This Took Longer Than Expected

So this is finally happening.  In 2002, I came to Bowling Green to start college at BGSU.  Five years after graduation, I’m still here.  Oops.  That changes today.

After a very long period of saving money, losing money, paying down debt, gaining debt, and working the precious few career track jobs I could find, I have finally come to a point where I can move forward, or at least make a respectable attempt.  In about an hour, I will have finished packing and will be on my way to Los Angeles, where I have the best chance of landing work in my chosen field.

Overall, BG has been good to me.  But after nine years, I’m more than ready to see what’s next.  As a touch of ceremony, below is one of the first photos I took in BG.  It was about midway through first semester freshman year.  I ventured into the Doyt Perry stadium hoping for  good sunset.  I’m not sure why I thought there’d be one, being that there hadn’t been a single cloud in the sky the entire day.  I was about to leave when a flock of migrating bird happened by.  This shot looks out across the BGSU campus, Kreischer Quad barely visible in the foreground, the Jerome Library, and the city building in the distance.

So long BG.

The Days After Progress

There’s a pretty excellent book called The World Without Us by Alan Weisman that describes in great detail what would happen to the Earth and our imprint thereof if human kind were to suddenly disappear.  What would New York look like after 50 years?  After 250?  What of our machinations would crumble, and which would endure forever?  Short answer:  Farmland will look a lot less like farmland very quickly, but those goofy plastic bits that come suspended in pricey body washes will be around for a while.

I was reminded of Weisman’s book when I happened by the Interurban Bridge, just outside of Waterville.

This rather prosaically named bridge was built in 1908 to host an electric train line from Waterville into Toledo.  When it was new, the bridge was subject to controversy and pride.  It was built in part on a sacred and historic island in the middle of the river, and it was then the largest bridge of its type in the world.  When the line closed in 1937, the structure was left to seed.  It is now a striking example of one of our prideful accomplishments being slowly reclaimed by the earth it was built from.

Color Me Disappointed

Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings.

Anyone who’s worth their salt and has lived in BG at any point in the last 30 years is aware of Video Spectrum.  For those not from BG, or not worth their salt, Video Spectrum is an independent video rental store.

Independent video rental store.  The banality of those four words does a disservice to the pure awesometaculartude that is Video Spectrum.  The store bills itself as “A Movie Buff’s Paradise”, and for once, the marketing is dead on.

The reason I’m dedicating a post to this is that after 30 years, Video Spectrum is closing it’s doors.  Those of you unaware or unappreciative of the store’s wonder may scoff, but I assure you, this is Teddy Roosevelt at Oyster Bay.  This is Churchill in his final days at Chartwill.  This is Gandalf sailing to the Undying Lands.  This is Sam Malone saying, “Sorry. We’re Closed.”

Staying On Top of Things

So I have this thing about being on the roofs of things.  It’s something I like to do.   This has worked out well the last few years, as the house I’ve been living at has practically a playland of angles and platforms on top of it.

Seriously, it looks like something out of Mario64.

What with the banquet of off-kilter angles, I”ve found myself up there more than a few times with camera in hand.  I thought it would be fun to share a few of the photos, as well as some of my other roof-top exploits.

A Belated Recap

So way back in back in April, I headed down to Columbus for the 2009 Creekside Blues and Jazz festival.  I’d never been to a blues and jazz festival, and my dad had decided to foot the bill, so good times had by all (except my dad’s pocket book). Unfortunately, I have little to no knowledge of or experience in music, so I can’t comment much on the aural particulars.  I did however take the camera along for the ride, and got out of the old folding chair for a handful of acts to bone up on my action photography skills.

So here, in reverse-chronological order (’cause sometimes I roll that way), are some of the photos from the day:

First (last) up is Jimi Vincent of The Jimi Vincent Band. This guy is so photogenic that I probably could have hit the shutter button sneezing and got a pretty decent shot.

He was, how do you say?…ROCKING OUT!

A Quick Buzz Through Yellow Springs

This one’s a quickie.

A while back, I had occasion to drive down to Dayton.  Because of my vehicular situation (the subject of a later post),  I basically can’t drive on the interstate for an extended length of time with any confidence that it won’t end in tears.  As such, a drive to Dayton no longer means a seamless jaunt down 75, but rather a slog down the backroads and byways.  This means that I end up driving through the village of Yellow Springs.

I’m not sure what I can say about Yellow Springs that hasn’t already been said.  Some people are described as “being their own person.”  Yellow Springs is like that.  As a town, it has a certain affinity for a certain free wheeling decade, a certain summer of love.  It’s kind of like The Land that Time Forgot, only with hippies instead of dinosaurs.

There’s an entire store devoted to Tie-Dye.  The local theater was at one point showing Monty Python and the Search for the Holly Grail.  According to legend, one of the restaurants once used a certain easy going herb as a pizza topping.  Hemp is everywhere.  Shoes are purely optional.  Basically, there is no shortage if things to titillate my appreciation of the ridiculous.

At some point, I’m going to have to head down there and make a day of it.  Alas, this is not that post.  Rather, I was expecting to just pass through quietly.  However, on that particular day, there was some manner of street fair/festival going on.  I’m not entirely sure if this was an annual event type of thing or just something they all decided to do that weekend.  Either way, I parked the truck and snapped a few pictures.

Ha Ha Pizza, made somewhat famous in Dave Chappelle's Block Party

My Life in Purgatory

Right.  Well.  It’s been a while since I last posted anything.  I haven’t been dead, but I haven’t been all that lively either.  That fact that I’ve been doing so little of interest day-to-day lately may be part of the reason I haven’t been champing at the bit to post anything.  However, I have to admit that at the base of it, I’ve been being That Guy. You know the one.   The one with a readership-of-one blog that almost never posts, and when he does, it’s to apologize for the lack of posts.  I hate that guy.  And that guy is me.

I’ve got a couple of hopefully worthwhile posts simmering, but for now, all I’ve got is a smattering of Random Ohioishness:

First off, while wandering around Big Lots a while back, I spotted a most unfortunately named product:

Because sometimes I just need to get my hands on a nice milky muffin top.

For those  blissfully unaware of why this is funny, which apparently includes the team of crack brand managers at Malt-O-Meal, I’ve drawn up the following diagram for clarification:

You are what you eat?

About the Hinterland

Early last month, I got on the bike and wandered around the county a bit.  If you wander around Wood County for more than a few minutes, you’ll soon find yourself neck deep in a thick swill of rural expanse.  There are interesting things to look at here and there, more than you might expect at any rate.

Railroad crossing on Ridge Line Road

I Got Winter Wonderland in Your Early Spring

In late January, we got our last dollop of snow for the season.  A few days later the sun came out and photojinks ensued.

Snowforms in and around town:

Around Town a Bit

On a sunny day in January, I took my camera with me as I went to pay rent.   I found a few photos laying around.

I have a continuing fascination with shadows.