Winter at Western

This is my first winter back in North America in over two years. I was just starting to get used to the fact daylight "savings", which kicked in a few weeks ago, meant the sun disappearing at 4:30 in the afternoon when I woke up friday morning to the year's first snowfall.

These are just some pictures I took around campus in between classes. It is strange to be so involved in academic pursuits (I have some very heady classes this term) that the world outside can pass by unnoticed.

The leaves on most the trees still had their colours which was a neat contrast.

Yeah, this is just a bunch of pictures...no compelling narrative thread.

University college, the flagship building on campus which houses admin and the humanities department (go H!), can seem a little ominous, like the lair of some mediocre b-movie villain.

Ohio State Football

This past weekend I had the grand pleasure of attending Ohio State university's last home game of the season. It was a tremendous experience to stand on the fringe of so much focused attention. I deplore tedious details and think they should play no part in honest blogging, but I must supply a few here now or the true impact this event had on me might be lost:

- OSU is the largest campus in the states right now followed by Texas A&M with one hundred thousand students..give or take

- The OSU Buckeyes (a poisonous nut) was 10-0 going into the game, number one their league.

- Buckeye fans, which include every single last resident in Columbus Ohio (even those recently deceased who are bening buried that day), all where red and grey on game days.

-The drinking age in the U.S. is 21

- Many signs on the freeways, interstate highways, and local roads around Columbus have the word 'football' written on them

- Half of the students are not 21

Needful to say, the walk to the stadium was hectic. Fortunately I had visited a local department store earlier that day and bought a red and grey Buckeye shirt and fit into the sea of other people who seemed to have also visited that store at some earlier point. Drunken freshman, tipsy sorority sisters, sleazy scalpers...it was an epic walk through campus.

These vehicles started appearing the closer we got. It was a luxury, corporate sponsered tailgate party. The Rv's must have costed 50 grand each with satelites and flat screen Tv's set up on their side panels under their felxi-awnings.

It became super funny as we got closer to the stadium and the tailgaters and the drunkie froshers starting mixing. "No, none of this food is for sale!" cried one woman to some guy drooling over her tinfoil steamdishes of mac and cheese and sausages.

We didn't have tickets, never intended to anyway, so we just walked across the main row and settled in a lovely beer tent. Crushing tin under our feet at every step, I made it to the beer ticket counter and got to again present my Ontario ID to the lady. Getting carded in the states is very unusual for me. I get a different reaction all the time, mostly indifferent, but still different. This one was alright and chatty. 16oz. can in hand, I proceeded towards the big screen.

The stadium was right behind me.... how was this possible...

Ah ha!Thank God for cell phone cameras.

Well, it got cold so we left at the half. Buckeyes lost 24-21 or something. I think they were playing Illinois.

Go nuts!

Sinkhole

"Did you hear about that sinkhole?"

"What sinkhole?...wait? What's a sinkhole?"

"That intersection in the middle of the city you live in that got turned into a gaping 20ft diameter passage to the nether regions...that sinkhole!"

So went (approximately) a conversation I had with my sister last thursday regarding this yawning expanse that appeared early tuesday morning. (how something like an expanse, which is a lack of something, can appear is beyond me)

Work crews have been at it 24/7 trying to fill in the void and repair and replace the burst watermain pipes that caused the sudden lack of intersection early tues. morning. They had to shut off power to most of the downtown core and close businesses and schools in the area.

These are some pipes they had waiting a few blocks up to be installed (somehow) in the ground (somewhere). Being the ever vigilent-needing-to-keep-on-top-of-local-goings-on kinda guy that I am, I was out first thing Sunday morning (noon) on the scene to appraise the damage.

"Don't lean your f#*$'in bike against that transformer!" was the official comment from the worker closest to the fence I was taking the pictures from.

Trick Dart Shot?

What is this? I mean, is it a feat of skill...and ultimate dart combo? Or, do I get to shoot that dangling again? Or does it rack up to nothing?

This a serious shot, I just took it a few minutes ago. Here I am at home studying for a logic midterm and I break off the books for a little while to clear my head. There the dart board is, what not better distraction I could not have presently envisioned. As I cued up at the ever-so-small pencil nick on the baseboard of my wall that designated the 7ft 9 and a quarter inches from the bullseye, I figured to go for gold, or red, and fired off this mess.

The thing I'm thinkin' is the retry value, no one could do this on purpose. I challenge you!

e-mail yours to ijustthrewthewierdestdart@hotmail.com