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Zup's Journal  I'm sure that many will beg to differ, but frankly I thought it was more or less a draw. Folks that disagree with one candidate or the other will think their man (or woman) won, but frankly, as I have problems with both of the tickets, I don't see either one as a winner or a loser. Palin showed that the Katie Couric interviews were not the only spoken exchange to judge her by. Biden showed that he can encapsulate his answers and not get drawn into some stupid outburst or comment. I was was annoyed by Palin's mis-pronunciations of Nuc-you-lar, and I-ran, and her Maliki and Talabani were questionable, but her Ahmadinejad was pretty impressive. I do think she suffers from an unfortunate informality of speech, especially her use of "ya" instead of "you", that makes her sound even more inexperienced than she is. It's a lack of polish, but also speaks to her having lived more or less a rural life....I'm not going to condemn her for that even though there's reason to want a polished vice-president. As far as content, Palin dodged more than was good for her, and jumped back to energy too much. Biden had a tendency to need to respond to things a bit too much. My thoughts on policy are very mixed, but usually they are after any debate, as half the goal is to dredge up past actions and votes that usually had good reasons but look bad on the surface. There's a real need to visit the candidate websites and really look at the details of their stated policies and maybe compare to independent facts and sources. For at least some of the fact checking, check this Yahoo! news article. Actually, I might give Biden a slight edge upon further thought, but the real challenge for Palin was just to demonstrate that the Katie Couric interviews were nto the final word, and I think she did that. So, Biden might have been more impressive, but Palin had a lot more ground to make up based on her previous week or two. Current mood:  sleepy.
Quick update in bullets:
I'm sure other things happened, but those are some highlights. Current mood:  apathetic.
Just to inform everyone, it looks like all the lanes of Euclid Avenue through University Circle will be finished and open tomorrow morning. They have been putting the final thin layer of blacktop on the road overnight for the past couple days, and when I got home from class tonight they were finishing the last few side street intersections to smooth it all together. For those not familiar they have been working on the multimillion dollar Euclid Corridor project for the past several years, completely rebuilding the entire length of the road from East Cleveland to Public Square downtown over the past two years or so. They have installed significant new utility pipes and wires the whole way underground and are running double long buses with center median stops the entire length. It has been utter hell for me considering I pretty much need to travel down or at least cross Euclid Avenue briefly to get anywhere downtown or to the west side of the city. But thankfully it is looking wonderful and nearly completed at this point. Yarr!!! (That's pirate speak for yay!) Current mood:  excited.
I forgot to mention that I won Settlers of Catan last week at Taco Night. I am also ashamed to admit that I did not have sufficient faith that I would get the cards I needed, so I bought crack (aka a development card) and won with a victory point card. *hangs head in shame* I would not feel so bad except that I got the resource cards I would have needed to win during my final roll to begin my turn....LOL! Current mood:  geeky.
In just a short hour or so it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Get all ye swabbies together and assault some unsuspecting landlubbers with yer piratical speech. Arr, find ye self a buxom wench at the tavern, or perhaps a strapping bartender to serve up the grog and the ale for ye and yer mates! Celebrate with a round of sea shanties and tales of dangerous seas and buried treasures....perhaps the story of old One Eyed Willie's treasure? Yar!!! Current mood: piratical.Current music: Something with a hornpipe, yar!!!. This article I read from CNN/Wall Street Journal does a reasonable job of explaining some of what's been going on in terms of markets, government reactions, and other factors. They do compare it to the 1930s, but say that at least we have some mitigating institutions this time around.... Current mood:  concerned.
Friday night Patrick and I went to the "Industry and Labor" art show down in Tremont at Asterisk Gallery. It was based around art representing industry and industrial history here in Cleveland. There was a blacksmith there making wrought iron items. They had perogis (good ones!) and sausages there for appetizers that were really yummy. They had a bunch of photos from the local firefighting museum that is being built here in Cleveland, and a set of photos from the LTV Steel archives, plus several displays of photography by various artists of the indistrial flats, various neighborhoods, and such. There were items from a local artist named Derek Hess. They also had art that was created from the logos from the various the ships and shipping companies that worked on Lake Erie and the Great Lakes. We went across the street to another gallery that was more upscale and commercialized. They had some rather expensive sculpture outside (read as things with three zeroes) and a mix of paintings, photography, and utilitarian items inside. They had a bunch of glass items that I think were made by the folks up at Josephat Arts Hall, which we visited a year or so ago. They were made from bottles heated and flattened; cheese boards made from wine bottles and lime cutting boards made from corona bottles. There were some very cool photo montages of Cleveland landmarks in interconnected frames. There were also paintings of sports scenes (I assume from photographs) that were great for sportsy persons....there was one of Woody Hayes talking to players on the OSU sidelines that I'm very tempted to get for my dad. Not that he is interested in paintings, but I have this dream to redecorate my old bedroom at my parents' house as an OSU Buckeyes room for a present sometime. We'd paint it some combination of scarlet and grey, put up the painting, get him a sofa and chair in buckeyes colors, a bookshelf with all his OSU books, put in a mini-fridge, and run the cable back there so he can watch the football games....LOL, I just need to get my brother to pitch in on this and find an opportunity to do it. But I digress. After the art galleries, Patrick and I had dinner at the Tremont restaurant Ty-Fun (pronounced Typhoon.) I’ve been meaning to go there for several years and the experience was a very great. Patrick ordered beef panang and I had a pad khi mao. My meal was a pretty spicy, so I was pleased, and the service was great. The prices were on the high end of moderate, and the portions were not huge but we left well fed. I need to learn more of the names for Thai dishes better.... The owners were both there and involved with the restaurant, and the experience was great....I think this will be another good option if bonoboboy and vorpal ever make it down to visit.
Current mood:  good.
I just spent the last 45 minutes chasing what I believed to be the moon....I could not catch it however, which was quite frustrating. I wish I had the keys to a tall building so I could look for it easier because I swear it was hiding from me. I know it sounds insane, but it's true....all I wanted was a good picture of the supposed moon because it was an unearthly orange glowing object in the sky whose beauty and hauntingness I cannot really express. I saw it through the skyscrapers of downtown Cleveland while I was travelling over the Main Avenue bridge. When I got to a place I could stop, however, I could not sight it, so I wound my way through the streets of the east side looking for a view to no avail, it was like it evaporated. I started wonderign if I had had a vision or saw an illusion or a UFO. I tried to find it from the top of a CSU parking garage and then from the rapid platform down the streeet frommy apartment eventually. No luck. Then as I was going down my street to park my car I saw a faint glow in the sky to the east. I think what happened was that the cloud cover was shifting from medium to heavy and back and it was causing both the beauty of the object and also the dissappearance of the moon most of the time. I only wish I had been able to stop onthe bridge and snap a pic of what I was seeing right then. Current mood: fascinated.
Well then. It's now close to 3 AM and I am awake because I just managed to shatter a mirror. Crap. I Thankfully, most of it did not break, so cleanup has been rather minimal, but anytime glass shatters (even on the short industrial carpet in my apartment) it makes a mess. So, I have picked up all the pieces of size and vacuumed the area thoroughly 3 or 4 times to get any chips and shards. Thank god I do not have deep carpeting. My unhappiness is compounded by the fact that I made my lower back very unhappy during my workout earlier this evening and I'm feeling ever so slighly crippled as a result. I pray it is happier by morning, as not being able to walk/sit/stand/lift/bend correctly is never good, especially with my job that required most of that. Anyhow, hopefully my sore back is retroactively my bad luck for mirror breakage. I can't really afford 7 years of the stuff. Current mood:  annoyed.
Well folks, these are busy days as usual! The Chorus is in final preparation for our upcoming Pride concert. The show is called Tunes from Tales and is based upon the Tales of the City novels by Armistead Maupin. Mister Maupin is a well known gay author who also wrote The Night Whisperer which was made into a movie with Robin Williams and Toni Colette. We will be joined for the shows by Armistead Maupin himself who will narrate specific parts of his novels between the music. The show was conceived by the Seattle Men's Chorus and tells the story of Michael Tolliver, a gay man who moves to San Francisco and lives there through the tumultuous 70s and 80s. The music is a mix of original pieces and arrangements of popular music. Overall, the show is both hilarious and often very deeply touching. The Chorus already sounds great, an it is so exciting to perform with a literary legend and gay icon like Mr. Maupin. As always, I encourage that any of you in the area get some tickets and attend the show. Drop me a line if you have any questions about the show, and as always, you can order tickets at the North Coast Men's Chorus Website Current mood: chipper.
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