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<\/a><\/p>\nI find myself constantly playing the chorus of a John Lennon tune.\u00a0 And I recommend you give the song a listen \u2013 it is applicable in so many instances\u2026 and maybe serves as an unofficial theme song for not only me, but for many, many people.<\/p>\n I\u2019m so tired\u2026 I haven\u2019t slept a wink.<\/a> Feeling the effects of travel and sleepless sleep on a plane, I thought I should indulge in a heartier breakfast to try and jumpstart the day.\u00a0 An internet search lead me to one of the top 15 breakfasts in Cleveland (at least according to FourSquare).<\/p>\n Charlie\u2019s Dog House was a local greasy spoon diner.\u00a0 And I do mean local.\u00a0 When I got there, there were a few regulars at the counter and service was\u2026 casual.\u00a0 I never got a menu and I suppose I could\u2019ve just ordered anything off the top of my head.\u00a0 But somehow I felt like if I did the other patrons would snuff out their cigarette into my meal as a warning to infidels, interlopers, carpetbaggers, or just general newbies.\u00a0 The waitress was fine, albeit she kinda ignored me for the majority of the meal, tending to other matters of diner import.\u00a0 I did see a specials board so went with the chorizo breakfast burrito they had listed.<\/p>\n The food was pretty tasty all things being equal but I think maybe I should\u2019ve gone for one of their home made waffles.\u00a0 Still, it was a filling experience, both from a gastrointestinal and local flavor perspective.<\/p>\n It was 8:30 when I left a $10 bill for the food and service and the Cleveland Marathon Expo didn\u2019t start until 10 AM.\u00a0 I had a list of \u201cRoadside America\u201d attractions to hit and had pre-planned the most efficient order on googlemaps prior to departing.\u00a0 I never did find the WWII Dog monument over on Park Drive but it wasn\u2019t for lack of trying.\u00a0 I drove back and forth according to the directions and walked a bit around the park but never saw it.\u00a0 So here\u2019s what it would\u2019ve looked like according to RA.com:<\/a><\/p>\n Feeling ever more despondent at my inability to focus, concentrate, or even find a giant statue of a dog, I made the trek to the bombed Thinker statue.\u00a0 This copy of a Rodin sculpture was vandalized in 1970, presumably by Vietnam War protestors albeit the perpetrator or perpetrators were never caught.\u00a0 Today, they most likely have escaped to the Los Angeles Underground (or maybe the Cleveland underground) and one assumes they survive as protestors of fortune.\u00a0 If you have a problem and no one else can help\u2026 well, you know \u2013 same old jazz.<\/p>\n It being late May and a Saturday, two separate wedding parties were trying to get photos done outside the art museum.\u00a0 I wandered past as while that\u2019s all well and good for them, I was determined to find the damn statue.\u00a0 And I think I did.\u00a0 I did.\u00a0 I did find the bombed out Thinker!<\/p>\n From there I drove out to the Lake View Cemetery.\u00a0 I\u2019ve said this before but given my in-my-estimation-perfectly-understandable discomfort with all things death and dying, it\u2019s very strange that I keep finding myself taking a walk amongst the tombstones.<\/p>\n Lake View, much like Disney\u2019s Haunted Mansion, is filled with happy haunts\u2026 and there\u2019s room for a few more.\u00a0 Any volunteers?<\/p>\n I was intrigued because there was a crypt with a welcome mat\u2026 and indeed that crypt was for the family Hanna.\u00a0 Remember what I said about my issues with death and dying?\u00a0 Yeah, this wasn\u2019t creepy at all\u2026<\/p>\n Outside of literally walking by, around, and at times over my own name on a grave, there were other sights to behold:<\/p>\n Alan Freed, disc jockey par payola and the man credited with coining the phrase \u201cRock N Roll,\u201d has a marker here.\u00a0 The docent I spoke to said it was really just a cenotaph as Alan is \u201cspread all over this place.\u201d\u00a0 I assumed that meant his ashes but for all I know they\u2019ve stashed body parts of the guy throughout the place.\u00a0 After all, she said there\u2019s a lot of humor in this cemetery\u2026 Freed\u2019s cenotaph is a tombstone on one side and mock jukebox on the other.\u00a0 I snagged a photo just as a bird was flying by.\u00a0 This is what it sounds like when geese cry\u2026<\/p>\n The most famous occupant of the cemetery though is the 20th<\/sup> President of the United States, James Garfield.\u00a0 I knew quite a bit about his history as I recently read \u201cDestiny of the Republic,\u201d a fascinating book on the short time Garfield held office due to an assassin\u2019s bullet\u2026 and \u201cstate of the art\u201d medicine that bemoaned the concept of germs and sterilization.\u00a0 The monument itself was funded through an outpouring of public funds for the slain orator, a guy who got his party\u2019s nomination as he was trying to give a speech nominating somebody else.\u00a0 Garfield actually refused the nomination at first.\u00a0 If you\u2019d like to know more, visit your local library.<\/p>\n I\u2019m always fascinated by how history is framed at museums, monuments, and I guess mauseleums.\u00a0 Garfield and his wife lie entombed and their only daughter and son-in-law are in urns before them.\u00a0 The laminated laserprinted story is\u2026 fascinating.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t even bother to include when the son-in-law actually died because, really, she\u2019s the story, right?\u00a0 I found it kind of refreshing.<\/p>\n Before leaving the final resting place of many Clevelanders, I made a quick stop at the super macabre Haserot Angel<\/a>:<\/p>\n Took in the cenotaph of Elliot Ness<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n And made a pilgrimage to the tombstone of supposedly the only baseball player killed in a game<\/a>:<\/p>\n From there I headed downtown to the Expo proper.\u00a0 You can tell I\u2019m super tired, not only in all the photos that came before, but in the freebie pics they offered at the event, the \u201cawesome\u201d pics are all debacles of inanity.\u00a0 I mean, more than usual.\u00a0 In my defense, the out of focus runners background FELT like I should either be posed as running myself or trying to acknowledge the fact that I was apparently standing in the middle of a stampede.\u00a0 It was, as internetizens might say, an epic fail.<\/p>\n I\u2019m feeling very worried about tomorrow, not only with the timing logistics to get back to the left coast in time for U2 but weather wise here in the land of Cleves.\u00a0 Forecasts are calling for a string of thunder storms\u2026 which may scuttle the race entirely.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying not to go overboard then in carbo loading for fear I may not run tomorrow.\u00a0 This could backfire on me.\u00a0 But as I wandered the aisles of the expo, I felt sluggish and stuffed and fat and depressed.\u00a0 Could be the lack of sleep, could be the reality of the situation.\u00a0 Fear is running about in the background of my mind\u2026 and that\u2019s NOT what you want when you\u2019re about to go running in the real world.<\/p>\n I know what you\u2019re thinking \u2013 I\u2019m in Cleveland \u2013 why haven\u2019t I hit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on my trip yet?\u00a0 The answer is that I was there 8 years ago.\u00a0 Which isn\u2019t to say it wasn\u2019t great and that I\u2019m sure there have been many, many updates, changes, revisions, and new exhibits to check out.\u00a0 But I thought I should try and see different things while I\u2019m here\u2026 hence my cut through of an alley to the Cleveland Public Library.\u00a0 Here I found the tiny library patrons artwork\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026which led me to a new exhibit that just opened at the library: Superman – From Cleveland to Krypton!<\/p>\n Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were local boys who made good on their Depression Era Super Man who could fight for truth, justice, and the American Way.\u00a0 The exhibit was a little shallow and missed out on a whole lot of history and connections (for example the radio drama of Superman took on the KKK and revealed them for what they really were\u2026 and that\u2019s not covered at all).\u00a0 But they did offer some choice memorabilia:<\/p>\n I actually swung by the childhood homes of S&S and snapped a few pics from the sidewalk:<\/p>\n My last stop of the day was a giant pencil.\u00a0 The pencil writes for itself.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m so tired\u2026 my mind is on the blink.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a>\u00a0<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n