It turns out that for our birthday our father bought us tickets to go see the final round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont! I am thrilled about this!

For those of you who are completely unfamiliar with the world of golf, or sports in general for that matter, the U.S. Open is one of the world's greatest sporting events - it is the most difficult of all golf championships to win and as far as I'm concerned the most prestigious (although I wouldn't argue too much if someone suggested the British Open is more prestigious). Oakmont Country Club is one of the worlds most prestigious, famous and exclusive clubs, which to be honest is a typical set of traits that clubs have that get chosen for championships like these. Where is it located? Pittsburgh! So, off to Pittsburgh it is, with my dad and my brother.

Golf is one of the last bastions of inexplicable elitism left in America - besides Ivy League schools, of course - but one of the good things left over from this sort of elitism is the preservation of tradition. Such as, the tradition of money-grubbing social climbers trolling around the course hoping for a glimpse from a club member, or even better yet, one of the golfers themselves. I found this to be one of the more pathetic things I saw when we went to the PGA at Oak Hill in 2003, and I guarantee we'll be seeing it Sunday. Another great tradition at large scale major championships like this is the cigar hut. Golf and cigars are the 21st century PB&J, and this is a tradition I can get behind. Smokers legally are second class citizens, but not on a golf course!

Another somewhat unappreciated aspect of golf, from the perspective of people who aren't really into it, is that the sort of clubs that the USGA and PGA choose for their "major" championships boast course designs that are considered works of art in their own right.

Tournaments generally are fun and interesting to attend (and sort of expensive - our tickets cost $115 per) but going to see a "major" is something totally different. To be perfectly honest I'm looking forward to getting the fuck out of Buffalo for a little while. It looks like we are going to even take in a little MLB at PNC Park as well. Do the Pirates suck? GAWD yeah. Do they have one of the newest, most beautiful and intimate baseball stadiums on earth? Yep.

Its worth the bad baseball to see the Pittsburgh skyline behind the outfield. Plus, the tickets are so cheap that its almost a crime not to at least check it out.

Who says that geeks don't have a sense of humor?

I'm struggling to focus today, which gets me nervous because there is a lot of stuff to do. I have a headache and a bit of a runny nose, which I've determined isn't from my brother (thankfully) but from the change in temperatures we've had the past week. This delicious and hot cup of Timmy Ho Ho (2 creams 1 sugar, thaaaanks) is helping me keep my shit together this afternoon.

While I was eating my lunch in my office I was checking out Buffalo's entry in Wikipedia. There is a breakdown of the different neighborhoods in Buffalo - 32 in total. They also have a nice map of the breakdowns in the neighborhoods, which is nice because having lived here for over 10 years now I'm still not exactly sure what neighborhoods are where. Check it out - the map is a little too large to post here so link from here and zoom in. The strip is barely visible between what the map denotes as "west side" and "delaware district."

Personally, I've always felt that the greater "Elmwood Village" area borders are Forest to the north, Allen to the south, Richmond to the west and Delaware to the east... but thats just me, and that outline also would gobble up most of what is considered Allentown. Also, for voting purposes I believe they file me into Delaware District, which according to this map I am not a resident of.

Anyway, what spurred this post was that some neighborhoods have Wiki pages and others don't... including ours. Why don't we have a Wikipedia page yet? It may be only a matter of time, but I'd prefer to have residents create the page rather than people like those from Buffalo Rising.

Anyway, since we have some new and future residents plugging into this neighborhood site, you might find Buffalo's Wiki entry interesting, if you haven't checked it out already. There were some interesting factoids about our city in there that I had never known, such as Buffalo's ranking in Reader's Diagest as the nation's third environmentally cleanest city (I am skeptical, but whatever).

The new Reagan diary outsold the Goracle's book by a total of 5 copies in its first week! Man, that guy can't win squat, can he? I claim foul play and as a Buffalonian I sympathize with Mr. Gore's inability to win.

Seriously - with an "inconvenient" running start and worldwide popularity, his ideas couldn't outsell 25-year old private diary entries. Spin it however you like, but that is a pitiful state of affairs. Maybe over time Mr. Gore's book will eclipse the Reagan one. When it comes to book sales, I'm always rooting for the guy that is still alive to spend the proceeds.

The 750 house trail mix, although maybe (e:jason) thought I was stoned and not being serious when I said I wanted to make my own -

unsalted peanuts - 1/2 c
almonds - 1/2 c
yogurt covered raisins (or maybe regular ol' fashioned kind) - 1/2 c
dark chocolate chips - 1/4 c
dried pineapple - 1/4 c
dried cranberry - 1/4 c
yet to be determined (due to availability) 3rd dried fruit - 1/4 c

Any recommendations on the third dried fruit, or maybe a 1/4 c of a different item?