Afloat?

Happy Saturday morning. Howdy, I know, I know, it’s Saturday morning and to kick start I get going with a mug of coffee.

However, this morning I am still thinking about the ‘double, double, latte’ I made yesterday afternoon. It was “to die for” as Marlene would have said.

After my volunteer stint at the Cincinnati Open, the front half of the workweek became recuperation time. Didn’t think I needed it. I was wrong. Hour after hour greeting people, smiling, solving problems and issues, and occasionally getting people back on a ‘strait-and-narrow’, every day for 9 days straight in 7 to 12 hour stints mostly standing proved a little bit more taxing than I had thought.

Nevertheless, it was GREAT and I’m already on the ‘list’ for next year.

On another subject I was going to pontificate on the latest corporate name to hit the news. I am not!

I, however, will add it to the list I am keeping of companies which just cannot learn until finally they get hit over the head by something – usually it’s the in ‘free-falling’ stock:

Target
Tractor Supply
Busch Beer
Jaguar
Pepsi
Cracker Barrel

Final Breakfast – at the Cincinnati Open had us eating breakfast with the one and only Tracy Austin! As sister-in-law Sandy said when she heard who had been at the breakfast; “Oh WOW”

Tracy Austin: 1 – Youngest US Open women’s singles champion (aged 16)
2 – Ranked as the world No. 1 in women’s singles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks
3 – Won 30 WTA Tour-level singles titles
4 – Youngest inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (aged 29)

The lady is a gem to be around. Also joining her at breakfast was Andrew Kresley (he’s the Voice for Tennis and previously had organized for Joan Rivers and Martin Short). Since the broadcast area was a floor above my area I had previously talked with him on the elevator – though I never knew who he was. You know the kind of stuff; friendly small talk about heat & humidity, tennis upsets, and anything that would fit into a 30-second elevator ride. Little did I know that I had, had access to someone with an amazing tennis knowledge base.

Sears – Some of the family members might remember Adrianne and Tevita’s first home, the one on Delmar. Well, their home on Delmar was a Sears do it yourself kit home.,

Now, two houses later I came across this minute-long YouTube on the Sears kit homes – you buy the property and buy the kit. This then could be a build-it-yourself project, or hire an assembly team, privately or from Sears. The kit had it all, down to nails, screws, hinges, windows, doors, roof – 30,000 bits and pieces.

The ‘Nati had a fair number of these homes in part because we had a large distribution center in town – partly because of access to three railroads, as well as a major river route.

Their home was advertised as: “A True California ranch! Only one in the area. 3 bedroom*formal dining*2 car garage*Beautiful woodwork*French Cottage windows open on large porch wraps around home. Only thing missing is the Ocean front.”

Its first County tax appraisal after assembly was $5,050.

Hooters – is entering a downsizing, probably not reflective of the young ladies eager to serve in their tight Tees and ultra short shorts, but a number of their establishments – 30 to be precise.

One of those shut down Hooters had been floating on a barge on the Ohio adjacent to the Purple People walking bridge connecting to Newport. It had been operational for several decades in that location. This week marked the end of that era. A tug pushed it down river a ways to a spot where the building was to be taken down and the old barge cut up for scrap.

If you frequented the place, sit back a spell, reflect on your fond memories (and possibly hopes) while you listen to this to aid and comfort – Floating on Down………

It’s Opera Time – So here’s my day; post this, hard boil an egg for some protein, fill the water bottle and head out for a few miles. Then, work it so that I can get a short nap in early afternoon.

There, that should get me ready to see an Opera at our downtown Aronoff Center this evening.

The Opera is Iolanta Op. 69 it’s one act (four scenes) by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. I’ve not heard or seen this particular work. But I do like the power of Russian music and of Tchaikovsky. The world premiere took place in December 1892 in Saint Petersburg.

The story line is typical shmaltzy fare. A blind Danish Princess, blind from birth, has only been allowed to be in an enclosed garden and has never been told she is blind. She’s been given to a suitor. Then along comes the one she really falls for. And so it goes.

What is different is that for this performance of Iolanta the lead is in actuality a blind individual. Adrianne, through her work has been asked to set up a lobby table with details on what her Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired [CABVI] is all about and what it offers. I am going along as her companion and assistant, and as a BONUS will get to see this Opera. Good stuff!

Want a bit more on exactly what Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired is all about and the major impact they have here and throughout much of Ohio? It might be worthwhile to click on the embedded link above and take a moment to scroll through their home page.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

No, these are not “yo mama” jokes. Which of the following are insults written for the ages, written by the Bard himself, Shakespeare?

1) “You starveling, you elfskin, you dried neat’s tongue, you bull’s pizzle, you stockfish!”
2) “Away, you three-inch fool!”
3) “Villain, I have done thy mother.”
4) “Away, you scullion, you rampallian, you fustilarian!”
5) “I’ll tickle your catastrophe.”
6) “I do desire we may be better strangers.”
7) “You Banbury cheese!”
8) “Thou cream-faced loon!”