Category Archives: Buffalo

BufBloPoFo #14–the end

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Well, BufBloPoFo-08 comes to a close…can you believe it?

BufBloPoFo Topic for Day 14: Link to whatever you posted exactly one year ago (or whatever’s closest), and give your readers an update on that topic. If you haven’t been writing for a year, give us a list of three or four things that are going on in your life right now that you’ll want to update one year from now at the end of BufBloPoFo09.

Hrm. Well, what I blogged about one year ago today is hardly update-worthy. I reviewed Adam Selzer’s book How to Get Suspended and Influence People. 

A day earlier, I blogged about my weekend,  which involved watching movies, making brownies, and meeting with Jen and Samantha for our short-lived book club.

The next day, I blogged about discovering J. Wood’s Lost blog at Powell’s.

Two years ago, March 15 2006 (I didn’t post on the 14th), I mentioned having met my ex on the Ides of March.

And yeah, there are three or four things I might be blogging about next year. Like this, maybe.  😉

And hey, by the way, happy pi day!

Answer these questions…six

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BufBloPoFo Topic for Day 11: Answer these questions:

1. What is your favorite word? What is your least favorite word?

An incomplete list of my favorite words: kerfluffle, beleaguered, superfluous, charlatan.

Least favorite? Hm…I don’t know. I used to cringe at the big C (See You Next Tuesday?), but not so much anymore, so long as no one’s, y’know, calling me one.

2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? What turns you off?

Turn ons: kindness, patience, honesty, passion. Turn offs: greed, hypocrisy, ignorance, cruelty.

3. What sound or noise do you love? What sound or noise do you hate?

I love the sound of the ocean. To be slightly less cliche, I also love Rand’s singing voice.

Hate? My alarm clock is up there, as well as the sound of a high school or middle school cafeteria at lunchtime.

4. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? What profession would you not like to do?

Uh…hm. I’d like to give this teaching thing a real go one of these days, but apart from that, I’d love to be able to call ‘writing’ my profession as well. (Not as a reporter, though. Been there, done that.)

5. What is your favorite curse word?

I love all the British curses. They make cursing sound so much more dignified. 😉

6. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Hmmm…what took you so long? 😉

Home sweet home

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BufBloPoFo Topic for Day 9: Share your own insider’s perspective on your hometown. Most of you, like me, are Talkin’ Proud, so share your expertise. What’s your favorite way to spend a Buffalo summer day? Which old timey Buffalo movie theatre is to most old timey? What’s your most vivid Buffalo memory (any Buffalonian worth his or her road salt knows where they were when the pigskin went wide right.) Your favorite Buffalo restaurant? (If you say Wild Wings, you’re dead to me.)

If you aren’t a Buffalonian, what should we know about your hometown?

Well, as many of you are aware, I am *not* a native Buffalonian, but I have made it my home for the past eight years and don’t see that changing in the near future. So I shall answer this question in two parts.

Part 1: Things I dig about Buffalo (and WNY)

Summer in Buffalo rocks. Shakespeare in Delaware Park. Countless festivals involving bad-for-you (but oh-so-good) food. Thursday at the Square.

I love Buffalo’s proximity to Toronto and Niagara Falls.

I love the fact that you can get such a variety of amazing food without having to go too far for it. Within 15 minutes of my apartment, I can get fantastic Greek, Korean, Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese food…not to mention great pizza and wings!

Asking me to choose a favorite Buffalo restaurant…sigh. How can I possibly choose? Here are a few favorites, both within city limits and not: Gabriel’s Gate. Towne. Pano’s. India Gate/Taste of India. The Village Grille. Korea House. Morning Glory Cafe. Cole’s.

I love Wegmans. I love being able to get pretty much anywhere in 20 minutes. I love sitting by Glen Falls in the spring. But more than anything else, I like all the people I’ve met here!

Part 2: My hometown

Grew up in St. Marys, PA, a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania. What should you know about it? It isn’t near anything. It’s not near Erie, it’s not near Pittsburgh, it’s not near Philadelphia. The closest known commodity is State College (home of Penn State University), and that’s like an hour and a half away.

It was settled by German Catholics. It has a brewery and a convent. It consolidated with a surrounding township to gain the dubious distinction of ‘city’. And even though I’ve made Buffalo my adopted home, St. Marys will always be home.

I could hear the voices of my childhood

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In response to today’s BufBloPoFo prompt:

BufBloPoFo Topic for Day 6: What kind of stuff (toys, books, TV shows) were you into when you were a kid? Do you think that had an effect on what kind of a person you are today?

Hmm…I had lots of the typical toys of a child of the 70s/80s. Hungry Hungry Hippos. Lite Brite. Viewmaster, Sit’n Spin, Etch-a-Sketch. I played with Barbies and Strawberry Shortcake dolls, My Little Pony, the Rubiks Cube, Cabbage Patch Kids (I had two). I enjoyed all that stuff, and I think that they serve as cultural markers–in some ways, we’re all identified by these things…the toys we played with, and the music we listened to, and the shows we watched on TV.

But of everything, I think the things that most influenced me were my books. I’ve always been a reader, ever since I can remember. I continue to tell people that my favorite book of all time was and continues to be A Wrinkle in Time. I loved the Chronicles of Narnia, particularly The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Another one of my favorites was the lesser-known The Girl with the Silver Eyes. I absolutely ate up anything magical, anything extraordinary, and I so desperately wanted it to be real. I wanted to open a door and emerge in a different world. I wanted to bend the rules of space and time. I wanted to be able to move things with my mind. I loved these books, and I read them over and over and over again. It was in those stories, I think, that my desire to be a writer first emerged. I wanted to be able to make other people feel the way I felt when I was reading.

Let me tell you about myself…

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For the first day of BufBloPoFo, the topic assigned was “tell us about your blog.” I answered this question back in June at this post, but here’s an excerpt:

When did you begin your first blog and what inspired you to do so?

I started my first blog (titled rather boringly “erin’s blog”) in late 2002 or early 2003. I was inspired by my good friend Eden of So Anyway, who had sung the praises of blogging and first sent me the link to Blogger to help me get started.

My blog sat mostly empty for quite some time. I posted now and then throughout early 2003, and when I began student teaching in the fall of 2003, I started a second blog-my online student teaching journal. (I don’t think that one’s online at this point…)

The thing that really got me blogging regularly was The Breakup in the fall of 2003. My long-term BF rather abruptly called it quits, and I began blogging regularly both as a way of dealing with my feelings and letting my friends know what was going on in my life without having to tell the same stories over and over and over again.

When I started dating again, I blogged about my experiences to entertain people, and soon I had a small but loyal readership!

Unfortunately, the vast majority of those early posts were lost in the Tragic Blog Incident. (I accidentally deleted my database. Don’t ask…)

Since those early days, I’ve changed urls a couple of times (the first one I chose was too close to the email address I had at the time, and I thought that was a mistake, given the topics I was blogging about. ) and moved from Blogger to hosting my own blog using a WordPress format. I like it here. 😉

This is the first post in existence on my current blog, from March of 2004, almost four years ago. A few of my older posts (from Blogger) are still floating around the net somewhere, but most are gone forever. Eh, what are ya gonna do…

I do believe my first real post (January 2003) was about Super Bowl commercials.

Almost exactly a year ago, I completed a meme asking for 5 reasons why I blog. It took me a while to find that so I could link to it, but there it is!

And how did I choose my blog name? I dunno…it just amused me. 🙂

I maintain several other blogs (some of which are more active than others…you can find the links either on that first post I linked to above or on the “about me” page. Also, there’s my recently formed wedding blog, with the boring name “Erin’s Wedding Blog.” I’ll take suggestions for a new name. 😉 )

PORN!

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Ah, now that I have your attention…

I’m wondering if anyone in the local blogosphere has picked up on this. It’s getting a lot of attention on the book/YA lit blogs I read. I first caught it on Meg Cabot’s journal, and I just saw it on Cecil Castellucci’s LJ.

The story is that some teachers at Depew High School wanted to teach John Green’s book Looking for Alaska. (I haven’t read the book, but it’s now at the top of my to-read list) Because the book does deal with some potentially touchy issues (SEX! he talks about SEX!) they jumped through all the proper hoops…sent permission slips home, offered students the opportunity to read another book if their parents did not sign the slip.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough. Parents of kids who aren’t even in the class are trying to get the book pulled. Because it’s apparently “pornographic.” It’s filthy and evil. *eyeroll*

The author addresses the situation here, as well as on this video on YouTube:

Meg Cabot offered the following information:

There are many supporters of this book among teachers, administrators, librarians, and the school board in Depew (as well as authors, such as…me! Well, I don’t live in Depew…but you get what I mean). To help them, John is asking people to email letters of support for the book at sparksflyup@gmail.com.

So, if you’re a fan of the book, please send a thoughtful, non-hysterical email to let them know there are many, many people who loved the book.

Also, if you live near Depew, the book will be discussed at the Depew Board of Education meeting on February 5th at the Depew High School Auditorium at 7 PM.

I haven’t met this kind of situation firsthand, of course, but as a teacher (and as a book lover in general), it hits very close to home. It frustrates me that people are so reactionary and close-minded

The old apartment

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This is where we used to live.

And this is what’s going up in its place.

It’s strange. Surreal, even. I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around it enough to get introspective, but you might want to read Jen’s post. 759 Lafayette was sort of our last hurrah as single girls, where we lived when we both met our respective mates and moved on to start a new chapter in our lives, and it’s hard to think of it being gone.

And powerlust posted a link to the Buffalo ReUse flickr set. I haven’t looked at them yet.

Where *not* to buy a car in WNY

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Stay away from Joe Cecconi Chrysler.

Kelly wrote an excellent post in response to Buffalo Geek’s post about his horrible customer service experience, and he suggested that we Buffalo bloggers pitch in to help.  Since Kelly’s post was teh awesome, here it is in its entirety:

BuffaloGeek recently made a vehicle purchase at Joe Cecconi Chrysler, and the resulting transaction with Joe Cecconi Chrysler did not go well. It seems that the people at Joe Cecconi Chrysler consider customer service to have ended as soon as the vehicle is off the lot, and that any attempt by a customer to procure more service from Joe Cecconi Chrysler constitutes attempted theft of services or something similar. It appears that lying and refusing to talk to customers is the way things are done at Joe Cecconi Chrysler, which is a shame. It’s not like there are lots of other Chrysler dealerships in the region; why, Joe Cecconi Chrysler is just about the only place to by a Chrysler for a fifty-mile radius, so it’s not like the guys at Joe Cecconi Chrysler will miss out on commissions if word of the abysmal, combative, and downright rude customer service at Joe Cecconi Chrysler should get out.

So shop at Joe Cecconi Chrysler if you must, folks, but hold on to your wallets, and make sure you get all the service you think you’ll ever need before you sign the dotted line with the salespeople at Joe Cecconi Chrysler.

Remember that name: Joe Cecconi Chrysler. That’s a name you can trust.

Joe Cecconi Chrysler.

Do read the whole story if you haven’t already…

Friday photos (soon)

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I do have photos to post, but some of them are still on my camera. Here are a couple of videos I took last weekend at Madame Mocha’s.

Go to Bed:

Hockey Monkey:

(Hockey Monkey does not start at the beginning of the song. Sorry!)

Thursday Thoughts

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First off, a big happy birthday shout-out to Eden!

Right now, the big thought on my mind is “one more day until break!” I so need this…time to regroup and recharge. This week hasn’t actually been bad. I had an observation earlier in the week, and I think it went really well.

I had a bunch of other things I was going to talk about, but my brain is moving into shutdown mode. I skipped “Wedding Wednesday” this week, because seriously? Who can think about weddings this close to Christmas? (er, I’m sure the answer is “lots of people.” Just not me!)

Don’t forget…this Saturday, you can see Greg Klyma with special guests Ookla the Mok at Madame Mocha’s on Lovejoy! (contact me for more info)