at the gate. Looks like I'm gonna make my SAC flight.

CVG to Houston?

Yep. Of course. Delayed 30 minutes. Maybe, just maybe. I'll make the connector in Houston.

Vegas & Death Valley

(Click photos to enlarge. Click on video to play in the blog or double click to play in youtube)

(Additional Photos Click Here)

Not a fan of Vegas. I don’t gamble, much. I don’t drink, much. And it’s tough just to get around. After 3 1/2 days I am ready to get outta town.

It was an easy flight, an 8:30am flight, with a four hour layover in Salt Lake. Probably the luckiest thing happened in SLC. I got a standby seat on an earlier flight. Instead of four hours it was only 50 minutes in SLC. Another reason to carry-on your luggage.

The room at Hooters Hotel and Casino was only $35 a night and that's about what it was worth. The bed was comfortable, but, like it's motto, the decor was delightfully tacky, yet unrefined. The whole hotel had a rundown feel and look to it. On check-out I got a surprise. There was a $7.50 per night resort fee for use of the facilities. Who knew it cost money to steep in a hot-tub with white trash. At check-out I muttered “Just another reason not to come to Vegas.” and the older woman behind the counter said, “You got that right.” You can live here and not be a fan of Vegas.

The NAB was fun. It's kind of a Star Trek convention for people that are into professional video equipment. The big buzz was on 3D (yes, with the funny glasses), mobile DTV, and HDDSLRs. The last one was very interesting, shooting incredible video on large format still cameras. I have a Canon 40D and when I bought it, six months later the 5D and 7D came out with video capabilities. Of course! Video cameras now are incredibly small. I was enthralled with the Sony MC 50. It's 6”x3”x2.5”, has audio in/out, manual iris & focus, shoots 8hrs of HD all for about $1500. Wow! 20 years ago I made a trip to Pasco WA to shot a documentary on the Miss Madison hydro. Me and 200 plus pounds of video equipment. Luggage not included. Now, I could take just that camera in my backpack.

I ran into some people I know; Jeff Miller, Ginny and Greg Buzzell and Tom Navarro. That's how small the biz is. Go to Vegas and find people ya know.

Outside of the convention was so, so. The TBNK guys and myself got together to eat at Toby Keith's; don't like him, his music and his food didn't fare much better. Shapely, cowgirl waitress' in tight jean shorts was the only up side. Gordon Bieresh was more like it. I really enjoyed this place in Phoenix, always good food and great beer. Then we ate at Gonzalez y Gonzalez in NY NY. The people watching was great. There was a lined that formed to see one of Cirque du Soleil 320 plus shows in Vegas. I could have sworn one girl was in line twice with a different man. My worst eating ordeal was a 45 minutes bus trip to go six blocks to Wynn, (I said it was tough to get around) the restaurant I wanted to eat at had a 90 minute wait. I made the long trip next door to the Venetian to a place near the canal. It was two hour venture just to end up with $20 nine inch pizza. Beer included. On the gambling part, (first off, I don’t care what ya play. To win money, there’s nothing more fun than yelling at a horse to cross the finish line.) Jason showed me a simple bet in craps. I started with $20 and left with $47. Which IS better than I ever did at the track.

Thursday I took the suggestion from a photo website I belong too, Ohio Valley Camera Club. One of the members suggested Red Rock Canyon, just southwest of LV. What a beautiful drive. High, jagged peaks sounding a valley floor. The premier geological formation is, because of fault activity, the the oldest rocks are higher than the youngest. The park road is one way with plenty of places to park and hike. Interesting scenery and interpretative center (also known as a museum). For the month leading up to the trip I was having trouble with my gout. I finally went to the doctor and got some steroids to take down the swelling. Well, three days of walking on the strip and NAB did not help. I was popping ibuprofen like they were Chicklets. Not being smart enough to bring my hiking shoes, but instead my tennis shoes, is not the best way to climb over rocks and uneven trails. It's a great park for climbers and there were a few out getting thrills from their skills.

View Full Album

I went to Mt Charleston, on my drive to Death Valley, and ate at the lodge. Lunch at 7700 feet. It was still early enough to have snow on the ground, but sunny enough to be warm enough to eat outside. Chili in a bread bowl. Tasty.

Spent the night in Shoshone, CA (pop 50) at the Shoshone Inn. An old motor inn that look from the 50s and hadn't been upgraded since. I mean, they still use keys! The room was Spartan and the bathroom was small. The A/C was open-the-bathroom-window-a-little-and-turn-on-the-inlet fan. There was free internet, unlike Hooters, and the pool was quite interesting. It was three tenths of a mile down the road and it too had seen better days. The unique thing is it was fed from an underground spring of the nearby hills. 90 degrees of pure relaxing and I had it all to myself for about 20 minutes. A burger and a beer at the Crowbar Cafe & Saloon and then early to bed.

Friday early, I was off to Death Valley National Park. In the morning, before sunrise, the temperature was cool. I hoped to get a sunrise picture, but it was still cloudy. I had the road to myself and rarely passed a car. The winter and spring had brought a fare amount of rain to the valley and the wildflowers were in bloom. It was an interesting sight to see an expanse of beautiful yellow desert sunflowers coming up out of what looked like barren, rocky soil. One interesting flora was parasitic plant called Dodder, also known as Witches Hair. The orange color glowed in the morning sun. The scene changed when I reached Badwater Basin, a dry lake bed and the lowest point in North America. I walked out to the center of the lake. The salt is about a half inch thick and it gives the appearance an even the sound of walking across granular snow. I took my foot and scrapped back the salt. Underneath was a thin layer of water as if it were ice. Standing in the middle of the lake I had the feeling that ice could give way and I would fall in. The salt forms various, geometric shapes. Closer look at the deposits showed hair-like formations. A few miles down the road was Devil's Golf Course. A field of small, boulder formations with sharp, jagged, saw-tooth salt deposits on top. I only walked about 10 yards in to the course, but thought it was a little too precarious and my balance not steady enough to go farther. I imagined that if I fell, the rocks would rip into my flesh like something in a Stephen King novel. After the sun came up the temperature started to rise and by the afternoon it was 95 in the shade. There were plenty of places to explore; the Artist Drive & Palette, Mosaic Canyon, Mesquite Sand Dunes, Zabriskie Point . I managed to hike in many of these spots, even with bad feet. I'm such a whiner. If you can make it to Death Valley for the spring flower bloom, it's worth it.

It was about a 2.5 hour drive to Vegas and I was about 30 miles from the airport, but still had five hours before my flight. So I turned around and drove about 40 minutes back over the mountains to find a place to watch the stars come out and the moon chase Venus across the sky.

I got a little concerned at the airport, the two gates on both sides of my flight were getting rowdy. One overbooked and was asking for 30(!) volunteers to take a $300 voucher and an extra nights stay. How do you over book a flight by 30! How do you make money giveing away $9000 in vouchers plus rooms? That didn't happen to me, but on the 12:30 (Saturday) AM flight and I was hoping to get some sleep, but there were 3 screaming babies, all within 6 seats from me. Even earplugs don't help stop that. The looks on people's faces, as they made their way to back of the plane, only to realize they to were not getting any sleep was at least humorous. I land at 7:30 (3hr time difference), I get home about 8:15 and go straight to bed. At 9:30 mom calls to check I landed safely. My fault, I told her I would call when I landed, but didn't. I get back to sleep, and at 10:30 all the neighborhood dogs start barking. (reminder, call animal control Monday).

GOLD!! Gold I tell ya!

My friend Chele and I spent Thursday at the Cincinnati Museum Center to check the  exhibit “GOLD!” and the OMNIMAX  film “Under the SEA”. The Gold exhibit was huge. Plenty of samples of gold in it’s natural state including a formation called crystallized gold. Which I had never heard of. Different examples of coinage from ancient civilizations, beautiful artifacts from India, Asia, & Central and South America (that survived Spanish melting). There were some large gold bars recovered from American shipwrecks from the mid 1800s. The coins looked as if they were minted yesterday. Some of the displays were of gold plated items, so they had Emmys, Oscars, KY Derby trophies. One of the neatest awards were Olympic gold medals won by local athletes at the ‘72, ‘88, and ‘08 games. Some interesting info from the show; 78% of gold is used for jewelry, 12% for electronics, medical and dental, and only 10% is used for financial transactions. It takes 30 tons of oar to get 1oz of gold. Gold is so malleable you can get 7000 sheets the thickness of a dime.  They didn’t allow pictures, but I managed to sneak the 1st shot and lifted the 2nd from the website. 

The movie was beautiful showing creatures mostly from the Great Barrier Reef. Sea lions, sea snakes, sea dragons, whales and cuttlefish. Big screen and beautiful movie.

My March Madness

I had quite a few freelance jobs this last week. It started on Tuesday with a trip to Atherton HS in Louisville. Wazoosports had to do 6th region girls basketball. And I do mean had to. The powers that be told them, if they wanted to do the boys finals they had to televise some girls games. The Atherton games were the only ones that fit into wazoo’s schedule. An older gentleman ask me why we weren’t at Bellermine Univ. That’s where the good games are. I shrugged my shoulders and he said, “These are going to be the worst games in either region, boys or girls.” He was right. PRP 25, Central 56. Fairdale 40, Butler 58.

Thursday I went back up north to Miami U to work with Classic Teleproductions. A much tougher setup this time ‘round. I turned down the handheld camera and picked the crows nest. I didn’t realize that we were using cameras with real lenses.  Instead of one trip, with a small camera, up the stairs it was three, with two forty lbs cases and a large tripod. I just kept telling myself I was getting paid to exercise. I’m old enough to be smarter than this. I  couldn’t see the viewfinder so I used duct tape to mount it on the back of the camera. Classy.

 

Saturday was a long one. 6AM on the road to Richmond for the 11th region boys semi finals (12PM & 2PM) and girl’s finals (8PM). I got to direct these games, but I don’t remember much from them. They run together after awhile. There was a three hour gap between games because Wazoo was also doing the OVC women’s finals in in Nashville. That means I got home at 12:30 AM.

Monday it was off to run camera again, at Bellermine for the 6th & 7th region boys finals. The place was packed. For the second game all of the Male HS students couldn’t even get into the game. I took a break at halftime and there were about 100 students outside still waiting to get in. The game was delayed for about 20 minutes. Just before tipoff, for the first game, a popcorn machine caught fire in the lobby. They had to use a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. The fire alarm went off and the fire department showed up. There was no need to evacuate the crowd, but some of the smoke rolled into the gym and gave it eerie, humid look. Appropriate, ‘cause it was very hot. Better games though, Butler Iroquois in OT and Ballard came from behind to beat male 60-56.

MU & Miscellaneous

Did my third Miami Univ. basketball game of the year for Classic Teleproductions. Early call time of 7am Saturday, which meant being on the road by 6am. The main crew didn’t get there until 7:30 and we were done setting up by 9am. We had two hours before we had to be on camera for the first of two games at noon. An extra hour of sleep would have been nice, but I had a client that said once, “Somebody’s gonna pay for getting me out of bed today.” That’s the way I look at 7am calls.

We told to be on camera at 11am to get star shots, the ten seconds of video for the one star player played back during the show open. It never fails though that they will get distracted in the truck and when they’re ready to roll tape they players will have left the floor. And there we sit, waiting for them to come back on the floor. Always make sure you go the the bathroom before you go to your camera. You never know if you’re going to get a break before the game or eat for that matter. I packed a small, cooked microwave pizza and ate that in the crows nest high atop Millett Hall. At halftime of the women’s game I got a break and found some calzones, for me and the other top camera op., in the media room. Between games another calzone.

Hey it’s a long day! After the game a college kid asked if we wanted any leftover pizza. A college kid that gave up a pizza. You ever heard the like? I got to thinking, Sunday, while visiting mom, we ate pizza at Hometown and I had a Red Barron’s in the middle of the week. I got so much greasy in my blood that it would float on top of water. But I worked most of it off going back a forth to my camera.(right click video to watch on youtube)

Jan 23rd.

Ran camera at the EKU vs Morehead basketball game for Wazoosports. It was fun to be in the coliseum and not in the truck. The place was rockin’ with over 5600 fans. I hadn’t seen that many people in Alumni since the Waylon Jennings concert back in the early 80’s. I made a trip to the campus bookstore to get a t-shirt and just walk across campus. There were quite a few kids on campus and I couldn’t stop thinking to myself, “I was never this young.”

Pikeville College Feb 5, 2010

Am I just bored or do I really need the money that much?
That was the questioned I ask myself when Larry, Wazoosports.com,  asked if I wanted to direct a basketball game at Pikeville College.
“No, I think I'll pass.” I told him
“Well, I gonna have to cancel that game. I just can't get a crew to go to Pikeville College.”
Hum, I wonder why? View Larger Map'>Pikeville is not bad town, it's just so far away.
Larry tried to change the game to Georgetown, but the higher ups refused. He called back and asked what it would take to get me to do the game. The general rule is never be the first to name a price. You will always lose. But I gave him a price that was 30% higher than the normal pay for the gig and he accepted. DAMN! Shoulda asked for more money. He might have turned me down, but I wouldn't have to go the Pikeville either.
I met the crew in at the Winchester exit, after a 90 minute drive. Then it was another two hour drive to Pikeville. You'd think that a huge Chevy SUV would have plenty of leg room, but not when the person in the front passenger seat is close to 300 lbs. It's a pretty drive, winding roads with snow on the ground, but I've seen it before. When I drove it back in the summer. I had only been to Pikeville once in my life, in the past six months I've been there twice.
The Eastern Kentucky Expo Center is a very nice multipurpose facility. Used for ballgames, concerts and religious services. (photo)We had a hard time setting up; cabling problems, intercom problems, which meant not-getting -dinner problem. I've freelanced enough to always pack a snack, so I dined on an apple and a granola bar. Not enough to last through two games. Between the games one of the camera guys said there was some free food in a break room. The only person in the truck was some poor girl Wazoo had dragged from their office to the game. They were that hard-up for crew. When we asked to go get us some food, she said
“I'm not hungry.”
“Well, I am! Go get me some food!”
Way to be a part of the team. She was not happy. She grudgingly went to find the free food. After only five minutes she came back and told me she couldn't find it. Camera 3 got us a shot of one of the camera people with free food. Way to be a part of the team.
“Well then, go get me a hot dog.”
“Not unless you ask nice.”
“I'm hungry. Go get me a hot dog woman!” I was laughing when I said it. She wasn't.    I did get my hot dog though.
After the games it was a looong trip home. I decided to take the the very backseat. It was a little more cramped, but I thought I could do a time warp nap and be back at my car in the blink of sandman's eye. I didn't work. By the time I got back to my car and then the trip home, it was late. On the road at 10am, home at 3am. Nope, the next time I will not be the first to name a price. (double click to play in youtube)

I say Rio, You say Rye O

Around the first of January I made the three hours trip, to work for wazoosports.com, at The University of Rio Grande in Rio Grande Ohio. They pronounce it 'Rye O' Grand, so it will rhyme with Ohio. Clever. The college is the only thing for miles around, unless you count the Bob Evans Farm Homestead Museum. The Buckeye version of Harlan Sanders.

There's some more history at Rio, The University of Rio Grande is where Bevo Francis played basketball. Yep, THAT Bevo Francis. I hadn't heard of him either. He holds quite a few NCAA records and some other not recognized. 150 points in one game, 3964 points in one season. His jersey is proudly displayed in the lobby of the gymnasium. Hung on cork board with thumbtacks. Classy.

I spent the night to take a side trip to see some of the Indian ceremonial and burial mounds around Chillicothe at the Hopewell Culture National Park. I've been here a couple of times, but am always amazed how these people built something so huge, without the use of the wheel or shovels, and 2000 years ago! These mounds, the ones not destroyed by generations of us white people, exist all over Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois.

Music & Memories

When I got my first job one of my vices was music. I would go a local record store, Recordsmith in Richmond (RIP), and spend some portion of my paycheck. The guys there got to know my taste and turned me on to some great music; Rev Horton Heat, SCOTS, and many others. I spent a lot of time at concerts, listening to local bands and searching for new and different songs. I rarely, even now, listened to radio stations higher than 92 on the dial. These independent stations and stores were so much fun in my quest for tunes.

Now, Internet radio, online stores and MP3 players have replaced most of that.

I was reminded of this when I stopped in to Phil's Records and Tapes in Southgate. Well, Phil's Music and Memories now. That should tell you how long the store has been around, Records and Tapes!? When I moved to Newport the store was just a few miles away. I would stop in and go straight to the used bin, then to the new rack, and before leaving a check of the dry erase board to see what new releases were coming soon. Phil's moved to Latonia, then Erlanger, now to Southgate. It's considerable smaller, but the telling (I was gonna say odd) thing is, half the store is records. I guess now they're a niche store for audiophiles that love albums. It felt like a walk down memory lane. The whole time I was there I kept getting this feeling that, 'This is the last time I will ever be in a record store'.

I would use my iPhone to check net prices on the used CDs. Why do I need to buy it in the store? For the jewel case? The Album art or liner notes? I can check all that out on allmusic.com. Now there is myspace. I listened to all of Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears before I bought it. How great is that? There are tunes on LaLa for ¢.79 songs. That's almost as cheap as a single play on a jukebox. Amazon has full albums for $7.99 and some for $5.00. I got Neko Case- Middle Cyclone for five bucks!

I've almost stopped going to concerts. I hate audiences. I didn't pay to hear you scream the lyrics or, worse, not pay attention at all and talk throughout the shop. At one Steve Earle concert he started talking against the death penalty. Two idiots yell, “Shut up and play!” If you don't already know about Earle's views why did you show up? Did they pay $40 just to hear Copperhead Road? My iPhone has almost replaced my radio. Old tunes, from my CDs, pop up unexpectedly like friends to say hello. I'm still a member of WKNU and WVXU. They do a good with local music an news. My new car has Sirius, but I don't think I'll subscribe. The quality isn't there, especially on the talk channels. I might as well stream it from my iPhone, as long as, of course, I have cell reception.

But there is a tinge of guilt. Phil's, and all the others, have giving me great direction for music. I look at my CD collection and can see their influence. I did buy one used CD: a Dwight Yoakam great hits. I still haven't replaced music from my cassette days. My direction now is the net, but thanks for the music and memories.

Eastern Kentucky Sept 2009

September 1^st - 4^th I took a little drive through Eastern Kentucky. I drove the back roads through Cynthiana and Paris to I-64. From there to Cater Caves State Park. I was a nice little cave system quite different from Mammoth Cave (where there were 120 on the tour, here I was just me and the Ranger). You can get right up next to the formations. Plenty of little soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites and a new one (too me) helicites. They can’t decide if they want to form up or down.  After a night in Ashland I took US23 to Whitesburg. I drove through most of the towns (Paintsville, Prestonsburg, Pikeville) on the way, they all had very small streets. Not a lot of room in the mountains for roads. On day three I got up early enough to still catch some fog in the valleys, from a pull off on US119, around Whitesburg . I also made a stop at Kingdom Come State Park. Some beautiful overlooks and trails there. After that I tried to find the top of Black Mtn. but, the road got too rough for the Mustang. The drive on US 119 to Middlesborough  was beautiful. That maps had US 23 from Ashland to Whitesburg colored as scenic. It was nice. If you enjoy refineries. But I will take US119 any day. I took a quick detour to Harlan, just to say I had. I really wanted to make Cumberland Gap at Middlesborough before the visitors center closed. Middlesborough is the only US city in the middle of a meteor crater. How about that? I knew there no alcohol sold here when I didn't see any beer advertisements at the gas stations windows. Plenty of cigarette signs though. No blue laws against that. I went to Harrogate TN to visit the Lincoln Memorial Museum on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University. Interesting but, most of the displays were down for refurbishing. Friday morning the park opened early enough to  get some decent clouds in the Gap shots. The road trip ended in Lexington with a lunch my friend Keith Combs. I’ll have to make this in the fall, one of these years.

Memphis

Took a trip to Memphis last vweekend to see Scott, but first I made a stop at Mammoth Cave.

I went on the new Entrance Tour which was very interesting. The previous days rain made for a lot of water dripping into the cave. The beginning of the tour were steps that descended into a pit. It was almost a waterfall because of the rain. Then there were tight corridors, low ceilings and interesting water cut formations. There were 120 people which slowed down the tour. We had to rush through the last quarter that included Frozen Niagara. Unfortunate.

Friday, after finally getting to Scott's, we went to eat at Crescent City a really good Cajun restaurant.

Saturday it was off to Rendezvous BBQ ribs in downtown Memphis. It's a dry BBQ and it has a little bite back. I thought it was tasty. Then, since the rain let up, we went over to Beale Street to see the acrobats, have a beer and watch the crowd. Bailey whined he was bored. His suggestion was Tunica, MS and go to the gambling boats. Once there the cheapest table was $10. I know I gonna lose money, I just don't want to do it that fast. So it was back to Memphis.

After checking my iPhone I thought the rest of the rains would miss downtown and going to the Redbirds baseball would be safe. As we headed to our seats The Bailey became infatuated by his reflection in a large sheet of pain glass and kissed it. Popping his nose, knees and elbow in the process.

Sunday morning it's back on the road to head home. I took back roads to Jackson, TN, by way of Bolivar, and it was a fairly scenic drive. I also stopped by Mike’s Rock shop in Cave City, KY to pick up a cut geode and some smoky quartz.

Cedar Point(less)

I’ve been trying to get a group of people to head up to Cedar Point in Sandusky OH. It’s the rollercoaster capital of the world. In the end it was only Kevin and I . The afternoon we left I checked the weather for N OH and there was a 20-40% chance of rain. That night, at the hotel it was 50%. The next day 100%. The weather radar was full of rain. We cut our losses and headed back home. A four hour drive one way.

So I wouldn’t be a total loss we stopped in Wapakoneta, OH to visit The Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum. It was a nice little museum with lots of artifacts from Armstrong’s life and the space program. It’s worth a stop if you’re passing by or looking for an hour drive day trip.

 

Tinsley Ellis

On July 17 I met up with Kevin to see Tinsley Ellis at Play by Play Cafe in Silverton. It was a good show, but the opening act, The Scotty Bratcher Band, really kicked it. He’s from Cincy so, I am gonna have to check him out. If I have to go see a band it should be in Cincy, no smoking. I forgot how reassuring it is to go to a blues show. All the other fans make me feel younger and thinner.

Friends and Fun

Monday I had lunch with three friends, Alissa, Trudy and Dawn. They spent half the hour talking about Trudy’s baby shower. What the hell was I thinking? I was still great to get together with them.

That afternoon my friend Chele and I went to Kings Island. We decided to take the twilight special; after 5pm for $25. The website states, “You can do a lot in five hours.” Don’t you believe it. We were only able to hit seven rides: The Beast, The Racer, Backlot Stunt Coaster, The Vortex, Firehawk, and the new Diamondback, twice. The Beast and the Racer are still a lot of fun. I don’t care how old they are.The Stunt Coaster was more cute than thrill. The interesting thing about it was the start. It was a catapult. So you go from 0-60 in a few seconds. I can’t ride The Vortex anymore. Too tall. My knees hit the seat in front of me and the the shoulder harness pressed me into my seat like a medieval torture device. Firehawk was a blast and worth the 50+ minute wait. You get on the ride, then the seat reclines back, you go up the first hill on your back, then at the bottom of the hill it flips over and you’re flying through the air like Superman. As the ride was going up the hill I could feel my iPhone slipping out of my pocket so I spent most of the ride trying to keep a hand on my phone. Diamondback was our first and last ride of the day. It was incredible. The only thing that holds you in is a small lap bar. There is an unobstructed view of everything around you. If the lap bar isn’t too snug you will get so much air time. I felt like I was floating through the whole ride. But being careful not to get slammed into my seat at the bottom of each hill. The last ride on the Diamondback was at sunset,even more fun in the dark. I hadn’t been to Kings Island in, maybe, five years. I should get back more often, but start the day in the morning so I can get in more rides.

Fountain Square Friday

I decided to to do lunch in downtown Cincy Friday. I parked in Covington KY and walked across the Roebling Bridge. I stopped by Mythos to get a gyro and headed to Fountain Square. There were some skateboarders doing demos.

After a scoop of Graters ice cream I went to the top of Carew Tower. Very hazy, I should so this when the weather is not as humid. Lots of cute women out. I think I’ll make this a weekly thing.

That evening I went to The Blue Wisp Jazz Club. They have free jam/workshop from 4:30 to 7. I didn’t stay long, but it was good music.

Lord, forgive me.

I fell off the wagon today and man does it taste goooooood. I bought and made a big ole pitcher of tea. I've had tea in the last three or so months, but all of them fell short of the brew I had, have, perfected over the years. Let see if I can keep it under 1lbs of sugar a week.

To add to it all, I've fallen off the exercise wagon. (I need a seatbelt) I was doing really well, but two weeks ago I wrenched my right knee and I couldn't even ride my exercise bike. Then this week my left ankle started aching. At first I thought I had twisted it on Donald's farm, but when the hurting didn't go away and I could feel the heat coming off the joint. I decided it was gout. I had been taking allopurinal for gout, but during flare ups it can make it worse. So now it's indomethocine until it get better.

4th of July

Not a full week, but at least some stuff to keep it interesting. On Tuesday I met up with Srinivas, Lilia and some of their friends at McCormick's and Schmicks. They had a really good M&S red beer. I miss read the tap and thought it said S&M. I felt a little old when one of the girls said her father's 50th birthday was coming up. Damn, I'm two and a half years younger than her dad. It was a fun get together. Some good laughs.
Wednesday Chele and I went to see Ice Age 3D. $13.75!!!!! for a matinee!!! It was decent movie, but not worth $13.75. 3D needs some improvement. It was blurry and disorienting. After we headed to Bar Louie for dollar burger Wednesdays. The hostess sat us all the way to the back, where the windows overlook the river, and there was Dave Hyden, a comic I use to perform with. He was writing material for a showcase at Newport Funnybone that night. He shot out some material and I tried to tag some of it. I miss writing with the guys.
After Chele and I parted ways went back to the APT, but decided to go back out and see the showcase. I think this was the first showcase (open mic) I had seen in three years. It will be another three years before I go back. I was the same old 'dick and pussy' show. That's what's it called in the biz. Hyden had a good set. Audiences love him. Alex Stone had a great set; very clean, original and funny. It was a hot audience. They were laughing at everything. And NO, I didn't get the urge to get back on stage.

Went home on Thursday and Friday went for a hike along the Egerton Nature Preserve, AKA Donald's farm. There was an old county road that hadn't been used in 80 years. It looked like a trace, it jutted out from the hillside, lined with some rock walls, the road was covered with leaves, no trees and small incline headed up and down the side of the hill. The creek bottom wasn't running, but there were three of four small cascade falls. I nice walk up and down the hill.

I had to take another shower before heading to Louisville to see the Kentucky Show and the Kentucky Center for the Arts. It's a nice short film on the history and beauty of Kentucky. After AAA and library card discount (yep, they asked if I had a library card) it was only $4.
With the movie done I made my first ever visit to see a race at Churchill Downs. Fitz met up with me there. When I told him it was my first visit he said he had been coming to Churchill since he was four. The place is huge, about four time larger than Keeneland. Most of the races only had 6-8 horses in them. Overall I think I was $5 ahead at the end of six races when I left. It's easy to say you're ahead when you don't really keep track of the money.

A light rain fell all day on the 4th of July. I sat out on the back deck to just listen to it hit the leaves on the trees. I started back to Newport around six and when the rain let up I drove over to the Weidemann House to shoot the Cincinnati fireworks. The show was only 10 minutes, I guess since it rained they cut it short. When I got back to Home street I went down to the end of the road to watch the annual battle of Newport and Covington. These People really go all out for their backyard shows.