My lights have been flickering. Shouldn't really have my computer on with them doing that, but I need it.

There is a large piece of roofing on the front lawn

When the wind gusts i can feel the house moving. Maybe I should get downstairs if ever we were in a really bad storm? There is a cellar door just like at Dorothy's house in Kansas on the side. Forget going down there, I would go to my neighbors first. My basement is too Blair Witchesque.

Time to worry about my paper again. I'm writing about the War of 1898 against Spain. Manifest Destiny and all that fun stuff. One of my sources has to be in Spanish, which is fine, but they don't have a wide selection at the Buffalo Public Library or Buffstate. I don't know what to trust on the net and I haven't found anything through database searching via my school's library page. My teacher gave me some videos on the subject to watch, but my VHS player likes to eat tapes.......so.... I can't watch them. Actually I watched one at my neighbors house while she was gone but now she is home for the weekend and I don't want to force her to watch a boring war movie. I like watching documentaries, but not the ones that dwell on battle scene logistics for too long. I like the ones that focus more on causes and effects what people thought and all that. Paper due Tuesday...procrastination bad. I could have done interlibrary loan if I did it sooner.

There was an article today in the Buffalo News re: Coffee & fire
See
for background info.

Fine imposed in case of Elmwood Ave. fire
By MATT GRYTA
News Staff Reporter
11/29/2006
    Former Buffalo businessman Lon Coldiron was fined $5,320 Tuesday but spared a jail term in connection with the mysterious fire that destroyed his Elmwood Avenue coffee shop and killed his dog two years ago.

Erie County Judge Timothy J. Drury, however, denied a request from Travelers Insurance that Coldiron pay $283,500 in restitution.

Coldiron, 40, was found guilty in May of attempted grand larceny. A jury that deliberated four days couldn't reach a verdict on a felony arson charge.

Michael McCabe, chief of the district attorney's Arson Bureau, told Drury that prosecutors would not retry Coldiron on the arson charge.

Drury pointedly turned down Travelers' request for compensation from Coldiron for the amount it had paid to Ramesh Chainani of Amherst, who had leased the three-story Buffalo building to Coldiron.

Both the judge and prosecutor noted the insurer "cannot lawfully request" restitution because Coldiron, recently fired from a trucking industry job, was not convicted of setting the fire.

Drury ordered Coldiron to perform 100 hours of community service over five years while on probation, pay $320 of his court fines within a month and begin making $500-a-month payments until the full court debt is covered.

David G. Jay, Coldiron's attorney, told the judge the case was his client's first involvement with the criminal courts.

Noting that Coldiron had taken the stand in his own defense, Drury said he agreed with probation officers who found the former businessman to be "a good candidate for probation."

Coldiron was rescued from his third-floor apartment above his business during the early morning fire.

After sentencing, Coldiron said he will appeal his conviction, contending he never attempted to collect insurance.

"I still say that I'm innocent of the charges of which I was convicted. I am a good guy," he said.

He noted no flammable liquids were found linking him to the fire.

Coldiron said Chainani, his former landlord, had sold the property at 718 Elmwood for about $180,000 shortly after the arson in addition to collecting the full insurance coverage.

He also claimed arson investigators ignored "evidence of a door jammed open" that he said suggested intruders had torched the building.

On the witness stand in May, Coldiron denied any involvement in the arson and told the jury he had been receiving threatening telephone calls for weeks before the fire.

Prosecutors presented evidence that the state Department of Taxation and Finance had been hounding Coldiron for $24,000 in overdue sales tax payments. He also had casino gambling debts, had only $800 in the bank and took out insurance policies a month before the fire, prosecutors said.

Coldiron insisted his landlord had forced him to obtain the insurance and said he never attempted to collect on those policies.

He also insisted he had expected to work out his tax problems with the state and had been confident the coffee shop would have become very successful.

I'm so angry that the arson investigators never contacted me and this guy is lying through his teeth. Things possibly could have been different if I had testified. Yet even after trying to contact them, they never questioned me once.

Today I got this email from my Grammy in response to the email from my Great Aunt I posted previous to this one. She also sent a bunch about Latinos taking over the country, but I only posted one.

I just want you all to know that I am disappointed in these recent
e-mails
my sister, ******, sent out to the family. I just wanted you to know
that I
don't like this type of e-mails.
Mom

I love my Grammy and Grandpa. Isn't it cute she can do emails too?

Here are some quotes from urbandictionary.com that I find amusing re Honky

"You stupid honky bitch!"

"Man, dat honky got no ass!"

"Go back to your trailer and fuck your cousin some more, you goddamn honky."

"Honky' is just as vulgar as the n-word and should not be used by anyone"

(Sorry this will be the last time I speak Honky tonk)

Yup thought that title would grab your attention, it sure got mine. I thought it must be a joke, because I got it from a family member. Here is the email.

I received this email and thought it made some interesting/valid points, I did however hesitate to send it onto anyone. I don't like to stir controversy but I just couldn't shake some of the truth that the original author speaks of. So I pass it on to you for consideration.




There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Native Americans, etc. And then there are just Americans.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You Call me "White boy," "Cracker," "Honkey," "Whitey," "Caveman" and that's OK.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towelhead, Sand-nigger, camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink you call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund.
You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month.
You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah
You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi
You have the NAACP.
You have BET.

If we had WET (White Entertainment T elevision) we'd be Racists.
If we had a White Pride Day you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we'd be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to "advance" our lives, we'd be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that?

If we had a college fund that only gave white students Scholarships, you know we'd be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US , yet if there were "White colleges" that would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, car jack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white Police officer shoots a black gang member or beat s up a black Drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.

I am proud. But, you call me a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists?

There is nothing improper about this email.

Let's see which of you are proud enough to forward it.

I'm ashamed that someone from my family would forward something like this. I feel that if I don't respond in some manner that this person would believe that I share the same thoughts. I'll have to spend some time thinking this over before I send anything in response. It will have to be carefully worded and all considering who it is. This topic seems to be coming up an awful lot lately. Maybe that is good, a chance to grow? Suggestions are welcome.

After going to Rochester and back, my car brakes are failing. I checked the brake fluid and saw that it needed some. After buying a bottle I refilled it using almost the entire bottle. Still, the brakes aren't working properly. I'll check them again tomorrow by moving it back and forth on the street. This is annoying because I had a leak before and they replaced the brake lines. I got it done at Meidas when I got home from Cuba, after my car had been sitting in my Dad's Driveway for four months. Meidas was the closest service station to my dad's house. Of course they didn't put the cap back on the brake tank and I was understandably upset. Brake fluid shouldn't be exposed to air or dirt. When I was refilling my windshield washer fluid two weeks later I noticed the cap to the brake fluid sitting on the battery! I got them to agree to drain the fluid and replace it...if they actually did it I'm not sure. So now less than a year later, there is a leak again.

I have no $ for a tow let alone to fix this. Maybe I'll call the Meidas. I'll have to see if there is a guarantee or something. Problem is they are in Rochester, but they replaced my fluid after the mistake in Buffalo. Finding a good mechanic is like finding a good Dr. Any suggestions? I need a primary care physician that takes Aetna too.