What Is Our Country Coming To?

My view of the people who live in the same country as I becomes very dim when I read stories about students who believe the Press should be more restricted. This goes along with having to listen a pop music morning show where the hosts mistakenly believe that just because our Founding Fathers were Christains, that pushing Christianity on everyone is okay. I'm really getting sick of it.

People I used to work with said that this country is already a theocracy, not a democracy. I love what this country was founded on, but I hate the people ruling it right now. I hate that the citizens of this country are so lazy and willing to go along with whatever they hear on the radio or tv that they don't question that our rights under the Constitution are slowing disappearing. My only hope is for a revolution of thought where the corruption of the President etc. are exposed and people finally see what's happening here. Sadly, I'm not sure it's possible, especially after November. The American Way Of Life is ending unless people wake up and start taking action to reverse this.

A Fresh Cuppa

Regular readers will notice that In Java, Literally... has been blessed with a new design. I have the lovely Cherry at Web Divas to thank. The inspiration for this template has been perking for awhile, and I was fortunate to find someone who was able to make it happen for me at a very reasonable price. Comments are welcome.

For those not in the know, the whole premise of this blog was inspired by Java's, formerly Java Joe's, in Rochester, NY where I spent many nights throughout high school and college drinking excellent coffee, having fantastic conversations with friends, listening to live music by whoever happened to drop by from neighboring Eastman School of Music, and scribbling down thoughts that often began with the play on words: "In Java, Literally..."

The Kissing Man

We saw Sideways last night. Yes, it is amazing that this movie came to Jamestown, but that's besides the point.

The point is that the lead actor, Paul Giamatti, had an early appearance in one of my favorite movies, Singles, as the "Kissing Man." For those who don't recall this scene or aren't aficionados of the movie, this is the scene where Linda and Steve are having lunch or coffee in a cafe and there's a couple noisily making out at the next booth. Steve and Linda are trying to talk, but keep getting distracted by the sucking-face action. The guy looks over at them and says, "What??" and his girlfriend mutters, "Ugh.. no privacy anymore" or something to that effect. Funny shit. There's a point of trivia for you today.

"It's not safe in Upstate..."

Matt F. clued me into this rap artist from the Rochester, NY area called Beneficial. He's written a song about Rochester, NY that's either hysterical or a shrewd commentary on the Greater Metro area. I think the hysterical part comes from part of the chorus where he mentions ".. the weather changes twice a week.." punctuated by "Rochester, New York!"

Here's another site with some bio background.

Alternative to Dying

This guy is my hero. An ingenious idea.

Fine Dining Returns To Jamestown

Over the past two months, two fine dining establishments have opened, or re-opened, in the city of Jamestown. Matt and I had dinner at The Ironstone last Monday. This restaurant has gone through several owners, a major fire, and other happenings to now be owned by the same group that owns Olive's, The Watermark, and La Fleur in the Mayville area. The service was very professional, even though I had to giggle a little at the seriousness of our young waiter. Matt had the prime rib special that came with mashed horseradish potatoes. I had a the grilled ahi tuna with Asian cucumber salad. Both were excellent. For dessert, Matt had their molten chocolate dish which he compared to the chocolate souffle he had on our cruise, but better. I had the creme brulee, which was very good but I couldn't finish it. Matt sipped tea while I splurged on an Late Harvest Vidal Blanc ice wine from Heron Hill Winery. A very enjoyable dinner and we would definitely go back again.

Also now open next to the Reg Lenna Civic Center is Forte. The menu changes daily, so take a look. We're hoping to have dinner there sometime soon (maybe Valentine's Day? They take reservations *hint hint*).

What The Hell Is Wrong With Russia??

This scares me:

Russia's Nationalists Call For Ban On Jewish Groups

Those who do not heed the past are doomed to repeat it.

Music Meme

Snagged this made-for-Julia meme fromWeblog Wannabe.

1. What’s the total size of music files on your computer?

12.7 GB and counting.

2. What is the last CD you bought?

U2- How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Deluxe)


3. What is the last song you listened to before you read this post?

"Drop It Like It's Hot" - Snoop Dogg Featuring Pharrell. It was on MTV Hits and I had to look it up since I didin't catch the credits before the song began. Needless to say, I switched the channel pretty fast.

4. Name four songs that you listen to a lot or that mean a lot to you.

I am a melodic pop bitch so some of the songs I listen to a lot are just damn fun to sing along with, even if the lyrics don't always means something. Songs that are guaranteed to please include The Format "The First Single," TrebleCharger "Brand New Low," Leona Naess "Charm Attack," and XTC "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead." Some of these mean a lot. I'm not getting into it *sticks out tongue*

5. Which three people are you passing the baton on to and why?

Whoever the hell wants to copy this and blog it as well. It's a MEME for god's sake!

A Tangential Post

Ok, since it's been days, I decided to write one of my famous tangential posts. I say famous only because I'm known to do this in real life occasionally.

My former boss makes me laugh. Apparently, while on the radio the other day, our County Executive said that Governor Pataki should "git'er done" in terms of his Medicaid plan. I don't know if it was intentional or if he just watched The Blue Collar Comedy Tour one too many times. I think it would be funny for him, or any elected official, to say that straight to the Guv's face or any of the "three men in a room."

We took advantage of our self-imposed "snow day" yesterday to do many, many loads of laundry. When I sorted everything out, you couldn't walk through our upstairs hallway. I told Matt this could never happen again.

Speaking of snow, I'm disappointed that once again, Jamestown gets screwed. I look at the RADAR and stories from New England and think, "Why the hell do they get all the fun?" Seriously, we were set to just hang out at home while the snow piled on around us and then all we got was about a foot of the white stuff. I can't even remember the last time we had a blizzard warning! I know, count me among the strange there. At least I got a chance to whip through two books (total now 5 for the week) last night.

However, I am glad the snow waited until Saturday to hit here since Friday night was our agency's annual winter party. A good time. It was kind of odd in a way since I hadn't been to a company-wide event like that since my first summer working at the radio station in Jamestown. You get used to seeing co-workers in a certain context, and then to see them at a party, drinking, grooving to the DJ, and having fun, doesn't seem quite natural. It's like the feeling you would get as a kid when you'd run into one of your teachers in the "real world." You'd think, "Ms. Royer buys groceries?? She EATS?? What's up with that?! I thought she went home, read books, philosophized to her cat, and came up with new ways to torture our English class." Well, I knew that wasn't true either since my mom has been a teacher from the time I was in middle school. I have to admit that it still freaks me out occasionally that she talks about me to former teachers, although those numbers are dwindling as many retire.

Matt made us scrambled eggs & sausage for breakfast this morning. I had envisioned getting to that before he did and trying my hand at a British Fry Up, but he offered to cook so I took him up on it since I had made pancakes for breakfast yesterday and macaroni & cheese (the boxed stuff) later in the day for lunch/dinner. People that know me in a personal, every day sense know that this amount of cooking is pretty impressive for me. Anyway, I had a fry-up on Easter Day in 1995 while on an 8-day concert tour of England with the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. The beans, greasy eggs, sausage, potatoes, and tomatoes all cooked in one pan before being transferred to a big, white plate just fit the bill that day. Plus, our homestay family made the most wonderful tea. It probably was just something from Tesco, but it tasted pretty fantastic. Anyway, my obsession with finding, or cooking, a fry-up is not too unusual I guess since I did find a blog, eggsbaconchipsandbeans, that deals with this topic.

Ok then. Time for more tea. Thanks for letting me tangent there on this Sunday. It's a Sunday kind of thing.

Liberally stolen from Buffalo Bloggers Buffalo Pundit & Byzantium's Shores.

Here's a list of the 50 worst songs of all time. You have to highlight the ones you actually LIKE.

1. We Built This City ... Starship (I hate to admit to this)
2. Achy Breaky Heart ... Billy Ray Cyrus
3. Everybody Have Fun Tonight ... Wang Chung
4. Rollin' ... Limp Bizkit
5. Ice Ice Baby ... Vanilla Ice (the ultimate sing along on the ski bus!)
6. The Heart of Rock & Roll ... Huey Lewis and the News
7. Don't Worry, Be Happy ... Bobby McFerrin
8. Party All the Time ... Eddie Murphy
9. American Life ... Madonna
10. Ebony and Ivory ... Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
11. Invisible ... Clay Aiken
12. Kokomo ... The Beach Boys
13. Illegal Alien ... Genesis
14. From a Distance ... Bette Midler
15. I'll Be There for You ... The Rembrandts (Oh just try not to clap your hands at *that* spot!)
16. What's Up? ... 4 Non Blondes
17. Pumps and a Bump ... Hammer
18. You're the Inspiration ... Chicago
19. Broken Wings ... Mr. Mister
20. Dancing on the Ceiling ... Lionel Richie
21. Two Princes ... Spin Doctors
22. Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American) ... Toby Keith
23. Sunglasses at Night ... Corey Hart
24. Superman ... Five for Fighting
25. I'll Be Missing You ... Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112
26. The End ... The Doors
27. The Final Countdown ... Europe
28. Your Body Is a Wonderland ... John Mayer
29. Breakfast at Tiffany's ... Deep Blue Something (Even saw them in concert)
30. Greatest Love of All ... Whitney Houston
31. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm ... Crash Test Dummies (Oh come on.. this is quality stuff!)
32. Will 2K ... Will Smith
33. Barbie Girl ... Aqua
34. Longer ... Dan Fogelberg
35. Shiny Happy People ... R.E.M. (Featuring the chick from the B-52s).
36. Make Em Say Uhh! ... Master P featuring Silkk, Fiend, Mia-X and Mystikal
37. Rico Suave ... Gerardo
38. Cotton Eyed Joe ... Rednex (I don't know what's wrong with me)
39. She Bangs ... Ricky Martin
40. I Wanna Sex You Up ... Color Me Badd
41. We Didn't Start the Fire ... Billy Joel
42. The Sound of Silence ... Simon & Garfunkel
43. Follow Me ... Uncle Kracker
44. I'll Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) ... Meat Loaf
45. Mesmerize ... Ja Rule featuring Ashanti
46. Hangin' Tough ... New Kids on the Block
47. The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You ... Bryan Adams
48. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da ... The Beatles
49. I'm Too Sexy ... Right Said Fred (It's fun to dance to)
50. My Heart Will Go On ... Celine Dion ("Yooooo'rrrreeeeee HEEEERRRRREEE!! There's NOOOOTHING I FEAR!".. I know... all respect just went out the window for me)

What's My Age Again?

Holy Cow! Nearly dead on!

Stolen from Erin-Go-Blog

You Are 27 Years Old

27 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

When Making Up a Snow Day Back Fires

The Warren, PA Central School district may have a small p.r. problem on their hands. Fast and furious discussion on one of our local radio morning shows tipped me off about this item. It seems that to make up for a snow day earlier this winter season, the districted opted to have students make up the day yesterday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Now it isn't uncommon for a school district to take away a holiday in order to make up a snow day, but there are a couple issues for Warren Central Schools here:

1. The District could have canceled the Teacher In-Service day the Friday leading into the holiday weekend.

2. Warren County already has a problem with being viewed as non-discriminatory since the KKK did hold a rally in the city of Warren within the past five years. I cannot confirm this, but I also hear they do have a local branch of the KKK in Warren, PA.

Now, I'm not an expert in school administration, but from a public relations standpoint, I think there are ways to overcome this in future years. A superintendent of a school district anywhere in Western New York, or an area that often receives significant snow fall, should be proactive about snow days. Instead of hoping the weather won't suck and, therefore, not planning any snow days for the school year, you can do what one Rochester-area school district did this year. They started early. I believe that the West Irondequoit School district (my alma mater *ahem*) has had at least one snow day this school year, but now they don't have to worry about making it up. In fact, if they stay snow-day free for the rest of the year, students will get to get out early.

Jamestown First City In New York State To Go Wireless

The city of Jamestown has installed a wireless network for its police force. Here's two takes on the story.

The Local News Side - courtesy of The Jamestown Post-Journal

Public Safety Goes Wireless
Jamestown Becomes First City In New York State To Cut Lines On Communications
By Loren Kent

The eyes and ears of city officials around New York State are on Jamestown. City officials marked the beginning of "something really big" as the city became the first in New York state to utilize wireless broadband communication for city utilities and public safety.

The "unwiring" ceremony at City Hall marked the beginning of a 100 percent wireless fidelity network for public safety communications in the city. "I trust that our local electricians have disconnected this wire from any power supply," Mayor Sam Teresi joked as he cut a wire representing Jamestown’s severing from traditional computer ties and marking the city’s advancement to wireless communication. "But, I want you to all join hands with me anyway as I do this."

Direct broadband access to critical information such as local records, mugshot photo displays, the sex offender database and other sensitive databases is now available through the use of wireless lap-top computers and PDA’s to city police officers working in the field. The city contracted with Tropos Networks, the leading supplier of equipment used to build metro-scale broadband networks, to create the communications system.

"Today, we have effectively unwired our downtown area using Tropos wireless fidelity equipment," Teresi said. "We plan to use the newly formed communications network to improve public safety and increase the productivity of our city workers out in the field." In this first phase of deployment, the city plans to use the new wireless fidelity network to enable police and fire department professionals to have mobile access from lap-tops and Personal Digital Assistants in the field.
See WIRELESS on Page A-3

"The Tropos wireless fidelity network in downtown Jamestown extends to workers and officers in the field," said William MacLaughlin, police chief and public safety director. "It allows workers to access multiple, secure databases that were previously only available to use in the police headquarters."

The city was able to make use of the new technology without expense to local taxpayers through federal grant money. "We were able to utilize money allocated in the 2002 COPS More grant, which was acquired through the Jamestown Police Department," Teresi said. "This is the beginning of something really big."

Public safety officials now have the means to view live security camera video feeds on their computers in their vehicles as well. After the public safety network is fully implemented, use of the network will be extended to other city agencies, including the Board of Public Utilities, Development Department, Department of Public Works, local housing inspectors, court and City Hall security, and other city government agencies to enhance productivity to the public.

"Police officers now have access to anything that is currently on our network 100,000 times faster," said Capt. Lee Davies of the JPD. "It is a tremendous advantage for police officers to have the ability to view mug-shots and other data from their patrol cars — it increases public safety and the personal safety of officers."

Wally Haase, BPU general manager; Dr. Lillian Vitanza Ney, R-At Large and council president, and Anthony Dolce, R-Ward 2 and Public Safety Committee chairman, were also on-hand. The second phase of the wireless fidelity network deployment will partner the Jamestown Police Department with the Jamestown Public School system in improving school security. The collaborative effort is funded through the acquisition of a Secure Our Schools federal grant. "Officers will soon be able to view live video feeds from cameras located within the schools to assist with responding to incidents at the school," Davies said.
Send comments to lkent@post-journal.com.



The General Newsie Side - courtesy of WIVB-Buffalo:

Jamestown Police Department Unveils New Technology

Police in Jamestown have some new high-tech equipment to help them keep the streets safer. News 4's Kathy Swenson reports on the "unwiring" ceremony of the new Metro-Scale Wi-Fi network for public safety.

Jamestown police say it's not just new technology, it's a brand new way to fight crime.

There's literally no strings attached to this new crime fighting partner.

Every officer in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, is now armed with wireless information everywhere they go.

The Jamestown Police Department unveiled its new state of the art "Wi-Fi" technology Wednesday.

Over the past couple of months, a company called Tropos Networks worked to turn Jamestown into a wireless hub.

Eventually, Jamestown officials plan to expand the use of the Wi-Fi technology to include several public safety entities, including housing inspectors, court and City Hall security as well as other city agencies.


The Techie Side - courtesy of Unstrung:

Bigger is better in the world of wireless LAN this week:

Troposphere: Wireless LAN mesh startup Tropos Networks has unveiled its latest 802.11 deployment in Jamestown, N.Y.

The firm has put together a wireless public safety network that covers just over two square miles in Jamestown. The network uses 37 Tropos boxes -- 35 out in the open and two indoors -- each providing around a quarter mile of wireless coverage.

"It's quite hilly," says Tropos's marketing man Bert Williams of Jamestown.

The firm is also working on its WiMax strategy. Williams says Tropos is already in discussion with vendors about doing "some sort of interoperability partnership."

This is the first stage of Tropos's WiMax strategy, using third-party units to provide backhaul for its wireless LAN mesh boxes. Eventually, the firm hopes to develop its own WiMax mesh products, which should boost the range of its wireless products.

Cold or Flu?

While I'm feeling much better today than yesterday, when I had some anxiety that I was coming down with the flu. Then I found this symptoms chart and discovered that I have, alas, a cold. No treatment other than getting sleep and plenty of fluids in hopes that it won't turn into anything worse, like a sinus infection.

Our current weather patterns aren't helping much either.

Wegmans Is #1!

Wegmans Food Market has been ranked the #1 place to work by Fortune magazine. Here's what the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle had to say.

This is turning out to be a good week for Rochester industries, including the Big Yellow Box which recently won an award for its 4-megapixel EasyShare One camera.

Because I'm in a Saturday Goof-Off Mood

I needed a break from honest blogging, so here's a set of blog quizzes that I did on my day off.

You Are From Venus

You love all forms of beauty. You love dressing up and anything luxurious. A social butterfly, you're incredibly popular and a great host. You're known for your fairness and affection. And as a frind to all. Careful though! You're desire to please may make you too willing to conform. Be yourself. Focus on what matters to you. You'll be all the more popular for it.

What Planet Are You From?

Like this is any surprise

Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence

Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

I AM 11% WHITE TRASH! I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box. Take the WHITE TRASH test at Fuali.com

Hmm.. that 11% must come from living in a rural city, which is an oxymoron of a sort.

Saving Lunenburg

I'm stealing a post from Gen X at 40 because it's important to me. To find out why, go read the original post here.

This is the very quaint and historic town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia:

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

My parents, grandmother, and me visited back in May 2003 on our two-week tour of the Maritimes. While we only spent an afternoon in the town, it left an impression on me. The people in the visitor's centre were very friendly, our lunch was tasty, the shops were cute (where I picked up a calendar, coasters, shot glass, and other tourist-y items), and the vistas were beautiful. I told Matt we'd have to go there together some day. Let's hope whoever buys the Clearwater buildings has reasonable plans that fit the character of the town.

Americans Ambivalent About Bush

Apparently, Georgie isn't fairing too well in the polls. The story has several quotes from people basically saying that while they supported George W. Bush after the terrorist attacks, they're not too happy with him now. I'll go on record saying that I always thought George W. Bush was and is a fuck up.

And How Are We Today?

I am not getting sick. I simply can't be. That's why I take echinacea! Phoo. Well, my throat has gradually become more sore each day this week. It's not terrible, but it's not comfortable either. I've also been fairly tired, but getting up at 6:30am and driving 45 minutes each way to and from work sometimes takes the starch out of you. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when I can sleep away the morning. I did have one of those panic moments today when I thought it might actually be Thursday and not Friday.

It's Time for the 2005 Bloggies!

Nominations are being taken for the 2005 Bloggies. Go vote for your favorite blogs in 30 categories from the past year.

And since I have so much faith in being nominated for an award, here's something to amuse myself (via Weblog Wannabe:

WEBLOG wannabe 2005 weblog award awarded to In Java, Literally in the category of "World\'s Best Weblog"

Snow, Ice, & Rain

The weather has been interesting the past couple of days. Even though it was a bit of nuisance, I enjoyed cracking the creme brulee-like layer of ice on top of the snow that coated my car this morning. Even though almost all the schools had closed in the county, the ice and snow had melted making the roads just fine for driving. In fact, driving to work was easier today than yesterday when I had to pump my brakes while going down Airport Hill to avoid sliding into traffic or down a steep incline. The trick will be seeing how everything cooperates for tonight. We're supposed to get more snow and the wind is going to pick up. I don't think it'll be to terrible since all that snow will get weighed down by the slush on the ground, meaning there won't be anything for the wind to blow around. On top of that, the temperature has been warm enough today that icing shouldn't be too terrible on limbs and other wind-vulnerable objects. I'm also hoping that all the salt the state has been laying down on Route 60 will make for a mostly okay drive home.

Helping In 360 Degrees Fashion

For the past week and in the coming weeks, you will be reading, hearing, and seeing a lot of appeals for your help in regards to the tsunami victims. Since most of you probably visit Amazon.com and have wish lists there, I suggest you wander back there today to their Disaster Relief page. Donate $5. It's not hard. Seriously, what is $5? A sandwich? Your daily frapu-mocha-latte-cino from Starbucks?

And after you've done that and you've started patting yourself on the back, call the Red Cross (1-800-448-3543), or visit their Blood donation site to find out how you can donate blood. It's only fair that while you help those in need abroad that you extend the hand to those who need it at home.

International aid organizations:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
United Nations' World Food Programme
Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors without Borders (donate!)
CARE International
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

UK/Europe:
Disasters Emergency Comittee (DEC) - comprises a raft of aid agencies, including the below and others
British Red Cross
Oxfam
Save the Children UK

North America:
American Red Cross
Canadian Red Cross
Save The Children
Oxfam America

Anders Jacobsen: Webloggers: Give to tsunami victims and I'll give too!

You are British Columbia!

Taken from Erin-go-blog!:


You're British Columbia. You're hip and happenin'
but also a nice person who isn't a snob. Career
is important to you but it isn't your whole
life. People assume that your life is perfect
and that you have it all, like you were born
with a silver spoon in your mouth. But it's not
true; you do have your own set of troubles just
like everybody else.


What Canadian Province Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I was hoping for Nova Scotia, honestly.

End of the Year Meme Thing

Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't think I made any resolutions last year. I'm not bigging on making them in general.

Did anyone close to you give birth?

No, but a good friend will give birth in May.

Did anyone close to you die?

No. Thank god. But I'm fearful for the New Year.

What countries did you visit?

Puerto Rico, Barbados, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Thomas/St. John, & St. Lucia

What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?

Materialistically.. a new car and/or house that we own.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting married and not killing anyone in the planning process.

What was your biggest failure?

Probably not working out as much.

What was the best thing you bought?

My iPod. Oh wait, Matt bought that for me, does it still count? I'd say our new bed.

Whose behavior merited celebration?

Matt. For not killing any of my family members in the wedding planning process *winks*

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

George W. Bush. He is an evil man.

Where did most of your money go?

Groceries and wedding related like photographer, honeymoon, cake, and that sort of thing.

What did you get really excited about?

Getting married, although you wouldn't know from the video. The fact that I only slept for about 2 hours the night before was a good indication of excitement.

What song will always remind you of 2004?

Modest Mouse "Float On"

Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder?

Maybe a little happier since we're spending the holiday with friends.

Thinner or fatter?

The same I believe.

Richer or poorer?

Poorer.

What do you wish you'd done more of?

Saved more.

What do you wish you'd done less of?

Spent less. Hmm.. a trend!

How will you be spending Christmas?

I spent it with all kinds of family, new and old.

Did you fall in love in 2004?

I could say something really sappy like that I fall in love every day with my husband but that's just sickening-makes-even-me-want-to-throw-up. I did fall in love with our new doggy, Buddy.

How many one-night stands?

None!

What was your favorite TV program?

CSI. The original.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Well, since I've always hated George W. Bush I guess I can't name him.

What was the best book you read?

The Da Vinci Code.

What was your greatest musical discovery?

The Killers

What did you want and get?

My iPod. I know you're all sick of hearing about it!

What did you want and not get?

A new car.

What were your favorite films of this year?

Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, Fahrenheit 9-11 & Napoleon Dynamite. Haven't had a chance to see any of the other good ones.

What did you do on your birthday?

We went to the new casino in Salamanca, NY and had the buffet dinner. I won $170!

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?

More preppy, but casual.

What kept you sane?

My husband.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Orlando Bloom.

What political issue stirred you the most?

The total ineptness of George W. Bush. I'll always take issue with his sorry arse.

Who did you miss?

Some of my friends who live far away.

Who was the best new person you met?

Charlene, our payroll specialist at work. She has a crazy sense of humor.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004:

Spend as much time as you can with the people who matter in your life. Take lots of pictures.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"Some days you feel ahead
You're making sense of what she said
Some days are better than others

Some days you hear a voice
Taking you to another place
Some days are better than others"
U2 "Some Days Are Better Than Others"

iPod Snobbery

The practice of buying certain books to show off to your friends has translated to iPods in what has been called "iPod snobbery" (registration required).

I guess I'm not totally picky about what I put on my iPod as long as it's music I like or stuff that was already on my computer when I did the whole conversion/upload to player. That means I do have the likes of Britney Spears (oh come one, you liked "Crazy" too!), N*Sync (old school "Tearing Up My Heart"), and ABBA ("Dancing Queen" is the best!) sidling up to The Smith's "Hand In Glove, Tori Amos' "precious Things", and the Von Bondies' "C'mon, C'mon".

Of course there's a seasonal dilemma of what to do with all the Christmas music I have on there. I don't want to delete it all since I do have a playlist that I'd like to keep around for next year, but the idea of the hockey-techno keyboard songs from Barenaked For the Holidays coming up in shuffle mode in July just doesn't appeal.

A Whiff of Spring

Our temporary warm up into the 40s had my sense of smell triggering distinct memories of Spring this morning. Outdoors it felt and sounded like the milder days of Spring and I could almost believe that it was late March instead of two days before the first of January.

Scent-triggered memories evoke the biggest emotional reaction for me. My friends and family have always said I have a sharp memory for odd things. It's a blessing at times to be able to remember the past, but it's painful as well. Mostly from a nostalgia stand-point. The smell of the air reminded me briefly of my short trip to England almost ten years ago. Hazy images in my mind of an Easter day fry-up, trudging around the streets of Arundel with a nasty head cold, warm breezes off the English Channel in Brighton, and a hint of the smell of the house we home-stayed at in Worthing. Fast and fleeting.

The next major scent memory came when I opened a single serving coffee bag. I immediately thought back to making breakfast before classes in high school. I would treat myself with these single servings of coffee for breakfast instead of my customary cup of tea. I've heard it said that coffee grounds have one of the strongest scents and can even be used to cleanse your scent palate. That scent and the doughnut on my desk brought back memories of Sundays after Mass at our friend's house. My parents and I crowded around a small kitchen table with our friends and their five kids, eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. When the kids, including me, were all younger, we had to share a chair sometimes since there weren't enough seats for all our bums. As we got older, we still shared seats as a joke.

Two scents. Hours worth of memories.

The Official Report

It's official. My grandmother has level 3 pancreatic cancer. She's too far along for any kind of surgery to remove the tumor, so she's going to start chemotherapy next week. I guess it's a gentler form of chemo since it's more to decrease the size of the tumor than to completely get rid of it. A quality of life issue. The doctors have also prescribed morphine for my grandma to lessen the pain which, in turn, should make it easier for her to eat.

I feel oddly calm about the whole situation. I guess after going through the whole she-has-it-or-does-she? routine for the past two months you get used to the idea that time is limited and precious. At least we were able to celebrate what might be our last Christmas with her. I'm hoping she can make it to her 77th birthday in March now. Mostly because it would be another "Take that!" to the history in her family of people dying before age 70.

Last week, my mom mentioned that if my grandma was strong enough that my parents wanted to take her on a trip to New England this summer since she really likes that area. I said that Matt and I would definitely come and that we should rent a mini-van, so that we could all be together for the trip. It's truly optimistic, but something to shoot for hopefully.

Thoughts on Disaster

The death toll keeps rising from this weekend's tsunami disaster. As it stands now, more people have died from this natural disaster than live in the city of Jamestown. That puts it into perspective pretty fast. And you'd also have to destroy the entire city too to get a true idea of what it must be like for the people that live in these countries. It's heart breaking.

On an analytical level, a nugget of information from Grade 9 Global Studies reminds me that as tragic as this event is, the population growth models in these Southeast Asian countries will replace the thousands lost in a relatively short time. Of course, what I learned back in 1991 may have totally changed. As I understand, China doesn't even enforce its "One Child Policy" as rigorously as it did in the 1980s.

Largest Earthquake In 40 Years

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake triggered tsunamis that have killed over 7,000 people so far in southeast Asia.

Julia's Peanut Brittle

Since I've talked about it enough in the past two posts. Here is my quick and easy recipe for peanut brittle. No candy thermometer required!

Julia’s Peanut Brittle

1 cup sugar
2 cups unsalted peanuts
½ cut corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp butter
1 tsp baking soda

Put corn syrup in 1-qt microwave safe bowl, lightly mix in sugar. Microwave for 3 minutes. Mix in peanuts using wooden spoon. Microwave for 2 minutes. Stir in vanilla and butter. Microwave for 1 minute 10 seconds. Quickly mix in baking soda and pour onto greased cookie sheet. Spread out using the back of a wooden spoon. Let cool and then break into pieces. Please note that cooking times will vary by microwave.

Bad Buddy!

I was blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead as I carefully tied curled ribbons around the plates of peanut brittle I had made for my co-workers. After sticking a bow in the middle of each plate, I put them in a bag and placed the bag on a chair near the door so I wouldn't forget to take it with me in the morning. A few hours later, Matt and I went out to have some pre-holiday drinks with friends that were leaving the next day to visit family.

When we returned, all seemed well. Buddy greeted us with his customary happiness. Then Matt said, "Is that a paper plate on the floor?" And thus the horror became clear. Buddy had gotten into the bag I had set on the chair, pulled out all my plates that had been wrapped with press n'seal saran wrap, and eaten ALL the peanut brittle I had packaged for my co-workers. We still haven't found one of the plates, but there were plenty of remnants stuck in between the couch cushions. I was so mad that I was beyond getting upset aside from yelling, "Bad Buddy" and pointing to the mess he left, "No!" I had a little less than half a batch left, so I ended up dividing the candy into plastic bags this morning. Buddy stayed the night in his cage.

I have to make more peanut brittle tonight. You can be sure it will be stored up high where our little guy won't be able to terrorize the peanut-y sweetness.

Warming Up To The Holidays

I'm not the biggest fan of the Christmas holiday season. It's a nice time of year, but I suppose that getting older has contributed to the loss of enthusiasm for all the holiday cheer. Regardless, I wrapped presents last night and started making my multiple batches of peanut brittle. The first batch is going to my new co-workers, the next five or six batches will go to my relatives. Tomorrow is the office holiday pot luck, so I whipped up my sister-in-law's taco dip recipe. I even dropped off a present at the post office today. What's missing? The tree. No tree this year. All my poor ornaments, left to sit in their boxes in a dark closet for another year. Unless by some miracle Matt puts up the tree. It's a fake one, so time isn't of the essence here. So Happy Holiday's y'all. Enjoy it with some friends and family.

Nit-picking A Parade

After I read this letter to the editor that appeared in one of our local papers this weekend, I thought I'd copy and paste it. Sometimes you have to laugh. This is one of those laughs that comes around when reading someone's suggestions and you know they have no experience with working with live TV or any media most likely:

Several Problems With Telecast Of Holiday Parade
To the Readers’ Forum:
In regards to the downtown parade recently:
It was amongst the best that I have seen from a
local community, and I thank Jamestown for
that.
I have a few problems with the way it was
broadcast on Time Warner channel 8:
1) the cameras were all in one very biased
section, not showing off the entire beauty of
downtown Jamestown. In particular I saw nothing
of the beginning of the parade when I did
watch it at home.
2) I kept hearing the term ‘‘Pimp daddy’’
throughout the parade by the emcees — is this
professional journalism by the announcers?
3) The end of the program, the angle of the
camera wasn’t focused on the whole tree, just a
section of it. Why not use the overhead cameras
to watch the lighting?
4) The fireworks were spectacular but were
ruined by the advertising of Time Warner. Why
not ‘‘Happy Holidays’’?
5) When I did see the parade at home why
did Time Warner cut to a commercial break just
as Jamestown High School band came marching
down the street?
With as many vehicles as they had in the
parade that should have paid for the parade
many times over. Thank you.
Russell J. Fowler
Jamestown

One should note that one of the announcers hosts the morning show on the local pop music station, so he could be forgiven for not acting like a "professional journalist." Another thing to note is that everyone who helped put on the tv broadcast was doing this for the first time. They had never broadcasted the parade live before and it was bound to run into some issues. Of course, I would have never put the one female anchor out there as a co-host, but that's just my personal preference.

Colder than..

It was bitterly cold this morning. I'm just glad we didn't have any of the wind I encountered mid-county. That wind is what closed one of the school districts in the north. The regular temperature was -4 when I left our house. The Kennedy/Ellington area recorded -16 degrees at some point this morning. But even though my car protested a little against the chill, I'll take cold over snow.

Just how cold was it? Check out this Wind Chill Map.

Getting Around Music File Incompatibility...

Ok.. the reason it took us this long to buy an iPod, other than cost, was the fact that there is no one mp3 player that can play the multiple music files (AAC,Windows Media, mp3, wave, etc.).

I found a way around this by accident. I was ripping a mix cd I had made that included several songs I had downloaded from Napster into iTunes. The songs on the cd ripped and converted into the AAC format perfectly. This is a rather cumbersome effort since it requires you to rip your purchased songs from Napster first and then upload them onto iTunes, but that's exactly what I plan to do tonight when I get home.

All I Want For Christmas...

Media Wish List for 2005 courtesy of Wired News.

A Chili Night

Southern Tier Pilsner & Chili

I made my Aunt Stella's chili recipe today. It's an easy dinner if you have a crock pot:

1 lb hamburger
1 can kidney beans; drained & rinsed
1 can tomatoes (whole or diced depending on your preference)

Optional Items:

chopped onions
chopped green peppers
chili powder
tabasco sauce

Mix everything together and set the crock pot for 10 hours. Go to work. Come home. Mix the chili up, dish into bowl, add some cheddar cheese on top and enjoy. I will add that Matt added some tomato paste just before I got home to thicken the mixture. I would definitely add more beans, onions, green peppers, and perhaps some corn the next time around. But it was a very enjoyable dinner, paired with a Southern Tier Brew Pilsner, on this frigid, winter night.

Winter Arrives in Jamestown

Winter Arrives in Jamestown

Winter is officially here with the first major snowstorm of the season hitting Western New York today. This is the picture I took of our front yard just before I left for work. Heavy snow made my usual 40-minute commute over an hour long going to and from work today. On the plus side, the trees coated with snow looked absolutely gorgeous. I only wish I had time to pull over to get a couple shots, but I happen to like getting to work on time and avoiding being hit by cars sliding around on slippery roads.

Holiday Parade & Lights

Matt and I attended the annual Holiday Parade this past Friday in downtown Jamestown. Organizers estimate that about 20,000 people lined Third Street to watch over 100 floats go by. This is the first year we've gone where we were comfortable. Past years, thousands of people would have to brave snow, wind, and frigid temperatures to enjoy the parade and fireworks. This year we were lucky. One of the coolest floats in the parade was the Geneva Street Float. It had a huge Winnie-the-Pooh on top of a truck flatbed and tons of lights. The purpose? To let people know that several houses on that street were totally decked out. I took a picture last night that came out blurry but gives you an idea:


Geneva Street Holiday Decorations

For pictures of decorated houses around Jamestown, go visit Christmas Light Tour.

Belated Wedding/Birthday Gift

Matt has been all giddy for the past couple weeks about a belated wedding gift he had bought me. I had insisted he wait until Christmas to give it to me, but he presisted in saying that it was a wedding gift and that it couldn't wait. I was kept in suspense for awhile until I came home from work today. He presented it to me by having me open the trunk of his car.

And there it was, centered in his trunk:

iPod 20GB

I don't have to tell you how excited and happy I was to get this! But it gets better. Matt had them engrave on the back "It Was a Beautiful Day... ...July 24, 2004" in honor of our wedding. You can all sigh, "Awwwww!" now.

You Are a Visionary Soul

You are a curious person, always in a state of awareness. Connected to all things spiritual, you are very connected to your soul. You are wise and bright: able to reason and be reasonable. Occasionally, you get quite depressed and have dark feelings. You have great vision and can be very insightful. In fact, you are often profound in a way that surprises yourself. Visionary souls like you can be the best type of friend. You are intuitive, understanding, sympathetic, and a good healer. Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

I Could Set the Building On Fire...

When I was making out an office order for various supplies a couple weeks ago, had I known that red Swingline staplers were still available on the market, I would have ordered one to grace my desk.

"...but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire..." - Milton Waddams in Office Space

Seniors Taking Back The Airwaves

It's heartening to see stories like this whenever I start sighing about the state of radio in this country. It's about an educational radio station that broadcasts to a retirement community. The key here is that programming is dictated by the people that matter, the senior citizens.

To have a listen go to WMKV-FM.

Wine & Carols

Matt and I were able to use our free weekend to get caught up with our friends, Clair & Kevin. They're still here actually, but since we were all up a little late, I decided it was better to just sequester myself with the computer for a little bit while everyone continues to sleep.

The whole evening events started when Clair and Kevin dropped by to give Matt his birthday gift. We were getting ready to go out for dinner and decided to invite them along. About an hour later, we met up at The Watermark in Mayville, NY and had some delicious prime rib, Edizione Pennino Zinfandel, scallops (for Kevin), and strip steak (for Clair). I found out recently that this restaurant used to be the office building for the agency I now work for in Dunkirk. The building I work in now was a former brewery.

Our moving party then stopped by Hadley Bay for dessert, coffee, and beer (for the guys). The restaurant sits on a hill above Chautauqua Lake, opposite Bemus Point. Before I moved here the property was called The Good Morning Farm before the barn part of the farm burned down. People still call it by its old name and were forever confusing to me about what they were talking about. Interesting note about the restaurant: it's in an old house that is, of course, haunted. We know the owner and he says that the stairway that you see as you walk in the main entrance has had a peculiar effect on patrons and staff of the restaurant. He says that there have been several occasions where people walking up or down the stairs have become so nautious that they thought they were going to be sick.

So after those drinks and sweets, we temporarly parted ways so Kevin and Clair could pick up more beer and wine and we could get home to see if Buddy had torn up the house. We left him outside his cage to see if he could be good and not have any accidents. The good news is that he "held it" until we got home, but we have to find a better way to keep him out of the kitchen. We tried to block the swinging door that goes in there, but he stll managed to push aside the chairs we set up and carry bags of pasta, boxes of chicken broth, and a bag of rice into the dining room. Fortunately, nothing was punctured or even drool-y feeling.

The rest of the evening involved more imbibing, watching Elf, singing holiday carols as part of the special features of the movie, and then breaking out the wedding video so Clair could see our ceremony (in fast-forward) since her plane was literally landing at the Buffalo Airport during our wedding. We also zoomed through parts of the reception so we could see how drunk all our friends and family got. They looked like they were all having quite a bit of fun!

Well all that excitement kept us going until 4 a.m. I'm still wondering why I'm up! But the coffee has been grinded and brewed, so I think I'll go have a cuppa and start the slow recovery from a fantastic evening.

Keeping Up Appearances

There's been one web app that's been my savior this past month in keeping up with everyone's blog: Kinja.

I actually bookmark the "manage" section where I have my blogs sorted by when they were last updated. It works quite fantastically and saves me the trouble of going blog by blog to see if they were updated.

Off The Map

A new job, family illness, and the holidays does not make for good upkeep on the blog. Here's the 2 minute recap:

1. Grandma: She is home and well. Hopefully we'll find out more after tomorrow (Tuesday) when she goes for a screening at Roswell. There is a very slight chance that she might not even have cancer since the hospital she was at only made their determination that she did based on blood samples. But I'm not getting my hopes up too much on this one.

2. Thanksgiving: We celebrated in Buffalo this year due to several factors including the fact that my Aunt Carol was in NYC for a wedding, so it was easier to have dinner at my Grandparent's house so we didn't have to cart everyone to Rochester. Also, the main reason was that my Grandma got to come home the day before Thanksgiving and actually join us for dinner as well. A very happy thing for everyone.

3. Thanksgiving 2 - The Pies: I made the pecan and pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving this year. This is normally my Grandma's job, but I was handed the torch this year for obvious reasons. I followed her recipe and I'm told they came out fantastic. So cheers to that!

4. Thanksgiving 3 - Annual Hang-Out: Well, since we couldn't be in Rochester and, therefore, couldn't hang out with Sean & Anne like we normally do on Thanksgiving, I called up my cousin, Mike, and we met up for some drinks in Niagara Falls after all the belly stuffing. A nice time, especially since we got to meet his girlfriend, Laura.

5. Thanksgiving 4 - Black Friday: Matt and I actually went shopping Friday morning. Matt said, "Never Again!" I didn't mind it so much. Probably comes from those 4 years I worked retail during the holiday season. I found some great deals at Petite Sophisticate, which is unfortunately closing down in the mall we went to. I also got to buy Matt his birthday present - navy khakis. Oooh. Speaking of...

6. Birthdays: Y'all should wander over to Matt's blog and leave him a comment to wish him a Happy 32nd Birthday! We're celebrating the actual day by going to his parents for a spaghetti dinner. If we're not going up to Buffalo this weekend (or Friday at least), I plan on taking him out to dinner somewhere nice.

That's all for now. Will update again when the moment is right!

The Struther's Library Theatre in Warren, PA 

Inside the Struther's Library Theatre 

Orchestra Tuning 

Warren Civic Orchestra 

The Only Thing That Remains The Same Is Change

Well, my Grandmother isn't coming home after all. My parents called me this morning to tell me this bit of news. The story:

My dad got in touch with Dr. Hurley (my Grandmother's doctor) last night to talk to him about bringing my Grandma back to Rochester since she was being released from the hospital. This was news to Dr. Hurley, who said, "She can't leave the hospital. She's too weak!" Then my dad found out from our cousin, Janet, that she was visiting my Grandma when the surgeon came in to talk to her about the surgery. He was going on about all the things involved in the operation when he mentions that they'll be putting in a shunt/stint(?) which is when my cousin interrupts, "They already put in a shunt/stint!" The surgeon said, "OH. I didn't read her chart over."

When my dad told me that bit I burst out, "Do you think there's another hospital Grandma would be okay with besides this one??" My parents are looking into whether my Grandma's health coverage would allow her to go into Roswell for treatment. Meanwhile, Dr. Hurley is working on getting my Grandma into some rehab treatment so she can regain some strength. I'm not sure if she's going to have the operation now, or if her doctor will even let her if she's too weak.

That's the latest and greatest. Thanks for putting up with me using the blog as the "Grandma Update" place for now. It's about all the energy I can expend on it right now.

Bizarro

Okay... things are more up where my Grandmother is concerned.. in a weird way. My Grandma only has one kidney, and I guess the past week has put stress on it, so the doctors wanted her to get some rest before they tried to do the operation. So my mom is going into Buffalo tomorrow to pick up my Grandma from the hospital and taking her back to their house in Rochester. Length of stay undetermined, but the doctors said she would need to rest 3-4 days before they re-tested her.

To me, this is good news. I was hoping my Grandma could go home for a little bit and have a break from the hospital. Now I know the fact that she's not strong enough to go through the operation right now is not a good sign all around, but to me, I want her home. Plus, I'm hoping we can get some straight answers from the doctors on what's going on since at one point they told my Grandma it would be a 7-hour operation and now they're saying it won't be that long. The whole situation creates a whole "WTF?" for my family.

That's the Grandma Alice update for tonight. If she's still at my parent's house this weekend, we're going up to see her and then coming right back since I have to perform in a concert in Warren, PA on Sunday.

Another Update On Grandma

My Grandmother opted for the surgery for the pancreatic cancer. Since the operation is on Thursday, Matt, me, and my parents are traveling into Buffalo tomorrow night after work to see her. Just in case. The surgery has a high mortality rate, so part of me (and Matt) wonders if she's going for the surgery as a quick way to avoid further pain. We really don't know. On the other hand, she finally signed release papers so that my Dad and my cousin, Valerie, can find out information (legally) on how she's doing from her doctor.

Before I head off for work, I want to say thanks to everyone that's commented, emailed, or called me to let me know you're keeping my Grandma and family in your thoughts. That means a lot to me. We're hoping she pulls through and can get back to some semblance of life for a little while, but I can't say I'm very optimistic right now.

A Good Take on Music File Sharing

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco had some great commentary on why file sharing on the Internet should be encouraged, not fined.

Quick Update

The quick update is that I can officially say that my Grandmother has pancreatic cancer, which is what we believe her father had when he died. My Grandma always hoped that when it was her time, she'd just fall over dead of a massive heart attack like her mother, sister, and brother. Unfortunately for her and all of us, it doesn't look that way.

She was doing better yesterday when we saw her in the hospital, but we're fairly certain she's not going to have the operation/chemotherapy. What that means in terms of making her comfortable and whether she could even go home at all is unclear. I guess we'll see what happens over the next few weeks. Assuming nothing happens in the next three days, I'm going up to Buffalo by myself on Wednesday after work to visit her. It's hard to see her in pain and not feeling well, but I'd rather see her as much as I can now since we all know her time is a lot more limited.

When Holes Get Punched In Your Heart

Yesterday, we found out my Grandma is very sick. She has been the hospital since last Friday with pain due to what we thought was a blocked bile duct. If only it was that simple and easy. I can't say right now what is actually wrong due to the fact that we're not supposed to know (her doctor told my dad). All that matters is that it's not something you generally come out of ok, if at all.

I'm scared for her and absolutely wrecked. We're meeting my parents in Buffalo today to see her. She doesn't know that Matt and I are coming, and it's going to be hard to act like we don't know anything. At least I can plead that the circles under my eyes are from lack of sleep due to the new job.

The picture below is my Grandma perfectly.


My Grandma Having A Ball At Our Wedding

She has always been known as the life of the party. She knows how to cut a rug and throw back a few with ease. I know she had a lot of fun at our wedding and whenever she can get out.

The important thing is that she's still with us now. I hope they can do something for her to alleviate the pain since I doubt she's going to go through the surgery that may or may not fix what's wrong. It's just too sudden. Too soon. And it's never fair around the holidays, but I learned that death comes when it must when my Grandma's husband, my Grandpa, died the day before Christmas Eve.

So please keep my Grandma in your thoughts. Some of you who read this blog know what a fun lady she is and she could use all the good mojo you can supply.

The New Job & Blogging

Unsurprisingly, starting my new job this past Monday has had a detrimental effect on how often I blog. Not that I've been very consistent the past few months anyway. I blame elections on that even though it's not even close to being the case.

Anyway, the new job is good. I was feeling overwhelmed my second day when we got down to brass tacks of what my responsibilities actually are, but my loving husband put it into perspective by asking, "Well, isn't this somewhat similar to what you were doing before but just juggled around?" I'm hoping he's right on that.

Here's where you all roll your eyes and sigh when I say that going back to work full time and having to get up early to leave by 8:15am and not get back home until 6pm is a real drag. I'm exhausted. Plus it didn't help that Sunday night I was a little excited about starting, so adrenalin woke me up a little after 3am and kept me up until the alarm went off at 6:15am. Sleep deprivation sucks. Especially when you're a CSI fan (all varieties), which means you can't catch up on sleep because you were watching the show until 11pm.

Next week is my first full week at the job since we have today (Veterans Day) off. I think I'll have a better assesment of how things are then. They changed my title to Public Relations Specialist, which I like quite a bit because the previous title, Operations Specialist, meant I had to take time to quickly explain that it was a PR position.

So if the blogging drops off here and there. Forgive me please. I'll do my best to get back up and running with my usual witty, rapport. Hah. Well, I can try, right? Until then...

Pierogi Party

This past Saturday, my mom, my Aunt Carol, and I went to my grandparent's house to learn how to make my Babcia's pierogis. It normally takes my Babcia three days to make all the pierogis our family consumes on Christmas Eve. Mind you, we make about 35 each of kapusta (AKA saurkraut), prune, apricot, and cheese filled pierogis.


Mom Sugars the Prunes


Julia Rolls Out The Dough


Aunt Carol Stuffs Pierogi


Aunt Carol & My Babcia

Here is the recipe:

Babcia’s Pierogis

3 cups flour
1 ½ cup instant mashed potatoes, cooked
1 egg
soft-serve margarine
water
sauerkraut
prunes
apricots
farmer’s cheese
sugar
lemon juice

Following the directions on the box, make instant mashed potatoes for six.

Using a pastry blender, blend flour and mashed potatoes until flour is gone. Beat the egg in a measuring cup and then add enough water to make it ¾ cup. Add egg mixture to dough and mix with pastry blender and then with hands until all flour is completely mixed in. Divide into three parts.

In a 6 quart pot, boil water and have a second 6-quart pot of cool water near by.

Cover board/counter with flour, coat rolling pin with flour. Roll out a dough ball, rolling from center out to about a large frozen pizza size. Turn over, add a little more flour to the board and roll out from center again, making sure to roll ends as well. Flip again so that the “sticky” side is facing up.

Saurkraut: add a tablespoon

Prunes/Apricots: coat fruit in sugar and put two in each pierogi

Cheese: add a large tablespoon
Cheese Filling Recipe:
3 lbs farmer’s cheese
¾ cup white sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs

Mix all ingredients together

Put filling near end of dough, flip other side over and press down. Use Babcia’s round cutting thing or a knife to cut out pierogi. Press edges together firmly.

Once you have 15 pierogis, add to boiling water for 10 minutes or until they float/edges get “done.” Shock the pierogis in the pot of cold water. After shocking them, use your hands to coat one side of the pierogi with soft-serve margarine

If The Shoe Were On The Other Foot...

Imagine John Kerry had won. Now shake yourself from the daydream and think about what the Republicans would immediately start doing as a political organization.

Someone else put it less mildly.

George Bush Still Has to Answer to the Other 54.9 Million

It's not looking good for democracy in this country. Yes, we had an excellent example of democracy in action last night, but that doesn't convince me that the radical right is about to change from their course of making this an Authoritarian America.

So we need to continue to be vigilant watch dogs and protestors. Daily Kos said it best. We cannot bitterly accept defeat but take stock of the fact that 54.9 million Americans said that Bush didn't deserve to be president again. Fifty-three million people didn't think they were better off now than they were when Clinton left office. Fifty-three million people who wanted a change so that this country could regain its integrity.

Congress and the President still have to answer to those people too. We will not be ignored.

I Voted For Kerry...

Who did you vote for?

Go log your vote over at Jason Kottke's 2004 Election Poll.

The Future Of Our Country Is At Stake...

Today is Election Day.

We currently have a terrorist in the White House who is destroying our country.

Today we can take our country back.

If you are able, Get Out And VOTE.

I've made statements in previous years that if you choose not to go to the polls that you lose bitching rights for the next term. I cannot stress how serious this election is for us and future generations.

On a bright side, it does look like people are getting out to exercise their right.

And if I can get to a computer early this evening, I'll post Zogby's 5pm prediction. He was one of the only people on the money in 2000 with his prediction of "too close to call." On The Daily Show a few days ago, he proclaimed that Kerry would win it today (turn up speakers).

But don't forget that pollsters cannot call people who use cell phones exclusively. Think about that. The fate of this country is still in your hands.

I'll now point you to someone else's words of wisdom, with Michael Moore's final words on the election yesterday.

A Concert Review

The local paper actually reviewed our community orchestra concert. I dare say this is the first time I've played in an ensemble that has received print for a performance!

Orchestra Gives Audience An Old-Fashioned Style Concert
IN REVIEW
By ROBERT W.PLYLER

The Jamestown Area Community Orchestra treated a local audience to an old fashioned Sunday afternoon concert at First Covenant Church of Jamestown. The volunteer ensemble, with 40 members, produced an hour-long program of relatively brief, popular works which provided a delightful and uplifting experience. Andrew D. Coccagnia conducted the orchestra, and provided genial, informative spoken program notes.
The program began with Johannes Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance, No. 5,” which they performed energetically.
The only work of the day which wasn’t completely successful came second. The principal theme from the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is by John Williams, and contains his famous uplifting masses of sound, but the instrumentalists had some trouble producing enough ensemble within each instrument part to really do
it justice.
Things were back on track for Antonin Dvorak’s “Slavonik Dance, No. 3,” another rhythmic Eastern Europe dance work which the conductor reported was inspired by true Slavic folk music, and by the Brahms work which began the program.
Percussion and lower brass instruments then got a brief vacation, while the rest of the orchestra provided a beautiful, melodic and gentle Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves,’ which is one of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ most popular and recognizable compositions. The flute solo was especially noteworthy in that performance.
The first half of the program ended with a lively reading of Gliere’s “Russian Sailors’ Dance.”
The concert was performed free of charge, but at this point of the performance, a freewill offering was taken, to help defray the cost of purchasing music and other such expenses.
Following intermission, they played a medley of selections from the popular Broadway show Fiddler on the Roof, which began with a brief soliloquy from that show, performed with great effect by Russ Germaine. Germaine later performed an especially effective trumpet solo within the medley.
The performance concluded with Offenbach’s popular “Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld”’ a lively piece best known as the familiar accompaniment to the dancing of the exotic can-can.
Short, melodic and completely accessible, the program sent the audience smiling into a cold and windy afternoon. The next concert by the Jamestown Area Community Orchestra will be performed May 22, 2005.

It's A Friday Thing..

Ok.. courtesy of Heidi:

1. Would you ever get married in Vegas?
Nope. Already did the church thing in Buffalo.

2. Favorite game show host?
Ben Stein. Back when I watched. Not that I ever did.

3. Next movie you want to see in the theaters?
Well, let's see. I would like to see Being Julia when it comes out just for the name alone. I have a bizarre interest in seeing Surviving Christmas. Then there's Ray of course and Shall We Dance?. But I'd like to the see the original first before I see the American-ized version.

4. Have you ever been a vegetarian?
No, although I did try eating a lot less meat and more items with tofu for awhile in college. I still look for vegetarian kinds of meals.

5. If you could go on a sciencey/nature type trip, where would you go?
I'd love to go back to Prince Edward Island to North Cape. Seals are part of the habitat there at certain times of the year. Plus, the geography of the land is interesting with its red dirt and wind swept shores.

Summer In Autumn Party

This past Saturday we had our "Summer In Autumn" party at our house. With the craziness of the past week and a half, the theme really only extended to the fact that I made sangria, Lori brought a sun-shaped birthday cake, and I had sent out summer-themed evites.

The party ended up being more about watching the Boston Red Sox win the first game of the World Series.


Here's Kevin sporting the "Johnny Damon" look while Clair plays with Buddy

Later on we broke out Scene It for two games.


The Party Revelers take a break from the game.

Clair and Kevin helped break their old record of 27 1/2 hours of partying by hanging out with us until 11:30pm the next day. We consumed more wine, beer, pizza, and various party treats while watching the Sox whomp the Cardinals in Game Two of the series.

Good time all in all.

When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Better...

Today has been one of those super-happy-fantastic days. I got offered another job by a not-for-profit organization that pays more than what I was offered by the group I alluded to on Tuesday. Benefits are through the roof as well.

So I'm quite happy to say that I will become a full-time employee again on November 8th. More details in the coming weeks.

Phone In My Pocket

I rarely carry my cell phone on me. It usually languishes in my purse, crammed in under my journal, wallet, and whatever else I picked up along the way. Today's special item is dog biscuits in a plastic bag.

But today is different. Today I'm waiting for a call from a prospective employer. Either they will thank me for coming in twice to interview, but I'm not a perfect fit for the organization, or they'll happily tell me that they would like to hire me and the salary they're able to offer me is such-and-such sum per hour.

Did I mention I'm at work? I felt awkward and a little traitorous as I spoke to my current boss this morning, nodding as he explained he wanted to change one of my responsibilities, "Next time we record radio addresses, just use bullet-points if there is a list of items. It's easier to read that way." I thought, "But I might be gone before then." I smiled guiltily at his jovial face, and starting getting suspicious. "Maybe he knows!" I wondered. A series of possible conspiracies ran through my mind.

Shooshing my wild imagination, I sit here. Waiting for that call.

Addendum: Got the call. Got the job. Next step is to inform my current boss and decide on a departure date from my current job. My feelings are really mixed on this, but I'm also happy to finally find employment.

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