Hello All,
So exciting all the new people. Welcome to the Estrip, and I hope you enjoy the site and post frequently.

I just met with my thesis advisor and it went well. He is from Buffalo originally, well the City of Tonawanda, and got his undergraduate degree from UB. He is really nice guy and it is great to talk to him because he is plugged in to buffalo politics as much if not more than I am. He was my professor for Metropolitan Politics and his specialties are race and urban government. He actually wrote a book about Buffalo called Desegregation in Boston and Buffalo: The Influence of Local Leaders . My thesis is going to be on the dilution of African-American political power in metropolitan-style governments. I don't want to bore you, but the essence is, when suburbs are incorporated into the city (like what giambra is talking about) African-Americans tend to lose voting power because they make up a smaller percentage of the population as opposed to when it was just the central city. Often times this was done for the explicit purpose of diluting African-American power. I want to look at different cases and see how the newly formed metropolitan governments were or weren't structured to protect African-American voting power. I'm sorry if I went on too long. If you want to hear me talk more about it, I can babble on for hours so just let me know.

For the rest of the day, I have a meeting at one with some of my Leadership Program compatriots and I have to write a three page speech for Harry Truman endorsing either Kerry or Bush for President for my 5:30 class. I also want to study for the GRE's for 3 hours today. We'll see if that happens. I also had planned on exercising but extenuating circumstances stopped that. So my schedule isn't perfect but I am working on it. Oh well. Just got to keep trying. There is nothing else I can do.

That is all for now. Welcome again new Estrippers. Oh, and PS, the new bot is fun. Thanks (e:ajay) and/or (e:paul)

Wow. I just looked at the usersinfo section and there are so many more people. YAY (E:) STRIP!!!!! Here is a link to the Buffalo News article:

[inlink]paul,1985[/inlink]

The missing of SQB's journal being stated, I completely understand and support (e:paul)'s decision to require terms of service. He needs to protect his ass and the site. There is so much for him to lose if we screw up, all for providing a service to the community that costs HIM money. I want to thank you for the site paul, and I plan on being a part of it as long as it exists.

I'll miss your journals SQB. :( I hope you reconsider. If not, take care of yourself and maybe our paths will cross in the future.

I would like to dedicate this post to certain people who have not posted in a while *looking at you jillian. How in the world am I supposed to stalk you if you do not update? Speaking of which, I have IMed you twice in the past week to no response. I don't hold that against you as I assume it is your parents online. Good thing I didn't say anything inappropriate, well, THAT inappropriate.

On to other things. I am really enjoying some of the new banners.

That is quite the rant (e:maureen) . I totally understand and agree with you. Try not to let their ignorance get you down. It is their problem not yours.

Hmmm. I came back from a party in my building today to my roommates parents in the apartment. I am so socially awkward and hate small talk, so I am hiding in my room right now. That is kind of rude I guess. I just really hate being forced to chat about nothing with people that I kind of know.

Hmmmm. Hopefully I can be productive this weekend. I have to go check my voice mail to see if my cousin called when I was out. He was supposed to call me so we could meet up tomorrow, while he is in town. I would've waited for the call, but I did that last week and he didn't call until 8 hours after he said he would. This forced me to miss a meeting that I had to be at. Its not that I would mind skipping the meeting if I got to see him, but skipping the meeting just to wait for a call that never came ticked me off. Oh well. Hopefully he called and we can do something tomorrow. Talk to you all later.