Breaking news !! Three men injured while cleaning inside a large fuel tank in Auburn Twp., OH. Reports are that it's a man and his two sons that were inside the tank. The father and his sons may have been overcome by fumes that were remaining inside the tank.
The father was rescued, alert and conscious. When I left the scene, one son was still inside the tank awaiting rescue. One son was removed in a conscious condition.
This happened about eight miles from my house.
UPDATE: One of the sons died. He was a junior in high school.
Friday, May 30, 2008
TV People Just Ain't Right
Went to get coffee the other day at work and when I opened the cabinet for some sugar I noticed this mug had been altered. If you can't read it, it's a mug warning about dangerous train tracks. Someone has a "news" sense of humor.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Poets and Pirates Tour, Part II
Ok, it's the morning after the concert and I'll put down my thoughts. I thought that the first main act, Gary Allen, was wonderful. He's not a major act yet but he did put on a high energy show nonetheless.
Leeann Rimes was next and like I said before, I didn't know many of her songs so, I'm not an expert on her music but she has a great voice. However, her energy on stage is lacking. She really has only one move which is to shake her shoulders. I was not all that impressed with her performance. Probably why she's second on this tour.
Third out was the Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar. Hagar put a great performance right from the start. He interacts with the audience, serving them a couple of drinks, having major fun with the show and playing incredible guitar. His backup band was just as good. He played a couple of Van Halen hits but it reminded me that he had a great career going before Van Halen. One song that I'd forgot about was "Heavy Metal". He has fun with life it seems. His act showed it. His voice can easily carry any stadium and it was the best vocal performance of the night.
Keith Urban was next. All I have to say is that he should have been the headliner. His show was stunning. His crew had a couple of minor feedback problems in the early going but if you could get by that, then it was full on fun from there on. I'd go see him again...anytime. His guitar playing borders on legendary. If you ever have the chance to see him in concert, GO!
And lastly was Kenny Chesney. I'd like to say his performance was great, and I'm sure it was. But if it wasn't for the two fat cows in huge cowboy hats that decided to stand up through the first part of Kenny's show, I'd probably have enjoyed it more. As it was, my wife was cold and the fact that we could hardly see the show, we left after seven songs. He seemed to put on a good show but if I had my druthers, I'd have ended the show after Keith Urban.
Leeann Rimes was next and like I said before, I didn't know many of her songs so, I'm not an expert on her music but she has a great voice. However, her energy on stage is lacking. She really has only one move which is to shake her shoulders. I was not all that impressed with her performance. Probably why she's second on this tour.
Third out was the Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar. Hagar put a great performance right from the start. He interacts with the audience, serving them a couple of drinks, having major fun with the show and playing incredible guitar. His backup band was just as good. He played a couple of Van Halen hits but it reminded me that he had a great career going before Van Halen. One song that I'd forgot about was "Heavy Metal". He has fun with life it seems. His act showed it. His voice can easily carry any stadium and it was the best vocal performance of the night.
Keith Urban was next. All I have to say is that he should have been the headliner. His show was stunning. His crew had a couple of minor feedback problems in the early going but if you could get by that, then it was full on fun from there on. I'd go see him again...anytime. His guitar playing borders on legendary. If you ever have the chance to see him in concert, GO!
And lastly was Kenny Chesney. I'd like to say his performance was great, and I'm sure it was. But if it wasn't for the two fat cows in huge cowboy hats that decided to stand up through the first part of Kenny's show, I'd probably have enjoyed it more. As it was, my wife was cold and the fact that we could hardly see the show, we left after seven songs. He seemed to put on a good show but if I had my druthers, I'd have ended the show after Keith Urban.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Poets and Pirates Tour
Spending the day and night at a concert in downtown Cleveland. It's Kenny Chesney's tour. It features Gary Allen, LeeAnn Rimes, Sammy Hagar, Keith Urban as well.
The tickets were free through our station and I'm so glad they offered tickets to us.
Right now, Gary Allen is on stage. He's fantastic and the concert should only get better. I'm not a huge fan of LeeAnn Rimes but I'm sure she puts on a great show. My wife is excited to see Keith Urban. Wonder why???
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Frustration
This morning the generator in my live truck has died twice. Once at the most inconvenient time.....right in the middle of a live picture.
Hope it gets fixed quickly....yet again.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Test
Testing to see if my Blackberry is working properly again.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Thursday, May 08, 2008
The $.23 Pizza...Would You Wait?
Today is the day that the Papa John's Pizza chain apologized to Northeastern and Northwestern Ohio for mocking LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for complaining about deliberate fouls on James. The pizza chain in the Washington D.C. area printed t-shirts with the words "23 CRYBABY" on them, which didn't go down well here in Cleveland. Plus the Wizards had their butts handed to them by the Cavs which made the shirts seem even more childish.
Papa John's decided that to make up for it, they'd offer $.23 cent pizzas to all northern Ohio residents that wanted to have a pizza. People are lined up all around the pizza shops waiting up to four hours for a large pizza with one topping. Lines are stretching around buildings, through parking lots and up to a block in length. People have even been arrested for cutting in line and causing disturbances.
We were live at a Papa John's store this morning before the chaos ensued.
They seemed to have their ducks in a row. They had lots of pizza boxes folded and ready to go. Even bringing in rental trucks to hold the folded boxes.
Had their dough made and started prepping the pizzas in anticipation for the onslaught of customers.
Got their sauce...literally hundreds of gallons ready for the day.
Plus they made us a few pizzas to take back to the station. Nothing like pepperoni pizza at eight in the morning.
The phones were ringing off the hook starting at 5:30 a.m. with people wanting to get their slice of the pie...literally. Stores weren't to open until 10 a.m. but people just didn't seem to grasp that concept. We had one guy even walk into the store and want his pizza at 6 a.m. He was quickly turned away.
Stores are starting to run out of pizza and ingredients. Some stores have closed already.
I'm waiting for the riots to start.
Papa John's decided that to make up for it, they'd offer $.23 cent pizzas to all northern Ohio residents that wanted to have a pizza. People are lined up all around the pizza shops waiting up to four hours for a large pizza with one topping. Lines are stretching around buildings, through parking lots and up to a block in length. People have even been arrested for cutting in line and causing disturbances.
We were live at a Papa John's store this morning before the chaos ensued.
They seemed to have their ducks in a row. They had lots of pizza boxes folded and ready to go. Even bringing in rental trucks to hold the folded boxes.
Had their dough made and started prepping the pizzas in anticipation for the onslaught of customers.
Got their sauce...literally hundreds of gallons ready for the day.
Plus they made us a few pizzas to take back to the station. Nothing like pepperoni pizza at eight in the morning.
The phones were ringing off the hook starting at 5:30 a.m. with people wanting to get their slice of the pie...literally. Stores weren't to open until 10 a.m. but people just didn't seem to grasp that concept. We had one guy even walk into the store and want his pizza at 6 a.m. He was quickly turned away.
Stores are starting to run out of pizza and ingredients. Some stores have closed already.
I'm waiting for the riots to start.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Clearance Issues
I was sent out as soon as I stepped into the building this morning. It's been pretty slow the past few weeks so I've been looking for something to happen overnight. My assignment desk guy Russ, called and told me he thought he'd heard of a shooting. He sent me out to the RTA rapid station at Superior and Euclid avenues in East Cleveland.
I left the station and headed off to the scene. I took the quickest way that I knew of to get there. I wasn't driving my usual Unit 2 live truck. It was out with generator issues so I grabbed our newest truck which has the highest mast clearance of twelve feet. I really didn't think anything of it until I got close to where the RTA tracks cut through neighborhoods. They're elevated and I need to pass under the tracks. The small underpasses are old tunnels or small bridges that aren't built for taller vehicles.
My first route took me under the tracks at an underpass that was said to be twelve foot clearance. My truck is twelve foot tall so, I had to turn around. At least this underpass was marked. I wasn't so fortunate at my detour route. I came to the next underpass and it wasn't marked. Plus the streetlights and the lights in the underpass were out, making it very suspect to say the least. No sign to tell me what the clearance was so, I turned around yet again.
I tried four other underpasses and they all were the identical of each other. Not marked and dark. I had to go close to a mile and a half out of my way to get to the scene. But I decided that ripping a mast out of a live truck was not the way to start a Monday off. And waking up on a Tuesday, jobless isn't a much better prospect. I'm sure that I did the right thing by not trying my luck on one of those underpasses. If it meant going five miles out of my way, I'd still do it.
I left the station and headed off to the scene. I took the quickest way that I knew of to get there. I wasn't driving my usual Unit 2 live truck. It was out with generator issues so I grabbed our newest truck which has the highest mast clearance of twelve feet. I really didn't think anything of it until I got close to where the RTA tracks cut through neighborhoods. They're elevated and I need to pass under the tracks. The small underpasses are old tunnels or small bridges that aren't built for taller vehicles.
My first route took me under the tracks at an underpass that was said to be twelve foot clearance. My truck is twelve foot tall so, I had to turn around. At least this underpass was marked. I wasn't so fortunate at my detour route. I came to the next underpass and it wasn't marked. Plus the streetlights and the lights in the underpass were out, making it very suspect to say the least. No sign to tell me what the clearance was so, I turned around yet again.
I tried four other underpasses and they all were the identical of each other. Not marked and dark. I had to go close to a mile and a half out of my way to get to the scene. But I decided that ripping a mast out of a live truck was not the way to start a Monday off. And waking up on a Tuesday, jobless isn't a much better prospect. I'm sure that I did the right thing by not trying my luck on one of those underpasses. If it meant going five miles out of my way, I'd still do it.
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