I spent all day Friday and Saturday working on house stuff. Started with the garage - which is now our personal dump.



The squirrels in the attic also built this crazy insulation nest.


I am getting rid of these skeleton paintings if anyone wants them. I was going to put them on Craig's list but I thought I would mention it here first in case anyone wants them.





I wanted to bring all the junk to the east side transfer station (dump) but they close at 11am on Saturday. It is pretty much impossible to find out their hours on the weekend without driving all the way there on S ogden street. The Buffalo-city site site sucks. I can never find what I am looking for. Try and looking up garbage or dump. Something that it seems a lot of citizens would be interested in. I think they have some info if you search under refuse but then it gives you a phone number (the mayor's hotline) which is only open monday through friday.

So here it is for you on estrip.org - the hours of Buffalo's east side transfer station Monday-Friday 7am-3pm and Saturday 7am-11am.
(e:lilho) and I had to drive there to find out. First ton free, $40/ton after that. It is amazing how many tons of garbage we have had to remove this year. I think more than in my whole life combined.



Then we went to home depot to buy an outdoor furnace/fire pit thing so we could dispose of the huge amount of post october surprise.

While we were there (e:lilho) tried on these large boots.


I can't believe how much waste Boston Market's makes. The plates and silverware are reusable quality plastic.



The side salad takes the cake for refuse.


(e:matthew) dug up the nasty pile of cat shit the previous owners had piled in the back of the yard.



Choxie from target is really amazing chocolate. It is very high quality.




We got this grill from Kmart last year for the housewarming but hadn't opened it until yesterday. First (e:terry) noticed the handle was broken and then that the side was totally dented. It is way to late to return it.



There were so many primitive electronics in the garage. I can't believe how easy they look to fix. Look how big the transistors and capacitors are.




Saw this ridiculous princess bottle at Target. Who buys this. It made me think of (e:mike)

Okay, I don't wish I was a punk rocker and I definitely don't wishg I was born when computers were still scary, but I liked this song. It's funny how they just mix punk rocker and hippie together.

SANDI THOM LYRICS

I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)

[Chorus]
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 and 69 revolution was in the air
I was born too late into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

When the head of state didn't play guitar,
Not everybody drove a car,
When music really mattered and when radio was king,
When accountants didn't have control
And the media couldn't buy your soul
And computers were still scary and we didn't know everything

[Chorus]

When pop-stars still remained a myth
And ignorance could still be bliss
And when God Saved the Queen she turned a whiter shade of pale
When my mom and dad were in their teens
And anarchy was still a dream
And the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail

[Chorus]

When record shops were still on top
And vinyl was all that they stocked
And the super info highway was still drifting out in space
Kids were wearing hand me downs,
And playing games meant kick around
And footballers still had long hair and dirt across their face

[Chorus]

I was born too late to a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

To try and feel a little better about asian stuff I decided to immerse myself.

I ate lunch at Kunis To Go again. I had the Bento box. Seriously, it is the best lunch deal in Buffalo - only $8 for enough food to be full. You get everything in this box plus a miso soup.



On the way back I saw the lady in white. She definitely knew I was taking the picture and posed. I see her almost everyday on main street.


First stop was (e:tina) 's art design show which was very excellent.






Later we ate at Ming Tea Cafe
3268 Main St. (near UB South Campus), Buffalo.
833-6988.

(MAP TO: 3268%20MAIN%20ST)

I had the crustal shrimp. A little dear at $18.00 but it was tasty. They only take cash. When I went to the ATM on main street near there it dispensed the money in $10 increments. I never saw it since the 90s.





(e:lilho) and (e:tina) had the udon noodles with shrimp.


Tha spicy calamari was really good but also expensive at $9.00





Here are some close ups of the anti-war rattle at the bus stop from the last journal. I can't believe (e:lilho) picked it up to shake it.

I hate traveling on public transportation. There I have said it. It's not that I would rather ride a car, it's just I would rather go nowhere or walk everywhere in my neighborhood - which I usually do.

I am also not so good around foreign people which is weird considering how I am one only once removed. It's just that I am a little scarred of arabs on busses and angry looking asian students since the other day.

Maybe I just hate UB and riding the subway to the bus is freakin me out.

Below are some pics from the camera. The can is some weird rice filled rattle that was used to protest the war by asking them to shut down the recruitment center at UB.

I didn't want to sit near it because I thought it was a bomb at first but (e:lilho) rattled it.





At work (e:enknot) and I visited the computer graveyard in order to drop off some CRTs and pick up some flat panels. I was very surprised how many monitors their were.



This woman saw (e:enknot) and I pushing the cart with the monitors on the bottom and the mouse on the top. I think it appeared that we were just using a giant push cart for a mouse.

First a quick shot of (e:matthew) reading a book in the living room while we cooked.



I wish I could say this was a how to cook artichokes video blog but I didn't record the cleaning the artichokes part.

Basically the recipe involves cleaning the artichokes.











Chopping parsley

::Download Flash Video::

Grinding Pepper corns

::Download Flash Video::

Stuffing the artichokes - you might recall the tune I am whistling from a previous journal

::Download Flash Video::

Then you pour olive oil on the artichokes and steam them in a pan for an hour.

Finally you chew the goodness out of them.

::Download Flash Video::

Watch out for the ghost version of (e:lilho)

A US Federal copyright panel upheld a contentious decision on Monday that would increase royalty fees Webcasters must pay to record labels.

Instead of looking at this as bad news for webcasters you could look at it as good news for non-commercial music not on labels, as more webcasters will want to play label free music. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure it just means webcasters will pay more.

How are they going to enforce this on foreign servers?

I am so tired of chasing estrip.com. It all goes back to when it was a Korean photography site back in 2002. I wrote to them to ask for it then but they would never respond. I got this email from contact@estrip.com today.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your interest but we have the domain listed on several premium sites and are holding out for a better offer. I will however keep you on file should our situation change.

Best wishes for the future,

Daniel

I wrote back to ask the how much they are looking for. I can't find the domain name purchase offer anywhere.

First of all, just want to point out that I love Buffalo and I love preserving historical architecture. However, I was reading more about the Central Terminal on the web and I am still not convinced it is worth restoring.

Here is an interesting site on the history of it

Buffalopundit even called it

Buffalo's unofficial convention center

.

Why dwell on a building so far removed from the downtown area and in such bad condition? After attending an event at the "neo convention center" it seems like suburbanites would be much ore likely to flee home to the suburbs than to go out downtown. Especially for some non-city people, downtown would seem downright freakin' scary if that neighborhood (e:paul,38905) was their view of Buffalo.

It seems like it was always too distant to serve downtown.

The New York Central had agreed in 1926 to build an additional Buffalo station to satisfy the city officials who believed that the East Side location was too far uptown to effectively service downtown Buffalo. This promised downtown station was never to be built.

The Environmental Question
How much would it cost not only to rehab it, but to make it hospitable, environmentally sustainable and cost effective in our winter climate. When people talk about how this type of rehab happens all the time in places like San Francisco, they fail to note that it gets to freezing temperatures here most of the year. I am just saying be realistic. According to one of the comments on Buffalopundit's journal

The building was once heated by a separate coal plant behind the terminal that pumped steam heat into the building was torn down in the early 80's.

Even then, would it even change the neighborhood around it. Why would we not invest in things closer to areas that are already succeeding and let it expand from their instead of planting seeds in this distant, broken location.

At the two events I attended there during the last week, I heard so many people say, "Wow, I had no idea it was still so crappy and cold."

What do all you rehabbers propose as a responsible and sustainable heating mechanism in a cement chamber with 100+ foot ceilings in a place where winter is nearly perpetual?

Does anyone think that if the Central Terminal is renovated, that businesses are really going to sprout up all around it and a light rail system will connect it to the city?

The need to be switzerland

I try and remain neutral. On one hand I could be Hitler and have ten fabulous years only to end up killing myself when I realize I killed 50% of the jewish people. On the other I could be Ralph Nader and be a great person who keeps trying to run for president and fails. I would rather be switzerland where they have great chocolate fabulous banks. says (e:lilho)

I just posted three journals, one after the other - so keep reading down the page if you are interested.

On the way home from the central terminal for (e:tina) 's art show (e:paul,38904) I took a picture over like 10 blocks every time my camera was ready This is not a selective or staged picture taking of all the boarded up crappy houses but rather as many shots as I could get on the way from The Central Terminal to downtown.

I can't believe people actually live there - maybe they don't from the looks of it. When did it all start looking like this? Having spend a lot of time in Love Joy as a kid (that's where my dad is from) I never realized what surrounded it until I was an adult. We always took the thruway to get there. I guess I know why.








It's sad how I always think Buffalo is getting better and then I remember that I never leave but about 20% of it to see the rest.








On the way home we stopped on Allen to buy some wine for dinner and I saw these notices on what used to be Second Skin - the building at the end of Allen next to Days Park.

Apparently, the guy who bought it wants to open a restaurant there but the neighbors are fighting him on it. I really don't see why as it is all commercial restaurants and bars there anyways.



I also noticed that Frank's has new management. What kind of bar is it?