Coolest sunrise of my life….

Crazier than that was getting on bikes and riding 38 miles back down to sea level. Rain suits come off about halfway down.

All of a sudden we were met with a set of glass doors, on the other side of which was sweet, cool A/C. “Tickets please fellas,” called a lady at a narrow podium, slipping us pink wristbands after verification of our seats.

The next words out of her mouth really threw me for a loop. “Go ahead and help yourselves to some food, there’s stuff all along the concourse.”

To think I almost bought peanuts to bring in the stadium

I picked up my jaw off the floor and kept moving. I had been mentally preparing myself to spend loads of cash on food and beer, all the while sweating my ass off, and here I was in the A/C with free Montgomery Inn, La Rosa’s, and what’s more, 20 oz Moerlein OTR on draft for a reasonable (ballpark) price.

Club seats are the best of both worlds. Right along the first base line above the suites, the concourse has A/C while the seats are still outside. I’ve been in boxes before, they’re cool, but you’re a little detached from the actual ballgame experience (“Beer Here!”). In the club the seats are padded, and the nosebleeds above provide some shade, so you’re still on the luxury side of ballpark seating.

It is kinda crazy, I think half the people in this section were under 12.

This kid was either dancing or running up for more cinnamon breadsticks

Too bad they lost 1-0, but at least they got 2 outta 3 in the series.

Still a blast to be at a game.

And I got a new angle of QCS.

Oh yeah, and not only is there free food inside, but free icy pops being handed out in the aisles! Beer cooler anyone?

This was my first Reds game of the season….might be my last cause I won’t get to live this good at any others (unless I win tickets to the county box again like I did last year [which I just read they are not doing this year...BS!])

Besides Race St, work, and some casual social outings (like Monday night pick-up soccer) I don’t have much else going on. Desperate to stay in some sort of shape, I’ve been getting on my bike at least twice a week. Due to the nature of the above schedule I’m pretty much confined to night time rides (the fact that it’s a million degrees out doesn’t hurt either).

I already ride around with a backpack, and I’m thinking a little tripod might be in my future, because finding ledges and things to use as a stabilizer can be difficult, especially when I need a specific angle to try and shoot, say, a new skyscraper.

By that last sentence you’d think I was an actual photographer with something other than my little Point and Shoot. I’m not….

As much love as I have for the city, I would go crazy if I couldn’t escape to nature every now and again. Mountain biking, disc golf, just a walk through the woods–I need to get away here and there. Some days that just doesn’t happen, and that’s where a little greenery in the city can help soften the hard lines and times of the concrete jungle. The pictures here are from the model unit in the Gateway building, where I was tasked with putting together some plant material to liven up the roof deck. Every morning I’m afforded the luxury of walking over to water the planters, and I have to be honest, it’s a very relaxing way to start my day. It takes me back to my college days of wandering the rows of the greenhouse watering and pruning (and I didn’t even work there, I just did it for fun). It’s a reminder that despite everything going on around us, there can be a simple existence involving nothing more than sun, water, soil and some photosynthesis (although remembering cell bio, there is nothing simple about it =).

And let’s not forget, soil bacteria can make you happy!

You see, we have one thing Columbus does not that is pretty irrefutable….hills. Not only are they great for running and biking, but they provide some pretty stellar views.

Someone call Duke and get that transformer out of there

Come July 4th those hills can give you a wide angled scene of dozens of fireworks shows, the likes of which I’ve only experienced on the top of a 34 story building in Chicago.

It will also give you a view of the fire that started across town (remember kids, booze and fireworks don’t mix well [actually they do, except that one time...])

If you live tucked into a hillside with a view of the basin, you are required to have a telescope. I looked into the one sitting on the top floor of our hosts’ house to find it aimed perfectly down Main St.

This is the point where I need a better camera, or at least a tripod. But I think you’ll get the idea.

As cool as fireworks are, it’s not really a party until someone brings out the sparklers.

A little puppy love also added to a great time.

Guard dog that knows what's really valuable...beer

To our hosts that evening, thank you very much, I know I had a blast, and everyone else sure looked like they were having fun as well! In fact I’m pretty sure the right phrase was on display in your house….

I remember being 15, on my bike, tooling around in the driveway for hours.

Wheelies, endos, bunny hops, hell just practicing track stands….

I’m a bit older now, and I don’t confine myself to the driveway anymore…instead I just pick spots in the city to play around.

Don’t get me wrong, I love going out and socializing, and bars can be fun on a weekend night….

….but I’m just as happy on two wheels.

After running home to change I started my journey by heading back up to OTR before sprinting down Race St to the river.

Over-The-Rhine fascinates me even more than it did 3 years ago when I moved here. Majestic Music Hall sitting right across from boarded up treasures labeled with the plight of the neighborhood.

Moving on….

It’s always a nice cruise down race (or walnut) from OTR to Downtown. Once you cross central parkway the lights time up, almost egging you on to pedal faster and hit the river without stopping. Although sometimes I loop around 5chw4r7z’s so I can get a view of QCS.

Being close to the river feels good. Sure, it’s not the cleanest body of water out there, but I did swim in it and live….so I like cruising down to Friendship Park and the Serpentine Wall. I guess the sun knew it was the reason I was out and about…it certainly caught my eye on the south shore….

When I’m that close I always ride over to NKY and back. Something about crossing state lines make any workout seem that much more badass.

Returning to the other side of the river I always face a dilemma: do I ride back through downtown, or torture myself on some hills in Mt. Adams?

Yeah, the hills normally win.

When it really started to get dark I kept my camera in my pocket and just rode. I put my headphones on to drown out the world and got lost in endless pedal strokes. It felt good to just zone out for a while and wear myself down.

The last rays of sun had set and the sky was growing darker by the minute as I cranked down Reading Rd. Living so close to Neon’s can be a great thing, and that night it seemed appropriate to just show up on my bike as opposed to going home and showering first. I ran into a couple of friends (oh neighborhood bar, how I love thee) and enjoyed a pint (or two) before we all remembered it was a school night.

A little break and a few beers can do great things though, and I wasn’t ready to pack it in yet. I know it’s closed, but frankly I just felt like going to hang on the Serpentine Wall…so I did.

One reason not to hang out there at night (besides the fact you will be asked to leave pretty quickly) are the crazy looking bugs that swarm the light poles.

With creepy bug pictures under my belt (was that really necessary, prolly not) and security in my ear, it was time to pack it in for the night. With a gentle ride up Eggleston I was home, completely content with my summer solstice ride.

*                    *                    *

It’s nighttime, around 9:30, and I’m still up at Race St, work boots and all. My jeans are starting to have permanent sweat stains on them because it’s getting hot. I’m sitting on a chair that looks like it came from an elementary school (it probably did) watching some guys play chess in my garage. I finish my tallboy that I picked up next door and say my goodbyes to the crowd that has become an unexpected group of friends.

I drive home–all of seven blocks–relishing the A/C that’s pouring from my vents. As I do many nights, I pull in the apartment garage and sit in my car while I wait for the song that’s playing to end (have I mentioned how much I love music?).

I’m tired. The project is wearing on me. It’s tough to measure progress a day at a time.

I get out of my car and head upstairs. Normally I would shower and fall over on the couch, done for the day. For some reason though I change into shorts, grab my camera and leave my apartment. I need some thinking/outside time.

I walk down Court St towards the Greyhound station and the bridge that spans I-71–one of my favorites for many reasons. It’s an easy way to get from downtown to Mt. Adams. There is a wild juxtaposition between life at the bottom of the bridge and life at the top. It’s also relatively steep, which makes it a good running spot.

My mind wanders as I approached the steps that lead up to the bridge. A burst of light followed closely by that unmistakable fireworks BOOM snaps my head back to reality.

I grab my camera from my pocket and start shooting. At first I think it’s just someone firing off a few shells from their house, but the bursts keep coming.

I realize this is more than an amateur event, so I start climbing higher on the bridge.

I reach the top and the fireworks are exploding at what appears to be a little over head height.

It was all pretty cool as it’s not often I see exploding balls of light at eye level.

The Finale

The shows over, and my mood has done a 180. Not that I was even in a bad mood per se, just frustrated. But now I’m just happy and grinning–my worries about Race St are fading away like the smoke trail left from the show.

*                    *                    *

I don’t know why I do the things I do, but everything happens for a reason.

I don’t know why I sat around for half an hour drinking a beer at Race St. I don’t know why I left my apartment when I did, or why I walked over to that bridge instead of down to the river. The list of actions I’ve taken for which I have little to no explanation is endless. But somehow it all makes sense when I stumble across a random fireworks show in the middle of the city.

*                    *                    *

As I walk home, I start running through pictures in my head of what Race St looked like when I bought it a couple of months ago (a la yesterday’s post). Progress is much easier to measure in months, and that thought calms me down enough to hit the sack and prepare for another day of work.

Here’s a look at what I bid on vs where I am now.

Second floor, one day it will be a kitchen again.

Second floor, from ghetto bathroom to, well, not much of anything.

Third floor, supposedly I’m gonna turn these old kitchen connections into laundry hookups.

Third floor, my future bedroom and the stairwell down to the second floor. Let there be light.

The moral of the story….I have A LOT to do still.

It started off well a few Friday’s ago with a 7:30 am wakeup call from Rumpke, giving me a 15 minute heads up that the driver was on his way.

I came back that afternoon to start wrecking stuff, but the real work was done over the weekend, when I had a few helping hands to knock shit out.

The evil looking ceiling ripper

We pulled ceilings, wrecked bathrooms, removed 90% of all the plaster from the brick, knocked out walls, and packed–to the brim–that Rumpke container.

The chipper hammer was a must

Before the 2nd floor bathroom disappeared

3rd floor bath gone

My buddy Mitch was awesome, and we cranked on Saturday after a few other guys had left. We got a lot of brick exposed on the 2nd floor before he left to head back to Columbus.

Sunday a few guys came back, and we kept tearing things to pieces.

Before

During

After

2nd Floor bath being cut up

One very full dumpster

With 90% of the 2nd and 3rd floor demo complete, here is where I stand:

Ceilings ready for new electric and insulation

Office/Laundry (the range goes eventually) with bathroom on the other side of the stud wall

Bedroom, wall comes out still

Kitchen area and hall back to Living Room

]]> http://www.theboilover.com/2010/05/7-8-tons/feed/ 4 http://www.theboilover.com/2010/05/reflective-ride/ http://www.theboilover.com/2010/05/reflective-ride/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 14:45:46 +0000 theboilover http://www.theboilover.com/?p=1143 It was a beautiful day last Thursday. I had spent the week up to that point working on my Race St project, and with a weekend of demolition coming up I thought I would take a day off to get back on my bike. I’ve been having a blast working up there, but it has put a severe dent in my running and biking. I decided to cruise down and snap a few shots of QCS (see yesterdays post) and just enjoy being out on the town.

I was out riding without music, which leaves my head a little clearer to think about stuff (namely, how the hell am I going to rebuild the interior of a house!!!). It was a good time for reflection…which I then started taking literally.

I cruised up into OTR from downtown, figuring the sun was right to get some shots of the detail on my new place.

Right up the street is Rookwood Pottery, who was hosting the first tapping of Christian Moerlein IPA.

At the end of Race St lies a pretty cool church, with an iconic hand pointed towards the sky.

I then rode back down to the riverfront to meet up with the Thursday Night Slow Ride, a member of which informed me they would be at The Banks in 5 minutes. I beat them there, and snapped some photos of Roebling Bridge during the painting.

This was right below the stairway from the bridge down to the street.

The Banks.

I found the group, and we actually rode through the painting tarps on the suspension bridge. It’s not the first time I’ve ridden across the bridge during construction.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky-jtmdzBxI

We then cruised from Covington to Newport, and then back to Fountain Square. Oh yeah, and we found the Girls Gone Wild bus down by the Levee.

I know it’s a shitty picture, but it’s true. Life. Happens. Here. At least my life.

“Get up big boy, I’ve got a job for you. Smitty’s is on fire, so get up there see what’s going on.” my boss said as I scrambled around looking for jeans and a shirt to throw on.

I grabbed my cameras (still and Flip) and ran down to the garage to get my hard hat and safety glasses out of my car. I walked a few blocks north to see a plethora of pump and ladder tracks dousing 1425-35 Vine with water.

Sheets of water poured over the top of 1425, evidence that there were even more trucks on Republic dumping water forward.

Next the fire department turned a couple of hoses on 1433 Vine, essentially using the water pressure to knock down the second story masonry wall.

The poor tile work on 1431 didn’t stand a chance.

Parvis Lofts (the apartments NorthPointe Group [my company] and HGC are building from 1401-1423 Vine) took on water in the basement as it came pouring through the foundation wall between our building and Smitty’s. 1419, 21, and 23 all took on about 3 feet of water, although thanks to the new drainage system that was put in all of the water was out before we even got pumps down there.

We sustained a little damage to the top of 1423, and we won’t know about smoke damage until we can get in the building, which will be tomorrow at the earliest.

Smitty’s storefront and signage looked depressing covered in debris and dripping with water.

One of the biggest tragedies is the loss of the four story building 1429 vine.

The three story to the south was also badly damaged.

We got up on a lift to check out the roof of the building.

While the buildings may have appeared salvagable from the front, the view from the rear shows the extent of the fire and water damage. The demolition contractor was moving piles of debris while the fire department hosed down the still smoldering wreckage.

By the time I left they had demolished the smaller buildings and were evaluating the situation at 1425-29.

Here are some other shots from the scene. I also took about 45 minutes of video with the Flip cam and I’ll edit that together for another post. In the end it’s just a sad day for some great OTR properties.

The Nautilimo

I have no idea what these were other than part of the cheap happy hour food.

Dino Bones

The local Moose Lodge (of which I am a member*)

The goofy ass smile one of my mom's dogs makes

The Flip HD cam is a pretty sweet, I just need a little tripod for it so I don’t have to rely on rocky ledges as a base. I shot this sunset for 20 minutes, and sped up it makes a pretty cool time lapse. I’d bet that will show up with some more original music here in the next few posts…

*Yes I am a member of the Order of the Moose. My mom used to work at the Moose lodge pictured above, and signed me up for shits and giggles (and in case I ever needed access to a group health coverage plan or cheap beer). So now that I’ve been to this one, I’m looking to get some people together to hit one around here. I know there is one in Middletown…..should be quite the experience…

Posting was light last week because I skipped out of town Wednesday to head down to the “Village of Islands” aka Islamorada. Located in the middle of the Florida Keys, these little strips of land are, at points, barely wider than the road that traverses them. And I do mean THE road, US1 which is the only way down. It’s a paradise of sorts, filled with plenty of oddities like the rocky beach pictured above, or concrete power line poles in the water:

But it’s hard to be anything other than relaxed when you’re on vacation and you look down the street at this:

Even if the sand was a little coarse, it didn’t keep me from planting myself on it for the majority of my stay.

The best part of my moms place is waking up to the sunrise on one side, and walking across the street to catch sunset and a Yuengling on the other.

Here are some other Keys Oddities:

Keys in the Keys

Aptly named

Fishy parking spaces

Neighborhood flora

Neighborhood Fauna

Bikes are everywhere

Everything I saw and experienced added to the allure of this place. It’s beyond South Florida (i.e. Miami and Ft. Lauderdale) both in geography and culture. $1500-a-night cabins next to trailer parks. It’s something outta this world, and well worth the trip…especially if you have a good captain….

So here is a little more, including the opening video from the JM3 concert--complete with a Bob Saget intro--which was an awesome way to kick 2009 the fuck out.

The Trip

The drive from Boulder, CO to Vegas was a killer 12+ hour journey through a few sets of mountains and a whole lot of snow. But it was with good company so the time flew by.

Buffalo Overlook, complete with requisite buffalo

Not so snowy

Snowier

Snowiest

So after a half a day of driving to Sin City, we finally got to……sit in traffic on the strip…..

But we made it to the Planet Hollywood garage…..note to file: they have $10 roulette tables at all times….it’s a good starting point….

We gambled away money night one, crashed on a friends couch, ate some Dennys, and went right back to PH for round 2.

Getting goofy in the Planet Hollywood Garage

Then we hit the strip to check out some more places that would be willing to lighten our pockets….

The French are always willing to take your money

When it comes down to it, Lost Wages Las Vegas is the sort of place that requires:

A cigarette Cruella DeVille would be proud of

Crazy Faces

Big Drinks

Pink Tacos

Standing in hotel waterfalls

The Concert

Honestly, I didn’t know much about John Mayer or his music before 2009. But I discovered, and grew to love, pretty much all of the music he makes. But the John Mayer Trio may be some of the greatest stuff out there. Simple in its 3 parts, bluesy in its roots, it’s a group of people that seem like they have a lot of fun on stage together. And The Joint at the Hard Rock Casino provided a great venue to take it all in.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW0LDSp4QWM

And the best part is……I’m going back in May for a Bachelor party…..so…..to be continued….

Bockfest was roaring the whole time, aided by the phenomenal weather we had. Which means one of two things as far as your Monday is concerned, either A) You, like me, had such a good time all weekend, that it’s hard to be anything other than happy today or B) you had a great time, but that simply adds to the depression you’re feeling now that you’re back on the grind.

I enjoyed Bockfest a lot, and I’ll post about it more tomorrow, but the highlight of the weekend for me was the 11 mile bike ride I went on Sunday, hitting Downtown, OTR, Newport, Mt. Adams, and Eden Park, all the while snapping pictures.

My first stop was The Banks/QCS to get a few photos of the ongoing construction.

Next I rode over to Newport to stop in Reser bikes for a little air (and because I love saying I went riding in a couple states).

Then it was back to the Ohio side to tackle Mt. Adams and Eden Park

Music Hall and the heart of OTR as seen from the Ida St. Bridge

Then it was back downtown for a few more QCS shots.

The remnants of a great season of ice skating

I hope you were able to go out an enjoy the great weather like I did!