It's All About...

A week's worth of fun: Hutchinson's, Family Guy and great pumpkins.

Hey pals,

I'm away at a weeklong training seminar in the state originally known for lovers. So, I can't come play. But here are some things worth paying attention to this week...

Hutchinson's is closing its doors for good on Oct. 30. You can't save a business whose owners have decided to close, but I recommend you swing by for a phosphate or an ice cream soda before the deadline. Sit at the counter at the corner of North Broadway and West Short; they'll make it for you. Yum.

Also...

• Family Guy's 100th episode airs at 8:30 p.m. Nov. 4 on Fox. It's pretty self-explanatory. The title is Stewie Kills Lois.
• Plenty of new music will debut on Tuesday, like every week, but I want you to pay attention to this one in particular: Fraggle Rock: The Fraggle Rockin' Collection. OH YES.
• Watch the reruns of Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet. Death has struck the Whiskers clan again.
• Wristcutters: A Love Story is coming to the Kentucky Theatre. Sounds a little disturbing, but even more amazing.
• RE: Halloween. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown will be on at 8 p.m. Oct. 30 on ABC.
• Holly Golightly is at The Dame on Nov. 3! You heard her at the end of The White Stripes' Elephant. I saw her once in Dallas, and it was just the grooviest show. I left feeling great about the world. Please go see it.
• I know this is ahead of time, but the Kentucky Book Fair is Nov. 10. I'll be at the Herald-Leader booth when I'm not trolling the room for reading material. Swing by and say hello. I'd like to meet you.

Is KY the home of the high five?

A deep, important investigation in today's Herald-Leader was inspired by this shirt from WHY Louisville:

Could Kentucky be the home of the high five?

Alas, our investigation was inconclusive. We'll file it away with Chicken or the Egg and How Many Licks Does It Take To Get To the Tootsie Roll Center of a Tootsie Pop?

But this much we know is true: Kentucky seems to pop up a lot in the lore surrounding the high five. Last night, before he'd even read the story, a sports editor pointed out that the 1978 Lafayette boys basketball team was fond of it. Sports stars and musicians are all on record slapping each other five. We will never know who really invented it, but this idea that the University of Louisville basketball team popularized it is entirely possible.

That said, here's all the other stuff you need to know about high fiving:

• National High Five Day was April 19 this year.
  • National High Five Day has its own documentary. About 11:30 long.
• There are many varieties of the high five. And it really is a science.
• Feeling lonely and unappreciated? Here's a virtual high five.
• High five etiquette is actually kind of a big deal.

Good news!

Emmett is back!

After a daring late-night rescue -- note the time of this post -- he is passed out with his kibble-swollen, faucet-watered belly in the air. Megatron even gave him a little grooming, because that's what kitties do, I guess.

After he sleeps off the madness, he and I will have a little talk about not running away from people that love you. It's a very important lesson; it's time he learned.

Thanks for the help, everybody. I love Lexington.

Finding my missing cat.

Yes, this is a shameless misuse of this blog, but I have an emergency.

My cat is missing.

His name is Emmett. He's male, black, Persian and strictly an indoor kitty.

He's kind of incapable: tiny nostrils that don't smell well, big eyes that get really goopy without care, flat face that makes eating difficult, crooked claws that make for weak hunting. He drinks out of a fountain, for heaven's sake.

Loves to be petted, groomed and generally loved on, but he may well be shivering in the back of some garage right now.

Last seen Oct. 17 in the Mentelle neighborhood.

If you've seen him, or if you speak kitty and can ask my other one where he went, e-mail me.

He's usually a lot cuter, but this is the only photo I can find at the moment that doesn't turn him into a giant black blob.

Here he is, in happier times:

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And, just so this post isn't 100 percent self-serving...

Go: Hutchinson Drug Company is closing after 81 years in business.
Even if you've never stopped in before, the little store in Victorian Square us a place worth remembering. Just try it.

Listen: Blind Corn Liquor Pickers at Al's Bar.
At 8 p.m. tonight, live music will have its debut at the bar at 6th and Limestone. (Indeed, it's under new ownership.) Go celebrate and enjoy!

Remembering Mr. Ingles and why math matters.

I planned to write something very chipper today about swear words or fun music, but I just received some jarring news, and as a blog owner, I feel compelled to share.

One of my very favorite high school teachers died this weekend. He was 63, and had retired not so long ago from my school in Holly, Michigan, after 39 years with the district. Thirty-nine years. I can hardly comprehend spending that much time trying to make high school students love math. Can you imagine what he saw in that time, how different we were from the time he started?

Maybe he didn't care. John Ingles never struck me as someone particularly fascinated by the new and trendy.

Once, Teen Board and comics.

Today, we clean a few messes, tend a few errands. I've been away for a while, and distracted by television in ways I can't begin to excuse.

Here's what I should have been telling you...

• Once is back in the Bluegrass. You can catch this magical little film at Lexington Green movie theater. I laughed! I wept! I bought the soundtrack! The DVD is due out in September, but it's so worth seeing it in a dark theater, preferably with someone who is equally prone to, um,  getting dust in their eyes.

• The Herald-Leader Teen Board is accepting applications. If you're in high school in Central or Eastern Kentucky, you're eligible. Here's a link to the PDF of the application. The deadline is Aug. 31. You must fill out the application, send us a photo and write out a few story ideas.



• The comics poll rolls on, but only until Sept. 8. If you dearly love Get Fuzzy or really hope Ziggy dies in a tragic accident, now is the time to let us know. Vote at the online ballot, or leaf through your print copy for a mail-in ballot.

Now, I'm off to Kentucky's friendly little getaway, Paris, for an interview and maybe a lunch downtown. Get busy!

Tales from Ohio.

I have an Ohio problem. As my Ohio-native pal Jeff pointed out, when I drove into the state Monday afternoon, I had a bias against it. I am a Michigan-born Kentucky dweller. Ohio is the giant blob of land between every place I’m trying to go.

My point of view was not helped after miles of flat land and Interstate, when I felt certain that three hours had passed and was shocked to learn it was only one. (One! Just one, long, excruciating hour!)

Things only got worse around exit 176, when Google Maps took us off the main road and onto a series of county and state highways that would eventually drop us in Sandusky, home of Cedar Point. (Maybe I should revise. I have a California problem. Who, over there in Mountain View, suggested these directions?) These are the kind of dusty roads that you could spin off of and not be found for weeks. While more interesting scenery than 71, I was infinitely more focused with not dying here. Decapitated on a roller coaster or free fall? I've accepted those risks. Rotting while staring at an Ohio field? No.

Among other things, we saw all three of Sandusky's indoor water parks -- because one is never enough -- and accidentally drove through Thomas Edison's hometown. (Fun!) We came out alive, and determined to find better directions.

In fairness, every state has its quirks and its dry spots -- have you read our Project Dateline series? -- although the best crack that Ohio-born Jeff could make for Michigan was poking fun at the name "Kalamazoo." ::shrug:: I guess it's a little odd, sure.

Still, I couldn't help but remember a few weeks ago, talking with Drew Curtis, the creator of Fark.com. He told me that if a state other than Florida has a shot at earning that supreme tag of wierdness and surprise on the site, it's Ohio.

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The following are actual moments of conversation from our drive. You know, those moments when Tricia and Yvette, our brave Herald-Leader interns, were awake. I can't blame them. There's not a lot to see on a blazing hot Ohio freeway, even with The Rolling Stones and the AC blasting.
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Somewhere along State Road 13...
Tricia, pointing at a sign: "Look! Guinea pigs for sale!"
About one mile later...
Jamie, pointing at a sign: "Wolf puppies...for sale. Uh oh."
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Shortly before arriving in Sandusky...
Tricia: "There's a drive-thru African  safari!"
Jamie: "Well then, why are we going to Cedar Point?"
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Only slightly lost, in the town of Milan...
Tricia: "This is Thomas Edison's hometown?"
Jamie: "Who would've guessed? He must have been a creative fellow."
Tricia: "Or he was just bored."