The Day before Thanksgiving: A Review.

My morning was spent on "the paper from hell," also known as a paper for Architecture History class. Oddly enough, I had 2 hours of sleep, turned the paper in, and made it to the lecture hall just less than five minutes late, and missed nothing, as teacher evaluations were given out. Then came a near two-hour lecture. I have to admit, I don't have a beef with the lecture material, it just seems that the stuff flies by you, and this time, I'm so close to falling asleep.

About an hour later, I had my studio crit... nothing great, nothing real bad, either.

I go to the express dining place for lunch... let me just say that history class and studio crit was a much more pleasant experience. Nobody told me that they hired the Deli Nazi. I hate to say this, but I'm glad that Dining Services is closed until monday at OSU, some of the people there act like disgruntled amusement park employees.

Now, I'm free for the next few days, and I head downtown to COSI, which is the big "science museum" in Ohio. It's a place that people I knew in grade school went to, except oddly enough my classmates and myself. Today was "Annual Free Day," which let me check the place out for no charge, and it gave me a great walk across the Scioto River from Broad & High. COSI is located at the former Central High School, which closed in 1982 and sat abandoned for almost 20 years until COSI renovated and expanded it in 1999. Much of the front building of the old CHS, including the foyer and even a stairwell were preserved as part of this otherwise state-of-the-art project. Also free was the giant screen movie, which is sort of an IMAX format, "Hurricane on the Bayou," which was a film that the Omnimax at Cincinnati Union Terminal had previously shown. It was a great film, but having slept for 2 hours within the past 32, it was hard to stay awake for this 45 minute film.

My last stop is the Giant Eagle north of campus... I see my studio professor, but does he see me? I'm shopping there because the convenient yet salty (and I don't mean by the food), and it's a good workout at the supermarket. However, I try to use the redbox DVD rental machine, like bigg's has in Cincinnati, and I have to cope with this lady and her 2 daughters who can't decide on something... "But it's rated 'R'" I want to shout "THEY'RE ALL RATED 'R'!!"" Finally, the woman says to one of them, "go ahead and cry." and I out loud say "I know who's going to cry, me, when I miss my bus!" Not much something Giant Eagle nor redbox can do... Makes me want to visit Blockbuster for once.

Joe Nuxhall, 1928-2007

Today is a sad day for Reds fans, Cincinnati, and pretty much all of baseball. Last night, Joe Nuxhall passed away at Mercy Hospital in Fairfield after a long battle with lymphoma. We had been hoping for a nice recovery, but it seems things turned for the worse as of Thursday, when he later died that night, and his passing would make its way onto the news wire earlier this morning.

Most of us knew of Joe as Marty Brennaman's broadcaster partner for over thirty years, also handling some of the broadcasts up to this year on a part-time basis. Nux is also famous for being the youngest major league player at the age of 15 for the Reds in 1944. The "'ol left hander" spent some time as a pitcher until the 1960s, when he began broacasting with different partners, including Al Michaels, until Marty joined in 1974. Not only was Nux associated with the Reds and Cincinnati, the Hamilton native had lived in Fairfield since the 1970s, and in recent years had a foundation, which the Reds will continue to be a partner of.

I never got to personally meet Joe, but have heard him so many times outside of the broadcast booth, including in commercials with Marty for Kroger, and I last saw him on stage at Redsfest last year. I'm sure that this year's Redsfest will be a somber one, on December 7 and 8 at Duke Energy Center. In honor of Joe, the lights at Great American Ball Park have been turned off, except for the sign along Fort Washington Way, that is of Nux's most famous quote, "Rounding Third And Heading For Home." His statue on Crosley Terrace at the ball park has also been illuminated, and is set up for flowers as a memorial.

Back from Mirror Lake

Well folks, I did it. I jumped into Mirror Lake at the OSU campus, nearly naked, for one second. Yeah, I didn't experience to its fullest, as I was completely sober. Of course, there were thousands of other OSU guys and gals doing it, much more drunk, and for a longer period of time, and much louder. It's all about the craziness of the "Beat Michigan Week," as a few hours earler, there was a pep rally underneath the Stadium south stands, with dancing, prizes, cheers, and the football captains, Kirk Barton, Vernon Gholston, and James Laurinaitis* All followed by some craziness and a whole bunch of O-H, "We Don't Give A Damn About The Whole State of Michigan"**, and F**k Michigan*** cheers and shirts. I hope to do this full force next year.


Not long before my going in, I shot some pictures videos of this annual tradition, which takes place the Thursday before the game against the Wolverines. The game's in Ann Arbor this time, but I'll be sure to get season tickets to get to see the rivalry in person in Columbs next year.

* "Tom Allen. I know him, he said hi to me once!" -J. Laurinaitis
** Compared to Kings Island, Cedar Point, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, Michigan has some lousy cities and amusement parks.
*** I'll put this in the uncensored form in "The Locker Room." I try to keep this particular blog mainstream and work safe.