Today is President's day but I forgot and it was really eerie on the way to work. Nobody was out except, of course, (e:heidi) on her way to school. I'm surprised so many people actually have the day off. I do get comp time for working today which is much better than having the day off. I save up all my comp time for summer because I hate being inside when it is nice.

Valentine's Day was nice. I did end up going to the marriage equality rally in front of city hall. I'll post pics later. Mike came over and we had the house to ourselves. I made dinner which was some yummy steaks. I was going to make chicken marsala but they were out of marsala at Gates Circle Liquour.

I'm working a lot. They are offering us unlimited hours at work so I am going to try and keep it up. I really am not sure if we will have jobs after September. We shall see... So Suze says to just save what we can. Check out saveyourself.com. You can get $100.00 after making 12 consecutive $100 deposits in a year.

I think I might go to this. (e:mike) and I just saw Milk and now I am all rallied up.

"Cupid's Arrows Aren't Always Straight!!!"
Please rally with us at our
3rd Call For Marriage Equality
February 14th, 2009 - 1pm (sharp!)
in Niagara Square in front of City Hall (Delaware & Niagara)
as we ask, once again for the right to marry!
LGBT FAMILIES deserve equal protections as Americans!
Dress warm and bring friends! Free Hot chocolate to warm you up!
Then join us for the After-Party!
2pm to 5pm
Pilgrim St Luke's Church
(Richmond and Utica)
Love IS out there!
Enjoy a glass of sparkly and some chocolate hugs & kisses! Come out and play!!!
Single? Take a chance at Queer Speed Dating!
Dance a little (or a lot!) Chinese Auction & 50/50 raffle!
Hot Pizza & Wings available for purchase from Main Menu Café!
$5.00 admission (cheap date!)
All proceeds go OUTspoken For Equality
to continue the fight for LGBT Rights!

Need More Information? Call Kitty! 716-578-3782

We used to just be FABULOUS! ...
But they are messing with our civil rights & our families~
NOW WE'RE FURIOUS !!!

OUTspoken For Equality!





Kitty Lambert
President, OUTspoken For Equality
Fighting for Marriage, GENDA, and the Dignity For All Students Act
22 Bolton Place
Buffalo, NY 14210-2131
(716) 578-3782

www.OUTspokenforequality.org

Working for Marriage Equality, Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Protection
and Dignity For ALL Students through Safe Schools and Positive Educations!

Interestingly, in Milk you find out that The Advocate was unwilling to endorse Harvey Milk, an openly gay man running for public office. They thought it would invoke more hatred towards gays. I just read this article from The Advocate about this faith based initiative of Obama's. I'm not too happy with mixing public funding with religious organizations that can discriminate against the GLBT community.

Yesterday I did Suze Orman's online expense sheet. It is really kinda awesome for me to have done this because it is my desire to develop some personal financial security. I really want to improve my FICO score and to have an emergency fund which would also double on the down payment of a house some time down the road. Doing the expense sheet has made me see my own fianances more clearly so that I know better of what I need to do to achieve my goal.

The expense sheet really makes you think about where all your money is going to. She asks you to *guestimate* (that was for (e:zobar)) what you are spending per month on everything form toiletries to movies, tobacco and alcohol. You enter in your rent, your loans, utilites as well as your monthly income. Under the fast food category I realized I can save the most without sacrificing too much. I am spending $100/month on eating food in the cafeteria! My big challenge now is trying my hardest to limit this to let's say $25 month. Even things that seem relatively benign such as going to the movies can be a huge expense over a year period. The one great thing I realzed when doing all this was that I didn't have to put anything into the tobacco category. If I was still smoking a pack a day I would have to enter in $168/ month at a rate of $6.00 pack. There is no way I could afford to go back to smoking! That is more than $2000/yr.

I'm really annoyed that I have an expense in the cable category. I really did not want cable it was something my roommate considered to be essential and now I am stuck paying for half of it at least until July. After that I will refuse to pay for it anymore because I really don't need TV and don't even care if I don't even have one of those things they ran out of coupons for when they make the digital switch so that you can watch TV with an antennae.

So, I definitely recommend doing one of those expense balancing sheets for yourself sometime if you are interested in improving your financial situation. It is a great way of facing reality.

(e:mike) and I saw this parked on Anderson. We saw it the night before and it was much funnier when it just said WTF? When I went back to photograph it with my real camera instead of my phone someone added "Wash me!". The add on isn't quite as funny but WTF? Was exactly what Mike and I said when we saw it. This thing is like twice the size of a hummer at least. When you look at it from the front it actually looks like a 16 wheeler. I should have shot it from the front too cause this photo almost makes it look small.

In Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism there is a letter that Nichiren wrote to one of his followers that is titled "Winter Turns to Spring". It is a letter he wrote to Myoichi, a recent widow with children in order to encourage her. It really is such a beautiful letter but the reason I share it is just because we all need that little reminder that winter without fail turns to spring.

I lifted this off unzipped.net. Looks like I'll have to read this blog some more.

Thank you so much for fixing my mess of a computer last night. I really thought that I was going to lose almost all of my digital photo files and that would have made me so sad. I am sorry you were so allergic to my rabbit dandered computer. I didn't even think of that happening and am so happy that I at least spent the time carefully vacuuming out the inside because I can't even imagine what you would be like if I didn't. I always thought you would be able to come over to my house as long as you didn't go in the rabbit room but now I know that you really never could come over. Anyways, I am most greatful. Thanks again!

Here you go (e:leetee) and (e:ladycroft). I'm glad you both enjoyed it. For any of you who may want to make this to serve to veggies make sure that you check the refried bean ingredients as they often have animal fat in them. Usually the fat free ones are OK. Recipe from

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1 cup sour cream
* 2 (16 ounce) cans refried beans
* 1/2 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
* 5 drops hot pepper sauce
* 2 tablespoons dried parsley
* 1/4 cup chopped green onions
* 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, blend the cream cheese and sour cream. Mix in the refried beans, taco seasoning, hot pepper sauce, parsley, green onions, 1/2 the Cheddar cheese and 1/2 the Monterey Jack cheese. Transfer the mixture to an 8x12 inch baking dish. Top with remaining Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses.
3. Bake in the preheated oven 20 to 30 minutes, until cheese is slightly browned.

My roommate bought these tomatoes from the Lexington CO-OP the other day. I just noticed that the sticker says H2GRO on it which I have previously posted about. Anyways, these tomatoes are grown in a green house that Waste Management converts methane gas from their dump site into electricity to power it. My main problem with this is that the green house is adjacent to where all the radioactive material from the Manhattan Project is being stored as well as where all the toxic chemicals of the North East region are disposed of by Chemical Waste Management. The only reason I really ever found out about it was from when I drove around the site and fell upon it. I felt so sick after being around these dump sites that I can assure anyone that these are not tomatoes that should be consumed. Here is the link to my journal where I take a tour of the Lake Ontario Ordinance Works site in Ransomville NY.

So I know some people at the CO-OP and am definitely going to bring this to their attention. Seriously people, DON'T buy these tomatoes!

Thankfully Artvoice has been keeping up on this continuously developing story. They haven't ever made mention of these tomatoes as far as I know. Here is their latest story.

Meanwhile, In Lewiston: Dangerously High Radiation Levels
    
by Geoff Kelly & Louis Ricciuti
    

Chemical Waste Management proudly reveals dangerously high radiation levels

On the Friday after Christmas, whence all news stories go to die, Chemical Waste Management released the results of a radiation survey of its landfill in the Town of Lewiston.

The survey was performed by the URS Corporation, and CWM spokesperson Lori Caso proudly claimed that no significant hotspots had been detected: More than four million samples were taken and evaluated, and 99.85 percent of the samples had registered less than 16,000 counts per minute, which is the self-determined standard CWM uses to decide whether a spot warrants further investigation or remediation.

Doing the math, that means more than 4,000 samples registered above 16,000 counts per minute.

And in any case, 16,000 counts per minute is quite high-640 times what most health physicists would consider a normal level of radioactivity. It's even high by landfill standards: A few years ago, at the BFI-Allied (previously CECOS) landfill on Pine Avenue in Niagara Falls, the maximum acceptable radiation level was set at 1,000 counts per minute. That standard was later raised by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to accommodate "asphalt fill" materials from a Porter Road repaving project that set off BFI-Allied's radiation detection gate alarms at 1,500 counts per minute.

In 2002, defense contractor SAIC performed a radiation survey of the Lewiston Porter Central School District Campus, not far from CWM. SAIC used a standard of 8,000 counts per minute to determine whether a hotspot warranted further investigation. SAIC found levels ranging between 7,000 to 13,000 counts per minute of radioactive emanation, with an anomalous "rock" found on the property behind the elementary school that registered at 38,222 counts per minute. Health physicist Dr. Rosalie Bertell said of the Lew-Port findings, "Rather than calming the public, this should cause outrage."

To put CWM's 16,000 counts per minute in context, we called Tedd Weyman of Toronto's Uranium Medical Research Center. Weyman said "normal" radiation levels in Toronto are 35 to 45 counts per minute. In Baghdad, which the US military has contaminated with depleted uranium munitions, radiation levels range from 25,000 to 75,000 counts per minute.

"What's being found around the schools at Lewiston Porter is, from a scientific perspective, extreme, shocking, and profound," Weyman said. "These rates are higher than what is allowed at any nuclear facility."

He added, "This is a catastrophically serious situation and a human health crisis. These rates are against the law."

-geoff kelly & louis ricciuti

Suze you are my hero. You used to live in a van and now you are rich and famous and wear designer space outfits. I am on page 207 of your book for the Young Fabulous and Broke and I just love you for helping people in humanistic terms. As you always say Suze, people first, then money, then things.






Thanks (e:mike) for the book. I love it! BTW, I like to say her name in a Spanish accent as demonstrated below.