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Paul's Journal

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03/30/2008 12:39 #43831

The Linwood Home Tour 2008
Category: linwood
In response to (e:mike,43826)'s post about the Linwood Home Tour - We have been working so hard on the house to get it ready for the tour. We just painted the dining room yesterday. All of the work we do on the house is with our own money. We in no way benefit directly from the tour.

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We were going to paint the living room today but decided to wait until after we see how dirty stuff gets with the floors being sanded.

I wonder how they will get these stains out?
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And these trouble areas
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The estimator thought it could all be fixed. I can't wait to see.

(e:matthew) suggested making our house a free tour spot.

(e:mike), I totally understand how you felt about the Linwood Home Tour last tour, especially the apartment building (free advertsiement) part of the tour, but you also have to think about having seen the inside of the other houses. Its not often that you get to see what the inside of these houses look like. Perhaps, it is old hat to you because you see our house all the time, but for some people its a totally fresh experience.

None of the money is going back to the people that are opening their homes to 1000 people. It is going to buying new trees, fixing up the street, etc.

You have to think of it like a comic book convention. People will pay $20 to get into a comic book convention if they like comic books. I mean how much of that money goes to charity. Same with the Linwood Tour and people that have a thing for historical architecture - it is really exciting. At least in this case the money is being used to beautify the public space of our neighborhood that anyone can use.

I also think it is stupid that houses can not do it more than one year in a row. I would rather see a couple repeats but have a bunch more houses to look at.

Here we are int he foyer - pre floor redone. (e:matthew) took this picture. You can see the area where we removed that remudled modern bathroom from under the stairs.
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UPDATE: While shopping for supplies we stopped at that consignment furniture shop on Sheridan near Colvin and got this solid oak dining set for $299. It is huge and seats eight. The woman selling it was getting a divorce and just wanted to get rid of it. It will be so nice to have somewhere to sit for dinner parties.

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The roses from (e:matthew)'s birthday keep getting even prettier.
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(e:matthew) really wanted this light at Lowes but it is all plastic and I am done with plastic crap. I feel we have way to much plastic in our lives and I have been working for hard to reduce that. I would rather wait till we can afford a glass one or try and make one myself.
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(e:terry) pointed out that if oil runs out, someday plastic will be rarer and people would say an original solid plastic early 21st century tiffany style lamp, lol.
brit - 03/30/08 22:32
tea is priceless michael....
mike - 03/30/08 22:01
the tea is an extra 15 bucks or something.
brit - 03/30/08 21:14
you don;t need to feel guilty about getting involved with the community, I can't wait to see the inside of your house :)

also, you could grab any paper in any city in the world and find an event that you thought was a rip off or some shit but if people want to do something why the fuck not? I am just glad that the people of the linwood house tour aren't funding terrorism, making small Indian children stitch their curtains for three cents a day, encouraging violence, vandalism etc...really, it could be so much worse than wanting to plant some trees and keep the area nice......

The way I see it is that for twenty two bucks I get to support my friends, nosey around other people's houses, make polite conversation with Americans who love my accent and have a nice cup of tea which all sounds jolly relaxing......


metalpeter - 03/30/08 15:11
I have no idea how you would get that stain out. Of course you could replace the wood but the problem there is that you would have new wood and old so it would look funny. I wonder if there is some way to stain your floors so they become a dark wood instead of a light wood and when it is all darker then that stein it wouldn't matter. One quick thought on why you can't do it two years in a row. Say I went last year and saw 10 houses would I want to go again if 3 houses (30%) I had all ready seen. Also lets say the most you can have is 30 houses. Lets say that there are 15 premiere houses that are all ways going to be the best houses then that cuts down on the number of other people who can show of their homes. I'm not saying that this is why they do it that way but I'm guessing it is a way to keep things fresh and to encourage people to work on there homes. I think they should have a bonus 3 houses that would be called last years favorites. you could be a favorite for say two years in a row that means if people liked it you could be in it 3 years in a row, but maybe they don't want to do any thing that isn't simple and you would have to have a poll and stuff so it isn't perfect but I'm guessing they do it that way to keep it fair and not all ways the same houses.
mrdeadlier - 03/30/08 13:17
I wish there was a Kenmore home tour. Maybe that would help motivate me to undertake some of the projects I keep putting off, lol.
imk2 - 03/30/08 13:06
you now have a cupboard underneath the stairs. i always wanted a secret hiding space in a big old house when i was a kid. i think you should go check if you have harry potter living in there.

03/30/2008 11:05 #43829

A night on the town
Category: buffalo
Noah Pred at Bel Cibo
So last night (e:mike), (e:terry) and I headed over to Bel Cibo to hear Noah Pred whose music I realy like. For those of you that do not know Bel Cibo is a new Italian restaurant on elmwood in the place that used to be Sofra and before that the Elmwood Soda Bar. (e:mike) says they have pretty good food. Unfortunately, I was totally not into the venue or the crowd - I don't think I would ever go back. I am not saying people should not check it out for themselves but I found it a bit lame and over priced as a music venue. It was five dollars to get into the crowded venue and it cost $16 for two Rum and Cokes and one Jack and Coke.

The people were anything but fun to look at accept for the waitresses and the door guy which are the hired staff. Everyone seemed to fancy for me. I don't get that whole thing - fancy but fugly - why not just go casual then. We stood in a corner and finished our drinks and then left. I would probably never go back unless it was Kimya playing.

Tabu
Then we went to Tabu the new gay nightclub in the Sidway. It was really nicely designed and had great potential but not many people showed up. I think part of it is that the place is so huge. If the same amount of people were in any other bar it would be crowded.

The DJ, from NYC, was so frustrated that she came up to us to ask what we wanted to hear, she said it was so hard to read the crowd and she needed some feedback. She asked if we though it was more of a lounge or a club environment. Then I suggest she play something with "more bass" which she mistook for Rob Bass and seemed excited about. It was not what I was looking for but I didn't want to ruin her excitement. I think there was much potential to dance in that place and the second story bar overlooking the other one is pretty sweet. I think it is the first dance like club in Buffalo that could make it if the right music and crowd was matched up.

I took some pictures but you know how awesome that iphone pics are in the dark. I decided to post it just to show how crappy they are.

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paul - 03/30/08 23:27
Yes, it is the same spot.
jenks - 03/30/08 11:21
in the sidway- where blu mirage was? did that place close?

03/29/2008 01:39 #43819

Busy Week at work
Category: work
I was so busy with a million and a half projects at work this week. I am just quitting for today right now. I planned on leaving early today to make up for the 106 million hours I work at home on stuff but then something else came up. Luckily, it was a really fun project. Let me just re-iterate my love for Actionscript 3 and for Flex 3. I completed two projects today that would have otherwise taken a lot longer.

03/27/2008 23:39 #43809

You know what I hate
Category: computers
I hate programming guides with typos. I am reading Flex Solutions - Essential Techniques for Flex 2 and 3 Developers and there are typos already in one of the first scripts. Not just on typo but several in the code sample. It is so lame that no editor caught this? It appears they changed their mind on the name of some variables but never updated all of the code. I mean I don't care about typos in the text but typos in the code samples is redic.

I never write in books, ever. Like not one book I own, has any marking from me so that I can pass them on to other people, but this one hs a big fat TYPO and corrections on it now. That shoud help other people.
Its so sloppy ;(

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carolinian - 03/28/08 13:35
Rule #11: A piece of programming documentation that is 99% typo-free is 100% useless.

iriesara - 03/28/08 11:43
I could care less, well, no actually I COULDN'T care any less about code books, but I just wanted to say that I miss you my little nerd!!!
zobar - 03/28/08 09:08
Oh nice! I once got code samples for an expensive database server, direct from the manufacturer, that were entirely in French.

- Z
mrdeadlier - 03/27/08 23:43
Atta boy. The 4 of us will appreciate your grafitti I'm sure.

03/26/2008 23:26 #43802

Random photo journal
Category: photos
I took some of these pics with the iphone and some with a real camera. if find that when using the iphone I don't post mobile blogs as much because it is a gimped piece of shit when it comes to mobile blogging. Its also lack of functional bluetooth and wireless sync meaning that I sync the pics with my computer less often. Enough of that.

The Church's of the Ascension's garbage problem (e:paul,43683) is redic. What makes it worse is the amount of cardboard they throw out - have they never heard of recycling?

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I have a thing for dirty snow. I mean I think it looks cool when its all crispy and dirty, not like I want to touch it but it is fun to eat - I mean photograph.
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I had some calamari at Ambrosia on Elmwood the other day. their calamari is really one of the best in town. It beats Panos calamari 1000%
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(e:matthew) and I went up on the roof this evening when I got home from work. It is crazy how high up it is on the top landing. I can't wait to turn it into a functional porch at some point.

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On Easter my mother made wine jello with grapes in it. It looks like frozen grapes. I think it would be really pretty in wine glasses.
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For lunch we at at Zhang's on Union again. I really don't like it very much but somehow, even though no one really likes it - we keep going back. today eight of us went.

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mrdeadlier - 03/27/08 13:27
It's Izzy. He is a lousy influence on us.