Vote For Rory

A friend of mine in Colorado sent me an important message the other day. It seems that someone in Auburn, NY has taken up the cause of supporting NHL Defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick and created a page to get him voted onto the NHL All Star team. You too can help out by visiting Vote For Rory.

BFLOblog did a post about it. Then Off Wing Opinion added a lot more, including some articles. We're over 30,000 votes for Rory. Not bad for the kid from Irondequoit.

Warren Civic Orchestra Concert

I will be playing in this concert tomorrow and encourage those who live nearby to attend. Part of the concert will be to memorialize our late-conductor, Dr. Jaropolk Lassowsky. Dr. Lassowsky passed away suddenly on October 22 (my 30th birthday). Here is the write-up that appeared on Violinist.com:

10/22/06 – Violinist and violist Jaropolk Lassowsky, longtime faculty member at Clarion University in Pennsylvania, died after a brief bout with cancer. From the university’s web site: “Dr. Lassowsky was the long-time University Symphony Orchestra director and violin and viola instructor, and took on the responsibility of teaching all strings lessons and techniques courses for the last 9 years. …Dr. Lassowsky was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Award in the summer of 2003 to travel to Ukraine to conduct and teach at Kherson State University. During his summer stay in Ukraine, Dr. Lassowsky conducted four different orchestras, taught courses in computer applications in music and music publishing, and premiered several of his music compositions and arrangements with the Kherson orchestras. At the conclusion of his summer appointment, the authorities supervising his activities in the Ukraine were so impressed and pleased by Dr. Lassowsky’s work, they requested from the Fulbright Foundation an extension of his stay to include the Fall ’03 semester.”

The Warren Civic Orchestra will be playing Dr. Lassowsky's arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon as part of our performance. This is a free concert, with a small reception afterwards.

And the 2006 Effing Brilliant Album Award Goes To...

Sometimes a band's sophomore album exceeds the wildest expectations set by their debut release. The Format has put forth a record of songs that have earned my "effing brilliant" award for 2006. Dog Problems is melodic-pop filled with hooks and lyrical genius that comes from breaking up with your significant other.

While "The First Single" off Interventions & Lullabies is a great track, I found the rest of the album lacking. This is definitely not the case with Dog Problems. Best of all, you can download it off of eMusic where a subscription of $9.99/month gets you about 40 downloads every month.

Past winners of this award can be found in the following posts:
2005 - Exciting My Musical Ear
2003 - When Six Degrees of Separation Becomes Three

Pierogi Party 2006

This Saturday was the annual pierogi party at my grandparent's house. This is where some of the women in our family get together to make about 300 pierogi for Christmas Eve dinner.

My cousin, Rachel, joined us for the first time. I was literally up to my elbows in flour for a good chunk of yesterday.

For all the pictures, visit my Kodak Gallery (registration may be required).

It's Election Day!!!

The day has finally come. This is your shot at contributing to the political process by entering a voting booth and recording your vote for who you think should lead us.

Don't like anyone on the ballot? Do a write in.

Either way, just get out and let your voice be heard. If you don't vote, don't complain. And if you're really unhappy, maybe you should consider running yourself next time.

For some fun and frivolity, Test Your Midterm Election IQ
(ht to All Things Jennifer). I scored a 9 out of 10 and was deemed a "political junkie."

And just think, the ads and phone calls are done after tonight and the signs should be gone by the end of the week.

From Glory Days To...

I've had a chance to catch up on some new blogs, including Rochester Junto. While I loved the 1963 video in the post: Rochester - Then & Now, it was heart wrenching to think of where the city is today. I am optimistic though that things will turn around for my hometown.

Sabres KILL the Flyers!

I had a chance to watch the Sabres totally crush the Flyers last night, 9-1. Fabulous game! I think what would have made the night would have been if either Peters scored or Afin had gotten a hat trick. I did miss hearing Rick Jenerette's play by play, but fortunately In Da Buff has the calls for all the Sabres' goals.

Oh yeah, and you'd be a fool not to check out BFLOblog for all the highlights and the open thread from last night.

In Dream Land...

I started a new job this week. Between that and the usual suspects known as Julia's other quirks of life, I am being pretty neglectful of this blog. I like keeping the blog. It's been a constant since June 2001. But if I seem to drift away for weeks at a time these few months it's only because my days are running 4am until 9pm in some cases. 1 paid job, 1 dream job, 2 orchestras, an alumni group, and other tiddly bits. So until the next little break in my life, here is a favorite quiz result:

Amelie: a Definitive Character Quiz

You are Amelie Poulain! At least, you should be. You have a whole movie named after you and apparently, you like green and red. Most likely, you are quiet, shy, but into helping people. It starts off with Bretodeau and heads into helping more people. But, what about you, petite Amelie? Live. It is a difficult time for dreamers. And you most likely will find your soul mate in people like, Nino. Quinze, indeed.
Take this quiz!




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Right Now...

It's the perfect Sunday morning. I just finished reading through my favorite bits of the Sunday paper. Coupon clippings are neatly stacked next to my grocery list. My handmade mug from Anne is resting in the sink after its bowl was drained of hot tea. I'm joined on the couch on our porch by Buddy who is in ultra-cuddle mode. The sun scatters across the leaves of the trees on our street. The yellow, red and green leaves shaking the sun off with each gust of wind. There's patches of blue sky reflected on our glass table. The clouds are sweeping through and leaving smudges of gray. Joseph Arthur is singing "If I find my own way, how much will I find."

Goalies Rock!

Take the quiz:
What famous hockey player are you?

Martin Brodeur
You are the rising superstar goaltender Martin Brodeur. You are young yet u have accomplished so much and on top of that you have plenty of time ahead of you to accomplish much more. Your style is stand-up and you have lightning quick reflexes and have a tendency to stop rebounds you have no business stopping.

Quizzes by myYearbook.com -- the World's Biggest Yearbook!

OK GO ON ICE!!!

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Faking It For 20 Years

This fall is the 20th anniversary of me playing the violin. I must admit I'm not the most studious violinist when it comes to practicing. I frequently joke that I've gotten as far as I have by becoming an excellent sight-reader who can fake it along with the best. Well, in honor of my 20th anniversary, I'm performing with several groups over the next few months. The schedule as of today is such:

Sunday, September 17th - 4PM: Warren Riverside Chamber Orchestra (Warren, PA) UPDATE - Concert Got Cancelled Due to Sciata thing With our Solo Violinist

Sunday, October 22 - 3:30 PM: Jamestown Community Orchestra (Jamestown, NY)

Sunday, November 19 - 4PM: Warren Civic Orchestra (Warren, PA)

Friday, December 1-Sunday, December 3rd: The Living Christmas Tree (Jamestown, NY)

I invite anyone who is interested in attending one of these performances in support of me and my fellow musicians to email me for further details.

Jedi Stamina??

Adrienne has written the funniest thing I've read all week.

In the style of Bridget Jones, here is Queen Amidala's journal entry for today.

For previous entries of Queen Amidala's journal, go here.

Katie's First News Day

I dutifully watched Katie Couric's first appearance as the lead anchor for the CBS evening news. Being a woman who has some experience in the news business, I want to jump up and down on my metaphorical couch in praise of Katie, but I just can't bring myself to gush all that much.

To start with, I found the news content a little stale. I kept thinking to myself, "Wow, did anything happen in the news today?" as I watched the first, very long segment on the state of things in Afghanistan. Don't get me wrong, it was an interesting piece, but hardly lead material.

Then there was the interview Katie did with a liberal columnist who slobbered all over her. I could deal with that until Katie made a comment with the statement, "..and we're all looking forward to the fifth anniversary of 9-11..." I understand that she didn't actually mean to say that we're all eagerly anticipating the anniversary of one of the worst acts of terrorism on our country, but you'd think that for someone with all her experience she would have been able to reach for the right phrasing.

Speaking of phrasings, I found myself playing catch-up as she shot-gunned through three or four stories in a row with nary a breath. I couldn't tell you what the stories were since Katie's poor pacing left me bewildered as we went into commercial break.

The moment that sealed Katie's fate for me in terms of future viewing was the big story on the first photos of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' new baby, Suri. We get enough of that schlock in the tabloids and I would go as far to say it has no place in a serious newscast.

I found out today that I wasn't alone in my criticisms:
Tom Shale's column in the Washington Post

I want to give Katie a chance, but I find I yell at the TV, newspaper, Internet, and radio enough when it comes to news reporting and newscasts. For that reason, I will go back to watching Charles Gibson on ABC tonight. There probably will be a good percentage of people who won't join me simply because they prefer the lighter side of evening news that Katie will present. For all my negativity and criticisms, I do want Katie to succeed. I just hope that she can find a better balance and angle than what a 17-share of the market saw last night.

Those Who Reportedly Shoot State Troopers Should Not Be Called Folk Heroes

My post title is not quite my usual style, since no one has been convicted of shooting that happened in Elmira back in June and the shootings that took place last night. Here's the script on the main story in Western New York today:

TWO STATE TROOPERS ARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER POLICE SAY THEY WERE SHOT BY ESCAPED CONVICT RALPH "BUCKY" PHILLIPS IN THE TOWN OF POMFRET. STATE POLICE SUPERINTENDENT WAYNE BENNETT SAID 32-YEAR OLD JOSEPH LONGOBARDO AND 38-YEAR OLD DONALD BAKER JR. WERE EACH SHOT ONCE WITH WHAT POLICE BELIEVE IS A HIGH POWERED RIFLE. ONE WAS SHOT IN THE BACK WITH A BULLET THAT PIERCED HIS BULLET RESISTANT VEST AND EXITED THROUGH HIS ABDOMEN. THE OTHER OFFICER WAS SHOT IN THE THIGH AND SUFFERED MASSIVE BLOOD LOSS DUE TO A SEVERED ARTERY. NEITHER TROOPER LAID EYES ON PHILLIPS BEFORE THEY WERE SHOT. LONGOBARDO WAS TRANSFERRED TO ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER, AND BAKER WAS TREATED AT HAMOT MEDICAL CENTER IN ERIE. BOTH MEN, BASED OUT OF TROOP G NORTH OF ALBANY, UNDERWENT SURGERY LATE THURSDAY. BENNETT, WHO FLEW FROM ALBANY TO THE STATE POLICE BARRACKS IN FREDONIA LATE THURSDAY, ORDERED 75 ADDITIONAL TROOPERS TO HELP WITH THE MANHUNT. SHORTLY AFTER THE SHOOTINGS, STATE POLICE CONVERGED NEAR THE RESIDENCE OF PHILLIPS' FORMER GIRLFRIEND NEAR BACHELOR HILL ROAD. POLICE NOW BELIEVE THAT PHILLIPS HAS BEEN TRAVELING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK STATE LINES. PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE WERE CHECKING VEHICLES ENTERING THE STATE FROM NEW YORK LATE THURSDAY. AND STATE TROOPERS HAD ALSO SET UP ROADBLOCKS NEAR THE TOWN OF POMFRET AND THE THRUWAY ENTRANCE.

Yes, it's easier to read on the air when it's all in caps. I got the news of this story at 9pm last night after chamber orchestra rehearsal ended. Despite my exhaustion, the adrenaline started running at light speed through my body. You can leave the news business, but the drive to get the news never leaves you. If I didn't have a paying job to worry about, I probably would have been up in Stockton or Fredonia last night with the rest of the media pool, waiting for the press conference that eventually happened at 1 AM. Fortunately, Matt stayed up to watch it on tv and then I got up at the excruciating hour of 4 AM to go in and do the news live for our favorite local pop station. Here's to hoping it all ends a lot less violently.

Wegmans Obsession

I'm well aware that I'm a pretty big fan of Wegmans, but how much of a fan girl I am became pretty apparent during lunch today with some friends, including a Wegmans employee.

It started when I told Jason (the employee) that I saw him while grocery shopping a couple weeks ago, but he didn't hear me say hi. His girlfriend, a mutual friend, commented that I was the biggest fan she knew of the grocery store. I answered back, "Well it is the number one grocery store in the nation!"

Jason replied, "Yeah, that just came out in.."

"Consumer Reports!" I finished for him.

"That just came out yesterday!" he exclaimed. I blinked, "Well yeah! I get the magazine."

Later on we were discussing some of the recalls the store has had including the wheat bread recall.

"Oh yeah, I remember that now," I recalled.

"Well, you did a story on it for the news," said Leeanne.

"Right, I got to say 'Food You Feel Good About' in my lead sentence," I grinned.

"And then there was the issue with the bromate in the water. Please! You'd have to drink something like 20 bottles of the water every week for 60 years to have any effects!" said Jason.

I nodded in agreement, "Right. I've just been giving our excess recalled water to our plants."

"Maybe it's back on the shelves already," said Matt.

"Nope." I replied.

"Nah, I'm not sure what's going on with it," said Jason.

"Well, I think they need to find a new distributor. They've put out some brand that gets their water from Canada instead." I answered.

Leeanne exclaimed, "He WORKS there and doesn't even know that!"

Yeah. Fan girl I am.

Desire in a Beretta

The end of August has represented not just the changing of seasons, no matter the temperature, but definitive time period of when I left childhood and entered my young adult years.

We idealize our youth to a degree, but some moments remain pure to the instant they were lived. I rode in the back seat behind my friend, Matt, who was driving his mom's red beretta. We were driving down Ridge Road East at night with the windows down. The season had met that point where the nights could no longer hold onto the warmth of the day, and the wind rushing through the window buffeted my face and twisted my long hair into a chunky mess. I dipped my hand out of the window into the heavy, cool air that tugged at me, as if to pull me from the car while "Desire" by U2 jangled at a frenetic volume.

Behind the Wheel

Matt and I have embarked on another first as a married couple. We picked up our "new" car from West Herr Toyota a week ago.

Here's the new member of our family, our 2001 Toyota Corolla:

Matt is besides himself over this car and the awesome warranty that we got with it. I, on the other hand, was more concerned with establishing this car as "our" car. Part of this involves indoctrinating it into our lives. We travel a lot, so a road trip was in order. This was easy because we had to go to Buffalo to buy the car, so a NYS Thruway trip was built in.



The second part was making sure the car became accustomed to our music. I immediately switched on CFNY out of Toronto to give the Corolla its first taste of "modern rock" under our ownership. I then put my iPod on with a carefully chosen list of songs:

The Smiths - Sheila Take A Bow
Coldplay - Talk
The Smiths - Shoplifters Of the World
Morrissey - I Am Hated For Loving
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
The Cure - Mint Car
ABC - The Look of Love
Depeche Mode - A Question of Time
The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
Archers of Loaf - Harnessed in Slums
Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending
Jill Sobule - I Kissed A Girl
ABC - Be Near Me
The Cars - Let's Go
Incubus - Megalomaniac
Cake - The Distance
Cranes - Jewel
The Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Joseph Arthur - Redemption's Son
AC/DC - Shook Me All Night Long
Love Spit Love - Am I Wrong
The Smiths - Sweet and Tender Hooligan
MC Lars - Download This Song

This might seem over the top, but when I got my first car back in July 1997, I made sure the first thing I popped in the cassette desk was a copy of Morrissey's Viva Hate. After that, the first station I programmed was WBER. The first road trip came days after we got the car, when I drove it to the former-Finger Lakes Performing Art Center for the first Lilith Faire. That car is still in our family and has over 185,000 miles. Coincidence? I like to think not!

Do You Speak Canadian? Um... Aye?

I was looking through our local paper when a letter to the editor caught my eye. It was written in response to another letter from a fellow who thinks the children in our country should be taught other languages. Having not seen that other letter, I'm assuming he was saying our children should be fluent in something other than English. The person responding had an interesting idea, but I couldn't get past the sentence I bolded:

To the Readers’ Forum:
I’d like to comment again on Mr. Simon’s commentary
on trying to encourage kids of today to speak
other languages. He states that the European nations
speak two, three or four different languages. I wonder
why. So many different countries/cultures under one
continent about the same size as ours. You wouldn’t
expect a Canadian to speak Canadian here, because
their primary languages are French and English.
Mexico is the same way, with the exception that their
primary language is Spanish. My problem with this
way of thinking is this: If you are going to encourage
speaking different languages, why not encourage kids
to learn sign language or Braille? I may not need to
use French or German in my life as many people
probably aren’t, but did you ever stop to think that
you could lose your sight or ability to hear, things we
take for granted? I don’t think it is fair to learn a language
spoken with the mouth but not one spoken
with any other sense of the body. Kind of discriminatory
is it not?

There Goes Our Boy...

I just read the sad news on BFLOblog that Rory Fitzpatrick maybe headed to Vancouver.

Shoot, I've never rooted for Vancouver but I guess there's always a time to start. They also have Taylor Pyatt.

I'll keep wearing the jersey of course.

What's That Song?

When I get a chance to listen to WBER, whether online or in Rochester, I always make note of new songs I've heard that I like so I can download them later to my iPod. Sometimes, the DJ's don't announce the song, or I lose the signal before I can find out the name of the ear-pleasing tune.

Well, thanks to an article in today's Democrat & Chronicle, I now know of a site that will tell me who the sang the song and its name.

I've already checked out the 10am playlist for WBER.

Shattered Moon Alliance (SMA) Con 2006

Two weeks ago, Matt and I took our first long road trip since we got married. This trip was to Madison, Indiana for the EverQuest2 Shattered Moon Alliance Convention. The premise was that the players in that guild would gather for a weekend to meet each other and have a good time. We used the weekend as a longer getaway and a chance to catch up with Matt's long-time friend, and EverQuest buddy, Hector. Here's the day-by-day run down.

Wednesday, July 19th: We left Jamestown at the early hour of 7am and head down I-90. Somewhere in Ohio, the air conditioning became noticably weaker and then practically non-existent. This is not good seeing as how the predicted high temperature in Indiana for the week was 80-plus degrees. Lunch and cooing over babies commenced in Columbus, OH where we saw our friend Karen, Karen's new little girl McKenzie, Kevin, & Mickey. Columbus is a real nice city, but I imagine a lot of that is helped by the fact that it is a university town.

We finally met up with Hector in Carrollton, KY so that we could follow him the rest of the way to Madison. After getting settled at our hotel, we grabbed dinner at Cabana Joe's. Sean Paul's "Temperature" was playing over the loudspeaker, and Hector and I used the moment to sing jibberish with inserts of "OH OH!" We capped the evening off with a walk along the Ohio river waterfront to see where a teenager, high on inhalants, had plowed through a crowd of people during the annual river regatta with his car. Over a dozen people were injured, some seriously.

Thursday, July 20th: After a heart-attack breakfast at the downtown greasy spoon, we strolled the streets of Madison. It's an older city with a lot of structures that have been meticulously restored. I took a lot of pictures of doors and some windows. The city also is decorating pigs for a fundraiser, much like how other cities have decorated horses, cows, buffalos, and lighthouses.

But the real goal of the day was not casual window shopping. It was a hike at Clifty Falls State Park. One neat sight before we even hit the trails was a group of Amish/Mennonite folk who were watching a baseball game played by the younger generation. We started on trail 7, which has the view of Clifty and Little Clifty Falls (to see how far we hiked, look at this map, and then meandered over roots, stairs, and stones to the end of trail 4. Hector failed to mention to us that the trails don't form a circle. When we realized this at the beginning of trail 3, we decided to go up on the road that runs above the trails and make our way back to our car. At this point, I think we might have given up and just laid down in the road from exhaustion if we had not run into two bikini-clad girls in flip flops. They approached us, giggling, and asked "Have you seen a red bug?" Later on, Hector, Matt, and I realized we all thought the same thing, "There's lots of bugs!! Why do they want to know if we've seen a red one??" One of us said quizzically, "Um, no?" The dynamic duo giggled and said, "We went on the tunnel trail and now we can't find where our bug is parked." At that point, we realized they were referring to a car. The girls decided to hike on to the park office, which was quite a distance away. Hector amused us by muttering, "Tee hee! I can't find my bug!" the rest of the way to our car. A shower and change of clothes later, we grabbed a buffet dinner at the Clifty Inn. The food was decent, although my body was more concerned with shoving protein into my mouth. I think I went into auto-consume mode. A drive around the park roads revealed that we had hiked about 6 miles.

Believe it or not, the evening didn't end there. We then went to McQuiston's Malthouse for some beer. I decided to do the 8-beer sampler. If you visit this fine establishment, beware, for the "sampler" glasses are more like half-pints. My favorite was a Reserve Stout from Bluegrass Brewing Co. out of Kentucky. After several beers, we collapsed at the hotel.

Friday, July 21st: I know you're thinking, "They had the whole weekend still??" in terms of stuff to do. Friday, we woke up fairly early and headed to Louisville, KY to pick up Jim & Jenny from the airport. Their flight was on time, and we quickly got their luggage sorted and went to Bob Evan's for brunch. The brunch part happened because we were waiting for a call from another guild player, Fran, on whether she was going to be able to make it. Midway through biscuits, crepes, and sausage gravy, we got the call that Fran's visit was a no-go. Undeterred, we headed back to Madison and the downtown area. The heat and humidity pushed us inside the Visitor's Center, where we watched an tourism video circa early 1980s. After stumbling around some side streets, we ventured back to the Lanier Mansion, where we were met with blessedly cooler conditions and some history.

After the house tour, we got ice cream at Kaleidascoops because it's similar to the Baskin Robbin's model of ice cream stores. I bought some popcorn from a gourmet shop and we walked through an old fashioned ice cream/candy store before we ran to the public restrooms to watch a storm roll through the area. Jim & Jenny hadn't seen a good storm in awhile since they live in the desert air of California. To back-up to the public restroom thing, Madison converted an old gas station into public restrooms that are air conditioned, have a little seating area, water fountains, and some tourism information. It's on one end of the downtown area and was perfect for our little escape from the rain. As the rain and wind picked up, we moved inside to wait it out. A water-logged fellow joined us on the benches inside. Then Hector and Jenny started talking about where they bought their horses. Innocent enough of a conversation until they mentioned how much "plat" some guy had and that he had just a million gold sitting around. The conversation digressed into more EverQuest2 talk until our soaking-wet companion slipped out the side door of the rest area and ran down the street in the pouring rain. It's safe to say that we scared him off.

After the rain settled down enough, we made a break for the car and went back to our hotel which had lost power in the storm. We all cleaned up some and then crammed ourselves into Matt's car for the journey to Belterra Casino for dinner and a little gambling. Dinner was a success for me since I enjoyed steamed crab for the first time. It was a success for Matt in that he doubled his money playing poker.

Saturday, July 22nd: We rose early once again, and squished ourselves into Matt's car for our day trip to Paramount's Kings Island. The goal of the day was lots of roller coasters. I personified the phrase "scream like a little girl" many, many times. Although, apparently I said, "Oh my!" on the Italian Job. Hector picked on me for that a bit. We conquered The Beast twice (see related picture a couple posts below), The Racer twice, Flight of Fury, The Vortex, Top Gun, and Adventure Express. We decided to forgo getting soaked on one of the water rides, and instead shot water guns and people going by on the ride. I'm not sure who had more fun, us or the ride operator who also was setting off water spurts to soak the riders.

One point of amusement was our coffee break at Starbucks. Originally, we were going to see a musical production of The Wizard of Oz in Louisville, but the idea was voted down. We started discussing who would be what character in the play, and Hector said Jim would be a monkey king. Jim retorted, "When monkeys fly out of my ass!!" This caused the woman sitting next to us give him the evil eye, collect her child, and bolt out of the cafe. Jim is a pretty upstanding guy, so this made it even more laughable. Several rides, large amounts of food, and fireworks later we found our way back to the car and stopped at the nearest gas station to buy beer. What? You thought the day was done?? Of course not! We went to Jim & Jenny's room where we soaked our feet in their hot tub, looked at EQ2 screenshots, and had several cold beverages.

Sunday, July 23rd: Unfortunately, this was the last official day of SMA Con 06. We got breakfast at a Big Boy's, where the waitress claimed we couldn't order orange juice because the water was out. This caused much discussion since there was no problem getting coffee and water to drink. It remains a mystery. After fulfilling our food needs, we began the "heritage quest" to find Jim an Indiana hat. Of course we found it at the last place we looked. Hector then led us down the backroads of Indiana where we literally drove through a creek, through a covered bridge, and saw lots of soy and corn. We sadly raced to get Jim & Jenny to the airport, only to receive a call from them 10 minutes later telling us their flight was cancelled. They were able to work it all out and get on a later flight though. Hector, Matt, and I gorged ourselves silly at a Texas Roadhouse (I think) and then made the final trip back to Madison. Hector hung out with us in our room for a little while, talking about the trip and the game, before heading home to get to bed.

Matt and I immediately became depressed that our vacation was ending and went out to JoeyGs for a drink. We were the only ones there on a Sunday night until our bartender from McQuistons showed up and had a drink with us. We took one last cruise along the riverfront and headed back for some much needed sleep at the hotel.

Monday, July 24th: We packed up and got on the road by 10am. I drove the entire way home, entertained by my iPod on shuffle. Our main break was lunch at White Castle on the outskirts of Columbus. Probably the most notable thing other than the fact that we chose our 2nd Wedding Anniversary to drive 8 hours from Indiana to Western New York.

A fine, fine trip. I'm not sure where next year's SMA Con will be but we discussed doing a cruise in two years for the guild. I'd love to meet the other folk in the guild that weren't able to make it for various reasons.

Has Hell Frozen Over?

Last night, Matt and I sat down and "rolled up" a character for me on EverQuest2. We played for a little last night and on my lunch today. I'm at level 5. Anyone who knows me knows what a potential disaster this is!! Guaranteed it's only my first couple of times playing the game, and I'm still on the "isle" where you initially train. I'll have to geek out even more and post a screen shot of my character sometime. Then again, I'm supposed get the pictures up from the EverQuest Guild convention too. Maybe if Matt lets me have the main computer for a couple hours...

Holiday Run Down

It's been busy since we got back from the SMA Convention in Madison, Indiana. I hope to write up the full dilly-o over the next couple of days. I also have over a hundred pictures to edit and upload to several Kodak Galleries. Links will be provided when that happens.

In the meantime, enjoy this truly stupendous picture of Matt and me as we rode The Beast at Kings Island on Saturday.

R.I.P. Father Heindl

While I somewhat obsessively checked my news sites, I saw that Father Heindl had died this morning at the age of 96.

I grew up going to St. Charles Borromeo in the town of Greece. It was and still is a fairly liberal, Catholic Church. I believe it was 1986 or '87 when I became an altar server. Father Heindl oversaw the program and trained the girls and boys who decided to get involved. For an elderly priest, this man just kept going and going. I couldn't tell you off-hand what year he officially retired, but he often filled in for mass.

There are several dedications in the works including a chapel being named in his honor and a victory garden. All certainly befitting of one of the most decorated chaplains of WW2.

I took the Bush Loyalty Quiz..

I took the George W. Bush loyalty quiz:

Your score is 0 on a scale of 1 to 10. You hate Bush with a writhing passion. You think he is an idiot, a liar, and a warmonger who has been an utterly incompetent, miserable failure of a president. Nothing would give you greater pleasure than seeing him impeached and run out of the White House, except maybe seeing him dragged away in handcuffs.

Find out your score

Thanks BuffaloPundit.

I pinch..

Sabrina shared the latest commercial for the Honda Element with me. Now I find myself going around saying, "I peench!"

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With Glowing Hearts...

You're Canada!

People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've
got a much better life than they do. In fact, they're probably just jealous.
You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not
dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and
others. If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be
the perfect person.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

The Generic Stylings of Rounders 2

I decided it wasn't in good keeping to leave my blog with its borked template, so I switched to something offered by Blogger as a stop-gap measure. At least people visiting will know the name of this blog, since my header had disappeared before. And there's the added bonus of the site loading a lot faster. This will do just fine, for now.

We Haven't Done A Quiz In Awhile...

You Are a Fierce Femme

You have a wild side, and you aren't afraid to bring it out when the time is right. But you also know when to hang back and keep your "crazy chick" persona in check. In fact, some of your friends may be surprised to find out how far you can take it... You may look mild mannered, but it's all an act!

How Daring Are You?

And here's an old familiar...

You are a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Putting a Curse on the World One City At a Time

Matt and I have often joked that wherever we go on vacation, either together or with our families, we seem to bring catastrophic events to the place we've just enjoyed. It's simply called the "Curse of Matt & Julia." Here is a partial list of the havoc we've wreaked over the past six years:

Toronto, Ontario CA (November 2000): The SARS epidemic comes to the city in March 2003.

Orlando, Florida (October 2002): Tropical storm with heavy rain, strong winds, hail, and lightening while we visited

Halifax, Nova Scotia (May 2003): Hurricane Juan in October '03 and then "White Juan" in February '04. The first caused heavy damage to the harbor, brought down an untold number of trees, and caused unbelievable destruction in the historic Victorian gardens. The latter dumped so much snow it shut down the city.

New Orleans (January 2003): We were engaged in New Orleans on this trip. Two years later - Hurricane Katrina

Buffalo, NY (various visits throughout our lives): I'm convinced that Buffalo keeps getting walloped with huge snow storms because of us despite it's natural geographic location for such weather events. However, the fiscal crisis for the city and Erie County that started a few years ago could be an indirect result of our time there as well.

Southern Caribbean (August 2004): While on our honeymoon, we sailed through Tropical Depression Charley on a cruise ship before that storm strengthened to become Hurricane Charley. The hurricane lashed Cuba as a category 3 storm before smashing into Florida as the strongest storm to hit that state since Hurricane Andrew.

Binghamton, NY: We've never visited, but Matt met the Mayor of that city on Friday, June 23rd. The next week, the city was flooded and under at State of Emergency

These are the events I can think of off the top of my head. Proof that the curse is getting stronger, and proceeding our arrival is the latest tragedy in Madison, Indiana. We are scheduled to visit this little city on the river at the end of this month. God help the poor place!

Happy Independence Day!

This picture was taken by Matt at Clair & Kevin's wedding. I know the flag should be front and center, but it's still a cool picture.

As I hung our flag on the front of our house today, I noted how few houses on our street that I could see were showing the red, white, and blue. Just one. Our house. This also was the case on Memorial Day. Now, I wouldn't say I'm the most patriotic person, but I still believe that we should celebrate the day that lets me be that way in this country. The United States is not perfect. But it's still a good country despite the ambitions of certain leaders over the years. I'm still proud of what this country stands for and what it strives to be.

I think back about almost 5 years to a time when you didn't need a national holiday to fly the flag. Everyone was all too happy to show their pride and patriotism. Why is it so hard now for many of those people to simply hang their flag outside their front door on the days specially designed for that?

I recognize that displaying, or not displaying, the flag is a form of free speech. And I respect that. But it just seems hypocritical when I remember the street that I now live on being a field of flags not that long ago.

Happy Independence Day.

Summer Pizza

On Sunday, I made what I like to call "summer pizza." It's not very elaborate, but it's a refreshing alternative to the traditional red sauce pizzas.

Like anyone creating something on the spot, I didn't use precise measurements for some items. Most of it was done by eye, you could say.

Ingredients
1 - Medium Size Pizza Crust from Wegmans
3 - Medium sized tomatos
3 - Tablespoons of olive oil
Minced Garlic
Shredded Mozzarella
Grated parmasean cheese
Basil and oregano (can be dried or fresh)

Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Put the olive oil in a small dipping bowl and add several teaspoons of the minced garlic. Using a basting brush, brush the mixture onto the crust. You should not use all the olive oil/garlic since you don't want your crust to get soggy.

Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on the crust. Sprinkle some of the parmasean cheese on top of that. How much depends on your taste.

Slice the tomatoes into medalions and arrange them on top of the pizza crust. Sprinkle some herbs on top. I used dried basil and oregano because it's what I had on hand.

Put the pizza on a pizza stone, or lay directly on the rack of the oven. Cook for 6 minutes, or until crust is brown and cheese is melted. Let it set for a minute after removing from oven. Slice and serve.

This could feed four people (1 slice each) if you're also having salad and maybe another side. Realistically, I'd say it feeds two.

Top Ten Canadian Things

I found a list via Fark of things that are truly Canadian. Here they are courtesy of this story:

1. Cadbury Crispy Crunch and Caramilk Maple chocolate bars "Because they are only available in Canada and would spark delicious memories. A skid of Kraft Dinner would also be a must." (Deborah Weinstein, president and co-founder, Strategic Objectives, Toronto)

2. A Bell telephone "Because, prior to cellphones and deregulation, the only phone any home had was from the father of 20th-century communication, Alexander Graham Bell. Who could forget such icons as the Princess or Contempra rotary-dial phones, available in a variety of colours?" (Anthony J. Stokan, retail consultant and author, Toronto)

3. Roots "Because two Americans, Michael Budman and Don Green (above), gave the hard-working Canadian beaver a fresh identity and turned the logo into the most sought-after product through the '90s, and continue to rework and update the iconic Canadian brand." (Anthony J. Stokan)




4. A CanCon CD "With music from Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, The Guess Who, The Tragically Hip, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Diana Krall, Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette, Avril Lavigne and Nelly Furtado. Because music is the staff of life." (Deborah Weinstein)

5. The President's Choice Insider's Report "Because every season, Loblaws seduces you with innovative new products and some of your old favourites. You couldn't possibly call yourself Canadian and not have tried at least one President's Choice product." (Anthony J. Stokan)





6. Tim Horton "Because we are a coffee nation inclined to drop in or drive through and pick up our favourite hot cup of double-double in a double-cup along with a box of Timbits, and we roll up the rim, even when the contest isn't running." (Anthony J. Stokan)





7. A tree tap "Because it reminds me of maple syrup, which reminds me of maple trees, which reminds me of the maple leaf and that brings me to the flag. Ah ha! I am Canadian." (Shawn King, VP and creative director, Extreme Group, Halifax)

8. Group of Seven paintings "Because they all celebrate the vastness of the Canadian landscape." (Don Williams, creative director and partner, Free Agency Creative, Vancouver)






9. A Hudson's Bay blanket "Because it is the one universal graphic that speaks to Canada, second only to the flag." (Barry Avrich, president, Endeavour Marketing, Toronto)


10. Bob and Doug McKenzie "Because they're loose, they wear toques and they love beer. All things that remind us of Canada. Besides, who else but a Canadian would embrace those two guys?" (Shawn King)

My Backpack's Got Jets

The video has actual images from the game, Star Wars Galaxies. I thank my Geek Husband for sharing this with me.

Star Wars Galaxies-Boba Fett the Bounty Hunter

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Meet Bob Chautauqua

Meet Bob Chautauqua

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Probably the most hysterical customer service/tourism video about Chautauqua County you will ever see. Keep an eye out for the random Amish guy.

Horrified

Someone needs to tell the boys in Raleigh that Michelob Ultra is not real beer. What a disgrace.

Thanks to BFLOblog as per usual for all things hockey.

Pre-Wedding Disasters of the Teacup Variety

Our friends, Clair & Kevin, joked last week about what disasters could happen around the days leading up to their wedding. When they've gone to weddings for other friends, there always seemed to be something that happened that caused some sort of excitement. One wedding, Clair got her pinky caught in the car door as it closed. This caused it break and bleed profusely. Since they're getting married on a boat, we kidded that someone would inevitably fall overboard.

Well, their violinist for their ceremony nearly took herself out while washing dishes last night.

Matt had made some pasta salad for Father's Day and I was washing the metal cutting thing that spins around in the food processor. Apparently, I was twisting the plate the wrong way and ended up slicing my thumb. Fortunately, I'm pretty level-headed when it comes to injuries, so I rinsed it off quick, wrapped a paper towel around my thumb, went upstairs and tightly wrapped and taped a big piece of guaze around my injury. I've since replaced it with a regular band-aid and some medical tape to keep it sealed.

The smirk on my face comes from thinking, "Never wonder what could happen, because it will." Lucky for Kevin and Clair, I will be in fine shape to play. I just can't speak for how well Panis Angelicus will sound.

Friends Moving House

It's that time of year where either you are going to weddings or hearing about friends who are moving house. We've got one of each this month. For the moving house installments, click over to Sabrina's blog to read the latest about her and Olivia moving into their first house.

What Happens When We're Distracted By War

This is two years old, but worth viewing. The testimony is damning where electronic voting is concerned.

Video from Conyers Hearings On Voting Irregularities in 2004 Election(12 Min.)

From Wikipedia:

Timeline of the 2004 United States presidential election controversy and irregularities

2004 United States election voting controversies, Ohio

Road Hazards

On my way home from doing my nightly news recording, I heard this growling noise next to me at a stoplight. At first I thought it was a dog, then decided it sounded more like one of the space fights from a Star Wars movie. I looked to my left to see a battered pick-up truck next to me with two metal dudes. The noise was death metal on their sound system. As the drums kicked in, the passenger began to rock out, hair flying around him in an obligatory, head banging frenzy. The light turned green, and truck half-eaten by rust rumbled away with a sign where the tailgate should have been that read, "Caution! Falling Parts!"

Images, Anyone? Anyone?

After checking the Wayback Machine and Google Cache without any success, I'm starting to think my template is lost for good. I think I even used the phrase "borked" earlier.

So now I'm at that crossroad of going to something generic or hitting up one of several friends who are talented in the web design arena for help in creating a new template. Of course, the idea of changing my host has crossed my mind too. Anyone have any suggestions? Also, anyone have other ideas on how I might be able to retrieve my old template?

*POOF!*

Matt instant messaged me at work yesterday and said, "Uh, your template? Gone." I immediately clicked over to this page and was greeted with the expanse of white for a background. At least all my links and posts are still here.

I have contacted Web Divas since, while they've closed up shop, they're still hosting sites. I don't know if this includes hosting images. I hope I actually get a response since I rather liked the template I designed and Cherry created.

The Best Kinds of Summer Days

On Tuesday, I had to travel to our county seat for jury duty. The crowd that filled the courtroom was quite happy to hear that we were all dismissed because all six cases that had been lined up pled guilty. As a result, I got a half day out of the deal.

Now, I could have spent the rest of the day doing laundry and switching over my summer/winter wardrobe. Instead, I decided to enjoy my enclosed front porch, and sit on my couch reading Charming Thirds by Megan McCafferty.

Later on, I kept the good summer feeling going by indulging in some limoncello my parents brought back from Sorrento, Italy.




This is my favorite way to spend sunny summer days.

Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

Well, it's over. Only one thing to say:

Thank You Sabres!

Ok, a couple more things. As I've said before, this was a great season. I got a little emotional after last night's game ended. But then I thought, "Carolina had to work their arses off to win this series." With all the injuries that took out some of our best players, and all the new guys on the ice, some might be misled into thinking that a game against the Sabres would be a cakewalk. When it takes going to Game 7 to beat them, it's evident what a strong team we have.

Forgive the Fleetwood Mac post title, but it's appropriate. We have next year, and if the make-up of the team stays relatively the same (Please Keep Fitzpatrick!) then another trip to the play-off's should be in the Sabres' future.

McKee Out

To quote someone from a few games ago that was part of the open thread comment on bfloblog.com, I'm about to shit kittens.

Defenseman Jay McKee is out of Game 7 due to an infection.

It feels almost macabre to say, "Is that all you've got?? Come on, we can handle it!"

This makes Toni Lydman and Rory Fitzpatrick our star defensemen now. One of my friends who is a sportscaster said to me in Game 6 against Ottawa, "I just have this weird feeling that Fitzie is going to end up the hero somehow in one of the series." This may be the only time I quote Bob Segar and say, "We've got tonight!"

LET'S GO BUFFALO!!!

We Believe!

I do write a regular, everyday blog, but lately this blog seems like Sabres Central in terms of the topics. But since that's what ruling our lives right now...

OH MY GOD! What an awesome game!

Matt saw most of it in some bar up in Buffalo at a Congressman Higgins event for the State Democratic Convention. He called me when they were leaving and had just missed the 3rd-period tieing goal by Carolina. His parents watched the game with me at our house. I had planned to make a quick run to Wegman's to buy more bottled water for my chlorine-allergic hubby, but the game was too exciting to leave for even a commercial break.

It's iffy whether I'll see any of Thursday's game because rehearsals for the Warren Riverside Chamber players go from 6:30-8:30, with a half-hour of driving on top. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll see some of the third period, and hopefully a win.

When it comes to winning Game 7, of course I want us to win. Of course I want us to advance and take on Edmonton for the ultimate. But honestly, I'm so happy with the Sabres right now, that even though I'd feel some let-down if we don't make it tomorrow, I would come out of it feeling like we did fairly spectacular otherwise. They've given us an extraordinary season and post-season. The rest of this series (and next *pleasepleaseplease*) will be great and I can't wait for next season. I hate that hockey is ending in a few weeks.

Speaking of Headlines

Fark Rules.

With a scary tag:

Hurricanes could push Canadian gas prices to $1.30/litre. Go Sabres go.

Also with scary tag:

As Edmonton Oilers go deep into playoff series with Anaheim, Canadian city reports it is running out of beer.

Headline: Fitzpatrick Becomes a Key Sabre

I get ragged on a lot about being a "homer" and a fan of Sabres Defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick, but you know what? He's one of our key guys now, so I was glad to see that the Buffalo News did a story about his role in the play-offs. I won't disagree that Rory needs to be a little more patient about clearing the puck out of the zone, but he's shown he's capable of doing just that in several games so far over the past couple weeks.

And I promise not to jinx the game tonight and will put on my #8 jersey as soon as I get home from work.

So Your Parents Have Found Your Blog

What do you do when you find out your parents know you have a blog?

Simple.

You say hi!

Hi Mom & Dad!

Tangential Surprise

I think because I'm all excited about Game 4 tonight (if you don't know what I'm talking about, go read BFLOblog) my mind is all a flutter. Kind of like that OT goal last night.

On my way back from lunch, I was listening to my tape of the Six Degrees show I did last month for the WBNY Alumni weekend, and "I Love To Hate You" by Erasure comes on. This made me think of when I borrowed their album Chorus from the library in high school. The girl working behind the counter mentioned that it was a great album and that her favorite song was "I Love To Hate You." I took the cassette home and wrapped myself in synthesizers and Andy Bell's voice. It was all so new to me, but now so familiar. Like an old sweatshirt.

I really want the Sabres to win tonight. It would be justice. I haven't talked about the season a lot on here mostly because I haven't been blogging nearly half as much as I used to. But I've been there to cheer the team on from our living room and while reading various blogs. Even with variable pricing, it's tough budget-wise for us to even get to more than one game a season. In regards to tonight though, in the Fall we almost expected to lose to Ottawa. They had a solid team. Many of us thought they would go all the way. Then Buffalo found they could beat them, not just at home but away as well. Something so important when it came to play-off time. Now, while the chances that Ottawa can even come back are slim to none based on past NHL history, never under-estimate. However, we have home advantage and a Team (with a capital "T") that knows how to prove everyone wrong. All good things.

It's finally raining. We've been waiting for rain for over a week at our house. Matt's allergies are in overdrive and this will help settle the pollen some. My green car turned lime with all the dust in the air. I also put down some weed killer a couple weekends ago on the slope/garden in front of our house. Now I just need to glare at all the little maple seedlings that have popped up. Guess this means more blisters for me.

My parents are on a 17-day cruise right now. I keep thinking it's later in the week than it actually is because of this. I'll think occasionally, "Ok, they must be in Lisbon by now" and then remember it's only Tuesday, or Wednesday, or today. Then I think, "I wonder if Dad found a sports station on the boat that is carrying hockey scores."

LET'S GO BUFFALO!

Politics of Morrissey

The Politics of Morrissey on Slate.

Brilliant.

Thanks to Heidi for sending me the link.

Julia, Violinist For Hire

I have a hard time saying "no" when asked to help. I've been trying to recognize my limits, and turn down requests before I committ, and then have to back out several weeks later. Early yesterday, I was congratulating myself for bowing out of Jamestown Community Orchestra's May concert. Next month is completely filled with various events from Mother's Day to a graduation party to a Bachelorette Party. I knew I would be feeling the stress if I tried to cram in an orchestra concert with rehearsals on top of that.

That self-pat-on-the-back lasted mere hours, when I found myself agreeing to play in a concert in Clarion, Pennsylvania on Sunday. Instead of leasurily making plans for the weekend, I'm now frantically planning out when I'll go grocery shopping, when I should practice (since I just got the music last night), and what other chores I'll be able to accomplish tonight and tomorrow. I think I do this to myself because of the challenge of playing a concert of music I've never seen or heard before. An added bonus is that it's a paid gig, but that's not as important to me.

Another downside? I'm getting a ride to the concert with the woman who organizes the Warren Riverside Players, a chamber orchestra. She got me to commit earlier in the year to playing in their summer concert. I was considering backing out of that since we haven't started rehearsals, but I think she might hunt me down if I tried to now.

A sidenote: All this performing is pretty appropriate considering I will have been a Violinist for 20 years this August.

And Julia Goes Nuts!!

Holy Crap! What an AWESOME Sabres game tonight! I dvr-ed it so that Matt could see it all since he had to work for the first half of the game. So by goal number 6 (Six!!), I was on the phone to Rochester to share my excitement with my dad. "This is amazing!" we yelled. "JP had a hat trick!! Pominville got a goal!" I have to admit I felt bad for Philly Goalie Esche after he lost it in the first period. You don't usually see goalies skating all the way into the neutral zone to fight. And two hat tricks in one night! What a difference from Saturday's game, when I knawed on my nails through two over-time periods. Our poor dogs though. Each of the EIGHT times we scored, I scared the crap out of them as I yelled and pumped my fist in the air. Buddy would jump off the couch and Zak would spin around to see what was wrong.

I'll add that it's probably blasphemy that I read and finished the new Hamish MacBeth mystery... while watching the game. But I like to multi-task my entertainment sometimes.

Adaptation

This has a meme-ish ring to it, but Kottke.org's post on the 50 best book to film adaptations caught my eye. My personal favorite for book to film adaptations is The Age of Innocence. The book by Edith Wharton was handled with care in the adaptation done by Martin Scorsese.

For the list below, B=Read the Book, M=Saw the Movie. Note that if it involved blood/shooting/violence, or any of that happy stuff, I probably have not read or seen it. That is, unless it was required for AP English (Heart of Darkness). Sadly, I apparently am not into the habit of reading the book before the movie.

1. (B) 1984
2. (M) Alice in Wonderland
3. American Psycho
4. (M) Breakfast at Tiffany's
5. Brighton Rock
6. Catch 22
7. (BM) Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
8. A Clockwork Orange
9. [BM] Close Range (inc Brokeback Mountain)
10. The Day of the Triffids
11. Devil in a Blue Dress
12. (M) Different Seasons (inc The Shawshank Redemption)
13. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (aka Bladerunner)
14. Doctor Zhivago
15. (M) Empire of the Sun
16. The English Patient
17. Fight Club
18. The French Lieutenant's Woman
19. (M) Get Shorty
20. The Godfather
21. Goldfinger
22. Goodfellas
23. (B) Heart of Darkness (aka Apocalypse Now)
24. The Hound of the Baskervilles
25. Jaws
26. (M) The Jungle Book
27. A Kestrel for a Knave (aka Kes)
28. (M) LA Confidential
29. (M) Les Liaisons Dangereuses
30. Lolita
31. (M) Lord of the Flies
32. The Maltese Falcon
33. Oliver Twist
34. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
35. (M) Orlando
36. The Outsiders
37. (M) Pride and Prejudice
38. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
39. The Railway Children
40. Rebecca
41. (M) The Remains of the Day
42. (M) Schindler's Ark (aka Schindler's List)
43. Sin City
44. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
45. The Talented Mr Ripley
46. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
47. Through a Glass Darkly
48. (M) To Kill a Mockingbird
49. (M) Trainspotting
50. The Vanishing
51. (M) Watership Down

Happy Dyngus Day!

In honor of the day after Easter, I invite you to all sing this song parody about Dyngus Day (HT: Alan).

And on a "serious" note. Apparently, bird flu has come to Cheektowaga, NY.

Avoiding the Crows

With Easter only four days away, I've started to mildly panic about what I'm going to wear. In my family, we have a saying that "if you're not wearing something new on Easter, the crows will shit on you."







I have a skirt I've never worn that I bought at the end of summer for $3 or something. Now the search for a pretty, white blouse or shirt begins. I plan to hit the mall tomorrow right after work. I've also given myself a mission to find open-toe, white, sling-back shoes. That might be the harder of the two tasks.

Along the clothesline, I also have begun looking at bridesmaid dresses. Unless something has changed, I get to pick out my own bridesmaid dress for Anne & Sean's wedding. It's not until next year, but I decided I better get re-acquainted with the latest styles now in case something snazzy shows up on the bargain rack. With that last statement, I fear I really have become my mother's daughter.

Tune to 91.3 WBNY For Alumni Weekend!

I have to plug the WBNY Alumni Weekend again for the Buffalo-area readers.

For more details about the big shin dig/fundraiser at Mohawk Place, check out:
Buffalo Rising's article

Art Voice's article
Buffalo New's article that was in Gusto

For all Buffalo's Original Alternative and DJ's of current and past fame,
Tune your Radio to 91.3 FM all weekend long.

Friday Meme: The iTunes Game

Tragically taken from BFLOblog and Alan. What my iPod says about my life:

How does the world see me?
Sixteen Military Wives - The Decemberists
Cause America can... And America can't say no

Will I have a happy life?
We Might As Well Be Strangers - Keane
This isn't looking too good, is it?

What do my friends really think of me?
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths
To die by your side, well the pleasure and the privilege is mine

Do people secretly lust after me?
Least Compicated - Indigo Girls
And I bought you that ring 'cause I was never cool

How can I make myself happy?
If He Tries Anything - Ani Difranco
I guess I should stick with my friends, cause they'll have my back?

What should I do with my life?
The King Is Half Undressed - Jellyfish
Umm...

What is some good advice for me?
Breaking The Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Ah hell.. I have no idea

How will I be remembered?
Evil - Interpol
Well isn't that fantastic

What is my signature dance song?
Hey Pretty - Poe
An ok song, but not my signature by far

What do I think my current theme song is?
Amsterdam (live) - Coldplay
Good song, but life isn't that bad!

What song will play at my funeral?
Agoraphobia - Incubus
Remember when we were
Just flesh and bone

What type of men do I like?
We Walk the Same Line - Everything But The Girl
Mm hm

What is my day going to be like?
Hungarian Dance No. 5 - Brahms
It's going to be a whirling dervish?

After The Rain

We got up to 70 degrees in Jamestown today before the rain came through. It'll get colder tonight, but the first wave of rain left a fantastic rainbow in the eastern sky.












You can see the double-rainbow just faintly in this picture.

Facing My Addiction One Breath At A Time

I covet this

WBNY Alumni Bash

This weekend is the annual WBNY Alumni Weekend at Buffalo State College. Besides an all alumni DJ schedule, there's also a fundraising bash at the Mohawk Place on Saturday. Buffalo Rising printed the full details including a list of some of the successful WBNYers.

I will be doing a show on Sunday, April 2nd from 10am to noon. The show, Six Degrees, will feature musical artists that are all connected in some way. It could easily be a four hour show with what I've researched so far, including a connection between Aerosmith and They Might Be Giants. But with only two hours, the show will start with The Smiths and go from there. Tune into 91.3 FM WBNY in the Buffalo-area on Sunday at 10am to hear more.

A Rattling In the Throat & Chest Area

I sat down late yesterday afternoon with a pot of tea and Martha Grime's latest Superintendent Jury mystery, when that worrisome cough became. It's now developed into that feeling where you know are coming down with something, but it's hard to tell what it is. One part of me thinks it's just sinuses draining and making me cough. Another part says, "It could be pneumonia. Your co-worker had pneumonia and came to work, although she was on antibiotics by then." The lead up to that line of thinking is, "Well, then there's all the clients that come in for services. God only knows what they're contagious with at the moment." Then the bizarre part of my brain wondered if it was possible to catch strep throat from two of my friends over instant messenger who were home sick with it last week. The last time I went to a doctor for being sick, she told me it was nothing, but did a strep test to appease me. I went back to work, per her orders, and then two days later got the call that I did indeed have strep.

What I do know is that I had strange dreams last night that I attribute to the latest Martha Grimes mystery. Hell, I didn't even take physics in high school and I was dreaming about discussing string theory and Shroedinger's cat. I'm just not in the mood to think about a cat being dead and alive at the same time, trust me.

Modern, Cool Nerd 78 % Nerd, 52% Geek, 17% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd. Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)! Congratulations! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 82% on nerdiness You scored higher than 76% on geekosity You scored higher than 14% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

50 Book Challenge? Try 1!

Usually, by this time of year I've already made my way through at least 20 books. For some odd reason, I've only read one entire book in 2006: Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger. I'm almost done with Brewing Up a Business, but can't seem to find a moment to finish the last couple of chapters.

I wonder if this will be one of those off years like I used to have in high school through early college years. I actually went through a time period where the only reading I did was the mandatory stuff for classes. I have no excuse now, other than the fact that some of my reading time is taken up by news re-writing & recording.

On the upside, the latest Martha Grimes mystery should arrive by the 23rd. A rather long time to wait, but is justified by the low price I paid for the book.

Phil!

It's a belated post. But I have to give a big w00t! to Philip Seymour Hoffman on his Oscar win. Matt had to put up with me yelling, "Phil!" everytime they showed him during the programme on Sunday. And when the oscar for Actor in a Leading Role was announced, I raised both my arms in victory and yelled, once again, "PHIL!!!!"

And I'm no band-wagoner. I've been a fan since his Boogie Nights and Magnolia days. I just didn't know his name before then.

Signs I Need To Either Drink More Or Just Get Out More

While we were all out for drinks last night, I yelled in a pre-alcholic induced state at the news director for our local Time Warner Cable news station that it absolutely drives me nuts whenever he writes in the phrase, "As you may recall..." into a news story. That phrase was in two of the stories from last night's newscast.

Seriously. The phrase assumes the viewer has paid attention to the news over the past however many months, while at the same time almost mocks the viewer who doesn't recall what the hell the story is about. Never assume the person watching, listening, or reading the news has any clue about anything that's happening in your local area.