WIXY's Gone Bananas

This morning, Kathy and I were heading into Wooster to participate in early voting. We thought we would stop at the golden arches to have breakfast. Problem was that there was renovation going on at Mickey D's and half of the parking spaces were not available. So it was off to another place to eat. We went to The Parlor, a restaurant on w. Liberty St. We have eaten there before, and the meals are very reasonably priced. And while I'm there, I always grab a copy of  The Vendor, a free magazine that gets most of it's revenue from advertising. And the magazine had some good articles. Most of the articles are faith based. I would guess the Amish community would be readers of this publication. There are also recipes, factoids, and clean one liners throughout the magazine. But best of all, it's free. And like most folks, I like free. The restaurant has some pretty good food as well. I had biscuits, gravy, home fries, and sausage. Kathy had corned beef hash and toast. ...

Over the years, the main things I have had to deal with have been health problems, They are nagging, but chronic issues, such as diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis. I can probably attribute most of this to either heredity or obesity. It depends on how much I want to factor personal responsibility. Being fat gave me a convenient excuse when I was losing my shirt as a retail salesman over 20 years ago. I would come home after not making any money on commissions and tell Kathy, "Nobody would buy from me because I was fat and ugly." Met a new friend back then too. His name was Prozac. In the past year, I have lost over 30 pounds. I feel better and clothes fit better as well. I'm still overweight, and I need to get off my fat posterior and do some more about it. Truth is, I have been fighting a battle with my weight since I was 11 years old. As an adult, I have seen a high of 305 pounds and a low of 186. So I know what to do to lose. Just isn't as easy as some like ...

This morning, I woke up to the news that former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens owner, Art Modell, had passed away. He was a villain to the city of Cleveland for moving the franchise. Cliff Note: I know he was probably considered a hero to Baltimore for bringing football back and for getting them a Super Bowl ring before the Indianapolis (formerly Baltimore) Colts won one, but this post is about forgiveness. Cleveland, like many other cities, lives and dies with it's sports franchises. Since the Browns left, northeast Ohio has also seen several top athletes leave and "take their talents" elsewhere. These folks go from being number one, as a show of the index finger will indicate, to not being number one with the next finger over also indicates. Most decisions are made as financial decisions. We have seen this many times in business. People are either let go from their jobs, or jobs get outsourced. This gets plenty of ink, but people forget and move on. It's...

Okay, in the 6 years that I've been blogging, I have been somewhat harsh on the largest retailer in the world, Walmart. Most of it has been directed at the one I frequent the most, #2966, Wadsworth, Ohio. I have used the term Evil Big Box Store(tm) pretty much tongue in cheek. I do go there because I can save money and get what I need in one stop over the Giant Eagle one exit over. Out of fairness to a good friend and distant relative, I have toned down the snarky posts. Cliff Feightner of Homassa, Fl. fame, works for Walmart in a management capacity and I don't want that Cliff Feightner to get into trouble because of what this Cliff Feightner writes. Anyway, when I stop at Walmart on my way home from work, I like to go through a checkout of a cashier named Bonnie. The reason being is, no matter what, she always has a smile on her face and a good word for the customer. First time I went through her line, she asked me how I was doing. I responded with "Better than I d...

This past Friday evening, the Rittman Indians football team played host to a group of home schooled high school athletes called the Cleveland Knights. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Case Western Reserve University, but due to a scheduling conflict, the venue was changed to Rittman. Two touchdowns along with two point conversions by Rittman, and a touchdown with a failed conversion attempt by the Knights made the halftime score 16-6 in favor of the Indians. The Knights had no marching band, so my favorite group of student musicians had the entire halftime show to themselves. After the best entrance and band intro in Northeast Ohio, the Rittman Marching Band performed tan original tune by Jim Swearingen, called Fired Up . The majorette feature was the Roy Orbison hit, Oh Pretty Woman . During the next selection, The Pennsylvania Polka, I was recording the performance with my iPhone. I was also looking at my script to ensure I had the right intro lined up for t...

Sometimes I tell people that I graduated high school in 1974, "when dinosaurs roamed the earth." And to all you young whippersnappers, that is very much tongue in cheek. Today, Kathy and I were out and about, taking care of some business. We stopped at Speedway to get some fountain drinks. I went in to get the drinks and Kathy noticed somebody parking their motorcycle. He left the keys in the ignition. She told me about the motorcycle, wondering if anybody would steal the bike. I told her that I remembered when I was growing up, my dad would stop at Lawson's, a convenience store chain in Ohio, go in, get a pound of lunch meat(sliced while you wait), a half gallon of milk, and a loaf of bread. But what I failed to mention is when he parked in front of the store, he left his car running. Kathy countered with the fact they used to go to church and never locked the doors of their house. Such was life in the 1960's and 70's. When you lived away from the big cities,...

The above video is a walk through of the now defunct Rolling Acres Mall, which has been closed now for going on 4 years. A once vibrant shopping complex, it fell victim of being located in a depressed area, and of other close by malls experiencing renovation and rebirth. In 2008 when the final nail was applied to the coffin of this mall, I wrote this post concerning my memories of Rolling Acres . There are several sites on the web dedicated to dying malls, and their surrounding areas. To me there is some interesting reading. Most of us should be concerned to what is going to become of the areas where these malls are located. Will they ever be of benefit to the community at large again? At Rolling Acres, the only activity at present at the mall building is JC's 5 Star Outlet, formerly known as J. C. Penney's outlet store. The store still features goods from J. C. Penney, but at a discount price. And it is a popular location. The Sears store location where I once worked i...