The day of the end

This is it, folks.

This is the end.

Tonight, Harry officially dies.

Maybe...

Not like I've read it yet or even looked through the major spoilers posted on YesButNoButYes.com. I've avoided those like the plague - even clicking on the link and making sure not to scan downward.

Or maybe Harry goes mental and kills everybody.

Either way, some of you will know by morning how it all ends.

After tonight, there'll be nothing left but riding the rides.

No luck, by the way, with me starting the book tonight. I'll be a little busy.

My introduction

Hello, my name of PHSChemGuy (ok, not my real name, but such is what you get here), and I am a Tiger Woods PGA Tour '07 addict.

I have played six tournaments (four rounds a piece) since Friday, and this probably isn't the most productive way to spend my summer.

At least I'm not up to doing tricks yet...

Hey, I know that guy

An article in the Enquirer (soon to be the only game in town, it looks like) points out that there's some dispute in the number of signatures gathered by a group calling themselves We Demand A Vote looking to force the issue of a new tax for a new downtown Cincy jail onto the ballot this fall.

I'm not a Hamilton County voter any more, so the issue's kind of one I can't control, but I certainly think there's something a little shady when a ballot referendum is defeated and then county commissioners approve the same tax (in fact, a higher amount than asked for in the ballot initiative).


While the issue's an interesting one to me, the more interesting thing is the guy mentioned in the Enquirer article (emphasis added):

Dan Renegold, coordinator of the We Demand A Vote coalition, said the figures would be reconciled over the next two weeks to determine which figure is accurate.

I know that guy. Sure, his name is misspelled, but I know him.

He's a PHS parent, local business guy, supporter of Pasta for Pennies, and apparently the head of We Demand A Vote. Plus he's got a really cool bio over on his company's page:

As founder of both Posterservice and Frame USA, Dan Regenold has been here from the beginning, a self proclaimed “Jack of all trades”. He works hard to keep the companies working hard, constantly looking for new ways to improve what we do and how we do it. Now even as CEO, he is not above spending some time in the warehouse, or on the production line. As a strong family man he knows the importance of unity and strives to keep a value based, fun atmosphere to bring both companies and employees closer together. Even if that means throwing a “summer” lunch, wearing shorts and driving top down during one of the coldest winters on record. Also, this is one guy who is constant violation of the office music policy.

Always good to see a local guy in the news...especially when he's supporting something that I think deserves support.

Doing our civic duty

So we just went and dropped a whole bunch of money yesterday.

In all actuality, we didn't drop the money but did put it on a credit card that will be paid off this month (as it is pretty much every month, thanks for asking), but it's not as much fund to say that we went and had a piece of plastic with a magnetic stripe swiped yesterday.

And I'm thinking that yesterday's spending was a bit of a big step in the right direction, environmentally-speaking.

The Girl and I have been talking for a couple of years about getting ceiling fans for our dining/living room (it's a big combo room with a cethedral ceiling) and our bedroom (much lower, eight-foot ceilings). They're an easy way for everybody to save a few bucks in the long run because they're much more efficient than an air conditioner and typically let you raise the thermostat a couple of degrees while still feeling as comfortable in the summer. We'd made up our mind that this summer was the time for the fans, and we started the hunt.

Before we began too much looking, however, we made a list of the things we wanted in a fan:

• Energy Star rating - because they're even better for the environment
• Compact fluorescent capacity - again, good for the environment...we had problems with this in the past as our old house had new ceiling fans that couldn't accept CFB...when the fan was on, the bulbs produced a strobe effect that was a little nauseating
• Nice color scheme - no silver or golden colors...just wouldn't go in the house
• Big wingspan - bigger fans move more air, and the two rooms we'll be fanning are pretty big (bedroom's something like 14'x28', living room's a huge L-shape)
• Remote controls - we're lazy, and it's nice to turn the fan on/off/up/down from the comfort of the bed or couch

Our first turn was to the Hunter Grand Lodge that we had in the old house. They weren't too pricey; we liked the look; and they were in stock at the local Lowe's. Ah, but they aren't Energy Star rated, and we had that whole flickering problem.

After a bit of online searching and finally coming to the Energy Star site's list of ceiling fans with light kits and the Energy Star rating, we headed out to the local stores to look at the fans in person. Lucky for us, the first store we found had the fans that we ended up choosing. We went with the Craftmade Civic in Brownstone finish with the ring fluorescent light kit.

The Hunter fans would've cost somewhere around $149 each. The Civics cost nearly $1200 for the three that we bought.

But we're being environmentally friendly, right?

That's what it takes, isn't it?

Spend a few more bucks to tell manufacturers that we want them to make energy-efficient products, that we want them to stop using plastics that we can't recycle, that we want them to be good environmental citizens.

It's the same reason that The Girl and I combined our various errands from yesterday into one big trip, that I walked the five blocks to the Sharonville library from our parking spot over by the quilting store, that we've bought rechargable batteries for the Wii remotes, and that The Girl was painting the bedroom with low VOC paint today (for a fourth coat on the walls, but her issues are for another post entirely).

And it's what each of us needs to start doing.

Damn the pocketbook.

Ignore the cheap and disposable if you can afford to go with the more durable.

Spend the extra few bucks to get all compact fluorescent bulbs when you replace your old incandescents - or wait until the LEDs are available to be even better.

Walk or bike when you could've driven those half dozen blocks.

Build green.

Buy locally.

Think globally.

Why?

Seriously?

Is there anybody out there who is still interested in another X-Files movie at this point?

I'll admit to having been a fan, even going so far as to schedule a semi-regular date night with The Girl (then my girlfriend) in college to watch X-Files when it was first coming out, but then the thing went so drastically off the rails - bad movie, promises of revelations never delivered, promises of relationships never consumated, general stinkyness - that I can't imagine there are more than a few dozen people out there who are just clamoring for more Mulder and Scully.

And those people are dorks.

---

Seriously, is there anyone left in Hollywood who has an original thought, or is it all rehashed doggerel?

Clearing the bilges

Just about every time I see something interesting on the internet.com, I bookmark it to be blogged at a later date. Lots of these links build up at the bottom of my favorites and never quite make their way back up to full blog post status. Every now and then I take a post and throw all the links out so I can clear my Favorites back down to a managable size. Today is such a post...

• Keith Olbermann's comment after the commuting of Libby'd sentence - I don't know that I've been more enraged about a President's decision than I was about this one, and Keith Olbermann's take is much more literate and less vulgar than mine would have been
• 20 Worst Cover Songs in Pop Music History - I particularly agree with #16, 12, 9, 8, & 3...but I actually kinda like #7.
• An analysis of the final scene of The Sopranos - I don't have cable and so am running about two years behind on The Sopranos, but I'll get around to seeing this one sometime...and then I'll love reading this hugely long article
• 100 Worst Cover Songs - too many to mention specifically here, though I categorically diasgree with #1's choice. Their arguments are sound and correct, but the cover was still phenomenal.
• The 100 Best Cover Songs - the flip side with special choices of mine: #100, 93, 84, 81, 79, 76, 72, 71, 66, 63, 62, 56, 53, 50!, 48, 47, 44-40, 38, 37, 35-32, 29!-25!, 22!-17!, 15-2.
• MWCToys.com - loads of cool action figure reviews
• CityBeat's take on the Creation Museum - that monstrosity is going to take up a full post sometime
• Wireless's online catalog - filled with loads of cool stuff for the NPR/literary friend of yours
• Sequart's new home - continuing as the most literate site about comics out there
• How to be charming - in case you needed to know
• Comparing San Fran to Cincy - using aerial photos to show what happens when you put the freeways by the water
• Surname distribution in the US - who knew Pennsylvania had the highest conentration of both Heckmans and Dusch's in 1990?
• Women's hoops in Russia - cool article from ESPN's eticket series
• Forget the film, watch the titles - the coolest title sequences in movie history
• The Big Waste of Space - don't really know what this site is all about, but they've got some cool programming going on
• GreenGadgets.com - neat little blog (better on content than on visual style) about appliances that can help you head in a green direction
• Wabash Magazine article about three of my frat bros - this deserves so much more than a passing mention in a list of links such as this...I'm so amazingly proud of all three of these guys
• Theresa'a portfolio - from my ITEC program up at KSU...I don't love all of this woman's work, but I absolutely love the design she uses for the homepage...my portfolio is here in case you were curious
• Family Friendly Podcasts - just what it promises...and with really poor site design
• Old River Control - the coolest engineering project in the US is this one keeping the Mississippi in its current channel...I had a huge post planned and just never got around to writing it...it would have included this article by Ed Marsten about John McPhee and this by McPhee himself
• Tracking shots - another long post I had planned was about the tracking shot from The Player and other films with great tracking shots
• Havidol - a drug for those of us who just don't have nearly enough stuff
• How to keep your iTunes library on an external hardrive - something I should get around to
• Librarian temprorary tattoos - for the rockin' librarian in your life
• Rolling Up Their Sleeves - national survey of what superintendents and principals think should be changed about our schools...I'd love to sit down and read this but haven't made the time yet
• Arbor Day Society membership - ten trees for $10...a wonderful deal that we should all take advantage of
• GirlsGoTech - site with the mission of getting more girls involved in technology careers

Ok, that feels a whole lot lighter, and I'm thinking that without all that flotsam, My Favorites will be running a little higher in the water. Hope you found something useful in all that detritus.

Get out of the house

There are some areas 'round Cincinnati that do some pretty cool things. These past couple of Saturdays, The Girl and I have headed down into Glendale to see a couple of nights of their summer concert series.

Turns out that there's some pretty cool free music going down in the tiny Village of Glendale. The groups set up in the side lot of the HWB Community Center and play from 'bout 6 'til 9pm every Saturday evening from June through August. We've seen Three Reasons Why (last week's rock) and the Ron Jones Quartet (jazz from the hometown of N'Albany - complete with piano from Glendalian Rob Allgeyer). Madison's bring out the portable gelato stand - mostly just a cooler. And a decent number of folks from 'round Glendale come out with their camp chairs (though the community center provides a number of wooden folders of their own.)

There's a bunch of people throwing picnics, tilting back a few cold ones (apparently endorsed as the flyer even suggests bringing a bottle of wine), and enjoying an evening of good music. Luckily these past couple of weeks have seen near-perfect Saturday evening weather. If you get a chance (I won't as I've got other plans), head down to Glendale this coming Saturday to see a band of PHS boys (and Glendalians in their own right) take their turn...and I'd also highly recommend the August 25^th performances.

And Then I Came to the End

With four flights in three days ('bout six flight hours total), I was able to dive back into the world of reading books without pictures. It's not something that I get to do a lot of during the school year as I always have things to do other than flop down and scan the black and white pages for the half dozen hours needed to read a good novel, but it's something that I dig doing. Luckily this time I got around to reading an excellent bulk of text in Joshua Ferris's And Then We Came to the End.

Ferris's debut novel tells the tale of a Chicago advertising firm in the years bridging the turn of the century. Ferris apparently comes at the topic from first-hand experience and even writes that...

Every agency has its frustrated copywriter whose real life was being a failed novelist working on a small, angry book about work.

...which suggests to me that he may just have been such a copywriter in his former career. The insight that Ferris provides into the corporate advertising world certainly makes me think that he had been writing this novel - in his head or in stages - for years while finding ways to draw us into what seems like it could be a very dry topic.

Instead, Ferris does a masterful job allowing us to see the balance between the distance that the coworkers keep between each other - constantly regailing each other with superficial tales of home and gossip of other office mates - and the real, honest caring for each other that develops through the years of shared experiences, a sort of foxhole friendship forged in what he calls fire drills - all night sessions where everybody pitches in to polish and finalize. The creatives and copywriters spend their time mostly spreading office rumors, wandering the office looking for donuts and coffee, and struggling with the power of the blank page.

The events that happen - the office manager hunting missing chairs, people being walked Spanish down the hall (their slang for the increasing layoffs), the office second remaining distant from their gossip, and their agency's partner struggling with breast cancer - aren't the real story. The tale rather centers around the day to day ways in which people pass their time, justify their jobs, and try to get a little work done on the side.

The book, which I stumbled onto - of course - via an NPR interview, has been described in a number of reviews as humorous and funny, but any portrayal of the book as simply a light-hearted laugher would miss the mark entirely. This outstanding novel is a wonderful exploration of human relationships - even going so far as to include the typically-trite-but-not-this-time final chapter of bringing the characters back together for a reunion five years after the bulk of the book fades away.

If you've got the time, this would be a great way to spend a few hours, folks.

Plus it's got some really cool first-person plural narration throughout...something that's pretty rare to pull off successfully but that works perfectly here as a means of communicating the office's democratizing and unifying power.

Baby tomato

In order to catch up from the recent vacation times, I offer you a couple of quick hitter posts...

First, the essence of Rachel Ray...

The Greene-ing of Kettering

I'm heading through a backlog of some topics from before vacation, so stick with me.

The girl and I headed up to Dayton just before the break (mostly picking up rental car #1) and headed down to the new upscale outdoor mall in Kettering, The Greene. We stopped into Potbelly for a bit of lunch before wandering the complex in search of commerce on a hot summer day.

The complex has a whole bunch of mixed-use space - restaurants, shops, central park space, movie theater, offices, and apartments - that makes for an interesting little stroll. It's a stepford sort of planned community with a balance of commercial and non-commercial space that could, in theory, make for an interesting and easy enough place to live and work.

They've got all sorts of things going for them:

• loads of free parking (things that people in real cities lack)
• beautiful, scenic views (of I-675)
• nearby entertainment (the movies, the comedy club - both on site)
• loads of available food (not like that crappy downtown Cincinnati without any sort of grocery)
• a decent enough library
• good schools nearby
• a nearby rec center and disc golf course
• safety-ensuring police force (we saw one cop on a bicycle and one on a Segway - both seemed real nice and friendly)

Oh, sure, there's the fact that everything in the place requires you to drop cash and actually produces nothing whatsoever - as they have no industry and produce pretty much nothing of their own. But other than that it's like the perfect community.

In all honesty, walking around The Greene made me wonder what's in store for our cities in the future. If we continue to sprawl outward, building ever fancier and fancier mallspaces, drawing commerce from the city centers and leaving behind just empty buildings devoid of tennants, what are we going to have in a few decades? Are we going to end up with dozens of cities just like Detroit where the city is a hollow shell, empty of all but the heartiest downtown residents and nearly devoid of tourism in that formerly glorious heart?

How can we continue to build shopping centers that do nothing but give us more hours to kill and places to spend our money? Will we all end up in the service industry, selling imported goods simply so that in our off hours we can visit malls other than the one where we work to spend those earned dollars?

It was kind of a disconcerting way to spend an afternoon, honestly, when it should have all been about bumbling across the Gem City

A wonderful update

A while back, I mentioned that there was an online poll going on to find name the new Seven Wonders of the World, and I thought I'd go ahead and point out that the voting is done with the following seven creations as the new seven wonders:

• Chichen Itza, Mexico
• Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
• Great Wall, China
• Machu Picchu, Peru
• Petra, Jordan
• Colloseum, Rome
• Taj Mahal, India

In a minorly cool move, I can now say that I've seen one of the seven wonders of the world (the Colloseum).

Now, we all get a chance to vote for the Seven Wonders of Nature.

Today's proposition...

Today's proposition is probably an awful one...

Stevie Wonder is a weenie.

Arguments for the afirmative:

• "For Once in My Life"
• "Isn't She Lovely?"
• The Woman in Red soundtrack
• "My Cherie Amour"
• "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"
• "Ebony & Ivory" - counts double because he worked with Paul McCartney (absolute king of the weenies)
• "Part Time Lover"
• "You Will Know"
• "Redemption Song" (his cover)
• The cover of Talking Book
• His appearance on The Cosby Show
• "I Just Called To Say I Love You"

Arguments for the negative:

• "Higher Ground"
• "I Wish"
• "Sir Duke"
• "Superstition"
• "Uptight (Everything's Alright)"
• "Master Blaster (Jammin')"
• His release of an album called The 12 Year Old Genius
• The hats
• His Sesame Street appearance (possibly the definitive evidence)
• Membership in the Rock Hall
• His other Sesame Street appearance

Arguments that I'm not sure are positive or negative:

• "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours"
• "Do I Do"

The Girl argues that "He's blind" should give him a pass, but I'm not so sure.

Your thoughts?

Finally!

At long last the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal grand slam final lived up to its spectacular possibilities...

If you missed the Wimbledon final this morning, you missed a lot...

NBC ran an updated version of this commercial after Roger won the title this morning.

Caught Stealing Insights

There's a new obsession 'round the household: CSI.

We got hooked a while back and were really thankful that NBC moved the office to 8:30 instead of 9:00 because The Girl somehow wrangled the remote away starting at 9:00 every Thursday night so she (and me since we've only got one tv in the household) could watch CSI. After getting thoroughly engrossed in season whatever we're up to now (I think it's seven), we've headed back into the archives via PLCH and are up to season 2, episode 15.

I have been amazingly impressed with the writing on the show as they allow characterization of the leads to dribble out so achingly slowly over time while keeping each week's focus firmly on the case at hand. This makes for a show that can be very much self-contained, allowing anyone to drop in for an eopisode or two without feeling as though they're coming in on the middle of something (the polar opposite of the feeling I get that has kept me from seeing Lost, Jericho, or Heroes, for example). The drips and drabs, however, make for a much richer tapestry when the series if viewd as a whole - something we've been able to do thanks to the amazing DVD collection at PLCH.

I know that at least one of my regular readers has an issue with the science portrayed on the show, and I agree that things certainly move along at the speed of plot rather than at a realistic rate for most of the tests. That doesn't bother me, however, as the science is (to the best of my understanding) pretty good - it just wouldn't happen that quickly most of the time. I also understand that seeing main characters poop, pee, and stop by to pick up dry cleaning wouldn't be interesting but would certainly make things a little more realistic. Such is the nature of fiction.

It's also in the nature that the characters are perhaps more successful than they might be in real life and do a little more (in terms of polic work rather than CSI work) than their real-life counterparts would), but again, it doesn't bother me.

In the end, though, it's not a show about science or police procedures; it's a show about the main characters, and those characters are written well enough to carry the show. The actors also make sure that the characterizations hold true as they do a lot of off-camera acting, letting those who are paying attention see little things in the background and in minor moments - things that really add to the whole picture of the series.

One of my favorite episodes was this past season's "Lab Rats" as the minor character lab techs got center stage for nearly a full episode with the main characters dropping in and out of the labs to get tests run and make entertaining, non-important case revelations. The little guys got a shot at the big time, and the season's ongoing storyline of the miniature killer (warning: link contains spoliers).

I'd certainly recommend anybody hop on with the CSI train whenever they can and head back into the old episode DVDs at their leisure. For me, CSI ranks right there with The Office and Earl to make Thursday the only night of television to which I pay regular attention.

And don't go for the substitute of CSI: Miami as that's pretty much a one-note show.

Visual proof of the vacation...

In chronological order and with absolutely no captions whatsoever...feel free to ask if you feel the need...

Back and better than ever

No, I couldn't possibly care less that those trollops are back. They had one outstanding hit, and that was about it as far as I'm concerned.

No, the news is that the summer's big vacation (details to follow, keep reading) is over, and I am back to blog for you.

This post is gonna get the major details of the vacation out of the way, and tomorrow we'll begin with more of the same gorgeous blogaction that you've come to know and expect from me.

In order, beginning on the 20th of June, year of our lord, two-thousand and seven...

6/20...drove to Indianapolis...lunch with Googs...good to see 'im...onward to Madison, WI...great dinner at Frida (outstanding fish tacos)...wandering State St (walking mall six blocks long)...loved the city...walking around UW's campus...loved the city...

6/21...returned rental car #1 (broken air conditioning)...breakfast at Mickie's Dairy Bar (great, cheap breakfast)...drove to Spring Green, WI (tiny town, though we were staying there)...headed 15 mi south to House on the Rock Inn (where we were actually staying)...went to House on the Rock (which I'd been desperate to see)...turned out to be annoying, crappy, awful...just deplorable as a tourist destination...not enough bad things can be said (smelly, weird, cramped, strange)...dinner at The Shed...meh...boring dinner...round #1 of mini-golf...got The Girl to watch Office Space..

6/22...onward to the Wisconsin Dells...like Gatlinburg North...very touristy...Lower Dells boat tour - good time, little chilly that day, didn't want to see Upper tour because of the jumping dog...lunch at High Rock Cafe - best meal of the trip, so good we went back for dinner, amazing food (especially the Soprano sandwich and the Cusabi wrap)...rounds #2 & 3 of mini-golf at Pirate Cove (Pirate's Lookout & Challenge) - turns out that 36 holes of mini-golf is above The Girl's limit of patience and indulgence...cheesecake on a stick...hit a deer with rental car #2 just north of Loganville, WI - minimal damage, sheered off the rear-view mirror on the driver's side, left a dent in the driver rear door...called various insurance and rental care folks...

6/23 - back to Madison to get rental car #3 (thankfully our last of the trip)...great farmers' market - like six+ blocks of produce, cheese, baked goods - wonderful...wandered State St again...very cool Madison Museum of Contemporary Art - wonderful sculpture garden on the roof, great views of the city and lakes...lunch at Tutoo - decent, not spectacular...shopped through Urban Outfitters...picked up an Uglydoll...li'l snack at Paciugo gelato before heading to Natural Bridge State Park - big disappointment, only about 1 mile of trails, lame natural bridge...bad chinese takeout from Dodgeville for dinner...

6/24 - left Dodgeville via the Spring Green Arts & Crafts Fair and onward to camping in Buckhorn State Park - site 26 to be specific...good evening - marshmallows, graham crackers, mosquitos and flies, avoided the 100% deet in favor of 40% deet - which still wasn't good enough...

6/25 - gave up on camping because of the mosquito infestation...breakfast at McDonald's on the road...tried to stay in St Paul, but they were full...stayed in Minneapolis at Radisson right on UofM's campus...great location...did some laundry crashed at the hotel after wonderful dinner at Pop! including amazing crepes...

6/26 - to the Como Park Zoo...wandering 'round Dinkytown - neat neighborhood, good breakfast at Al's...picked up two new cds...walked all 'round campus, including across the mighty Mississippi and back...saw a cool museum designed by Gehry from a pretty neat walking bridge...

6/27 - to the Science Museum of Minnesota which was phenomenal...even played nine holes of science-themed mini-golf - amazing, truly phenomenal...dropped to Ikea - picked up bed spreads and a couple of other things...through Uptown - picked up The Girl's long sought larger wallet...caught up with friends in the Twin Cities...took in a ballgame on the carpet...

6/28 - slow day...nice to relax in a home instead of a hotel room...Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for a nice afternoon...

6/29 - Ah, commerce at its finest at the Mall of America including a Lego store...The Girl got to cook dinner (something she'd been missing) and there was a bit of wine had by all...

6/30 - to the Walker Art Center for some culture - easily my favorite muesum on the trip, amazing building, wonderful art, would love to spend days and days there...also to the sculpture garden (also amazing) across the street...dinner at Maynard's for some fresh fish...then a revelation that Wayne did voice work on an anime series - very, very cool...

7/1 - bit of gaming - loads of fun...and a dream come true - real grass mini-golf - I'm spolied...dinner at Floyd's...

7/2 - headed to Chicago...stopped in the Dells for another shot at the High Rock (sadly closed for the 4th - two days early?)...instead to Mexicali Rose for the single worst meal of the trip - avoid it like the plague...onward to Chitown...great music on the way in...tried to get a Taste but too late...so dinner was at the Italian Village...

7/3 - long day of walking but a good tour of the lakeside...morning at the Shedd - amazing to see the old girl in fine feather now, loads of fun...looked through lots of CoolGlobes...walked through Grant & Millenium Parks...up to Navy Pier for good times...wandered through Stained Glass museum - some very neat, some a little too liturgical...good pizza at Pizano's...and down to Taste to see the fireworks..

7/4 - checked out of the best hotel of the trip...breakfast at the Golden Apple and then homeward...slept in my own bed for the first time in two weeks...

Wherever you wander,
Wherever you roam,
Be happy and healthy,
And glad to be home...

Anything you want to know more about?