Wow, this company knows how to waste money. So today we had about an 8 hour meeting ( mind you this is the only day out of the three we are doing anything work related). Well we spent like a good hour bascially going over how to turn on and off a computer and restart it. Mind you this was all theoretical because we did not get actual computers becauase the rooms wiht computers were all booked. (its not like they spent at least 1,000 to fly the four of us in and put us up for four days, why would they bother haibngh a computer available?).

There was some valuable things we learned about teachign the class. LIke maybe 2 or 3 hours of this trip were necessary. It seems like something that oculd have been done in a onference call or something though instead of a three day trip. I don't mind being here or anything but it just seems like a waste.

So at about 9pmish i got sick of being in the hotel and so i decided to venture into town (or really walk dwon the thruwayish , sidewlakless road to the Giant Eagle grocery store.) The girl at the desk assured me it was safe and I made it back ok and had no problems. I treid ot walk around "town" but there serisuuly is no town. It is just some hotels, some erestaurants , a closed Ames and a Giant Eagle. Even a shut down Burger King. I think it is bad news for your area when you can't support aBurger King. Well I come home at three tomorow and i am ready for some fun and some partying (so long as I survive the plane ride).

There is another kid my age here wiht us and we could hang out I suppose but there is nothing to do and I just met him really today. I was gonna call him to see if he wanted to go to the Giant Eagle but I don't know what room he is in and so i oculdn't. He must be even more bored than me because he has been here since monday by himself. He is soo ready to go home. I ca't even imagine how sick of this place he must be as I am dying after just two nights.

Oh, I forgot the most important part. THE GIANT EAGLE HAD STRAWBERRY CHEWIES!!! I WAS ORIGINALLY TRICKED INTO THINKING THEY HAD NONE because they weren't in bulk but I found them in the regular section!!! They were so good! WEll I didn't eat them yet, but they will be. For of those of you who don't know, Strawberry chewies are crack for me and they don't sell them in WNY anymore!!! It is a travesty!!!

OK see ya all back in the b-lo tomorwo. Mike

So today is my first day in Pittsburrgh for a business trip. Actually in harmarville about 45 m inutes outside of pittsburgh. The flight was ok. I didn't get sick that much, like i dind' throw up at all. But i was terrified because it was a little plane for about 20 epeople and had propellers circa 1910 and the WRight brothers first invetnion.

Anywho we got in around 1115 and have nothing scheduled to do for the day. Our car wasn't at the Enterprise at the airport. Supposedly our reservations were for a idfferent location and they were out of cars at this one.They told us to go to a different one (isn't there slogan like we bring the car to you or somehitng?) Well THEY DO NOT!!!!) so the taxi driver has no idea where the place is, so we stop around and ask for directions ( at first i thought he was scammiong us but he ended up taking off from our tota since the whole getting lost ridiculousness). So we find the place supposedly that our car is at. It is in a nondescript non-signed building wiht no address. ( hence the confusion in finidng it) WELL NOPE! It's not there either and they have no reservations for us. So then they tell us where they think our car is and so we go there....well we did have reservations at this one, we finally found the right locations, but they were out of cars! How do thye run out of cars WHEN WE HAVE RESERVATIONS! Luckily we only had to wait like 20 minutes or so and then they got a car that was getting its oil changed ready for us! I do no recommend Enterprise as no one at any of these locations was very helpful about the whole siutation or very nice about it.

So then we find our way to the hotel which streets in and around Pittsburgh are ridiculously confusing!! Anywho, we get here and i go in my room and there is a JACUZZI! Not like my tub also has bubbles but like in the room, huge jacuzzi. THe other lady I am with got one too. How random!! (like literally it is completely random, I guess some rooms have them and some don't!) But do I use it? I brought swim trunks, but is it really clean for using? DOn't people die from like Hepatisis from hotel jacuzzi's? Let me know waht you think

Anyway, so this hotel is in the middle of nowhere. It is literally like off the thruway in this little spot with a KFC, McDonalds and another hotle. There is no where to walk to , not even a convnentient store or area around here cuz otherwise you are on the highway. Well that wouldn't be a probelm because we have a rental car but frankly it is super confusing finding anywere and I am not allowed to drive the rental car cuz I am too young!!! (stupid laws) So now from after lunch (2ish) til dinner I am just stuck in my hotel room! Luckily there is internet! And then tonight I am not sure , I am be stuck here again. THe lady said there is a mall a little bit away so maybe we will go there tonight. Then tomrow we have stuff most of the day but then on Friday in the morning we were supposed to have a meeting but she thinks we can probably just not do that and just work on thursday. It is so laid back. A 3 day trip for just liek one 8 or 9 hour meeting! It seems crazy like a waste of money!


Well hope you are all ahving a good time in the B-lo!
P.S, This high spped internet they claim to have , is not so high speed!

I just want to say after helping (e:pmt) move into their new house , it is really a cool house. I didn't really like it when it was covered in catness, dirt, and garbage but now that it is cleaned up it is looking really awesome. Kudos to (e:pmt) for a great job at cleaning it up. You should all get excited to see it at the first party they have there!! start clearing your schedules now!

Ok , so Fergie (from Black Eyed Pea fame) has realy come up with the most ridiculous song lyricwise ever. I'm not saying it is the worst song ever but lyrically it muts be....here is a clip

How come every time you come around
My London London Bridge want to go down
Like London London want you to go down
Like London London be going down like

So in two weeks I go to Pittsburgh for a work trip. So I decided to look up what is near the hotel and let me tell you the answer is a big ole nothing. The restaurants within radius listed KFC, Burger King, etc. And the shopping listed one mall which basically was a WalMart/Barnes and Noble/TJ Maxx plaza. SO I'm gonna guess the nightlife is gonna be outrageously fun, right?

So the new minor league basketball team in Buffalo is called the Silverbacks which are like the elder alpha gorilla male. Some people in the community say it is offensive because much of the team is black males and using monkey or gorilla was often used as a deragatory term used towards black people. I can almost see that though I disagree because I think like the silverback is definetely like a more positive thing than for instance being called the monkeys. Anywho, i was reading the article and while I don't really agree , I could see the other people's point of view UNTIL THIS PART...

the one lady who thinks it is rascist said in reference to the logo and I quote "I did find it offensive. It looked like an angry black man". Ok here is the logo. I'll let you decide.



I did not look at that and think angry black man. I personally do not see a red haired foaming at the mouth fanged basketball playing gorilla and think angry black man but Eva M. Doyle of the Buffalo Criterion begs to differ.

Frankly, I think the fact that she thinks that is looks like an angry black man is frankly way more offensive. By the by, the team players are the ones who came up with the name.

Wow! usually TV Guide does provied too much entertainment but this week it is amazing. Here are a few tidbits:


1. David Hasselhoff is mad at his tv show America's Got Talent because and I quote "I want to be the act, not judge the act" He also hates Brandy becuase she always tries to fight him and dislikes the other judge becasue "He overstepped his territory once and tried to make a joke about my singing". Is there really a joke to make? Is the singing not a joke enough in itself ( particularly when he is on the Berlin Wall in a light up tuxedo)

2. There is a new show where singers such as Cyndi Lauper and Michael Bolton are paired with celebrities and sing ant the public votes off a celebrity each week.



3. Madonna's special on NBC will include her hanging from a "discoballed crucifix" singing "Live to Tell" because as NBC says it "was a cornerstone of the show"


that's all for now folks

As many of you know I did my senior thesis on how Walmart is ruining the world and the idea of community. Anywho, I did a section on Germany because it was the one place where Walmart had unionized employees because it was part of the deal or something when they bought the other company in Germany. Now as of yesterday they sold all their stores in Germany....coincidence I think not! I'll be honest there were many other problems in Germany too like people there don't like friendly customer service or people bagging your things for you and other chains already had reallylow prices but still I think the union thing played the biggest part. Living wages....why should they have to pay that? haha. Everywhere there has been a union, Walmart has closed!

I went to Betty on Virginia a few weeks back for dinner and didn't love it. But now i went for lunch today and it was amazing. I had the house salad with roasted vegetables and asiago cheese and it was sooo good. Their lunch menu is much more extensive than their dinner menu as well. Anywho, I definetely recommend it for lunch!! Simply delish!

No my title does not refer to Joan Rivers. I was driving home from church and drove by Mang Park (the local like park in Kenmore). The first thing I noticed was that the wood exercise ara is gone. It was like balance beams and bars and stuff. It had pictures with how to do all these different exercises. Why would tihs part be taken down? Well I guess in actuality it was rather dangerous as it was just really high bars that kids tried to swing and hang upside down on. Plus it was all made of wood and full of splinters.

Anywho what I am really wondering is how did the tube slide survive. It is this orange completley closed in tube slide. So like if you get in you cannot see the bottom. This leads to numerous people being at the bottom of the slide when someone flies out and smacks right into them. Or people climbing up the inside and then someone goes down and they all fall. In this age of everything has to be safe and impossible to get injured on I have no idea how this made it. They have removed everything else from the playground that was there in my day, how did this survive? Remember the rolling pin slide where your fingers and sticky skin alwyas got caught in between the roles? That's gone but someone this thing survived. It sticks out like a sore thumb with the new plasticy safe looking equipment cuz it is made of metal and rusty looking.

here is a picture of a similar slide






and here is a kid about to be plowed down by the person coming down the slide without realizing