"Light Up the Holidays!" written by Heidi on estrip.org

12/19/10 11:47 - 24.ºF - ID#53304

Light Up the Holidays!

I drove home today to judge Blossburg V.I.B.E.'s annual Light Up the Holidays contest. My pix didn't turn out as nice as last years (e:heidi,50622) - I haven't been practicing :-( Jill, Kelly & I were very attracted to the white lights & greens theme this year, so there's not quite as much diversity of style as there usually is. We almost always go for houses that are fully done - if you've got something on the roof, oh yeah, you're a contender.

First, the five winners:

Victorian

Best business

Best overall/whimsical

Modern

Most Christmas Spirit

Other ones I took pix of that we were considering

I love this house and how it's decorated - very simple and elegant. I used to live across the street.

The Arctic Cat dealer almost won best business display with this awesome light tree.

I think these folks won two years ago - they have a full style but if they'd just trace that top roofline, I'd think it was excellent for "most Christmas spirit" or "whimsical".

I'm sooo proud that our historic theater is now open!!!! The owner is president of VIBE and thus not eligible to win. But isn't it gorgeous??

The antique popcorn machine is popping popcorn like it's new!

Inside. It seats around 200. Tom & Tonya have been having concerts and second run movies - right now it's Tangled, a new Disney movie based on the Rapunzel story. They're having a free Christmas Eve matinee showing. Movies are cheap, concessions are cheap... You gotta check it out!

The bathroom signs are just classics. I don't know if they're original (~1913?) or from the 1965 rehab.

One of the old time movie signs

Tom & Tonya in the ticketbooth/concession stand.

Last year's best business display winner the Window Box Flower Shop, wasn't eligible this year, but they have another beautiful display.

Jill & Kelly eating popcorn from the movie theater. The bag reads, "This bag is manufactured using environmentally friendly EcoSelect paper." We're just that green in Blossburg. :-)

Permalink: Light_Up_the_Holidays_.html
Words: 380
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/19/10 11:48

Category: food

12/18/10 07:19 - 25.ºF - ID#53299

Dinner for 5 at betty's

Yum!
Vegetarian lasagna special, winter squash tart, coq au vin, black bean burrito, and maple roasted salmon

Permalink: Dinner_for_5_at_betty_s.html
Words: 22
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/18/10 07:19

Category: weather

12/16/10 02:00 - 25.ºF - ID#53285

Happy flamingos!

Cute!

Permalink: Happy_flamingos_.html
Words: 2
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/16/10 02:00

Category: contrast

12/15/10 02:03 - 20.ºF - ID#53278

Census data

The NYT has published interactive maps by census tract of race, income, educational achievement, home values, same-sex couples...

The census tract that includes Blossburg, 9907, is really big and covers one of the more wealthy areas of the county - a little distorting. I can't get it to just show me by zip code - Census tracts are much bigger than zip codes in Tioga County, while they're only a couple blocks tall/wide in Buffalo.

Same-sex couple households
Census tract 68 (my apt): 2%
Census tract 6702 (including the 24) 5%
Blossburg's census tract: 0%
But the neighboring one where I know my old friends Vince & Jeff live - 1%! :-)

Median household income
Census tract 68: $34K
but the tract behind me, 7101: $16K, and the one next to that $11K.
Blossburg tract: $43.9K

Race & ethnicity
Census tract 68: 67% white, 16% black, 14% hispanic
Census tract 7101: 16% white, 36% black, 45% hispanic
Blossburg tract: 98% white

Education
Census tract 68: 93% high school diploma, 50% bachelors degrees
Census tract 687101: 49% high school diploma, 6% bachelors degrees
Blossburg: 88% HS 21% bachelors (distorted by including the Wellsboro area)
Morris Run: 89%, 13% (more typical of Tioga County)

How do areas in your life compare?

tinypliny writes at 11:53:05 12/15/10 - Comment #59791: I agree. I am fascinated - this is probably the backbone of all of our epidemiological studies. In fact, I just spammed your link to ALL of my department. Thanks, (e:heidi).

:-)

oda writes at 10:23:40 12/15/10 - Comment #59787: I moved out of Buffalo to Holland, NY, census tract 15003, almost 2 years ago. Holland is 12 miles southeast of east aurora, the last town in Erie County We are bordered by Cattaraugus and Wyoming Counties.

Population of our zip code is about 1200, which includes both town and rural areas. We don't have a grocery store or a gas station, but we do have a pizzaria, a hardware store, and a liquor store.

FYI, most of the rural folk have land. That means they have money. Most of the townies probably have much less money. I don't know how many are town folk and how many are rural in our area.

white population: 98%

hispanic population: 1%

foreign born: 1%

same sex couples: 1% (up 1% since 2000)

median income: $66,300 (up 10% since 2000)

median home value: $137,500

high school graduates: 91%

college grads: 23%

masters degrees: 9%

elementary school students in private schools: 0% (we have an amazing school system, I have heard)

Heidi, this is the most interesting thing i've seen on the internet in a very long time--thanks!!!!

tinypliny writes at 09:31:52 12/15/10 - Comment #59782: I am really getting into this now. There are just 2% Asians in my tract, 3% hispanics, 1% others.

59% of us earn below 30K a year (typical grad school "earnings"), we got 2% poorer since 2000. 3% earn above 200K - I am sure these are the ones living in those Lexington condos. I pay above the median rent of $604, and apparently the rent has not changed much (+1%) since 2000 - but I swear it has, look at all my whining in the past couple years! The median home value has gone up a whopping 61% to $297,700, so I guess I will never be able to buy that mansion next to (e:PMT)'s.

There has been a 3% increase in sanity in the neighbourhood as evidenced by an increase of 3% in same-sex couples up to a total of 5% of the population in the tract. 91% of us have graduated from high school, slightly more than half of us have graduated from colleges and one fourth have a masters or higher.

KEWL.

tinypliny writes at 09:15:27 12/15/10 - Comment #59781: Alrighty, I found something interesting.
I am in Census tract 6702
Foreign Born Population - 6%
So I am a super-minority.

heidi writes at 08:41:34 12/15/10 - Comment #59779: about effin' time, ya damned lurker.

puddlediving writes at 08:35:19 12/15/10 - Comment #59778: I found this interesting enough that I joined estrip so I could comment. :)

I compared 3 neighborhoods, Riverside west of Ontario (55), Riverside east of Ontario(54), & Topeka, KS where I grew up (29).

All were 0-1% for same sex households

Median household income
Riverside (west)55: $19889
Riverside (east)54: $70,179
Topeka 29: $30,426

Race & ethnicity
55: 64% white, 19% black, 11 % Hispanic, 3% Asian, 3% other
54: 85% white, 9% black, 3% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 2% other
Topeka: 43% white, 27% black, 18% Hispanic, 12% other

Education:
55: 73% HS, 11% bachelors, 5% Masters
54: 95% HS, 57% bachelors, 34% Masters
Topeka 79% HS, 6% bachelors, 2% Masters

Some of the things that surprised me: The neighborhood I grew up in is more ethnically diverse than the Riverside neighborhoods. I even wonder what the 12% other is, as that is a significant portion.

I was also surprised at the disparities between the neighborhoods in Riverside. Such a jump in income and education (which I'm sure are correlated) based on which side of Ontario Street you live on. I'm sure the third that have Masters degrees help bring the median income up!

tinypliny writes at 05:38:03 12/15/10 - Comment #59752: I wish I could trust census data from Delhi. I can't.

Permalink: Census_data.html
Words: 187
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/15/10 02:03

Category: weather

12/14/10 06:21 - 19.ºF - ID#53273

Ornament inspiration?

I took these shots from my bedroom window this afternoon. Were Christmas tree ornaments inspired by such little gems as this? Matthew's fantasy Victorian tree with its vintage ornaments (e:matthew,53209) made me think of a big bag of shiny red fat teardrop ornaments with snow caps that I used to have, which I loved and hung on the chandeliers. The tree also reminded me of those. I left them, along with nearly every other holiday item I owned, with my brother when I left for school and sold him my house. I can't find an image of those exact ornaments, but these red ones are kinda close and at least show the style. My dad used to work for Corning Glass Works, which was a supplier of classic "Shiny Brite" ornaments, so I think that's where they were from. He'd bring home ornaments every year.

(same shot, different cropping)

Permalink: Ornament_inspiration_.html
Words: 158
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/14/10 06:32

Category: weather

12/13/10 10:00 - 12.ºF - ID#53268

If ya didn't know...

It's snowing.

Permalink: If_ya_didn_t_know_.html
Words: 3
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/13/10 10:00

Category: school

12/13/10 12:48 - 13.ºF - ID#53259

Final tally

Three empty waterman pen refills for 58 handwritten pages of notes.

I couldn't find replacement nibs for it that (e:tinypliny) suggested are fun to trade. I'd love a fine point. The medium point is quite broad and doesn't give the nice thick-thin strokes that I like. I might not have been as picky about fine point pens when I bought it about 12 years ago. I still like the purple ink :-)

Permalink: Final_tally.html
Words: 72
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/13/10 12:49

Category: school

12/12/10 04:48 - 35.ºF - ID#53249

Fountain pen refills

I broke out my waterman fountain pen to work on studying for my local government law final tomorrow. I'm on my third refill.

Permalink: Fountain_pen_refills.html
Words: 24
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/12/10 04:48

Category: school

12/08/10 07:54 - 20.ºF - ID#53222

Random photos

I have my first of three finals this morning... Wish me luck! Here are some pix from the last few days. Sunshine!

Permalink: Random_photos.html
Words: 26
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/08/10 07:54

Category: home

12/01/10 05:30 - 33.ºF - ID#53188

Excellent summary video

... of issues with natural gas drilling. It was shot mostly in Bradford County, Pa., the county east of Tioga and does a nice job of capturing how beautiful it is there. 14 minutes.

Oh, and the guy who sold his natural gas drilling company, East Resources to Shell for $4.7B wants to buy the Sabres, after he gave Penn State $88M to build an arena for their to-be-developed Div.I hockey team. East/Shell owns most of the gas rights in Tioga County.