In edition two of the simple pliny project, my kleptomania from "The Living Simple Manifesto" expands its uneven claws to score a couple more nuggets.

Nugget 29. Establish routines: Morning, Weekday. (Hey, the claws were *uneven*. They can only tackle so much at a given time!)

I am an insomniac. (Man, this is almost starting to feel like a Something-Anonymous meeting - atleast as it is shown in films... Yeah, for those of you who thought this tangential comment was coming from experience in real life, SHUT UP ALREADY!)

So Ahem. Where was I? Yeah. Hello everyone, I am TinyPliny and I am an insomniac. I cannot sleep for more than a three hours at a stretch. I have no idea why. Wait. Maybe this has to do with all the anxiety linked to the fact that I NEED TO GET MY PROPOSAL DONE!! Or maybe I will cling ferociously to the thought that I am just an insomniac.

Either way, the ruthlessly loud sparrow racket outside my flat window wakes me up at around 4:30 AM nowadays. Hmmmm... I am convinced that the sparrows are in some mental/spiritual contact with my advisors. Because a) both of them wake up at insanely early hours and of course b) they probably are getting annoyed with my hebetudinous "progress". (Note to myself: If 72-day plan doesn't work, shoot sparrows and bury bodies at Forest Lawn in the dead of the night.)

So the proactive idea is, if I am awake already, why not work it into a profitable routine?

1. Will write summary of the dissertation article I read first thing in the morning and post it (hopefully, (e:chico) won't be scared away!!) to (e:chico). Include article in the list of references, if applicable.

2. Make lunch and pack it instead of leaving it in the fridge because I am running almost late to a meeting or felt lazy and took some apples instead.

3. Get to office around 7:00 and come back early. More quiet time, more time to get the reading scheduled, done. Less time to fritter away.

52. Make a Most Important Tasks (MITs) list each day once I reach the office.

In case you were wondering, I did learn how to count in kindergarten. That's Nugget 52 I stole from the Zen bloke. *unhinged laughter*

Ah yes, the progress report:
-- Conscientiously avoided all feeds except a few (related to my dissertation) today.
-- Did not send even one feed-wiki-related email in the past 24 hours.
-- Received a comment from a friend (you know who you are, wink wink) that they perhaps might cry themselves to sleep today (in lieu of reading my email? Yeah I get it, you you you!)
-- Another one just smirked quite maliciously (you know who you are as well. Well. Bleah.)
-- A third just emailed me all the feeds and attached articles, concerned that I might not have spotted them. What the...@$##$%#%
-- MUST....NOT....CAVE...IN DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL damn. Shift+PgUp+Del

~End of Day Two~
The Simple Pliny Project.

(e:hodown)'s post has brought it all into focus. I think the key to being better is feeling better. Feeling better implies being proactive in eliminating the things that make you feel worse. And NO. That does not include drinking whiskey as the granny suggests ( ), tempting as it might be. :)

The elements of my proactive plan shall be shamelessly stolen and adapted from The Living Simple Manifesto.


Thus, each day, I am going to take a couple ideas from that page and apply it to my case. Call it misplaced optimism, but I like the thought that a major chunk of my messed up world can potentially be straightened up in 72 days or less!

Since I am glued to a computer most of my waking hours, its only fitting that I start where it might impact the most. Starting with Rule 7: Limit your communications and Rule 60: Simplify your RSS feeds


I admit I am guilty of internet trawling. I wiki-surf and feed-read all the time. I am attracted to every remote science story there is and I read them all. Not only do I read the article, most often than not, I track down the source journal papers and read them as well. Then I email the most interesting of these to a handful of my friends and my family. I do this all in separate emails because they are all from a different timespan and/or sphere of my life and some of them don't know each other so clumping them all in one To:/CC: line seems inappropriate. I receive many of their responses and opinions and answer them all. Some of them send me some related papers, which I then proceed to track down and read. Its a never-ending cycle.

The result of all this frantic reading and emailing is:
1. I become a little bit more informed each day. Score: +1
2. I lag behind in the dissertation reading I am supposed to be doing. Score: -1
3. I feel guilty about this and get nightmares. Score: -2

Net Score: -2. I feel worse by the end of the day even though I feel informed.

The objective now is to convert this negative score into an overwhelmingly positive one and I can do this by:
1. Eliminating all superfluous emails. The emailing probably takes more of my time than reading stuff.
2. Just limiting myself to a science-digest like programme every weekend.
3. Do more dissertation reading and use the time saved from emailing to summarize this reading.
4. Post progress on (e:strip). (Which, BTW, I need to check just once a day, preferably in the morning. :))

~End of Day One~
The Simple Pliny Project.

(E:strippers), Romans and Countrymen!!! Lend me your ears (and some time to make those comments)!!

I am back to my grocery scoping in downtown buffalo. This time my goal is to find a good variety of locally baked artisan breads in the neighbourhood of Buffalo downtown. The fact of the matter is there are no good bakeries I know of in the area, that I can walk to in a jiffy to grab a good freshly baked loaf of bread. Do you know of any?

I want to be able to get a high-fibre good multigrain/ Honey Wheat/ Ciabatta / Baguette etc. when I feel like making sandwiches, without having to resort to any other mode of transportation apart from a brisk (maximum) 10 minute walk.

That rules out:
1. Sweet Tooth: Yeah, only sweetmeats.

2. Dolci: Good bread but not-walkable within 10 minutes!

3. Globe Market: Do they sell bread? Even if they do, same boat as Dolci.

4. The Coop: I am boycotting this elitist price-hiking I-am-holier-than-thou store.

5. Wegmans: Forget it. I don't have wings. Kapish?

6. Guercio's: I hate to strike this out but it is a bit too far. I wish they bought the space where Latina's used to be and moved their excellent gig to Elmwood. :(

7. Quaker Eatery: Do they even sell baked bread? The Walgreens lady thought they did. Any inputs on this? I peeped through their windows and the lady setting the tables glared right back. Somehow I didn't venture in. I came back home and saw that they have a website: Do they also sell the "home-baked" bread they use for their sandwiches? Has anyone ever eaten here? On their menu, it says they sell Tim's Cascade Chips and it makes my mouth water. I think the Hot Jalapeno version of Tim's Cascade Potato Chips are the best chips ever.

8. The millon corner shops: If I wanted mass-produced white bread, I wouldn't be making this post!

9. Balisteri's Bakery: 307 Niagara St, Buffalo, NY (716) 853-8063
I pulled this out of google maps. Has anyone been here?

10. Le Metro Bakery & Cafe: 520 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY
(716) 885-1500 Again, a google maps find. Experiences, anyone?

The hopeless laundry in my building's basement has this sign tacked on.


Life just got easier? Easier?????

Yeah, right. For the money-grabbing inefficient doodahs at Mac-Gray maybe. For me, it just became costlier, you freakshows! Stop using letterheads with taglines that proclaim how you feel about shortchanging customers and making profits. You make life infinitely tougher for me by not servicing the washers and dryers on time, double charging me via your evil broken dryers every second week and additionally increasing the prices without any apparent improvements in your laughable "service".

This tacky sticker reveals it all.


A normal cycle not only not removes any dirt but also leaves behind detergent residue, and long hair from strange characters who have laundered before in that machine. A super cycle is eminently suitable for people with allergies and super-dirty loads, because they are the only suckers who will believe this tonload of tripe.

Arrrggghh.

I think I have always been fascinated by the unique sounds of Arab music. Back in the 80s and the 90s, I loved radio surfing and hitting the obscure channels streaming the alien sounding ouds, violins, riqs, dumbeks, qanuns, rebabs, jowzas, santurs and neys. However, at that time I didn't launch a single-minded pursuit of the music like I did with metal later, so I didn't really know any of the artists.

An Argentinian who loved Arabic music on a heavy metal forum clued me into the Amr Diab phenomenon. I had no idea what he was singing but the sound was so catchy I got hooked. Recently, I ran into someone else at work who is as enthusiastic about Arabic music as that Argentinian was. The result was an introduction to several other Arabic artists.

The Arabic instruments are somewhat similar to Indian classical instruments (the santur, for instance) but the difference in the style and sound is mind-blowing.

The Oud --> The middle eastern guitar ancestor


The rebab


The Ney --> The flute


The Qanun --> Arabic Strings


The Santur --> Shared Indian/Middle Eastern Ancestry


The percussion --> Dumbeks and Riqs




I would describe the music as a strangely middle eastern and sometimes Sufi flavoured hip-hoppy trance, if that makes any sense. Think Khaled, but with intense punchy beats. :)

Some cool examples:

Classic Amr Diab:

Ehab Tawfik


Najwa Karam


Assi El Helani