I had such a great weekend celebrating his birthday. Packed with fun and ended in both he and I winning big at the Seneca Nation Casino in Niagara Falls. I won $20 and he $26. This is the first time that we both won. Dinner with his parents and (e:paul), (e:matthew) and (e:terry) was really great. Of course Mike's mom put on quite a spread.

Happy Birthday Mikey! A Lion King was born 8/31!




The lion seen on Virginia at Delaware was commissioned by (e:mike). I framed it for his birthday and it looks pretty good framed. Mike loves this lion and it is very close to being lost forever.



This is Tran Zoo Vania also commissioned by (e:mike). This I made for his birthday card. Does anyone know what this place was??

The storm we are having is so great. My cell phone has been working for about a half hour or so. I do hope everyone is OK with the lightning striking and everyone being out. Luckily did not get soaked.

Went with (e:mike) and his mother to the Elmwood Ave art festival. That was so much fun hanging out with the two of them. His mom came and sat on the porch for a while too and saw my new place. Also went again to the festival with my friend Justin whom I haven't seen in forever. It was nice to see him again. The festival was excellent. The garden parade was one of the best parades I have seen. Music, dancing and the scary masks were all so awesome.

(e:mike) so if you see this you know why I can' t call you. Sent you an email.

This is my new porch which I enjoy every day. Look at my new Weber grill. This grill is awesome! I have been grilling A LOT since I got it on the 4th. Everything is sooo tasty.

Economic stimulus takes on a new meaning with Bush's tax rebates. I was listening to 970 AM when I heard that the latest economic stimulus checks are being used for pay pornographic websites. Now that is why I call economic stimulus.

My netti petti is awesome! I have been using it two days and no longer have a soar throat from talking all day at work and I can breath so much better. Because I am getting more oxygen I feel more energetic and happier than I have in a long time. I really had no idea how bad my sinuses were! It's just like a tea pot that has a spout and you pour the saline solution in one nose and out the other.

There are ants ALL over my kitchen (old apt). It seems most people in old homes have ant problems.

What is with these new parking meters all over? What a waste of money. Who wants to walk almost a block away to get a ticket and then back again to put it on your dashboard in the winter so that you can park on the street?

My move date has been postponed for two weeks so that the new apartment can have some work done. I couldn't even have imagined a better scenario. The landlord really wants to get the smell out because it bothered us so much. Not only did he agree to let me rip out the carpets and have the hardwoods sealed with polyurethane but he also is taking out half of the dry wall and all of the ceramic tile floor in the bathroom so that the cat piss smell will be addressed fundamentally. The sub-floor will be able to be cleaned and then sealed. I really do not expect to smell any cat urine after this is all done.

Not only the bathroom is being re-done but we also have a brand new porch! The entire thing is rebuilt! It is going to be awesome. We also have brand new appliances. We painted the mint-ting-a-lang walls to something very neutral and really brings out the wood work. I have already done so much cleaning and have moved in half of our stuff thanks to Steve's brother and his fiancee, Mandy, our friend lauren and (e:mike). Thanks! We got the new fridge and oven and they are so awesome. I am so happy to be moving into this place when only a week ago I felt so defeated. I really felt so let down and unhappy and now it has all turned into a benefit. We were able to get refunded on half a months rent and were permitted to stay another half month in our current place. I really could not imagine it being any better than this a week ago today. At one point Steve and I were going to baill and lose all of our money and risk being sued so that we would not have to move in there.

As far as my previous cat hating post yes it was a bit harsh against the kitties. They really don't deserve it. Nothing spells trash like cat piss though. All that being said Rabbit piss wouldn't be all that nice either! Really anyone who sees animals not being cared for should call the authoritay!

Things have not been going as planned with the move. I have come to learn that the apartment used to house at least 10 cats at one time. My estimate would be about 15. So well my friend Mary and Steve were painting I was ripping out three bedrooms of carpeting as well as all the carpeting in the hall way. This was not a minor task, and took many hours of labor on my part. The hardwoods underneath still smell like cat piss. Not only that but the bathroom, which is tile, smells the worst. The landlord pulled out all the baseboards and some of the dry-wall. The smell got worse so I know he hit the source. My friend Brian is going to be commissioned to sand and put the polyurethane coat down he calls it a "scuff and buff". So this isn't what I was expecting or the landlord was expecting, but thing are progressing regardless.

It has been very difficult. Steve and I got in a fight in front of the landlord and it was kinda weird. It was definitely a good thing though because the landlord ended up taking my side. I definitely freaked out a bit. I'm like "IT smells like cat piss. I am not being sensitive! " This is not the greatest conversation to have but of course it worked out in our favor. This whole experience makes me never want a cat... ever. I loved cats, now I hate them. If this doesn't go away I think I am going to be miserable. Luckily, everything that can reasonably be done is happening.

I definitely want the air ducts cleaned out. They are really gross.

Some of you may wonder how I didn't notice all this when I looked at the apt. I really don't know. They must have used some spray to cover it up or something. I was prepared for there to be some minor dog pee, but not room after room covered in cat piss. This really is traumatizing me. Now I have to see if we can stay in our current place a week longer so that the floors can be done. All of our utility switches will have to be delayed IF we can get an extension.

All that being said, I still think the apartment will end up being a great place. We already painted over the Mint ting a ling.

So the time is finally here to move. I have been on our third floor today going through everything in storage. Everything is extremely dusty and now I feel like I can't breath. Coincidentally, I finally found a doctor and he said to use a Netti Pot because my sinuses are blocked and I didn't even know it. So now I need to go and get one. Does anyone know where to find these locally? I'm really excited to use this because he thinks it will help my persistent sore throat which I kinda think is related to my job. I talk all the time and on top of that the air is super humid and hot. Where I work is like the inner workings of all the hospital. Right outside the office there is a room that is where all of the ventilation pipes meet. Anyway, I have wanted to try the Netty Petty for a while.

It is so weird to look at all this stuff I have had in boxes for years because I haven't had anywhere to put it in my house. I have tons of old vinyl albums that I haven't listened to in years because I had no space for my record player and speakers. I'm so happy I only have to work tomorrow and then I am off from Roswell for a week. This is my first vacation time I have used because I have been diligently saving it for this summer.

Previously, I have gone through about 15 years worth of papers. You wouldn't believe how much of this stuff was student loan documents. Most of them had my social security number on them and had to be shredded. What an enormous amount of waste those student loans generate before they get consolidated. I have switched to electronic billing on just about everything I can so that I could cut down on some of this waste.

Tuesday we get the keys to the new place. We will then paint and clean for two to three days and then move in on Saturday. I have a cotton shower curtain on order specifically for a claw foot tub. It isn't vinyl and won't have to be thrown away. I anticipate the curtain and the rings to last me a life time. Hopefully I will always have a clawfoot tub! I also got a new vacuum which I have been wanting for at least a year. It is a Sanitair and works really good. Biggest plus is it has a bag instead of the stupid cup that you have to empty and gets dust all in your face.

Still looking for patio furniture. Trying to find something that will last and doesn't look like trash, but it is tough unless you plan on dumping many hundreds of dollars. Was hoping I would have something by now, but I just can' t find anything. I am really picky about everything I buy. Sometimes it is so bad that I won't buy anything at all even though I need it. I'm really trying to avoid buying things that end up in the landfill now. It isn't as easy as you would think. Like this shower curtain. Nobody sells them, so I finally found one that was an AS IS floor model so I got it. Unfortunately, they didn't measure it and it was 72 inches short. So I wasn't entirely impressed with their customer service at Green Home because they refused to even offer to upgrade my shipping to two day to ensure I would get it by the time I moved. This is after agreeing to buy one for full price since they had no more AS IS curtains. So I canceled my order and found it somewhere else, but this other one seems semi-shady and I am really hoping not to get ripped off. Green Home apologized but I think it is very poor customer service not to rectify an error. Sure they had UPS pick it up free or charge, but I ordered the curtain way in advance so that I would have one when I moved!

Here is the curtain I ordered on the Green Home website.

When I do finally get the one from terralunasol it will look really great with the nickel shower curtain rings I got.

The other thing I have to get is a new coffee pot. Sure it seems like a simple task for most people, but for me it is a nightmare. Most of the models I have encountered now use heat plates that start to peel after a year. They also have made them very difficult to clean. I don't think I should have to keep buying new coffee pots every year. I'm thinking about getting the one on Gevalia that they offer for free. It looks nice.

I love these kids and the teacher.

New York 8th-Graders Boycott Practice Exam But Teacher May Get Ax
by Juan Gonzalez

Students at a South Bronx middle school have pulled off a stunning boycott against standardized testing.

More than 160 students in six different classes at Intermediate School 318 in the South Bronx - virtually the entire eighth grade - refused to take last Wednesday's three-hour practice exam for next month's statewide social studies test.

Instead, the students handed in blank exams.

Then they submitted signed petitions with a list of grievances to school Principal Maria Lopez and the Department of Education.

"We've had a whole bunch of these diagnostic tests all year," Tatiana Nelson, 13, one of the protest leaders, said Tuesday outside the school. "They don't even count toward our grades. The school system's just treating us like test dummies for the companies that make the exams."

According to the petition, they are sick and tired of the "constant, excessive and stressful testing" that causes them to "lose valuable instructional time with our teachers."

School administrators blamed the boycott on a 30-year-old probationary social studies teacher, Douglas Avella.

The afternoon of the protest, the principal ordered Avella out of the classroom, reassigned him to an empty room in the school and ordered him to have no further contact with students.

A few days later, in a reprimand letter, Lopez accused Avella of initiating the boycott and taking "actions [that] caused a riot at the school."

The students say their protest was entirely peaceful. In only one class, they say, was there some loud clapping after one exam proctor reacted angrily to their boycott.

This week, Lopez notified Avella in writing that he was to attend a meeting today for "your end of the year rating and my possible recommendation for the discontinuance of your probationary service."

"They're saying Mr. Avella made us do this," said Johnny Cruz, 15, another boycott leader. "They don't think we have brains of our own, like we're robots. We students wanted to make this statement. The school is oppressing us too much with all these tests."

Two days after the boycott, the students say, the principal held a meeting with all the students to find out how their protest was organized.

Avella on Tuesday denied that he urged the students to boycott tests.

Yes, he holds liberal views and is critical of the school system's increased emphasis on standardized tests, Avella said, but the students decided to organize the protest after weeks of complaining about all the diagnostic tests the school was making them take.

"My students know they are welcome in my class to have open discussions," Avella said. "I teach them critical thinking."

"Some teachers implied our graduation ceremony would be in danger, that we didn't have the right to protest against the test," said Tia Rivera, 14. "Well, we did it."

Lopez did not return calls for comment.

"This guy was far over the line in a lot of the ways he was running his classroom," said Department of Education spokesman David Cantor. "He was pulled because he was inappropriate with the kids. He was giving them messages that were inappropriate."

Several students defended Avella. They say he had made social studies an exciting subject for them.

"Now they've taken away the teacher we love only a few weeks before our real state exam for social studies," Tatiana Nelson said. "How does that help us?"

jgonzalez@nydailynews.com

© 2008 The New York Daily News