Friday, April 10, 2009

The Aquarium


Today's spring break destination is the Newport Aquarium. Looking forward to this little family outing as spring break begins to wind down. I took a quick look at the daily activities and I noticed this on the schedule: "Watch Piranha being fed in the Dangerous and Deadly Gallery. Mon., Wed., Fri. 11:00 a.m." Not sure if I'll make it down there in time, but that sounds like an entertaining moment in time.

One of my neighbors in my dorm my freshman year at Miami had a piranha. Named him Mickey. We had weekly feeding parties in his dorm room. I'll do my best to recreate that experience today. Well, maybe not, the aquarium is a family friendly place after all.
If you've never been down to the aquarium, it's definitely worth an afternoon visit. Especially if you're into wildlife and nature. I suppose there are two ways to enjoy the aquarium. One is by yourself, taking your time, reading about these wild creatures, watching the penguins go back and forth, waiting for the sharks to be fed, learning about crazy dangerous jellies. The other way is 'family-style' and is more about watching your kids watch the creatures, penguins, sharks, and jellies. Also a fun experience. We purchased a family pass this year and have definitely visited the aquarium more than enough to make it worth the purchase. Definitely recommended for families with kids needing a place to go on a rainy day... like today. Just a side note, we packed lunch for today. Tuna fish sandwiches. Thought that was rather appropriate. Or innappropriate.
Maybe some 'action photos' later.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Reds' Opening Day

Ventured into the wild world of downtown this morning and spent the day with my dad. We headed up to 5th and walked briskly, bundled, and with opened umbrellas to see some of the parade. It was my 1st opening day parade in Cincinnati. I bet they're reall fun when it's not 35, raining, and windy.

From there we headed down to Great American to watch the Reds and my beloved Mets and their 50 trillion dollar payroll. I'm not complaining as a Mets fan, because it makes winning a lot easier. Just saying...


The weather got no better, although there were some breaks in the cold drizzle, evidenced by that bright overcast sky where it doesn't clear, but it does thin out enough to remind you the sun is there, somewhere. But I'm sort of a fair weather fan. No, not sort of, I am. I am the definition of it. And I'm definitely spoiled when it comes to tickets (and very appreciative!), and was fortunate to be invited to watch this opening day, my 1st opening day, from the comforts of a luxury suite above the field, shielded from the delightful weather. Definitely a nice way to enjoy a game especially when weather is bad.



Unfortunately for Reds fans, the 1 run produced wasn't quite enough to get it done today, but Aaron Harrang looked good in his outing. Fortunately for me, I'm still riding my allegience to the NY Mets that I acquired living in NY my early years. The Mets' offseason billions in spending paid off in the opener with the bullpen, Putz and KRod, shutting things down.
To all you Reds fans, I will join you in rooting for the home team once the Mets head out of town.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Ohio River Road Runners Club


I travelled up 71 a little today and ended up in Xenia. Ever been up there? Small town in the middle of cornfields in the highway triangle between Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus. I was up there for a marathon, and no, I definitely did not run in it. My longest race was only a 10k, about 20 miles short of a marathon. I was actually there to run a booth to do some advertising at the race.


The person I worked with was Terry Murray, who is listed as the club's treasurer, but seemed to be the race coordinator today. He ran a very efficient racing event today. The Xenia YMCA was the site for the start and finish for the 42nd Annual ORRRC Marathon and 20th Annual ORRRC Half Marathon. It was a smaller race with approximately 600 runners pre-registered. The volunteers were friendly and the weather was perfect (although I heard the marathoners had a bit of a struggle with the wind once they got into the countryside and very little windbreak).

The ORRC is a Dayton area runners club. Check out their website for race listings, a calendar of events, and to learn a little more about them. I was happy to be associated with the ORRRC today.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Cincinnati Now and Its New Focus

The Old and the New

It's been just short of a year since Cincinnati Now posted last. Last summer, Griffey and his 600th homer. Seems like forever ago. In that time, I had sort of taken a sabbatical from my blogging. We'll see what happens after this post, but my hopes and intentions are to continue writing about the area and topics of interest to the area and me.


Because I'm such a suburbanite, I think I will shift some of my writing to what is occuring out here in the northeast suburbs. That's where I am and that's what's around me. It just makes sense really. But I'm OK with this. I used to want to fit in the Cincinnati blogging scene as one of the 'insiders' who goes to art shows in OTR and spends time in coffee shops in Clifton. But as a writer, I realize that my best writing will emerge as I write about issues and topics that I can truly relate to, not just issues I have a passing interest in, or one I'm somewhat uniformed about.


To be honest though, I do like to stir the pot a little, so I think that will continue. And I think I'll start that now. I'm going downtown Monday. It's been a few weeks since my last trip, which was to visit and volunteer with OTRCH, an non-profit serving the needs of some of the low-income families in OTR. This time though, I'm heading to opening day! Since I'm a teacher, I've never been able to head down to opening day, but this year, because of our schedule, it's spring break!


Well, I've had a relaunching of Cincinnati Now once before... let's see how long this one lasts.