The Search for Seal

(This isn’t about the singer Seal, but rather a quest much like that taken during Kramer’s favorite Star Trek movie).

One of the elements of my job is incorporating the State Seal of Ohio into various documents and publications.  I’m familiar with its history and different forms.  Just for you, to help move this story along, here’s what the seal looks like:

Legend has it that the seal is the depiction of the sun rising over Mount Logan (in Southeastern Ohio) from outside the home of Thomas Worthington, one of the fathers of Ohio Statehood.  The river, bushel of wheat and sheaf of arrows all have their own meaning as well.

The Civee and I both took the day off today.  We wanted to go hiking in a state park, but ended up exploring the City of Chillicothe and Adena, the nearby state historic site which is also the aforementioned home of Governor Worthington.  I was looking forward to seeing the actual view that inspired the state seal.  One of the guides at the museum told us it wasn’t quite exact.  He was right:

Granted, I didn’t expect to get there early enough to see the sun rising between the mountains.  And I didn’t think there would be arrows or wheat laying around.  But there’s no river.  And while it is an incredible view, it just doesn’t feel like the seal.

This is more like it:

Progress

Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
-Ferris Bueller

People often ask me why and how I ended up in Columbus.  Having grown up in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, Columbus is a totally different place and experience than what I was used to.  I ended up here because nine months after graduating college, it was the location of the first place (in my then-career of broadcasting) that offered me a job (and I’ve stayed for other reasons).

I had interviewed at a few other television stations in the months following that walk down the aisle set to Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage’s theme song, but no luck.  So I had an interview with a station here in Columbus almost ten years ago (give or take a few months) provided I could get here on my own.  Not knowing the city, I booked a hotel room (in some online deal) and drove myself out here in my 1986 Buick Century Limited (which even then, was real old).  The hotel was located off of the intersection of Morse Road and Interstate 71,  which, upon my arrival, I found was not close at all to the location of my interview.

The day before the interview, I pulled into Columbus, with plenty of time and energy to waste.  The hotel clerk mentioned a nearby mall, so I headed a few miles down Morse to Northland Mall.  It wasn’t the most modern mall, nor the most lively, but it wasn’t a horrible place to pass some time (however, had I known Easton was a few more miles down the road, I may have skipped Northland entirely).

Did well in the interview, drove back home (at 2 in the morning), and a month later, got the job.  Moved out to Ohio, packing the Limited full, and drove out with King Classic, who helped me look for an apartment.  I found something on the other side of town, much closer to the station.

Even now, I live on the same side of town, and while I’ll go to the eastern side of town for some things, I really haven’t spent much time in that Morse Rd./Northland area.  I was aware that a few years ago, they tore Northland down, because after Easton (and Polaris), business just dried up.

Earlier today, I had to attend a meeting at the Department of Taxation, based in a new building located on the spot of the former Northland Mall.  It was weird going back to this place where even though I spent only a few hours, I had so many vivid memories.  The nervousness, boldness, loneliness and hope I felt that night before the interview all came back to me.  I don’t want to say Northland was a special place (although to some, I’m sure it was), but the memories just hit me again.

Here was this brand spanking new building taking up space on the lot on which, nine years and ten months ago, I had parked the Limited while looking for a way to waste a few hours.  The only remnants of a mall was a lone anchor store, standing vacant without any identity, resigned to an unknown fate.

The last time I was there, I was full of emotion, uncertain of the future.  Today, I went back, just another day.

In some ways, the past ten years have gone by quickly.  It’s striking that I’ve been here this long to notice changes like this.  I think the me back then would have been happy to know that things ended up the way they did.  But then again, I think I expected it.

100 Percent Chance of A Parade In Chicago

Up until this weekend, most of my knowledge of the City of Chicago came from two sources: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Fugitive.

Well, this weekend The Civee and I had a chance to expand that knowledge- we were invited to a birthday party for her sister Saturday held on one of the rooftops across the street from Wrigley Field.

We decided to head up there Saturday morning and return this (Sunday morning).  With the game starting at noon (Chicago time) we figured we’d have enough time to get to Chicago, park at the hotel and take “The L” up to Wrigley in time for the first pitch.  We hit Chicago at 11, and seemingly, our plan was looking pretty damn good.

We got off the highway and on to Columbus (the street our hotel was located on) and all of a sudden, we were greeted by hundreds of cars not moving.  Columbus, it turns out, was closed.

In the great tradition of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Fugitive, there was a parade in Chicago yesterday.  Not only did we have to seperate from the conglomeration of cars turning downtown Chi-town into a parking lot, we had to navigate to our hotel before we could carry out the rest of our plan.

Eventually, we managed to make our way to the hotel, but we pulled in the parking lot at 12:05 and our plan was shot to sunshine.  We did make it to Wrigley by the top of the third, which wasn’t that bad, considering we were set back an hour.

Still, I couldn’t get upset–the parade goers all had Polish flags, scarves, t-shirts and other paraphernalia.  Turns out it was the annual Polish Constitution Day Parade. As we sat in traffic, I actually considered ditching the ball game and joining my bretheren in celebration of the ratification of the world’s second-oldest democratic constitution.

But we had a ball game to go to.

The rooftop experience was fun. I wasn’t surprised that most of the people on the rooftop weren’t there to watch the game (especially with the free food and drinks).  It was nice to see former Yankees Ted Lilly (8 IP, 1ER, 10K) and Alfonso Soriano (2-5) have a good day.  It was even nicer to not get hassled for wearing a Yankees cap.

After the game, the Civee and I got back on the L and walked around the city a bit.  It was fun and we’d like to go back sometime for more than just a day.

If we do, our experience (and the movies) have taught us there will be a parade that day.

If You're Going to the Ohio State Fair

Do yourselves a favor and get a porkburger (or as they call it, “The Other Burger”).  Easily beats the pants off of corn dogs, turkey legs, ears of corn, funnel cakes or any other type of fair food.

Had to work there again for a few days this year, and it was a bit underwhelming.  There wasn’t a governor going down the giant slide, nor was a woman asking me to get her dying husband into the free Grand Funk concert.

But considering it’s been hot and is supposed to get hotter, I’m glad my fair days are over for this year.

A Room With A View

This was the view from a hotel room in Dundee Michigan. I dropped a few bucks at the outlet. But the best part was the free samples.

Come for the Furniture, Stay for the Meatballs

For the past few months, The Civee has been bugging me to go to the new IKEA store that opened up in Cincinnati.

She had gone there a few times on her own, but wanted me to go along in case we wanted to make any furniture purchases. Last weekend, we were in Cincinnati visiting relatives and had some extra time, so we stopped by Ikea.

I have to say the place actually made furniture buying interesting. The prices were decent, and the furniture was actually nice. But what made the place totally worth the trip was the meatballs.  The Civee had told me that while shopping, we could get some metaballs, which I envisioned as getting two Swedish Meatballs with a toothpick off a tray somewhere.  But no, this was much more.  Not some toothpick-stuck meatballs on a greasy napkin, but the promise of a full meal.

There’s a full-scale cafeteria in the middle of the store, with plenty of menu options.  I got the meatballs, with a side of mashed potatoes and jam.  For like five bucks. And it was damn good. There were a bunch of other items on the menu (Gravlax, half-chicken, Prime Rib) that I intend to try on future trips to Ikea.

For the first time in my life, I’m actually looking forward to going furniture shopping.  The Swedish are really on to something there with this food-in-the-middle-of-the-store concept.  Who knows, if IKEA had been around when my parents took the younger King Tom furniture shopping, I might not have been such a bratty kid.

A Nice Little Place On The Chee-Funky River

This weekend, The Civee and I went to Louisiana to visit my grandparents. We had a good time and went at the right time of year. The weather was in the low 80s, clear and dry.  Any later in the year and it would be oppressively hot and humid.

My grandparents live an hour north of New Orleans, across Lake Ponchartrain.  This was my first time to the area in four years. My grandparents’ area was hit by Hurricane Katrina (as was pretty much everything else down there), and while life is back to normal, things definitely look different than a few years ago.

We spent most of the weekend with my grandparents, eating breakfast (The Civee and I are not regular breakfast eaters) and doing family things, but for a few hours Sunday, The Civee and I had a few hours and a car to ourselves.  We didn’t have enough time to go into the city, so we decided to drive around in the backwoods and not-so-backwoods of the North Shore of the Lake. 

While driving around, we drove over a bridge spanning the Tchefuncte River (pronounced Chee-Funky) into a small town called Madisonville. On one side of the river was a large marina. On Madisonville side, a row of restaurants.   We parked and walked around for a while, eventually deciding to stop at Morton’s, a bar and restaurant with an outside deck facing the river.

I have to admit, one of the things that drew me to Morton’s (considering all the restaurants had decks facing the river) was the sign to the left, promising hot boiled seafood.  The Civee and I got an outside table and just enjoyed ourselves by talking and watching the boats and the moving bridge.  The bridge we passed over was a Swing Bridge (check out the wikipedia link for a cool animated image), which would open every half hour for about five minutes to let marine traffic through.  While watching the bridge was fun, the fulfillment of the advertised seafood was even better. 

Because we had breakfast a few hours earlier, I didn’t think I could finish off a whole tray of boiled crawfish, so I opted for two broiled soft shell crabs, which were damn good.  I also helped myself to some of The Civee’s Mahi Mahi, which was also superb. 

After eating and sitting around for a while, we found our car and started to head back.  But as we got the car going, we noticed we had just a minute or two before the next closing (or opening, depending on your point of view ) of the swing bridge. So we high-tailed it out of Madisonville, lest we be held up.

Even though we sped out of town, it was a nice place, one I wouldn’t mind going back to (if only to polish off a plate of boiled crawfish).

The Store Where People Buy Nothing

So the Sharper Image is declaring bankruptcy. As part of the reorganization, the company plans to close 90 of its mall-based stores (About half the SI retail outlets in the U.S.),

I’ve been in their stores in various malls many times. But I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything from them. Regardless of how cool it might be to own the life-size Darth Vader costume, the R2-D2 that really works or the Trump Steaks, I never really wanted to spend my hard-earned money there. Apparentley, I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

One of my most memorable “shopping” experiences happened in a Sharper Image, probably about 10 years ago. I was hanging out with my brother Pete, who, at the time was about 12. We stopped in to the store and started browsing. They had two of those massaging chairs set up and I sat in one. I have to admit, it was quite comfortable. I told Pete that he had to try it out, so he sat in the other one. As soon as he did, some salesman in his mid-30s came over and said to Pete, “Excuse me, sir, but you have to be 18 to use the massaging chairs.”

I laughed so hard (especially because of the emphasis the guy put on the “sir”) that I almost fell out of the chair.

Well now, lil’ Petey is old enough to try the chair. Too bad SI is closing all those stores.

Exciting Things Happen On Staten Island

The next installment the Grand Theft Auto franchise is supposed to come out next year. I’m a big fan of the three versions of GTA3, and while I don’t have a next-gen (or current gen) gaming system, I’ve been looking forward to GTA 4, which is supposed to feature a near-close version of New York City as its playing area.

However, I was a bit offended the other day when I read that the forthcoming game would not feature Staten Island, because (according to Wikipedia):

Rockstar believes it would not be fun to play there

Not be fun? We’re talking about the home of what was the world’s largest garbage dump! New Dorp! The fishin’ hole! And now, the mysterious Ninja Burglar!

He is brazen enough to enter a home through an open garage door in the morning and sneaky enough to slip through a skylight under the cover of night. He always wears a black ski mask, seems to consider himself a jewel thief and strikes with a disregard for whether anyone is home.

And to anyone who would take the other side in the great Ninjas versus Pirates debate, I ask you, who ever heard of a Pirate Burglar?

Memories from The Stadium

While working on a project, I started writing about some of my many trips to Yankee Stadium. I ended up writing a lot and it’s attached to this post. You may want to skip it, especially if you’re not a Yankees fan.

Continue reading Memories from The Stadium…