03/20/09 12:28 - 32ºF - ID#48130

CENTRALIA

I was in Washington DC to see the Pogues this week and on the drive back home I stopped in Centralia, PA

Centralia is was a coal town in the PA mountains. One of the coal seams caught fire and has burning ever since. According to the internet, nobody really cared too much untill a kid fell in a sinkhole in his backyard and somebody threw a thermometer into the underground tanks at the gas station and it was 180+°

Anyways reading the Wikipedia article is probably better than driving to that damn place.
I didn't really see any smoke or sinkholes or zombies. Instead, there was a scheisser-lload of trash and junk. The place was a lot smaller than I expected. In fact it was less deserted than I thought: people were driving through to get to their other tiny mountain towns.

To get an idea of the size: An area bounded by Bryant, Richmond, Allen & Main Sts in buffalo

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01/13/09 09:30 - 16ºF - ID#47398

ITEMS

Not going to Buffalo for NE was a stupid thing to do. It probably rivals burning myself with an iron* for dumbest moment of 2008.

It was good to see everyone in DC, but fuuuuck that party looked good in Buff.

Remember that warm Saturday after Christmas?
My friend Mat and I were doing some scoping and we ended up inside this chimney in Rochester:

There was a white chimney inside the outer red chimney.
It was at least 60°F outside but inside the chimneys it was cold and as you could see sparkly frost as you looked up it with yer flashlight.

Anyways, no pictures, cause we left a camera in the car, along with hardhats.

You know I had a third item but I can't remember what it was.
Damn!

Ironing a shirt you're wearing is ok, but you really need to stay away from the steam button.

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12/25/08 06:46 - 27ºF - ID#47186

DEAR ESTRIP

Dear Estrip:

I love you and I love this wine. Like this wine, I have no idea what varietal you are or what soil you've grown in. I just like the way you "pair" with stuff.

Like this wine, you are always good for conversation or a hearty laugh.

Anyways, I babble to much. We'll hang out again soon.

Addios.

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12/14/08 09:11 - 41ºF - ID#47062

STUFF

This is me procrastinating. I should finish updating my resume and apply for this job but its freaking me out.

My college roommate's wife's father's coworker's wife works at a company in Rochester that apparently is hiring EE's. (They are also paying a handy finders fee, which explains how it made it through the grapevine to me.)

Instead I've made a plot of my income for the past 10 years!
Social Security sent me a letter this week listing how much I've paid in etc. (Social Security, like Heaven, sounds really nice but unfortunately I don't think I'll live/die to see either.)

[All values are normalized to 2008 dollars]
The first years income comes solely from dishwashing. I probably made slightly more than SS knows cause I used to be paid in cash in a greasy white envelope. For a long time I didn't even know how much I made per hour because it seemed to change from week to week.

The line looks pretty low but I felt flush with cash in high school. Especially when I was a busboy and got tipped. I had quite the roll of 1's.

The plateau is summers during college at a summer camp. I worked on the maintenance/facility crew and it was the awesomeest job I've probably had. Supposedly it put me behind (instead of having internships) but I wouldn't trade being outside all summer long for anything.

The rest is after college.

Anyhow I should finish (start) this application. I'm as nervous as a whore in church about this, for a few reasons but none of them should really matter.

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12/01/08 09:47 - 34ºF - ID#46912

WAKE UP

Its not that I don't like to get up in the morning, its just that the Time just before you wake up is some of the best sleeping possible.
Is it really that bad to extend that super-quality a little by hitting the snooze button for like an hour?

It probably is. So I'm always looking for ways to mess with my future waking self. Sometimes I'll make the alarm clock fast by strange numbers ( 5 or 10 minutes is too easy, needs to be 9 or 23!)

So I got the idea of putting a lamp on a timer to assist in the getting the fuck up procedure.

I got this little baby:

Its easier to set and doesn't make a whirring sound like the mechanical timer I used before it. It even has a random feature so the lamp goes off sometime between 6:00 and 6:30 for maximum fuckery.

This morning I was in that awesome dream twilight. In the dream I was chilling in a misty forest and I looked up at the sky and the dream froze, cracked, and then fell into little pieces.
It as the fucking lamp going off at 6:01.

That was a horrible way to start the day ( and I was in a rotten mood most of the day) so I'm only going to give the random feature one more chance.

Also, I've been thinking a lot, and I think the best way to get up is to get up exactly when the alarm goes off. Every morning.
I will try that eventually

pmrk writes at 02:19:33 12/02/08 - Comment #42873: My internal clock is at odds with my working hours and I cannot adjust my working hours more than I already have so I hit the snooze a few times too. I even have to get up to do it but it doesn't deter me at all.

It's so dark in the morning 6:30am when the alarm goes off that I just don't want to get up.

jenks writes at 11:00:21 12/02/08 - Comment #42860: yeah, I always wish I could just get up when my alarm goes off. but I simply can't. I snooze for an hour. Yes, an hour. though it's getting to the point that i'm becoming immune to my alarm clock. I also learned that after snoozing for an hour, it simply stops going off. Very dangerous. so I had to set the backup alarm.

You'd think that if you have to be up at 5:30, just set the alarm for 5:30, and get up then. instead mine goes off at 4:30, and I snooze. I'd probably do better to just sleep soundly for that last hour... But there is just something about the alarm going off and being able to think "nope, not quite yet". And I have gotten really good at falling deeply back to sleep in those 9 minute intervals. :)

joshua writes at 09:39:06 12/02/08 - Comment #42850: I get up as soon as the alarm goes off... the suffering is shorter for me that way.

gardenmama writes at 10:02:28 12/01/08 - Comment #42840: I use two alarm clocks - both set for different times (ahead) and one of them I actually have to get out of bed to turn off. I still manage to hit the snooze button at least 2 or 3 times each a.m. Then I go wake up my daughter by flicking on her light - rude - but it usually works.

paul writes at 09:55:01 12/01/08 - Comment #42836: I get up at just about 9:00am exactly everyday regardless of the clock. Its freaky. I think it is because I take my medicine at 9:00am evey morning so now I am just in the freakish habit.

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11/19/08 10:19 - 29ºF - ID#46765

OLD MAPS

Hey look what I got.

My cousin broke up with his girlfriend and I guess she gave me this old book. (Thanks Sara!)

Its an old Atlas from the mid 1930s.

So its kinda interesting to see buffalo from a little while back.

The Rockpile used to be a reservoir?? I didn't know that

Up elmwood:

Buffalo was a pretty happening city in 1935.
I keep finding cool stuff on this map. Should I put more up? Waterfront, downtown, Black Rock, 1st Ward?

Up next: Map of Rochester. Smaller city -> more detailed map. The Rochester map shows every little shop and shows how much got wiped out when 490/The Inner Loop got put in.

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11/10/08 10:17 - 37ºF - ID#46638

stay inside

Its so cold and terrible outside. I just want to stay inside for a long time.

This apartment has radiant heat and I think its the best thing since indoor plumbing. THE BEST.

4-day week this week thanks to the first day of gun hunting in Michigan on Friday. Gotta love the Uncle Generous.

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11/05/08 12:04 - 52ºF - ID#46539

BLACK PRESIDENT

Even though I knew it would happen its still giving me waves.

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11/02/08 10:26 - ID#46481

halloweenis

That was fun eh? I seriously never get tired of talking to people. Or going on the roof for that matter.

It was good to see people again and to meet people I hadn't yet. Of course I missed everyone who weren't there.

PART THE DEUX:
Its not that I want to talk about this but I want to be able to look back and read about it at some point.

Friday was a pisser at work. It was choppin day. Something like 35 people got it.
I came in late and guys I work with said people were getting fired. I thought they were joking and got mad and told them to stop goofing around. I didn't believe them until a guy from the next lab down came in with a plastic bag and started cleaning out his desk drawers.

I started out pretty cool but five minutes later I was just as bad as the other guys: my heart was racing and my palms were sweaty. How pathetic.

Our manager came down to our lab and we thought that was it. I don't know if he was nervous or what but it took him a while to say he was done in our building meaning they had fired everyone on the fire list.

I don't know how to explain it but it just makes you dumb to be fired or think you will be. Even if it is not personal or you saw it coming. Its like someone is poking a finger in your brain: you just are dumb.
We went outside and took a walk just to try to get our shit straight.

So its like the other shoe dropping. At least we have a reasonable expectation that whatever was going to happen did.

Anyways that should be enough to remember stuff by.

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10/29/08 09:40 - 36ºF - ID#46410

NOODLES

OH MAN its been so long since I've last posted!

It just kind of got away from me there. Plus a portion of the gap between posts was from not having internet access while I moved into a different apartment.

Anways how is everybody? I've been pretty faithful in reading back posts several months and you all seem just as amazing as you've ever been.

I'm trying to avoid talking about work and/or overly dorky pursuits. Seriously though I'll think of something else to talk about eventually

I'm really thinking about a Buffalo Halloween visit.