The BBQ yesterday was awesome - (e:metalpeter,48749) has pics. We had a great mix of people. No one got too drunk for once and the food was delicious. In addition, we got to catch up with (e:leetee) and (e:uncutsaniflush). My phone was dead for most of the day so I got no pictures ;( I think (e:metalpeter) got a bunch.

(e:southernyankee) arrived with an amazing fruit basket complete with mini-bananas, we had a bunch of cakes. Robert and James made delicious salads and some testy orange jello marshmallow suspension. (E:tinypliny) made that cake from (e:tinypliny,48738) which I thought tasted great although I suggested she add bananas next time.

After the BBQ (e:sounthernyanke)e, (e:mike) and I went to Pure to go see Junkie XL The place is set up pretty nice with a large main dance floor bar, a catwalk on a second level overlooking that. There were also some side room VIP style bars.



I don't go out much downtown so maybe its normal but to me it was the most ethnically mixed buffalo moment I ever had. On the dance floor there was seriously every kind of person and they all appeared to be getting along. Arabs, indians (lots of them) asians, white, blacks. The even had a dance off competition that I thought was going to be a fight but ended up being them each taking turns and cheering each other on.

(E:mike) and I went out to dinner at wasabi the other night. I thought it was exceptionally yummy but I think (e:mike) was overwhelmed by a boat full of sashami as it was his first japanese cuisine experience. We ordered the love boat which I know seems funny but it was a good selection of fish for two and the price was reasonable. Because (e:mike) didn't eat so much I ended up eating the equivalent of several small fishes worth of sashimi. I think it might have been the first time I was totally full on sashimi.

My mom gave me this pin the other day that I had gotten during my
childhood acting stint at the alleyway theater in downtown buffalo.
Does anyone else find it a little creepsterish.

I went out and bought a $20 floor scraping chisel. That plus my new mask makes me a lethal combo for the vinyl tiles.

I am helpig (e:matthew) fullfill his dream of slowly restoring everything to its original state. I draw the line at the kitchen. Luckily, our house was pretty modern for its time. For example, it had bathrooms.

It all started with this small hint that it was really tile underneith. I started to excavate a bit and then thought I should look online to see if it is asbestos, considering how much vinyl tile is. Then I discovered it was asbestos. I clearly found the exact print in the 1965 Armstrong Excelon vinyl asbestos floor tile catalog



Here it is



First we had to get the toilet up.


I shaved so my mask would fit snugly. Here I am half done.


Then I dressed up in my space suit and covered everything in myspace format.




Then I taped myself in the room so no air could get out.

I learned everything I could about asbestos tile removal and decided to try it myself. It is not that dangerous as it is not very dusty at all. THe vinyl holds the asbestos in and it comes up in chunks. The secret was to use a waster mister and lots of wet newspaper on top while prying it up.

Turned out it made no dust as everything was soaking wet. The problem was the tar under the tiles was so sticky that it made the tiles so hard to remove.

Here I am after I got only a couple tiles up.



I think it is going to take a few weeks to finish. I am going to try tomorrow with dry ice. I here it makes the glue freeze up and let go of the tile.

To make life more fun, there is a drip in the basement going to one of the water spouts outside and it has no shutoff so we before the drip. So basically we have to turn off all the water to fix it, argh.



After I discovered it we ended up using the box to hold it until we can fix it tomorrow.