Goofy Gifts

But, they were wanted. We’re old enough now to want practical items while still maintaining a childish nerdy side. So here’s some highlighted Christmas gifts:

Safety first!

I wanted a rechargeable water fire extinguisher for our various wood fires. We have a fireplace, a deck solo stove, a charcoal grill, and a fire pit. If things were to get out of hand, I did not relish the idea of spraying things down with a chemical ABC extinguisher. Plus, since I can recharge this myself, it’s more fun.

No safety!

A custom gift from the sister-in-law. Everyone needs a viking hand axe, acid-etched, and engraved with runes evoking eternal feasting and battle!

Let it roll baby

We are not rock nerds. Prosaic pontification pertaining to geological aesthetics never cranked my shaft, so to speak. But machinery and pretentiousness? Absolutely!

We saw an episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike visited a hotel that offered a coin-washing service. It was a mutual curiosity, so I got Liz a tumbler. I’ll go into greater depth on a later post as some trial and error was involved. And of course don’t do this with any coins of significant monetary or collector value. But it was definitely fun!

Shiny!

–Simon

Blaw-Knox Tower

I suppose that unless you’re an early radio history nerd, this isn’t very interesting. But as a general enthusiast for all things history, it was enough for me to jump out of the car and awkwardly snap a couple photos, while normal passersby no doubt wondered what that goofy guy was doing in the parking lot.

Behold! Cincinnati’s Newsradio 700 WLW Blaw-Knox style antenna!

It’s that unique shape that defines it. One of a handful that still exist, their design outdated and less effective than the skinny towers. They’re also AM radio towers, so how many will continue to be maintained? I think they just remain as emergency communication infrastructure, although WLW the station still broadcasts news radio and baseball games. This one also has a couple tidbits of its own historic use, as explained by its marker:

It was also the second of its kind to have been built. Additional coolness points.

History!

–Simon

343 Whitmore

First off, look at this:

343 Whitmore Ave., Dayton, OH 45317

Do I care that I’m posting this? Obviously the answer is no, because when deadbeats get misassociated with my contact information I start to lose my patience with the eternal onslaught of – in this case – modern carpetbaggers. I myself get the occasional clickbait version of a mailer in my mailbox to sell my own home, but the frequency at which the texts come in soliciting sales for this place lends me to think that something’s not going well.

According to the Montgomery County Auditor, Fred bought this abode in 1993 for $17,000. It’s now worth $15,380, and owes taxes of $34,356.81. Ouch. But it has well water, I think. And a bad storm sewer? The tax assessment codes are hard to understand.

But maybe Fred’s a nice guy. Maybe he just fell on hard times or simply held onto the property for some reason. One never knows the full story, and I don’t care to find out more, so stop texting me about it!

This guy though:

Definite deadbeat.

–Simon