The drexel has finally had it. We have a book proping up the missing middle leg. This couch has come a long way with us over the last ~10 years. We were just discussing the day we got it. (e:matthew) was mad because I guess we left him at the laundromat for two hours while (e:hodown), (e:terry) and I got it and this was before cell phones.

We got it at some fly by night antique shop next to the laundromat on elmwood avenue right after you cross the Kenmore ave line. I remember that it was $125 and that we gave the guy $100 and told him we would bring back the other $25. I am pretty sure that we never did because when we came back like a week later they were closed forever. I remember it seemed so expensive, like we were being totally crazy spending $125 on a couch. It was in relatively good condition then although I think it had already last about 10-20 years since its creation.



Somewhere along the way we also got my grandmother's old couch which was worn out by the tenants that lived there after her. The fabric is all ripped and its not a good lounging couch.



So we decided to use some of our tax return money to get some couches that will last, not smell like chemicals, be hypo-alllergenic, and allow you to sit up straight. I was sold on leather because it doesn't create so much dust like cloth couches.

We shopped around and went to Value City (crap), FWS (ok), Rosa's (ok) and Raymour and Flanigan's (awesome), Our saleswoman at Raymore Laurie Guerra was really helpful, I would definately recommend her. We sat on every couch in the store, it took us two days between the stores. In the end we liked the first couch we decided on like 15 minutes into the first day of couch shopping. Same with everything in my life e.g. the house, the car. Its just after the matress fiasco I decided to go ahead and make sure this time.

Along the way we saw some crazy couches. Including the one with the cupholder form my previosu journal (e:paul,47910)

A fully denim couch by Cindy Crawford?


The sex room couch?


And this really big comfy, recliner couch that i wanted but that (e:matthew) couldn't stand the look of. It was pretty comfy and fully reclined almost like a bed.



In the end the two we chose were pretty contemporary but classy italian leather with hardwood interior couches. They had some eco friendly hypoallergenic stuffing as well which made me happy.

Instead of getting a couch and a loveseat, we got two couches because we are tall and it allows two people to lie down. Did you know that buying an additional couch is only $30 more than the loceseet. That seems like such a deal when you think of all the extra fabric and materials. This was the model, called "The Morgan Leather Sofa"



Here is the glam shot of it from their site.


FWS had a couch that was cheaper but they didn't have the same service plan and I didn't know what the stuffing or frame was made of compared to the raymour one. This was especially important to me after the mattress fiasco from last year. Also the leather was thinner. However, the salesguy at FWS had a really nice butt.



The other thing FWS didn't have was the 5 year warranty plan that Raymour and Flanigan's does. Seriously, it covers everything from scratches and tears to cigarette burns fully for five years. How could you turn that down.

This is what the associated press had to say about the snow storm that hit the south.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A potent March snowstorm blanketed much of Alabama with up to 4 inches of snow Sunday, covering Civil War statues and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of church services.

How did they manage to bring up the civil war in the first sentence of a totally unrelated article about the south? I know its not written by a southerner or they would have said "War of Northern Aggression."

I love how the people try and sled down the grassy mud hill. That grass is going to be trashed.

There is the half that gets sun and the half that is frozen solid because the church next door prevents the sun from reaching the ground. I like
to think of it as a metaphor about organized religion.

If you play where's kitty you can see there is a new grey cat that lives in the yard. It looks like a superfluffy squiddt.

On another note I was up till 5am programming custom eclipse IDE plugins in java. I love eclipse.

Maybe we will get a new couch today as the old one broke from extreme usage. It will not have a drink holder.

I just saw on Channel 4 news that some boy scout is cleaning up the old offices in the Central Terminal. In the article it says that the train company threw the papers on the floor. If I remember it right from childhood, the papers were in the desk and people going through the desks, in addition to weather, threw them on th floor. I mean some of the stuff used to still be in the desks when we went there as kids.

I really don't understand why individuals care about cleaning up the upstairs of the central terminal. I mean I am not a fan of the building to begin with, but upstairs seems extra unimportant. If any company is ever interested in the building they will have to do that work when remodeling. Its not like its going to be usable? Aren't there so many better things that can be done for a city, other than to clean up a weather wracked, asbestos filled crap hole.

I also don't get why they needed to wear space suits cleaning up other buildings with asbestos but the boyscouts get paper masks. I already wrote about this before (e:paul,31144) when they had the neighborhood kids cleaning it up unprotected a couple years back.

Boy Scout cleans up Central Terminal
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A Boy Scout from Niagara County has returned to Buffalo to continue his Eagle Scout project.

Christopher Gurnett is cleaning up the fourth floor of the old Central Terminal.

Back in December, he coordinated the first stage of the cleanup with about 30 volunteers taking away mounds of old papers.

Christopher said, "I actually started December 6, and we got over 230 bags out, and today we came back for the second and hopefully the final day, and we removed just about as much as bags, from the last one."

Christopher says a past owner of the terminal took the railroad paperwork from desks and drawers, and dumped them on the floor, so that's what they've been clearing out.

Updated: Saturday, 28 Feb 2009, 7:42 PM EST
Published : Saturday, 28 Feb 2009, 6:21 PM EST

* Written by: Brian Tabor Posted by: Emily Lenihan

So I love this store called Tuesday morning or something over on
maple. They have a lot of discount random stuff but a lot of it is
pretty cool. The one thing I thought was overpriced was these Spanish
learning tapes for $14.99. Who buys cassettes still? I would have
thought the retail value of cassettes is about $0.10.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone but I think drink holders in
furniture is the tackiest thing I have ever seen, no matter what
material the rim is made out of.

There are two cars parked in front of the driveway right now- both
don't even have people in them. The one guy that is double parked in
the actual driving lane is blocking traffic.

Oh great and since he came back, he us having a five minute cell phone
conversation, parked in a lane.

This is like six cars in a row. Why even bother with the sign.

I loved sony products for years. From the pen like mp3 player I first got back in the late 90s to the mini vaios and phones, to the playstation 3. I would say I actually prefer the brand image of sony to that of apple. It was always sleek and futuristic looking. Sadly, the sony laptops I want are always just in the luxury class priceline or on dynamism If you are a gadget freak - don't go to that site or you will go broke. I think I have written about it before.

Then today I got this mailing from sony with all their new stuff in its glossy black chicness. I am really loving the hardware that is the xperia x1 slider phone but I am not willing to go back to windows mobile. I want a flavor of unix phone. Then I flip to the inside and I see the imac. Or at least sony's ripoff knockoff of the imac . I can't believe it. What happend to their design team. Not everything has to look like an apple product, sheesh.



I hope they keep their more unique style, like this sony vaio g series laptop.

(e:mrdeadlier) noticed this first but I took the pic. This is by the 33
exit on Bailey.

So, I admit I have a slight shoe addiction. I think I have like 10 pairs now. Its not that I love each pair, its just that I have been desperately seeking to replace a really comfortable pair I had before and each pair, while awesome in its own way - from gold sparkle trim, to neon orange letters, to being waterproof - just doesn't live up.

Last week while buying another pair of shoes I found these boots but didn't buy them because they were too expenive. They were like retail $279, then $129 at DSW. Then when I went back they were $99 with an additional 30% off at register and I had a $25 gift certificate and a $10 off coupon. It came to like $34 for a really nice pair of boots.



The fancy leather engraved and wood bottoms look really cool but they are slippery. Especially on ice. I think leather soles get more traction after they are scuffed up a bit.



Okay so maybe the addiction is worse than I thought. I went to the timerland site to see if I could find those shoes and I found these which are all leather and have traction and these which just look comfy.