I got up at 7:30am in order to go to our tenants house to have a new electric socket put in. The girl who requested it pays $134.00 per month. The electric socket she requested cost $130.00. So we pretty much made $0 on her rent this month. Not to mention that her roomate moved out and that my father paid the roomates portion of $134.00 because he felt bad for her.

When I was there I got the mail and our water bill. I had no idea how expensive that water and sewage is. For two months we are charged $105.00. It seems like so much work for such a little amount of money.

What makes me really crazy is that I brought them all plastic for their windows because they complained it was cold. Then when I got there I realized they just hadn't closed any of the storm windows which of course made it cold. I guess not being from cold places they wouldn't know. But still i invested liek $20 in plastic and no one used it. I should just ask for it back now.

I have to remember to think about it as a long term investment. Four years from I will have paid off the $25,000 mortgage and then I can sell the house and pay off 1/2 of my student loans or a down payment on my own house.

It all just seems so far away.

I have no idea what to do about this but my Nokia 7710 is seriously giving out only 4 months after i bought it. I think I have learned my lesson about buying foreign phones that have no sort of warranty/repair shop in America. I mean I really loved this phone but I cannot have a phone that will not take pictures properly.

Check out this example. The preview of the image looks messed up with stripes. Then when it take sthe image, it clears up, but when it saves the stripes are back. Even after factory resetting my phone to the default, this occurs. It make sme absolutely crazy because obviously the thing is capable of taking a clear pic if it is clear in the save preview.

Argh, what a waste of $400.

So while we were at (e:lilho)'s party last night (e:emilyjane) came by and said our street was blocked by the police and fire trucks. Turned out that the neighbor's house, facing our den windows caught on fire. It looks like the kind of damage that results from creosote (WIKIPEDIA - Creosote).





I didn't get any pictures at (e:lilho)'s party because I forgot my phone. (e:matthew) didn't bring his camera either so you can't see pictures of any of the 5 people that showed up. Luckily, one of them was an expert on the boundaries of Buffalo and now I have a better idea concerning the limits of the city.

My cell phone camera is half broken, the preview mode doesn't work right so it is way harder to take a pic. I have no idea how considering the stupid $400 phone is so very new. Remember when I got it in August [inlink]paul,3799[/inlink]. I think it is time for a new one, definately one with a keyboard. Maybe I will hold out for the motorola q

Last night we had pomegranite mojitos for the first time since I went to sea in NY while visiting (e:hodown) [inlink]paul,2855[/inlink]. The recipe is on that journal. It is a really great drink, although it is quite expensive. We had to make it once we found the pomegranites on sale at Wegmans, my favorite local grocer.





Today, I spent the day doing research for the rememberbuffalo (e:rememberbflo) project with (e:lilho). It was a fun day full of lots of imagery from Buffalo past. I also meta really cool guy named Doug Lambert who I think will be working on the project with us.

Afterwards I stoppped at (e:jason) and (e:joshuas) house to show them a pic of their house from the 40s [inlink]rememberbflo,8[/inlink]. They looked like they were having fun.

Basra is eating gourmet food now too since we upgraded our diet. I wish I was a tortoise sometimes. [search]basra[/search]



Remember the pic that (e:matthew) took of this the other day [inlink]matthew,667[/inlink]. The leaves are all gone now. Winter is coming.


(e:lilho)'s car is broken. It shakes really bad, someone said it could be the timing belt. We took it to the shop last night with sang.

::DOWNLOAD MEDIA::

[size=m]Quitting UB[/size]
The hardest thing to do was to quit my job working for Josephine at UB where I was working on programming and design for her 3D drama, the Trial The Trail . Josephine, has been so great to me and gave me that job when I really needed it,a lthough as a side not I have still not been paid for this semester do to some drama with a missing social security card. I wish I didn't have to leave but I really need to focus my energy on the new job. I had already put so much work into the project. I hope she doesn't hate me. Seriously, she is one of my favorte people, but I just can't be going in so many directions.

[size=m]Quitting Canisius[/size]
Quitting Canisius was so uplifting. I feel great other than I will miss the few students that really worked hard and made teaching worth it. I never realized how much that place brought me down. Today I was told that poor Canisius can't replace me because they are on a hiring freeze even though my position was budgeted throughout the year. You should see how many tears I shed about that.

I puts the whole full time position in spring/fall continuous lie in such great perspective. I wonder when they planned on telling me this if I hadn't quit. I can't believe a school that charges almost $30,000 for tuition can be so cheap. It is disgusting. I made $18,000/year this year with no benefits other than the privilege of being allowed to take one undergraduate class per semester. When I started in 2001 I made $16,000/year. They spend so much money on decorations and "the look" and not enough on the education or the staff. Without a commitment to improving staff and pay, they will never get qualified people to teach digital media arts.

But the worst part is that grade inflation here is beyond ridiculous. When I was talking with another professor today he said that he was reading over a students record and his grades were all c-,c-,c- and then at the bottom was my grade, an F. He said that it was great that I gave an honest grade and that as a part time teacher I didn't have to be afraid. What does that mean? The kid did no work, barely ever showed up and the work he did do was crap. Why should he get anything other than a F. Because it makes the school look bad? Because he would have to redo it? I am seriously being honest here and not saying this out of anger, but most of the students coming out of the Canisius DMA program are not even qualified for data entry. Enough said, let a new era begin.

Aftr writing this I got this email from (e:scud), it made it all seem a lot more worth it, thanks.

I just wanted to let you know that you did not totally waste your time at Canisius. I can honestly tell you that YOU inspired me to do more than I ever imagined! I try to accomplish so much more now because of the few classes I took with you. I don't know what you did, but you turned a switch on in my brain or something. Now instead of learning what something is, I want to know what it is, how it works, and how i can create one myself.