"Hot Potato Mashup" written by Carolinian on estrip.org

Category: life

08/22/07 06:58 - 78ºF - ID#40677

Hot Potato Mashup

Today I have little to write.

I instead reflect on the fact that sometimes there's stuff that you just can't write on the Internet because it's just such a hot potato and personal enough to the point of being inappropriate to share with others.

Time will change this, I'm sure, but it sucks that I have to (justifiably) limit my emotional outlets.

Permalink: Hot_Potato_Mashup.html
Words: 62
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: computers

08/16/07 09:36 - 75ºF - ID#40584

Basket Case

Got my new case today.

I'll probably write a review somewhere on the Internet at some point. Considering my investment, the case was virtually cost nothing.

Permalink: Basket_Case.html
Words: 34
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: housing

08/12/07 04:58 - 78ºF - ID#40497

House Hunting

(e:inscrutable) and I looked at more houses today. It's actually pretty tiring work, though I'm not sure exactly why. We're

Most of the houses don't have central air or insulation, and a lot of them are slightly smelly and not well kept. There was one we found off in the Kenmore Ave./Colvin area that was really nice. It was actually nice enough that I'm not understanding why the price dropped from $120,000 to $100,000, which is kinda of setting off my spidey-sense. But dammit, the house is nice, at least for northern buffalo. It's well kept, and it has central air, and the basement is rather non-icky. But there's always some kind of catch. It breaks the second law of thermodynamics if there's not a catch.

I've agonized over what the catch and reasons for sudden price drop could be. Maybe it's the school system, and that everyone wants to send their kids to Williamsville. Maybe it's crime. Maybe it's an enormous sinkhole under the house or enormous heating bills. There's so many different permutations of things that could be awful that I haven't found yet.

It probably doesn't help that I'm trying to please my parents a little bit with this decision. My mom can recount from memory endless horror stories about friends and relatives who got more than they bargained for, and my father has kept repeating the mantra "you may have lots of expenses that may make you wish that you were still renting." I'd like to show them the house I found so perhaps they might be more positive if I ended up buying it, but I'm worried that if I wait the two more weeks until they arrive, it'll be snatched up. I mean, the house seems nice enough and cheap enough that only an idiot would pass it up (unless there's a catch).

lizabeth writes at 08:58:45 08/13/07 - Comment #22208: It really could be that the housing market is just that good right now. How long has the house been up for sale? How soon do the people want/need to get rid of it? There's an awesome house in our neighborhood that we would love to buy, and the price on that has dropped $125,000 in the time that we've been looking at it (less than a year). It's dropped because a) the people were asking WAY too much for our neighborhood (we still can't afford it, even with the $125k drop), and 2) because the housing market is really shit right now for sellers. (Granted, the housing market is rather different in So. FL than in WNY, but I think the general downturn is happening everywhere.)

I think there are great deals to be had, provided you can swing a mortgage that doesn't screw you over. Good luck, dude!!

museumchick writes at 06:38:37 08/13/07 - Comment #22182: Good luck with the househunting! I read somewhere (wish I could find the article for you) that Kenmore and Townawanda were rated a good value as far as finding houses.

uncutsaniflush writes at 09:49:45 08/12/07 - Comment #22103: Is the house in Buffalo or Kenmore or Tonawanda? If it is in Kenmore, you will have to pay the Kenmore Village property taxes on top of the Tonawanda and Erie County taxes. But the streets are wonderfully plowed in the winter. Unlike many other urban areas, the property tax burden in the City of Buffalo is lower than in the 'burbs.

twisted writes at 08:22:47 08/12/07 - Comment #22098: Make an offer so you can get in contract, then use your contingencies to find out if there's a catch. You'll be in the best spot to negotiate if need be -- or to walk away without regrets. Good luck!

tinypliny writes at 05:20:33 08/12/07 - Comment #22084: I hope it works out for you and there is NO catch!! Cheers!

Permalink: House_Hunting.html
Words: 309
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: politics

08/03/07 09:56 - 80ºF - ID#40366

War on Error

To get a passport, I had to take half the day off from work, spend $100 in fees, and postpone any trips across the peace bridge in Canada for 12 weeks because I was required to send the government my notarized birth certificate. Yesterday, I get back my passport only to find that my first name is misspelled.

This brings to mind a lot of scary thoughts. Such as being stranded in a foreign country and not being to leave because some overzealous bureaucrat will only let a fellow with the first name of "Nial" leave (Nial is my first name misspelled. (e:inscrutable) helpfully suggested I solve the problem by legally changing my name to "Nial"). I am also worried that Osama Bin Laden will be allowed to enter the country because Osama Bin Lader's passport does not show up on any warning lists.

I don't think that this is how the War on Terror was supposed to work.

Permalink: War_on_Error.html
Words: 158
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: random

07/28/07 04:30 - 83ºF - ID#40280

Random Bits

Garden Walk:

I have come to the conclusion that The Garden Walk is basically an adult version of Halloween Trick-or-Treating.

Give the middle-aged people (and cool hip young people on 24 Linwood) orange-colored candybags, and they'd look right at home during october.

Strange Logic

Quoting from the story

the American Axle factory has a "glut of unused production capacity" and their "global sales prospects are surging". The components maker has received $400 million in new orders". They have tons of "new business backlog" and the place "was busy" filling orders. Therefore, considering how bad things were, it was deemed important to shut the place down.

The article goes on to say that "much of the new work is from ex-parent GM for vehicles to be sold in North America", so one can conclude that American Axle is relying on Americans with money to support their business through buying cars that use their axles. Americans who are laid off are not Americans with money.

In laying off 734 people from the factory, the company has generated 734 additional Americans who do not have money, and therefore are no longer of their customer base and are in no position to buy any cars that use their axles. A logical, thinking person would deduce that American Axle just reduced their customer base by 734, which is not in the company's interest. The point of capitalism is doing things economically that are in your interest, and yet the company is doing something that is not economically their interest. Which seems to completely conflict the capitalist structure of our economy.

Everything seems so contradictory. It's so confusing to be an American these days.

Thursday In The Square

Old '97's. I hope I'm doing my duty to make (e:lizabeth) jealous.

Permalink: Random_Bits.html
Words: 300
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: programming

07/10/07 05:15 - 87ºF - ID#40039

Propel mental unfitness water

There's a reason why I've spent the last few days with a murderous glare in my eye and thoughts of getting all Voldemort on a few Open Source programmers (and the rest of the software industry for good measure while I'm at it). I've tried and tried to get a piece of software at work functioning, and it's absolutely fucking ridiculous. I'll pretty much leave it at that and defer to a guy who has already adequately described the general source of my ire.

I guess I should also try to find the humor in the situation (from

)

"We believe that good documentaiton is probably the single most important thing for a successful project..."

Permalink: Propel_mental_unfitness_water.html
Words: 128
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

07/06/07 10:44 - 71ºF - ID#39976

My tummy is rumbly

"Getting a Wegman's calzone will be an enormous mistake" my better judgement told me. Two hours later my stomach is doing cartwheels.

Hopefully my body will chill out by tomorrow. I really want to see the Queen City Roller Girls/Harlots match in Hamilton. Why does this kind of stuff always happen to me right befure stuff that I really want to do?

lizabeth writes at 02:58:39 07/10/07 - Comment #20602: I'd like to second metalpeter's suggestion that maybe it was the ricotta. Ricotta cheese is my downfall. It was one of the first cheeses I developed a sensitivity to when my lactose intolerance kicked in. I do hope, for your sake, that this is not you beginning to have an issue with dairy.

dragonlady7 writes at 10:34:52 07/08/07 - Comment #20515: Aw, did you manage to make it? I didn't know you were planning on coming!

If you didn't, don't feel too bad-- despite the amusement value of this :::link:::
, (e:zobar) sums it up pretty neatly in his last post. If you were a roller derby fan, there wasn't much there for you.

We did well, but, it wasn't roller derby.

Hope you feel better!!

metalpeter writes at 10:41:30 07/07/07 - Comment #20501: First of all have a great time. I know that there where Toronto Roller Girls but had no idea there where Hamilton ones. I wonder if maybe some day in the nest 5 to 10 years if there will be some kind of merging. Also I can't wait to hear about how things went. In tems of getting sick I have a fealing it may have been the Ricotta Chesse. I personaly don't like the taste or the testure of it. But I'm guessing your body had trouble with it.

vincent writes at 01:18:42 07/07/07 - Comment #20494: maybe a subconscious sabotage mechanism going on???

I heard something about the Hamilton Roller Girls on the radio tonight. Although I do love (e:dragonlady7) deep down I would have to pull for my hometown Hamilton in any contest.

The same would apply if the Research In Motion guy Mr. Crackberry himself gets the Nashville Predators to Hamilton, then that would be my NHL team.

deeglam writes at 11:51:32 07/06/07 - Comment #20491: I know the feeling....I am sorry about your upset tummy. I had the same problem last night actually. I was starving, and I dind't have much time so I stopped at McDonalds and got a quarter pounder (even though, like you said, my better judgement told me not to)....and of course I ended up getting sick, and the worst part was, I had to give a presentation last night right after eating the burger....maybe next time we will both be smarter and listen to our gut instincts!

Permalink: My_tummy_is_rumbly.html
Words: 63
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: tech

06/27/07 01:06 - 82ºF - ID#39825

iPhone

(This started out as a comment to (e:jenks) comment on (e:paul) 's journal, but I think it's gotten too long for a comment. )

I'll be getting an iPhone from work, hopefully, that we'll try to use with the ERP system we're developing.

We're kinda bummed that we can't take the OS X code that we're using in our database client and reuse it to make a stripped-down version that runs on the iPhone. And I'm personally bummed that there's not going to be, at least for a while, an iPhone Cocoa API that would vastly increase the potential job opportunies for myself (and (e:zobar) as well). So much for my fantasies of buying a house on Richmond with plenty of insulation, no dust, and central air.

Yes, it sucks, but then again, Cingular has been very good about respecting users' ability to use bluetooth and the users own file's however they see fit. Someone like T-Mobile or Verizon or Sprint deciding that I can't put a public-domain midi file on my phone as a ringtone and charging me $$$ to have to use their ringtone from their network, which I'll have to keep paying for over and over again when my subscription to ringtone runs out, pisses me off vastly more than the iPhone apps issue.

I've heard that one of the reasons why Apple went with Cingular (aka AT&T) only is that they were given a wide amount of latitude in what they are allowed to do. If Verizon or T-mobile had iPhones, they would probably put in enough restrictions that sucked even more than Apple's.

Permalink: iPhone.html
Words: 271
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: random

06/18/07 10:19 - 71ºF - ID#39715

Mail Call

Got my package. But I have to reformat for leopard, so any work I save is meaningless until then. (e:paul), check these guys out.

Permalink: Mail_Call.html
Words: 31
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: life

06/15/07 01:13 - 65ºF - ID#39666

Week Recap

Tues: I ordered something. Something that will help a lot with work. Paul probably can guess what it is, but I'm not going to advertise that I've got one in my house.

Wed: Took (e:inscrutabale) to Baccus dinner & movie for her b-day. They were showing the Big Lebowski. After years hearing all sorts of nerdy folks make references to that movie, I can now be in on the joke, Dude. It's cool watching a movie in that kind of environment, although a city environment doesn't make it always the easiest to hear, especially with zillions of bikers roaring around downtown. I don't think all that wine made things any easier to follow, either.

Thu: (Tonight).

Had a decent walk to SPoT with (e:inscrutable). She ordered what could very well be the most tastiest thing I've had there, which tasted like rose petals and perfume. Which is really weird because you'd never expect such things to be tasty. On the way, some guy driving by saw me and (e:inscrutable) holding hands on the walk back to my apartment and yelled "faggot" at me. It took me as few seconds to realize that he was mistaking (e:inscrutable) for a guy (a girl with short hair wearing a hat looks like a guy with long hair wearing a hat, I guess). It was a little shocking at first, but we soon laughed it off.

Finally, I was surprised to find out that (e:inscrutable) successfully baked the gargoyle I made on Tues. It turned out pretty well considering I was just messing around with the leftover clay from her class and wasn't attempting to make any kind of masterpiece.