"Show Review" written by Carolinian on estrip.org

Category: music

04/05/07 02:31 - 30ºF - ID#38753

Show Review

So I'm back from the Bedouin Soundclash show at the Icon. It was the first time that I've actually been to the Icon, and the building was far bigger than I had imagined it, though somehow I managed to pass it several times before realizing that it was the nondescript blue building on Ellicott.

The main act was really good, and had a lot of good energy going on. The audience was pretty enthusiastic, and there was a pretty good turnout (~200, maybe). The live show definitely lived up to what I heard on the CD. I can't wait for the next album.

I managed to snap one photo, with my mediocre new Nokia 6102i phone I got for $90 at the compusa clearance sale (had I gotten an nokia E62, there wouldn't be a picture at all, so the quality could have been worse--as in nonexistant).

I spent tonight going out and doing something instead of uselessly wasting my evenings in the idle pursuits I usually engage in. That's got to count for something.

Permalink: Show_Review.html
Words: 175
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: music

04/04/07 03:54 - 41ºF - ID#38738

Lake Erie airwaves

Today Bedouin Soundclash

comes to the Icon. I am so psyched about this because their CD is perhaps the most incredibly fucking good CD that I've bought in years. While I've never seen them live, I'd imagine they'd be pretty good in front of an audience. I will try my damnedest to make it to that show.

My last post, I mentioned something I didn't like about Buffalo (the pizza). This post I dedicate to something I do like about Buffalo--radio stations. NC doesn't have anything like 92.9 Jack or the 107.7 Lake (at least last time I was there), and back home is way too far south to get the Canadian radio that I'm finding myself more and more addicted to during my drives to work. I dig an environment rich in classic rock and interesting music with "new country" and religious stations few and far between, and I'm certainly getting that up here.

In a recap on yesterdays activities, I also went to a passover seder at Temple Beth Zion on Delaware with (e:museumchick). It was a lot of fun, though my long held ideas about what constitutes a traditional passover song have been thoroughly undermined.

Permalink: Lake_Erie_airwaves.html
Words: 202
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

04/02/07 01:23 - 54ºF - ID#38714

Our daily affliction

Today, I hit up Casa di Pizza two get two slices of the last truly enjoyable bready thing I'll get to have for the next eight days. Once pesach starts, it'll be no more bread and eight days of a boring dry cracker that reminds me of the fact that my ancestors had to high-tail it out of Egypt.

To go off on a tangent, it's kinda of strange that in a city with so many pizza joints like Buffalo it's so hard to find a place where a single person can sit down and quickly get an individual slice of pizza with exactly what they want on it that hasn't been sitting in a warmer for 12 hours and do so without involving wait staff. It's like you're expected to buy an entire pie if you want it your way, and you're usually expected to bring it home. If I had a dime for every time I've gone into a place wanting a slice of plain-cheese non-pork pizza only to be told "sorry, there's only what we have in the warmer", I'd have a lot of dimes. It's actually one of my biggest gripes about living in Buffalo. There are a very few places I've found in Buffalo that meet all my criteria, but they're few and far between.

Back home in ~~civilization~~ North Carolina, we had lots of locally owned (i.e. not Sbarro) places that filled in the function of fast-food restaurants where you could reasonably go out on a lunch break and get a slice that had whatever you wanted on it, and it was always shoved into the oven and served piping hot.

As I can't get what I want up here, I don't eat pizza too often, save for the once a month at the Buffalo PHP meetup at Casa di Pizza. This is probably a good thing, given my family history of cholesterol problems. But it's ironic that when I visit back home, the thing that I want more than anything is not biscuits or sweet tea, but pizza.

metalpeter writes at 06:49:24 04/02/07 - Comment #17051: I say try Just Pizza and see what happens, they do have places to sit down. But I think the real issue is that places bake entire pies so to change up ingriedants isn't practical for one slice. But that being said there are two places that I know of where you can get personal pizzas with what you want on them one of wich is Subway (don't know if it is all Subways or just the one by where I work) and pizza hut.

james writes at 04:46:45 04/02/07 - Comment #17050: Pizza,

A topic I can go off on for hours.

1) North Carolina? Civilization? It is funny that you think of your native state as being civilization where as most New Yorkers would think of it as a bunch of backwards tobacco farmers with confederate flags waving everywhere.

2) I have experienced the same thing. You can get pizza by the slice at dozens of places. But they are all "Buffalo style" thick crust pizza that isn't very good. To differentiate their product they will slather on a Noah's ark of toppings. Pepperoni and Cauliflower. Baby Seal and Spinach. Carrot and finger. So that cheese pizza just sits there and dies. To be scraped into a dumpster.

3) Buffalonians seem to like their pizza like they have all their other food: with a giant zigguraut of meat and cheese on top. That subdued, understated, modern looking slice with just a crisp layer of cheese looks more like a napkin than a meal to some people. Or, at least that is how I imagine how the natives think.

leetee writes at 12:03:55 04/02/07 - Comment #17045: Have you been to La Nova? We usually get a whole pie (thier NY style cheese is big, but very very good) when we go, but i have seen people leaving with wee lil miniature boxes that i assume have wee pizzas or a slice in them.

dragonlady7 writes at 11:01:17 04/02/07 - Comment #17039: I think we just don't have the cultural niche of pizza-by-the-slice in Buffalo. When I eat pizza it's always at social events with at least three other people, so we always get pizza pies with the toppings on different sides and what-have-you-- I just don't think it's ever occurred to me to buy just a slice of pizza.

But I've done it elsewhere. Funny, that.

tinypliny writes at 09:24:13 04/02/07 - Comment #17038: Hmmm.. guess its a good thing then that I am sworn off pizza for the whole of 2007. Come to think of it, its probably the only new-year resolution in all these years, that has made it past the fool's day.

museumchick writes at 04:44:54 04/02/07 - Comment #17036: There's a place down on Elmwood near Buff State where you can get two for one individual slices. I'm not sure if its any good, though.

vincent writes at 03:10:14 04/02/07 - Comment #17035: That's strange. Here in NF/Lewiston I always have a craving for greasy pepperoni only to be denied with, "We just have cheese at the moment." Actually one of my favorite pizza places [Pizza Pizza] over in Canada always has a cheese slices ready to go in the oven.

Permalink: Our_daily_affliction.html
Words: 345
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: life

03/25/07 11:20 - 50ºF - ID#38618

Weekend Update

After having driven a rental 2+ weeks after getting my car totalled in an accident, I now have another car, a Subaru Forester. I wanted something that handled well in snow and had AWD (like a SUV), had lots of space to put stuff in case I ever had to move (like a SUV), that wouldn't guzzle gas (unlike a SUV), and had thoughtful and intellgent design in its interior and lots of compartments to put stuff (unlike just about everyone else). This actually narrowed down my choices quite a bit. After I drove home from the dealership saturday, I christened the vehicle with the Bedouin Soundclash CD I've wanted to get for months (after hearing them over and over again on Canadian radio).

Me and the GF haven't spoken for 2 weeks after the falling out. I guess that the statute of limitations on my being in a relationship has passed. Strangely enough, you can only have enough cycles of break-up/get back together before you start to feel less and less sad and more and more like "jeez, this is really stupid".

I had a good time with (e:vincent) and his friends last night. It was the first time that I had ever been to Mohawk place, and I should say that it now is tied with Diablo in my "funnest bar" rankings. Lotta cool music, lotta cute and slightly offbeat girls. Nice place. While I didn't think that the "stupider room" was that terrible, I'd agree that the music wasn't that hot (it was a jukebox) and question the value of musical democracy in a watering hole.

And finally, I've gotten most of my passover shopping done. I have at least enough bread of afflication for 4-6 days worth of affliction.

Permalink: Weekend_Update.html
Words: 293
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: computers

03/23/07 03:00 - 37ºF - ID#38589

Revisiting work

I often have the habit of writing parodies of songs for no apparent reason. Several years ago, I started writing a parody of the Rodgers and Hammerstein's "do-re-mi" from the Sound of Music that mixed totally unrelated computer terminology together. I was stuck in a traffic jam and the idea just kind of hit me. When I set my own silly words to existing songs I tend to suffer from writer's block when I think them up, because I can't think of enough good stuff that rhymes; I usually end up revisiting what I've written several years later, when some idea about how to make things fit together hits me straight of the blue (usually from the same stupid place I got the idea to write the song in the first place). This particular parody was especially challenging, though, because in addition to stuff rhyming, I also had to think of computer terminology that fit well with the song. Well, last night I finished, and as I really don't have anywhere better to post this, I might as well post it to what I'm currently using as my diary.

(With apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein)

do, a loop, a do-while loop
ray, it is a thing you trace
me, an applescript reference
"fa", the first two characters of face
.so, a shared library object
-la, will link to a.so
tee, you pipe to grep and sed
And now we're looping back to do

And that is my silly little accomplishment for the week.

Permalink: Revisiting_work.html
Words: 254
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: party

03/18/07 05:10 - 32ºF - ID#38511

Fun Weekend

I had a great time at the party, and was cool to finally meet (e:museumchick) and (e:ingrid) in person. By some circumstance I didn't run into (e:james), but I hope to at the next event. (e:uncutsaniflush) and I probably didn't solve (e:vycious)'s FTP problem, but it was fun trying.
I also have a mild case of geek envy for (e:paul)'s nokia device, but I'm going to try and hold off buying one myself because I'm supposed to be buying an iPhone for work and my gtk skills are a little rusty.

Thanks to PMT for hosting another great party!

Permalink: Fun_Weekend.html
Words: 105
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: love

03/15/07 01:45 - 46ºF - ID#38464

Cupid goes postal

A week ago, I write about how much I love that my girlfriend is up here.

Tonight, we discuss on the phone that we're not right for each other and that maybe we should break up.

Life's kinda ironic that way.

Permalink: Cupid_goes_postal.html
Words: 41
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: driving

03/06/07 12:53 - 8ºF - ID#38375

Bang-up job

I seem to be the latest victim in the round of car accidents happening to peeps. I got in one this afternoon after work. Everyone's still alive and breathing, though my car is pretty well smashed up and I may have to be shopping for a new one in the recent future.

I had imagined a more traditional first "honey I'm home" greeting for my currently visiting girlfriend (as opposed to "guess why I'm home so early and why I haven't returned with the car"). Well, I guess everyone can't be Ricky Ricardo.

jenks writes at 06:41:27 03/09/07 - Comment #16404: haha, I was at Towne MINI yesterday, as a matter of fact, and highly recommend them. And, while I was waiting I got to test drive an '07 and it is very cool.

lizabeth writes at 01:54:30 03/09/07 - Comment #16403: That's wretched about your car, but I'm glad to hear you're ok.

We are also having car issues - one of our cars was stolen last month (not Lucy, thank goodnes - the Grey Baron). We are in the process of replacing him now.

But hey! You're in Buffalo! That means you can buy a new car here: :::link:::

Yayness! :)

bugmuncher writes at 12:39:13 03/09/07 - Comment #16400: Now's a great time to get into bicycling to work. Think about it. You could get on the bike and pedal your way to your place of work! And it would be awesome in this weather.

chico writes at 05:18:24 03/07/07 - Comment #16343: too bad about the car, but you're in one piece and that's the main thing... hope you're having fun with the gf :)

leetee writes at 10:58:25 03/06/07 - Comment #16319: Glad you're ok!!

Hope you and your girlfriend are having a nice visit together! :O)

zobar writes at 07:32:11 03/06/07 - Comment #16307: Man that's terrible. Same thing [more or less] happened to me.

Damn that cat's ugly. My car looks more like, um ...
:::link:::

- Z

metalpeter writes at 06:43:30 03/06/07 - Comment #16306: The Main thing is that you are ok. Depending on how much damage was done if you wind up looking for a new car that will be an adventure but maybe getting a new car will be a good thing.

carolinian writes at 06:15:55 03/06/07 - Comment #16301: I was driving down an Orchard park highway and the other driver didn't see me and tried turning left across my lane and I didn't have enough seconds to stop, and was hit dead front in center.

The front of my car is pretty well pushed in. If one imagined a car's hood as its face, its headlights as eyes, and its grill as its mouth, then my car now bears a striking resemblance to a persian cat.

(http://flickr.com/photos/singyourlife/282936899 for reference)

It's still sitting in lackawanna as we speak.

zobar writes at 03:23:22 03/06/07 - Comment #16300: Bogus, yo. What happened and where is your car at now?

- Z

Permalink: Bang_up_job.html
Words: 93
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: love

03/03/07 08:11 - 29ºF - ID#38348

It's official

Hell has frozen over and the woman is up from NC visiting me.

Permalink: It_s_official.html
Words: 13
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: programming

02/28/07 01:34 - 29ºF - ID#38303

Sail the member ship

I finally bit the bullet and paid a substantial sum of money to join the elite club of A D C (A pple D eveloper C onnection), because if I want to get a machine in the near future, I can either choose to get the hardware discount that official developers get (which is offset by the exhorbitent membership that costs exactly the same amount as the developer hardware discount) or pay full price and get no membership at all. With membership, I get access to interesting stuff that I can't legally talk about but may prove useful in the future. In a sane world, work would pay for this membership and pay to send me to W W D C. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Yeah, it's kinda stupid I don't have anything better or more eventful to write about and resort to talking about geeky stuff. But I'm working towards the "100+" lettering on my userpic.