September | 2013 | Differentiation through Integration

When I decided to be a social being and move to Cincinnati, I had a vision of how weekends would look. This weekend was exactly that.

On Friday, I rounded up a group of people to head to Kings Island for Halloween Haunt. We didn’t do any of the haunted houses or anything, but I just have to say, being on roller coasters in the pitch black of midnight is AWESOME. A much better thrill than ye olde daytime roller coasters.

Saturday I headed down to Great American to watch the Pirates in the second game of the series vs the Reds to decide who got home field for the Wild Card. The Pirates won 8-3, with 6 of those runs being homers. It was incredible, and there were more Pirates fans there than I expected to see. We got some loud chants going! The only downside was the sunburn that quickly took over my legs.

What I really feel the need to express, though, is my new level of respect for the Reds organization. I didn’t print my ticket beforehand because I wanted a real ticket for memories and stuff, and of course I walked around the whole stadium before I found anything that looked like a box office. I gave up and walked into the VIP box office and asked them to point me in the right direction, which turned out to be right around the corner. The executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame walked me over and even gave me a free ticket to the HoF. He asked me where I was sitting and then during the 7th inning stretch I got to go and spend the rest of the game in one of the suites. After the game, I got a personal tour of the HoF and even a free drink! Classy move taking in the lost Buccos fan. Minimal heckling.

After the game I headed back to Newport and stumbled into some sort of food festival. It was hot so I decided to treat myself to Coldstone and check it out. There was a band that did a pretty legit mash-up of Semi-Charmed Life and Call Me Maybe. I was walking past one of the booths when I heard the phrase “grilled cheese donut”, so you know I turned myself around and got in line. That’s just one of those things you have to try.