The COTA Challenge

The challenge of using public transportation has proven to be a worthy adversary. While my intentions were true, the practicality of my life, especially this month, has made it difficult to use COTA as often as I had hoped.
My first trip of the month was from downtown to Riverside Hospital. My grandfather had a heart [...]

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Who Will Sponsor ‘Car Free Day Columbus 2009′?

There’s less than seven months remaining until Car Free Day 2009 which happens world-wide on September 22nd. Seven months gives us time to plan and execute and here are a number of local groups that could help sponsor Columbus’ Car Free Day.
COTA: It’s the obvious choice as a sponsor because getting around without a [...]

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From Bubbles to Puccini with Opera Columbus

My first exposure to opera occurred while I was living in Salt Lake City.  I’d come home from work one afternoon and as I was putting the key into the door, I heard opera music coming from inside my apartment.
There were two reasons that I found this odd.  I lived alone and I didn’t own [...]

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A National Elixir

A small change in behavior set off an unexpected chain of events during my recent trip to Finland. Because I’ve recently stopped smoking I’ve stayed away from booze as a way of keeping the desire to smoke in check. As much as I enjoy beer, a good vodka or a good scotch, I’ve [...]

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Lapua – when you need some quiet.

The best vacations are usually those that take place where there are the fewest distractions.  For me that place has always been a small town in west-central Finland.  Lapua is 320 km north of Helsinki and 80 km east of Vaasa.  With a population of 14,000 there aren’t many choices to be made and for [...]

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