Some Randomness on Halloween

Because I'm lazy and they require little effort, I like to write in lists. It's much easier than trying to tie together random thoughts to make sentences.

-I'm an OU alum. That means I'm cool. What's not cool, however, is the Halloween party every year in Athens. Athens is a cozy little town and when you stuff 30,000 extra people there it gets stuffy. One year Holliday and I went with a tandem costume: Holliday as Jesper Parnevik and me as his caddie. It was a cool idea, and we looked the part. The problem came later that evening when Redneck, in a child's size SpongeBob SquarePants get-up, got jacked in the head with a phone by his crazy ex-girlfriend. This made Mike weep, and Nick was his shoulder to cry on. I trekked uptown alone, and had to explain my costume far too many times.

-The Reese's Cup is the holy grail of Halloween candy. I always rated my Halloween score by the number of reese's cups I received. If you couldn't count them on one hand, you were doing alright.

- On the other side of the coin were those candies that were wrapped up in orange and black wrappers. There was no company name or advertisement to suggest what was in these things. I think they were caramels or something, but frankly, I don't know that I ever ate them.

-Moving on from Halloween, but sticking with the orange theme, I hope the Bengals go winless this year. Looking at their schedule, it certainly seems possible. The only game I fear they'll win is the last one against the Chiefs who rival the Bengals in overall suckitude. I'm a season ticket holder, so watching them lose games isn't terribly enjoyable. But really, what's the point in winning? I'll take the #1 draft pick in April and a spot in the record books over some measly upset win.

- That said, cast me as one of the doubters that going winless will result in widescale change for the hometown team. Mike Brown will not step down, he won't fire Marvin Lewis, he will not hire a GM, he will not double the size of the personnel department and they will not hire a good coach like Bill Cowher. One thing Mike Brown also will not do - receive another penny from this guy after this season's end.

-Again switching gears, The Office has officially begun its decline. It's just not that funny any more. Pam and Jim is DULL DULL DULL. Michael's character is so over-the-top that he's no longer funny, he's just awkward. Only Dwight is still pulling his weight on that show.

-30 Rock, however, is the absolute balls of the comedy world right now. If you're not watching that show you are doing yourself a HUGE disservice. Tina Fey gets all the publicity but she's hardly the main draw. Tracy Morgan's work on 30 Rock is the absolute apex of funny.

-Batten down the hatches, but I'm about to utter a disparaging remark about Mr. Barack Obama. His little happy time fun half-hour the other day caused a ripple effect on my DVR. When my DVR isn't functioning properly, it's a bad time to be at 2005 Jasper Lane.

Have a good weekend kiddies.

My Favorite Part of the Election.....

Hey everyone- now that we have a new blogger on random ramblings, you will have to pay special attention to the bottom of each post where it say,
"posted by:" either Jen Lilley or Manchester's Finest...

The amount of suprise, complaints and kudos that I got from Ralphie's political blog were (very) high in number.. Ralphie and Obama are boyz...
I am still searching for something in the middle. Ross Perot are you out there?

Now, with that said, let me tell you what my favorite part of the election is (or will be)- I can not wait until it's over. I cant't wait until these annoying, ridiculous commercials are gone. I'm so sick of hearing about how Driehaus missed this vote or this Las Vegas Casino operator wants to start a casino scheme in Ohio. I'm sick of my mailbox being FILLED every day with political junkmail. I'm sick of Obama lovers ringing my doorbell while I'm catching up on DVR on a Saturday afternoon. I will continue doing my research and vote for the issues and candidates as I see fit, and I am in no way downplaying the importance of voting or supporting a candidate or a cause...but I can tell you one thing. This undecided voter will be happy when it's over.

I'm Jen Lilley and I support this message.

Politics is the New Hotness

As I'm sure you're all aware, election day is less than two weeks away. Perhaps you've heard the talking heads on TV talking about this being the most important election of your time. Now, to most of us, that means squat as we've participated in 2-3 presidential elections. But I believe most of these pundits have a point. I mean, take a look around. There's a good chance someone you know has been foreclosed upon, your 401K is worth approximately $0.12 and we're engaged in a war that was started on faulty intelligence that costs the nation $10 billion a month. We're hated internationally, we still haven't caught Bin Laden, and gas is only now reasonable again because the stock market has reached near depression levels.

Despite all that doom and gloom, however, you've got the chance to right the ship on Nov. 4. You may cast your vote for a man whose judgement far surpasses any experience his opponent may have. You may cast your vote for a man who intends to end a war that was waged because W. promised Daddy he'd get that rascally rabbit in Iraq. You can vote for a man who thinks you, the middle class nobody, deserves a greater tax break than Carson Palmer does. You can vote for a man who believes that campaigns should be run on issues and policy, not fear and hate mongering. You can vote for Barack Obama.

John McCain seems like a real swell guy and he'd be a great person to have a beer with some time. I bet he tells a kick-ass story and can recite jokes that would make you blush. But "my friends", can you honestly make yourself believe you'll be better off in 2012 after 4 years with him at the helm? He's essentially the status quo, and how's that worked out for us? He doesn't want to leave Iraq until we "win" the war. I defy you to define "winning" the Iraq war. He supports the George Bush trickle down economic policies that's placed so many Americans in financial dire straits. And a fact that's been overlooked far too often, the Mav is 72 years old with a history of cancer. In the unfortunate event that he should pass while in office, Caribou Barbie would be the President of the United States. Think about that. She thinks the role of the VP is to "run the senate" and that she has foreign policy credentials because she can see Russia from Alaska.

McCain has ran his campaign by telling us why BO is wrong about this and that rather than telling us why he's right. He's spent countless hours talking about William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko and Joe the Plumber. He and Miss Alaska continue to tell us how Obama will raise your taxes, despite the fact that the claim has been dispelled by many of fact checks. They insinuate Obama's policies amount to Socialism or Marxism with nary an idea of what either even means.

The choice is yours on election day, and I think the choice is pretty clear. But even if you don't support my candidate, I implore you to get out there and vote. As Bob Schieffer would say, "It will make you feel big and strong."

Let me have it in the comments McCainiacs, assuming there are some of you out there.....


The views expressed here are the author's only and don't necessarily reflect the views of Random Ramblings as a whole.

Wild Bill visits & Keeneland in pictures

Well this weekend was another fun one! I found out around 2pm that Wild Bill and Heather would be in town for the weekend for a conference and instantly my plan for take out and a dvd for the night turned into happy hour and dinner with bill, wall, wb, heather and rob. Rob, Wall and I headed up early to Yesterdays for some dollar beers which quickly turned into $1 well drinks (hmm- always seems like SUCH a good idea at the time) Wild Bill, Heather and Bill met us there after an hour or so we stayed until 9, when the $1 drinks aren't $1 anymore. Then we headed up to Guidos for food and to our delightful suprise, $2 pbr bottles....you can't turn down a $2 pbr when Wild Bill is in the house!! So we happily drank those and ate our garlic fries... after a one more drink at Alive One, it was time to turn in, as a charter bus was picking us up at 9am the next morning for a day of fun in the sun at Keeneland.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to Wall's signature/obnoxious doorbell ring and made a delicious breakfast of biscuits, egg and bacon. The original plan was to have all that along with some champagne, but after the night before, the champange decided to stay in the fridge.

We loaded up in the bus and were ready for a day of fun and hopefully more money than we came with.... Well the beginning of the day looked promising! We played a couple of games on the bus, including one where they marked the tires with Ten numbers a piece and you could buy numbers for either $5 or $2. Rob won his tire and before even walking in, was $50 richer! Now I really had high hopes for the day.

Along with this parking lot victory there was lots of food, flowing alcohol, fabulous hats, bus vs. bus flipcup competitions, shotgunning and more. Here are some pictures :-)

One of the best things we did all day was to pay a random shady usher $20 to sit in some awesome VIP Box seats....so thanks to Dave C. Parrish, Jr.. for.....not showing up that day?

After figuring out none of the horses I was picking were winning ANYTHING, I called on some backups for help... Mom and Dad were on their way to Florida so I called them to make some picks... After both of their picks came in the last two horses, I should have just called it a day, spent my money on beer and food, and just happily WaTch the races... but I couldnt do it, I was convinced I was going to win something.... I was wrong... wrong wrong.

Afterwards it was time to load onto the bus again for some late night debauchery.... There were fingerstaches, people passed out and dancing in the aisles from the youngins in the front and a lot of passed out people near the back.

Even though I won no money, it was still a great day to be outside and hang out with friends... thanks to Doc for the invite :-)

Greetings Readers!

Greetings readers. I’m the new kid in school, Ralph. Jen’s already written a very informative bio of me, so I’ll waste no time speaking to my political views, my favorite kind of beer or why I root for the “professional” football team in Cincinnati. This week I bring you up to speed on my visit to the Circleville Pumpkin Show. The Pumpkin Show is dubbed as the “The Greatest Free Show on Earth”, and boy does it live up to the billing. Among the “delicacies” found here are pumpkin waffles, chili, milkshakes and pie. Speaking of pie, some chick named Lindsey makes this ginormous one every year.

It’s over 400 pounds and 6 feet in diameter. Evidently, after the Pumpkin Show, they just end up feeding it to the local pigs. And I mean actual pigs, not the inhabitants of Circleville (zinger!). They were out of chili by the time we got there on Saturday (we sat in traffic upwards of an hour and a half) and the line for the pumpkin donuts was nearly a hundred deep. However, with the help of my 3 associates, we were able to consume the following:
-Onion Rings
-2 helpings of Cheese on a Stick
-1 Potato Pancake
-Sauerkraut Balls
-Bowl of Chicken & Noodles
-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
-Pumpkin Coffee
-Pumpkin Brownies
-Pumpkin Caramel Pecan Sundae
-Potato Ribbons
-Pumpkin Cream Puff
-Corn Dog

The onion rings sucked, but you haven’t lived until you’ve had some cheese on a stick deep fried in corndog batter. The pumpkin eats were solid, but I doubt I reach for a piece of pumpkin pie any time soon.

Beyond eats, they have a number of swell sights and events. The pet parade draws hearty belly laughs and ooh and ahhs from the crowd. They have wing eating and hog calling competitions. No joke, my wife asked if it was a person or the hog that did the calling. I’m fairly certain she felt stupid afterward. There’s also a giant pumpkin display. This sucker right here was this year’s largest at 1,375.5 pounds.

Impressed? Yeah, me neither. I have no idea who this couple is, but I thought it was funny to see Asians, in southern OH, posing in front of a pyramid of pumpkins.

And who could forget the Miss Pumpkin Show Pageant? Here’s your court:

How’s about those turtlenecks, huh? Stylish. Your winner is Rachel Congrove, who was “spunky” and “knew a lot about the Pumpkin Show” according to judges. That evidently was the only criteria. Sadly, I did not meet Rachel.

All told, I’d recommend the Pumpkin Show for anyone within a 45 minute radius of Circleville. The food is good, the events could be entertaining and the person watching is exceptional. Come back next week for another installment of randomness by yours truly.

Ralphie's Ramblings

I am very excited to announce that there will be a new weekly guest blogger on Random Ramblings. We have decided to join forces to bring you more randomness and more ramblings than ever before! I'm sure all of you are sitting on the edge of your seat wondering who this mystery blogger could be....so without further ado, let me introduce you to my good friend, Ralphie.

Ralphie was born in Manchester, OH... attended Ohio University (where he met me!!) and now resides in Columbus, OH with his lovely wife Alison. Ralphie enjoys sports (both fantasy and real), making random observations about things (one of the reasons I enjoy his company so much) and is a (new) follower of politics. There is so much more to say about him...but for now, I will just leave you with some random pictures...

Look for Ralphie's first post tomorrow!

Ralphie and his wife, Alison, at OU Homecoming
Ralphie and me at his Wedding!!
Pretty much a normal weeknight in college

Galas and Beer Olympics...We're multi-talented.

I have been dying to update my loyal blog readers on my amazing weekend, but unfortunately a super busy week at work has kept me from updating my blog. (stupid work).

Anyway, I am going to take a few minutes out of my day and tell you about my fabulous weekend. First…..the GALA! Friday night there was a Gala at Union Terminal and we were excited to be a part of it! Suzi and Krista came over to my house beforehand and we got ready pre-prom style by all stuffing into my small bathroom together…everyone looked gorgeous as we headed out the door and to dinner downtown. Everyone was staring at us at McCormick & Schmicks (maybe because we were in prom dresses) but probably because we looked so ravishing. The party was a lot of fun, and they brought in all kinds of white furniture & colorful lighting to make the place look like a nightclub. Also, and probably the most random part of the night, is that Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite was the “celebrity guest dj”….at first we all thought it was super cool that such a random semi-celebrity was at the event….but then we heard him dj. Yeah- Pedro…stick to making hilarious low budget films….your DJ career isn’t gonna take off anytime soon.

The next day I got up with fire in my eyes, as it was the most important competition of the year, The annual Beer Olympics day at Krista’s house. Events in this day include flipcup (both individual and team), beer pong, cornhole, three legged race (where a 40 has to be chugged before crossing the finish line), kindergarten relay & easter beer hunt. With the first ever all-girls beer Olympics team ever to be seen at the event, we were a little nervous, but knew that it was about playing hard AND smart…not just playing hard. (girls are good at that) Mugs & Jugs dominated in the first event which was individual and team flipcup…we quickly moved up the bracket to be number one in this event, and pretty much setting the precedent for the rest of the day.

In the end we didn’t even have to participate in the final event in order to win the day...
Krista, Taylor and Claire….you can be on my beer related athletic team any time.

Aquasize a Sucess!

Last night's aquasizing went quite well! The teacher was a younger (mid 30s) guy so I think he was happy to see Rob and Rob was happy to see him...and besides Rob and I there were only three others in the class. I am not ashamed to admit that I am a fan of things I am good at, and one thing I am good at is anything involved in being in the water...so this was fun, I was good at it and it was also a pretty good workout. We were both feeling a little sore this morning which is a good thing. Unfortunately we have errands to run and a mutt to pick up at doggie daycare after work today, but we will definitely be returning to aquasize sometime soon!

Aquasize!

Tonight Rob and I, in my constant quest to find a good exercise that I don't hate, are going to a water Aerobics class at the local CRC pool. I'm hoping we don't show up to this:





But I guess we'll have to see. Tune in for the full update tomorrow.....

SOOO much to catch up on!

It has been an exciting week and weekend! Last Monday night Theresa and the staff of Towne Properties swooped 20 lucky Mt Adams residents off to a 3 hourcocktail cruise down the Ohio River. It was a perfect night out and fun to see the city at night and I also met lots of new Mt. Adams friends that I hadn't met before. Here is a picture of Carrie and I taking in the cruise.

The rest of the week was spent trying to hydrate, exercise, rest and catch up on dvr from the week and weekend before. With best friends in town and Martin's wedding to be excited about, all these things were definitely put on the backburner the week before, so I made plenty of time for catching up on those things.

Friday night Rob, Wall and I went to go support fellow bloggers Lindsey & Emily at Jefferson Hall. They were holding a happy hour to raise money for Team Lungevity who they are running with this Sunday when they run the Chicago Marathon!! If you get a chance stop over to their blog and leave them some luck and love. It was really great to see them and I know they will do fabulous this weekend! Good Luck Girls!

After the happy hour we went to go spend some QT with Krista's fun family at her house. There was a Texas hold'em tournament going on in honor of her sister's 30th birthday, who was in town from Utah. I was greeted at the door with a Margarita from her mom (my kind of family!)- and did pretty well in the tournament. I finally started being pretty loose with my chips as it was getting late and Rob had to work for a couple of hours in the morning.

The next morning I woke up bright and early at 9am to head over for kegs and eggs and a pre-soap box derby party at Wall's house. We headed up around 11:30 for the fun day. There were all kinds of crazy cars including a kool-aid man, the "last supper" (seriously- with like JEsus and all the apostles and everything, they even drove sideways so everyone could see), a Cincinnati 3-way, Luigi from the Super Mario Brothers, a zamboni from the Cincinnati Cyclones,Pacman, and my favorite that I missed bc I was in the bathroom but it's still my favorite just from hearing about it... a giant red stapler from Office Space. It was a beautiful day for day drinking, soap box race and a post soap box race flip cup tourney :-)