"My Letter to the Mayor" written by Paul on estrip.org

10/13/08 10:48 - 62ºF - ID#46082

My Letter to the Mayor

The corner of Franklin and Linwood by my house is ridiculously dangerous. Its so weird that intersection is in the middle of a city, does not even have a sidewalk on the southside. You guys who have walked downtown from our house have all seen how crazy that corner is, especially at nighttime. I wonder when they decided to make the street curvy like that. Both sides Franklin and North Pearl are curvy.

Dear Sir,
I am writing to express my concern for the safety of pedestrians at the corner of North and Franklin. I own the house at 24 Linwood, the first house on Linwood after the intsersection and have witnessed many near accidents as pedestrians, including myself, attempt to cross the street. The southside next to the park is especially dangerous because it does not even have a sidewalk. It is so strange, right in the middle of the city, to have a busy intersection with no sidewalk and just a dirt path along a stretch of it. When you add to the mix the extreme traffic from rush hour or that many drunken drivers head home from Allentown and Downtown bars via Franklin->Linwood, the confusing corner becomes even more of a danger.

I encourage you to please include the final stage of funding for the Franklin, North, Linwood Intersection project in the 2009 Capital Budget.

Thank you for your time,
Paul Visco

Permalink: My_Letter_to_the_Mayor.html
Words: 239
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/11/08 09:44 - ID#46069

Bathtub

I freakin love the bathtub in the back bathroom but I hate the shower
connector faucet. It is so relaxing to take a bath. If you javent
taken one in a long time, you should try it. The heigt of our tub
gives you that wild west bathing in a bath bucket feeling.

So back to the faucet. It's an ugly, dripping piece of crap. I
stopped at home depot and bargain outlet to try and find a nicer
replacement but neither sells bathtub facets sans shower. At home
depot the guy acted like I was crazy to even ask. I guess no one has
just rubs minus shower anymore.

The rejuvination catalog has fancy ones but they are like $300-700+
and I want to spend like $100.

iriesara writes at 01:24:33 10/13/08 - Comment #40153: I had a cold this past weekend, and took THE BEST bath. I set my humidifier up in the bathroom, and let the room all fill up with steam while the bathtub slowly filled up with VERY hot water. It was so hot it took me like 5 minutes to be able to fully immerse myself. Laid back, snorted some good steam, and sipped a strong hot toddy....I felt like a whole new person!

matthew writes at 12:15:40 10/13/08 - Comment #40136: it's not a claw footed tub, it has a skirt. But it is free standing. I'm embarrassd to say that I've lived in the house two years now and I still haven't used that bathroom tub.

james writes at 11:36:12 10/13/08 - Comment #40133: When winter comes there is nothing better than a hot bath, a book, a tall glass of whiskey and sinking into oblivion.

johnallen writes at 01:42:31 10/13/08 - Comment #40121: Hello Legs. You should try Seneca Plumbing on the corner of Seneca and Michigan. I get the stuff for church that i can't find anywhere else from there. In the rariety you can't find something old there, I've had luck with Buffalo Re-Use too. (think I got the name right)

theecarey writes at 05:03:25 10/12/08 - Comment #40114: This picture/post reminded me of one from back when you lived at 444, where you took a picture of yourself sitting in a tiny little tote box placed in the bathtub. You now seem all so grown up to me in your big-boy claw foot bathtub, lol. (which I miss, baths are so not cool in anything else)

metalpeter writes at 11:29:52 10/12/08 - Comment #40112: The first part of the journal sounds like you are inviting people to take a bath in your tub. I know that isn't what you mean. From the tittle I sure thought there was going to be the showing of someones junk in this post. I know baths are supposed to be comfy but that doesn't look that way. Yes they are more relaxing then a shower however unless you do the lots and lots of bubbles then you sit in the dirty water. But if someone takes a bubble bath don't they then have to get clean and get all the bubbles off of them. In terms of the romance part I think sharing a shower is more about lust and sharing a bath is more about romance.

libertad writes at 12:37:58 10/12/08 - Comment #40107: I forgot to say I have the same type of claw-foot tub and they are awesome.

libertad writes at 12:37:14 10/12/08 - Comment #40106: I take so many baths now. I really do love it.

tinypliny writes at 09:50:49 10/11/08 - Comment #40101: I find it hilarious right now that you take your phone whereever you go. :)

Permalink: Bathtub.html
Words: 132
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/11/08 09:18 - ID#46068

Pretty Yellow flowers

I had no idea that these plain grey looking leaves would make such
pretty yellow flowers in our garden.

Permalink: Pretty_Yellow_flowers.html
Words: 23
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: housing

10/11/08 06:35 - 70ºF - ID#46065

Housing Costs in Buffalo?

I am so confused about the housing market. My friend bought a house of the lower west side for $137,000 that was like $20,000 last year before it "got its hair did". I thought those flip days were over.

I thought housing prices were slipping. Then I was looking at Zillow to see if our house's estimated value had change. In fact it had. The value went up a lot. Our house is now estimated at $279,000 a good $100,000 more than we bought it for. I guess that was a good investment. I mean I put some money in, but nothing like that. Imagine if it had a new exterior paint job and new roof. I don't think this value will hold when the depression starts but I really have no interest in selling or moving. Its proximity to my job is worth well over $100,000 - especially over a lifetime in travel costs saved.

The creepy part is how did they know we went form 3 bathrooms to 2 bathrooms. I used to say 3.

drew writes at 10:28:21 10/11/08 - Comment #40102: same thing with my house. I hope it's true.

fing writes at 07:58:34 10/11/08 - Comment #40089: I did the same an our house went up almost exactly 100,000. I don't think that is right if you ask me. I would not pay that much for my house. Granted I love my house but there is some updates that need to be done to bring it to that leve. However, if anyone wants to offer me that much I would take it. I have heard many people talk about how the Northeast in general has not been effected by the housing market like California etc. I think because in so many places the houses were over valued. We have been in our house almost 2 and a half years. 100 K in 2.5 years is not bad ;)

metalpeter writes at 07:06:48 10/11/08 - Comment #40085: I thought that when ever you did work like removing a bathroom there was some kind of permit you had to fill out or something along those lines so if you did that it might explain it. Also since your house was in a tour maybe the tour people pass that information on to someone else not sure. I didn't know there was a 3rd bathroom I knew about the one with the two doors, it might be a good idea for the next party to point out where the 3rd one is, wait I did use it once but now can't remember where it is, interesting.

tiburon1724 writes at 07:04:35 10/11/08 - Comment #40084: Something's not right about Zillow, it estimates my house at $145,000 when I bought it in March for $120k. So in 7 months it increased $25,000?

tinypliny writes at 06:39:30 10/11/08 - Comment #40081: Maybe they didn't know about the 3rd bathroom, or maybe you are being spied on...

Erm.. that is disconcerting.

james writes at 06:38:17 10/11/08 - Comment #40080: Buffalo was probably insulated from the housing crisis because the value of homes is so incredibly low. No one is taking out a 300k loan to buy a house in this town.

Permalink: Housing_Costs_in_Buffalo_.html
Words: 171
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/11/08 06:09 - ID#46064

Shove a sponge in it?

Okay, I totally don't know anything about women's menstrual cycles but
putting sea sponges up there seems crazy. I mean, I get that dioxin
is bad and tampons are bad. That unbleached cotton is safer and that
you probably should try and not lose a multitude of tampons up there,
like one of my friends - you know who you are. But this borders on
totally strange to me and they are $15. Maybe you just rinse and
repeat.

Then again, I was in the feelrite buying ear candles- so maybe it's
not that strange.

tinypliny writes at 09:47:46 10/11/08 - Comment #40100: More evidence-based-medicine: :::link:::
Please let me know if you'd like to read the complete article!

tinypliny writes at 09:34:26 10/11/08 - Comment #40098: Thanks for sharing, (e:dragonlady). I will keep that in mind and might switch when the guilt becomes unbearable.
Blood is not revolting or even disturbing to me at all.

As for ear candles. PLEASE RETURN THEM!!! They are clinically not efficacious, and in fact injurious.
:::link::: I was so grossed out by the sponges that I totally missed that you bought them!!

If you want to get earwax out, try and get eardrops/oil and drop them into your ear for a week or so (a few drops daily). This will soften the wax up. Then get a syringing appointment at the ENT clinic. Syringing is a process by which a fine spray of sterile water is pointed into the ear and pushes out the softened wax.

More tips for ear-health:
PLEASE get rid of all your earbuds. They are the NUMBER #1 reason for impacted wax and do more harm and no good at all. They push ear wax deeper into the ear. The ear has a natural conveyor belt like assembly whereby ear wax is naturally circulated outward from the tympanic membrane into the external ear canal. The best way to clean your ears is by swishing your finger gently around your external ear while you are showering. Poking and using earbuds are the reason 50K Americans report to the ENT clinic with impacted wax every year. I cannot reiterate this enough. Get rid of the ear candles and the earbuds. Both are evil little implements of ear ruin. :(

dragonlady7 writes at 09:04:36 10/11/08 - Comment #40093: Sea sponges!!!! Weird.
Since you brought it up...
I do use the natural rubber version of the silicone cup (e:leetee) was talking about. I've used it two years now. it's actually really great. And I generate absolutely zero waste (I dunno about you, tinypliny, but I used to use a hell of a lot more than 4 pads in a month-- I bleed for a solid week! Maybe I'm just a freak. I am a much bigger person than you are, so that might make sense that I would generate a lot more volume-- but that might not be science, so don't quote me). You can even do the opposite of generating waste, and dump the blood out of the cups into your compost bucket, or dilute it with water 4:1 to use immediately as fertilizer for houseplants. It's organic! It's nutrient-dense! It's clean!
It's amazing how much cleaner and less disgusting all that mess seems when it's not in a grody bleached paper and plastic thing in your manky underwear. When it's just blood, it's totally not gross or nasty or smelly at all anymore-- it's just blood. And blood isn't particularly gross. Slightly disturbing, but not really gross.

But a sea sponge seems totally nasty. I would not shove anything like that up there. Also, I am fairly certain that would leak like anything. Rubber at least is hygeinic-- you can wash it in hot water and vinegar or soap. The silicone ones, you can boil. That makes sense to me. They don't get stained, they don't get stinky, they're waterproof and don't leak.

So yeah, wow, ew.

Are ear candles any good??? I read somewhere that they were a crock and dangerous and didn't work and whatever, but I don't remember where I read it so I have no idea whether it was just some idiot saying that.

tinypliny writes at 06:31:45 10/11/08 - Comment #40077: I am not sure I would like to shove anything in, including tampons. :/ I think pads are a hygienic and non-invasive way to go. I know they create a lot of waste etc. But it's a matter of hygiene and good health and I cannot short-change that aspect. I briefly considered those silicone cups that (e:leetee) recommended, but was freaked out by the idea. To compensate and not feel overtly guilty about creating a waste of about 4 pads/month or 48/year, I try and cut down all the other solid/plastic/non-biodegrable waste from my household as much as I can. :(

Permalink: Shove_a_sponge_in_it_.html
Words: 99
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: programming

10/11/08 02:38 - 48ºF - ID#46055

Surebert Flash Player 10 Uploads Fixed

Well, after working like 24 hours staright, I have upgraded surebert toolkit a bunch and released a flash player 10 compliant javascript accessible multi file upload way ahead of everyone else

. I have to hurry an intergrate it into all my projects before people start moving en massse to flash player ten and no one can upload multifiles anymore.

I am much happier with the new version and I learned a lot. Like how much MXML application suck for tiny things. The smallest I could get it as an MXML application was about 150k which is so freakin lame considering it is just a bttton. I didn't even think to look at the size until I was done and I was so pissed. There was no way I was going to add a 150k button to pages.

So I scapped where I was at and build one form scratch as and Actionscript 3 project in Flex and used the flash drawing API to draw the button states etc. Its nice with an actionscript project you can really get the project size so tiny. I ended up managing to get it all under 10K which is a lot more reasonable. You can style everything bou tthe button from javascript and all the event handlers are the same as the old surebert multifile uploader ones so implementation should be easy. I commented the javascript API but no so much the flex code. The Javascript is here

and assumes you are using the surebert toolkit although you could adapt it to run on anything else. Anyways, the flex code is here if you are interested

paul writes at 12:59:24 10/11/08 - Comment #40068: Oh ya, I realized that. I use that technique for the Flex embedded apps on the intranet I am developing but this upload button is only a button and should not require anything beside sthe code required for the upload which is like 5k. I am much happier with the Actionscript version as even though I was limiting what I was loading by very specific, it seemed like the smalled Flex MXML based app I could get was like 150k.

zobar writes at 12:48:38 10/11/08 - Comment #40067: You can make smaller Flex apps if you use --static-link-runtime-shared-libraries=false. It's a tradeoff- the user's first download ever will be much larger, since they'll need to fetch the entire Flex library [~500k] in addition to your program code. [Whereas if you statically link, you get the program code plus only the parts of the library they use.] But subsequent requests for Flex apps that link against the same framework version, regardless of which domain they're from, will be much faster since they'll only have to download the program code. The library is stored in a special Flash cache separate from the browser cache, so it's very rare that they'd need to download it again.

:::link:::
:::link:::

- Z

jim writes at 10:22:57 10/11/08 - Comment #40065: My Flash was probably messed up from have half a dozen beta's of various adobe products and sdk's installed.

paul writes at 10:17:32 10/11/08 - Comment #40064: Thanks god, I was surprised because I developed it on the mac and tested safari, IE, and firefox. I was ready to kill myself if it didn't work. I have spent so much time on this crap after Adobe made they decision to not allow for FileReference.browse to be called from a non flash interface. I am still mad at them.

jim writes at 10:13:58 10/11/08 - Comment #40063: I reinstalled Flash (same version as in my last comment) and the problem went away. So nevermind :)

jim writes at 10:03:48 10/11/08 - Comment #40062: I'm having trouble uploading images with either Safari or Firefox, with version: MAC 9,0,124,0

If I click on the upload multiple images button, I get the spinning beachball and then am forced to quit out of the browser after a few minutes of no activity.

I'll try updating flash and seeing if that fixes it.

tinypliny writes at 09:00:15 10/11/08 - Comment #40055: I tried it out. Very cool! :) I left you something on the surebert site. :D

Permalink: Surebert_Flash_Player_10_Uploads_Fixed.html
Words: 295
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: religion

10/10/08 11:43 - 52ºF - ID#46054

Religulous

I went with (e:imk2) and faben to go see Religulous. It wasn't that exciting because I share mostly the same views and there was little new information. I think for some people it would be more interesting.

The only thing that kind of shocked me was that the Jesus story isn't unique. Apparently, it is also the same store as Horus

and some other previous god-men.

In the end, the movie just confirmed my belief that I am terrified of muslims and christians alike and that jews are also scary but there aren't a lot of them - so not so much. Who knew there were so few of them? I guess there are a lot more if you count the christians as religious decendents.

According to the Jewish Agency, as of 2007 there were 13.2 million Jews worldwide; 5.3 million in Israel, 5.3 million in the United States, and the remainder distributed in communities of varying sizes around the world; this represents 0.2% of the current estimated world population.

james writes at 04:07:06 10/11/08 - Comment #40072: The author makes arguments for a misreading as well. I feel like he wasn't arguing the text was faulty but the religious/political institution was.

Thanks for the recommendation on Girard. I will check him out.

drew writes at 03:01:30 10/11/08 - Comment #40070: Not going to argue the convergence of other stories with the Christ story, except to say that Rene Girard is the most amazing person to read regarding the phenomena. :::link:::

But the texts being anti-jewish is mostly based on a misreading, as the authors of the Gospels, and most of the early Christians with them, were Jews. It was not anti-semitism, but anti-religious/political establishment.

james writes at 09:46:29 10/11/08 - Comment #40060: Then there is the story of Mythras, the Persian god who mirrored Jesus, who's temple in Rome stood where the vatican stands.

A good book I enjoyed for class recently was "Who Killed Christ?" which talks about how the four gospels were written by people who, in the grief of Jesus' death, looked to the old testament to find prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. They wrote them into the story of Jesus, even though they may not have happened, to make Jesus seem more god-like.

Also he explains why the text is so amazingly anti-Jewish.

janelle writes at 09:02:41 10/11/08 - Comment #40057: Terrified of Christians? So all I have to do is come to Halloween as myself and that will be scary to you?! ;)

tinypliny writes at 09:00:54 10/11/08 - Comment #40056: What did he have to say about Hindus? :)

paul writes at 12:25:12 10/11/08 - Comment #40054: I have a sign on my cube.

imk2 writes at 12:12:04 10/11/08 - Comment #40053: no....see what you failed to mention, and what i think was the most important and MAIN point of the movie is that it is calling for us non-religious, atheist people to get off our ass, stop being so ambivalent and passive....and start taking control and action against religious majority who are basically running this world into the ground.

he said that we are the BIGGESTY minority (compared to blacks, muslims, jews, asians) in the country, yet we have no power, no voice, no agenda, no support and no recognition.

Permalink: Religulous.html
Words: 179
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

10/09/08 01:41 - ID#46018

Wasabi Sushi Bar On Elmwood

As Kunis was under construction, see last journal, we decided to try Wasab on Elmwoodi. The lunch special was delicious and was $11.95 which is pretty priceworthy considering what it consisted of. Notice the size of the saashimi peices, the largest peices of sashimi I have ever had. I think I prefer their lunch special to Kunis.

Permalink: Wasabi_Sushi_Bar_On_Elmwood.html
Words: 64
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

10/09/08 01:05 - ID#46016

Not kunis

(e:enknot) and I tried to go to Kunis for lunch but they are reconfiguring with a sushi bar and interior seating.

Permalink: Not_kunis.html
Words: 27
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: programming

10/07/08 10:37 - 50ºF - ID#45984

Adobe and Safari I hate you tonight

Spent a lot of today working with one of my new co-workers James. He seems like a fun guy. Apparently, he read my journal. I suggested he start one of his own. If you are reading this, start one.

On another note, I can't believe I am still at work. I am trying to finish this video uploading site for a contest they are hosting. Unfortunately, the magic that is my surebert multi file unloader is about to die as Flash Player 10 changed the way you can call the FileReference browse method and calling it from javascript is no longer an option. They want it to have a flash interface. Adobe says it makes it safer, I say it just makes it flashier and makes me mad.

I plan on creating a new multi file uploader widget based on my previous work

but I won't have time tonight and they needed a solution now. I decided to just use traditional file uploads seeing as they are only uploading one file.

Cool enough, but sadly you don't get the progress which is really the fun part of the surebert uploader. Luckily, there is a php extension

that allows you not only track how much of the file has been uploaded but how long it expects to take, the current speed, etc. Its really so easy and you can quickly get the data back via json. You add an extra random ID attribute to your form and it uses that as a key to track the file upload. Then you can make requests back to the server to get updates on the time remaining, etc. You make the requests via ajax which is really simple and great.

Sadly, after testing in IE6 and firefox and everything working, I tested it in Safari which refuses to receive ajax responses after it has initiated a file upload. I send them, it just won't process any responses. I hate you safari. Seriously, its always you that has to make everything fucked up.

Anyways, so I re-factored and ended up going with an iframe solution as safari was happy with that and so were the other browsers. Its cool to get an estimated finish time.