john amato

Chris winslow - the world’s foremost authority on t-shirts sandals and the goby

Originally uploaded by juplife

But i still beat him in bowling
dra!

Kate piv plays the suprise game and shows up at jkb unannounced

Originally uploaded by juplife

How awesome is that. she gives america a good name
dra!

Everyone can go eat crow

Originally uploaded by juplife

Nic hennings is our team mvp and new first baseman
dra!

Went to the barber shop with Dywuan

Originally uploaded by juplife

It was just like the movie - awesome. they were even nice enough to let me answer the phone. i bet the caller was surprised to hear my accent
dra!

Class class class

Originally uploaded by juplife

Only at the polish festival
dra!

Polka and pierogies with Poz

Originally uploaded by juplife

Festival season has begun.
dra!

here is the long awaited, much anticipated, oscar nominated, toledo epic race team 15 video presentation featuring danielle briones, jim kirk, and john amato.

the awards ceremony takes place tomorrow at the toledo zoo. the video they received is of much higher quality - i still need to figure out this video compression thing. in addition to the video they also received a fancy photo collage made by danielle.

i never went over the full list of sites we had to visit, so here’s my top six locations and the final breakdown of the epic race.

top six:

1. snook’s dream cars in BG - i had no idea this place existed. jeff snook opened this museum to showcase all of his classic cars. there is also a display room with a bunch of antique type stuff.
2. mayor marge brown - she’s great. she one of the best dancers in the video.
3. cherry street mission - our guide, yolanda, is a spark plug. she’s full of energy and made us excited about the cherry street mission - something that isn’t typically exciting.
4. islamic center of greater toledo - i’ve been there so many times but i always enjoy going back.
5. devin vargas - we met devin and his father. they are both great guys. it’s easy to see why they are so successful after meeting them. it’s a great place for kids to train to learn hard work, discipline and that your dreams can come true.
6. maumee indoor theater - one of the first times i hung out with gym, we went here and saw casper. we were so cool. i haven’t been there in a while but the girls who work there are awesome and they let us dance on the roof. can’t beat that.

purpose of the epic race: to showcase what’s great about northwest ohio and dispel the myth that there is ‘nothing to do in toledo’.

site list:

1. one team mumber must donate blood - i nominated myself
2. visit a police officer, firefighter, or rescue worker and let them know how much you appreciate what they do for out community
3. visit the toledo area humane society and find out about the ‘foreclosure’ pets
4. visit with an elected official and ask them what they think of EPIC toledo
5. visit a senior living facility and find out what previous generations think about the upcoming Presidential election - we met with a man at swan creek retirement home. he took one of my beer bottle koozies
6. find out how many meals are served annually at the cherry street mission
7. fight hunger - visit a local food bank and make a donation
8. recycling station - do the green thing
9. recruit and epic member - i recruited myself
10. tarta - take a ride and snap a picture of the bus driver
11. visit a locally owned ethnic restaurant - after driving by it on the way to half of my high school football games and partying above it at pub st. george, we went to the greek restaurant manos. they’re greek salad had lettuce in it, but other than that it was delish.
12. view a live local band - we attended murphys jazz place
13. toledo-lucas county public library
14. local art gallery - we went to paula brown and danced with her dog
15. islamic center of greater toledo
16. toledo firefighters museum - this is only open on saturdays. we’re lucky we called and got it in early.
17. visit the st. francis mural on the east side of mcalear hall at lourdes college. this really isn’t labeled as well as it should be.
18. toledo museum of art - drew gave us a bit of a tour and pointed us in the right direction.
19. collingwood arts center - it used to be the st. ursula convent. it’s creepy and probably haunted.
20. locally-owned record store - culture clash, the best in ohio. ike gave us the in there.
21. ballet theater of toledo - they were absolutely awesome. we got to dance with their girls.
22. toledo botanical garden - pretty cool place that i’ve never been to. would be fun to take dywuan back.
23. the valentine theatre
24. toledo mud hens - drifty entered me in an onfield competition. we learned that i throw like a girl.
25. northwest ohio bike trails
26. bowling - interstate lanes baby. gotta support the lanes that sell the tressel t.
27. local baseball/softball league game - jkb softball rules!
28. raceway park
29. local golf course or driving range - we hit a few at the kids unlimited golf outing at sylvania country club
30. frisbee golf course at ottawa park
31. devin vargas gym
32. ice skating at tam-o-shanter nearly shattered my ankles. i’m convinced i’m not that bad.
33. tennis - saw andre george at ottawa park, the greatest athlete in cchs history (sorry tony), while playing.
34. toledo maritime center - that’s the new marina
35. fox tv - i really don’t watch tv, but it was cool to be in the news room.
36. jamieson’s audio/video - epic race sponsor. i love tvs.
37. whiskey ranch night club - we rode the bull and the bull won
38. billiards, pools or spa retailer - insideout recreation
39. maumee indoor theater
40. orchards - macqueens, where else
41. new chamber member
42. toledo express airport
43. shopping - meig in downtown pburg
44. architectural artifacts - very cool place in downtown toledo. they have a bunch of random old stuff. you could spend days looking around there
45. bowling green wind farm - i’ll go green, but i won’t go blue
46. inverness club - jim kirk can’t call himself a real golfer until he’s golfed here.
47. georgettes grounds and gifts - the epic race has forced me to become a coffee drinker after depriving me of so much sleep
48. the toledo zoo - the amazing amphibians exhibit, no so amazing
49. metro parks of toledo - we went to wildwood for the ice cream social
50. snooks dream cars
51. university of toledo rec center
52. local wine tasting - i like wine
53. festivals, festivals, festivals - the holland strawberry festival. the edge and i will find better ones this summer
54. perrysburg farmers market - love it. kettle korn, homemade bread, and local honey…mmmm
55. the butterfly house - support duke wheeler. go to his butterfly house
56. fort meigs - it’s not suicide hill, it’s st. rose hill
57. providence metro park/miami and erie canal - blah
58. frog statues
59. 577 foundation - the river walk is more of a walk to the river
60. dotoledo

video inspired by matt harding

i’ve been a little lazy on juplife lately. june was a crazy month with the epic race taking up quite a bit of time. i’ve also been working quite a bit more than originally planned. i figure i owe a few updates on what has happened recently because sometimes the mobile blogs just don’t tell the whole story.

the pozes all came together last weekend. the girls all brought their man candy with them too. the real star of the show was kate and matt’s little guy, jack. looks like naming your kid jack is all the rage these days.

the johns

john updike, this one not this one, visited a couple weeks ago to play for john’s korner bar softball. after receiving all of the facebook invites for our games, he realized the summer of drew wouldn’t be complete without visiting ’south toledo’. sadly, even with mr updike on our team we couldn’t pull out the victory but we still had a great time post game at jkb. it’s hard not to with good friend john. and that’s why i hope to return to new orleans for the sugar bowl next season.

last monday was the notre dame club of toledo celebrity golf outing. toledo’s foremost authority on everything, dr dan williams, was kind enough to sponsor our group. his son, little boy, and adam joined us. we certainly weren’t the best foursome out there, we didn’t have a celebrity and i didn’t have my own clubs, but we had a great time.

chuck should really start a business organizing charity golf outings. this was his second of the month and he did an amazing job on both. celebrities at the nd outing included heismen trophy winner johnny lattner, frank stams and dave casper. his kids unlimited outing featured jim jackson, gene keady, osu heismen trohpy winner troy smith, and clark kellogg. pretty, pretty, pretty good.

as always, i’ve been taking plenty of photos. you can update yourself with all of them at flickr.

after consulting with ike and ian at toledo.com, in an effort to increase the online marketing of the OSU sweater vest t-shirt, i’ve created a new myspace page for it. you can find it here. if you’re on myspace, the shirt could use the friends.

i’ve posted the above illustration of the new design of the shirt. for those curious about the upcoming season, we’ll have it available in adult and youth in scarlet and gray, and red in toddler, onesie, and beer bottle koozie. they will all be available for purchase on jupmode by the start of the season.

we’ve got a big order out so i’m hoping for big things. spread the word.

most people are familiar with my new voicemail. it goes something like this, ‘for a more immediate response, please send me a text’. i feel like ever since i changed my voicemail, i’ve been receiving more voicemails out of spite. not cool. you’re all idiots.

i was delighted today when i read a post from techcrunch that supported my message. the two money quotes, ‘Voicemail is dead. Please tell everyone so they’ll stop using it…So think before you voicemail, more and more people just find it annoying.’

if techcrunch says something, it’s to be taken seriously. i guess that means you all should take me seriously from now on. or at least once in while.

danielle and i handed in our final epic race project today. it wasn’t exactly the presentation i was hoping for, but we did well nonetheless. danielle made an amazing collage that’s nearly as tall as me. i have a tendency to take a few photos and quite a few of them made the final cut. she did some excellent work. i was responsible for the video slideshow of our race. i’m not too good with the program yet, but promise to have it online soon. i think our plan from the start was a great one and it truly comes through in the video.

the epic race was crazy. it took up so much time and required significant planning of our schedules the whole month to fit in all 60 locations. it was definitely worth it though and i’m glad we participated. i think we’ll be recognized for the work we put it.

a few of the places that really stand out to me are: snook’s dream cars, oregon mayor marge brown, and the devin vargas gym. if we had not joined the race i wouldn’t know about so many neat places in the area. not only is it cool to discover new places, but it’s fun to be reminded that there are plenty of things to do in the toledo area. epic of northwest ohio did a great job of raising awareness of their purpose and the area with this race - even if it completely wore us out in the process.

Watching the fireworks on the wizards boat

Originally uploaded by juplife

they should cancel the entire first part and just do the finale
ska

Dywuan is a menace

Originally uploaded by juplife

Smacking fireflies and riding cows. i’m too tired to put up with him tonight
ska

July 4 is the new halloween

Originally uploaded by juplife

Dywuan is ready for the masquerade.
ska

beth healy made a visit to gordon gee’s house yesterday. being the sweet person she is, she sported the great jim tressel t. beth’s good looks and charm woo’d gordo and he placed an order for a shirt. i think i officially have to make a bow tie shirt now.