Two hours later, four new tires

When you own a 21 year old car that is your daily driver, you rely a lot on faith. A belief that the car is going to start every morning (it has) that it will get you from point A to point B without breaking down (it has) and not being in the shop with any great frequency.

For the most part, that has been in the case. My Subaru has been a very good car during the three years I have owned it. The repairs, while on the pricey side, have been necessary and not the result of a bad purchasing decision.

But how much more cash and time in the shop do you want to put into a 21 year old car? Recently, the steering has been getting more and more unstable. This was not an unknown situation. My mechanic have mentioned that there was a lot of play in the steering wheel, and these parts do not get better. Do I really want to sink another couple of thousand into this car for a steering column, shocks and struts.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been doing research. Looking into local car dealerships, what they had used in stock for what I was willing to pay, and their reputation for being decent business people.

I made an appointment earlier this week for this morning. There were a couple of cars they had that I was interested in.

Yesterday we got about four inches of snow, and the roads were crap. Was wondering what I'd wake up to this morning and whether or not I'd be able to test drive any cars. The roads were not too bad, so I gathered up my title, brought the checkbook and headed to Hugh White Honda.

The salesman was not pushy, apologized for the weather, like it was his fault, and we walked down a row of cars on a chilly morning. He mentioned a couple of five speeds, but I have not driven a stick in over twenty years, and was not about to relearn on slushy roads. There was one car in particular I wanted to test drive, he got it scraped off while I took a look in the interior and trunk.



Sent this picture of to my wife and gave the description. She did not disapprove.

Took it on the road and it felt good. Needed to adjust the seat better, but it rides well. Since the dealership is right by 270 I gave it a good spin on the highway and it continued to drive well. Everything seems to function as it should, not sure about the air conditioning though. You worry about different noises when you have an unfamiliar engine in front of you, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

When I got back we discussed terms. My wife and I previously talked what we were willing to pay and how to finance the purchase, but I called her after the dealership's offer, which we felt was reasonable so I made the purchase.



A 2005 Hyundai Elantra that went to 118,000 miles as I was on the highway. My parents own a Sonata that I have driven and really liked. I've also rented a couple of Hyundais and felt comfortable with them. This morning, no cash was spent in exchange for three years of payments plus the Subaru as trade. There's a minor oversight that I and the salesman made that he is going to make good on next week. So I'm happy with this car and hope I made a purchase of a car that's going to be low cost to maintain for the next three years, at least. It's going to be weird not having a station wagon for the first time in five years, but I'm sure I can make the adjustment.

Ten years ago

After seeing a lot of rumor and speculation on message boards about his death, I sent an email to a record label contact and had the horrible news confirmed. As you see at the end of the video, he was a troubled man, but so talented. Wonder what he'd be doing today?



In other news I went out to my car this morning to find it was invaded during the overnight. Papers strewn about and the front doors were left ajar. Nothing of value was taken, maybe a screwdriver. They did not want my clip-on sunglasses, car booster seat or cassette adapter. That is why I leave the doors unlocked. A few years ago, thieves broke a window of the Volvo and stole the stereo, that's not going to happen again. Could have been much worse.

The true north strong and free

We got incredibly lucky with the weather over the past weekend and had an amazing road trip to Western New York with a trip to Toronto as part of the itinerary.

Everyone had their passports this time as we made the border crossing. Last time we went to Buffalo one of our party had to have his passport sent to the U.S. Embassy to get a visa for a trip to Africa. This time, there was a misplaced passport of another member of the party that was found with little stress and no tears.

My friend said that there would be a longish line at the border because of the holiday (Thanksgiving) weekend in Canada but when we crossed the Peace Bridge, there were no cars in the booth, just a border guard who examined our passports and let us in with no problems.

I keep forgetting that there are a few other large cities in Canada. I knew Hamilton was big with over half a million people, but Mississagua with over 700k, that shocked me. I was reminded that 40% of the country's population lives along the southern part of Ontario.

Our first destination was the Hockey Hall of Fame. Just outside the entrance is a display of goalie masks over the years. Here's Jacques Plante's. He was one of the first goaltenders to regularly wear a mask.



I believe that was a type of fiberglass. The HOF has a number of cool interactive exhibits as well, and some nice displays of the great players in the game.



There's a very cool exhibit where you can call a play and have it played back. I did it to one of Rick Nash's great goals when he was with the Blue Jackets. A lot of fun.

Hockey has the best hardware in any sport. All of the trophies (or their replicas, shh!) are kept in a hall that was once a bank.



It's an impressive display of the history of the game, and I'm glad we finally got to go there.

It had been well over twenty years since I've been to Toronto. There's a lot of construction going on, big buildings!



We took the subway, then a streetcar to the whiskey bar I found online. The Caledonian is a great place. It's run by a lovely Scottish woman who uses the words "Sweetie" or "My Love" in every sentence. She and my wife started talking, turns out she's from the same small town where my wife's Grandparents are from. Small world! The food was authentic Scottish.



Yes, they had haggis, and steak pie, a signed picture of Andy Murray on the wall and a very good whiskey selection. In selling the deep fried Mars Bar dessert, the owner said it's, "The best thing out of Scotland." Here, I had to correct her, because that would be my wife.



There's a billboard you can't see in America.

After a rare brief visit to IKEA we headed back to Buffalo.

We arrived the Canadian/U.S. border reentry point. There's not a long line. Guy in the car in front of us is getting questioned a very long time. After a couple of minutes I see the siren light over the booth go off, then the gate go down behind his car. My friend has been over the border hundreds of times and has never seen this happen. Border guy gets out of the booth, is on his radio, points to where he wants the driver to go. Driver goes to an unknown fate.

We pull up, tell him one place we went to was IKEA. Guard asks us if we spent $2,000 there. Four of us in a KIA Soul. These are strange times we live in.

We had a great time. Went to my alma mater for a too brief homecoming visit on Saturday night and headed home on Sunday morning in a bit of rain, but it was not snow or ice. The Subaru was magnificent, averaging about 30mpg the entire trip.

Just do not mention what happened to the Buffalo Bills.

Bad weather, good day off randomness

I'm drinking a Brazilian coffee I bought at Stauf's. This stuff is a lot darker than I expected, and quite delicious.

Yes, Grover Norquist, patron saint of the tea party, just said Romney lost because Obama called him a poopy-head.

It's not even high school anymore, this is first grade playground stuff now. Norquist would get slayed in a dozens round.

The check engine light keeps coming on in my car while I'm running errands. Finally unscrewed a dashboard panel and connected two wires to allow the car's computer to give me the code of what is wrong. Turns out, a valve is not operating properly. Not a major cause the car to blow up valve, so we are free to move about the county.

Skyfall is one of the better Bond films. Go see it. He drinks a lot of McCallan.

After a glorious weekend here, the weather has turned sad and rainy. We have the day off today. Thank you Veterans.

Got a couple of errands to run after we go for breakfast

At least it's not Branson

I'd be a lot more enthusiastic about things if I had not sank a lot of money into the car a couple of days ago. I knew the rotors were pitted, braking was similar to bronco busting, but when there was a lot of loud metal on metal banging during acceleration I knew I'd have to give in and take the car to the shop.

So I got to sit around the house and stress, do some editing, stress some more then watch Celtic win their soccer match to get into the Champions League and stress. The call from the mechanic came in, turns out the brake pads were not clipped on right by the people who put them on after I got the car last December, and they froze up the calipers. Scorecard was new brake pads, new rotors and calipers. A sickening total.

This was Wednesday, the same night as the Writers' Block Grand Slam in which the winner would go to the Individual World Poetry Slam. Five poets, including myself, were competing.

I was determined to compete and have fun, with no other expectations. Had my poems pretty much set. A one minute and two minute poem and two three minute poems of which I had to choose one.

Drew the five slot, which meant I went last in the round. That strategy did not matter much, not with only five poets reading.

Read a new poem that I finished the night before, To My Son on his 10th Birthday. You never know what is going to happen when you debut a work, especially during a major slam. After reading it, I got to my seat and my wife was bawling. Guess I struck a nerve in a few other people too as it was the highest scoring poem in the round. This meant I was to read first in round two.

There was no time to settle down, and I had another new poem, this one called Nine Bullets at Qimchok, about the taliban atrocities in Afghanistan. Got the judges verdict, then Gina read her poem and sailed past me in the scoring.

Going into round three, the one minute round Gina was in first, I was in second, Vernell third, Alexis then Aaron.

Gina did her thing then I came up and did, well, An Obscene Phone Call from Mr. Potato Head which brought the house down. I was in the lead and Vernell needed a near perfect score to catch me. That did not happen.

So I won the slam and a trip to the IWPS finals in Fayetteville, Arkansas in October. It was a great night of poetry and all five of us were outstanding. I've accepted the trip. Never been to Arkansas, deep in the Ozarks. My room is booked, the plane reservation will be made next week. I am thrilled, but the money issue and timing was not the best.

That said, I'm looking forward to representing Writers' Block Poetry. Now I have to figure out what to read there. Tough task. I hear there are only going to be 72 poets in the competition this year, so I'm guaranteed a better finish than my 90th in Berkeley three years ago. Also, like 2009, Ethan Rivera will be representing Writing Wrongs Poetry.



Columbus is coming Fayetteville, be ready!

Oh, and next week I get The Uni!

Waiting for the 4th of July

It's a great thing to have functioning air conditioning in the car, especially during this heat wave we're having. Driving across the city in this heat to pick up my son every day is a chore sometimes, at least the car is getting decent gas mileage.

On Saturday I noticed there was be a ticking noise out of the engine when I accelerated. Not loud, yet, but a noise that would not quiet down over time. Luckily, I was able to get to the mechanic before they closed today.

I've written many kind words about Mad Hatter Muffler here. They were busy, even in the late afternoon. There were three people ahead of me, but they work fast. Car was on the lift in less than half an hour. I was called into the work area by the mechanic, who pointed at a small hole in the exhaust by the catalytic converter. He was familiar with the car, had worked on it in the past. Asked me if it was getting louder. Said he'd weld the hole shut. No charge. The whole thing took about forty five minutes.



COTA, the city's municipal bus service has been negotiating with its bus drivers for some time. On Sunday night, a new contract was tentatively agreed upon by the union after a federal mediator stepped in. However, the drivers decided to strike today anyway. This is very, very bad public relations by the workers. Regardless of the compensation of the executive board, this crass act, after a weekend of storms and massive power outages in the city, is a slap in the face of the people who relay on them not only during difficult times, but every day.

Had to drive my wife to work today. Luckily a friend of ours graciously gave her a ride home. If they're still on strike Tuesday, this is going to wreak havoc with a lot of people's plans to go downtown to see the fireworks on Tuesday night. Picking up wife up from downtown late Tuesday afternoon is not something I look forward to.

Edit: and the union has rejected the proposed contract.

Saturday, in the shop

We were headed to a clambake yesterday afternoon. What we thought would be a casual day in a backyard. I brought a bottle of Vihno Verde, some lemon meringue pie. Packed up the kid, and his Ipad and off we went.

On I-70 East, right before the split to I-71, I sensed something wrong with the car. While accelerating the front end violently shook. Had an idea what was wrong as the car was making a bumping sound while turning left. Pulled off the highway and got us home. Luckily I found a mechanic down the block who could look at the car.

As I suspected, it was the driver's side CV joint. Spend two and a half hours at the shop, got to hear about golf, and the other things that were wrong with the car - mechanics always do that to you. It could have been worse, we were not stranded on the highway, and I knew this repair was coming.

Found out the party we were going to was a surprise wedding. Congratulations to M&T!!!

We were not dressed for the occasion. My wife was in flip flops, my son had a Woodstock shirt on and I was wearing this.



Who knows how awkward we would have felt!

Oddly enough the mechanic asked about the shirt and if it had significance other than being a target roundel for the British Royal Air Force.



So I told him about Keith Moon and The Who. He asked if I was a drummer. We talked about golf more, and how I was not much of a fan. Then I mentioned my Scottish Wife and how they were not really into golf either, and he was taken aback.

Finding out the clambake was a wedding was quite a pleasant shock. We're sorry we could not make it. The pie was good though.

Next week there is another party we're attending now that the car is fixed, will this be a wedding, too?

Tires are important

With the central air in the house shot, has been for years, we've been making do in the heat with an air conditioner in the bedroom and a unit in the downstairs that has been on its last legs for too long. Bought a new a/c last week and it's lovely. A smart one so it does not work all the time. It has a remote that beeps loudly when you use it. Most important; it cools quite well.

Yesterday morning I dropped the car at the repair shop for what I hope to be the last major repair for awhile. New tires and a fixed wheel bearing make the car a lot quieter and safer, almost a joy to drive.



I noticed the lowered noise level right away, a bad bearing makes a lot of noise, and the lack of wobbling on the cloverleafs of the interstate entrances. It feels better. The only trouble in the foreseeable future are replacing a couple of rotors due to their age.

Speaking of cars and safety - if I ever drive the Subaru at a ridiculous rate of speed and burn myself to a crisp hitting a tree or an underpass, I give you, Roger Ebert and anyone else permission to call me a jackass. I do not want any internet drama after my demise.

Parts is Parts

It took all day but this phase of the car repair is completed. I take it to a place that tells you everything wrong with the car, and it is depressing seeing such a long list. Tires, water pump (and all its accessories), rotors, all adds up to a money pit of suck.

What is disturbing is that I was told Part-A, which I paid to have fixed elsewhere earlier this year, is still messed up. I'm trying to process how to handle this one. Maybe the part went bad because if it was not looked at and I still paid for it, that is beyond alarming.

Even more disturbing is that my son's mother brought him to me yesterday morning without a coat. She said he does not have one. Really? What I put in his backpack on Wednesday is not a coat? 45 degrees yesterday morning and she did not put a coat on him. Children's services would be called on me if I did that.

My eye is still a leaky mess. Going to be a long ten days.

I Found them, Now

85 degrees on Thursday, barely hitting 50 today. Going to be a chilly walk back from the car repair shop after I drop it off, but I need the exercise.

Went thrifting over the weekend. A couple of weeks ago I found a couple of old Panasonic speakers to replace the ones I had for over twenty five years. It did not take two weeks to find the ones I was looking for in the first place. Figures, right?



Old Radio Shack Optimus 127's. Bookshelf size. They fit on the shelves in the corner of the back room perfectly. They push out a decent amount of sound and the quality is very good. To put it succinctly, I'm thrilled.

Best part is, they cost eight bucks for the pair. Same price as the Panasonics. So sixteen bucks were invested in speakers. I'll take that price.

There is always indoors.

It would not surprise me if I were to go to the ER before the 27th and beg to have this thing removed from my eye. Going on an eye and a half at times is no fun. Yes, I do not have cancer or a brain injury, yet this is interfering with my daily activities. My sight is bad enough without this chalazion warping my eyelid.

Reading. is difficult. Work, is tedious. Typing this, is hazy. Open mic might be out of the question this week, which means I miss participating in the rap slam. At least I should be healed up by Arts Fest.

Supposed to sit on a porch and drink wine in a bit. Fifty degrees and rain, this should be grand.

Tomorrow morning the car goes to the shop for repair. Some work needs to be done on the front end. These were all known issues; ball joints, a possible axle, the alternator belt needs tightening. Maybe they'll take my left eyelid instead of an arm and a leg.

I'm going to go shake my fist at god now, tell him to get off my lawn or start mowing it.

Tasks and More

Woke up at an unearthly hour to have my exhaust system looked at. It's been making some odd noises. At first they were skeptical, but then a couple of other people got under the car and listened. Agreement was reached. Nuts were tightened, a few tiny holes were sealed and everyone was happy with the quieter car. Once again, I sing praise of Mad Hatter Muffler.

In two weeks I'm having a chalazion removed from my left eyelid. It's been there a few months, has not gone away and it starting to be an annoyance.

Once again, Jeni's Ice Cream has created a masterpiece. A new flavor, Rockmill Golden Ale and Apricots was released yesterday. It is killer. The Belgian style ale meshes perfectly with the cream and fruit. You can taste the carbonation of the beer in the texture. An amazing collaboration between Rockmill, a brewery of authentic (albeit expensive) Belgian ales and Jeni's.

After digging a hole in the backyard yesterday, the reasons why will be revealed soon, we enjoyed our ice cream, then some Vihno Verde, while listening to Radio Amsterdam. A song came on which I did not recognize, but my Scottish Wife came bouncing out of the kitchen.

It was a song by Scott Walker.



A Jacques Brel number of whores, opium dens and depravity that was quite racy for 1967. I found the record it was on and listened to that, liked it. The was another Jacques Brel number he covered called Next that was even crazier. I found the video on youtube and read in the comments that a guy named Alex Harvey did it better, so I found that.



I had never heard of this guy before. Holy shit, this guy was a performer. Hell, the whole band is amazing. How many bands had a guitarist in mime makeup?!? Before you know who, that is.

I see that Harvey died in 1982, such a shame. This band's live act had to be legendary. Check out their cover of Delilah.



I was in hysterics watching this. My wife wondered what was going on. She never told me about this group of Glasweigans.

Even if you think you have heard it all, and I do not, you have not. There is always something new out there, even it's it's a Scottish glam group from the 1970's.

A Red Light on West Mound Street

This morning while driving to work I was stopped at a light less than half a mile from my home. In the rear view mirror I saw a car pull up behind me that looked very familiar.

It was the car that hit me in December. The Mustang had very distinctive striping and a vanity plate. I let the car pass me to confirm, and it was her – in a repaired vehicle

We were going the same route, to I-70 East, to 315 North, past the same spot where the collision took place.

I kept my distance, and watched out for white SUVs. I bear her no ill will.

A Long Post About Several Things

Been a good run these past few days. A lot of poetry, friends, and driving.

Wednesday night Kafe Kerouac was packed as the Win and You're In slam went down. Teams from Cleveland, Detroit and two from Columbus went head to head. I'm not sure about the scoring, I was busy keeping time, but Cleveland won with some solid poems.



Again, I've seen the place crowded before, with people on stage sitting, but this was a serious standing room only crowd, and it was amazing!

Friday night's First Draft had Columbus' own Rose Smith doing a feature of all new work.



A couple of powerful poems about a father trying to keep his children fed and about how Obama needs to tighten up really moved me. Great work.

I did a new piece after a one word prompt Scott Woods gave me back in November. It's called Gaythiest and I thought it went over very well.

Later the was a white guy (stay with me, there's a reason I'm calling his skin color) who none of us had never seen hanging around. He paid his admission, got on the list. When he took the stage he simply started taking, no paper, about hospitals, emergency rooms then he dropped the N-bomb. N-please to be a bit more specific. It was some weird unfunny Seinfeldian routine that ended with him saying if you say you are suicidal in a hospital emergency room you will be admitted. And he was done.

The applause was uncomfortable as he left the room. Questions were raised. He did come back, which was good considering the topic of his poem. Suicidal thoughts are not to be laughed off.

I was talking to Scott about this afterward. In my five years of going to WB I've only heard the N word a handful of times, never used by a white guy. And we talked about how WB definitely uses racial humor as part of the act, we do not do racial slurs. Big difference. You never know what the night will bring.

Also during this time we saw the film A Town Called Panic a silly animated film from Belgium. Simply put, a cowboy, Indian, and horse have an adventure. Here's a short of theirs which may, or may not explain what this is about.



It's not a long film at 75 minutes, but I giggled a lot, and that's hard for me to do these days.

Saturday was a long day. Started with me headed to the junkyard to try and harvest a couple of small parts for my car. Went into the yard with a phillips head screwdriver and hope. Took me some time to find the Subarus. Walked by the sad Volvos and a long line of damaged Beetles, which was where they were behind. Found a trashed, older Outback, there were no Legacys that I could fine, and opened the hatchback. I was looking for a clip for the curtain, which was tough to get out and a lock for the rear seat to move it up and down.

Turns out, only one of the items, the seat lock, fit.

The tragedy was that my sunglasses were missing. They clip on to my frames with magnets. I had the screwdriver and sunglasses in my inside coat pocket. Somehow, when I took the screwdriver out, the sunglasses were attached and went flying.

Went back in the Subaru area, and thanks to St. Anthony the sunglasses were right on the ground, easily seen.

After this stress it was off for coffee at Cup O' Joe in Bexley where I sat with the iPod Touch, updating and updating as Everton took Chelsea to penalties in their FA Cup match, and won! Happy morning!

After watching my son swim it was time to get the car ready for the trip to Cincinnati. This was a test for the Subaru as it was the first long drive I have taken with it.

We were joined by our friend B-Dazzle, who did a craft project with my wife during the drive down.



It was an Army of Amys and one of them stared at me the whole drive down. I think there's one left in the back of the wagon.

Out first stop was Jungle Jim's in Fairfield. We've been here before, but not B-Dazzle. Out main objective was the IRN-Bru, which was, to our delight, available in 12 packs. We bought one of those while my Scottish Wife tossed candy and crisps into the cart. I almost picked up a can of haggis.



Picked up a few beverages including, the national drink of Austria.

After Jungle Jim's it was time to head to Cincinnati proper. Thanks to B-Dazzle's GPS we arrived with little trouble.

By this time we were a bit hungry. Sure, we had plenty of IRN-Bru, but we needed hot food. The place across the street from where we parked was closed, but my wife spotted a beer light about a block away. Turns out it was a bar and grill called Arnold's.



Immediately upon entering I knew we found the right spot. Reminded me of Ulrich's and McSorley's. This was an old school place (since 1859) in a building that has been standing since 1948 and it did not disappoint. Good food, good beer and friendly service. If we're in downtown Cincinnati again, this is the place to go.

We walked the two blocks to the Blue Wisp for the other reason for the road trip, the Whirlwind Company, Brisn S. David, Mike McGee, Mindy Nettifee and Jon Sands, a group of touring poets.



We immediately met three other Columbus poets who made the trip down and Jon Sands. Jon took a table from the back of the room and moved it to the front, which was where we sat the rest of the night. Great people, great poetry family.

I had never heard of Mindy before this tour and was completely gobsmacked by a poem she wrote about her father called Tremelo. I do not buy as much merchandise as I should, but I bought the book the poem is in.

It was good to meet Brian and Mindy and reconnect with Mike (who I had not seen since Berkeley) and Jon. On the drive home under an extremely bright moon I thought how lucky I am to have such great, talented friends, and to be a small part of the poetry community locally and nationally.

Random Friday

What can I say about Writers’ Block’s Founder’s Night? People brought new work, dusted off some old poems – dusted off themselves to come out for the first time in awhile. It’s family, and I’m honored to be a part of it. Scott and Vernell have sustained a loving and supportive creative venue for fifteen years and I cannot thank them enough.

Did a new piece called “Slam Poet Junction” in which I took a scythe to slam poetry topics and put a dagger to the throat of my own work. You never know how new work is going to go in such a crowded setting, and I went first so I got to set the tone of the evening. Yes, the title is Schoolhouse Rock based. Yes, there is singing. Yes, it would sound good with bongos, er, congas backing it up!

Wrote it after watching a DVD of the IWPS 2009 finals; There was some very good poetry read, but I’m not sure it traveled well. Kind of like really, really enjoying a wine during a tasting at the winery. Meeting the winemaker, seeing the vineyards, then when you buy a bottle of the wine you just had and take it home, it does not taste as good. Terroir matters.

The week continued with my son’s school bus not showing up on time, again, on Thursday morning. It finally showed up when he was supposed to be in school. Transportation heard from me. The bus driver heard from me. They know I am not pleased with their lack of punctuality.

I finally got the title to the car and went to the BMV to get license plates. There was no one there. No waiting at the BMV is a great thing to receive.

There was a snow event in the city yesterday so the drive home from work last night was an adventure. I took it slow and steady, as did most of the commuters. There was one mini-van that went into the ditch on Fisher Road, but no one was hurt. Wound up getting all my errands done.

On getting home I found my Scottish Wife in our parking space, shoveling a path for me to park. That was sweet. She even shoveled the back walk while I put the new plates on the car. I shoveled the front, and the sidewalk of my neighbor. We ended up with about six inches of snow.

The car was frozen shut this morning and I had to chip away and wait to finally be able to get in though one of the back doors, push open the front doors – great fun in single digit temperatures, in the dark. Scraping the car of ice and snow was finger numbing, even in gloves. It could be worse. Wanted to head out to the car graveyard and salvage a couple of small parts for the interior tomorrow morning, but temperatures are once again going to be cold. So I’ll end up back at work for a couple of hours and will hopefully be able to see my son in the pool too.

Writers’ Block First Draft tonight. Nuku Haiku, including the haiku death match. Starts at eight at Kafe Kerouac. Admission is a mere three dollars. You can’t beat that!

There was a lovely moon set in the west that I got to see from the large window behind me. Nice way to get the day going.

Escaping to a Game

The latest car ordeal has ended. The bearing has been replaced. The car started right up in single degree temperatures this morning. Let’s keep our fingers crossed this will be the last major repair for a long time.

After getting the car back we decided to get out of the house, since I really had not been out for two days. Went to our first Ohio State Hockey game this season.

Got great seats on center ice, we were also given complimentary souvenier cowbells. Ohio State Cowbells. Block "O" Cowbells. Anyone else here thinking “Columbus Clippers Ring Your Bell” here? The crowd did use their cowbells to great effect during power plays, penalty kills, whenever an OSU player did something good.

OSU was playing Miami University, who were ranked seventh in the country coming into the weekend. This is a good hockey team. What I saw out of OSU was surprising. They came right out and started hitting, and maintained this pace the whole game. Miami gave it right back, and this was a great hockey game to watch. The average size of a Miami defenseman is over six feet, their back line is huge, what are they feeding them in Oxford?

This was the first game I’ve seen since OSU coach Osiecki took over and the new attitude of the team impressed me. I have not seen a determined OSU hockey team in years. Win or lose, it’s very refreshing to see the program begin to be lifted from some a very stagnant team philosophy.

Miami outshot OSU by plenty but it was Sergio Somma who scored on a power play goal with 8.9 seconds left in the second period to make it 1-0 for the home team. Now it was up to the Buckeyes to hold the lead for the final period.

There was a lot of shaky play and giveaways by the OSU defense all night, but somehow a teammate always managed to clear out the puck. The most important player on the ice was goalie Cal Heeter, who not only cleaned up the mistakes of the tea, but stopped every shot put to him by a ferocious Miami attack. Heeter was the man of the night as OSU hung on to win 1-0. A well earned shut out, but the game really could have gone either way.

There was a very good crowd on hand, at least 5,000 in good voice. I was quite impressed that there was a large and vocal student section behind one of the goals. It’s very important to have some student tradition and great to finally see the kids come out to support the team. I’d like to think Coach Osiecki finally got the athletic department to reach out to the dorms to get the students to the games.

I missed last night’s OSU win, which was just as exciting. They were down 2-0 going into the third period but scored five straight goals to get the sweep. Great weekend for the team.

Looks like I’ll be back at a few more games this season.

The less said about the Blue Jackets, the better.

The last day of this year

There is a choice of tunes in the car again. Bought one of those cassette adapters all the kids are using these days. The kids that have old vehicles with cassette decks in them that is. Took it out of the package right in the parking lot, popped it in the deck, plugged in the iPod and This Time Tomorrow by The Kinks started playing in the speakers. Nice.

Here's that year end meme that makes the round every year at this time.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Was the driver in a car accident.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Did I make any last year? Do I even want to look?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
I was starting to know Jeff Abraxas.

5. What countries did you visit?
None!

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
More time to travel. A son who is verbal and toilet trained.

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 15th, the accident. Could have been so much worse.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
30 poems about autism in 30 days. That was April. Changed a tire on a cold, November night without wanting to hit anything with a tire iron.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being able to pull my son into our world

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
A bit of vertigo

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A 1993 Subaru, iPod baby. Bedroom floor.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My Scottish Wife.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Those who vote against their own interest

14. Where did most of your money go?
The mortgage, freaking car repairs.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My son when he decides to poop in the toilet.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Winter Winds - Mumford & Sons

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? Not much different, and that has to change
iii. richer or poorer? Um, richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Getting in my son's face, writing

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Goofing off online

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my wife, saw Black Swan, then at Jim's watching Doctor Who

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Stayed

23. Did your heart break in 2010?
Nah.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Men of a Certain Age

25. Where were you when 2010 began?
At home, I was at Scott's but left early

26. Who were you with?
My wife, who was recovering from dental work

27. Where will you be when 2010 ends?
At home, but at Dave's before that

28. Who will you be with when 2010 ends?
With my wife and (hopefully) sleeping son

29. What was the best book you read?
Room - Emma Donaghue

30. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Drew Grow and the Pastors Wives

31. What did you want and get?
My wife to find a good job

32. What did you want and not get?
Published. To get on a slam team

33. What was your favorite film of this year?
Saw so few new ones. Toy Story 3

34. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I think I stayed at home and whined about the heat

35. How many different states did you travel to in 2010?
Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania. Blech

36. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
me

37. What kept you sane?
My job, my son, Emma.

38. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Readers of this blog already know the answer to that question.

39. What political issue stirred you the most?
Manufactured outrage

40. How many concerts did you see in 2010?
Mumford and Sons, Roger Waters

41. Did you have a favorite concert in 2010?
Mumford and Sons

42. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure if I've met anyone who I can say is the best, really have not been close to anyone new to rate them

43. Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
I do not think so

44. What was your most embarrassing moment of 2010?
Turning a two minute poem into one that went on for over three minutes

45. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
Changing a tire on a cold November night is not that difficult as long as there is some lighting

46. What are your plans for 2011?
Travel more, to Long Island and Scotland. Write more. Lose some freaking weight

47. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I want to write a message to you every day at ten o'clock in the evening - Belle & Sebastian

2010 was not a bad year. I'm very lucky.

It Could Have Been Worse

Spent a fair amount of time and money in three repair shops on Thursday and Today. When you buy a used car, cheap, it's going to be far from perfect. First I had the brakes fixed, this morning the exhaust and in the afternoon I had the thermostat replaced.



The car now stops, sounds quiet and has amazing heat. There are a few more things that need to be taken care of, but not yet. Probably after we return from our trip east in two weeks.

Hoping we have better weather than what's been going on the past couple of weekends. Long Island got socked with snow. Luckily one of my brothers and nephew helped dig my parents out. They're not getting younger, and my stepfather has a bad shoulder that prohibits him from a lot of physical activity. So I worry.

Tomorrow, my oldest brother turns fifty - and I'm right behind him.

Going to combine this entry with a list of the books I read this year. I did read a few more than this, but they were lost to bad memory and a failed hard drive. Not time to give lengthy reviews, but if you see three stars it means the book was very good. Four stars is a superior read. No stars means I got through it, but it was nothing special.

So here's the list of the books I read in 2010.

1) We're Going to See the Beatles. Garry Berman. 284 p.
2) Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend. Larry Tye. 392 p.
3) A Couple of Ways of Doing Something. Chuck Close, Bob Holman
4) No Poet's Corner in the Abbey - David Phillips. 222 p.
5) The Horse Boy - Rupert Isaacson.357 p. ***
6) Tooth and Nail. Ian Rankin. 290 p. ***
7) Words in Your Face. Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz. 371 p. ***
8) Open: An Autobiography. Andre Agassi. 385 p. ***
9) Corn Flakes with John Lennon. Robert Hilburn. 296 p.
10) Just Kids. Patti Smith. 278 p. ***
11) Sakura Park. Rachel Wetzteon. 115 p.
12) Marriage and Other Acts of Charity. Kate Braestrup. 217 p.
13) Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine and the End of France. Michael Sternberger. 243 p.
14) Point Omega. Don Delillo. 117 p.
15) As it was Written. Sujatha Hampton. 370 p.
16) Me, the Mob and the Music. Tommy James with Martin Fitzpatrick. 227 p.
17) Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. Barbara Demick. 314 p. ***
18) Marilyn Johnson - This Book is Overdue. How Libraries and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. 272 p.
19) The United States of Poetry. 176 p.
20) Secret Historian - The Life & Times of Samuel Steward. Justin Spring. 478 p. **** (best non-fiction)
21) The Half Life of Planets. Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin. 247 p. ***
22) You Lost Me There. Rosencrans Baldwin. 296 p. ***
23) Eaarth. Bill McKibben. 253 p. ***
24) Lay the Favorites - A Memoir of Gambling. Beth Rayner. 228 p.
25) Pat Conroy - My Reading History. 337 p. ***
26) Emma Donaguhe - Room. 321 p. **** (best fiction)
27) Keith Richards - Life. 564 p. ***
28) Patricia Smith - Big Towns, Big Talk. 114 p.
29) Maus Book 1. Art Spiegelman. 158 p. ****
30) Great House. Nicole Krauss. 289 p.
31) Gold Medal Killer. Diana Britt Franklin. 210 p.
32) Pat Benatar - Between a Rock and a Hard Place. 256 p. ***
33) The Passage - Justin Cronin. 784 p.
34) The Outside Boy - Jeanine Cummins. 384 p.
35) Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend - James S. Hirsch. 640 p. ***
36) The Autism Mom's Survival Guide (For Dad's Too) - Susan Senator. 208 p. ***
37) Ian Rankin - Strip Jack. 320 p. ***
38) This Body of Death - Elizabeth George. 692 p. ***
39) Tooth and Nail - Ian Rankin. 304 p.
40) A Good Hanging - Ian Rankin. 253 p.
41) Little Bee - Chris Cleave. 304 p.
42) The Emptiness of Our Hands: A Lent Lived on the Streets - Phyllis Cole-Dai & James Murray. 243 p. ***
43) The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron - Howard Bryant. 624 p. ***
44) Shutout - Brendan Halpin. 189 p.
45) Paul Murray - Skippy Dies. 672 p. ***
46) Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteynegert.. 352 p. ***
47) Medium Raw - Anthony Bourdain. 304 p.
48) Poisoner's Handbook - Deborah Blum. 336 p. ***
49) Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So - Mark Vonnegut. 203 p.
50) Wilson - Daniel Clowes - 77 p.
51) How to Read the Air - Dinaw Mengestu - 305 p.
52) Voices of Autism: The Healing Companion: Stories for Courage, Comfort and Strength. 243 p.
53) Solar - Ian McEwan. 304 p. 480 p.
54) Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Daniel Okrent.
55) An Object of Beauty - Steve Martin. 304 p. ***
56) Stephen King - Full Dark, No Stars. 368 p. ***
57) The Walking Dead Volume One - Robert Kirkham and Tony Moore
58) Jennifer Egan - A Visit from the Goon Squad. 288 p.
59) Ian Rankin - The Black Room. 336 p.

That's Not My Blog Post!

I am now an owner of a 1993 Subaru Legacy Station Wagon. It looks like this, but a bit dingier.



It has low mileage, 133K. For a 17 year old car that averages out to about 8,000 miles a year. Has not been driven much. I've had the brake pads replaced and will have the exhaust fixed on Monday. The engine has more pep than expected.

My son joined me as I signed the paperwork, went to the exhaust repair shop for the sticker shock and got the oil changed. He behaved wonderfully.

Returned the rental, someone might need it. I was very impressed with the Hyundai Elantra. When I rented the Accent back in October, I was unimpressed with it because of it's highway boredom, small gas tank and poor gas economy.

The Elantra has a lot of zip, was very comfortable to be in. Wish I had it longer because it had a plug in for an iPod.

Also have to once again give props to the staff at Enterprise on West Broad Street. Very courteous people and they gave me a lift home.

My Scottish Wife suggested we go to an Indian restaurant. It's not my go to place, but she asks for so little in return for being so awesome I could not refuse.

After being seated sitting next to us were two servers from Zen Cha, a tea house my wife goes to (as do I, sometimes) so we had a nice talk with them too.

Then the server came up and said a co-worker told her that I was a "great poet" and that it was "An honor to serve me."

Recognition does happen, and it's humbling when it does. Unlike one poet, who told me she was recognized in a store dressing room, with her pants down - it's pretty cool when someone publicly gives you praise, outside of the venue.

Had a very good chicken curry. Got comped for nothing, not even naan. See what being a famous local poet gets you? Thought about putting a haiku on the receipt but did not.

Glad we decided to head to a friend's house for socializing instead of seeing a movie or not going out.

Played Apples to Apples Jr. and ended up being the winner. Yay me!

I'd never played Catch Phrase and have not laughed so hard in a long time. Had to take my glasses off because they were steaming. Trigger word - Doo Rag.

Today my son's coming over and will stay the night with us. He's at his mother's the rest of the weekend. I might get some last minute shopping in. Tonight we'll open his presents and have a quiet night with each other.

Life is good, Otis Redding is wishing me a White Christmas, and it looks like the snow is staying on the ground for the next few days.

May you Constant Readers have a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and a lovely holiday. Thank you all.

Going a Bit Deep

Such a fantastic notion has been formed in our culture; one that has been manipulated to believe that the rich are poor and need more and the poor are rich and have too much.

My son is not human. How he can survive on little sleep, get knocked out to have dental work done and still stay up until one thirty in the morning is astonishing. This kid can power a neighborhood.

He had a lot of cavities filled in, and was not happy coming out of the anesthesia. Scary and sad to watch, poor guy - and the over bearing nurse who assumed way too much about what my son does for activities and eats for starters, would not shut the hell up. I know she has a job to do, but if she got any closer she would have been behind us.

The insurance company made me a low, but ultimately fair offer on the Volvo and I made a commitment to buy a 1993 Subaru Legacy Wagon.

The Subaru has some issues. There's a leak in the exhaust that is easily repairable and the brakes are going to need some work. I offered to pay "X" amount in cash and the dealer agreed. Should be picking it up tomorrow.

What is sleep again?