gang and Amel and that's why I didn't award them. But I do agree with Mel on his selection of them.

Did you make any resolutions for 2008 concerning your finances or career? If so, let me recommend some resources to help you out. Those who have been with me since the beginning of this blog know that one of my favorite talk shows on radio is The Dave Ramsey Show . Since the Cleveland station which carried Dave could not come up with an agreement with him in August, 2006, I listen to the show via iTunes most of the time. Dave Ramsey's story is that he was a millionaire in his 20's working the real estate market. But he was doing that with OPM-Other People's Money. When the bank which he was doing business was sold, all his loans were called in at once and he lost everything. Dave then decided that he wanted to know exactly how money worked, and in the process started helping people out of debt and into financial responsibility. The company he started included financial counselors, and he put together a thirteen week course called Financial Peace University. The book picture...

Yesterday, I had recommended the book "The Fred Factor" by Mark Sanborn . today, as I was reading comments, I had noticed that Mr. Sanborn left one there for me. Yes, I may be a little star struck, but I also am very impressed. This was a very good example of Mark practicing the principles outlined in his book. Yes, Mark Sanborn was being a "Fred." I thank you Mark for stopping by. And I also thank the one who sent Mr. Sanborn the link to the post. You were also being a Fred. Mark Sanborn also wrote a book called "You Don't Need a Title to be a Leader." Check out his other resources at marksanborn.com . And while you're at it, sign up for his free newsletter.

I am getting ready to go to work after a one day break, which really only served to mess up my system. I slept yesterday until 8:45am and today had to get up at 2:45am. And I'm expecting a cold white ride into work today. If you get a chance, check out Struke's latest post over at Media Matters , where he comments on the best and worst commercials of 2007. He really appreciates comments, as he uses his blog as an educational tool for the students he teaches in his high school media classes. And while you're at it check out the posts below, which contain work from some of his students. And finally this is in response to Kasper's (Michelle) comment on my last post-Blog about what you know. We are all unique people and what you write will be of value to someone else. I have only received only a few unkind comments and those were expected because last August I took on a local radio personality. 99% of the comments I receive are favorable and I have only had to delete one ...

WOW! 2007 was quite a year here in the ole blogosphere . Between my two blogs, I posted 338 times, and judging by the overwhelmingly positive comments, I have made many friends in the past 365 days here. Last night we stayed home and celebrated the new year's arrival very quietly. I had been awake since 2:30am, so I think I would be a hazard on the road anyhow. I watched New Years Rockin Eve. Dick Clark, still showing the effects of the stroke he suffered 3 years ago, looked good for someone who's almost 79 years old. I should give awards more often. Yesterday this blog got 80 hits, which is 31 hits over the daily average. I had fun thinking up names for for all the awards and trying to remember all those who have been major contributors to the overall success of this blog. Once again, you are all winners. What I want for 2008: Hopefully all those who see me this coming year will see less and less of me as the year progresses. Diamond contacted me, asking for a story abou...