I cannot wait for summer. I want to run free.

Last night we went to the dance party at ohm where we saw Goth Trad from Japan. Its nice to have a dancing place a block away.



The music was pretty awesome. I danced most of the time we were there.


After wards we came home and had a brother/sister dance party in the dining room. I finally wore my "If you want my attention - Talk Baseball" shirt that (e:xandra) convinced me to buy in the summer. It was a little extra half shirty.


I accidentally texted this image to a number one off from (e:xandra)'s. They were so confused.




(e:terry) and robert fell asleep

literally leftovers with broth.

They need 5383 signatures more to reach 100,000 signatures by feb 23. If you care about hardware freedom and the ability to do what you want with electronics you purchase then please sign this petition to repeal the ruling that made cell phone unlocking illegal.

Update: more details redalertpolitics.com/2013/01/31/librarian-of-congress-criminalizes-unlocked-cell-phones/

I helped my Dad put some shelves together for my mom today. We actually managed to quite successfully get the parts together with no arguing.

While working my Dad told me about how his childhood best friend died last weekend. It was the first time I saw him really sad. I can't imagine what it is like to unexpectedly lose a best friend, especially one you knew your entire life. As he said they come by few and far between. I made me so sad hearing him be sad.

Went to go see Matt and Kim and Passion Pitt at the Rochester Armory last night. I really love Matt and Kim. Seeing them play live was amazing. They are so dedicated to their performance.

As with every trip to Rochester, we ate at Dinosaur BBQ


But first, the Will Call line was insane. It was like an hour long and wrapped around the block.


Luckily we had paper tickets and the line was like 15 people long. Makes me wonder about Will Call in the future.


We stood around waiting for a bit after we got there. The crowd was massive.




There was a lot of crowd surfing during both shows. The best part of all was when Kim walked out onto the hands of the crowd and then danced on top of the crowd.



My video from their concert of the song "Now"


An their professional video


The rest of the pics are from Passion Pitt. The light set was good but I didn't get into the music as much.

I can't believe we live in a world where people like Maureen Pratt from Williamsville are so afraid that children will use iPads for porn and "violent gaming" that they would question the use of mobile information technology in schools. Maybe even worse that our city's newspaper has nothing better to print than this response. She "could not remain silent" and neither can I?



Get with the future Maureen, people like you and the children you "protect" from mobile information access are going to be left behind in the information age. Its already happening, the slower they learn to harness information technology the further behind they will be as adults. Denying kids access to mobile internet technology because they may access porn or violent games is the modern equivalent of keeping kids illiterate because they might read about sex or violence.

Tablets, like phones are just computers you can take with you. They allow you to access the information when and where you need it instead of having to wait until you get home or to school to look it up at which times most things will simply slip off the radar. They represent an amazing opportunity to integrate the world's data stores into the fabric of our lives. I can't count how many times a day I reference valuable information on the internet to help me make informed purchases, define words, repair things, cook meals, program computers, appreciate art and music, and get me around from place to place. Not to mention the ability to tap into a vast network of people and their expertise at any moment.

You can't sanitize the internet. The beauty of it is that no one controls it. Its like the world itself. If it were all neatly controlled and government sanctioned the internet would have never happened. It would be like one big paid Disney commercial in America and other countries wouldn't even know something existed outside their borders.

Instead of just denying kids access it makes a lot more sense to teach them about what is and is not appropriate.

Robert and I cooked a gluten free pizza from a mix I bought at Big Lots last year and threw in the freezer. It was pretty tasty. It had a real nice exotic mix of fancy cheeses from Nickel City cheese on elmwood and the Lexington coop. I planned on just getting cheese at Nickel City but they don't carry mozzarella.

We also fried up some artichoke hearts. I never tried it before but it was easy and delicious. I dipped them in eggs, rolled them with garbonzo bean flour and deep fried them with peanut oil - yum.

I wanted to be able to curl my mustache again after seeing a real nice looking one the other day so I decided to start by separating the mustache from the beard and trimming a bit.

For a long time we talked about getting chickens but never followed through. Its almost spring again and time to start planning, building and hatching soon if it is going to happen.

I was reading through the City of Buffalo laws about chickens and the brave fight of some Rhode Island St residents to keep chickens legal They won in the end and this is the law now.

§ 341-11.1. Exceptions for chicken hens.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]
It shall be lawful for any person to keep, permit or allow any domesticated chicken hens in any residential district under the following terms and conditions and after having received a license to keep said chicken hens from the City Clerk as prescribed herein under the following terms and conditions:

A. No more than five chicken hens shall be allowed for each single-family dwelling or multifamily dwelling.

B. No chicken hens shall be allowed in multifamily complexes, including duplexes, without the expressed written consent of the owner of the building and all tenants residing in the building other than the applicant.

C. No chicken hens shall be allowed without the express written consent of all residents residing on property adjacent to that of the applicant.

D. No roosters shall be allowed.

E. Chicken hens are to be restricted to the rear or backyard of any lot in a residential zoning district or the rear or backyard of a residential use in all other zoning districts.

F. Chicken hens shall be kept as pets and for personal use only; no person shall sell eggs or meat or engage in chicken breeding or fertilizer production for commercial purposes.

G. Persons wishing to keep chicken hens within the City of Buffalo must obtain a license from the Office of the City Clerk after payment of an annual fee of $25, and after inspection and approval of the coop and cage that chicken hens are to be kept in by an Animal Control Officer, pursuant to § 341-11.4 hereof.

§ 341-11.2. Chicken license application contents.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]
The application for such license shall include the following information:

A. The name, phone number and property address of the applicant;

B. The location of the subject property;

C. The size of the subject property;

D. The number of chicken hens the applicant seeks to keep on the property;

E. A description of any coops or cages that will house the chicken hens, together with a description of any fencing, barriers or enclosures surrounding the curtilage of the property;

F. A scaled drawing showing the precise location of cages, coops, enclosures, fences and barriers in relation to property lines and to structures on adjacent properties;

G. A description of the manner by which feces and other waste materials will be removed from the property or will be treated so as not to result in unsanitary conditions or in the attraction of rodents and insects;

H. A signed statement from the property owner, if the applicant is not the property owner, granting the applicant permission to engage in the keeping of chicken hens as described in the license application;

I. A signed statement from any and all tenants of the building that they consent to the applicant's keeping of chicken hens on the premises;

J. A signed statement from any resident residing on a property adjacent to the applicant's property consenting to the applicant's keeping of chicken hens on the premises;

K. The addresses of all properties within a fifty-foot radius of the subject property.
§ 341-11.3. Chicken coop setbacks and limitations.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]

A. Setbacks.

(1) The coops or cages housing such chicken hens must be situated at least 20 feet from any door or window of a dwelling, school, church or other occupied structure other than the applicant's dwelling.

(2) The coops or cages housing such chicken hens may not be located in front or side street yard areas and shall not be located within five feet of a side yard lot line nor within 18 inches of a rear yard lot line, except where the rear lot line forms the side lot or front lot line of an abutting property, in which case the setback from such rear lot line shall be five feet. No chicken hens shall be kept in front yard or side street yard areas.

B. Enclosures/coops and cages.

(1) The chicken hens shall be kept within both a coop and a fenced outdoor enclosure.

(2) The chicken hens must be kept in the coop and fenced outdoor enclosure at all times and shall not be allowed to run free in the fenced outdoor enclosure unless a responsible individual, over 18 years of age, is directly monitoring said activity and is able to immediately respond should said chickens need to be returned to their individual cages.

(3) The chicken coop shall be a covered, predator resistant, well ventilated structure providing a minimum of two square feet per chicken hen.

(4) The outdoor enclosure shall be adequately fenced to contain the chicken hens and to protect the chicken hens from predators.

(5) The coop must be kept in a clean, dry and sanitary condition at all times.

(6) The outdoor enclosure shall be cleaned on a regular basis to prevent the accumulation of animal waste.

(7) The total area of all coops or cages on a lot shall not be greater than 32 square feet for up to five chicken hens. Coops and cages, singly or in combination, shall not exceed seven feet in height.

(8) The chicken feed or other food used to feed the chicken hens shall be stored in a rat-proof, fastened container stored within a structure, which shall only be unfastened for the retrieval of food and immediately re-fastened thereafter.

(9) The chicken hens shall be fed only from an approved trough. Scattering of food on the ground is prohibited.

C. Sanitation and nuisances.

(1) Chicken hens shall be kept only in conditions that limit odors and noise and the attraction of insects and rodents so as not to cause a nuisance to occupants of nearby buildings or properties and to comply with applicable provisions of both the New York State and Erie County sanitary codes.

(2) Chicken hens shall not be kept in a manner that is injurious or unhealthful to any animals being kept on the property.

D. Slaughtering. There shall be no outdoor slaughtering of chicken hens.
§ 341-11.4. Review, expiration and renewal of chicken license.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]

A. Initial review.

(1) Upon receipt of a chicken license application and the requisite license fee, the City Clerk shall immediately notify the Office of Animal Control of said application, including the number of chicken hens sought to be licensed and the location of the proposed chicken coop or cages.

(2) The City Clerk shall immediately notify those property owners who own the properties within 50 feet of the applicant's property and provide them with an opportunity to provide written comments as to their support or opposition to the proposed chicken coop.

(3) The Common Council of the City of Buffalo and the Office of the Mayor shall also immediately be notified of the chicken license application.

(4) If the City Clerk receives no written comments evidencing opposition to or concern regarding the proposed chicken coop within 20 days of receipt of the application, he or she shall issue a license for up to five chicken hens to the applicant that shall be nontransferable and valid for one year from the date of a satisfactory inspection of an Animal Control Officer, which shall be subject to the renewal provisions set forth below.

(5) If the City Clerk receives written comments evidencing opposition to the proposed chicken coop and cage within 20 days of receipt of the application, he or she shall file with the Common Council the complete chicken license application and all comments received regarding the application for its consideration thereof.

(6) The Common Council shall determine, in its discretion, and taking into account the entire record before it, whether or not a chicken license shall be issued to the applicant. The Common Council shall be empowered to impose further conditions on the license that it deems to be necessary to preserve the public health, safety and/or welfare.

(7) Upon the approval of a majority of the Common Council, the Mayor shall take action on the license application in accordance with City Charter § 3-19.

(8) The Office of Animal Control shall cause an inspection of the proposed chicken coop to be conducted to verify conformance with the provisions of §§ 341-11 through 341-11.4 hereof within 45 days of the applicant being issued a license.

(9) After completion of the inspection by an Animal Control Officer and confirmation that the coop conforms to the specifications provided in the application approved by the City Clerk, the licensee shall be allowed to keep the number of chicken hens specified in the license on the premises.

(10) A license issued to an applicant shall include the licensee's proper name, the property address for which the license is valid, the number of chicken hens allowed at the property address, a unique license number, the date the license was issued, an expiration date exactly one year from the date of issuance and any conditions imposed by the Common Council.

(11) Only one chicken license shall be issued per applicant and per property. No licensee shall be eligible to obtain a chicken license for multiple properties, nor shall more than one license be issued to one property address.

B. Renewal.

(1) On the first day of May of every year, the City Clerk shall file with and notify the Common Council, the Office of the Mayor and the Department of Permits and Inspection Services of all chicken hen licenses issued in the prior year, including the names of the licensees, their property addresses, the number of chicken hens licensed at said property and the issuance and expiration dates of said licenses.

(2) On or before June 1 of every year, the Common Council, the Office of the Mayor or any other interested party shall file complaints received regarding licensed chicken hens.

(3) Any complaints received regarding any particular chicken license issued shall be considered at a meeting of the Committee on Legislation, at which the licensee and any other interested party shall have the right to be heard concerning said license.

(4) The Common Council may, in its discretion, not renew any chicken license for any reason after the licensee and any other interested party has been given an opportunity to be heard.

(5) On June 1 of every year, the Common Council shall proceed to consider renewal of all chicken licenses issued, as prescribed in Subsection B(1) through (4), and may revoke any license issued pursuant thereto.

(6) If, at any time, the Common Council is made aware of any complaints regarding a properly licensed chicken coop, it may proceed to hear the complaints of any interested party and the defense of the licensee at a meeting of its Legislation Committee and may revoke the license issued for any reason pursuant to § 341-11.4A(7) hereof.

(7) If a license is renewed pursuant to the provisions hereof, the applicant may continue to keep chicken hens pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth herein and imposed in the initial license, provided that he or she pays the annual fee of $25 on or before the expiration date of the license.

(8) Except in the case of a chicken coop that is not permanently affixed to the ground and is therefore mobile, any licensee shall first obtain a building permit in accordance with Chapter 103 hereof prior to constructing or erecting a chicken coop not inconsistent herewith.

While I was reading through the ordinances I came across the rules for keeping cows within the city of Buffalo. I wonder, is there any example of a milk cow living in the city?

§ 78-2. Required acreage and permit for keeping cows.

A. No person, persons or association shall maintain upon their premises within the City limits more than one milch cow unless said premises are in proportion of one acre of land to each and every cow above the number of one.

B. No cow or cows shall be maintained without first obtaining a permit for such purposes from the Department of Health, but no such permit shall be issued except in conformity with the City Code and with the rules and regulations adopted by the Department of Health in the interest of public health relative to the keeping of cows.