Congrats, Greg, to you and your entire city.
And the black cloud over our city grows larger. I couldn't tell watching today what year it was. It sure did feel like the 1990's. Why did I even think about making a bet? This will be up at least 24 hours on the front page here.
Until then, I will be vomiting.
Today the county commissioners approved the Banks deal, clearing the way for the land between Cincinnati's stadia to be developed. Construction should start at the beginning of the new year, and in a couple of years the development will shift the center of downtown towards the river. Areas south of Fifth Street [basically Fountain Square] will become the places to be. This means that streetcars will definitely be a necessity to keep the downtown/Over-The-Rhine relationship prosperous. With all the current available housing near the downtown area, I hope they concentrate more on commercial interests. Regardless, long-time complainers will now get their Newport on the Levee on the Ohio side of the river, just like they always wanted. And the Levee will be completely abandoned in five years, reversing the current flow of the Purple People Bridge.
So good news for Cincinnati means that it sucks to be Newport.
. . . and I'm exhausted. We spent the last three days in Lexington, working on getting my brother-in-law married. After a long couple of days Scott and Jessica are finally hitched, we're home, and I'm feeling a little under the weather. I hear there are quite a few bugs going around, but I'm pretty sure it's not SARS. We missed Halloween but Echo Church did still have our third annual Trunk 'N' Treat; word on the street is that the hot chocolate was a hit. Kaelyn was a bee yesterday at the rehearsal dinner. My mother-in-law won costume of the night, though.
Decided to read through my RSS feeds tonight [almost 200] and found a couple items of note:
1) Emily is back in London but posted a couple of pictures from her trip. Her Kaelyn photo is awesome. That kid is photogenic.
2) Dan, a guy who also does Architrek tours, gave Beit Carr a shout out. I'm always leery of pushing new blogs as some people struggle to post consistently [that's what I meant, Jake, so prove me wrong] but Dan has come on strong. He posts frequently on all things Cincinnati and does some great posting on this city's history.
I love that Dan wrote, "I find [Beit Carr] and posts very interesting in spite of the fact, or maybe because, we are somewhat different." Different is good. Our city is a diverse place and that's one of the many reasons we love living here. So do yourself a favor, check his blog out, and add his RSS feed to your interweb diet.
Alright, I'm going to bed. I'll catch you up later.
My old college RA [who's currently on vacation with his wife in California] is from Buffalo. He's a huge Bills fan, even operating a fan site/podcast. While we recently reconnected through the interwebs, I had circled next week's game on my calendar as the Bengals are traveling to Rich Stadium. Even though Cincinnati is horrible now, still contemplating on a 4th and 1 punt, I will back my boys and offer a challenge for this week's game. It's pretty simple one, Greg, so choose to accept if you wish.
Bengals win: you post a picture of a Bengals helmet on your blog with the caption, "Cincinnati owns Buffalo."
Bills win: I post a picture of a Bills helmet on this blog with the caption, "Buffalo owns Cincinnati."
No Skyline or Buffalo wings will exchange hands. Interested?
I know this is a little preemptive, but with the Bengals down to the Steelers, knocking on the door for another score, I'm thinking this is another loss. They have to give the fans in this city someone's head. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing both offensive/defensive coordinators axed. I would predict though that nothing will happen.
Of course, as I typed that, the much over-rated Ben Rothlisucker threw an INT. Maybe the whole game turns around here.
My biggest fear, however, is another 8-8 season. Another opportunity for Mike Brown to claim that we're "almost there" could make me lose it. If they're going to lose, make it a 4-12 season so we realize that things are not good. We need some solid free agents. We need an actual general manager.
We'll see how this works out . . .
If you're not interested in Cincinnati news, this probably isn't the post for you. I'm fascinated with politics but am leery to comment about specific voting issues because of my role in a local congregation. We have Democrats and Republicans in our church, in addition to independents and non-voters and I think you could make a Biblical case for any of these perspectives [of course, you could probably make defend communism Biblically too, so what does it prove?]. So while I love to watch the American political process play out, I don't want to come out with official endorsements.
That said, I think things change a little bit when it comes to local politics. Usually there are no overlying Christian ethical issues at stake [ex: abortion] so it mostly boils down to opinion/preference. So the following is by no means an endorsement, but food for thought as election day nears.
The biggest issue facing the Cincinnati Metro area this November is Issue 27, a proposed "jail tax." Passage of this issue would raise the Hamilton County sales tax from 6.5% to 7% for eight years, reducing to 6.75% for the next seven years after that. The tax increase is supposed to raise $736million. A similar tax was voted down last year by county voters because the language was suspect [nowhere was the construction of a new jail even mentioned]. The county commissioners decided to overstep the voters and enacted the tax anyway, but a group of citizens petitioned to get the issue on the ballot for approval again this fall.
Support of this issue is pretty popular around here, because everyone wants to fight crime. The Hamilton County Sheriff, a long-time local politician with a solid base of supporters, has warned the public that voting down this referendum would put jailed criminals back on the streets. Somehow, in addition to their release, the Sheriff claims a slew of assault rifles would be back on the streets as well [which still confuses me: do they give guns to them when they leave the jail?]. The message coming across is simple: unless you want to see Snake Plissken roaming the streets of Cincy, pass this levy.
Now if it was totally necessary, I would vote for a jail without hesitation. But there are issues surrounding this issue that are indeed cloudy and need to be explored. Among them are . . .
You just have to ask yourself: is it worth three-quarters of A BILLION DOLLARS without making every effort to try other alternatives? But that was never investigated. Ironic that Republicans are usually known for lamenting the tax-and-spend Democrats but in this case a Republican has led the charge, with some Democrats supporting and others criticizing. This issue supersedes party affiliations. But, most importantly, proponents have the big money backing to make it work. And for that reason it will probably pass. Could you imagine if someone wanted to take that money and invest it into community education/jobs programs, into fighting the our horrendous infant mortality rate, or into affordable housing for the poor? It would be called "a handout" and quickly defeated.
But these are some of the root issues surrounding the crime problem in this county.
Instead: build bigger jails.
It might make sense to you, but it doesn't to me.
Chris Mortensen's "insider info" that someone in the Bengals organization wants Chad Johnson traded has really sent this town into a tizzy. It's seems almost all the local media endorse the idea, thinking his antics too much [a losing streak requires someone to blame and they reckon it's Chad's fault the defense can't stop anyone]. I guess the guy having a little too much fun is the problem. The rest of the nation is catching wind of this, as even Jim Rome noted on his radio and television programs today how some people in this city are hating on CJ. Another example at the ignorance in some of our sports media representatives.. And it forces me to make a bold statement:
Chad Johnson could be the best wide receiver I've ever seen.
He's not the fastest. He can't jump higher than other receivers. But he catches ball that I've never seen people catch before. He can contort his body to make catches that are amazing. That's why he's amazing. And that's why I'm glad he's a Bengal.
Without Chad, TJ Houshmandzadeh is just a guy with a long name. Without him the "high powered Bengals offense" is non-existent. Without him, Carson is still great, but with him Palmer is a superstar.
And some morons in the media want him out of town? Get a grip.
Chad, if you read this blog [and being a fellow Walnut Hills resident, I'm sure you do] the fans in Cincy love you. Stick with it here and we'll get your back.
So it rained a lot the past few days. We know this because water is leaking in our walls around our flue pipe. At least we won't have to pay for it because it should be covered with our condo fees.
But the rain altered Kelly and Kaelyn's daily routine of getting the mail from the mailbox.
I'm the man, I should get wet.
My neighbors were out by the mailbox and I started to explain to them our condo leakage, encouraging them to check their chimney area. As I stood their talking with them, I struggled to open our mailbox. The key wouldn't go in.
This is interesting too because we had a new mailbox installed a couple of weeks ago. The local post office is dragging its feet getting us the brand new keys so we're still using the old box. The box where the keys don't work well.
So my neighbors want to check to see if their place has water leakage and don't want to wait for me to get my mail so they go inside.
Immediately after they go inside, I finally get the box opened and pull out our mail. Prominently displayed on the top of my mail is a magazine.
A Playboy Magazine.
[Quick Sidebar: I can imagine the perverts doing a Google search for "Playboy Magazine" ending up at this blog post and being severly disappointed. Sorry, guys, no nekked pics here].
Understand that I do not subscribe to said magazine. It must have been sent to me by someone getting my name/address on a mailing list. I bet it was those people at Biblical Archaeology Review [now there's a link for the perverts].
And understand that I did not look at the contents of the magazine. I did what a self-respecting man would've done.
I gave it to my wife.
And I told her it wasn't mine.
Come to find out, it wasn't really a magazine but a catalog. Who knew they even had a catalog [be careful how you answer that]? But, honestly, you couldn't tell that from the cover. It looked identically like a Playboy magazine . . . or at least the ones I've seen portrayed on television.***
All this had me thinking all night [and not about nekked chics].
I'm trying to show my neighbors [the ones who I talked to at the mailbox], who aren't Christian, that our faith can be relevant to a normal life. Additionally, I'd like to exemplify that we can also live up to a certain moral standard. Does me getting Playboy Magazine hurt my [moral] reputation with them? Probably. At the very worst, if they saw me pull that magazine from our box I'd have to stutter about how "it's not really mine" [doesn't everyone claim that?] and awkwardly explain why it was in our box in the first place. So maybe it doesn't hurt my cause in their eyes, but I can't imagine that it would help.
And that's when I trace this whole thing back to a string of little incidents.
It was raining so I went to get the mail instead of Kelly and Kaelyn. Imagine her shock if she had gotten the mail, while holding our daughter, especially in front of those neighbors. It would probably have been embarrassing. But it didn't happen.
Of course, Kel and Kaelyn didn't go out to get the mail because of all the rain. The same rain that caused the leak in our house. And the rain was the conversation piece that I used with my neighbors, leaving them wondering about the dryness of their own condo so that they went inside. Otherwise, they might have kept talking with me and have seen my retrieve a Playboy from my mailbox. But it didn't happen.
Another thing that prolonged me from getting the mail out of the box was because I was fumbling with the key. It's an old key and doesn't work that well. We were supposed to be using those new mailboxes now, which would've used new keys. A new key would've probably worked perfectly. If the key worked the first time, my neighbors would've definitely seen a Playboy in my daily mail. But it didn't happen.
I'm not saying all this happened because God was looking out for me.
Well, maybe I am.
I just thought it was interesting how all these little incidents, however troubling, made my day.
And all that without having to see nekked chics.
***Just in case you're wondering, Kelly looked at how to get taken off their mailing list and it told you to send a letter snail mail with your full information and your customer order code. If you never ordered anything with them, why do you have a customer code in the first place?
And one last observation . . . well, more of a rant: Working out at Xavier this morning, I caught Keyshawn Johnson interview Chad Johnson on SportsCenter. Keyshawn makes me want to hurl. How ESPN justifies keeping this clown is beyond me. He is one of the most uninformed commentators I've ever seen and only detracts from any respectability they had. If they want to televise crap like this, don't call it journalism.
Keyshawn's whole career was "me" oriented [remember he authored a book entitled "Give Me The Damn Ball" before he had ever done anything in the league] and he's trying to paint Chad Johnson as a selfish player? A little pot/kettle action there Keyshawn. Listen, I like about 80% of Chad's antics, only get frustrated with some of his midweek press conferences, but his performance on game day had very little to do with the Bengals losing streak; FYI Bengals fans, Chad doesn't play defense. Despite all the negative attention the media wants to put on him, he still catches balls that I've seen no one else catch. If he wasn't walking the walk, I'd be angry with him. But I'm not.
And then Keyshawn comes in wearing a suit, brandishing an ESPN microphone and we're supposed to take him seriously? Youtube the interview and tell me if that interview wasn't anything more than an opportunity for Keyshawn to try to show Chad up. He's just jealous.
Memo to Keyshawn: just because Chad's going to eclipse Key's stats in every category, just because CJ already has one more Pro Bowl than you had in your entire career, just because he was smarter in marketing himself than you could've envisioned, just because he has all the endorsement deals you wish you would've had, and just because he's an all-around better player than you ever were doesn't mean he's gotta hate on him in your new role as a reporter. Oh, and don't go bragging about your championship ring you "earned" while playing for a team known as a defensive juggernaut. You were more selfish than Chad ever has been.
I would take Chad over Keyshawn any day, week, month or year. And I bet I'm not alone.
The implications of this admission should be huge to the majority of evangelical churches. In short, Willow Creek has admitted that they way they did discipleship, in which they invested millions and which they encouraged other churches to emulate, was flawed. And yet large numbers of megachurches and wanna-be-megachurches subscribe to this theory. This deserves a much more thorough treatment on my part but I'd be interested to hear some thoughts on this.
It seems I'm always catching people up about the life activities of people I know. So I figured I'd take a little time to drop some pertinent information about people in my life.
My older brother Chris and his wife Heather are expecting their fourth child any day now.Childhood friend Steve Levering, and his wife Beth, just had their first child, a boy named Tyler.
College roommate Aaron Levering [Steve's cousin] and his lovely wife Tia are expecting their fourth child. Additionally college roommate [and Best Man in our wedding] Jason Badami and his lovely wife Dalea [Maid of Honor in our wedding] are expecting their fourth child. All those kids wouldn't fit in the old college dorm room.
Somewhere, right now, someone else we know is most likely getting pregnant. And that's icky.
Our friends, the Burgesses, have some new employment. Aaron is now teaching at Cincinnati Christian University and his wife Dorota started a new accounting job in Northern Kentucky.
Our friends, the Duebbers, finally moved into their rehabbed Price Hill home. It . . . looks . . . awesome.
Friend and Echo leadership team member Tim Tucker is now holding down two jobs and still has time to do stuff for the church.
Friend and Echo-ite Tim Sampson recently lost his father. Please keep him and his family in prayer.
Echo attendees Dan and Angie [soon to be Bielecki] are getting married this weekend and I'm now doing the wedding ceremony. Follow that up with Nate and Julie [soon to be Keyes] and we're in the midst of a season of church weddings.
Echo's first official member, Emily Hill, is now back in the United States, on "holiday" from London. Hopefully she left the accent in Wimbledon. In a related note, her sister in Melissa is ready to be named 2007 MVP at Echo.
Kelly's brother Scott and my future sister-in-law Jessica will be getting married in just a few weeks . . . on Halloween . . . and I have no costume.
League of Justice pastor Russell Smith is excited about his church's homecoming this weekend. Plus he knows all the best downtown restaurants.
College classmate Matt Mehaffey is planting a church in Miami, Florida. Very cool.
College classmate Jake Follis is blogging. Odds are he'll fail at it.
College classmate, and former co-worker, Kelly Butler and her husband Charlie have a beautiful little girl named Brooklyn. You should be reading about her.
College classmate Mike Morehart is a Cleveland fan, but I still like him.
I'm sure there's much more, but I wanted to get some of them down. Feel free to add your own updates. Maybe I should do this more often.
I haven't really done an extensive post on Joel Osteen, though I did talk about health/wellness gospel here. Since his new book is out [which I refuse to hyperlink because I love you] there's a lot of J.O. talk going on. Many well intentioned people get excited because his ministry is going so well and his messages sound so pragmatic. It is my belief that every American Christian should familiarize themselves with the fallacies of his teachings because they are not Biblical, nor are they the message of Jesus. So here's some places to get more info:
That should be enough to get you started.
. . . and blogging will be tough this week, so you can catch up with Kelly's account of how we spent the past couple of days.
Dear God, Happy Boss's Day.
Love, steve
The Bearcats play awful and lose to rival Louisville. The Reds hire Dusty Baker, a.k.a. The Young Pitcher Killer, to be their manager.
These things come in threes, you know.
So the Bengals lose tomorrow and Carson Palmer spontaneously combusts.
So is life in the 'Nati.
If Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize over a woman who risked her life to smuggle 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War 2, then the voters are no better than Grammy voters. UPDATE: Yeah, he won. And the world is so happy for him. I feel a rant coming on.
It was almost a year ago that I first predicted a Barack Obama presidency. I'm still going with that pick, even though the polls seem to contradict this prediction. Honestly, these early polls don't mean as much as people think. Iowa and New Hampshire can totally alter the face of the election [see Howard Dean]. And you never know what will surface in the middle of the campaign [see Gary Hart].
Although a Clinton/Giuliani match-up seems more inevitable than ever, I sincerely doubt we will see one or both of them come out of the conventions with their party's nominations.
Understand that I'm not supporting Barack, but merely suggesting he'll win this thing.
