Being back in Cincy is nowhere near as strange and awkward as it should be since it provides a nice balance between old and new. Last night, I got a chance to see Freshmen 15, an all-male a capella group from Northwestern, which was great. They provided quite a concert to the small crowd at the Madisonville Arts Center (MAC) putting their own twists on traditional songs. We hung out after the show, which was great, and celebrated Steve's (Bubbles) 20th birthday.
Today I headed back down 71 to Exit 9 again to visit teachers and the kind at 7 Hills. I was having lunch at Wooster with Duke (AD) and Glen (transportation director-i.e guy who decides on snow day closures), and the snow began to come down. For those of you not familiar with Cincy, when it starts to snow, people panic and act irrational to the max. At lunch, they were getting all sorts of calls from postponing tonight's basketball game @ Lockland (damn, I wanted to see that game) to seeing half of the junior and senior class leave school to keeping the 1:06 fire drill in place despite the snow.
While 7 Hills may have had fewer students today than normal, it was still fun going around and talking to former teachers and the like. Great stories all around and its encouraging to see the place still up and running. While the Internet situation may be Soviet and the food worse than awful, it is still one heck of a school, and today proved that point straight home.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Why I dislike the Delta at Logan
It’s a balmy (60 in Boston mid-December) mostly cloudy day at Logan Airport. Even though, the nation’s grid looks awful, the air channels between Boston and Cincinnati are clear and all looks good to go. As I step up to the baggage drop, I have a bright smile on my face having just finished my exams ready to embark on a month-long break. However, Delta quickly swiped the smile off my face when my large suitcase came in at 53 pounds. After some shuffling, I was able to the bag down to 49, and I though I was off on my way.
As I approached TSA, I had my carry-on and backpack in hand. The bored TSA attendant noticed that my carry-on was way over the legal limit. I argued my case on length and the fact that I was flying Comair (Delta Connection) so they would pink tag it anyways. He felt sympathetic, but he had to obey the law, since my bag did not even come close on the width requirement. By the way, I had carried on the same bag from Boston to San Francisco on American and managed to get a gate check. So, it was back to the Delta counter for me.
I am traveling on a miles ticket from my dad’s account (he’s in the million-mile club and platinum medallion), so I figured they would be light on any fees. Since his status had got me the first bag for free, the laid the push in the second bag. At first glance, they said it would be $25, and I gave them a look, which caused them to look up the structure. That was an incredibly stupid move on my part since now I was looking at the true fee of $50. Luckily, I was able to contain my emotions to some nasty looks and some quiet expletives under my breath.
After that, flying to Cincy, has been a breeze. Aboard flight 6678, the flight attendants are great as they usually are with Comair, and they have the best peanuts, but the bags are tiny, so I always snatch two bags. At least the peanuts and drinks are still included, but that may not last long. With empty seat next to me, the longest sunset ever (due to the westbound flight at the beginning of the sunset), I guess my moaning about Delta needs to be limited to Logan employees and upper management. Somehow, I’ll be back flying Delta again in less than 96 hours down to West Palm Beach, which is suddenly a much poorer city due to today’s economic scandal. In the meanwhile, I’ll be writing about my stories in Cincy, which will surely be interesting in one way or another.
As I approached TSA, I had my carry-on and backpack in hand. The bored TSA attendant noticed that my carry-on was way over the legal limit. I argued my case on length and the fact that I was flying Comair (Delta Connection) so they would pink tag it anyways. He felt sympathetic, but he had to obey the law, since my bag did not even come close on the width requirement. By the way, I had carried on the same bag from Boston to San Francisco on American and managed to get a gate check. So, it was back to the Delta counter for me.
I am traveling on a miles ticket from my dad’s account (he’s in the million-mile club and platinum medallion), so I figured they would be light on any fees. Since his status had got me the first bag for free, the laid the push in the second bag. At first glance, they said it would be $25, and I gave them a look, which caused them to look up the structure. That was an incredibly stupid move on my part since now I was looking at the true fee of $50. Luckily, I was able to contain my emotions to some nasty looks and some quiet expletives under my breath.
After that, flying to Cincy, has been a breeze. Aboard flight 6678, the flight attendants are great as they usually are with Comair, and they have the best peanuts, but the bags are tiny, so I always snatch two bags. At least the peanuts and drinks are still included, but that may not last long. With empty seat next to me, the longest sunset ever (due to the westbound flight at the beginning of the sunset), I guess my moaning about Delta needs to be limited to Logan employees and upper management. Somehow, I’ll be back flying Delta again in less than 96 hours down to West Palm Beach, which is suddenly a much poorer city due to today’s economic scandal. In the meanwhile, I’ll be writing about my stories in Cincy, which will surely be interesting in one way or another.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Derry, NH
I spent many weekends this fall semester canvassing for the New Hampshire Campaign for Change based out originally out of Manchester then Derry then Raymond. My transitions kept showing how the campaign was transforming even further into the grassroots with each week as the election approached. Raymond is only a town of 15,000 people, but yet we had a huge office out of an old furniture store, which showed the great support for the Democratic ticket in New Hampshire's reddest region (Rockingham County, but it went blue in 2008!) With the Democratic ticket of Obama, Jeanne Shaheen, and Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1) winning all of these counties, we know that our work really paid off.
These journeys became more and more epic as we got closer to the election. Usually riding up in a unstable, speeding van, we would dash up Route 93 to Exit 4 for Derry or to Exit 7 to Exit 5 for Raymond. In Derry, we grew particularly fond of a local diner called Sundae Delite. The place is a true down-to-earth diner with the some of the nicest owners in the world. Besides being huge Democrats, these people would go out of their way to make sure that they could get whatever we wanted. In addition, their sandwiches, which are incredibly delicious and made in front of our eyes, are crazy cheap with my favorite the light rye tuna melt costing a mere $2.50.
Due to the great atmosphere and amazing food, we had to take a return trip to Derry before the end of the semester to cap it off. As we crossed the NH state line, we were reminded that all of the rain that has fallen in Boston the past 3 days froze in NH creating a spectacular ice storm (This is a link to a bunch of ice storm pics http://www.boston.com/news/local/gallery/121208_readersweatherphotos/). Trees were split all along Route 93 creating huge traffic jams statewide. This storm also knocked out power to over half of the NH customers including the area around Exit 3. Before taking the backroads into downtown Derry, we were scared that we would arrive to a powerless Sundae Delite, thus negating our 45 minute drive. However, downtown Derry somehow never lost power like the surrounding regions, and we gladly pulled into Sundae Delite. The owners were just delighted to see us, and they were a bit surprised we had made the trek up. They had lost their power in the ice storm and were going to be living at the restaurant until the power was restored, which is not supposed to happen until Wednesday.
Even despite these awful conditions, they still treated us like the first family. Upon arrival, two large plates of popcorn arrived on our table, which we devoured upon site. After our meals arrived and were devoured in record time, cups of their swirl soft serve ice cream arrived on the table for each one of us. This give and take relationship signifies the core of NH values where each of us are giving to each other in the spirit of humankind. So if you are ever in Derry, stop by Sundae Delite and say hi from the Tufts for Obama.
These journeys became more and more epic as we got closer to the election. Usually riding up in a unstable, speeding van, we would dash up Route 93 to Exit 4 for Derry or to Exit 7 to Exit 5 for Raymond. In Derry, we grew particularly fond of a local diner called Sundae Delite. The place is a true down-to-earth diner with the some of the nicest owners in the world. Besides being huge Democrats, these people would go out of their way to make sure that they could get whatever we wanted. In addition, their sandwiches, which are incredibly delicious and made in front of our eyes, are crazy cheap with my favorite the light rye tuna melt costing a mere $2.50.
Due to the great atmosphere and amazing food, we had to take a return trip to Derry before the end of the semester to cap it off. As we crossed the NH state line, we were reminded that all of the rain that has fallen in Boston the past 3 days froze in NH creating a spectacular ice storm (This is a link to a bunch of ice storm pics http://www.boston.com/news/local/gallery/121208_readersweatherphotos/). Trees were split all along Route 93 creating huge traffic jams statewide. This storm also knocked out power to over half of the NH customers including the area around Exit 3. Before taking the backroads into downtown Derry, we were scared that we would arrive to a powerless Sundae Delite, thus negating our 45 minute drive. However, downtown Derry somehow never lost power like the surrounding regions, and we gladly pulled into Sundae Delite. The owners were just delighted to see us, and they were a bit surprised we had made the trek up. They had lost their power in the ice storm and were going to be living at the restaurant until the power was restored, which is not supposed to happen until Wednesday.
Even despite these awful conditions, they still treated us like the first family. Upon arrival, two large plates of popcorn arrived on our table, which we devoured upon site. After our meals arrived and were devoured in record time, cups of their swirl soft serve ice cream arrived on the table for each one of us. This give and take relationship signifies the core of NH values where each of us are giving to each other in the spirit of humankind. So if you are ever in Derry, stop by Sundae Delite and say hi from the Tufts for Obama.
Future of the Crosstown Shootout
When every Cincinnati and Xavier see the college basketball schedule, one of the games they instantly circle is the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout. There is no doubt that these teams dislike each other due to their history and proximity. However, for a rivalry to succeed both sides and their rampant fan bases need to remain actively engaged in the game.
With its move to the Big East and the whole Huggins/Zimpher debacle, the Bearcats athletic department has begun to take a more all-around approach to athletics. For years, UC was primarily a basketball school with a very rich tradition. However, with the move to the Big East, other teams have begun to strengthen from the women's volleyball team making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament to the baseball team's success in making it to the Big East finals last year. Most notably, the football team has won the Big East and is heading to FedEx Orange Bowl in Miami. For the time in UC history, the football team is getting far more coverage than the basketball team. More UC fans will travel to Miami on New Year's Day than will pack Fifth/Third Arena tonight vs. Xavier. Crosstown Shootout tickets used to be the hardest tickets in Cincinnati to get, and now I can still go online to gobearcats.com to get a ticket. People used to camp out for these tickets, but now its no big deal. Can you ever imagine being able to buy even the worst seat in the house for a Duke/UNC on game day? I think not.
Xavier on the other hand is one of the best mid-major programs in the nation along with Gonzaga, Creighton, Southern Illinois, and a few others. While scheduling marquee matchups has gotten much easier for the Muskies in the past few years, they clearly still have more to gain by beating the Bearcats. If the Bearcats lose today, they will have lost to a superior team. However, if X loses, it will be their third straight loss at 5/3 Arena, even though the past few years have been much stronger for the Muskies than the Bearcats. The reverse was true throughout the 90s, when X would regularly upset the Bearcats. Then, the Bearcats were #1 in the country and the game was of national focus. While X has climbed back into the Top 10, I would make a safe bet that a much larger audience will be watching the presentation of the Heisman Trophy on ESPN than the Shootout on ESPN2 at the same time.
In addition, without Bob Huggins' arrogance, the rivalry takes a hit. This is a man who refused to shake Pete Gillen's hand after an X victory in the previous decade. Now, Coach Cronin and Coach Miller get along and its not that much different of a game. Even in Cincy, the attention is down. On cincinnati.com's sports section, the #1 story is about Redfest, #2 about the Shootout, and #3 the five-day old Bearcats football going to the Orange Bowl. Honestly, X is probably more excited for their matchup vs Duke the following Saturday in the Meadowlands than tonight's game. I guess we will just have to see who shows up in front of a crowd that will likely not be a sellout for the first time in recent memory.
Who knows what lies ahead for the rivalry? It should continue since it gets both teams excited for a key non-conference matchup. With 18 Big East games for the Bearcats, nothing should be considered a lock with non-conference scheduling. Also, if the Bearcats continue to struggle, the Muskies may drop the Cats from the schedule in order to improve their strength of schedule while playing in a weak A-10. Hopefully, the rivalry will continue, but it needs to regain some flair to recapture the attention of the city like in the 1990s, which is truly beneficial for both teams.
With its move to the Big East and the whole Huggins/Zimpher debacle, the Bearcats athletic department has begun to take a more all-around approach to athletics. For years, UC was primarily a basketball school with a very rich tradition. However, with the move to the Big East, other teams have begun to strengthen from the women's volleyball team making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament to the baseball team's success in making it to the Big East finals last year. Most notably, the football team has won the Big East and is heading to FedEx Orange Bowl in Miami. For the time in UC history, the football team is getting far more coverage than the basketball team. More UC fans will travel to Miami on New Year's Day than will pack Fifth/Third Arena tonight vs. Xavier. Crosstown Shootout tickets used to be the hardest tickets in Cincinnati to get, and now I can still go online to gobearcats.com to get a ticket. People used to camp out for these tickets, but now its no big deal. Can you ever imagine being able to buy even the worst seat in the house for a Duke/UNC on game day? I think not.
Xavier on the other hand is one of the best mid-major programs in the nation along with Gonzaga, Creighton, Southern Illinois, and a few others. While scheduling marquee matchups has gotten much easier for the Muskies in the past few years, they clearly still have more to gain by beating the Bearcats. If the Bearcats lose today, they will have lost to a superior team. However, if X loses, it will be their third straight loss at 5/3 Arena, even though the past few years have been much stronger for the Muskies than the Bearcats. The reverse was true throughout the 90s, when X would regularly upset the Bearcats. Then, the Bearcats were #1 in the country and the game was of national focus. While X has climbed back into the Top 10, I would make a safe bet that a much larger audience will be watching the presentation of the Heisman Trophy on ESPN than the Shootout on ESPN2 at the same time.
In addition, without Bob Huggins' arrogance, the rivalry takes a hit. This is a man who refused to shake Pete Gillen's hand after an X victory in the previous decade. Now, Coach Cronin and Coach Miller get along and its not that much different of a game. Even in Cincy, the attention is down. On cincinnati.com's sports section, the #1 story is about Redfest, #2 about the Shootout, and #3 the five-day old Bearcats football going to the Orange Bowl. Honestly, X is probably more excited for their matchup vs Duke the following Saturday in the Meadowlands than tonight's game. I guess we will just have to see who shows up in front of a crowd that will likely not be a sellout for the first time in recent memory.
Who knows what lies ahead for the rivalry? It should continue since it gets both teams excited for a key non-conference matchup. With 18 Big East games for the Bearcats, nothing should be considered a lock with non-conference scheduling. Also, if the Bearcats continue to struggle, the Muskies may drop the Cats from the schedule in order to improve their strength of schedule while playing in a weak A-10. Hopefully, the rivalry will continue, but it needs to regain some flair to recapture the attention of the city like in the 1990s, which is truly beneficial for both teams.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Rainy Thursday-The Beginning
As I writing this post on a Rainy Thursday in my dorm room at Tufts University in Somerville, Mass, I just wanted to tell you the inspiration for the blog and what you should expect on the site in the coming posts. The blog's name is directly based off the fact it somehow on average takes 24 minutes driving from my house in the suburbs of Cincinnati to reach the broad, murky waters of the Ohio River and the same amount of time via walking from my dorm to Davis Square and taking the T's Red Line to reach the Charles River. It was just too strange of a quirk not to notice, and I enjoy traveling.
Discovering the world is one my main passions. I have been to 30 states (some big holes to fill in the West, Great Plains, and Deep South), 2 US territories (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands), and 12 other countries (Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Bahamas, Antigua, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland) with travel already booked to the Dominican Republic, British Virgin Islands, and Nicaragua. I will be blogging about these trips and hopefully many future ones on this blog. My digital camera may not be the best, but the pictures from it should end up on the blog.
The fact that I am wearing a replica Pavel Nedved jersey while typing this entry should tell that I am a huge sports fan. If I ask me what my favorite sport is, I would probably say football, since all levels of the game from high school to college to the NFL are so exciting. I enjoy high school and college basketball more than the football counterparts, but as long as the NBA is based on personalities and not playing defense, count me out. Being a Cincinnatian, I am a total homer for the Reds and Bengals no matter how poorly they are playing. Even though I am a proud Jumbo, my Division 1 team again is the home Cincinnati Bearcats, whose football team I have been on the bandwagon long before they were going to the BCS! I have been to at least one game in each of the past ten seasons, so I have the amazing and the ugly. Also, Bearcats basketball is improving again under Coach Cronin, so watch out for an upset Saturday night when crosstown rival #10 Xavier comes to the Shoe (5/3 Arena). I have been known to support Liverpool FC, who are playing hanging onto the top of the EPL, the Israeli national soccer team, the Boston Celtics, and the Minnesota Wild. I can get excited about any sport from rugby to field hockey. I also passionately dislike certain teams including any sports team from THE Ohio State University, the Pittsburgh Steelers (stealers?), Ed Hightower, Ted Hillary, CHCA (Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy), the Chicago Cubs, the New York Yankees, any player playing against my fantasy football team (which sadly went 6-8 this season and missed the playoffs by losing the 2 biggest games of the season by a total of 3 points).
In addition, I am very passionate about politics. I spent a large portion of the past 18 months in helping elect Barack Obama, the next President of the United States, by canvassing and volunteering in five different states. I took a few months off from doing Obama stuff to intern full-time for Doctor Victoria Wulsin who ran for Congress in the Ohio Second District, and was defeated by conservative Republican Jean Schmidt. I am heading to DC for the inauguration, which should be an amazing experience and I will provide full coverage. Even though I am a progressive, I am not a down the ticket Democrat, and for example I agree with the decision of the voters in LA-2 to kick icebox Jefferson out of Congress this past weekend. Blago must resign from office! I agree with Obama's centrist cabinet, since his bi-partisanship should be able to bring about pragmatic change from the ways of Bush and Cheney. Not quite sure I would have made Hillary the Secretary of State since her strengths lie seem to lie in health care, but he could have made a far worse choice. The Obama administration should be fascinating to watch.
I have been putting off the creation of this blog for a long day, so I hope you will enjoy hearing my take on the world.
Discovering the world is one my main passions. I have been to 30 states (some big holes to fill in the West, Great Plains, and Deep South), 2 US territories (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands), and 12 other countries (Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Bahamas, Antigua, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland) with travel already booked to the Dominican Republic, British Virgin Islands, and Nicaragua. I will be blogging about these trips and hopefully many future ones on this blog. My digital camera may not be the best, but the pictures from it should end up on the blog.
The fact that I am wearing a replica Pavel Nedved jersey while typing this entry should tell that I am a huge sports fan. If I ask me what my favorite sport is, I would probably say football, since all levels of the game from high school to college to the NFL are so exciting. I enjoy high school and college basketball more than the football counterparts, but as long as the NBA is based on personalities and not playing defense, count me out. Being a Cincinnatian, I am a total homer for the Reds and Bengals no matter how poorly they are playing. Even though I am a proud Jumbo, my Division 1 team again is the home Cincinnati Bearcats, whose football team I have been on the bandwagon long before they were going to the BCS! I have been to at least one game in each of the past ten seasons, so I have the amazing and the ugly. Also, Bearcats basketball is improving again under Coach Cronin, so watch out for an upset Saturday night when crosstown rival #10 Xavier comes to the Shoe (5/3 Arena). I have been known to support Liverpool FC, who are playing hanging onto the top of the EPL, the Israeli national soccer team, the Boston Celtics, and the Minnesota Wild. I can get excited about any sport from rugby to field hockey. I also passionately dislike certain teams including any sports team from THE Ohio State University, the Pittsburgh Steelers (stealers?), Ed Hightower, Ted Hillary, CHCA (Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy), the Chicago Cubs, the New York Yankees, any player playing against my fantasy football team (which sadly went 6-8 this season and missed the playoffs by losing the 2 biggest games of the season by a total of 3 points).
In addition, I am very passionate about politics. I spent a large portion of the past 18 months in helping elect Barack Obama, the next President of the United States, by canvassing and volunteering in five different states. I took a few months off from doing Obama stuff to intern full-time for Doctor Victoria Wulsin who ran for Congress in the Ohio Second District, and was defeated by conservative Republican Jean Schmidt. I am heading to DC for the inauguration, which should be an amazing experience and I will provide full coverage. Even though I am a progressive, I am not a down the ticket Democrat, and for example I agree with the decision of the voters in LA-2 to kick icebox Jefferson out of Congress this past weekend. Blago must resign from office! I agree with Obama's centrist cabinet, since his bi-partisanship should be able to bring about pragmatic change from the ways of Bush and Cheney. Not quite sure I would have made Hillary the Secretary of State since her strengths lie seem to lie in health care, but he could have made a far worse choice. The Obama administration should be fascinating to watch.
I have been putting off the creation of this blog for a long day, so I hope you will enjoy hearing my take on the world.
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