The Dayton Diaries

Posted 07:14 by Rich
Wednesday night went to the Glen Helen centre in Yellow Springs for a talk on New Zealand. Rubin Battin. a retired professor, showed slides from a trampimg trip. He covered the main tracks, Routeburn, Heaphy, Greenstone, Tongariro Crossing, Banks Peninsula Track. He didn't need correction. Some colleagues came with me and naturally they all want to come to New Zealand now.

Posted 05:01 by Rich
A decent weekend after the virtual house arrest of last week. Friday was a quiet one at home before heading once more to my local - Talegator. Saturday was Monster Truck day and we headed out there in Ben's car. As we approached we noticed that there was also a Gun and Knife Show on at the same venue (the Hara Arena). I exclaimed that this would have to the scariest group of people I've ever encountered in one place. The carpark at a monster truck rally is one place where you want to obey the parking rules. They don't tow your car; they use it for freestyle practice - crushing it beyond recognition. Or worse, it can legally parked and fall victim when monster truck drivers go BAD. The show was in a much smaller arena that I imagined. The show started with the national anthem. Ben nudged me in the ribs and told me to "Just do what the natives do and you'll be OK" - good advice for any primative culture. So it was hat's off and hand on heart, while it played and a guy dressed in stars and stripes did a wheelie while holding the flag. Following the national anthem the compere talked about how Saddam hussien had "drawn a line in the sand" and he continued with: "I say we cross that line kick his butt - whadda you say Ohio?" Of course they cheered. I'm going to suggest to the orangisers that they should paint Saddam's face on the cars they crush. There was a range of motor "sport' including quad bike races, the wheelie king, freestyle motorcross with some great stunts and tuff trucks (where weekend racers race old trucks around the track in a time trial). Monster Trucks featured were BIGFOOT - HOLMAN'S BEAST - MAXIMUM TORC - AFTER SHOCK - FULL BOAR AND MONSTER ENFORCER! Sadly the Jesus monster Truck or Little Miss Mary did not feature.

Sat night I met some new friends at a bar not far away from home. It looked like a normal suburban bar form the outside. Inside it was asif the pages of Easyrider had come to life. It looked to the home of genuine bikers, with black leather and scraggly beards and women wearing patches that read "Property of the Black Pistons" They were screening the Americas Cup on one of the TVs. My eyes were frozen on the screen, to see the New Zealand I don't miss so much (there is a New Zealand I do miss), but mainly to not meet the eye of anyone with intolrance to strangers. Once my friend turned up we played darts, pool and chatted about America and New Zealand. The group had another whole list of must dos while I'm here. It sounds like Dayton will be more exciting in the spring and summer - it'd better be.

Sunday morning I went to Epiphany Lutheran Church , which is nearly next door for a fundraising pancake brunch as part of the Day of Caring. Sadly not all-you-can-eat. After an afternoon avoiind work and boredom in the evening it was payback time. A bet lost meant I had to take Catalina (a journalist) to the movie of her choice. We saw The Life of David Gale. It is a brilliant film. Nice to see an original movie rather than a rehash or something based on a better mucial or book. For those who don't know the story it is about a philosopher on death row, who is being interviewed by a journalist. She comes to belive in his innocence and tries to save him. At which point in the fiom Catalina, who's a journalist, said "all that responsibility - who would be a journo". "Hang on," I said, "What about the philiosopher who is about to be killed??"

The phone went this morning about the same time as my alarm - a two hour delay to the start of work. Who said winters here were tough?

Posted 08:44 by Rich
Lunched today with the Dayton Council on World Affairs (with additional guests from the republican party and the women's group from St Pauls Episcopal Church). The topic was Russia and in particluar the partnership between the Miami Valley Episcopal Russian Network and Russian Churches. Natalia, a Russian Fellow here sat through it sometimes nodding and sometimes turning to me whispering "That's not true." On sale were Russian dolls and on display Russian Orthodox icons "written" a former prisoner and forger, now Church member.

Posted 03:21 by Rich
Dined at new bar - restaurant Talegators last night. Our server (as they called waiters) was a charming girl from Montana. She didn't know where New Zealand was. A pleasant change from everyone saying what a bootiful countree Noo Zeelan is. When people say this I'm tempted to point our rates of youth suicide, poverty and incresing inequality.

Watched "Catch 22' and then listended to Noam Chomsky's speech to the world social forum on NPR.

Posted 02:59 by Rich
Listened to a great debate last night on the NPR show Justice Talking on patriotism and education featuring Howard Zinn.

Now at work after the long weekend.

Posted 12:27 by Rich
Work was cancelled today due to the weather. The worst storm in 5 or 7 years. I have spent the weekend mostly inside my apartment with book and videos form the library where I sit right now. There are many things cancelled here. The cancellation notices are shown on the bottom of the TV screen. It's really interesting to see what events are happening in the community. There are weather advisories being issued here. At level three you can get ticketed for being on the road - it's that dangerous. The Russian in our group thinks it's pathetic to shut things down for the snow - good thing the Americans didn't need to fight the battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

Being Black History Month I read "Still I Rise: A Cartoon History of the African Americans" this morning and have started a history of the religious contribution to the civil rights movement.

Posted 07:50 by Rich
Last night headed downtown to Gem City Records for some more CDs. Great selection and some only $1.99. Picked up the new Chemical Brothers EP, a dance Country collection and a dance mix by Junior Boys own. own the street to what must a local instiution, Bonnett's Book Store (which sells much mucch more than Playboys.

Today I was to go to a lunch with local pastors and the Nation of Islam but the weather, while fine, was expected to trun real nasty with "freezing rain" - that's rain that freezes and causes v. danergous conditions.

Posted 05:42 by Rich
I'm an uncle again! Michael and Lauren have had another girl. Dad writes, "Lauren laboured hard to produce another girl - Julia Valmai, at 6.07 am on Sunday 9 February 2003; weight 9lbs 2 oz. Mike and Lauren are thrilled, and everyone is well and happy." Cool.

Posted 03:02 by Rich
ROAD TRIP #1: Nashville, TN
Trippers:Catalina and Me
Car: Cavalier (rented from Enterprise Cars.)
Trip Motto: "Thank God we pre-purcahsed those extra miles from the rental car company" - since we kept getting lost.
Suprise Outcome: We're both Country Music fans
New Lexical Term:Y'all

Friday
On the road early to try to avoid the rush hour down near Cinnccinati. Got through OK and then on the road to Louisville. Lots of trucks on the road. It seemed that more than half the vehicles were juggernauts. Made it around Louisville and made a small diversion to Fort Knox. The aim was to get a photo of me pretending to break in for the gold stored there in the vault of the Fort Knox Bullion Depository. That didn't work out and after taking a small side trip into the Blair-Witch-like woods, we discovered that getting a drive by glimpse wasn't going to work. We then took an exit ramp to the main entrance to the Fort and was confronted with a guard at the gate. We were directed to the visitor center (really a place where they have armed guards and possible do cavity searchs) where a guard asked to see our passports and photo ID. We then decided that we wanted to trun around and leave. Another guard told us we were wasting our time. They could have cleared our passports and then we ccould have drivn around the base, but that may have taken 30 mins. We decidded to leave and the guard had to stop traffic so we could get across into the exit lane. no gold, no photo, hungary we left the Fort. We drove back toward Louisville for some food. I just to have some Kentucky Fried Chicken. Unlike Guiness it does not improve the closer you get to the original souce. Catalina got some takeaway pizza from other great fast food chain - Pizza Hut. Made it back onto the road and headed South to Nashville.

Checked into the Fiddlers Inn and then went in search of somewhere to go for some night life. Although tired we talked across to the nearest bar. By chance we walked into the Nashville Palace, a legendary country music venue, where Randy Travis used to wash the dishes. There was a great mix of bluegrass and country and our conversion to this music had begun. A waitress, still wearing her apron, got up and belted out a couple of songs. Catalina surpised herself by buyng a bluegrass album from an artist performng that night. A great start to the Nasville experience.

Saturday
Slept in and headed to the Cracker Barrel for brunch. Had passable pancakes and juice. Then it off to the Opryland Hotel convention center to register for the National Religious Broadcasters convention. The hotel ccomplex is most impressive with massive atriums, fitted out with gardens and water displays and there is even a boat tour inside. All very tacky. Signed up for the expo and general session only.

We spent the afternoon in downtown Nashville. We went into a country clothing store. Very friendly staff. I joked that I was after cowboy outfit. The perfect hat was USD200. Boots were another $200. One guy on the staff was a Johnny Cash look-a-like, dark, big and quiet he must deal with refunds and returns. Didn't buy anything but had fun looking. Charlie Daniels has a museum in the back of a shop - pretty cool. The new city library, where we checked our email was the best I've ever seen. Back in the car we headed out to the Parthenon a replica of the building in Athens. No wonder Americans don't feel the need to travel outside the States, everything is here, inclusing this gem we passed on the drive down Kentucky DownUnder. Also passed by Vanderbilt University. Nice looking grounds.

I went to the opening session of the NRB convetnion. It was a very slick production, with several cameras providing pictures for the huge screens in the room that must have held 2000 people. The convention theme wasThere were three musical acts, applaused more for their theology than their musical talent. There was a advertisement for World Vision's 30 hour famine (unlike NZ which is the full 40, with permission to eat only barley sugars and juice the Americann version is only 30 hours and you can eat anything except for junk food - pretty tough and a real statement against the prevailing culture). Also discovered on this trip is that Casey Kasem now hosts the American Top 20 rather the Top 40 I remember from my youth.

President Bush addressed the Convention this Monday morning. Some people thought that he'd be too busy to go to a Christian convention, What with War coming and so on. But if I was advising him on PR I'd tell him to be there since he's adressing his evangelical constitueney and even more importantly, they are the media and have international overagr through their radio, TV and internet ministries. What a great opportunity to generate more support for war. Here is the speech he gave.

A quick trip downtown to the Ryman Auditorium for the Grand Ole Opry. This is the thing to do in Nashville, according to all the guides and everyone I've ever spoken to nashville. The show is a two and half hour country music jam session. The square dancers made Riverdance style Irish dancing look 2 dimensional they were so good. It took me a while to work out that this was being broadcast and the annoucer was giving commercials for the benefit of the radiom listeners. It was very annoying to pay for a show interrupted by commercial breaks.

Aftewards we headed to the Wildhorse Saloon for more live music, this time from Jolie Edwards. given the lack of night life in Dayton we thought we'd make the most of it and tried out a local night club. NV Nashville The music was rubbish, no-one was dancing - what a waste of time.

Sunday
Checked out of the Inn and headed across the carpark to the Cowboy Church. We were drawn there by the promise of Country music stars singing their favourite gospel songs. We were not disapointed. The pastor's wife is the sister of music legend Johnny Cash and I picked up a live recording of a concert where they sang together with the Faith Asssembly of God Choir. The "congregation" was made up of tourists, locals and a few cowboys, some of whom looked like gunslingers come to atone of their sins. We exited church though Ernest Tubb's music store, which also features his touring bus. I picked up a new Johnny Cash CD and Nashville fridge magnet.

We then headed to Waffle House for a quick feed. We arrived to a chourius of "Good morning!!" from all the staff in unison. I then went to the Expo at the NRB convention, while Catalina drove around for a bit.

The EXPO was huge and I only just covered at pace in 2 and a half hours. Lots of tecchnology companies showing their wares. The Christian media is at the ccuttign edge technologically, while theolocially they are backward. I was surprised by the number of Israel-related stalls. Lots of free stuff handed out. I ended up with a large bag of crazy stuff, free CD's including one by Clint Miller who I'd heard that morning at the Cowboy Church. My favourite stall was from the On Target For Christ ministry. They try to reach the hard to reach and shoot critters for the glory of God. Sadly they didn't have any giveaways except for a camoflague-covered New Testament. Other highlights were:

• Christian Bowhunters of America
• Seeing Pat Roberston from the 700 Club

It was snowing when we left Nashville and we headed straight back to Dayton arriving home not so late that we couldn't both play our new bluegrass and gospel county at a reasonable volume level. Overall a great weekend.

Posted 08:15 by Rich
Last night ventured into the famed "entertainment" zone in Dayton, the Orgeon District. What a wasteland! There were more sex shops than places to be seen.

The community paper "The Centerville-Bellbrook Times" publishes a Police Report. it was laughable how trivial the reported crimes were ("Jan 21: Telephone harasssment was reported on Ryder Court") until I found this for my own street on Jan 25: "A resident reported that three male subjects forced their way into the home and took electronic devices."

Found a great website for planning "road trips": Rand McNally. Driving from: RAD's Work To: White House. Your estimated driving time is 8 hours and 25 minutes for 495 miles of travel, in a total of 61 steps. Here are the directions to drive from here to the White House:

1. You are at 200 Commons Rd,Dayton,OH.
2. Go East on Commons Rd for 320 feet to Covertside Dr 0.1 mi
3. Turn left onto Covertside Dr and go North for 0.15 miles to OH-48 (Far Hills Av)   0.1 mi
4. Turn right onto OH-48 (Far Hills Av) and go South for 0.24 miles to I-675 N 0.2 mi
5. You will see a sign reading "I-675 N to COLUMBUS"
6. Bear left on ramp to I-675 N and merge with caution 0.4 mi
7. Continue on I-675 N and go East for 20.9 miles to I-70 E (OH-4 N) 20.9 mi
8. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 26A to I-70 E/OH-4 E/SPRINGFIELD/COLUMBUS"
 
9. Bear right on ramp at exit 26A to I-70 E (OH-4 N) and merge with caution 0.6 mi
10. You will see a sign reading "I-70 E"
11. Continue on I-70 E (OH-4 N) and go Northeast for 47.9 miles to I-270 S   47.9 mi
12. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 93A to I-270 S/CINCINNATI"
13. Bear right on ramp at exit 93A to I-270 S and merge with caution 0.5 mi
14. Continue on I-270 S and go South for 3.4 miles to I-270 E 3.4 mi
15. Continue onto I-270 E and go Southeast for 11.1 miles to I-270 N 11.1 mi
16. Continue onto I-270 N and go Northeast for 5.8 miles to Exit 43B 5.8 mi
17. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 41-43A-B to I-70/US-40/MAIN ST/COLUMBUS/WHEELING"
18. Bear right onto off-ramp at exit 41-43A-B to I-70 E 0.1 mi
19. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 43B to I-70 E/WHEELING"
20. Take Exit 43B Ramp and merge with caution 0.3 mi
21. Continue on I-70 E and go East for 110 miles to I-470 E 110.2 mi
22. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 219 to I-470 E/BELLAIRE/WASHINGTON PA"
23. Bear right on ramp at exit 219 to I-470 E and merge with caution 0.2 mi
24. Continue on I-470 E and go East for 10.4 miles to I-70 E 10.4 mi
25. You will see a sign reading "I-70 E to I-79 S/NEW STANTON/MORGANTOWN"
26. Continue onto I-70 E and go Southeast for 66.5 miles to New Stanton Interchange 66.5 mi
27. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 58 to I-76/I-70 E"
28. Bear right onto off-ramp at exit 58 to I-70 E (I-76 E, Pennsylvania Tpk) 0.1 mi
29. You will see a sign reading "I-70 E to I-76 E/BREEZEWOOD/NEW JERSEY"
30. Take New Stanton Interchange Ramp and go Northeast for 0.80 miles to I-70 E (I-76 E, Pennsylvania Tpk) 0.8 mi
31. Continue on I-70 E (I-76 E, Pennsylvania Tpk) (toll required for some segments) and go Southeast for 86.3 miles to I-70 E 86.3 mi
32. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 12 to I-70 E/US-30/BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON D C/BREEZEWOOD"
33. Bear right on ramp at exit 12 to I-70 E and merge with caution 0.7 mi
34. Continue on I-70 E (toll required for some segments) and go East for 1.5 miles to I-70 (US-30, Lincoln Hwy) 1.5 mi
35. You will see a sign reading "US-30 W"
36. Bear right onto off-ramp to I-70 (US-30, Lincoln Hwy) 0.1 mi
37. Bear right onto I-70 (US-30, Lincoln Hwy) and go West for 0.28 miles to I-70 E 0.3 mi
38. Turn left onto I-70 E and go initially South, then generally Southeast for 75.9 miles to I-270 S (Dwight D Eisenhower Hwy) 75.9 mi
39. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 53 to I-270 S/WASHINGTON"
40. Bear right on ramp to I-270 S (Dwight D Eisenhower Hwy) and merge with caution 0.3 mi
41. Continue on I-270 S (Dwight D Eisenhower Hwy) and go Southeast for 29.6 miles to I-SPUR 270 S 29.6 mi
42. You will see a sign reading "I-270 SPUR to I-495 S/NORTHERN VIRGINIA"
43. Continue onto I-SPUR 270 S and go South for 2.0 miles to I-495 S (Capital Beltway, I-495 Outerloop) 2 mi
44. Continue onto I-495 S (Capital Beltway, I-495 Outerloop) and go Southwest for 3.8 miles to Exit 43-44 3.8 mi
45. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 43-44 to VA-193/GEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL PKWY/GEORGETOWN PIKE"
46. Bear right onto off-ramp at exit 43-44 to Exit 43 0.2 mi

47. Take G W Pkwy S (George Washington Mem Pkwy S) Ramp and merge with caution 0.2 mi
48. You will see a sign reading "EXIT 43 to GEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL PKWY"
49. Take Exit 43 Ramp and merge with caution 0.5 mi
50. Continue onto G W Pkwy S (George Washington Mem Pkwy S) and go East for 500 feet to George Washington Mem Pkwy S (Gw Pkwy S) 0.1 mi
51. You will see a sign reading "NATIONAL AIRPORT to ALEXANDRIA/MOUNT VERNON"
52. Continue onto George Washington Mem Pkwy S (Gw Pkwy S) and go initially East, then generally Southeast for 10.9 miles to I-395 N (US-1 N, Henry G Shirley Mem Hwy) 10.9 mi
53. You will see a sign reading "I-395 N to US-1 N/WASHINGTON VIA 14TH ST"
54. Bear right on ramp to I-395 N (US-1 N, Henry G Shirley Mem Hwy) and merge with caution 0.1 mi
55. Continue on I-395 N (US-1 N, Henry G Shirley Mem Hwy) and go Northeast for 0.53 miles to US-1 N 0.5 mi
56. You will see a sign reading "US-1 N"
57. Continue onto US-1 N and go Northeast for 1.1 miles to 14th St 1.1 mi
58. Continue onto 14th St and go North for 0.64 miles to Eye St (I St) 0.6 mi
59. Turn left onto Eye St (I St) and go West for 0.24 miles to 16th St 0.2 mi
60. Turn left onto 16th St and go South for 400 feet to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,Washington,DC 0.1 mi
61. You are approximately 0.12 miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,Washington,DC

Posted 09:02 by Rich
Currently listening to very good commentary on the Iraq issue on National Public Radio on the web from WYSO.

Posted 07:12 by Rich
For those interested in cars (that's you Robbie) I'm driving a 1999 Pymouth Breeze made by Chrysler. It's just like the one pictured.

I have now collected loyalty cards for CVS/pharmacy, Books & Co, Dorothy Lane Market, and Kroger supermarkets. They all go on your key ring and I recckon at this rate I'll need two key ring for them all.

Had a tour of the University of Dayton library this morning to suss out the research resources.

Posted 04:21 by Rich
5 little known facts about America:

1. The energy used in a year to make ice that melts after people have finished their drink and thrown their vessel into the trash could power the whole of New Zealand for 23 days.
2. In the time the average American takes to connect to talk to their phone company over a year they could have driven to 67% of the places they wish to call and had a face to face chat.
3. If the median strips on the interstate freeways were planted in high yeidling crops, there would enough food from these 'fields' alone to feed the hungry of Africa.
4. The ratio of Elvis impersonators to reincarntations of Jesus on mainland USA slipped below 2.5 in 2002, the lowest since 1989
5. There are nearly 3000 religions in America and they increasing at a rate greater than the population in general. At the current rate of growth everyone will have 1.3 religions by the year 2023.

Posted 04:16 by Rich
Regular reading in Dayton:

• Dayton Daily News - local rag
• Single Source News - "The Magazine For Sophisticated Single Adults"
• CitizenUSA - Christian giveaway
• Downtowner - freebie on what's happening Downtown

Posted 09:52 by Rich
My second weekend in Dayton draws to a close. The weather is warmer and the snow is melting but winter ain't over yet. Today is Groundhog Day and 6 more weeks of winter are predicted. Yikes!!

I'm now driving the car more and getting used to the roads and city layout. Still get lost everytime I hop into the car but that's cos we're adventourous.

Friday night was shopping night with a trip to Cub foods for grocery shopping.

Saturday morning I joined the local Woodbourne Library (3 mintues walk from home). Free internet, free videos and goodd books, what more could you ask for?? After lunch and watching the Space Shuttle news, we headed to the Dayton Convention Center for a sale of clothes, shoes, other stuff and electronic goods. Most flags by then flying at hald mast. Nothing there for me at the sale. Then headed CD shopping at Second Time Around near the University of Dayton. I picked up two albums by U2 and Moby. Not that cheap, even for secondhand music. Later we visited Half Price Books, the Salvation Army super store and Went to the movies Sat night. Saw Chicago, not a bad choice considering we were four people from 4 continents. Tried to go a night club afterwards but my friend's ID wasn't accepted since it wasn't issued by the USA govt. The bouncer suggested her passsport. I point out that this wasn't issued by the USA govt either. It seems one almost needs to apply for a Visa to enter a bar here. They were paranoid about being busted for underage drinking. "What if the ID turns out to be a fake?" he asked. What a jerk! So we ended up at the Thirsty Dog bar and met some fun people there instead. Their raspberry beer was most unusual.

Went to Church agin this Sunday. This time to College Hill Church (PCUSA). This is unusual since it includes both blacks and whites. Not many churches are like that here. They provided a free lunch. Might go back.

Posted 02:47 by Rich
Last night went to RadioShack and got my video cable. My $12.50 VCR works fine and hooked up through my stereo I now have a proper home entertainment system. This is important cos there ain't much entertainment elsewhere.

War talk continues here but there is much reporting of protests and opposition to the war. However, the issue is framed, as they say here at Kettering, as whether there is sufficent evidence to bomb Iraq. This is no popular opposition to war per se, there is merely a range of opinion on whether war is justified in this instance.