Well, Sarah and I found a place. It's a good place for a good price, but it's in the more suburb-y part of Alexandria. It's not quite living in East Amherst, but it's a little like living in a new development in North Tonawanda or something. Although, when I compare housing there to housing in Buffalo, I just have to laugh. Buffalo housing is so cheap and awesome. Plenty of rad old houses that have a world of possibility.

Our new landlord asked: So how do you feel about a 300% to your rent. And I asked if she knew of any cheaper 2bdr places available. We looked at cheaper places, but I have no desire to move into an apartment very much like what I would have expected in my undergrad years. (We saw this house some very nice hippies lived in, but it was split into several apartments with shared everything and not very clean or nice at all.)

Needless to say, we're right in our target area (1600 per month) and I told her that I didn't think it was possible to pay that much money for rent in Buffalo at all. I told her that I was pretty sure one could move into a mansion for that kind of money! hehehe



That's an image of the front. It's in the Kingstowne neighborhood/development in Alexandria, just south of the Beltway and a mile from the last top on the Blue line, which is four stops from PBS. So it should take me about 30-45 minutes door-to-door to commute. Not too bad. That's how long it takes me to get from my current house to North campus, but with no bus transfer!

We had only a few requirements, the primary one being a bit of grass for the dog to call her own. I guess I haven't written much about my dog on the site, but she's our little beast and she's getting older. I couldn't turn her back into an apartment dog after enjoying such a nice yard in Buffalo. It will be sad that she'll have to make all-new doggy friends. I'm not one of those people who refers to myself as my dog's "daddy" (in fact, I find that really really annoying) but I'd have to say that she's my fave animal in the whole world and I'd have to be REALLY starving in order to eat her (but all you other animals watch out!).

So here's Janis' little bit of grass:



And here's the small deck overlooking the yard/patio. It looks like I can put a BBQ on the patio, so that will be nice. I might be the only person who thinks the weather gets nice enough to BBQ in the winter... Apparently DC shuts down at the thought of snow, but I can't see cooking outdoors in weather like we saw there this weekend (which was a heatwave, granted).



Anyway, it's a lot different than our current location, but the landlord seems really nice and that's important. I've decided that I like renting from people who own only one other property and care about it a lot rather than somebody who is trying to support themselves or seriously supplement their income with rental properties. But more on that later.

In pennsylvania.

This is a test image from the new phone.

Hello estrip!

As you may know from the post below, Sarah and I are moving. While it's really exciting, it's sad that we'll miss both the Violent Femmes and the Jurassic 5 concerts this summer. The Femmes is free at TiTS, but J5 is a pay concert happening at the Towne Ballroom on Main St. on August 24th. It costs like $50 for two tickets.

And that's where we are: We bought two tickets for the show as soon as they were available. But we can't be the only Jurassic 5 fans in the city, can we? Their new album comes out on July 27th and a little birdie (name BitTorrent) told me it's really damn good, much more like Quality Control than Power in Numbers, which any J5 fan can tell you is good. Sarah saw and photographed J5 at a short set at E3 a few years back, and they were awesome. I'm sure this show will be really great. (And for those who don't know Cut Chemist and DJ NuMark are the J5 DJs, so expect some badass turntable antics, too.)

Anyway, we're not interested in scalping tickets, and we love J5 so much that it kills us to not be able to go. Still, we figure they'll hit DC sometime on this tour (Buffalo is the second date and the others have yet to be announced) and we've had some real good luck lately, so we thought we'd spread the love.

So we're NOT selling these tickets. We're GIVING THEM AWAY FOR FREE to somebody on estrip.org . That's the kind of love we have for this place and for J5. Hopefully the community won't let us down and some serious J5 fans will be rewarded.

So here's how we're going to do this. Your referees are Sarah and (e:shawnr) , so we're the ultimate deciding factor. We want to see any kind of show of devotion to or adoration of J5, and/or a display of desire to attend the show. Some ideas: Essays about why you love Jurassic 5, analyses of J5 lyrics/videos, poems about J5, photos showing demonstrations of J5 fandom, paintings about how great the show will be, comics about your love of J5, whatever.

UPDATE: We wanted to make clear: Lip sync and dance routine videos are perfectly acceptable homages to Jurassic 5. So get wacky with the webcams people!

You can post your entry in the comments here, either in its entirety (in the case of an essay, poem, etc.) or link to a website where we can see your entry. You can email us images, audio, video, etc. too. Just use the email link on my profile.

If you have any questions post them in the comments or emai/msg me. Sarah and I really look forward to giving somebody these tickets who will enjoy the show as much as we would have. The only thing we ask is that you post about it on estrip after you go.

So the deadline is August 15. That might seem like a long time, but it's only like 6 weeks. I have no idea how popular this will be, but I hope somebody is stoked.

Just for clarity: The Jurassic 5 Concert is August 24, 2006 in Buffalo, NY at the Towne Ballroom on Main St (theater stop).

I typically try to keep business businees, and estrip not business, and i plan to maintain that separation. But sometimes an offer comes along that one can't resist. Such is the case here:

In spite of how much I'd love to stay in Buffalo, there doesn't seem to be much paying work. Having graduated this summer from UB, the expected thing is for me to move on. Although there are a lot of things I can be involved with in Buffalo, I kept feeling like I could probably make it to another level of creation. I love the idea of what (e:paul) has found at Roswell -- somewhere with a cool group of people where I could do work that feels useful. I mean, c'mon, how cool is it to help doctors manage info to cure cancer? That's like crucial to the whole cancer-curing process.

So I started looking at sites like Idealist.org, not really thinking I'd find much, but my thought was that I either want to keep teaching, or to work in some kind of rewarding project "in the real world."

Well, I found it. I interviewed and now I have a job offer. I'm going to accept. We're moving to DC.



I'm going to work for PBS, as a "Web Technologist," on the Teacherline site which is an online school for teachers K-12. Teachers can enroll in accredited graduate courses in educational fields, as well as courses to prepare for different certifications and state tech requirements. I've always been a huge fan of PBS.org, and I'm thrilled about the job. The folks there were super nice, and I can really envision a good time. I think moving to DC will be an incredible adventure, and I'm so grateful that Buffalo has prepared me.

It kills me to leave my courses and my students. I've seen so many of them succeed this year, and so many promising young students coming up. But I think I'll be a better teacher for my experiences. And I'll be continuing a thread of my teaching experience that has been there for a long time: that is, online education and tutoring teachers in technology and working with them on experiments in tech integration into the classroom.

I don't plan on leaving estrip.org, so this should not be taken as a goodbye letter, or even a pre-goodbye. My wife's family is still based in Buffalo, and we'll be back from time to time I'm sure. I've made some real friends here, and I hope folks at UB and around will invite me back to present my artwork and fiction, which will continue unabated (perhaps even invigorated by more concentrated daytime development experience).

I think of (e:paul) as inspirational: what he has accomplished at Roswell is huge, plus he's made much of it available to everyone else to use with things like SurebertCom. I hope to continue to be as productive in my own work.

Anyway, I'm a bit of a hermit and kind of feel weird at parties, so it's not like I'll be a missing fixture at the big (e:strip) shindigs. I'll still be onine, but now I'll be working for PBS. woot!

My good pal PFC_Spengler from the Unofficial UB Forums (a must-read for any UB students/alum and pretty fun for many others) hooked me up with this awesome video and photo content all for estrip!

Story goes like this: This morning, somebody noticed this vehical perched precariously over a ~20 foot wall (located here ). The car was running and lights were on. Apparently the cops were being called...

This afternoon the car is turned off, but nobody has come to attend it. Kids on summer break gather.

This evening: The events you are about to witness.

The runup to the big pushover happens here:

::DOWNLOAD MEDIA::

And the vehicle goes over. I love the bleeting horn and the sound of screams! hahaha

::DOWNLOAD MEDIA::

And here are some images.

So apparently somebody thought it was a good idea to do a bunch of damage. Not sure who did this, but it wasn't there in the morning. Did I mention that according to witnesses most of the kids were totally drunk. Here are some close-ups of the vehicle. No plates? weird, huh?









And, of course, being so close to the Fourth of July in Buffalo, what would some mayhem be without a roman candle. No good shots of the candle going off here, but if you slideshow these three images you can see the smoke rise.

Here's my answers to (e:Paul)'s survey...

People:
1. How did you find out about/why did you become of estrip?

Paul told me about it, relatively early on, I think. Paul was one of the first people I ever met in Buffalo (at UB).

2. How "out" are you about having a publicly accessible online journal. Do your friends know? Does your family know? Do your co-workers know? Does your boss know? Do you use your real name? Do you use your real photo?

I talk about (e:strip). I don't use my real photo, but I use my real name and link to/from the site to/from my personal website. I tell others to join. But I don't usually solicit readers for my (e:strip) journal specifically.

3. How many epeeps have you met real life?

At least 10. I haven't really made it to group functions (I'm kind off a hermit anyway).

4. How has estrip changed the way that you meet people, on and/or off line?

It gives me the FEELING of knowing people better. I'm not totally convinced I do. It is a point of discussion, a common thing when I am around people who use the site.

5. How has estrip affected you love life?

nada. My wife doesn't have a journal... But she reads the site.

6. How many of your friends have joined estrip because of your influence?

I might have been the first person to tell (e:dcoffee) about the site, but I'm not sure. I tell all my students about it, but I don't think many of them have joined.

7. Are you from Buffalo/do you live in Buffalo?

I came to Buffalo for graduate school. I think it would be fun to stay here, but I may have to go elsewhere.

Equipment:
1. What type of hardware or software purchases have you made as a result of using estrip?

none

2. Have you used the mobile version of estrip? Why or why not?

Yes. I love it. I love to share things from my immediate world, and the mobile media is the easiest and best way to do that.

Lifestyle:
1. In what way has estrip changed your Internet surfings habits? Describe the amount of time you spend on estrip, when you use it and about how long?

I check it out probably every day to every other day. Sometimes a few times a day; other times not for a week. It's a pleasure-browse for me-- when I feel like checking in on the group or I'm looking to kill time. I keep up with a few journals and occasionally read other people's journals if I see them in the latest posts list.

1a. How many journals do you usually read per day?

Two or three, every day to every other day.

2. In what ways has estrip changed the way you perceive your local community?

It's allowed me to actually learn quite a bit about what happens in Buffalo. It's good to have a community to approach about local issues, like questions about houses, services, etc.

3. How has journaling about your life affected the way you spend your free time?

I have always written a lot. I have budgeted some of my writing time for (e:strip), and sometimes I see things that I just need to share with (e:strip) friends.

4. Has estrip changed your living situation in any way?

nope.

5. Do you find that you mediate/document more of your experiences now that you share them with others?

It's been a general increase. I don't really "document my life" with estrip; the photo capabilities of my phone have done more to encourage that than the site has, but the site has helped facilitate sharing, which is excellent.

6. Has publishing on estrip affected the way that write?

No.

7. Do you have other online journals? If so, with what service and has estrip affected your usage of that journal?

I have a personal Wordpress-powered website. I have always had a website. I post on a couple of other forums and on GamesFirst.com and Alt-Games.com. I also freelance for other websites like www.intelligentagent.com .

8. Have you ever gotten in trouble for using estrip at work?

no.

9. If you have stopped using estrip, why?

I hope estrip helps me keep in touch with old friends if I have to leave Buffalo. I don't plan on stopping my estrip usage. It would be more likely that life changes would cause me to periodically neglect the site and then return on occcasion...

Last night I was hanging out with (e:Paul) , (e:Terry) and (e:Matthew) (and Sarah ), and we were talking about their new mansion. What a cool building. I must have had too much Flying Horse at India Gate with dinner because I didn't notice it at the time, but this morning as I was looking at the photos again, I thought of something Matthew was telling us about how the house was haunted.

Now, you know me, (e:strip), and I'm not one for imaginary things like ghosts and god and all that. But today I noticed something really weird. I swear (e:Paul) took some strange photos at the house. I enlarged the photos so you can see the areas I'm talking about (since (e:strip) don't allow us to zoom on images...)


OK, so here's Exhibit A, a photo of the back of the new PMT Mansion. Notice the window in the middle of the second floor?



Here's a detail shot of just that window:



So WTF is that? huh?

And then this is the one I can't believe I didn't notice last night:



Can you see? In the left window? Here's a detail:




So now I have two mysteries on the table (e:peeps): What's the deal with the Buff Zoo Gate sculptures? And is the new mansion haunted?

OK, who in (e:strip) land knows about the Buffalo Zoo gate sculptures? I know others are familiar with the sculptures; at each of the old gates of the Buffalo Zoo there are these cool sculptures of different animals. The sculptures are pretty cool, and mostly intact. We've always wondered about them, so Sarah decided to take some photos (she's still playing with the Lensbaby a lot ). She posted up a bunch on her site. Check them out here:





I mean, c'mon, how tough is that sculpture? What is that, some kind of mountain lion? Couger?

What do you know about these sculptures?

I saw this bot contest online and I thought I'd post it up here for anyone toying with chatterbots on (E:strip). Or interested in doing such a thing...

Robots or "BOTs", are software programs that you can add to MSN® Messenger and Windows Live™ Messenger. If you add a robot to your contact list, it can chat, give you customer service support, perform searches, make suggestions, play games and more.

We're looking for the best new robot ideas for Messenger. And $40,000 in fantastic prizes go to the top BOTs!

I might try to work something up later this summer if I get out from under my pile of stuff I need to take care of...

And I did receive my Jesus Pans, like two days after I ordered them. I sent a phonecam pic to the 'Strip, but I think my messages are still being flagged as Spam. Damn anti-spam tools... I'm sure (e:Paul) will eventually rescue it.