Category: buffalo

07/22/15 01:07 - 72.ºF - ID#60123

Parking lot Mary

Last night we rode around the city, mostly in South Buffalo. It's really it's own separate city. I've only been on Abbott near Caz Park once before but it's pretty nice.

On the way home we hit up Seneca, and passed this weird parking lot Mary shrine in Larkinville. You can see the location better at 849 Seneca on Google Maps " >(MAP TO: ).

(e:paul) said she looks like some Judy Garland version of Mary. The shrine also has a million different little postcards and old photos of people.

Permalink: Parking_lot_Mary.html
Words: 110
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/24/15 02:50

Category: food

07/20/15 12:56 - 74.ºF - ID#60122

Italian Fest with e:paul

While (e:terry) went to go watch UFC, (e:paul) and I went for a bike ride around Buffalo. We ended up circling around the park and Parkside before ending up at the Italian Festival.


The park is way nicer now with the new 30mph speedlimit on the Scajaquada. It's quieter, less distracting and looks safer too (who ever thought the 90 degree turn stop sign ramp at Delaware was ever good at 55mph+?) Most of the drivers are still speeding but it's a step to getting rid of it altogether.

(e:paul) had never seen the south east corner of the park, near Parkside and Agassiz Circle. A little outside the ring road, you can see two stone paths. They used to cross the now filled in stone quarry in the park. The fill from the 198 is what buried it. I know you also can see remnants of bridges over the Scajaquada creek on Main Street.



The Italian festival was pretty crowded - despite police shutting it down early last night due to fights and the local news blowing it up like it was some big deal.

I don't know why they shut it down because people fight outside the festival every year. Fried ravioli really gets people riled up.

I wonder if that's why cops were literally at every corner, and a bunch of people had these yellow "peacekeeper" shirts on.




(e:paul) and I celebrated his Italian heritage with some cannoli. One from Romano's Bakery, at Starin and Kenmore, and another from Gino's at Kenmore and Colvin. Note to self, the Romano's one was the best cannoli I've ever had, full stop.



I saw a new Middle Eastern restaurant near Commonwealth and Hertel. I want to try their falafel!

Permalink: Italian_Fest_with_e_paul.html
Words: 318
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/20/15 11:27

Category: camping

07/20/15 12:55 - 74.ºF - ID#60121

Sirius Rising at Brushwood

Permalink: Sirius_Rising_at_Brushwood.html
Words: 72
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/20/15 11:20

Category: house

07/19/15 06:49 - 77.ºF - ID#60120

Friday night home repair

(e:paul) and I went on a crazy rampage on the kitchen sink. What started out as replacing what we thought were leaky drain baskets and poorly set up drain pipe, turned into a 10 hour endeavor where we ended up
[*] discovering that the drains weren't leaking, but the faucet was
[*] replacing the leaky faucet,
[*] ripping out moldy cabinet floor from the faucet leak (who know how long that was going on)
[*] replacing the drain pipes entirely with a very nice and level set up,
[*] saws-alling the dishwasher drain pipe, and having to replace it. but not before we spent an hour trying to move the dishwasher before we realized we needed to unhook it.
[*]cleaning and replacing the drain baskets.

We went to bed at 4am. On the plus side we have a new spray faucet, no leaks, changed RO filters, and a functional, non-smelly sink.

Permalink: Friday_night_home_repair.html
Words: 152
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/20/15 12:48

Category: cleveland

07/19/15 06:49 - 77.ºF - ID#60119

More Cleveland

We walked around the Case campus, the art museum, and Wade Park a little more. They built a new student center that's mostly restaurants and a giant touchscreen.

Then it was time to say bye to Sarah, and head home. It was weird how quickly two years passed and how much hanging out with each other was the same, even though I feel like we are both way different people. I'm not sure when I'll see her again but hopefully she visits us someday.

Wade Pond scum

A cast of "The Thinker". Apparently in the 70's it was damaged by a dynamite explosion from a political group.

Permalink: More_Cleveland.html
Words: 128
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/20/15 12:43

Category: cleveland

07/19/15 06:48 - 77.ºF - ID#60118

Case Med White Coat ceremony

The white coat ceremony took place in Severance Hall which is a crazy decked out concert hall of the Cleveland Orchestra. I got to see Sarah's parents and eat some delicious snacks.

Permalink: Case_Med_White_Coat_ceremony.html
Words: 50
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/20/15 12:38

Category: cleveland

07/19/15 06:46 - 77.ºF - ID#60117

Edgewater beach, Little Italy and University Circle

The rest of the day we spent at the beach called Edgewater beach - it's Lake Erie so still gross - driving to the Cleveland Heights pool, getting rejected there, and going back to Edgewater to sort of swim. It was a really nice day to hang outside. My old frat brother Stumpy came up from Columbus to see me.

After the day at the beach we walked around showed P&T Little Italy. It's smaller than Hertel but it's a legit Italian neighborhood, with a bunch of immigrants and Italian speakers, old men who play bocce etc. There always was rumors of Mafia too but who knows. Ask (e:paul) about the riot stories he researched.

We ate at La Dolce Vita and had ridiculous amounts of food. I never really ate at Little Italy either except a few special events where the food was free.


The whole University Circle neighborhood Case is in is way bouged up now. All the vacant lots and run down buildings are now a consumerist paradise developed by the school, because apparently colleges are supposed to be 50% malls, 25% gyms, and 25% class buildings. A lot of the restaurants and stores are Chinese and Korean themed. Almost a quarter of the school is international students and they almost always pay full price.






The University Hospitals Seidman cancer center has super nice infusion rooms compared to the Roswell cubes.

Permalink: Edgewater_beach_Little_Italy_and_University_Circle.html
Words: 238
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/20/15 12:35

Category: food

07/19/15 06:45 - 77.ºF - ID#60116

West Side Market

The next morning we visited the West Side Market. It's an amazing 100 year old public market in a beautiful old building in Ohio City, right across from downtown. I have gone here before - the produce prices are dirt cheap and there is a mix of local stuff if you look for it.

They also have a huge atrium full of meats, cheeses, prepared foods and pretty much every type of food you can imagine. It gets so crowded. The Broadway Market wishes it could be this




We all waited an hour in line for these crepes from this place called Crepes De Lux. The owner is a salty man who yelled at me because he thought I was taking his picture. I actually didn't get one now but I wish I did, because I now call him a crepeist. I almost thought he was gonna go soup Nazi on us and refuse to give us our food.


Sarah and I got the dried strawberries I used to be obsessed with. I never noticed before but there's crystals of sugar on the outside - is it from the dehydration or do they add more on for some reason?

Permalink: West_Side_Market.html
Words: 202
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/20/15 12:26

Category: cleveland

07/19/15 06:42 - 77.ºF - ID#60115

Visit to Cleveland

We drove down to Cleveland last weekend for my best college friend Sarah's (aka Horse/arse/face) white coat ceremony at med school. It sounds random but I promised her at some point during undergrad that I would make it if she went to Case Med school.

We stayed in a super swank hotel called the Intercontinental. It was so fance I had a minor panic attack checking in. It was attached to the Cleveland Clinic which squicks me out. Everyone from around the world flies in to get their strange ailments cured.

On the way down I accidently got off in the rough Hough neighborhood while we were running out of gas, right north of the Cleveland Clinic. It was a bad intro to Cleveland for (e:paul) and (e:terry). To be fair I almost never went to or around Cleveland in a car.

You know you're at a hospital when:


Euclid Avenue Healthline below and Clinic land as far as the eye can see.



Afterwards, we took a Lyft to Ohio City - sort of Allentown but a little more big city - to meet up with Sarah and her classmates. We ate delicious food at the Bier Markt, and then met them at a Bar called Town Hall. Previous to this I only had been to one place in Ohio City, and felt scammed because I had to pay $4 for a beer. Everything seemed way too expensive then.


All the Clevelanders seem to use Uber and Lyft. We used them too - I like the transit much more but we had so little time. Cleveland has three train lines that run through it, and two 24 hour bus rapid transit lines.



Bunny at a bar


I split off with Paul and Terry when they went to some gay bar called the Leather Stallion. Sarah sat in her bed until 5 am talking like we used to.

Permalink: Visit_to_Cleveland.html
Words: 326
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/20/15 12:19

Category: graffiti

07/17/15 01:21 - 60.ºF - ID#60112

Permanent graffiti

and temporarily back on (e:strip) because I found an old battery charger!

They've been cleaning the Red Jacket apartment building. Part of it was trying to clean the graffiti off by putting a paste on and power washing it off - they inadvertantly etched it in forever. I bet the original taggers would have never expected.

Hopefully pee alley's smell isn't forever enshrined too?

Permalink: Permanent_graffiti.html
Words: 67
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/17/15 01:21