In response to this post (e:tinypliny,45179) about plastic bags, I worte about my community organization's efforts to reduce plastic bag usage.



We were able to give them away for free thanks to a grant from our regional solid waste authority. People are still asking me for them but they've all been distributed. We're thinking about using some other grant funding to buy more.

(e:drew,44403) prompted me to look at and photograph the paint on my old house. When we bought it five years ago, the paint was all peeling - here's a picture of the side of the house that hasn't been touched yet. (I've got pictures somewhere of when we bought it, but not accessible at the moment.)




West side ainted five years ago:


West side detail of window next to porch


South side painted five years ago:


South side detail lower right corner, spigot:



Paint scraped on east side:


East side currently in progress:



Kitten, my 17+ year old cat:

tagging off (e:lauren) 's post about heroic/epic movies ... here's a telling of the Obama story as an epic...

I feel like I'm cheating by not reading everyone's posts before posting something... this whole moving thing is difficult and time-consuming, but on the bright side, I just acquired a camera after being without for way too long. I'm out of practice in both composition and technical but sometimes documenting life and communicating outweighs the artistic. My goal is to become competent, if not fluent, in my camera's functionality in the next month. Hopefully I'll have some decent shots occasionally.

We had a hummingbird fly into the office today - we often leave doors and windows open, depending on the weather and my dog's willingness to stay inside:



How cool - my camera captured a hummingbird's wings at the moment of full forward motion!



This cropped version makes it look like the hummingbird is dead and laying on a tile floor, but no, it's just a cropped, flat version of a not very good shot of something kinda interesting.

I haven't figured out how to best manage photos on my laptop - suggestions, anyone? I've got Picasa, Photoshop CS and the software that came with the camera but I'm willing to try other things. I like the Picasa upload to the picasaweb - very easy instead of having to go thru a FTP-type interface (or the additional step to keep it on my own server). But I'm not quite catching on to how to save my edited or resized stuff to be able to send it up to estrip . I think the first hummingbird photo i uploaded here is 2MB which makes me look like a stoopid noobie... I guess I am at the moment... patience, grasshopper.


I enjoyed some time at one of my favorite spots today - long enough for the sun to go down and the moon become visible.








And two cuteoverload-style photos of Nisha:



This one seems like it needs a LOLcat-type phrase on it:

Since (e:drew), (e:jim) & (e:janelle) are pondering such things as the particulars of Christian belief, I thought I'd throw out the Belief-o-matic!

(me: secular humanist)

I like to geek about walkability, communities, poverty, transportation and such... Andrew Leonard's column/blog on Salon.com is a very good read. He passed along a site that allows you to check out the impact of gasoline prices on household budgets, with 2000 & 2008 color GIS maps, transportation and housing costs as percentage of household income...take some time & play with it. Use the advanced option, and the gas cost impacts link.



I'm familiar with the DC-Balto metro area, and lightly familiar with Buffalo, so I compared those - Buffalo is a -lot- smaller... My current location: Data not available.

You can zoom in to street/neighborhood level. You'll see that cost of transportation is much lower within the city, and very low in certain areas - ones that are highly walkable (Elmwood) and/or highly convenient to public transportation.


Walkability by neighborhood in Seattle

I found an apartment today! I totally didn't expect to find one so easily, but all the research I was able to do with the kind, gracious and thoughtful assistance of (e:peeps) really paid off. 8/15 I'll take possession of a very sunny third-floor one-bedroom apartment on Allen Street! I think it's the kind of apartment I can live (perch?) in for three years.

I also got to meet (e:drew)! *waves* Thanks so much for the warm welcome!

Now that I know where I"m moving, I feel like I can finally start packing and processing all my STUFF. I have a lot of stuff and most of it will be living in storage.

I have a few minutes while waiting for computer scans to complete...

So much is going on. I'm selling my precious house. I'm ending a 2.5 year relationship. I'm easing out of people's lives, helping them figure out what to do when I'm not here to help fix their computers or untangle their QuickBooks messes, not to mention the roles of confidant, adviser, friend, emotional and logistical supporter.

I'm trying to commit to memory the details of -here-. (In the next few weeks, you'll all get some photographic treats, but I'm awaiting house closing to get a camera.)The mountain at my back, the river that speaks so softly of cleansing and renewal despite its pollution, the infinite collection of sunsets, full moons and rainbows. Not that I'm leaving for good - ha ha I tried that. This is my heart's home and this is where I'll always be based, but knowing that I'm leaving for three years makes each day, each starry night more of a gem to be treasured. And the connections to people. Yeah, there's email, there's the telephone, but its those casual, constant connections that make the relationships so real.

And it's not just easing out of here, it's also looking toward Buffalo and the new life I'll be building there. Where to live? How to find folks to connect with? ((e:strip) is an awesome starting point!!!) How to deal with 8am classes when I've never been successful at getting to work at 9? Food... diversity... sheer numbers of people... figuring out what my path is going to look like...





Nisha and her friend Bill at the office.

So I just talked to a property management person and when I said I wanted to take public transportation to UB North, he said, "My guess is that you'll take it once or twice but you'll be so grossed out that you'll never take it again." Thoughts?

Wow. Y'all rock.

It looks like I should focus on the Utica Ave. metro stop (do you call it metro or subway or light rail or train?). I'm looking for a studio, 1 br or 2 br (if i can find a roommate) that will accept 1 small dog and 1 cat. I'm downsizing from a house, so I have lots of stuff but I also plan on getting a storage unit so stuff storage isn't very important. I will need one parking spot. I can start renting as early as 8/1 and as late as 8/15. I think my rent range is about 500-550, up to 650 with all utilities but that's stretching things. I've got tentative plans to visit Buffalo either 6/26 or 6/27 to check stuff out. Linwood looks like a great option.

I must admit, I'm used to my brand new kitchen, dishwasher and garbage disposal, washer & dryer on second floor next to my huge bedroom... but of course I'll be living on a student budget and expect to downscale considerably. Um... how do I provide references when I haven't rented in 10.5 years?

(e:drew) asked if I work with nonprofits or churches... you betcha! I've started a nonprofit (was prez, currently treasurer), am secretary for another, and consult for several others. I've worked with all kinds of clients, from retail (QuickBooks Point of Sale, QuickBooks, web/ecommerce integration), bars, social clubs, churches, local Pennsylvania municipalities and quasi-governmental agencies, daycare/preschools, professionals, you get the picture... I'm a certified QuickBooks professional advisor, versions 2005-2008, although I've used every version since 2000 at one time or another. I've been doing web design (to various degrees of difficulty) since 1995, and computer and small network repair/troubleshooting and planning since 1998. I will need a crash course in NYS employment laws and sales tax to be as effective as I am here, but I'm sure that won't be hard to pick up.



I currently share office space with a roofing contractor and a daycare/preschool owner. We also work on our nonprofit org from there. I wish I had an estrip.org type platform for my town! I'm just not sure how many people would write fairly consistently.

One of the joys of where I live is that I can walk to my neighborhood bar and the grocery store. My nonprofit is partly focused on revitalizing our downtown (like the Elmwood Village campaign but on a much smaller scale - our population is about 1500) and I really do value walkability. I lived in the DC suburbs from Silver Spring to Laurel and I don't want to have to drive everywhere again. I've got a bike (with basket for the puppy) but I've never ridden in a city.

(e:imk2) asked why I'm moving to Buffalo... graduate school. I plan to show up 8/15. Uh... I guess I need to find housing before then... would you consider craigslist a good option for looking? the weekly housing section of the newspaper? or is it best to spend some time in Buffalo and look in person?

(e:joshua) - I'm in Tioga County *waves*

all - thanks so much for the warm welcome and advice!

My next question: Is there a practical public transportation option from Elmwood to UB North? Or should I look for carpools? Or just expect to drive?