2014 Moratorium

It doesn't seem fair to do a moratorium in a year I'm still living in, if just for a few more hours, but I felt the urge to scribble a post.

2014 had a lot of good moments. It was a kind of relief from everything that had happened over the previous two years between Matt's mom dying and losing our dogs, Buddy and Zak.

Accomplishments: This one is not my own but I consider it a pretty major deal that Matt not only completed his Bachelor's Degree through Houghton College but he maintained a 4.0 the entire time!

Matt and I also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in July. It doesn't really seem like it has been 10 years!

Travel:

• Four-day trip to Washington D.C. in March to see our friends, Brian & Tim as well as getting to see M. (long time friend and shenanigans associate) and Brandy (Jamestown transplant)
• Overnight to Cleveland, OH in May to take part in an alumni orchestra rehearsal at Baldwin-Wallace under Dwight Oltman's baton one last time. Saw many old friends.
• 10th Wedding Anniversary trip to Burlington, VT with a day trip to Montreal in September to finally meet Maurice.
• plus numerous trips to Rochester, Buffalo, and Erie, PA.

Books: I read at least 15 books according to a scan of my Goodreads list in 2014, which is a marked increase from recent years.

Movies: Between Netflix, movies at The Reg, and our local theatre chain, we saw some good flicks including The Monuments Men, The Way Way Back, We Are The Best!, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Le Week-End, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Frozen, Mrs. Brown, A Single Man, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, The Trip, Funny Face, Slacker, New York, I Love You; Coffee & Cigarettes, Don Jon, Blue Is The Warmest Color, Geography Club, and The Interview.

Music: My top ten artists according to last.fm for 2014 have a lot of overlap when you consider that Johnny Marr and Morrissey both were part of The Smiths and Adam Schlesinger is writing/singing/performing songs for both Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy.

1. Fountains Of Wayne (132 plays)
2. U2 (126 plays)
3. Morrissey (99 plays)
4. Taylor Swift (62 plays)
5. The Smiths (59 plays)
6. Ladyhawk (52 plays)
7. Enya (51 plays)
8. XTC (48 plays)
9. Johnny Marr (47 plays)
10. Ivy (44 plays)

Violining: My violin was attached to my neck most of this Fall but for overall ensembles/concerts that I performed with this year, I offer this:

• March - "Annie Get Your Gun" at Falconer High School
• May - Jamestown Area Community Orchestra Spring concert at Jamestown High School
• October - Jamestown Area Community Orchestra Fall Concert
• November - "Les Miserables" at Jamestown Community College
• December - The Living Christmas Tree at First Covenant Church

Random Bits: I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in October and have been on medications since that seem to have stabilized my levels so far. Matt made the decision in 2014 to get Lasik surgery on his eyes, but that won't happen until 2015. We bought a fancy, new convection oven, 5-burner gas stove in December after another pecan pie filling failure on Thanksgiving. I also bought a Pono device after buying Neil Young's pitch hook/line/sinker. It really does have great sound quality although I will admit I'm still mad at Apple for discontinuing the iPod Classic as that probably would have been my music player replacement for my iPod Touch, which is old and doesn't hold nearly enough music for my liking.

Looking Ahead to 2015: Who knows what could happen? It's going to be a year of some change with my office being moved to City Hall, Matt being able to see without glasses, and the fact that it's an election year for our Mayor. I've never been a fan of resolutions because they're far too easy to break, but I'm hoping that we go into 2015 with an open mind and patience for what lies ahead.

Tipping The Hat To Summer 2012

While there are actual seasons blowing in and shining down, the constant pace of my life has hardly seen a break in years. But seasons come and go regardless of whether I'm occupied or not.

This summer..

- We hosted this year's "Cousins Weekend" which saw the arrival of cousins from Albany and Boston, aunt from Buffalo, and my parents from Rochester to our house. Somehow in just a weekend, we visited Southern Tier Brewing Company, Panama Rocks, Bemus Point, Chautauqua Institution, Forte, Lily Dale, and Dunkirk. It was a bit of a whirlwind for me as the host but I was so glad to see everyone!

- My parents came down to visit a couple times to help with some household improvements and to celebrate Father's Day. My grandmother came the latter visit and we had fun going to the Yassou! Festival and finding bargains at some of the local thrift shops.

- Matt and I worked on some household projects. The downstairs bathroom saw a makeover with the old vanity being ripped out, new flooring being put down, a new-to-us toilet being installed, new lighting, a pedestal sink, and wainscoting installed on the walls. The room still needs a final bit of wainscoting and a final paint job before accessory installation can happen.

- I finally got to see Fountains Of Wayne, for free even, as part of Buffalo's Thursdays In The Harbor. It was a wonderful show even though there were only a handful of us who were familiar with a greater range of their songs beyond "Stacy's Mom."

- The end of June included the arrival of a puppy in our lives: Sammy. Sammy is a German Shepard-Lab-Mix we adopted from Northern Chautauqua Canine Rescue. Matt says he's one of the best puppies he's ever had. The little guy is quite cute and quite a handful. I never had a puppy before so I was definitely not prepared for the lack of sleep, the time commitment, and the patience needed. Even so, I like having him around. He has a lot of the traits of Buddy to the point where we joke that Sammy is Buddy reincarnated. I didn't blog about Buddy dying back in April. I don't know if I ever will. I still miss him so much and probably always will.

- On the health front: Matt and I have been eating a diet that follows the Paleo Model. We were strict for the initial 30 days of the diet (started day after Mother's Day and continued until June 8th), but have relaxed to the point where 70 to 80% of our diet is paleo. The diet is a "real food" diet that is gluten free (no rice or corn even), legume free (no peanuts or soy), and dairy free. As it's anti-inflammatory, I've seen my rosacea calm down and I lost some of the stubborn weight (around 5 lbs) that had been hanging on for the last year despite all my exercise/calorie counting. Matt lost 16 pounds he had gained back after his big weight loss competition last year and saw his allergies settle down as well. I don't miss bread as much as I thought I would although lunch is a bit more complicated because there isn't the easy fall-back of sandwiches. Eating romaine wraps does get old. I also am not missing cheese as much as I thought I would either. That doesn't mean I haven't had a cheeseburger here and there over the last few months!

And forward...

- I submitted my resignation from my teaching gig at Infinity Visual & Performing Arts. Part of it is because I will have a rehearsal on Wednesday nights most of this Fall which would have made it impossible to teach the one day I'm available. Also, while I really enjoyed teaching and I liked the small group of students I had, sometimes you need to step back and refocus.

- Refocusing doesn't mean I've given up being busy. The rehearsals I will have are for JCC's production of "Legally Blonde" in November. It has been 3 seasons since I've done a musical at JCC and 2 years since I played in the pit for "Chicago" at Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown. It was time for a challenge of a familiar, but different variety.

- Busy also includes: Playing in a wedding this Saturday and enjoying Local Music Showcase, a couple trips to Rochester to celebrate my mom's birthday and my parent's 40th wedding anniversary, a Fiona Apple concert on October 9th, a Morrissey concert on October 19th, a Jamestown Community Orchestra concert on October 21st, three weekends of "Legally Blonde" performances, and Matt's 40th birthday. You'll need to check back in with me sometime in January before I have free time again, in other words.

Goodbye to Cable 8 News

(SEE UPDATE AT END)

Tonight's 10pm newscast of Cable 8 News on Time Warner Channel 8 in Chautauqua County and Warren, Pennsylvania will be the last for that news show. After today, Cable 8 News is being absorbed into YNN Buffalo as part of the Time Warner Cable YNN (Your News Now) network.

The Cable 8 news program will be greatly missed in this area. It was the only television news program dedicated to covering Chautauqua County news and sports. While the Buffalo TV stations do cover the big stories, they generally don't come down here to report on stories like the various city, town, and village board meetings; school board meetings, county legislature meetings, and other more "mundane" items that aren't sexy and splashy, but have a great affect on area residents. They also don't give top billing to our athletic sports at area schools and colleges like Cable 8 has done for over a decade.

Fortunately, while the news show will be no more, there will still be 2 news reporters and a sports reporter dedicated to Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany Counties to provide stories to YNN Buffalo. While I don't completely understand how it will work, our local stories will air sometime in the "wheel" of YNN Buffalo's 24 hour news programming. There is a chance now that stories that come out of this area, if interesting or big enough, can be more easily distributed to other YNN stations around New York State

There have been some hints of these changes over the past year. A glossy, happy story titled, Covering the Community, appeared in the Buffalo News on June 11, 2011. Another story, Staff changes expected at YNN, appeared as part of a business section article in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on March 22, 2011. Even with my inside contacts and friends who work for Time Warner/YNN, I don't feel comfortable giving an explanation of why this has all come about and what it means going forward.

I am grateful for the 10 plus years of Cable 8 News. Sure, they weren't as slick as some of the larger TV markets, but when you consider this was the first full-time TV job for many of the people who came across our airwaves, then it brings some perspective. Cable 8 News was a springboard for many to go onto bigger markets:

• Former Sports Director Kevin Carroll anchors the YNN Buffalo sports desk. 
• Former News Reporter Dayna Roselli is the Morning News Co-Anchor at KLAS-TV (CBS) in Las Vegas. 
• Former News Reporter Casey Bortnick reports for YNN Rochester. 
• Former Sports Reporter Jay Harris is a sports producer for WIVB.  
• Former Sports Director Jeff Russo anchors the sports desk at WKBW.
• Former News Reporter Sawyer Van Horn works for NECN (New England Cable News) 
• Former Sports Director Don Heins is the weekend sports anchor for YNN Buffalo.
• Former News Director Elizabeth Carey reports for Business First & WKBW.
• Former Sports Director Ron Vitrano is the Sports Director for ESPN Radio in Tallahassee, FL. 
• Former News Director Stephanie Hoey is the Account Manager at NBC CT, formerly a WKBW reporter and Executive Producer of Special Projects for NBC.
  

Anyone reading this who can think of others I missed, please add them in comments.

On a personal note, the 6 years I anchored a newscast for WKZA and then WRFA-LP would not have been possible if not for Cable 8 News. They provided me their nightly news script that I re-worked into a radio-friendly script to read for the 2 minutes of airtime I was given each week day.  Without them, I would not have had the material to create a newscast. I'm indebted to Mark Goshgarian and the other reporters for providing me that information for all those years. It's been a fun ride with all of the Cable 8 staff. Here's to seeing you somewhere in the "wheel"!

UPDATE: I'm still working on confirming these details, but apparently how the "wheel" will work is that YNN Buffalo will carve a 10 minute block in the 7 and 10 o'clock newscasts following the "Weather On the 9's" after the top of the hour for news stories from this area. Whether that includes local sports, I do not know yet. While 10 minutes is nowhere near the same as having 20 minutes of local news, at least Time Warner subscribers can still tune in about the same time as they used to with Cable 8 to see the news for the day for this area. I will update as I learn more.

2010 - Is It Over Already?

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
I began teaching violin at Infinity Visual & Performing Arts

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Not much of a resolution making sort of person, but I did pinky swear with a few friends that 2011 will be the year we're more positive.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin, Rachel, had a baby girl in May.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Grandfather died October 5th. He had been sick since this summer, but took quite a turn that first weekend of the month. Just by chance I was able to be there in the room with my family when he died. In an odd way, being there helped bring a lot more closure than I've had when other family members have died.

5. What countries did you visit?
Matt and I went to Hamilton, Ontario to see Star Wars In Concert on our 6th wedding anniversary.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
The feeling like I can move forward with things I want to do.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Losing some fear to do the things I want to do.

8. What was your biggest failure?
Still not saying no enough.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I'm still a pretty healthy gal.

10. What was the best thing you bought?
PlayStation 3, which enabled us to "cut the cord" on the upper tiers of cable.

11. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Matt still gets high marks.

12. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
It would not be polite to name names.

13. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage and house related stuff such as replacing the foundation on the backside of our house, fixing the furnace, and having to get our sewer line roto-rootered twice.

14. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Signing up for a Zumba certification class that will take place in February 2011.

15. What song will always remind you of 2010?
The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition



16. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? I am happier. I feel more even going into the New Year than last year.
b) thinner or fatter? I think I gained a couple pounds from where I was last year. Hard to say since I KNOW I gained some "holiday weight" over the holidays last year.
c) richer or poorer? Edging toward a little poorer after some hard home maintenance costs over the last year.  We're still on course though to try to purchase a car to replace my beloved Toyota Tercel.

17. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I think I should have written more.  I had a nice streak going at the beginning of the year, but lost focus.  I always wish I had taken more time to read, and that continues.  You know it's bad when you have a monthly magazine that you still haven't read and the next issue is probably in the mail today.

18. What do you wish you’d done less of?
I wish I had stressed less.

19. How did you spend Christmas?
We went to Cheektowaga for Christmas Eve dinner with my family.  Much to my joyous excitement, Matt gave me my big Christmas gift of tickets to see New Kids On The Block/Backstreet Boys with Ali in Pittsburgh this June.  After opening presents, we headed off to Midnight Mass at Queen of Martyrs where the service actually began at 10pm and only lasted 42 minutes.  We left Christmas morning after eggs, toast, and copious amounts of coffee to come back to Jamestown for Christmas day with Matt's parents.

20. Did you fall in love in 2010?
I stayed in love.

21. What was your favorite TV program?
Paranormal State, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Psychic Kids, and the news.

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I'm not big on hate because it wastes so much energy. There are people who disappoint me, but I don't hate them.

23. What did you want and get?
Some pure joy.

24. What did you want and not get?
That sense that I can change some things in order to be more happy

25. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I worked and later went to the Brick Room for dinner with Matt, TJ Maxx, and then ice cream at The Big Dipper. I turned 34.

26. Who did you miss?
I was sorting Christmas decorations when I came across a box from my grandmother's house that hadn't been opened since she died 5 years ago.  When I opened it, all the linens smelled like her house and reminded me of how much I still miss her.

27. Good Things About 2010 (a list)

When I Grow Up, I Want To Be...

I had the discussion with some friends not long ago about what we wanted to be "when we grew up." Of course, that always leads to the inevitable, "I'm still asking myself that question every day because I STILL haven't grown up!"

Even if you're fairly satisfied in your job, I think it's always good to look back at where you thought you would go in life and the dreams you had as a child. Consider it a lesson in grounding yourself, perhaps?

So my list of all the things I thought I could be was so varied that I thought it might be fun to list them all off:

1. Witch - Some of the first books I read on my own were about a little girl witch, Dorrie .I think I thought I could become a witch too and make potions to help people. It wasn't until years later that I learned that there were actual witches in this world
2. Artist - My mom signed me up for a variety of art classes through  Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery's Creative Workshop when I was younger.  Most of them involved some sort of water color painting and drawing.  There might have been one class where we made pottery items, but I could be confusing that with art class in middle school.  My mom was an enthusiastic supporter of some of the stuff I produced which I suppose led me to believe that maybe I could do that art thing.
3. Ghost Investigator - Before I became afraid of everything bloody, violent, and gory in films, tv, and books, I read many books about the paranormal.  After I exhausted the children's section of the library, I moved onto the rest of the library to find books with ghost stories and other horrors.  I think my idea about becoming a ghost investigator was primarily fueled by seeing Ghostbusters.
4. Meteorologist - Meteorologist Kevin Williams visited my school when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. He had footage of tornadoes and other weather phenomena.  It looked exciting and something I could
5. Archeologist - The Indiana Jones movies are solely to blame here although my parents did have a habit of taking me to every historic village they came across while on vacations.  I still love history.
6. Musician - Before the next notion came about, I decided that maybe I could be violinist professionally because how cool would it be to play violin in an orchestra and get paid for it??
7. Music Teacher - The performer idea track was derailed when the idea to become a music teacher was presented to me just before 8th grade.  I think it sounded reasonable and something I might like to do so I spent the next 6 years of my life dedicating my studies toward this goal.
8. Music Historian- Almost 3/4 of the way through my freshman year in college, I realized that maybe I didn't want to be a music teacher.  I loved music and thought perhaps the music history route was the way to go.  I even met with the music history department head at Baldwin-Wallace College to try to feel him out for what possible careers in that field could be.
9. Radio Music Director - Ultimately, I switched majors to broadcasting with thoughts that maybe I could be a music director for a radio station since I had so much fun doing it in high school.
10. Radio Programmer - That led to thinking maybe I could program a whole station.
11. Radio News Person - And then I took that news writing course my Junior year in college at Buffalo State and it was all over from there.

What were some of your dreams of what you wanted to be when you grew up?  How true did you remain to those dreams?

Easter Monday Morning Quarterbacking

We did the Easter thing with my family yesterday and on the way up to Buffalo, I mused over why I never quite got why this was such a major holiday. It comes down to a lot of things for me.

First off, when you're raised Catholic, you have four weeks where you're deprived of eating meat on Fridays. I didn't care for fish as a kid, so I ended up eating a lot of macaroni and cheese on Fridays or deep fried shrimp. Fortunately, the mac'n cheese was homemade by the Parkside Diner, so I never got tired of that meal. Then after, all the fasting we finally got to eat meat on Easter Day. Hooray! Except in my family, that means fresh kielbasa and borscht. I've never really enjoyed fresh kielbasa and there was one Easter where I figured if I ate it really fast, I wouldn't be able to taste it. That didn't work out so well and the floor didn't appreciate it either when I upheaved it later. I don't think I have to explain the horror that is borscht. Fortunately, my family has added smoked kielbasa to the Easter offerings as well as ham, so dinner is not dreaded so much.

Going back to religion, I was pretty straight-forward thinking on some issues as a kid. I didn't understand what the big celebration was over the death and rising of Christ. My 9-year old train of thought went sort of like this:

"So, Jesus was a good guy and he got killed for it? And you're telling me he raised from the dead? Okay, I get there being ghosts and angels and stuff but, dude, he's STILL DEAD. Like, it's not like Jesus can hang out and ride bikes with us or climb trees. And we're supposed to super happy about this??? There's still lots of bad people out there, so I dunno if it was worth it."

I know. It's hard to reason with 9-year olds. Plus, I always thought it a bit macabre that not only were we celebrating some revered guy's death, but some of our main icons were of the guy nailed to a couple pieces of wood. Um. Hello? I don't want bloodied, beat-up guy all in my face. Thanks Mr. Jesus for the nightmares as a kid. Add to that the extended church service just because it was a major holy day and my love for Easter was very small.

Getting away from the controversial stuff, Easter falls during a time of year in Western New York that can be either wonderful or snowing. Inevitably, my mom would have picked out a cute, frilly dress for me to wear for Easter. As a kid, I would wear it and shiver because a warm sweater and slacks would have been a better match for the weather. Just try keeping your toes warm in white patent leather shoes when the temperature is 40 degrees!

It wouldn't be fair to not mention to the positive things about Easter. Of course, the candy was always a thrill as a kid. Ham for dinner also was a huge plus once I discovered the delights of Miller's Horseradish spread on each slice. Naturally, time with my family in Buffalo was and still is the biggest plus to the Easter Holiday. So Happy Dyngus Day to everyone!

Technically.. It's Still the Christmas Season

Since the Epiphany isn't until January 6th, I figure I'm not being too tardy in giving the Christmas update.

This had to be one of the more odd years. To be casual and personal, I swear that all the women in my family either had PMS or they're in some weird stage of menopause that makes them a little cranky.

Christmas Eve is a big deal for my side of the family. We eat a meatless dinner, open presents, and those who are still awake go to Midnight Mass. I'm just going to share the Christmas Eve dinner story.

This year is the first Christmas that all the cousins are age 21 and older. My cousin Andrew celebrated his newly legal status by disappearing just before prayers and oplatek breaking. As the family gathered in the dining room, my Aunt Ginny whispered urgently to my Uncle, "Where is Andrew?"

"He went on an errand."

"Where did he go?"

"Don't worry. He'll be back," my Uncle evaded her question as she tried to look him in the eye. My Aunt asked my cousin, April, if she knew but she wouldn't give a straight answer either. I finally asked out of the corner of my mouth, "So where did he go?"

"Beer," she replied.

Andrew sauntered in after we were all seated. His mom glared at him and said, "Don't talk to me," shaking her head as she walked away after sharing a saved piece of oplatek. He shrugged and grinned at the rest of us, taking a seat at the kids table.

As said before, all the cousins are age 21 and over but we still are required to sit at the kid's table in the kitchen. I think my younger cousins still prefer this because there's less harassment from various family members of, "Are you eating?" "Why aren't you eating?"

We still heard plenty of that since we sit right by the stove and all the food. This was great for getting food first, but not so great for my cousin Craig. My mom, as she carried a bowl of hot mushroom soup to our table, had a clumsy moment and began spilling some of the contents on Craig's leg causing him to yell,

"Ow! Ow!"

"Oh! Oh!" my mom panicked as she noticed what she was doing, but then proceeded to spill more soup on top of Craig.

Fortunately, Craig wasn't burned but his pants were left a little soggy and smelling of soup.

Fried fish, mashed potatoes, pierogis, and green peas round out the rest of Christmas Eve dinner for our family. The pierogis are the ones that we made back in October by the hundreds. Every year, as we roll out the dough someone says, "We have to be sure to make a lot of cheese. Everyone really likes the cheese pierogis."

Sometime between then and Christmas Eve, the women cooking apparently forgot this fact and sauteed up mostly sauerkraut-filled pierogis, which the majority of the people at the kids table do not eat. We can be a rather finicky bunch.

"Where are the cheese pierogis?" we cried to our parents and grandparents in the dining room.

"They're on the plate! You have to poke at them to see what is what!" they yelled back.

I began carefully poking each steaming doughy pocket to see if I could see the hint of white Farmer's cheese inside, "Nope, sauerkraut. Nope, that's another saurkraut. This one is apricot filled. Oh, here's one!"

We stared at the one cheese pierogi on the plate.

"Mom! There's only one cheese pierogi here!" April called out.

"Well, you're just going to have to make yourself more or come to this table to see if we have any," my mom called back to her.

Andrew, knowing he had to make up for sneaking out on prayers, took a plate over to the adult table and returned with enough cheese pierogi to just satisfy everyone.

"They mixed up the sauerkraut and cheese pierogies. You can't tell what is what!"

We sighed, shook our heads and ate.

The mood changed somewhere during dessert. Everyone around the adult table was leaning back, swapping stories and and laughing. My cousins, who had retired to the living room, were lightly teasing each other but smiling too. No one even argued when I threw dish towels at them and told them it was time to tackle the mounds of plates and bowls on the counter.

A moment of relaxed harmony. Merry Christmas to us.

Kapusta!

I've moved onto filling pierogis with saurkraut, or kapusta as it's called in our family. The next set of pierogis will be filled with prune or apricots.

Pierogi Party 2009

It's the annual pierogi party at the Kasprzyk House. I took a break from rolling out dough and filling pierogis with farmer's cheese to take this picture.

April & Simon's Wedding

April and Simon make their vows.

Wedding #6

Here we are all dressed up for wedding number six.

5 Years Later

Looking at the altar from the pew for this wedding. Five years ago, Matt and I stood up there and were married. Today is April and Simon's day!

Come With Me.. To the Sea of Pink

My cousin's bridal shower is a sea of pink. Her wedding colors are actually pink and brown, which will make her wedding the second one we go to this year with those colors. My cousin is the one in the white dress standing just right of center in this hastily shot picture before it was my turn at the buffet table.

The Last of Four Courses

Tiramisu fondue. And they brought us a complimentary glass of champagne to celebrate!

Early 5th Anniversary Dinner

Celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary (early) at The Melting Pot in Buffalo. We are doing the four course option.

Blog World Meets Real Life

Father-Daughter dance is to Sweet Child of Mine by Guns n Roses. The girl in the background is the photog whose blog I read for years. I had recommended her to Rachel but only just met her in person today.

My Cousin Karen

My wicked awesome cousin who does radio news. She is one of my heroes.

Me and Matt at My Cousin's Wedding

Post wedding pic. The violin playing went well. The weather has cooperated. Time to drink, eat, and dance!

Rachel & Jeff Get Married

Congrats to Rachel and Jeff!

Honest Scrap

Matt and Kevin tagged me for the Honest Scrap award.

The Award and Rules:

This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.

Apparently the rules are as follows:

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.
2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

Seven Bloggers

1. LJC FYI: Great design, fun posts. This blog is written by a fine woman I met in the mid 1990s. Jenny also blogs/twitters for Kodak. Her blog is one of the reasons I decided I need to start writing my own oh so many years ago.

2. Ineffablog: Nick is a local newspaper journalist and bartender at Forte. He mostly blogs about music when he gets around to it. He's a good guy and I think a little more traffic might encourage him to blog more.

3. Eriepressible: This blog has a mix of Erie, PA politics; discussions on being child-free, and other assorted items. It is updated frequently and I've enjoyed the peek into this woman's life.

4. Jamestown Horribly Awry: Not a frequent blogger, but worth going to take a look at a series of Star Wars paintings that he's currently working on for a show.

5. The Dayton Time: This hysterical blog is written by my college sophomore roommate, Pam. She details life with four kids (the fourth is a very recent arrival) and her husband, The Mister. This blog generally falls under the "Mommy Blog" category, but the writing is so strong that you forget that. I recommend putting this on your "must read" list.

6. The Mister: The Mister is the husband of my friend Pam. I can see why they're married as they're both intelligent people with fantastic senses of humor. I think of their separate blogs as companion pieces. You really do need to read both.

7. Buffalo Pundit: Alan Bedenko writes about Buffalo politics, state politics, cars, WNY news items, and other goodies. I ended my Buffalo News subscription over the summer and haven't really missed it between Alan's blog and the TV news I catch here and there.

Honest Stuff

1. I don't like the show "The Office." I've watched it more than several times and barely laughed.

2. When I was a small, small child I was afraid to get in swimming pools. At toddler swimming lessons, I would hold onto the chain link fence screaming bloody murder when they tried to get me to go in the water. A year or two later, you couldn't get me out of the pool once I overcame my fear of putting my head underwater.

3. I earned extra cash from around age 12 until I graduated from high school by babysitting. I'm not sure if the kids liked me, but I kept getting called back and had steady gigs every summer. I did make two girls, Julia & Mary, listen to The Smiths one rainy afternoon. Like my parents, they didn't get it either at the time.

4. My friend, Sabrina, who I talk to almost every week day online is someone I met on ISCA BBS my freshman year in college. She's one of the few people I met in college that I keep in very regular contact with.

5. During my internship with the Junior High Orchestra my senior year in high school, I realized I might not want to teach. I would complain to the WIRQ General Manager that I didn't want to go to that class and he'd yell at me to go. A little over a year later, I had switched my major from music education to radio broadcasting.

6. I truly loved my job in radio news.

7. I never thought I'd like living in a smaller city and never planned to stay in Jamestown more than 2 years. I will have lived here for 10 years this June and have no plans to leave anytime soon.

8. I have very low tolerance when it comes to alcohol. I enjoy beer, wine, and mixed drinks but usually can only order 1 drink when we're out. If I order a second drink, it's only because I know I have someone who can drive me home or that I'll be out long enough to get sober.

9. I chose to transfer to Buffalo State College partially because I saw an interview done with the Music Director of WBNY in CMJ. My GPA wasn't high enough to get into Ithaca due to failing two music classes (Intro to Elementary Music Ed. and Solfege).

10. I traveled to Albany with Buffalo State College's NYPIRG group for an Earth Day Lobby Day. I went along to get audio on their mission for a production class project, but found myself joining in the lobbying effort. That involved a very uncomfortable meeting with one of my State Legislative leaders where I fumbled with my materials and generally felt bad I was wasting his time since it was never my intention to get involved in the process I was trying to document. In the end, I got the sound I needed and intertwined the sound bites with "Poison In The Well" by 10,000 Maniacs. I never saw the grade on that project but I passed the class.