Five Twenty-Three

“intentions” – I haven’t heard that word in a while. I’m not fond of it. It’s like a small, temporary fence that I always trip upon.
My reply from an e-mail conversation I had with a friend earlier in the week at 5:23a.
Its one of my best quotes ever.  The word has been on my mind [...]

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Landmark Occasion

In 1986 I walked into Chicago’s Palmer House for the first time and found myself amazed with what I saw. Last night I walked into the Palmer House and found myself, once again, taken aback by what I was witnessing.
Landmarks Illinois hosted their annual Legendary Landmarks gala last night and I was fortunate enough [...]

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The COTA Challenge

The challenge of using public transportation has proven to be a worthy adversary. While my intentions were true, the practicality of my life, especially this month, has made it difficult to use COTA as often as I had hoped.
My first trip of the month was from downtown to Riverside Hospital. My grandfather had a heart [...]

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ODOT to Plan for a More Complete Solution

It might take years for Ohioans to notice the difference, but state transportation planners are getting ready to use greener, less highway-centric criteria to evaluate which projects should get funding.
Ohio Department of Transportation officials said the new factors will help the state build a more modern transportation system, one that includes more rail and water [...]

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Smoke and Mirrors

“Is there really any difference”, she asked “to being addicted to nicotine gum than to being addicted to cigarettes?”
“Yes there is,” I told her. “I can chew the gum in the shower.” It had never occurred to me to combine these two morning tasks – washing up and taking care of my addiction [...]

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When October Arrives

I get antsy when October arrives. When I was working for the airlines I would look forward to the start of my leisure travel season.  Summer traffic was over and the peak holiday travel was still over a month away.  Domestic and international flights were left to business travelers and there were always open seats [...]

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Lights Out and €100 In

The power is on and in an instant, I’m back in the swing of things.  The blackout was a good excuse to clean out the refrigerator – that salad dressing had been in there for a long time anyway.  Best to get a fresh start.
Without power I had nothing better to do than to get [...]

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COTA Neighborhood Guide (beta?)

COTA Neighborhood Guides don’t exist yet, but thanks to Google Maps, I’ve created what could be the model for a more useful way of demonstrating how public transportation serves a specific geographic area.
The map I’ve created highlights the COTA transit routes serving German/Merion Village (command + click to open the image to in a [...]

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Clothesline-Protection Provisions

From today’s Columbus Dispatch….
Only Colorado, Florida and Utah have clothesline-protection provisions, said Alexander Lee, founder of Project Laundry List, which promotes clotheslines and laws to protect them on the Web at laundrylist.org
Since we’ve been on the topic of fascism this past week…
Does it really have to come down to legislating the options one has to [...]

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Forward

The manuscript for my book Hakaniemi went off to the publisher yesterday. According to the delivery confirmation receipt, it has arrived at its destination.
As the writing of my book neared completion I asked a friend of mine if she’d consider writing the “forward” and when she agreed, I was delighted. She was there [...]

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