William Henry Harrison's Tomb

William Henry Harrison was the 9th President of the United States. A member of the Whig party. Abraham Lincoln actually campaigned for him. During his campaign people came to believe that he lived in a log cabin and drank hard cider. The truth is that he grew up on a plantation in the south and really didn't like drinking that much.

Harrison is mostly remembered for being the first president to die in office and also had the shortest term (30 days). People back then blamed his death on the fact he gave the longest inaugural address (2 hours) in a snow storm without a coat. He died of pneumonia. Now people are starting to blame overly excited doctors for his death. They tried to cure him by giving him opium and putting leeches on him. Yay Leeches!

I could go on about good ole William, but I will stop. I don't want this to become a history report. William Henry Harrison was a rather interesting character. I am not going to say that he held a lot of promise. During that time frame the president really couldn't do much. I mean honestly after the first five presidents how many can you name before Lincoln?

But then again, who am I to say he wouldn't have changed the course of the U.S. history? I can't help but think "What if?" when I think of William Henry Harrison.

And it is with that in mind that I visited his tomb. The location of his memorial is actually very strange to me. It is in North Bend, Ohio. Most of you may have visited it before. Apparently I did when I was in grade school, but I don't remember.

You can kind of see it off of Route 50. Just a tall pillar. I was thinking my visit to the place would be about 20 minutes. However, after I got there I felt compelled to stay. First off, for not being president for very long the walk up to it is rather intimidating. Case in point, the picture to the right.

Also there are a good number of placards full of information about the area. Apparently Harrison's father in-law had planned for there to be a huge city there. His dream never came to fruition. Again a huge "What if?" pops up in my mind. What if that area became larger than Cincinnati? What if instead of the surrounding area being a highway and some rather interesting houses it was a metropolis? How different would things be? I think of Butterfly Effect and A Sound of Thunder. I can't help but ask, "Would there be a flying car now had that happened?" Probably not. Still, a girl can dream.

I was truly surprised. As I was walking up I felt the same kind of calm and resonance I felt when visiting many of the memorials in D.C. The landscape is very clean, though there was some evidence of vandalism.

Inside the tomb is Harrison, his wife and one of his 10 children. Apparently one of his sons got placed inside the tomb after grave robbers kidnapped his body and took it to a local medical university.

I tried to look into the window to see if I could find his coffin. But I only did so briefly, and all I saw was a podium with a very modern binder on it. I honestly couldn't stay close to the fence long because I was afraid zombie/mummy Harrison would jump up and scare me. Had someone been with me I probably would have manned up and looked longer. Without a person there to prove I am tough to, I chickened out.

Like I said before, I was expecting this to be a quick trip. I never really felt compelled to visit there before. Harrison at this point is more used as a joke. His campaign was silly, and his military and political career is pretty full of taking advantage of Native Americans. This was suppose to be an easy first new thing to do. But still I can't help think, "What if?" I want to go back. I feel like I have to.


When you walk up to the memorial it states that it is the burial place of the first president to have resided in Ohio. He is the president of many firsts per days in office. This memorial was erected to commemorate his life and accomplishments. I feel though that it really is a memorial for his dream that could have been.

I will probably go back there soon. Not just to visit Harrison's tomb. There is also a cemetery just up the way that has a train car in it. How could I pass that up?

A new dea

No I didn't spell that wrong. Magically I have adopted the speech of my niece and nephew.
They always seem to have what they like to call new deas. New deas on how to play games. New deas on what to do, and so forth. A lot of the time I have noticed that their new deas are cooler than my ideas. So deas it is.

I have a new dea. It is simple. Try something new.

The reason I say this is I seem to have gotten caught in a rut. For one, I am not really all that happy. I could blab about the unfairness of life and the economy. However, I think that makes me sound like a teenager and in all fairness my life up to this point hasn't been that hard. I mean yeah my ideal job kind of went out the window. I went to college for no apparent reason, and the economy sucks but everyone, for the most part, in my generation is going through that.

My happiness quota seems to be going unfilled mostly because of lack of purpose. I have no idea what to do or really what I want out of life. For the longest time purpose and reasoning were tied to school. Get through school and get to the next stage. After two years of being graduated, and carrying around a paper that says "Hey, I am kind of smart," I still have no idea what that next stage is. I'd hate to tie my anchor of who I am to my job, but then again why did I define myself by going to school in the first place? This is a question that I need answered.

Secondly, I tend to do the same thing all the time. Which isn't always a bad thing. If a place is nice, why shouldn't it earn my patronage? Still I feel by constantly subscribing to this very westside of Cincinnati mentality I am missing out on a boat load of interesting opportunities. Maybe not always great experiences, but stories all the same.

Thirdly, I really don't know myself which for the longest time I've held as a reason not to get to know other people. I always thought that if I didn't know who I was why should I lug other people with me. Grant it, some really cool people stuck by my side through all these years. I think it is because of my cooking ;-) I am going to confess, I purposely close people out. That sounds mean, it is really more of a subconscious thing. Still, I do it.

So for these three reasons I've decided to have a new dea. I'm going to try at least three new things a week. The reason I am documenting it is because I want to be held accountable. I know myself well enough to know that if no one else knows that I trying to do it, I won't. Case in point the only reason I quit smoking was because Allison knew I was trying. One of the reasons I have never finished writing a novel is because I usually never tell anyone about them. So accountability is huge for me.

I've also decided that ground rules should probably be put down.

First off the definition of a New Thing is as follows: Some thing I have never done, tried, ate, scene, **insert action word** ever or within the last ten years. I am putting in the ten years rule because 16 year old me is loads different from now me and a lot can change in ten years with places. Example Six Flags Louisville. The thought of which always makes me sad.

Rule one: Only one new thing per day. This will keep me from being overly ambitious and burning out.

Rule two: The number of food related new things can never be less than or exceed the number 1.
  (If this rule didn't exist I know I would cheat and just make a new dish 3 nights a week. That defeats the purpose of this challenge.)

Rule three: One new thing every week must take me a little out of my comfort zone. This might be a little harder to gage but it is worth listing.

Rule four: Only two new things can be done Friday- Sunday.

Rule five: Talk to at least one new person per week during a new thing (waiters and service people do not count).

So I am declaring the next 52 weeks my New Dea Challenge. By this time next year I will have written about 156 stories about what I have done. I may die of embarassement, shame, or fear. At this point though., if I don't accomplish this goal I will just be disappointed. My disappoint I hope will outway the previously listed three and keep me motivated. So that will be my punishment I guess if I don't succeed. Serious disapppoint and one less story to share.

So, I guess wish me luck. I will be keeping a regular chronical of all of my new things here. If you have any thoughts on items I should try let me know. I am open for suggestions.