Vanilla Coke Is Back!

I don't normally get overly excited about sugary sodas that corrode the enamel on your teeth and destroy the lining of your stomach, but I was overjoyed to hear that Coca-Cola is bringing back Vanilla Coke.

When Vanilla Coke began to disappear from grocery store shelves back in 2005, I bought the last two cases of it from Wegmans. These have been savored slowly ever since. I even brought a case to SMA Mini-Con 2006 to share with the other Vanilla Coke enthusiasts.

Wikipedia: Vanilla Coke
(HT to Sabrina for instant messaging me the news)

The push and pull of grocery carts

I created the rule that every time you go into Wegman's, you will see three people you know. It's an inevitable truth.

The rule worked Friday to the tune of 5 people, and tonight to the requisite three.

I wander the aisles, pushing or pulling my cart in a daze. I nearly walk into a display as I turn to look toward the entrance and exit. The sun is trying to shine a beam of light through the clouds. I turn away and face the warm glow of display cases around me.

I frown when encountered with a blur of deli meats. I will not decide tonight. Shiny plastic containers wink softly at me from the prepared food cases. I will not look.

I thump a container of milk into the cart and push my way to the row of cashiers.

"Can I put this all in one bag?" says a young boy. I stare through him and nod.

Happy Father's Day (a buck short)

I laughed a little too hard at this.

Metaphors That In Theory Don't Work

I spent an inordinate amount of time considering the phrase "drink like a fish" today. I'm not a marine biologist, but I didn't have the impression that fish actually drank water. Sure, they use the water to aspirate, but I didn't think they guzzled it down. So it might make more sense to say "drinks like a drunkard."

The whole aspirate thing got me thinking of another phrase people use in reference to fresh air, and other sensory-things. "She/he drank in the (fill in blank with non liquid reference)." Consider I'm standing outside in the fresh air. If I go by the metaphorical logic that I'm "drinking in the fresh air" like a fish aspirates water, then I could be considered drunk. But it being that I'm referencing air, it means I'm drunk on a gas. So wouldn't it be more appropriate to say, "She was high on the fresh air" as opposed to "She was drunk with the fresh air around her" or however you'd write it?

I think I need better distractions.

The Big Blush

There's blushing brides, wines that blush, the blush of a rose, and then the blush that you buy at the drugstore or your favorite cosmetic counter. The latter is what led my Aunt Carol to submit a story about a blush of embarrassment to Neutrogena.

Give it a read and a vote. My impression is that the higher the story is rated, the better chance she has at winning a Girl's Day Out at a Spa. It's a fun distraction either way.

Who Loves You? And Who Do You Love?

One of those notsofun things about getting older is the increasing difficulty of looking cool out on the dance floor. Oh sure, I've been out dancing at Sky Bar with my friends where all the guys are extremely hot, if not extremely gay. But, it's hard to feel like you're doing the floor any favors when some 22-year old size-zero girl sidles up to the wall-to-ceiling mirror and breaks out some hippy moves that even makes some friends of Dorothy think twice about their sexual preference.

When I became club-legal age, one of my favorite places in Rochester was Club Zei. It's gone through several incarnations, and I'm not even sure if it's a dance club anymore. But in the mid-90s, it was the place to if you wanted to shake it to some alternative club music.

Before I was old enough to go out, I would dance around my bedroom to stuff by The Shamen, Apotheosis, and Praga Kahn. I didn't like all the club/techno music, but if it had a great beat, sampled another song (Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds or Utah Saints' "Something Good"), and cleverly lifted pop culture reference like Messiah's "Temple of Dreams" I was there. Here's a video of the latter. Ignore the video and just listen to the music. The other video I found on YouTube was better, but it was a different mix of the song.

New Cells!

Our new cell phones are pretty fancy schmancy compared to the outdated model we were using before. This is a pic I took yesterday.

Naturally, I had to throw caution to the wind and download a ring tone. U2's "Beautiful Day" reminds me every time someone calls that things are good.

T-Shirts in Motion

A fun, visual feast.



HT Neatorama

2007 Thursday In The Square Schedule

Buffalo Place, Inc. has released the Thursdays In the Square schedule for this summer.

Violent Femmes and Dropkick Murphy's stood out the most of me. And then there was Melissa Ferrick opening for the John Butler Trio.

An Important Message for the Buffalo Sabres

This video was produced before Monday's game, but it still resonates for Wednesday night.

Our friend/sportscaster/Red Sox Fan, Kevin Carroll, predicted well before the play-offs began that the Sabres would be down 3 games in the series before the Stanley Cup.

"It's gonna play just like the Red Sox-Yankee series. Buffalo is going to be down three games but they're gonna come back and win four in a row, and then sweep the Stanley Cup series."

We laughed at that statement then, but half of that statement represents our only hope. And, yes, I know I just broke practically all the rules of superstition by mentioning several unmentionable words.



(HT Buffalo Pundit)

Bill Wants You To Vote For Hillary

Lunchtime Line Dancing

Several women I work with decided to do some line dancing in a break room area on their lunch break on Tuesdays and Thursdays. One of those co-workers, Jackie, asked me to find a copy of "The Electric Slide" for them. I channeled my early high school years and burned this for her:

"Electric Slide" by Marcia Griffiths
"Cha Cha Slide" by Mr. C
"Poison" by Bel Biv Devoe
"Move Your Feet" by Junior Senior
"Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch
"It Takes Two" by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock
"La Tortura" by Shakira (featuring Alejandro Sanz)
"Pump Up The Volume" by M.A.R.R.S.
"Bust A Move" by Young MC

This isn't my workplace, but check out all the people that join the fun around the 2:22 minute mark.

Wired.Com: "New Army Rules Could Kill G.I. Blogs (Maybe E-mail, Too)"

A friend of mine alerted me to the story about how the Army is banning personal blogs by its personnel.

I understand that "in times of war" that the military has censored letters home by soldiers, but I have concerns about the fact that they also want to censor blogs by family members of Army personnel.

Actually, I uttered a lot of four-letter words and other NSFW comments when I read the story.

Hullo, Big Brother.

Girl, I Must Warn You

Another Word for That Game Where You Shoot a Ball Through A Hoop

Too good not to re-post. Another shining example of literacy submitted to our local paper:

Get Jamestown Back In Business Day
To the Readers’ Forum:
I just read the paper about downtown events
which they say 40 city residents came to their meetings
at City Council.
Well there are petitions out about what the rest of
us think which is more than 40 people. I don’t
applaud downtown DJDC. What about businesses
that should be brought downtown. They all left
because of taxes and other reasons.
We need to build up downtown with new buildings
for business and move events to other places,
which there are many parks.
There are some things that can be brought from
town, but not basketpole. We have Baker Park to
use.
What are people thinking? Is it more important
for entertainment or business downtown. What are
they thinking we are a ghost town now because
taxes are too high and people leave here because of
it.
Bring in new building, tear down some of the old
ones. Bring in people to get Jamestown back in
business.
(name redacted to protect them from finger pointing and laughter)
Jamestown

My Last Week on Kiss FM

This is my last week at 106.9 Kiss FM (WKZA).

I've had a fabulous time doing the news here and being "The Truth Lady" for the past year and nine months, but it was time to move on.

Fortunately, I'm not going too far away. Starting May 7th, I will be doing the morning news for 107.9 WRFA: Radio For the Arts here in Jamestown. This is a low-power FM station owned by the Arts Council of Chautauqua County. Time Warner Cable 8 News will continue to sponsor the newscast.

Even though the station is low-power and can only picked up by radios in the immediate Jamestown-area, WRFA streams online and can be heard all over the world. For the first time, my parents will be able tune in to hear me do the news in the morning if they wished.

I've made some wonderful friends at Kiss FM, and will certainly miss seeing those left there on a regular basis. I hope all of you who have tuned in, especially since August when I started visiting the Morning Show in person, have enjoyed what you've heard. Keep listening and tune into 107.9 WRFA from time to time to hear what cool, interesting things are happening over there.

Supporting Downtown Jamestown Events

In my opinion, you can often tell what the health of a downtown area is by how many events are held in the city center and how many people attend. Since I moved to Jamestown almost 8 years ago, I've seen the number of events throughout the season grow and expand remarkably.

Almost all, if not all, the events are family friendly and the excitement generated by them is palpable. More than several businesses are experiencing record sales and traffic as a direct result of return visits by people who might have had their first glance at a city business due to an event held downtown.

However, it seems that a very small majority isn't too thrilled with all these good things:

Dear Myspace Friends,

There is a small group of people trying to put an end to events in Downtown Jamestown. This could effect our Local Music Showcase as well as many other community events like Gus Macker, the Holiday Parade, Rib Fest, you name it.

Basically, a small group is trying to rally support to shut down all downtown events. They are taking their case to the City Council's Public Safety committee on Monday. Their voices must not be heard over the many who enjoy having activities in downtown.

To save these events, please attend the meeting Monday night, April 23, 2007 at 6:30pm, Tracy Plaza, City Hall, 4th Floor, for the public safety meeting. Don't let a few trouble makers put an end to downtown activity and development.

If you can't attend, please email your thoughts to Lee Harkness at the Downtown Jamestown Development Corp. at lharkness@discoverjamestown.com so he can put them into record for us.

This is very important and was announced after our issue went to press, or else I would have editorialized about it. You can write a letter to the editor to the POST-JOURNAL today though, and try to increase awareness on this issue. Repost this bulletin. Do not let these people sign Jamestown's death sentence by outlawing public events.

Our own downtown events have been very successful and the public has been wonderful. The police have been kind and supportive. Many people from Chaut. County told us they hadn't been to downtown in years. We got thank you cards and emails from families and those who attended. Business owners thanked us. It will be a shame if we have to move our events because of a few trouble makers.

Please pass this on.

Sincerely,
Michael Salamone
editor in chief
Chautauqua Region WORD newspaper

It's time for our community to rise up and shout the positive rather than let a few naysayers whine their negative refrain.

I ask you to join us on Monday at the Public Safety meeting, or to write a letter of support for downtown activities to the Post-Journal or to Lee Harkness.

Addendum: Meeting Location - Public Safety this evening is on the 4^th Floor of Jamestown City Hall. Get off the elevator, turn right and go straight into the police training room. You should probably get there by 6:15 as you will have to go through security. (ht to Lee Harkness for the additional info)

The Phone Number You Have Reached...

I get a lot of misdirected calls at work simply because our office number was published in a phone book with the word "Information" next to it a few years ago. Since I'm fairly knowledgeable about the area and the places you need to call for various services, I'm happy to give callers the right number. Today I had a "wrong number" call of the odd variety.

A woman called and stated that she and her husband live in New Jersey. Since I work for an economic development program, I did a quick mental prep to answer whatever question she had about moving or expanding a business in our city. But then her next question threw me off balance a little,

"Um.. we need to find someone who can do a roofing estimate for us."

I think I responded with an, "Oh! Um. Wait, what???" Before recovering and answering, "Oh dear, well unfortunately you've reached a government office. Um.. wait, you said you're in New Jersey???"

The nice lady on the phone replied, "Yes, but the estimate is for a place in Rockaway."

I was flabbergasted. "Rockaway?? My god. You've reached an office in Jamestown, NY. Rockaway is clear on the other side of the state! Ahh.. can I ask how you managed to get this number?"

"We did a search for Rockaway municipality and this number came up," she said.

I felt bad for the lady and spun through my mental files of what I could offer her so her call wasn't fruitless until I remembered a new tool I came across.

"Well, I'm not sure if this would help, but Google has a free 4-1-1 tool where you can call and get business listings. I used it last weekend to try to make reservations at a restaurant in another city and they connected me directly to the place. So that might work for you too."

I gave the woman the 1-800 number and she seemed pleased to at least have something useful to try out. All in a day's work.

Sabres Superstition Handbook

I solemnly read the WEDG Superstition Handbook tonight. As it is play-off time, extreme measures are to be taken as to not jinx our Team.

The Sabres seem to play their best when I'm at home, with the game on, and I'm doing housework. I also have not worn a certain hockey jersey all season because we haven't been able to get to a Sabres game. All signs, I tell ya'.

My favorite rule from the book?

This one:

"If Andrew Peters scores a goal rules do not apply for the duration of the game. Anarchy ensues."

One Billion Abstinence Campaign A Flop... DUH

$1bn 'don't have sex' campaign a flop

Who seriously thought that if we told teens to just abstain from sex, that they'd actually follow through? Not me. When Not Me, Not Now was dreamed up by Monroe County in the 1990s, I said, as a teenager, it was a stupid idea and money spent unwisely.

How about giving our teens all the tools they need to know about sex, including the line about abstinence, so at least they know how to use protection if they decide to have sex?