Saturday, July 31, 2010

Happy Third Anniversary

It is hard to believe that this blog started three years ago. Since I didn't tell the relatives who are in the Christmas Gift Exchange about this blog until months later, I couldn't tell the stories that I tell now. That's why the widgets and RSS are a part of this blog. The widgets are fun, but I think that the stories are what makes this blog the "success" that it is.

The next post will be a birthday message.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

My Playlist

You may have noticed a purple box in my last entry courtesy of Playlist. I finally accomplished what I wanted to do a while back when a playlist from another source was added to this blog. Unlike the previous playlist, I selected all the songs this time from music uploaded to Playlist by other people. Enjoy this playlist. The previous playlist is probably still all unfamiliar or foreign to me.

There will be a new report as soon as something exciting happens.

Listen to billmcdonnells Playlist


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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Happy Birthday, Lois

Today is my brother Tim's companion Lois's Birthday. I hope that she and her family have (or had) a nice celebration. I also hope that she enjoys all the gifts that she has received or will receive.

It has been almost five years since I first met her. On July 18, 2005, we had a get-together at Maggie and Mike's house because Patty and Dan SR. were in town because they attended their nephew's wedding two days earlier. Unfortunately, Dan SR. was not at this get-together. Dan JR. and Laura's new garage at their Chardon house needed some repairs, so he helped Dan JR. in repairing the problems. By the way, I do miss that house, but their home in Warren is a lot nicer.

Unfortunately, I remember very little about that function. I do remember that earlier in the day, I made my only purchase at Nordstrom (so far!) at Beachwood Place Mall. They were New Balance tennis shoes. They were half-priced. If I recall correctly, the shoes went into circulation months or a year later because my shoes at the time were "adequate". It would be nice if I had more memories. Anyone who was there can contribute. Of course, other contributions are welcome. Just keep it "PG" please.

Until next time, enjoy life.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Still More of My Week with Bob

On July 1st, Kathleen had an appointment in the area, so she took Bob and me shopping at Steelyard Commons. We bought stuff at Deals, Super Wal-Mart, and Target. Let us say that most of the stuff would have been hard to carry all around town.

After Kathleen went home, Bob and I went to Steak and Shake by Parmatown (Steelyard Commons would have been too funny!) for dinner. (By the way, we ate lunch at home.) I had a burger, salad, baked beans, and a Caramel Turtle Fudge shake. If I recall correctly, Bob had a burger, Chicken Gumbo Soup, French Fries, and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup shake (I'll have that one next time!). We enjoyed our food. We came home and napped.

On July 2nd, Bob and I went to Great Northern Mall. Since we were late leaving the house, we missed the bus to the Rapid Station (West 25th and Lorain). (In my defense, I never saw the bus. If Bob saw it when he did, it may have been a little bit early.) We took the bus from State Road to the aforementioned Rapid Station. After the train, since we left earlier, we made our bus to Great Northern Mall this time. (It figures that we would have made the bus taking the train at the same time that we took on June 30.)

We shared a footlong chicken sub from Subway. We enjoyed Pepsi from Mr. Hero (Free Refills). Since we were hungry, we had pretzel dogs from Auntie Anne's (I had a Mango Chicken sample from Stir Fry 88 around the time that I was getting our sub from Subway,). After eating all that food, we shopped. Our only purchase was lottery tickets (Powerball and Classic Lotto) from CK's Lottery in the mall.

We eventually headed to IHOP at Steelyard Commons. Bob had a chicken omelet, and I had a ham omelet. They came with three buttermilk pancakes. Bob and I enjoyed Pepsis. After dinner, we browsed at Best Buy across the road. We then went home and relaxed.

On Saturday, Bob and I went under the Detroit-Superior Bridge to look at Cleveland transit of the past (Particularly, streetcars). Since we have done this many times over the years, it was a quick visit. We then went to Zoup on Euclid Avenue for lunch. I had Potato Cheddar soup and a Greek salad (I ordered a sandwich, but they gave me a salad instead. We drank Cokes (Maybe, I will tell you what Bob had, if I still have the receipt.). The food was okay, but a little overpriced.

After lunch, Bob went home to rest. I went to the library. I then went to St. Leo's for Mass. I came home. After dinner, we watched TV, and then I walked Bob to the bus stop so he could go to work. The vacation was over!

As luck would have it, Bob had the Fourth of July evening off. He rested most of the day. I made separate trips to Acme Supermarket and Boston Market (Takeout for dinner). We had brisket and some sides. (For the record, they are across the street from one another on Pleasant Valley in Parma. Qdoba and Ruby Tuesday are also nearby.) The food was tasty!

Finally, we have reached the end of the vacation story. You are welcome to research unfamiliar places for enrichment. In addition to the businesses' web sites, Google Earth can also help you to make the picture clearer. Have fun with your research!

Monday, July 5, 2010

More of My Week with Bob

In my previous story, I mentioned that Bob and I went to Akron on June 29. We had a fun time that day. The fun is only beginning.

On Wednesday, Bob and I went to see Grown-Ups at the AMC Westwood Town Center Theaters in Rocky River. The movie was almost postponed because we were waiting for something better coming out on Thursday. We had planned on going to Great Northern Mall because we had not visited in a long time. Unfortunately, the train was late, so we missed the bus that would have taken us there. We went back to our original plan.

Before the movie, we ate at Wendy's near the theater. Bob wanted the lettuce held on his Single. The clerk was confused, thinking that he wanted the tomato withheld. I corrected the request. The crew didn't get the message. I had to go back to request tomato for his sandwich. I then took the lettuce off his hands. For the record, I had a Grilled Chicken Go Wrap. We both had baked potatoes and Cokes. It was O.K. (At least, my food was.)

After Wendy's, we walked to the theater. There was a handful of people in the cinema . You would think that everyone was seeing the new The Twilight Saga: Eclipse movie. However, I didn't see a long line outside the cinema despite the fact that there was a showing not long after our movie was scheduled to start. That was a relief.

We enjoyed the movie. Like the rest of the crowd, we did not stay through the closing credits. I normally try to do it, but I had to take care of business. We then went to the bus stop (across from Wendy's). Our original plan was to go to Ruby Tuesday in North Olmsted, but we just missed the first of two buses to take us there. I was willing to visit the Westgate Complex to kill time, but Bob decided to take the next bus towards downtown. We ended up at our local Ruby Tuesday in Seven Hills (Across from Qdoba, which is actually in Parma). I had a Chicken Club Quesadilla, and Bob had a steak. They were both appetizing.

After dinner, we walked down to Walgreen's at Broadview and Pleasant Valley Roads to buy milk. I almost walked out of the store without it because I lost sight of it on the counter. I thought that Bob had grabbed it. I made a quick retrieval. We then caught a bus towards home. Bob went home with the milk, but I visited Save-a-Lot to buy orange juice. Before Save-a-Lot, I went to a nearby store to buy tickets for Wednesday's and Friday's lottery drawings. I then took the 20 minute walk home since it would have been foolish to wait for the bus. After the trash went to the lawn for the weekly pickup, we relaxed.

The story will continue in a future post.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

My Week with Bob

Bob is back to work after a week's vacation. It was quite a busy week. I only have a day to recover as Bob is off tomorrow because of the holiday.

Last Saturday was quiet as Bob slept after working overnight. I went to the downtown library and then went to St. Leo's Church for 4:00 Mass. After coming home, Bob and I relaxed until he cut the lawn, cleaned the garage gutter, and removed some plant growth off the back of our garage. I cleaned up and bagged the plant growth for disposal.

The next day was more eventful. Bob and I went to Parmatown. We ate at Mr. Hero on Day Drive. After not buying anything at the mall, we went to Honey Hut on State Road in Cleveland and enjoyed ice cream. After "burning off" the calories by walking home, we relaxed for awhile.

I then went to Qdoba on Broadview Road in Parma to pick up food for Bob. A few drops of rain fell as I waited for the bus. There was lightning in the distance as I approached Qdoba. By the time I had my food, the rain started to poor. Thunder and lightning followed. Three split second power outages occurred during my meal. By the time that I was done eating, and Bob's food was in my possession, the storm was over. I came home and was relieved that only a few small branches came off of our trees. (On the previous Wednesday, a medium sized branch fell off the tree on the tree lawn by the front of our house, but it conveniently fell by our trash bag waiting to be collected by the garbage collector on the following day.) Bob enjoyed his dinner and we relaxed for the rest of the evening.

On Monday, Bob and I went to the Cleveland Zoo. Since the trams weren't running, we were on foot the whole time, but we enjoyed ourselves. After the zoo, we went to Arby's at Broadview and Pearl for lunch. We then went to South Park Mall. After buying nothing, we then went home for dinner because I didn't bring the bus schedule to take us to IHOP at Steelyard Commons. We then relaxed for the rest of the evening.

On Tuesday, Bob and I went to the Akron area. We took the bus to Independence (We left earlier than I did two weeks earlier. Unlike my previous trip, we took the Southbound #35 bus.) We were planning to get off by the McDonald's in Independence for a breakfast snack. Unfortunately, the bus stop was removed, so we got off at Rockside and Canal Roads instead of Rockside and Brecksville Roads. As a result, we just waited for the bus to Brecksville. Eventually, we caught the bus to Akron.

Once we reached the Transit Center, we traveled to Chapel Hill Mall and some nearby stores. After buying nothing (Sound familiar!), we went to O'Charley's for lunch. We had entrees and shared the free appetizer (potato skins). We did some more looking and then caught a couple of buses to Summit Mall. I bought a bag of "deformed" cookies from The Cookie Store. We then headed towards Cleveland. After buying some stuff at Discount Drug Mart in Independence, we then went to McDonald's on Snow Road in Parma because it was easier to catch a bus home afterwards. After coming home, we did some more yard work and then relaxed.

I'll have some more stories later.

Happy Birthday, Dave

On Thursday, my nephew-in-law, Dave celebrated his 29th birthday. I hope that he and his wife, Amy, had a nice "quiet" celebration. I am sure that Patty and Dan SR. and some of the relatives in the Gift Exchange group sent/delivered gifts. Bob and I gave him a Gift Card to Best Buy. We hope that he appreciates it.

My next posts will be about my week of events from Bob's vacation from work.