Bearcats Take Control Of Big East

UC defeated #20-ranked Pitt last Saturday taking sole control of 1st place in the Big East conference - and we were there!  It was freakin' freezing Saturday night, but losing my toes was worth it to see the athletic dept. assistants scramble to pick up all the oranges thrown onto the field after every big UC play.  It was worth it to see Tony Pike master the Pitt defense with an almost perfect performance.  It was worth it to see the student section rush the field before the game actually ended - not once, but twice. (Once, before the last play of the game, and once during the last play of the game.)

When I was a student at UC, going to the football game was an afterthought, something fun to watch if nothing else was going on that Saturday night.  You would nod to the ushers who were supposed to check your student ID as you strolled in.

But now:

How impossibly surreal was the scene at The Nip Saturday night? The place was decked out in red-clad fans, as if someone had opened a vein in the South end zone. Traffic was backed up on Taft Road a few minutes before kickoff.

Kelly is the subject of rumors sending him to Tennessee. Local sports agent Richard Katz suggests eight or nine Bearcats will go in the NFL Draft next spring.

These are the Bearcats?

Bearcats enter the field amidst the band.

Bearcats before an imminent touchdown.

This guy was dressed up as an orange (bowl)!

Athletic dept. staff race to clear the field of oranges.

UC called for a Ring of Red for the game.

Fans rush the field.  Maybe a bit early.

 

Blogger Tour Of Living Photos

These photos are from the Blogger Tour Of Living back in September.  The event is pretty far past now for commentary, and others have already blogged about it far more effectively anyway.  It was a decent day and I had a lot of fun meeting a few more bloggers in person.

See the full Tour Of Living album.

OTRTweetup

Made it down to the OTRTweetup last night at Below Zero lounge. I stayed for a couple hours but unfortunately could not continue the party at Lav-o-matic and then Twist (seriously, don't these people have day jobs :) ).

There's a lot of overlap between the local Twitter crowd and the local blogging crowd, so it was good to see some of those folks again. And of course it was good to meet some new tweeps!

I totally did not even think about bringing my camera, which is unusual. I guess it's been a tough week. But there are pictures out there if you look hard enough. Thanks to @kate_the_great and @AmyInOhio for organizing.

See some OTRTweetup and #cincitweetup tweets.

Bikers Descend Upon City Hall

Last month, I took it upon myself to attend a rally for bicycle issues down at City Hall during a meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee.  It was pretty interesting hearing statements from the other bikers in attendance, especially the lady who had not ridden a bike since childhood, but abruptly took up bicycling to work everyday this year.

There were a lot of different types of argument, from the infrastructure-oriented requests for more signage and bike lanes, to more passionate pleas calling for an improved bike culture as a way to attract talented young people to the region.

There were lots of types of people too.  There were the bike geeks, resplendent in their bike pants, reflective outwear, and aerodynamic helmets complete with rear-view mirror.  There were the bike hipsters who look they just re-fitted an entire bike and rode to the meeting before washing the grease off. 

As for my accessories, I use a velcro strap to keep my pant-leg out of the gears, and riding gloves since a raccoon chewed off my handlebars.

Bellevue-Dayton In Autumn

I didn't get to take a photo from the office deck last fall, so I had to wait a whole year before I got another chance.  Unfortunately, it didn't turn out the way I had hoped.  I guess there's always next year.

Recycle That Computer (And Paint, Fertilizer, Anti-Freeze, etc.)

The other day I loaded up my car with 2 desktop computers, 1 laptop, 1 CRT monitor, a random RF converter, an assortment of cables, keyboards, and mice, 3 cans of paint, 1 can of paint thinner, and 1 half-full bottle of anti-freeze.

I was headed to the Hamilton County Computer Recycling Drop-Off to drop off all the old electronics, and then to the Household Hazardous Waste Collection drop-off to drop off the paint and other assorted poisons.

Whenever I see a big CRT monitor in a trash can, I always frown a little bit. If I were to dump a big monitor in the curbside trash, it just wouldn't feel right. A big block of metal, glass, PCB, and chemicals taking up all this space. And you can't flatten it like paper or cardboard. I guess that's just me.

Photo by mebajason/Flickr

It's Not Really "Insurance"

Someone once pointed out to me that health insurance is not really "insurance." Unlike auto insurance or home insurance that actually insures against something which may or may not occur, there is really nothing potential about health care - everyone will get sick and old and need health care at some point. The only question is when. It should not be called "insurance." It is simply health care.

With that in mind, someone else mentioned to me the other day that health care companies do not provide health care, they only answer phones. Sarah and I have been fighting our insurance to pay for a prescription, even though the doctor has ordered the prescription several times already. Lots of phone calls.

So I was amused at the following series of Enquirer.com headlines I saw the other day.


Fidelity, Mattel, Macy's, GM, Ford - everyone - is getting battered by the economy. Well, not everyone.


...everyone, but Humana, apparently, who's opening a new 300-person office, with at least part of that manning a new call center.

(See Trends In The City also.)