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Paul's Journal

paul
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06/29/2008 20:45 #44824

Dinner With Jim and James at Aroma
Category: food
Gym
Went to the gym again with (e:terry) and saw (e:james). That makes 6 days of the gym this week. Hit the sauna again - I really want one at home - next year.

Aroma
Then we went to dinner at Aroma on Bryant with (e:jim) and (e:james) for dinner. I had the rack of lamb with pistachio mint pesto for $26 which tasted really good but was such a ripoff in terms of portion. Same with (e:matthew)'s chicken and (e:jim)'s steak. I would probably never eat there again. Serioulsy, my lamb rack was three ribs and the "with fingerling potatoes" meant actually just two mini potatoes.

It actually looks bigger in the pic than it was. I was starving afterwards.
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paul - 06/30/08 22:35
You can't promise proscuito and not deliver, its cruel and unusual.
james - 06/30/08 22:16
The menu was pretty pretentious too. They put the grade of Brandy in the description of every dish they used. If I am paying that kind of cash for that tiny speck of food they damn well better use quality ingredients. Ya, they drizzle truffle oil on their chicken. ZOMG! Trufflz are SO Xpensive!

But, I doubt they actually use the ingredients listed in the description, as my pizza was missing the single meat ingredient. Not something that goes unnoticed.
matthew - 06/30/08 17:56
It was pretty awful. If the food was amazing the tiny portions they served would be okay, but it wasn't good. and WAY overpriced! Noodles and bread are the cheapest food ever, so it's no wonder that the pizza and pasta dishes are huge. I've had much better food out of a box.

and you are so right ,(e:tinypliny), about the pretension. I'll never go back.
jenks - 06/30/08 17:23
omg, I LOVE that place. sorry you had a bad experience, but it's seriously one of my fave restaurants in town. I could eat there every day. The pizzas are awesome, and the pasta dishes are huge.
yummmmm.
tinypliny - 06/30/08 12:14
I hate that place because:
a) The waitresses are not only pretentious, they have a discriminatory attitude towards people who may not be upto their snooty levels of "sophistication".
b) There were flies all over the place INSIDE when I ate there.
c) The ladies room had two stalls, one had a broken door, and the other had no toilet paper. There ran out of soap on the counter for washing hands.
d) With all the above they STILL charged like we were eating at a gourmet restaurant in Paris or something.
e) Our waitress' attitude was revolting, disrespectful and made our evening an eating hell.

Trattoria Aroma, YOU ARE BOYCOTTED.
joshua - 06/30/08 12:01
Haha - rule #1. Small portions in Buffalo doesn't play too well. Even if the food was very good, pretentiousness like that in our city is way out of place.
james - 06/30/08 09:45
Perhaps it will be more reasonable during their going out of business party.

06/29/2008 17:47 #44821

Dave's Daughters Party
Category: party
Saturday, after the photoshooot we went to Dave Daughter Errin's graduation and birthday party. Conratulations Errin. It was one of thsoe surpise parties where she really had no idea and we all jumped out to surprise her at her house. Her girlfriend had taken her to the aquarium for the day.

The party was lesbiantastic, accept that (e:fellyconnelly) and (e:lauren) were missing. Seriously, maybe you guys should all meet. Anyhow, I got this great pic of (e:Terry) and Dave oggling one of the cutest lesbians I ever saw.

I wish I had gotten her picture.
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Pat and Terri, our hiking buddies, were there as well. I can't get over how much Terri looks like (e:iriesara) - I think they must be related. The other half of the picture is (e:matthew) but he made me cut it out because he looked crazy.

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fellyconnelly - 06/30/08 11:23
we definetely make a party lesbiantastic! exciting? maybe not... but lesbiantastic... definetely...
tinypliny - 06/29/08 17:51
Dammit, I totally wanted to ogle at crazy Matt.

  • goes to the corner and pouts*

06/28/2008 16:27 #44812

Getting our photos did
Category: photography
Scott Pasfield came to take our picture for his book. I hope we make it in the book. It was pretty fun to be photgraphed at home. I never realized how much goes into a photo setup. I thought (e:southernyankee)'s diffuser was all out - lol - he had like a whole studio to go with him. He was deifnately a great guy.

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Before the shoot (e:matthew) and I went to the clothing shop on Elmwood near mythos. They didn't have much in our sizes. I didn't get anything - (e:matthew) got some fancy schamancy linen pants that get to get customed taylored. The store had nice quality material and the staff was friendly and attentive but the prices were kind of steep (like $139-$189) for pants and the slection in our sizes was not so great.

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Last night after the bar this kitty (e:terry,44809) had me trapped in the backyard. It wouldn't let me out and I thought it was trying to attack me (I have no experience with cats) . I text messaged (e:mike) for help - it was 2:30am and he got (e:terry) to come out and help me.

(e:terry) played with it and now it won't go away - apparently it just wanted to be petted. It won't even leave the backyard. It just purrs and sits and rolls over and waits for petting. It is seriously the most affectionate cat I ever saw. Last night (e:terry) thought it was a cat in hat but today we saw it has heavty man-cat nuts. It makes me wonder if it is a stray - the thing that is so weird is how affectionate it is.

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Someone want to give kitty a home.
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lilho - 06/29/08 10:22
i still hate cats. i hate them even more when they want to play with me.
tinypliny - 06/28/08 20:34
Oh, here it is: :::link:::
First post.
imk2 - 06/28/08 20:17
ok, why does he want you to be in his book? i thought you'd all be naked instead of shopping for new clothes.
uncutsaniflush - 06/28/08 17:43
"cat in hat"??? chat chapeau? el gato en el sombero??

Context made it clear that you meant a "cat in heat" Thank you for the amusing typo.
tinypliny - 06/28/08 16:51
What kind of book is he writing? I checked out his site but could not figure out.
THE CAT IS SO CUTE! I wish I could have pets. Unfortunately I live in such a small
studio and is not home most of the time... That is not a good pet arrangement.

06/27/2008 23:59 #44808

Hiking at Eighteen Mile Creek in Hamburg
Category: hiking
Hiking On thursday Night
I have been complaining to (e:Terry) about him playing warcraft so much - so today after work he surprised us by whisking us off on a short hiking excursion to 18 Mile Creek in Hamburg. It was nice to get outside and run around. I brought only the iphone. Neither (e:matthew) nor I had a real camera with because it was so spur of the moment.

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The iphone takes the shittiest close ups and sadly there was the cutest froggy I ever saw. It was like the size of a small raisin.

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In general the rest of the pics are nice. It does fine in perfect light from about six feet away or more.

So that does not include these cute little blueberries. (e:hodown) - do you remember eating these?
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Okay so for the not close up pics.

What are thes epurple bug study things about. I keep seeing them everywhere. What bugs are they catching and who is doing the study?
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At the top of the waterfall
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Walking along the creek was so beautiful. Its amazing that this place is only a 20 minute drive from home.
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What kind of animal is this
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I call this tortoise rock.
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here is (e:matthew) catching some frogs.
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Evidence of the iphones
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There were these awesome patterns in the shale at the edge of the creek. I thinki t looked much cooler in real life.

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(e:terry) and (e:matthew) having fun near the water
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Afterwards, we came home and I went to the gym for a good workout and the eye candy. Then after that I cooked some rack on lamb on the grill using my new smoke box filled with pear wood chips from one of the dead pear trees we cut down. It gave it a really nice flavor.

I looked up what (e:jim) was talking about and here is the beatle itself. Its kind of pretty. I am sure they are bad.
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jenks - 06/29/08 16:49
i found one of those frogs once... it was seriously ridiculously cute.
hodown - 06/29/08 14:29
I miss you boys and the blo..
boxerboi - 06/28/08 23:29
gotta love eye candy
lauren - 06/28/08 16:02
ya'll are cute and im jealous of your nature outings!
jim - 06/28/08 11:19
The purple bags are to study ash bores: :::link:::
lilho - 06/28/08 10:36
i miss the old photo journals... i want that little froggy!

06/27/2008 23:59 #44807

Work, the gym and photos
Category: work
work
Well, I got the new job. I am offically the Programming Standards Architect at Roswell which is a much better job than my old one althought the duties kind of overlap. Today, however, was a very challenging and stressful day. I hope that doesn't last, lol. Not good for the Crohn's.

The Gym
I sucessfully went tot he gym anothher five days this week. At this rate I will be buffer than (e:terry) in no time. Unfortuantely, the Crohn's makes the massive eating plan not doable but I am gaining weight and eating lots of yummy sea things.

I started using the sauna. It really makes your muscles feel better afterwards and seems to make my skin pretty nice, however, it is really damn hot. Like 200+ degreees hot.

Getting Our Photos Taken
(e:matthew) saw this ad in Craigslist about a photographer named Scott Pasfiled doing a photo book of gay couple and was looking for some in Buffalo. I thought we would make an interesting story so I wrote to him and he is coming to take our pics tommorow. Seemed like an honest guy, has an nice portfolio and blog.

I am willing to try and find out - then again I got this weird email from some random stranger:

Hi u should know that some NY City photographer guy is forwarding emails you apparently sent to him. The guys seems like a flake. Thank you Jim



The strange part is that I have not shared anything personal that is not on my blog in public with him - so I have no idea what that stranger is talking about.