Tipped Balances

On the last day of 2020, before the few people planning to be at work arrived on our floor, I put "Tik Tok" by Kesha on my iPod and then danced through every open office, hallway, breakroom, and conference room. Most of those rooms were vacant of even desks or other office detritus as the department that had occupied the space moved two months ago. 

It was a moment that felt slightly subversive and freeing.

I did it to celebrate and to also try to forget that it was my last day of employment for awhile. 

After being just shy of 12 years in my job, I was leaving with my return being left in the hands of a City Council that eliminated my position under the pretense that it was "temporary."

I texted a friend this morning whose 2020 could be best described as soul-trying, 

"Here's to a new year that hopefully is better balanced, or even tipped toward more happier moments if we can have wishes and dreams of that."

Life is a balance. It doesn't always work out the way we had planned because we simply cannot control everything. The best we can do is to live, love, and laugh. I'm absolutely kidding. Somewhat. Whoever thought to market that aspiration deserves their millions.

 A year ago I said to my husband that all we had was our integrity and we should live and work as such. It wasn't an attempt at a new year's resolution, but I feel we've achieved that. 

Toward the end of this year, the premise of dignity and being able to hold my head up high despite adversity is something that mattered. It's something I can do because of respecting how integrity matters. 

 I'm far from perfect and hope to never be because that sounds painfully boring. Here's hoping that while I can't control everything that I at least can continue to act in ways that help tip the balance toward the positive.

Happy New Year

It's been almost 18 years...

I forget I have a blog until I mention that I used to post alllllllllllllll(breathes)lllll the time. Shut-up, Grammarly, I know that last sentence has an "incorrect" word.

So I've been blogging for nearly 18 years....


On the last episode of "In Java, Literally..," Julia was having a meltdown because of our house situation and Matt's medical situation. A good chunk of last year is hazy to me because I shut-down due to stress. It was a surreal state of being present in order for all the things to get down but also needing to be detached so that I could continue to function. That said...

We finally sold our house. Matt's surgery 3 weeks before our move went fabulously. We moved into our new house three days before Christmas. Everything is fairly grand other than some unknowns in the job department for Matt. There always has to be something, right?

Our new house has an interesting chameleon-like ability to feel like where we're in the forest and in England and in the city and just about anywhere other than "here." I feel like you have to be there to understand. Either way, I'm in love with the place even though we still have so much work to do from painting the interior, getting the yard further squared away, and other stuff. I'm proud of the fact that we're nearly 100% unpacked after 5 months which, when compared to when we lived in our old house, is a near miracle.

Another cool thing about our house is that we're friends with the people who owned it two owners ago. They've shared with us all kinds of photos they took while living there, so it's a little surreal to see how they used various spaces, especially since I'll recognize a piece of furniture and think, "Oh, they have that in ___ room at their current house now." Also, we have various acquaintances who remember the family who lived there for several decades before our friends bought it so I've already been regaled with stories of good times and parties. You couldn't hope for more! Oh, and yes, the house is haunted but we haven't been bothered too much. That's what happens when you buy a 1910 house.

Why Comcast Reportedly Buying Time Warner Cable Isn't Great News

The news has broke that Comcast has reportedly bought Time Warner Cable for $45 Billion. Hat tip to 106.9 Kiss FM for being the first place I heard about this dismal news.

Why isn't great news if you're a Time Warner Cable customer?

First off, you're taking the two largest cable and internet providers in the country and merging them into one. Their service didn't overlap anywhere, but then again there is usually no competition for cable service anywhere that Time Warner or Comcast is located other than going to satellite. On the internet side, the linked article above had this to say:

One likely important factor that would not be as consumer-facing but would still have a huge impact on consumers is the leverage that a combined Comcast/TWC would have with regard to bandwidth. With the recent removal of net neutrality regulations, Internet service providers have the ability to charge whatever they want to — or to block or slow down traffic for — online content providers. 

Also, it doesn't make me feel good that Comcast was also in the news this week for possibly being hacked. 

I do have mild concern in regards to what the deal would do to the Time Warner Cable News outlets. As much as I grumbled in the past about TWC taking over our beloved Cable 8 News back in 2011, I'd still rather have what we were left with than no reporters stationed down in Chautauqua County at all. Plus, I don't know that a merger would mean the end of the stations anyway.

In regards to how this will affect the wallet, I almost have no doubt that consumers would get the shaft in this deal. As it is, broadband costs are higher in the U.S. with much slower internet speed than the rest of the world.

Thankfully, this is not a done deal yet. The FCC and Justice Department still have to approve the deal.

UPDATE: To give you an idea of how much Comcast is loathed, Doghouse Diaries thinks wishing "A Comcast Monopoly In their region" is great revenge on an enemy.

The Rochester-Jamestown Vortex

I've lived in Jamestown, NY for nearly 15 years now. A few years after I moved here, I started realizing all these odd connections between people who had moved to Rochester or people who came here from my hometown. I've jokingly called it the "Rochester-Jamestown Vortex," saying it's like our own little Twilight Zone or Bermuda Triangle.

My favorite experience with this was taking Matt, before we knew he had a seafood allergy, to my preferred sushi joint in Rochester for the first time. I had mentioned to Matt that one of the Sushi Chefs at the time had lived in Jamestown once. As we sat down at the bar and I started to make introductions, Matt says,

"Barry??"

Turns out Barry and Matt had taken a critical thinking class together at Jamestown Community College. What I thought would have been a possible "Oh, do you know so and so from back there?" conversation was more of a, "Remember in class when this happened?" and "Remember that professor?" situation.

Research has backed me up at least on the number of people moving to Chautauqua County from Monroe County, NY. WROC's Rachel Barnhart posted about her blog about the inbound/outbound migration for Monroe County, noting that 375 people moved from there to our fair corner of Western New York. If you want to see where people have move to or from for your county, you can research that info here.

The Love Tour Comes To Jamestown

Jim Brickman is bringing "The Love Tour" to Jamestown tonight at the Reg Lenna Civic Center.

I honestly hadn't heard of this Cleveland-native until people started talking about his tour coming to town. Turns out that SE-93 carries his syndicated show on Saturday mornings. The morning thing on a weekend could be why I've been in the dark. Anyway, to promo tonight's show Jim is on the air live with Morning Show Host Lee John until 9am.

I mention this because you might want to tune into 93.3 around 8am to listen when some special guests join him on air (cough cough the Mayor ahem ahem Matt). I don't see a way to listen to them online so this is aimed at the local folks.

Also, Matt and I will be slinging drinks tonight at the Reg, so say hello if you're at the show!

United Airlines Cuts Cleveland As Hub

United Airlines has cut Cleveland as a hub. This is more bad news for the Jamestown Airport as its commercial air service is provided by United Airlines with flights to Cleveland.

Last month, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer was in town to advocate for the Jamestown Airport keeping its status in the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. The EAS designation, which equates to $1.9 million in Federal funding, is threatened due to not meeting the minimum passenger rates required to stay in the program.

Here's hoping that all parties involved have something up their sleeve in order to keep the Airport going.

Growing On Me

The February 2014 Stage of Growing Out My Hair

Back in August 2011, I got the ultimate haircut by having my hair stylist/friend, Martha, cut my hair in a pixie style. My hair had never been shorter than chin length aside from when it was growing in as a baby. I decided at that point that I'd wear it short for at least a year and then decide whether to grow it back out.

This past August, I made the decision to grow out my hair. It wasn't so much that I disliked having short hair. In fact, the amount of compliments I had received after cutting it all off were almost overwhelming, but very gratifying.

Part of my decision was due to my dreams. I kept dreaming that I'd catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror or be walking somewhere and that my hair was suddenly long again. I'd think in my dream, "How is it that I'm just noticing how long it is. Isn't it great to be able to pull it back?" or "How long it's been since I could feel the wind tossing it around."

The other part of the decision was the ever closer date of my 40th birthday. Granted, this is still almost 3 years from now, but given how long hair can take to really grow out I thought I better get started. I wanted to enter my 40s either with long hair or to at least have gone through the agony of growing it out.

Believe me. Growing out your hair can be pure agony. I miss all the fun ways I used to be able to style it each day. I grow more and more frustrated as each day passes since my last hair cut where my hair seems to lose whatever style it had. I've been moaning about how maybe I'll just give up and cut it all off again. What stops me is the fear of regret. Regret that I didn't have the stamina to go through with it and finish the journey. I know this sounds silly because it's just hair, right? Naturally, that statement usually follows a discussion about whether to cut it short, "It'll always grow. Don't worry!" Well, that's my worry. I'm waiting for it to grow.

Thankfully, I'm in the hands of a great stylist. Martha has made the whole process a lot easier with all the little shaping she has done each time I see her. Plus, I know that once I get the time and some spare change that she'll whip up the color magic and put those highlights in just where I want and need them. If you want Martha to help you change your life, you can find her at Mia Bella Salon (formerly 3rd Street-Salon 1) in Jamestown. It's a great little place and I've had plenty of really good experiences there not just in the hair department but in the mani/pedi area as well.

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.

Slow Death of Radio: Part 2

This week has turned into a rather dark one for the radio industry.


Yesterday, Clear Channel laid off about 150 employees at radio station across the country due to heavy debt issues (Partial list of those laid off here and here). The people laid off were mostly on-air staff ranging from talk show hosts, news reporters, DJs, producers of those shows, and others. They are being replaced with syndicated programming that Clear Channel doesn't have to pay an extra dime for since they already have the rights to those shows. Once again, radio markets lose. Of local interest, Brendan O'Riordan, who had worked as a news reporter for WJTN from late 2000 to early 2002, was one of people let go from WHAM in Rochester. These are talented radio people and their on-air presence will be sorely missed.

I wrote about how local radio is dying in a 2004 post called, Slow Death of Radio. What I said then has been clearly demonstrated by Clear Channel this week. A Syracuse Post-Standard article does a great job at filling in those details and other historical background on how the hell this all has come to be.

On the brighter side, since 2004, two local stations have come on the air in Jamestown and in the Southern Tier. One of those is not-for-profit, Arts Council-owned WRFA-LP. The other is Seneca Nation-owned commercial station WGWE. Both stations provide local programming and local hosts. Money is probably the biggest issue why WRFA doesn't have more live on-air staff and local programming but they are fortunate to have some dedicated volunteers along with some of the hardest working radio guys I've met with Public Affairs Director Jason Sample, General Manager Dennis Drew, and Consultant Steve Shulman.

On a not so brighter side, a good chunk of the money WRFA receives has come the past few years from a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Earlier year, there were threats to cut money to CPB and National Public Radio (NPR). Fortunately, that did not happen, but now the GOP has geared up again to go after funding to NPR.

Why should you care?

When you have radio conglomerates where local programming is homogenized across the country, public radio is often one of the few places where you can hear a local newscast or hear local personalities. Of course, with the syndication of NPR programming, the chances that you'll hear much difference from one NPR station to the next is just as bad as listening to any given Clear Channel Kiss station (note: WKZA in Jamestown is NOT a Clear Channel Kiss station). Local radio has become less personal and more canned across the country. Fortunately, in Jamestown we still have local voices on the air, but there are a lot of instances where those voices are pre-recorded and aired later in the day.

My probably unrealistic hope is that Clear Channel will get to a point in its financial state where it's forced to divest itself of some of the radio stations it owns, thus potentially allowing the ownership of some of those stations to return to independent groups that don't already own over 3 stations in a market. Given the economy and the cost of running a radio station, I don't know if this will ever come to be.

Please support your local radio stations that do provide local programming and local personalities. Consider donating to the public radio stations that depend on local listeners to extend that small bit of federal funding they may receive to exist. I'll repeat my urgings from 2004 to contact your representatives in Congress to tell them not to cut funding to CPB or NPR; and to urge them to scale back the flawed Telecommunications Act of 1996.

10 Years of In Java

I was having a drink with a friend I hadn't seen in months last night when the topic of blogs came up.

"I've had a blog for 10 years now," I offered, sipping a sweet summer drink.

"What is it about?" asked the companion with my friend.

"Hard to say. Some personal stuff. I never gave it a specific direction," I replied with a shrug.

I went on to talk about how I used to post more than once a day in the beginning and reflected on how that's dwindled to once or a couple times a month lately. I thought about the blogs that influenced me and whether their authors still publish posts (Yes and Yes). I talked about how blogging has changed but how there are some out there that seem make it work even as the media world has changed (Design*Sponge).

I thought about how blogging brought me closer to some people in around Jamestown (Preppy Girl, Galoot, Mr. Social), how it connected me with those who are farther away (Princess Slea, Maurice, Pamela), and how it made me more aware of everything (Buffalo Pundit, kottke.org, The Big Picture).

There was a time period where I considered ending this blog, leaving without a goodbye and letting the last post to hang without explanation other than the increasing time between the present and that post being the proof that something had been left to die quietly. But I've always been a journalist, whether it was in private notebooks or in my more frequently updated news feed for Facebook. I've learned to make no promises when it comes to writing, unless it's for someone else or has a deadline. I still like this blog and that it exists as a document of the person I was and have become over a decade.

Onwards we go..

A Top Ten List of Things I'll Miss About Doing the News for WRFA

Over the years, I've had people question my sanity in providing a volunteer service that involves me leaving my house in the later night hours 5 nights a week to record a news cast. Truthfully, I don't think I'll miss the late nights that much, especially after being sick so much of this past winter. That said, here's a top ten list of things I will miss about doing the news for WRFA these last four years:

1. Catching the phases of the moon every night that had a clear sky
2. Waving at the people in Forte and getting to see friendly faces just before going upstairs to record
3. "I'm Julia Harrison..."
4. The excitement of waiting for local election returns
5. The satisfaction of recording the perfect 2-minute newscast
6. The feeling that comes from rewriting a lengthy story into a concise 4 sentence story
7. The actual delivery part of the newscast, especially nights when I could get through the whole newscast with no mistakes
8. The pride of knowing that the local news was being provided consistently every Monday through Friday on our community radio station.
9. Scaring various people in the Arts Council building who don't expect anyone else to be around at night
10. I will especially miss that feeling that I was still a news reporter on some level, even though Cable 8 provided the bulk of my scripts. I've always loved radio and while I plan to still be involved at WRFA, I will miss being able to define myself as a radio news anchor.

You can still catch my news cast through this Friday morning on 107.9 WRFA-LP, or streaming online at wrfalp.com, at 6am, 7am, 8am, and 9am.

Ending One Thing...

Next week Friday, May 27, 2011 will be the last day that my newscast airs during "Small Things Considered" on WRFA-LP.

I have enjoyed volunteering my time to read the news for WRFA these past 4 years and also enjoyed my time with WKZA, which started in August 2005. Unfortunately, the demands on my time plus changes in local media have led to me deciding to end the partnership for now.

I'm grateful to everyone who has tuned in to listen to WRFA over the years. At this point, I know they are working to fill the time slot my news was in with some other news feature. There's a good shot it will be local stuff, so please continue to tune in every day.

I don't intend to stay away from radio. Matt and I are already discussing possibilities for programming we can create together for WRFA. I'll be sure to report anything that develops!

Certifiable - A Quest To Zumba

Over the weekend I did something that would have seemed completely foreign and mind-boggling to me just two and half years ago: I became an official Zumba instructor.

The first time I took a Zumba class was November 11, 2008.  I had the day off from work and Nicole, who taught my lunch time exercise class, told me I could drop into her Zumba class for free one time.  I did it once and got hooked.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sign up for a full session until January, and only on Saturdays, because of its popularity.  I was able to add more regular classes as I got wise to when enrollment was opened and got in before the roster filled up.

Should I mention I hate exercise?  I find walking/running on a treadmill to be boring.  I find aerobic classes or pilates classes to be a major yawn.  So what in the world was it about Zumba that kept me going and then pushed me over the edge to even learn how to become an instructor?

The music and dance.  It didn't feel like exercise.  That feeling kept me going and shed over 20 pounds off my 5'2 frame over a 2 year period.  You could say I bought into the concept of how successful this could be for others.  It also helped that my friend, Alison, was highly interested in getting authorized to teach as well since we both see a need in Jamestown for more classes.

Even though I read some stuff online about what to expect in a Zumba Basics 1 class, I still wasn't sure what it was going to be like.  I will admit I had fears of it being all skinny personal trainers who were ready to yell "Zumba!" at the slightest provocation.  Even as we registered that morning, I was still looking around nervously wondering how many people were already exercise gurus and if I had any business bringing my sometimes 2-left feet to the show.

My fears were waylaid when our instructor, Jani Roberts, led us through the master class, opening with "Raise Your Glass" by P!nk as the first warm-up song.  Her enthusiasm was incredible and you could see she was someone who loves her job.  Soon after we learned that we were a motley mix of people who were exercise trainers, dancers, people who had never been to Zumba, students taking over Zumba instructor's classes, people who lost up to 75 pounds and wanted to teach others, to people who were already teaching Zumba but came back for more. 

Even though it wasn't as intense as the master class in the morning, you could say we danced our arses off the rest of the day.  There was a break-down of how to do four of the main styles of dance: meringue, salsa, cumbia, and reggaeton.  Jani also discussed some program related notes of interest, instructor/class interaction, and got us to attempt to group choreograph bits of one of the more popular Zumba songs.  It was a hell of a day, but worth the effort.

Will I teach?  I've had friends and acquaintances ask if I'm going to teach and tell me that they'd take a class from me.  Right now, my schedule would require some finessing in order to follow through.  I also would plan to get some additional training/certifications in important things like CPR/First Aid which usually are necessary and non-negotiable if you're going to try to make a group of people break a sweat.  So in short, I'd like to teach but it's going to be a little while before that becomes a reality.  I have a year to figure it out since that's how long my authorization lasts.  After that, I either have to re-take the course or become a licensee by joining the Zumba Instructor Network (fee per month).  You never know how things will work out sometimes, but I'm sure if I suddenly turn true instructor that I'll list times/locations for those willing to be indoctrinated.

Pre-Labor Day Summer Wrap-Up

The unofficial end to summer is this weekend. I'm currently scanning RADAR and several weather websites in an attempt to divine whether we're going to get so much rain that the city's Labor Day Festival, which I help organize, has to be postponed until Monday. Fingers are crossed right now.

So what about the rest of this summer?

- We took a 4-day weekend to the Midwest. A stop in Chicago was made for dinner at Hop Leaf with friends. A fantastic party in Pontiac came next with a theme of "Video Games." I went as Princess Peach.

- Matt and I spent our 6th wedding anniversary in Hamilton, Ontario to see "Star Wars In Concert." It was a fabulous performance that we capped off by having dinner at La Bella Sicilia's which is where we held our rehearsal dinner. I also convinced Matt that we needed frozen custard from Fran Ceil's.

- We took in a lecture by Ed Kashi at Chautauqua Institution courtesy of our friends from Kodak who were there for Photography week.

- An evening of Bellini's and Ballet was had with friends at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute.

- My two young violin students showed up regularly for the rest of the summer. I'm hoping they come back to the program this Fall.

- Matt scored tickets to see an Abba tribute band perform at Chautauqua Institution. It was surprisingly good and revived my appreciation for that Swedish pop band.

- I was asked to play violin in the pit orchestra for Lucille Ball Little Theatre's production of "Chicago" in October. Rehearsals started this past weekend.

- We met up with Len and Ali in Cleveland for the "Dog Days of Summer" at Great Lakes Brewing Company.  After admiring lots of people's dogs and having some food/beer, we headed downtown for more beverages at Flannery's.  Before heading back to Jamestown, we walked around downtown and I showed Ali and Len Tower City Mall.

- We celebrated Ali and Len's 10th wedding anniversary with them, family, and friends in the cool middle-of-nowhere log cabin where Len's mom and step-dad live.

- I earnestly started clearing out a lot of my clothes that don't fit or I haven't worn in awhile. I also started a consignment account at a local shop to try to sell some of things I no longer wanted.

The Fall, which eventually turns into my "slow time" at work, is shaping up to be rather busy. There's Labor Day Festival this Sunday (unless it gets rained out), Local Music Showcase, WRFA fundraiser at Southern Tier Brewing Company, my mom's 60th birthday, "Chicago," Jamestown Community Orchestra concert, Halloween Fun Fest, pierogi party, and when we get to November I'll finally get a 2-week vacation. Just doing my best to hang in there until then!

2010 Summer Run Down Thus Far...

I'm going to say summer started at the end of April because we've had some seriously nice weather these past few months. So what have we been up to? Ready, steady, GO!

- A Dos De Mayo Party at Shannon Mac's house kicked off the season. There was delicious food made by one of the chefs from Hutch's Restaurant in Buffalo, a DJ, and a slip'n slide on a hill.

- "This Week In Metal" was revived on WRFA-LP (podcasts available). Leonard Barren and Julia Tesla can be heard weekly giving you random cool facts with a metal theme.

- I played in the Spring concert for the Jamestown Community orchestra. We rocked out to Chuck Mangione's "The Children of Sanchez."

- The foundation on the south side of our house was replaced so that we no longer feared the back-end of house falling over because of crumbling blocks.

- Memorial Day weekend my parents visited, installed a motion detector light on the back of our house and went on the Chautauqua Art Trail. We all watched the Memorial Day parade down Lakeview Avenue and later hung out at a friend's house on Chautauqua Lake.

- We attended the Yassou! Greek Festival with friends and some of us attempted to drink the Southern Tier Brewing Opa! kegs dry.

- We celebrated the marriage of NickDean and Lori in Bemus Point. It was a super hot and muggy day that was met with lots of chair rocking on the front porch of the Hotel Lenhart.

- A orange tiger-striped cat we named McKinley came to live at our house. Matt wrote the whole story here.

- We revisited our high school years by attending Forte's Surprise Prom Party - Enchanted Shipwreck Under The Sea.

- More hanging out on Chautauqua Lake for Fourth of July.

- Spent as much time as possible hanging out with Shannon who was in town from Pontiac, Illinois. Plenty of beer was consumed.

- In theory, I began teaching violin lessons at the Infinity Performing Arts Center. Of the two students I have, one had car trouble and the other forgot to show up. We'll see how the second week goes!

- We joined some cousins in Rochester to head off to the wineries for much merriment. Crowning touch on that visit, besides all the excellent food consumed, was clogging a Wegmans' aisle while looking at beer.

And that's just through this past weekend! Stay tuned...

Time Changes

My main computer went kablooey this weekend while Matt was trying to do a back-up of it, so I've been using our laptop for the past day. I haven't looked at files on it in about two years, so I started going through old pictures.

If I ever wondered if those zumba classes, change of diet, change of jobs, and general change in a lot of areas of my life were having any affect on me...

Here I am with my friend, Lynn, outside Mojo's after a concert in September 2006:














Here I am in Allen Park just before Memorial Day weekend this year:














For those wondering, that's what losing over 20 pounds looks like on a 5'2 lady.

The Say - Latest Editorial

I wrote "The Say" editorial in the latest edition of the Chautauqua Region Word.

The hot topic this time was the new Jamestown Neighborhood Revitalization Plan. It's a topic/story that I hope to see more of in the news over the coming months and years because if the recommendations are able to be enacted it could create some very positive changes in the Jamestown housing market.

Sunday Reading on the Porch

No better way to end the weekend than with a hot cuppa tea and a good book on the couch on the front porch. I am surrounded by windows that are full of leafy green trees. My dogs don't seem to mind the change from sitting inside. I consider myself lucky to have a working light and a blanket as the sun goes down.

Fixing Foundations - Staging

Some staging materials have arrived for fixing our foundation.