Thanks to (e:PMT) for hosting yet another fabulous party! (e:Matthew), I hope you enjoyed it!

(e:lilho) had "My Humps" playing on the stereo upstairs - i asked if anyone had seen the Alanis Morrisette version... here it is...



I'm not sure anyone was serious about wanting the molasses crinkle cookie recipe, but here it is...

3/4 c. butter (1 and 1/2 sticks)
1 c. brown sugar (I prefer dark)
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses (darker the better, IMO)
2 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
2 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cloves
white sugar in a bowl for dipping

Cream butter & brown sugar, add molasses, spices, salt. Beat in the egg. Add the baking soda and flour, stir until mixed.

Chill dough for at least 20 min.

Roll dough into small balls, about the size of a shooter marble. Dip in the white sugar. Place on cookie sheet. (I strongly recommend using parchment paper.) Bake at 350 degrees F. for 8-10 min. Don't over cook!

--

I stopped at PriceRite. Holy produce! Wow! I really need to learn some more mexican & south american cooking. I want to know what to do with all those root veggies.



The place was insanely busy.

Happy 28th birthday, (e:Matthew)!

Thanks to (e:libertad) and (e:lauren) for trying to coordinate hanging out - I had no idea of the scale of the parade, and then the cell phone network crashed. I eventually found (e:lauren) & (e:felly).
I got a txt from (e:terry) at 7:30 that he had sent at 5! (must be before he passed out?)

Since the parade has been well covered by several others, I'll just post a few shots that I really liked.

I stood next to this sweet dog for much of the parade. I was in front of 570 Delaware, just north of Delaware & Allen on the west side. (There was room to move around and I could see the parade really well.)













After the parade, we were feeling left out because we had nothing to drink, so we visited the old pink for a beer



then went to the convenience store and got 40s and some sunchips. We're so cool.



We did finally figure out that we should be outside with our discreet paper bags.



and we watched the scenery from my sunny front stoop





(e:Felly) thought this was the best Guinness hat of the day.



But wasn't so impressed with this one.



My classmate Paul stumbled by


And this pretty one gave us a nice homecoming queen wave.


Thanks to (e:paul) & (e:matthew) for letting me hang out for a bit, much after the party had ended.

I had a lovely spring break last week and spent time here in Buffalo and at home. (e:Janelle), thanks again for taking care of China Cat. I have to post these pix before I can get to the St. Pat's pix.

Nisha was a grubby, stinky mass of poodle fur - her last haircut was 9/28 ((e:heidi,45816))


She's much cleaner now


My dear Uncle Dudley ((e:heidi,46397)) and her boyfriend have started a company that makes decoration holders for headstones. They're called Headstone Halos (TM, patent pending). Eventually I will need to make a website for them, so I took some pictures this weekend.





I've passed by these signs several times, the last time I was home - in JANUARY, and several times on this trip. There is a pair of them just south of the Presho exit on US Rt. 15, one for northbound traffic, one for southbound traffic. This isn't anywhere near the Canadian border, the near-unanimous language of choice in the area is English, and even though the sign reads KM/H, it's tracking in MPH. WTF??





A's gig was pretty successful. They opened for a popular Corning-based blues-rock band, the Brainbell Janglers.



And finally, the sunset Saturday on my way back to Buffalo was gorgeous.



I was reading (recently, not while driving) about taking great sunrise/set photos and the author suggested turning around. Here's what i saw


Okay, prolly shouldn't be taking pix while driving, but it was just so pretty... notice the star (planet) in the middle. [edit: okay, you can't see it in the shrunken version, but trust me, there's a cute little white dot.]

Saturday March 14, 2009 06:19 EDT
The success of drug decriminalization in Portugal

In 2001, Portugal became the only EU-member state to decriminalize drugs, a distinction which continues through to the present. Last year, working with the Cato Institute, I went to that country in order to research the effects of the decriminalization law (which applies to all substances, including cocaine and heroin) and to interview both Portuguese and EU drug policy officials and analysts (the central EU drug policy monitoring agency is, by coincidence, based in Lisbon). Evaluating the policy strictly from an empirical perspective, decriminalization has been an unquestionable success, leading to improvements in virtually every relevant category and enabling Portugal to manage drug-related problems (and drug usage rates) far better than most Western nations that continue to treat adult drug consumption as a criminal offense.

by Glenn Greenwald

Read more