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Last Visit 2016-04-04 09:29:22 |Start Date 2007-08-13 08:30:04 |Comments 728 |Entries 207 |Images 109 |Videos 2 |Theme |

03/07/09 11:43 - 44ºF - ID#47974

House Assessment

So...to all you home owners out there.... how did you make out on challenging your assessment? They increased the assessed value of our house by $15,000 originally. They knocked off $7000 after we challenged it. I fought the man and I won... sort of...
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Words: 43
Location: Buffalo , NY


03/06/09 08:51 - 54ºF - ID#47968

A taste of spring in the air

Last night there was the smell of spring in the air. So I grabbed the dog and hit Elmwood for a walk down the avenue. I joined the other folks on the street who were also excited by the warm, soft feeling in the air. I landed at a friends' house where I made a surprise visit and we idly chatted away an hour of the evening on their front porch.

As I walked home after the visit I thought about why I didn't stop by my friends' house more often throughout the winter to say hello and I realized that warm weather is much more conducive to spontaneous social activities. I think next winter my goal will be to be more spontaneous through out the season. To keep a well stocked house full of food, DVDs, alcohol and games in order to be ready for last minute get togethers over the winter or for surprise drive bys at friends.

On the other hand, there is some I like about the rthym of coming together with friends slowly in the spring and being crazy busy with friends over the summer, then slowly falling away in the fall and hibernating in the winter.

As a side note, my friends requested that I bring my home made hummus to their upcoming cocktail party and it turned my sad day into a happy day. I love that my hummus is so well liked that someone would specifically request I bring it!
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Words: 248
Location: Buffalo , NY


03/04/09 12:52 - 24ºF - ID#47943

My favorite cut of meat

is featured in the NY Times along with one of my favorite ways of prepping it. Mhhh... chicken fried steak ....





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Permalink: My_favorite_cut_of_meat.html
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Location: Buffalo , NY


02/22/09 04:51 - 25ºF - ID#47861

Sims as a model for human experiments

Since you are often limited in conducting true experiments with a control and a variable when using humans as test subjects, I've decided to use The SIMS as a model.

Subject A will be the Amin and Lydia Christian family that is currently working on having one child which they will be responsible for rearing through childhood up to college. They will have one and only one child.

Subject B will be a not yet known family that will adopt as many children as they can until they reach the status of elder. As soon as a baby becomes a toddler they will adopt a new baby and so on.

It should provide some grounds for observations on small family versus large family rearing as well as several future blog posts, I hope.
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Words: 133
Location: Buffalo , NY


02/21/09 03:32 - 33ºF - ID#47851

Another WBC post

I mentioned the whole Fred Phelps thing on a forum where I post and I received this interesting response from a person who lives in Topeka, which is either the hometown for the church or really near it.

The woman who posted is from a fairly conservative church and even they got picketed once according to her.


You guys, in all honesty it is best to just ignore Fred Phelps and his gang as they can't be reasoned with. They will stand there and argue until they are blue in the face, they are so brainwashed. We use to live in Topeka, Ks. and you learn pretty quickly to either ignore them or act civil with them...one time they tried to pickett our church because a college associated with our denomination was supposedly too liberal and supported Gays ... some of our deacons went outside and invited them to come in and join our church service and it was so funny they immediately left ... anger doesn't get anywhere, but kindness burns them.

What really burns them is to ignore them though, they do all this for public attention and if you don't give them any public acknowledgement they will feel slighted

They have to go other places now, because they don't get the rise in Topeka like they use to be able to...the more places ignore them, the sooner they will start to fade into the woodwork of the local looney bin.


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Words: 245
Location: Buffalo , NY


01/24/09 01:25 - 11ºF - ID#47510

Buffalo Stampedes

Drew and I are going to see our new Professional Basketball League team, the Buffalo Stampedes, if anyone wants to meet us there.

They are playing at the Koessler Center tonight at 7pm. We will get there around 6:30pm to 6:45pm.

General admission is only $7. Give a shout out if you're interested.
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Permalink: Buffalo_Stampedes.html
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Location: Buffalo , NY


01/20/09 01:18 - 15ºF - ID#47462

I'm a 5 year old

I was in the cafeteria at work watching the Inauguration on the television they had set up for staff and clients to watch.

I felt a hand grasp my hair and give it a good tug to get my attention. Naturally, I assumed it was a developmentally disabled consumer, so I put my stern face on. The face that says, don't F-ing pull my hair, because it's not polite.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that it was my supervisor who pulled on my hair. It's just too funny. My supervisor is tugging on my hair like I'm a 5 year old.
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Words: 101
Location: Buffalo , NY


01/17/09 03:05 - 10ºF - ID#47429

Mama, don't let your babies grow up...

to be Pastors



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


01/17/09 10:25 - 4ºF - ID#47428

Sims 2 World

My husband who knows the way to my heart bought me The Sims
2 Seasons. In this version it snows! And you can grow plants in a greenhouse!

I'm still figuring out how to post the pictures on here so I can share my SIMS stories.

My current SIM story is probably too sad to share. Priya and Rami Ramaswami were working their way up the career ladder. They felt settled in enough for a child, but work kept them busy so they couldn't provide the necessary care for their child Emmy. They forgot to arrange a nanny to take care of the child while they were at work. So social services were called and Emmy was removed.

It was really devastating to their relationship and Priya started flirting with other men. Rami got angry and they were never able to reconcile despite Priya's best efforts. So Priya asked Rami to leave.

She lost half their friends in the divorce, but kept the house, so she set about finding new friends. An unfortunate misstep was made when she flirted with Mr. Roth in front of the entire Roth family. Mrs. Roth attacked her. And now the daughter randomly strolls by the house and steals newspapers and knocks over the trash can.

Priya's personal troubles have bled into work where she's been demoted from fact checker to blog writer. No one in the SIMS neighborhood will return her calls. She's socially isolated and spends her days gardening in her green house. It's all very tragic.
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Permalink: Sims_2_World.html
Words: 253
Location: Buffalo , NY


01/12/09 09:34 - 22ºF - ID#47386

Weekend Update

Friday night we saw the Dark Knight. A number of people raved about Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker. I remained uncertain because I disliked Batman Begins and Christian Bale as Batman. But Heather Ledger as Joker was incredible. The slithering, sucking noise he made when he droned on in crazy talk was reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter's cannibal noises. I expected Joker to bite someone's nose off and the tension kept me on the edge of my seat. His sloppy make up and hair dye matched the character really well whereas Nicholson's Joker was a little too well put together.

Saturday night we went to some art/music event in Allentown that Drew wanted to attend. Upon entering the location, I quickly assessed that the event was primarily a college party with high school students pleased with themselves for being at a college party. We quickly retreated to Allentown Hardware.

Over the weekend I cooked a feast of food. On Saturday I made a Vietnamese chicken lemongrass curry. Sunday was a cooking marathon. Vietnamese garlicky roasted chicken filled the air with good scents. Tea Eggs - hard boiled eggs with their shells cracked and then cooked further in tea and soy sauce. The finished product is a brown stained shell with a marbled white and brown inside that has a light tea taste and salty flavor. Savory and delicious when consumed while warm. Then I made a fava bean and pasta soup. The fava beans soaked up the rich flavor of chicken stock, olive oil, and oregano. It was light and delicate the first day. The second day the beans were slightly mashed and it was a thick hearty texture. Wish I had a camera for the pics because it was probably one of the prettier soups I ever made.

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


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