Mike and I went to Niagara Falls on the spur of the moment. We had such a great time. We don't often get to do things like this so I think we really deserved it. I'm excited to do more stuff like this together.



Mist People. They are so supernatural.


(e:mike)


Moose peeing in the urinal


Hotel People. This hotel is really neat. When you watch it you see people opening and closing their patio entrance ways. Mike loved it.




He is so beautiful.


We went to Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. It is so fun inside. This aquarium was inside. I loved this fish and have never seen it before. I wanted to kiss it. Every 25 minutes they have a thunderstorm inside and the lights flicker on and off. The animals go wild too. The food is really good but expensive. You are paying a lot for the atmosphere. A hamburger costs $18!



Mike and I at the falls



They have a ferris wheel, but at $10/person we skipped it. Someday I would like to do it though.


We also went to Coca Cola. They have a soda bar, but beware....$15 for two cokes and a freaking pretzel. Hershey's, on the other hand, has great chocolate covered strawberries for two for two dollars.

Oh, we also gambled away $20 together on the slot machines. FUN!

I watch television in Spanish whenever I can. They have this commercial on either Telemundo or Univisión for some type of cookware. Anyways, the jingle goes something like "Una mujer que sabe como cocinar vale más que oro." "A woman that knows how to cook has more value than gold." I really can't imagine a commercial such as this being played on the English speaking channels. Maybe in 1950 that message was tolerated but today not a chance. Anyways the commercial to me represents how quickly things can change and also shows the huge gap in the progression of feminism between cultures.

They are selling more of the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works (LOOW) Site in the towns of Lewiston and Porter. The LOOW, if you do not know, is the land that the government stole from local farmers during WWII. After this beautiful and fertile land was destroyed from the production of TNT, they secretly began storing and dumping radioactive effluent at the site and later began selling the land. Over the years the US government has continued to lie repeatedly about the land and its use. Lewiston/Porter School District is situated on a portion of the LOOW. Besides the polluted soil, imagine what kind of air those kids are breathing right next door to Chemical Waste Management which was also part of the LOOW site. Maybe now that they want to sell more of the land, we can get even more toxic waste trucked up into our area and they can discharge even more treated effluent into the Niagara and Great Lakes. As the article states the government says the land is fine besides some pesky asbestos. Does anyone really believe that? Sadly I think people do. People are so willing to put 100% trust into the government despite years of deception. There are people that live right next door to toxic and radioactive waste but refuse to think they are in harms way. I talked to one woman with kids who lived next door to the LOOW and refused to believe what I was telling her.

I'm glad the article was published, but how could they not even mention this site's dark past that continues to kill people with cancer? The only thing the article mentions about the LOOW is that it once was a military testing area. What about all the radioactive waste they dumped into marsh area?! If you want to see my original journal with pictures click here:

Nike missile launch site up for auction in Niagara County

Town of Porter parcel advertised on Internet
By Sharon Linstedt
Updated: 08/06/07 8:29 AM


Sam Kolich/Buffalo News
The mothballed site covers 98 acres off Balmer and Porter Center roads.


"For Sale: 98 acres of mostly undeveloped, treed property in rural Niagara County. Amenities include six underground missile silos."

That could be the federal government's ad for an unusual piece of property located in the Town of Porter, which it is auctioning off via the Internet. The U.S. General Services Administration opened online bidding July 12 for the long-idle Youngstown Test Annex, ocated at the corner of Balmer and Porter Center roads.

"It's certainly a different kind of property," said GSA spokeswoman Renee Miscione. "But the federal government sells and disposes of a very wide range of properties. It's everything from office buildings and military residences to post offices, lighthouses and missile sites."

The GSA, which disposes of properties for the federal government, offers the lands and buildings to various levels of government before putting them on the auction block.

The Youngstown Test Annex was originally part of the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works, which included about 7,500 acres across Niagara County used for military testing. The Army acquired the Youngstown Test Annex property in 1955, developing it as a Nike missile launch site.

The Cold War-era defense system was designed to protect major urban areas and strategic assets, such as power plants, from air assaults. The Nike missiles were secured in underground silos, at the ready in case of attack. At the height of the initiative, there were more than 200 installations around the country, including nearly a dozen in Western New York.

The Air Force took title to the Town of Porter location in the mid-1960s, converting it to a Tropospheric Scatter Radar communications network site.

The property, which has remained under military control, was mothballed in 1990.

In its description of the site, the GSA notes the property includes about 45 acres of wetlands. In addition to six missile silos (which are empty and have been welded shut), the parcel also comes with a handful of outbuildings in "various stages of deterioration." The GSA warns potential buyers they could face asbestos-removal issues. However, the government indicates that the site does not contain radioactive materials or hazardous chemicals.

To date, no one has stepped up with the required $100,000 minimum bid.

Miscione noted it took 21 days for the first bid to be registered in last summer's online sale of the Thaddeus J. Dulski federal office building in downtown Buffalo. That 15-story, 470,000-square-foot tower saw a brisk bidding war in the final days of its auction, attracting a winning bid of $6.1 million.

Of the eight former Nike sites sprinkled across Niagara and Erie counties, this is the last one to remain under federal government ownership. While a few are now privately owned, most have found new life as town or village-controlled parks, recreation areas, senior housing or local government offices.

slinstedt@buffnews.com

Maybe it's weird to take lots of pictures of yourself, but sometimes thats all you have.

This video is of all these kids telling us why we need to recycle. It is the cutest video ever! There are two people who I think of while watching it. (e:matthew) and (e:mike). Remember when Matthew did the reduce reuse recycle user sound? Of course I think of Matthew when I think of kids but I also think about Mike. He is definitely a kid at heart until he dies. He wants to have kids so much too. I know he will, and they will be the cutest/craziest. He could be my baby's Daddy any day. OOh, my baby's Daddy!





I made an honest mistake in my recycling habits and included dry cleaning bags along with grocery bags for recycling in the "blue bin". Anyways, the recycling people put the entire bag of plastic into the trash bin. The only way I was alerted to this was because I opened the can to see if they had taken it yet. I'm really sad that they would throw it out rather than leave it in the bin so I could see that it isn't recyclable. Wegmans takes back plastic bags so I would have continued to bring it there. Luckily I savaged the bags and will bring them there.






My other problem is that I left a cardboard egg carton to be recycled and they left it in the bin. Buffalorecycles.com which is supported by the Mayor, Byron Brown, clearly states that it accepts them. I assumed that they won't take the styrofoam ones, but was shocked that they won't take a cardboard one. So why does there website say that they will recycle them?

Does anyone else have problems with their recycling? I would like to contact the mayor with as much info as possible. Why does Buffalo make recycling so hard when as Joel Giambra clearly states

"Recycling is a matter of importance, not just in Buffalo, but throughout Erie County. Your efforts reduce our reliance on area landfills, which cuts expenses and creates local jobs, and you'll be helping to preserve our beautiful landscape.

Remember that a commitment to our recycling program is a promise made to this region's future. Recycling-it's easy and it's necessary. Together we can make it work.

Buffalo needs more education on recycling. I would love my full-time job to be on community recycling education.

Today after leaving the gym on my bike I got hit In the eye by a huge flying bug. I think it actually was a bumble bee. It really hurt like being punched right in the eyeball. I'm used to those gnat like bugs that get stuck in my eyes, but after all the years of biking I have never hit such a big bug and right in the eye ball.


And I ran, I ran so far away.





I forgot to mention my thoughts on the Bridge collapse. Isn't that just about one of everyone's worst fears? I think about all the times I go over the Peace Bridge which has been exposed to extreme weather conditions and for many years. Anyways, the worst would be going head first into the raging Niagara. During rush hour too. It would just be hell. I'm probably going to freak out the next time I'm on the bridge, even though there is not much of a chance that I would be on the bridge that one moment it just snaps.

I hate this laundromat I'm at on Main ST. called Lake effect. Sure it is nice to be able to connect online. They have a wall of 12 television sets which is ok, but the laundry is WAY too expensive. It is actually ridiculous. For example they don't have any of the $1.25 top loaders that I usually use, rather they have the "double load" for $2.25 which actually is not even close to twice a top loader. Other than that they have huge machines for $5.00 or $5.50. To dry they only have an option of 14 min. for .60 which is crap. What if your clothes are almost dry? You still have to add .60 even if you only need 7 min. On top of all this they charge you a $1.00 to buy the money card you need to operate the machines. Total crap.

My favorite laundromat remains the Maytag on Delaware next to Boston Market. It is the cheapest, cleanest, and most operational I have been to in the area. They give you a free wash for every ten $1.25 loads.

Update 7/31/07

Maybe I was a bit harsh. The laundromat performs well. The stainless steel driers are beautiful and you don't have to split up a large load. Its just that normally for a week's laundry I spend $10 or less, but here I spent $15. That is just too much to wash my clothes and sheets for a week. The laundromat on Elmwood and Auburn is also expensive, but at least they offer 5 top-loading machines at $1.50. Their $2.25 "double load" machines are the worst at cleaning. Usually when you open them they smell like sewage. I am going to stay faithful to Delaware's Maytag as long as i have a car and don't have laundry in my building. I really shouldn't give them any advertising as I hate when it is busy, for example, SUper Bowl Sunday.

Had a nice time at the PMT get-together. Thanks guys!