Capture Cincinnati Photo Contest

I entered this last year with little hope of getting published because I hardly have any photos of my hometown...at least since the digital age. That, of course, was a sad realization so when we were back this past summer, I went on a mission to remedy that and lo and behold, this contest is going on again.

Sign up, check out my latest batch of the 'nati and vote!

Too Damn Hot

Even Bambi is like, dude. F'real?



(Side note - I miss Ohio nature. Cardinals? Wow. Totally striking birds. Even robins, as ugly as they are, look exotic to me now)

I'm looking forward to a rainy, damp, tuberculosis-y Ireland.

Week 1 of Vacation

I'll try to update where I am on blogger but follow www.twitter.com/cowakazi (or the sidebar on the blog) for the fun little Cincinnati/Ireland details.

Vote for My Photo!

Kelly Cowan submitted this photo and wants your support! It's up for a vote (from people like you) as a part of the Capture Cincinnati book project from The Enquirer & C-Change. So click on the thumbnail to view the full-size photo and vote for their photo if you think it should be in the book. Don't worry, if you don't like it we won't tell.

Oreo 1999-2007

Well crap. Any more it feels like all I do are obituaries on this blog. Just three weeks after DeeDee's passing, Oreo suddenly succumbed to the exact same thing today as well. I'm just speechless.

Keep your fingers crossed for my mom's now one remaining cat.

DeeDee 2000-2007

DeeDee
Originally uploaded by kellinahandbasket.

In a sad turn of events, my poor mom had to put DeeDee to sleep today. I guess it's up in the air as to what happened. Pulmonary edema and possibly a series of strokes within 24 hours? Very very sad.

This is What 10 Years Did to Me

Dude. NO ONE would have recognized me without a name tag had I attended my 10 year high school reunion this past weekend.

Holiday Wrap-Up

Hey! Happy belated blogiversary to me! Kellinahandbasket is 2 years old!

I'm back after extinguishing the fire my laptop set from holiday game week. And I feel it would be irresponsible of me not to direct you to OLGA if your game week was anything like mine.

Christmas was good--our third together, but first with each other's families back in Cincinnati. A wedding on the 23rd of December was a high school reunion of sorts where I met a long lost friend who lives just 2 wee hours away from me in California. Remember that e-coli outbreak from the spinach not too long ago? She was the only documented case in California. And perhaps even freakier is at this same wedding, a woman who was my leader on a junior year retreat in high school remembered me. We're talking a person that I, among a group of girls, met in '95? '96? for one day.

Needless to say, all this mind-blowing caused me to drink and it's up for debate whether that night gave me the world's longest drunk-induced illness on the planet or whether the following days were a combo of the drink and/or a virus, which eventually moved to--and still is in--my head. And I can still say that despite the illness, Christmas was good and very good to me: I got a MacBook!

Let's review resolutions of years past:

2005: Start and maintain a blog. + I'm still here. And I have to say I never seriously followed through on a resolution until then. It has made me feel obliged to give serious consideration to do-able resolutions since for the sake of self-improvement.

2006: 1. Improve my posture. This flew out the door once that "report" came out that slouching is better for you. 2. Learn about health care. I barely made green on this one. My own selected reading early in the year helped, the stint at the Liver Transplant Clinic reeeeally helped, but I still feel like I don't know enough. 3. Use eye drops. + Turns out I needed them. The eye doc prescribed drops for the allergies. 4. Take vitamins. + It took a while to get through all the disgusting flavors of Emergen-C, but once I found lemon lime, it's been smooth sailing.

And 2007's resolution is, quite simply, to drink more water. At least 8oz before every meal. So far so good, but the strange thing so far is that it seems to have induced more frequent thirstiness.

Two New Additions

to the blogroll:

• fellow grad student and kindred spirit, Jen, explores issues in the writing and teaching of composition and rhetoric as she wraps up the final stages of her Ph.D. Of course, what Ph.D. wouldn't be complete without a little indulgence in the things that procrastinate/keep us sane in acheiving that goal? Therefore expect knitting projects sprinkled here and there amongst the entries of a brilliant and compassionate scholar in On Pens and Neeedles.
• fellow reader of Chris Glass' blog, Ted, saw Chris' entry on meeting me and was led to my blog, where he commented and related our commonalities. Cincinnati, Crocs, and San Diego among them. Mere days after returning from vacation, I run into this guy at the grocery store where we proceeded to talk long enough that I started to worry about my meats. Anyway Ted's Blog, The Gideonse Bible, both thoroughly entertains and informs on a consistent basis (as he works on his Ph.D. as well!). Jen, meet Ted. Ted, Jen.

Was in San Diego, Am in Cincinnati, Will Be in the Mediterranean

Nine months since I've been back to the 'nati and multiple people have reproduced to affirm this precise time frame. Having never seen these people pregnant, I think the babies are taking on this weird Brave New World/Gattaca feel to me. Or maybe because I just saw Gattaca.

Came back for a friend's wedding, which was a blast and high school reunion of sorts, but have gotten much much more:

What's up, Cincinnati? Desdemona Festival? Awesome. Had a taste on Friday with the Sundresses and Ghostface and am looking forward to the Fiery Furnaces, Heartless Bastards, and Walkmen tonight. A scant crowd on Friday didn't seem to bode well for the festival's livelihood in the future, but it's an event worth continuing.

When you read his blog (June 24, 2006 "Desdemona Festival") our story will seem so circular, but in that scant crowd a guy walked by wearing brown Crocs, which caught my attention for several reasons: 1) I own Crocs too, 2) No one seems to have them in Cincinnati, compared to San Diego, and 3) I've recently been struck by how great the brown ones actually look--I had my doubts. So the brown factor had me eyeing his feet to the stage and when I looked up, it was Chris Glass. As in, the guy whose web log I link to in my sidebar because I think it's so darn great, even if it didn't cover my hometown. And because I don't know him, he's something of a celebrity to me, yet he wanted to take my picture?! (Check out his photos, people. This is his forte) Chris is every bit as cool and friendly and beardy as his site would have you think and certainly my odd highlight of the evening. I mean, I was able to ask this guy whom I'd never met how his weekend in NYC was...heh. The web.

Bug Cam

Aroundcinci.com has several interesting icams around town (rhinocam, gorrillacam) which the viewer can control. The one on Fountain Square is particularly powerful, and is recently featuring the bugcam as shown to the left. A sad documentation of urban insect suicide. What a way to make a statement.

Update: I emailed the company to let them know about the tragedy. Stephanie Busack of Time Warner Cable responds, "Thanks for writing to let us know. I forwarded your last response to our applications engineer. I'm not sure when he's planning on doing maintenance for the camera, but as soon as he does, we'll clean the dome out."

Follow the drama with the Fountain Square cam and keep us updated on the bug's status. Still there or not? (When you point the camera straight down, you can monitor his/her presence or lack thereof)

Categories: Video/Media, Links/Miscellaneous

Reverse Culture Shock

It only took approximately 15 minutes before reverse culture shock set in for me, during my recent trip back to Cincinnati. This + This (advertised as now having more swing!) + (This x 400,000) = my reverse culture shock.

Chainsaws in the 'burbs

This morning I woke up to the distant sound of chainsaws and in my half-awake state believed for a split-second that I woke up in my childhood house of Milford, Ohio. All the stranger because everything about where we live in Heidelberg couldn't be more opposite than Milford, given our urban apartment, different country, and Germans' philia for making the ecosystems and jungles overflowing from their balconies thrive (so why would anyone be cutting anything down? I figure someone's ficus had overgrown and trapped them inside). So for a moment I got a little nostalgic, thinking about Saturday mornings and chainsaws, and then I remembered how annoying it was...even this morning I would have preferred not to have been awakened. But back me up, here...does anyone else remember the Saturday morning chainsaws in the suburbs? What the hell needed to be cut down *every* weekend? And why were we sawing at 7am?