In the Schmidt's Tent

Was out of bed and downstairs near 8am. Another warm sunny day in the offing. I started a pot of coffee then played around online for a while. Mindy was up earlier than I expected. I am pretty sure that it was still before 9am. We had plans to meet Bob and Mary Ann for brunch at 115am at Milestone 229.
I wasn’t in a big hurry to get out the door for my run. In fact, I am pretty sure that it was after 930am by the time I finally headed out. Like most Sunday’s, I ran just three miles.

It was after I was back from my run when Mindy shared that she was unable to connect to the internet on her laptop. I asked if I could take a look while she showered for our brunch date. I checked several things, eventually determining that her battery had permanently failed after 6.5 years of life. I wondered if somehow the Wireless NIC might be powered only by the battery despite using house power. Further troubleshooting, however, convinced me otherwise. Something was amiss with the Wireless NIC. I tried all sorts of things to revive it but to noavail.

I had to leave it set as it was and head off to the shower. Though we talked the evening before about the possibility of riding our bikes to 229, we ended up driving the Pilot, leaving the house around 11am. Arrived very near 1115am. Bob and Mary Ann had just parked along the southern edge of Bicentennial Park, the last spot available, We found a spot just around the corner. Bob and Mary Ann drove their Mustang convertible.

Opted for a table on the patio overlooking the fountain park. Probably a mistake. It was overcast and cool most of the morning but even before we placed our drink orders the sun came out and stayed out, making it almost unbearable. None of us brought our sunglasses and Bob was in jeans and a thick polo. He was sweating!

All four of us started with bloody Mary’s and shared two plates of appetizers – the four snacks and pork bellies. All of it was really good. Ordered the brisket hash for my entrée’ and it was spectacular. Ordered a 2nd drink, this time around a guest porter. It was good too. By the time we finished our brunch all of us were a bit overheated in the bright sunshine now shining directly onto our table. Probably should’ve chosen to eat inside.

I offered up a walk along the promenade but no takers. I think everybody was eager to cool off and get home and into their Sunday afternoon routines. By the time we left 229, it was almost 1pm. Where had the morning gone?

We opted to take Town St west versus heading for a freeway. As we were crossing the river I remembered reading an article earlier that morning about a couple new brew pubs, and one of them, Land Grant, was located in the lower bottoms off Town & Rich. Just as I was sharing the story with Mindy, we spotted their venue just to our north. We opted to go around the block to get a closer look. Exciting to see new businesses sprouting up in the bottoms. Not only is there a new brew pub, but a couple other new pub/restaurants nearby too. Another 20 years that’ll be the new short north. We agreed to come back down and check out Land Grant sometime soon.

At home, tuned the TV to NFL football. Neither game interested me much. Both the Bengals and Browns had bye weeks, and the Vikings wouldn’t play until 430p. By then we’d be well on our way to the Octoberfest to watch Bella perform with her gymnastics company in the Schmidt’s tent. I thought I might make a Home Depot run but never did. I wanted to get the sharkbite connectors needed to complete the basement plumbing. Already have the PEX tubing. Ended up doing very little.

While Mindy was upstairs tending to laundry, I fooled around with her laptop again. I was able to get it connected to the internet by connecting it directly to the our AP via a LAN cable. I searched the internet for a new driver for her NIC card but she apparently already had the latest update. Hmmm? Bad battery, bad NIC, most likely not worth fixing. I left her directly attached to the LAN for the time being so she could print off her grocery list.

The kids were home from a weekend with their dad around 3pm. Left for the fairground and Octoberfest around 4pm. Jacob’s friend, Joey went with us. I hadn’t been to the fairgrounds since summer ’06. Prior to that I’ll bet it had been 20 years. With the fair not underway and the grand stand gone, it doesn’t seem as daunting/large these days. Looks like they’ve dumped money into the grounds. Most of the old buildings: Laushcee, Buckeye, Celeste Center buildings look like they’ve received face lifts. We parked just inside the 17th Ave entrance. Turned out, the event was at the south end of the fairgrounds so we had to walk it. No biggie. Again, not really that big.

We found the Schmidt’s Tent which is really a large, free standing old wood building near the Giant Slide. A handful of German activities going on, and lots of beer and food offerings, along with kiosk after kiosk of stuff for sale. Truthfully, you could change the placard and call it any festival in Columbus. You’ll see pretty much the same things. We dropped Bella off with her gymnastics company and were told she’d be performing at 6pm. Originally, they were to perform twice, once at 5 and again at 7pm. Ugh! Lucky for us, they changed it to one performance at 6pm.

Mindy gave Jacob some cash and he and Joey headed off to fool around. Mindy and I walked around for the next hour as well, checking out the natural resources area, which was drained and mostly barren, at least compared to what it’s like at fair time. We also checked out all the stuff people were selling. Nothing caught my eye. Just killin’ time.

Made our way back to the Schmidt’s tent near 545pm and took a seat up close to the stage. Brittany, one of Bella’s instructors and former OSU cheerleaders was emceeing the event. She did a good job, both presenting the kids but also marketing their gym. The gymnastics company performed various acts for nearly an hour. By then we were all eager to leave. Think it was near 650pm when it wrapped up and we made the trek back to the Pilot. I had to pee, and really should’ve gone there at the fairgrounds. Stupid me!

The kids were hungry and wanted dinner. They requested Cane’s chicken. So we drove to the Hilliard Cane’s at Robert’s and Hilliard-Rome Rd. Didn’t take that long – 71S to 670W to 270N to Roberts. About a 15 minute drive. By the time we got home it was after 7pm. And if I had to pee when we left the fairgrounds, I really had to go by then. Ahhh, relief!

Mindy and I didn’t order any food for ourselves, Instead, we microwaved the leftover chicken & noodle casserole. And just as I did Thursday, I topped it with more cream of chicken. It was delicious. I had two helpings. Near 8pm I finally decided it was time to check the final score of the Vikings. Last I knew it was early 4th quarter and they were winning 35-28 over the Falcons, who some believe are one of the best teams in the NFL. Happy to see that the Vikings won 41-28. It was Teddy Bridgewater’s first official start, too. By all accounts, he had a great game. I watched the coach’s postgame press conference live on the web. While watching that, Joey’s father came for the pick-up. Had to be around 815pm.

Watched a little of the SNF game between the Saints and Cowboys. Mindy and the kids were off to bed fairly early and well ahead of me. I don’t think I got to bed until 1030pm.