(*****) Tag

My friend sent me a link for a new laser tag game in the UK. Even though I'm not a paintball fan, I couldn't really get excited about this high end laser tag either. There was all that work of hunting and shooting without the exhilarating feeling of knowing you inflicted pain on someone. I retorted that what the world really needs is paintball/laser tag "kicked up a notch"...taser tag.

After googling we found this and laughed our arses off.

Weekend log

Saturday we ventured to the zoo for a puppet show in the Czechoslovakian style. The kids were a little scared when all the lights went out and the music came on, but when the story started coming together they really loved it. All of the puppeteers wore all black, and the puppets were lit with black lights. It really is something to see!

Saturday night I watched Japon by Carlos Reygadas. If you are looking for thoughtful movie WAY out on the fringes, give it a shot. I really couldn't relate in any way to this movie, but I can say it was unlike anything else I've seen. It won special mention at Cannes 2002. The main branch Toledo library has a copy.

Other than that I spent the rest of the weekend painting in our new family room. I bit more cutting in with trim and it will be ready for the carpet.

Downtown Toledo pics

Today for my walk I made two laps around the Lucas County Courthouse and something struck me as odd. The Ten Commandments is displayed prominently from the corner of Adams and Erie. The monument is about 5 feet high and has a couple Stars of David and the all seeing eye, like on the dollar bill.



Further down Erie and less prominently displayed is the Bill of Rights.


Religious establishment, or just that the Eagles had the idea of sponsoring their donation before the ACLU? Probably the latter.

ok, I'll play along...

Jason tagged me, so I'll take the opportunity to talk about myself, this is my blog after all.

Four jobs I've Had...

1. Paper delivery for the Defiance Crescent
   
2. Field worker for Dekalb
   
3. Short order cook for Frisch's Big Boy
   
4. Warehouse grunt for Hardees

Four movies I can watch over and over...

1. The Princess Bride
   
2. Reservoir Dogs
   
3. Dune (original)
   
4. Forest Gump

Four TV shows I love to watch...

1. In a Fix
   
2. Charlie Rose
   
3. BBC
   
4. Project Runway?

Four places I've been on vacation...

1. Cleveland, OH
   
2. Ann Arbor, MI
   
3. Dayton, OH
   
4. Fort Wayne, IN

Pretty exotic huh? Yes, I've gone other places too.


Four favorite dishes...

1. Anything my wife cooks (safe answer)
   
2. Indian/British hot currie (not a narrow topic I know, terrible with names)
3. pizza
   
4. Sushi

Four websites I visit daily...

1. news.google.com
   
2. maps.goole.com
   
3. mail.google.com
   
4. theonion.com

Four places I'd rather be...

1. Everywhere
   
2. nowhere
   
3. somewhere
   
4. underwear? (whoa! where did that come from?)

Four bloggers I'm tagging...

1. Jim
   
2. I've always sucked at tag...

If this were a scored test I'd barely pass, what a slacker!

A meditation on the speed limit

These guys are lucky they didn't die trying. Basically a group of friends tried to see what would happen if they all drove the speed limit on a crowded Atlanta highway. They blocked all lanes for a few miles, containing all traffic to 55. The clip is produced nicely...very funny.

Downtown Toledo pics

You don't expect to see horses frolicking downtown, but if you look hard you will find them hanging out at the TPD ranch.

The one at the fence kept sticking his tongue out. Thanks to Mr practical joker horse, I had to retake the shot several times.

Toledo, a great place to raise a family?

I've heard this time and time again...I guess there is evidence to refute this claim:

race riots

forced teen prostitution ring

and now terrorists?

Keep it up COSI

COSI Toledo is so important to the long term technical and social scene in Toledo. Support it, even if you don't have kids. Looks like they've been recently recognized for an award...nice photo of Dr Walsh and Laura Bush here.

funny

Catching up on email since returning from the trip, thanks for this one Andrew...

Last day in UK

I purchased a map of St Helens and surounding areas, caught a train a few towns down the track, and then wandered my back to the hotel. I estimate based on the map that I walked around 30 miles all together over an 8 hour period. It was really cool to stop through the town centers and see what people really live like over there. I stopped and spoke with various people, all of whom were friendly. One was very guarded until I assured him I was not a j witness.

After I ate and rested a while and ventured back out to hear some live music at the Citadel. Daniel Amor opened for Amy Wadge. I totally fell in love with Amy, she is so amazing. She rocked the acoustic 6 string, 12 string, and piano all the same. She was very energetic and funny, great great show. She was backed up by a pretty good band as well, including another keyboardist and standup electric base. I took a non flash snapshot, hope she doesn't mind...

Another year wiser

Yesterday was my birthday...so I've been blogging for a whole year. I think I've achieved my goal of having an online journal that captures snapshots some of my thoughts, interests, and activities. I've made some great new friends this year, and had many excellent experiences.


In the evening we went to a great Thai restaurant in Lymm. I was joined by Icaro, Steve, Bob, Udo, and Peter. We drank a good amount of Sigha beer. Afterward Bob hosted us at his home where his wife Sharon served up some deserts and champagne. In the photo from left to right: Udo (Germany), Peter (Denmark), myself, Bob(US), Steve(Australia), Icaru (Brazil).



Some of my friends/coworkers put together a nice audio montage wishing me happy birthday from back home. They called and recorded messages at Bob's house all day and he compiled them into one. When I heard my daughter's I wanted to be with her right then... we'll all be together again Sunday.

Rugby League - Wigan Warriors

Today was the last day with the SAP EP6 consultant. After work we headed up to Wigan for a rugby match. Excellent game, Wigan won.



The area around the stand (stadium) is built up very nicely with shopping and resteraunts. We had a round at the Red Robin after the match, not a chain like you have here. In England you have these pubs everywhere that have great food, beer, and character. If you are looking for the mens room, its always refered to as the 'gents', and if you would like chips, they are 'crisps'.

Manchester

After work today we headed for Manchester. We walked around down town for a while, what a beautiful city. Excellent mix of old and new architecture. There are many colleges in town and hence many hip urban gen x/y'ers. We stopped by a candle light vigil for the Brittish soldiers who died in Iraq.

After dinner, went to the Life Cafe to see Ben Lee, Tina Dico opened. They were both so terrific...some of the best music I've heard live. Steve was worked up when I called them folk singers, but its really what they are. Hip young folk singers, they play accoustic guitar and sing melancholy songs. There were fun and lively songs too, good mixture, good good time.

At the end of Ben's show he sang We're All in this Together, he walked in through the crowd and we were all singing it together, it was quite moving.

Winter 2005 Vacation - Day 6

Grandpa and Grandma Myers flew in today and they took the kids for a while to see the various things at Circus Circus. I took Megan to China Town, which I admit was pretty cool. When you start seeing restaurants like Tofu Hut, you are getting close.


My favorite shop had some great geodes, jade/bronze sculptures, and swords, oh yeah. Of course there was San Rio junk everywhere which had Megan cooing. Also, we just had to get the Hello Kitty silk kimono for our daughter.



Here is a photo of the Myers family gathering at the nearly perfect Claim Jumper restaurant in Henderson Nevada, on the evening before our departure home.

UK Trip day 1

I'm in the UK for a bit, and won't bore you with the boring work details. I arrived today at 8:30am.

Crashed for a few hours and then set about walking around St Helens, Mersyside, UK, which is where the global headquarters for Pilkington (LOF) is currently located. Speculators may say we will soon be owned by the Japanese company NSG.

Here is a picture of a middle to lower class nieghborhood, as if driving on the wrong side of the street isn't bad enough, they also park however they feel.


Eventually the sun set and I went back to the Hilton. Icaru arrived from Brazil around 9:00pm and we chatted for a while, then off to bed. I laid in bed for 3 hours before falling asleep after 1am...ugh

Birthday madness

My son turned 6 today. We went for dinner at HJ's Prime cut on Heatherdowns. A good friend of mine, Andrew, was in town this week from Orlando so he joined us. After dinner half of us wanted ice cream and the other half warm beverages, so we ventured down to Levis to please everyone between Maggie Moo's and Starbucks.

Here is a picture from the official birthday party on Saturday:

It was crazy in my 1900ft^2 house on Saturday. I think most enjoyed it but the elder folk nursed headaches afterward. By the way, not all the kids decided to join the photo...I think there were 15 in all.

Yes there is red eye in the photo and the room we partied in is unfinished, both signs of how busy I've been lately.

Downtown Toledo pics

As many have commented, we've been spoiled by warm weather this January. The geese don't seem to mind.

weekend log

On friday evening we went over to the new Smokey Bones restaurant on Talmage. Its easy to see the staff is mostly inexperienced, but they were trying pretty hard. My son loves working the audio controls for the televisions. Its funny that we don't allow eating in front of the TV at home, and eating at this restaurant reminds me why. The kids were like zombies, eating their food with glazed over expressions while staring at the cartoons.

On Saturday I drove the boy out to my dad's house for an overnighter. This gave us some much needed time to spend working around the house. It also gave him some much needed attention.

More of the same on Sunday. The remodeled down stairs room is ready for a last coat of paint and then the carpet. I hung a nice netting around my daughter's bed using 2 50lb drywall hangers. I gave the kids strict instructions not to pull on it. As the experienced parents would guess, that lasted under 24 hours. Megan called me to me that it has been pulled off the wall with a healthy chunk of drywall still clinging to the hangers. ugh...

At least I still have the drywall tools out from the work downstairs.

Downtown Toledo pics

I think this is a cool view of Toledo, from the park lands near OC headquarters.

Nice correspondence from Senator Dewine

I wrote both Senators Voinovich and Dewine with my feelings on the ANWR Defense bill rider. I've gotten responses to all of my messages to Dewine, and never a response from Voinovich. The messages are the same, wether they be electronic or snail mail, regardless of the political topic.


January 10, 2006


Dear Aaron:

Over the past several months, a healthy debate has occurred in our country about drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). I appreciated knowing your views on this important issue.

As you know, after a great deal of thought, I voted against drilling in the ANWR. I thought the risks outweighed the potential benefits. The United States will never be petroleum independent-we simply do not have the oil. Department of Energy (DOE) figures show that we are currently 56 percent dependent on foreign oil. The DOE estimates that the ANWR would reach full production by the year 2020, and even then, it would only decrease our dependence on foreign oil by about 2%.

We desperately need a comprehensive energy policy, and the Administration should get a lot of credit for putting a comprehensive package together. The energy bill that the Senate passed this Congress addressed important issues, such as electricity reform, nuclear and hydroelectric plant regulations, energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, new gasoline content standards and many others. These, in particular, are more important to the energy needs of Ohioans than drilling in Alaska.

While I oppose drilling in the ANWR, I do not believe drilling should be restricted on all federal land. The federal government is the caretaker of millions of acres, which undoubtedly contain oil and gas reservoirs, and I support the President's efforts to identify potential energy sources on our federal lands. In less fragile ecosystems, oil and gas exploration can coexist with the natural environment. I believe that it is our duty to find these sources and then carefully assess the costs versus the benefits in each case.

Again, thank you for sharing your concerns. If you have any further questions or comments please feel free to contact me.

Very respectfully yours,

MIKE DEWINE
United States Senator