I received some bad news today, one of my old high school friends died in a car accident. He also happened to be a facebook friend of mine as well and a pretty good one at that since He and I would always comment back and forth, basically he read my stuff and I did likewise.

Now I go to his page and see most everyone writing on his wall. A part of me wants to write something and another is kind of creeped out at the same time.

A while back I remember reading about a service that stores your passwords and acts like a digital will like what this company offers

But yea, another death and another reason to add to the pile of my hermit ways these days.

I may write something, but calling a couple of friends of mine with the news today really was hard to do.

Life is short, enjoy it while you can take full advantage of it.

Anyone who sets a date for something especially if it involves religion is an idiot.

I remember 12 years ago or so when the Chen Tao people came to this area in Niagara County because the guy that blew the whole "God will appear on TV" thing & then subsequently had a vision that they had to go to the one place in the USA where 8 the Chinese lucky number intersected. Route 18 (Lake Rd) and Route 78 (Transit Rd) intersect out in Olcott NY. Yea, they were funny to look at as we were the center of attention for a while but come on people!

But seriously why is it that these cult people are always the weird looking border line ugly ones? This Allison Warden chick just screams "The Hot guys never liked me" so I immersed myself into kooky religion.

At least Marshall Applewhite of Heaven's Gate was entertaining when he castrated himself and had all of those black sneaker wearing people kill themselves back in 1997 due to the Hale-Bopp Comet because the UFO behind the comet was going to do something. Maybe they got the attention because of their website back then, but is is totally freaky and funny at the same time to go to it as it is still maintained WITH THE REGISTERED TRADEMARK!

I just couldn't help but notice the stark contrast from two NFL games yesterday. I ended up going to the Tampa Bay/Seattle game which was played in 45 degrees featuring a team that if they won would guarantee themselves a winning record and still keep them in the playoff hunt. As opposed to a game played in below freezing weather with a team that is playing for a higher draft pick.

To be honest from my perspective anyone that went to that Buffalo Bills game and sat there futilely after the first drive which resulted in the Bills only points is just a masochist. Yes the tickets for the game are cheap compared to the rest of the league. The face value on the scalped Club seats that I sat in at Raymond James Stadium yesterday were $200 but for me it would take more than a collective excuse to get hammered drinking to keep me out freezing my ass off watching pathetic football in Orchard Park. Yet it the place had a healthy crowd! Is it that Western New York just goes out there like a victim of systematic abuse just to keep the perception that it is a healthy metropolitan area and an excuse to get bombed every Sunday in the Fall/Winter? I just don't get it.

I understand that Tampa fans are not big on Raheem Morris or the Glazer family. Their financial problems are not popular as well as they appear to be stuck quite a bit of money from Manchester United It's just to me that it is more than the cold weather that keeps Tampa Fans away. The economy also doesn't seem to be an excuse either as the mall where we parked to go to the game was to capacity. But to me it was just freaky to see a stadium half empty looking like a paper bag scene from the 1980's not a winning team.

Needless to say I had fun for $85 in the club level sitting around a couple of fun lesbian couples and a couple of guys from Chicago who did the game thing we did but paid only $75 for the row behind us. The funny part for me was to notice the "mile" long line that I witnessed for hot chocolate, those people must have waited a quarter to get to order. In my mind I would rationalize, "it's 45 degrees, it's above freezing, this isn't bad at all." Since I was wearing layers it was nice given that I also had a knit cap for when I come back to the BUF. Just watching the Floridians freeze and shiver was kind of hilarious. Some woman told me, "Just keep on telling yourself that you're warm maybe eventually you'll believe it!" Well Lady, I was warm as I spent the entire halftime show outdoors and not hiding in the club. What was scary was it seemed that the crowd didn't return for the second half as when I ventured back in to grab a drink the place was crowded. Also the stadium looked like the dying days of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1987 as it looked like it was at 25% capacity during the 4th quarter.

It is always a refreshing change of pace to be able to go another NFL stadium and enjoy a game in different surroundings. So I hope long term the Buccaneers stick around and don't get moved or anything else along those lines.

I thought I was going nuts when I saw a Just Pizza down here. Then I went to the website & got a confirmation that it indeed is a franchise on Clark Rd in Sarasota.

I also realized that Spot just open a place in Florida as well in Delray Beach although I have to say it is kind of funny how Yahoo! finance has the opening of a coffee shop written up.

I was just curious the other day as I saw Michael Milken on CNBC giving a synopsis of the findings of his Milken Institute.

To be honest I have been telling people for a year or so now, "I don't live in Western New York, I just work here." I am the total opposite of the secret class of people that actually in their mind live here in some place like Spaulding Lake but commute to Boston, New York, Washington DC making the big corporate/professional bucks, live in some studio apartment there and make it back her for a long weekend every 3 weeks to see their family.

Me I work here and get out of dodge at every possible opportunity I can grab. I don't want to rant about it because for the most part I've just accepted a few things and to be honest I have no desire to delve into it.

But here is why the one place where I would like to hang out in especially at this time of year is a no go as it is 191 out of 200 cities!



This is surprising but Buffalo isn't that bad off for jobs at 69 this year.



The one item that I found interesting was the fact that on the list of small cities, they were ALL for the most part college towns is UB keeping Buffalo alive? You can make that case with Ithaca NY being #12