WIXY's Gone Bananas

A week ago today was the annual Rittman Sleepwalker Parade. I was there with the WIXYcam and took some photos, a few of which I am sharing here this evening. I may post others at a later date. Enjoy!

I have just learned that Mike Trivisonno , the "antihero" of this blog, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer . the linked story from the 19 action news site states that Triv will be undergoing surgery today at the Cleveland Clinic. Mike plans on making a quick, full recovery and being back behind his golden microphone at WTAM/1100 as soon as possible. Please keep Mike and his family in your prayers. Cliff Note: I mean every word of my post. Please pray for Triv.

My friend over at All Things Cleveland has written a post about some of the songs featuring Cleveland, including videos. She writes a very informative blog and you can tell she has a lot of civic pride, something you don't see much of nowadays. I complain quite a bit about the city, but I love some of the good tunes that are based in this region. A very commendable job was done on this post.

As most of my readers should know, one of my best off blog friends, Brenda , now has a blog of her own, called Snicker*Snicker*Snort . Her latest post is about a pet peeve of hers. It concerns products she has liked but cannot find anymore. Go pay her a visit and get in on the discussion

Since many of my blogger friends were posting nature photos, I thought I would give my contribution. The company I work for had it's annual picnic at the Cleveland Zoo. I was the official photographer. Now when you are at the zoo, you expect to see animals. This furry friend was checking out our picnic pavilion and looking for assorted scraps. The squirrel also was kind enough to pose for this photo.

This past Saturday, I had some running around to do which involved going into Parma. On my way there I stopped at Marc's on Pearl Rd., in Strongsville. They were giving away free hot dogs as part of the "Dog days of Summer"promotion. Paul Rado, left, and Marty Allen, two producersof the Mike Trivisonno show on WTAM/1100, and two very nice guys, were on hand to give the free Hebrew National hot dogs, along with iced tea and other snacks. The two gentlemen were good enough to pose for a photo with me. They also have a pretty good sense of humor about their weight. Marty was concerned about the photo quality. I told him I could probably touch it up after I downloaded the photos on my computer. Marty asked me if I could make him look thinner and I told him this photo made me look thinner. There are folks who post on the forums and call the Triv show making cracks about the weight of the producers and Trivisonno himself. Doesn't work though, as they make fun of it before o...

This past Thursday, July 24, was the annual Sleepwalker's Parade here in Rittman. As part of the festivities, Cleveland Indian's mascot, Slider made an appearance to the delight of young and old alike. The WIXYcam was on the scene for this event. And here is the furry one with my two children. Martha, left was celebrating her birthday and we tried to get her children to be still while I took their photo. And seeing that this is my blog and my camera, I got into the action also.

The blogger known as Frasypoo has retired her blog "This and That." Miss Poo, as Pat Jenkins calls her, is a friend to many on this blogroll. Her life has just gotten too busy to keep up a blog and if I know her, she's busy making the world around her a better place. Frasypoo promises to be around in the comments of many blogs, but her blog will be missed.......

Today is my daughter, Martha's, of Welcome to My Crazy Life fame, birthday. Go on over and wish her a happy birthday.

It has now been over a year since Bob Barker had stepped down as host of "The Price is Right" and like everybody else, I'm still trying to get used to Drew Carey as host. My father in law watches TPIR most of the time and he says that at least Drew isn't trying to be a Barker clone and that he does interject himself into the show. I also think that America can still breathe a sigh of relief that Rosie O'Donnell wasn't chosen as host. I still think that there are some things that Drew can do to make TPIR his own. Going back to his days on "Whose Line is it Anyway," Drew could replace the showcase showdown with a "showdown hoedown." The three contestants from each half hour could sing a hoedown with the topic chosen by the audience. Drew could also get Kathy Kinney(Mimi) as one of his models, complete with makeup and putdowns of Drew. Many possibilities for this. But then again if it ain't broke..... On a related note: For the wrap party...

Cliff Note:This is partially a repost with some updated information. Original post appeared November 25, 2006. I was going through one of my e-mail accounts that I hardly use anymore, and I got a greeting from someone who shares the same name as myself(no, not 74WIXYgrad). This Cliff F eightner was brought to my attention and I was brought to his when I was a salesman at Fretter from 1988-1992. People would ask me if I had a relative who was a supervisor at Goodyear. I would tell them not to my knowledge. Then one day during December, 1990 the "other Cliff" come into the store for the express reason to meet me. At the time he was living in Cuyahoga Falls. We later determined that we were distant relatives. Two of our common ancestors, Henry and John Feitner(the surname was later Anglicized) came to the colonies to work for George Washington as a stone mason. We later were at the same family reunion together. His wife made a chocolate cake, which was very delicious. He later w...

I want to air a pet peeve that occurred to me over the weekend. I'm traveling down the road at 55MPH when suddenly I see this sign advertising a yard sale. The sign is small and the lettering is smaller. The people decide to list half of their worldly possessions on this sign, which is now taking on the characteristics of a post it note. Excuse me, but I am trying to safely control my vehicle. Putting a sign next to the ground will only attract wildlife. I am currently wearing trifocals, so don't expect me to read small print, especially traveling 55MPH. Remember in some cases, less is more. concentrate on the WHAT and the WHERE. WHAT: Yard sale WHERE: 321 Main Street.

My good friend Brenda , who has been a reader of this blog since the beginning, and has put the WG in the WGBB, is now my newest blogging buddy. Introducing snicker*snicker*snort , which is the name of Brenda's blog. Right now, there is only one post, but if you have the time, go on over and welcome Brenda to the group. She plans on introducing us to her family, all good people. And she will explain the title of her blog. Cliff Note:This morning, July20, Brenda has introduced us to herself and her family.She lets us know what her blog is and is not going to be about.

This week is winding to a close and I cannot be happier. Thank you to those who went over to wish Cathouse Teri a happy birthday on Wednesday. Teri has been a tremendous supporter of my blogs, so I just wanted to return the favor. Don't ever be scared away from the blog because of implied content. Teri is a loving person who gives her unique views on a variety of issues. A good friend of mine has a blog in the works. When she launches it, the WIXY's Gone Bananas promotion department will help spread the word. Speaking of friends with blogs, a friend of mine, Jim , has a blog documenting his struggles with OCD . Pay him a visit and give him a word of encouragement. A WIXY's Gone Bananas editorial Now, there are folks who read these blogs who aren't bloggers. In some cases these are friends, co workers, or family members. Sometimes it's someone who feel they have an axe to grind with the blogger. This was the case with a blog on my list this past week. The perso...

I overslept again this morning. But out of fairness, I was at my daughter's house, watching the grandchildren last night and didn't get home until 10:00. When you get up at 3:00am, that makes for a very short night. So it was a very quick run around. Needed a quick breakfast so I looked in the fridge and saw the perfect breakfast food to eat on the run-cold pizza. For those unaware, pizza contains four of the major food groups-grain, dairy, vegetables, and meat. Rule of thumb is eat pizza hot any other time, but for breakfast you have to eat pizza cold. I had my coffee during my drive in, but also had a Coke Zero, so that took care of the fifth major group, caffeine. This has been the WIXY's Gone Bananas guide to breakfast on the run.

Today is a special day for one of our own....... It's Cathouse Teri's Birthday!!! Now go over to The Road Lester Traveled (her blog) and give her your well wishes. And tell her WIXY sent you.

Thank you Bella Proving once again that the decision I made to be myself when I started writing this blog 23 months ago was the right one, I have been awarded the "You Make My Day" award by Bella . For those of you who haven't been reading my blog all along, Bella is the one who urged me to try boiled peanuts last fall when I drove my in laws to Florida. For the record I liked them. If you don't make Ciao Bella a regular stop during your travels in the blogosphere, I suggest you do. Get to know Bella and see why she is such a good friend. I will pass this along to the following bloggers: Daisy has been a definite bright spot in my comments sections. Her blogs are a combination of humor photography and her insights. Note to Bella:Daisy is another good blogger from the Buckeye State. Since I was bestowed this award by a nurse, I will now give this award to another nurse. Jessica , of Five Pines fame, is very deserving of this award. Her blog centers around her love ...

I want to thank everybody for all their well wishes. I am back at my desk this morning, trying to catch up on some work. I still have some lingering effects from the bronchitis, but my biggest problem this morning is that I have to leave in a few minutes to have some bloodwork, and I have been fasting since last night for it. My first stop after leaving the doctor's office will be to get a sandwich and a cup of coffee. Now I have to get back into the swing of things, but in the next few days, I will have some things to post about, including the new WIXY/AT&T phonecam.

Hopefully I will be back at my blogging best in the next day or so. What I thought was a summer cold is actually bronchitis and has thrown me for a loop. I went to the doctor for it yesterday and he gave me two prescriptions. Today I got up for work and could not even motivate myself enough to fix breakfast. I called off and went back to bed. I may be around, but since I fear the snark, I'll keep my comments to a minimum.

Northeast Ohio will soon lose one of it's best bloggers. However Struke will be relocating to Toledo, where he will join Daisy as one of northwest Ohio's best bloggers. Click here for details. Congratulations to you Struke!

It's been said that this is one of Jimmy Buffett's favorite hamburger joints. Some say that it inspired the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise." If you live outside of northeast Ohio, you probably wonder what this is. What I am blogging about is the Skyway Drive In . there are 4 locations in Medina and Summit counties, but the one I prefer is on West Market street in Fairlawn. Mrs74 and I were driving around this past Saturday when she had said that she was hungry and wanted a Skyway double cheeseburger. Since we were in the Montrose area, it was a short drive from there to Skyway. we went there and parked our car. A car hop shortly come to our car to take our order. Mrs74 ordered a "double cheeseburg " order of deep fried mushrooms and large iced tea. I got a " cheeseburg " onion rings, and diet Coke. Cliff Note: On their menu and their website, they call them "hamburg" and "cheeseburg." The taste of these burgers with onions are...

Talk radio has gone pretty much down the toilet here in the early days of the 21st century. I have used precious space here on this blog bemoaning this fact and I'm sure that no matter where you are at, you may have the same problem. The callers are mostly from the host's good ole boy network and if one gets through who disagrees with the host, he gets brow beaten by said host, who thinks he(or she) is king of the world. Here is a sample of a segment: Host: I said it would be like this, but all you morons said it would be different. The mayor is a joke, city council is a joke, the voters are a joke. Producer #1: But you were wrong about something two weeks ago. Host: get over here and let me slap you! Producer # 2: he he yuk yuk yuk, it's all about the chicken! Intern: I think you're the greatest! Host: Let's go to the phones. WMAT, you're in the air! Caller: Hey slick, you coming over to play cards tonight? Host: Yeah, I'll be coming in my Mitsubishi. You g...

Credit for the title goes to Plain Dealer sports columnist, and friend of this blog, Terry Pluto. One piece of news that occurred today is something Stevie Wonder could have seen coming. The Cleveland Indians traded pitcher C. C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Indians' season went south almost from day one when catcher Victor Martinez pulled his groin going into second base. The American League Central division has one team playing below their expectations every year. This year it's the Tribe's turn. C.C. was going to become a free agent at the end of the season, so it was better to trade him to Milwaukee, who more than likely are renting him for three plus months, and get some prospects for him. Of course I had to listen to this blog's antihero, WTAM/1100 afternoon host Mike Trivisonno. Sure enough when I got into the WIXYmobile, he was on sucking up to, I mean interviewing Indians general manager Mark Shapiro, telling him what a good job he was doing, despite...

So what do you do on a holiday weekend when you don't have a lot of resources? Yesterday afternoon, I decided to go to Fred Martin Superstore, a car dealership in my home area. At the dealership they had on display the #9 Dodge Dealers, car, driven in the NASCAR Sprint Series by Kasey Kahne. I took Mrs74 along with me, although the only thing she ever wants to do with one of those cars is take a hot lap in one. We got there and was directed towards the car. There were many salespeople sitting around. Don't need to wonder why. They're the Fred Martin guys, they know cars. They might know them, but kinda hard to sell them during a recession. When I got back to where the car was there was also a table setup by Christian radio station WFHM/95.5 the Fish. Two other stations were also setting up 94.9/ WQMX and 100.7/WMMS. The radio geek in me thought that this was peculiar: Three radio stations, three separate companies. The Fish is owned by Salem Communications, WMMS is owned b...

Cliff Note: I hope everybody here in the states have had a good fourth of July so far. I am currently working on a project over at Whattville Is on the Other Side of the Tracks , and I hope to have it up by Sunday night. As a courtesy to those new readers of this blog, I would like to give an explanation of some of my language here at WIXY's Gone Bananas 74WIXYgrad - That is me. My given name is Cliff. Mrs74WIXYgrad, aka Mrs74 -My wife, Kathy. WIXYjr -Our son, Adam. Cliff Note:We also have 2 daughters, Martha and Sylva. Martha has three blogs of her own. WIXYmobile - My basic mode of transportation, a 1999 Chevy Metro. MrsWIXYmobile -My wife's basic mode of transportation, currently a 1995 Ford Crown Victoria. WIXYranch -My home base. WIXYcam -My digital camera. WIXY/AT&Tphonecam - My cell phone camera. World's Greatest Band Boosters(WGBB) -The band booster group of the Rittman Indians Marching Band. These folks treat the band announcer(me)quite well. Their previous tre...

The fourth is approaching. Time to fire up the grill and roast some weenies. But what will you put on them? Here at the WIXYranch, my favorite condiment is Stadium Mustard, which is also the official mustard of Regressive Field, home of the defending American League Central division champions(and now playoff pretenders) Cleveland Indians. But the area also has another preferred mustard, Bertman Ballpark Mustard. My friend over at All Things Cleveland has posted about the Great Mustard Debate . I suggest you give it a read, as it's a very tastefully done article. She prefers Bertman. I like them both, but buy Stadium Mustard. I think we can agree to disagree. Whatever you put on your sandwich, enjoy it and have a happy fourth.

To your left is a glazed donut. This is the icon used by my newest friend, Jen as her blog is titled "Unglazed." Jen is also a devoted wife, mother, and Christian. Jen's first post explains the title of her blog and the reason for the donut. To your right is a cup of coffee. This is the icon Melanie uses as she writes her blog, "Monday Through Sunday." Melanie is also a devoted wife, mother and Christian. She loves her coffee and lets us know how much a coffee connoisseur she is. Just as donuts and coffee goes together, so will Unglazed and Monday through Sunday .