Winter 2005 Vacation - Day 4

We spent a good deal of today at the Lied Discovery Children's Museum.

The girl of course lost herself in the drama section...


while the boy set to work in the mining operation...


As always, our COSI membership got us in for free. This facility was very nice, slightly better some ways than COSI Toledo. It was also colocated with a good sized branch of the public library.

Winter 2005 Vacation - Day 3

On tuesday we drove to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Maybe it isn't exciting for people accustomed to the desert/mountain terrain, but growing up in NW Ohio it knocked my socks off. There are plenty of trails for all levels of expertise, including an interpretive trail that has kids in mind. I could tell these two were raring to go.



The park is set up as a one way driving loop with stops about every mile. Each stop has trailheads. The more adventerous can get a rock climbing permit and stray from the path. It really was beautiful out there. At first I was disapointed because I wanted to check out Death Valley, and the drive out there was too long. But there would be enough trails right in Red Rock Canyon to keep us busy for a long time.



Later in the evening we drove out to Henderson to visit my youngest brother Cain. We checked out his apartment and then headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings. Later that evening we went bowling at our hotel. The place is pretty amazing, upstairs it seemed as big or possibly even bigger than Imperial Lanes here in Toledo. I used Cain's ball pretty miserably until the 10th frame where I threw three legitamate strikes. The boy lobbed one into the alley next to ours...at least none came rolling back at us. A guy in the lane next to us was screwing around and ended up flat on his back out on the lane. His head was 3 feet beyond the fowl line heh heh.

Winter 2005 Vacation - Day 2

The first thing we did is venture out to explore some territory, off the strip. From Tropicana, we took Decatur road north to Trader Joe's. We stocked up on foods to have healthy breakfasts in our room for the rest of the week. We also stopped at a Borders to get a couple of good local maps. Later we stopped at a city park and let the kids play for a while. My son made friends almost instantly with a boy who was remote controlling some bizarre looking creature. It was called a Shell Shocker, and I have to say it was pretty cool. It put up with a lot of use and the battery life was amazing. The kids were ramping it off the play structure and it didn't skip a beat. Megan and I spoke with Adam's father while the kids all played for a while. Interestingly that its hard to find native Las Vegans, seems like almost everyone is a transplant.

When it was time to go, my son was telling Adam his address and inviting him to come on over some time (be sure to bring the shell shocker). Later he wrote Adam a letter that he expected us to mail...not quite understanding that we will probably never see the two of them again.

In the evening we drove over to the Premium Outlets at Las Vegas because I needed another pair of shoes. They have a Timberland outlet and its often hard to shoes of freakishly large proportion in regular stores.

There was this really cool building next door...



I'm such a geek for architecture. The center section is bowed with corrugated metal, and backlit. I guess this is considered the backside of the World Market Center.

Winter 2005 Vacation - Day 1

We flew out of Cleveland to Las Vegas with the kids. They weren't too bad on the flight, I can't imagine how wiggly they would have been without the new portable DVD player from the grandparents. The jet was nice (boeing 737, leather seats), but SWA truly is stingy when it comes to food and drink. The flight was a little over 4 hours and all we had was some crackers/fig newtons and cup of pop.

My son really wanted to ride a train, and we kept telling him "no, no trains on this trip". He only gloated a little as we stepped onto the McCarren Airport tram from our terminal to the baggage claim. We picked up the Chevy Cobalt rental and made our way to The Orleans at 8 pm, which was like midnight our time. I wanted to see my youngest brother on Christmas day since he was all alone, but we were totally whipped. We ate dinner and then slept like stones.

Life, the holidays, and everything...

The holidays have been terrific for us, and very busy. We had a solstice party and hosted some friends for some nice food, drink, and various fun things. We made some nice crafts, including a couple of ginger bread houses. Can you guess which ones the kids did? (yes, the creative one)



I stayed up till 4, but everyone else crashed, so I gave in. I will stay up the whole night again...eventually. Sam, Kevin, Fiona, and Miles, we had a great time and I'm so glad we met at Wildwood Metro this summer. It was so unlikely, that I was out and decided just for the heck of it to stop with Liam at the 'alternative' playground.

The next day some UU friends of ours came over because our long lost Laura Lago was in town (more food and drink at our place).

Friday we had a Christmas party at my brother's place. Megan made a great tieramisu cake. Christmas eve we spent totally at home preparing for our trip. Christmas morning we opened a few gifts that magically appeared overnight. Around noon we headed to Cleveland...let winter vacation 2005 begin.

Downtown Toledo pics

The riverfront near the steam plant a week before Christmas.

Downtown Toledo pics

It was a brisk day, but beautiful by the river as you can see.

what a difference a day makes...

I haven't broken my walking habit just because of a little cold...in fact I found a partner as of late. He was always out walking and sometimes we crossed paths. On Wednesday we went down to the river and it was not even close to freezing over. Today, see for yourself!

Toledo's PV Heroes

A while back Megan and I decided to check out the local United Church of Christ congregation in Sylvania. The congregants and service were nice, but thats not the point. After service, we met a guy named Al Compaan, who is a physics professor at UT. He was telling us about the solar electric system that he & his wife recently had installed in their new home.

I saw an article in the Blade so I emailed him for some more details. As you can see, Al and Mary have recieved the 2005 Ohio Governer's Award for Excellence in Energy (there, you see, Taft isn't all bad).

I drive past a new PV array on my daily commute to work down Dorr Street. I figured Al would be involved somehow, sure enough, he had the scoop on that project too.

Here are some resources that might get you thinking about your own project.

weekend log

I spent much of the holiday either relaxing at our house with my wife and kids, or doing homework. My grandfather turned 80 on Saturday, so we drove out to the sprawling metropolis of Grelton for that party.

One of the days, Friday I think, I noticed a bunch of birds hanging around. Here's a shot I snapped from our dining room...three blue jays and a mourning dove. Later I saw a woodpecker, numerous cardinals, and the typical sparrows/finches. This feeder has lasted longer than any other we've had.



Megan purchased it for me from Wild Birds Unlimited. It is truly squirrel proof too, the best they can do is scavenge around the ground. I've seen them hanging off it upside down, but the spring loaded base shuts when anyone too heavy attempts getting food from the holes.

Today I finally watched Master & Commander...it was good but I was a little let down. I'll give it 3.5 stars. The prior movie I saw, about a month ago, was Raising Victor Vargas. I'll give that one 2 stars. It was moderately interesting and subtly smart and funny, but nothing I'd watch again.

I'm dreaming of a white...Thanksgiving?

My new Tilley hat arrived yesterday. Just in time for today's lunchtime walk!

This lady was dressed quite inappropriately.



With the snow you couldn't even see the new I280 bridge construction from Promenade park.

Downtown Toledo pics

Hopefully Carty can keep One Seagate (former OI headquarters)



from turning into the completely abandoned 200 N. St Clair (former OC headquarters)



Notice the boarded windows going up the side. The ground level doors actually have ugly plywood boards covering the entrances as well.

weekend log

...did homework almost all weekend long, that was a downer. Unless Samkon Gado and Bubba Franks pull off a miracle for the Packers tonight, my fantasy football team will lose, another downer. The one bright spot on Saturday, Megan's oven baked pancake!

Downtown Toledo, the good and the bad...

I often walk around downtown on my lunch hour. Predictably, I find things I like, and things that could use improvement. So I'm going to start posting some of these things to my blog. Today I saw two noteworthy things on Monroe street.

Bad first:



A rather large hole in the ground, exposing some ugly building backsides. This is from the warehouse fire last month. I expect they will continue backfilling and turn into another boring parking lot.

Now the good:



The new Paula Brown shop has opened. It is a terrific store, but sadly most of the stuff is out of my humble price range. If you are looking for fine linens, table settings, kitchen wears, stationary, artwork, jewelry, etc, this is the place downtown. Also, they had some great Japanese art prints. They've done a nice job renovating this interesting old building. I think formerly it was Port Lawrence Antiques.

It was really cold and starting to snow, so it was a short walk today.

voting for grass roots candidates...

In Hillsdale Michigan, an 18 year old write in candidate (too young to be an official candidate at registration time) won the mayoral election over the 51 year old incumbent. That is really something encouraging! It reminds me of my old friend Travis Sheafer who was elected for Napoleon city council right after high school.

Congratulations Michael Sessions on a true grass roots effort, job well done, and what sounds like an excellent approach to taking on the new responsibilities.

College Town idea - Update

I knew UT Foundation bought the old NAPA store, but now they bought Mac's Motors as well. The real estate along Dorr is so CHEAP! As Krompac says, it is an untapped resource. Polling students is good, but I have a feeling many UT students don't know what they are missing. I hope the survey is guided by successfully blended campus/community settings like Ann Arbor and OSU.


Original Post - August 14th 2005:

As tonight winds down I can feel the energy around campus. Today I heard the UT marching band warming up. Students are trickling into the apartments. It won't be long until UT is back in full swing, I love that feeling.

I really wish the Dorr Street corridor would be developed with nothing but a college town atmosphere in mind. It is really a perfect strip of low cost and blighted land perfect for that purpose. UT has invested so much money in that side of campus, and it will be brimming with students this year upon completion of the huge new dorms. Two other large apartment complexes on Douglas/Westwood are finished now. And finally now the apartments near Dorr/Secor have finally been reclaimed for students. Last year I saw the changes taking place and it has done so much to spruce up the area (both grounds and inhabitants).

Designating a section of the city as College Town and focusing development around a student and young professional theme could work wonders for retaining some of those grads. Instead of thinking the town is one that dislikes them, they would think the town understands them and supports them. The area along Dorr does not conflict with the family oriented areas of Old Orchard and Ottawa Hills. It is within easy walking distance of the majority of student housing.

Larry Dillin, we need you! Follow Corpus Christi's lead and do something successful. Exploit the synergy of our beautiful, intelligent university with thoughtful, rational development!

pump up that ego

Yeah, so I'm in grad school and I have this math class that is actually making me think, hard. I thought this 8th grade quiz would be a fun diversion. Luckily I didn't embarrass myself.

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

The Axis prevail...

Had a good 4 person match of Axis & Allies last night. I played Japan. It was a much needed respite from more difficult things like work, school, family. I made a new friend named Nick, who played Germany. We used good teamwork to put the squeeze on Russia. We had to call the game at 1am. Shamy was Russia and US, Allen was UK.

Am I a Libertarian?

According to this I'm pretty far into Libertarian territory.


Of course it was only about 10 questions from a libertarian web site. Still, all things considered their demographics of people taking the test were pretty balanced.

If you are a regular aaron.blog reader, take the quiz and let me know where you score. I'd like a survey of where my friends, family, readers, and detractors/lurkers stand.

Must have desktop Trebuchet

Since my cube nieghbors are much too nice to throw things at over the wall, I'm hoping someone buys me one of these nifty portable trebushets to launch some serious paper wads down the hall at my esteemed colleagues.

Ahh, the good old days at MCO... when the supply closet was always stocked with plenty o rubber bands.