POTD - Columbus Asian Festival

Picture of the Day - Columbus Asian Festival. All I can really say is yum. Amazing delicious food. It is not often I get a great sticky rice, and there it was in abundance. On an unrelated note, a call during this event was my first time treating a stroke victim. Another exciting event was a drive by shooting while we were packing up at the end of the day, though luckily the shooter was better at pulling a trigger than hitting anything.

Columbus 2010 Pride Parade

Some events are just too fun to pass up. Now that we live in the trendy part of town, it is possible to walk to all sorts of madness (more on the move in a future post). One weekend a year is reserved for the Pride Festival, a celebration of all those who are not straight. It is a fun festival, but the masterpiece is the parade. It is over the top and there are some sights just not fit for this blog. That being said, here are some of the sights I managed to record on film (digital film that is).

All sorts of people marched in the parade. Some were allies.

Bruno showed up and got drafted into pulling around this lovely lady.

The flaggots were very popular and brought to mind my old marching band days. The coordinated movements were impressive and the crowd roared in approval.

The Macy's balloon showed up.

One of the floats was occupied by the queens of the Festival. Like the royalty they are, they primped and ignored the approving crowd.

And finally, the float the best sums up the event. Really, we mustn't forget that we are in Ohio, a state that is mostly farms and wide open places. This float was pulled by an ancient Farmall tractor. Check out the interesting guys in the foreground.

Big Green Tractor

Combine the Academy of Country Music 2010 Duo of the Year "Brooks & Dunn", with up and comer Jason Aldean, a bunch of Ohio cowboys, and large amounts of Coors Light, and you have yourself quite a show. Last weekend I worked with the Red Cross at the Last Rodeo concert, the final tour for Brooks and Dunn. Country music definitely has a big following, even in places like Ohio.

It was a busy night with several fights, falls, and overconsumption of alcohol. I was kept busy but got to watch some of the show. I am not much of a country fan, but I did enjoy it. Certainly the crowd was a lot of fun to watch.

The preferred dress of the night was as follows: Boots, Jeans, Flannel Shirt cut off at the shoulders, No shirt underneath, Cowboy hat, extra Beer tucked in back pocket.

Race for the Cure

Last weekend Elly ran the 5K in our local Race for the Cure. It was a zoo with about 50,000 participants, many dressed up in pink for the occassion. Total funds raised has not been disclosed however it was clearly over $1 million based on the number of participants and the many corporate sponsors. It is a good cause and this is a legit charity, so it is great to see so much support.

All along the course there were bands set up to entertain the runners (and walkers) as they made their way through downtown Columbus. Along one two block stretch, Harleys were lined and revving their engines. It sounded cool but it was hard to breath through all the fumes.

Picture of the day goes to a rather large Harley rider who was giving the runners a high five.

POTD - Girl walking her Dinosaurs

Picture of the Day - Girl walking her Dinosaurs - Seen in a shop window along Oude Binnenweg, Rotterdam.

Your Head as a Cup of Tea

"There's an old analogy to a cup of tea. If you want to drink new tea you have to get rid of the old tea that's in your cup, otherwise your cup just overflows and you get a wet mess. You head is like that cup. It has a limited capacity and if you want to learn something about the world you should keep your head empty to learn it. It's very easy to spend your whole life swishing old tea around in your cup thinking it's great stuff because you've never really tried anything new, because you could never get it in, because the old stuff prevented its entry because you were so sure the old stuff was so good, because you never really tried anything new..........on and on in an endless circular pattern."

- from Lila by Robert Pirsig

OSU Mens Baseball

It has been perfect spring weather and what better way to enjoy the outdoors than a baseball game. Tonight Elly and I provided volunteered for the Red Cross at a OSU Mens Baseball game. Our main task is to watch for foul balls to see if anyone gets injured. I am happy to report that the game was uneventful and that OSU won.

POTD - Llijmas Monitored Parking

Picture of the Day - Llijmas Monitored Parking

Every day I park in the Llijmas Monitored Parking lot. It is a bit out of the way but it only costs $2. It is not in a good part of town, but people generally leave me alone. The lot is monitored during the day by a very skinny, elderly, black man. He is friendly but doesn't say much. I wonder if he owns the lot. It hardly seems worth it to pay a security guard to watch over 39 parking spaces. While parking there my car has never been touched, a better track record than some of my colleagues who park close in to work but pay $6 a day. Next to the parking low you can find two competing pawn shops - Levs Pawn Shop and Uncle Sams Pawn Shop. The other buildings in the area are abandoned.

I did a search on the internet machine for "Llijmas" and the only result was a shady limited liability company. The letters were all separated by spaces which makes me think that it stands for something. Perhaps "Little Lillie Is Just Mad About Something".

Fort Jennings International Airport

Out hiking a few years ago we ran across the Fort Jennings International Airport. No lines, no security, no limits on baggage. No planes either.

Cape May NJ 2008

This summer we will be revisiting an old favorite vacation spot. It is so nice that some places really do never change.

By the way, the Hippies Were Right.

Remembrance of the Dead

Today is the Remembrance of the Dead in the Netherlands. It is a National holiday to remember those killed in wars since WW2. Flags everywhere fly at half mast. Ceremonies are held throughout the country and there is a two minute period of silence beginning at 8pm. During those two minutes, TV broadcasts are turned off, public transport stops, and silence prevails. After those two minutes, bands play the national anthem and the flags are raised. Tomorrow is liberation day.

Childhood Memories - Treasure Box

A few years ago my Mother passed along to me a big box full of random treasures from my childhood. I grew up in the days before kids had entire rooms full of toys, so perhaps my toys mean a little more to me. I have been sorting through the box and found a number of interesting memories, some of which are worth sharing.

My first wallet - Spiderman circa 1980. Likely this wallet never held more than $8 at one time. At the time I believed I would always use this wallet, even as an adult.

The seashell rock - this rock was delivered to my bedside by the Tooth Fairy after losing a tooth at World End State Park in rural Pennsylvania. It looks suspiciously like the rocks near the river, but you can tell it is authentic because how many rocks have you ever seen that look like a shell?
Scouts regalia - I was in the cub scouts for about five years in the 1980's. Unlike most of the organizations I was (or was not) part of in those days, I did like the scouts. The kids were nice and I like camping.
Pinewood derby metal - the annual competition all scouts are familiar with, the pinewood derby car races. Usually the kids with engineer fathers who sculped bullet shaped cars won. My father let me do most of the work on the principle that this was not meant to be something that he did. He made sure I did not cut off my fingers and gave some pointers on aerodynamics, but otherwise he let me be. This sort of learned self-reliance has served me well as an adult. This particular year I came in second place and got the silver metal.
Fishing tackle - once when we were going to go fishing I decided to make my bait. Having no idea what it is that fish eat, I made bait out of a block of wood painted like a fish. It looked kind of neat but didn't catch anything at all.
My first badge - I always dreamed of becoming a police officer. Even as a very young kid I wanted to be a cop. It still bothers me that I did not follow that path.