On my way to work yesterday I saw something interesting that I forgot to post about. In downtown Buffalo outside the convention center between city hall and the square there was what looked like a fire. It was early and dark still maybe aroun 5:20 Am . There where a bunch of chairs and some people sitting around from what I could bearly see what kinda looked like a garbage can and you could kinda see light coming out from it. At that time in the morning I am sure as hell not going to go up and say "hi I'm on my way to work what is going on here?" Then there where a few people also standing around near the bushes. This morning I was late for work that got me downtown about an hour later (i lost and hour somehow this morning) so say about 6:20am and there where people sitting on nice folding silver chairs. Then there where a few people sitting on the steps that lead up to the convention center doors on the second floor. I was wondering if some people who live downtown get to gather in some communel event. It is warm out so it isn't homeless people staying warm. If it was where would they have gotten the matching (at least from a distance) chairs. So now I'm thinking maybe it is people who work at the convention center. For things like this Is why I wish I had a cell phone i would have loved to take a picture (not sure how it would come out) then load it up to (e:strip). If anyone knows what is going On it would be cool to know. I have no idea if they will be there on wendsay but maybe anyone is still up and has nothing better to do go see if they are there.

Over the weekend I never did get to see A Scaner Darkly bur I didn't think I would. On friday Clerks II comes out and that looks verry good. I was surprised that they had huge hanging posters for it at the Elmwood regal. This weekend I decided to get AEONFLUX on PPV , it was verry good. Yes it is an action movie and had a few plot turns so it was fun to watch. I admit I have only seen the cartoon a couple times so don't know how much it followed it. But I thought it was good. The other movie I got to see was Steam Boy. First of all there was some really amazing animation. But some scenes in the move where really dark and you could kinda just here sounds. That may have been more like that because the subtittles where bright Yellow. In the discripton it mentioned all these famous people who did the voices but than it wasn't that version. With out giving away to much of the story it is set in the past and the Steam family is a family in working on steam engines. As in some animees philoshpy is a big part of it, there is a theme running through it about how science should be used and that it shouldn't be used as a weapon or just for profit. I thought there was some preaty good action in it and enjoyed the battles and the characters. Sometimes animee with kids arn't my cup of tea but this was preaty good.

Yeah I'm a little bit behind on posting pictures. I have some up finally that refer to previous posts. I put up a few from the taste of Buffalo. Then the next set of pictures is Paris Burning (short hair singer Rob Bilson). Then the next pictures are from the Same night of Jeff Martin. Then finaly a couple pictures from the italian fest. I went for a couple hours and had fun. I ran into one person from work and there family and then my sis who lives near there. Also saw the New Pirates of the Carbbean move. I thought it was good had a little more physical comedy and a few kinda gross things then I thought but it was good. There where a few shots of some white sand beaches. If you have never been on a white sand beach it is hard to describe but they really are amazing. Hope you enjoy the pics.

For those of you who don't know there is a new Sabres logo that was sliped onto the internet. It isn't offical and from what i have read sabres officals have not confirmed it as there logo. There are a lot of people who don't like it, me being one of them. I like the current jersys and the old style and would even like to see a modernisation of the old jersys but the new symbol is yuck to me. if you want to check it out go to.


The sqaure was a lot of fun I liked both Burning Paris and Jeff Martin they both where preaty good. It was a great time and I was only a little bit distracted by the ladies and general sournings. Hopefully I will have pictures up sometime this weekend. But Havn't downloaded them. The one thing I didn't like about Burning Paris is that Rob Bilson can really sing but it seems like he was holding back or that the music wasn't writen for him to really sing like he can. Wish I knew how to explain it better. Oh yeah in the papper I saw canal fest is going on and so is the Itailin fest. I gotta check out the itailin fest.

Well I do belive Jeff Martin who used to be the lead Singer of "The Tea Party" will be at the Square on Thursday. I do have his new CD, I don't like it as much as I do "The Tea Party" but it is still good. I don't know if he will do any Tea Party stuff or not but I'm looking forward to going, I have to go and maybe get a few pics as well. If memory serves me correctly the italian fest starts on thursday as well and runs through the weekend it might be wendsday but I think it is thursday. I know I will at least make it there on Saturday. I been tired this week I guess from work and keeping kinda busy. But tired or not I plan to be at the concert even if it means I have to have a few energy drinks.

Yesterday was a good day. I worked for a few hours and that will make the paycheck nice. Got home went up to the bank and then picked up my pictures at walgreens there are a couple pictures that I don't remember taking at the party. I also got some pictures of 30 seconds to Mars (e:ladycroft) took they are preaty good. Then I went tot he taste of buffalo for a little bit before my concert. I ran into (e:PMT) as they where leaving. I had couple things to eat but it was really packed and it was frustrating it seemed that some people just wouldn't walk. At the concert Nickleback was really good really loud and had really hot fire that looked like the speakers where on fire, my seats where preaty rad. Some chick actully came up and talked to me she was preaty nice. I admit I couldn't read the signs if she was into me or if she was just friendly she seemed cool though. Hobastank was great they picked up on the stiffness of the crowd but where verry good. I also really liked Hinder and three days grace I had a great time. I will be going back to the taste today and hopefully post some pics.

Saturday and Sunday is the taste of Buffalo. I plan on going sometime Saturday Afternoon. I'm supposed to be waking up early and going into work on Sat hopefully that happens. So then I'll come home and then wind up going to the taste of buffalo. Saturday Night I'm going to see Nickleback, Hobastank , Three Days Grace and Hinder. So that should keep me busy. Originaly the two opening bands where other bands that I wanted to see but I can't remember who and they changed but I want to see the opening bands to. I admit I'm going to see Hobastank more then Nicleback. Yeah Sorry Henry Rollins (He has on more then one ocasion bashed them) I know if you knew me you would be disapointed. I really do like some of there new stuff but I saw them a few years ago before they where this huge band. So it should be a great time.

Touching on my last post for a second. What bothers me isn't that the ads are for web cam and dating sites. I in fact think some of those sites can be good. It is that the person misrepresents, lies, or tries to trick you into thinking they know you or are interested in you that gets to me. Just me honest and say what you are and I might visit or maybe join but when you are decitfull then I get upset and I won't join. Ok enough of that Hope everyone has a great weekend and who knows maybe I or some of you will have random Peep sightings on sat or sunday at the taste or out and about around town.

Um Yeah I admit it I have a bunch of friends on Myspace yes I do actually Know a few of them, and then there are a few bands on there and maybe a couple that shouldn't be up there. But ya know what pisses me off is these cam site girls. Yeah if you belong to a web Cam site that is cool. But what most of these girls do is just sell there web cam site. And all of there bulletin postings are for the web cam site. They often have Full profiles.

Adult sex and dating sites I will admit there are some good ones. But what gets to me is when some chick sends me an (e:mail) saying she knows me and that she has my own webpage and it is always part of dating site. Yeah sometimes it is a legit web page that then leads to a pay site that has nude pics. But what pisses me off is the deceit. If I want to go one of those sites then I will do that On my own, just be honest about it.

Wow that rant wasn't as long as I thought it was going to be. Maybe I will talk more about this at a latter time.

So I have mentioned Saturday and put up all the party pics so i thought I should put up some pictures of the Nina and some pictures of the guitars for hope that are at Chanel 17 and will be auctioned off for charity. That being said I'm looking forward to seeing both Timika's and Jen's pics from the party once they are posted. I'm also looking forward to seeing anyone elses pictures from the party as well. I don't know if I'm doing anything for the fireworks tongingt, I'm guessing that I'm not. For those of you who got to see them last night hope you enjoyed them and had a good time. And I hope everyone has a great 4th or at least have time to relax.

I went to go see Superman Returns today. I thought it was verry good and liked how they did the story. The only thing that I thought was strange is one of the actors was a major Character it the X-men movies. Oh and sexy Kate Bosworth wow. I thought she did a great job not sure if I prefer her as a brunette or Blonde but great job.

But before that I went with the Family on a walk of the Marina. So I'm in line get my food and walk past a guy and think to my self is that (e:mrmike) , I couldn't tell his head was turned. If that was you I'm sorry. Sometimes when I'm in the middle of doing something I continue. What I should have done is set down my try and gone back and seen if it was him. So I'm sitting with the family and he walks past and goes to sit down. I'm thinking I should go see if it is him. But then If I do then my nosey little sister will ask who it is and how I know him (assuming it was him, maybe even if it wasn't). Then I would have to lie, or tell a half truth. I really don't like doing that. If someday they find the journal on there own then I may have to deal with it. But with some of the stuff I write I wouldn't want them to read. So that got me thinking Well what if I'm with them and I run into (e:PMT), (e:ladycroft), Jen or any other (e:peeps) then would I just say they where friends than eventully the question comes up of well how do you know each other, then what. So maybe that means I shouldn't write personal stuff. Or maybe I should only write personal stuff as its own blog with nothing else and turn it into a non public journal. Not really sure.

On another Note I went to New World Records yesterday looking for some CDs and wound up buying 30 Seconds to Mars's first CD. I havn't had a chance to listen to it yet. But if any of you fans out there want to listen I plan on burning a copy for myself that you could borrow.

I thought this article was interesting and should be posted. It can be found on the Buffalo News website. I will reread it and post some comments about it below. It is basicly about how bloging can be costly.

You said WHAT? Internet messages can come back to haunt senders

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Personal lives become public on blogs accessible to eyes users never intended them for

By STEPHEN T. WATSON
News Staff Reporter
7/3/2006



Marcus Yam/Buffalo News
Lisa A. August of Buffalo State College's Career Development Center said the Internet can quickly make private thoughts very public.

We've all seen the errant e-mail - a profession of love, perhaps, or a criticism of a co-worker - that's sent to an entire workplace instead of the sole, intended recipient.
And Web logs that offer too much information on the writers' personal and work lives.

Or the profile pages on MySpace and Facebook that bristle with descriptions of the hosts' drunken misbehavior and nocturnal escapades - with photographic evidence, to boot.

It's clear people still haven't learned the basics of smart Internet behavior.

"Instead of putting your foot in your mouth, you're shoving your whole keyboard in there," said Jennifer Wutz-Lopes, a Lockport resident and computer systems analyst who hosts the blog Jen's 14,221 Thoughts.

But today, the repercussions can go far beyond just a modest dose of embarrassment.

Some companies have fired employees for writing critical comments on their personal blogs.

And employers are starting to search through MySpace, Facebook and other Web sites to find any online profiles set up by job candidates.

So college career-development officers are warning students to avoid posting photos or commentary that might scare off a company recruiter.

"What they don't understand is that it now becomes public domain, and you don't know who's going to read it," said Lisa A. August, associate director of Buffalo State College's Career Development Center.

They've found that - with apologies to Jimmy Buffett - the Internet is a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.

"The Internet, in my opinion, should be treated as a near-infinite time capsule," said Harvey S. Axlerod, the University at Buffalo's computer discipline officer. "Once you put [content] up, you have no control over it or who uses it."

People have always done embarrassing, or dumb, or scandalous things.

The difference in the Internet age is that now there's a record of these gaffes, and they can swiftly travel around the world.

Several years ago, when Wutz-Lopes was working at a health care company in Boston, Mass., an employee there inadvertently sent a love note intended for his office sweetheart to a full list of company supervisors.

"I didn't get the original e-mail, but it was forwarded over and over again," said Wutz-Lopes, who moved back to this area in 2004. "It was steamy."

One of the employees ended up leaving the company shortly afterward, she said.

Lawyers seem particularly prone to e-mail gaffes.

Three years ago, Jonas Blank, a summer associate at a prominent New York City law firm, intended to e-mail a friend about his low-stress workdays of sushi lunches and casual chitchat.

The expletive-laced e-mail mistakenly went to 40 people at Skadden Arps - and then to basically the entire world.

Blank soon apologized profusely in an e-mail and, later, got hired full time at the firm.

Earlier this year, an e-mail exchange between lawyers Dianna Abdala and William A. Korman was forwarded repeatedly across the Web.

By e-mail, Abdala turned down an employment offer. When Korman objected to Abdala's tone, she replied, "bla bla bla."

Why do intelligent people do stupid things on e-mail?

It's so easy to click "send" or to hit "reply to all" instead of "reply," e-mail users said.

Also, words on a screen carry a lack of tone, facial expression and vocal inflection. "I'm very mindful that things can sound obnoxious, even when you don't have that intent," said Alan Bedenko, a lawyer who runs a popular blog called Buffalo Pundit.

Now, the rise of blogs and social-networking sites offers new online minefields for people to gingerly step through.

"You don't want anything you write on the Internet to come back and haunt you," said Chris Smith, who rarely writes about his work or home lives on his Buffalo Geek blog. "It's a careful line we all walk if you want to be part of the blogosphere."

Locally, one blogger who is openly critical of his employer is Cliff Parks Jr., who produces the Pop Culture Is My Curse blog and works for Verizon.

"To call us "the company that couldn't [urinate] straight' is a profound understatement. How you people put up with us I will never know," Parks wrote in a candid March 27 posting. Parks declined to comment further.

Two months ago, former mayoral candidate Judith S. Einach said she briefly was barred from City Hall after she criticized Mayor Byron W. Brown on her Einach Report blog.

The day the move was reported in The Buffalo News, however, Brown called Einach to say she was welcome to return to City Hall for her volunteer work on a city cleanup effort.

Some employers bar workers from saying anything sharply negative or from revealing company secrets on their blogs.

Getting fired for criticizing your company in a blog is known as getting "dooced." It's a reference to blogger Heather B. Armstrong, who was fired in 2002 after slamming her then-employer on her blog, Dooce.com.

Kanoodle, an online-advertising company with offices in Getzville, encourages its employees to blog but does have a policy limiting what they can say about the company, said Tricia Marcus, Kanoodle's chief human resources officer.

"I think employers just have to realize that this is the way the world is today. You can't control [the Web]. You just have to protect yourself and be supportive," Marcus said.

Now, sites such as the vastly popular MySpace and the college-focused Facebook have given young people a new forum for their innermost thoughts and detailed accounts of their personal lives.

David Iwankow, 25-year-old member of the West Seneca School Board, had a lively profile on MySpace. That is, until earlier last week, when complaints from the community prompted his fellow board members to ask Iwankow to take the page down.

A few years ago, before August took her current position at Buffalo State, she was assisting an engineering major at another school with his job search.

The student had, quite properly, listed on his resume a Web site he had designed, so August decided to check out the site.

"When I pulled up the Web page, what I saw was him holding a beer [and] wearing a jester hat," August said. She recommended the student keep the Web address on the resume but drop that photo just to be safe.

Now, employers are entering the names of applicants into Google or other search engines and are starting to dig deeper into Facebook or MySpace for the candidates' profiles.

"We're certainly very aware of that possibility," said Jim Jones, director of the Canisius College career center. "And my feeling is, why take the chance?"

A couple of years ago, a student of Alex Halavais' set up a blog as a class assignment. In one entry, he blasted the customer service at a company.

Soon after, he went to interview for a job with another company. The interviewer told the student he liked him but the student would never get hired there unless he took down the critical blog entry.

The company with the bad service was one of its clients, the student learned. "I got this panicked e-mail saying, "Please kill this. Please delete it,' " said Halavais, an assistant professor of communications at Quinnipiac University who earlier taught at the University at Buffalo.

One recruiter said his company uses the Web to find good employment prospects and to get background information on job candidates, including to verify resume information.

"We use it as an informal screening mechanism," said Chris Beckage, regional sales manager with Superior Technical Resources, a staffing and outsourcing provider in Williamsville.

Facebook and MySpace users said it's a matter of common sense not to put anything on their sites that is potentially embarrassing or that reveals too much about their identity.

However, several users said it's not fair for companies to judge job applicants based on what they post on their Web pages.

"I think that's an invasion of privacy," said Jennifer Hobes, a Buffalo State junior who lives in Buffalo. "It's a social site. It doesn't have anything to do with how they'd do their job."

"I really do think what people do in their personal lives is their business," said added Rachel Griffo, who is earning a teaching certificate at Buffalo State and who uses MySpace.


e-mail: swatson@buffnews.com

I think that they have some interesting stories in this article. I think that a couple points made are valid. Firstly you shouldn't blog or put up anything that is to personal or could get you in trouble at work. [fuck I do that all the time, in terms of personal stuff] For example talking about how you and your GF or BF get high and screw, when work has a no drugs policy. However if what you talk about is going on in your personal life and not at the job or during working hours then it is wrong for the bloger to suffer because of it. I also think that it should be illegal to discrimante because of what you write about on your blog. The thing that I think a lot of people who seek to find peoples blogs don't understand is that a lot of it is fealings. Just because someone says Customer service sucks, that is what they feal at the time and it is a fealing. It isn't a statement of fact and that is a big differance. I also think that places of imployment Googling you is wrong fbefore they hire you. I understand that in some fields it is a good way to get profesional information on you, but any thing personal or in blogs needs to be disregarded. What is ok and what is not is a realy fine line and so maybe companies shouldn't look up anyone on line. I would also say that it is a form of discrimantion. First of all people who don't have online access or any information about them don't have any information that can be used for them or against them. That means that the hiring company wouldn't have any extra knowledge about them and so it really isn't fair to use that online information. With the exception of giving away company secerts on one blog no one should be fired for what they say on a blog, generaly that is so wrong and unetical. I also don't think that anyone should be hired because there blog is liked more then someone elses, that is unetical and wrong also. Hopefully some of you will chime in on this so I can hear other opinons or maybe even write into the guy at the news.