Jim Rittenhouse's semidaily journal of news, commentary and reports
We now have the schedule for Mere’s events in Cincinnati, (pdf) and it basically rotates around the following: We have to leave VERY VERY early Friday the 25th to be there at the arena by 9 in the morning (ick) – Mere has practices for each of her events from 10 to 6, and then [...]
(1) The surgery on my LEFT foot is still hanging fire, but this time, it’s because the various docs who had to give me clearance didn’t do so (first due to a goofy EKG that showed up nothing in a stress test, and then due to a white count that is pretty comparable with what [...]
Meredith will be going off the last week of this month for her Regional roller skating competition in the Cincinnati suburbs – and in very late July to the National competition in Lincoln, Nebraska. This is a considerable cash drain because of the travel costs and hotel costs (for 5-6 nights each time), entry fees, [...]
University of Dayton basketball playing for the NIT championship, 7 pm. Be there. Aloha!
Going off to the Dayton trip tomorrow (Monday) morning, coming back by dinnertime Thursday. Apparently, there’s going to be a ton of snow (6-8 inches) hit Dayton tomorrow, and I’m really not thrilled about having to do a long drive through snow…will check this carefully in the morning. Expect some reports on the road from [...]
I’ve been asked to speak at a Wright State University forum; their Honors Institute is having a symposium on Chinese-American relations called “Connecting With China”, and I’m to talk on “Exploring Issues in Cross-Cultural Adoptions” from 2-4 pm, February 17th. The event is free to the public, but you have to register in advance to [...]
Marion’s Piazza in the Dayton, Ohio area, hands down. Mushroom, sausage, pepperoni and (if I’m eating by myself) anchovies. Yes, I like anchovies on pizza, so long as they don’t have bones.
Stupid thief of the day: Dayton, Ohio cops catch man outside barbeque joint, reeking of grease while the burglar alarm was going off (yes, I know the newspaper’s writers say wreaking; I can’t help the fall of journalistic standards) – he claimed he was dumpster diving for leftovers, but the cops found that he’d broken [...]
Like nobody had ever heard of Russians using hookers to lure Western diplomats into compromising positions. Sheesh. The more I hear about the whole Senator Ensign story, the more I think that sex aside, the man should resign his office because he’s a crook and an idiot. Getting your bazillionaire parents to pay off your [...]
I am singularly uninterested in the Jackson story. I’ve seen enough oddball celebrity circuses, and the really interesting and truly weird stuff will not come out for a while for most people. I expect more news circuses repeated endlessly on the news, and I will ignore them all. Finally, someone sems to be doing something [...]
With a whimper: engineer shuts down WCPO’s analog TV transmitter (Cincinnati, Ohio) Same with other Cincinnati stations: WXIX (film of the analog signal actually going out), WLWT (nice little historical signoff piece), and also Dayton’s WHIO.
From my old home town of Dayton, Ohio: A Dayton Daily News supervisor accused of killing his wife and entombing her on the newspaper’s top floor managed to baffle detectives over her disappearance for five months until a tip led to the concrete grave, police said. “They won’t leave me alone,” Theodore Sinks is said [...]
For the people out there (hi, Mark!) who truly enjoy torture by hot peppers, Chile-Head is a good reference point. Me, that’s overkill. Jeff Duntemann has a fun article about a local-to-him diner in Des Plaines, IL called the Sugar Bowl that is worth a read. I tried this BBQ place in a Beavercreek, OH [...]
This part of a piece that Garrison Keillor wrote about his brother’s death really caught me: He always knew what you were doing and he kept his critical opinions to himself. He called me once to ask how I was doing and I knew without his saying so that he knew about some nonsense I [...]
The Dayton, Ohio area authority in charge of public transport is having a banner year in ridership terms; my old hometown is being pounded with the collapse of Big Auto, principally GM. However, sales tax revenues funding the authority have dried up, and they are cutting service and raising fares…but they’re making sure that the [...]