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Jim's Journal

jim
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04/03/2009 17:25 #48274

Saturday?
Does anyone want to do anything tomorrow afternoon? I'm on my own while James is engaging in political machinations.

Watchmen is showing at Noon, which I haven't seen, but pretty much everyone else has. Or I'm up for lunch or pretty much anything other then sitting home on my birthday :)
jim - 04/04/09 16:00
^_^
tinypliny - 04/04/09 15:25
Don't worry, (e:James)!!!! All your gifts, desserts, deepest wishes and compliments for (e:Jim) have been safely delivered to (e:Jim) (ON MY BLOG!!!!!*** :D)

james - 04/04/09 14:59
Happy birthday. Sorry I am doing horrible things today instead of showering you with gifts, praise, and chocolate novelties (a harmonica made of chocolate THAT PLAYS!)
jim - 04/04/09 14:02
Libertad - good catch, we'll let everyone know.
libertad - 04/04/09 13:43
Happy Birthday! We are looking forward to Tuesday. I saw a sign on Bistro Europa's door saying cash only.
lauren - 04/04/09 10:16
Happy Birthday Jim!!
matthew - 04/04/09 10:08
Happy birthday Jim! We'll probably be around today, feel free to give us a call. :)
ladycroft - 04/04/09 04:21
Happy Happy Birthday! I'd make you cupcakes if I was around :)
drew - 04/03/09 17:52
Janelle and I are down for whatever tomorrow afternoon.

03/26/2009 10:25 #48209

Birthday Party!
Category: party
My 30th birthday party is on Tuesday, April 7th at 7:30pm. We've reserved all of Europa Bistro ( map ) - you can come for dinner or just drinks, but all are welcome. Just give me or (e:James) a heads up if you're planning on coming, so we can make sure we've got a good count.

Hope to see you there :)

image

jim - 04/03/09 17:26
24 people confirmed, I have more friends then I thought!

Thanks everyone! See you tuesday
libertad - 03/27/09 21:05
Mike and I are coming.
jason - 03/27/09 09:44
Josh and I would love to celebrate with you.
heidi - 03/26/09 20:20
hairstyle... i want curls!! :-)
janelle - 03/26/09 15:59
Count me in.
tinypliny - 03/26/09 14:27
I am in. I can't resist a chance to see what kind of hairstyle you have on your birthday. :)
matthew - 03/26/09 13:20
Sounds great! Mmmm... Stuffed cabage! Can't wait.
jenks - 03/26/09 13:04
Wish I could; but i'll be out of town. :( Hope you have a great time!
drew - 03/26/09 12:46
IN!
jim - 03/26/09 11:56
Thank you :)
fellyconnelly - 03/26/09 11:55
i am requesting a shift change at work so that I may attend. I will let you know ASAP.
james - 03/26/09 11:42
I am not sure if I can attend.

Oh wait, I mean I am going to be there WITH MY CLONE!
heidi - 03/26/09 11:38
I'm looking forward to it, Jim!
theli - 03/26/09 10:33
May come around.
jim - 03/26/09 10:32
Thanks!
paul - 03/26/09 10:26
The three of us are comming --PMT.

03/25/2009 07:51 #48194

Life Spans of Deleteable Items
source:

image

tinypliny - 03/26/09 19:30
Oh okay, this is not yours.

Well Well, I am GLAD this is not my brother. I would be livid if he deleted my emails! :p
tinypliny - 03/26/09 19:28
Yeah - I don't quite get this graph. What is the Y axis? High-Low what? Do you mean to that you delete email from family almost as soon as they come in?!

03/20/2009 11:28 #48133

RIP Space Bat
source:

This bat was clinging to the space shuttle during take off.

image

In honor of space bat's memory:

image
tinypliny - 03/26/09 19:25
That's TRAGIC! What an end!
hodown - 03/25/09 12:07
You did right by giving it a blingee send off.
paul - 03/20/09 14:06
Thats so sad.
james - 03/20/09 12:25
We are stardust...

03/19/2009 21:17 #48128

Home Ownership!
Category: all grown up
So, my Dad has let me know that there's a 401k account of my mother's that he hasn't cashed in since she passed away a few years ago, and he's decided he wants to use it to help me with a down payment for a house. That coupled with the $8000 first time home buyer's credit ( ) means that I am pretty sure that I'm going to own my own place sometime this year.

James and I have talked, and the only downside is that we'd only buy something if we knew exactly where we were planning on living next year, and we've been talking pretty seriously about moving to Portland, Oregon or Austin, Texas.

Money certainly doesn't go as far outside Buffalo. For the price of a 2,000 sqft Victorian home here we could only get a really cute 1 bedroom condo in downtown Portland, like this:

image

image

image

( )

Of course it would be in the middle of an awesome urban area that only gets 2" of snow every winter and has excellent public transit and career opportunities...

tinypliny - 03/26/09 19:20
I say go (or stay) where you can create the most worthwhile life. Good Luck! :)
heidi - 03/20/09 22:50
I want you to stay!!!

But I have some logical reasons too... It's hard to find a good community - you have one here, you have roots... you've said "I don't want to die here" (hmmm... might have been (e:james)) but that's what retirement's for! You can *live* here, and die somewhere else. :-)

And you really can't beat the housing prices... damn! $159K?? That's awesome. (Mortgage interest deduction!!! Every year!)
jim - 03/20/09 14:54
It's not a loan, it's a credit. No payback needed. You get an $8000 tax refund.
metalpeter - 03/20/09 14:16
I admit I didn't follow the links so I may have missed something. But the first interior looks pretty nice. I would say that taking the first time home owners loan is a bad idea. Granted I don't have all the facts but to get a tax credit on your taxes of that much money that you then have to payback seems like a bad idea. I don't know the percentage or how you pay it back but to me it seems like you could wind up just owing the IRS money. Of course the person who you should ask about that is (e:Terry).
james - 03/19/09 23:08
That last one looks suspiciously like the section-8 housing on Elmwood between Summer and North.
paul - 03/19/09 22:27
I hope you guys stay.
jim - 03/19/09 22:07
It is pretty exciting - my parents never had much money, so in the last 10 years I've pretty much been on my own. They bailed me out of jail once... that's about it :) It's not really that much money in the scheme of things, but it makes buying a home likely instead of a some-year-soon thing.

To get this kinda opportunity is very unexpected and nice.
mrmike - 03/19/09 22:06
Nice to have the option
libertad - 03/19/09 22:04
How exciting. Good luck in finding a place.
jim - 03/19/09 21:50
I think James wants to move more then I do :)

I'd be perfectly content to live in this: :::link:::
drew - 03/19/09 21:45
Home ownership is very cool.

Leaving Buffalo is not.

Now that (e:James) is on the fast track to Mayor, you have to stay.