Day 151

Blurb: It's the first day in the post Jim Tressel era.

Backstory: It's the story people in Columbus will be talking about for years to come: Jim Tressel resigned as head football coach at Ohio State. Before Monday he had been suspended for five games for next season, along with five players who were all involved in this situation called "tattogate" where they traded/sold memorabilia for tattoos. Then just before nine yesterday morning the newspaper in Columbus broke the story he was resigning.
This had a lot of people asking why now? It turns out the upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated as an in depth investigation into Tressel's entire coaching career, and it alleges he's known about many NCAA violations and that more than 20 players had participated in actions similar to "tattoogate." I read the article this morning and it really made me feel like I had egg on my face because I'm a Tressel fan. I like the demure exterior and the way he supposedly ran a tight ship. His image seemed good for the program, plus he won a lot of games.
People in Columbus and around the country are falling on two sides of the issue: either they think it was totally wrong, no gray area or they feel that he shouldn't have resigned because every other university in the country does it (just so you're aware only Stanford and Penn State have never had NCAA violations). Right now I'm in the middle because I see both points. Yes, what he did was wrong and in a way he did fool the fan base into thinking he was a man above cheating. On the other hand everyone else does it, and let's not even talk about the allegations against former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.
Whatever way you're leaning it's a sad day for Ohio State. It's a fact that Jim Tressel and his family did a lot for the University and the Columbus community. They raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and helped better the lives of hundreds of people directly. Plus, his image made people believe that there were still people out there who had old fashioned values of hard work, team work and love.

Day 150

Blurb: We took the German to the premier German restaurant in Columbus, and some might even say the country.

Backstory: Schmidt is arguably the best known restaurant in Columbus. It's been run by the same family in the same building for over a hundred years. They even invented the Bahama Mama, which is a spicy bratwurst. But how well does it measure up to real German food? Tonight our German exchange student put it to the test.
Anna said on an authentic scale of one to ten the food is only about a five. This rating does not apply to the potato pancakes and apple sauce, which she gave a ten. Also, many of the sausages don't taste the same as their German counterparts. Apparently they have tons of different brats and sausages and their names don't match up.
She was also semi-amused by the uniforms the servers have to wear, which are traditional Bavarian clothing. The guys sport lederhosen and the women stuff themselves into the corsets and flowing skirts. Not surprisingly, Anna does not wear anything that looks like that. She did wear both of those outfits when she was little, but the last time she wore one was over 15 years ago.

Day 149

Blurb: It wasn't the hangover but we did make a mess.

Backstory: After every party there is a morning after. When you wake up at 8am, grab a drink of water and groan a little. You've just realized you're not in college anymore and things don't bounce back like they used to. Now that I'm a little older it takes a little longer to get out of bed after a night of drinking. This was made worse by someone calling our hotel room (I'm talking to you Christine) and waking us for brunch. I do not want brunch at 8am.
As you can image I told her she was crazy, hung up the phone and went back to bed for a few more hours. Thank goodness Kerri ordered Pokey Sticks last night because it gave us something to eat when we finally started moving. Pokey Sticks are amazing but they're a little disgusting at the same time. The garlic and cheese can be overwhelming especially when topped with ranch dressing. But for some reason it hit the spot while we laid in bed and watched Big Daddy. I'm glad we all had a good time but I'm glad we don't do this all the time. I would be fat and broke.

Day 148

Blurb: Oh Fla-bongo you're such a ladies man.

Backstory: Tonight was Lauren's bachelorette party. Yes, I've been out two nights in a row but it's all been for a good cause. Every one's getting married and while other people dread weddings I love them because they bring all your friends back in town. Most of my friends from college don't live in Columbus, they've either moved to the east coast, Chicago or back home. Bachelorette parties and weddings are the main way we see each other and we had a pretty big group come in for the evening's festivities.
After getting ready at the hotel we headed out for dinner at the Japanese steak house then the piano bar for some drinking. Last night the place wasn't very crowded but it was a different story tonight; that place was packed, especially with bachelorette parties. We were probably one of six parties there. It's loud and everyone is drinking and singing, so the appeal for a large group of women is obvious. They played Miley Cyrus, Journey and Mariah Carey in a dueling piano setting, and Lauren was pulled on stage and sung to. It was a very appropriate song: Let's get it on. So here's to the bride, she's two weeks from the big day.

Day 147

Blurb: Part of Megan's bachelorette party at Shadowbox.

Backstory: I did cheat a little with today's picture, as you can see today's picture was taken by Shadowbox. This is "Tom Jones" singing You don't have to be rich by Prince. It doesn't really make sense but it was extremely funny and a great addition to the party. The best line of the night came from the man you see above. During the final picture he said, "Smile and pretend like you don't hate your friends."
We kept things quiet for tonight's festivities. The group started out at Shadowbox for dinner and a show then moved on to the piano bar downtown. The theater was my favorite part of the evening. I had no expectation, which was probably the best way to go because I was pleasantly surprised. The performers were great, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was upbeat. It's a show that is definitely geared towards adults who live in Ohio, so this made it even funnier. Hopefully Megan was not too embarrassed by the events.

Day 146

Blurb: The latest brilliant restaurant creation by Columbus restaurateur Liz Lessner.

Backstory: I've been waiting for months to try the Jury Room, it's the longest continually running restaurant in Columbus and it just came under new management. Liz Lessner owns some of my favorite places in Columbus, including Dirty Franks. She recently took over the Jury Room and has transformed it from a sleazy, cheap bar into a great old fashioned salon with amazing food.
My friend Kristina is getting ready to move to DC and we thought it would be fun to go out for dinner and talk about her move. Thank goodness she's always up for trying a new restaurants. The food is traditional Italian and the cocktail menu is extensive. We split an appetizer of deep fried gnocchi and it was AMAZING! The entrees were ok but the cocktails and appetizers were much better.
The place is pretty small so if you go get ready to sit at the bar or wait for a table. It was a Thursday so the bar was much more crowded than the table area. Kristina and I were able to sit and enjoy ourselves. If you have a chance to go I highly recommend it.

Day 145

Blurb: Happy birthday to the best mommy in the world.

Backstory: May is a very busy month at the Cultice house. Three of the most important birthdays in our family fall in one week: mom, Jenny and grandma. Tonight that meant heading to our favorite establishment Tres Potrillos for mom's birthday. With the exception of milestone birthdays our celebrations tend to be pretty quiet even if we go to loud places. We had a great time even thought I've been shacking off a sickness. So Happy birthday to you mom.

Day 144

I feeling a little under the weather today, a bit of a holdover from yesterday, so I'm not really doing anything. This is a picture of the peonies in my backyard, they're in the shade and will start blooming more later in the month. So yeah, enjoy this.

Day 143

Blurb: I'd like to wish a happy birthday to my little sister Jenny.

Backstory: I have found the best birthday card ever, you'll see it in the picture above. Yes, that is a David Hasslehoff birthday card with the sound of the Hoff wishing you a happy birthday. She will be getting this card on Wednesday when I see her, and everyone will be getting this birthday card until Target stops selling them. I actually had ask myself how many cards I should buy, but then I realized it would be really weird to buy more than one David Hasselhoff birthday card at a time.

Day 142

Blurb: It's day number two of nice weather in Columbus, that means two days in a row of physical activity.

Backstory: An impromptu call last night ended with me waking up early and doing physical activity for a second day in a row. Monica and I participated in the Jack Roth 5k rock run/walk, and we definitely didn't rock or run. At times I think her dog, who is small and covered in fur, walked faster than I did. I quickly learned that three point something miles is a lot further than I expected. By mile one I thought I'd accomplished a lot then I remembered we still had two miles to go. It took us 57 minutes to complete the 5k, we celebrated by eating brunch.

Day 141

Blurb: Seal Team Six Dragon Boat!

Backstory: Summer has descended on Columbus and my co-workers and I took to the water for the Asian Festival Dragon Boat races. These things are really big canoes with a lot of rules. You can see the boat in the picture above, there are about 20 people on the boat and everyone sits two to a row. It's an extremely tight fit, thank goodness my row partner Walter has small hips. I also want to say that for the first 10 minutes in the boat I thought we were going to tip over, so I held onto the guy in front of me for dear life. If there's one thing you don't want to do it's fall in the Scioto River, it's disgusting.
We all got to the river around eight to practice with the pros and we quickly found out we weren't very good. Apparently rowing in-sync is a very important part of racing a dragon boat. You row to the beat of a drum and follow the person at the front of the boat, if you don't do that your paddle hits the person in front of you. Also, you're also not supposed to talk while your rowing, and all we do is talk. But the best part of the whole hour was when the instructor told us we were a very heavy boat and that they must feed us well.
After practice we thought we were pretty good, then reality set it. The first race looked to be going pretty well then every one's strength petered out and we lost. That sent us to the loser's bracket where we didn't far so well. We lost our second race by a lot, it wasn't even close. But I had a lot of fun splashing around in the water, getting some exercise and sun. I logged my first sunburn of the season but it was worth it.

Day 140

Blurb: Another celebrity sighting on Good Day Columbus. If you don't know who this is we probably shouldn't be friends.

Backstory: Today was a great day. I got to meet Ted aka Josh Radnor from How I met your mother during my show. Thank goodness my friend Stuart was kind enough to wrangle Josh down to the booth because I was extremely afraid I wouldn't get to meet him. It's one of the few pleasures of working in local television, everyone once in a while you get a little bit of the trickle down from networks.
Josh is in town to promote his movie "HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE." He's actually from Bexley and his parents still live here; he's staying with them while he's in town to show the movie at the Drexel theater. I respect the guy because he's filming and directing his next movie in central Ohio. He's shooting it this summer at a local university (not Ohio State)and casting a few people as on camera extras. You have to go to the movie showing tonight to be cast and while I'd like to be a movie extra not sure I want to go see the movie.

Day 139

The rain will not stop! It's another day in paradise where the rain just keeps coming and the traffic stays slow. Today I made the trip far across town to Easton for some pretty clothes. It stinks that none of the good shopping is on my side of town. I did manage to pick up a couple things for tomorrow when I'm hopefully going to meet someone from How I Met Your Mother.

Day 138

Blurb: Happy Birthday Grandma!

Backstory: Today my grandma celebrated her 90th birthday. It's a big milestone no matter how you look at it. We had a quiet, small celebration at her nursing home with KFC and cake, two things she enjoys. It seems her tastes have become a lot more simple now that she's older.
Looking back she's seen a lot and remembers getting a radio, tv and a car with power steering, all thing I've never lived without. She was also kind of a feminist when she was younger, holding a job outside the house and taking classes to learn different things. It's sad when you see her not able to do everything she used to but as long as she's happy that's what matters.

Day 137

Today is May 17, the average temperature in Columbus is 74 degrees but today is not an average day. The high temperature only reached 44, plus it's raining. Needless to say this is the worst weather I've seen in a while, it feels like it's been raining for days. I am very ready for this weather to stop rotating around and dumping on us. It feels like it's been raining for days.

Day 136

Blurb: Welcome back to America Anna.

Backstory: About three years ago Anna came to stay with us for a school year. She had a bad experience at another house and came to live with us after her program found out. She arrived from Germany this afternoon to spend another month with the family, so let the craziness began.
If my parents had another child it would have been a girl(obviously) and it would have been the same age as Anna. It was interesting to see what it would have been like with another child. In case you're wondering it was crazy. She's here for the next month so we have a lot of potential for interesting events over the next couple weeks.

Day 135

Blurb: This was the best part of my day, Chinese food and a Sam Adams Summer Ale.

Backstory: It's a great day for America, I was finally able to find Sam Adams Summer Ale. This is my favorite beer and it's only out for four months out of the year, so it's a big deal when I can find it. I've been hunting for the beer for about two weeks because I've seen it in the multiple summer pack but not by itself. It was clearly the best part of my day because I spent the entire day cleaning the house. At least I can enjoy the small things in life.

Day 134

Blurb: Yes, these are the people who present you the most important issues in your community.

Backstory: There's nothing like some fresh air and dirt to make you feel alive. ABC 6 squared off with NBC 4 to raise some money for a local charity, which one I don't know. It was great fun but we got our asses handed to us all in the name of charity.
What's great about events like this is that you know everyone because the Columbus market is pretty tight-nit. It also helps that I worked at NBC for a few years so it was just playing with all my friends. We all made jokes and I said some funny, raunchy things while playing catcher.
I love the picture that's posted above. My friend Jerrod took it and I stole it from facebook because none of mine even compared to this one. It really sums up what it's like to work in tv, we're all a little crazy but it's ok.

Day 133

Blurb: It's another sign of summer, Circle Degree for Tri-Delta seniors.

Backstory: I love celebrating happy occasions and going through the last degree of initiation is something to celebrate. Going to the sorority house makes me feel both young and old at the same time. It reminds me of when I was a youngster in college, but then I see all the current young people and it makes me a feel a little old. Either way it's a great reason to eat cake.

Day 132

Blurb: I wonder what kind of hot lady rides a bite like this? Oh wait, that would be me.

Backstory: It's been years since I've ridden a bike but today I decided it was time to dust off a set of wheels and hit the road. Ever since I moved to Columbus I've wanted a bike. I don't know why but I have this romantic image in my head of riding to the farmers market to get groceries and flowers. Imagine the Gwyneth Paltrow Estee Lauder ads, that's what kind of biking I envision.
Today's trip wasn't romantic like a perfume ad but it was really enjoyable. We've had a string of beautiful days in Columbus, so I really wanted to get out and enjoy the sunshine. It was great to feel the wind in my hair and yes, I really would like a bike. Preferably orange or pink.

Day 131

There's not a long story with this. My friend Megan is getting married in less than a month and I'm preparing for her bachelorette party. Today I made a little trip to the Lion's Den. I hope she enjoys my purchase.

Day 130

Blurb: Who doesn't love another picture of paper.

Backstory: I have a complicated relationship with lists, I love them and hate them at the same time. It's nice to have something to follow but there's a guilty feeling when I miss day. This newest piece of paper you see above is my half marathon training schedule. I haven't totally committed to running a half yet but I'd really like to. It seems like an attainable goal, but it is going to be a little tough because I'm not a runner. So wish me luck.

Day 129

Blurb: Why yes, that is a wine bottle covered in chocolate.

Backstory: There are moments in life that make you step back and realize you're not acting like an adult. Today a co-worker brought me the bottle of wine you see above as a sort of peace offering. We've been a little combative the last couple months, mainly because of communication issues. Needless to say this is the nicest olive branch anyone has ever extended my way.
When she came into the booth and gave me this gift my only thought was wow. She showed me what it truly means to be an adult; when you step back from a situation and think outside of yourself. My goal is to remember this gesture and take this little lesson with me. It was a huge reminder to check myself before I wreck myself. Thank you Colbert.

Day 128

Happy Mother's day to the best mom in the world. She's always thinking of us even on her day. Instead of cleaning the spare room and cooking dinner at home we all took naps then ate at Five Guys and Graeters. I love you mom, and not just because of that last stuff.

Day 127

Blurb: There's nothing better than using your Saturday morning to rummage through rich people's stuff.

Backstory: Today yard sale season kicked off with a whimper. I love nothing more than a good yard sale because I've come to realize that antique stores are overpriced. The affluent suburb of Upper Arlington kicked off the season but I'm sad to say I wasn't very impressed.
The problem with this morning's event is that it was too spread out, Upper Arlington is a product of city sprawl. The event was so large it was divided into quadrants with only a few houses in each section. This pretty much means it was impossible to walk, which is supposed to be the beauty of a community sale. My hopes are still high for the next big neighborhood sales: German Village and the Short North. These communities don't have as many wealthy people but it's much more walkable. So there's to the future.

Day 126

Blurb: I think Abe got lost somewhere around the Starbucks and Lifetime Fitness center.

Backstory: I'm a sucker for people in period costume. It's something I've never done myself, but I enjoy watching other indulge in reliving the past. This weekend lots of civil war reenactors will fill the Statehouse lawn for the annual stuff on the lawn event. They'll make old timey food, fire cannons, teach kids how to use fire arms and most importantly dress-up.
The event started this morning with reenactors arriving just before 7am to set up their tents and get the cannons going. The man you see above is a well known Lincoln impersonator in Columbus. This is my second or third time seeing him in person and I must say the jury's still out. I consider myself a Lincoln-phile and he's not rough enough for my taste, plus he's a little too young to be sporting that stage of Lincoln look. The former Prez didn't adopt the beard until later in life, and this guy still has some good years sans-facial hair.
It's pretty interesting and all the volunteers are really great with kids. In fact, I was one of only a few people there who wasn't with a school group. So if you're looking for a little quirky reason to go downtown and see people dressed up and talking about the olden days I encourage you to head down there.

Day 125

Blurb: Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Backstory: There's nothing like an end of the week mini-celebration. Today is Cinco de Mayo, the day nobody in Mexico celebrates but America goes crazy for. Doing my part to be the stereotypical American I was obliged to go eat Mexican food at my favorite restaurant: Tres Potrillos.
Mom and her friends got their early so we actually got a table, which was very difficult this evening. It was filled to the brim with people looking for a little Mexican flavor. So many people were there they didn't even serve margaritas in glass mugs. Even with this fact it was a great time with some of my favorite foods, so Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Day 124

Blurb: This picture pretty much sums up our life relationship; Jenny does all the work while I sit back and pick my nose.

Backstory: There some changes coming to the 365 project! I've been wanting to redesign this page pretty much since I started but I don't have the skills to make shit fancy. Luckily Jenny has some of those skills and she's much better at sitting still and thinking things through. This evening we had a "design consultation" for the site. There are a couple site I'm really into right now and Jenny's going to try and create something super sweet. Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll have something new to show you.

Day 123

Blurb: I need to learn how to read time tables, or the Y needs to fix their online schedules. Tonight's little adventure is part of my whole "weight loss" effort because low and behold I've decided to join a gym. The branch near my house doesn't have as many classes as the big branch downtown, so I ventured out there this evening. When I arrived I discovered I'd read the schedule in correctly and Cardio Muscle was actually 15 minutes earlier.
This is not a very exciting story but today was not a very exciting day. May is sweeps months in the television business and everyone seems to work longer, more stressful hours. I'm really just trying to stay afloat and get a few things done.

Day 122

Blurb: Holding a moment of history.

Backstory: It's a saga that started almost ten years ago on my walk from second period to third period English. I saw my friend Lucas in the hallway and he said, "Man, someone hit the Twin Towers." Needless to say I didn't believe him until I entered room and saw the jaw dropping footage that's now ingrained in the American psyche.
This September will mark the ten year anniversary of 9/11. I'm not one to get overly emotion about the attacks but I am someone who appreciates a good retrospective. Just after 11pm last night President Obama announced Osama bin Laden had been killed in a special forces raid on his Pakistani compound. He masterminded that day that's so easy to remember plus a number of other attacks. It feels weird to rejoice in the death of another, but as Mark Twain said, "I've never wished death on a person, but there are some obituaries I enjoy reading more than others."

Day 121

Blurb: Tonight I ate half a pizza. Yep, I'm a champ.

Backstory: Pizza isn't something we really eat anymore. Every one's on a diet and avoiding the pies are an easy way to avoid calories. But like everyone else sometimes we don't feel like cooking dinner and ordering pizza is easier than taking a shower.
Tonight I housed half a delicious stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut. Nothing is more deliciously than a stuffed crust pizza and if you try to argue with this I'll punch you. It reminded me of when I was little and everyone said their favorite food was pizza. I feel like everyone went through this phase where the teacher would ask what every one's favorite food was and half the class would yell pizza.
Looking back it makes sense why everyone did this; because it really is delicious. There's just something about cheese, bread and red sauce that's awesome. I'm specifically talking about chain pizza, because that's what we all loved when we were little. These days small yuppie children might say their favorite pizza is from California Pizza Kitchen but a child from the 90s will say Pizza Hut.