I'll pick Click Bait for $1200 Alex

Last week I took the Jeopardy online test. Initially I did well, better than some of the other tests I've taken. Then I saw the replay of the questions and I got at least nine wrong (out of 50 questions) and stand a slim chance to move on in the process.

Today I got an email from Jeopardy. It's subject heading was, "Congratulations!"

Intrigued, but not convinced, I opened the email, which said, "CONGRATULATIONS! You completed the online test. If you pass we'll contact you to schedule an audition."

Bite me you teases!

Because of the Columbus Day holiday my son had no school so I have been watching him today. It's been rather chill. We took a walk downtown earlier. The meters were free thanks to the oppressor's holiday. My son got to meet one of the three deer along the Scioto Mile.



He seemed to enjoy the walk. He walks very fast, faster than me and it was a struggle for my out of shape self to keep up with him. He liked the loop, we did not see anything twice, and he did not complain when we got back to the car. Dad win.

Tales from the riverbank

Been walking downtown a bit more. The Scioto Mile with its walking and biking paths is finished and it's a beautiful way to explore the riverfront area. A lot of people are taking advantage of this. You would not have seen kayakers enjoying the river a couple of years ago.



We looked down while crossing the Broad Street Bridge and saw a great blue heron catch a fish. No way this type of nature flourishes now without the dam being taken down.



A few seconds after I took this picture a swallow dive bombed the heron, and it flinched - truly an awesome sight. After that the perturbed heron flew over to the other bank of the river.

Last week my Son and I took a walk down there. As far as I know it was his first time walking around the Scioto Mile.



He seemed to like looking up at the tall buildings. We're going to take advantage of this while we can and hope development and developers do not restrict access to this part of town.

Holiday walk

The weather was exception for late November so my Wife and I went for a walk downtown. The Scioto Mile has had a lot of work done on it the past couple of years, and a lot of it is finished. For the first time in the 26 years I've lived in this city, there is a lot of access to the Scioto River downtown.

Took a few pictures.

My black Friday did not cancel Christmas

It is easy to recognize when there is a problem with my car. If it does not feel right when it goes over 65, when you hear a belt making a high pitched scream while turning, and the most recent - the temperature gauge going over the baseline and nearly hitting the red zone that means the car is over heating. The car was, thankfully, not leaking or burning coolant. Had no idea if the thermostat or radiator was messing up, and certainly do not have the tools or knowledge to do the repair myself.

So it was off to the repair shop downtown at an ungodly hour this morning just after they opened to get the car fixed. I waited for a diagnosis and received one. New thermostat, temperature sensor and coolant flush and fill. At least it was not the radiator. They told me they'd have it fixed in a couple of hours so I wandered off to find some breakfast.

On the day after Thanksgiving not much was open in downtown Columbus, which is not how a vibrant city with ever increasing density and street edge construction should be at any time of the year. With the exception of Potbelly, the only other place I could find open was Dempsey's, which had only one customer, me, when I entered.

Dempsey's is just around the corner from the now closed Jury Room. It was announced today that the business was sold and the new owner would be renaming the place Balls. That's right it's going to be a meatball place. I have no problem with that but if the food is not good the name is going to give it nothing more than a silly novelty act.

After breakfast I went to the Statehouse to see if the gift shop I used to work at was open. It was, and I talked to the owner for a few minutes to catch up.

Picked up the car and drove it hard on 71 and 270 to see how fixed it was. The temperature gauge did not move any higher than this.



Also noticed that the heat kicked in much quicker after starting the car. Darn, it had been kicking in slow the whole time I have owned the car. Must have been off all along. Still calling it a win.

Cranky in Columbus

The last few weeks, months even, have been a struggle. You can tell my the decreased number of posts here. Schedules have changed, then changed again and it's been frustrating to redevelop any sense of flow. So I'm tired and may be a bit burnt out.

I'm still trying to process one of the neighbor's adult children who noticed the door to my shed open and told me he was going to have to shoot that person before he realized it was me in there. A late afternoon stand someone else's ground west side shooting would have been a blast to cover.

At least I have finally made the calls to get some bids on pruning the tree in the yard that has branches going over their roof, and mine.

After falling asleep about 10:30 last night my son decided to get up at 3AM and stay awake until about six. I was not pleased by his random babblings, humming and various uses of Dora the Explorer dialogue. Ended up having to call into work, again, because of his sleep habits. It's very frustrating, has been for years. I've learned to not go into work sleep deprived because I'm a real pain in the ass to deal with. Might be easier in my current job, but not when I worked the circulation desk in the morning.

Did manage to get him on the bus then fell asleep for a couple of hours. Headed downtown to get some lunch, still in a mean mood but this beer at The Jury Room helped me out a bit.



Downtown looked good on an early autumn day. Columbus made me sit in the Commons and forced some Jeni's down my throat too, I hate when that happens.

My new twitter account will be named Sal F. Steam

Last night Writers Block had a Grand Slam with the winner going to the Individual World Poetry Slam in Spokane in October. I did not compete to defend my title, there was too much other stuff going on to get involved in slam this year.

Was very pleased to see my friend Gina Blaurock win the title. It was close, she beat Aaron Alsop by only .4. Five people slammed and all of them, including Bryant, Brad and Hayden brought their A-Games to the stage.

Gina also received The Uni.



That was one of the last pictures of The Uni before it met with another unfortunate accident. The less said about it the better.

Rachel McKibbons also did an excellent feature, which included a heartbreaking series of poems to honor her very young niece, who died of cancer last year.

Tonight I did a feature for Paging Columbus with two fine poets, Jonterri Gadson, and F. Daniel Rzicznek. A nicely attended event. Thanks to Hannah Stephenson for inviting me to perform at the Urban Arts Space.

For record keeping, here's my set.

Pantoum for a Child With Insomnia
David's Rock
Epson Projection: A Meeting in Three Acts
1) Mumble Jumbo
2) Settling in, Badly
3) No Hope for Parole
With Kryptonite as Prop
After Birth
The Real In-Flight Announcement

It was another fine night downtown. On the way to the venue, I walked through Columbus Commons and saw fellow poet Ethan Rivera fiddling around.



And on the way to The Jury Room for a libation, I noticed this building artwork.



It's one of those times you feel like you're settling into something, even though you're not one to watch.

Columbus is doing alright.

Still trying to get out and about despite either being at the hospital or work every day. It's good to take a walk to clear my head and downtown's looking good this summer.



Always nice to have company on your walk after a pitcher of margaritas.



It's not a real summer until I see a film at the CAPA Summer Movie Series. My wife had never seen all of Bonnie & Clyde and I had not seen it in years, let alone on the big screen. That said, the print was not as good as it could have been. A lot of nicks and scratches. I've seen better. Film's still great.

We even saw the ghost organist descending into the pit of the Ohio Theater.



After the film, we cut through Columbus Commons, and the symphony was rehearsing.



It was a fine, totally unknown event that makes living in a city very cool.

The statues and street signs know where it's at

After last week's walk, where I neglected to see the statue of a certain Austrian bodybuilder, I vowed to correct the omission as soon as possible.

That happened today.

I'm not sure how life sized or proportionate it is, but it stands tall among the skyscrapers.

Not only does Columbus get pumped up one weekend a year, we're also one of the seven most intelligent cities in the world.

And here's proof.

William McKinley is pleased.

And so ended today's downtown walk.

Plans and ambition

I live in a city, yet am on the west side of downtown and rarely go there. My blood pressure is stupidly high and needs to drop, along with about thirty pounds. So I decided to run a few errands and include a downtown walk as part of an early Saturday afternoon.



Did you know that Columbus has on the downtown riverfront, a full size replica of the Santa Maria? Now you do. It was built for the ill-fated Ameriflora exhibit in 1992 and has been docked down there ever since. If I recall right, the ship is rotated every year to keep the deterioration even. It's not the money maker the titans thought it would be, but neither was Ameriflora.



Naturally, our City Hall has a statue of one of the most renowned creators of genocide in history. We also have a statue of Arnold Schwartzenegger just on the other side of the river from City Hall. Next walk I'll get a pic of that.




I've lived here 22 years and swear I've never noticed that sign until today, despite having been by it hundreds, if not thousands of times. Maybe it was the angle?



Setting up in Columbus Commons for Picnic with the Pops tonight. There will be fireworks. I have thoughts about that stage.



This is another stage I have thoughts about, and it may be more realistic than the one at Columbus Commons, or not.

Good little walk I hope to repeat often. The route can be altered to form a decent circle with the Scioto Mile as a starting and finishing point.

Scioto Mile Loop Photo Dump

Tonight, to get out of the house, my wife and I took a walk along The Scioto Mile. It was where the Arts Festival was last weekend. Everything had cleared out, and there was plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy the charms of a lovely evening in Columbus.

Took these pictures with my iPod.

















My wife called these goose steps.









In the center of the picture, there a young lady in magenta. My wife suspects she's going through Quinceanera.







Columbus was looking good tonight.

















The reward? A nice glass of sangria at the end of a walk.