Something I recommend against

I recommend against tailgating someone else out of the parking lot of the place you work, trying unsuccessfully to pass them multiple times during the trip, and finally cutting them off just before both of you pull into the parking lot for the same fast food restaurant with a long waiting line.

Not that I would do that or anything.

I wasn't even concentrating that hard on driving. I would like to think that, by default, my driving is sedate and safe, and that I'm only aggressive when I'm really concentrating on it, but the reverse appears to be true.

And I just went somewhere else rather than stand next to that guy (or guys...several in the car) in that line. 

¶ 5/27/2005 11:31:00 AM 0 comments

 
It's a relative thing

Thinking more about yesterday's Lileks post: it really is kind of bizarre to see a North Dakota native and Minnesota resident complaining about cold weather, isn't it?

But I get it, I really do. No doubt the temperatures he's complaining about are nothing compared to what would be routine there in, say, February, but it's the last week of May, and you have different expectations.

I came to CLE from Washington, and the actual winters here aren't really that much worse than in Washington -- it's quite a bit colder, and there's significantly more snow (especially on the east side), but it feels pretty similar to me. And the snow removal is much better, and you'd be surprised how much of a difference that makes.

But Spring will kill you. The snow is gone (snow on May 3 this year notwithstanding!), but it never quite...warms up. Not until the last week of May, and that's why "cool" weather the last week of May hurts so much. You've been waiting so long, and you know perfectly well it's not a good idea to expect any warm weather before the last week of May. You finally allow yourself to hope, and then you're disappointed again. It's wearisome.

On the other hand, it turned nice on Wednesday, and it's nice today, and I finally pulled all of the grass from out of the front ground cover beds yesterday evening, so who's complaining? 

¶ 5/27/2005 09:41:00 AM 0 comments

 
The influence of weather on history and vice versa

Lileks. Ouch.

I'll hope that the weather in Minnesota today isn't going to be here in Cleveland on Saturday, but I'm probably kidding myself. 

¶ 5/26/2005 01:57:00 PM 0 comments

 
Things I would miss about Cleveland were I to leave

(All-food edition)

1. Corky and Lenny's

A very enjoyable deli, somewhat incongrously located between a Starbucks and an Ethan Allen store in a strip shopping center on Chagrin Blvd. in Woodmere. Staffed by the nicest burusque people you'll ever meet. A place that buzzes, especially at Friday lunch.

Hot beef brisket sandwich on rye "from the counter", oh yes.

2. Lakewood

I'm from the Washington, DC area, and in Washington, DC area terms, Lakewood is an impossibility. A densely-populated place that is full of small local stores, bars (no doubt!), restaurants, and small old houses, and is neither rapidly declining nor rapidly gentrifying. Plus it's so close to where we live, and where else do you see a bait/tackle/taxidermy shop with neon in the windows from your window seat in a fine restaurant? The people who built Crocker Park would like you to think it's like Lakewood with better parking (Look, apartments above the storefronts!), but it's not, really. Although I have no problem with Crocker Park...

3. Gust Gallucci's (aka Gus Gallucci's)

A fine Italian grocery, somewhat incongruously located in an industrial wasteland at Euclid and E. 60-something. Where we get our Italian sausage.

And they do mail order -- if you've ever wanted to mail order a whole truffle, Gallucci's is the place. And try the Castelevetrano olives.


 

¶ 5/20/2005 12:18:00 PM 1 comments