Ryan Jacobs

Whetstone Prairie Grass

Photo taken in the Whetstone Prairie, near the Park of Roses in Clintonville. As the season unfolds, we should see more wildflowers and even sunflowers.

Treehenge

This appears to be a non-random collection of similarly sized trees. It reminded me of Stonehenge for some reason. This is positioned along one of the entry points to the Olentangy Bike Trail in Clintonville.

Bridge

I like bridges. This is taken from the Olentangy Bike Trail side and crosses the Olentangy river and 315. Architecturally, this isn’t much to look at, but from this vantage point you aren’t quite sure where it leads. That in and of itself is interesting to me.

Maize and Blue in Ohio Stadium

Rebecca and I recently had friends over for dinner that just happened to be huge Michigan fans. The traditional rivalry ribbing commenced, good natured laughs enjoyed. Then, I learned something new. One of our guests said that he always wondered why the dome contained so much Maize and Blue ornamentation. I thought this must have been a joke at first, but he insisted that I take a closer look next time I was at the stadium.

I did stop off at the stadium during a recent bike ride in order to get a better look. He was right — the dome is indeed adorned with yellow and blue. According to The Ohio State University Archives, this has nothing to do with the rivalry. You be the judge.

Bye Bye Blogger

I have migrated my blog engine to WordPress. I am very, very pleased with how it manages my complete site and not just my weblog.

Rooftop Plinko?

I noticed these odd baffles on the roof down at The North Market on Sunday. I was reminded of that Price is Right game Plinko for some reason.

Some Things Change, Some Stay the Same

We visited The Columbus Museum of Art on Saturday, followed by Lunch at Katzinger’s Deli. I hadn’t been to either for over 10 years.

The last time I was at the art museum, I was really unimpressed with it, and over the years even told people not to bother. I always directed people to the Wexner Center. Why anyone would follow my advice on art is anyone’s guess, but I may have steered a few folks wrong in recent years. Don’t get me wrong — this is no Louvre, but they have nice pieces and you can actually see it within a day.

The last time I was at Katzinger’s, I was very impressed. After my experience at the museum, I was worried that perhaps this had also changed through the years but for the worse. I was very pleased to find it is just as good as ever and still worth a trip to German Village just for one of their extraordinarily satisfying, if somewhat pricey, sandwiches. I can’t think of many deli’s that offer 3 tuna salad , 2 smoked whitefish and 2 smoked salmon sandwich options. Actually, I can’t think of any.

Now, do I need to go back to the Wexner and see what they are up to?

Tivo, you no longer know me

Tivo picked up a show for us called ‘Aftermath:Population Zero‘, from National Geographic. It sounded marginally interesting, so we started to watch it. The only saving grace of this program was that its absurd premise was stated up front, so I had a good sense to bail out early. The entire show revolved around Earth’s fate if all of the humans vanished in a single instance. Not over time, mind you, but in a single instance. The premise also seemed to rely on this event only striking humans.

I used to be enamored with Tivo’s ability to pull out of the ether shows that it knew I would like. Over time, I am finding that virtually none of the recommendations are shows I actually do like. I have done my part by watching the shows and giving the appropriate thumb ratings. It is clear I am putting more into the relationship than Tivo is.

Future of the Clover

I am an enormous fan of Clover brewed coffee. Today, Starbucks announced they will acquire Clover.

What does this mean for the future of this phenomenal brewing machine and what does this mean for Starbucks?

Will the Clover machine mean a renewed focus on bean quality, or will it be used to cover up the existing weaknesses?

Will Starbucks allow me to pay a ‘corking-fee’ to brew my homeroasted coffee in their clover machines?

Why couldn’t they have announced this on St. Patricks day? They were so close.

Airport Coffee

I was in Portland last week, but unfortunately there was no time to really explore. I had been advised that Stumptown Coffee was the best to try out, but I did not get the chance. On the flight out of town, I saw a local offering called ‘Coffee People‘. When I discovered that they offered two choices for espresso, I decided it was a good sign. The choices were ‘Black Tiger’ and ‘Weiner Melange’. I couldn’t order espresso with the word Weiner in it, so I opted for the Black Tiger and was pleasantly surprised.

Oddly enough, when I returned to look up their website, I found that their only locations were in the PDX airport and they still do mail order. Very interesting indeed.