Inside the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Olympian Brian Boitano

Taking place in January 2024 in Columbus, hear all about the U.S. Figure Skating Championships from famed Olympian Brian Boitano! He shares his excitement for the competition – and his role at the event – as well as his memories from his own days skating and all the amazing things to look forward to at the Championships in Columbus.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Live Fun of Experienced Columbuses. LiveForward Live podcast introduces you to a new
frontier of undiscovered possibility. Columbus isa city with an energy of its own.
Join Boxer, Kelsey and their guestsfor an insider's look at a destination

(00:24):
that invites visitors and locals alike toshare and explore. We'll go behind the
scenes of popular attractions, uncover bestkept secrets for things to see and do,
and meet people who embody what itmeans to live forward. Welcome back
to another episode of Live Forward,Live and Experienced Columbus podcast. I'm one
of your co hosts, Boxer alongwith Kelsey. Hello, I'm having a

(00:49):
flashback to nineteen eighty eight, thewinter. I'm in middle school. I'm
on my couch and I'm watching theBrian Wan get the gold medal and he's
right in front of us. Herehe is world champion gold figure skating,
metalist and restaurant tour among other things, and he's right in front of us

(01:12):
on this special episode. This isthe first podcast we've done where I could
use a xanax because I'm nervous,a little zanny. You guys are nervous
asking me about the South Park.I'm surprised you guys didn't have the song
when I was coming on list.I've heard that so many times. Put
it in the intro post exactly.Okay, you want to just go for

(01:34):
it, ask him, I would, Brian Boytano. Do I mean it
would come to Columbus Ohio? Ofcourse the figure skating Championships I know.
Oh my gosh. Yeah, takeus back to that time where you had
your own song on South Park.Oh my god. I was frightened when
I heard about it. Yeah,So you know, did you guys ever

(01:55):
see The Spirit of Christmas? Thatwas their five minute video that went round
like before they had like a movieor TV show, And so I didn't
really pay attention to it. Butall my friends who had jobs in studios
like, there's this thing going aroundabout you, like this animated thing,
and I'm like, oh whatever.And then finally my friend at one of
the studies goes, there's a moviecoming out with a song about you,
and I'm like, oh no,what are they gonna do? And when

(02:20):
I went to the movie theater,kind of sat in the back row with
a baseball hat on, and likemy thing came on and like the audience
was laughing. It was like apacked audience, like and I was like,
this is surreal. I'm like sittingin the back row watching people laugh
at this whole thing that's about me. And I'm like, but I'm like,
it's nice. They kind of mademe into a superhero. Yeah,
it'd have been a roast like mostSouth Park episodes. I mean, this

(02:42):
is like, what would you do? I mean, we we just we
go to you like Jesus. Yeah. Literally what I'm wondering too. You
know, you're a gold medalist,you know, world champion, all of
your accomplishments up until then. Whenyou saw that, did you think,
Okay, I've I've made it.Now I've officially made it. No.
I was like, you know,it was like kind of with the height

(03:05):
of my professional career, and soI was touring and I was busy doing
stuff, and I thought, oh, this will just blow over, and
but it didn't. It actually gainedand gained and gained because it went from
like movie theaters to then video rentalsand then then everybody knew it and everybody
saw it. So I realized aboutthree years in, Okay, this isn't
gonna go away. So I betterembrace it and just you know, go

(03:27):
run with it. So was thereever bracelets like ww BBD? Yeah,
there was things like that. Yeah, Okay, actually for a while,
I don't know if it's the storeis still up. I sold T shirts
with kind of my crazy face lookinglike what would Brian Boitano do for?
And so I had to get thepermission from those guys to actually use that
caption on a T shirt. Andthey were like kind of weird to ask

(03:51):
someone for permission about my own name, but they're like, as long as
you're doing it, like for charityor something, then it's okay. So
like I need to use what we'regoing my name? Yeah, okay.
Brian boys on It is with UsCaesar this week's guest on Live Forward,
Live and Experienced Columbus Podcast. Andof course it's been a while since we've

(04:11):
been to Columbus. This is abig thing right now because Columbus is hosting
the twenty twenty four US Figure SkatingChampionships. You're going to be back for
that. But the last time youwere in Columbus was how long ago?
I think twenty twenty years ago,so a lot has changed. Yeah,
I used to travel with a showcalled Champions on Ice, and we came

(04:31):
through Columbus. So we would dolike one year, we did ninety ninety
cities in five months. We'd doone night or so. We would go
from Cleveland one night, then we'dgo to Columbus the next night, and
then we'd go to Cincinnati the nextnight, and then we'd continue around the
nation, just doing like one nightor so. I didn't really have a
chance to see much of Columbus then, but I can already tell it's changed

(04:51):
so much since I was here,you know now, Like you need to
just take a weekend here, yeah, and joy the city. It's incredible.
Yeah, I'll have more time whenI come back in January because I'll
be here for the whole week.Yeah. Absolutely, So maybe you guys
can show me some of the goodthings we'd love to Are you kidding me?
Yeah, we'll take you on bythe way in your career as a

(05:15):
skater, do like like rock starsand and actors and do you also have
fans and maybe uber crazy fans too, No disrespect to them, but yeah,
oh yeah, I think what arethey called? Yeah? What do
you boy? Oh? My own? Yeah, your stands what are they

(05:36):
called. I don't know, weneed to make a name. Yeah,
like the boy to the boy that'sthe boy. Yeah, I don't know,
I just yeah. But they wouldfollow try they would follow. I
mean they would be you know,they would follow our buses like they would
line the stadiums. Come out fromthe bus and we'd have to go sign

(05:57):
autographs. They'd be out there andwe'd go out to the back door and
cynautographs and they'd be at the hotelswhen we came in at three o'clock in
the morning waiting for us and stuff. So yeah, yeah, it was
nice. We had a lot ofsupport. It was I mean, in
that time, skating was super popular. I mean it was number two to
NFL in viewership sport. It wasnumber two sport above basketball and baseball.
So we had a cast of reallygreat characters that were on the road with

(06:20):
us. So you know, itwas funny because even you know, like
the whole even not even the headlinerson our show, but the secondary and
third Dairy people were like recognized onthe streets. So we'd walk through airports
and there be like, oh mygod, there's you know this person and
that person and Surrey Boniley, andyou know, it's like every you know,
it's they would recognize everyone. Soit was kind of fun, fun

(06:41):
times. And this event that's comingto Columbus, Like, how excited should
we get? Really excited? Right? This is pretty special. This is
really special. I mean for thosein the audience that don't know the significance
or the importance of a national Championships, it's basically the top event for every
US figure skater. But also soit's one of the most important events in
the world because everybody watches US FigureSkating Championships to see who's going to be

(07:05):
our champions in the years. Inthe senior division, the top three will
go onto the World Championships and thenin the Olympic year it will serve as
our Olympic Trials, and so inOlympic year, the top people from this
event will go to the Olympics.So people are grooming themselves for three years

(07:25):
down the road when the Olympics areso they're sort of using this as gearing
up and you know, you know, making sure that they're on the right
trajectory for three years down the roadfor the Olympics. And even at the
lower like junior level, it's liketo get a national title is a benchmark.
It's a huge benchmark in any skater'scareer. Yeah, so it's a

(07:46):
really really important event. And youknow what I got to say. So
I did some events yesterday to promotethe first day of ticket sales, and
everybody is so excited to have ithere. They have wanted it in Columbus
for a very long time and wefinally made it here. But you can
tell when you go to a communitythat is passionate about having an event like
this, and I can tell thatit's going to be a great event,

(08:09):
and I can tell it's going tobe a great audience, and I think
that the building is going to justbe like packed and super lively. Oh
I can't wait. Not that it'sthe same, but we have our own
NHL team ice and skating in anarena, you know it just I think
it's kind of a cool like wayto take go from sports to the creative

(08:31):
art piece on the ice, youknow. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
What one thing Brian I have toask you is how did you go from
skating to a Food Network star?And then I guess it kind of makes
sense. You got into food andbeverage somewhere there was I kind of know,

(08:52):
but it's so I don't want tosay random, but it's it's different,
and you've become very successful at it. I say diverse it is because
who would have figured. But likeit was funny because after, like when
I was traveling after I stopped Olympiccompetition, I was the first one of
my friends who had like a realfull size kitchen because I bought a house

(09:13):
when I was young, and soall my friends would want to come over
there. And so when I washome from touring or doing TV specials or
whatever, I would invite all myfriends over and then we'd take turns,
like doing different recipes and making differentcocktails and trying different wines, and so
it became an experience. And thenfast forward, I had met one of
the skating producers. Had a friendwho was a producer at Food Network,

(09:37):
and I went to have a meetingbecause I had this idea for a Food
Network show that I would like kindof skate in these you know, famous
places that had outdoor rinks, andthat i'd meet up with chefs from famous
restaurants in that place. So Iwould go to Aspen and do a like
exhibition and aspen. Then I'd golike meet one of the chefs at the
famous restaurants and cook with them,and that would become a show. So

(09:58):
I met with a producer and he'slike, how about we drop the whole
skating thing and just do a foodthing. I'm like, oh my god,
most people want to add the skatingthing. I've never been asked to
drop it. So we shot apilot and Food Network liked it and they
bought it. So that led toa cookbook, and then that led to
me doing a guest spot on alot of cooking shows. So I was
on Hell's Kitchen and the owner ofthis boutique hotel brand called the Kindler saw

(10:22):
me on the on that and herealized that the audience that I had that
followed me skating is the type ofpeople that the demographic that he wanted into
the hotel. So he asked ifI would like to start Boitano's Lounges and
the Kindler brand, and I saidyes, And that's in Lincoln, Nebraska,
Lincoln, Nebraska, and we're breakingground in Kansas City, Missouri.
We have the building and we alreadyhave our building in Baltimore, So there

(10:45):
will be two more boutique hotels ontop of Lincoln, Nebraska. So is
boutique hotels kind of what you're lookingfor with under one hundred rooms. Yeah,
it's a boutique five star experience andyeah, the quality of the design
and everything. You guys got tocheck it out online. It's Kindler Kindler
hootel dot com. It's really it'sit's very posh, very beautiful. I

(11:09):
think we have some space here inColumbus for you. We have to if
you find like a historic building,be perfect because what we do is we
buy historic buildings and then the ownerbuilds on top of that, so it's
like not really modern on the topand then historic on the bottom. So
it's really cool and yeah, sorrysorry, but also you are going to

(11:31):
have your lounge at the Championships atNationwide Arena for us all to experience too,
right, Yes, we just scatteredit out yesterday, so we were
going all over the building going wheredo we want the lounge. So it's
been it's been really fun to dothis because I develop all the cocktails for
the lounge. I develop all thefood for the lounge. So it's nice

(11:54):
for the audience to have a placeto get away in between skating events,
because you know, when skaters,when people fans come into the building,
they can be there all day,Like it starts at like ten o'clock in
the morning until eleven o'clock at night, and so it's nice to be able
to go and feel like you're gettingaway from the building. And it's fun
because all the alumni comes into thelounge and it's it's just a fun way

(12:18):
to share the event with your friendsand fans. You know, just greet
the fans and they want a cocktail, and so I do like a whole
menu of cocktails, and so it'sgoing to be fun. We're gonna do
like a boozy root beer float andyeah, so we're like deciding what's going
to be on the list of funthings to do, and we're going to
do We're going to actually serve alllocal products cool. So that's great.

(12:39):
I want it. I told themyesterday. I want all the distilleries names
that are local because I want toserve all that. I want the ice
cream to be lovical. I wanteverything to be local. And there's a
local soda. I think that doeslike specific Sodas for ice cream pairings.
So yeah, we're Brian. Yousaid alumni. Who else is gonna be
in the lounge? Yeah, solike last year we had you know,

(13:01):
Christiamaguchi and who else was there.It was like it was you know a
lot of a lot of the peoplecame into the lounge. I don't know
who's coming to the National Championships thisyear, but certainly you know the famous
alumni that comes back. We hadPaul Wiley, I think Nancy Kerrigan was
there. So we have you know, they come in and hang out at
the end the lounge and so youknow if there, if we're between ice

(13:24):
cuts or skaters, you know,they just come in and hang out and
then go back out to watch theskating and come back in, you know.
So it's it's really a fun experiencefor everyone. Let me ask you
this. In your cell phone rightnow, do you have Scott Hamilton's phone
number? Yeah, you want tocall him? Yeah? I did this
thing. No, this is funny. This is funny. We did this

(13:46):
skit for US Figure Skating last yearwhere I facetimed people, and I guess
there was this thing going around thatyou FaceTime people and when they pick up,
You're like, oh, I gotto call you back, and then
you hang up on it. SoI had like the camera over my shoulder
and everyone that I called answered.I called Christy Amaguchi, I called like
Nancy Carrigan and I mean I calledall these Dorothy Hamill, It's like,

(14:09):
I'm calling all these people. I'mlike, they're all picking up and Christy's
like the hair was all was like, oh God, she's gonna kill me,
like you know, and they knew, they knew what was happening.
Nancy goes, I think you're doingthat trick that like, you know,
my son told me there's a trickwhere you hang up on people. I'm
like, I'll call you later.Clicks fans. What about Tanya Harding.

(14:33):
I haven't seen her since the Olympics. I have no idea. I have
no idea. The last time Isaw her was in Little Hammer Olympics at
the building and then that was thelast of it. When story, when
you get recognized in the street,Bryan, what's what's something that one of
the first things people say. Mostcommon thing they'll say, Well, they'll
either know me from skating or SouthPark. Okay, it depends on their

(14:56):
age, you know what I mean. They're like, you're the guy from
out park, like, yeah,yeah, I guess I am. It's
good. The Olympic gold skating metalistBrian Botano is with us and Brian,
what what have you observed in thepast since, especially since winning the gold
back in eighty eight to now speedfast forward twenty twenty three. What are

(15:18):
some of the things you've noticed thatmaybe changes in skating and the Olympics or
good bad. The thing that Inoticed that stays the same is the back
behind the scenes of the skaters gettingready and then the experience that they have
when they get on the ice.It's it's always a constant. It will

(15:39):
always be the same, that feelingthat you get backstage when they you know,
you're getting your skates on, you'recoming out of the locker room,
you're getting ready to get on theice, the lights are on, the
crowd is there, You're just likewaiting to have the door open for you
to get on for your six minutewarm up. That all maintains the same,

(16:00):
and it's such a pressure cooker.I mean, it really is.
It's so stressful and it's something thatyou have to gradually work yourself up to
like dealing with that kind of stress. But when you're out of it for
a while and then you go backinto it and you were back downstage with
the skaters as they're getting ready,you feel it again and you and a

(16:21):
lot of the times you're like,wow, how did I deal with that?
Talk about needing a zany? Right? Yeah, there goes that triple.
I don't care if I hit that. Brian? Can I ask can
you take us? Just because I'ma history not a fan of you.
Nineteen eighty eight, the Battle ofthe Brians, all that hype before you
got out on the ice, Whatwere you feeling, knowing what was at

(16:44):
stake here, how well you wantedto do? Were you I don't want
to ask the dumb question, wereyou nervous? But what were you thinking
about? Well? It's interesting becauseI always say I was nervous, but
I was more anticipatory because I knewI could do it, and I wanted
to get out there and do it. I wanted to be doing it right
then and there and doing it well. So but it's it's interesting. Your

(17:06):
mental preparation really comes into play.Like when they were announcing my name,
it's like all the people got offwarm up and they're like next to skate.
I had this little voice in myhead that came in, and I
was known as a very, veryconsistent skater. So this voice came in
my head and it goes, you'regonna blow it, and I'm like what,
And they're like announcing my name.I'm like, oh my god,
no, no, no, I'mnot going to blow it. And so

(17:27):
it was like this whole fight,this tug of war with this little voice.
Because at those times of importance,like in your whole career, I
mean, it was the most importantmoment in my life to be good.
And you know, it's like thatnegative voice some kind of times comes in
and you have to have the toolsin your tool belt to deal with it.

(17:48):
And so finally, by the timethe music started, I had like
used every tool I had in mytoolbox to like sort of calm it down,
and I got in a zone.And so if you stop any moment
of the video during that performance,I can tell you exactly what I was
thinking at that moment. I wascompletely completely in the zone, and I
felt like I was just in adream state. And I remember at certain

(18:10):
points going like, oh my god, I'm skating so well. That can't
be And so, in answer toyour question, when you finish a program,
when you've had this skate of yourlife at the most important point in
your life, it's almost surreal.You think to yourself, this can't be
happening because it's really just too goodfor any one person to experience. I'm
gonna cry, you know. Imean, because you think about Simone Biles

(18:32):
and your twisties and you know insports psychology, and and for you to
be able to push that out andget to that place that you know what
your potential is and then reach it. Yeah, wow, it's just such
a I mean, it sounds simple, it's so satis. It's such satisfaction.
It's like, you're like, nomatter what I do in the rest

(18:53):
of my life, I have thismoment that I was able to like fight
my way through this and have theperformance of my life with the most pressure
in my life. You know,it doesn't right, It doesn't sound like
like with other sporting events. Isthere any smack talk. There is smack
talk. There is times there issmack talk, but you're a leyer alone

(19:15):
a lot of the time, Sothe smack talk a lot of times comes
from your own head. Oh yeah, so it's there is a little bit,
but you know, honestly, Imean the people who talk smack at
an elite level of an athlete,it's bad on. I mean they're wasting
their energy. Because you guys areat an elite level, you know how
to deal with smack talk. Soit's more about them wasting their energy than

(19:37):
it is affecting you. Sure,if you let it affect you at that
level, then it's bad on.Right, Right, I was reading a
little bit about you know, you'restill capable of going out on the ice
and doing your jumps, but yourbody is like like like, you know,
you have the skill set and andyou're so in shape, but your

(20:00):
body ages terrible, right can It'shorrible, so ridiculous, cause your mind
tells your body to do something.You're like, I'm telling it to do
it, and it used to obeyme, right, and now it's like,
you know, like sand bags onyour ankles, sand bags on your
ankles and on your waist and onyour shoulders. It's like one hundred pounds

(20:21):
of sand bags and you're like,oh my god, how come I I'm
jumping under the ice. It's like, yeah, it's terrible, It's horrible.
Yeah, where do you keep yourgold medal? Just out of curiosity?
It used to be. I usedto keep it in my parents' safety
deposit box, and I finally movedthat, and it was just in the
last couple of years, and Ijust I, you know, I keep
it at home. I keep itat home in the safe and I I

(20:45):
brought it out like two nights agoto show this kid who came over who
was a friend of a friend thatwanted to see it. Yeah. I
never bring it out really, andI never travel with it. So but
I don't blame a special experience.Yeah, but it's my cost and my
skates are in the Smithsonian, Sothat's kind of read that I went to
go see him. I was gonnasay, did you go and see it?

(21:07):
Yeah? What was that like?To stare at your costume that's now
in a museum? Well and there, and so the skates are next to
the ruby red slippers, So I'mlike, are you kidding me? It's
not in the it's not in thesame case. Like the ruby red slippers
have their own case and mine's ina case mixed with other things, but
I'm like still, dang, okay, I'll take it. Oh my gosh,

(21:32):
by the way, one last thingon that gold medal. I can't
believe this year. It's thirty fiveyears. I know, thirty five years.
Crazy. Wow. Yeah, Andit's sometimes it feels like it was
yesterday. And to think of allthe life that I've had since then in
the professional career and doing all thatstuff and the different directions that I've gone,
it's been you know, it justfeels like, wow, that that

(21:53):
went really fast. Yeah. BrianBoyitato is our guest this week. I'm
Living Forward Live and you're into ColumbusPodcast. He's in town, of course,
prepping for January's US Figure Skating Championships. Brian, what are you hoping
attendees maybe for a first time orthey've been to these a few times take
away from this event in January thereFor those who haven't seen figure skating life,

(22:18):
it is a whole different ballgame.We I mean, if you've never
seen it live, you like onTV, the cameras kind of follow you
along the ice, so you don'tget a glimpse of the speed. The
speeds that we travel going into jumpsand like the pair teams like twenty miles
an hour going into a throw andthen the girls launched across the ice.
You feel the breeze that goes asthe skaters come by you. It's live

(22:40):
with the music, you feel thetension in the building. So to see
an event live is completely a differentanimal than seeing it on TV. So
what the people are going to experienceis just this magnetic energy and this incredible
you know, you can sense theathleticism in you know, with figure skating
and a lot of people, Ithink that when people watch the athleticism is

(23:04):
sometimes secondary, it's more the artisticthing. But really the thing that makes
it so athletic is that you haveto have that artistic element too, and
that makes it harder to be asathletic as you as you are. And
the guys now doing so many quadruples. I mean, we have our American
Champion is a kid that does Hedid the first triple a quadruple axle,

(23:26):
which is yea four and a halfrotations, so nobody does it except him
in the world. So if you'relooking for athleticism and men's skating, it's
going to be delivered at this nationalChampionships. That's incredible. Brian's in town
now to promote that. The ticketsare officially on sale and you can get
them at Figure Skatingcolumbus dot com.Absolutely right, Brian, real quick.

(23:51):
When it comes to skating, howimportant, how vital is the song that
you're skating to. That's an interestingquestion because a lot of the times you
have to choose a song that isn'tyour favorite song but will appeal to the
judges. So you have to takethat into consideration because a lot of people

(24:11):
make the mistake of choosing this songthat means so much to them, but
it's really lost on everybody else.So it really is a combination effort of
how to choose and find the songthat's right for you, between your coach,
your like the judges like that areoverseeing you, and the choreographer you
really need to It takes forever tofind the right song. I mean,

(24:33):
it's really hard to find the rightsong, but it is really important.
And here at Experience Columbus, we'reall about how we can live forward and
we like to ask our guests whatthey live for, So some might live
to amplify diverse voices live for flavor, new perspectives, thrilling experiences. Is

(24:55):
there something you would say you livefor. I think I live for person
connection. I love hanging out withfriends and creating. I think that's why
I got into the lounges too,because I love people having a great experience
and living a great experience. Andso I can provide that. When you
know people are sitting down, relaxingin a great environment, having a cocktail,

(25:18):
having food, socializing, I justlove that and I think that we
need more of that in our lives, and so I love providing that and
being part of that great By theway, in January, if we go
to that lounge, which I reallywant to favorite menu items we should try?
Oh well, I haven't come upwith the exact menu items yet.
Oh oh okay, so oh menuitems like food wise or yeah drinks.

(25:41):
So you're still developing the Yeah,okay, I think I think that one
of the we served last night atthe pre Things so I did. I
do one called Strawberry Feels Forever.It's a strawberry peppercorn, sage syrup,
fresh strawberry, and then I doa lime a little chin which is jalapino
and a lime cordial with tequila.It's kind of and my version of like

(26:07):
a margarita but a little bit steppedup. Yeah. So we do all
you know, original like homemade ingredientsand yeah, and we're gonna have like
mixologists on staff and serving a whole. Also, what's your favorite spirit?
What's your go to spirit? Oh? Gosh, it depends on my mood.
Liquor wine. Do you like bourbon? Yeah? Oh yeah, yeah.

(26:27):
So I do this one called goldRush where I smoke the glass with
dried rosemary, and then I dochili chili salt rim and then I mix
it. I mix, you know, I do bourbon and a honey syrup
and lime in the smoked glass,and that's one of our most popular ones
at the hotel. And then Ido last night, I was serving a

(26:48):
grapefruit martini that we infuse the vodkawith grapefruit peel, so it's really you
know, we do it all ourselves. And then fresh squeeze grapefruit juice and
then a rose simple syrup, sorose flavored simple syrup and the glass is
like rimmed with like crushed roses andsugar. So did you grow up like

(27:10):
mixing cocktails and cooking and all thisstuff. Not really, but my aunt,
my great aunt was an amazing entertainer, so she had all the glass
where you know, like all thecocktail glasses, all the little, you
know, plates for serving, justanything that had to do with entertaining.
My great aunt had everything. Soit kind of inspired me to continue the

(27:30):
tradition that my great aunt and mygrandmother had for all those years. And
that's I think probably one of thereasons that I like. And I'm actually
writing a cocktail book now. Oh, I certainly could do that. After
what you just described, the rosepetal, I want some. I want
some of that. Brian. Thishas been such a treat that we appreciate

(27:53):
your time so much. And whenyou come back at January for the skating
Championships, Kelsey and I would loveto take you around town paint the town.
That'd be great. That'd be alot of fun, And I do
hope you guys let's do another showfrom the Boitanos Lounge when we get wouldn't
it be fun? Absolutely Olympic goldMedalist, World Champion, pop culture icon

(28:15):
with South Park, you name it, he's right here. Brian Boytono,
thanks so much for your time,appreciate it. Thanks, good seeing you
guys. I'll see in January.Hey you live fun. Thanks for listening
to Experience columbuses Live for Live.For this podcast and others, go to

(28:37):
experiencecolumbus dot com