Week One at Lakeside 2012

Week 1 at Lakeside, Dr. Paul Beck of OSU was a featured speaker talking about the 2012 elections. Excellent speaker, and very informative. I had 2 take-aways after 4 sessions. This year will be a record for money spent on campaigning--$4-5 billion. But McDonald's will spend $20 billion advertising its products. Most of that goes to convince the "undecided, non-party" voter, and only a low percentage of them vote. The rest of us know who we are voting for so the ads don't affect us. Also, Columbus, OH will have more money spent on it than any other market because Ohio is a swing state. And I think Cleveland is #2. Most of you won't see what we see.

Sunday evening we went down to the park to hear a fiddle player, Krista Solars. But the weather report looked like rain, so it was moved to Hoover Auditorium  She was excellent, but lost some of her audience in the shift--the people carrying lawn chairs, food and leading dogs. On Tuesday evening at Hoover a group called Blue Lunch from Cleveland played.  Very interesting mix of R & B, soul, jazz, gospel and good old rock n roll.  Saturday night was Mike Albert and his Big E Band (Elvis impersonator), in his 14th appearance.  I think we've probably seen at least 10 of those.  He always puts on a great show.  Elvis and a classic car show go well together--lots of visitors of a certain age in town!

On Tuesday I also made a quick trip to Sandusky for a new pair of athletic shoes.  My legs were starting to hurt, and I know that's a sign I've gone too long. I don't want to miss out on the morning walks along the lake.  I noticed this morning the sun popped up at 6:01 which means the days are getting shorter!