"Hibernating" written by Pmrk on estrip.org

01/30/09 11:30 - 22ºF - ID#47572

Hibernating

Both online and in real life. I'm so over this winter weather.

I hope the groundhog gives us some good news.

Permalink: Hibernating.html
Words: 21
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/12/09 02:30 - 25ºF - ID#47379

Microscopes

We need to buy one as a gift.

Neither myself or my husband have any idea of what to look for when buying one.

It would be a for casual use as the person who wants it is a teenager ans doesn't need it for school but we don't want a toy. This might be the launching point for a great scientific career!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

tinypliny writes at 09:31:40 01/13/09 - Comment #44444: Sorry for spamming - the oil immersion lens is probably not a good option for a standard teenager. :) It does need a lot of care and cleaning! I remember constantly dreading that I would forget to clean up one day and waste all that money that went into the upgrade, thankfully that never happened because I developed this OCD of cleaning up after every use. It was a major pain but totally worth it. Anyway, make sure you explain this to the teenager. The oil immersion lens attachment is almost like a costly whiny baby.

tinypliny writes at 08:44:11 01/13/09 - Comment #44443: I just remembered one more detail. One of my lenses had an oil-immersion option - you would put a drop of dense oil (came with the microscope) over the cover-slip of the slide and lower the lens in it. That lens had nearly a 2000x magnification.

tinypliny writes at 06:49:00 01/12/09 - Comment #44383: If you actually shopped around in the toys department, you might be able to get them cheaper. Look for:
- some source of illumination of the stage (where the slides are placed)
- Greater than 400x magnification. Anything less is not going to be useful for high school microscopy/ cell structures.
- Movable lens arm and adjustible focal length for the lenses.
- At least one low power lens (<400x) for gross adjustment of the lenses.
- Good reviews (of course)

I had one from Olympus back home. It was pretty good but it was expensive. When I bought it the highest magnifying lens was around 600x but I upgraded to 1000x with an extra lens when I graduated from high school and went to college.

jenks writes at 06:46:28 01/12/09 - Comment #44381: see if you can get in touch with the med school- when I was a med student we all had to have scopes, and everyone would buy/sell them every year. They're decent scopes, but even used would probably run you a couple hundred... (if I remember right they're >1000 new) hmm, so maybe that's not the best idea? But it's worth asking....

tinypliny writes at 03:13:55 01/12/09 - Comment #44370: I would recommend a high power microscope. What is your budget?

Permalink: Microscopes.html
Words: 69
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/12/09 12:14 - 24ºF - ID#47377

Wegmans was the place to be on Friday!

I saw (e:tinypliny) and (e:mrmike) within moments of walking in. Forgive my slightly dazed look and the moment it took me to recognize you both. I'm often in a daze while in Wegmans.

I'm surprised you both knew it was me under my hat, coat and scarf. I'm often bundled up beyond recognition.

(e:tinypliny) it was a quick trip. I picked up some Wegmans brand pasta sauce (oh my poor mother would just cringe if she knew I was using sauce from a jar!!) and some Wegmans Linguine and Fettuccine. We cooked that for dinner on Friday.

Maybe this weekend I'll redeem myself and make some homemade sauce.

I disappointed to learn the Neat Receipts scanner only grabs the total and the store name from the receipt and not the line item breakdown. A much cheaper stand alone scanner with a good OCR software should be able to grab everything from the receipt and send it to Excel.

Permalink: Wegmans_was_the_place_to_be_on_Friday_.html
Words: 161
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/08/09 04:45 - 25ºF - ID#47333

I guess I'm not the only obsessed

NeatReceipts®

NeatReceipts is a mobile scanner + digital filing system that helps you manage all of your paperwork on your PC. Includes our NeatWorks software that identifies and extracts the important information from paper and automatically organizes it for you.

Oh yeah, I'm buying one soon.

Permalink: I_guess_I_m_not_the_only_obsessed.html
Words: 45
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/04/09 02:18 - 30ºF - ID#47279

Cooking Adventures

in a word: FAIL!

My bread did not rise. I think I'll try the dough again with the stand mixer but I need to haul that bad boy down from the attic and then find a place for it. We have a small kitchen in an old house and I'm worried I'm going to blow every circuit in the house when I fire it up. It does not fit in any of my cabinets so that why it sits unused and new in a box in the attic. Shameful waste.

Not to mention, I might have to use it on the stove since I don't think I have enough clearance on the counter tops to open it to pour my ingredients in.

Next up.

Homemade veggie lunchmeat and maybe a stuffed seitan roast from
VeganDads' blog.

We're not vegans but I sometimes cook vegan recipes as I'm always looking to add variety to our menus.

Off to Wegmans and the co-op.

Permalink: Cooking_Adventures.html
Words: 161
Location: Buffalo, NY

01/04/09 02:06 - 30ºF - ID#47278

Food Prices and spreadsheets

I think I am becoming obsessed with our food costs and the cost of the other stuff we buy.

I am happy for the wide selection at Wegmans but they sell 3 different brands of Jasmine rice in the store in 3 different locations at 3 different prices per pound, technically 4 different prices since one brand they sell comes in 2 different sizes at 2 different prices per pound.

In case anyone cares:
Wegmans brand @ 1.81 per lb sold in 2 lb box
Goya brand @ $1.40 per lb sold in 5 lb bag
Dynasty brand @ 1.20 per lb sold in 5 lb bag

Either Dynasty or Goya also sell a 2 lb bag at $1.65 per pound. I cannot read my own notes! LOL

I have started a price comparison spreadsheet since I shop Wegmans, the Co-Op, Super Bazaar, Ni Hoowa Supermarket and the farmers market and Aldi on occasion.

I know all about Guercio's as I grew up going there with my Grandma and every other old Italian grandma on the west side but I have a reason for not shopping there. I'll keep it simple in saying, it's just a place I don't go anymore after some really rude treatment of my father who has known the family since they were all kids.

I'm excited to see a Pakistani and Indian grocer (ironic?) going in on Sheridan drive. It's not open yet but more ethnic shopping options are good.

Now we need more Mexican food items available. The Tops on Niagara Street carries a lot of Hispanic food items but it tends to be more Puerto Rican than Mexican. Who would have thought the only Mexican grocers in the area would be in Brockport and Albion?

Next time I'm out near Brockport maybe I'll stop in to see if they have the dried salted plums my husband loves but cannot get until we head west.

I'll see how long my labor of food costs continues. I am not sure I can stand to be inside during our summer months working on spreadsheets.

Permalink: Food_Prices_and_spreadsheets.html
Words: 331
Location: Buffalo, NY

12/29/08 04:18 - 41ºF - ID#47214

Happy New Year

Since I don't post everyday the new year is likely to be here and I won't have the chance to wish all the (e:peeps) Happy New Year.

Best wishes for a wonderful 2009 for everyone.

Permalink: Happy_New_Year.html
Words: 35
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: work

12/29/08 04:16 - 41ºF - ID#47213

Work Rant

well at least it will be my last one for 2008.

We're going to be reorganized at work and this is basic plan they have come up with.

They = very upper level decision makers

They will survey all impacted employees.

They will hunt you down if you don't want to answer the survey. It's not an anonymous.

They will gather all the information and take this back to the upper level decision makers for each unit and the budget/financial persons.

I will get reorganized in some way since I have been by someone close to the process that everyone will get reorganized in some way.

I will get a letter/email telling me where I have been reorganized to.

No one will lose their job and that is good.

I have no idea if I will continue to work for my current boss, if I will move from my office and building, if I will get promoted or demoted or move laterally or anything and not knowing causes me some stress, not a lot but some.

Permalink: Work_Rant.html
Words: 176
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: cars

12/15/08 11:46 - 53ºF - ID#47067

Cars - hate them!!!

So Sunday morning my husband tells me we have a flat tire on our Saturn so he goes out and puts some air in it. The Saturn has a built in air compressor and then waits to see if it's slow leak or something more.

It was something more. The tire was shot and we needed a new one but since we have a super sized Saturn places like Sam's club don't carry a tire that size in stock and most tire places are closed on Sundays. At least the tire places I could think of were closed.

We found that Firestone was open and we ended up buying a tire from them. We had to jack up the Saturn, get the old tire and rim off, take it to Firestone, get the new tire installed on our rim, go home and install the tire on the car...in the rain. It totally killed our day! I swear it took us about 3 hours to get everything all settled.

Spending $150 on a tire 10 days before Christmas was not exactly what I was planning on doing but gotta have a tire on the car. The guy who looked at the tire told us that the wear isn't right and we probably need another tire and that we should take the car to the dealer.

My husband confirmed when we got home that the other back tire should be replaced. Now we need to replace another $150 tire and possibly have a car repair bill too.

Congress I still need that bailout!

Later that night, I passed our neighbor on my way home from Wegmans. His car was being loaded on a flat bed because he had a flat tire. Since it was too busy of an intersection to stop at and I was already through when I saw his jeep, I pulled over and called his partner to make sure no one needed a ride home.

stupid cars!

Permalink: Cars_hate_them_.html
Words: 325
Location: Buffalo, NY

12/12/08 10:08 - 29ºF - ID#47041

House Assessment Challenge

I'm preparing my case to fight out recent house assessment.

I will be taking photos of the exterior of our house, it needs a paint job terribly. I will be taking using photos of our kitchen and bathroom that show they have not been updated, well the bathroom was updated in the 50's but it's crazy.

Our bathroom is pink and baby blue including a baby blue tub and sink.

I am also going to look at the sale data for the house next door as our houses are planned out the same way and roughly the same square footage.

I have an email into my neighbors who are also fighting the assessment on their home.

metalpeter writes at 04:45:45 12/12/08 - Comment #43226: I wish you luck. I have no advise since I don't have a home. I do know others who have tried to fight like you are. In some cases the value of a house does go up, the value of a house isn't really what it is worth it is how much someone would pay for it. Cities and towns often raise the value of peoples houses because it means they have to pay more taxes, and this is true for most of the time. I wish you luck with your battle.

janelle writes at 12:18:27 12/12/08 - Comment #43218: I'm using photos of my house and my neighbors homes that need repair. My neighbors across the street have won several times in the past using that strategy but I also think they compare sales prices of recent sales to their assessment. It's hard for me to compare to recent sales because we were the last house sold on our street. Who knows how the city makes these decisions...go figure.

I'm also using the inspection report from less than two years ago documenting some of the repairs that are needed. I even have an estimate on replacing the 28 year old furnace from the inspector.

pmrk writes at 12:08:18 12/12/08 - Comment #43217: it's not like the city it known for its make sense decisions. :-)

matthew writes at 11:41:02 12/12/08 - Comment #43213: Well like I said, that was just her opinion. Its probably a safe bet to just bring as much information (pictures and data) as you can.

pmrk writes at 11:31:15 12/12/08 - Comment #43212: that is crazy that the photos didn't work since the city specifically asks for them on the forms you have to fill out! Guess we'll go with sale data and photos as backup.

matthew writes at 11:23:16 12/12/08 - Comment #43210: I have a friend in my neighborhood who has fought the increase on two seperate occasions. The first time she brought in pictures of her homes "weak spots", ie: needed roof repair, old bathrooms, old plumbing, ect. It didn't work. The next time she fought it she skipped the pictures and just brought data and numbers comparing her property's assessed value to the others in her neighborhood, and what the current selling prices were. It worked. I don't know if this is the norm but, in her opinion, the city is more likely to side with you if you use facts and figures. I don't know if this helps your situation, but good luck either way!!

Permalink: House_Assessment_Challenge.html
Words: 116
Location: Buffalo, NY