Hey everyone. If you haven't been following, after mskate discovered that we can go to the men's gymnastics meets at University of Michigan for free we've been kind of into going to the events whenever we could. When she found out that the 2024 finals competition would be at Ohio State in Columbus (a place with many fun memories), we decided to go to it as well even though this cost money. It's still not exactly my thing, but it's not very expensive and it is a fun thing to do with the missus. I tried to do a meet-up with Bio since he's not exactly prohibitively far but he was busy, thus is us when it comes to scheduling. Hopefully one day the Peanut Butter Podcast can do something in person, but this wasn't the day. We got a Hyatte Hotel in the area we like to stay in when we go to Columbus (cheap hotel and right by Level One Barcade). This was the first time going to this hotel, and I think we decided this will be our go-to hotel in the future when we go to Columbus, mainly because it has breakfast. Since there was also a restaurant in Dayton mskate likes that was closing down we decided to also make a stop at Dayton before going to Columbus and make an entire adventure about it. It was shaping up to be a big thing.
I took Friday off and we started our journey at about 8AM. The drive down was pretty uneventful, basically I just showed mskate the rout I would take whenever I went to see her when we were dating. I wanted to take the exact exit I knew and took every time but she wanted to take the exit she knew. Getting back was kind of fun, first time we had been there together in a long while and a lot of memories came back. We ate at the restaurant and it was OK, it's a sandwich shop themed after aviation (do to the Wright Brothers and their airplanes) and I like them but they aren't like special to me. I had a ruben I think and mskate had a roast beef sandwich I think. Mskate had a lot of fun though and really enjoyed going there one last time. I kind of tried to get a souvenir but they didn't have anything we could take. Oh well, she still enjoyed herself. We also went to the small grocery store that mskate used to go to all the time to get a couple of things. Main thing I remember getting was a small bowl of the homemade chili to have over the weekend. Mskate was really happy to do those things as that was "Dayton to her."
OK now it's time for my points of interest, the media stores. For those who don't know Dayton at one point had a pretty large number of places to buy videogames and comic books, and while they're kind of down to just Second and Charles and Game Swap (not stop, swap), it's still pretty fun. We did drive by the one store that was killed by covid to see if they returned (they didn't), and while going that way we drove by the old South Park Elementary where I got my picture once.
It's now some kind of medical place, which makes sense since the last time I was there it was being converted to something. The first place we went to was 2nd and Charles. I immediately went to the clearance section to see if I could find anything good. Unfortunately not but oh well. I looked around for the videogame section and I had some trouble finding it. I walked around the books and had fun, but I was looking for my "geek stuff." I eventually found my way to the comic book section and looked through the non-Marvel/DC section to see if I could find some good finds. I managed to find some Incredibles comic books for cheap so I decided to pick them up, and I needed to find a gift for IRA and he's on a power rangers kick at the moment. I found some mighty morphing power rangers comic books and picked them up for him. I did find the videogames and went through the PS2 section. I found a couple of games but not a lot that I already didn't have or was out of my price range. They don't do plastic bags at the store so when the cashier asked if I needed a reusable bag I said "no thanks, I have my own" and pulled a grocery bag out of my pocket.
With 2nd and Charles done we went to Game Swap. It was a little difficult to get to mostly because I forgot the name (kept calling it game exchange and mskate couldn't find one within a close distance). We decided to just drive to the restaurant in the strip mall where the store was in, and then I'm like "oh yeah, it's Game Swap." Funny thing with this, when I went to the PS2 section I was "like the guys in The Big Bang Theory at the comic book store going 'got it got it got it.'" I described it to my parents that way and they were like "lol." I found like 2 games I didn't already have, and then decided to look at the VHS section (because they do home video media as well and have a pretty neat VHS section). I was mostly looking to see if I could find an old Wrestlemania tape or something like that for IRA; he doesn't have a VCR, but it would have made for a neat display piece. I unfortunately didn't find a wrestling tape but I did find Strange Brew for a good price, which will make for a great gift for vikingpolak since he really likes that movie, and I found this Aladdin figure in a VHS clamshell style case for IRA. Before checking out we walked around a little and mskate kept asking "do you have the thing to play that, how about the thing to play that, what about that" when pointing to different cartridge games. I said "yes I do, it'll be easier for you to just ask me what I don't have."
Now that we had finished our fun in Dayton it was time to go to Columbus. It was like another 45 minute drive from where we were. We got to the hotel and checked in no real problems. It was a pretty nice room, there was a kitchenette type thing (there was like a "real sink" next to the coffee maker and fridge, and it was completely separate from the bathroom), and the TV had this interesting input thing. I didn't have anything to try it out with (didn't bring my HDMI cable for my laptop, didn't bring a PS2 to test the games I might have bought), oh well.
We had some time before the event so we went to a strip mall area to get some things we forgot. I don't remember what it was specifically, but I ended up picking up a can of ravioli at the Kroger to have for dinner instead of the ramen I brought. It was also just a thing to explore, because the strip mall had a real mall type thing, and it just so happened that there was farmer's market craft show thing happening. There were a lot of things that I forgot about (homemade soap, beef jerky, and bread, I think), but the main thing was this special macaroni and cheese that mskate really liked and so we bought a kit, and then there was a pickle vendor and if it wasn't for the REALLY long line I probably would have gotten something (I'm pretty basic when it comes to pickles, just dill and salt, but I would have supported a small business and been a little adventurous if there wasn't like a 10 minute line). The macaroni sauce needed to be frozen, and we weren't sure we could keep it frozen because mini-fridge and cooler (thankfully it would still be good for a week once thawed), but I turned the fridge to max which kept it frozen, and later when I covered it with ice in the cooler it stayed frozen as well, yay. A little ahead of myself in the story, but I would have forgotten about it and wouldn't have filled that thread. Before going to the meet I went down to the lobby where they had a microwave and made my ravioli in a paper coffee cup. It wasn't exactly easy to make well, but it was good enough to fill me and easy enough to make in a hotel.
Now it's time for the first event, at least to us since there was a thing in the morning that we didn't go to. We got there fairly early and were able to sit in the front right behind the audio visual tables. Mskate was able to see the spotify playlist they had, it was like "mens gymnastics 2024." Mskate tried to find it but couldn't find it. It was REALLY cool being so close up, we were like right behind the floor routine and pomelhorse. It was pretty fun. When UofM was walking by us on entry we cheered for Fred and we think he remembered us. It was a pretty crazy event since they had all 6 things going at once. Here are some of the pictures I took.
Now for some concession fun. Mskate went to get some food (because she didn't really have anything from before) and ran into a former Olympian. She was kind of upset she didn't have a marker with her, but oh well. Later on I got funnel cake fries. The funnel cake fries were interesting, it's funnel cake but not in the full cake, instead it was strips of funnel cake that were french fry size and shape. Still very good.
After the meet there was still some time left in the night, so I went over to Level One. I got mskate back to the hotel and situated for bed, and then I walked over. When I left I expected a little bit of a walk since the other hotels were close but not super close, but this was actually really close; I walk over a small hill and boom it's there. I got a pong and went over to the games. Like always I played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles in Time, because that was what Wheels Inn was for my brother and we sunk so many tokens into it. Seeing that the game is free to play, I always have to play the game from start to end. Next time I go I need to do something to measure how many times I die and need to press the "add credits" button, just to see how much I save by just buying a drink at this place. I also played some Tetris and got decently far from what I remember. I think I also played Donkey Kong Jr. on this time there, and it wasn't as easy as it is on the NES, I think. Still always a fun time, but I was getting tired and so went back to the hotel to get ready for bed and the following day. On my way back (or maybe on the way there) someone complemented me on my hat which felt good even if it was a little weird (it was night and I was alone). I also saw someone puking behind the dumpster, stay classy greater Columbus area.
Now it's Saturday, the day of the big event, but not quite yet. We start the day with the continental breakfast, which was pretty good. We ate in the little TV nook of the lobby which was kind of interesting. Most of the morning was just kind of spent hanging out in the hotel room. I remember watching a lot of Boomerang since the hotel had Boomerang, which was neat because hotel cable is generally pretty limited and Boomerang is (or at least was) a high package cable channel. For lunch I think I had my ramen, which I accidentally made a mess with. Coffee maker ramen, put the water in the coffee maker, put the ramen ingredients in the cup, turn on the coffee maker and seep the ramen, easy right? Well no, I forgot that the noodles take up space in the cup, so I poured a mostly full cup of water into the coffee maker and let it sit, and then after some time I notice that the coffee cup is overflowing. I unplugged the coffee maker and cleaned it off, and my ramen ended up still being good, just next time I need to do things a little differently.
Anyway, it's now about noon and Level One is open. I go to the arcade very soon after opening and order a Bowser's Secret Potion (or something based on Bowser). This time I play a different Konami arcade game from my childhood, The Simpsons Arcade Game. This one was at the Little Caesar's owned arcade, Caesarland. I remember watching the demo screen and 16 bit rendition of the theme song for probably 10 minutes, good times. This one we actually did manage to beat a couple of times when we had birthday parties, because kids would rotate in and out based on how many tokens they had. I played through the whole game as Bart just because, but regularly brought in Lisa so we could do the team up attack, and when going against Mr. Burns I brought in the whole family and would do the team up attacks and control 4 players at once (since just 1 joystick was needed per group and I have 2 arms). I think I'll add Simpsons Arcade Game to my "I have to beat it every time I go" routine. A new game for me was the Konami X-men Arcade Game, which is basically like the Simpsons and TMNT arcade games (side scroller beat em ups, bosses health is indicated based on how fast they blink, halfway through there's a double boss), but with X-men characters and a special "mutant ability" attack that uses health but is super strong. I played as Wolverine (because he's cool and got the most movies for better or worse), and beat that game as well. Really fun. I played Frogger and Burger Time after that, and a Cabela's light gun hunting game. I also played Klax at one point, a game I have for the NES. Unfortunately they had a fair number of games out of order this time, like I don't think the Area 51 game was working and I know Punch Out wasn't working. Oh well, it was still a pretty fun time.
Now for the big final event. We had a little trouble finding a seat even though we got there pretty early. We ended up sitting where the families sat and got front row seats again. It was really fun sitting so close. I'll share the pictures of the events later, but now it's time for some stories. Someone in the audience brought disposable film cameras (because retro or something) and wanted the gymnasts to take some pictures with it. I guess I forget how old I am because I'm watching these guys struggle to figure out how to use a disposable film camera, and everyone that I know knows how to use disposable film camera because we all had them on vacations. There was also one gymnast who climbed up the side of the bleacher wall and went to the bathroom or something up in the audience. Mskate and I are just sitting there and he pops up in front of us and climbs over the railing. I'm like "he-allo." When he came back I asked if he could sign something for us while he was up here with us. He said sure and signed the program. We also had Fred sign our sign for him, and he struggled a little to throw the sign back up at us.
With the events over it's time for the award ceremony. It was pretty fun watching everyone get their trophies, especially with everyone "standing high jumping" onto the podiums. All the awards were awarded by major Olympians and similar high profile people I didn't recognize (but mskate did). It's funny, one of the moms of the contestants was complaining about how long the ceremony was taking. After everything as we were walking out mskate wanted to get Khoi to sign a sign (since she also roots for him). We were walking out and he was just kind of hanging out, so we asked if he would sign the sign and he said he would, and because we got his attention another fan came up and asked for pictures. The great thing about the gymnasts are they all enjoy the minor fame they have right now (and likely won't have again), so they all are very appreciative of fans and will take time to engage.
We got back to the hotel and I could have went to the bar since there was still some time left in the night, but I was tired and I just wanted to watch Boomerang and surf the web. Normally I'd go into more details, but there's not much else to say, so I'll just go to Sunday now. We had continental breakfast and packed up the car for check out. As I said earlier, we were unsure if the cheese sauce would stay frozen, but the mini-fridge kept it frozen as did covering it in hotel ice for the trip home. We found a mass in downtown Columbus which went well. They were kind of old school and communion was given by mouth while kneeling down, only experienced that 2 other times so it was kind of neat. After mass we went to a restaurant thing that mskate and her mom went to when they were at figure skating nationals. It was kind of hard finding the parking structure since there was a lot of construction happening. There must have been a major event happening because the parking structure was going to be $20 for the day, but the restaurant place validates parking so it was cheaper. This place was pretty cool, it was basically a bunch of different little restaurant things of all sorts of different genres all in an open space, kind of like an open market. I ended up getting a barbecue bowl (rice and brisket), but then went to a Polish food place to get some food to satisfy my Polish heritage. Also, the people running it were immigrants and I had to say "I'm also Polish." The cashier guy that was taking my order didn't understand I was saying "I'm also Polish" when I told him my name (and I think I ended up accidentally flirting with him, lol), but the owner exclaimed "that's Polish, you're Polish." Also, the parking validation, it ended up making our parking free; we were expecting to maybe have to pay a couple dollars because normal fair was $4 for 2 hours and we were there only like 1 hour, but it was free. The only regret is that I didn't see the restaurant featured on Diners Drive Ins and Dives, and after checking out their menu I would have found something to eat. If/when we go back to Columbus we'll go here at least once and then I'll get the Triple D restaurant.
After that we just drove home and got ready for the week to come. It was a really fun time, and if the next place is going to be close enough again we'll go again (I think it's going to be at U of M, which is just a day trip for us). This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.
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