lunch

Met Andrew from photrade.com for lunch today after a few cancellations and reschedules. Photrade is his startup focused on creating an easy way for photographers and advertisers to hookup dynamicly with minimal interaction. The site is still in beta and needs a lot of work, but Andrew says that they have locked in the first round of VC funds and will be working to make the site user friendly. It all sounds exciting and I hope he has good luck with it.
I had the naked chicken wrap with a Jamaican Jerk sauce at b-dubs, boy was that good, I was only going to eat half and take the rest back but I couldn't stop eating.

Roebling

ice

FSBL, you can pay for the whole seat but you'll only need the EDGE!

Broomball on Fountain Square, we finally saw Team R2 Beat U, we know Blake and half the people on the team so it made it fun watching them flail around on the ice. And they won. Much head scratching by me as every time someone for the next game would arrive they'd look out onto the ice and proclaim,
"it looks slick!"
Well, yes it does!

Side Note: we tried to make reservations to Nada a week in advance early January and no dice. Last night, we walked past Nada 8ish and it was packed.
On a Monday night.
Downtown.

film strip

Goofing around with this today. You have no idea how hard it is to do this, at least for me, I'm a little rusty in Photoshop. I want to try some different options tomorrow.

Chilli's and every guy named 5chw4r7z

We were up in Canton as Ms. 5chw4r7z had a shower to attend, while there we all went and were fitted for tuxes in the run up to Big Mikes wedding. Afterwards we ate at Chilli's, should have been fitted after lunch, I'm pretty sure I won't fit in that tux now.

flickr comments

Macksies says:
Why, I happen to know a little bit about this. It's a piece spray painted by the Ill Ones, a group of Cincinnati graffiti artists that tag their work with IO or IOK for Ill Ones Krew. For last summer's Scribble Jam, they did a production on the side of Bogart's in Clifton that is totally awesome.
They also painted the windows in an abandoned factory off of Hopple Street. If you are driving south on 75, right before exit 3 on the right you can see it, it's pretty huge. As far as graffiti goes in Cincy, they're pretty well respected.
Don't know anything about why the Ghostbuster's symbol is in there but I'd assume just because it's awesome.



TAKE1CINCY says:
WOW! Someone finally noticed! Stay tuned Cincinnati for a project that is definately going to rock the Queen City very very soon!
The kind of project that will have everyone saying proudly "I'm from Cincinnati Ohio"
TAKE1CINCY says:
Oh I forgot . . . www.foxalphafilsm.com take a peek.

rrdphoto says:
Should be something pretty cool - I'm looking forward to seeing it myself! Michael Daemon is a very interesting guy & I expect him to do some big things with this.
I did a little retouching work for FoxAlpha, but I don't know anything about the nature of the project - other than that it actually paints the city in a good light (unlike other Cincinnati-based features of the recent past).



dynamist says:
Wow, this is one of the best pics ever of EM!

Warmup ahead

We just got back from the cold plains of northeast Ohio, the next week looks like we may have relativity nice weather. The fountain at Gramercy is thawing out already.

History repeats (faster now that we are more connected and should know better), cities are rising and I could be blind and not even know it.

You would think something that happened, changed the world and then blew up in everyone’s face a mere 8 years ago would still be fresh in our minds. Yet over the last year the whole idea that the internet is changing everything is picking up steam again. This time it’s not so much how shopping is done but advertising. Yeah, more people are online, and sophisticated and knowledgeable but I don’t see the status quo being overthrown anytime soon. Maybe it’s me but the flag-waving examples I’ve seen that the old way of advertising is dead looks suspiciously like the prime example of why it still works. Another tenet of the internet; enabling people to work anywhere, disconnected from a physical location allowing them to scatter hasn’t happened either. What has happened? Rent in city centers has climbed, and people are moving back so now 51% of the people on earth live in cities. So the internet really hasn't changed anything. (Again)

When did having an eye exam somehow morph into an experience not unlike buying a car (minus the anal penetration)? It seems like we were in the office for a couple hours. This one was more intensive than I remember them being also, multiple tests and eye drops, I was blind as a bat when we left and exhausted, I couldn’t focus on the computer screen when I got home so that was basically the end of my day. Glasses wise I’ve moved up in strength, they don’t call them bifocals any more, they were calling them progressive. The glasses start off weaker at the top for distance, the middle becomes stronger for computer work and then the strength really kicks in at the bottom for books, magazines and printouts. I was going for a pair that were out there fashion wise but Ms. 5chw4r7z reeled me back in on them, they'll still be a change from what I have been wearing. I’m also hoping this improves the quality of my reading comprehension and writing ability.

Clifton House

My coworker that hosted the Wicked party in Clifton works the voice end of Networks Operations and obviously has something for old houses and old phones. The house was built by the president of Steptoe, McFarlan and Co. as a showcase for their wood working products, the house has woodwork everywhere and it is all heavily machined and ornate. He has a phone in every room and numerous old crank phones that were fun to stand in front of and grind away. The telephone booth in the kitchen took the cake though.

Olives at the Ludlow Garage

The night was so COOOLD and the fireplace looked so inviting from the sidewalk, it only took a second to decide we really wanted to be sitting beside it. Olives is upscale inside, we were dressed casual not formal but felt right at home, helped by the friendly bar staff. We ordered a couple drinks, alcoholic and non- , and after a careful perusal of the desert tray Jackie ordered a carrot cake pumpkin torte. This is where it got kinda weird and I felt a little guilty. I’m taken pictures like their going out of style and Michael, the waiter asks if we’re food critics and Jackie says, “sort of” and wow what a transformation, he went from being our buddy to super formal. But I must say we got crazy-mad service after that, that’s for sure. I was impressed with the restaurant and the whole experience and can’t wait to go back for dinner or a Sunday brunch. If you go, and you sit at one of Michael’s tables tip him good, he works for it.

This also where we hatched the whole Style Sensor idea. We were talking fashion and I see people and think they look incredible and want to get a picture but feel weird asking them. Whats the in? How do I start the whole conversation? So this will be a little side project for interesting people downtown and abroad. I’m thinking the material might be thin or not until the weather warms some.

TWO

Lebo's

With Ms. 5chw4r7z off with friends to see a play I had time on my hands Saturday night and was looking for something to do. Jackie says she’s up for anything as long as she doesn’t have to walk so we piled in the car and drove.
I know can you believe it?
Someone had told me about a little place that had the best burgers in Cincinnati out on Kellog Ave. so of course I thought, hey how hard can it be to find, I’m imagining a neon sign saying, “this is the place 5chw4r7z”.
Next thing I know we’re in California and there’s a little bar, Lebo’s so we stop in, and you know what, the burgers weren’t bad at all. But man was it cold Saturday night, my hands were shaking and I couldn’t take any outside shots.

Baked Egg in a Ham Shell

I found this recipe weeks ago and had been wanting to try it ever since. A perfect opportunity yesterday as the morning temperature was down somewhere around "holy crap its cold" and there was no way I was dragging Ms. 5chw4r7z out of the house. It came out pretty good, but we are already thinking of tweaks for next time.