I am about to become an official E-Stripper (well, almost) and I am super-excited. I think it has something to do with the fact that I would be living on Summer Street in the dead of winter. When the city is buried under 10 feet of snow, I will still be on Summer Street. :) How cheerful is that?!! I am in a cloud of cheerfullness over this pleasant fact.


Now for the mundane. I am wondering if e-strippers could rack their memories yet again and please tell me about their favourite/casual/not-so-favourite/loathed grocery stores in and around downtown? Where are the major groceries? Where are the Ethnic speciality groceries - the Chinese, the Indian, the Vietnamese, the Korean, the Thai and the mediterranean stores with the fresh produce/spices/sauces? Where is the best hummus in town? Where is the best produce in town?

I cook everyday and I think I might die a slow death without ready access to good groceries and produce markets.

Inputs HUGELY appreciated!!! Thanks! :)

I was setting up the new phone/internet service for my future apartment and everything was going fine. Verizon has a sweet deal for $15 a month (comes to about $34 a month with the landline). I thought to myself, what a perfect little deal for a poor graduate student. And suddenly, out of nowhere came a whopping ~$75 initial charge. On minute inspection, a major chunk of that charge came from something called "Connection Line Charge: Element 2" worth about $40. There is no explanation of this charge on the verizon website so I googled and found this description in some random document:

On June 14, 1993, New England Telephone and Telegraph
Company ("NET" or "Company") filed with the Department of Public
Utilities ("Department"), revisions to the Company's tariffs
D.P.U. Mass. Nos. 10 and 15 to become effective July 14, 1993.
...
...
...
NET applies an Element 1 service ordering charge for the
receiving, recording, and processing of a customer's
request for service (Exh. NET-4, Tab E3). An Element 2
central office line connection charge is applied to recover
the costs of establishing or changing service in the
central office ( id., Tab E4)

It's a charge just to change a single name on a file. Oh well.

So the moving date is steadily drawing near. I am thinking of driving into Buffalo with a rental SUV (someone else will be doing the driving). We would need to park temporarily on the curbside till I unload all my stuff and take it inside Mayflower. Then we would need to park the SUV somewhere close till we take everything upstairs and lock up. How strict is curbside towing outside Mayflower on Sunday mornings? Is there somewhere near that we can park temporarily till we return the SUV?

It has been known for sometime that Aluminium is associated with Alzheimer's disease. However, the past few years has brought forth research that might potentially implicate Aluminium in the development of cancer. Aluminium is the key ingredient in most of the underarm deodorants out there. It is believed to have estrogenic properties. Estrogenic input drives its growth, progression and possibly initiation of cancer.

Women use these deodorants day in and day out and they are applied directly to the axillary (underarm) area. The deodorants remain in contact with skin for extended periods of time. Aluminium in these deodorants is probably absorbed more readily than any other metalloestrogen, because of the microabrasions on the skin in the axillary region (due to frequent shaving).

To all women (and men) out there, does this piece of news bother you? Would you be willing to toss out all your deodorants and get Al-free ones? Or would you rather wait for this association to be set in stone?

As a researcher, can't help wondering how much of an impact such news has on consumers...

Update: Found this article on the Al-free alternatives out there:

The update on my drab life: I am done with my qualifiers. *w00t* But I don't know if I passed or am doomed to take them 6 months later. *anti-w00t*

The update on my not-so-drab life: It's the Mayflower!! That apartment on the 5th Storey was in the Mayflower as many of you guessed. It's an absolutely charming "large studio" and I think I love it. However, the lease is not very clear-cut. The present tenant has a lease which ends July 31st, but wants to get out of it early. Though, very enthusiastic, the present tenant has not got hold of the management yet - so they have not got in touch with me. I admit that its been just 3 business days (mon-tue-wed), but.... its been three business days! Hence, the anxiety...

I did a walking piligrimage of Roswell and surrounding areas on Friday and I think I have officially become rather enamoured with all the goodies on Delaware, Allen Street, the fabulous theatre district, funky Elmwood etc. You guys live in an awesome neighbourhood!! What the hell was I thinking, strolling down Ellicott when I first visited Buffalo?!!

I checked out a handful of apartments - the ones on Auburn-Delaware, Elmwood-Lexington/Utica were gorgeous but it took forever to walk to Roswell. Thoughts of a snow-laden walk in the 6 months of Buffalo winter weren't very appealing so they are off the list for now. There was a charming studio apartment in an old mansion on Summer, but the studio was too tiny (and had wild rabbits in the front yard!! yikes!!). Then, there was this apartment building on Elmwood near Summer but this was right next to Section 8 housing and *reeked* of tobacco smoke. No-one showed up to show me an apartment on Franklin, someone on Linwood cancelled on me and it was too late to check out another apartment at Richmond.

So in the end, it looks like I might be living in Mayflower after all, if this lease somehow comes through. If it doesn't, its back to the hunt again, and that would be quite a setback.

I had a MOST delicious lunch at a delighful little Italian joint on Delaware called the "Panaros". Their three-cheese-spinach-garlic pizza is just out of this world (and I was ridiculously hungry after hours of walking).

The apartment hunt hasn't officially ended yet, but I just want to thank all of you for helping me out, and orienting me to the neighbourhood. Can't have gone on the Buffalo piligrimage/hunt alone without all the estripper tips and advice I received over the past two months! Thank you!!