Goodbye to Cable 8 News

(SEE UPDATE AT END)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slow Death of Radio: Part 2

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


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

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

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

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

Why should you care?

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

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

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

Tweeting Fun & the Erie County Executive Debate

For some odd reason, I decided to watch the Erie County Executive Debate on WNED tonight. I had gotten the heads-up about it from WNYMedia.net earlier in the day about what hash-tags to use (#ECDebate) if you were going to tweet while watching, so I thought, "Well, this could be fun."

Totes fun.

Okay, I've been out of the politics game for quite awhile even though I still do stuff here and there depending on what my husband begs me to do. There are no contested races in my election district this Fall and that's including the mayoral race for the City of Jamestown. Many people are lacking reasons to get to the polls in this county. It's pretty damn sad. And then I look to the north to Erie County and see there's a County Executive race. That could be fun.

The debate was proof of such fun. I'm a Democrat, so I was rooting for Comptroller Mark Poloncarz. Disclosure, etc. That said, I've seen and heard enough debates to know when one side is doing a better job than the other. Poloncarz missed some opportunities in his statements, but overall he crushed incumbent County Executive Chris Collins. You almost got the impression like this was Collins' first time on the political debate circuit.

From a fluff standpoint, someone needs to get Collins better make-up so that he doesn't look like he's sweatin' like Nixon all over the podium (actually thought of the Buffalo band first before the actual historic reference).

All that aside, it's the #ECDebate twitter tag that made this all fun. I laughed out loud so many times tonight. It reminded me of the old Bfloblog days of watching Sabres games and the live blogging/comments. Maybe it's the whole MST3K feel to it all. Anyway, I want to thank all the WNY Tweeps who made my Thursday night and helped me become a little more educated on what's happening politically in Erie County.

Banishing The Blahs

I consider myself at risk when it comes to getting the winter blahs. Living in Western New York, we have a lot of gray days that are already sunlight deprived as we head through Fall and Winter. Every year, I know that the dark months are coming, but I often don't prepare. This year, I'm not going to let the blahs catch me off guard and am going to use this article as a guide to alleviate the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.

For the past year, I've been on a mission of minimalism. This doesn't mean I'm getting rid of every article of clothing, books, CDs, DVDs, accessory in our house but it does mean I'm working harder to eliminate the clutter. I've been giving my cache of clothing a hard look and then doing my best to get rid of what doesn't fit and what I'm not wearing. The upside is that I've made some cash off of the items that were in better shape that I took to a local consignment shop. I've also cleared out enough items that I will be able to get rid of a clothes rack in the back room that I affectionately refer to as my "walk-in closet." Don't think this has lessened my shoe shopping habits, but I've made myself think very hard about what I had and how much use I would get out of what I wanted to buy.

We also made additional monies when we had a garage sale last month where we did our best to sell off more items I had cleared out. It's an on-going process, but slowly I'm seeing corners of rooms that I hadn't before. I now have this luxury of trying to decide how I want to revamp my "walk in closet" in terms of whether to make it my closet and a library, or leave it a blank canvas.

Going from the house we live in to the body I'm housed inside of, I started thinking about food and diet from a "Well, I want to look good for (fill in random trip/event/happening)" stand point. Instead of thinking, "I want to lose 5 pounds" it's more of a "I want to look good when I go to our friend Meg's wedding reception so I will feel better if I go to Zumba tonight and I don't eat that cannolli that looks really good in the display case at Jones Bakery." I'm not totally depriving myself or ignoring my body when it's telling me to rest, which is important given that my schedule sometimes does mess with when I can exercise or do a sit down meal with Matt. It's some of the same thinking as when I consider whether I need to hold onto a physical item, "Do I need to put this in my body? Will I feel better or worse for eating or drinking this? Is it worth it?" I'm also considering giving meditation a permanent spot in my schedule since I rather enjoyed a session at local Yoga studio that I attended two Sundays ago.

Do I think I'll completely avoid the blahs? Probably not, but I'm hoping to not get stuck in them for long periods too.

Filling In the Middle

I wore jeans today because it's cool outside. Unfortunately, after a summer of wearing loose clothing, the constrictive denim is making me feel a little muffiny, and I'm not talking chocolate chip although I'm sure the one I ate this summer contributed. To add insult, I then read an article about how women tend to get poochy stomachs as they get older due to the loss of estrogen. As if that wasn't depressing enough, the article then added the punch that you cannot target exercise the pooch away and that your only hope to possibly get rid of it was through a healthy diet and general exercise. Okay, that's pretty "DUH" but still a bummer that it implies 30 minutes on the elliptical and then a series of abdominal crunches/exercises won't necessarily mean you're going to lose the love handles. Given everything, I guess I'll keep at my regimen of Zumba when I can, elliptical when I miss, and doing my best to eat healthy with moderation.

Outdoor Friends

Long before we adopted McKinley into our family, our dog, Zak, had a penchant for barking/crying at cats he would see outside our house.

Since the weather has warmed up, we've noticed McKinley looking out the windows and screen doors as if searching for something. Matt figured out that he had a friend in the neighborhood, which was confirmed by seeing a gray and white kitty hanging around our front stoop.

This morning, both McKinley and Zak were huddled around the screen door to nowhere in our breezeway. McKinley was meowing loudly while Zak barked a kind of high pitched yelp. I went over to investigate and there was McKinley's gray and white friend sitting on the pavement below.

I got a snap of the friend as he/she wandered away, apparently put off by all the attention.

Oh Desktop, How You Scorn Me!

When I came back from my NKOTBSB travels, I was welcomed by my desktop computer not wanting to get past the initial start-up window. I had considered shutting the unit down for the one whole day I'd be gone but forgot in my last minute travel plans. Of course, this means there was a power outage which probably created a surge that did something to the computer. God knows. I'm hoping that Matt will take it to one of our friends this week to see how much damage was done and am currently crossing my fingers that I won't lose anything. At least we did do a full back-up this winter, so the most I'd lose is some stuff from eMusic, last few months of WRFA scripts, and probably some pictures. Not that I wouldn't still be fuming to myself, but that's technology.

In the meantime, I've been using the non-portable laptop. I'm convinced this thing is giving me back aches since I can't seem to get it so it's at an appropriate viewing and typing height. The sucker also outputs a lot of heat which is just dandy when the temperature goes up. Whine, whine. If money were no object, I'm at the point where I'd love to get a high memory/capacity laptop with a big screen so I could clear up my desk at home somewhat. Unfortunately, when you're a homeowner there tends to be other ticket items that get priority, like new gutters.

Life Snippets

NKOTBSB

Nearly two weeks ago, I went to see super-boy-group, New Kids On The Block-Backstreet Boys, in Pittsburgh with Preppy Girl. She wrote an awesome account that I can't top. On the non-concert side, it was so much fun to hang out with PGirl and help her bust her IKEA and H&M virginity.

Movie Watching

We broke down and finally got the 1-DVD at a time option from Netflix to enhance our Netflix streaming. I'm really glad we did as I finally got to see (500) Days of Summer and The Social Network. Next is Up In The Air, followed by Thank You For Smoking, and then the Twilight movies. You can guess that Matt was a bit late at getting in his picks.


How Does Your Garden Grow?

I've continued working on the back garden and have some visible plants growing courtesy of my mom. One is a hosta and the two others I'm not sure about but one has a yellow flower and the other has a kind of greenish-yellow bud. I'm pretty excited that the gladiolas I planted are starting to send shoots up. Those will probably be the most dramatic flowers I've grown based on height alone. The front hill is shameful but I haven't had the time or money to rip everything up, plant new ground cover, and try to get it growing with something other than whatever weeds are there now. The next thing I'll have to tackle is the south side of the garage. There are some foundation issues over there (I know, it's never ending) that we'll need to take care of this Fall, but I want to get a swath of ferns out of the way so things can be assessed.

Radio Free

I've had a few people ask me how adjusting to life with out the news is going. I think I've gotten used to it aside from that occasional feeling like I should be doing something. The first week or so was hard because my brain was still hard-wired to be on the look-out for news stories I might need. I may have even cried a little. These days, I've found I like having that stretch of evening free. I've definitely tried to be more conscientious about getting stuff done around the house. I've read two books. As mentioned above, I've watched a few movies. I've also gone to bed early, sometimes just after 9pm depending on the day. There is still the feeling that something is missing.

Happy Birthday

Happy 10th Birthday In Java, Literally :-)

Here's Post #1, #2, and #3 from that first day.

10 Years of In Java

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Onwards we go..

Two More Hours & We Have A Garden Again

After two more hours working on the earth on the back of the house Monday night, which involved uncovering more and more stones of ever increasing size, we have some semblance of a garden again.

My regret is that only one small rose bush seems to have survived the whole digging up/planting in a planter situation that I employed in an effort to keep plants from dying during the foundation reconstruction last summer. I'm not quite sure what to do with the empty space next to the steps now other than weeding the area.

In total, I hauled out about 4 dry-wall buckets full of rock, concrete pieces, and stones from the back of the house. Those are now deposited underneath our mudroom entry way. After several years of decomposition, I was able to dig out our compost to mix in some nutrient rich soil with the dry, rocky soil in hopes that one day it'll be a more hospitable environment for plants. Do you think that stopped me from planting some free flower bulbs I got at a bridal shower? We'll see if they grow.

The last thing I did on the back of the house was spread mulch. I didn't end up digging out the entire section because I could tell it was getting late, plus the soil was more stone than dirt. I figured I'd still lay down some mulch over what I hadn't finished anyway.

Next steps will be the clear out the vegetation and rocks on the sides of the garage. We have a feeling more masonry work will need to be done on the garage along with putting in new gutters.

Circle of Women

A few months ago I read the article,
"In Which We Teach You How To Be A Woman In Any Boy's Club" by Molly Lambert about how women can be their own worst enemies when it comes to the work place. The writer reflected on how in a mostly male work space, the scant handful of women sometimes either cave to acting like one of the guys and joining in on their misogynistic comments and attitudes or they steer clear but quietly work against each other in order to hold some esteem in the eyes of male co-workers who do not deserve that kind of power.

This past week I read this article, Design Online: A response to the ny times article on online magazines, on Design*Sponge. It included dialogue on how working against each other to "be on top," which the writer says is a business model used heavily in the print publishing world, doesn't hold true for online magazines or blogs.

Both these articles made me think about how I interact with other women as friends.

Admittedly, I've tended to have more guy friends than female friends. There have been a few instances in my life where girls I've trusted have turned their back on me, betrayed me, and hurt me. Sometimes I knew the reason and maybe could have done or said something differently, but other times left so many questions, confusion, and tears. I have less than a handful of female friends that I keep in regular touch with whom I knew before moving to Jamestown.

The last couple years, I've met another handful of incredible women. While I still have my guy friends, whom I cherish, there's definitely something about having a woman to lean on. There are basic things that she gets that no matter how versed a guy friend may be in the ways of women will ever understand. To not understand that until now seems like some gross lack of education on my part, but I guess it gives insight to how much I distanced myself from having a close relationship with any woman. I was that girl who sat with the guys and shook her head along with them when the topic of women came up. I was a "me too" chimer when they would pronounce how much they didn't get women. I didn't because I wouldn't let myself. That's terribly unfortunate and I'm glad I've allowed myself to try to get over that.

I'm incredibly blessed and lucky. I hope I don't ever take any of my friends, male or female, for granted. I'd hope that if I did, they'd call me on my bullshit. Then again, the friends who matter to me probably already know that they're in my heart and will stay there.

It's Been One Week..

It's been one week since I stopped doing the news.

I'm feeling a little lost.

It's silly in a way.

So what have I been up to?

I gardened last Sunday. I cleaned up some of the house on Monday and had a Memorial Day hot dog dinner with Matt. I watched I Capture The Castle and New Waterford Girl.

Tuesday I finally saw Labyrinth for the first time since it was available on Netflix streaming.

Wednesday I had just one violin student and then I went to watch Matt play floor hockey. We went out with the team after to Applebee's for dinner and some drinks. It was the first time in awhile that I recall having a drink in the middle of the week with dinner, or before 10pm.

Thursday I attended the dress rehearsal for the Infinity group, Collective Groove, that I would be performing with on Friday. After dinner, Matt and I went to see Bridesmaids. I cried on the way home because the movie reminded me of how much I miss one of my friends who moved away.

Friday we ate dinner quick before attending the Infinity Performing & Visual Arts Showcase at the Reg Lenna Civic Center. I had my worst case of nerves in years complete with icy hands and dry throat. We dropped into Forte after for a glass of wine and slice of grand marnier cheesecake before going home.

Saturday we had a funeral in the morning for the father of our friends. He was a good man. After a quick trip to Wegmans, I took my mother in law to a bridal shower for her granddaughter/my niece. Matt had a hockey team party that night, so I sat down in the recliner and read all of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

Today I chatted online with my friend, Candy, who has had a marvelous weekend, before getting ready and meeting my friend, Heather, at Wegmans for coffee and grocery shopping.

There was a lot that went on this week. I did some things I might not have if I knew later on at night I would have to do the news. I felt like I should be a lot more simply because I didn't have that one thing hanging over my head.

I feel like I failed in a way.

Heather said she got some advice not that long ago that makes sense. That she just needs to be rather than worrying about setting goals. I think I just need to be for awhile. I need to figure this out. It's been a long time since I've had this kind of additional time back. It seems so very over dramatic to be going on like this, but the truth is that I just don't feel like myself. I've even had a hard time remembering what I used to do with myself in the days before I did the news. I also know I'm a much different person from then.

Matt says I don't deal well with change. I know I don't. I just don't like to hear it out loud because I tend to advocate pretty loudly if I see something that should be changed for others. Admittedly, even when it's a good change, it's still hard. The good thing is that I still make myself do it. I couldn't grow otherwise.

The Back of The House

A year ago, we had the foundation replaced on the back end of the house. At the time, I had big plans to immediately fix it all up and replant the bushes and flowers that I had to uproot so they wouldn't get destroyed in the construction.

Fast forward a year later, and the plants I had taken out are still in planters looking fairly worse for wear, if not dead. Since I knew I'd have a little more free time on my hands in the evening, I figured I better kick my ass into gear and do something.


Last weekend, I weeded and removed stones from the side garden. Matt had picked up flowers we buy from Kiwanis every year for their fundraiser and I still had some succulent plants my mom had given to me last year that I hadn't managed to kill over the winter.

Lucky for us, one of our neighbors was getting a load of mulch delivered at a very cheap price, so we were able to have a yard of it dropped off on the corner of our lawn. Matt covered the side garden with mulch and we have plenty leftover for the next big project which is....

Attacking and hacking up the soil on the back of the house so I can at least plant some annuals with hopes for hosta at some point. The process is a bitch because when we had the foundation replaced, they filled back in with whatever soil and loose stones were around. Plus, our soil is pretty rocky to begin with.

Here's a shot after working for nearly 3 hours. Most of what you see on the sidewalk is loose stones.

I really don't have that far to go. If you look at the white pipe that comes down next to the house (gutter), that's where I stop. You can also get an idea of how big some of the rocks are by the pile on the flagstones at the bottom of the picture.

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

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

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

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

Ending One Thing...

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

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

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

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

A Surprise Delivered by the Postal Service

A women in Rochester was at an Amvets Thrift shop where she bought a box of Christmas cards. When she got home, she realized there were other things in the box: business cards, photographs, a work ID card, and a love letter written from a husband to his wife on their 12th anniversary. The woman took a chance and sent the personal items to the address listed on the business cards with a note saying she hoped people at the address would know the people in the photographs and to let her know if they made it to the right place. 

My grandmother in Buffalo received that bundle in the last week.  The items had belonged to my grandfather who died in October.  The pictures were of him at meetings with friends, spending time on a friend's boat in 2007, and one of him posing with me and my cousins on Easter Sunday in 1987. 

My grandmother misses her husband of 61 years a great deal.  She told my Aunt that she has been looking for a sign since October that he is where he's supposed to be and is happy. My grandmother says she has her answer now.

A side note - I googled the name of the woman who bought the Christmas card box and if the person I found online is the same, she's a widow too. My aunt helped write a note for my grandmother that she will send back to the kind woman whose chance purchase made all of my family smile this past week.

When It's Time To Change, You've Got To Rearrange

There have been some big changes in the works for several of our friends recently, mostly of the moving-out-of-town sort. It's going to be sad to see some of them go, but seeing them head off for new opportunities and adventures has made us think a bit lately.

Both Matt and I have embarked on different interests outside of our regular jobs. We've discussed taking those interests to the next step. Unfortunately, there is a sense that doing that in Jamestown might not be possible. So when our friend, Candy, started sending job listings in Portland, Oregon to me, mostly as a joke, I started looking into possibilities. We've never been to Portland but based on friend's experiences and various stuff I've read on the interwebs, it definitely seems like a vibrant city that has a great art scene.

While we love Jamestown and our friends and family here, we think it may be time to chase the other dreams. With that, we've begun plans to move to Portland where we hope to start on a project Matt came up with, inspired by the Portlandia series. It will be the "Put A Bird On It" web company. Part of our goal is to target artists in Portland and provide them a venue to have websites built around their artwork. Think of it as a very localized Etsy. We figure that the sooner we move, the better given that the housing market is only sucking more and more as the months go on, so our tentative move date is April 31st.

We're very excited about these changes, but sad at the same time as we'll miss this community and everyone. Look for more details in the coming weeks!

Elliptical Playlists

Back in January, I discovered that I actually like using the elliptical or arc trainer for exercise. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I'm in a lot better shape than the first time I tried to use an elliptical some years ago. It also helps that I now have an iPod with thousands of songs and dozens of playlists to help make the time go by and motivate me.

The first playlist I made, called "Elliptical Delusions," had a lot of pop stuff on it and I used it pretty regularly until this last week. A sampling of the music includes:
Stars - Fixed
Lady Gaga- Teeth
Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name
Metric - Help I'm Alive
P!nk - Raise Your Glass
Basement Jaxx - Rendez-Vu
Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - It Takes Two
The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
Fergie - Fergalicious
Daft Punk - Technologic

The latest playlist, named "Elliptical Confusions," has less songs (first one had 3.4 hours of music) and comes in at 1.6 hours of music. I'll probably have to switch music out more frequently, but I found a lot of stuff I wanted to listen to just wasn't coming up.  Here are some of the songs on the list:
Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Daisy Chain For Satan
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
New Order - Vanishing Point
MNDR - Fade To Black
The Go! Team - Grip Like A Vice
Metallica - Of Wolf And Man
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss
ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)

I've read a bit about how music can motivate you and I find it definitely is true for me. I think this is a big part of why I like Zumba. On that front, no plans to teach right now. Taking the certification class was a good experience, but finding time to get additional training is rather rough right now given that it's my busy season at work.

20th Anniversary of the Rochester Ice Storm of 1991

I initially blogged about my experiences with the Ice Storm of 1991 some years ago. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has a retrospective including a slide show of photos. 

The big thing about the storm, aside from the massive tree damage, was the number of people who lost power and then went days, some even weeks, without power. I was only 14 but I understood the concept that this was a public relations nightmare for RG&E. It didn't help their good image much more when they instituted a rate increase in later months to help with costs incurred by the storm. My house was without power for just over 6 days. Like many, we stood in line for dry ice at a local church so that the well-stocked freezer in the basement wouldn't defrost, spoiling the food.

Even with photography and video, it was still sometimes hard to grasp how hard this storm was on tree population. The magnitude of how many limbs and trees were affected became easier to understand when driving south on Route 590 just before the 104 interchange. Massive piles of branches towered. At first, I think the town of Irondequoit was burning the wood until the neighbors complained. They later resorted to chipping the limbs into mulch. The town gave it out for free, and then continued to offer free mulch at Durand-Eastman Park for years after. Up to 3 years later, I used to joke with my parents when we drove by the steaming mulch pile that they were still trying to grind up trees from the Ice Storm.

The night hours stick out for me still. While I was growing up, we didn't watch a lot of television. That changed when I moved away and my mom discovered HGTV. In 1991, we were mainly a family of readers with the occasional hockey or football game thrown in the mix for my dad. During those power-less days, the oil lamps and candles threw off a decent amount of light at night. I could have read but opted to drag out coloring books because it gave me something to do with my hands while we listened to WHAM for hours. My parents didn't listen to talk radio, but the friends staying with us for the week did. It seems like they tried to keep local hosts on the radio all day and into the night so that people could call in from all over Monroe County to tell their survival story or share information. These days we'd Twitter or post something on Facebook that people would read on their phones so we'd know what was going on. As much as I love having that kind of information readily available, hearing it on the radio made it more human.You could hear the emotion in people's voices. The frustration over how long it was taking crews to make their way through neighborhoods, worries about where to find generators that were sold out all over town, sadness over the loss of grand, beloved trees in yards; and appreciation for the radio station providing a venue for people to talk during the disaster.  

Rochester would be hit again with a destructive Ice Storm in 2003, but it would not compare to the Ice Storm of 1991. In a sense, I suppose the 1991 storm is comparable to the Blizzard of '77 for Buffalo in terms of the way it affected a large area for weeks and also by how much people continue to talk about it, even 20 years after the fact.

Certifiable - A Quest To Zumba

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sun & Blue Skies in February

It's a rare sunny and blue sky filled day today in Western New York.  We've had more than our fair share of cloudy grayness for the past couple months.

Zumba

I decided I enjoyed taking the class so much that I signed up for Instructor Training with my friend, Ali.  We head up to Rochester after work tonight for an all day session tomorrow.  There's a serious need for evening classes in the Jamestown area with only one being offered at the Y after the 5 o'clock hour.  I'm hoping Ali will be able to fill the gap, with me filling in if needed.  On a related note, I re-joined the Jamestown Y since as long as I make it there at least 3 times a month, it pays for itself in terms of the cost of adding me to Matt's membership. 

Violin

I won't be performing in any musicals this Spring as the school I usually play for doesn't have a violin part written into the musical they are doing.  This means I won't be playing again until the Spring concert for Jamestown Community Orchestra.  On the non-performing side, I still have 2 students at Infinity.  After almost 10 years of prodding, T.R. McKotch finally got me to write a violin part so one of my students could accompany an ensemble that's covering "Back To The Earth" by Rusted Root.  I can't really say I'm writing the part as all I'm doing is transcribing the background vocals so my student can follow along.  It's still more than I've dared to try in years.

Radio

I'm still faithfully recording the news every Sunday through Thursday night for WRFA.  I've also been voicing a segment called "This Week In Metal" whenever I'm sent scripts by Len Barry.  It's a goofy segment, but it's fun to do something different than straight news reading.  For the past month, I've also been mentoring the Public Affairs coordinator at the station to give him some pointers, story ideas, and delivery tips.  He has some radio background, but he's left to his own devices a lot of times so I thought it would be helpful to offer some guidance.

Health

I've had a cold/sinus drainage issue for over 5-weeks now.  I was knocked down pretty good for 2 of those weeks but my doctor didn't recommend any kind of medication.  I'm hoping it will go away soon since it has been keeping me from being as active as I'd like.  Otherwise, I keep trying to eat healthy, get enough rest, get enough fluids, run the humidifier at night and exercising.

2010 - Is It Over Already?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

27. Good Things About 2010 (a list)

Icicle Dreams - Christmas 2010

I've already put together this holiday season's music mix which is kind of odd and possibly frightening if you know my past aversions to doing anything holiday-ish before Thanksgiving. I chalk it up to sorting through all our Christmas tree ornaments and decorations recently to why this mix came to be.

1. Weezer - We Wish You A Merry Christmas
2. The Three Wise Men (XTC) - Thanks For Christmas
3. Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
4. Snow Patrol - When I Get Home For Christmas
5. The Autumns - She Whispers The Winter Snow
6. Stars - Winter Bones
7. Elk City - Deer Crossing
8. Glasvegas - A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss)
9. Regina Spektor - 20 Years of Snow
10. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Mr. Heatmiser
11. The Format - Holly Jolly Christmas
12. Great Big Sea - Seven Joys Of Mary
13. Pink Martini - A Snow Globe Christmas

Theme this year is Christmas-themed music with some songs that merely mention snow/winter thrown in to round it out. I will mention that this is the first time that beloved/detested Mariah Carey song has found its way onto any holiday mix by me. Have you seen Love Actually?  Like love, Christmas IS all around us, or at least that's what all the retail establishments are hoping you believe. 

Happy (ridiculously early) Christmas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

When Summer Lingers Into Autumn

The mild weather when I took my dogs out this morning brought up a favorite Fall memory of one of those freak warm weather days in the middle of October. Sure, this is still late September but the idea we're supposed reach the mid-80s today is odd.

Anyway, this one day it was sunny and the projected high was 75-degrees. For once, we didn't mind going outside for gym class. I think our phys ed teachers liked to make us run around the track in super cold weather as a way to build character. I used their penchant for cold-weather exercise later in December to ask to walk around the track with my friend, Sue, instead of playing endless rounds of volleyball. Of course, our teachers didn't know it was so she could smoke as we walked, but that's another story.

On this one October day, the sun was terrifically warm and made the yellow leaves still clinging to the trees around the school property glow. A good breeze rustled fallen leaves around the tennis courts where we smacked balls at each other with rackets that had seen better days. For 42 minutes of class time, it was the best day ever.

Tomorrow we'll be back to Autumn and I'll be dragging out my hoodie to keep me warm. Today I'm wearing short sleeves and capris. Happy Summer-Autumn in the meantime!

Pre-Labor Day Summer Wrap-Up

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

So what about the rest of this summer?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010 Summer Run Down Thus Far...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay by Allie Larkin

Some time ago I noticed there was this lady named Allie who was commenting on my blog. I initially confused her for my other friend, Ali, until I clicked on the link for her blog.

That's where I learned about Stay. Who wouldn't be suckered in by a romantic comedy that involves a puppeh? And bonus?? It's set mostly in Rochester!



Even though my parents were visiting me at the time, I refused to put down the book until I devoured it all in one day. I laughed as I recited passages to my mom about the trials and tribulations Van goes through as she welcomes her new dog, Joe, into her home. It's an entertaining read that has some real poignant moments.

Please check out Stay when it comes out June 10th!

Time Changes

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

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

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














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














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

The Say - Latest Editorial

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

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

Dreaming of the Millennium Falcon.. again

Last night I had another Star Wars themed dream. I blame this one solely on the fabulous fact that I had just bought the tickets for Matt and I to go see Star Wars: In Concert in Hamilton, Ontario in July.

In this one, I was on the Death Star hanging out near the Millennium Falcon waiting for Luke to get his ass back to the ship so we could take off before it was time to blow up the place. I ran across a group of emo/rave kids who were totally unconcerned about their impending doom as I encouraged them to take refuge in the Falcon. I sighed as they stood agape, watching various star ships start whizzing above the Death Star is pre-battle formations.

"They don't get that this place is gonna blow up pretty soon," I grumbled. "And where the hell is Luke? Can it really take that long to kill off the Emperor and then drag his dad's dead body back here? I mean, c'mon.. really."

And end dream. No. I didn't make any of that up. Still comes in a distant second to the dream of the chill party on the Millennium Falcon with R2D2 and Han Solo.

Sunday Reading on the Porch

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

Fixing Foundations - Staging

Some staging materials have arrived for fixing our foundation.

This Week In Metal

Starting next week, a weekly bit called "This Week in Metal" will begin airing on WRFA-LP.

The segment is the brain child of Occasional Truth blogger, Len. He asked me to voice part of it, which I was happy to oblige. Here's hoping I don't massacre the pronunciations of too many metal-related names!

Tune to 107.9 FM in Jamestown or listen online.

Garbage Plates & Southern Tier Beer

Homemade garbage plates by candle light with a 2X IPA by Southern Tier Brewing Co.

Winter Garden Comes Down

I got a text just as my Zumba class was ending this morning that the Winter Garden Theatre was being demolished so I walked up North Main Street to have a look. I spent about an hour and a half in the cold (with a stop off to Labyrinth to get some coffee to keep me warm) watching the building being crumbled away. Most of the facade and part of the interior is down for now. Work stopped for the Sabres game.

The Census: Getting Our Slice of the Federal Pie

I had the pleasure of writing the feature article for the latest issue of the Chautauqua Region Word. The downloadable PDF is here.

I've been living in Census Central, it seems, for the past few months. Promotional materials have filled the trunk of one of our cars, thwarting me whenever I made my weekly trip to Wegmans and forgot, once again, that I was competing for space with posters, water bottles, and other knick-knacks. Unexpected meetings have been added to my work agenda so I could listen to and share ideas for how to get the word out about the Census.

The guy leading the cause for our area has been Matt, so I really and truly couldn't get away from it. I watched him and other people on the committee turn an awareness campaign into something that resembled what I had seen him do on the political side of his job. It was heavy on grassroots and so far seems to have had some good results based on the Census Participation Map that shows Jamestown at 73% for Mail Participation rate.

To get the full story, pick up a paper copy of the Word or click over here.

Singleton Cooking

Matt is out of town so I made myself spinach salad and spiral mac n cheese. You bet I plated that! The salad has a homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing because I didn't have any spinach salad dressing on hand. Well, I didn't want to take the risk that jar that said it expired in February might still be good.

Fortunately, Matt will be back tomorrow to cook us dinner so no more box dinner stuff!

Life With A Bubble Boy

Matt and I had been dating a few years before his allergies started showing up and wrecking havoc with his life and somewhat with mine. It's to the point where we joke that we should just get him a bubble and be done with it all.

His sensitivity to corn, and thus corn-derived products, has changed up our grocery shopping habits once again, but I think this one could be beneficial to us both.

I knew that a lot of products had corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup in them, but I guess I didn't realize to what extent. Something as simple as ketchup has both ingredients. Even "healthy" cereals like Bran Flakes have HFCS!

Fortunately, with the natural food movement and desire by some of the population to get away from the easy sugar of HFCS, there are now more products that are sweetened "naturally" either using cane sugar, honey, or fruit-based sweeteners. Naturally, they tend to cost more.

Either way, if it switching to these products helps keep the hives away for Matt and we see benefits in terms of our waistlines, I'll be happy.

Easter Monday Morning Quarterbacking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good Friday at Spragues

We decided to spend Good Friday by making the trek out to Sprague's Maple Farms in Portville, NY. The weather is a little nuts with it being 85 degrees and it's only April 2nd. We hope to make a return trip out here sometime with some of our friends who haven't experienced this maple syrup heaven.

Viable Happiness In Recession

One of the disadvantages of living in a small community is that it takes a little while for the gains and ills of the rest of the metropolitan world to reach us. I think it's safe to say that all the fall-out from the housing market is finally reaching this area. Add to that all the nonsense from New York State and any other missteps that might have happened locally over the past few years and things feel depressing around town.

I know it's not quite as bad as all that, but some days it feels that way. Maybe I'm deluding myself there even and it really is that bad.

One of the areas where people tend to find satisfaction and fulfillment is work. There are jobs available, I'm told, but whether they're matching up with what people want for careers or offer enough compensation for a person's talent is another matter. From many people in my age group, I've been hearing dissatisfaction with what they are doing for work, assuming they're even employed. The level of frustration seems to have ratcheted up since the beginning of the year. The feeling is, "My job isn't so bad but it's not what I want to do and there are no jobs here I can go to," "I'm not crazy about my boss, but there's nothing else open that would be any better," or "I like this job but the pay doesn't come near the hours I put in or what I'm worth."

As much as many of us would like to say we are able to concentrate on enjoying the hours away from the office, for most of us the discontent of the work day has a way of spilling over into our "free" time. Ideally, we all would be working in careers that we love or be following our calling in life, but that can be a hard goal that's made harder when living in an economy that's struggling to not shed too many jobs each quarter.

So assume for a moment that we take on the task of truly trying to let work be work since changing the job economy is something that is probably beyond most people's control. Control is an important word. We have a certain level of control over what happens in our lives. While not true in every case, we usually can control the activities that fill our free time. We choose what food we eat. We choose the people with whom we want to associate.

We all have toxicity in our lives. It can be something as mild as choosing to eat McDonald's for dinner one night to the extreme of using an illegal substance to numb that which is displeasing. What it comes down to is taking responsibility for our lives and choosing to live. My personal belief is that if one does this, happiness follows. It could be easy, or not, depending on how deeply mired you are in your way of life that has you down. I don't think we ever can stop working at finding happiness, it just becomes easier to attain if we continually practice what we know is true to ourselves.

Listing to the 10th Degree

1. It's finally Spring. I thought for awhile that it might pass us by but the weekend forecast says 75 and sunny.

2. Busy season is clearing its throat and saying, "Hey! Notice me!!" Phone is starting to ring off the hook and people are lining up at the window at work again.

3. We have a new, dual flush toilet in our upstairs bathroom because the old one had an internal leak that we couldn't fix and an external leak that caused water to run down through the walls onto our kitchen counter on the 1st floor.

4. I thought not blogging for a couple weeks was bad until I found out PreppyGirl hadn't blogged for two years. She ended her drought today.

5. Near the end of January, I bought a six-pack of Southern Tier Brewing's Old Man Winter and hid it in our cellar. I finally clued Matt in on this on Saturday. He was mad, at first, that I had hid it from him but then very, very happy as we both cracked into the pack. It was delicious. It's gone now. We're sad. November, or whenever it's available again, seems so very far away.

6. Apparently, ahem, certain kinds of body hair are becoming acceptable in some circles. I laughed and laughed. Hand me a razor, thankyouverymuch.

7. I passed a civil service exam and placed in the top 3. I needed to do this to keep my job. Hooray. In this economy, I can't really complain.

8. Heidi and Ryan surprised a lot of us by eloping this month out in Lake Placid. Congrats to the happy couple!

9. Facebook has increasingly become my go-to spot to post updates and see what my friends are up to. A good percentage of blogger friends are now sucking in the update category but thanks to Facebook I can tell you if work sucked or wasn't so bad, how hungover they are, and what awesome lunch special they ate at Jones 212 Bakery & Cafe. And then my mom got a Facebook account and added me as a friend.

10. I have a couple projects going and only one has a true deadline. Well, I don't know what the deadline is exactly, so I'm going with April 10th until the guys over at The Word tell me differently. How's that for a teaser?

All In A Sunday Trip to the Store

Even when I'm pressed for time and on a schedule, I still like to take time when I go to Wegmans to see what's new. It's the obsession with the place. Today brought a wealth of new things. Here is what I saw and heard:

- The first thing I noticed when I walked in the Lakewood store today was what I heard. Was a band playing? Where was that louder, rock-sounding music coming from? I asked store employee and friend, Jason Jordan, what was up and he said he had been at the flagship Pittsford store recently. They apparently had different music playing around the store, so he decided to replicate the idea to create more of a public market feel. Frank Sinatra was playing in the Deli/pizza area, Bon Jovi/Dire Straits/Meatloaf in the food demonstration area, and Kee Kee Dee/Elton John over in frozen foods. Jason said it all has to be ironed out some since some people are using iPods until they can either hook computers into the wifi or something.

- You can rent out part of the Market Cafe seating area for things like birthday parties. There were Wegmans balloons bouncing merrily above seats and a private coffee station.

- The beverage coolers have been removed from the cashier lines and replaced with bins of stuff you just might want, or not. My friend, Erik, noted that he probably wouldn't be buying Barbasol shaving cream on impulse anytime soon.

- The Lakewood Wegmans doesn't have, and probably won't have, the frog cupcakes that Jenny adores but apparently we'll have an Easter Chick version of them later this month.

- Increased/improved signage in the cosmetics section.

- Wegmans bread packaging has changed in graphic design.

As said, all in a Sunday's trip!

High School Musical - 2010 Edition

I put on a pair of dressier jeans that look just like another pair of dressier jeans I own this morning. At first, I thought it was the older pair because they were slightly loose on me. Then I realized it was the newer pair and that I must be experiencing the joy of "musical weight loss" already even though I had only been to one rehearsal.

I'm playing violin in the pit for Falconer High School's production of "Once Upon A Mattress." I rehearsed with just the pit last night as the cast wasn't quite ready to do a joint rehearsal. That will come in bits and pieces this Sunday for Tech Day. The pit members watched the cast run through parts of songs last night before we escaped to the band room to do our part.

I was glad to recognize a few faces from last year's production of "L'il Abner." One of the cool things about high school plays is that you get a chance to see how students change over their 4 years and hopefully grow into new parts. The kids who are playing in the pit band are great. They have a casual approach to rehearsals but clearly know their stuff. We lost a trumpet player to the part of the Minstrel in the play, so he is missed but the group still seems tight. I just need to make sure I nail my part since I'm all by myself.

Doing a musical this time of year involves a little bit of insanity, but I think I've found there's never a good time to play for a musical when you have a day job. This is a compensated gig, not that the money is important. I'd probably do it for free, but given how precious my free time is, I also have to know when to say no. Fortunately, I don't have to in this case.

Performances are in the Falconer High School auditorium on March 12, 13, and 14th. Not sure about times or ticket prices just yet. Should be a nice time!