Downtown Lunch Spots

Where are the best or most unique Lunch spots in the Downtown/OTR area? I normally don't get a chance to eat lunch during the week Downtown, but I have a week off in early June, so I am planning on going out for lunch often (I'm on vacation after all), but want to try new places. So, what are you suggestions?

CincyFringe - Pick Your Shows!

What shows are you going to see at this year's Cincinnati Fringe Festival? A full list is here.

Do show titles affect your pick? This year a few titles will either stiffen your attention or repel you completely. For example:
Assholes and Aureoles, presented by InterAction Theater, Inc. (Bloomington, IN)

Also, you know Ken Ham (of the Creation Museum) has to see Brother Bailey's Pageant of Moral Superiority and Creation Science Jamboree, presented by Ornamental Messiah Productions. (Jackson, TN)

It Looks Bad For Portman and DeWine

Poll results show a clear problem for Republicans in Ohio.

Ohio is a fickle state, but at the present, the Dems have a statewide dominance. It will only take a drop in Obama's poll number to drag down Ohio Dems, but that is all that will make it possible (outside of individual candidates screwing up). The Ohio GOP can try a culture war, but I think they will loose. Portman and DeWine are not culture warriors and wouldn't be able to stomach it. At this very early point, I don't see a way to win that doesn't involve the totally collapse of the support for the President.

Kevin Osborne Appears To Be Bored

CityBeat Reporter Kevin Osborne appears to have little else to do except waste his time by feeding the ego that has taken human form in that of Jason Haap, aka the "Dean of Cincinnati."

Does anyone truthfully not understand why any political or civic organization would question the honesty and intentions of a Jason Haap or Justin Jeffery membership request? They are out for attention in any form possible (yes, I know I am giving them more) and their apparent goal of adhering to principle is about as honest a quest as the CityBeat News reporters claiming they operate without a massive political and often personal bias toward their journalistic subjects.

CincyFringe BigBrainer - THE END?

Is this the End of BigBrainer? Will our heroic scientists survive love, sex, drinking, and slapstick hilarity?

If you wan to find out if this is the real end of series, you will have to get your Full Frontal Pass for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. They are for sale now on the fringe website: www.cincyfringe.com.

The festival and your road to hilarity starts on May 26th!

New United Way Campaign

Kate the Great needs a diaper.

Err, no, that's not quite right. She just wants a diaper. Or she wants you to buy other people a diaper.

Seriously....the United Way has a new campaign: the Give 5 -- Diaper Drive. The idea is to give five bucks, which the Greater Cincinnati United Way will then spend on diapers. The diapers will be given to a bunch of local agencies who will distribute them to needy families in Cincinnati.

It's not a need that people like me (single and childless) typically think about, but it makes sense that this is an unmet-need for poor families. So go check out KRM or the United Way site for the details. There's also some sort of twitter thing, but not being hip enough for that, I'm sticking with the websites.

Off With Our Noses!

I have to admit: I haven't followed the whole "Let's Dissolve Amelia" thing terribly closely. I know it began when Amelia leaders proposed a village income tax. But I never understood why the solution was to disband the entire village, rather than to just exact revenge (at the polls) on the mayor and others.

Will Amelians really get better representation as township members? Won't their votes be diluted if the village is swallowed by two larger political subdivisions? It just seems a little bit like voting for dissolution is cutting off voters' noses to spite their faces....

The Race Is On

The Hamilton County GOP has announced that it is endorsing Brad Wenstrup for Cincinnati mayor. His resume is interesting, although unconventional. He's an Iraq war veteran who's never held elected office. Currently, he's a podiatrist.

The only thing that I know about his take on any issues, based on the Enquirer's coverage and his own website, is that he opposes the streetcar proposal. That'll turn about ten percent of City residents (and 90% of this blog's readership) into rabid opponents and another ten percent into faithful supporters. Most people (me, for instance) aren't going to be driven to the polls based on a candidate's stance on the streetcar (I'm just not going to get worked up over a proposal that has little chance of coming into fruition, given the difficulty of finding private investment dollars in the current economic climate).

I'm not sure that Dr. Wenstrup's lack of experience is a critical issue, given the relative weakness of the mayor under the current charter. Day-to-day, nuts-and-bolts executive operations are really handled by the city manager. So it'll be interesting to see what Wenstrup's positions on various issues are, and what he sees as the mayor's top priorities over the next four years.

So unless another candidate comes forward, it looks like the mayor's race will be Wenstrup vs. Mallory. Mallory is the clear favorite at this early stage, but I hope the election will at least provide the opportunity for interesting debate regarding competing visions for the city.

Best of Taste Awards

Polly Campbell has the round-up on the 2009 "Best of Taste" winners. You may remember that last year, we (well, Julie, really, but I agreed) were off-put by awards taken by national chain restaurants. That's not a problem this year: all of the winning dishes are from local restaurants.

Can someone tell me how I've been oblivious to Vitor's Bistro, which apparently has the most decadent French toast on the planet?

Back To Blogging, And A Shout-Out

Those of you who pay attention to who posts what know that I've not blogged much (if at all) in the last week or so.  That's because for most of that time, I've been feeling pretty sick.  We don't do much personal blogging here, but I wanted to share what's been up, and also to thank a very talented group of people who are responsible for me being back to the blog.

Since last weekend (at least), I'd not been feeling well at all.  I'd tried to convince myself it was the flu or a cold (or even the bubonic plague), but by this past Thursday, I finally had to get real about what was going on.  My heart was constantly racing, and walking more than a few yards at a time made me short of breath (by which I mean feel-like-you've-run-a-mile-short-of-breath).  And finally Thursday, I thought I felt a couple of twinges of chest pain.  That's what finally sent me where I should have gone days earlier--to the emergency room at UC Hospital.

Going to the hospital was the right thing to do.  But it also initiated what was the scariest couple of hours of my life.  When you walk into the ER of a major, urban hospital, you're supposed to have to wait for a bit.  But upon hearing my complaints, taking my pulse, and noting how pale I was, the nurses took me right back (in a wheelchair, no less).  I was immediately connected to a heart monitor.  More scariness:  the alarm on the monitor was going off.  And I'm far from a medical expert, but I knew a pulse of 165 was a bad thing.  My mind wasn't put at ease when I realized that "pacing pads" were stuck to my chest, just in case my heart needed to be shocked back to health.  And having oxygen administered (just the tube that runs into your nose, not the full mask) doesn't exactly make one feel healthy.

Through it all, though, the amazing group of doctors and nurses on duty that day made the situation bearable.  They explained to me what was going on, what was concerning to them, and what they thought might be wrong.  And when they decided on a course of treatment (an intravenous medicine designed to "reset" the heart rate), a cardiologist explained the reasons for the decision, the possible side effects (hearing the words "shockable rhythm" applied to yourself is a singular experience), and exactly what was about to happen.  Just in case that "shockable rhythm" came about, a team of at least six doctors and nurses was standing by.  Knowing that was in equal measures terrifying and comforting.

It turned out that I was suffering from a cardiac arrythmia.  It's not life-threatening.  It'll probably recur, and usually it will fix itself.  (And when it doesn't, it's unwise to wait several days to see a doctor:  I realize now I'm quite lucky I didn't pass out.)  The doctors and nurses had me fixed up and back on my feet in a few hours.  I was able to walk back to my friend's car without having to stop to catch my breath.  And that night, I slept amazingly well.  (I hadn't during the time I was in the arrythmia--imagine trying to sleep with your heart beating about twice as fast as it should.)  And finding out that I hadn't had a heart attack (a blood test of my "cardiac enzymes" was fine, as was my blood pressure) was a tremendous relief.

Early into my ER visit, I'd become convinced I was gravely ill, given my symptoms and the attention of the staff.  I wasn't.  But I could have been.  And if I were, I cannot imagine a place I'd rather receive medical care.  The doctors and nurses were great.  They treated me (and all the patients with whom I saw them interact) with a great deal of respect and compassion, even laughing at my truly lame jokes.  After a normal heart rate had been restored, an ER doc and two cardiologists each took the time to explain my condition, what to do about it in the future, and preventative treatment options.  Thanks to all of them, I've been able to spend the last couple days making up for lost sleep.  (I'd almost forgotten what it was like to sleep for more than an hour at a time without waking up to your own heartbeat.)

I also need to thank a couple of very good friends who helped pick up some slack at work for me over the last week (even though I was in denial about my health), and who were responsible for getting me to and from the hospital.  You guys know who you are.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So this weekend, I'm grateful to have some great friends who were looking out for me.  I'm also pleased to be living just minutes away from UC Hospital, where a bunch of people are always looking out for all of us.

CincyFringe - Big Brainer IV is Here

There is no Time to not waste on this, but Your Future depends on going back and there is no escape from this really unfunny comment.

CincyFringe Big Brainer III

There is way to much Fruit in this one.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Frog

No, it's not Wonderdog, it's Shadow Hare!

Why can't I stop thinking of "The Tick!"

Spoon!

Triantafilou is a Gutless Wuss

The Enquirer's Political Blog has the original graphic used on the Hamilton County GOP Chairman's Blog post, where Triantaflilou pictured a bald cancer survivor (Sen. Arlen Spector) compared to Mike Myers as "Dr. Evil." Now the attack post on Sen. Arlen specter now has a graphic with a big read "Censored" on it. This change of graphic came after Triantafilou rightfully came under attack for making fun of Specter's hair loss after cancer treatment.

Stop misleading the public, Alex, YOU CENSORED YOURSELF. Blogger.com did not force you to do anything, unless they felt a copyright violation occurred with the use of the "Dr. Evil" picture which you likely used without permission. Pretending that someone else censored your blog is a joke, which is clearly your intent.

In all seriousness, how sad is it for a local political leader to be so petty as to make a childish post in the first place? This isn't an Ohio Senator, so the impact locally is non-existent. Instead of taking the time to post about national politics, why doesn't Triantafilou think about local politics? If he had the time to waste on this, no wonder the local GOP can only field 5 candidates for council and haven't put up a Republican for Mayor.

If this all the GOP political leaders can do, write blog posts, then I would suggest they are done in Hamilton County. This might be a good time for the local GOP to find someone else to run their party. If they don't, well, they can keep the egg on their face, and keep losing city and more County elections to Democrats.

Streetcars Guest Column

Check out a very positive column for Streetcars in the Enquirer.

Berding Not in the CIA or FBI

I know the masses out there kinda assumed there is something odd going on with Councilman Jeff Berding, but I think we can trust this statement from his office declaring he is not part of the CIA or FBI, no matter what Chris Smitherman cares to speculate on the radio.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Chris Smitherman make some other nutty claim. What is next? Is the Mayor part of the KKK? Is Jim Tarbell really a member of the Real IRA?

'Good Guys' Loitering

How well is this type of effort going to work in the long run? Does this just drive the trouble makers someplace else? In this case can people tell if the bad element generally lived in Westwood, or were they coming in from other areas? If they are local, this may have a lasting effect. If they are not from Westwood, then that bad element will find someplace else to go.

I like this idea, but how much time does it take to make a lasting effect? Once this group stops, will the street corner just go back to the way it was?

COAST Gets NAACP Contribution

So the Cincinnati Beacon has the PAC Campaign Finance Report from last year for COAST, the extremist conservative anti-tax and what I call anti-government group. On that report it lists a contribution of 3,000 from the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP last November. This contribution was made last October, according to the report, which was during the issue campaign that both COAST and the NAACP worked together on for the failed Charter Amendment to enact Proportional Representation in Cincinnati.

Does this constitute an endorsement of COAST by the Local NAACP? Or is this just evidence of the collaboration effort which was much more intertwined than average members of each group would have been told?

MidPoint Indie Summer On the Square

The Midpoint Music Festival is teaming up with Fountain Square for the Indie Summer Music Series and CityBeat has announced the initial list. Highlights for me are

June 5th - Lions Rampant at 9PM
July 10th - Pomegranates at 9PM
July 17th - Wussy at 10 PM
July 24th - Bad Veins at 10 PM for their CD Release Show.

This music series is one of the best things on the Square and I personally look forward to nearly every Friday walking down to the square for a few beers and some great local music.

Keep your eyes on www.myfountainsquare.com/indiesummer or their MySpace Page for updates.

Findlay Market Modifies Hours

Historic Findlay Market shifrts weekday hours to 9 AM to 6 PM Tuesday to Friday, which adds on Tuesday. They are also adding an hour on Sunday Mornings, Weekend hours are 6 AM to 6 PM on Saturday and 10 AM to 4 PM on Sunday.