The Howe House and its cross town move

Today, the oldest residential building in Akron, The Howe House, is moving 2 blocks over 3 hours. Why is this significant? Because not only is it a major historical event, but it is pretty darn cool to watch. I have a great vantage point from my S. Main Street office.

Yesterday, I went down to its current location, the location that it has been sitting since it was built in 1836, and took pictures of it before it is gently moved to its new residence next to the Canal. (I will upload the pictures later today)

The move almost didn’t happen, but thanks to a grassroots effort to preserve this piece of Akron history made it happen. That is what is so amazing about the ‘little guy’ in this town, they often make big things happen.

I will be posting a story later with pictures and a brief history of the Howe house. Until then, I am back to watching it crawl to the canal.

Small victories are still sweet ones

I just came across a story from Biloxi, MS (near where I grew up) that said that a couple that was sueing its insurance company for not paying on their claim for the destruction of thier property during Hurricane Katrina actually one their case. They weren't going all crazy asking for billions of dollars, only what the policy should have paid for the damages in the first place. Finally, some justice for the little guy.

Jury Returns Verdict In USAA Insurance Case

PASCAGOULA (WLOX) -- Friday morning, a jury awarded almost a million dollars to a Pascagoula couple suing USAA Insurance. James and Gladys Lisanby sued the USAA for paying them less than $42,000 on their $800,000 homeowners policy.

USAA's lawyers argued the couple's policy did not cover water, even if it is wind driven. But the jury ruled that the insurer should have paid more on the couple's claim.
The jury ordered USAA to pay $909,641 to the couple for damage to their home, garage and cottage.

After the verdict was read, the judge dismissed the jury until
Monday when punitive damages against USAA will be considered. Danielle Thomas is in Pascagoula covering this story and will have more later today on WLOX News.

A new focus...

In an effort to get me blogging again, my brain got the idea to become a tell-all and whine alot about the Semi-City I work in and live near, Akron, OH.

So my blog will be witty and funny and at times more serious then others, but over all fun.

Hope that you enjoy the adventures of Shannon in the Semi-City!

After dreaming of living and working in a big city,wearing fashionable clothes and to-die-for shoes,I wound up in the Semi-City of Akron, OH.

Now mind you, compared to the city I grew up in (Kiln, MS pop. 4,445 in 2000) is a monster of a city with a population within the city limits of 217,000, but it is Semi-City in that compared to cities like Chicago (pop. 2,896,016 in 2000), or New York City (pop. 8,008,278 in 2000), or even its neighbor Cleveland (pop. 478,403). But life is far from boring in this area!

There are tons of things to do, places to eat great food and sidewalks to walk around urine smelling vagrants. Ah, Akron (and the burbs that accompany) you are my Semi-City.

These Shoes Weren’t Made for Walkin’ (aka the seven signs I should have said no)

These Shoes Weren’t Made for Walkin’ (aka the seven signs I should have said no)
Shannon Anicas
6/25/08

My adventure today was to do errands for my boss. Simple enough. She said to park at the High Street garage and that one place was caddy corner to it and the other was just about a block down the street.

Being that Downtown Akron is not that big I thought nothing about the fact I was wearing brand new beige strappy sandals with my brown and beige cotton dress and its matching beige crop jacket. I figured it would be minor walking, I need the exercise and it gives me an excuse to leave the office since I had a very present head ache.

I park the car in the garage that she mentioned. I have used this garage before to go to our enormous library, but that parking was in the well lit and elevator friendly area. Where I had to park was dark and scary. This should have been sign numero uno that I was about to have an adventure. Next, in order to make it up to street level I had to walk up three flights of stairs that stunk worse then my cat box. Sign 2.

I get to the street level and look around for the bank that she wanted me to visit first. Not too far ½ a block maybe. Once I head in that direction I notice they are tearing out the sidewalks and I have to wobble through gravel in my strappy sandals in order to cross the street. Sign 3.

Before I walked in the bank I took a quick look around for the next bank I was to make the deposits in. I looked every where and no xxx bank in sight. I figured I could ask the teller inside where it was. Sign 4.

I made the transaction and proceeded to ask the teller where the bank was located. She pointed down the street, past the giant library, and the parking deck and the bus station. Oh boy, sign number 5.

As I re-cross the street through the gravel, I notice the sign for the bank ahead. I is really far from my vantage point, but I walk on. Past the loitering teens smoking who knows what, past the large RTA bus station and its large crowd of pick pockets and average citizens waiting to go some place else and 2 city blocks (3 times as large as the country blocks I am used to) and 5 urine soaked vagrants later, I am at the other bank. I did my deed and headed back. Sign 6.

This time I thought I would be smart and walk through the library to the garage so that I would a) run in to less urine smells, and 2) be in the air-conditioning. I made my way through the library and to the garage the way I normally do when visiting the library. When I get into the garage it doesn’t look anything like where I parked. I assumed that I should have gone down a floor, which I did. I pushed my keyfob so that I could find my car by sound. Nothing. I started walking to the opposite end of the garage and still pushing the button. At the middle of said garage, while still pushing the button I hear my car alarm go off. Success! Or so I think.

I walk all the way over to the other end and no car. I push the button again and nothing. ??? WTF??? I walk back about half way and try the alarm again. *BEEP BEEP BEEP* ok so where is my car. I walk down another urine soaked stair well to the next level down and nothing, no car. WTFHCWRUC? (I’ll explain later)!!!???!?!?! So I walk all the way up past the lst floor I was on and there is my car. Sign 7.

So seven signs, sweaty pits and two feet in pain later I am on my way back to work. Head ache intact.

I should have just said no.

New Possibilities

I love books! I am going to start a new feature in my blog about books I’ve recently read, books I want to read, books I love-love-love, and books I have or will be reviewing. So stay tuned!

For now I recommend these sites to check out from some awesome authors:

Jen Lancaster

Enlightenment for Idiots

Eat Pray Love

The Sex and The City Movie Companion

Save Karyn. One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back

More coming soon!!

Drool Worthy

Goodyear Tires Outfit High-Powered Mustang
6/12/2008 4:52:17 PM | Craig Simpson

Among exotic, high-powered automobiles, there is a fine line between track and street performance.

The ability to transmit the power and torque to the pavement rests with the work completed by the vehicle engineering team and a tire company's engineers.

In the case of the Ford Mustang GT500KR, that responsibility fell to The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, and the design team developed an exclusive tire with a special ultra-performance rubber compound.

With the car equipped with a Ford Racing Power Upgrade Package, this "King of the Road" Mustang generates an estimated 540 horsepower from its 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 engine. The Mustang GT500KR is expected to arrive this spring.

The tires for the Carroll Shelby-designed KR model represent the first production use of this special Goodyear compound in the U.S. The Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tire is the exclusive fitment in sizes P255/45R18 (front) and P285/40R18 (rear) on the Shelby KR Mustang. To differentiate the Goodyear Eagles on the Shelby Mustang GT500KR from those specified for other Mustang models, the tires are emblazoned with a Goodyear Wingfoot symbol on the outboard sidewall. Approximately the size of a nickel, the emblem differentiates the tires in much the same way as the Goodyear tires on the original 1965 Shelby Mustang. Those tires, in size 7.75-15, were marked with a blue dot, and were known as Goodyear Blue Dot HPs.

The ultra-performance tread compound on Goodyear's Eagle F1 Supercar tire helps provide exceptional dry traction and cornering grip.

Goodyear tires are original equipment on many vehicles from Acura, Audi, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, GMC, Honda, Hummer, Infiniti, Isuzu, Jeep, Land Rover, Lexus, Mazda, Mercury, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen. Traditionally, more new vehicles in North America are equipped with Goodyear tires than any other brand.

Goodyear is one of the world's largest tire companies. The company employs about 70,000 people and manufactures its products in more than 60 facilities in 26 countries around the world. For more information on Goodyear's tires, go to www.goodyeartires.com

Source: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

Funny Note on E! OnLine: "Is Eva Preggers? Or, How Web Rumors Get Started"

Is Eva Preggers? Or, How Web Rumors Get Started
Today 10:10 AM PDT by EOL Staff

The blogsphere is ripe with rumors that Eva Longoria Parker is with child. How'd they come to that
conclusion? By using this time-tested fertility formula:

• Have a womb. Check!
• Be seen on the red carpet with anything more than 0 percent body fat—like
  this CFDA appearance (left). Check!
• Follow up said appearance by wearing baggy clothing—like this New York shopping excursion (right). Check!
• Bonus points for having a boyfriend or husband who actually could have
  planted the seed. Check!
  OMG. Eva is so preggers.