I hate traveling on public transportation. There I have said it. It's not that I would rather ride a car, it's just I would rather go nowhere or walk everywhere in my neighborhood - which I usually do.

I am also not so good around foreign people which is weird considering how I am one only once removed. It's just that I am a little scarred of arabs on busses and angry looking asian students since the other day.

Maybe I just hate UB and riding the subway to the bus is freakin me out.

Below are some pics from the camera. The can is some weird rice filled rattle that was used to protest the war by asking them to shut down the recruitment center at UB.

I didn't want to sit near it because I thought it was a bomb at first but (e:lilho) rattled it.





At work (e:enknot) and I visited the computer graveyard in order to drop off some CRTs and pick up some flat panels. I was very surprised how many monitors their were.



This woman saw (e:enknot) and I pushing the cart with the monitors on the bottom and the mouse on the top. I think it appeared that we were just using a giant push cart for a mouse.

First a quick shot of (e:matthew) reading a book in the living room while we cooked.



I wish I could say this was a how to cook artichokes video blog but I didn't record the cleaning the artichokes part.

Basically the recipe involves cleaning the artichokes.











Chopping parsley

::Download Flash Video::

Grinding Pepper corns

::Download Flash Video::

Stuffing the artichokes - you might recall the tune I am whistling from a previous journal

::Download Flash Video::

Then you pour olive oil on the artichokes and steam them in a pan for an hour.

Finally you chew the goodness out of them.

::Download Flash Video::

Watch out for the ghost version of (e:lilho)

A US Federal copyright panel upheld a contentious decision on Monday that would increase royalty fees Webcasters must pay to record labels.

Instead of looking at this as bad news for webcasters you could look at it as good news for non-commercial music not on labels, as more webcasters will want to play label free music. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure it just means webcasters will pay more.

How are they going to enforce this on foreign servers?

I am so tired of chasing estrip.com. It all goes back to when it was a Korean photography site back in 2002. I wrote to them to ask for it then but they would never respond. I got this email from contact@estrip.com today.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your interest but we have the domain listed on several premium sites and are holding out for a better offer. I will however keep you on file should our situation change.

Best wishes for the future,

Daniel

I wrote back to ask the how much they are looking for. I can't find the domain name purchase offer anywhere.

First of all, just want to point out that I love Buffalo and I love preserving historical architecture. However, I was reading more about the Central Terminal on the web and I am still not convinced it is worth restoring.

Here is an interesting site on the history of it

Buffalopundit even called it

Buffalo's unofficial convention center

.

Why dwell on a building so far removed from the downtown area and in such bad condition? After attending an event at the "neo convention center" it seems like suburbanites would be much ore likely to flee home to the suburbs than to go out downtown. Especially for some non-city people, downtown would seem downright freakin' scary if that neighborhood (e:paul,38905) was their view of Buffalo.

It seems like it was always too distant to serve downtown.

The New York Central had agreed in 1926 to build an additional Buffalo station to satisfy the city officials who believed that the East Side location was too far uptown to effectively service downtown Buffalo. This promised downtown station was never to be built.

The Environmental Question
How much would it cost not only to rehab it, but to make it hospitable, environmentally sustainable and cost effective in our winter climate. When people talk about how this type of rehab happens all the time in places like San Francisco, they fail to note that it gets to freezing temperatures here most of the year. I am just saying be realistic. According to one of the comments on Buffalopundit's journal

The building was once heated by a separate coal plant behind the terminal that pumped steam heat into the building was torn down in the early 80's.

Even then, would it even change the neighborhood around it. Why would we not invest in things closer to areas that are already succeeding and let it expand from their instead of planting seeds in this distant, broken location.

At the two events I attended there during the last week, I heard so many people say, "Wow, I had no idea it was still so crappy and cold."

What do all you rehabbers propose as a responsible and sustainable heating mechanism in a cement chamber with 100+ foot ceilings in a place where winter is nearly perpetual?

Does anyone think that if the Central Terminal is renovated, that businesses are really going to sprout up all around it and a light rail system will connect it to the city?