Cincinnati Nerd Blog

Demotivation

2009-10-01T11:55:00.001-04:00

I thought these were funny

If I had a hammer...

2009-09-17T09:27:00.002-04:00

Mary (of Peter, Paul, and Mary) died yesterday. It makes me sad. You see, my dad is something of an old school hippie. He went to peace demonstrations, and still wears a belt buckle with a big peace symbol on it. I grew up listening to John Denver and PPM with my dad...that music really meant (and still means) a lot to him. He and my Mom took me and my brother, sisters, and spouses to see them in concert a couple years ago. It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. It makes me pretty sad to know that we'll never see them together again...

Funny thoughts...

2009-08-21T15:15:00.002-04:00

I found this somewhere, and thought some of these were pretty darn funny.

I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think
about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own
story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase “Regards” again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a
millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.

How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies”

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in theshower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!

Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.

There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

“Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I’m terrified of mentioning something she hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

I think that if, years down the road when I’m trying to have a kid, I find out that I’m sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my @$$ everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, I saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating
to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

Get enough monkeys with enough typewriters...

2009-08-17T15:44:00.001-04:00

Funny graph

2009-08-07T16:09:00.002-04:00

This one had me cracking up:

Capitalism Article

2009-07-30T09:42:00.003-04:00

I read this article at my son's doctor's office. I thought it was really interesting/good:

The Capitalist Manifesto: Greed Is Good
(To a point)

LOL

2009-07-28T08:22:00.000-04:00

This one had me seriously LOLing...

Uh, dude...that's what the hat's for.

Remembering Grandma Bushman

2009-07-27T09:07:00.002-04:00

I saw this picture today and it made me think of my Grandma Bushman:

You see, my grandma loved to tell jokes. Most were like this:

"What do you call a nun that sleepwalks?"
"A roam-in catholic"

:)

But, she had ONE dirty joke:

"Did you hear about the John Wayne toilet paper? It's rough, tough, and doesn't take shit off of nobody."

She's been gone a long time, and I was pretty close to my Grandma Bushman. I have a lot of fond memories of her. She'd come to our house every Friday night for dinner. Once I got my driver's license, I would take her home sometimes. She'd always send me home with a couple dollars and a snack-sized candy bar. I'll never forget visiting her in the nursing home after my first co-op stint at NASA, and she was just so proud to tell all the nurses where I was working. That made me feel really good.

I miss you, Grandma!

Global Warming

2009-07-24T08:56:00.003-04:00

Somehow I started a mini-debate about global warming on my Facebook wall. I was pretty happy with the way I put down my thoughts, so I thought I'd post it here...

This has gone farther than I woulda liked. :)

My only point is this...one day (or a couple days) of unseasonably warm or unseasonably cold weather in one season neither proves nor disproves the theory of global warming.

I believe most research points to the idea that global temperatures on the whole are increasing, as they have been since the ice age.

I think it'll be tough to prove or disprove the idea that global warming is happening because of the actions of humans, given all the other possible contributing factors.

Whew....didn't mean to start this one!

Funny one

2009-07-23T09:01:00.002-04:00

This one had me LOLing...

Rainy

2009-07-22T16:24:00.001-04:00

Today was pretty rainy. Made for a pretty mellow, kinda down day. BUT, the upside is my garden and grass will hopefully get a little pick-me-up. I hate watering plants, so that's a plus.

Funny Ohio

2009-07-21T10:16:00.001-04:00

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, I saw this, and thought it was pretty funny:

Neil Armstrong is being hailed today on the anniversary of the moon landing. He is from Ohio.

The first man to orbit, John Glenn, was from Ohio.

The first man to fly, Orville Wright, was also from Ohio.

It shows that no challenge is too great when a man is trying to get out of Ohio.

City of Cincinnati Layoffs

2009-07-17T13:32:00.002-04:00

Are these 2 articles related? I think so...

City's deficit worsens; layoffs coming

Living Wage Requirements

Sure, it's nice to be able to pay people more and give them a comfortable life financially. But, IMHO it was just a matter of time before it caught up with us. Lower paying jobs are better than no jobs....

New Weird Al

2009-07-14T08:15:00.001-04:00

I love weird al. I've been to a couple of his concerts, etc. This is his newest. Pretty good:

KI

2009-07-07T11:20:00.002-04:00

Took the kids to Kings Island yesterday. They seemed to really enjoy it. I got to ride the Diamondback, too, which was pretty awesome. It was interesting...brought back some memories of going there when I was a kid.

Wow...

2009-07-03T08:51:00.001-04:00

just wow...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

another funny

2009-06-08T13:24:00.001-04:00

Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates status wars.

Funny

2009-05-13T10:56:00.000-04:00

This one made me laugh:

Best. Simpsons. Ever.

2009-05-01T15:47:00.001-04:00

This is my favorite Simpsons EVER!

I have found the Nth degree of awesomeness

2009-04-24T11:45:00.001-04:00

Behold the wonder of Beef Jerky Business cards:

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King of Graph Humor

2009-04-20T08:56:00.001-04:00

My fav:

Graph Humor

2009-04-20T08:54:00.001-04:00

This is a good one.

Yet another great youtube

2009-03-11T16:19:00.001-04:00

Jacob and Joellen want to be on my blog

2009-01-10T10:56:00.002-05:00

Here they are (with Janie, too)!

Hmmmm...I may have been mistaken

2009-01-10T10:53:00.001-05:00

Maybe THIS is the real reason for YouTube:

You see...it's a chimpanzee. AND, he's riding a Segway! AND, it's got a catchy tune. What else can you ask for?

YouTube's Raison D'Etre

2008-09-09T08:35:00.002-04:00

This is why youtube was invented...so we could witness the brilliance that is this video:

Carnivore 100

2008-09-05T08:06:00.002-04:00

Why not?

Note: In some ways it's odd to me that I've never tried some of these things. In others, it makes me happy 'cause there's so much more TO try!

1. This list is in no particular order nor is it all encompassing. It is limited to land-based animals and are not always cuts of meat, but preparations. I like all kinds of foods, and have tried all kinds of foods, but there will probably be a heavy European and American bent. I'll be really interested to hear what your additions or subtractions should be. If you don't know what it is, google it. I haven't eaten all of these items myself (MOST of them. Except the ones involving blood.), but a consensus of random people (read: my coworkers and the Twitterverse) insisted on a few of them.
2. As before, cross out what you'd never eat, bold what you've had.
3. Comment here if you've posted it to your blog, I'd love to see other people's lists!

The Carnivore’s Hundred

1. American-style bacon
2. Canadian bacon
3. Prosciutto with melon
4. Pork belly, braised
5. Pork butt, smoked
6. Pork ribs, smoked
7. Roasted leg of lamb with mint jelly
8. Gyros
9. Duck confit
10. Roasted chicken
11. Standing rib roast, rare
12. Chitlins
13. Cracklins
14. Boudin or blood sausage
15. Haggis
16. Peking duck
17. Roasted turkey with traditional American accompaniments
18. Roasted goose with traditional English accompaniments
19. Foie gras
20. Pate campagne
21. Moo Shu pork
22. Shepherd’s pie
23. Steak and Kidney pie
24. Chicken and dumplings
25. Turducken
26. Venison sausage
27. Pork cheeks
28. Pickled pigs’ feet
29. Barbacoa
30. Birria
31. Chicken Marbella
32. Steak tartare
33. Beef Bourguignon
34. Potatoes roasted in duck fat
35. Spam
36. Tandoori chicken
37. Lamb vindaloo
38. Spaghetti Bolognese
39. Cuban sandwich
40. Croque Monsieur
41. Philadelphia cheesesteak
42. Chicken Satay
43. Shabu-shabu
44. Teppanaki
45. Schwarma
46. Meatloaf
47. Beef Wellington
48. Beef tenderloin with béarnaise
49. Taco salad
50. Chili con carne
51. Pastisto
52. Corned beef brisket
53. Bangers and mash
54. Guinea pig
55. Ropa vieja
56. Wurst (any)
57. Lamb tagine
58. Kosher hot dog (New York-style)
59. Jerk chicken
60. Chorizo
61. All-American hamburger
62. Pigeon/Squab
63. Steak frites
64. Pastrami
65. Salami
66. Sweetbreads
67. Wiener schnitzel
68. Goulash
69. Pho
70. Char siu bao
71. Kalua pig
72. Pork rinds
73. Scrapple or goetta
74. Jaegerspaetzle
75. Sauerbraten
76. Tongue sandwich
77. Baked ham
78. Frog legs
79. Alligator
80. Squirrel
81. Liver and onions
82. Bone marrow and marmalade
83. Cevapcici
84. Creamed beef on toast (shit on a shingle)
85. Red-eye gravy
86. Head cheese
87. Jambalaya
88. Steak Diane
89. Veal piccata
90. Bulgogi
91. Smoked chicken (barbecue)
92. Beer can chicken
93. Chicken teriyaki
94. Coronation chicken (curried chicken salad)
95. Ostrich
96. Rogan josh
97. Poutine
98. Chicken mole
99. Irish beef stew
100. Loose meat

Confused...

2008-09-04T09:18:00.002-04:00

I'm confused as to why people are so against Palin as the VP nominee...

She's a fiscal conservative, real person. She could be your next door neighbor. Isn't that what people are asking for? A "real" person? Isn't that what excites some people about Obama, that he's not from the political establishment? And, why bring her daughter's pregnancy into the picture? Whether or not you agree with her views on sex ed/abortion/etc, doesn't everyone know a story of a son/daughter who didn't necessarily do everything his/her parents told her? Who among us hasn't done something our parents aren't proud of? And why is that important at all....?

2008-08-26T09:17:00.002-04:00

Here are his rules for the game:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding (liver pudding?)

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari

12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (tomato, pomegranate)

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes (have some growing in my garden right now!)

22. Fresh wild berries (blackberries picked from the Smokey Mountains when I was a kid)

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects (cicadas!)

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (mmmm...scotch!)

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain (Trader Joe's sells these in a bag...very good!)

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

~~75. Roadkill~~

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. (I really wanna do this one some day!)

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers (chive blossoms are my favorite "flower")

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam (fried on a sandwich with grape jelly!)

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

Jesus Cheeto

2008-07-31T13:51:00.001-04:00

People find Jesus in the strangest places...

Short Trip

2008-07-24T13:24:00.000-04:00

Today we're going to Chicago to visit DW's brother. So far we have plans to go to my favorite museum, The Museum of Science and Industry. I think the kids will really like it. We're probably going to go to Lou Malnadi's (sp?) for pizza, so maybe I'll have to do a review here!

LEGOs Solve Rubik's Cube

2008-07-22T09:06:00.002-04:00

This is cool...2 of the most popular toys of the 80s working together in a mashup of coolness:

One part of me says "these guys have too much time on their hands" and the other part says "wow...how cool is this!?"

I found this on the FeedMe Blog.

Listening...

2008-07-21T14:58:00.005-04:00

I find this picture really funny:

I generally think that people talk more than they need to and listen less than they should...

JibJab

2008-07-16T16:03:00.002-04:00

JibJab is one of those places that always puts out funny, high quality stuff. Check out their latest one:

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Chocolate Pie

2008-07-14T16:36:00.003-04:00

So...my son isn't a huge fruit person. He'll eat raisins and fruit leathers, along with apples, grapes and the occasional strawberry. But, he won't eat fruit pie.

Anyway, I decided to make a blueberry pie from all the blueberries we picked last weekend at the Hidden Valley Fruit Farm. Well...for weeks he's been asking me to make a "chocolate pie." I guess I've taught that kid well! Asking for chocolate at the ripe old age of 3! :)

So, I decided to give it a shot. I pulled out the ol' standby - The Joy of Cooking. I finally found a recipe for chocolate cream pie - with a meringue top. It turned out really good! After our afternoon of swimming, we had pizza and blueberry and chocolate pie for dessert. The blueberry was clearly better, more complex, etc, but the chocolate cream pie turned out really good! I'll probably make it again!

PostSecret

2008-07-11T10:34:00.001-04:00

One of the guys I work with told me about PostSecret a couple years ago. He basically put these postcards all around Baltimore, MD and encouraged people to mail him their secrets. It got pretty big and he posts a bunch of new secrets every week. Some are funny, most are pretty sad. This one makes me really sad:

Greater Cincinnati Independents GCs

2008-07-10T13:20:00.000-04:00

There's this group in Cincinnati that many people don't know about: Greater Cincinnati Independents. It's a group of independent restaurants in Cincinnati. It's really a great idea. Their organization is funded by each member providing gift certificates to be sold at a discount, with proceeds going to the group. So, you can get a $50 gc for $35. Pretty good deal!

They offer the gcs quarterly, starting in "the morning" near the beginning of the quarter. However, they won't tell people what TIME they offer, so invariably, every time you try to buy one, they're all gone. It's really a shame. Now, I understand not wanting to kill your web servers with a bunch of traffic all at once. But, if you don't tell people when you're going to release them, people need to waste time refreshing the page until they're released. It's a little frustrating. Surely they could beef up their system/servers to handle the traffic! In fact, I'd be happy to help. If anyone from the GCI group is reading...I'm the CTO of what is probably the busiest site in Cincinnati, and I'd be happy to help you handle that influx of traffic for a couple of gift certificates. :)

Pretty neat

2008-07-08T15:17:00.001-04:00

I was just about ready to turn this off and dismiss it as lame, when suddenly something clicked and it got pretty cool. It kinda tugs at your heartstrings in a "we're all in this together" kinda way. Worth checking out...

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Nerd Humor

2008-07-03T15:10:00.000-04:00

Warning...this has some very adult language in it. However, it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. So much of it is so real and I know that some of this stuff has happened to me:
http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

It's got the idiot sales guy; the arrogant, "not as smart as he thinks he is" web guy; and the practical jokes that are a fixture in tech companies.

Funny stuff.

Waiting at the doctor

2008-07-02T15:20:00.000-04:00

Today I had to get a blood test. My appointment was at 11:45AM and I had to fast at least 12hours before. That meant by the time I got there, I hadn't eaten since 6:30PM. Unfortunately my doctor is always way backed up. I waited another half hour in the office waiting for my test, and then they couldn't find my chart. Good thing I knew which tests needed to be run.

I'm thinking about switching doctors just 'cause of crap like this.

It's a trap!

2008-07-01T14:07:00.002-04:00

I don't know why, but Admiral Ackbar yelling "It's a Trap!" always makes me laugh. It makes me think of my childhood, seeing Return of the Jedi for the first time, in the theater, no less!!! I can't wait until my kids are old enough to watch Star Wars. Then, they too can experience the splendor of Admiral "Captain Obvious" Ackbar.

IT'S A TRAP!!!!

This video is related, very funny, too:

Your tongues cannot repel flavor of that magnitude!!!

1 OR FEWER people in the world with my name

2008-06-27T14:48:00.001-04:00

I'm betting on the fewer case:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
1
or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

PersonalDNA

2008-06-26T10:56:00.000-04:00

I'm sure I'm about 10 years behind on this, but I took this personality test, and it seemed to come out about right. It was sorta interesting. You can take it here:
www.personaldna.com.

Here are my results:

Anyway, kinda neat, thought I would share.

Nuvo - first restaurant review!!!

2008-06-24T12:19:00.001-04:00

Ok...if I'm going to do this, I might as well start with a restaurant review!

So, a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I found out about Nuvo. See, we're westsiders. And, one of our favorite things to do when we get babysitters (we have 3 kids under age 6!) is to go out to a nice restaurant. If you're a Cincinnati westsider, you know where I'm going with this. There seem to be no good nice restaurants on the west side of Cincinnati. Sure, we have some good restaurants for what they are (Price Hill Chili, Plaza Mexico in Delhi, a couple decent chains, etc). But there just seem to be no good nice restaurants. When Rondo's opened a couple years ago we were very happy. We loved it! In fact, we loved it so much that I offered to help them with their website, and did that for a year or 2. Web consulting for food...not bad! However, they closed their doors in the fall and Ron and Mona moved to Europe. A sad day in our house. :(

So, imagine our suprise when we found out that the former sous chef at Rondos had opened a restaurant. Sure, it's in Florence, but we're willing to drive a little for good food! So, we got a babysitter, asked some friends of ours to join us, and we were off!

First impression...the place is an old Pizza Hut. It's next door to a McDonalds and a KFC. Kinda weird. My wife was really put off by that. It didn't bother me all that much. We sat down and looked at the menu. I had looked online and knew what to expect. Everything looked pretty good. So, my wife and I ordered a bottle of wine. It turned out they didn't have the wine we ordered so they offered us a more expensive bottle for a discounted price. We took it! We were told that one of the owners would come over to present the wine. He came over and started talking to us while opening the wine. First of all, the dude did not seem to know how to open a bottle. It was a messy affair and the foil wrapper was jagged and all over the place. Kind weird... Anyway, he was talking to us, asked how we found out about them. We told him that we loved Rondos and had come here to check it out since we knew the chef had cooked at Rondos. The owner told us that he had worked at Rondos and hated it! He almost couldn't believe we liked Rondos. It was really odd....even if you think that, I'd think you wouldn't tell people that you hate the place that made them come to your restaurant. But, I digress...

I had the following:

Calamari with ink sauce

Lamb chops with whipped potatoes

Chocolate Tourchon(?) I think...

My wife had:

Potato soup

Kobe beef

Same chocolate dessert

The food was generally good. However, the portions were exceedingly small. Now, I know most restaurants serve WAAAAAY too much food. But, these portions were really small. The calamari was a pile about the size of a racquetball. It had a pretty darn good flavor with a pleasant chewyness. Slightly salty/soy sauce flavor. The lamb chops...I got like 2 lamb chops and a little bit of potatoes. They had a pretty good flavor, if a little tough. The potatoes were unremarkable. It was just a really small portion, especially for the price. The chocolate dessert was very delicious, but presentation was weird. It was a "puck" of fudgey chocolate with a very deep dark chocolate flavor...but it was about the size of an oreo, in a bowl the size of a volleyball. Again, strange...

My wife really liked the potato soup she had. It had a very good potato flavor with just the right amount of creaminess. She ordered her beef medium. It came out well done...no red in the middle at all. She hates to send food back, but really had no choice...it was way way overdone. That meant the rest of us had to eat or else our food would get cold, and she had to sit and wait. When it finally did come out, it was delicous. It was a smallish piece of beef loin, but it was tender and delicously beefy.

Because my wife's meat had come out overdone, they gave us and our companions free dessert. That was a great gesture! However, we realized that they hadn't given us the discount on the wine. We didn't feel right asking them to change the charge on the wine since they had given us our desserts for free, but it kinda left a bad taste in our mouths, so to speak. :) In the end, I think it cost us about $140 for the 2 of us. That was after tip and after the free desserts. That is not HORRIBLE, I know, but I really think it's not a good value at all. I left the restaurant hungry, and my wife mentioned that she wasn't all that full, either.

In the end, I give Nuvo a C+. It was pretty good. Some of the food was great. But, I don't think we'd go back.

Bloggin! (part 2)

2008-06-24T12:07:00.000-04:00

So...I've been reading more blogs, reading ABOUT blogs for a long time, etc. I figure it's time to start my own. We're required to write in a journal 3 times a week (I think) as part of the SparkPeople adventure for July. I'm going to try to do it here.

First...a little about myself. I'm 32, male, living in Delhi (west side of Cincinnati) with my 3 kids and my wife (who is my best friend and soul mate). I've worked at SparkPeople since 2001, and was recently named CTO. I've been working in internet/software development for 10 years now. I love to cook, eat new and exciting foods, spend time with my kids, and go to Disney World.

I plan to put a bunch of different stuff in this blog...ramblings, thoughts, and maybe even a restaurant review or two. Hopefully I can keep up with it!

I love to blog

2007-06-27T16:51:00.001-04:00

bloggin rules