Well, lo-and-behold! Our wedding is now less than three months away and we're sooooooo organized that we even have our wedding registry basically done. In fact, here's a link to them!
The first is at: www.crateandbarrel.com
The second is at: www.bedbathandbeyond.com
Feel more than free to go to either one of them and buy us something! Hey! I'm not against begging! I figure most people, however, are as lazy as me and will wait till the last possible second to even THINK about getting anything. Here's a friendly reminder that your friends Julie and Dave are getting married! And what better way to celebrate that than with a coffee maker? Or some nice China, perhaps?
Monday, August 01, 2005
Sunday, July 31, 2005
New desk, nice garden, new house next door
Well, I can finally post the pics I wanted to. It only took about two weeks to figure it out. First of all, much to the delight of Julie - as my shit is no longer all over the floor - I have a desk! In fact, here's a picture of it:
Isn't it great? Well, maybe not great, but at least it's a lot better than what I WAS using - a two foot high side table that just barely held my monitor.
Additionally, I wanted to upload a few pics of our garden! These pics were taken a couple weeks ago, when the lillies still had flowers on them. They're in much sadder shape today, but that's why we take pictures!
So, without further ado, here's a couple images from the garden. I think the fact that merely one year ago there was only dead shit here, this is a HUGE improvement:
There are a few more images, but they're not as interesting. Unless you'd like to see pictures of my tomato plants, but I think if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Of course, the first are brandywine variety, which is a little esoteric as tomatoes go, so maybe once some of them start to ripen, I'll post those images here.
Last but not least, the new house next door. As you may know, when we bought our house, there was an empty lot next door. Everyone we knew said, "There's no way someone will build a house there! That lot is tiny! They'd be CRAZY to build a $120,000 house on a street of $85,000 houses!" Well, aparently, someone was out there who wanted to go against common sense, and built a house. Personally, I would have really liked to have grown all sorts of vegitables on the lot. I had planned to grow lots of vine plants there - zucchini and pumpkins mostly. Oh well... I just hope the neighbor is a reasonable person, or else up goes the 25 foot fence! Here's the house:
That's it for me for a little while.... gotta enjoy seeing all these lovely pictures posted online! Woo-hoo!
Isn't it great? Well, maybe not great, but at least it's a lot better than what I WAS using - a two foot high side table that just barely held my monitor.Additionally, I wanted to upload a few pics of our garden! These pics were taken a couple weeks ago, when the lillies still had flowers on them. They're in much sadder shape today, but that's why we take pictures!
So, without further ado, here's a couple images from the garden. I think the fact that merely one year ago there was only dead shit here, this is a HUGE improvement:
There are a few more images, but they're not as interesting. Unless you'd like to see pictures of my tomato plants, but I think if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Of course, the first are brandywine variety, which is a little esoteric as tomatoes go, so maybe once some of them start to ripen, I'll post those images here.
Last but not least, the new house next door. As you may know, when we bought our house, there was an empty lot next door. Everyone we knew said, "There's no way someone will build a house there! That lot is tiny! They'd be CRAZY to build a $120,000 house on a street of $85,000 houses!" Well, aparently, someone was out there who wanted to go against common sense, and built a house. Personally, I would have really liked to have grown all sorts of vegitables on the lot. I had planned to grow lots of vine plants there - zucchini and pumpkins mostly. Oh well... I just hope the neighbor is a reasonable person, or else up goes the 25 foot fence! Here's the house:
That's it for me for a little while.... gotta enjoy seeing all these lovely pictures posted online! Woo-hoo!
Friday, July 29, 2005
Fat cat
See my cat? Isn't she fat?
Actually, I don't want to pick on my cat, here, but I finally figured out what the problem was with uploading pics to blogger.... you need to have file extensions in the names so blogger KNOWS what you're trying to upload!
So, with that... let me try and do the weblog entry I WANTED to do in the FIRST PLACE!
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Blogger is annoying me
Well, this post WAS going to be titled: "New Desk, Nice Garden, New House Next Door" because I *thought* I was going to be able to upload picture via the new blogger images tool. However, each time I tried to upload images the thing would fail. I thought it might have been a problem was Safari, so I tried Explorer. Explorer sucks so bad that I didn't even see the icon for the image upload. Then I tried Foxfire. Foxfire got me the furthest without either crashing or just not letting me even have the option of uploading images, but the system still refused to take pics. I tried big file sizes, small file sizes and neither worked. UGH.
Yeah yeah, I know, I could just upload my pics to one of my regular websites, like, for instance, www.TrainingRochester.com, but then I have to take up my own space for pics that are supposed to be hosted for FREE on Blogger!!! I'd use my coin club website, but the folks who host it don't reply to emails anymore, so I can even access the server right now. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Oh well... guess I'll just have to wait and try this again later when I'm less annoyed. I DO in fact have some very nice pics of my new desk, garden, and neighbors' house, but you'll just have to imagine them for now.
Yeah yeah, I know, I could just upload my pics to one of my regular websites, like, for instance, www.TrainingRochester.com, but then I have to take up my own space for pics that are supposed to be hosted for FREE on Blogger!!! I'd use my coin club website, but the folks who host it don't reply to emails anymore, so I can even access the server right now. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Oh well... guess I'll just have to wait and try this again later when I'm less annoyed. I DO in fact have some very nice pics of my new desk, garden, and neighbors' house, but you'll just have to imagine them for now.
Monday, July 18, 2005
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Ah! Gotta get a scream out now and then. Things are sooooooo busy that I shouldn't even be writing this right now, but if I don't take a break my brain will explode. Granted, I just did the math on my training program and I'm feeling MUCH better as I wasn't sure how many course offerings we were going to have, but it looks like right now I have about 20 trainers offering about 130 courses. There might be more, or fewer than that, but it's about right.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Addendum
http://rochesterdandc.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050708/BUSINESS/307080001
Harris RF/Communications to add 150 jobs in Rochester. Must say, this is all really good stuff. Now, hopefully, Infotonics will get some major projects we've been working on and we can add some additional good news to the local economic outlook.
Harris RF/Communications to add 150 jobs in Rochester. Must say, this is all really good stuff. Now, hopefully, Infotonics will get some major projects we've been working on and we can add some additional good news to the local economic outlook.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Disappointment
This past weekend was full of disappointment and, um, appointment? I had a great time this weekend at Conesus Lake. Julie's friend Don's parents have a lake house down there and we went for Ring Of Fire and fireworks. Spent most of the day there and had a great time! This was just before Don and Julie left for Arizona where Don is moving to take a job. Interestingly enough, I'm also going to do practically the same roadtrip with Rob Labowitz when he moves to Arizona.
Anyway, the lake was great. Also, the 4th of July was fantastic... other than a little rain. Went to Tim and Darlene Corio's place in the early afternoon, then spent the evening down at George's house. We ended up going to Highfalls to watch the laser lightshow and the downtown fireworks. Saw those from the roof of the Highfalls parking garage which was excellent!
And, prior to all this, had a fun night over at Rob and Chris' apartment for a little cookout on Friday night. Just your traditional hot dogs, hamburgers, et al. I also make an giant fruit salad and some jambalya. Everything got eaten, so it must have been good.
Now onto the disappointments of the past week. I think it all started at Schaller's, which I mentioned in the last post. Well, it extended into Saturday when I went to my 10-year highschool reunion. I have a bunch of issues with it. First, it cost $40 per person. Now, that's not terrible, but that's only when you think you're getting a buffet dinner. Um, well, they didn't make their numbers (in fact, weren't even close) so they cancelled the dinner portion. Oh, but no refunds! In fact, I got pulled into buy $10 worth of 50/50 tickets which they were selling to cover even more of the cost. UGH!!!! The food was pretty good, but not as advertised. They had a DJ who was TERRIBLE. He played all this music from the 70s and 80s... apparently confused that this was the class of 1995, not 1985.
The other thing that got to me was the people that were there. Other than about 5 guys (who all happen to still be in town, and I run into from time to time) the rest were folks I had little interest in speaking to. I would have hoped that some of the people I really enjoyed would have been there, but alas, they apparently had more important things to do. (Read that as: Jeff, Andy, Chris P., Karl, Larry, Ian, Chris N., Chen-Lin, Craig, etc., etc., etc.)
So, that was really a disappointment. Not to mention, the planning of the thing was marginal at best. I've done dozens of events in Rochester and I KNOW I could have done better. Granted, we're all busy, and working, but for $50 a person, I could have had an AMAZING party!
I think I'm going to plan a 13 year reunion... just for the hell of it. Very impromtu and with little overhead. If people want to come, they should come, but I'm not going to force them to send a check. Of course, an RSVP would be good, but nothing else. Guess I'd better start building a database of contact information soon. I'd bet I can collect a pretty accurate database of all the 1995 alumni even if that means doing individual searchs for folks on Google, or Anywho, or whatever.
Oh yeah, but before then, perhaps I'd better get cracking on getting my wedding invite list finalized! If Julie gets home from Arizona and I've done nothing, she will probably KILL ME!
Anyway, the lake was great. Also, the 4th of July was fantastic... other than a little rain. Went to Tim and Darlene Corio's place in the early afternoon, then spent the evening down at George's house. We ended up going to Highfalls to watch the laser lightshow and the downtown fireworks. Saw those from the roof of the Highfalls parking garage which was excellent!
And, prior to all this, had a fun night over at Rob and Chris' apartment for a little cookout on Friday night. Just your traditional hot dogs, hamburgers, et al. I also make an giant fruit salad and some jambalya. Everything got eaten, so it must have been good.
Now onto the disappointments of the past week. I think it all started at Schaller's, which I mentioned in the last post. Well, it extended into Saturday when I went to my 10-year highschool reunion. I have a bunch of issues with it. First, it cost $40 per person. Now, that's not terrible, but that's only when you think you're getting a buffet dinner. Um, well, they didn't make their numbers (in fact, weren't even close) so they cancelled the dinner portion. Oh, but no refunds! In fact, I got pulled into buy $10 worth of 50/50 tickets which they were selling to cover even more of the cost. UGH!!!! The food was pretty good, but not as advertised. They had a DJ who was TERRIBLE. He played all this music from the 70s and 80s... apparently confused that this was the class of 1995, not 1985.
The other thing that got to me was the people that were there. Other than about 5 guys (who all happen to still be in town, and I run into from time to time) the rest were folks I had little interest in speaking to. I would have hoped that some of the people I really enjoyed would have been there, but alas, they apparently had more important things to do. (Read that as: Jeff, Andy, Chris P., Karl, Larry, Ian, Chris N., Chen-Lin, Craig, etc., etc., etc.)
So, that was really a disappointment. Not to mention, the planning of the thing was marginal at best. I've done dozens of events in Rochester and I KNOW I could have done better. Granted, we're all busy, and working, but for $50 a person, I could have had an AMAZING party!
I think I'm going to plan a 13 year reunion... just for the hell of it. Very impromtu and with little overhead. If people want to come, they should come, but I'm not going to force them to send a check. Of course, an RSVP would be good, but nothing else. Guess I'd better start building a database of contact information soon. I'd bet I can collect a pretty accurate database of all the 1995 alumni even if that means doing individual searchs for folks on Google, or Anywho, or whatever.
Oh yeah, but before then, perhaps I'd better get cracking on getting my wedding invite list finalized! If Julie gets home from Arizona and I've done nothing, she will probably KILL ME!
Friday, July 01, 2005
Miscellaneous
I sure hope I spelled "miscellaneous" right... that's one of those words I frequently get wrong. Man, what a month it's been! (June that is) I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty optimisitic about Rochester, the economy, and even that damn fast ferry.
I live probably 5 minutes from the boat, and was up at the pier with Julie a couple days ago. Got ice cream over at Abbots and then walked to the end of the pier. It's a damn shame that of the millions of dollars spent at the port, they haven't fixed up that walkway. There were thousands of people up there that night, and while the quality of the pier probably didn't really detract from everyone's experiences up there, it would have been really nice to show off a brand new pier and boardwalk - especially for the out-of-towners who are using the ferry. Now, I'll give the city its props - they did do a beautiful job with the port itself, and the park and the boardwalk along the beach is really nice. But that darn pier could just use a makeover! Even if they just ran a new layer of asphalt over the thing, that would make it a nicer walk.
Julie and I ended up going the next night up to Schaller's on the lake, and I have to say, I was disappointed. I seem to have better memories of Schaller's, but the food was too greasy and the ice cream couldn't compete with Abbot's, Don's Original, Tom Wahl's, or even Corkey's! Oh well, guess it was a learning experience. I just hope Julie and I can spend some time on the Irondequoit side too up at Don's et al, and even go to Marge's. I haven't been there many times, but just to be able to have a drink and sit on the beach is really nice. Hopefully we might even be able to do that before she leaves with her friend Don to go to Arizona.
While I'm talking about "miscellaneous" stuff here, has anyone else noticed all the good economic news in Rochester lately? Just a quick recap: Bausch & Lomb building a $35 million R&D center in the city, and adding 200 jobs. UNYSIS is relocating about 200 to Monroe County and adding another couple hundred. CooperVision is building a new distribution center and adding a couple hundred jobs. Xerox is building a $25 million manufacturing plant and adding about 50 jobs. And Kodak hasn't concurrently made an anouncement that they're laying off, oh, say, 5000 local employees. I just keep waiting for that hat to fall and rain on our economic-prosperity-parade.
It's a damn shame that Kodak isn't reinventing itself in a way to make it a more widely sought after consumer brand. They sold off remote sensing to ITT which has really paid off (this should have been listed above- ITT is transferring between 200 and 400 temporary people to Rochester for at least one-year assignments). ITT has retained about 1700 former Kodakers and added a couple hundred since then. Hopefully Kodak's move into commercial printing will pay off. Also, it's good to see that Kodak is the number one digital camera sold in the US. But it's still not enough to make up for the huge margins associated with film! I don't know what the answer is (which, if I did, would mean I should be running Kodak), but I would hope someone over there is reading Brand Hijack by Alex Wipperfurth. I think it's an EXCELLENT marketing book with a message Kodak should embrace.
Last miscellaneous thing to mention here? Well, Javelin is doing well - with our training program, our contract with Infotonics, and our other various activities. We had a great story in the paper on an MOU we facilitated getting between Infotonics and Brookhaven National Lab. And there's some other good press we should be getting in the near future.
Other than that, wedding plans are nearly complete. Anyone have any suggestions on an officiant?! That's kindof an important piece of this whole wedding that neither of us has been able to resolve! I wonder if Gap Mangione could do it after he plays piano at the cocktail hour?
I live probably 5 minutes from the boat, and was up at the pier with Julie a couple days ago. Got ice cream over at Abbots and then walked to the end of the pier. It's a damn shame that of the millions of dollars spent at the port, they haven't fixed up that walkway. There were thousands of people up there that night, and while the quality of the pier probably didn't really detract from everyone's experiences up there, it would have been really nice to show off a brand new pier and boardwalk - especially for the out-of-towners who are using the ferry. Now, I'll give the city its props - they did do a beautiful job with the port itself, and the park and the boardwalk along the beach is really nice. But that darn pier could just use a makeover! Even if they just ran a new layer of asphalt over the thing, that would make it a nicer walk.
Julie and I ended up going the next night up to Schaller's on the lake, and I have to say, I was disappointed. I seem to have better memories of Schaller's, but the food was too greasy and the ice cream couldn't compete with Abbot's, Don's Original, Tom Wahl's, or even Corkey's! Oh well, guess it was a learning experience. I just hope Julie and I can spend some time on the Irondequoit side too up at Don's et al, and even go to Marge's. I haven't been there many times, but just to be able to have a drink and sit on the beach is really nice. Hopefully we might even be able to do that before she leaves with her friend Don to go to Arizona.
While I'm talking about "miscellaneous" stuff here, has anyone else noticed all the good economic news in Rochester lately? Just a quick recap: Bausch & Lomb building a $35 million R&D center in the city, and adding 200 jobs. UNYSIS is relocating about 200 to Monroe County and adding another couple hundred. CooperVision is building a new distribution center and adding a couple hundred jobs. Xerox is building a $25 million manufacturing plant and adding about 50 jobs. And Kodak hasn't concurrently made an anouncement that they're laying off, oh, say, 5000 local employees. I just keep waiting for that hat to fall and rain on our economic-prosperity-parade.
It's a damn shame that Kodak isn't reinventing itself in a way to make it a more widely sought after consumer brand. They sold off remote sensing to ITT which has really paid off (this should have been listed above- ITT is transferring between 200 and 400 temporary people to Rochester for at least one-year assignments). ITT has retained about 1700 former Kodakers and added a couple hundred since then. Hopefully Kodak's move into commercial printing will pay off. Also, it's good to see that Kodak is the number one digital camera sold in the US. But it's still not enough to make up for the huge margins associated with film! I don't know what the answer is (which, if I did, would mean I should be running Kodak), but I would hope someone over there is reading Brand Hijack by Alex Wipperfurth. I think it's an EXCELLENT marketing book with a message Kodak should embrace.
Last miscellaneous thing to mention here? Well, Javelin is doing well - with our training program, our contract with Infotonics, and our other various activities. We had a great story in the paper on an MOU we facilitated getting between Infotonics and Brookhaven National Lab. And there's some other good press we should be getting in the near future.
Other than that, wedding plans are nearly complete. Anyone have any suggestions on an officiant?! That's kindof an important piece of this whole wedding that neither of us has been able to resolve! I wonder if Gap Mangione could do it after he plays piano at the cocktail hour?
Thursday, June 09, 2005
I LOVE WIDGETS!
This is the greatest thing in the history of mankind! Ok, not really, but it is definitely cool. Or, um, cool for people who are interested in this kind of stuff. Apple amazes me yet again, this time with the built-in program Dashboard. I emailed David Benesch about getting a widget that would allow me to simply add content to a blogger web log, and low and behold, one exists! This sure makes it easier to post stuff.
As you can see below, I'm an infrequent poster to my own blog - for any number of reasons. However, I think the main reason is that the blogger interface sucks. There are too many steps, and it's slow in actually publishing material to the site. Using this Dashboard widget allows me to forego going onto the blogger site and just click "post" to get stuff online. SOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier.
Now this'll put a little more pressure on me to actually post more frequently, but I've got plenty of stuff going on that should be of interest - wedding, Julie, house, cat, job, numismatics.
What I need to figure out now is how easy it is to post pictures using the Dashboard interface. If that's as easy as posting text, then I'll be in good shape.
As you can see below, I'm an infrequent poster to my own blog - for any number of reasons. However, I think the main reason is that the blogger interface sucks. There are too many steps, and it's slow in actually publishing material to the site. Using this Dashboard widget allows me to forego going onto the blogger site and just click "post" to get stuff online. SOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier.
Now this'll put a little more pressure on me to actually post more frequently, but I've got plenty of stuff going on that should be of interest - wedding, Julie, house, cat, job, numismatics.
What I need to figure out now is how easy it is to post pictures using the Dashboard interface. If that's as easy as posting text, then I'll be in good shape.
One more test before I'm done!
Well, wanted to try this once more, basically to show off to my dad who is standing next to me that Dashboard is a great tool.
Let's try this widget!
This is a test of the blogger widget that I've added to Dashboard on OSX Tiger.... hopefully it works and I set it up right!
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Pralines
Trying something new... making pralines! If you've never had one of these sugary concoctions, you're missing out! Now, this is my first attempt, so god only knows if they'll come out right, but they LOOK right. Now they just gotta cool, and hopefully they'll taste as good as they look. The recipe came from the High Calorie Cookbook (one of the greatest cookbooks ever) by Leonard Louis Levinson. The book is noted for it's collection of famous recipes from long-gone restaurants mostly from New York City and around France. Ever hear of Lindy's? Well, if not, I'll have to make the Lindy's cheescake just so you can see what a cheesecake is all about! Being in a household with a baker means I don't often get a chance to bake, or make desserts, but since I had some time, why the heck not? I can always bring the rest into Infotonics for people to sample.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Post Josh Visit
Well, the money's all gone and the food is consumed and Josh is back in Atlanta, so how did things go? Let's see... Dinosaur as always was great. I think we spent about an hour waiting for a table, but it was a little complicated as we were a group of seven - not as easy to seat as six. But the meal itself was great. I almost always get the same thing, Cuban Platter with some sort of sides. This time around, they had a special veggie side that I ordered, only to find they didn't have it. So they put this carrot thing on my platter as a side and offered me another one (so I got fries). Well, let me tell you, if they ever have these honey glazed carrots as a side again, say YES! They were fantastic!
Next day was the Public Market for breakfast, and as always, very tasty. We did end up going to Nick's for plates that evening, followed by bowling at this little place in the city with two alleys, one above the other, and a nice bar. Following the men's humilation (it was boys vs. girls) we all drove over to Phillips for dessert. Mmmmmmmm...... Phillips!
Sunday we got off to a late start and got to Highland Park Diner around 10:30 or so. Josh and Rob each had the Highland Skillet, Julie had the belgian waffle with strawberries and sweet cheese, Chris had SOMETHING (but I don't remember what it was!) and I got the corned beef hash with poached eggs, potatoes and toast.
That night we did a dinner at home with Josh (just the three of us) to kindof recouperate from all the feasting. It was an okay meal - not up to my standards - mainly because of this lousy chicken we had. This was the smallest chicken I've ever cooked, apparently. Looking at it, you'd have thought it was ok... but ultimately, it was mostly bones. Oh well!
Otherwise, I think it was a successful weekend! We did end up throwing away Josh's old Overdale candy bag, but also got to enjoy all sorts of other goodies. Anyone who attended any of this want to comment?
Next day was the Public Market for breakfast, and as always, very tasty. We did end up going to Nick's for plates that evening, followed by bowling at this little place in the city with two alleys, one above the other, and a nice bar. Following the men's humilation (it was boys vs. girls) we all drove over to Phillips for dessert. Mmmmmmmm...... Phillips!
Sunday we got off to a late start and got to Highland Park Diner around 10:30 or so. Josh and Rob each had the Highland Skillet, Julie had the belgian waffle with strawberries and sweet cheese, Chris had SOMETHING (but I don't remember what it was!) and I got the corned beef hash with poached eggs, potatoes and toast.
That night we did a dinner at home with Josh (just the three of us) to kindof recouperate from all the feasting. It was an okay meal - not up to my standards - mainly because of this lousy chicken we had. This was the smallest chicken I've ever cooked, apparently. Looking at it, you'd have thought it was ok... but ultimately, it was mostly bones. Oh well!
Otherwise, I think it was a successful weekend! We did end up throwing away Josh's old Overdale candy bag, but also got to enjoy all sorts of other goodies. Anyone who attended any of this want to comment?
Friday, February 25, 2005
An exciting evening tonight!
Getting all set for an exciting evening/weekend. Our friend Josh Liller is coming to Rochester for the weekend to take his NYS Teachers Certification exam on Saturday. So, as a result, we have a weekend of eating and drinking planned. Here's the agenda so far:
Friday, February 25, 2005:
Pick up Josh at airport around 5pm and take him to the house. Why? To prepare for...
DINOSAUR BAR-B-CUE!!! Woo-hoo! I love that place. I'm thinking of getting a Cuban sandwich (pulled pork, ham, pickles, and sauce... Mmmmmmm!). Of course, their ribs are amazing... their half-chickens are amazing... EVERYTHING is amazing.
Following that, I'm not sure what we're going to do... maybe back to our house... maybe over to Shannons... we'll figure that out.
Satuday:
Early morning start... over to the Rochester Public Market for empanadas and coffee. Then, I think I'm driving Josh to Brockport to take the test.
Dinner... plates. Maybe Nick's, maybe Mark's... then Phillips European for desserts! Woo-hoo! I can feel my gut growing from all this excess! (oh wait, we're not done yet!).
Sunday:
Breakfast at the Highland Park Diner. Why? The Highland Skillet of course! We're talking about a bowl, lined with fried eggs, filled with sausage gravy and homefries, and served with buttermilk biscuits. Add some hollandaise sauce if you don't want to make it to Monday.
Lunch? Probably not.. what we're thinking is, skip the lunch and around 2 or 3 o'clock go to Corkey's Craving Parlor for ice-cream. While it is true Josh can get ice cream in his new adopted home of Atlanta, Corkey's successfully combines low prices with excess. That's $3.75 for more ice-cream than I can eat in a single sitting. But that's why this is lunch!
Dinner - probably something late, and probably at my house, as there's only so much someone can do in one weekend.
Hmm... i seem to be missing something. Dinosaur - check. Phillips - check. Highland Diner - check. Corkeys - check. Garbage Plates - check. Empanadas - check. Well, if I am missing anything, I'll be sure to post it here once we're done with all this gluttany. Check back later for details and maybe pictures? (noooo!)
Friday, February 25, 2005:
Pick up Josh at airport around 5pm and take him to the house. Why? To prepare for...
DINOSAUR BAR-B-CUE!!! Woo-hoo! I love that place. I'm thinking of getting a Cuban sandwich (pulled pork, ham, pickles, and sauce... Mmmmmmm!). Of course, their ribs are amazing... their half-chickens are amazing... EVERYTHING is amazing.
Following that, I'm not sure what we're going to do... maybe back to our house... maybe over to Shannons... we'll figure that out.
Satuday:
Early morning start... over to the Rochester Public Market for empanadas and coffee. Then, I think I'm driving Josh to Brockport to take the test.
Dinner... plates. Maybe Nick's, maybe Mark's... then Phillips European for desserts! Woo-hoo! I can feel my gut growing from all this excess! (oh wait, we're not done yet!).
Sunday:
Breakfast at the Highland Park Diner. Why? The Highland Skillet of course! We're talking about a bowl, lined with fried eggs, filled with sausage gravy and homefries, and served with buttermilk biscuits. Add some hollandaise sauce if you don't want to make it to Monday.
Lunch? Probably not.. what we're thinking is, skip the lunch and around 2 or 3 o'clock go to Corkey's Craving Parlor for ice-cream. While it is true Josh can get ice cream in his new adopted home of Atlanta, Corkey's successfully combines low prices with excess. That's $3.75 for more ice-cream than I can eat in a single sitting. But that's why this is lunch!
Dinner - probably something late, and probably at my house, as there's only so much someone can do in one weekend.
Hmm... i seem to be missing something. Dinosaur - check. Phillips - check. Highland Diner - check. Corkeys - check. Garbage Plates - check. Empanadas - check. Well, if I am missing anything, I'll be sure to post it here once we're done with all this gluttany. Check back later for details and maybe pictures? (noooo!)
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Nothing too interesting
I'm writing this with Woody Allen's voice in my mind... mainly because I'm sitting here listening to guitar great Django Reinhardt who is featured in so many of Allen's films. But to describe it in that way really puts a lot of pressure on me to write something that somehow compares, and considering my writing is in general fairly wretched, I'm not going to try!
So, it's been a while, and there's not a whole lot of news to report. My wedding planning is nearly done. Julie has been fantastic - making sure everything actually happens! I would probably still be thinking about location if it weren't for her! Basically we've got everything but flowers confirmed. Oh, and we need to work on our music playlist. And we still need to pick what meals there'll be. I'm thinking a beef filet, chicken french, and swordfish (possibly grilled?).
The music should make for an interesting experience. I'm a fan of techno, electronica, that sort of stuff... which Julie can't stand! On the other hand, she's a big 98PXY fan. I know there'll be some compromises, but I've got to have at least one Beastie Boys song played that night!
Now she's standing here reading as I type, so I better be careful! (Just kidding!) Though I must say, the cookies she's eating right now look awfully tasty... maybe she could share?! Hmmmmm... the words "fat chance" come to mind!
Well, I'm being kicked off... I have tons of stuff to write about, but I'll just have to wait till tomorrow. Cheers'
So, it's been a while, and there's not a whole lot of news to report. My wedding planning is nearly done. Julie has been fantastic - making sure everything actually happens! I would probably still be thinking about location if it weren't for her! Basically we've got everything but flowers confirmed. Oh, and we need to work on our music playlist. And we still need to pick what meals there'll be. I'm thinking a beef filet, chicken french, and swordfish (possibly grilled?).
The music should make for an interesting experience. I'm a fan of techno, electronica, that sort of stuff... which Julie can't stand! On the other hand, she's a big 98PXY fan. I know there'll be some compromises, but I've got to have at least one Beastie Boys song played that night!
Now she's standing here reading as I type, so I better be careful! (Just kidding!) Though I must say, the cookies she's eating right now look awfully tasty... maybe she could share?! Hmmmmm... the words "fat chance" come to mind!
Well, I'm being kicked off... I have tons of stuff to write about, but I'll just have to wait till tomorrow. Cheers'
Friday, December 03, 2004
Headquarters relocation...
Just a quick thought before I head out for the day... but I'm a Xerox shareholder. Now, I don't have thousands of shares, only 100, but I wonder how many people in Rochester do hold Xerox shares? Is it a majority of the company? A couple of years ago, when Xerox was really struggling, there were rumors that they might move their corporate headquarters from Stamford Connecticut back to Rochester. People in the know said, "You crazy!" And, as it turns out, they were right. Xerox has turned itself around, and all seems to be going well. Granted, they're not at $70 a share like in the good ol' days, but at $15.50, that's a heck of a lot better than a miserable $4.50!
Now, here in Rochester, we have a bit of an economic development problem... not much economic growth really happens here. Yeah, we have some great successes, particularly with Paychex, but otherwise things are kindof slow. This brings me back to the Xerox shareholder question... if the majority of Xerox shareholders were from Rochester, might we not put something up for vote by the shareholders to relocate the headquarters back here? Unless I'm wrong, that's about 500 jobs right off the bat. Couldn't we do this with a whole bunch of companies? I mean, what's stopping me from becoming a majority shareholder in all sorts of public companies and then turning around and moving them here? Seek out undervalued stocks for firms with high value and do it! Xerox is a perfect example. With annual revenues of about $18-20 billion, their stock is "only" about $15.50. How hard could it be to get a majority stake? Or, perhaps, get a team together to pull together existing stockholders to control a majority stake?
Maybe I'm crazy, but if a community could target just a couple companies, it would seem like we could add a few thousand high paying, corporate level jobs to the community without much problem. It might cost a few billion dollars, but the return on investment would be huge!
Now, here in Rochester, we have a bit of an economic development problem... not much economic growth really happens here. Yeah, we have some great successes, particularly with Paychex, but otherwise things are kindof slow. This brings me back to the Xerox shareholder question... if the majority of Xerox shareholders were from Rochester, might we not put something up for vote by the shareholders to relocate the headquarters back here? Unless I'm wrong, that's about 500 jobs right off the bat. Couldn't we do this with a whole bunch of companies? I mean, what's stopping me from becoming a majority shareholder in all sorts of public companies and then turning around and moving them here? Seek out undervalued stocks for firms with high value and do it! Xerox is a perfect example. With annual revenues of about $18-20 billion, their stock is "only" about $15.50. How hard could it be to get a majority stake? Or, perhaps, get a team together to pull together existing stockholders to control a majority stake?
Maybe I'm crazy, but if a community could target just a couple companies, it would seem like we could add a few thousand high paying, corporate level jobs to the community without much problem. It might cost a few billion dollars, but the return on investment would be huge!
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Cover the Inner-Loop
If you're from Rochester, you know what the Inner-Loop is. For those who don't know, it's basically an expressway that circles around the central business district of Rochester. It's very convienient for those of us who use it daily, but it's also responsible for separating the business district from the rest of the city. In fact, it's kindof like having a moat around the castle. For years there has been talk about filling up the Inner-Loop with dirt... or maybe converting it into a canal, encircling the city. Those seem like very big, expensive projects which don't really do a whole lot. The existing canal is struggling to make money as a tourist attraction, and it seems unlikely that a downtown canal would work. Filling it with dirt might give the city more area to expand, but the city isn't expanding a whole lot, so what have we gained?
I suppose I should just add here that the reason people are talking about the Inner-Loop is because it's in a state of decay. It gets mowed a couple times a year, and the street surfaces are crumbling. It's a shame, because I do use it every day, and it could be a whole lot better! So, here's my suggestion, which I came to in discussions with one of my partners at the office: turn it into a tunnel! Maybe not the whole thing, because again, that results in a big area that we don't really need... but cover up strategically important areas - making pedestrian and parklike areas which connect the two areas. This would also benefit the roadways below because they would be protected against the elements thus increasing the life of the roads. Now, this doesn't guarantee that the Inner-Loop will be traveled more, but it is a realistic solution to a growing problem.
So, what do you think? Leave me some comments, and maybe I'll follow up on this. I think it's a worthwhile proposition, and I'd love to send off the suggestions to the NYSDOT!
I suppose I should just add here that the reason people are talking about the Inner-Loop is because it's in a state of decay. It gets mowed a couple times a year, and the street surfaces are crumbling. It's a shame, because I do use it every day, and it could be a whole lot better! So, here's my suggestion, which I came to in discussions with one of my partners at the office: turn it into a tunnel! Maybe not the whole thing, because again, that results in a big area that we don't really need... but cover up strategically important areas - making pedestrian and parklike areas which connect the two areas. This would also benefit the roadways below because they would be protected against the elements thus increasing the life of the roads. Now, this doesn't guarantee that the Inner-Loop will be traveled more, but it is a realistic solution to a growing problem.
So, what do you think? Leave me some comments, and maybe I'll follow up on this. I think it's a worthwhile proposition, and I'd love to send off the suggestions to the NYSDOT!
Monday, November 08, 2004
I HATE Front Row Joe
I've got a few minutes here, as it's the lunch hour, so I thought I'd post my thoughts on something that irritates the hell out of me: Front Row Joe (or, FRJ). Have you been to a movie recently? If not, congratulations! You are smarter for not having done so! I have been to several in the past couple weeks alone, thanks in large part to the local dollar theatre. Now, anyone who's been to a movie recently knows that we are now under siege by advertising. It was one thing when you were riding on that damn Coca-Cola/popcorn roller coaster... but at least you knew you were close to getting to the feature film! Now we get what seems like an eternity of ads. It has gotten to the point where I'm close to boycotting anyone who advertising at the movies.
Well, the straw has finally broken... with Front Row Joe. If you don't know who that is, again... I envy you. FRJ is a walking cat creature wearing a tuxedo used by Cinemark as some sort of promotional tool. He's in all the "Welcome to Cinemark!" ads that run before movies. There are huge posters of him when you enter the theatre. But here's what really pisses me off.... before about a year ago, there was NO FRJ. He did not exist. Sometime in the recent past, a bunch of marketing gurus sat around and said to themselves... we need an image, and that image is at cartoon cat named FRJ. Apparently, Cinemark was too cheap to go out and buy the rights to an existing animated animal, so they came up with this monstrosity. Kind of like when advertisers don't want to pay to use certain popular music, so they create something that sounds awfully similar... to the point of irritating the hell out of you, cause you know what it's supposed to sound like, but here we are!
You may be saying to yourself, "Well, advertisers create stuff like this all the time... why does this particular fellow piss you off so much?!" Well, here's my answer... Cinemark knows moviegoers are stupid, and as a result, they're stuffing this shit down your throat. Oh wait, that's only part of my problem, because again, this is the case with lots of advertising. No, Cinemark wants you to believe that FRJ is this amazing cat thing that everyone just loves. I mean, just watch when he gets out of his limo to his screaming fans clamoring for an autograph! Clamoring fans? How could he have clamoring fans?? What could this recent addition to pre-movie mania have done to have CLAMORING FANS!?!? They're jumping up and down... like some pop star is walking down the aisle. In fact, some might say that Front Row Joe is bigger that the BEATLES EVER WERE!!!
Ok... must breathe... must take a deeeeep breath... better.
Oh, and now top it all off with the FRJ now has his own CALENDAR. Yes, just ante up a buck and you can get the FRJ calendar... full of images of FRJ... doing whatever it is he does when he's not working. But there's the hitch... other than in a few little instances, like the opening commercial in the movie, when else do you see FRJ? The fact is, you don't. Yet Cinemark treats it like everyone LOVES FRJ, to the point of needing to own the FRJ calendar! Now, maybe if they had bought the rights to use, oh, say, Garfield... I'd buy THAT calendar for a dollar. But FRJ??? Why? To enjoy his popcorny goodness? So I can remember the exciting time he walked out of his limo and down the red carpet to his screaming fans? I don't need a damn calendar to remember that!
Ok, once again... must breathe... ahhhhh.... feels soooo good!
I'm sure there's more to why I hate FRJ, but my lunchtime is nearly up. In fact, maybe I'll write again later today, if more reasons pop into my head. Or, maybe I can tell you why at least one of the movies I saw this weekend was wretched, and the other was just plain bad.
Well, the straw has finally broken... with Front Row Joe. If you don't know who that is, again... I envy you. FRJ is a walking cat creature wearing a tuxedo used by Cinemark as some sort of promotional tool. He's in all the "Welcome to Cinemark!" ads that run before movies. There are huge posters of him when you enter the theatre. But here's what really pisses me off.... before about a year ago, there was NO FRJ. He did not exist. Sometime in the recent past, a bunch of marketing gurus sat around and said to themselves... we need an image, and that image is at cartoon cat named FRJ. Apparently, Cinemark was too cheap to go out and buy the rights to an existing animated animal, so they came up with this monstrosity. Kind of like when advertisers don't want to pay to use certain popular music, so they create something that sounds awfully similar... to the point of irritating the hell out of you, cause you know what it's supposed to sound like, but here we are!
You may be saying to yourself, "Well, advertisers create stuff like this all the time... why does this particular fellow piss you off so much?!" Well, here's my answer... Cinemark knows moviegoers are stupid, and as a result, they're stuffing this shit down your throat. Oh wait, that's only part of my problem, because again, this is the case with lots of advertising. No, Cinemark wants you to believe that FRJ is this amazing cat thing that everyone just loves. I mean, just watch when he gets out of his limo to his screaming fans clamoring for an autograph! Clamoring fans? How could he have clamoring fans?? What could this recent addition to pre-movie mania have done to have CLAMORING FANS!?!? They're jumping up and down... like some pop star is walking down the aisle. In fact, some might say that Front Row Joe is bigger that the BEATLES EVER WERE!!!
Ok... must breathe... must take a deeeeep breath... better.
Oh, and now top it all off with the FRJ now has his own CALENDAR. Yes, just ante up a buck and you can get the FRJ calendar... full of images of FRJ... doing whatever it is he does when he's not working. But there's the hitch... other than in a few little instances, like the opening commercial in the movie, when else do you see FRJ? The fact is, you don't. Yet Cinemark treats it like everyone LOVES FRJ, to the point of needing to own the FRJ calendar! Now, maybe if they had bought the rights to use, oh, say, Garfield... I'd buy THAT calendar for a dollar. But FRJ??? Why? To enjoy his popcorny goodness? So I can remember the exciting time he walked out of his limo and down the red carpet to his screaming fans? I don't need a damn calendar to remember that!
Ok, once again... must breathe... ahhhhh.... feels soooo good!
I'm sure there's more to why I hate FRJ, but my lunchtime is nearly up. In fact, maybe I'll write again later today, if more reasons pop into my head. Or, maybe I can tell you why at least one of the movies I saw this weekend was wretched, and the other was just plain bad.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Board Meeting Tonight!
The Rochester Numismatic Association (www.the-rna.com) is having a Board Meeting tonight. I'm sure it will be thrilling! Oh wait, just kidding. Actually, I have a bunch of stuff on the agenda to talk about, but I really want to get through it quickly. I have no interest in sitting at a meeting and spinning my wheels for hours. I think I'll wait to write anything more, and instead post more after that meeting, as I'm sure I'll be in a better state of mind. As it is, right now I'm focused on grant applications for a new NIST program. Exciting stuff. Anywho... will write again later!
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
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