Category Archives: neighborhood

Sep 17

Survivor: Cincinnati Day 4

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Back of apartment building

Back of apartment building

Day 4 of power being out in our neighborhood and for much of the Greater Cincinnati area.  The Hurricane Ike-related windstorm on Sunday has caused power outages across Central and Southwestern Ohio.  Utility crews are working to restore power to all customers.  Duke Energy reported that about 90% of their customers in the Greater Cincinnati area have had power outages.

At home we’re hunkered down with flashlights and candles (shh!), ice, our propane grill, and whatever non-perishables we’ve found.  We’ve thrown out most of the items in our refrigerator, and we really need to get some laundry done.  We’re hopeful that power will be restored soon.

As I’ve entered our darkened neighborhood on my way home these past few nights, it has felt like I’m entering a scene from I Am Legend.  I keep the blinds open at night when I go to bed to be cheered when the streetlights come on.

As I mentioned in the previous post, we’re using this time as an opportunity to get to know our neighbors better and definitely count our blessings.  Those in the Gulf states are certainly worse off than we are.

For now, among my online friends, we’re affectionately calling this time Survivor: Cincinnati.

  

CBS – Theme From Survivor
   
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Update: The power came on this afternoon! Yay!

Oct 03

VIDEO: 20/20 Story on Domestic Violence

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October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I saw this video from YouTube and had to share it with you. It comes from 20/20, and I am very grateful that ABC has let it be up there.

It’s over 20 minutes long, and it contains graphic content. Domestic violence is real. It’s disturbing, and it’s outraging.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfIZZqOnMM]

If you or someone you know is in a domestic violence situation, there is help.

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7933)

Please head over to the Journey Inside My Mind Podcast throughout October, because I’m posting content from the recent One Voice Domestic Violence Community Awareness Walk. Or, if you have iTunes, add the show with a single click. That way you’ll get new content as it gets released.

Help stop domestic violence!

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Sep 09

One Voice Walk 2007

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One Voice Walk 2007
Originally uploaded by danieljohnsonjr

Have you’ve been wondering where I’ve been this past month? I’ve been doing some online publicity as a New Media Consultant for the 4th Annual One Voice Domestic Violence Community Awareness Walk, which was held in Cincinnati, Ohio this morning. I took lots of pictures and recorded lots of audio from the event.

Hearing personal stories really moved me. I honestly felt a flood of emotions ranging from sadness, outrage, hurt, compassion, and more. It was really a lot to take in. And rightfully so. Domestic violence is an anathema to our society and must be stopped.

I really enjoyed interviewing people from the various local organizations and finding out what they are doing to help raise awareness for and to prevent domestic violence.

During the walk, I talked with other participants. In nearly all the interviews, I asked folks why they came. Really great discussions.

Do a Google search (aka ‘google’) “onevoicewalk“, and you’ll find this content as it all becomes available. For now, I encourage you to check out these specific websites:

http://onevoicewalk.org – the official website, with information about how to donate
http://flickr.com/groups/onevoicewalk – pictures taken during the event, with more to come
http://twitter.com/onevoicewalk – microblog of updates from before, during, and after the event
http://myspace.com/onevoicewalk – MySpace page
http://jimmpodcast.com – Journey Inside My Mind Podcast, where audio content from the walk will be posted

Speaking of the Journey Inside My Mind Podcast, head over there for the recent episode, Music for the One Voice Walk.

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Jun 04

Monday Morning Musings

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I woke up this morning and was about to get ready for work when our dog Jake came in to “ask” if I’d take him outside for a walk. I said, “Sure, what the heck. Even if it’s just 15 minutes around the block. It would be great for you and me to spend some time with God, too.”

Our apartment complex has a lot of trees, and as I walk the dog in the morning, I hear birds from all over the place with their morning songs. Squirrels, too. And we even have a duck pond with ducks who often spend time outside the pond area. Geese, too, but they prefer to keep to themselves.

It’s really interesting around spring as we see ducklings and goslings being born, and the protective nature of their parents in action.

For me, in the morning, as I walk the dog, I’m reminded more of God’s beauty and creativity. I love how he manages this small area of the universe so well, and I marvel that I get to enjoy it.

I’ve often used these walks in the morning to talk with God about my own anxieties, concerns, worries, etc. I realize that I’m not meant to be that way, but that it’s really God’s intent and purpose for me that I pour these things out to him. He is able to work so many things out, even the bad things that happen.

Most of the time I pray for my own heart and character to be changed, so that I can more readily handle what is going on. Not from an endurance perspective, but I prefer to have a warrior mindset about the things going on in my life.

If you read the older posts, you’ll find that I’ve often struggled with depression and anxiety. I think some of the ways I’ve tried to cope with it is to not get too emotionally involved with what’s going on around me. As I type that, I see of course that’s not the right thing to do, and so I’ve prayed for God to help me be in touch with all that’s going on around me and not to shrink back from problems and obstacles, but to face them head on.

Just some things I’m thinking about as I head into the new day and week.

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Aug 27

Overnight Power Outage – Again

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Mood: sleepy
Listening to: Jennie and Keisha talking about Keisha’s dreams last night
Reading: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)
Eating: nothing yet (but coffee’s brewing, yay)

Power went out again last night. This time to the whole complex, it seemed. I woke up at about 4:15 AM because it was feeling stuffy. I noticed everything was off. So I grabbed my cell phone and used the light from it as a flashlight, since one was not readily available.

I went to the kitchen and checked the circuit breakers, but they were okay. So I found our telephone book and called Duke Energy to report the power outage. Someone else had already called, so my report was maybe the 2nd one. I opened all the windows and went back to bed – or at least tried to fall back to sleep.

Then, at about 4:50 AM, the fans came back on, and I got up and closed the windows again and turned the air back on.

May 20

Community-wide Yard Sale and a Personal Dog Walk

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Mood: restless
Listening to: Teknikal Diffikulties – comedy sketch podcast
Eating: plain bagel with spread, orange juice, 2 small frappacino (sp?) mochas, and 1 beef jerky stick (see below)

Our apartment complex is having a yard sale. Members of the community have signed up for “booths” to sell, buy, trade, whatever. Jennie signed us up yesterday, I think. The sale has been going on since 8:30 this morning and will continue until 4 PM. Most of what we’re selling is Keisha’s old toys, but there is some of our stuff in the mix, too:

Our booth is situated right where Keisha’ bus stop is, and it’s close to the entrance of the duck pond. Having ducks and geese in the neighborhood is a double-edged sword: it adds character, but it also adds mess. Specifically, we have to be on the lookout for duck and geese poop on the sidewalks and streets where we walk.

Jennie came home from work this morning, packed up the stuff we were selling, and went to the booth. I stayed in bed for another couple of hours and finally decided it was time to get up. I feel like I’ve slept so much these past few days, and I needed to get out of the home. Jake needing his walk also was a motivating factor. I got up, put my contacts in, got dressed, and put three plastic bags in my pocket. I put Jake’s leash on him, and I began our walk.

I’ve taken Jake to the food mart near the local fire station before. It’s only a few minutes’ drive, but it’s a good half hour walk. One way, that is. I brought three plastic bags because I know that if I take Jake for that long of a walk, there’s a good chance I’ll need them, to pick up after he relieves himself. And it’s a good thing I did.

Once we got to the food mart, I tied Jake up to a telephone pole and went inside. He was very well-behaved; didn’t bark or whine at all. I went inside and got 2 Starbucks frappacino(sp?) mochas and two beef jerky sticks that were a quarter apiece. One of them I shared with Jake, the other one was mine. Then we came back home.

Right now my right ear feels completely clogged, and I’m still feeling congested, but I’m going to head down to relieve Jennie so that she can come home and get some sleep.

I might bring this laptop with me so that I do some work on this week’s podcast. Yes, I’m still planning on releasing one. Maybe one with very little talk, since I don’t have my usual voice. We’ll see.

Jul 21

Chalking Escapades

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Yesterday evening after dinner Keisha and I took Jake outside. While he did his business, she and I made some chalk drawings in the parking lot.

At first we did some random stuff. Keisha drew a picture of a sun, a tree, and some clouds. I drew something that resembled a sine wave and proceeded to add facial features to each hump of the design.

Then I wrote the following:

You can pick your nose
You can pick your friends
But you can not pick your friend’s NOSE!

Keisha and I wrote our names vertically. I added descriptive words that begin with each letter of our names while she drew pictures of things that begin with the letters in our names. In parentheses are the pictures she drew:

  • Kind (Kite)
  • Enjoys (Easter egg)
  • Inventive (Ice cream cone)
  • Smart (Snake)
  • Happy (Happy face)
  • Artistic (Apple)
  • Daredevil (Dinosaur)
  • Artistic (Ant)
  • Nutsy (Nose)

Then I walked around the area and wrote words with arrows pointing to the objects they described; for example, light, dumpster, parking space, peeing stone (for Jake the dog).

We then walked back to our apartment building and did some chalk stuff there. I wrote more words with arrows; for example, lamp post, tree, retaining wall. Then I felt a little bored, so I started writing the license plate numbers of cars that were parked in front of the sidewalk. I also wrote

Take trash out
This way

with an arrow pointing toward the dumpster.

Finally, I noticed this Ford Bronco that has been sitting for as long as I can remember in the same spot. Once, when the tires had gone flat, the apartment company management stuck a Tow sticker on it. The owner reinflated the tires and removed the sticker.

I wrote in front of the car on the sidewalk:

Does this Bronco ever move?

I spoke with Mom on the phone last night and mentioned our chalking escapades. She said I should be careful because someone might want to kick my butt.