I must have been insane to go to the fair today. Somehow we managed to surf our way through Route 5 and Lake Ave with some wicked hydro plaining. The upside, not as many people as not once did my ankles get attacked by a stroller. It was really my only day to go as I have other stuff going on this week.

So here is a pic that is a pretty impressive sculpture of our future President, made out of a dairy product.

I was just bored when I decided to go and burn some calories today. Back in the day my GF at the time would videotape herself doing tricks on her blades. Well I haven't seen her in 10 years so there is no one edging me on to do tricks, so I just spontaneously decided to whip out my phone and record this little thing. It's the one thing about the summer I love doing and the path is always a nice time. This stayed on the Isle View side of things.

it does have quite a bit of wind, but you do hear my wheels grinding away.

It has been something that I have been giving serious thought for quite some time. Over the past few months I have applied for other jobs in other cities and when the acceptance and interest has been there for me I had to do some serious analyzing on what my next move would be. At some point it became a, "be careful of what you wish for, since you just might get it" type of thing. So I sit here with opportunities to move on elsewhere, but for some reason I just can't really pull the trigger.

I think it just may come down to money. Yea I have some saved up and do have most of it working in some way, but to be honest I am able to be in that position due to the way I live here in keeping my expenses low. If I picked up and moved to Richmond, VA that wouldn't be as cost effective as where I am currently.

What's the reason why I'm driving myself to push all in and make a move if I'm really torn and feeling the urge? It really comes down to the fact that I have the spent the last 10 years looking for someone and I have come to the fact that either, I am totally Fucked up in the head (which may be a possibility given my lack of confidence/game) or such a woman does not live in the Western New York area that fits to my standards and has the potential to mesh in some kind of chemistry.

Although I have plenty of faults I think that's it's the later. Especially given the last couple of dates I have been out on I have just realized that in some ways I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel around this area. Crap I had to move to Canada to find my ex-wife. I don't want to choose between looks and chemistry, in the end you are just unhappy eventually because you want at least some of one that you are not getting or have.

SO, I may be totally screwing myself for not packing up and leaving town in search of a dream, mainly finding a suitable mate. It's just that I'm being a bit partial to something that will just scorch a marriage if it's not looked after, money. With how things are going economically these days, how could you not?

Those "suitable" wife material women elsewhere that have scores I can only dream of on these dating sites that have those fancy smanchy algorithms and match percentages that are non-existent for me her in Western NY are just going to have to wait I suppose...

I remember drinking a 6 pack over Christmas this year when I was down in Sarasota. I guess the positive trial markets indicated that they could make a go of it. With the revitalization of Pabst Blue Ribbon I don't see why they wouldn't parlay that success into another emotionally nostalgic brand. Plus as I remember it was actually pretty good. I did buy some of the "new" formula over the spring when I went down to Virginia and although it's great to complement a picnic, it just wasn't as good as the original stuff I had in Sarasota.




It's not entirely about the beer. For older people it's about nostalgia, for people like me or younger it's about communion with older long passed on relatives or better simpler times. Then again it could just be that people won't be able to afford beer brewed by microbreweries with no bargaining power for key ingredients due to their diminished economies of scale or beer imported from a country with a stronger currency. I think that's why the foreign brewers bought out the domestic macro breweries, so we can be the "cheap foreign labor" for their brands as we do for our children's toys and clothes from southeast Asia.

I ended up stopping by the only bar in Youngstown tonight for the festivities of the Saturday night party of the 2008 version of this big yacht race that has been going strong for 30+ years. For me growing up it was really just something to see. What stood out was the crazy drunken Canadians that would come down and just go nuts. As that article in the Buffalo News said; At one point it was one of the top 10 parties in North America.

Now the energy just isn't there as it was in years past. But for some odd reason I decided to go to the "Jug" instead of the Transmission Dance Party tonight. Mainly it was just to run into people I knew that haven't been around here for a while. For that purpose it did hit it's mark, but for a night out it really was kind of sad. Since I'm not a yachtsman this will most likely be the last time I stop by. Yea, it was interesting to see some strange people in town driving their BMW's and Infiniti's but really it is just a shadow of it's former self and I know it's by design.

It's just sad that 3 years ago that one particular age group of people I knew kind of f'd it all up. The funny part is my buddy that now lives in the ATL was a part of it. As we were working together @ the time it was funny to have him tell me, "You better take it easy & leave early, because I called in!" Yea, looking back I think I should have done the same to, but there's this guilt association with work that I have for some reason.

With all that was going on this weekend I have to say that in the comparison the the two major street festivles that were going on this weekend, Canal fest took first place. I only stopped by the Italian Fest just to grab something to eat during the rain soaked portion today. All I can say is that for the most part it was kind of an immediate sequel of the Taste of Buffalo. I looked at a couple of tents and said to myself, "I had their ____ last week!" Other than my usual stops I didn't see too much reason in staying, since the main stage entertainment just didn't appeal to me. Plus in comparison to Canal Fest, they were a bit over priced. An Italian sausage @ Canal Fest was $3.50 while @ the Sorrento Cheese Italian Heritage Festival , it was $5+ at some locations. Seriously I know the name of the game is to make a profit, but there was one tent that wanted $7 for an Italian Sausage! I could go down the street the Louie's at the corner of Delaware & Hertel and get a meal for that much.

Here are a few pics of some of the food staples.

(e:metalpeter) 's Baked Ziti with Pesto. There wasn't a restaurant associated with the place, but it was really good and worth the $4 I paid for it.


My annual stop @ Lobster Hut, pretty much I though this would be food porn for (e:paul)


What is an Italian Heritage Festivle in Buffalo without a Cannoli?


Later on I stopped by the Canal Fest once again. I know (e:mrmike) posted some pics, but here are a few more.

The midway food on Thursday


Some of the Arts & Craft vendors they had on this weekend. Nothing really too exciting, as it was more "Margaritaville this way & I'ts 5 o'clock somewhere signs.


These were taken behind the "local politcal campaigns, church and club fund raiser" food tents. The star of the 2 festivals' for food value was the Our Lady of Czestochowa parish's tent @ the Canal Fest. They had this thing called the "Polish Platter" in which you received a Polish Sausage, 2 pierogies, a cabbage roll and a slice of rye bread for $10. I only had a bit or two from it as my friend had it. But it was really great food if you're into the above mentioned ethnic food and the value was outstanding. Too bad I didn't snap a pic.

I have hit Canal Fest a couple of times so far. But this really gets me every year. It's a midway game in which you are betting on which hole a mouse is going to go into. Once the barker lifts the blue tupperware lid, the mouse then finds a hole to crawl into. The thing about this is that it happened so fast.

This is way too funny if it wasn't the truth.

Yea, we'll give you a check but no one will cash it.

The thing that gets me is the person that is trying to go from Indymac to Washington Mutual. Talk about going from one abusive boyfriend to another.

Yea, We knew this shit was going to happen eventually We saw it happen in September of '07

To be honest I hope people wake up & yank their money out of troubled banks & bring them to their knees. Savers have been practically shit on for the last 30 years. Just ask anyone that for whatever stupid reason, "believed in the system" & had more than $100,000 in Indymac Bank. They may have kept their money safe for the last 10 years, avoided the .com bubble in March '00, never got sucked into low interest, no documentation loan orgy over the last 5 years and now are going to get a haircut on their accounts over 100 K, basically 50 cents on the $.

The only way someone got even that is a saver with Indymac is to have loaded up on those 4.3% CD rates that they were offering. F**K, Fed Funds currently is 2% and that's the rate institutions borrow money. It really was a huge moral hazard, Let's offer rates DOUBLE the market rate to get enough Capital to keep going & if shit blows up in our face, THE TAXPAYERS OF THE USA WILL HOLD THE BAG!!!! Pretty smart, although a bit morally shady.

In a way we are all going to be holding the bag for the whole mess we are going to go through in regards to the Socialism for the Rich. There was no fear in making any loan to anyone with a pulse. While at the same time the whole thought of being prudent and conservative just went by the wayside. With what 70% home ownership in this country and with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac passing the joint around of the homeownership fetish in this country there was just too much froth for the whole thing. You look at the subsidies for Freddie and Fannie, The tax breaks for home ownership and the low interest rates below inflation for so long, people just had a no fear of anything. Just borrow, borrow and borrow like this tool; Do you really need $200 Jeans and BMW? We just can't have home ownership for home ownership sake to perpetuate the "American Dream" and keep prices rising year after year while having solvent institutions that have reserve capital to back up what they are lending. At some point you have to say, "Dude you're horrible with your money and you don't have anything to put Down on this purchase to offset this institution's risk, FLAT OUT NO!" The mission for Fannie & Freddie was at best schizophrenic. You can't make owning for everyone at all costs fit into the framework of being prudent, solvent and responsible for your balance sheet, it just doesn't happen, we can't all be winners.

We are all going to be homeowners as the U.S. Government is going to end up buying Fannie & Freddie. So I guess it makes the Government your benefactor landlord. So is this mess what the ownership society was all about? So instead of one big apartment bloc of flats owned and operated by the government as they did in the Eastern Bloc, we are going to have Uncle Sam own our Patio Home Condo's? Then again that's another thing with the people the invested in Freddie & Fannie, the GSE's that provided a nice stream of income, your shareholder equity at the end of this, ZERO. Do you think that in say 10 years if the "investment" for these Government Sponsored Enterprises pans out that they will return the gain to the taxpayers in the form of tax cuts?

At the end of the day we have to realize that Capitalism is a ZERO SUM GAME. You can't have success without failure. We compete every day for Jobs, Mates and parking spaces. This whole, let's help everyone out and bail them out is just plain bullshit. At the end of the day we are all going to fit the bill. If they tighten in the Easy money, people won't to be able to buy those McMansion's due to no institution willing to lend them money. How many people can lay down $40,000 Cold Hard Cash for a $400,000 house? They used to do it 30 + years ago & the payment could only be as high as 25% of your NET Income, since they wanted to make sure you could may your Bill every month.

We can either have responsible lending or easy money to let Real Estate prices keep their upward trajectory forever. You do that by making it affordable for people with the money they have, or give people more money to spend. The second option has been the policy for the country for the last 20 years and obviously that hasn't worked.

What I figure they are going to do since there is just took much at stake to let the economy inflate to Wilhelm Republic levels. All of us are going to be on the hook for bailing out all of the wreckless financial institutions. It's kind of like living in a Dorm and some drunken frat boys trashed the bathrooms. Well no one is going to fess up and everyone on the floor is going to get assessed a bill for the repairs.

At this point just keep on shorting the financials & buy Gold.

After I came home from Canada on Saturday I ended up stopping by this party that I have been going to for a few years now. It's out in Wilson and at night you could see the Toronto skyline clearly. The funny part of the whole evening was I ran into (e:kookcity2000) there! He was friends with one of the brother's that host this event.

It's a gathering of people all across the country. Everyone for the most part highly intelligent and pretty well off, so it was quite the refreshing environment. The highlight was talking to this one Hipster guy Josh who totally embraced our contribution to the party of Old Milwaukee and Mickey's Fine Malt Liquor. I have never seen Labatt Blue sit in a cooler so long untouched. That was quite a shocker to be honest. On a personal note there was this guy from Baltimore there who wore a "National Bohemian Beer" shirt that is of the Pabst family product line, but unavailable here.

Unlike past years the Dad of the family finally constructed himself a "Man Cave" and for the later part of the evening I watched UFC 86. Needless to say it was interesting to kick back watching the bloodsport while listening to old school progressive rock at the same time as the soundtrack for this party.

Needless to say here are some scenic pics of Lake Ontario and some fireworks in action.