Life

Henry and I went to the Ohio State fair this afternoon. It was hot but we had fun. We went down the big slide together, which had to be a bit scary for him because I thought it was high and fast. We fed carrots to the petting zoo animals and he rode on a couple other rides, including a pony named Carly. The highlight for me was seeing the Budweiser Clydesdales walk by in the parade. They are magnificant animals. I own some Budweiser stock and on a personal level I'm sorry to see them sell to a foreign company but I'm happy as a shareholder. I made some money when it seems like no one else is. I think I'll get on etrade and buy some mutual funds now. What a great time to buy buy buy.

New Orleans was New Orleans. I don't know how else to describe it. I guess HOT would be another great adjective. We caught the edge of a tropical storm so got some heavy rain at times and a lot of clouds. That disappointed those who wanted to visit the pool but it didn't bother me too much. The conference was okay. There weren't a lot of Ohio legislators there but I got to spend time with those that attended so that was good.

The Royal Sonesta was a very nice hotel though and I would stay there if/when I go back. I've had my fill of 'orleans for a while though, two visits in 7 months might do that.

Every three weeks like clockwork I go to my orthodontist and have my braces tightened. I'm more than halfway through and its not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I'm excited to see the finished product but will still need some work after they are off.

I'm back from New Orleans. I'll post a little about it later but first here's a video clip that was on ESPN about Massillon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilp-b5ca4kI

I see strip bars and bars. NO really is for young people. At least Bourbon
Street is. I need to sleep but its noisy.
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3:00 am is early for me to wake up but that's what time I woke up this
morning. The storm woke me and kept me awake until I gave up at 4:15 and
just got up. I'm hopeful I can sleep on the plane.
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I'm off to New Orleans in the morning but it appears by the test below that I can now log via email. That's a great thing, sometimes I have something important to remember but never get around to posting it.

Last Sunday evening I went up to Wooster and spent the night at Representative Jim Carmichael's house. Jim has an annual golf outing fundraiser and this is the last year he will be an Ohio legislator because of term limits. He's running for Wayne County Commissioner this year. I'll miss Jim, he worked for East Ohio Gas for 30+ years and is one of the good guys in the legislature.

After his outing on Monday, I drove to Akron and checked in at a villa at Firestone C.C. Chrisy Bowen had a number of lobbyists up there for dinner and golf. We played the south course on Tuesday, a couple weeks before the PGA will be there. I did not play well but it was fun. My golf game is awful and I'm not into it as much as I once was. I enjoy getting out with friends but I don't enjoy hacking.

This Tuesday, I head down to New Orleans for a conference. I'll be there 3 nights; I'm excited about the food but know I'll miss the family. This should be my last travel for a while.

It's been a long day. I left for Cleveland at 7:00 a.m. this morning then had to be in Canton at 1:00 to look at a couple houses. Our home inspection on the one house that we are buying was at 2:00 and since our house is not air conditioned it was miserable. Yes, we are putting AC in the house and the estimate was lower than what we planned on. Unfortunately, there are a couple things that need to be done in the house however.

I had dinner tonight with an old friend, Denise Paris (thanks for buying, Denise) and didn't get to stop by dad's house (sorry dad) because I don't like to drive at night anymore because of my LASIK surgery. I can do it, I'm just not that comfortable.

I'm looking forward to Sarah and the boys returning home tomorrow.

Poor Jack. We had another emergency room visit today, this time he cut his head at daycare. Luckily, I was picking up Henry when it happened although if I had picked up Jack first it might not have. He didn't get any stiches this but had his cut "glued" together. Many thanks to the emergency room doctors at St. Ann's who moved him in and took care of him before some others. On July 4, there was no one there. Today at 5:30 it was packed. A lot of people were there for non-emergencies and we wonder why heathcare is so expensive.

Also, Sarah's Uncle passed away on Monday. The funeral is tomorrow and Sarah and the boys are going up. I would go but I have our President in town tomorrow for meetings with the Speaker and the Governor's Chief of Staff that I can not miss. I hope they come back soon because my travels have taken me away from the family too much and I'll miss them. We'll be back up in a couple of weeks for our Buck Lake vacation.

Uncle Bob was a great guy and I enjoyed spending time with him. He has given the boys some coins; he was a bigtime collector at one point. We saw him over Thanksgiving and he was well but his cancer returned earlier this year. RIP Uncle Bob.

I'm off to Illinois tomorrow for the Christian County Fair. The family was supposed to drive over but some things are going on and its just not going to happen. I have to go back in August for Old Settlers Days so maybe we can go then. I may take Henry over if nothing else. Maybe we could catch a St. Louis Cardinals game. The only good thing about all these trips is the frequent flyer miles I've been racking up. On Southwest Airlines, 8 trips equals a free ticket. We used two tickets flying to Florida in March and I already have another one sitting in my account. I only need 2 more roundtrippers and I'll have another one.

The last time I flew to Illinois, I flew under the Business Select category. It's $30 extra but gives you 2.5 credits rather than 2 and allows you to board first. Oh, and they give you a drink coupon on your way there and way back. I'm not a big drinker on airplanes so last time, I gave one of my coupons to the guy next to me. You would have thought I bought him an 18-year old scotch rather than the Miller Lite he ordered. He was excited.

Update: A democrat has come out in support of drilling offshore. Can we get a second?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A top U.S. Democratic senator said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling.
"I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move.
However, Durbin said his support for opening new areas to drilling was contingent on setting requirements that oil and gas companies begin production within a specified time frame on acreage they have leased from the government.

I can't understand the debate on high gasoline prices. One political party wants to drill offshore and in Alaska. One party has prevented it for twenty years.

I may have mentioned on this blog that when I interned for Ralph Regula in 1988, my first issue to write constituent letters on was the Alaskan Natural Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The issue of drilling in ANWR has been going on for at least TWENTY years. I keep hearing "well, the first drop of oil won't flow from there for ten years". That may be true but we have to start somewhere. A million barrels of oil a day would help lower prices and lower imports from the Middle East.

How can Americans complain about importing oil and paying $4 a gallon when we prohibit drilling in the biggest oil fields in our country. I'll continue to scratch my head on this one and keep listen to the demagoguery coming from one side of the political aisle.

I bought a house yesterday in Stark County. Well, to be more precise, Sarah and I bought a house with a friend of mine (Brian Gregg). We're going into the rental house business together. We bought the house for $90,500 and the seller is paying the closing costs. We have to install ac so our total investment is $92,500.

We will have three renters, all mentally retarded adults, and BG's brother owns a company that places caseworkers with these clients, 24/7. So we'll have $900 of rent coming in off $600 of expenses. We'll apply the $300 profit to the mortgage and own the house outright after 11 years. If we sold the house at that time, I expect my profit to be around 500 percent, not bad.

This is the first of probably three houses that we'll buy so its a great business deal. We'll have pretty much guaranteed renters and rental income so our risk is low. We formed a company to do all this, Tigertown Properties LLC.