The year before she was taken away at gun point.

In 1988 I was in fifth grade. For some reason we had to take the california Acheivement Test. I scored higher than 99% of all 5th grade students in the nation in total math. This led to me skipping some math by being in an advanced math class in 6th grade which resulted in no math in 8th grade which led to the end of me as a mathelete ;(

I was kind of surprised because I never think of myself as a math person anymore.

I also was 97% for vocab, 96% for comprehension and reading but only
76% for spelling. Luckily, spelling has not been very important in my life since the computer corrects almost everything.

(e:matthew) came home form work all riled up about the Buffalo public school system, which I assume is due to the ladies he works for talking about it as we have no kids.

Anyhow, I didn't believe him how bad it was because the people I know who went to Buffalo public school seem okay. I figured it was just private schooling parents freakin out about how bad the schools are.

Then I tried looking up some info about the schools in buffalo and happend upon schooldigger.com's entry for Buffalo. Apparently, Buffalo is 818th out of 829 cities reviewed. Yes, that puts it at 0/5 stars.



Omg, look at Buffalo Elementary School of Technology over at 313 South Division Street - It is 2273rd/2278 public elementary schools in state ranking. Can it be worse? Yes, but only 5 places worse ;(.

Clearly it is a economics issue as that school has 97% of students on discounted/free lunch.

It seems like all the white people are leaving. Looks at the stats. Its interesting that this site offers so much information about each school. Sadly, there is not much info for the private and charter schools.



Same with Bennett which was 750th out of 776 public high schools.



Same with Buffalo Traditional School which is now close


Where did all the whities go, this is during the 90s and early 2000s that it all changed? Did they used to have forced integration that ended. Just look at the numbers that dropped since 2000.

Hutch Tech got great reviews. Is there any hope for buffalo with such a crappy education system in place? Is there even a solution?

I am so glad I was never in a major that involved classrooms with lots of people.

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(e:terry)'s classes are in a room that could hold like 300 people. It has the ambiance of a bingo hall. It actually sounds almost just like one. People were disgusting and they left food everywhere.

Liek in every direction people just left food and drinks. I don't think I was ever in a class with more than like 30 people. Oh, once this biology class in germany but it was very intense and the people were really into it as you had to respond.






UB had this whole display about planning and talked about parking. Wow, there is sure a lot of it there on North Campus.





I got home a decided to take apart one of the old PDAs to see if I could canabalize the gsm modem for the not phone. I think it is totally possible but now I want a HSPDA one.


Watching the way over GPS


They had these crazy new pillar statues that look like they are being blown over, over by capen.


We ate dinner at Fuji Grill again.



Fuji Grill tastes pretty good but my surf clam was nothing liek the one I got the other day although it was very cute


(e:terry) got stir fry

Gosh, I have so much to post about, I am starting to feel overwhelmed. The latest box from my mother includes all my journal entries for 1985. I have a years worth screaming to be let onto the internet. It is nice to know that I dreamed of being a computer specialist and thats what happened. Not everyone realizes their dreams I guess. Some of it is really funny.

Anyways, so before that can happen I have to post about nameless bitch's graduation and Mother's Day.

It started out with (e:lilho) dressing up nameless bitch





Unfortunately, the shoes she choose for her


I can't believe how commercialized this stand makes graduating.


There was the sign with sangia on it. Imagine being the butt of everyones joke.



Someone lost their toupe in the parking lot.


Hot wrestler guys in the painting - does anyone know this painting


(e:lilho) was being her usual celebtritant (celebrity-debutant)







Then off to cozumel for cocktails and food.

Missing Image ;(

I had the blue crab tacos.






We stopped by the new head shop on elmwood where squeeky wheel was. They tried to sell (e:lilho) a pair of sunglasses for $300. She talked them down to $200 despite the fact she was not buying them. It was all very sketchy. I mean who is to say they are real.




Ensuing Drunkness


I peeled lots more paint. Soon it will be painting time. I kind of love the pressure washer. I just wish that it would be 3500 psi instead of 2200 psi.

After reading the omgblog I started to think that maybe my blog was too boring for pop culture loving americans. I guess that is okay with me. I wish I had more freetime to write like back when I was a student and was busy communting around a lot. I think commuting is the best time to blog, although it is potentially life threatening.

Well, it took long enough but today was graduation day celebration with my family and it was great. We went back to marotto's It is a delicious restaurant in Buffalo. I had lobster tail. I haven't had it in years and it was exceptionally delicious.

I am determined to eat more of them which I know is cruel or something. I want to order them from this online store in Maine They have jumbo 2.5 Lb ones for $26 and I have some graduation money to use up but the problem is deciding to have them shipped dead or alive. If they come dead I have no guarantee how fresh they are. If they are shipped live it is cruel.

I updated the surebert site. I decided to start making demos. I a thinking about writing a book on javascript programming? I really have so many other things I could do with my time, but I figure it may be good and then I could promote surebert.



There is a furnace vent in our bedroom that basically opens up into a chimney. You can see the sky. It is so weird. I cannot imagine the original purpose of it. Here is a pic from it

Looking Down


Looking Up


Betty Crocker makes these Warm Delights that allow you to "bake a cake in your microwave." They require a lot of work and make a lot of waste. The bowl they "bake" in is basically a Tupperware quality piece of plastic. I would never buy one but my mother had like 5 flavors she got on sale so I figured why not try it. It did taste good.

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I got a graduation card from (e:mike) and my parents but there was one more envelope. It turned out to be a graduation card form Nonna that she put together before she died because I was suppose to graduate when mike did. Remember, that she had the stroke on his graduation day. It was sad to think it will be the last card I ever get from him although it was nice to have an extra one.



(e:mike) bought me goldschlager and enough lottery tickets that I got tired of scratching htem and had him do the last one as an additional gife. I actually won a $1 on a coupel of them and one an additional take 5 that I need to go get. I love lottery tickets but not the ones that you have to think about.


The might leaf tea company makes this really awesome tea. My father got some for my mother in California and then they found it at bluemountain on elmwood at 509 Elmwood Avenue




My mother also had these tea blossoms that (e:mike) in Boston.


The other day one of our server freaked out at work. I hate windows.


I a down to 145 pounds. That means I lost half the weight I had gained at the gym before buying the house. It is time to go back to the gym. I really need to commit to that.

I finally got my diploma in the mail today and it is damaged. Also, seems a little late for a 9/1 graduation. What the hell, for the amount of money I paid for it, I would expect to be in better conditiion. Oh well, at least it is finally over. I feels so good to actually have the paper and know it is done. No more homework ever.







Now I have the paper. Tomorrow I will have the papers for the house. Then I will be set.

Katie dropped off a box of letters that came to the 444. In them was a letter from UB dated Sept 21st that said they regret to inform me that I was removed from the list of graduation candidiates. So after freaking out for 5 minutes, I called them up and they said it was a mistake and that I really am graduating. I am so glad it is really over. For a minute I thought I was going to have to go back to UB. Frankly, I never want to see UB again. (e:shawnr) IMed me about something similar the other day. I wonder if his was a mistake too.

These are the offical Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Lisa Wist (e:twisted) for encouraging me to make my ideas a reality and for helping squash the bugs that got in the way. I would also like to thank the members of elmwoodstrip.org for contributing millions of their words, tens of thousands of hours of their time and thousands of their personal media files to the digital quilt that is elmwoodstrip.org. Moreover, I would like to thank Terry Mickelson and Matthew Sliwinski and all of my family for putting up with my unavailability during this entire thesis process.

The thesis
Man it takes forever to load It could have been better I guess but I spent all my time on the project as you all know.

These instructions are so conflicting with their Important! and [Optional]



Handing it in - Last trip to the CFA?

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PQIL® Dissertations Publishing

Submitting the thesis involves this whole process of giving it to some outside company that then supplies it to UB. I find it weird that I am giving this third party exclusive rights to my work.

PQIL Release

Your manuscript will be submitted to PQIL® Dissertations Publishing for inclusion in the publications Dissertation Abstracts International or Masters Abstracts International.

Through my graduate school, I agree to supply you, ProQuest Information and Learning Company (PQIL), with my dissertation and abstract of 350 words or less or Masters thesis and abstract of 150 words or less in digital format. Further, I agree to supply the accompanying information in digital format: personal and degree data, title and subject data and, separately in paper, written permission to use previously copyrighted materials within the body of the work including images, video, graphics, text, data and images of individuals and licenses for third party software which will be replicated, distributed and used with the document.

I hereby grant to PQIL the non-exclusive right to reproduce and distribute my dissertation or thesis, in whole or in part, in and from microfilm along with the non-exclusive right to reproduce and distribute my abstract in whole or in part, in any format whether in existence now or developed in the future. Further, I hereby grant to PQIL the non-exclusive right to reproduce my dissertation, in whole or in part, in and from any electronic format. Other publication rights may be granted as I choose.

I represent and warrant to PQIL that the dissertation or thesis and the abstract are my original work, do not infringe or violate the rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my dissertation or thesis and abstract. I further represent and warrant that I have obtained all necessary rights to permit PQIL to reproduce and distribute any non-public third party software necessary to access, display, run or print my dissertation or thesis. I acknowledge that PQIL may elect not to distribute my dissertation or thesis in digital format if, in its reasonable judgment, it believes all such rights have not been secured.

Subject to the preceding paragraphs, PQIL agrees to offer copies of my dissertation or thesis for sale, and to publish an abstract of my dissertation or thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International or Masters Abstracts International, as appropriate. In accordance with the Copyright Act of 1976, PQIL will deposit one copy of my dissertation or thesis with the Library of Congress. This deposit will be in digital, microform, or other format as required by the Library of Congress and will be available for inspection. PQIL also agrees to pay a royalty of 10% on all sales of my dissertation or thesis. Royalty payments must exceed $10 in a calendar year to be paid. In order to be eligible for royalties in any calendar year, I agree that it is my obligation to notify PQIL of any change of address.

I really don't have time to write about all the steps that it involved but after jumping through like 65 hoops today including having to reset my UB card ID strip to print, I now have a thesis in front of me and am going to hand it in. This morning I sucessfully defended it, which I have to say was way less scary than I thought it would be. I wish I have more time to deciate to the process and write a book about estrip but I will leave that for the sociologists of the future and return to programming and graphic design where I belong.

Hopefully, soon now I can go back to adding new featjres each week after a quick rewrite of the entire system!

I am now off to go buy a stove, a washer and a dish washer with my mother. She is going to be so exited to get so much big shopping done as will be the woman she made the appointment with.