Transitions...they sneak up on you. I haven't been writing much of late since maybe summer. I took a new job at the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls and it has been a world changer.

I was feeling reflective mostly about the commute. The work is pretty similar to what I was doing in regards to public relations, marketing and tv and the like, but it's the ride where the world is a little different. I used to tell people that you couldn't play Stairway to Heaven all the way through in the time it took me to get from my apartment to my Zoo office. When your destination is Niagara Falls, it's a different kettle to be sure. I've become one of those people of the 190, and that sometimes great, sometimes a ride, especially in the weather we've had this winter.

On its uneventful days, it's 20 minutes start to finish, not a bad amount, but in this winter that is already available in book form, it sucks. The unrelenting cold has frozen over roads, last week random sections of the 290 went to solid ice. I'm driving a Sportage these days on and on soild ice its fanny wants to shake. There's a message in there somewhere.

I was happy to see the sun today.

Happy Days, EStrip

For the past few years, I've also been working part time on the events staff at the downtown sports arena for all types of stuff, hockey, concerts, wrestling, what have ya. It's a fun venue to people watch

Usherin…got my chips cashed in…

There are some places at certain times where you can get an interesting insight into the human condition, where you can study without being studied. Patrolling the aisles at the local professional lacrosse game the other night was one of those times. I’m a sports fan, but this one doesn’t do it for me. So, I guess that makes me a more attentive usher since the game isn’t distracting me (yeah, we’ll go with that for now.).

Look up in the aisle, it’s Usherman…able to leap tall drink spills in a single bound.

I knew this most recent game was going to be interesting to watch unfold. A promotion had autographed lacrosse balls for sale to raise monies for a worthy cause. A family appeared in my section where the grandfather produced the autographed ball and gave it to his granddaughter, a little moppet of maybe four years old. She accepted the ball and considered it for a moment, duly looked at the signature as her grandfather pointed out, thought for a moment and prompted tossed the ball down to the section beneath ours. This usher? I thought that was funny.

There was the t-shirt gun. I’m convinced it’s the hunt that gets folks going, not the actual trophy. This was confirmed to me as the Bandits‘ mascot brandished a t shirt gun that had some wallop, and turned a few folks near me into searching for “the precious.”

A recent balloon drop had me shaking my head as folks in the upper levels were jumping in the first row of the upper level to catch a balloon that had a coupon inside. Again, the prize was for something not so rare. It’s the hunt that is the thing. But I can’t walk in that first row without getting the proverbial willies.

So, I have to ask, the chance at a not rare souvenir something to take a foolish chance over? I think not, but people forget themselves, and that they are not alone, or at home, or the manners their parents carefully taught them.

It’s priorities, man. I remember a few years ago, my dad and I were heading to see some minor league baseball and there was a giveway that night, I believe a stadium replica in some fashion. One of those little desktop size statues that was produced with the same level of care and detail that the average 4 year old puts into their playdough houses. But again it was the hunt. Folks lined up around the block as there to be one admissions gate where the freebie was going to be distributed. This line snaked by plenty of other ways into the stadium. Dad and I looked at each then sought higher council, as seats, beer and grilled meat in tubular form was decidely more important.

So, yeah, I don’t get too jazzed with the fast food company blimp flies over ahead and drops coupons, because that isn’t worth putting the effort to, well, stand up for, let alone post up to keep somebody else from getting one.

But if that suits ya, have at it, as at least the cost of the seat didn’t rise with ya.

Well, this time

life around the office. closest you can come to tapping a polar bear on the shoulder.

Video production s can be exciting until you've experienced one. On my umpteenth one for work the other day, I got a little bored. Since it was my production, I gave my directions and got out of the way...and took my own pictures.

enjoy





















Yeah, I was away from my desk and didn't mind at all.

Something about this work year made things get tougher. The office goes on a bit of death march beginning in June and it finally ends Wednesday with Wines in the Wild. It's a nice gathering for attendees, but flipping exhausting to pull off, but it's all worth it in the end I suppose.

But in the words of Lily Von Stupe, I'm tired. Missed Ladycroft's visit even though you were literally in my work place which sucks more for me. The Estrip wedding fell on an event day here, so you wonder if Karma is messing with you a little.

But slowly fun is starting to make a reappearance. I reconnected with a friend who I thought I lost and together we got adopted by the staff over at Boomerangs, maybe it might have something to so with sitting on the patio from 5 until 11 on Saturday. We're part of a merry band that is putting together the first Buffalo Dead Fest in Alden in August, which should be a hoot.

Came across this during the morning:

A glass of wine

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine and those who don't and are always seen with a bottle of water in their hand:

As Ben Franklin said:

In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day,
at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli , (E. Coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words , we are consuming 1 kilo of poop annually.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer
(or rum , whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling , filtering and fermenting.

Remember:
Water = Poop
Wine = Health
Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of Shit.

Happy Monday, ya'all

For the uninitiated, to make a little extra cash, I got a gig as an usher at the downtown sports palace (no free ads in my journal). It never fails to be interesting leading up to a given event, but once you get tired of being in the same circle for a given time, the charm leaves quickly.

Given the NHL work stoppage, there hasn't been much going of late, but I got the call to come work for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra shows (I couldn't begin to wonder where a Trans-Siberian shops, maybe in the Village, but I digress). Something stupid, maybe it was my checkbook, said to make myself available to work both shows.

Stupid checkbook.

Unlike (e:metalpeter), I'm not huge fan of the proceedings. I'm sure the players are lovely folks and kudos for giving a buck from every ticket to a charity. All well and good, but this is essentially hair metal for soccer moms. As crowds go, it's a fairly innocuous gathering. I mean, who would "pre-game" for the Transiberian Orchestra? So, you don't have much to worry about breaking up fights or any other type of concert shenanigans.

So, it's a kick to people watch. There are enough pyrotechnics in these shows that I pity any epileptics as it can be a bit seizure inducing. For the first show, I was just to the left hand side of the stage where among the visual treats were a couple in their late fifties doing a rather impressive space dance and an amazing number of folks concerned with recorded portions of the show instead of actually watching the show.

It makes you laugh.

A night out down there isn't cheap. That isn't a knock or a dig, just an observation, and regardless of event, it always startles me a bit to see the amount of time and money spent in not watching the show. The TSO audience could use some ritalin for the amount of time up and down getting snacks and whatnot.

A few folks popped up later in the show, must have been comped tickets. The cheapest seat I saw was in the $50+ dollar range and I know if I'm paying that money, I got my nutritional needs full and watching the flipping show. Maybe I'm jealous of the well-financing, as my dinner break set me back $12.75 for a burger, fries and a coke. I bought a bag of some of my parents' christmas baked goods to snack on and judging from the envious look that got from an fellow usher, I could have made good money peddling nickel bags of my dad's chocolate chip cookies.

For the second show, I was dispatched to the 300s (toward the top of the effin center), where again, it wasn't a whole lot of heavy lifting, just giving directions, pretending to find the jokes about how high the steps are are just hilarious, and watching folks in pursuit of that last beer while the TSO chirps "Merry, Merry Christmas." Hearing that for the second time made me want to heave my little tree out the living room rock star style when I finally made it home. But, I didn't as I bought some cool (or nerdy) ornaments this year.

The one bonus wild card to the first event gig in sometime (thanks, NHL), was the return of Buffalo winter weather. Since it hasn't snowed for real since 2010, I was keeping an eye peeled Wednesday as the weatherdudes called it right. That made me wonder how the roads around the arena would be and how my landlord would be about digging us out.

For once, the train won.

I swear, it wasn't a stick up

Never have I had a monday like I had this past monday. For a couple of years, a colleague of mine and I have had this mostly joking list of the stuff they don't teach you in Marketing/Public Relations/Journalism school.

Gorillagate makes it on to the list.

In case you were under a rock, the male gorilla got out of his cage on Monday. He never strayed more than a few feet away from there, but it was my first instance of being truly scared at work.

One of my reoccuring nightmares here is if an animal got out, then what and since Monday, my mental remote control has being going pretty much nonstop.

As soon as it was clear what was going on, we were dispatched to move people, zoo guests, away and in my place, be the police contact guy. So, I was just outside the gorilla house, keeping anybody who wasn't armed from going in and watching the doors.

Let me tell you, when the ruff lemurs are perturbed, they make a helluva noise, scared the shit out of me. I turned away for a second and they did it again, which caused a coworker to run back to our building. Afraid of what I didn't see, I did too. (Somewhere, there is footage of that embarrassment.)

Thankfully, it ended about as well as something like that could have, and I can remember the inanities of doing laps in my car around Delaware Park driving my boss so she could do live tv with each of the tv stations with a laugh, but it's not everyday Swat comes to call.

It's okay to be a little scared at work, just never thought I actually would be.