Nice escape yesterday. Some of my family took up residence in Ridgeway, Ontario (right near Sherkston) for the past week and I took the day to come play yesterday. Aside from a nasty mosquito issue near the house, the beach was pretty close to perfect. It was a lot of fun to fall in the water, splash wars and even fit myself into a kayak and get back out with bruising my dignity too much, even got enough sun that my farmer's tan from events at work may have disappeared a little bit.





























It was a most satisfactory way to deflower my new passport card. Cherry on the cake of the day was the Duty Free having plenty of Sleeman's Draught in stock.

Just got back from exotic Verona, NY where I manned a booth for the Zoo at a regional travel trade show. Whoever said getting there is half the fun is a butthole. I got some affirmation that I am not a casino guy, as I wandered into to work a little before 8 yesterday and the amount of people at the slots inside the Turning Stone Casino was impressive.

Setup the day before was the bigger deal. The Turning Stone facility is impressive in its vastness. I found the door I thought I needed to go. I asked one of the valets the best route to my exhibit and he did indeed send me to it "Family Circus" style, wandering through all sorts of hallways that I didn't need to be in. At the registration table, they couldn't find me because apparently The Buffalo Zoo was registered under "The." Set up my table all nice and neat and went back to my cheap hotel, "The Inn at Turning Stone," where my reservation was fucked up and I needed my own card which had just enough sitting on it to cover the night. The Inn was right along the highway so it was laden with trucks and other sundry casino driven folks, most of whom were primed to lose what was left of their shirts sometime in the immediate future.

Back to the Turning Stone, where exhibitors got a reception/dinner (Yay! free food), but I had some time so I wandered the shopping mall, tried to understand craps (ain't happening) and generally killed a little time. One of the clubs was a sports bar where I went and had a seat to watch Wolf Blitzer (for a broadcaster, dude says um an awful lot) talk about Ted Kennedy. This is where the Oneidas are genius. They don't or can't serve alcohol publicly. They'll take the money but you can't get a beer to cry into, brilliant! The ultimate screw you. Upon receiving the knowledge, I started to feel like I was Clark Griswald in Vegas vacation.

The private exhibtors reception had a couple saranacs to soothe my gradually ruffling feathers to go along with the nice dinner. Drove back to my Inn, did some email and relaxed a little, and retired for the night.

About an hour later, a thump against the wall from next door. Then another, and another followed by the requisite moaning. A lovely couple was celebrating their casino fortunes with enough vigor that I wanted to have a cigarette. They were not making love, they were performing some serious stress tests for their headboard. Perfect end to a malaprop of a day.

Yesterday, as the show was getting to start after that restless night, I'm prettying up my booth when the guest relations manager wants to know my thoughts on my stay. His mistake, I told him. He handed me a $20 match card for card games, like I was staying after I finished working. Show starting packing up at 2:45. I was on the 90 by 3.

Like most of those gatherings, I'm all set for writing implements now, but was glad to be able to keep an appointment at Pearl Street at 6 last night.

Life in show biz.

Because I'm never too far from my inner twelve year old....



I went down to the marina to watch this come in. I had a meeting after work and stopped by Wegman's on the way home and the long, yet-fast moving dark clouds turned the sky a solid jet black. It reminded me of the old Warner Brothers cartoons when the storm was brewing that the clouds would form an angry face throwing lightening bolts with force.

Marina looked like a whole different world

Took to the fair yesterday with my main man, number one son. Things may occasionally rearrange, but overall the place is pretty timeless. I took a few pictures at the grounds, including that sad tiger and sea lion display. The Zoo employee in me didn't favor that, but we both dug the fried dough nuggets. To avoid the folks headed to the Bills Game, we drove out Milestrip to route 5, where he took over the camera including a "Dad, it's too hot out" self portrait. Here you go (and yes, it is hot enough for me)

For the past six years or so, my former spouse takes our daughters to Michigan Women's Music Festival. The girls bemoan it, but I think secretly that is part of their act. They like the freedom and the time bonding with mom away from the distractions of life. The upside of this for me is (easy jokes aside) that our mighty lad comes and bunks with me while they are gone.

I'm not ashamed to admit it, that is pretty great too. When this first occurred I grumbled a little bit since what vacation time I had got a little boxed in, but since I finally have a good employer, it's been pretty cool too. We get to hang out, relax, get caught up on missing blockbusters, eat a little more junk than usual, and in his words, "work really hard at being lazy."

I had to work a little, so he went to Zoo camp while I was working, but we've been able to have some fun in spite of those hurdles. We were even contemplating a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame jaunt till I realized that it was the Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend and most Cleveland area hotels are beholden to the NFL through Tuesday. That can wait, in the interim, it's Harry Potter, Bodyworlds, a little Pizza, G.I. Joe, the beach, and maybe a little more Pizza.

Pretty great.

My mom-in-law asked if he could come tonight for an overnight to help her with my three year old terror of a nephew, which he accepted. That threw me into something completely unexpected for the week or so: free time.

As pleasant as this time frame is, (we hung out in front of Comfort Zone with root beer and people watching after camp), that is a nice bonus too.

Now, what to do.

--Disgusted by the deal breaking between MSNBC and Fox in regards to Olbermann and O'Reilly. It's been a sore point with me how spineless the media has been in recent years. Now, to find out corporate giants are self-censoring for reasons passing understanding is just demoralizing.

--Did we really need Creed to get back together?

--I've been following the health care debate with some interest and while we are drowning in soundbites, no coherency has made it out to us regular folks. I think I have my pulse on the root of the problem. It's certainly not the health care professionals. I had what turned out to be a minor issue last year and the pros took care of me quickly, but processing the paperwork was huge. The administering is where the problem lies. It's taken me the better part of six months to get things clarified on my kids dental policy. Finally heard the telltale soundings of claims being reprocessed this morning.

--All praises to President Clinton for freeing the reporters in North Korea. Jokes about the plane ride home are almost too easy to make.

--Paula Abdul's departure from American Idol only means there is the increased possibility of her turning up on a show I watch.

--The Buffalo Sabres are officially taking me for granted. I've been a fan forever and not resigning Andrew Peters and Max Afinigenov doesn't feel like a top to bottom review in my book. I'll show them, I'll continue to not be able to afford to go a game. That will teach them.

--This is the third full summer the Holiday Inn on Delaware Ave. stopped doing their pool club. It had to be such easy money. A family could pay $275.00 and swim all you wanted when the pool was open. They stopped, guess the extra income was troublesome. If towels were an issue, they could not supply them, charge a little less and still make out like bandits. Rational thought doesn't apply there either.

--Omar Minaya owes me an apology. Fellow Mets fans will understand. The Bisons are hard to watch, but Paul McCartney was the last guy to have multiple hits at Citifield.

Just watched the "Two Cathedrals" episode of the West Wing. It was one of the best episodes ever. The Emmys should be embarrassed for not recognizing Martin Sheen for that one. "Feckless thug!" Indeed.

Wines in the Wild is a nice party, but the prep work is exasperatingly hard. The 7:30 a.m. arrival to the 11:00 departure was a reminder that I ain't as bullet proof as I used to be. I'm tired still from it and the look of concern my daughter had for my appearance today, had me concerned. It's a little sad that with 50 some vendors of food, the Advil I swallowed was the most necessary.

I really like the Buffalo Bills' new white throwback jerseys. Those are always a money grab, but the throwbacks look so much nicer than the real deal. I'm fighting the urge to spring for one. I worry that it is a stupid thing to want and that I'm too old to be wearing the shirt of somebody half my age, but dammit, those are actually pretty cool.

Why do people think if they stand in the street staring in the direction of the bus think that that will make the bus appear that much quicker?

Is it possible to have too much pizza in a week? Right now, I don't think I care. Tomorrow, I require a vegetable.

Ran two events simultaneously today, feeling the side effects, years that belong tom somebody else. My knees are calling me names and who knew they had such potty mouths.

Sitting with a beer in hand, watching the Incredibles, munching on pizza with my son was the most blissful I felt all week.

If you get a chance, check out Great Performances this week. It is celebrating Pete Seeger with a birthday party attending by some of the best in American music from the past 60 years. Worth the investment and the inevitable pledge breaks.

And Hook and Ladder Golden Ale is tasty stuff, worth the money at Wegmans

Spent some time in the Tiger House at the Zoo yesterday while a local artist did some line drawings for a future promotion. It's funny what the animals fixate on. One of my colleagues had a water bottle that she crunched a little and the noise it made cause of the lions who was OUTSIDE fill the window to voice his displeasure.

I stayed benignly over with the mom and kid tigers who were using the entire tiger side of the building looking for places to take that perfect nap. I think I can relate. It still makes me a little nervous to be in there, but privileged at the same time.

Took a few untouched pics of the experience. I got to be just a few feet away. This is indeed a cool gig

But they're funny

I made the trek to Thursday in the Square for the first and probably only time this year last week for George Clinton and Parliment/Funkadelic. This had been one of the more stressful work weeks in recent memory. A few things went right Thursday. I signed a couple sponsors for the Zoo, and thought I deserved to kick back a little. A few years ago, the geniuses at Buffalo Place, in an effort to sell more stuff, made the TATS concerts all ages. That resulted in some folks being there for the music, but more were there to say they were there. That is an affliction with many Darien Lake shows in my memory.

Nice part about the Clinton show is that it kept the posers to a minimum. The inherent groovyness of a P/Funk show brought more folks down for the music. There were a lot of folks who thought those outdoor chairs had a place. It was a great vibe. It was very crowded, but people were very respectful and careful, looking out for one another. This doesn't happen at your typical Thursday in the Square program. Nice to see. After strolling to get a good view for "Flashlight" and "We Got the Funk," I was a happy guy, thinking fondly of how I used to get my son pumped up for school by "We Want the Bus, gotta catch that bus." I think they played for almost 3 1/2 hours, but around 8, I had my fill.

I walked down a little down by the M&T building and grabbed a snack from one of the vendors, where I had a great view of old artvoice banner featuring Steve Christie that is hanging from the former Bon-Ton store. He last played for the Bills in the late 90s, so the banner has been sitting up there for a decade plus, which is good guess as to how long it has been since the store had any kind of tenant. Taylor's? what folly. You look a little to your left and gaze full into the depression that is Main Place Mall. One of the windows even had a cynically placed "Good Bye" in their window from the last merchant to close there.

Renewed optimism and intense fatalism within a few hundred feet of one another. There have been a few prospects for the Bon-Ton store. One of the charter schools was interested in the building, until the then Masiello administration kaboshed that, scared that that might actually bring people downtown, admittedly little people, but they are usually driven by bigger people. I think the mayor was holding out for another terrific project like our thriving Bass Pro store due to open half past not bloody likely.

Perhaps Buffalo Place and the Mall owner should get together a little more, because whatever the existing plan might be, that stuff ain't working. You'd think some restaurant type would be interesting in even making some summer bucks off that long patio that works around the south end of the building.

They keep waiting for some magic bullet, one big project to make all the difference, while the bicycle ice cream dude gets persecuted for waiting to sell me a dreamcicle. Look at Elmwood, Hertel and select sections of Main St. It's the little things that flower into big things. Making the smaller tasks easier to do can add up to the big projects. I don't want to live next to Bass Pro, but it is nice to know I can walk to Zillycakes.