ahhh the age old question my mother asks every time a holiday or family gathering of some sort is going to happen.

Why? Hubby and I are both vegetarians in a family of non-vegetarians and we apparently still confound and confuse them - we probably do that on many levels.

Neither one of us is a crazy strict veg nor are we veg for moral reasons. You can't control every food product you eat, esp. when you go out to eat so we try to take in stride when we discover that after the fact the soup was made with chicken stock but the serving staff didn't know that.

It shouldn't matter that we don't eat meat but it's always something my mom worries about. It's not like we're going to go hungry anywhere we go as generally all of the sides dishes, appetizers, drinks and desserts are meat free and available in such abundance that no normal person could consume all of the food at one of my family gatherings.

My favorite is when my mom offers to cook us something. I always tell her no since she usually picks something crazy and then doesn't execute it well at all. If I think it's such an issue, I can cook something for us. I'm the person who is the veggie and who has been preparing my own meals as well as the meals in my household for a long time. She means well, she is just trying to show she cares and is sensitive to things.

I lost track but I think I've considered myself a vegetarian for about 15 years or so maybe longer so my family shouldn't be too surprised anymore but I'm sure it will continue to be an issue until far into the future.

Dear City of Buffalo Assessment and Taxation Office

We are one of the 7,065 property owners, that has received a higher assessment and we're puzzled as to how you came to the conclusion that our modest home in N. Buffalo is now worth $24,000 more than it was last year when you then said it was worth $19,000 more than in 2006.

I know Buffalo is different from other parts of the country when it comes to our strange little economy. I hardly can believe that our house has increased in value by so much in such a short time.

We might have been happy since this would have meant that we had a nice amount of home equity but surely you know that the credit market is pretty tight these days.

Last time I heard the doom gloom news, it was estimated that only 1 in 4 people who wanted to get a loan could. Stats can be misleading but I also read that in the US there are 5 major banking players and none of them a readily lending so I am inclined to believe we won't get a loan if we wanted one.

I feel like this is pretty thinly veiled tax increase in the works. Yes, I read and understood that nice statement that our taxes are based on many factors. Our memory isn't that short and I keep all our records and the last time you raised our assessment, the city raised our taxes so I'm a bit skeptical at this point.

How about you talk to the Mayor's Office and suggest revitalizing some of the more depressed areas of Buffalo and expanding our tax base so we don't need to concentrate so much of the tax burden.
As a tax payer, I would welcome intergovernmental communications that could lead to some positive progress and increased efficiency.

We'll be sending in our grievance letter shortly or my husband may show up on the ultra convenient grievance day of December 31, 2008.

Thanks in advance!

Dear Congress

May I have a bailout? I don't need nearly as much as you have been giving out and I won't fly in to ask for money on a private jet or even in coach; if you need my request in writing I will send it via USPS and pay for the stamp out of my own pocket.

Once you give me the money, I will not hoard it or throw lavish parties or take a spa vacation.

I have a spending plan all set too.

We can work out the exact details since it is smarter to pay off high interest credit cards first but it would go something like this:

Pay off mortgage.
Pay off car.
Pay off student loans.
Pay off credit cards - we only have 2.
Pay back my mom.

I promise I will stimulate our local and national economy and save for the future too. I have a plan for that as well; once again it's simple but I can see it working out really well for everyone.

We're going to save more than we spend but we'll spend as we know the importance of consumer spending and we'll continue to support local charities.

We'll buy some new stuff from local stores and bigger national chains - but not from Wal-Mart. Hope that is not a deal breaker but I'm just not a fan.

We'll go visit some friends and family in other parts of the country and buy some stuff where they live too, I doubt we'll stay in hotels for every visit since we want to stay with our friends and family but we'll go out for dinner at least once per trip.

We'll pay my husbands school tuition and not take out any student loans and in a couple years he will re-enter the workforce as a teacher. He already has plans to teach in a high demand area such as the inner city.

We'll be sure to set aside money for his children to attend college or trade school so they'll be able to get good paying jobs and add to the tax revenue.

Just ask the IRS for our address, they have it as we have been loyal tax payers for a while now.

Thanks in advance!

I have an iPod shuffle that I use when I work out. It's the clip on kind and I love it but the other day when I went to listen to it; it did not want to play. Just flashing yellow and then green. <sigh> so no music as I worked out.

I thought the shuffle was a goner but a little Google and some persistence and my shuffle is back!

It was totally odd series of steps I had to take but what ever combination of the things I tried finally worked this morning when iTunes saw the iPod and was able to restore it and I was able to sync my workout music to it.

BTW: (e:Anne) my iPod shuffle has some of those same songs you mentioned and I have not one iota of guilt for liking pop music.

Totally made my day!

(e:tinypliny) My solution was so convoluted I'm not sure it would work for anyone else. It also involved some cursing and talking to the ipod and then rebooting and going to bed!

Here is a link to the article I read



I also unplugged all my other ipod and my external USB drive while trying the recovery.

I really cannot say what exactly of all the things I tried worked.

I am fairly certain that swearing at the ipod and speaking to it probably had very little to do with it now working but you never know.

A little squished but a nice venue and some really beautifully made items.

It was nice to see that business appeared to be good for most vendors. I went with my friends and neighbors and we knew a few of the people selling at the venue as well as running in to others we knew who were shopping.

Anyone else who went partake in the Advice Booth and Candy Therapy?

A day later than expected the USS Freedom pulled in to port here in Buffalo.

Basically the guy who best friends with my husband is stationed on the ship so we go to take a tour of the ship. It was amazing but I felt like I was in a real life game of chutes and ladders.

It was great for my husband to be able to visit with his friend, even if it's only for a couple days. We last saw him in 2005 when we got married and he was in town for our wedding.

I'll have pictures soon.

Finally, no ranting in my post!

We know someone stationed on this ship. My husband is a Naval Veteran having served 10 years and having just been released from duty within the last 2 years. Who knew I'd be a military wife. LOL

I probably would not be interested in this if I didn't have a close personal connection to the ship.

The Buffalo News has the details and there will be some tours available if anyone is interested.



(e:metalpeter) My husband says that coming late means after 4:00pm but the exact time is TBD.

After a long break, I'm finally getting my butt back to the gym. It's around the corner from work but some days it seems so impossible to get there!

Don't expect pictures like (e:paul) posts. Generally speaking, I do not like to have my picture taken and I'm very very modest - unlike my hubby. :-)

It will be good to go to the gym and decompress and plug in and not listen to anything but music. Everyone is CRANKY lately and my office is crazy hot and while I like to be warm 80 damn degrees is too hot.

I am lucky in that I have a job where I have a private office that has a window that opens and door that closes but when the average temp is 76 degrees, it is making me crazy. The heating and A/C system is totally crazy so I will just deal with it until the weather gets cooler and then things shouldn't be so bad temp. wise.

Since I am already ranting about work, things are just so insanely frustrating here again. I want to change a system we use and the web and DB programmer has time to do the project but our boss won't put the project on the schedule. I've been hounding him for at least 3 years to go forward with the project.

He uses 1 small part of the system and he doesn't want to lose that functionality. Really, no kidding. I want to increase the functionality of it not lessen it. I understand how to do a needs requirement assessment.

Super secure state job that I may have, it's making me crazy to be here. No chance for advancement or a raise that isn't union negotiated, no chance to change in to another job in a cross functional area, no opportunity to release old responsibilities and take on new challenges, nope not here - you get new responsibility constantly while you still have to do the old and the reward - nada.

I realize LOADS of people fall in to the lazy state worker category. Do only what they are told or do nothing at all. I see it every single day here.

I'd like to think I'm NOT that person. I got an advanced degree that I am still paying for out of my own pocket. There is no education benefit here. You can take one class per semester for free and just pay the fees but that is along road to get a degree.

There isn't even maternity leave here for state employees - you have to use all your sick time and then your vacation time. Sure, we get a lot of it but I think that is a very unfair policy. You're not sick or on vacation when you have a baby and WTF happens if you do get sick while having a baby and I'll bet lots of people might need a vacation after having a baby. :-)

If a new opportunity doesn't come up for me when the re-org starts and things get shuffled, I guess that will be my tipping point and then I need to leave. It's about time to be putting that advanced to degree to work.

I should add that I don't think just cause I have an MBA, I'm entitled to advance or get a new opportunity. I feel like I have earned it. I have consistently been told by my boss and the senior management within my unit about how great of a job I do and how valuable I am.

I have been told that senior management outside of my entire organization know me and that I have an excellent reputation for being smart and knowledgeable. I have been an employee here 10+ years, i just didn't bumble in off the street. I did that 10 years ago! ;-)


I don't know how my posts goes from I'm going to work out to a full on rant but I guess it is better to get it all out here.

My husband and I voted this AM. Lines were short at about 7:30am.

We chatted with our neighbors while we waited as you have to wait to get to the ladies with the book to find your name and then they make you wait to line up to use the voting machine and they don't want to seem to let more than 5 people wait in line behind the voting machine.

I will miss those old voting booths when they're replaced. I know they're terrible for disabled voters but I hope we get something that is accurate and has a receipt of our vote.

Hope everyone gets out there and votes!

My hubby's friend called last night to say that he'll be in Buffalo in about 2 weeks. His ship is doing a Great Lakes cruise and they will be pulling in to port in Buffalo.

Hubby spent 10 years in the Navy and was just released from service about 2 years ago. I'm sure he'll be anxious to catch up with his friend, see a new ship and curse like the sailor he is.

The sailors will love the 4:00am bar closing time in Buffalo.