Things started off pretty well a couple of Friday’s ago. It was a nice spring afternoon which, like much of this recently unorthodox April, was unseasonably dry. I got the word from a good friend in Columbus that he was going to come down that evening (already planned, but now confirmed) and was going to bring another friend of ours with him. The extra body was great news since they were coming to demolish parts of my soon to be home.
Thing is, even with work being the primary objective of this particular trip, when 3 gentlemen who went to university together reunite, especially under such spectacular weather conditions, they must immediately celebrate with glorious amounts of food and alcoholic libations. Upon my friends arrival we immediately made our way to La Mexicana, and I was able to creep them out a little bit by parking in back and walking in through the cash only mexican grocery store.
Dinner was as great as it always is and I determined once and for all that the green salsa in the bottle (as opposed to the one that comes out with the first basket of chips) is my favorite. A little red for some extra kick is ok, but not always necessary.
After a feast that included barbacoa and chicken tacos as well a big order of flautas we hopped back across the river to my place to drop the car off and walk to Arnold’s. There in lies a bit of the problem–by dropping the car off, we took the limit on the intake of alcohol and pushed it into different territory (let’s forget about that time at the Jacob’s house….thanks for the ride). For three guys who enjoy the company of one John Jameson, that can be somewhat detrimental to accomplishing a full days work (keeping in mind the weekend before I worked 7:30 am to 6 pm).
Two thirds of our party started with Cumberland Pale Ales while the crazy SOB in our group said fuck it and went Jameson and ginger. “Oh yeah, and a three shots of Jameson,” accidentally flowed from my lips–we were off. Bowl of peanuts in hand we moved to the patio, 3 stooges out drinking and generally being goofballs. A step away from their normal Friday night genre, Arnold’s was featuring a pretty funky little jazz band on the patio. I’m pretty sure they had a deal with Rhonda to play music that convinced people they need more booze, because even our one friend who didn’t normally like straight shots of Jame was DEMANDING them!
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Soooooo we made it to Findlay market by noon on Saturday. Have I mentioned how nice it is to have a garage directly across from the market? The place was slammed and we just parked at my spot and walked over. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Ms. Helen’s Grill (best $3 breakfast sandwich around) and then walked back across the street to start working. Greasy food and powerade gave us energy, while at the same time our natural male desire to break things using big tools took over, and we started tearing apart drywall and plaster.
In a solid five hours we managed to expose the entire wall of brick in what will be an upstairs office/den. I had already removed the commercial-style drop ceiling, and while we were chipping away at the plaster we were also pulling down parts of the old furred out plaster ceiling, exposing copious amounts of coal dust from the rafters above. The good news was that the joists themselves look great, and so far there are no signs of water leaking; lets hope the same holds true in the back of the building as well.
We accomplished well more than I could have in a whole weekend by myself, and for that I am very thankful. I’m lucky to have good friends who will come down and help out (even in potentially hazardous conditions). Of course I treated them to breakfast and plenty of those drinks the night before, but they would have come and helped me out regardless (hell we played 3-way Rock, Paper, Scissors for the tab at La Mexicana). I’m sure the chance to break stuff with the 10 lb sledge didn’t hurt either.
The awesome G&M wrecking crew
One of my friends commented that out of almost any one of our acquaintances in college, he never would have picked me to be living in Cincinnati. I’ve been thinking about what has made me stay here these past three years, and why I’m committing myself to this area for the foreseeable future with the purchase of a building–of my first home. At the end of the day a lot of it comes down to the local friends that I keep in contact with-it has made this a very comfortable area to be in (and I’m really speaking about here to Columbus, where half of my friends reside). Not only have I met awesome new people, but I’ve been able to sustain long term friendships with close college friends. Add to that a job I really enjoy in a city where the cost of living is low–it’s pretty hard to complain. With the progress I have witnessed in the last three years I think Cincinnati is going nowhere but up. That extends beyond downtown and OTR (which I do love) to places like Northside, another community that does a great job of being, well, a community. I’m excited to be part of a location people are so passionate about and its renaissance.
