Last night, I had the opportunity to grab a few drinks during happy hour at McCormick & Schmicks in Troy (next to the Somerset Collection) – definitely my favorite bar in the Metro area. Comfy decor, nice staff, packed after work, great prices on expensive drinks during happy hour, and a $2 barfood menu during happy hour.

What’s your favorite metro Detroit watering hole/drinking establishment?

If all goes as planned, downtown Detroit residents and visitors will have a new means of getting around the city in the coming months: by pedicab.

According to this article in yesterday’s online edition of the Detroit Free Press, lifelong-Detroiter Michael Rosemond is preparing to start the city’s first-ever pedicab service.

He plans to be up and running – or should I say riding – in a few months. The cost for passengers in Rosemond’s two-seat pedicab, also known as a cycle rickshaw, will be $1 per block.

I love reading books that I can relate to; so, I love reading stories based in Detroit. This site has a listing of books based in Detroit or authored by Detroit writers. Just goes to show you that Detroit has a lot to offer in terms of a great setting and a talented author pool.

Its official! Niklas Lidstrom is going to wear the “C” for the Detroit Red Wings this season. It will be very hard to fill Steve Yzermans shoes, but if one man can handle it, Lidstrom can.

Woodward Dream Cruise 2006 hits the archives.
I spent Wed night, all day Thurs, Friday evening and all Saturday sun up to sun down watching, riding and living the Woodward Dream Cruise.
The best day for seeing “dream” cars was Thursday. Most of the out of towners had already made their way into town.
I find it very difficult to explain how it feels to roll down the street, in a 72 Nova, to your left a 41 Ford coupe, and to your right a Ferrari Enzo.
My family and I huddled around a tent to get out of the rain on the corner of Woodward and 12. Once the rain let up we wiped off the cars and hit the pavement. As always there were way too many Mini Vans and Envoys clogging up the road. If only there could be a way to stop the soccer moms and home office dads from ruining a good thing. Next year I will have a very obnoxious sign stating my opinions on this.
Overall we had a good time and look forward to next year.

My family goes to the State Fair every year. I may have missed a couple of years here and there, but for the most part I’ve been part of this ritual for all my life, even before I was fully aware of it.
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The Free Press reported today that former Detroit councilman Alonzo Bates pleaded guilty on four misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file federal income tax returns from 2001-2004.

Bates, who was on the Detroit City Council from 2002-2005, made the plea today right before jury selection began on the federal fraud charges he is facing; he did not plead guilty to the federal charges, which allege that he created “ghost employees” by putting friends and family members on the city’s payroll, even though they performed little or no work for the city. Three of these alleged “ghost employees” have pleaded guilty to charges in the case.

According to an article on the same topic in the Detroit News, Bates worked for the Detroit Recreation Department for 27 years and served on the Detroit Public School board for 20 years.

The opening of Bobby Alcott’s Exposure Detroit exhibit was a great time at Karras Brothers on Friday night. His photos will be on display and for sale for a month until the next show. The next show will be an all girls show – featuring the photographs of female Detroit artists. In keeping true to the mission of gathering creative types I was really pleased to meet photographers, Spike from Mojo in the Morning, and the author of Surburban Bliss – an amusing and insightful blog about raising children in Royal Oak. Be sure to join the Flickr group and submit your photos for show consideration.

anybody who’s hung out in Downtown Detroit long enough knows about the Castle on the corner of Grand River and Adams (aka the GAR building)… it’s a stunning building that everyone thinks is cool or at least remembers well after seeing it… i have hoped that they’d do something with it eventually…

today an article in the News talked about possible developments for the Castle and of course everyone’s got their say for what should be done… i was pleased to see that one of the issues for the building was in relation to the possible building of a new arena for the Wings in that same area… we’ll see what happens… read the article if you wanna know the details of the gripes, conflicts and difficulties of redeveloping this unique structure…

Can anyone recommend any good disc golf stores and/or courses in the metro area? I used to play at Stoney Creek, Firefighters, Raintree, Addison Oaks, and other various north suburban courses frequently before I moved to East Lansing five years ago. I haven’t really played in a while though. What’s a good one to play these days?

Along the same lines, where’s a good place to buy disc golf stuff in the area? I used to shop at the Disc Golf Store on the corner of Livernois and 14-mile (in Clawson) but heard that they’re no longer there.