which Melissa Ferrick song are you?
(by Jessica)

Misguided Music Compilations

I saw a link to this compilation via Meg. There's just something wrong with putting together a compilation of Gregorian chants and calling it Gregorian Chillout. I mean.. really.

Need Guidance for Compilation

I'm in that Spring mood finally where I need to make a compilation. I have no idea what direction I want to go in musically. Usually I like I choose upbeat, spring-y, summer-y type music but I think I really topped myself last year (or was it two years ago?) with a tape I made. I'll provide the track list for that once I can find the tape, listen to it, and scribe the songs I recorded. It's really quite good!

Off to work now.

Plans Dashed by Rain

Matt and I had numerous plans for this weekend that involved the outdoors (hiking, gardening, washing & waxing our cars), but all those were scrapped as rain moved into the area. We need the percipitation no doubt, but after being stuck in an office all day for a week, I was ready to be outside. Naturally, the weather is going to improve and then get nasty again for the weekend. Is there no justice?

How the Web Creates Minor Celebrities

With the proliferation of weblogs, some of the better written/designed sites are making minor celebrities of their owners. At least that's my opinion. Then there's the celebrities who seem to have dropped off the planet who re-emerge as their weblogs become more well read *ahem* Wil. The only reason I bring this up is because I had my AOL IM up today and Meg of not.so.soft "fame" had logged on. I almost hyperventilated and then sent an IM telling her I liked the link she provided to a crack-like game on the web. She wrote back saying she's glad I thought it was cool to which I replied thanks and said I'd let her go since I didn't know if she was being bombarded by any other IM's. The whole event made me think for awhile. Meg is just a regular person whose well written/designed blog has gained wide-recognition in the blog-world. I don't have the stats, but I imagine there's quite a few people who check in on her daily happenings. The whole thing has just been interesting to toss around my brain today. Now, I have a blog but it's different to the extent that I know for a fact that I don't have tons of people reading it everyday. In fact, I'm pretty sure I know most of the people who do read it, but can't be totally sure since only one person has signed the GuestMap *hint hint* *grins*

Alright, that's my Sunday ramble. I have to go take care of anything that requires water before the Board of Public Utilities starts flushing the water mains in our neighborhood. The end result of the flushing is something called "roily water." When you turn on the faucet after a flushing, the water comes out brown and icky. It usually takes a couple minutes for it to run clear, so I like to get stuff done before all the ickiness starts.

Quick Note of Thanks

A note of thanks to ChocolateOrange for the refferal (damn I'm tired because I'm not going to bother to spell check that) on the "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" quiz. I just like to say thanks since this darn Internet can be so unforgiving sometimes *grins* I think I better pop on off to bed. Ooohhh.. who would have thought I'd be acting this old at 25? *sighs*

Finally, The Trip to DC

Now that it's almost been a week I have time to jot down some of the illustrious details of Matt and my trip to our Nation's Capitol last week:

Wednesday: We left Jamestown just before 9am and headed down the back roads of Pennsylvania towards our destination. We arrived at the Marriott at Metro Center just after 4pm (not bad timing) and checked in. I highly reccommend looking for a room at this Marriott online if you're ever thinking of visiting DC. I got great rates (although parking ran $15-$22 a day), the place is beautiful, and it's literally steps away from a main Metro Subway station. Assuming we make a return trip, Matt and I are shooting for a bed and breakfast that's also close to a Metro station (Woodley Park). But that's another trip. Wednesday night we walked around the Tidal Basin with Chuck & Lori, trying to catch the Cherry Blossoms before they blew off the trees. Chuck then cooked us a great meal of marinara sauce over pasta and garlic broccoli.

Thursday: This trip ended up being a very cold trip compared to what we had anticipated. At least it didn't snow! We went to the Holocaust Museum in the morning. Very emotional but an excellent exhibit. Lunch was vendor food followed by a few hours in the National Museum of American History. We then met up with Kara (a former intern of Matt's), who gave us a tour of her college, George Washington University. Cool Trip Factor #1 kicked in here when we got to see CNN's "Crossfire" which is being aired live from GWU. Yes, we were on CNN last Thursday, but only for a moment as the camera panned the audience. It was great for me because I finally got to see how a professional tv show is done with a live audience. It was also cool to see James Carville in person. After the show, Kara, Matt, Chuck, Lori, and I went for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Heaven! The most amazing cheesecakes! I had Tirimisu Cheesecake. Matt had Turtle Cheesecake.

Friday: A trip to the National Air & Space Museum included an IMAX film (of course). We then met Lori at her place of employment (the office of Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy) and got a tour of the Capitol with three families from Long Island. The father of one family is a NY Firefighter who was on vacation when the planes hit the WTC. Fortunately, he didn't have to go in until after the towers fell so he didn't experience that. Later that evening, Matt and I met up with Chuck & Lori again for Thai at the Star of Siam. Very, very good. I like Thai Food! (to quote Mike Zucca). We had a drink and then went to Xando's for S'mores. I'm serious! They bring out this round bowl that has a little fire in this clay thing and you roast marshmallows over it, eventually smooshing the roasted marshmallow between chocolate and two graham crackers. Mmmm!

Saturday: Matt and I slept in this day since we had been pushing ourselves to the limit with walking. We eventually had lunch at the Capitol City Brewery Company followed by a quick Metro ride to the Cherry Blossom Festival (Sakura Matsuri) by Federal Triangle. Since it was terribly cold, we ended up inside the Old Post Office where we heard a Japanese chior. I also got to eat some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. After this, we walked down to the Washington Monument, down to the Reflecting Pool, over to the Vietnam War Memorial, then to the Lincoln Memorial, and then back to the hotel. I'm not going to take a guess at how far we walked. After a long rest, we got ready for dinner. The earliest reservation we could get for dinner was 10pm, but we took it because we didn't want to miss out on experiencing The Melting Pot. This place is absolutely amazing! It's a fondue restaurant, so you can imagine the wonderful excess. Actually, it's hard to imagine. This was truely Cool Factor #2 for the trip. My mouth is watering in remembrance.

Sunday: We checked out and went for brunch to Tunnicliff's, which is where Chuck is waitering until he gets an awesome job in government. After that, we made our way back to Jamestown. These five days were a most lovely trip and I can't wait until we can get away again for an extended time.

So there you have it! Sorry it wasn't more descriptive, but this post would have gone for pages if I hadn't shortened it up a bit. You can't say I didn't provide any links at least *grins* Email me for any specific details.

And Who Says Cows Aren't Smart?

This article proved to me that some animals do have a clue. It also proved to me that there are some nutty, but good intentioned people in this world. Praise whoever that!

How Ironic




which "monty python and the holy grail" character are you?

this quiz was made by colleen

And yes.. I will probably keep posting quiz results until I get an honest chance to write something worthwhile. My sincere apologies.. I will make it up to you soon! That's assuming that this weekend isn't so lovely that I spend most of it playing in the dirt *ahem* I mean gardening.

Why Are There So Many Songs About Rainbows?

	You are Kermit! Though you're technically the star, you're pretty mellow and don't mind letting others share the spotlight. You are also something of a dreamer.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

Procrastination

Pardon the lack of posts lately. I'm getting back into work and stuff and just haven't had time to write a proper blog entry. I have to go do my taxes on (e-file of course). We will resume our normally scheduled program very soon. Incidentally, I think it's funny to hear Ozzy Osbourne's wife invite someone over to fight Ozzy in her proper English voice. Very funny.

Love the new image, you've come along way since wooden horses, but as popular as ever. Computer virus quiz

Safe and Sound

We made it back safely! I hope to give a review of the trip sometime this week. There's so many details, so hopefully I can whittle those down to something manageable blog-wise. Hope everyone that was on holiday the past week had a great time *grins* Back to the grind for now.

Let Me Know Where You Are

Check out the Guestmap feature on the left column under my daily blogs. Pretty cool feature I think!

Some Updates

First off, I'm very glad to say that no one was hurt in the fire on 1st Street in Jamestown. I'm especially glad since Matt was one of the people in the building at the time. Yeah. He's still very pissed about the whole situation since Fire Investigators are pretty sure it was arson. No one has been caught yet. I'll update you if there's any news. Here's the blurb from the article since there's not a direct link to it:

4/2/02 - Ten off-duty city firefighters were called in to battle two blazes early Saturday morning. The first fire was reported at about 12:30 a.m. When firefighters arrived at 101 E. First St., thick black smoke was coming from first- and second-floor windows of the two-story building, according to Captain Chet Harvey of the Jamestown Fire Department. Eight musicians who had been practicing in the building and had reported the blaze told firefighters that there might be a tenant on the second floor of the building. Firefighters made a rapid search of upper floor, Harvey said, but no one was found. The fire was located in the eastern part of the building, Harvey said.
‘‘The fire was under control within 10 or 15 minutes,’’ he said ‘‘It took time to make sure it was out and had not spread.’’ Harvey said the building is subdivided into a lot of small rooms with locks and that delayed the firefighters search for additional fire. While the east end of the building’s first floor suffered fire damage, most of the building only suffered smoke damage, he said. The blaze did not cause any structural damage to the brick building, which is owned by Carol Faust of Mayville. One firefighter was knocked down by falling debris but was able to continue fighting the blaze.

Easter

Easter was good. I spent it in Buffalo with my family. Got out of going to church by moving slow. Meaning, when it was time to go.. I still wasn't dressed. Hooray for that!

Trip

Matt and I are putting final touches on our trip plans to Washington DC. I'm a bit anxious about it since it's the longest trip I'll have driven in a long time. In fact, I don't believe I've ever gone this far a distance where I'm the driver. Mind you, I have been on really long car trips before. It's hard to forget those 13 hours from Rochester, NY to Chicago, IL. Yech.

What this means is no blog updates for a long time. In the meantime: I invite you to visit some of my favourite sites. Check out any of the "Daily Blogs" listed on the left. Also, here are some of the other places I check out on a daily basis:

The Post-Journal
The D&C (Democrat & Chronicle)
For Better, Or For Worse

Note: My mom says I'm a news junkie and that she hopes I can find a job some day that actually utilizes all my knowledge about current events in the Western New York region. I agree.

My Smiths anthem is... "Girlfriend in a Coma" My my, you may have found love, but you've got a weird attitude about it. This may be good, since it keeps you from taking yourself too seriously. You see a balance to life, neither all good nor all bad, but a mixture of all. You are probably the most well-adjusted in the Smiths Anthem list. Congratulations. "Girlfriend in a Coma" is from Strangeways, Here We Come or Best...1.

Take the What Is Your Smiths Anthem? Test

Did You Watch Ranger Bob?

You know, Shep has a way of making me practically fall out of my seat with the stuff he finds on-line. And actually, since we visit one of the same news sites, it’s amazing that I didn’t pick up on this one.

Ranger Bob has a website. Yup. The same Ranger Bob that used to be on WUHF 31 back in the 80’s in Rochester, NY. My mom was never a huge tv enthusiast, so I saw most of Ranger Bob’s stuff while hanging out at my friend, Ellen’s, house. It was pure cheese and entertainment for kids at it’s best. I can’t explain the program very well, so just go to the site and relive memories or just wonder about us past/present Rochestarians.

Also, this picture was taken at my hometown’s (Irondequoit) 4th of July Parade in 1982. I’m pretty sure that I should know at least one kid in the picture. Most of the kids I went to school with would have been 5 or 6 the summer this was taken.

Easter Holiday

I’ll be traveling up to Buffalo for the Easter weekend. Anyone want to take bets now on whether my parents will make me go to church? Matt nearly had a fit when I implied that these next two weeks don’t have a lot of religious significance in our culture. I think a quote of what he said could follow like this, “Oh, the Lord dying isn’t a big deal. Nooo.. just the Lord rising from the dead! Jesus!” Matt isn’t terribly religious but he does tend to believe in all that God/Jesus stuff more than I do. More power to him. At least one of us isn’t going to hell *grins*

Oh, Canada


Matt and I had a fairly quiet trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake this past weekend. We left a little earlier than planned on Friday due to some nasty weather here in Chautauqua. The rest of the trip was fine, including the border. I can’t tell you how beautiful the Rogers-Harrison house is! It was exactly what I was hoping for in a bed and breakfast. The house is Georgian style, built in 1817 on the foundation of the original house which had been burned down during the War of 1812.


Friday Night: We went to the Angel Inn Pub for a pint and some eats. This pub is one of the oldest operating inns in the area. I like how the overheard beams are rough-hewn. We could have stayed there, but I was afraid the noise from the pub area might drift upstairs. Matt and I both tried the Angel Inn Red. Heavy stuff! Very reminiscent of Killian’s Red, but much better and with a much higher alcohol content. We were there too early to hear the folk band play, but we did eavesdrop a little on the conversation going on at the table next to us. We both smiled when we realized that we were the ones with the funny accents.


Saturday: I neglected to turn the alarm clock to the correct time, so I ended up waking up an hour too early. I ended up going downstairs to write in my journal while Matt slept some more. Fortunately, Peter (one of the owners) brought me coffee while he got the fire started in the music/sitting room. Breakfast was a baked pink grapefruit with brown sugar on top, blueberry muffins, and Eggs Benedict. I normally don’t like Eggs Benedict, but the sauce was very light and tasty. The other couple and us got a huge history lesson on the house from Peter after eating. He and Marilyn (his wife and other owner) had been doing most of the restoration of the house. This B&B couple was much nicer and more fun than the place we stayed at on Seneca Lake. You really felt welcome and we had a lot of good laughs too.


Since neither Matt nor I had done much traveling outside of town, we decided to tool around in my car. That trip took us past St. Catherines and to Port Dalhousie. My favourite part was seeing the locks to the Welland Canal and the Dry Dock Ship yard. We had lunch at the Kiely House (I had bangers & mash). It was alright. Some bothersome teenagers/college boys were there and I just wanted to smack the one guy. He was so pompous! We looked at some shops afterwards but didn’t buy anything (other than candy).


Dinner was at Fournos. I had some icky chicken souvalki. I think that’s the dish that made me sick this past Monday. Oh well! We then went to Niagara Falls, ONT to see the Falls and wander around Clifton Heights. Much to Matt’s glee, I agreed to go on the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Motion ride. It was cool. Kind of like Star Tours at Disney Land or that submarine ride currently at the Rochester Science Museum. We then crashed at the B&B.


Sunday: Breakfast was a fruit cup with some spiked fruit on top, a croissant with homemade jams, and Eggs Florentine. All yummy! A couple from Spain joined us this morning. I felt bad for the husband since he didn’t speak English. While the other couple and us chatted merrily along, I tried to explain to the new couple what we were talking about (in English). I eventually introduced myself in Spanish to the husband (Jorge). I was embarrassed by much I had forgotten of the Spanish language. Although, I did remember “muy viejo (very old)” when we were trying to think of a way to describe antiques to the wife. My attempts at their language earned me the European kiss-on-two-cheeks-good-bye from the husband.


Matt and I checked out, had a lively discussion about American politics with the B&B owners, and then took off again for Niagara Falls. I had never gone on the Journey Behind the Falls before, so we went on that. It was amazing to see all that water rushing down in front of you. I took some great side-view pictures of the Falls on the covered observation deck. We then got brunch for Matt at the Tablerock Restaurant. We then went back to Niagara-on-the-Lake so I could get Afternoon Tea. I had been dying to have tea for ages, and there were a couple places that served it in town. We ended back at the Kiely House after the one place that supposedly had it told us they had stopped serving. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve had better. Still, it’s the experience that counts! We then picked up a birthday gift we had scoped out the day before for Matt’s mom and made our way home.


A real nice trip and relaxing. We didn’t want to push ourselves too much since that’s what will happen when we go to Washington D.C. next week.

You are Hobbes! You're a bit too mellow to be an incarnation of Calvin, but you're still his best pal. You don't mind having fun, though, and enjoy playing tricks on your friends when they least expect it. Take the What Calvin are You? Quiz by contessina_2000@yahoo.com!

Day Interrupted

I will blog about the trip soon. It was really cool. Today sucked though. I'm usually pretty healthy, but today my stomach decided it hated me and sent me scurrying to the lavatory twice and had me reaching for my empty lunch sack on the way home from work. Bleh. I know that's gross. A woman across the hall in Law had the same thing last week. And no, it's not that. As far as I'm concerned at least.

Quick Music Note

I only own one of Rolling Stone's 50 Coolest Albums. That would be Beck "Odelay." I guess it doesn't count if you have the songs mentioned in the article on a greatest hits album, and it also doesn't count if your dad owns the album and you listen to it when you're visiting your parents, and I guess it also doesn't count if you know you love the album but haven't gotten around to spending the money for it yet, right? Ah well.

Have a Hair Band Day!

I heard three major hair band songs on my way into work today. It started with Nelson’s “Love & Affection,” followed by Damn Yankees “High Enough,” and then the ultimate: Nazareth with “Love Hurts.” If this wasn’t weird enough, I could sing along with all three songs with all the confidence of a 1980’s girl who just successfully got her bangs to do “the claw” AKA raise off the top of her head in incremental heights. Yeah. I don’t feel too badly about this since I know you know the words too. It’s inescapable.

Hair Band + Orchestra = Orchestra Fun Day!

The orchestra teachers in my school district came up with this idea for an “Orchestra Fun Day” where all the kids in orchestra in our district would gather in one large space for a Saturday morning and play songs together and play goofy games as team building exercises. It was a cool gig for the younger students since we got to hang out with the ultra-cool high school students. No jokes please. One of the “games” that the high school orchestra teacher liked to do involved playing a song and doing a kind of simon says routine. All the students had to copy her every move. This was supposed to teach us to pay attention to the conductor and take our cue from her on what our next move would be. It was one of my favourite games since I was pretty good at following a conductor already. In eighth grade, our teacher decided to use the aforementioned Damn Yankees song for this game. I remember John P., a junior, freaking out that we were getting to listen to rock music during Orchestra Fun Day. The look of shock turning into a wide grin stuck in my head. It was a cool day.

The Trip

We’re almost prepared for our trip up and over to Canada. Since I doubt Matt will see this before the trip, we’re going to Niagara-On-the-Lake. Now, this isn’t the most exciting place if you’re looking for a rockin’ good time, but if you’re looking for a quiet weekend it’s ideal. We just need to chill. The bed and breakfast I found is the Rogers-Harrison House. Nice place right on the “main drag.” If you’re so curious, you can check out the room we reserved: The Rogers Room. You can’t beat the exchange rate! As I write this, $1 US equals $1.57 Canadian. It’s almost crazy!

The one thing I’m still very concerned about is the weather. I’m more worried about getting out of Chautauqua County in one piece than anything. There’s some real heavy snow scattered throughout, but once you get on the Thruway and make it to Buffalo, it’s not as bad. At least that’s what the RADAR tells me. Hey Shep! Still want some snow? We’ve had plenty this winter/spring! Geezus.

So this blog will be on temporary hiatus for the weekend. I’ll update it when I have free time next week.

What happened to mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful??

Spring would be one of the only poems by E.E. Cummings that I really got. And yes, those are capital “E”’s. My senior project in AP English my senior year in high school was on the esteemed Cummings and several of his biographies emphasized the fact that other people lower-cased his name. Not E.E. himself. I like the fact that I know that. Of course, don’t ask me much else about him. My memory isn’t that good.

Anyway! There’s a lot a of snow blowing around outside. The first day of Spring started out pretty innocently with 40 degree weather and sunshine. Now we’re expecting up to a foot of snow is some places. If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that a lot of snow is not unusual in this area of New York State. God love the Lake Effect Snow! Schools in North County have already closed or are canceling activities. I normally could care less, but this weather is putting a damper (or should I say freeze?) on my weekend travel plans. Matt still doesn’t know exactly where I’m taking him, but he now knows it’s somewhere near Canada since I asked him if he had any Canadian money left. Our destination route will take us straight through all this willy-nilly stuff. Wish us luck and safe driving!

Name that Song

Kudos to Heidi for getting it right. She successfully remembered the title to the song I mentioned two days ago “I’ve Seen All Good People” by Yes. When she wrote that in the guestbook, I went “Oh. Duh!” Time to polish my music memory skills.

Forget Him! Tea.. Not Just For Break-Ups

Why didn't they have stuff like this when I was in high school and college?

Don’t Surround Yourself With Yourself

..Move on back two squares.. Hello. I’ve been pondering that line from that song by Yes. I can’t think of the name off the top of my head. Don’t surround yourself with yourself. Does that mean you shouldn’t be so self-centered that all you have is yourself? Does it mean you should surround yourself with all kinds of people, with all kinds of personalities so that you don’t have yourself around you as much as you have the world?

Jingle Jangle

Matt, Richard, and I went to the St. Patrick’s day celebration here in Jamestown on Saturday. It wasn’t bad. Not as crowded as last year since the high school was still in the midst of performing Phantom. Ah well. I ran into Gary Peters, a local artist, and we struck up a conversation on local commercials. It went along the lines that there are some commercials that you never forget because they have that catchy jingle or tag line. For example: the Bush Furniture Outlet has this tagline where the manager, Cindy, squeals “Five Shelves Lee!” to the main announcer. Even when they’re not advertising shelves, this tagline is in every commercial. You’d miss it if it wasn’t. Well, this conversation culminated in the singing of every jingle we could think of. I’m glad we were standing away from Gary’s group of friends since it could have been slightly embarrassing to be caught singing the jingle for Remnant City (“Aisles and Aisles! Of Beautiful Styles!”) or the one for Goldfish (“They’re made with real cheese, even though they look like fishies!). Cheap entertainment I guess.

Sorry for the Vagueness

I'm just in a funk. I don't know if it has anything to do with the gloomy weather. The sudden shift from sunny, warm weather to cool, damp, gray shite. I'm also letting myself dwell on some past shite in my life that I shouldn't dwell on. *shrugs* Don't worry. I'm fine. One good thing. I'm finally understanding why someone told me a long time ago that I needed to listen to Radiohead's Ok Computer through really good headphones. I'm listening through my computer speakers (which are sounding pretty awesome tonight for some odd reason). It's a damn fine album! And I finally am starting to understand why a small faction of my friends were so fanatic about Pink Floyd. What great production! Oh sigh. That just depresses me. Excuse me while I go drown my miseries in a fucking huge cup of tea. Smiles. It's alright. Really.

Radiohead - "Let Down"

transport. motorways & tramlines. starting and then stopping.
taking off & landing. the emptiest of feelings. sentimental drivel.
clinging onto bottles. when it comes it's so so. disappointing let down and hanging
around. crushed like a bug in the ground.
let down and haNGiNG arouNd.
shell smashed. juices flowing. wings twitch. Legs are going. don'T geT senTimental.
it always end up dRRiveLLLL. one day. i am goiingtogrow wings. a
chemichal reaCtion. hysterical & useLess. hysterical &Let down and hanging around.
crushed Like a bug in the ground. Let down and haNGiNG arouNd. you know where you
are with. you know where you are with. floorcoLLapses fLoating bouncing back annd one
day youLLL know where you are .

Front Moving In = Massive Headache

Ah.. what is being viewed as a pretty nice, warm day to many is turning out to be a killer headache for me. Oh well. That’s the breaks of getting old I suppose.

The last few days have been a little off kilter from the daily routine. Yesterday was the funeral for my co-worker Everett. It was a touching ceremony, well, the eulogy given by my boss was the most touching part for me since I didn’t get into the religious part of it. It was good to see so many people turn out for the funeral. The day was sunny, had clear skies, and the first touches of spring were warming everything. Matt came too, as well as Chuck and Lori all the way from Washington D.C.. It was good to see them despite the circumstances.

Going to the funeral and reception afterwards meant that I worked a total of 3 1/2 hours yesterday. That’s ok. I probably earned it somewhere in there. At the reception, I found out the sponge candy I had given one of my co-workers had been much appreciated by his wife. She also told me the silver bell I had included in it (bought from Crate & Barrel) had been given to the younger sister (?) of Amy King. Amy King was a young stewardess who had been killed on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. That made me feel good. Strange how something simple you do can ultimately go to help someone else who is in pain.

Night on the Town with Family

My Aunt Carol is coming over for dinner tonight. She’s in Dunkirk today overseeing preparations for the grand opening of a Hallmark store in a plaza there. Since this is a two day deal, she’s staying overnight at our house. Our first real houseguest! We’re making the spicy green beans and pork recipe featured at Wegman’s this week. After dinner, we’re going over the Reg Lenna Civic Center to see Jamestown High School’s production of Phantom. Mind you, it’s not the Andrew Lloyd Weber version. So hopefully this evening will be a good time.

Gassy Shoes

My shoes smell like gasoline. Sunday afternoon, Matt and I stopped at a Mobil station in Irondequoit to get gas for our trip home. It was super windy, so I wasn’t paying attention to anything other than filling my gas tank and bracing myself from getting blown away by a strong gust of wind. After I settled back in the car with a sigh of relief, I noticed the odor but assumed it was fumes from the pump. We drove off and the smell remained. I realized then that I must have stepped in some spilled gas. I didn’t realize that it would permeate the sole of my shoe to the point where the smell still lingers three days after the fact. Anyone have suggestions on how to make the soles of my shoes less smelly? What a funny thing, it’s the outside of my shoes that stink as opposed to the insides where my feet are. Hm.

Shoulder To The Wheel

This is where I hope none of my friends get pissed at me. Matt and I were in Rochester this past weekend to see our friend Mike perform in the production of Nuts put on by the Penfield Players. Our lives have been incredibly hectic and stressful lately and I just needed a weekend to chill. Unfortunately, that meant sacrificing time with friends. My apologies.

Saturday, we went to the Science Museum and tooled around there for a couple hours. There’s an awesome exhibit about weather and Lake Ontario. I really dug the stuff that Meteorologist Kevin Williams put together for the exhibit. He spoke to my class when I was in middle school and that inspired me to get more interested in weather. I probably would have pursued meteorology more if there wasn’t math involved. Who knows though. I’m always up for a career change. After the museum, we popped over to see Matt briefly. I think we got the “Wha-huh? What are you guys doing in town??” from him, but that was ok. Dinner was at Taste of China in Irondequoit. Really Good Chinese food. Go there if you like Chinese food! Prices are good too.

Now Saturday had been gorgeous right up until we got to the Penfield Conservation League (think Rod & Gun Club) for the play. The play rocked the house, as did the wind. We thought the roof would either fly away or a tree would come crashing through it. The next day we found out the wind had gusted to 72 mph.

Sunday, Matt and I bummed around my parent’s house in our pajamas and enjoyed doing nothing. I started having doubts about driving home on the NYS Thruway while watching the Weather Channel. The weekend before I had ran into some nasty bits of Lake Effect snow and wind on that route. I started discussing going home Route 390 south to I-86. This looked like a good idea until we received the latest RADAR images for that area. I still decided to risk it. While on Route 390, I made a split-second decision to get off the expressway. Part of this decision was fueled by the hot from the oven doughnuts sign at Krispy Kremes. With doughnuts in hand (and in belly), we drove back to my parents. They were glad to see us to say the least. Later that night we found out that if we had continued on Route 390 that we would have had to turn around due to a 30 car pile up that closed the road between two exits.

Yesterday, we took off in the morning and took the long way home (390 to 86). I ended up working from home. Our decision to stay in Rochester turned out to be really good. The roads had been very bad the night before with the State Police telling people not to drive unless it was an emergency. It made me feel less guilty about missing work that morning.

Passing of a Change Agent

Yesterday was a beautiful day compared to Saturday night and Sunday’s weather. It was almost ironic that yesterday was the day that Ev Seastrum, one of the main consultants for Chautauqua County’s Comprehensive Performance Partnership, died. He had suffered from cancer of the liver for a long time and we knew he was going to leave us any day. I had a feeling that yesterday would be his day. Once they put up the latest CPP Hot Sheet, I’ll post the address so you can read some of the great things people said about Ev.

Trip to D.C.

Our plans are becoming more cemented for our trip to Washington, D.C. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. We have a place to stay and we know we’re hanging out with some friends. Now that’s planning! I really have nothing more to add at this time.

Secret Weekend

I do have to add that I’m whisking Matt away for a weekend soon. I’m not telling him where. I’ll update you more on it once we get back from there.

Not For Those Easily Disturbed

I found this hysterical.. seriously. It reminds me of my friend Robin. She would have a t-shirt with this on it. And she would wear it everyday.

We now join this blog already in progress...

Vinnie and Angelo’s “Mother” Passes On

Ok, if you’re from Rochester, you cringe every time the commercials for Irondequoit Dodge come on. Yet, at the same time, there’s a certain kischt that makes them slightly appealing. One of the main characters of those commercials has died. I doubt anyone will forget the Jewish woman who played the doting Italian mother in those obnoxious car commercials. Come on, you can hear it now, “Come-a Seeya My Boys-a at-a Irondequoit-a Dodge-a!”

This is soooooo cool!




take the which one of the trading spaces cast are you? quiz!

Hey, You Never Know

I got sucked into donating a dollar to our floor’s LOTTO pool at work. There are 29 people in this pool. There is $45 million at stake. After getting the lump sum, it’s only $22 million. After taxes, it’s $14 million. Split that up between nearly 30 people and we would all receive a little over $4800. That’s just nuts! However, I could use $4800 so I wouldn’t complain too much. Of course it would go right into my savings that I’ve been steadily building on the chance that I might need it for a big party some day *wink wink*

No More Shep’s

I was thoroughly bummed to hear that Shep’s Paradise in Rochester closed this past weekend. I actually had been there and sang karaoke (“Moondance” by Van Morrison and “Something So Strong” by Crowded House) several times. Cindy used to live right by Shep’s and I think she even took her mom there a few times. I have a couple pictures from the last time I was there. It was a cool place. Another cool spot in town would be Bullwinkles on Lake Avenue. If you’re not into early 1900’s to 1950’s music, don’t go.. but I had an awesome time when I went with Matt and a bunch of his crazy friends a few years ago.

Watching

I watch many folk.
Walking from the parking lot.
Sad come, happy leave.

I haven’t written a Haiku in a damn, long time. I must be bored at work.

No Blood For You!

I attempted to donate blood today here at work. My iron levels were only at 35% and you need to be at 38% to donate. Oh well. Not the first time that’s happened. I was almost tempted to tell them to take my phone number off their list so I wouldn’t have to put up with harassing phone calls telling me how important it is for me to donate and blah blah blah. I almost walked out of the waiting area this morning just because the man signing in people was an annoying twit. I don’t appreciate being patronized on top of being harassed into coming down to donate in the first place.

Ghost World

I rented Ghost World last night. Good movie. Of course Steve Buscemi was in it. I say “of course” because Steve is one of those guys whose answering machine message says, “Hi, you’ve reached Steve Buscemi. I’m not here, but yes, I will take the part. Send me the script and I can be ready on moment’s notice. I’ll appear in anything. Etc.” Rent this movie if only for the scenes with the red neck guy. He’s the one without a shirt and has a mullet. I fell over laughing at this character. As for the other characters, high school wasn’t really like this for me but I definitely understand the feeling of not knowing where you fit in sometimes.

The Caribbean Side of Rochester

I had a strange dream last night. I frequently dream of Rochester, NY, but it’s usually some varied form of it that doesn’t actually exist in waking life. Last night I dreamt I was hanging out with Shep. We were in his neighborhood, which was located in the Caribbean part of Rochester. As far as I know, there’s no such place. There are Hispanic parts of the city, and former-Polish/Italian/Irish parts of the city, but no part that’s specifically Caribbean. On top of that, Shep had this blonde, mullet, white-fro thing going on. If you go to his site today (Tuesday, March 5, 2002), there’s a picture that proves he has no such hair-do. I think watching Ghost World made me dream about mullets. Strange.

I’m Good… Oh Yeah.. I’m Good

Sometimes you have to give yourself a little ego booster. If you recall several posts ago, I mentioned that we had a pretty good chance of getting one last decent snowstorm before March 14. Well guys, what can I say when you get weather advisories like this:

...CATTARAUGUS-CHAUTAUQUA- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF OLEAN AND JAMESTOWN 1052 AM EST MON MAR 4 2002

...LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING THROUGH THIS EVENING...

A BAND OF LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL REMAIN OVER MAINLY NORTHERN PARTS OF THE COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON. FOUR TO SEVEN INCHES WILL ACCUMULATE BEFORE THE BAND MOVES NORTH OUT OF THE COUNTIES BEFORE DUSK.

Mind you. We’ve already received over a foot in some places. Total accumulation should be well over 2 feet for the snowbelt areas. I’m just happy to be right for once.

All this nifty weather wasn’t so swell last night. I had to drive home from Buffalo at a snail’s pace. I was a little worried since you could tell the roads were slippery, but I made it back fine. Only one car was off the road on the NYS Thruway. It was an SUV. Come on. Laugh with me. You know you want to!

I See a Bright Spot

I had a meeting with the person I'll be reporting to.. eventually. We don't know when all the changes will happen, but she just wanted to go over some things. It was a good meeting and it was nice to find out that I do have some people on my side concerning certain frustrations I've been dealing with over the past couple of months. That made me feel really good actually. A nice Monday for a change!

I find this strangely satisfying...

TECSOL A-2 Solvent, Anhydrous: You are an industrial solvent marketed as TECSOL Special Industrial Solvent by Eastman Chemical Company. You are available as both 95% and anhydrous. You are denatured with methyl alcohol and methyl isobutyl ketone. Find out what kind of industrial solvent you are

I Don't Know What It Is, But It's Fun

Sometimes I go to the search page for search engine referrels I receive. This one was for "Java+Julia." This site was one of the places listed as a result. I have no idea what it is, but I had fun playing with it for a few minutes. Created a few pretty images. If you know what this is all about, please email me. I'm just computer deficient in some areas.

Away For a Few Days

I'm heading up to Buffalo for both my grandmother's birthdays this weekend. No updates until I get back or have something to talk about. I'm just glad it's the weekend :-)

Mm.. Bad Food

I must give a shout out to my man Darren in the Legislative Offices for bringing in doughnuts and saving a raspberry & cream filled powdered doughnut for me. I've cut out doughnuts from my diet, but I couldn't flat out refuse this one. It was soooo sugary. I'll probably be flying all afternoon (since I had it for dessert at lunch). Now back to my regularly scheduled diet program (or whatever it is).

What Did She Say??

On the way to work a couple days ago, that new song by Shakira came on "Whenever, Wherever." Most of it was going in one ear and out the other until the line "My breasts are small and humble, so you don't confuse them with mountains" smacked me in the forehead. What's up with that??? I've seen Shakira's video for this song and it doesn't look like she has small and humble breasts, but at the same time I've never seen her in person. In fact, the only thing I noticed about her is that she looks like Britney, Christina, and Jessica Simpson rolled into one. It's that sway back thing that's popular. You know.. where the girl sticks out her butt in an attempt to make her emaciated body look curvy. Bleh. I wonder if "healthy" will ever be an in-look as opposed to anorexic.

March Comes In Like a Lion

We may be a few days from the beginning of March, but I saw a weather forecast last night that confirms my suspicions that Western New York may be in for at least one more big storm. Since the Ice Storm of 1991 in Rochester, there has been a series of large snowstorms sometime in between the period of March 1st and 14th. It was almost without fail that a foot of snow would get dumped in a short time period, causing schools across the area to close. I’m mostly speaking about Rochester in this case. So when I hear that a large storm system is in the midwest that could come our way and could drop snow over a large area, since it wouldn’t be dependent on the Lake Effect machine, it makes me grin. I’ll have to do some more research on this since this system is apparently behaving with great uncertainty.

Speaking of the Ice Storm

It occurred to me this morning that the Ice Storm of 1991 happened 11 years ago to the day this Sunday. My parents and I actually drove home from Buffalo in it. I knew something was happening and kept waking up to check the power lines outside my bedroom window. You could see the sheen of ice building up on everything. Eventually, the power went out. I think I woke up my parents to tell them, or maybe I heard my dad get up. He decided to get ready for work despite there being no power. I put on my Walkman (tm) and crawled back under the covers. “Baby, Baby” by Amy Grant bubbled over the airwaves as I waited to hear if I had to go to school. For the first time in 14 years, my district closed due to weather. No lie. Our school never closed.

My dad made it into work and then came back home after a few hours. He said you could hear the pop and shot-gun sound of tree limbs cracking off and falling to the ground. Eventually, so many limbs fell that it was nearly impossible to drive down the side roads around my house. I got up and discovered that hot water was still available and made myself a nearly hot cup of tea. Later in the day, my mom, my “brother and sister” Janine and Steven (neighbor’s kids), and I went for a walk to take some pictures. It was chilly out, but sunny. Most of the metro area, including us, figured the worst was over and that power would come up within a day or two. It did not. In fact, over 200,000 people had been left without power. Some for two weeks after the storm. School was cancelled for the week.

Fortunately, my family had two woodburning stoves, one you could cook on. My mom made 8-quarts of chili that was completely consumed by the end of the week. It got quite cold outside and snowed on that Wednesday. My friend Eden and her brother Dana came over to keep warm. It was a balmy 80 degrees in our house with the two stoves going. I think the highlight of the week was going to the Eastman Theatre to hear Michaela Petri (or however you spell her first name) perform recorder solos with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Everyone was dressed in various outfits. My favourite was the man who sat in front of us in corderoys and a flannel. He took off his shoes and propped up his feet on the seat in front of him.

We also had sleep-over visitors. My parent’s friends, Jim and Lu, had arthritis and no power in their house. They were in such pain that they couldn’t get out of bed. They ended up coming over and staying at our house where it was warm. That became my first real exposure to talk radio since Jim was obsessed with WHAM-AM. I think that Saturday our power came back on. My dad did a little cheer at the time. I was a bit miffed since I had enjoyed “roughing” it for the week. Now it was time to go back to the doldrums of school (8th grade at the time).

Super-Imuno Girl

I decided, that aside from the occasional mind-splitting headache, that I must have an incredibly strong immune system. Just about everyone I work with has gotten some sort of nasty bug (some more than once) over the past few months. The type of bug that leaves you hanging over a toilet for several reasons. Ahem. I actually only got sick like that once in my recent memory. That time it was either food poisoning or an allergic reaction to medication I was taking. I still don’t know which, but when you consider the quality of food at Buffalo State College, I’m apt to think it was the food.

I don’t think I’ve ever taken a sick day from work at any of my jobs. Oh wait, there was that one time I decided to sleep in due to exhaustion and had to let my “charges” know I wouldn’t be picking them up in the shuttle bus. That was at B-W.

More Heavenly Creatures Info

Ever hear of the mystery author Anne Perry? She’s written a fair number of books. At least two a year from what I understand. I found out last night that Anne Perry was known as Juliet Hulme when she was a teenager. The same Juliet that helped kill her best friend’s mother. I think it’s rather appropriate that she writes murder mysteries now. Matt think I’m now obsessed with this movie, but I just happened to find the facts and stories around it so interesting. Most murderers vanish into obscurity or wither away in prison. This one is famous and free. She has confessed to the media about being Juliet, so it’s not just some story.

Heavenly Creatures

An article in USA Weekend about Kate Winslet prompted me to find out more information on the movie Heavenly Creatures. There is a very good site detailing how the movie compares with the real life events. I was fascinated for an hour as I looked through the details. I originally saw this movie on New Year’s day in 1995 with Sean. We both left the movie sort of stunned and washed out. The ending was so horrific even though it supposedly wasn’t as gory as past Peter Jackson films. It’s even more awful that this was something that actually happened in 1954. Despite awfulness of fact, I highly recommend renting this film on video as it has not yet come out on DVD.

Excitement on a Sunday Afternoon

You start to realize how small a town is by how many people turn out to watch a building on fire. Matt and I were in Warren yesterday to look at cars for Matt. We saw smoke coming from a slightly industrial area of the city and decided to go take a peek. I can’t tell you how many people had driven as close as they could, parked, and then walked over to watch the firefighters battle the flames coming out of this building. I was mostly curious from a news standpoint. I guess I’ll never lose that innate curiosity and drive to get the facts so I can report out later.

Self-edit

I just deleted a whole paragraph involving me grousing about work and some issues I’m sick of putting up with there. Not that it wasn’t in good taste. I just figured you wouldn’t care.

Vacation is Scheduled

I have scheduled my week off from work. It isn’t until April, but that’s ok at the moment. Matt and I are considering going to Washington D.C. I just need to verify that our friends will be there when we visit. Fun times! I can’t wait!

I Nearly Forgot!!

Dar Williams has a live album out. I had no clue about this. I'm listening to it right now. I wish they had included more of her little stories she tells about songs. Like a "Storytellers" kind of live disc. That's why I love Dar live. She's just so natural on stage and has this great sense of humour. And I think the sound quality on the cd is pretty good too.

Yo Yo Yooo YoYo YoYo

Oh man. I finally broke down and bought the two Basement Jaxx albums I've been secretly wanting for awhile. Matt F. would totally understand. We're both nuts about "Red Alert" and I also just adore "Romeo." I wish we had a decent night club around here that played real dance music.

Two Drunk Guys Talking About Crap

Matt and Richard are dreaming up this show to broadcast on the Internet. The title above is what it would be called. I'm looking forward to this. They actually have some good ideas of how to do it and topics etc. The Internet is cool for stuff like this. We must be bored! I'll let you know when it gets off the ground and provide a link for it then. To quote Matt, "What better way to spend an evening than cracking open a nice cold one and listening to us talk about crap." To quote Richard, "Yeah.. what he said. Actually, we should do a drinking game on the show.. like.. ok, you got your opinion wrong.. DRINK!" Oh Geezus.

Some Wine with Your Cheese

I got to experience chatting on-line with a slightly tipsy Matt last night. I’ve rarely been on that side of coin. Usually, it’s me being a little silly and drunk. So I had to grin a little while I watched Matt mis-type words and frequently having to apologize for mistakes. I’m not saying it was bad of him to be tipsy. I would be too after a wine tasting like he went to.

My favourite recollection of being intoxicated on-line would be my 21st birthday. I was stuck at Buffalo State College because my boyfriend had to work late and there was no point in me going home to visit him. I also had class. I decided to skip it and go have a glass of wine at the College Coffee shop. Once the servers at the coffee shop realized I was of legal drinking age for the first time, they refused to charge me for the wine. They also made me do a tequila shooter with them. I rather enjoyed that as made apparent by the perma-grin that spread across my face for the next couple of hours. Ahh.. such is the life of a lightweight. After drinking, I went to the computer lab and sat down to join the Kodak PhotoChat that had begun. Some of you who read this may even remember these glorious nights of pictures, scribblings, and chatting. It got quite interesting at times! I found immense joy in connecting with all these Kodak folk I had never met. Back to the story though, I think I was sober by the time Matt B. (aforementioned boyfriend who had to work late) logged on to moderate the chat. Fortunately, a friend dropped by the computer lab and rescued me from a night of chatting. We went to Club Marcella’s in downtown Buffalo (I had to drive) and I had a “yard” of Killians (which I gave most of to some other friends at the club). Good times.. um.. I think.

And the New Yawker Gets the Gold

I stayed up last night to watch the only part that really interests me when it comes to the Olympics: Women’s Figure Skating. I’ve been following figure skating on a mild basis for quite awhile. You might be surprised that I wasn’t exactly rooting for Michelle Kwan. Not that I have anything against her, but after seeing Sarah Hughes’ performance, you knew nothing could top that. I even got a little choked up at how good it was. Plus, you have to root for the girl from Long Neck (Long Island).

It’s Girl Scout Cookie Time!

For some odd reason, Western New York (excluding Rochester and the Genesee Valley region) sends its precious little Girl Scouts out in the frigid winter weather of January to sell cookies. I think it must be part of the “toughening” process. Perhaps there some secret ritual involved in making small girls freeze in order to become real Girl Scouts in this region. All I know is that I got off easy when I was in Girl Scouts. Our cookie selling time started around October 15th and was done by the beginning of November. Sure it could snow during this time, but nothing like what you get in January and February.

A cool thing about getting Girl Scout cookies now is that it’s like an unexpected gift. I find happiness in being able to consume Thin Mints in the middle of February. Add Lemon Pastry Cremes and Caramel DeLites onto that as well. In moderation of course.

A Big Thank You To The People

I must give a big thank you to those who sent me email yesterday (or today) regarding yesterday's blog. It was very cool of you all. And now I have a possible solution to getting those blood spots off the knee of my khakis. Rock on! I am doing much better. Good enough, in fact, to give you the Jaime Sale thumbs up. If you didn't see the picture in the paper last week, you won't know what the frick I'm talking about.

What the World Needs Now (is a new Frank Sinatra)

I want a new Frank Sinatra. I mean, we did have Harry Connick Jr. for awhile, but nothing beats hearing Frank do "I've Got You Under My Skin." Yeah baby! I have a small selection of memories involving riding around in a bad ass town car or something like that with a group of friends, blaring Frank, singing loudly, and the guys generally trying to come off like members of the Rat Pack. Mind you, I'm not a huge Frank fan. I don't even have any of his discs (ok, ok.. albums).

I do have to admit to some guilty pleasures. I have this very secret liking of bad pop music. Well, not all of it was horrible. Sure Debbie Gibson (before she became Deborah) was bubble-gum pop, but she wrote her own stuff and I challenge any other 16 year old to be that creative. This is where Matt H. starts groaning and rolling his eyes. Hey, I know people that consider themselves high on the music echelon in taste that used to think Debbie Gibson was the bomb (and even met her), so I don't even want to hear it *grins* I'm bringing this up only because I found myself singing along with some older N*Sync tune this morning, "It's tearing up my heart when I'm with you...And no matter what I do I feel the pain.. with or without you.." So I don't know all the words. It's damn catchy though. I think moving to Jamestown totally destroyed my immunity to pop music. I used to be a solid WBER freak and anything that resembled pop was the work of the devil. And so it goes...

Floating Thoughts

It’s difficult once you go through something like what happened yesterday to me to really let it go. I know I should be moving on and not wasting my time and worry thinking about it, but besides these song keep floating around in my head. Some have nothing to do with the situation and some don’t even accurately reflect what happened. I may have to buy Alanis Morissette’s new album if only for “Hands Clean.” Sure I’ll get sick of the song after they overplay it on the radio these next few months, but right now I think I like it.

Ooh this could be messy
But you don't seem to mind
Ooh don't go telling everybody
And overlook this supposed crime

We'll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you've washed your hands clean of this

Has this ever happened to anyone else that reads this blog? Email me if you have, or if you have general comments. Oh, and yes, I am moving on. Sometimes I just like to get some last thoughts on the situation out of my head.

Now For Something Completely Different

This week is jam packed with stuff. Lots of stuff. I think I’m on a press release writing marathon. However, I’m not feeling as stressed as I was yesterday. That’s a good thing considering I’ve been up and down energy-wise for the past month.

New Khaki’s

On a very small note: I need new khakis. Seems I nicked myself while shaving my legs this morning. I didn’t notice until I saw a very small spot on the knee of the khakis I’m wearing today. Hm. What’s that? Oh, blood. Time to go shopping.

A Note For People Who Have Friends

Yesterday I lost a friend. I didn't lose him through some catastrophic event or some angry fight. I lost him to his girlfriend. Now, understanding that I only know his side of the story, apparently my former friend's girlfriend had a hard time dealing with women in his life. A sign of great insecurity on her part. After a couple of years of this going on and the issue being shoved back in the closet, it came out again when I decided to call my friend to say hello two days ago. The girlfriend was over at the time and much discussion ensued over why I was calling him I guess. That prompted the former-friend to send an email that included this bit:

"It's just not working for me to be trying to create a relationship with (girlfriend's name) and to be having you as a friend... I need
to stop our communication. There's nothing wrong with you or bad about you so please don't get that impression. The person you are has nothing to do with it."

He said he did want to talk on the phone once more. I initially sent an email back saying I'd like to talk. Then I decided to have some self-respect (at the urging of my ever-so-understanding boyfriend) and then sent a second email that said this:

"Dear (former friend's name),

Actually, I change my mind. I understand where you're coming from and I respect your decision. There's no need for us to talk right now, but you can always call or email if things change.

Love,
Julia"

All I can say to all of you that read this is that if you're ever in a relationship that threatens to compromise your friendship with people you've known for years (or even a short time), you have to ask yourself, "Is this worth it? Even if I cut off some of those friendships.. what will be the next thing I'm asked to sacrifice?" I never truly thought any of Morrissey's songs would be relevant at age 25, but I'll include the lyrics to a song I played last night:

Hold on to Your Friends

A bond of trust
Has been abused
Something of value
May be lost
Give up your job
Squander your cash - be rash
Just hold on to your friends

There are more than enough
To fight and oppose
Why waste good time
Fighting the people you like
Who will fall defending your name
Oh, don't feel so ashamed
To have friends

But now you only call me
When you're feeling depressed
When you feel happy I'm
So far from your mind
My patience is stretched
My loyalty vexed
Oh, you're losing all of your friends

Hold on to your friends
Hold on to your friends
Resist - or move on
Be mad, be rash
Smoke and explode
Sell all of your clothes
Just bear in mind :
Oh, there just might come a time
When you need some friends

Tail End of a Long Weekend

I'm absolutely drained at the moment. Matt and I spent the weekend in Cleveland visiting my friend Heidi and her boyfriend, Kevin. We had a good time, but are both pretty tired now.

Cool Thing #1: We finally went to the Westside Market on the corner of West 25th and Lorain Street in Cleveland. If you're into public markets and re-use of historical buildings, this would be right up your alley. I believe the building used to be a bathhouse way back in the day. It fell into disrepair for quite awhile until some people came along and restored it. Now you can buy fresh produce (excellent prices), all kinds of fresh cut meats, incredible bakery & pastry items, and other goodies. I had a huge smile on my face as we walked up and down the isles. The energy was very positive in the place. My purchase consisted of a sesame & honey bar and a bar of Lindt milk chocolate from the Mediterranean store. Heidi bought seven limes for a dollar so we could drink gin and tonics to our hearts content that evening.

Cool Thing #2: Matt and I had brunch with my friend Alex and his fiancee, Liisa (yes, there are two "i"'s in that name) on Sunday. I hadn't seen him since before he and Heidi had broke up in 1999. It was plain luck that he was also in town the same weekend as us (he now lives on Cape Cod). We had a good time chatting, getting caught up, and becoming familiar with Liisa. I had heard a lot about her while in college, so it was cool to finally meet her in person.

Cool Thing #3: Heidi, Kevin, Matt and I went to the Western Reserve Historical Society on Sunday afternoon. We got there at 3pm and were able to get in for free since it was so late in the day. They had an awesome exhibit on Cleveland Police and Crimes. A little gory in spots since they detailed a case where a guy got blown up by the Mob. This is also a must-stop for car enthusiasts. There are two floors of vintage cars. I had seen them when I visited the museum with my parents in 1989, but wasn't very interested in it all. There was also a cool costume exhibit on Cocktail Party dresses (and the cocktail mixers from the time). Made me want to put on a dress, invite 8 friends over, and drink two drinks (any more would be bad!) while listening to Space Age Bachelor Pad by that guy who just died (Esquivel).

Cool Thing #4: Ok, people might laugh at this, but we had an awesome time at the Macaroni Grille. Or whatever it's called. We don't have a huge selection of restaurants out here in Jamestown. So I get unnaturally excited about the Olive Garden now and other chain restaurants. Thank God I can get to Rochester once in awhile and have REAL food from non-chain places like Sinbad's, Aladdin's, Selena's, California Rollin', etc. But we had a good time gorging ourselves, drinking Bellini's, making faces at our bitchy waittress, and.. again.. eating way too much food.

I think that sums up the trip. One night was spent drinking too many "G&T"'s.. well, two on my part was more than enough to make me silly. All good times. I'm totally exhausted. I'm supposed to be writing a press release that's going to go out tomorrow but I have no drive to even look at it. Damn all the meetings I have tomorrow!! The worst part of it all is that I found out I can access my email from work at home. That means I never have an excuse. That's bad.

70’s Rock Instrumentals, Baby!

I grew up near an amusement park, Seabreeze, that had a ride called the Gyrosphere, which was really the “scramber” under a dome. First you had to wait in this weird, five sided room (not an octagon.. a.. oh hell) until the ride operator let you into the ride area. When the ride started, the lights went off and this blaring rock music would come on with freaky pictures appearing on the sides of the tent dome. It was pretty scary for a young kid who didn’t know what to expect. The music really set the mood. I found out today that it was the song “Fire On High” by The Electric Light Orchestra. I think now they play “Twilight Zone” by 2Unlimited, unless something has changed.

Now, I had heard “Fire On High” on the radio before, but I never knew who it was by. My first memory of hearing it on the radio was on the way home from a Girl Scout meeting (Yes, I was a Girl Scout for 10 years thank you very much). My friend, Anne, was in the backseat with me and we started freaking out, “Hey, that’s the song they play in the Gyrosphere! Cool!” My dad thought it sounded familiar, but couldn’t remember the name of the song.

I was lucky enough to catch the name of the song this morning after I heard it on an Erie, PA rock station. The folks in the Legislative office helped me figure out who the artist was. I must own this song. I can’t believe I have to buy an ELO album to do it. And don’t say I can download it, because I’m just all thumbs when it comes to the various download programs out there.

Figure Skating Debacle

The controversy about the judging of the figure skating pairs competition at the Olympics has been making the rounds in County Government. The Law Department got into it the other day and was very upset about the whole thing. They all agree that the Canadian pair was robbed and the Russians are not really doing themselves any favours. In fact, they’re of the opinion that this sets Russia back miles when it comes to shedding their Cold War image. I think the phrase, “Your mother wears combat boots!” was shouted at one point. Hm. I’m of the opinion that something very fishy is going on indeed. And it’s also the first time I even knew the names of any skating pair. But I really only know their last names: Sale and Pelletier. I saw both of them on Larry King’s talk show. Pelletier has a sexy Canadian accent. You just kind of want to roll around in it. I don’t mean literally! It’s just fun to listen to.

Monday Night Trivia Update

I found out today that The Old Toad still holds a trivia night. You can go read the questions from this past Monday’s frivolities at the trivia site. Cool.

Take The Mu$ic Biz Whore Test

Madonna, eh?

Happy Valentine's Day

No exclamation point. Don't want to upset the singletons *grins*

Anyway, I searched high and low for one little note that Anne wrote to me back in high school (probably freshman year) that detailed exactly what Valentine's day was like for us for most of our teenage years. I didn't find it. More or less it basically said something to the effect of: "Woo! Sucky Valentine's Day! Another day, sitting in homeroom.. watching everyone get carnations.. people playing kissy-face.. wondering why!! why!! why!.. but, you will survive. This is a learning experience. (hah!)..." Well, something like that. I believe the Meryn Cadell line at the end was in there somewhere. I'll have to keep looking.

Oh.. and YES.. I am a pack-rat. However, I only save meaningful things.. like notes I got from friends all the way back in junior high. If you ever sent me a letter/postcard/note chances are good that I still have it in a box somewhere (yes, that includes you!). I haven't figured out how to archive e-mails that well yet. I do have a binder filled with emails from my sophomore year in college. I wish I had saved more. Sounds crazy but I can't help it! *heh*

Other Valentine Stuff

Matt and I are waiting to "celebrate" until we get home from work. Mostly because neither of us is much fun in the morning. He supposedly got me something. I can already tell you it's not something to adorn my left hand so stop grinning like a fool! I'm big on cards, so I have a very special card for him that I found at my favourite Hallmark store. I also have a small something else, but nothing really exciting.

Moodswings

I swung up out of my blah mood. Actually, it was more of a depressed and stressed mood. I found out about some changes in our office yesterday that are good (so far). The only bad part that I know of so far is that I will moved out of my office to the “common office area” so someone else can move in. I’m pouting about that a little since I liked having an office. That private space. The view. Oh well. I have many more years to acquire my own office again.

Across the Miles

Last night I got to talk with one of my friends who went into the Army last May. I truly thought she had dropped off the earth until I received an email from her a couple weeks ago. It was good to talk to her. I heartily suggest calling a friend you haven’t spoke to in awhile, whether it’s due to being busy or sheer laziness when it comes to email. It definitely put me in a better mood.

Are you in the Dido Demographic

All right, so I shamelessly stole this from Meg but it’s not the usual kind of quiz. In fact, I’d say it was a more of a study of your music tastes.. but not really. Go see if you’re part of the Dido Demographic. I scored a 9. So that’s not bad. Plus, I can justify it all by the fact that I almost compulsively buy CD’s. AND, I would own The Verve album listed in the article, but only for the song “Sonnet.”

More Mardi Gras

I forgot to clarify why "More Gay Music" summed up this year's party. Imagine a group of 5 semi-drunken individuals standing around a living room, dancing to Erasure, and at the end of each song yelling "More Gay Music!" There you go.

Mardi Gras Madness

I think this year's Mardi Gras can be summed up in three words: "More Gay Music!!"

The party was awesome. Different atmosphere from last year, but that was ok. I think people were a little more relaxed or loose or something. Still no nudity (aside from two girls going into Matt's bedroom to flash each other), but that's not such a bad thing. The chicken gumbo was ohhhh sooo good! My body felt like it was on fire from the spices. That's a good thing.

I think the highlight of the evening for me was dancing with Mike N., Mike Z, Aaron S. and Abby. Abby was the DJ du jour and was doing a damn good job of it! The crowning moment is when "Shiny, Happy People" by REM came on and we all attempted to hold hands and dance in a circle. This was stopped by several people falling over, but then we got our balance back and swirled around in a dizzying fashion. I hadn't laughed that hard in awhile. Of course there was alcohol at play here. Like that wasn't obvious.

Matt H. said it had to be a good party since it's the one day out of the year that he actually gets a hangover. I stopped drinking at 10:30pm, so I felt fine. Plus, I had to drive. Blar.

Dreaming of Tornados

Ever since 4th grade or so I've dreamt about tornados. Some people just chock this up to my interest in weather. I know better. It's actually a sign I'm stressed. Saturday night and then another night within the past two weeks I've dreamt about tornados. The interesting part is that I'm never harmed in my dreams. I may see one coming while I'm driving or when I'm in a house/structure, but even if it goes right over me, I'm never harmed. I take that to mean (even though I'm not huge into dream interpretation) that although life is stressful, it's nothing I can't handle or get through. A curious thing in my second to last tornado dream is that I was driving my car, saw the formation of the tornado and thought, "Ok, this is for real. This isn't me dreaming this time." Weird, eh?

Ok, she is hot. I got a haircut today. So I'm feeling hot. Even though temperature-wise I want a sweater. But I'm feeling spiffy! Wait 'til ya' see me! Of course I'm expecting the "Did you even do something different? I can't even tell." You know how it is.

Shoot that Poison Arrow..

I’ve got the above song by ABC in my head. 80’s keyboard and all. “Who broke my heart? You did. You did…” *heh* The first time I really heard that song, or at least heard it and knew who it was by was back in February 1998. A friend of mine had put it on a mix cd he made for me. There were all these songs that involved heartbreak, love and whatnot and he tried to tell me that it was coincidence and there were not any hidden messages in there. Um. Sure. Like I believed that for a moment. I think he was just trying to save me any undue stress since I was in a relationship at the time. Aside from that, there were some really cool songs on the cds (there were 2) and it was cool to get a mix cd as opposed to a tape since tapes don’t last forever.

Anyway, the song got into my head because I had seen a reference to an album by ABC on not.so.soft and then the announcement of the release Lexicon of Love on my yahoo. *hums to self*

Don't Forget The Hired Actors

Matt corrected me on what would have happened had the actual engagement and eventual wedding ever took place:

"Julia, Aaron was going to direct the wedding (including hiring actors to play us so the pictures would look good) and play the voice of God (who would deliver the vows). The solid gold dancers were for the reception. I'm tellin' ya babe, you missed out."

I laughed hysterically at the memory. Really. Those were good times. *grins* It's good to have friends!!

Anyway, I'm all hyped for tomorrow's Mardi Gras party. I just need to get out of town for a little bit. Actually. I just need a vacation. BADLY.

s?

Colorgenics

I went to this site and did their little quiz/test thing. I was very surprised by the outcome. Mostly by how accurate it is. It really represents how I've been feeling the past several weeks/month. I've pasted the outcome here:

"You are tending to pursue your objectives with concentrated intensity and it would seem that whatever obstacles may come into your path - you will stick to your guns and will not allow yourself to be deflected from your purpose. You are striving to achieve recognition and what is more - you deserve it

You are a very warm and emotional individual but unfortunately in the past too many people have taken advantage of this sensitive trait. You need aesthetic surroundings, or an equally sensitive and understanding partner with whom to share a warm understanding.

You are feeling under considerable pressure and you are being forced to make concessions. You are not particularly happy with this state of affairs but you feel that you have no alternative. If you were to force issues you would be left out or completely ignored by one and all ...

You are pretending that the situation around you doesn't matter, but the effort of trying to conceal your emotions and anxieties is resulting in untold stress. The existing situation is disagreeable. You feel unwanted and lonely and you would really like to associate with someone whose ideals are as high as your own. You want to be above the standard of mediocrity... and this need to be needed and that need to need has almost become an obsession. You are trying to magnify the need into a compelling urge. You would really like to tell the world how great you are.. but no.. you are holding back because you feel that your peers may treat you with contempt. This is a great pity because you have in fact a unique quality of character but the continual restraint that you impose on yourself make you suppress this need for others and you pretend you don't really care. You treat those who criticise you with contempt. However, to be honest ... beneath this assumption of indifference you really long for the approval and esteem of others.

You really like doing what you do and more than that, you like yourself. Your attitude to work and to life is that "If its not fun - then don't do it" You want to be liked and respected, not for who you are but , for what you are.. and it seems to be working.."

So You Wanted to Be a Rock Star..

I don't know where that came from! Well, doing a lot of contemplating lately. Might have some more updates on that in a few days or weeks. Might involve major life stuff. Yup. I usually don't believe in coincidences, but this just screams "Hello!!"

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

I hear I've gotten mixed reactions to making Matt sleep in the guest bedroom. Believe me, I just needed one good night of sleep. Life has been stressful lately and Matt being sick makes him snore more. So he says. *grins* Anywho, things are back to normal. I got my one night of good sleep. Matt still isn't feeling up to par, but I know I'll get at least one other night of good sleep when we go to Rochester. Oh yeah. No musical craziness on Saturday. Glenn is going to be a no-show at Mardi Gras. *weeps* He promises pyrotechnics and perhaps chimpanzees playing bongos when he finally does make it to Mardi Gras. This makes me laugh hysterically since Matt B. always threatened that he would have Glenn dress up in a gorilla costume if Matt ever decided to make that next big step in our relationship. Of course he also said that he would get Aaron to arrange to have the Solid Gold dancers perform at our wedding ceremony too. I love my friends!! (I'll make it up to you Matt for relaying that story *grins*)

Which British Band Are You?

Don’t Let the Sun Deceive You

It’s a sunny, bright day outside. There’s a few clouds in the sky and seems like it will just be a bright, cold day. How deceiving it is. We’re supposed to get more snow late this afternoon and evening. This will be accompanied by wind. I don’t plan on going up to Buffalo for Jack’s wake any more due to this impending line of storms.

No Sleep for Dreaming

I didn’t sleep well last night. Well, I was sleeping well until about 5AM. This is when Matt’s snoring really kicked in. It’s loud and never-ending. That’s all I can say. I get terribly frustrated with it and no matter how many times I give him a good shove, it doesn’t seem to matter. I told him he had to sleep in the guest bedroom tonight so I could get at least one night of good rest. He asked me why I couldn’t sleep in there and I told him, “It’s your bed in there. My bed is in our bedroom. You can go sleep in the guest bedroom since you’re the one that snores.” Am I being too harsh?

Duets

On an impulse, I asked one of my co-workers if she would like to do a duet sometime. One of the ladies in the Legislative offices plays bass and saxophone. It’s getting close to a year since I last played violin. She said she had some music that might work. I think it would be fun. Plus, I’ve gotten to know her well enough that I think I would be comfortable. We talked about giving lessons and taking lessons. I’m still against the idea of taking on any students. I know there’s only one day I could even teach if I so desired. We’ll see how this venture goes.

Quite a Doozy

Well, County Government is under an inclement weather policy due to all this snow and wind. This means, if the weather sucks you can go home early but it’s going to either come out of your vacation, personal, or comp time. Something like that. If the weather bites ass and they close down County Government, it doesn’t affect your pay at all. I’m hanging around because the weather isn’t that bad in Jamestown, so I really don’t have an excuse to leave early other than to get out of the badness here in Mayville.

A Wake Tomorrow

Assuming the weather clears, I will be going to a wake tomorrow in Buffalo for my Aunt Ginny’s dad. Jack died Saturday sometime following complications and whatnot with his heart. We knew he was going to die, but we didn’t know when. I’m concerned for my Aunt Ginny and her mom, Connie. Both tend to become basket cases when stuff like this happens. My dad mentioned that the doctors should prescribe them some sort of sedative or something to calm them down. I think I actually agree with that. We’ll see how the weather does and whether it’s worth risking the drive there. If it doesn’t clear, a card will be in order.

White and Wooly

We've got quite a snowstorm going on outside. When I went to bed last night there was hardly any snow on the ground. This morning there was at least 2 inches. I suppose about 4 more has fallen if not more since then. Good news for the snow lovers. Me.. I was happy without. However, if we're going to get snow, we may as well get a hell of a lot of it and all at once. You have to appreciate a good storm *nods*

Upcoming Festivities

Ok, so this coming weekend is still far away, but not so far away that I can't begin looking forward to it. Matt B. is holding his annual Mardi Gras party. Much wackiness and fun is involved in these shindigs. The first one featured a quickly thrown together band called The Hunky Dories (made up of Matt's brothers Paul & Glenn, Glenn's roommates Nate and John, me, and honorary bandmate Kristen). We actually practiced some songs together earlier in the day so as not to make complete fools of ourselves. There was a nice rousing rendition of "Take Me Home Country Roads" in there even though I've never been a huge John Denver fan. Glenn was debating about whether to come up for this celebration. I have a feeling there will be another musical gathering if he does make the trek from South Carolina.

No Shrimp For You!

On a semi-Mardi Gras note. Matt is home sick with an allergic reaction to shrimp. Now, he didn't actually ingest any shrimp, but we did go to Red Lobster on Saturday and he did eat french fries that were fried in the same oil as the fried shrimp. Uh oh. He's doing ok, but is achey and well... feeling poorly. I can't get over the fact that it's nearly a year to the day that he got sick at last year's Mardi Gras after eating 6 pieces of shrimp. We didn't realize at the time he was allergic to shellfish. Oops.

Victory for the Patriots

As a general rule, I don't get overly excited by sports. Especially football. The only reason I watch even parts of the Superbowl would be for the commercials and for the half time show. It was definately worth seeing U2 perform "Beautiful Day" and "Where the Streets Have No Names." Plus, it was cool to see Paul McCartney get in on the commentary. Too bad Terry Bradshaw messed up on the "Hard Days Night' singalong. We'll forgive him. But it was pretty cool to see the Patriots win. It's nice for the underdog to get it occassionally. Oh yeah, and my favourite commercial would be the new take on the "How ya' doin'" Budwieser ad. That saying is a bit of an inside joke around here just because Matt's boss says it all the time.. and it's a natural thing. Good times.

Eight Hours Later..

Ok.. I'm still awake. Yeah, after waking up at midnight, Matt and I decided to just stay up. At 5am he said, "Wanna get breakfast?" I said, "Sure, but let's wait until 8:30 so we can eat with 'the boys.' Let's clean the house and then take a shower until then." Sounds crazy, but that's what we did. Matt is about to take his shower so I decided to do my little update. I'm also starved. What I mean by "the boys" is the group of Democrats that's a faction of the old boys network around town. They're in their 70s and 80s (some younger ones do drop in). I hope I'm mentally up to some political dialogue after so little sleep!

Celebrity Look-Alikes

I'm watching the new video by Lifehouse for their song "Breathing." The lead singer has the same haircut my friend Sean had when we were seniors in high school. Sean was stylin' even before he knew it! *heh* Oh geez.. end of this conversation. The Daryll Hall & John Oates Behind The Music just came on. I'm there!

Admist the Vapidness.. There is Music

Would you believe that MTV really does play music videos? Oh yeah, you have to wait until 1am or something to see them, but it's worth it. The only reason this is happening tonight (this morning) is Matt and I fell asleep after eating dinner. At 7pm. It was unintentional. We were talking and snuggling a little and then BAM. Sleep. I woke up after midnight and decided it was a good time to check my email. Matt is downstairs watching Scary Movie 2.

Hey, I tried downloading Audio Galaxy or something or another. If you have this program and have gotten it to download correctly or whatever.. email me. I tried to find a place to contact the administrators of the page, but I was remotely unsuccessful and didn't want to put that much effort into it. Believe me, if I could find an mp3 download site that didn't cost money, was easy to use, and etc. I would be set!

Unruly Child Tosses Her Hair

That’s how I would describe the trees outside this morning. The wind has become fierce since I arrived at work. The lights flicker every so often, threatening to shut off momentarily before the generator kicks in. I’d rather be home today. Alas, I’m here where I’m guaranteed electricity and a parking spot where my car should not be damaged by falling branches, wires or other wind-prone objects. I hear the suburbs of Buffalo got a walloping of ice yesterday. Power lines down in many areas. It rained all night in Jamestown. Makes me glad I live on a hill.

The Old Religion

I insisted on staying up until nearly 2 A.M. in order to finish reading The Ghost of Hannah Mendes. I tried to find parallels to my own life and heritage in it. I wasn’t overly successful. It’s a great read though. It reinforced my need to go abroad to find out more about my roots. The trouble is I have no idea where to start. Part of me says I should start simple and track my roots backwards, starting from the most recent residues of my heritage. It’s the main reason I want to visit Nova Scotia. That’s the first outpost in a way. It only fits my dad’s mother’s side of the family, but it’s a place. That journey would end up in Great Britain. If I followed my mother’s side, I would end up in Poland ultimately and almost immediately.

The other subject in the book dealt with Judaism and the acceptance (or lack thereof) of that religion in the lives of two of the characters. I grew up in a town and city that has a large Jewish population. It was one of the few places I knew of where the first day of school might be delayed because it fell at the same time as Rosh Hashana. Even so, I believe only a few people in my class were Jewish. I can think of two automatically, but I’m sure there were more. Not that those details matter in the full picture.

My mom first told me about the Holocaust when I was in middle school. I had the Diary of Anne Frank, but it took me awhile to finally get through it. Once I did, I tried to get my hand on every book in the library about the Holocaust. As if reading more and seeing those horrible pictures would make it more real in my mind. I never doubted it happened. I just couldn’t understand the inhumanity and was trying to find an explanation for it. Through my teens and even early 20’s I occasionally dreamt I was about to be executed by the Nazis. My readings had left an impression you could say. I also reached out and read fiction/non-fictional stories about those who survived and about those who came over to America. The Chosen by Chaim Potok was a long read. It certainly made me more aware of other aspects of being a Jew other than the persistent persecution through history. It was in that book that I became aware of the actual religion. I had forgotten about that for a bit until I read The Ghost of Hannah Mendes last night. There’s still that curiosity about the religion. I’m not sure where that will take me. I doubt it has any connections to my heritage, but I do wonder.