RiverViewer

Does Nicola's have a private parking lot or do people have to park in OTR and walk to it? If they don't have a private parking lot and they're going strong then that's impressive, becaues I heard that place is pretty upscale. They'll offer valet Thursday through Saturday (though I was recently there on a Thursday and the valet guy wasn't out). We never have trouble parking nearby - Sycamore and Orchard always have spots available.

Yeah, you'll get that kind of thing anywhere. But I will say, the Walnut Hills McDonald's is just awful. It's right near where I live, but I avoid it, because I've got this thing about wanting to get what I actually order and pay for. Today they missed a hash brown and the straw. They're always forgetting cheese. It takes forever to get through the drive-through, and they're pretty perpetually rude.

Phew. That was nerve-wracking... Who Dey!

Got better, but good lord, how many times can we just hand the ball away? The Steelers look sharp and strong - they look a ton better than we do...a couple mistakes breaking another way and this could be a 35-7 game already...

^LOL!!! That'd be hilarious...

Hmm...no idea, but cool picture! Where'd you find it?

Wow - just caught this thread - fantastic! Love the colors on the goetta balls shot!

Say, completely off-topic, but what did the term "Firelands" originate from?

Dude, the Enquirer despises the city. The fact that they don't reserve an unspecified "downtown" label for the city is an example of that. What part aren't you getting? And I was giving an example. But please, let's say it's a Warren County edition of the paper, and they refer to "downtown." Which downtown do you think they'd be referring to?

I think the point is that it's obviously ambiguously poor writing - I mean, even if it's in the Warren County edition, which "downtown" do they mean? - and that it's emblematic of the paper's disregard for anything city-related. I don't think anyone's arguing, "if only the Enquirer would indicate, of the dozens of downtowns we have in the Cincinnati metro, which they're referring to - that would make the paper a flawless companion to their city!" I think the argument is, the Enquirer has a major anti-city bias, and that this is yet another example of it.

And you'll still exhibit your automobile maintenance skills when giving tours, right?

After studying philosophy and then driving past the Dairy-D (maybe on route 82 somewhere east of 271? Or 303? I don't remember exactly), I always wanted to buy that place and change its name to the Dairy-Daa, and have a host of dishes named after linquistic philosophers...but I could never follow through and come up with clever names, aside from the restaurant name...alas...

Kinda funny - we're on vacation this week. We spent the day in Gettysburg, and the guide pointed out a house in Gettysburg where the exact same thing happened. Someone had bought a house, and tore the siding off to find that it was a log house - turns out it's one of the oldest houses in Gettysburg, and nobody knew it was even standing during the battle!

He's not saying Cincy is the only downtown - the only point is that if the article says "downtown" without specifying which downtown, which one are you going to assume? When it's the Cincinnati Enquirer? Are you going to assume, "obviously, they're talking about downtown Glendale," or "obviously, they're talking about downtown Ft. Wright"? No. Obviously not. Ain't one downtown in this metro, there are a multitude. But if you're the Cincinnati Enquirer and you say "downtown" without qualification, can you tell me which of the scores of downtowns in the metro one would assume you're referring to?

SFSpike - you wouldn't happen to have any 20+ year old pictures of Columbus floating around that you could scan and post, would you? 'Cause that'd pretty much just rock the hell out! Oh, and welcome, welcome!

I had no idea teams were so promiscuous when it came to their minor league affiliations...I'd have thought Toledo and Detroit would have gone back forever...crazy.

Yeah, that was actually a picture of my cousin, LakeViewer...he hates ball caps... Stunning fireworks shots - just fantastic! Were you using a tripod? Amazing...it's just a riot of colors at play...wow...

Detroit has Toledo as its Triple-A affiliate, and the Mud Hens are doing great business (high attendence, minor meague champions last year, division title this year, etc.). I believe the contract is something like 20 or 30 years. In other words, Detroit won't even be thinking of another Triple-A affiliate for a long time. I'd say the Detroit-Toledo relationship is the most solid in baseball. I'm not sure that's true...well, yes, attendance and championships and such - but they're working under a 2-year agreement as well (http://www.mudhens.com/view_press.asp?id=219). And I had no idea how much AAA affiliations jumped around - I suspect the Mud Hens are pretty typical of affiliation-shifting over time - I know the Reds have only been affiliated with their AAA Louisville Bats since 2000... Toledo Affiliation History 1987-Current Detroit 1978-1986 Minnesota 1976-1977 Cleveland 1974-1975 Philadelphia 1967-1973 Detroit 1965-1966 New York 1956-1964 No baseball in Toledo 1953-1955 Milwaukee 1949-1952 Detroit 1940-1948 St. Louis 1936-1939 Detroit 1883-1935 No affiliation

From Wikipedia: the name "Mud Hens" was first used in 1896, after the team was bought by Charles Strobel. The park where the team played that year was adjacent to marshland which was inhabited by coots, also known as marsh hens or mud hens, from which the team adopted their name.

^You got the last one, which means you get to post the next one...we eagerly await your choice!

Chris, where was that Kroger where we stopped last month? A "marketplace" Kroger, supposedly with everything you need from outdoor furniture to groceries to chimney sweeps or something...and it was awful. Not awful, but bad meat selection, bad selection of everything, didn't carry risotto...decent produce, but that's all I can say for it. If I lived next door to it, I'd drive somewhere else to shop, no doubt. But the Meier's and Giant Eagle's I've shopped at in Columbus have always worked just fine. Depth and bredth of selection, quality produce and meats, maybe a little weak on the wine and cheese selection, but still plenty for every day shopping. They've all been just about as good as Cincinnati's best grocery stores, and far better than most of ours...actually, that's kinda weird, I wonder why that is...maybe I only notice the faults!

The nation's biggest buckeye tree doesn't really look all that big...I mean, it's big, but not "big tree" big...but hey, yay for Fitchville!

Yes, Ink, that's right - sorry, Cincy-Rise, I was remarkably unclear there. In 1964, it hit 66.2 feet; then in 1997, when that picture was taken, it hit 64.7 feet. In between (and since 1997), it never topped 60 feet. Of course, one can never predict anything for certain. One front gets stalled over the Ohio Valley, and it's game over. Within 10 years of them constructing the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny, the remnants of a hurricane blew in and settled, dropping what seemed like half the Gulf of Mexico over north-west Pennsylvania. The dam came within three feet of overflowing, but it held, and it's estimated to have save more than twice the cost of its construction in property damage. But a little longer stall? Who knows...and who's to say the year Monte buys his condo, we won't get have 3' of snow all melted by a moist band of February showers that sits over the Ohio Valley for three or four days? There's no reason that couldn't reach 1937 levels, even with our flood control...you never can tell, all you can do is guess and hope and pray... http://www.enquirer.com/flood_of_97/borgman_rain_600.gif

^Wow...that really blows ass. Very sorry to hear...all the best, and thanks for showing us a campus you obviously love!

As one who grimaces with pain everytime I have to calculate 20% on a restaurant check, I have to ask, isn't Marsokis right here? Both Louisville and Indianapolis have united county-city governments, meaning that there are more Louisvilliards and Indianapolites than there are Cincinnatians. So, if my thinking is correct, by saying ___ violent crimes per 100,000 persons you are by the nature of the calculation making it look like Cincinnati has more violent crime than you would if you just took the average. Am I right about this? If one assumes less crime in the suburbs, then Louisville and Indianapolis are both diluting their Crime-Per-100K figures with loads of crime-free suburbanites, whereas Cincinnati is cutting the crime-free suburbs out of their figures. So yes, I personally believe you are correct. I think we've had disagreements on this subject in the past as it relates to Columbus vs. Cincinnati/Cleveland for other statistics, and I don't think I followed those arguments closely enough to know if I'm wrong on this or not - but I believe you're right, they're apples and oranges. Though very intelligent people may disagree with me, and they may be correct... Talk about hedging...Christ...I should run for congress...