We spent New Year's in Cleveland, OH. It was a quick trip to the nearest city that isn't Detroit. It was a pleasant weekend - despite unpleasant dreary weather - to explore the Mistake by the Lake. The first thing we discovered was that Cleveland is an architectural gem. Nevermind IM Pei's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, there were dozens of interesting buildings from classical City Hall to Beaux Arts City Auditorium to modern/minimal office buildings to post-modern towers. Among the buildings were a bounty of great sculptures and monuments - all in all a ton of unexpected eye-candy.
The Rock Hall is the definitive Cleveland attraction, so we headed there on Saturday.
It took over four hours to tour the museum, take in the memorabilia, and eat lunch. There were amazing artifacts and interesting perspectives on the history of the genre, amazing both in quality and quantity. (The deed to Graceland, ZZ Top's Eliminator '33 coupe, and the organ used for Led Zeppelin's I, II, III, and IV were highlights.)
From the museum we headed out on the town for dinner and celebrating. We found a great Italian place and lucked out getting a table, enjoyed ourselves and had a luxuriously long dinner. Then we headed out and toured the downtown districts on foot, taking in the metropolitan scene before heading back to the hotel for the ball drop in Times Square.
Sunday was the day to tour the outlying neighborhoods - Little Italy, Cleveland Heights, Coventry, The Flats, Tremont, and most notable the campus of Case Western Reserve. All in all it was a great view of the city, but shops and museums were all closed, so we headed out a little earlier than planned to give ourselves an evening in Michigan.
So, a couple of thoughts. First on football. I'm a Michigan fan and that has been a sore spot the past few days. How can the Wolverines lose that game? I mean forget the craziness of officials' incompetence and people on the field and the necessity of using timeouts to get plays reviewed (OK, don't forget that stuff, it was pretty bush league), why can't Michigan bury teams? They had Nebraska running, it was go-time for Hart and Breaston and Manningham, and instead you get turnovers and poor D and then BAM you lose. My Dad told me a joke about Mrs. Carr giving Lloyd his breakfast cereal on a plate because if she hands him a bowl he'll lose it, and I have to laugh. Having a recruiting coach is fine, but losing five games by a total of 21 points and all in the last minute doesn't pass muster. And to be fair, the players had a hand in ruining it, too. Avant coughed up the ball, Henne held it too long, and Manningham dropped a gimme. Dropping third-and-short passes is standard Michigan bowl stuff; we'd be on a two-game winning streak if receivers could catch balls on third and short.
Next up, driving. Modern cars are a marvel, with cruise control and turn signals and brake lights and head lights, but nobody uses this stuff. I've got ten bucks for anybody who emails me a video of a car using all of these things on the highway. It's just too crazy out there with wireless phones and videos; what happened to riding along, watching out for traffic, kids reading in the back, being safe?
Why does the Ohio State fight song get stuck in your head like that? Fight the team across the field, sure. But knock it off with the band playing, already. College football and bands are intertwined, but a first down is time for a creative cheer, not the school song.
Happy 2006 all!
Monday, January 02, 2006