Oscar season is here and I have a job to do. Last year I was one of the winners of the Columbus Dispatch's Columbus Academy of Motion Pictures Pickers (CAMPP) contest. As a winner, I promised to see all the movies nominated in the major categories. Some movies I rented; some I saw for a bargain, and the rest I saw at a matinee price. I just received an email to see if I am interested in being part of CAMPP this year. You bet! I am lining up my strategy to figure out where to see the movies I haven't seen yet in time for my deadline.

Considering one reason I was picked for this contest is that I'm a movie fiend, if it's one thing I know , it's Columbus's theaters. Here are my favorites, but not necessarily in this order. Depending on my mood, depends on where I'll head.

Studio 35 Cinema and Draft House. I recently saw "The Queen" and "The Departed" here. Great movie going because you can order beer, wine and stellar pizza from Clintonville Pizza next door. I also like this place because it's a local business and it has a certain personality that can't possibly be matched by a commercial venture.

Carriage Place Movies 12 and also, The Screens at the Continent. – What can I say? They're cheap and the quality is not any less because they are movies for a bargain. The last movie I saw at The Continent was "Flushed Away" (not an award nominee). The last movie at Carriage Place was "Pirates of the Caribbean- Dead Man's Chest."

The Drexel Grandview or Drexel East. Who cares? The movies at either are usually high caliber and interesting. The last movie at the Drexel East? "The Oh in Ohio." In Bexley? I can't remember.

The Arena Grande- A winner for its easy to get to location, great seats, easy and cheap parking and the fact it helps pull folks downtown. There is a sense of importance about the place. Last year I went to the Academy Awards night here. The Academy Awards are broadcast live on a big screen, plus there's food, raffles and a contest to see who names the most winners. Proceeds go to charity.

With so many great movies out there to see, don't stay home. Head to a silver screen. If you go to a Drexel Theatres Group theater, pick up a free Movie Lovers Pass to earn points for free goods.

My very dear friend decided to join the Brown Aveda Institute, and I was more than happy to be the beneficiary of it. I don't know if you've ever been to either of the two Brown Aveda Institutes in Ohio (Rocky River and Mentor), but if you haven't and you can, you should go! But let me give you some advice:

1) Don't forget that these are students! Now these students are brilliant (I've been twice now and I've never seen anyone walk away with a bad hair cut or style), but here's something about students - they're nervous. When people are nervous, they tend to work more slowly. I love my stylist friend, but it took her four hours to cut my hair and three hours to dye it. Bless her heart, it looks phenomenal, but these kids aren't fast. Don't forget that! But the time is worth it. Plus, they'll bring you water, tea, coffee, magazines, and all sorts of other goodies.

Dublin, Ohio company Aquaice is attempting to build a business offering the millions of devoted bottled-water consumers the same purifed product in ice cube form.

Aquaice's product is the epitome of convenience. The water comes in trays individually wrapped into cubes. The customer need merely chill and serve. (Seems like the perfect use for an anti-microwave that would cool food quickly. Remember that you read this concept here first.)

The company is marketing this ice to restaurants, and recently got an infusion of venture capital to allow it to expand their marketing to retail. Aquaice can also be purchased online, $8.99 for 100 cubes.

The company is not without competitors, however. Icerocks, a similar product using spring water, is sold by the Water Bank of America (what an odd name!).

If you would rather spend a buck or two for bottled water than drink from the tap, you might want to check out Aquaice, because you know what ice cubes made with tap water convert to when exposed to heat?

Tap water.

Our state recently lost out as the site of an experimental coal-burning power plant designed to test new strategies for pollution control, partly because the state lacked sufficient information about our subsoil strata.

One of the primary pollutive elements from coal burning is carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas we pump by the cubic mile into the air for the enjoyment of our upstate New York neighbors. One strategy for cleansing the exhaust is to pump it deep underground into salt-rich rock and coal deposits or old oil and gas pockets where it would be trapped.

In an effort to catch up, Ohio has allocated $2.3 million to drill a 9,000 foot hole in the bedrock to begin gathering such information. The location of the Battelle Institute-directed project, called the Ohio Stratigraphic Borehole, will be a yet-unannounced spot in either mid-eastern or southeastern Ohio.

The project will help prepare the state for possible future restrictions on gas emissions. Ohio has room underground for an estimated 180 years of pollution storage.

Drilling is scheduled to begin soon, with results coming online later this year.

Morlocks?

I am so sorry, Blogging Ohio, but I have been involved with just a whirlwind of activity lately! This is what happens when you're a demi-wedding planner-assistant.

This past weekend, I accompanied my aunt on yet another bridal journey, this time, to Pat Catan's. Or, should I say, to Catan Fashions, the bridal gown, prom dress, special occasion dress, and mother of the bride outfit store that used to be part of Pat Catan's! Since we live near the Strongsville location, that's the one we went to, and it is enormous. The store used to be the entire Pat Catan's craft store, and now it is nothing but dresses. It is a sight to be seen! And we saw it all.

And I'm sad to say, this is the first time that I will deliver a slightly-less-than-glowing review. I have to got to say, the organization at Catan Fashions is not all it could be. Now, it was a Saturday, so we expected some busyness, but this was crazy. My aunt, my mom and I waited for almost an hour before a very pleasant young lady managed to help us. But because my aunt, my mom and I are ingenious individuals, we went about this a different way. Instead of waiting for the little bridal dress person to help us - we helped ourselves. We grabbed whatever dresses looked good to us, and tried them on! Quite a few wedding gowns, as well as some white prom dresses. Now, I don't want to diss Catan's too much, because they were quite helpful, and they had a huge selection. But, I've got to say, we were less than thrilled with the wait, and also less than thrilled with finding out that for an April wedding, we could get almost no dresses! Did you know that? Most wedding dresses take well over three months to be ordered. Terrible. But we muddled through, and Catan Fashions was a help.

Ohio is on the radar for puppy mills. It seems that the number of pet stores in Ohio is a possible indication that many dogs are forced bred in this state to produce the dogs that people want. Puppy mill dogs are a problem from what I've read and heard. Over bred dogs are unhealthy since their bodies don't recover between litters, plus dogs bred in a puppy mill may have more behavior issues and poorer health.

Since we're not exactly designer dog people, and we wanted a dog that was stellar in other ways, we took a tip from a woman I met who had a cute black Lab (I'm not sure if I'm a dog person at all,) and headed down to Vinton County to Camelot Puppy Sanctuary . We ended up picking out a terrier beagle mix. If you want your own Fido or Rover, go here. I was impressed by the unhurried approach when we were looking for our dog. Instead of thinking that we had to make a quick decision, we watched the dogs romp around the property's pond for an hour or so until our minds were made up.

At the sanctuary, there are always several dogs, mostly young ones, available. Check out the website to look at the dogs and then call ahead. The phone number is listed. We didn't plan on getting this particular dog type, but when we were among all the adoptable options, our dog picked us.

Camelot Puppy Sanctuary is a dog paradise of sorts. Run by two women who delight in saving abandoned dogs, the sanctuary is a wonderful option to consider when looking to expand your family. Reading the website descriptions is a lot of fun since each blurb captures a specific quality about each dog's personality.

The dog featured in the picture is Nickolas, a Laborador Retriever/terrier mix. Here is his description.

Here is an article about the puppy mill problem from an NBC channel wkyc.com.

The king of the urgency pitch, Burton 'Buddy' Kallick of Buddy's Carpet Barn passed away last week. For years, Buddy's smiling face and carnie voice were a fixture on Ohio television, offering carpet at what he would have us believe were astounding discounts. But only if we acted by Tuesday.

Kallick and his partner opened Buddy's Carpet Barn in 1983 near Dayton and over the next 20 years built it into a regional success. They sold the company in 2000, but Buddy remained as the pitchman through 2002 as they transitioned to the current spokeswoman.

In the age of MTV-style advertising, Buddy's ads harkened back to a time when advertising was unsophisticated, when the product, the seller and the sales proposition were simply presented. With his smile and conviction, Buddy was an iconic salesman straight from the 50's.

I hope he makes it to heaven by Tuesday, so he can take advantage of their specials.

Every Ohio politician makes job creation part of his platform, so he might be tempted to celebrate the Timken Company's plans to invest $60 milllion to expand their Canton steel plant.

Until they read that it will create 30 jobs.

in the 1980's, Timken, long the lifeblood of Stark County, built a state-of-the-art facility to make specialty steel. At the time, they were one of the largest employers of members of the United Steelworkers of America.

The new mill mechanized many jobs so that it could operate with a vastly reduced work force. Timken has apparently fine-tuned that process now to a proportion of one job for every $2 million.

This is great for shareholders, who not only make more money from the increased sales, but also own the capital, the robots making the steel. But it does little for the unemployed in Stark County. At one time, tens of thousands of Ohioans worked for Timken in Canton, Columbus and elsewhere. The number now is a small fraction of that.

The same holds true for employers such as Honda of America. Increased mechanization reduces costs, but as the requirement for manpower decreases, where shall Ohioans turn to earn the money to buy the products? Fast food restaurants?

Full disclosure: Both my father and I worked for Timken. Neither of us do now, and neither of us wishes we did.

Asimo, the human-shaped robot built by Honda, normally moves with grace and eerily human-like movement. Unfortunately, in this clip his strides are more like mine, and I have a reputation for falling over gnats.

The post office lines are picking up with folks looking to get a passport. If you have any plans to travel outside of Ohio, say to out of the country, even if it's to Canada, you need a passport. It seems every time I've gone to the post office lately, someone is processing his or her paperwork to get one. Not any post office will process the passport paperwork. In Ohio there are 368 locations. There is a link from the U.S. Passport Services to all the passport facilities in the U.S. Here is the link to those pages. On the drop down menu, you can plug in Ohio, or you can type in your zipcode. Also, here is a link to the Columbus Dispatch article that mentions the details of the passport rules.

Instead of going to the post office to get the application, then going back to mail it after it's filled out, you can download the application yourself from the same website.

Here is the good news. If you have forgotten to get one, and you plan to leave the country fairly quickly, you can pay to expedite the processing. We are proof that a passport application can be processed from your post office and the passport will arrive at your house in less than two weeks. I think it took 8 days to get the passport we needed. It worked out to be about double the cost if we had gone the regular route.

If you want some more help with this passport stuff and you happen to live in Central Ohio. There are U.S. Passport Fairs being held in the Columbus area on Friday and Saturday (19-20) Here is the link to that information. Bon voyage, but come back.

Bob Evans Restaurants show up a winner every time Ohio Magazine asks people to list their favorite best value restaurant. At least that happened when I was there. Once there was a rule that chains weren't to be nominated-just to give some other restaurants a chance to shine. No matter. People in Ohio are wild about Bob Evans. At least the folks who enter restaurant contests are.

As one reader stated, "You said no chains, but we go there all the time. The food is always good, as are the service and the prices."

I like Bob Evans myself, especially for breakfast--and recognizing that breakfast is one of its hallmarks, the chain has cooked up a different kind of contest itself. This one is on Ebay. People are bidding on a 3-day vacation and breakfast with Bob Evans himself. The neat thing about this, is that proceeds are gong to Habitat for Humanity.

What's the impetus for all this? With its roots firmly in Ohio, even though it's reaches are far outside the state's borders, Bob Evans Restaurants have a new item on the menu and their own blog, "One Stack at a Time." The blog is basically devoted to Stacked and Stuffed pancakes. Readers can add their favorite choices. There is also a video that shows how to make Stacked and Stuffed pancakes yourself. The listed favorite from the blog is roasted apple carmel cream. Here's a link to the press release about the contest and Bob Evans's new endeavors. Also, if you want to join in the auction, hurry. You only have two days left. This is a great opportunity to have an Ohio vacation and help charity as well.

Franklin the basset hound was a fixture in Matt Schwendiman's barber shop in Canal Fulton. Until the Man threw him out.

The Man (I have no idea if it was a man or woman, actually), in this case was an inspector from the Ohio State Barber Board. In reviewing the state laws covering barber shops (most of which deal with all the ways the state can charge the shop owners) I don't see dogs addressed. I presume Matt's Barber Shop must have been dinged for Franklin under the clause "Sanitize and maintain in a sanitary condition, all instruments and supplies."

Frankly, I'd much rather climb into a chair recently abandoned by a dog that some of the characters I've met in barbershops.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that Franklin has been given clearance to return to his post after almost a year of exile. Apparently, the board adopted a new rule allowing one dog per shop, provided the mutt has a vet's clean bill of health and the owner carries liability insurance.

I'm comforted to learn that the state is looking out for my tonsorial safety.

Some things I don't want to know too much about, including (in Twain's words) the making of law and sausages. However, if you are curious about the sanitation in your favorite dining establishment, the Columbus Board of Health inspection reports can give you the down and dirty.

The department is about start a new program in which restaurants will be required to color-coded signs indicating the findings of the most recent inspection. Green will indicate a clean slate, yellow for corrections needed, white for probation and red for restaurants shut down for violations. A blue sign indicates a place that has had no problems for at least a year.

I checked a few local restaurants at random, to get a sense of what the inspectors look for and how strictly they inspect. I was impressed by the detail of their work, and pleased with the results of their inspections.

For an example, I looked at a few recent inspections, (and understand these are not worse-cases; they are simply random choices, and all of the have satisfied these Health Department's concerns). Their reports:

The Cheesecake Factory: mid-priced casual dining at Easton Mall.
Soda guns soiled with mold inside. Cook used bare hands to put cheese on pasta. Garlic and oil at 65F, should be 41F or below.

Waffle House, Dublin-Granville Road: You know Waffle House!
Cook changed gloves without washing hands. Raw beef stored above sliced ham and cream in fridge. Can opener and prep sink dirty.

Pizza House, E. Lincoln Ave. Both carryout and in-house dining.
Raw eggs stored above soda in fridge, cheese stored too warm, lack of date-marking of sliced ham, food surfaces dirty, employees drinking from unlidded containers in kitchen, cook did not know proper way to cool foods, raw chicken and beef stored above bread, food prep with bare hands, salad stored in garbage can, dirty can opener, ice machine drainage improperly air gapped.

M- Perhaps the most upscale restaurant in town.
Partially eaten apple on cold prep table. Chef assembled mini-burger with bare hands. Mashed potatoes held for hours were not time-dated. Waiter didn't properly warn patron of the danger of under-cooked meat. Ice machine was soiled.

I am reassured both by the detailed inspection and the fairly mundane violations found.

There is a group of people in Central Ohio who recently have made other people's day in a fairly low-keyed way. Starting the middle of December they have: bought bicycles for people who need bicycles to go to work, given funds to a training program for young women in Guinea; funds to an AIDS organization in Ohio; bought chairs for an orphanage in India; gave money to Grandma's Attic, a charity organization that serves Appalachia, bought art supplies and more for an orphanage in Ghana, gave money to an orphanage in Bolivia, adopted an animal at the Columbus Zoo plus gave to a few more projects that I can't quite remember. These people have provided funds because they are Ohioans (or Ohio transplants) who have first-hand experience with seeing how a bit of money can make a huge difference.

The Central Ohioan Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Association (CORVA) members have seen all parts of the world among them. We're not talking the Club Med parts of the world, but the parts where the day to day things we take for granted like clean drinking water that comes from a pipe that goes all the way into our houses is unheard of. (Not every volunteer lives in a small village, but they've been there.) Because they lived in countries on grass-roots levels, these Ohioans know a thing or two about giving help when it's needed.

And where did the money they gave away come from? A lot of it came from watermelon. If you were one of the people who bought watermelon from the CORVA booth during ComFest, Thanks! If you missed the booth, look for it this coming June. Your watermelon purchase may help a person get a most needed bicycle. Check out Pedals for Progress.

Oh, and by the way. If you are interested in the Peace Corps, there is a Peace Corps recruiter at Ohio State University. The office serves the region, not just Ohio State students. The last week of March there is a recruiting event on the OSU campus.

Has anyone else read this story? I'm frankly pretty appalled. According to a few different newspapers now, Tashina Byrd (of Springfield, OH) and her boyfriend Brian O'Neill (of Columbus, OH) went to a Wal-Mart with a pharmacy in Columbus and asked at the pharmacy for the Plan B pill. According to Byrd, the attendant said that the store did stock the pill, but nobody would give it to them. Byrd has written Governor Ted Strickland, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Wal-Mart Watch. The pharmacist claims that he was right in refusing to fill the prescription. As of right now, Wal-Mart is investigating the incident, as are the other operations.

Without opening the door to a lot of arguing about birth control and abortions, etc., let's just acknowledge this fact. If the morning after pill (or Plan B pill) is now legally available, which it has been decreed as by the Food and Drug Administration, then it must be legally available. That is the only part of the story that I'm horrified about.