Preparations

For every journey, there is a time of preparation... mental and physical. Here, Erica is demonstrating a required physical preparation for our two-week vacation to Florida... CD organizing.

Before all of this, her CD collection was a "steaming, greasy plate of enchiladas" (REK, The Front Porch). Say, for instance, you were in a doldrums of a mood and wanted to listen to Counting Crows... good luck. There were two small cases in the car along with stacks of single CDs in the glove compartment... not to mention the stacks inside the house. So she took to the task of making sense of it all and I'm happy to say that she did a damn fine job of it and we're all set for the drive.

So that just leaves a wedding, packing, laundry, graduating, graduation party preparation, graduation partying and a modest 16-hour drive to the south land before night falls on Monday. At least we've got CDs.

Rainy Dayz

Wow. I gots rained on real bad last night... and then again this morning. I knew it was going to rain yesterday. Everyone did... but I rode my bike anyhow. I thought that I'd at least have a window of opportunity to get up to the bus stop and take the 5 home. Hell No! Just about the time I was going to head out, the big man upstairs brought the pain in the form of a rain blanket. So I sat in the parking garage patiently waiting for an opportunity to head to the stop as now even my chance to catch a later bus was getting squeezed. So I probably jumped the gun a bit and I paid dearly. The lull in the action was just that... it poured while I desperately sought shelter but with nary a overhang in sight, I chose the backside of a windblown block building. At this point I was pissed and cursing the gods... and that's usually when I like to let them know they'll never get the best of me. I cinched up my pack and headed northwest along the river in a driving rain. It ended up being a good ride, but the bike did feel loose with all the water. I had to make sure I didn't lose it with a bunch of cars around. But I made it and so did all of my sensitive equipment. Get a Crumpler. But it was so wet that in the middle of the bike bath there was a monster of a snapping turtle waiting for a runner or a cyclist to slip up. Not this time turtle.

And then it rained even harder for my run this morning. I thought the shower at 7 am would be all she wrote... so I took off and didn't give much thought to the menacing clouds to the west. It didn't take long for them to let loose. The worst part was the lightning, and I know they tell you to stay away from trees, but you couldn't have towed me from those tree-lined streets. Maybe not the best move but all's well that ends well.

And go to Sticky Steve's blog and check out his clip of Oscar swimming. It backs up my account of him climbing ladders.

Front Porch

After 5+ years without any kind of porch, patio or deck, I can tell you that life is dead and gone and won't be lived again. We moved into this new apartment in the fall of last year, and weren't able to take full advantage of the front porch it had to offer... but summer is here and we're ready to shed our pretentious skins for the trashier side of life.

We basically spent the entire weekend out here after it was decided that camping at Lake Hope was out of the question. So I'm sad to see the weekend come to an end but can't imagine a better way of sending it off. I set up the tripod and everything for this shot. Erica was thoroughly embarrassed. I should be too. I'm a pasty gem... and with the Florida trip being a week away, this will not do. Maybe I could hold off on the tone compensation.

Every Once in a While

I took these pictures on the way home last night. I'm sure blue shirt was leery, but he didn't mention it if he was. He contrasted sharply with the guy I ran into this morning.

On the way to work, a gentlemen hopped on the 5 somewhere by the Convention Center on High. He took the open seat next to me and immediately asked how the day was going. The code of bus silence amongst strangers was broken and I had to act fast. Retrieve what little I had left of my personal refuge or see what he was about? I chose the latter and I'm glad I did. In the few blocks together on the bus, we wove through conversations about the Reds, the Bengals, the Tribe, the Short North gallery hop and it was brilliant. He had me laughing out loud several times. Sure, he wreaked of Marlboro, but his demeanor was enviable and it made my day.

So it made me think... is it worth it to put up such a guard? Sure, you won't be bothered by the guy that asks you to check the back of his shirt because as he puts it, "a pimple on his back may have burst"... but what are you missing out on if that's your stance? I wish everyone, including myself, had the confidence of that man on the bus today... the confidence to know that not everyone is a tired, bitchy, lonely lemming on their way to their boring-ass job. And even if they were, that doesn't mean that you automatically hate life. Either way, whatever he was doing, he was enjoying it and I'm forever in his debt for simply asking how I was doing.

In the meantime, go to Brad's blog (LINKS) to watch a clip of our senior year spring break. I would say something but he's already said it best.

Blowin' Smoke

This was the "blowing out of the candles" ceremony over the weekend for those celebrating a birthday. It was Erica's nephew, niece, grandma and aunt... the niece being held by Erica's sister due to her only being one. However, it won't be too long before she knows what's up.

A fairly low-key weekend was spent in Cincinnati with Erica's family. We watched her nephew play baseball Saturday morning. More entertaining than one might think. I got props for the kid building dirt mounds in the brick dust while he was supposed to be playing center field. Atta boy.

It was time to eat fish and catch up on birthdays Sunday, and then back home Monday morning... although it was very nearly noon by the time we left. And then TNT and Deb made their way to Columbus last night. Said they had some errands to run and dropped off my recently fixed car in the process. Sway bars are something I'm not sure I'm capable of fixing... even if I knew where they were.

West End

This shot was another "find" from the basement. It was probably one of the first pictures I ever took. I had a Pentax that my grandpa gave me. The light meter was busted and the lens didn't work quite right, but it got me through my required photography classes... which might not be saying much for DAAP.

In the winter of our sophomore year, Brad and I took a walk down to Bellevue Park at the end of Ohio Street in Clifton. Not that this is news to anyone that went to UC or is from the city, but there is a cliff along Clifton Avenue that you can access via the park... you just have to get past the fences... which wasn't very hard at the time. So we made it out to the cliff which gives you a nice view of the west end of Cincinnati, Union Terminal, the train yards and on down to the river. I snapped some photos thinking that just because I'm taking pictures from a nice view, they'll automatically translate into beautiful images on film. Oh, the naivety... although, not much has changed.

While we were on the cliff, it was snowing down on the river and the sun broke through the clouds and down onto the buildings below us.

The Big O

I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a packrat, but I have a hard time throwing away things like movie stubs, tickets to sporting events and shows, race bibs, cards that friends and family have sent or any other small trinket that would help remind me of a specific day, event or person. I still have in my possession a wine cork from Anticoli's in Dayton. The entire Alberts family had dinner there to celebrate my grandparents' 40th wedding anniversary. That was 20 years ago.

So for me, this kind of stashing takes a little bit of discipline as I'm not a big fan of clutter. I like to know where things are. Anyways, while organizing some junk recently I came across some photos I had taken with my film camera a few years ago. I figure now would be as good a time as ever to scan them and import them into iPhoto.

Above is Oscar out front of the 1334 studio. It was taken in the summer of 2004 when he wasn't all that old. He's a big beautiful lab full of choco fur. Oscar is beyond strange. If he were human, there would be no end to the psycho-sedating drugs he would be on. He won't climb stairs, he's horrified of the unknown and very nearly comes out of his skin in social settings. Sticky Steve used to bring him to the studio everyday until Oscar recently decided that even the car ride was just too much. But when he would visit, he had another habit... at 11am every morning, he would beg Phil (co-Envoi-er) for a walk. Every day and never more than 2 or 3 minutes shy of 11am. Just like RainMan... except for the K-Mart undies and card counting. 

But with all the eccentric qualities this dog possesses, he has one of the more amazing talents I've ever seen. My bosses have a place on Williamstown Lake (I think) and nailed to the dock is a vertical ladder for the kids to climb out of the water. Oscar will climb that ladder as well. I don't know, maybe this is more common than what I'm thinking it is, but unbelievable, nonetheless. So yeah, the dog's personality is completely unconventional, but damn, he climbs ladders.