With the new site being launched, I've got a little more free time on my hands now, so I thought I'd start a little segment called "Things I Think Rock".  These posts will be related to photography things (artists I enjoy, equipment/gadgets I dig, killer services/solutions, etc.) and non-photography things that I think, well, rock.  Really I was just hanging out in the kitchen yesterday makin' myself a smoothie when the perfect trifecta serendipitously melded into a single, glorious object of awesomenicity right in front of my eyes... that's when I knew there was no better time to start this new segment.  I mean, c'mon, a 3-for-1 in the first episode?  Seriously?  It was meant to be. And so, in this inaugural Things I Think Rock post, I give you Ohio State, smoothies, and Tervis Tumblers.  It's a lot to take in, I know.  Take a second to wrap your head around those 3 crazy three things.  There you go.  Are we ready to move on with the rest of this post now?  Good.

The first thing on my list today is Ohio State.  I won't take much time to cover this because anyone that's been following the blog for very long knows I think Ohio State is the 9th Wonder of the World.  There's a lot of worthy competitors battling it out for the 8th spot, so I skipped that one altogether and went for the 9th.  Genius, I know... arguably only an OSU alumni would've thought of such a strategy. Having graduated from Ohio State, some may call me biased.  To those people I say get your own Things You Think Rock segment.  A Buckeye I will be until my time is up on this earth... no matter how many times we go to the college football national championship game only to get pummeled by [insert any SEC team here].  Some say that's embarassing.  I say I'd rather they keep making it to the championship and losing then never making it there at all.  Just ask the 1990's Buffalo Bills.  Who's with me? In all seriousness (if I can muster any), being a member of the Buckeye family is a pretty cool gig.  It's amazing that I can be literally anywhere in the world (it's happened in China and Europe) and when I say "O-H!" to another stranger wearing Buckeye paraphernalia, if they're true Buckeye alumni or fans, I get an "I-O!" shout out in return.  Guess I'm glad I didn't go to Mississippi State or some other univerity with a long name I can only sometimes spell.  Can you imagine?  "M-I-S-S-I!"... "S-S-I-P-P-I!"  Ridiculous.

Next up is the smoothie.  There's not a lot of things I'm good at making in the kitchen, but I make a pretty mean smoothie if I do say so myself.  And there's nothing better than a sweet, fruity, mostly-good-for-you, semi-frozen smoothie treat on a hot summer day... unless I'm near that snow cone place down the street; that's pretty good, too.  I digress, though.  What's my recipe, you ask?  Here's my favorite concoction: 1 handful frozen strawberries 1 handful frozen raspberry/blackberry/blueberry mixture 1 6oz container of raspberry pomegranate yogurt 1 half of a banana 1 cup (maybe a little more) apple juice. Pay attention, here's the tricky part.  Slap it all together in the blender, crank it on high, and in about 2 minutes you'll have heaven in a cup.  You can thank me later.

And finally, the 3rd spot in this segment of Things I Think Rock is occupied by the Tervis Tumbler.  The next time someone asks me that pie in the sky question about "If you could have dinner with any one person in the world, dead or alive, who would you choose?", I'm not wasting my answer on the usual supspects like Abe Lincoln, Elvis Presley, Michael Jordan or Fabio.  I'm pushing the boundaries and choosing 2 people - Frank Cotter and G Howlett Davis, the 2 guys who invented these molded plastic miracles that keep your cold drinks colder (and no glass sweating!) and your hot drinks hotter.  BTW, if you're wondering how they came up with the name "Tervis Tumbler", they combined the last 3 letters of their last names.  Now go on out and claim a Trivial Pursuit pie wedge with your new piece of knowledge.  Again, you can thank me later. Kylie and i have recently started running out of room in the cupboard that holds the glasses in the kitchen as we've recently been building quite the collection of "M", "K", Colts and Buckeyes tumblers.  If you ever stop by the house, especially if you're bearing gifts, we'll treat you to the Tervis experience.