C.E.M.M. Racers

Congratulations!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:03:00 +0000

We would like to congratulate the Justice League for being the winners of the first leg of the Amazing Race. Please accept our first place trophy and good luck on Leg #2.

Ken Maynard

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:51:00 +0000

Our Andy Mann Challenge was "What Western actor was born in Vevay, IN and raised in Columbus?" After a quick help from Google and the IMDB, we found that actor to be Ken Maynard. Ken was the first singing cowboy in the movies and was famous for the stunts he could perform with his horse, Tarzan. Ken started his career with Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and the Ringling Brothers.

Ken was born Kenneth Olin Maynard in Vevay, Indiana, which is just along the Ohio River, West of Cincinnati. When he was 3, he moved to the corner of 10th and Wilson Streets in Columbus, IN. He lived here in Columbus for 13 years before leaving for the Wild West Show. His 13 years in Columbus until he was 16, were mostly spent riding horses and honing his equestrian skills. He later joined the Army during WWI and was a champion rodeo rider.

The legacy of Ken is long and rich, and full of rumors and stories. He starred in many, many movies and was a true pioneer. He is a person Columbus should be very proud to have brought up.

Do you know who's driving your bus?

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:27:00 +0000

On July 10th, Chris and I decided to check out the CYP Who's Driving Your Bus Seminar at City Hall. John Goll taught us that everyone drives their own bus and that the first three rows of your bus are the personalities that you want to show the world and that the rest of the rows are where you hide your "other" personalities. The 4 personality traits discussed were the king / soverign, the lover, the magician & the warrior and that everyone has a little bit of each of these in them. John did a great job explaining each the 4 personalities and really made us think about our personality traits.
http://www.johngoll.com/

Mill Race Tower of Terror...nah, just kidding!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:34:00 +0000

After the Seven Wonders of Columbus tour, we decided to head over to the Clock Tower at Mill Race Park. This 84 foot tower boasts 131 steps from the bottom to the top. And once you get to the top it has the best view of Columbus. It also has an elevator that at one time in history actually worked. Once we got to the top, Chris decided to be a little more daring than his wife liked....check it out!!

The Greek Goddess

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:50:00 +0000

Eos is known in Greek mythology as the Titan Goddess of Dawn. Her brother was known as the sun and her sister was known as the moon. This beautiful statue, sitting in between the COB parking lot and the Indigo Hotel on 5th Street, was purchased from the statue's artist Dessa Kirk by two individuals determined to keep her here in Columbus. After several fund raisers, the task was accomplished and Eos became the property of Columbus. I remember when I first saw her...I was "amazed" at her beauty. I just sat and stared at her. She look so real that I honestly thought she was one of those "life-like" statues.

Thanks to everyone that helped keep her here. She is truly magnificent.

How'd They Do That?

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:37:00 +0000

Saturday after the 7 Wonders tour, our team decided to check on the globe on water located at the Columbus Learning Center. We've seen one just like this only larger down in Gatlinburg. It's truly "amazing" to see how this large piece of rock just floats on so little bit of water. We completely stopped it and soon it started spinning again. After seeing this, it's not hard to understand how much damage the recent floods caused. It also makes us understand how the large one ton statue in Mill Race Park floated away. Water, even just a little bit, can be very powerful. Check out the photo of Chris acting like he's laying a globe.

SWIRLY!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:17:00 +0000

After the long, hot tour, Matt had a bad case of the whines. So Erin, Michelle, and Chris coaxed him into the KidsCommons to get "cooled off." As you can see from the picture, he left wetter than when he got there. On a serious note though, no one on our team had actually been into the KidsCommons. Upon entering, we realized what a huge mistake that has been. To be a kid again, that place would have been so cool. We got to play with large bubbles, balls going through vacuum pipes, finger paints, and so many other things. It was really a neat place to visit, that should not be passed up.

7 Wonders! (Though there's TONS more)

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:13:00 +0000

After skating, we decided to go and do what everyone does on a hot day, go and get a bite to eat and some ice cream. That cooled us off for our next challenge, the Columbus Visitors Center 7 Wonders Tour. And even though it was a very hot day, we enjoyed the tour tremendously. Thanks to our wonderful tour guide and the other racers for enduring the heat with us. Check out some of our photos from the tour.

Please don't stop the music.....

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:00:00 +0000

The title of this post pertains to the song heard at Columbus Skate Land, that was then imprinted into the brains of Matt and Michelle for the remainder of the day. On Saturday, a lot of teams decided to get together and go skating. Chris and Michelle threw on their 'blades and flew around the circle, skating forwards, backwards, and doing backflips (ok, maybe not that far). Erin and Matt however, looked more like a newborn deer trying to find their legs. But, they got better as the day went on and managed not to fall and break anything. We saw the Red Bull Addicts, Cummins+1 Cruisin' Columbus, the TriTans, and other racers. The CEMM Racers were having such a good time, we got a little too friendly and apparently broke rule #7. And that rink official was all over us blowing his whistle. We had a fantastic time!

Rockin the Park...CEMM Style!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:47:00 +0000

On a beautiful, HOT day, the CEMM racers spent their early evening helping out with the Mill Race Rock the Park. We got our assignments from Shana and headed to our posts. We worked in teams of 2 on opposite sides of the park doing security and "beer monitoring". We could not allow anyone without a bracelet in, and couldn't let those frosty brews out. Overall, Shana said we did a very good job on our shift. Erin and Michelle even had to get a little "Hulk Hogan" on an unruly and rude guest. But they handled themselves very well and a great time was had by all. The Why Store was fantastic! Matt was a big fan. And even though we didn't know the Bodeans very well, we enjoyed them thoroughly. It was also nice to see the Red Bull Addicts come and say hello, before relieving Matt and Chris. And Michelle and Erin got to hang out with the TriTans.

Finger Lickin' Chikin'

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:33:00 +0000

Our time volunteering out at the Bartholomew County Fair was a fantastic one! Michelle and Chris started out by shucking ears among ears of corn, and Erin and Matt power washed the patio and squeegeed it before the lunch rush. As lunch began, Michelle and Erin served Chicken, Tomatoes, Rolls, and Corn on the Cob with fellow Amazing Racers, The Newshounds. Matt and Chris were left with the dirty work during lunch to bus and clean the tables. After the lunch rush, Chris and Matt gave a good effort for Kiwanis to walk around the fair to take orders for delivery. Though we did not receive any orders, we got an A for effort. And on a side note, Happy 24th Birthday to Matt, way to get the birthday going with a good deed!

"Born In The U.S.A."

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Our second challenge was to attend the Q-mix musical fireworks party out at the airport. CYP had special seating located out at the CEDC. We loaded up our coolers, our chairs, our fireworks, and our bocce ball set. When we got there, we parked next to a nice grassy area - perfect for playing bocce ball. This time Chris and I challenged Matt & Erin. Thinking that because we've played several times, we were sure to beat those two. But guess what? They beat us. Pretty soon, some other Amazing Racers approached us wanting to play as well. Soon, we had more than 20 people playing. We lined up several people on different sides of the yard and played bocce ball like I've never played before. It was very cool though and A LOT of fun. First we played where our team member was on the opposite side of the field and the first team to 5 won. The next game, we played one side against the other but the opposing team got to throw the target ball wherever they wanted and the other team had to throw their ball as close to the target as possible. It became very challenging when our side decided to place the target ball right in front of us and put a basket behind it. The person from the opposite side to throw their ball and have it land in the basket got additional points. Several came close, but only one was actually able to complete the task. It was awesome!!
The fun was cut short though when some other people on the premises decided to continue lighting off fireworks in our direction. One of them actually hit Matt in the legs and several others came very close to hitting some of the others. We decided it wasn't worth having an eye taken out so we decided to stop playing.

We then decided to try something a little different with sparklers. We wanted to show everyone who we are, so we spelled out C.E.M.M. It took a few tries and several laughs, but we finally got it. Check it out...

Our first challenge!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:50:00 +0000

Right out of the gate, we had our first challenge to complete. It was a challenge of networking with other people from the Amazing Race. We were invited to attend a party at the Hege farm on 46E. We were asked to bring a side dish, but when we got there we realized that not many other people brought anything so we decided to leave ours in the truck. After watching a few people take on the Corn Hole game, we decided to give it a try. It was guys against the girls and did we get schooled. After a few close calls of me throwing it too far and almost taking out a few other people and the guys beating us by who knows how many points (how do you keep score on this game anyway?), we decided to call it quits.
Chris met a new friend...a small white pony that loved attention. It was so determined to get Chris to pay attention to it that it started kicking the fence. I don't think we ever learned it's name, but he sure was a cute little guy. Then we watched the goats on the farm and noticed that most of them were limping. I just chalked it up to a special variety of goats called "limping goats", kind of like the fainting goats. We never found out why they were doing that so if someone knows, I'd be interested in knowing. We got to spend some time with the gals of the Justice League. And the band...well they rocked. Check us out down on the farm....

Welcome!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sea Shell) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:12:00 +0000

Hello and welcome to the adventures of the C.E.M.M. racers. We are a group of volleyball playing, motorcycle riding, looking for the next wild thing kids. Matt, Chris and I all work together at Dorel. Chris and I have been married for about 1.5 years and still consider ourselves newly weds. Matt and Erin have been dating for just over one year. We met Matt through work and met Erin through Matt.

Our Amazing Race began on June 26th at City Hall. Unfortunately, I was not able to be there as I was on a business trip in Ontario, CA., I heard it was a scorcher that night. The team rec'd the rules and challenges and we were ready, set, go!!! Because or team wasn't complete that night, we weren't able to get a full team picture but the Republic was gracious enough to feature us the next day on the front page. You may have had to squint, but hey...it's still the front page none-the-less.