lunch with da guys @Chili's

One of the things I like about baby showers is going to lunch with all the guys. Probably won't happen anymore, not sure but the baby thing may be played out in the 5chw4r7z clan, but who knows, one of the Lehman nieces told me she's the same age I was when my youngest brother was born so I guess anything can happen. These crazies always crack me up, I'm getting older so I don't wind them up like I used to, now they wear me out instead of the other way around.
One thing for sure, they don't have all my food hangups, I was gagging just looking at that grilled cheese sandwich.

[where:4133 Belden Village Mall Canton, OH 44718]chili's Belden Village Mall canton ohio

Final Friday June Edition

With the heat and the storms, the crowd was thin Friday night, but all the cool kids were there.
Met a couple twitter friends, isn't it always strange/weird/exciting to meet someone in real life that you've know virtually for quite some time?
I didn't make it to the Photrade launch party but I did see the preview. Those guys are awesome.

[where:Main st Cincinnati, Ohio 45202]cincinnati ohio downtown final friday otr

CARE/Crawley Building

One year ago


Today
All the construction fence has come down around the Medical Sciences Building (MSB)–CARE/Crawley Building. My little corner of the world is looking good.



If you ride the Metro, are thinking about riding the Metro or ever see yourself riding the Metro, please stop and spend a minute on their survey. It could lead to some better and maybe more frequent routes. And I'm surprised to find there are still people out there not aware that if you have a UCid that you ride free. This is going to expand to the Tank beginning Sept '08.[where:3255 Eden Ave Cincinnati, Ohio 45267]cincinnati ohio university

are programers that clueless. human genomes and oozing coolness downtown

Normally this doesn't bother me because 98% of my day is spent in a command prompt with CLI. But there are a few exceptions and it drives me crazy. The Cisco wireless controller has a web interface so, you go the the login page and are presented with a generic Cisco page with a login in button. Once clicked it redirects you to the actual login fields
GGRRRR!
Can't they assume, say for the sake of argument that if I make it to that first page that I may want to log in?
We have a 3com controller for VOIP phones, so you go to the web page to setup a handset and the first field you need to click in. How hard is it to code that field with the focus when the page loads? OK maybe a minor annoyance with one phone, but a hundred? after twenty I'm looking for a sharp object to jam into my eye to get out of this task.
Jackie points me to Bill Gate's experience trying to download a Microsoft program that ultimately ends in failure.
My point being, we can map the human genome, but somehow can't make tasks that should be simple, less complex.

On a different note, now that I'm done venting, I bought a new suit and took the pants in to be hemmed today. The tailor, Alassante is South African and asked where I want them to hang and I tell him I want them just touching the top of my shoes. he pins them up and asks if I like them.
yep.
He stares at me from a crouching position.
You're sure?
Yep.
Where are you from he asks.
Northeast Ohio.
He stands up and stares at me again.
And you like that?
yep.
Its very European he says.
I'm thinking that was a compliment as he was smiling.[where: 45202]cincinnati ohio downtown cisco

chillin @Gramercy pool

If you're lucky enough to ever make it to the pool, you too one day may have the privilege of a visit from the "Mayor"[where:135 garfield pl cincinnati, ohio 45202]cincinnati ohio downtown gramercy pool

Visual Fringe, mural painting at the

[where:1120 Jackson St Cincinnati, OH 45202]cincinnati ohio downtown Visual Fringe know theatre

go carless with giant Pez dispensers

Ever since I began riding the bus last spring, I've wrestled over whether to sell the car or not. I'm still hanging on to it for that one trip a month when I need to drive somewhere. Its crazy, but I still can't let go. Now if I had something to replace it, say Zipcar, it would be a no brainer to dump it.
Why Zipcar?
Its way easier than conventional rentals. You get a membership, reserve online and walk up to the car with your membership card wave it over the windshield and off you go. And once they build this handy dispensers on 4th, it will be almost as easy as getting to my own car.
What do we need to do to get a franchise down here?
I see Columbus has one.

[where:4th street cincinnati, ohio 45202]cincinnati ohio downtown zipcar

Deano's Vino

Deano's is located in indianapolis's Fountain Square neighborhood that had a website 100 times cooler than the actual square.
Damn, you can't believe anything you read online anymore.
the beer and wine selections were very good and we both made out with what we got. Dining alfresco was also pleasant, but unfortunately the food left much to be desired, it was OK, just way too expensive.
If you are in Indy on a tight schedule I would suggest skipping both the restaurant and neighborhood.
Sorry Fountain Square.
But if you have time to kill and really want to visit, its only a mile from Monument Circle.

[where: 1112 Shelby St Indianapolis City IN 46203]deano's indianapolis's Fountain Square indiana wine beer

Balboa's Philly Steaks and Pizza

I totaly forgot about it until I read Julies review this morning and then I realized I had never posted on my visit to Balboa's. So if you want a professional review or just someone who can spell and write complete sentences click here.
At any rate, we hadn't eaten all day and were starving so the sandwiches weren't too bad in that context, and they are only a block from our apartment. So, if you're downtown and want something cheap and unpretentious, and its between like 8pm and 4am you don't have much other choice.
Oh, the couple at the counter were there when we came in and when we left waiting for a pizza. Balboa's will deliver in a couple block radius, so thats probably the better way to go.
Sorry for ripping you off today Julie.
OK, I'm not, but I won't make a habit of it.

[where:628 Vine St Cincinnati, OH 45202]cincinnati ohio downtown

Monument Circle Indianapolis, In.

I've noticed in forums that Cincinnati tends to get lumped in with Indianapolis quite a bit due to the fact that they have about the same population, I think its really an unfair comparison because, one, they are a state capital have have more resources to call on, and two, they are a much newer city and most of the development was preplanned where in Cincinnati it all happened organically.
But since this does happen I want to throw in a few observations, they do seem to have a thriving retail district but limited to about four blocks south of Monument Circle, beyond that I noticed many empty storefronts. Their sidewalks are much wider and in better condition and their streets are WIDE! Four healthy lanes that could probably be 6 downtown Cincinnati. Again, when Cincinnati was growing early on the biggest traffic jams were pigs from the steamboats.
For a weekday afternoon Indy had way more panhandlers than downtown Cincinnati.
You can't see a whole heck of a lot in one day in a major city, we didn't hit any major museums so this winter we'll have to go back and check some of those out.
Thats a really simplistic overview I know, I had a really good time and it was an awesome day for sightseeing.

[where:1 Monument Circle Indianapolis, In 46204]Monument Circle Indianapolis, In

aeroplane

This guys been flying over downtown all weekend, anyone know whats going on?
[where: 45202]cincinnati ohio downtown airplane

new additions to Fountain Square

Some shade now and a couple interesting tables.
[where:Fountain square 45202]Fountain square cincinnati ohio downtown

Indianapolis, IN.

We spent all day Thursday checking out Indy, but only scratched the surface. Its going to take awhile to sort through 250 some odd pictures I took and I'll have a few observations next week. The first picture that really jumped out and captured my attention was the utter joy and celebration of the Depew Fountain centered in University Park that stands in stark contrast to the seriousness of the Indiana World War Memorial. When this came into view Ms. 5chw4r7z and I both stopped dead in our tracks and exclaimed, "OH!" simultaneously.

Its was just world war because that was the war so terrible it ended war forever.
This of course before the war known as II came along.[where:1 Monument Circle Indianapolis, In 46204]
Monument Circle Indianapolis, In

Not living downtown is for suckers. Who needs to get away from it all, when you got it all right here?

I've felt like I've been on a four year paid vacation since moving to Cincinnati.
Listen what do you do when you go on vacation?
Hang out at the beach?
Stroll down to the nearest bar in your flip-flops?
Do nothing?
OK, thats what I used to do on vacation.
Now, what do I do living at the Gramercy downtown is, hang out at the pool all day, walk down to the local bar for lunch and diner in my flip-flops.
Damn hard life if I say so myself.


It does have its down sides, I give you that, for instance, laying out last weekend lazily paging through the GQ I come across this recipe for a Dark and Stormy and not having any rum handy I'm forced to trek over to the Party Source to find some. While there I find this new cigar called a NUB, for obvious reasons. The marketing says that most cigars hit their sweet spot at 4" so they cut the extra off and go right for the good stuff. Always one to try new stuff I fall for it.
Man was that thing smooth!
So the Dark and Stormy, a slice of lime, ice, rum and a good ginger beer, I used Stewarts which has an awseome bite.

A comfortable evening, good company, a stiff drink and an inspirational cigar.
How much more out of life do you need than that?
I'll have to stop living like a rock star one day.
BUT it won't be today.
[where:135 garfield pl cincinnati, ohio 45202]cincinnati ohio downtown