Anna Brings Home the Gold
By Jonathan | August 19, 2008 at 7:30 am
I just wanted to take a moment and convey some big time congratulations to Anna Tunnicliffe, a 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist. Anna competed in the Women’s Laser Radial sailing event in Beijing over the past week. After ten races, she proved to be the most dominant woman out there, beating the silver medalist by five points.
So here’s a big congratulations, Anna! What a way to represent the United States of America! Congratulations!
Read more about the race
http://www.nbcolympics.com/sailing/news/newsid=234270.html#tunnicliffe+sails+into+history
Read more about Anna
http://www.annatunnicliffe.com/content/blogcategory/29/113/
http://www.annatunnicliffe.com/
Abi and I met Anna in 7th grade when she moved to Perrysburg. We all became good friends throughout high school while on the Perrysburg Track and Field team. Abi kept in touch with Anna throughout the years and was a bridesmaid in Anna’s wedding this past May.
Above photo courtesy of the Toledo Blade
Topics: current events, sports | 1 Comment »
New House, Week 2: Emptying Boxes
By Jonathan | July 31, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Week two of the new house was full of much less surprises and excitement than last week…no water on the ceiling, no leaky pipes, and the [long] grass was made shorter. This week we unpacked a whole ton of boxes and tried to find a home for everything in the new place. As of Thursday evening I would say we are about 75% unpacked, although we’re more like 25% moved in. It’s obvious which rooms have taken more neglect than others based on remaining clutter. The office has by far seen the worse of it; there are cables and cords and stuff that should be in/on my desk everywhere. I think this room will be the big one to tackle next week.
Meanwhile we finally were able to get Time Warner out here to install Internet and cable to the house. It was a debacle at first since none of the previous owners ever had TWC, but after talking to five different people on three different days we finally got it straightened out. What a treat, right? Sorry Kevin, I’ll leave DirecTV for you to explore…
I’ve taken bunches of photos of packing up the apartment and moving into the house that I would like to post eventually, but cleaning this place up has been the top priority for Abi and me since we moved it. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps. And no, not from real babies! Leave me alone!
I made one final trip to our apartment today for a little last-minute-end-of-lease vacuuming. Afterword I dropped off our keys to the office, flipped the place the bird and left. The bird thing might be an exaggeration, but I did shout “peace” as I walked out for the last time. It was a bittersweet moment, but rest assured we are on to bigger and better things! I wish I had my camera there for a couple photos of the empty place, but oh well. That’s it. No more 6750 Towering Ridge Way Apt. 198!
To sum this up I can say that Abi and I are incredibly thrilled to own a house! It’s truly amazing, and we love it! Stay tuned for the party!
Topics: house, updates | 2 Comments »
New House, Week 1: What We’ve Learned so Far
By Jonathan | July 25, 2008 at 12:00 pm
The first week of new home ownership sure has been busy. Due to lack of internet you’re going to get a quick list of notes and no new photos. Stay tuned for further updates…
What we’ve learned so far:
- ALWAYS remember to put the bonnet nut back in place before turning the water on
- There really is enough water pressure coming out of the pipes on the 2nd floor to hit the ceiling
- Spraying cold water on a hot light bulb will make it explode
- So far none of my tools have been more important than a wrench
- If you have old parts, it’s best to replace them IMMEDIATELY instead of trying to figure out if they’re really the cause of the problem…because they are
- A simple fix is probably the best fix
The last item is probably the most valuable at this point. That being said, however, I would not have learned about most of the other items on this short list had I just taken the “simple fix” path. Sometimes screwing something up yourself is the best way to learn. I’ll agree with that so long as the end result isn’t a catastrophe!
Topics: do it yourself, house, story, updates | No Comments »
Hey, Would you do me a Favor? It’s Quick and Free! (And Legal!)
By Jonathan | July 14, 2008 at 9:36 pm
The abridged version goes something like this:
- Join this Facebook group
- Sign the wall with: “I hope you win the Klondike contest, Joel! 1 point for Jonathan Lepolt.”
- Tell all your friends!
- There is no step 4.
The long version goes something like this:
A friend of a guy I work with entered a contest to try and win $100k. My last blog post was trying to get you to watch the entry video and vote on it. Much thanks to all you voters out there, Joel is now a semi-finalist in the competition.
I should note, real quick, that I have never met this guy in my life. Ever. But it’s all good. Yan says he’s cool.
If you take a minute to read his webpage or his blog, you’ll find out that he has deemed himself a professional contest winner. Crazy, right? He’s won tons of cool stuff already, and now he’s trying to win a Klondike competition for $100k. In his last competition as part of his winnings they gave him an iPod Touch. Since he already has an iPod Touch, he decided that he would give it away in contest fashion, hoping to get more people to vote for his Klondike video.
The rules are simple. All I have to do is get as many people as possible to join his Facebook group and sign the wall. That’s it. There’s absolutely nothing in this for you, only for me. It’s crazy for me to ask my loyal readers to do this…but heck, I’d do the same thing for you! All you need to do is write two sentences on the wall. The first saying anything about Joel, the second saying “1 point for Jonathan Lepolt.” Whoever gets the most points gets the iPod.
So come on! Be a part of this crazy contest for me. I’ll owe you one!
For complete rules and details, check out this post.
Topics: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
What Would “Happy Joel” do for a Klondike Bar?
By Jonathan | July 9, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Apparently Klondike is running a contest to see who can come up with the best commercial depicting their slogan, “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” A guy I work with (Yan) has a friend that submitted a video in an attempt to win $100k.
Yan has been asking pestering everyone that he knows to visit the website, register, and vote for his friend’s video. After sending countless IMs to me in addition to some threatening phone calls, I finally gave in and decided to check it out. The video is actually pretty clever, and the song is kinda catchy.
So here’s my promotion for this guy, ‘happyjoel’. Yan said that Joel said that if he wins he’s buying everyone something nice. It’s possible I made up that last part, but what the heck? Go check out his video, and vote. Five bars out of five bars is preferred:
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
28,000 Feet Below Cruise Altitude
By Jonathan | July 1, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Where does 28,000 feet below cruise altitude put you? For the sake of argument, let’s assume that today your plane will be cruising at 28,000 feet. 28,000 feet below that puts you in Terminal A of George Bush Intercontinental Airport. That is exactly where Abi and I got to spend a great deal of time this past weekend waiting for our plane to arrive. The problem for us on Sunday, however, was that our plane arrived too late. Since it arrived too late we never ended up at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, which means we missed our connecting flight to Dayton International Airport, which means we never made it back to Cincinnati on Sunday evening as originally scheduled.
To keep it brief and to avoid sounding like I’m complaining, there was rain and lightning that started about 4pm Sunday. Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:15pm. So long as we were in the air by 6:03pm, getting to our connecting flights in Charlotte would not be a big deal.
Then our plane was delayed. Then our plane was diverted. Then our flight was cancelled.
Oh well, we’re back in Cincinnati now…time to get back to business. I will say, however, that I am a little disappointed in US Airways for not providing anyone with food or lodging that evening. While originally they said our flight was cancelled due to weather, there were other planes flying in and out of the airport at the time of the cancellation. It was around 8pm, which isn’t too late for a flight. I think the crew decided that they were done for the day. I understand the regulations, but it would have been nice to get the real story…and a free hotel room.
A special thanks to Kevin, for pointing this out.
Topics: Uncategorized, complain, story | 3 Comments »
It’s Wedding Season, Baby!
By Jonathan | June 25, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Starting this weekend wedding season is officially in full swing. A quick rundown, including items that have already occurred:
January 19: Savina and Stewart’s wedding
April 5: Liz and Andy’s wedding
May 10: Anna and Brad’s wedding
June 27: Katie and Randy’s wedding
July 5: Matt and Dee Dee’s wedding (Jonathan)
July 5: Jackie and Ben’s shower (Abi)
July 25: Jackie’s bachelorette party (Abi)
July 26: Nichole’s bachelorette party (Abi)
July 26: Beard’s bachelor party (Jonathan)
August 2: Nichole and Steve’s wedding
August 9: Jackie and Ben’s wedding
And of course, everything is out of town.
Wish us luck. Our flight to Houston leaves at 5:40am Friday.
Topics: current events | No Comments »
The Story of a Coffee Making n00b
By Jonathan | June 16, 2008 at 6:00 am
I was at work the other morning making a pot of coffee, and for whatever reason it reminded me of a story from a few years back…
I was a coop at Seapine Software in 2004. Gas was cheap(er) and I only drove 50 miles a day (as opposed to the 70 I do now). I don’t remember if it was winter or summer, but I do know that at the time Seapine had only taken over the 2nd floor of the Triangle Office Building and no one had made a fresh pot of coffee for the day. I generally arrived to work around 7:30am, much sooner than the average employee, but much later than the first person of the day and of course after the first brew of the morning. Today, for whatever reason, I decided that I would make the first pot of coffee. I had never done this before, but I figured it couldn’t be that bad…put some grinds in the filter, push the button, and WALLA!
As it turns out, I had the process mostly correct. I say mostly because things didn’t quite turn out as you may expect. To the best of my recollection, I present to you the Story of a Coffee Making n00b:
[insert cool time traveling special effect here]
“Hmmm, no one has made coffee yet. I’d really like a cup with some Swiss Miss powder mixed in…it’s a cheap version of a $5 Starbucks drink. Well, let’s do this.”
Remove filter holder from coffee machine (check)
Add new filter to holder (check)
Open new packet of coffee (check)
Pour packet contents into filter (check)
Replace filter holder (check)
Push ‘Brew’ button (check)
“Hmmm, that’s weird, I must have done something wrong…the ‘Brew’ button didn’t stay pushed down.”
Push ‘Brew’ button again (check)
“Still nothing. What the heck? Why won’t this button stay down?”
Push ‘Brew’ button again (check)
“Still nothing. Is this thing on? Where’s the coffee?”
Push ‘Brew’ button (check)
Push ‘Brew’ button (check)
Push ‘Brew’ button (check)
“Ahhhhh, here we go.” Coffee was flowing. It would only be a couple minutes until I could pour myself a cup. As the pot filled I noticed that it seemed to fill a little higher than usual.
“Is this thing going to stop flowing?”
Nope.
“Oh crap…where’s an empty pot?!”
[amazing-coffee-pot-swap-while-coffee-still-pouring-trick]
Okay, we’re back under control…I just brewed two pots instead of one. No biggie, I’ll just wait for this one to finish. As the second pot filled, I noticed that it seemed to fill a little higher than usual.
“Oh super crap…how many pots did I brew?!”
As it turns out, I really only needed to push the ‘Brew’ button one time. It never stayed down because it wasn’t supposed to…it wasn’t that type of switch. Each additional press resulted in an additional pot of coffee. I don’t remember the exact number, but I swapped out 5-6 pots using the amazing-coffee-pot-swap-while-coffee-still-pouring-trick by the time things had settled down. The best part was that my boss walked in during the middle of it…he sure got a kick out of it. I guess I could have pulled the plug out of the wall to cut power to the machine, but how was I supposed to think of that at a time like this?
So, that’s my story, I hope you enjoyed it. Let’s take a moment to reflect back and think about what we have we learned today… If you ever get to work and there’s no coffee made…you should ALWAYS wait for someone else to make it!
Topics: story | 3 Comments »
A Quick Answer to a Quick Poll
By Jonathan | June 10, 2008 at 8:54 pm
In my last post I ranted about people not understanding some simple traffic laws, but still being allowed behind the wheel of a 2-ton motor vehicle. Specifically, I was referring to the action drivers should take when the traffic light is not functioning at a three or four-way intersection. Reading into the Ohio Revised Code, Title [45] XLV Motor Vehicles — Aeronautics — Watercraft, Chapter 4511: Traffic Laws — Operation of Motor Vehicles, Section 132: Operation at intersections with malfunctioning traffic control signal lights, drivers should *insert paraphrase here* treat the intersection as a four-way stop. ie:
Stop at a clearly marked stop line, but if none, stop before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection, or, if none, stop before entering the intersection;
Therefore, the correct answer to last week’s poll was: #3, Four-way stop.
Thanks to everyone who played. Whoever voted for bumper cars…I know you know better. My loyal readers are very bright.
Before we conclude for today, there is one other traffic pet peeve that I’d like to clarify. The main road connecting my place of residence and the freeway is a four-lane road with a double yellow line. During the school year there are many times that school busses drive down this road. This, as you may have guessed, also results in them stopping to pick up/drop off kids. On more than one occasion I have seen traffic in both directions come to a complete stop when the bus is stopped. My argument is the following:
When a school bus is stopped on a four-lane road in the state of Ohio, oncoming traffic need not stop.
According to the Ohio Revised Code Title [45] XLV Motor Vehicles — Aeronautics — Watercraft, Chapter 4511: Traffic Laws — Operation of Motor Vehicles, Section 75: Stopping for a stopped school bus, I am correct.
Where a highway has been divided into four or more traffic lanes, a driver of a vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley need not stop for a school bus approaching from the opposite direction which has stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging any school child, persons attending programs offered by community boards of mental health and county boards of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, or children attending programs offered by head start agencies. The driver of any vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley overtaking the school bus shall comply with division (A) of this section.
I hope that this has been educational. Actually, I hope you already knew this. Consider this a refresher course in basic drivers’ ed. Please note that driving laws may differ from state to state. It is the driver’s responsibility to familiarize himself with state driving laws while traveling. Did you know that in Texas if there is an emergency vehicle on the side of the road you must move over or slow down to 20mph below the speed limit?
Topics: complain, driving | 4 Comments »
A Quick Poll: Power Outage + Stop Light + Intersection = ???
By Jonathan | June 5, 2008 at 8:49 am
Sometimes people just don’t know what they should do. After the power was knocked out yesterday, I was forced to drive in Battle Mode.
What should happen at an intersection when a stop light is not working?
- Faster traffic has the right away (0%, 0 Votes)
- Proceed as normal (0%, 0 Votes)
- Four-way stop (85%, 17 Votes)
- Two-way stop (0%, 0 Votes)
- Bumper cars (15%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 20
Loading ...Topics: Uncategorized | 9 Comments »