Paul's Journal

04/26/2008 09:40 #44150

Everything but swimming
Category: buffalo

The mayor and city officials announced the formation of the Erie Basin Committee. Buffalo Rising ... On May 24th we're opening the beach for everything but swimming."

I hope that a couple of volley ball nets are added to the budget... and some grills, and a shelter or two in case it rains, and some sightseeing viewfinders, and some bike racks, and some fire pits... looks like Erie Basin Marina is going to be the place to be this summer.

Is this really going to make any difference? I guess if you are a Volleyball enthusiast it would be nice but isn't the point of a beach to have swimming. If you can't have swimming then why bother pretending to have a beach when it is really just a park.

I guess the problem with all the water around the city is that it is too polluted. That is why the beaches that do exist like Wendt and Bennett are closed most of the summer anyways. I remember one day when (e:mike), (e:terry), (e:matthew) and I headed over to Bennett on a not closed day. It was so nice to get to swim near home. (e:paul,31201) Look how crappy my cell pics were back then. I think it was the sidekick 1 and that was before we have comments on the blogs. Its weird to have so many with no comments from 2003-2005.

paul - 04/26/08 10:15
I guess it basically means they are just going to remove the drift wood, which I think looks kind of cool as you can see in this post (e:matthew,37743)

:::link:::

james - 04/26/08 10:10
wait, he hopes these things can be added to the budget? What is the point of having a beach if there is no swimming AND IN ADDITION TOO no volleyball, grills, or anything?

Darling, let us take a long stroll by the polluted water and do nothing else.

04/25/2008 22:50 #44146

Incentive Spirometer and other stuff
Category: health

The most ridiculous medical device I have ever seen is this incentive spirometer that I received at Buffalo General the other day while getting my appendix out. It basically gives you visual feedback by lifting a marble when you breathe deeply.

Who can't just be taught to breathe deeply, not to mention that it creates a stream air which tastes exceptionally vinyl flavored - can that be healthy? I mean I understand why breathing deeply is important to healing faster and clearing the anesthetic from your lungs, but does everyone need one of these really durable plastic toys.

::Download Flash Video::

I got a hold of a preview of the Linwood Home Tour 2008 booklet and the estrip ad looks good on the front page.

At Royallite on Sheridan today, they had a test for energy efficiency and light bulbs. I was amazed at the difference.

Target on the blvd in the Best Buy plaza near the 290 is huge now. They have a whole giant grocery store inside with a lot of products. They also redid the cafe section and even have organic mac and cheese as an option.

Linens and Things has the craziest crap. Check out this beer hammer for those times you need to open a beer and you need a hammer.

Seriously, does anyone need a Nana Saver. Surely, no one needs a nana saver but I bet someone has a fetish for one.

Remember, tomorrow is electronics recycling day at Central Park plaza. I have about a ton of electronics to recycle. Sadly, I cannot lift anything so (e:Terry) had to do it all. I feel bad for him, some of the computer stuff is huge that we inherited from the previous owner.

jenks - 04/26/08 20:28
paul you'd be surprised- a lot of people can't breathe hard enough to get the ball to go to the top.
AND- they're usually adjustable, to make it harder.

I have to dorkily admit that the sound of that little ball is music to my ears. I wouldn't have given you one, but anyone that isn't young and healthy gets one , but nobody ever uses it. But I swear, they work. Post-op pneumonia sucks. We go in and chastise them every day. So when I walk up to a room hear someone doing it without being told- ah it makes my day.

tinypliny - 04/26/08 01:09
Nana Saver. For those days on which you have only 2 minutes for breakfast instead of the usual 5.
Save the Nana, Save 3 minutes!

Seriously, I think its a good idea. I hate fridge smells getting on the half nanas I stash sometimes!

hodown - 04/26/08 00:03

1 I want a nana saver- ypu know my historu w nanas. i can only eat like maybe 1/2 at a time.

2 why do i hate that video? it reminds me of 1999.

04/24/2008 12:39 #44124

I want my test results now
Category: health

So I call Buffalo General again (e:paul,44084) to see if my test results for the Gluten Intolerance test have come in for the doctor's appointment I am having today - and this time, there fucking program is down and I should call back tomorrow. Are they actually saying that the hospital has no access to medical records until tomorrow. I find that really hard to believe. Where is my paper chart then? Why can they not get anything right?

In case anyone else ever needs to get in touch with the medical records dept in order to get no service, here is the number.

Buffalo General Hospital
ATTN: Health Information Dept - Correspondence
100 High Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
(716) 859-2759

ladycroft - 04/25/08 17:21
i'm having flashbacks from my kidney tests......

paul - 04/24/08 17:25
I think they just didn't take the test and pretended, which is even more annoying now that both of my arms are swollen and fucked up from the IV and shots and they had plenty of opportunity to tap me for blood.

On a good note, when I went to the gastro today, he told me there is a new version of Asacol (Mesalamine) called Lialda that I only take once a day. It think that could solve most of the anxiety in my life as I can't tell you how stressful it is to schedule taking pills three times a day for the rest of your life. I know, I know some people have it way worse. That is what I kept telling myself today as I stressed out about everything.

jenks - 04/24/08 13:55
no results when I check.

04/23/2008 20:49 #44119

Am I going to die without rice?
Category: food

Being someone who is possibly not able to eat anything but rice when it comes to grains it makes me so nervous to thing we are going to go into some sort of shortage. Maybe I should really horde a huge amount of it.

Imagine what its going to be like when we start having food shortages again. As someone who eats such a weird diet, I am terrified of that realty.

Wal-Mart's Sam's Club Restricts Purchase of Some Rice
...The limits on jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice, a response to "recent supply and demand trends," will be put into effect in all U.S. stores where allowed by law and are effective immediately, Sam's Club spokeswoman Kristy Reed said today in an e-mailed statement.

Some consumers have started hoarding rice, the food staple for half the world as prices soar and supplies shrink. China, Vietnam, India and Egypt have curbed sales abroad to safeguard domestic supplies and cool inflation. Thailand also may restrict shipments, a World Bank official said today.

metalpeter - 04/24/08 17:25
I have heard that the shortage isn't really one here. It is that since the price went up everyone just freaks out thinking there is a shortage in rice. The reason to not sell more then a few bags is for two reasons. One they don't want people buying a bag for say $20 (times 10 or even 20) Then the price goes up to $40 but since everyone hoards them no one can offorid to buy them. The other thing to is that if you buy a lot of them now you could resell them later for a profit and undersell them but still make money, that is illegal by the way. The second reason is that assume there is enough rice for everyone in america to have 3 bags each well when people panic and buy 8 or 9 not to mention places that sell food then that would cause a shortage for other people, or that is my theory at least. In terms of the ethonal thing I say people should use Pure Alcohol. In terms of corn why can't people make a sky scrapper and grow it hydroponicly? The other way of making it is by taking oil from places like McDonalds after it has been used and then it can be filtered and that should be looked into more.

drew - 04/24/08 13:46
If you inherit the land Janelle, I think you should start growing tortillas on it. We need more tortillas.

carolinian - 04/24/08 11:07
(e:dcoffee), I suspect that as gas prices get higher and higher, the market will probably price subdivisions on farmland out of existence.

janelle - 04/24/08 10:29
I grew up in the midwest. In a subdivision that sits on what used to be farmland. Everytime I go home there's a new subdivision cropping up on what used to be corn and soybean fields.

It's such a complicated situation. The farmers' children grow up and don't want to farm; land and farming equipment is too expensive for the rare young farmers who actually DO want to farm, so they end up sharecropping in a sense; the farmers grow old and don't know what to do with their land and the developers beating on their doors offering millions for the land seem like a good way to go after years of barely making a living off the land.

My family owns farm land planted with soybeans, canola, and corn by farmers in the area. We've held out on selling it to mega hog farms and developers. When it's mine, I'll keep holding out. But I wonder if our children will do the same.

dcoffee - 04/24/08 10:02
Let's stop building sub-devisions on farmland. And lets stop using corn and sugar cane to make ethanol, People and farm animals eat that stuff, and when the price goes up we have big problems. Instead we can fuel our cars with Switchgrass and Hemp. This is one of those problems created by lobyists who want the price of corn to go up, so they bully the government into subsidizing corn ethanol more, and ignoring innovation on other renewable fuels.
Tiburon, that was a grade A rant. I wonder, would China stop giving us money if we made it more difficult for our companies to move our manufacturing jobs there?

fellyconnelly - 04/23/08 22:11
uh seriously? man i stopped watching the news because i was sick of the obama hillary battle and now we are out of rice and tortillas. This blows.

chico - 04/23/08 21:54
Actually that tortilla shortage started last January: :::link:::

But the global food crisis is deadly serious and getting worse. For a long and occasionally technical (a few economics concepts) overview, the Economist has this piece this week:
:::link:::

Watch the news for all of the poor, underdeveloped countries experiencing civil strife as a consequence.

jenks - 04/23/08 21:44
someone at work today said that mexicans are starving to death b/c there is a tortilla shortage, secondary to a wheat shortage due to ethanol production for cars.

I hope he was joking.

tiburon1724 - 04/23/08 21:28
what the hell is going on? Shortages of gas, wheat, rice, everything! Our money isn't worth crap, we're borrowing $2billion from the Chinese to give tax rebates which won't do any good, we're like $7 trillion in debt, it just doesn't end :(
We desperately need some radical action...stop giving out aid, stop sticking our noses in other nation's affairs, mind our own business, and stop pissing off the rest of the world! Basically, we need to be Canada. They should attempt a buyout of us.
whew, sorry for going into a rant there!

paul - 04/23/08 21:12
I don't like quinoa a tenth as much as I love rice.

tinypliny - 04/23/08 21:05
I meant can't substitute for rice, not can't play nice... but maybe I did.

Can you eat barley or oats?

tinypliny - 04/23/08 21:02
Can't

james - 04/23/08 21:00
Paul, Quinoa.
Quinoa, Paul.

Now you kids play nice.

hodown - 04/23/08 20:57
how scary is that? NPR did a week long series on the rice shortage. maybe the end is near. if that is the case im totally moving into the masion. i feel like a pmt/ho army could kick some serious ass. id consider including mike visco if jill is included too.

tinypliny - 04/23/08 20:51
Just get multiple bags of basmati from the Indian store. They get tastier as they get older and drier.

04/22/2008 15:11 #44101

Yum, yums for Paul and Basra
Category: food

After all of (e:fing,44075)'s talk about eating crab in Maryland I had to have some myself. I guess this also means I am on the mend. I made some crab and asparagus soup for (e:matthew) and I for lunch yesterday. Who would have thought that crab and asparagus would be a great combo. Well, the vietnamese did or maybe the Thai because I had it at Saigon Bangkok and it was incredible. Then I tried to make it at home. It was not exactly the same, but the additional crab meat made it on par.

Here is a recipe from cooks.com

I did not use this recipe, but just went with my own, chicken broth, plus rice, eggs, crab, asparagus, and sesame oil. There's is below.

VIETNAMESE CRAB-ASPARAGUS SOUP

4 c. chicken broth
1 can white asparagus
2 egg whites
1 lb. fresh crab meat
1/4 c. cornstarch
Salt to taste
1 tsp. sugar

Simmer broth. Add crab meat. Cook 15 minutes. Add asparagus, cut in 1 to 1 1/2 inch julienne pieces. Add salt and a bit of sugar. Mix cornstarch with enough liquid to make it smooth and add to soup. Beat egg whites slightly and sieve into soup, stirring constantly.

The next day, Basra had his own surprise when I chucked papaya and watermelon around the yard for him to find. I don't think I ever saw him "run" that fast before. Apparently, tortoises can gallop.

fellyconnelly - 04/23/08 07:29
basra is adorable. you should get some video of the tortoise gallop!

lilho - 04/22/08 18:50
basra is so cute!

mike - 04/22/08 18:04
oddly that is the second time i heard about crab and asparagus todya. my boss was talking about some crab and asparagus type thing she makes