An old fave comes to Florida

Yet another roundabout tale that, I promise, has a point.

Component #1: My nephew Patrick is a car mechanic, and he recently started working at the service department of the new Chevrolet dealership in Estero. As luck would have it, since Saturn went out of business, this Chevy dealership in Estero is now the closest place where I can have my car serviced under the warranty. (I'll rant about the demise of the last American-made cars that were actually made in America at another time, I guess.)

Component #2: My niece's boyfriend Rick works for some pizza joint, and because he has aspirations of some day running a pizza place of his own, actually has an interest in his job and so keeps up on "pizza news."

A few weeks ago, during one of our family gatherings, Patrick mentioned that some pizza delivery car had come in for service, and that he didn't get a very good look at it because he was busy, but thought it said "Geppetto's." Patrick has heard me rave about Geppetto's pizza and barbecue ribs / chicken / whatev enough times, so that car caught his eye, if you will. Rick immediately mentioned that he had also heard of a "new" pizza place named Geppetto's that had opened in two SW Florida locations, and that his understanding was that it was a small chain that was established in Ohio. I thought this sounded way too good to be true, but decided to check it out. A google search confirmed the awesome news: Geppetto's, the award-winning and super-awesome pizza & rib joint from Cleveland, is venturing into geezer-land.

Yesterday, I took my car into the dealership to have some pesky power steering issue repaired. On my way back, I finally had a chance to stop by the still-too-good-to-be-true SW Florida Geppetto's. Large pizza, pepperoni and green peppers. A jar of barbecue sauce. Unbelievably delicious, as always.

Now, all I need for true bliss is:

• for Antonio's to open a restaurant here so I can snag their incredible salad dressing -- yes, it's THAT good
• for the Cavs to fire Mike Brown and hire a REAL coach, one who won't pander to and kiss LeBron's ass but who will, instead, light a fire under LeBron's underachieving ass
• for the Browns to show a little patience for a change and try to make steady year-to-year progress, culminating in a perennial playoff contender
• for the Tribe to get out of cheapskate Dolan's stranglehold and stop fielding a quadruple-A team

Let's make it happen, God. Please!