Woodward Dream Cruise - Saturday Morning

This was pretty early Saturday morning - we went for a dog-walk. Friday photos are here.







OK - we were driving on thes two....

Woodward Dream Cruise 2007 - Friday Night

UPDATE!!!! 2008 FRIDAY PICTURES HERE!!!!!

AND NOW! 2008 SATURDAY PICS!!!


Wow. This is an edit to the original post. So far, I've had about 1000 hits to this page alone. This is great!!!

Hey any more of you who happen to look at this, please help me identify the cars in the pics - I'd like to label each one! Please leave a message - acknowledgments will be posted!

There are another tiny amount of early Saturday morning pics here

A Bull in the China Shop

There has been a lot going on recently with regards to China and some questionable products being sent around the globe from there. It’s been considerable – and in my opinion, quite worrying for China.

Yesterday, it was announced that a huge amount of Chinese-made toys are being recalled around the world – a lot of them here in US, as they use lead-containing paint. There were others that had magnets that could come detached, and cause all sorts of problems if swallowed.

This would indicate that these companies making these toys are cutting corners to lower cost. Oops! Now parents will be reading labels on toys to avoid Chinese-made products. (Does anyone else make toys these days in any significant numbers?)

On a side note – and one which will also raise more eyebrows – Chinese officials announced (according to an AP story) that the top man in one of the factories that made these sub-standard toys, killed himself.


Last week – AutoBeat Daily had an article talking about how a Russian auto magazine ran a crash test on a Chery (a Chinese Auto company) Amulet sedan – they included a link to a YouTube video. The crash appears to fail miserably – the dummy gets mashed and the entire front end, back into the passenger compartment, seems to disintegrate. Bottom line is – (assuming this is a real test, properly conducted) – this car in this condition appears to have no chance, (in it the tested configuration), of meeting federal regulations. Chery, naturally, are meanwhile questioning the validity of the test (the test was done at another car companies lab – conflicts of interest??). Whether this test is actual and valid or not, this news will likely have a significant effect on the public image of these cars when Chrysler buys them in next year and rebadges them as Dodges….

Then there was the whole seafood thing. China is one of, if not the top exporter of fish to the USA. As many of the natural waterways or water bodies in China are heavily polluted (from industry to serve the West), fish don't do so well in them. The other option to the fish farmers is farming - but to do so and keep the fish from getting diseased is no small tast. It's come to light that these Chinese fish farmers are feeding the fish antibiotics. So the choice is: sick fish from bad water, or drugged fish from farms. Neither sound too appealing. The US FDA is now insisting that a bunch of species are tested for safety. However, people will be cautious about where their fish comes from. Granted, there is no law in place to show all Countries Of Origin on foods... just yet.

From what I can remember, the contaminated pet food earlier this year had bad vegetable protein filler that was made in China. That episode killed a handful of pets - pets are held in very high esteem here in the US.

There have been others as well (toothpaste, kids jewelry)– but it seems these issues all came in close in time to each other. China is treading on thin ice now, with regards to its export to the USA. Consumers tend to be wary about the cars they drive, the toys they give their kids, the contaminants in the food they eat, or feed their pets. It's only a matter of time until a "Made In China" marking on a product reads the same as "Danger. Do not Buy".

But where does the problem originate? When an American supermarket chain pushes its Chinese suppliers to reduce costs to the point of going out of business, corners will be cut. And when one supplier is seen to do that, why should the next not do so to make an extra couple of yuan? Bottom line is, it's greed on all parts, and it all ends in some level of discomfort for pretty much all involved.

So, I just picked up my water cannister to take a drink. On the underside, the words "MADE IN CHINA" are embossed.

The water tastes just fine.

Detroit Tigers v Tampa Bay Devil Rays - 3nd game in 4 nights! I love this!!!

Guess where I went last night?

This time, we parked same place as before. For some unbeknown reason, it was $5 this time. Are parking spaces less valuable on Tuesday?

The nuts cost the same.

Last night was a little different - I went with my wife and 4 friends. No kids. That meant we could watch the game without any cotton candy.

We sat infield, but as nosebleed as the seats could be. We were top row, with our backs to the fence. Still, it was a great view of the game.

Looking at the clouds, I was quite concerned that the game would be called.

It wasn't.

My trip down there on Saturday must have kicked them Tigers into shape. They played really well, and for the first time in my trips there, they held the opposing team to 0 in the first. The Tigers scored one, however. Good start!

Somewhere in there, Curtis Granderson was caught stealing for the first time this year.

The tigers dominated right up to the 8th inning, having pumped in 6 runs, when Tampa Bay came right back to tie it all up at 6-6. Determined to not be beaten, the Tigers came back with a stunning 3-run bottom of the 8th. Good job!!

It was all good fun We won again and, even though the Devil Rays are a poor team, we need victories like this to ignite the race for the playoffs.

We won.

I took my camera! Yay!

The scoreboard before the game

A random Detroit shot

I turned around and took the above shot. That is one nice theater.

Kinda similar shot - just later. No funny color addition stuff - that's how it looked.

Detroit Tigers v Tampa Bay Devil Rays - 2nd game in 3 nights!

We found ourselves going to a Tigers game again last night. No complaints here - I love that ball park. This time, it was a Cub Scout outing. Myself, my son and two friends of his traveled down to Detroit together, to meet up with some other parents and cub scouts.

We parked on one of the empty-space parking lots on Woodward - $10 again. Pretty close to Comerica - and, availability of peanuts on the way in. Is it me or do the bags of nuts seem smaller than last year? Wow - even the street peanut sellers are cashing in on victory.

This time, we were in the upper deck, just a little past first base. Again, an awesome view. And also, somewhat in the shadows, which was a good thing as it was around 80 degrees and really humid.

There were frequent interruptions to my watching of the game. Remember, I had 3 small boys in my charge, so hot dogs, soda, bathrooms, cotton candy, tigers store, all had to be done. Yep, it all adds to the fun for the kids.

Thankfully the Tigers actually showed up to this one. You'd kinda hope they would - Tampa Bay currently have the worst record in baseball. But the Tigers were pretty determined to keep us worried. 1-1 at the end of the first, 2-1 Detroit after the 3rd, 4-2 Tampa after the 5th. At this point, I said to my friend that Detroit would blow it open in the 6th. I was expecting a 7-run inning. It never happened - no runs.

Things got more positive in the 7th. The tigers hit back with 4 big runs, started out by a home run by Sean Casey. The Tigers were ahead 6-4.

It's amazing how a bit of positive play can make the park come alive. People were on their feet, Let's Go Tigers was ringing out all over the place. The Mexican wave was in full flow and people were actually participating. Even the beach balls came out in the bleachers!

Our scouts were screaming "Bring on Pudge". Unfortunately he had a sore ankle and couldn’t make it.

It was all good. Fernando Rodney, now back in health, came on and was flawless, to take the game to the 9th. Todd Jones, who normally does a great job of getting me really worried each time he steps to the mound, stepped up and closed out the game cleanly.

Yay! We won.

I really must bring my camera.

Tigers??? Helloooo? Anyone out there?

What's going on?? A little while ago, they were top of the league. Today that are only half a game away from not even making the playoffs thru the Wildcard.

What is happening? Are they really trying to make us all nervous? OK, I know they are having some issues both offensively and defensively, but a 5 game losing streak?

D - WAKE UP!!!

I will be down there tonight - please do something decent!

Detroit Tigers v Chicago White Sox - and Greektown's Pizza Papalis

Yesterday, myself and my son went to Deeetroit to see the Tigers V White Sox. We planned to leave early and grab some food downtown before the game. On getting there, we parked up in the Opera House garage. I recommend it ($10) - covered, safe lot about half way between Greektown and the ball park.

Being there, we headed toward Greektown for food - I remember Pizza Papalis being particularly good from the past, so there we went. We were quickly seated, and quickly served our drinks, and quickly got our order in - I let the young lad decide on the pizza - Anchovies, Green Peppers and Pepperoni. Nice. So in goes the order, and we're told that we have a 25 minute wait. No problem - until after 25 minutes, our server comes over, sees no pizza on our table, rolls her eyeballs and says - "I don't believe it. She gave your pizza to someone else". OK, I said - not getting annoyed or anything. Anyways, to cut this long story short, the manager came over, apologized profusely, got us our pizza in about 10 minutes, came back and checked was all good, got us another drink, and then charged us only for our first drink - the pizza was on him. Bargain!!! 10 minutes extra wait for now free food.

The pizza was awesome too.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, this was all really good business. Had they not apologized, admitted the mistake, and made some effort to compensate, then I may have not gone back there again. I wasn't so pushed about the compensation (free food), but they gave it - well done! Now, I would unreservedly go back there - food is great, and the service does its best - what more could you ask for?

And onto the ball game. We had cheap (well, free) seats - face value $8 each. These were in the outfield bleachers - granted we were in the front row. Having been in pretty much everywhere in that ball park, these were comparatively the best value tickets I ever got (had I paid for them, of course). Maglio Ordonez was running around in front of us, and when he was not there, Jermaine Dye was annoying us by fielding very well.

And the game itself. It was all good until the game started. The first inning was terrible. Chicago managed to score 4 runs. Leremy Bonderman fell apart from the get-go. Oh well. Reminded me of the Tigers of 2003. Dang!

The tigers need to get out of this slump, get pitching back on track, and fire up offensively.

The bleachers crowd amused me. One particular older lady had smuggled in about 6 beach balls, which she inflated at different times, and tossed about - all good fun, and then the Beach Ball Nazis appeared to spoil the fun. Comerica security, or crowd managers, or whatever they are called, were in full force, which added to the fun of not letting the ball near them. But each time, they succeeded, and killed the ball. Not sure why they are so adamant about this - there really was not a lot of baseball to watch. While it lasted, it was fun.

The game turned out to be quite a good on in the latter innings - Detroit made a good effort to come back, but eventually finished losing 5-7. Their losing streak continues....

Two things happened after the game....

Close by to us, a fight almost broke out, so the staff got to do something useful and got in the way. I guess that's what happens on Saturday evening games - amateur drinkers have all day to drink and then they can take on the world.

The other thing after the game was the weekend fireworks. As ever, it was a good show. The fireworks trailer was almost in front of us, so we got a little showered in dust and debris, but the explosions and music were a great end to a great evening.

If only we won.

Next time, I will bring my camera.

Detroit Tigers - That's better!

All it takes is a little encouragement on my blog - and they win!!
Good job! Keep it going tonight.

Tigers????

What the heck?
This team was good. Now they are losing like there is no tomorrow. Thankfully Cleveland are too.
But now they are within striking distance - come ON!!!!