Be The Leaf

Got a bit of a break today. Frankie and Mom went to the zoo so I could get some work done. Did it and (after pitching a ton of glossy-paper propaganda from the Columbus Chapter of the Sierra Club), decided to rake a few leaves; in my estimation, about a couple hundred pounds of them. I don't like mowing grass but I get no closer to being "in the moment" as when I'm raking leaves. I look forward to it. I feel better now, thanks.

Weaning

A while back, I gave a local Starbucks franchise some feedback regarding the sloppy way they ran a particular store (1782 N. High). Corporate HQ "addressed my concerns" by giving me two free drink coupons. I didn't think much about it at the time, but their response made clear that they and their hunter-green stores that pop up faster than the festering McDonalds of the early 70s - don't care.

As insignificant as I am to their "mission", I'm not going there anymore.

Stauf's, Cup 'O Joe, Cafe Apropos, etc. and my favorite new place Kafe Kerouac (2250 N. High) are better choices. The owner of Kerouac knows a bit about each one of his customers. He's like that bartender you see in old movies. He knows you and appreciates your business. The folks at Starbucks aren't evil; they just don't care about you, your beverage preference or the significance of their business in the society they work in. It makes a difference.

The Change

Last night, I nearly converted back to a closer version of my old format (changing formats is unbelievably addictive - but challenging to do well - OS/browser/platform compatability pose the biggest problems; hence, the template). In the middle of this craze I realized, despite the new version looking pretty close to the Honda Civic of websites, I actually liked it better than before.

I just wanted to say I appreciate the comments received and although this is a personal outlet, readers' comments mean more than you might think. Keep 'em coming. (I think I actually used the apostrophe correctly there.)

I liked that changing top picture, but it interfered with any subsequent pictures in posts - then it looked cluttered. I don't think I'll ever get completely comfortable with it. But that's actually a good thing. Piaget would appreciate this little bit of disequilibrium. It's good for us, it keeps us thinking.

Have a good weekend.

Stalled

It didn't stall. It was beginning to take off, but had to kill it. Learned a lot though. It was fun.

What?

We've been insanely busy these past few days. Despite sleeping well last night, I may be hallucinating. I could have sworn I heard the Boston Red Sox are going to the World Series!

Parenting Tip #312

With the cold months approaching and Frankie running quickly from the sensorimotor stage of development, we fear the indoors.

COSI to the rescue.

This place is unbelievable. There's a room on the second floor where toddlers can go absolutely berserk for hours. Highly colored interactive-activities, air-suspended-ball-thingies, ramps to race little balls, mini gyms, "dining" area, numerous workstations for web-surfing for child development related literature and - the best part of all - a water activity play area. Kids put on slickers and play to their heart's content. The aqueous games were temporarily closed (unfortunately), but we'll be back.

Needless, we're now members. And, I'm going to ride the highwire unicycle when I get the courage. Photo certainly to follow.

The Columbus Marathon was today

Good job Team Tab and Tid!

The Final Debate (Finally)

Here are a couple members of The Moritz School of Law at Ohio State. We watched them on WOSU for the post-debate commentary. One of them thought it would be interesting if there would be a higher national alert set a few days before the election. I'm not politically savvy, but that was a pretty risky thing to say. The appearance of my blog changed a bit; I meant this to happen but not exactly the way I did it. Dust is still settling. New starts are healthy. This is just a vanilla blogger template but it's pretty robust. I don't like their commenting so I'll be fussing with the css but I routinely use unix, linux, xp, a million different machines daily and the template doesn't break. That's pretty impressive. Don't have any access to macs so if it breaks on a mac, sorry.

Movies and Debates

Studio 35 is probably my favorite theater in Columbus. It's got an eclectic selection of flicks and you can order beer and pizza to enjoy during the movie. We haven't been there in ages (because we can't seem to get the hang of using a baby sitter) but I remain on their mailing list. Here's an entry from their latest:

The PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE will be on our big screen Wednesday at 9pm. Gather your friends and come at 7pm to see SKY CAPTAIN and stay for the debate. Or just come for the debate. Either way the debate is free! Plus, beer will help it all make sense.

And you don't have to miss ANTM to see it! I'm afraid we won't be there - school night, but I might try to get out for Thursday night's Open Mic at Kerouac (2250 N. High, 9:30).

thinking

No, anything BUT untalkative lately. Just been contemplating a site refresh. Nothing fancy. Just black and white and arial, slightly different emphasis on the home page. Just want to use a bit more of the newer features blogger has incorporated and I really want a two column layout. So, what's the problem? Time. I'll stick with what I've got for a while and maybe when I get a few hours (like 6) I'll transform.

Local Theater

WOW! I just saw 8 plays (about 8 min each) at Kafe Kerouac (2250 N. High) by the theater company called Foolish Bison. Standing room only and only $5. You must check this out. It's playing October 9 (Saturday) and next Friday and Saturday. Best $5 I've spent in a while.

Happy Birthday

Included in the birthday wishes were a serenade from the Wiseman and a note from the government. It was a good birthday. Thanks all.

Columbus, OH. There are motorcades around, recorded messages on our voice mail from both annoying parties, television is filled with their rhetoric and Al Franken is at the Arena Grand today for a talk show. I'm looking forward to November 2 for a number of reasons.

I'm Dave and I approved this blog entry.

Theater!

Foolish Bison is a Columbus-based theater group. A bit from their site:

Our Mission

Foolish Bison Players are committed to the promotion and production of new and progressive theatre. To this end, Foolish Bison strives to perform only unpublished plays by unpublished playwrights.

They're performing a production at Kafe Kerouac this Friday and Saturday entitled EIGHT CASES . . . FOR SMALL SPACES. The owner of Kerouac was describing it to me tonight. It's 8 short plays 8 minutes each. This sounds too unique to miss. Going to try to catch it. 8 pm, $5 at door.

The Columbus Dispatch's most recent poll (polling was done before the 1st debate) is more consistent with the national polls, giving Bush a comfy lead. Today's the last day to register and Columbus is buzzing with excitement over the upcoming election. I think you may even be able to register to vote in the men's room at Cup 'O Joe (why don't they have a website??). Should be interesting. (AP photo shown on Yahoo Photos/Chirose Suzuki) And go read about Fords that stall.

It's good to know I've helped those at The Tiny Fork get their fix of kettle corn. It's a fun food blog, go look.

. . . and that smell? Fortunately, for the plant's sake, it went away.