“Oh I Wanna Go Back To Ohio State…” And So I Did

(sidenote, for those of you not familiar with things such as “Sphinx” or “Skyline Chili”, some of the following might not make sense…hopefully the photos will help)

Right around my one-year out of country mark (early May) I took my long awaited and much anticipated trip back home to Ohio. I literally began planning this trip in July 2005 when I first found out I’d be leaving the states in May 2006. I knew I wanted to make it to OSU for the 100th anniversary of Sphinx and I also figured that one year out of country would be a good time to make it back. And so it was, two weeks in the States that was a whirlwind of emotions and a heck of a good time. After reuniting with my parents at the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport, the same place I had left them teary eyed (me moreso than them) one year earlier, we wasted no time in getting my most important task accomplished…going to Skyline. Oh how I had missed my Skyline. Even though Clifton Skyline did not have my trademark chocolate milk, I think I can safely say it was the most delicious three-way I have ever eaten. Keri Marsh even showed up at the restaurant to hang out and took this sweet picture. I try not to look at this too often because it makes me hungry.


The next morning I promptly abandoned my loving parents for a crazy weekend in Columbus and Cleveland. I felt extremely lucky to be able to see pretty much everyone I wanted to in Columbus that weekend, minus a few key players of course. Since my Grandpa Ranz and his brother Norb were both in Sphinx too when they were at OSU, it was a bit of a family reunion for us as well. Here are the three Ranz tried-links on Browning Amphitheater after the ceremony. In perfect Norb and George style, they were dressed exactly alike without planning it, without a doubt with all clothes they had gotten for free from “The Facility” (spoken with deepened Grampal voice), right down to the skivvies, I’m sure:

And here’s a shot with 3 generations of Ranz males:

It was a nice relaxed day at OSU, just like the good ‘ol days. Here’s a shot of Nathan and Kirk on the oval, enjoying the shade of the 5 brothers:


Then that night the party got rolling and of course included a 97 reunion at Mama’s Pasta & Brew and some Cuban cigars. Here are the four of us Goonies enjoying a good smoke. From left to right: Mouth, Chunk, Data & Mikey. (Please note our choice of t-shirts included both Catfish Biff’s and Ohio Wheelchair Games)

The big event that weekend of course was the Sphinx 100th Anniversary Banquet. As opposed to hearing more cracks about looking like the cavemen from the Geico commercials or Bigfoot, I decided to lose the beard and maybe put the hair under a little more control. Here’s what it looked like at least for a little bit:

Since the 97th class is so awesome, 22 out of 24 of us showed up for the banquet, with the other two in town but with other plans. Check us out:

We made it out to a nice place afterwards called The Elevator and it was like we never left Columbus. Here’s a good one with Frank and Jammers enjoying a few drinks:

And god bless Katy (Poth) Endsley for not only making one of my favorite foods (her mom’s cheesy potatoes) but actually bringing the dish to the bar to be consumed there. It was glorious.

As my time in Columbus came to a close and I frenzied to say goodbye to everyone, I managed to lock my keys in my car in the Holiday Inn parking lot. Luckily, Frank Sasso and his Real Estate & Finance degree were there to help. At first Frank began to make a non-chalant Triple-A phone call, but after a couple of rings, hung up and said “forget Triple-A. We’ll get these out ourselves.” And so here is Frank saving the day with a bent up hanger he had in his car. Mr. Sasso, I am in your debt.


Unfortunately, I have no photos of the following few days, which is a shame. From Columbus I drove up to Cleveland, Ohio to spend the day and evening with Ben and Mia Coleman. Ben Coleman was my roommate for 3 of my 5 years of college and I generally consider him my hetero-lifemate since we are so alike. Ben and Mia got married last July, a wedding that I was unfortunately unable to attend. So this was my first time seeing them actually married, which was exciting for me. They have a nice little apartment outside of Cleveland, complete with a parakeet. Cole surprised me and invited Doug Gillespie (another college roommate) up to hang out as well and we had a grand old time tooling around in Doug’s shiny new BMW while Doug rattled off all of its characteristics and we compared it to his old blue Tercel, which I think is for sale if anyone is interested. We had some Starbucks, bought some yummy non-Bolivian beer from World Market and then went out for a delicious dinner of crablegs at a place that I can’t remember the name of but was really freaking good. We spent the rest of the evening drinking the yummy beer and watching old movies from college and talking about “the good ol days.” Cole took the next day off of work and we spent the day playing “Scene It” and watching Back To the Future. We took a walk out to the beach and light-house near their apartment to get some fresh air as well. It was nice to get to see where they live, since I have only heard about it in emails. We hugged a goodbye, not exactly sure when or where the next time we’d see each other would be. Turns out he might make it down to visit sometime next year, which would be incredible.

From Cleveland I drove back home to Cincy, re-reuniting with my parents and seeing my sister and brother-in-law. We headed off to Hocking Hills for a few days, our trademark vacation spot. It was an excellent and relaxing three days filled with good conversations, excellent hikes, yummy food, pipe smoking, and my very pregnant sister not complaining one bit about all the walking. She did really great and it was good to actually see she was doing well rather than just people telling me about it. That sentiment pretty much goes for everything I did while I was home. I really don’t know why I didn’t take any pictures but oh well.

We made it back to Cincy and I was lucky enough to get to hang out with one of my oldest friends, Steph Woody. Steph and I have been tight since we met many years ago at Mr. Anderson’s cross country practice and Mr. Maginn’s Pre-Algebra class…seventh grade. We went and got some delicious Indian Food at Ambar and tooled around Clifton a bit, including a stop up on Mt. Storm park on a lovely Cincinnati evening. Steph had gotten married since I’d seen her last so I guess I should refer to her as Steph Goetz but it’s hard to say goodbye to a name like Woody. Anyway I was lucky enough to see both Mr. and Mrs. Goetz a couple of days later when we had an open house at my parents’ house. They live in Bloomington, Indiana where Steph teaches Spanish to college students and Jack spends his days in a lab doing very important and dangerous things which I will not delve into here because they are government secrets and Kirk will get in trouble if his old boss finds out Kirk knows me.

Friday was a day I had been looking forward to for a while. You see, every Friday during the summer, the greatest slow-pitch softball team takes the field at TCYO park in Miamitown. I am of course talking about the Yidiots. If you are ever in the area on a Friday, I suggest you make a stop to catch a game. Most of these guys are friends of my dad from high school or sons of his friends, as the team has now become a family affair. With my dad, myself, cousins and uncles, we Ranz’s now count for six of the roster. A lot of the family came down to watch the game as well, so it was good that we won. I didn’t even screw up too bad…I caught everything that came to me, got a couple of hits and even fell flat on my ass getting tug out at home, of course provoking heckles of “Yidiot!” from both the bench and the crowd. Afterwards we headed back to my Uncle Scott’s backyard, which he has converted into a little pub of his own, affectionately referred to as “Scottie’s,” where there was plenty of golden nectar as well as more Skyline Chili. I don’t think everyone knows this, but Skyline actually does catering for parties, and here’s what it looks like:

It was great to catch up with my cousins and the rest of the Cincinnati crew, and really great to eat all the skyline. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, food was a big part of my trip home. Here’s a shot of my cousins and me enjoying each other’s company:

From left they are Seth, me, Leslie and Shane. Being the closest in age, the four of us always managed to raise hell at family Christmas parties and camping trips and even managed to renovate a place called The Shack all those years ago. I really miss these guys, but Seth is planning a trip down here to visit me in a couple of months here, so that’s going to be sweet.

Saturday was my last full day in Ohio. My cousin Seth took me skeet-shooting for the first time, I cut most of the grass at my parents’ house getting ready for the open house and then had a grand old time talking with the rest of people I wanted to see while I was in Cincy, and even some die-hard fans who made the trip down from Columbus. It was a lovely end to a great trip. My parents took me to the airport to the next day to start the next adventure, which turned out to be later that day. The plan was to fly to Dallas-Ft. Worth, then to Miami, and then to Bolivia. Well it turns out there was weather in Dallas so we had to make an emergency landing to save fuel in Texarkana, Texas; which unbeknownst to me, actually exists in real life and not just in that movie Smokey and The Bandit. If you don’t believe me, here is a picture:

They even have free wireless internet at the Texarkana airport, which impressed me to no end. Well, to make a long story a little longer, I got to Dallas too late to make the connection and had to spend the night there, but I got on a flight the next night and arrived to Bolivia a day later than planned, but that’s just about right on-time by Bolivian standards. There was even a package waiting for me in the Peace Corps office, sent by Steph about 5 months prior. A little damaged (see below) but it made it. Thanks Steph!