• The World According to Clarke

    Tuesday, December 27, 2005

    Merry Christmas!



    Merry Christmas to everyone! So far it has been a great holiday. We spent a few days before Christmas with Annette's family and have spent a few days after with Pat's. Now with the rest of the week off we are looking forward to just hanging around home, sleeping in, and playing with the toys that Santa brought.

    I've posted December pics on the website. There's a bunch of them, so I hope you've got a high-speed connection. Enjoy!

    Friday, December 09, 2005

    Windows Live



    I absolutely love Mapquest, Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, etc. I use them almost daily for driving directions. Microsoft has released a beta of their online maps, local.live.com. It's very similar to Google Maps, but one very cool addition is that includes aerial photography (that's my neighborhood in the picture above). I'll play with it more to see how good the directions it gives are, but right now I'm having fun just looking at the photography.

    Thursday, December 08, 2005

    Photo update

    Photos for November have been added to the website...enjoy!

    "The White Death" hits Cincinnati

    The weather forecast called for snow right around rush hour today, so I planned on leaving work a little early to beat traffic. It didn't quite work out. The snow started a little after 3 p.m., and I left the office at about 3:40. I finally pulled into my driveway at 6:50. Not a fun commute!

    Sick of sitting in traffic, I decided to try the back roads for the last few miles. It was working out well, until I reached a small uphill portion where five or six cars were stuck. A few people then came out of their houses to help push the cars up the hill, and along with the drivers we all helped push each other up the hill. After close to 3 hours in the car (reaching speeds up to an exhilarating 15 mph) watching people cut each other off and being somewhat stupid, it was nice to see a group of people being friendly and helpful--not just thinking about themselves. As each car reached the top of the hill, the driver would get out and walk down to help the next--not just take off.

    Unfortunately, due to the weather I wasn't able to attend our company Christmas party this year. It was back south in KY, and by the time I got changed and drove back down I was afraid it would already be over. Hopefully everyone made it safely and had a good time!

    Sunday, December 04, 2005

    Marvin Lewis for President!

    The new president was George Bush...senior. The top TV shows were Cheers and The Cosby Show. The top movies in the theaters were Home Alone and Ghost. Whitney Houston topped the pop charts with "I'm Your Baby Tonight". I was living off Big Lotts ramen noodles as a struggling sophomore at Miami University. And the Cincinnati Bengals had a winning record for the last time...

    UNTIL NOW! With their 38-31 defeat of the Pittsburgh Steelers today, the Bengals won their 9th game of the season and will have a winning record for the first time since 1990!

    It isn't easy being a Cincinnati sports fan. I vaguely remember the days of the Bench, Rose, Morgan, Foster, Perez, and the Big Red Machine--I was 6 years old at the time, so most of the games were on past my bed time. I more remember the days of Nick Esasky, Paul Householder, Dan Bilardello, and Frank Pastore. "Who?" you ask...exactly my point. Other than the wire-to-wire 1990 season, there hasn't been much to cheer about. The owner's dog got more press coverage than the team itself.

    And being a Bengals fan has been even tougher. Other than a few good years in the late 80s, the orange and black have truly been the laughing stock of the NFL for over a decade. David Klingler, Ki-Jana Carter, Akili Smith...it seemed we were cursed. And then along came Marvin Lewis...and credibility...and now, dare I dream of playoffs? I think I do!

    And the great thing is, this Bengals team is only going to get better. Carson, Chad, TJ, Rudi, Chris Perry, Chris Henry...all of them are still just getting started. It's fun being a Cincinnati sports fan again...at least during football season!