Going Downtown

I was in downtown Louisville recently and it got me thinking about which city has the better downtown area. At first glance, I would say Louisville without a doubt. And while this statement may hold up, the more I think about it, the more difficult it becomes.

The first thing I have to say here, is that there are a lot of people out there who will say downtown St. Louis is shitty, and for the most part I might have to agree with them. But downtown St. Louis has its definite high points which make it a bit nicer than one might think.

First and foremost is the Arch and the Archgrounds. This is a great area that they really made it a point to make look nice. The grass is green and there is a short walking trail and plaza around the arch which makes it a great place to go on a nice day, even if you don't plan on going in the Arch. Kiener Plaza and Busch stadium are both a short walk from the Arch. Now, Kiener Plaza is something that is overlooked by tourists but is a very nice area to walk around downtown, and has a fair share of restaurants nearby. Between the Arch, stadium and Kiener Plaza, one could spend a morning sightseeing in downtown St. Louis and follow that up with a quick lunch nearby, and you would only have to park your car once and walk to all of these sites.

A short drive away from these areas is Union Station, which I personally enjoy in downtown St. Louis. This is essentially a shopping center loaded with stores and restaurants, and it seems like there is always something going on inside. One could spend a few hours here just looking at everything and getting a quick meal. Nearby is the Scottrade(Savvis, Kiel) Center which at the very least is worth seeing as it is regularly ranked among the top 10 indoor arenas in the world in tickets sold to events.

Now there are a lot of other things to see in and near downtown, including the Edward Jones Dome, Soulard, and Forest Park. In addition, the area around Busch Stadium is in the process of being built up, but that project is still years in the making. However, there are all of these nice sites everywhere, interspersed with old, rundown buildings which make the city feel dirty and unsafe. Certain parts of downtown look nice but you are never very far from some crap.

Louisville, on the other hand, probably doesnt' have as much going for it. Its downtown is much smaller with fewer attractions, but in recent years efforts have been made to build up downtown and make it a place tourists want to see. One of the most major projects was Waterfront Park. This is an area comparable to the Arch grounds, but it is much larger and nicer. There are walking paths all over, playgrounds for kids and picnic tables for families. There are also open fields for anyone's use, which are used for pickup sports, concerts, and large gatherings. This park is constantly being expanded down River Road, and when the expansion is complete, one could walk a mile or two straight in one direction and still be in the park.

A few years back, Fourth Street Live was built up to attract more Louisville residents to spend their evenings downtown. In the past 6 years, this area has become a hotspot for college students and twenty-somethings to gather on the weekends. While I am on a personal boycott of the place at night (at least on weekends), I can't argue the fact that it has really drawn Louisvillians downtown again.

While there are other sites to see downtown in Louisville, including the Louisville Slugger Museum and a number of theatres, I really want to focus on the fact that a good portion of downtown Louisville just looks cleaner and nicer than St. Louis. There are definitely old buildings and a number of parking lots that look like crap, but overall if you walk through the streets of downtown between Floyd Street and about 9th Street, you're walking down clean streets.

So overall, I would say Louisville has the nicer feeling downtown. While there may not be as much to do, I would say I enjoy walking through the streets of downtown Louisville more than I do in St. Louis. However, don't let this make you think I hate downtown St. Louis. There is so much to see there that it is worth seeing a few dozen times in your life.

Now, on to my final post before our trip. Last night was a bit more low-key than the previous night's lettuce and pizza extravaganza. I basically sat around for 25 minutes eating what I could find. This included a turkey sandwich, 2 eggo waffles, 2 more pieces of wheat bread, 24 oz. of water, 1 large piece of cake, and yes, another half a head of lettuce. Wow, I didn't realize how much it was until I just wrote it down. So once again I feel like I am fully prepared for this trip and success tomorrow afternoon. I will frame that certificate and wear my free shirt with pride. I'll post more after the trip. I can't wait!!

The Weather and a Head of Lettuce

The weather: this is a topic in which both Louisville and St. Louis suck. While I am a fan of having four seasons, I would say these four seasons have become increasingly hard to distinguish over the past decade. Maybe global warming or some other environmental shit is to blame, but who knows. All I know is that living in a river valley in the midwest or mid-south is terrible about 8 months of the year.

Right now it is raining. I would say that in the past 45 days, we've probably had 38 with precipitation. I think the same can probably be said for St. Louis. 3 weeks ago here in Louisville we had a foot of snow on the ground. 4 weeks ago St. Louis had a foot of snow on the ground. About 5 days after that snow fell in St. Louis the temperatures reached the high 60's here in Louisville, only to be followed by the foot of snow I mentioned.

The rain we are getting right now is not supposed to end for at least 10 days. 10 DAYS!!! The Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Meremac rivers are already flooding. What the hell is 10 days of rain going to do to that!?!?! I guess here in Louisville the only way we're going to find out what happens to the rivers here in town is if the University of Louisville doesn't go to the Final Four, because they're playing tonight and possibly Saturday. So City Hall may get swept away in a flood, but that could possibly be ignored in the local paper if U of L makes the Final Four.

Ok, back from that tangent about the paper because I already did that. Not only has the weather been wet, but all winter we fluctuated by bitter cold spells interspersed by these warm spells that would last about 3 days and get into the 50's. Then when the temperature would drop again, it would rain or snow. The same thing is happening now. We're in a warming trend and it's causing it to rain nonstop.

Now I'm not one to complain about warm weather, but this is ridiculous. I hate winter, but I do better when it's in the 30's all winter with some cold spells than when I get teased with 55 degree weather in January. I remember two consecutive New Years Days (I believe '04 and '05) where the temperatures reached the high 60's or 70's and I was running outside in shorts and short sleeves. I also remember a time in high school where I was out cutting grass, once again in shorts and short sleeves, and I specifically remember the date being December 15!!!

What about the summers, you may ask. Well they aren't so bad if you love heat and humidity. In July and August the heat index regularly gets up over 100 and just walking outside causes you to sweat profusely. But this has one advantage I've found. If you're like me and occasionally have a problem with wrinkled clothes, a 5 minute walk outside in July unwrinkles those clothes right up...if you don't believe me just try it one day where the temperature is 93 and the heat index is 105. Step outside for a few minutes then give your shirt the old hand press and there you have it...no more wrinkles.

Now I really enjoy the heat. I'll get out and run at noon on the hottest day of the year because it's so great, and I revel in the fact that I'm one of a very few who aren't whining and wishing for October. Give me 95 degrees any day over 20 degrees and windy. So I guess the moral of this blog is that even though I love the areas I've spent my entire life, the weather sucks and it always will. But you learn to live with it and enjoy the good days when you can.

Now, a huge update on my Pennsylvania training. Last night was my biggest test to date, and I was up to the challenge. My dinner consisted of about 12 oz. of powerade, 1 whole frozen pizza, and YES, 1 WHOLE HEAD OF LETTUCE!!!!!!! All consumed in a speedy 41 minutes. Now anyone who scoffs at this should try just the lettuce. Once I cut that shit up it filled a huge bowl. You wouldn't believe how much lettuce that really is. But I did it and barely even doubted myself. The only problem I had was that the lettuce taste got old really quickly. But some lowfat raspberry vinaigrette dressing did the trick and made it much easier. The pizza was easy because it really tasted exquisite after eating a bunch of lettuce, and would be a good break from that immense salad. So I am now supremely confident that I will, in fact, conquer the 2 lb. burger at Denny's.

The Running Scene

I'm a competitive runner. There's no other way to describe me than that, and I'm sure I will dedicate a certain number of posts on this blog to running.

Running is a huge part of my life, and has been for over a decade now. While I lived in St. Louis, I thought I took it somewhat seriously, but I was nothing like I am today. At one point in my life, I regularly ran 65-80 miles per week, until injuries cut that short. Now I am trying to return to the sport I love. Yet, I wonder if I had moved back to St. Louis after I graduate, if I would still be so enthralled with this sport.


The running scene in Louisville is, in my opinion, the best of any city of its size in the country. I believe Louisville has more parks per-capita than any other city in America, and that makes running in safe areas dedicated to that pastime easier than anywhere I know. Since moving to Louisville, I have never lived more than 4 miles from any major park system. Louisville annually hosts 4 road races that draw over 6,000 runners and walkers each, and I don't know of any city that can boast that fact. A local running store, Fleet Feet Sports (a franchise that is locally owned) sponsors over a dozen races every year and is involved in most of the major races around. They also sponsor a racing team for post-collegiate runners who are trying to improve to the elite level. This racing team added me as a member 2 years ago and I have been extremely grateful for the opportunity they have given me.


The fact of the matter is, I hate going to St. Louis to run. The area around my parents' house is terrible for running, even though there are 2 parks within a couple of miles. For the casual runner, St. Louis may be a great running city, but not for the serious competitive runner. While St. Louis has vastly improved with the opening of Big River Running Company (owned by 2 former competitors of mine, though they are 2 years older). They have tried to revitalize the running scene in St. Louis by sponsoring a number of races, as well as their own racing team. So the city is definitely going in the right direction, as before St. Louis had to rely on the St. Louis Track Club, a group of wonderful people whom I personally thought could use a little improvement in their race management skills.


But between Big River Running, the extension of the River Des Peres Greenway and revitalizing of Forest Park, St. Louis has made great improvements in their running community, but unfortunately it is not nearly as runner-friendly as Louisville. So I have to give the nod to Louisville as the better running community. Well done and thank you Louisville for helping me become a better runner.

In Pennsylvania trip news, my training took a day off last night but I still ate quite a bit. Tonight I plan to eat an entire head of lettuce along with my normal dinner. I also bought a frozen pizza, which I plan on eating all of at one meal. And tomorrow (Thursday) I plan on eating my 2 footlong subs from Subway as my final major build to the trip. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I can accomplish this feat. I am actually having trouble making myself full lately.

Turn Signals and More Food

I'm going to hit today on one of the subjects that really inspired this blog. That is a comparison of the drivers in St. Louis and Louisville. While both cities (and all cities, I'm sure, for that matter) have an abundance of bad drivers, I have found a serious problem with the drivers here in Louisville. That problem is that I am pretty sure that the use of turn signals is not taught in the driving schools here, and the ability to use them is not a requirement to pass the driving test in Kentucky.


While you may think that this is a problem in any city, I assure you that it is nothing compared to Louisville. I would say that roughly 50% of drivers use turn signals, and that may be a bit generous. I've counted on drives before, using cars turning directly in front of me for my pool of study and had the number come up as less than 40% of the cars turning in front of me using their turn signals. I cannot recall a drive in recent months where at least 3 or 4 cars turning in front of me did not use their turn signals. I have considered writing to the local newspaper about this problem just to get my opinion heard, but I think that I would be so harsh in my correspondence that I would not get published. Sometimes I wish I was a police officer so I could pull random people over who do not use their signals, but I also realize that, as an officer, pulling someone over leads to quite a bit of paperwork for yourself and others that is not worth going through just for such a minor violation. But no matter how much I try to ignore it, this problem comes up day after day.


Now I don't get upset if someone is in a turning lane and not using a turn signal (though can can be annoying, but is not really that big a deal, as the lane itself is signaling the turn for the car). I get annoyed when I'm driving down a 4 lane road in the left lane, and the car in front of me just stops for no apparent reason, looking at oncoming traffic. At first I think that the car is broken down, but after a moment I realize that it's just another lazy asshole not signaling his left turn. What makes these situations even more annoying is when this car is doing it at a stoplight that is green, and by the time you realize this person is turning and can get in the other lane to pass, the light turns red!!


Now I can go on about this for hours but I'll leave it at that for now just because I don't want to ramble too much. However, I'll end just by saying that the last few times I've gone to St. Louis, I've noticed that no matter what anyone says, the percentage of people who use their turn signals is much greater than that in Louisville.


I'll end on another note about the Pennsylvania trip. My training is still going strong. Last night, my dinner consisted of the following: 1 large bowl of pasta, 1 large piece of chicken (2 servings I would guess), 3 hushpuppies, 2 eggo waffles, 32 or more oz. of water, 16 oz. of powerade, and 12 oz. of orange juice. This was all consumed in less than an hour, and to be perfectly honest, I felt full but not uncomfortable by any means. I really think this 2 lb. challenge is going to lead to victory for me. And if that does happen, then I plan to make another trip to this place or somewhere similar to take on a 3 lb. burger challenge in the future.

A Memorable Weekend and a Sad Departure

I really enjoy the holidays, but sometimes you are just glad when they are over. My weekend started out with the wonderful discovery that I was sick on Thursday night. At first I thought this was a good thing because I figured I would take Friday off work and rest up and sleep. Instead I had to get up early and go to the doctor for something unrelated. That doctor told me I would have new expenses for treatment to help me start running again. Then my car broke down (but I'll get back to that later). So I spent most of Friday sick and still running errands until I lost the car. Saturday was much of the same, just without a car and instead being driven around. I was up late that night and had to get up on Sunday for Easter with my family. So finally around 6:00 on Sunday I got to relax. The end total of all of this is that it's now Monday morning and I still feel like crap.

But back to the car. This is a sad, sad story. While the grim details of the car's final journey are not worth telling, I believe the details of the car itself are. This is a car that has been a part of my family for over a decade...starting in 1997 when my grandmother bought it. In 2005 she decided to get a new car and my dad bought it from her and drove it around for himself for a short time while I was driving his car (as mine had recently broken down badly). After a few months of that, this car became mine and I have been driving it ever since late in 2005. Now this red, 1996 Mercury Sable will spend the next week with me and then be sold to someone who will be able to hopefully fix it up and give it a good home. However, it is always sad to see a car go that has been a member of your family for that long.

On another note, one good thing did come out of this weekend (okay, there was quite a bit of good, but this is worth writing). I have discovered that holidays make great training for our trip to Pennsylvania. My parents were in town so I spent early Sunday afternoon eating lunch at my sister's place. I made it a point to eat until I was full, then follow that up with two desserts. The end result was that my stomach was quite full. Immediately after eating I had to leave to go to spend time with my girlfriend's family and...you got it!! Eat dinner! I had not been there more than 20 minutes before it was time to eat. So I had no choice but to eat another entire meal. The end result of this (and another dessert) was a stuffed belly that made me more confident than ever that I can accomplish the feat of eating a 2 lb burger on Saturday. While I think that I will require more training than that, I know this is a good start. If I can now just get a ride to the store to do some shopping I'll be ready to finish up my training. I plan to spend the week consuming large quantities of salad (takes up lots of space and fewer calories), pasta, and water. I also plan to eat my two footlong subs from Subway on Wednesday or Thursday and then stop eating around 8 or 9 PM on Friday, with only a small bit of cereal to eat Saturday morning. One key that would have helped me would have been me running quite a bit, but since I'm injured I'll have to start biking this week to burn off some of the calories and build an appetite. But I'll keep you posted on how my training comes along.

Good Weather and Newspapers

The weather has finally calmed down here in Louisville, as it has in St. Louis as well...and things have actually dried up fairly quickly around where I live (far from the river, but near the largest creek system in the city). But just like in St. Louis, flooding has been a serious problem this week, and near the Ohio River it is still bad.

But that's not the point of this post. A week or so ago, our local newspaper, the Courier-Journal revamped their website. However, when you revamp a website, I thought it meant you were going to improve it. While the site is a bit better, it looks basically the same. I have always thought the CJ was a subpar newspaper anyway. I realized that in the first few months I lived here. I've never seen a newspaper with such bad editing...there are dozens of grammatical errors in it every day. I also have a serious problem with what they consider front page news. I remember a few months back a tragedy occurred at my alma-mater. I went to the CJ website to check on updates, as new details were becoming available every few hours. The story was fittingly on the front page of their website. However, when I looked on that site an hour or two later, I was disturbed to see that this bit of news had been replaced by the following headline: "Cards, Hoyas Picked First in Big East." Yes, a legitimate news story had been replaced by this: not even a score or a final standing, and U of L hadn't even been picked as the sole pick for first. This story had been replaced because U of L men's basketball was one of two teams coaches had picked as the preseason favorite to win the Big East. Is that front page news?!?!?!

While I know the St. Louis Post Dispatch isn't the greatest news source in the country, I have to give it props for keeping legitimate local and national news as their top story on their website. Local sports teams only take that spot when they actually DO SOMETHING, and it has to be significant, like win a championship or, in rare cases, sign a big name player.

As of this writing, the first story you see when you log on to Courier-Journal.com is that Western Kentucky beat Drake in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The second story you see (the stories scroll between 3 or 4 headlines) is "Guards Need to Find Their Shooting Eyes." You've got it, another basketball PREVIEW. On StlToday.com, you see a story about the flooding in St. Louis. You would think that the flooding around here would be a story, but I guess all the rabid Cards fans here in town don't want to have to search too long in order to read about how U of L will walk all over Boise State. But I'll leave the final decision about the better newspaper up to you:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

http://www.stltoday.com/

March Madness

Well, today is the first day of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which is akin to the Pope visiting town here in Louisville. The city has four "local" teams competing in the tournament: U of L and Kentucky, of course, and also Indiana and Western Kentucky. Now, I understand why the latter two teams are considered local, even though they are both roughly 2 hours from Louisville. It is the same reasoning that makes the University of Illinois and Mizzou local teams in St. Louis. They are only about 2 hours away and plenty of fans and alumni from both teams live in St. Louis. So I can understand that reasoning. What confuses me is why the local papers don't consider Xavier, in Cincinnati and only about 100 miles away, a local team. Same can be said for Butler and, to a point, Purdue. These are all teams that fall within the geographic limits defined by the four teams I mentioned previously. But our local newspaper (and that, my friends, is a whole different post I look forward to writing) lists only those first four teams as our "local" representation.

However, I must admit that if I had to choose where to live this year based on being a college basketball fan, Louisville would be my choice. While Louisville claims 4 local teams in the tournament, St. Louis college basketball has hit an all-time low with ZERO local teams in the tourney. Mizzou blew their shot in the last month of the season, Southern Illinois had a down year after a few years of dominance in the MVC, and Illinois gave their fans an improbable run to the Big 10 final, only to be decimated by Wisconsin to finish the season under .500. So I guess I'm stuck joining the crowd here in Louisville hoping one of our teams can make a run, while all the while secretly cheering on Texas as a Big 12 fan.

I'll have more on this as the tournament goes on, but for now I'm on to some personal local news. My training for our Pennsylvania trip has hit a small snag as I have come down a bit sick. Plus I don't want to do too much overeating this week as I am out of . But I plan to do some big shopping this week and do serious training for that all next week. While I'll keep posting about the trip, for more info on that, check out Steve's blog.

My Intro

I was born and raised in St. Louis, in the amazing suburb of Affton. I lived in Affton from 1981 until the fall of 1998, when I moved a bit further South. I then made the biggest move of my life by moving here to Louisville in the Fall of 2000 to attend college. After I graduated I decided to stay put here because I felt like I had established roots in this great state. However, as the saying goes, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." And that is exactly how I feel about St. Louis. While I don't know if I will ever move back there, I remain a frequent visitor, not just for my family and friends, but also for the great atmosphere (not physically, as the air qaulity is terrible, but you know what I mean) and the wonderful memories I have of that city. Don't get me wrong, I love Louisville and am perfectly happy living in this border state which I believe has a confused identity. I have great friends here and even some family and I don't see myself leaving anytime soon.

I've noticed, however, in recent years that I have begun to make comparisons between the two areas. Sometimes, every time I get angry about something going on in Louisville, I say, "That would never happen in St. Louis." However, I know that is wrong. There is plenty that annoys people in St. Louis, and I just have a 300 mile buffer to keep me from feeling that level of annoyance. So I'll embark on this Log and see what happens. At worst, you'll get a feel of what life is like in both cities and some of the goings-on here and there. At best, you'll get the same thing.