Life

I don't think I ever posted this photo before but it is the pool at the Hotel Figueres Parc in Spain. We met the owner on a cruise and she arranged hotel accomodations at a friend's hotel close to Barcelona when I was there in 1992 for the Olympics (see previous entry on August 3rd). Anyway, Montse and her husband, along with the town dignitaries including the Mayor, hosted a feast for six of us who were traveling through the area and they set up a tent near the area of the fence in the above picture. The hotel chef cooked a meal and it was fantastic, one of the top five meals of my life. We ended up staying out very late that night and the next day regrouped here at the pool for some cold water and sunshine.

Bowling. What a fun and frustrating sport, game, whatever you call it. I have been bowling for a long time but never took it seriously. Our church youth groups used to do it once a year and when I was 14 or 15 a group of my friends hung out at a Massillon bowling alley for a while until it burned down (yes, it was arson). And I've already mentioned that my mom was an excellent bowler and was in leagues when I was young. I still remember all her trophies in the basement closet. So I figured I would be a decent bowler at 41 but it hasn't worked out that way.

We took Henry bowling again today and our neighbors went with us. I started out well, couple strikes in a row before faltering and finishing with a 112 or so. My second game was much better, a 129. I think a lot of it has to do with the weight of the ball, when I switched to a heavier one I started knocking down a lot more pins. Seems like common sense to me but how am I to know?

Now Sarah wants to join a league. It would probably be a blast if some of the neighbors would join us and we could get a sitter that evening. Stay tuned, I'm pretty sure that I'll be throwing 300s any day soon.

Life of the Rich and Famous, Part III

I'm not a big NBA fan. I'll go to a game occasionally and glance at the Cavs scores every morning. But when my buddy called me a few year's ago and asked if I wanted to go to the Indianapolis Pacers game, I jumped at the chance. His company has a corporate jet and its a great way to get to Indy. He called around 2:00 and said wheels up at 4:00 so it was last minute but what the heck. There were four of us who went over. It was my first ride on his plane so the pilots did a "performance takeoff" which is essentially pulling back on the stick and going straight up in the air with a high rate of speed. The tower doesn't like it but its legal; I enjoyed it but one of the other guys didn't and he was sick the rest of the night.

The flight from Columbus is less than 30 minutes. We were met at the plane by a limo and headed downtown to St. Elmo's Steakhouse. We had a great meal; St. Elmo's is famous for their steaks but even more famous for their shrimp cocktail which is blazing hot from fresh horseradish. It's delicious.

The limo dropped us off at the arena and we made our way to our seats. They were on the floor. When I say on the floor, I mean my feet were on the hardwood floor. The tickets said they were $300 each. Wow. I even had a ball land in my lap. It was fun.

After the game, the limo took us back to the plane and 30 minutes later we were back in Columbus. What a way to go. Since then I've flown on the plane to Cleveland for an Indians game. But we didn't have field tickets.

I have worn Nike tennis shoes since 8th grade. I think those were the Cortez model although I'm not sure how I can remember that and can't remember where I left my wallet an hour ago. I have not ever worn another tennis shoe other than Nike since that time. I doubt I am their longest customer but that's a pretty good run for a product on one person.

I also have season tickets at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium (Massillon) and at Paul Brown Stadium (Cincinnati). I'm not sure but I can't believe there is anyone else who can claim that.

40 days and 40 nights. It's beginning to feel a lot like those days.

Maybe its just me but it seems like its been raining since last Monday after the national championship game. I knew there was something wrong with that game, I really believe the earth is off its axis or something and it began on Monday night.

I'm off for MLK day today so I think we're going to the bowling alley. I am going to improve on that 116 I bowled last week. Henry is just going to have a blast and not worry what he shoots.

By the way, Sarah is 36 weeks now and is ready to have the baby. She is getting pretty uncomfortable. I'm ready too.

Well, the ball was fun last night. We were there a bit later than I wanted to be but were still home by 11:00. There were a lot of people there that I didn't even get a chance to see so that was a bummer.

Sarah and I are going to the Strickland Inaugural Ball tonight. This won't be my first ball, I have attended both George HW Bush's ball and George W. Bush's first one. I have also attended George Voinovich's ball in 1995 and Bob Taft's ball in 1999 and 2003.

The Presidential ones were my favorite. The Governor's ball seems a lot like work. They are expecting 7000 people there tonight and its at the fairgrounds, not exactly the nicest place in Columbus but maybe its the biggest? I'm mostly looking forward to dinner at Mortons tonight. My boss and a colleague from Cleveland will be down and it should be a nice meal.

I just canceled my flight out to Phoenix that leaves tomorrow morning. I'm not going to the BCS National Championship game. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I feel like I am missing a great party that everyone else is going to. On the other, I feel like I've done it once and how can it get any better than 2003? If OSU blows out Florida, that's not much of a game, nor would I want to see Florida beat OSU. And I doubt it will beat a two OT game?

I can always say I didn't have a ticket but the fact remains that I didn't try to get one. And I found out yesterday that I could have easily from any number of state legislators. I certainly wouldn't pay over $250 for one and they are going for over a $1000 so that wasn't an option. I guess if some of my close friends were going out, golfing, doing it up, I probably would have went.

And the baby is another great reason not to go. Sarah would never let me live it down if I missed that. So my frequent flyer ticket goes back into my account and I will look forward to using it to go to Vegas this summer.

Old boxes are like time capsules, at least for pack rats like me. Sarah is in her "nesting" period of the pregnancy and has been cleaning, working, packing and sorting for the last few weeks. What this means for me: work. I was going through an old box of tee shirts, of which I have many. It brought back a lot of memories: a Mike DeWine for Senate shirt that I think was from 1994. My Tax Dodger shirt from co-ed softball, 1996. A Springfield Police Department shirt some cops gave me at the Dubliner Bar in D.C. after I bought them some drinks. A Hofbrauhaus shirt from our Olympic trip in 1992. Those are all shirts I am donating to the Salvation Army.

I'm keeping: An Indy 500 shirt from the 75th running (1991) that I bought in the parking lot that I've always thought was a beautiful t-shirt. Another shirt from the Olympics, the one the Mayor of Colera gave us one drunken evening in Spain and a shirt with COBI, the Olympic mascot that I can't part with. The official Hall of Fame Senior Olympics shirt of which I was the coordinator. One from the 1996 GOP Convention (Donkeys don't surf San Diego). An old Ohio State shirt. None are in pristine condition. But all bring back memories that I never want to lose.

Here is a photo of Henry on Christmas Day with his Carson Palmer jersey on and with his Buckeye helmet, two of his favorite presents from Santa.

The Secretary of State for Ohio works in my office building. Ken Blackwell didn't seek re-election and someone named Jennifer Brunner was elected the new SOS. I don't know anything about her except she worked for Sherrod Brown back when he was SOS and there were reports of her running fundraising schemes out of his official office.

Anyway, she has a transition office on my floor. At least that's what the sign says on the door. I haven't seen anyone in there since the sign was hung and the same pile of mail has been sitting in the lobby for the last three weeks. Here's hoping that a) there's nothing important in that pile of mail and b) the taxpayers aren't paying for the use of a large office that is going unused.