bugsii

I had a secret appointment this morning.  And, I can’t tell you about it yet.  Maybe later.

It was pretty hot, so I went for a run at the rec center.  Then, I went home and did some school work and Bachelorette Party planning work.

Later on, Dan and I walked down to comfest for a little while.  Comfest is short for community festival.  We stumbled upon it on accident last year in its final day.  Tonight is the first night and it is in full swing, which means it’s crowded and smelly and, boy were the crazies out in full force.  We walked around, looked at the vendors, listened to a some music, found Ben, Megan and Erin, and ate some food. I tried to find my TA pals, but that was impossible.  After that, I’d had enough.  So, with a minor detour to Jeni’s, we went home.  I’m old and like the daytime/less crowded version of comfest.  Oh, but I did take some pictures of the crazies and will post them to flickr tomorrow.  It’s way past my bedtime.

My friend, Bri, came up to visit this weekend. At around 11am yesterday, she called because she was stuck in her driveway in Cincinnati. The ice was still bad and she has rear-wheel drive, so she was having trouble. She said she’d call back when she was on the road. About a half an hour later, she called and told me that the remedied the situation by getting table salt from the kitchen and pouring it behind her back tires. So here she is, arriving in Columbus, salt still in hand. Ha, she’s like MacGyver!

So, then we went for a quick lunch at the North Market, where we both got Indian food and then some Jeni’s for dessert!

I was afraid we’d have a hard time parking on campus, so Matt picked us up and took us to the Wexner Center to see the Andy Warhol exhibit, which is really the reason she came up. We stayed there for about three hours. It was really interesting and bizarre. They had screens set up everywhere with his weird movies playing and signs next to them telling what they were about and how many minutes was left in the movie. One “movie” was just of the empire state building for like 8 hours and when we were watching it, it was nighttime, so all you could see was a streetlight. Weird. They also had his campbell soup cans and Marilyn Monroe pictures on the walls. Apparently he was interested in starting a TV channel before he died unexpectedly in 1987, so they had a room full of TVs with headsets and you could wander from TV to TV watching parts of his shows which were mostly about fashion and celebrities. We couldn’t take pictures in the exhibit, but there was some stuff out front, so here he is in drag and not.

Dan picked us up from the exhibit and we got some Adriatico’s pizza in preparation for fight night at our house. Dan got the UFC fight on pay-per-view, Ben, Matt and his sisters came over, we played some Encore (sweet, huh, Beth F.?) and then watched the fight. It was fun, but I was so tired that I couldn’t even write my blog last night. This morning, Bri, Dan and I headed to Northstar for some delicious breakfast and now Bri is on her way back to Cincinnati. Time flies.

We finally got to go to the free Shakespeare play in Schiller Park, although this time it wasn’t Shakespeare. It was Cyrano de Bergerac, which is by a frenchie named Rostand.

Let me back up a few steps though. Today, was a pretty lazy day for me. I slept in and watched some Olympics. I also graded and went to the grocery store, but after Ben got home from work, Dan, Ben and I (Matt was still working) headed down to German Village to eat and see the play. We ate at a Jewish deli called Katzinger’s. They have huge sandwiches and two big barrels of pickles that are free (as many as you want!). It was pretty good and close to the park, which was a bonus.

When we got to the park, the play was just about to start, so we locked our bikes up and laid out our blankets. I grabbed a program and checked out the concessions and then it began. The play was really well done (especially since it was free). In case you don’t know the story (I didn’t, but Dan did), Cyrano is this ugly guy, but he is also a brilliant poet and he’s in love with his cousin (they loved their cousins back then and it was all normal). His cousin is in love with this other guy, handsome and dumb, named Christian. When Cyrano finds out that she loves Christian, he decides that together they are like the perfect man, so he helps prepare Christian with beautiful things to say and writes letters for him and then Christian delivers. Then, of course, Christian eventually figures out that she really loves the person writing the letters, but then he dies. Later, of course, she finally figures it out, right before Cyrano dies. Ah, the tragedy. Anyway, it was fun, but it was also the last play in the summer series (we caught the tail end). I wish we could see more, but I guess it will have to wait for next summer.

Here’s the stage and Dan and I at the park.

Here’s a picture of Cyrano’s big entrance through the crowd. In order to make him ugly, his character was supposed to have a big nose and he had the most hilarious long and pointy prosthetic nose on. I don’t think you can see it very well here, but I tried to get a close up (new camera coming soon).

Even though the play was good, it started to get dark and chilly and the play was a bit on the long side. Dan and Ben started to get antsy and play with their phones a lot (they reminded me of me when I’m watching UFC). We had ridden our bikes and it was about a 20 minute bike ride home, so I was worried that we were going to be freezing and not be able to see very well. The play ended at about 10:45, so we headed out right away. Once we got out of German Village and the blood was flowing, it was kind of warm and the lights of downtown looked really neat. It was a fun ride. Dan said he felt like he was in an 80s movie. I’m not sure why, but it was kind of fun. You just can’t be on a bike without feeling a little bit like a kid. Oh, and here’s a shot of the stage once it got dark. This was too cool!

More fun stuff tomorrow, including Dan’s debut into the world of distance running! Stay tuned!

First things first, Dan made me take a picture of his eggs this morning because they looked like Africa. “They even have a Madagascar!” Which, incidentally, we saw at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games.

I finished grading my third assignment (woo hoo) and then called Ben and Matt to ride bikes and see some things that I had been wanting to see.

First stop, the Wexner Center, which is the center for performing arts on OSU’s campus. They have art exhibits, plays, movies, dance troupes, etc. that perform there and I have been wanting to go check things out forever. Seeing the art exhibit is free. They even have a mac store! Here’s part of the cool architecture that is outside of the building. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for Ben and Matt, they were in between exhibits, so there wasn’t much to see. The next exhibit coming is Andy Warhol, though, so that should be pretty cool.

Nearby is Orton Hall, which has a little Geology Museum inside. It’s free, but only open on the weekdays.
The museum was neat. They had trilobites, a giant sloth skeleton, and lots of mineral samples (that I used to teach about!). The building was really old and museum-like. Here are a couple of shots from inside.
Outside of Orton, we saw a camera crew filming some guy sitting on the lawn, so I took a picture just in case he was someone important (but, it didn’t come out too great). Right near the film crew, there was a black BMW with a license plate that read B OBAMA. The guy being interviewed definitely wasn’t Obama, but I’m not sure how the pieces fit together.

Next, it was lunch time, so we decided to try the Happy Greek, a cheapish place in the Short North. It ended up being really delicious. Ben got to try falafel for the first time and Matt tried hummus, which he said was “like an explosion of flavor.” Ha, I got a variety plate and everything was great. We will go back. Here’s me in front giving the place two thumbs up.

And here’s Ben and Matt at the table inside:

After we ate, we headed downtown to the Columbus Metropolitan Library. It was a really nice building inside and out.

Outside, there were lots of birds fluttering around, which made me feel like I was either Snow White or that crazy bird lady in Mary Poppins. Here’s a lady feeding the birds (tuppence a bag…).
Inside was awesome too, but I didn’t take any pictures. It made me want to get some books, but I forgot to bring proof that I live in Columbus, and I have enough reading to do as it is. We sat down for awhile though and read the paper. There was a neat part about the Olympics. There was also a homeless person sleeping in a chair nearby. It was kinda sad.

At this point in the day, I still wanted to go a little further south and check out Schiller Park in German Village, but Ben had biker’s butt, so we had to go home. We went out to dinner at a place called Barley’s Smokehouse (which Dan really loved) and then we came home to watch the Olympics. I’m pooped.

Since the economy is so crappy right now, the new “in” thing to do now is to go on “stay-cations” instead of vacations. That means you stay in town and see the touristy things you never go to see in your own city (ahem, Football Hall of Fame). Today, Matt’s family was in town from yesterday’s big move, and they wanted to see the city, so we had a mini stay-cation. First, we went to the state capitol building and walked around it to see the different statues and memorials that they have there. Here’s a shot of everyone in front by the William McKinley monument.

On the other side of the capitol building is a veterans’ memorial with letters from various wars etched in two stone walls. Here’s a couple that I thought were neat/sad.

After the capitol, we saw COSI and walked down by the Olentangy River, where they have a replica of the Santa Maria. The first time I saw it, I thought it was a pirate ship. And, the more I walked around Columbus, the more I realized how many statues there are of Christopher Columbus. It’s all coming together for me now.

Next, we went to the North Market to eat and then, if you’ve been reading the blog, you know we went to Jeni’s for ice cream! Last was a quick stop in Goodale Park to see the Victorian homes and then back to Ben and Matt’s pad, which is coming together nicely.

In all, our tour took 4 hours (including eating)! And there’s still more to see right here in Columbus. Next weekend, it’s the Art Museum and Schiller Park for a free Shakespeare play!

today we closed on our house without complication. that was good. after that, it was back to columbus. wednesday night, when we were at goodale park, we noticed that they were setting up for some kind of festival. when we got home today, we could hear music coming from that direction. so, after we took naps and i did some schoolwork, we headed down to grab some dinner. we figured out that this festival was called “community festival” or comfest and it was kind of a big deal. there were four stages set up on the four corners of the park, lots of music, vendors and food. it was a GREAT place to people watch (or just stare). here’s the view from the park right when you walk in. there were people everywhere:

there were lots of hippies there and two complete booths full of tie dye. here’s one of them.

another interesting fact that i read in the program for the festival: apparently it’s not illegal in the city of columbus for women to go topless and i guess comfest is the time when some feel the need to wear only paint on top. and yes, we saw a couple (no pun intended). ben and matt… comfest lasts until sunday and no, i don’t have a picture.

on the way home there were some rickshaw bicycle type things giving people rides around. it was pretty cool, so i got a picture of that too.

i love this place.

i swear all i am trying to do is walk down the street and mind my own business, but i attract crazy people. today, i was on my way to benevolence cafe (again). dan had to stay home to wait for his new projector to be delivered, so i was by myself. some truck (decorated with nascar flags) going the other direction shouts “hey!” since i don’t know anyone in columbus, i keep walking, but he is persistent and yells again. this guy is about 50 and he asks, “do you know where the modeling agency is?” and boy let me tell you, he was NOT model material. i think he was trying to pay me a compliment in some backwoods type of way. so, i told him that i just moved here and i don’t know where anything is (read: leave me alone). then, he asks (and i am NOT kidding), “are you hillary clinton’s daughter?” he has a big wicked grin like he was giving another compliment. so i just said no and kept on walking, but then i got to thinking… chelsea clinton? that is an insult! i mean, hillary’s my girl and all, but i do not want to look like her or her daughter.

here are some pictures i took on the walk home…

this is the “welcome to italian village” sign. you can also see a mural on the building. italian village is just one section of the short north and the short north has quite a few cool murals. here’s another one.
to the left of the picture, you can see my beloved jeni’s splendid ice cream! no, i did not get any tonight.
this is just one of the many arch ways that run down the main street (high). they look neat at night.

well, i guess that’s it for tonight. class was great again today. so far so good! oh and i decided to change the color of my blog. now it looks more scarlet and gray… go bucks!