Tonight (e:mike) and I decided to go to Kostas for dinner. This was after the usual 45 minutes of back and forth "Well, where do you want to go?" We are tired of our choices, which for me have only gotten worse after not eating meat. I had it in my mind that I would get the vegetable lasagna. Couldn't wait to eat the saucy layered goodness with what I imagined would be fresh crunchy veggies. It was not what I expected at all. I expected red sauce to be baked in, but it was on the side and wasn't what I think constitutes lasagna. Wasn't exactly terrible, but it was disappointing. Mikey ordered the mac n cheese...again. Why? I don't know, because we are both convinced that it is Stouffer's. Then mikey tells me that he has seen Kostas cater at his school and that he saw Stouffer boxes for the vegetable lasagna at the event. You know what? I love Stouffer's mac n cheese. It is sooo good. It's just that if I want to eat some, i'll buy it in the grocery isle and not order it at a restaurant. Do Kostas make anything at the restaurant? They serve the BEST carrot cake, which I found out from the waiter was from Sweet Tooth. Kostas is out.

Published on July 17, 1995
© The Buffalo News Inc.

Arson was the cause of kitchen fire at about 10:30 p.m.

Saturday in an occupied home at 200 Lexington Ave., city fire officials said Sunday.

Two separate fires were set in the kitchen, according to fire investigators. Damage was put at $5,000 to the building and $1,000 to its contents. The fire remains under investigation.

(e:mike) alerted me to this article, but I didn't find it until just now after talking to Barb. I asked Barb about the fire here and she asks me "How did you know about that?" I told her it was in the Buffalo News search. Anyways this is what she told me about a fire, which is not the same date as this one. She said a fire started in my apartment from a Grad Student's old fashioned toaster. When the bishop had the attic remodeled into an office you could see the charred flooring. The fire that she said was in my apartment happened before 1980 and the arson fire happened in 1995. Who would intentionally set a fire to one of the apartments? If I am lucky I can find out more information about the arson in 1995. I do have a small tie to a fire investigator, but don't know if he can find anything out. I'm going to go to county hall to find the deed information on the house.

update, I posted same journal 2x's cause I thought I lost the original. Here is the extra info I added in the deleted journal

This is getting very interesting indeed. Why has Barb never told us that she used to own this house and why does she continue to care for the house in the absence of the Bishop? Who would start a fire to an apartment and why?

On another note. I want to buy this house now. Somebody should give me the money.

By the way, I also am not suggesting that Barb has tried to burn the house down.

dcoffee and his latest journal
had me thinking about war and violence. I think that it is something that fortunately, most of the youth in our country today have little experience with. The US war in Vietnam is over. I often wonder how different things would be now if peace activists would have been taken seriously at the beginning of the war. Was there anything gained by our extended bombing and terror campaign in that country? Anything at all?

Do people in favor of war have any clue as to what war is? It is absolutely the most dehumanizing act conceivable. Terror is dehumanizing. We are programmed to think of terror in terms of Arabs, suicide bombing and liquid bombing plots. Terror terror terror. How are we going to stay safe? Frustrated travelers...blah blah blah. These things are all terrifying, but isn't war terror? What would you do if you heard the air raid sirens blaring, knew the bombs were coming, but were helpless to do anything about it? I have had dreams in the past about being in various bombings. At one time I was a woman being hunted down by the Nazis. I had to lay on a cold wet slab of concrete, with many other people, trying not to breath, hoping they wouldn't see us. Another time, I was attending a university in Iraq and bombs were falling everywhere and there was no where to hide. These were only dreams though, still I really don't know the reality of terror. I know, however, that I don't ever want to experience it first hand.

Today I uncovered even more History about the house I am in. Currently the woman Barb, who watches over the house for the Bishop, sold this house to him in 1980. She had purchased the home from the Wards in 1958. Unfortunately, she did not know anything about them. I have been looking for Arlene Ward's obituary (I assume she is dead), but with no luck. Barb's father was the one that broke up the single family house into apartments in 1958. Oh wait, i'm on to a new lead that came in from (e:mike). More of this story to come.

The bishop's lawyer came unannounced yesterday with a new Realtor. They did not call as required by law and common courtesy, but I allowed them into my apartment. Then they went into my neighbors apartment when she wasn't there. I told them that we ask 24 hours notice before our apartments are entered and the Realtor guy says "She won't know we were here." Well actually she will because i'm going to tell her. We have done nothing but cooperate with everyone involved in the sale of this house. I hate that we are being disrespected in this way.

It just so happened to be a free day for me and I have been wanting to clean the wood work in the hallway. The stairs are really beautiful, but they were covered in at least 20 years of dust. All the woodwork is original and most of the stairway was left unpainted. What is wrong with people who paint beautiful woodwork or cover it up with nasty carpeting? Murphy's Oil Soap is so great. ((e:libertad) product endorsement) I wish I could give before and after pics, but I don't want to spend the time fussing with photos.

While I was cleaning, I broke something that was very special to me and Steve. It was this statue of an Asian woman that used to be Steve's Grandmother's. When she died it was one of the things I got to keep from her house. It was the worse feeling to have broken the statue and then have to clean up all her pieces. I called Steve right away to tell him. I am saving her head. Right now it is in the big plant from his grandma's house.

It took me hours to clean all the woodwork and I was happy to do it. I felt like I was restoring this old house! You would have thought that the people that live in this house would appreciate the restored stairs, but no. My neighbor just walked passed me while I was cleaning and didn't say a thing and Steve had nothing nice to say either.