My car was so grey with road salt that I took it for a bath last night. The Delta Sonic on Delaware didn't have much of a line, so I slid right in. Didn't pay much attention but the "Superkiss" took out a sticker I had on my rear window that looked like a hockey puck was about to break the glass. That wasn't a great loss, but the cleaning knocked my estrip sticker off the back of the car and into superkiss oblivion. Guess I know now the limitations of the magnet on the back of the sticker. Least, the car is its more normal red for the moment.

I'm taking a class this week to learn a new billing program that Time Warner will be using, It's a nice breather from the usual routine, different building and all. Twas a little weird to drive home in the midst of the storm hysteria. The Wegmans lot on Walden was jammed. I needed some stuff and held off until I got back to our Wegmans where it was flooded with shoppers who assume the sky is falling. My class teacher is from Atlanta so I can't help but wonder if he is in for a show or if all the weatherforecasters are just panicking for the sake of viewers. During one of his drier parts of his presentation, I spent my gift card online for a proper laptop -- should be cool.

Thanks again for the estrip birthday wishes, the hullabaloo came to end finally on Sunday when the kids and I trekked out to the parents house for much reverlry (okay, dinner and cake), but it felt good to be a little spoiled. Kids and their mom took me to breakfast at Betty's on Saturday. Nothing like a 5 day Mikestock to pick you up.

One little footnote, (e:dragonlady) rocked the rink saturday night. Tje rollerderby was a hoot, with (e:zobar) looking on like the proud dad. Next match whenever it is should be a (e:strip) field trip, chicks and skates and beer and crashes! That was truly entertainment.

As soon as I finish reading the directions, I can mobile post from my new camera. I'm 30 for the 13th time, getting good at it.

Fuck, I'm getting up there. Good thing I still got the looks (Shaddup!)

For awhile now, I've been lusting after Samsung's version of the Razor phone. I've had Samsung phones for awhile and have been pretty happy with them as phones. Being a little crumudgeonly (shaddup) I been pleased with how they do has phones. Sprint being high performing jerks won't give any deals to any existing customers. What's a boy to do but to turn to ebay, where I've purchased previous phones. I got a good price on the "razor" and sent off a money order. Today I was checking on a couple of other things in "My Ebay" and noticed that my phone vendor is no longer registered as a user. Serves me right.

Hope he gets mugged taking my mo to the bank.

In other news, I was doing a little research at work today and thought I'd pass along a little bon mot to any of you folks who get your tv/internet from Time Warner. The Customer I was talking about had a "Silver Advantage" pak. This was set up under Adelphia. Whenever anybody changes anything, we're supposed to get them into Time Warner pricing. I discovered that if you put the Silver Advantage customer into Time Warner pricing, the customer doesn't lost any channels, the internet costs go down and the tv goes down about $9.00-$10.00 a month. Not a big amount, but hell, that's a decent bottle of wine (A much better way to spend money). If you got Silver or Bronze from Adelphia, shoot me a post-it or sumthin.

I did get the wine I wrote about in a previous post, 12 bottles of Mcwilliams Australian vino. For free, it's pretty damn good. I got the wooden case (nice touch) out to the car. I popped open a saval blanc open for this post and it's quite tasty. Being a good guy, I gave 3 bottle to the ex and there is still a line to get into my excuse for a wine rack. That is never a bad thing.

On the subject of booze however, my boss came up to me as I was leaving and asked if I could help her out. Turned out there a guy dead to the world in our lobby. Dude had two empty bottles of St. Ives at his feet. No telling how long he had been there. She tried talking to him and you could hear his eyes roll as he went right back to sleep. Cops from next door came and took him to some place to sleep it off. By this time, the cleaning crew arrived. I couldn't help but laugh a little as the crew chief told one of his people to "be sure and clean that chair reaaaal good."

Got an early birthday present today as well. Bagged a $1000 gift card to Circuit City. I'm thinking 43 will be my HD birthday! Wrinkles be damned. The xbox 360 will look so much nicer with the compatible HD set. Good times.

Stay warm ya'all

69 confession questions

1. The phone rings. Who do you want it to be?
Someone calling me for work.

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart?
all of the time. I used to do cart retrieval when I worked at Bells Markets. I feel their pain.

3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener?
listener.

4. Do you take compliments well?
like a pro

5. Do you play Sudoku?
Don't know how

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive?
lord no, I'd get eaten by a bear or something on the first day

8. Did you ever go to camp as a kid?
Boy scout camp, .

9. What was your favorite game as a kid?
Life. I think it the spinner that set it apart

10. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was married, would you?
no.

12. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you?
I have, and no big whoop.

13. Do you like to pursue or be pursued?
Depends on the "Hunt"

14. Use three words to describe yourself?
interesting, intelligent, incisive

15. Do any songs make you cry?
Real World by Bruce Springsteen

16. Are you continuing your education?
always.

17. Do you know how to shoot a gun?
Yes

18. If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you grabbed?
My brother's old toy chimes

19. How often do you read books?
Constantly, night stand is top heavy

20. Do you think more about the past, present or future?
the present

21. What is your favorite children's book?
"Goodnight Opus" by Berke Breathed

22. What color are your eyes?
Blue (mostly)

23. How tall are you?
6"3

24. Where is your dream house located?
Standlin Point, Ontario.

25. Best vacay ever?
NYC '89

26. Coolest picture?
of me?? still lookin

27. Have you ever taken pictures in a photo booth
Yes, every time it's actually working at Frizzy's.

28. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden?
Wow, I can't even answer that...early 2006?

29. How about the movies?
The Departed, a few weeks ago at the Market Arcade

30. Where was the furthest place you traveled today?
Home to my son's gym -- interesting trip today

32. Do you like mustard?
Yes

33. Do you prefer to sleep or eat?
sleep...

34. Do you look like your mom or dad?
Put Mom's face on Dad's skull

35. How long does it take you in the shower?
8 minutes. Exactly.

36. Can you do a split?
Not without making a decidely girlish noise

37. What movie do you want to see right now?
Not sure. On Demand is working better than the theater at the moment

39. What did you do for New Year's?
Beheld the wonder that is a party at PMT's

40. Do you think The Grudge was scary?
No

41. Do you laugh a lot?
All the time. My laugh is one of my favorite parts of me.

42. Do you own a camera phone?
No, I did, but it died with my last plant

44. Was your mom a cheerleader?
No

45. What's the last letter of your middle name?
N

46. how many hours of sleep do you get a night?
5ish...wish it was 8ish

47. Do you watch MTV?
I like the MTV HD channel, they show videos

48. Do you like care bears?
No

49. What do you buy at the movies?
Popcorn at the Market Arcade. Regal, not so sure

50. Do you know how to play poker?
yes I do.

51. Do you wear your seatbelt?
All the time, except in the backseat.

52. What do you wear to sleep?
whatever I fall asleep wearing.

53. Anything big ever happen in your hometown?
The Joan Diver stuff was about a mile from my folks house

54. How many meals do you eat a day?
4

55. Is your tongue pierced?
no

56. Do you always read MySpace bulletins?
no

57. Most visited webpage?
estrip.org

58. Do you like funny or serious people better?
a little of both

59. Ever been to L.A.?
I have. It's a disappointment. San Diego was so much nicer

60. Did you eat a cookie today?
Yes, and now I want more

61. Do you use cuss words in other languages?
The Gaelic ones

62. Do you steal or pay for your music downloads?
I'm a good boy these days

63. Do you hate chocolate?
I prefer dark chocolate. Nothing can touch a dark chocolate areo bar.

64. What do you and your parents fight about the most?
They're pretty quiet these days

65. Are you a gullible person?
I guess, maybe, I dunno. What do you think

66. Do you need a boyfriend/girlfriend to be happy?
No, but a crush would be nice. been awhile

67. If you could have any job (assuming you have the skills) what would it be?
Master brewer

68. Are you easy to get along with?
absolutely.

69. What is your favorite time of day?
5:31 pm. I can be me then

Another work related rant, dear reader, bear with me....

I thought my previous position here in the land of cable fun was coming back. Turns out that was not the case. I won a sales contest which while pleasant isn't the big fun I had in mind. The great gawds at TW have another position that is similar to what I was doing before with a heavy concentration on web development, some ad work and some glad handing, which I do fairly well (appearances at estrip parties to the contrary). So, we shall see. I've got a circuit city shopping spree in my future which being a gadget freak should do well toward feeding my inner geek, but I'd really like to professionally wake up my brain soon.

Morale is low at yonder work place. The jobs of about 8 people were placed into question in my office so gallow humor does appear to be the order of the day.

In other news, my dad-in-law is sprung from the Hospital and comfortably at home which is all kinds of cool. So, I'm done with the Roswell beat for the time being (However, anytime you want to do coffee, (e:Imk) , I'm always down for convo and java (or other beverages, for that matter)).

Just answered my 15th letter about all the channels I'm taking so I thought I'd take a breather.

Today's snow is my fault. I left any headgear at home. I think there is a direct relationship. If I had the hat of any kind, it would be 35 and sunny.

I'm almost done being 42, I get older still on thursday. I'd saying my age was the answer to the ultimate question (see Hitchhiker's), but 43 does have a nice ring to it. Get to meet my Dad at Delaware Camera mart on Wednesday to pick out the rents present. The surprise factor ain't there, but who cares at this age.

I might go see Leon Redbone at the Tralf on the day in question for a lark.

Stay warm folks. I'm kid free tomorrow night, but it's chilly for long road to nowhere. Might cowardly open a bottle of something with whatever's new on On Demand.

"Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow!"

Being a native and having a few miles on me, I wish I could get excited about the 30th birthday of the Blizzard of 77. It was impressive. I made $80.00 moving snow, which was pretty great in 70's dollars. We got eight days off from school, which was really cool until 7th grade lasted until almost the 4th of July. It was indeed eight feet of snow that never seemed to stop moving for very long. The news footage told no lies. I remember being barely able to get out the back door to start moving snow. I also remember having the first multiroom snow duplex that I could remember. A friend of mine and I built a slide to get to the first floor from the second.

Without trying to sound crumudgeonly, it made the October storm like nothing. My dad's fourth trip out to snowblow our driveway after the winds died down had my mom wanted me to go out and help "your father." I was watching tv at the time and knowing my dad's tendencies looked at my mom and said "I am."

She still isn't clear if I was being factual or mouthing off. Maybe a little of both.

In other news, Number One son partook in the "Kick for Life" at Buff State on Saturday. He goes to the Tae Kwon Do studio who sponsored and I am the proud owner for 8 former boards that he turned into 16. The 9th proved tough as he was running out of ideas as to how to smash them. An overhead blow sealed his day of destructive fund raising. And dear peeps, I can tell you I nailed one. His teacher said "let's see if your Dad can nail one." Popped it in two with one shot my friends. Beware the old peeps, friends, we might surprise ya!

Played some ice hockey for the first time in a looooong time last night and did okay, however, it's almost 23 hours later and my knees still aren't speaking to me.

Dad-in-law made it through his surgery okay and should be stepping on how later this week. Pathology checked in this afternoon with all the right news so here's to good vibes. I took my younger two to go see grandpa on saturday and they were both a little afraid as we walked into the main doorway at Roswell, but one scabble tourney later had a blast with the old man in the strange surroundings, did him some good too I'm sure.

Blowing off work for the Sabres game tomorrow night. Sneaking out an hour early for some fun will be pretty cool. Hopefully, I'll have some news soon on what I'l be sneaking out of.

Stay warm, peeps.

I am growing weary of panicky weatherforecasters. At sometime every winter, we go through a stretch of weather like we've got now. Yet, the local weather dweebs broadcast like the apocalypse is coming. It's Buffalo and January - never a great combo. Just chill, ya nut jobs.

My dad-in-law underwent surgery at Roswell Peep yesterday and all signs are good. They better be after all the harvesting that went on. He's still pretty loopy so I didn't linger today. The robotic surgery was a phenomenon that I had an interesting time getting a hold of. Joystick medicine but it seemed to work out okay.

I've already put in resume with Labatt USA - That they are coming does have many upsides including the fact that the local city government didn't whore themselves out to have it happen. Hell, I'm qualified having been quite familar with the product over the years.

Phew, laundry night, just huffed and puffed back up three flights of stairs. A Pot Pie in the oven. Is there anything that says comfort food like a well done pot pie?

It seems like most of my colleagues are in varying states of ill. I haven't gotten any of the bugs yet, but haven't been right on top of it either. Bush put me to sleep without really working at it. As a result, I'm getting hooked on Cold-Eez. Hopefully that will stiff arm anything else.

Got to get stuff done in time to watch and write about Grey's

And how was your week?

Nothing official, but it was strongly hinted to me that me and my old posting in cable land are about to be reunited. Hafta wake up that section of my brain again. whoo-hoo!

So, Hillary's in. Obama's in, Richardson's in, Edwards is in and a really obscure Republican. If the respective fields can have debate for the future instead of arguing the past, that would be a positive thing. This is going to be really long process where Hillary will have to hear about 1993 Health reform failures, Edwards and Obama will have to hear about their lack of experience for being President. Who the hell has that exactly? Joe Biden from Massachusetts has been in the Senate for over 20 years and he's no more experienced at being President than Obama.

I like Obama. He finds his own opinions and keeps them. He is going to be the frontrunner in 2012. The country is a very polarized place and he ain't gonna snag it the first time out. In the words of my favorite recent president (Bartlet), "You surround yourself with smart people." He adopts that he'd be fine. I like him because he is actually saying something. I'm not sure I agree with it all, but it's good to see that there is some substance once the media gets done with the first African American candidate novelty. Hillary has the star power, but she too is pretty polarizing. It's gonna be a long haul. Pace yourself, candidates.

Elsewhere, Number 1 son and I repaired to Cold Stone on saturday night for some desert and saw four fools wearing the bluetooth earpieces. Nobody looks suave with those things. I understand handsfree while you're driving, but good gawd, it's both pretentious and lazy to need to get the cell phone call so urgently with the scratch of the ear. And that ain't worth looking like Lt. Uhura, and not in the good way, if you know what I mean. I'd feel obligated to answer after making such an investing in falsely urgent yet dorklike techology.

I like to pair a few of these folks off so they at least look like they are enjoying human interaction.

I'm pretty sure the poor ventilation in my office is going to be the death of me. You feel good going in, feel light headed there and good on the way out. My desk is in a "room" partitioned off from another and the circulation literally blows. As a result, I'm looking for excuses to walk around, with a purpose, you know, the confident wave and a clipboard sort of strut.

It's almost the end of January and I finally took the box of xmas decor back to the basement. No sense rushing.

The kids had a good hoot at my expense. My Dad was quite the taker of Kodak Slides when we were growing up. He was showing a few, from mid 70's occasions. If he gets the slide of me at my six grade graduation completed, I'll post it. Considering it's from 76, you will buy a used car from me.

Fuck, I'm getting older. (e:Paul) 's birthday reminded me of my own in 2 weeks when I celebrate turning 30 for the 13th time, a fact compounded by the email I got about my upcoming high school reunion. Will the people who treated me like shit be worth being around that many years later? I doubt it.

The deal with Sinclair broadcasting is done. Time Warner and Sinclair got their respective shit together so Homer, Jack Bauer, et al. are all staying put. This was a nationwide thing. Los Angeles was sweating losing their ABC affiliate. The whole thing was that Sinclair didn't like the existing arrangement. That being we put Fox and My TV commercials on the cable channels like we do for 2,4, and 7. Their argument being that since more people watch 24 than watch Trading Spaces, the cable company should pay a fee since a fee gets paid to TLC for Trading Spaces. This whole scenario was playing out in all the former Adelphia areas, but it's done now. And the clerk at Spot who saw my Time Warner dog tags yesterday can now shut his pie-hole.

Elsewhere, I was running some errands before work yesterday and saw the moving trucks in front of the Albright Knox yesterday. Couldn't tell if they were moving out or in, but the whole thing is troublesome. What the gallery is giving up ain't coming back. Is what is coming that valuable that a priceless collection needs forever compromised? I don't think so. You could make the argument that if the operating budget couldn't permit the purchases, maybe they shouldn't be buying. Guess that makes too much sense.

Hope all the snowbirds are happy. Side effect of the late starting snow is that all the plow guys are too. I took my car for an oil change yesterday at the Valvoline place on Delaware and nearly didn't make it. The entrance has a pretty steep incline and I had to slalom my way up to make the garage door without falling back to Delaware.

Domestic responsibilities made it impossible to get to the party, but Happy Birthday anyhoo (e:Paul) . Hope a grand time was had.

I've yet to meet (e:joshua) in person but I trust his beer judgement implicitly. Got some Tetley's from TOPS and it rocks.