Today was the last mass at the church of the ascension next door. They went out like I knew them - parked on the lawn.





I actually didn't mind living next to them. Free park/bocce court/drone launchpad and a nice looking building. I hope they keep that with the new senior housing.
Buffalo news story

If they build a giant parking lot on our side or in the courtyard I'm going to park a bulldozer in someone's house.

We went out with (e:uchina) and (e:yesthatcasey) to Sato for some ramen. While there, Masumi noticed that the mirror was perfect for getting off some furtive glances at your dining mates' cleavage. Better watch out, Casey.







Afterwards we finished up Mario Wii. Everyone went off to watch UFC, while (e:paul) and I programmed. I am finally almost done with the Squeaky Wheel front end.

New Year's we headed with (e:uchina) and (e:yesthatcasey) along with Liz to the Igloo New Year's rave. It took place in this warehouse on Adams Street, east of Jefferson. It was the kind where the location was announced the day of via a secret phone number. Apparently in the days of facebook events this is very retro.

We all got a little bit ridiculous, and so did the music. The lower level had house music and the upper had more jungle, some DnB and sadly some trap. We danced for hours - after getting there after 12, we didn't leave until almost 7 am. I did some of my best dancing ever according to (e:paul).

At one point (e:terry) and I panicked a bit because we needed to pee, but we couldn't wait in an hour line for the 5 port-a-potties. For $10 reentry, we had the privilege of peeing outside - I guess that's the going rate these days. Our night greatly improved after that. You can buy happiness.

I was so exhausted by the end. Our coats and clothes were caked with mysterious floor mud and I'm pretty sure I had black lung. But it definitely was one of the best raves I've been to yet.



Paul in a mask - reliving his vegan power days. If only his vegan self could meet him now.








(e:keith) tearing it up

The end of the night lead to the most awkward night of my life. Maybe I'll post about it one day. Moral of the story - if anyone ever gives you this stare, run:

While (e:paul) went for a family dinner, (e:terry) and I helped Jax and the Squeaky Wheel crew move out of their old office. The result was I spent a day surrounded by artists and art.

The old location is a hoarder's paradise. Most of what we moved consisted of tons of old, broken projecters and TV's ready for the e-scrap yard. There also was the boxes upon boxes of physical media - VHS tapes. Even (e:uchina) would have found it to be vintage.


After we dropped the waste at the scrap yard, we stopped for Breadhive's bagel brunch at Hydraulic Hearth. (e:terry) and I split a kimchi/yogurt bagel and a pepper hummus bagel. I learned that Jax loves invasive species, and this other girl Anna wants to be the mushroom foraging pioneer of Buffalo.

The restaurant had a phonebooth art installation by Leslie Zemsky - Howard Zemsky's wife. She designed and decorated most of the restaurant.


Afterwards, we brought the rest of the tapes and shelving to storage in the Hi-Temp Fab warehouse on Perry Street. Being in such a big old warehouse was neat. It also was covered in art.



One gallery had a this super strange painting of a bare-chested Aunt Jemima atop a stack of pancakes. I can't decide if this was supposed to be racist or not.

There were plenty of safety bicycles there too if you wanted to take a spin. i think artists may just be hoarders.


Afterwards we went for a hot toddy at Jax and Kyle's place. Spiced whiskey is a little much for me. But we got to show off the Samsung VR Goggles and compare them to VR art on the Oculus Rift VR1. The Samsung headset is so much better to look at. The field of view and resolution is a million times more advanced.

We got to sample these legendary macaroons from a hospital in Massachusetts


The last artsty thing we did before walking home was visiting Julian Montegue's bird photo exhibition. Normally I think his drawings are cool, but honestly, I didn't get this. It was blurry pictures of birds in Buffalo, like my mobl post quality.

I was ready to go home and work on the new Squeaky website at this point.

We had a great New Year's eve dinner at mama Visco's house, with (e:mike) and (e:libertad). She made all the delicious things - the dandelion patties, the mushroom and artichoke dish, apfelkuchen. We even tried 45 year old wine that Paul's dad brought out of the basement. It had some kick to it.

The best part of the evening I think was hearing about Mike's Staples fiasco. He needs to do a full write up because I can't do it justice.