Carolinian's Journal

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07/31/2008 22:26 #45202

Monthly Post
Category: life

Ari Met his first wikipediable person today at the Literacy Volunteers appreciation dinner.

Two weeks ago grandma and grampa took us to the Buffalo zoo.

He slept virtually the entire time.

Except when he's hungry.

They're finally cleaning up Beth Jacob Cemetery in the east side.

The last several weeks I've been volunteering to help restore the cemetery (as best we can). It's good to get outside of the house and use my muscles a little. This sunday we're meeting their again, and we might just get to expose a few overturned monuments!

Of all the monuments, this one gets to me the most, especially since I now have a child of my own. The last time I saw it this winter, it was barely visible under the substantial brush and thorns. The area's been cleared enough that the Jewish custom of placing a rock on it can be observed again.

I never thought I'd see the day where there'd be real living people in the cemetery.

A slightly better shot of overturned monuments.

metalpeter - 08/01/08 18:24
Just have to comment on that 1st picture he looks like he is doing the DR. Evil finger thing and demanding the wrong amount of money. I don't know what the rock thing means but have seen it other places or heard of it, most recently at the Garden walk someone had a Celtic or is the Keltic cross and there where rocks on the base of it but not sure what it means.

dcoffee - 08/01/08 12:34
Awesome, The graveyard cleanup is a bit more awesome though. I don't understand what's wrong with people who molest grave sites. I applaud you for taking action.

tinypliny - 08/01/08 10:16
I love cemetaries. They are so peaceful and inspiring.

drew - 08/01/08 08:55
Rocks for everyone? or just kids? What is the significance?

janelle - 08/01/08 08:46
That's awesome about the cemetery!

We're going to Boston to see my family's really old graveyard and I'm really grateful that it has been preserved for (dorky) ancestors like me to go look at and wonder about the people in it.

07/24/2008 09:08 #45117

Finally
Category: iphone

About damned time someone said it.

06/02/2008 23:27 #44526

To move or not to move
Category: suburbs

I've been contemplating moving out of the City of Buffalo to the suburbs of Orchard Park, which is where I work.

Pros:

- If I buy the right house, I can basically walk to work. I can basically cut at least $150 off my gasoline bill. Gas is killing me right now.
- The above would also be good for the environment.
- If I bike/drive, my commute is 5/2 minutes respectively. So I get home earlier and I have an extra hour to spend with my family.
- Ari would probably get a nice backyard to play in.
- Good school system

Cons:

- I love Kenmore. One of my less grandiose dreams is to live in a cute house in Kenmore.
- I like the city of Buffalo. I don't want to be thought of as "one of those wusses who moves to the suburbs".
- If the Suburban Collapse happens because of increased gas prices, the suburbs will be a bad place to live. Especially if I end up working in the city someday. The city will (possibly) have much better public transportation in the face of this event.
- A house in OP would probably be more expensive than one in Kenmore, and definitely more expensive than one in the city.
- OP is boring. The city has lots of stuff to do.
- A place with greater population density would have more kids for Ari to play with. I don't like the idea of moving to a neighborhood where there may not be many kids for my son to play with. I want him to have the social life I never had as a child.

dcoffee - 07/18/08 15:57
OP is expensive. and despite having the oldest Quaker meeting in WNY, OP has never held a place in my heart. I'm a city guy (you wuss :) but I can see the charm of Tonawanda, Kenmore, East Aurora, Lockport. We are looking for houses in South Buffalo. It's kind of like a working class suburb that has history, Olmsted parks and Parkways, low crime, undervalued real estate, friendly neighbors that don't ask you for change, lots of kids, and a good community feeling. Maybe you can tell I was raised there, but I moved around a lot when I was growing up, Hamburg, West Seneca, Lackawanna, 4 different streets in SB, it was good enough to make me want to come back. I did have a ton of friends growing up in SB too, even though I wasn't 'popular'. I can't get into north Buffalo for some reason, though I'm very jealous of Hertel ave. I'd like to live somewhere between Seneca St and McKinley Pkwy close to Caz Park, but I'm keeping an open mind.
Best of Luck

leetee - 06/03/08 10:07
You also might want to consider the tax burden of the place you end up living. When we first moved here and were looking at houses, we were shocked to find out what the taxes would be on a house in Kenmore. What are the taxes like out in Orchard Park?

That said, i always say follow your dreams. If Kenmore is your dream (doesn't sound grandiose to me), then go for it. Who cares what anyone else thinks... celebrate being "one of those wusses who moves to the 'burbs"!! :O)

05/07/2008 01:07 #44258

Name Redux
Category: baby

As of last sunday, Mr. Wiggles has been officially named Ari Nachshon.

Ari is Hebrew for Lion. We named him this because it was a name we could agree upon. Nachshon is from (WIKIPEDIA - Nachshon), a biblical figure who I've always admired since my childhood Rabbi gave a sermon about him doing great things even though he had a lowly name that meant "snake".

Ari is loud. And very, very demanding.

dcoffee - 07/18/08 15:41
Congratulations! Looks like a cutie. Despite being demanding I hope he's cuddly sometimes. I like the name too, it was hard enough choosing a name for our new kitties, I'm not looking forward to naming children.

museumchick - 05/11/08 23:50
That's a perfect name. I always thought Ari would be a good name for a boy!

tinypliny - 05/07/08 23:30
He looks awesome. His name sounds awesome as well.(and I mean it! I am just having a word-variety crisis because of (e:jon) viral video). It somehow sounds very much Indian and not Indian at the same time. :)

metalpeter - 05/07/08 18:42
I was going to make a Joke about if you named him after the Character on Entourage and what is kinda funny is then I read he is loud and Demanding just like the character. On a serious note for a second sometimes people really are like there names or vice versa. I was some place and they had these writings on paper it would say a persons name and then under neath maybe about a page of writing describing the person and a lot of them where right on about people I knew. Of course with things like that you notice the stuff that is spot on and forget the stuff that isn't like them. nice picture by the way.

jenks - 05/07/08 14:39
oh, thanks for posting this- I'd been meaning to ask!
Looks like he has a swollen eye- hope it's ok!!

libertad - 05/07/08 14:04
I have some friends that just named their daughter Aria Madea. I guess I could assume that means lioness?

mrmike - 05/07/08 08:52
Trust me, this is the easy part. And welcome to the world, Ari

drew - 05/07/08 08:33
Cool name. I liked reading about Nachshon (and feel bad that I didn't already know his story.)

lizabeth - 05/07/08 01:28
Ha! That's babies for you - loud and demanding. :)

05/01/2008 12:51 #44209

Same Ol Same Ol
Category: politics

In response to (e:jason,44190) and (e:dcoffee,44207)

Politics has largely been about stuff tangential to real issues since its inception. We've actually progressed quite a bit considering that voters a century and half ago voted for candidates on the quality of their jawlines and candidates would routinely hold drinking parties to ply voters with booze (which is why alcohol sales on election days are banned in some places). And that's why we require a strong education system, because critical thinking is required to ignore the BS and objectively evaluate candidates' pre-political-compromise-plans for dealing with real issues.