I've been away from Ann Arbor for almost 4 months now and I still really miss
my 'home'.  And even though I'll be down here in NC through til July, 1992,
I still think of AA as my home.

However, my dilemma: I log into Grex from time to time, long distance, to hear
from my friends, see how you all are doing, and to find out what kinds of
things are taking place in AA--what's new/different/what's the weather
like/what's happening at the colleges/etc.  I've been asking these things in
mail to a few people, off and on since moving away.  And I log back in, looking
forward to responses that usually end up not waiting for me in mail [yeah, I
know, we all have the best intentions.....].

So to make a long story short, I'd love to see one of two things [or both].
First, this item can be used for all of you in AA and southeastern MI to enter
responses about what's going on in the AA.  
--What are your favorite things to see/do?
--What's new in town?  What's no longer there?
--What made you come to this area [or have you always been there]?
--What special events are going on?  
--How are the local teams doing?  [HS, college, pro?]
--anything else you may want to add...

Secondly, maybe we can start some kind of conference here on grex 
relating to local highlights as well as travel/tourism types of things.  I'd
be willing to help out when I am online...

102 responses total.

Community Newscenter on South U. is taking off and moving (with diff name and
format) to the mini-strip-mall N of North Campus.
Tower records finally opened on South U.
There was a big police/partiers confrontation at EMU with 1000 partiers at
a frat, 37 people got arrested, drunken buttheads everywhere.
(one of the frats on Cross)

  And the weekend after the EMU incident that Brian reports, the Ann Arbor
Police Department used tear gas to disperse a crowd of "rioters" on South
University in Ann Arbor.

That's a bother about the South U. Community News.  They have been the most
reliable source in town for opera periodicals, and North Campus isn't 
a place in my usual shopping itinerary.
 
Denise, there's an item in the music cf discussing the new Tower in detail,
but if you don't normally read that cf you probably don't care that much.
 :-)  The rest of the Galleria mall on South U. feels amazingly like 
Tally Hall/Liberty Square; how can the developers make the same mistake 
a second time?
 
Zingerman's "dining house" is still being extensively renovated and expanded.
 
In football, Florida State ran up the second most points ever scored 
against the Wolverines, I think the report said.

Sorry to hear about the Community News moving from South U.  However, I do
hope to visit the new location as when I do come back sometime to visit my
family, I can check the N. Campus location [as my folks live in that neck
of the woods].  

No, Ken, I haven't checked out the music cf yet, not because I'm not interested
[I am] but mainly, I'm trying to keep my online time to a minimum; these LD
phone bills are killing me!  [Heh, I've met an interesting person from AOL,
and of all places, he's from Howell...  that's another story.]  hence, I 
haven't weeded through all the conferences yet [time to start forgetting many
of the items here!]

So what ARE they doing with the renovations at Zingermans?  They were getting
underway before I moved, but I couldn't tell what they planned on doing.

Yeah, I saw that football game on the tube today...  Most pts scored against
us since something like 1969.

[Keep that info coming in, please!]

 re #3:  Except that the Galleria is different in a very important way:  it
         has stores in it.

It is reported in the new Observer that the Zingerman's dining house will
function as a stand-alone coffeehouse in late-night hours.  There are 10?
coffeehouses now open or being readied for opening in Ann Arbor.
(Denise, have you considered getting a subscription to the Observer?)

Yeah, I meant to suscribe before I moved but never got around to it.  Now
I don't have the Observer's address or their rates.  Can someone please
post them for me, please?  Thanks!

[But still, continue to add comments here, too!!]

   Oops, I posted my news in the md item.  Be sure to read it there.
   (Sorry)

Weather report for Denise: we had some pleasant Indian Summer weather on 
Monday and Wednesday, with temperatures pushing 80; now the temperatures
are plummeting and it's raining.   Did I hear a mention of a possibility of
flurries? 
 
Bo Schembechler had a news conference Wednesday in which he said 
the Tigers reject all the options presented so far for a new Tiger Stadium.
He said the team will now listen to proposals from the 'burbs.

  I hear that Monahan is willing to build a new stadium in any suburb that
will pay the complete construction costs *and* rename itself Monahanville.

Technical note:  Indian summer requires 1 killing frost before warming back
up.  That did not occur in Ann Arbor.

Another thing I miss from MI: good cider!  Finally saw some in the stores
down here and no way is it even close to the real thing from MI!  I bet you're
into good apple pickings by now, eh?  And thanks for the weather report, Ken!
We're finally getting cooler weather down here, at last!  [Where it's only
going up to about 80-82 and is actually going down to the los 60s/upper 50s].
No change in leave colors yet [I hear that way up north, the color changes
are several weeks ahead of schedule!?]

What kind of options *have* been presented for the new Tiger stadium?

DOes anyone have an AA Observer handy to look up rates for outoftown 
subscriptions and an address?  

Right now, the options for a new Tiger Stadium look pretty bleak.  The
whole thing seems to be caught up in public reprisals and bickering.

Bo Schembechler as spokesman for the Tigers leaves much to be desired.  He
is a straight line kind of guy when back scratching and ear stroking are
called for.  Under Bo's guidance, it looks like the Tigers are going to
sink under a mire of Us's versus Them's.  The We-Wants versus the
What-We-Give-You's.  The Tigers are playing poor politics against the 
experts.  They can only come out the bad guy.

It's really too bad, because I agree with Bo 100%, but disagree with his
methods just as strongly.  A lot of enemies are being made.

I was going to post the info for the Observer, but I had to find where STeve
hid it first.

$14 for one year, $25 for two years.  Write to the:
Ann Arbor Observer Company
201 Catherine
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(313) 769-3175

The two proposed locations which Schembechler rejected yesterday were
(1) one previously favored by the Tigers in the "Briggs district", just
across a freeway from the current stadium, and (2) one favored by the 
city and county, somewhere near the renovated Fox theatre, near Woodward.

   Could someone please explain whats wrong with the old one?  I fail to
see why a historic landmark can't be fixed.  Even if the cost of fixing
such a structure is more than building a new one (something I don't
believe) it could always be done in stages.  Since the city inspectors let
people in this year it can't be falling down.

Apparently it cannot be made safe for the long term.
Plus it has no parking, no luxury suites, and so on.

Because it has nasty exposed, view blocking posts as an integral part of its
structure.

A thorough overhaul, such as was done at Yankee Stadium some years back, 
takes enough time that the  Tigers would have to find an alternate home 
field for a season.  The Yankees were able to use Shea; as the Silverdome 
wasn't laid out for baseball, the Tigers have no good options.
 
I've also heard it alleged by a Wayne County executive that the Yankee 
Stadium overhaul has been judged a failure, and the Yankees are beginning
to look for a new park site.  Anyone heard about this?  

[This is the "what's happening in Michigan?" item.]

This is the "drift" item.  :-)   
 
Right now there's a tornado warning up, and supposedly a big storm is going
to rumble through.  I was concerned enough to leave work a little early.
Looks like it's gonna be a bust, though.
 
Today's Free Press has a big piece on the problems with drunken revelry 
in Ann Arbor.  It reports that the police have started using undercover
officers to bust parties with underage drinkers.

'bout freakin' time they started doing something about it.
I'd like to be able to live here without being accosted by drunken assholes
all the time.

The van driver who carted me from San Francisco to San Jose today is a former
Flint native who was glad to get some Detroit news.

Are the trees past their primes yet?  [Here in mid-NC, the trees have barely
started to change colors yet.]  How are the apples and cider?
..

[this is item #3 in travel, #100 in agora.]

   The trees are just in/past full color.  The cider has been good for
a couple of weeks now.  The jug before last that I bought even went
nice and hard.

This response has been erased.

We went apple picking two weekends ago.  Already, many trees had been
picked clean.  The people at the orchard say that they were about two
weeks early this year.  We got a real good batch.  They were nice and
tart.

   We went apple picking this weekend, and they said it was the last
   weekend for picking.  All they had left was red delicious and 
   Steel Reds.  The reds are really good.  We also picked up pumpkins,
   Wiard's seemed to have a bumper crop of them.
  

Denise, for good apples and cider, you might want to travel to the
western part of the state.  I have a friend who lives in Asheville.  I
visited him last year about this time, and we bought some apples and
cider in the coutry around there.

What's new in AA this month??

Well, Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of weeks.  Do y'all 
celebrate that down there?  :)

Uh...lesse...anyone want to phrase the relationship registration?
I don't know the tech details.

Yep, we celebrate down here--though I don't know how similar or different
it is down here in the south.  And I won't find out this year, either, since
I'll finally be back in AA for Thanksgiving!  [Will be in town 11/23-11/30.]
[Will be down here for the rest of the holidays, though... ;-(  ]

re 33:  "Domestic Partnership"

In the time since Denise has left chaos has engulfed Ann Arbor.
The Mayor has gone insane and now the entire town is a police state.
Gang rivalry is at an all time high with continous turf wars between
the elephant gang and the mule gang. The UofM which was to be our
last hope was knocked over like pine in the path of a logging team.
Denise you are our last hope, this town needs your leadership.
You must come back and lead the rebellion ! or all will be lost !

RE#36 -- Now THAT'S a summary!

Except he forgot to mention the "parking crisis."

Solved by flattening and paving the diag and central campus.
The Arb was also made level and paved.

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