So it’s not exactly an Earth-shattering way of celebrating, but to someone who hasn’t had significant solid food in two weeks, it was glorious.

I’ve only recently embraced sushi as a delicacy, final realizing that sushi does not have to mean raw fish. The photo of my dinner above is testament to how once can enjoy non-raw-fish sushi. The top delicacy is a spider roll, consisting of soft-shell crab, ubiquitous rice, and a few veggies wrapped in soy paper (an option I like over the usual seaweed). Next to that is a Yasaihama roll, assorted vegetables in rice with seaweed wrap. The lone Nigiri Sushi is smoked salmon on…that’s right, more rice. What isn’t shown is the edamame I ordered as an appetizer. By time I snapped this pix, the delightful steamed soybeans in salted pods was long gone (and thoroughly enjoyed).

I’d love to report I had a little Sake to make this a truly fine meal, but alas, the restaurant (Asian Grill in Findlay), does not yet serve beer and wine. Considering I haven’t, along with real food, had even so mucha as a glass of wine over the last three weeks, that might have led to a bit too much celebration last night.

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I’m blogging to you from deep in the heart of…Northwest Ohio. Ohio? What happened to Texas? I’ve been up here in the land of sensible values since last summer, but I have a good excuse: an odd need to eat and pay bills. So when the chance came up to do a long-term consulting project up here in Flag City and thus end a drought of work, I said “Duh…of course.”

I’ve lived in Texas since 1971, so to suddenly relocate (even temporarily) to a more northern clime is a bit of a shock to the system. To keep this in perspective though, my formative teenage years were spent in the suburbs of Chicago, so this cowboy is no stranger to cold northern winters. But that was more years ago than I’ll admit to in this public forum, so suffice to say I’m out of winter-shape, so to speak.

I’ve written fondly of winter and missing seasons here before, so this opportunity has certain upsides: seasons, smaller town, slower pace of life, and those damn practical Midwestern values. On the other hand, it’s still the culturally starved Midwest where corn and babies seem to occupy most minds. What culture one enjoys up here is either imported or traveled to…there just isn’t much here. But on the balance of things, I’ve enjoyed a simpler, more hassle-free life in my temporary Ohio digs.

One pleasant surprise has been the close proximity of several interesting getaways. You can get out of or across Ohio by car within a relatively short time. It takes part of two days to traverse Texas. Chicago and it’s cosmopolitan influences of the Art Institute and nightclubs is a brief four hours away. Cleveland and it’s Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame a couple hours. The blue hills of Kentucky are a little more than four hours due south. And for a spicier venture, Windsor, Canada and its blue collar party atmosphere beckon complete with (legal) Cuban cigars and potent beers. I don’t smoke cigars, but I’ll inhale those non-export high-alcohol-content Canadian beers any day.

I do travel back to Houston occasionally, and between the humidity (who wants to remember that?) and the congestion (who wants to deal with that?), it’s always a shock to the system. At the end of these back-travel weeks, I’m somewhat stressed and looking forward to returning where the corn sways slowly in the wind and the search for intellectually based culture continues. Of course, that’s not during the winter, where most of my time now is spent trying to keep the damn wind from sending its icy probes into every exposed skin pore. I love snow, and the temperature hasn’t been too bad, but the wind. Oh lordy the wind.

Unfortunately, winter in northwest Ohio is mostly about cold and wind, and seldom about snow. Tolerating frigid temperatures is always more pleasant when the calmness and serenity of a white, wintry blanket greets the eyes, but alas: this winter’s been unusually cruel and we’ve haven’t been blessed with much snow to mitigate the depressive gray of a snowless winter scene. But now spring is around the corner, with green images and hiking opportunities, and sun. I’ll miss what little snow we’ve had, but I won’t miss the wind.

Locals tell me we’re close enough to Lake Erie to stay under cloud cover for most of the winter in our attempt to emulate Seattle. Some of my co-workers even admit to taking occasional winter drives south a few hours where the sunshine is more frequent this time of year. I haven’t felt that dark side of winter yet, but the few days the sun does manage to break through the clouds it feels like a celestial event worth celebrating. Another difference between Ohio and Texas regarding the sun must have to do with sun angles. In Texas I couldn’t go outside without sunglasses, whereas up here it seems less of an issue. Maybe it’s the glare from all the concrete and glass that defines Houston, or maybe the air pollution down there reflects the sun rays just enough to enhance the glare. Either way, it’s a moot point up here right now for sunglasses are the last accessory I need to remember.

I’ll be up here through this year with an option to continue part-time for another year. I’m getting acclimated to this slower pace of life, and certainly relishing the seasonal changes, so who knows: maybe this cowboy might have to trade in them boots for snowshoes and heavy blankets.

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It’s that time of year when every baseball fan gets excited, forgets how their favorite bums played last year, and relishes the fact that for a few weeks at least, their favorite team is in contention.

I went to the opening day game last night to watch the St. Louis Cardinals whup up on my favorite Houston Astros. Since I’m out to enjoy the festivities and baseball, I don’t get frantic when the bums lose, nor obnoxious when they win (well…not too much). After last year’s Astros record comeback from nothing, I’m not sure I can take the stress again!

These images are a few I took, mostly before the game. I created a photo album (link at the right) if you want to see more of the festivities and a nice glimpse of our Minute Maid Park, one of the current string of new parks designed to get the fans closer to the game while including some quirks and twists like the old ballparks of yesteryear. (In our case, we have a “hill” in deep center field and very close left field bleacher which, unfortunately, home-run-bashing Jim Edmunds of the Cardinals found to his liking in the first inning last night. ).

So enjoy these images and by all means, if you’re close to a major league park (or minor league), get to a game or two and enjoy yourself. But bring lots of cash: there seems to be a renewed attempt to pay these ballplayers salaries from the fan’s pockets. (I went by myself and it still cost me $50 for a ticket, parking, a dog, peanuts, and bottled water.) It ain’t cheap, but it’s a blast.

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So…

As of today, I’m denouncing anything even remotely reeking of consumerism, capitalism, societyism, you-ism-name-it-ism, along with some other, long-overdue changes. As evidence for my bold act of freedom, here’s my five-part plan:

* I just gave noticed to my boss: “I quit.”
* I’m giving all my stuff away to charity this weekend.
* I have an appointment at 5 today with my barber to have my head shaved. Hair is the devil’s eyelashes, you know.
* I’m heading off this weekend on a grand walkabout to points unknown dressed in a nice, silk robe-like thing worn only on holy days by a little Hari-Krishna grandma. It feels so nice.
* Finally, I have an appointment next week with a Swedish doctor to see about changing things so my feminine side can truly be represented.

While some of you may think this is all crazy, rest assured it’s the path towards finally finding happiness for me. I wouldn’t suggest these changes for any one else, but for me they make sense.

See you on the other side!

Oh, and one more thing: what’s today’s date?

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The real challenge thus becomes one of trying to force a GoogleAd to show up that isn’t from eBay, since it’s obvious one can buy anything at eBay is seems (and New or Used!). And you may find that no matter how bizarre the term, there’s likely to be a rock band out there named that, such as in the case of an ad for a music store selling Toejam’s latest offering! So applying the eBay-doesn’t-count rule is not as easy as one might think.

Sometimes, though, the results are a bit scary. As the ad below shows, we tend to make things easy for terrorists these days in the good ol’ US of A. :huh:

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