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56 responses total.

isn't it ice-sculpture time or something?

Oh yeah, that was last weekend.  I meant to go, but I forgot.  I wonder if
it's still there.

I was downtown yesterday morning, and due to the warm weather, there's
very little of the ice sculptures left to look at.  :(

They really got the timing wrong on the ice sculptures this year.
I missed them altogether. :-(

Well, we can't be too lienient with out time.

I was downtown today, and they seemed fine.  I didn't have time to look for
details, though.

Well if they *did* survive, they won't melt now. It has gotten 
very cold again. I'll see if I can manage to check 'em out.

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they were on main street.  now they're on every tree, car and house :)

When visitors come to town, I take them on a dam tour (that's what
they call it for years afterward - "When you took me on that dam tour."),
starting at Barton Dam, and heading down stream. Each is different,
slightly hard to get to, and they all have lots of tumbling water to
stare at. 

Barton, Argo, Dixboro Road, LeForge Road, I think there's another
one South of Michigan Ave before you get to Ford Lake.  Please be
specific!  What dams are on your dam tour?  Sounds interesting!

The Hands On museum, the arb, the Ark...

This is a very uninteresting topic.

Spoken like a closed mind.

It is usually enough to visit Barton, Argo, and Dixboro, before heading
off for a meal somewhere. Especially in winter, and its below freezing,
when each dam is the most intriguing. In the summer, you can ask the
fishermen, "how's fishin'?"

There are now hiking/biking/jogging paths that go all the way from
Barton Dam, past Argo Dam, to Geddes Dam (It's on Dixboro Road, but
is actually named *Geddes* Dam).

This is the wrong time of year for those paths, of course, but
in season, they are very nice. You can avoid using roads for the
entire distance except for a very short stretch of Barton Road
along the river just downstream from the M14 overpass.
You also have to cross Maiden Lane and Geddes Road each once.

It's an interesting variant on the Dam tour and takes you through 
a lot of Ann Arbor's more interesting Parks.

One of my favorite things to do this this time of year is visit
the Mathaei Botanical Gardens.  The enclosed greenhouses are warm,
and lush, with many flowering plants in full bloom.  Bring a book
as there are benches available and the staff understands why you're
there and essentially leaves you alone.

It's called Geddes Dam because it sits at the site of the former town of
Geddesburg, MI. There is a plaque on the builk er, buikl er, building, 
way up above eye level, that tells the tale of Geddesburg.

If I don't get my backso er, backspace back, I shall stop calling Grex.
I don't say this a er, as a er, an act of spite, but just because it is
too damned annoying to type a response 16 times before I can enter it.

Katie, are you and Meg the same family for which were Geddesburg, Geddes Rd,.
etc. named?  How do YOU say it?  Doesn't [control H] work as a backspace for
you?

Are you using an editor? You can fix your text without backspace in
a visual editor (like the easy one, pico).

Yes, Rane, but for short responses it is still simpler not to have to go into
an editor.

Sure, but when one is entering immortal lines, one has to go to any
lengths.

I tend to use the editor for anything over about ten lines, or anything that
I want to be coherent (the coherency department is also greatly helped by
it not being this late at night).

It is pronounced "Geddis", for lack of a schwa on my keyboard. "Geddeez"
is incorrect, but very commonly heard. I even have people coe er, correct
me when I tell them my name: "Oh, Geddeez." Yeah, right.

I want my backspace key to do the backspace thing. I shouldn't have to type
control-anything. Not that control-anything would work, anyway.

katie, try typing "stty erase '^H'" seperately from where it does it in 
your .profile, and see if it does anything.

When I was a kid in AA my dad, who grew up in the area, always pronounced
Geddes Rd. as "Geddis".  When I moved back after being gone for 10 years
everyone I met pronounced it Geddeez-- even my brother who used to say
it "Geddis".  Maybe Dad was right after all.

Katie, I'm sure you know how to pronounce your own name, but are you
absolutely sure that is the correct prononciation for the *road*? Just
because they happen to be spelled the same, is no gaurentee that they
should be pronouced the same.

Getting back to the orignal topic: How about that unique liscensee plate
in the back window of my mothers Mecury Tracer LTS?
/

Drifting away form the original topic for a quick response:

I think Katie's on pretty firm ground here, since the road was named after
an ancestor.

OK, you can get back to the topic now.

(katie may be on firm ground here, but judging by all those potholes and 
pavement cracks, the road may not be)

Huh Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh uh huh huh huh

Yes, I am very sure how the road and my name are pronounced. Same faimlky
er, family.  And a Geddes is a Geddes, related or not. The name is Scotland's
"Smith."

Katie, ok, if the road was named after an ancestor, then that is good
evidence about the pronounciation.

However, if it wasn't, then you can't assume pronounciation. Yes, Geddes
maybe be Scotland's equivalent of "Smith", but what if the road had been
named after an Italian, or Indian? Who knows how it would be pronounced
in those languages.

For instance, when I lived up in Warren, there is a main road called
Schoehner. Everyone I knew pronounced it "show ner"(phonetically), but
the proper German pronounciation is "shin hair".

For that matter, I could spell my name "s-m-i-t-h" and pronounce it "jones".

Anybody know how to pronounce: "ghoti"?

I grew up in Warren.  We always called Schoenherr "shay-ner".

Uh, shouldn't we get back on topic?
/

If anyone mentions the Lahser mispronounciation thing I think I will scream

 It is pronounced LAH ser not Lasher.

 I grew up on the east side near GRAShit and VERNier. Later I learned
that the latter is pronounced Vern e yay. Afterall, didn't a french guy
found Detroit?

Here's my favorite:
Back in Pennsylvania, my grandparents lived in North Versails(I don't know
whether I spelled it right, but it's supposed to be spelled the same as
the  french castle). The french pronounciation would be  "Ver-sigh", but
the township was "Ver-sails". Maybe it was pronounced "Ver-sigh" 200
years ago, but along the way it got americanized.

ghoti is pronounced fish.
Now, back on topic:
I picked up a brochure titled "North Campus Walking Tour",  at the
Engineering College office. The highlights include the Jean Paul Slusser
Gallery, Stearn's Collection of Musical Instruments, Commons Art
Exhibit (and food), EECS Building Atrium (? - well, at least it is
heated - a little), Bentley Historical Library, Gerald Ford Library.
(No, I haven't walked the tour - I work there.)

Milan (My lin) Michigan is, of course, named after Milan (ME lan) Italy.

 no no no.... It's mi lan in Michigan and my-lan in Italy. Get it right ;)

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss