I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post these. This bike trip was one week ago Sunday.

I went on a 4 hour bike trip of the East Side of Buffalo, there was about 16 of us. Our Tour guide was David Torke from Fix Buffalo Great group of People. I stayed and had Lunch with David, Cynthia Van Ness, and Scott. It was a lot of fun talking about the city.

I always wanted to see more of the East Side, it's so vast and unfamiliar. Bike riding was great, you're able to see everything from a human perspective, not in a car.

We mostly toured architectural treasures that were abandoned, some badly decayed. But we also got a feel for what it is like to live on the East Side. We saw some of what has been done to help or hinder these communities. We saw some of the worst streets in broad daylight. And we saw how few people there are in some areas.

The thing that struck me the most was how much it felt like the country. The East Side is pretty sparsely populated in some areas. You have streets with 14 houses 8 of which are abandoned, then 6 open lots from demolished homes. The abandoned homes become sweet unsupervised hangouts for neighborhood kids, and then trouble starts. Fire, drugs, violence, sex. After seeing these neighborhoods first hand I have a lot better understanding of exactly what it is like to live in a state of worry. You also begin to the roots of problems.

David Torke mentioned trying to get people organized on the East Side, he said people are kind of 'suspicious' of each other. That struck me as a profound insight into the environment and the people, and the types of tensions one encounters.

The East Side really isn't so bad, I dispelled a lot of my myths and fears about it. A lot of it is abandoned, but some strips are active, and there are things going on. We rode by a couple of storefront churches with their doors open, and there were gospel bands playing with a full drum set, and bass. People live there, they have just been ignored for so long that they don't expect the government to help.

But the appeal of the East Side is that, in a weird way, it's kind of like the country. There are some open spaces where homes have been removed and fields of grass have taken over. Areas around train tracks and dead end streets that are mostly abandoned. Some times there will be 4-8 open spaces next to each other that create a field.

Last Chance to take the tour this summer!! Saturday September 2nd start at Coe Pl. and Main St. at 11:00. More info at Fix Buffalo

I posted a whole bunch of photos from the trip on Flickr in fact there are 54 photos in the set

Here are some, but there are way too many good ones. We went to the train Station and I took a lot of pictures. I was also riding with the camera around my neck and taking pictures without looking. What a great opportunity.



Yes, that is on the East Side. off of Clinton Street. Realy neat feeling to the place.





/ This is the back of the church below /



Transfiguration Church at 929 Sycamore Street.













Urban Prairie on Koons Avenue. Really interesting spot.



More on Flickr
Check it out!

Molly, my wonderful fiance, is on the other side of the planet, in Indonesia. She has always wanted to travel and do service work. I couldn't go because I am a photographer and I work in a studio of 4, so I couldn't abandon my wedding commitments. so I am miserably lonely, she is gone for a month.

She is helping build and start a pre-school. then she is going to facilitate Alternatives to Violence workshops, she is a certified AVP facilitator. She will be around Ache most of the time, where they had the tsunami. She is doing well, I got a couple updates from her. She's been gone about 2 weeks. I got her a 1 gigabyte memory card for her camera before she went, that will take about 700-1000 pictures, so I will get a pretty full tour when she gets home. They're not high tech so she can't e-mail any pictures to me now.

I miss her.

Ok, so YouTube is my new best friend, Why pay for cable, just get DSL.

I love the YouTube interface, it really allows you to sort of 'channel surf' by displaying related videos on the right, along with some random favorites all the way to the right. You can find out so much about an issue in 20 minutes by just surfing through the related videos.


Today, I ended up checking out US election fraud in 2004 mostly. Here's a video to get you started, it's a computer programmer testifying before the Florida State Legislature about how HE WROTE a program to rig the election for Tom Feeney (who got elected by the way). The Legislators ask him some fascinating questions and really get to the fine details of how easy it is. also check out parts 1-4 of Votergate in the related videos.




Yesterday I checked out evidence that contradicts the government's explanation of why the twin towers fell on 9/11. Search for "World Trade Center", "Explosives" the evidence is astounding. And it uses first person testimony and video evidence. So the credibility of the director is not usually an issue, because you are watching first hand evidence with your own eyes. Flip through the related videos for first person testimony and news coverage about explosions around the trade center.




Last a movie about the 3 innocent British Muslims who went through Guantanamo
Links to the trailer and a clip from the movie, plus a description here



More Movies about 9/11, and some music at my random blogger account.

Just got home from work, I'm a photographer, and I did a military wedding tonight, Marines actually. They make me emotional. It's just that these people disserve infinite respect, and they don't fucking get it. They're used like goddamn pawns in a giant game of risk. and you know what's at risk? it's not peace and security, it's fucking profits. When I'm at these weddings, I just cherish the presence of the people that have lived to be there, and they joy of their families to be able to celebrate something after a year of frightening uncertainty apart from their child. For me it's heavy stuff, and the Marines are all their to forget and try to celebrate, despite the fact that they've lost friends on the battlefield. These guys today were all from Iraq, and their platoon did suffer casualties and injuries. The day was never sad, they didn't have speeches lamenting any tragedy, but it still made me emotional. Maybe just because these guys could have died, I don't know... it's rough.

People:
1. How did you find out about/why did you become of estrip?
Shawn Rider and the DMS community at UB, I had stumbled on the site prior to that but never signed up for an account.

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 don't write or use anything I don't want to be public. Don't use my real name. My journal will be more public soon because I have set up a basic API and will give it a simple address.

3. How many epeeps have you met real life? 4-5, most at the Geek Meet or UB

4. How has estrip changed the way that you meet people, on and/or off line?
Not much, sometimes I am more social on the site, but I don't use it to meet people outside.

5. How has estrip affected you love life?
None.

6. How many of your friends have joined estrip because of your influence?
None yet, though I have tried.

7. Are you from Buffalo/do you live in Buffalo?
Sure do, yes to both questions.

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?
No, seems very cool but I have no phone. Like the idea of posting from Concerts or news events.

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?
Depends on the week, at first I was on (e:strip) about 2-3 hours per day, now it depends on whether I am having a discussion on the site.

1a. How many journals do you usually read per day?
I don't check the site every day anymore, I did for the first 3-4 months. Now I check probably twice a week. Average, I'll read 4-6 different user's journals.

2. In what ways has estrip changed the way you perceive your local community?
It allows me to see a range of perspectives from people who live differently than I do, I understand more facets of my community. I might not be able to find such a variety of perspectives otherwise.

3. How has journaling about your life affected the way you spend your free time?
Well, having a journal that people can easily read and respond to, has kind of filled the role of my old paper journal. Much of that had gotten political, rather than too personal to share. And I always wanted to publish some of my journals someday, (e:strip) provides a great audience.

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?
Sometimes. Most of my pieces are opinion rather than personal stories. I find that my personal stories tend to be expressed and remembered through pictures, now that I think about it. I like to have my camera around when I do fun stuff that I might like to remember, concerts, hiking, traveling, etc. interesting, never thought about that. But I think I do write more about politics than I would without an account on a welcoming and functionally thoughtful site like (e:strip).

6. Has publishing on estrip affected the way that write?
I haven't particularly noticed, but I do generally pay attention to my audience. I actually have gotten to be a little less picky about my writing, but I don't know the cause of that really, maybe just laziness.

7. Do you have other online journals? If so, with what service and has estrip affected your usage of that journal?
Blogger, I just use that for news articles, not my own writings.
WNY Media, I use that just for longer more important articles that I write, though I usually post them on (e:strip) too, or they start on (e:strip) and turn into longer pieces as I do research.
Myspace, never really used it, just played with the interface.
Flickr, I should post more pictures on (e:strip) but I don't.

8. Have you ever gotten in trouble for using estrip at work?
Almost, I've definitely posted from work.

9. If you have stopped using estrip, why?
Decreased now just because I'm busier.