WIXY's Gone Bananas

At this point I am aiming to get back to writing for the group I call "the bunch", a very dedicated group of bloggers who have the same passion as mine, the passion to communicate to a relatively small group of people. They know the type of blogger that I am and why I sometimes go into a direction which may be out of the ordinary for me. This post is aimed at informing this group. But the others who have come here in the past couple of days are more than welcome to make this blog a regular stop and I will do my best, inside my interests and abilities, to make it worth your while. Out of the people who had lost their jobs with Clear Channel earlier this week, the one I got to know was Paul Rado . I started communicating with him when he posted one day on the message board I frequent most often. He was defending Alison, who was a recent addition to the Mike Trivisonno show. Alison had received some unfair bashing on the board and he come on the board to defend her, pretty much ...

Only thing I want to say pertaining to the response to my last post is WOW! People wanted to know and I hope I gave them a little of what they wanted. And I figure that there are others who come here who were the type who liked to go to car wrecks. Paul Rado and Marty Allen are two guys who will do fine and should land on their feet sooner than later. I had no intent of becoming the Ohio Media Watch Wayne County bureau with that post, but I am also glad to be a message board to relay well wishes. Cliff Note:For up to date news on Clear Channel firings, go on over to Ohio Media Watch . He has much statewide as well as some national news. And for another view on the nationwide impact, check out John Gorman's Media blog . And to everyone who left comments here, I thank you. And I also thank my regulars for bearing with me. I hope to be back posting my regular(?) stuff in the next couple of days.

The two guys in the photo with me are Marty Allen and Paul Rado, until yesterday producers of the Mike Trivisonno show on WTAM/1100. I say until yesterday because right around 5:00, as the Clear Channel suits were getting ready to go home, the two were called into the office and told that their services were not needed anymore. Job insecurity is pretty much the nature of the beast in media nowadays. You give the company your best for many years and they show you the door. Clear Channel pretty much became the Walmart of radio a number of years ago when they, and other large companies, bought radio stations like they were going out of style. Each company then put all their local properties in one location and started sharing services, such as news, traffic, and weather. They also started voice tracking their music shows, mostly away from morning and afternoon drive. This made many jobs obsolete and many folks who once had dreams of making a name for themselves in this medium were shown t...

I know, I've been away from the keyboard for a few days. I've had a somewhat busy weekend. We went to some yard sales in Smithville, a nearby town on Saturday morning. I spent less than two dollars, got some cassette tapes for my wife. Afterward we went to Kathy's parents house, where I did some yard work. We took advantage of the great weather this past weekend and I got my first sunburn of the season. Another Northeast Ohio blogger to introduce: I think we have cross paths for some time now, both of us having been friends of Liquid. Friday I included her in my lists of links. Meet Diane Vogel Ferri . Diane hails from the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. Like Pigeon, she hails from the dreaded snow belt. In addition to being a blogger, Diane is also a poet and a teacher. She, like one of my daughters, is a special education teacher. Check out Diane Vogel Ferri's blog. It's called Coexist . It's shaping up to be a good NBA postseason in these parts. The Cavaliers ...

...for the Town Hall for Hope . In all the locations that signed up for the simulcast, over one million concerned Americans attended. I was watching for awhile on the Fox Business Channel before retiring for the night. I know a multitude of folks are looking for hope just by looking at my site meter. I had more than double the number of hits I normally get on a Thursday. Most of the hits, other than my blogging friends and family, were people who had googled something about the Town Hall for Hope, or Dave Ramsey's town hall. Good news is Fox Business will be replaying the show this weekend. For more information on Dave Ramsey, click here . Cliff Note: Also remember that there are two things that cannot be legislated: morality and prosperity. Morality comes from the heart and prosperity comes from hard work.

I've been listening to the Ed Foreman Healthy Happy and Terrific tape set on the way home at night. Helps me go into my house with a smile on my face. Also makes me wonder if employers should offer that to their people. Would make a difference in some circumstances. Yesterday on my way to work, I had to get some money out of the ATM as the WIXYmobile needed gas. I stopped at the Circle K in Wadsworth, located in front of the Evil Big Box Store(tm). I went in, got a Beacon Journal, two bottles of Coke Zero, and paid for 25 dollars of fuel. The cashier was a young lady named Tabatha. I notice every time I'm in that store that she has a very bubbly personality, something some think should be illegal at 5am. I also notice that she is married. Most women would prefer to be home, asleep in bed, cuddled next to their husbands at that time. Tabatha evidently prefers to make the best out of her situation and whenever I stop there this burst of enthusiasm makes my long trip to work a bit...

On this coming Thursday at 8:00EDT, Dave Ramsey will be presenting the Town Hall for Hope . This event will take place live in Oklahoma City and will be broadcast nationwide. Over 6000 locations have signed up to broadcast this in their venues. With so much uncertainty over the current economic situation, Dave has decided that America needs this event. He has decided that hope won't come from Washington or Hollywood. It will come from the heart of America, which is why he has decided to broadcast from Oklahoma City, which is located south of the geographic center of the country. Dave promises to be as equally hard on both political parties. In addition to the venues where the event will be broadcast, the stations which carry the Dave Ramsey show as well as the Fox Business Channel will have it. You can attend the event wherever it's shown for FREE. Click here for info on the Town Hall For Hope.

Melanie is one of these addicted bloggers(aren't we all?) who recently went on hiatus, then come back. She writes a blog called Monday Through Sunday . The title indicates that we should all live for the Lord the whole week and not just one day. I met Melanie through Pat Jenkins' blog and have really enjoyed her devotional messages. In the past year she has moved from Colorado to Florida and gave us a detailed account of her move. She currently lives in Orlando, but her blog is by no means a Mickey Mouse operation. She has a great eye for beauty and would make a great interior decorator. Back to the devotional messages: There are times that Melanie will just post a scripture and maybe a photo to go with it and the post will speak volumes. You should go to her blog and get a message from the Lord as He sometimes will speak through her posts. Melanie is also a very devoted wife and mother. As I like to say in these posts, check out her blog and stay awhile and make it a point to...

Nice day here in Rittman, Ohio. I did work today in two yards. First, it was over to the in laws, where I sprayed the apple trees. They yield some good apples and we just need to keep the bugs off the trees. My mother in law makes a great apple pie and I want to make sure that she has an ample supply of apples. And my legs are now tired from pushing the mower. I need to do more pushing. About the book: I know that over the past year I have been hinting about writing a book, and this week I have put some legs on the intention. Yes, I will be using blog posts for some of it. I also bought me a 100 sheet steno pad earlier in the week. I have a goal of filling the book on both sides by June 15. I will be taking some from out of there. Then I hope I have something that people will want to read. Attention Northeast Ohio Bloggers: I have been thinking about this this past week. I wonder if anyone wants to get together somewhere in the area this summer for a covered dish picnic. We could mee...

10. Sitting at home waiting on stimulus package. 9. Lives in Northeast Ohio and is waiting for the weather to stabilize. 8. Upset over some writers buying cheap Chinese ideas. 7. Received stimulus and is out spending it. 6. Having problems with being associated with tropical fruit. 5. Joke the Muse just gave me was garbage. 4. Orange barrels making delivery of material slow. 3. Is now applying for another stimulus package. 2. Running out of fictional ideas and is now studying newspaper for some. 1. In jail for falsifying information on stimulus application.

I need to exercise my brain You may ask why so I'll explain I'll tell you now and I'll be be frank My mind's too often come up blank I really want to write a book I see blank pages when I look I need to bend and stretch my mind So words I need I'll easily find A blank notebook I now have bought To maybe catch a single thought And write it down so I can share With those I really think will care

After reading all about Clark Howard on several of your blogs, I decided to check him out. I went to his website and found that he is on WEOL/930 in Elyria, Ohio from 12noon to 3PM, which is not a good time since I cannot get most AM radio stations in my office. However I did find I could download his show from iTunes, which I did and have been listening on my mp3 player. I like what I hear, his take on financial news, his advice to callers, and his being a cheapskate. I wish I could be that way. I'm looking forward to listening to more of Clark Howard, and playing it in my office for others to hear. By request, here is a link to Clark Howard's website.

Kathy's latest post on bipolar supporters unite is called The Man . The post deals with a nightmare she has been having for years and my sometimes humorous way of handling it.

Part of Jen's problem is being taken care of. In her Weird Object Friday post , Jen featured her porch light, which is one of those energy saving lights. They sort of look like upside down ice cream cones and don't put out light to the satisfaction of some folks. But they do save money and last far longer then the incandescent bulbs. Yesterday I found myself in the future Evil Big Box Store(tm) in Medina, Ohio to get some photos which we accidently sent there instead of Evil Big Box Store(tm) #2966. Going toward the exit, I saw some energy saving bulbs that were encased in the conventional globe, though inside was the actual "swirley" bulb. Cliff Note: I couldn't find a photo of this online and I had left the WIXY/at&tPhoneCam(tm) in the WIXYmobile. Such is life. Now if somebody could come up with a bright idea to make these bulbs brighter.......

Ever have one of those days when you are on track to be to work on time, not a minute early, then it seemed like every intersection had a red light? That has happened to me more often than I want to remember. This morning things were different. I left the house a few minutes earlier than usual and only one light was red and at that intersection I was turning right anyhow. The rest of the lights were green. That too long drive I make five days a week was smoother than usual today. Green light days are one of life's little bonuses. It's unexpected and never guaranteed. Those are days when everything goes smoother than anticipated, maybe a day when you get an unexpected surprise, a phone call or a visitor. Or the mailman might bring something you don't expect. Just remember to thank God when you have one of these days, as they don't come often enough. If you would wait until all the lights were green before you left home, you would never go anywhere. I wish everyone would ...

This is the latest deal I got from Goodwill. For $1.00 plus tax, I got this book by Donald Trump. Now The Donald and I have very little in common, but I like many of his ideas. This book is a very easy read, as he puts his ideas in bite sized chunks, and appears very human. Although the catchphrase most commonly associated to Mr. Trump these days is "You"re fired," he likes stability within his organization. Other topics touched upon in this book is why ego is important, the use of motivational material, the quality of your brand, and thinking big and living large. The reason I have in the title that I would like to have lunch with Donald Trump. I think that would be really neat as I figure our table would get some great service. But that's not all. I would also like to pick his brain, get some ideas about making the most of my talents. In other words, I would like for him to "teach me how to fish."

I hope everyone is having a happy Easter. I also want to direct your attention to the Prayer Hubs blog, a labor of love from Amias. She has allowed me to be part of the team there. I just posted a prayer request on behalf of Mike Golch . I hope you take time to read this and remember his in laws in your prayers.

Our friend Kathy, of Kathy's Klavier fame, has announced that she's not blogging anymore. Seems that life is getting in the way and she has decided that she's too busy to continue. For those who didn't get to know her, she wrote a really nice devotional blog and let us have a view of her family life. She will be missed. Go on over and wish her well.

First I want to thank all those who commented on my last post. I read all the comments and appreciate all the concern. I also received email from a couple of good friends and I appreciate the advice from everybody. Next, what's done is done. The post will not go back up but in the next couple of days I will work on something similar. Sometimes I can be my own worst enemy and other times I just don't do myself any favors. My problem was I let a troll get to me. Cliff Note: "An Internet troll , or simply troll in Internet slang , is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room , with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response [ 1 ] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion. " Definition cou rtesy of Wikipedia. I was on a message board the other day(minding my own business) when one of my online friends had congratulated a ...

It's my personal editorial policy not to knowingly offend when I write posts on my blogs. The post I wrote last month on my faith based blog, Seek Him First has been pulled. The reason in which I made my decision was because there was an anonymous commenter there who implied that my post was made in ignorance of their denomination. I was afraid that this would possibly be construed as a slam on my part against their denomination, which I never intended it to be. As far as comments are concerned, I have only deleted three since starting this blog. Two of those have been comments I have written. I thought several hours before deciding to delete the post. If I have ever offended anyone on any of my three blogs, I apologize.

Cliff Note: This is a modified repeat of a post I wrote last year at this time. Yesterday was opening day for the Cleveland Indians who lost to the Texas Rangers. This is an account of a opening day 1982. My younger brother and I went to the game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Our older half brother, Allen, gave us tickets for the game, which he had gotten for free as a carrier of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I recently saw Allen for the first time on almost 10 years a week and a half ago. He is currently under hospice care. We went to the home opener in 1982. It had snowed for several days and was cold this Saturday at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. It was a stadium that had a special air about it. You could smell it from a ways back. But it did have one thing. Major League Baseball . It was the Cleveland Indians versus the Texas Rangers. The Indians were a very w oeful team in those days. Some seasons they had decent pitching and no hitting. Other seasons they had fairly good hitting a...

First thing I want to do is welcome all the good folks from Australia who are checking me out as a result of Google searches. I recently wrote a post on sleep apnea , discussing my history with it and my new CPAP machine. Because of this and the name of my blog, this is the top site google lists when somebody types "bananas sleep apnea" into the search line on Google. All of the sites I have seen, that were not the usual sites that come here, ended in "dot au" which I know as Australia. Normally the only hit from down under is by my good friend David McMahon. The reason for the search is that a research team in Australia has found. as a result of a study, that drinking a banana smoothie may assist in easing conditions that cause sleep apnea. Phospholipids, or fatty acids, in bananas stay active in the mouth for six hours and may keep the throat open, therefore reducing the risk of choking. Further studies will expand to those, like myself, who need a breathing machi...

April 4, 2004 was Palm Sunday that year. It was also the day that we turned our clocks an hour ahead. I had some plans that day. I spent the day before working on taxes for myself and my kids. I was also cooking a pot of chili without beans for my mom. Mom had also cut out a story from the newspaper that she had thought I'd enjoy. I had gone to the store to get something to cook for my mom and myself the next day as we were going to spend the afternoon watching the Nextel Cup race from Texas. My sister was going to spend the afternoon with our brother in the nursing home, and I was going to stay with mom, who was in failing health and was under hospice care for almost two months at that point. The evening of April 3, I took the chili to mom and she was talking about seeing little fuzz balls floating around her. I went back home and call the hospice nurse, she had told me that that might have been the side effect of the morphine she was on. I told her that. Mom was suffering from ...

This evening as I went through my email, I had gotten a message from Zig Ziglar. The message contained a link to a video called The Simple Truths of Appreciation. The message in this video was a very profound one and I want to share it with all of you. Click here to view the video. And I feel I can't say this near enough: I appreciate all of you.

So April Fool's Day has come and gone and I wasn't punk'd in any way. The cruelest joke is that highway construction season is upon us. Interstate 77 is in the process of being widened south of I-480. This will take several years to complete and in the long run will make travel easier for those who use the freeway. But for now, it will be a headache. Yesterday morning, I was on track to be to work on time. Having an almost hour commute each way, I don't want to devote any extra time to an already long day. Well I got into a situation where traffic was at a crawl. Keep in mind that this was at 5:40am, before the official morning rush. Seeing thet there plenty of folks who travel from the Akron area to Cleveland on their morning commute, I decided to give my favorite morning show a call to let them and the listeners know about the situation. And since the calls are on digital delay, I got to hear it played back. Once again letting me know why I never got into radio. Anywa...