WIXY's Gone Bananas

From Great Britain, Scotland to be exact, comes Michelle, of Crow's Feet fame. Due to the five hour time difference, there have been some occasions when I have been on at 3:00am getting ready for work, checking my blogs and email and Michelle has been leaving a comment. At that time, it's 8:00am where Michelle is in Scotland. There was one time that we used a comment section on this blog as sort of an IM service. That morning I had introduced her to Amias. Michelle and Amias have become good internet friends since that morning. I met Michelle via Amelia, of Amel's Realm fame. Michelle moved from South Africa to Scotland when she got married. But in today's internet world, we all get around quite quickly and easily as we can all boast some inter-continental fame. But through her eyes we can all see Scotland and Michelle gives us all a good view. Michelle is also a published author and recently released a book titled "First Light." A science fiction story and

Okay, here's what's happening:I am working on my latest "I like...Because" post. It's incomplete and in draft. The photo I want to load on it are in the laptop and I'm writing this post on my desktop as I prepare to go to work. I couldn't think of another post to write now. It's more being a grandparent than writer's block. We were babysitting the grandchildren, so I was busy playing with them. I will send you around to other blogs to see what I've been impressed with lately. Brenda , tells us about a story that shows us that even smaller towns have moments that moms like her don't like to hear about in a post at Snicker*Snicker*Snort called Panic Attack for Mom . When is it appropriate to send thank you notes ? Leesa gives us her thoughts about that subject at her blog, Leesa's Stories . Clean and Crazy gives me props and sends readers to a cancer survivor's blog from a post in My Recovery , called caring, sharing, and having ho

On a couple of occasions I have written posts dedicated to Lawson's, a convenience store chain that was located in Ohio for close to 50 years. In the late 1980's the chain was bought out by Dairy Mart, of Engfield Ct. Dairy Mart was then purchased by Alimentation Couche-Tard, and most stored were rebranded Circle K. Something that has survived the years since Lawson's has left the landscape is Lawson's Chip Dip. I get many hits on this blog from people out of Ohio, I'm thinking former Buckeyes, looking for availability of this chip dip. I had gotten an email from a former resident of Cleveland looking for it. I emailed Circle K about this sometime ago asking if it was possible to send the dip out to those out of state, they said because of quality issues that it was not possible. My only suggestion would be to get in touch with Circle K in your home area and ask them to start stocking this very popular item that seems to make every get-together complete. Now we wil

Wait a few seconds for this video to load. This is an AOL video, as the one on You Tube has the audio disabled. Watch more Live, Laugh, Love videos on AOL Video I was inspired by Sue's comment on the previous post to put this up. Whether or not you are a fan of country music, give take the four plus minutes to listen to the words of the song and the lesson it teaches all of us. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2 NASB

The comments from my last post got me to thinking about this audiobook I've listened to time and again called "The Fred Factor." The author, Mark Sanborn , is a former resident of Ohio and an alumnis of The Ohio State University. He is also a friend of this blog. Fred is a real person. Fred Shea is a postman who was delivering mail in the neighborhood that Mark Sanborn was living in when he first moved to Denver. Fred wanted to know about Mark, about his schedule and what kind of arrangements he wanted to be made with his mail when he was out of town. Fred wanted to make sure that there were no signs that Mark wasn't home when he was out of town, so not to attract burgulars. Fred did his job and then some, even bringing over a package another delivery service had accidently dropped off at the wrong house. Using the example set by Fred Shea, Mark Sanborn tells us how we can be a "Fred." Being a Fred means we are doing an ordinary job in an extraordinary way.

And I have figured out how to get it. I wrote about this idea about 1-1/2 years ago. I think real good customer service is becoming a dying art. Between retailers having to cut hours, the employees having to be there when they don't want to be, and boorish customers who think it's their duty to lay into cashiers who get paid minimum wage for something they have no control over, I think the hearty "thank you for shopping at...." has fallen out of sight as part of the language. Enter this crazy guy who likes to give reasons for people to smile. In my lifetime, I have worked more than my share of retail jobs and for the most part, enjoyed dealing with the customers. I explained in my last post about using the PA at Wal*Mart. People would come over to the electronics department where I worked on Friday evening and Saturdays and say they enjoyed coming in and hearing my announcements because it made the store seem upbeat. In all my time operating a cash register in retail

As all can see, I try to update this blog on a daily basis. I've come a long way since August of 2006 when I didn't know what to write about, then posting some of my interests. Some stuck and others, well, I knew either not to write about them again or post them elsewhere. It all has to do with a lifelong passion I've had to communicate. As I was growing up I remember wanting to either become an attorney or a disc jockey. Both jobs require good communication skills. At the age of 17, I realized at the time that I lacked the ambition to go to college, let alone law school. So I got myself enrolled in broadcasting school. This was against the advice of those around me(except my parents) and the naysayers were in full force. As one who always been insecure, I've always been a SNIOP-Subject to the Negative Influence of Other People. That and a natural laziness caused me to lay that dream to rest. But the passion remained. It seemed that I was looking for ways at the job to

Today I was going through some email and saw a website that I thought would be a neat one for my favorite morning show to feature on their page as maybe a website of the day. I sent a link to both Sue and Scott about it. Scott Wynn sent me a reply, thanking me for the post I wrote about Sue. Here, with Scott's permission, is an excerpt from the letter: " Very nice blog on Sue. It really meant a lot. Your perceptions of her are correct, Sue is a very caring soul that I am proud to know, and work with. As great as a talent as she is on the air, she's just as good of a person off the air. Really, really nice stuff Cliff. You made many people's day with that one, including Sue's and mine." Most of the time, I get a personal message from the one I blog about and those are always special. Very rare that I get this from a coworker. I was also touched that Sue's daughter, Laura, after spending the day traveling cross country(as I heard this morn

There are basically two types of radio personalities. Those who think they are there for the listeners, and those who know they are there because of the listeners. Because of all the deregulation that has happened in the past 10 or so years, there are very few radio stations that are locally owned. I happen to listen to three stations in Akron, Ohio that are owned locally by the Rubber City Radio Group. They are WONE/97.5, WAKR/1590, and WQMX/94.9. Sue Wilson is the program director of WQMX. Sue is also one who connects well with her listeners. Sue Wilson is a very young veteran of Northeast Ohio radio. I first heard of her when she was program director of WFHM-The Fish in Cleveland. From all I have read about her on the message boards, she seemed to be one of the most respected radio personalities in the area. I had won a prize from The Fish a few years back and had to go to the station to pick it up, which was on my way home from work. I had emailed Sue and asked if I could have a t

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10KJV I was thinking about the above verse while in church this morning. I once heard evangelist Curtis Hutson preach on this very verse. He said one of the biggest problems is that there are too many "sucker mouth Christians." I've also noticed quite a few of my friends write about needs they have, waiting for the government to improve things. Problem is if we don't put our faith in God to guide the leaders and supply us our needs, then all the rhetoric we hear from our political leaders will be hot air and will not solve much of anything in the long run. The same Higher Power that my recovery blogger friends depend on to help them with their day by day living can help those in authority, and those are people we are commanded to pray for. Pray with a childlike faith and a wide open mouth. God is willing to supply your needs in some way. Chances are t

Fellow Northeast Ohio resident, Mike Golch of Rambling Stuff fame, has awarded me with the Passionate Blogger Award. As a matter of fact I was the first one awarded. I guess the passion that I show while blogging is the passion to communicate with others in a non confrontational way. So in my style of passing along the award, I will tell you what I perceive is the passion(s) of the recipients of this award from me. Struke of Media Matters fame: Struke shows a passion in electronic media and telling us, the readers, the changes he feels could be made to improve the product. He also has become a passionate political blogger in the past year. Tim of Cleveland Classic Media fame: Tim shows a lot of passion in his blogging and wanting to do his part in preserving the history of media in my home area. Check Tim out as he will post things of national interest at times. Pat of Pat J Knows it All fame. What can I say? I already gave an award to a passionate Democrat(Struke) so as part of

Followup on last post: We went to the fish fry this evening, my father-in-law driving to, and me driving from. This is the first time in five months that he has driven anywhere. His health continues to improve and this was good for his and his wife's mental health. This is good before the garage and yard sale season begins. They always like to check them out. My favorite morning radio show personalities have written interconnecting posts on their respective blogs. Earlier this week, Sue Wilson gave her list of gratitudes , giving credit to our own MsHen aka Betty Ann . Scott Wynn noted on his blog that Sue's post inspired him to write a list of "Springtime Renewelutions." He also encourages all readers to email him a list of their own. It's me again, Margaret : A blog that I've been following a little bit closer of late is called Bellathena's Blog. Margaret is the keeper of this blog, named after her dogs, Bella, and Athena. In it she spins yarns about

I have decided today to follow the lead of other bloggers today and post some gratitudes. I am grateful for the day off yesterday. Kathy and I had a real nice relaxing day. I took her to the doctor, then we went for a nice lunch. I'm grateful for the extra money we had to be able to eat out. I am grateful for thrift shops. In Barberton, Ohio, there's a store called New Destinations Thrift shop. Yesterday they were clearing out some winter merchandise. We were able to get coats for two of our grandchildren and a light jacket for Kathy for $1.00 apiece. For two dollars I got a tape series by motivational speaker Ed Foreman called "Happy, Healthy, and Terrific." This is a great edition to Automobile University. Kathy's dad's health continues to improve. He's talking about taking us to a fish fry tomorrow. Maybe I will have him drive part of the way. I am grateful for all you bloggers who continue to put out a fantastic product. If you are reading this and you

......Today is Pigeon's birthday.......Go on over and wish her the best on this day..........She deserves it....

400 miles from my home in Rittman, Ohio sits a log cabin in Gaylord, Michigan. That cabin is the weekend and vacation home of Shelley . She has mentioned that I have good taste in blogging friends. She should know because she's one of them. Shelley is another friend I met through Jessica. Her first visits to me were over at my poetry blog, Whattville is on the Other Side of the Tracks . Cliff Note:That was a selfish plug . I found out after a brief investigation that "Shellmo" has three blogs: B uilding a Log Cabin , Birding in Michigan , and Northern Michigan Experience . All three blogs tell the stories of her many interests and are loaded with excellent photos. All three blogs are also very popular, as evidenced by the comments she gets on all her posts. I hang out mainly at the log cabin. As I mentioned when I introduced her to the bunch several months ago, Shelley and her husband, Greg are not only cabin dwellers, they are also cabin sellers. They can help you as au

Cliff Note: I will get back to my regular posting tomorrow. I will be taking a vacation day tomorrow as my wife wants me to go to her doctor's appointment with her. I saw on line and saw on television that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is going to digital only after today. The daily paper in the major metrolpolitan areas is becoming an endangered species. With all the television news outlets and the internet, by the time you read it in the latest newspaper, it's history. With the ability to post free classified ads online, the necessity for that service is declining. The daily paper is needed for less and less. I still like to read the funnies but I can also get that online. Letters to the editor? This is where blogs come in handy. Besides, most areas have a weekly paper for that and other services. Seeing that I can't take my laptop everywhere and get access to the web, newspapers won't become entirely extinct any time soon, but they will not exist as we have come to

As you know by reading my wife's blog, her grandmother passed away early yesterday morning. She was 94 and was treated for Alzheimers for the last 13 years of her life. I didn't get to know her all that well, but from what everybody has told me, she was a good woman. She raised 10 kids, was always a gracious hostess when we went to Burnsville, West Virginia to visit, which wasn't often enough, and most important, she loved the Lord. The good news is that Iva Ramsey is now back with her husband, Clarence, who left this life in January, 1977. I never got to meet him since I first met Kathy in November of that year. Those I met told me that he was a real good man and a licensed minister. Kathy told me several times that she wishes I could have met him, and someday I will. The mixed bag of emotions I mentioned in the title is this: I feel sad for my wife since she has lost another part of her life, one who had a good influence as she was growing up. Ditto for my mother in law.

I want everybody to know that I've not become lazy or disinterested the past couple of days. Some things have come up that have kept me away from the keyboard. Kathy and I are doing quite well. We were able to go out and have a nice quiet evening to commemorate our anniversary. We may be tied up and away from internet access for a couple of days. I will be working on some ideas and hopefully putting them on a Word document, then I can do the old cut and paste when I'm online.

This past November, I was reading my favorite source for media news, Ohio Media Watch. OMW had announced a new media blog, Tri-State Media Watch , a blog dedicated to covering the Greater Cincinnati area. Tim at Cleveland Classic Media also welcomed TSMW to the blogosphere. I decided to give it a look and also read the profile of the author, Jeremy Moses. Much to my surprise, listed among the blogs he was following, was WIXY's Gone Bananas. I then figured this dude had some good taste. I also introduced Jeremy to my readers as I have a couple on my list who lived in the coverage area of the Cincinnati media outlets. Others from the bunch then took a liking to Jeremy, and why not? He's a very likable young man. Pretty much like most of us, Jeremy has this desire to communicate and is an internet disc jockey. Soon afterward Jeremy launched a second blog called Personal Thoughts/Observations From N Ky . This was a blog for those who weren't media geeks. Through this Jeremy rev

As most people who stop here know, I'm all about helping friends. Now the task at hand is to the one who's been my best friend since Christmas time, 1977, my wife Kathy. You all know that she writes a blog called Bipolar Supporters Unite , a blog that deals with the care and services she manages to obtain for our son, Adam. Kathy has told me at times that there isn't much she can write about. I told her that sometimes she can get off the beaten path and write about her life and other thoughts as that would give some insight about a caregiver of one who's bipolar. I thought I could give her some coaching and she can utilize the WIXYcam on occasion. At the upper left, I have posted a poll. The question just concerns whether or not Kathy should just post about bipolar. Please cast your vote. Cliff Note: Results will be non-binding, but very helpful.

Today I'm taking the lazy way out. Instead of going to the previous post, addressing each in the comment section, I just want to say thank you everybody for your kind comments and well wishes on our special day. You all made it all that much better. Kathy was overwhelmed with all the comments. I'm grateful of all the comments about her as Kathy has been having some emotional issues of late. She has always taken on more than what she should and many times she doesn't get the thanks she deserves. The thanks we do get is from her parents. And they are the ones we should be taking care of when they need it. They helped us more often than necessary in the past 30 years and, like I've told them, it's time for us to give back. I see the way others do their parents and I think to myself "What part of 'Honor thy father and thy mother' is confusing to them?" Kathy has always been there for her parents. As some know, she also makes sure our son Adam, who is b

Kathy and I said "I do." Through better and worse, rich and poor, in sickness and in health, we have been together. I love her as much now as I did March 10, 1979. What follows is a classic post from a year ago. As my long time readers know, my brother Richard passed away last year on March 4. He had spent the last 20 years of his life in a wheelchair and the last 8 living in nursing homes. Kathy had become Ricky's guardian angel after my dad passed away and my mother's health had started deteriorating. On April 4, 2004, Kathy went to the nursing home where Ricky had resided at 5:30am to tell him that our mother had passed away. Here's what I had wrote a year ago: "Ricky liked her first and foremost, because she was my wife. Kathy would take time to listen to what Ricky had to say when others were too busy for him. Ricky knew that Kathy liked iced tea. One time when he knew that we were coming up for a holiday cookout, he made 27 gallons of sun tea. I guess h

From sunny south Florida comes our friend Suz of Day by Day...My life as a Busy Bee fame. Suz describes herself as "My Official title is: Supreme Commander of Domestic Affairs; I am a wife; mother; daughter; friend; I have endless knowledge of useless information; I try to live a green life, I love laughing, fun times with family and friends and I am going to save this earth if it kills me. And it just may." I met Suz through another "green" blogger, Bella (now inactive as a blogger). I liked reading about her life with her husband "Coach" and two daughters, their love of the Miami Dolphins(don't worry, someday Cleveland will have a football team of their own) and the fact that she's about five foot one inches of pure dynamite. Some of Suz' stories are quite humorous and other's are touching. Some couple of the posts she has written lately have dealt with things like the cereal isle in the grocery store, as a child following her older brot

Above was the scene in my driveway this weekend last year. We had gotten a blizzard and I had to cancel the memorial service that I had planned for my brother, Richard. Today I had been going around wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Such is life here in Ohio. I went around to some thrift shops looking for some things I could put in the now spare bedroom in my house. I found a treadmill at Goodwill for 10 dollars. I want to get rid of this extra poundage and I also want to set up this room as an office. So for the time being, it will be used as a combination home office and exercise room. Good news is that we spring forward tonight and will be getting an extra hour of daylight at the other end. Kathy and I will be able to get out and do some walking, which has been good for the emotions and the sugar level. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us, but if it doesn't the treadmill will come into play.

First I would like to say that I have never been a paid employee of any media outlet. I was getting the impression in the comments that some thought I was. I had learned today that the Connecticut School of Broadcasting shut their doors right before the current class was to graduate . That stinks on many fronts. There were some who had put some faith in being able to get a piece of paper that stated that they took the classes. Some had their bubbles burst very abruptly. Egos are very fragile and broadcast students have some rather large ones. Hopefully when stimulus packages get handed out, these students will be able to get some consideration towards college classes, either in credits or tuition. I told Leesa, of Leesa's Stories fame , in her comment section last week that I went to broadcast school and she got a real education. That was in part teasing, as I feel that I did get an education from this and use much of what I learned. I think that the money's wasted if you didn&

To further dwell on the identity issue, I will add this about myself: I have never tried to keep my identity a secret. The 74WIXYgrad "handle" I use is more of a branding than anything else. I used the name on message boards just to get attention at first. To those who don't know, I went to broadcasting school after I graduated high school in 1974. The school was called the WIXY School of Broadcast Technique and they offered an 8 week broadcast-announcer course. I completed the course, so that's where the 74WIXYgrad name come from. "WIXY's Gone Bananas" was a promotion of WIXY/1260 during the fall months of 1973. WIXY/1260 was considered one of the legendary top 40 radio stations and always brings back some good memories from baby boomers who lived in Northeast Ohio while going through their teenage years. I started this blog in August, 2006 after being bit by the communications bug for the umpteenth time. My first target audience was those whom I partic

I had something else in draft that I was working on, but this thought come to mind as I was surfing the blogs at lunchtime. I respect the privacy of other bloggers. I am not anonomyous for the simple reason that I am a relative nobody, this blog being my only claim to fame. I am also not anonomyous because I want people to know that I'm a overweight middle aged male who has no desire whatsoever to use my internet presence to cause anyone any harm. That being said, I realize that some want to remain anonomyous. I understand why the recovery bloggers need to be anonomyous. One of our friends Jenn , of J-Online fame, is shutting down her blog because someone from her life discovered it. Jenn, I respect your decision and though we were online friends for a short time, I will miss your presence. There was a blog on my list about a year ago called Life of a Valley Girl . The writer "Val" wrote about her personal life in very personal terms. She kept her identity a very closel

During the past election season, I read blogs by many angry political bloggers from both sides of the aisle. I'm sure these folks had their followers, most being as passionate as themselves. During the same time, I had folks coming here whose views were both conservative and liberal, hopefully, as Struke put it in the comments of my last post, "to stop at the rest area on the information superhighway." The blogger I'm going to tell you about is Pat Jenkins . He's a conservative republican, but he states his views in a humorous way, tongue in cheek if you may. He also uses his pet snark to tease all of us who make regular visits to his blog, called Pat J.(at least in my mind) Knows it all . I call Pat the Rush Limbaugh of my blogroll. I also awarded him the "Excellence in Blogging" top banana this past January. I have also teased him about posting from his golden EIB keyboard. Aside from his political views, Pat blogs about his family, wife Karen and daug

I posted number 800 on December 6, 2008 and much has happened since then, both in our world and in our family of bloggers. For those of you who have just started reading my words lately, I have been writing this blog since August 26, 2006. Since post number 800, I have gained many good friends to go along with the friends I had already and you are all winners in my book. Of course we had to deal with the loss of our good friend, Liquid, but I was blessed in seeing so many heartfelt tributes from those whose lives she touched, even those who only discovered her blog after her passing. Among the new friends here in the past 100 posts, I now have two teachers. I even had the guts to write poems in their comment sections. I also have friends from the recovery blogs who have been teaching me things about their struggles. I have some new friends from my home area, two of which I listen to as I'm driving to work in the morning. All have come here to read what I may have to say and have le