In Java, Literally...

Tipping The Hat To Summer 2012

2012-09-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

While there are actual seasons blowing in and shining down, the constant pace of my life has hardly seen a break in years. But seasons come and go regardless of whether I'm occupied or not. This summer.. - We hosted this year's "Cousins Weekend" which saw the arrival of cousins from Albany and Boston, aunt from Buffalo, and my parents from Rochester to our house. Somehow in just a weekend, we

Bits of Life Over Cream Sherry

2011-10-30T22:12:00.000-04:00

I'm drinking the smallest glass of cream sherry ever right now because I wanted a little something before bed, but I didn't want to be up until 11am drinking a more regular sized glass of sherry. My drinking habits tend to run in the "nursing" department, but that's not bad when it comes to figuring out who can drive home at the end of the night. I went to the first rehearsal for the Living

Goodbye to Cable 8 News

2011-10-28T09:06:00.006-04:00

(SEE UPDATE AT END) Tonight's 10pm newscast of Cable 8 News on Time Warner Channel 8 in Chautauqua County and Warren, Pennsylvania will be the last for that news show. After today, Cable 8 News is being absorbed into YNN Buffalo as part of the Time Warner Cable YNN (Your News Now) network. The Cable 8 news program will be greatly missed in this area. It was the only television news program

Slow Death of Radio: Part 2

2011-10-27T09:08:00.001-04:00

This week has turned into a rather dark one for the radio industry. Yesterday, Clear Channel laid off about 150 employees at radio station across the country due to heavy debt issues (Partial list of those laid off here and here). The people laid off were mostly on-air staff ranging from talk show hosts, news reporters, DJs, producers of those shows, and others. They are being replaced with

Tweeting Fun & the Erie County Executive Debate

2011-10-13T22:16:00.000-04:00

For some odd reason, I decided to watch the Erie County Executive Debate on WNED tonight. I had gotten the heads-up about it from WNYMedia.net earlier in the day about what hash-tags to use (#ECDebate) if you were going to tweet while watching, so I thought, "Well, this could be fun." Totes fun. Okay, I've been out of the politics game for quite awhile even though I still do stuff here and

Banishing The Blahs

2011-09-07T14:30:00.000-04:00

I consider myself at risk when it comes to getting the winter blahs. Living in Western New York, we have a lot of gray days that are already sunlight deprived as we head through Fall and Winter. Every year, I know that the dark months are coming, but I often don't prepare. This year, I'm not going to let the blahs catch me off guard and am going to use this article as a guide to alleviate the

Filling In the Middle

2011-09-07T10:02:00.000-04:00

I wore jeans today because it's cool outside. Unfortunately, after a summer of wearing loose clothing, the constrictive denim is making me feel a little muffiny, and I'm not talking chocolate chip although I'm sure the one I ate this summer contributed. To add insult, I then read an article about how women tend to get poochy stomachs as they get older due to the loss of estrogen. As if that

Outdoor Friends

2011-06-30T09:02:00.000-04:00

Long before we adopted McKinley into our family, our dog, Zak, had a penchant for barking/crying at cats he would see outside our house. Since the weather has warmed up, we've noticed McKinley looking out the windows and screen doors as if searching for something. Matt figured out that he had a friend in the neighborhood, which was confirmed by seeing a gray and white kitty hanging around our

Oh Desktop, How You Scorn Me!

2011-06-29T07:19:00.000-04:00

When I came back from my NKOTBSB travels, I was welcomed by my desktop computer not wanting to get past the initial start-up window. I had considered shutting the unit down for the one whole day I'd be gone but forgot in my last minute travel plans. Of course, this means there was a power outage which probably created a surge that did something to the computer. God knows. I'm hoping that Matt

Life Snippets

2011-06-28T13:39:00.000-04:00

NKOTBSB Nearly two weeks ago, I went to see super-boy-group, New Kids On The Block-Backstreet Boys, in Pittsburgh with Preppy Girl. She wrote an awesome account that I can't top. On the non-concert side, it was so much fun to hang out with PGirl and help her bust her IKEA and H&M virginity. Movie Watching We broke down and finally got the 1-DVD at a time option from Netflix to enhance our

Happy Birthday

2011-06-26T21:02:00.000-04:00

Happy 10th Birthday In Java, Literally :-) Here's Post #1, #2, and #3 from that first day.

10 Years of In Java

2011-06-23T10:07:00.000-04:00

I was having a drink with a friend I hadn't seen in months last night when the topic of blogs came up. "I've had a blog for 10 years now," I offered, sipping a sweet summer drink. "What is it about?" asked the companion with my friend. "Hard to say. Some personal stuff. I never gave it a specific direction," I replied with a shrug. I went on to talk about how I used to post more than once a

Two More Hours & We Have A Garden Again

2011-06-07T09:10:00.000-04:00

After two more hours working on the earth on the back of the house Monday night, which involved uncovering more and more stones of ever increasing size, we have some semblance of a garden again. My regret is that only one small rose bush seems to have survived the whole digging up/planting in a planter situation that I employed in an effort to keep plants from dying during the foundation

Circle of Women

2011-06-05T22:02:00.003-04:00

A few months ago I read the article, "In Which We Teach You How To Be A Woman In Any Boy's Club" by Molly Lambert about how women can be their own worst enemies when it comes to the work place. The writer reflected on how in a mostly male work space, the scant handful of women sometimes either cave to acting like one of the guys and joining in on their misogynistic comments and attitudes or they

It's Been One Week..

2011-06-05T19:08:00.000-04:00

It's been one week since I stopped doing the news. I'm feeling a little lost. It's silly in a way. So what have I been up to? I gardened last Sunday. I cleaned up some of the house on Monday and had a Memorial Day hot dog dinner with Matt. I watched I Capture The Castle and New Waterford Girl. Tuesday I finally saw Labyrinth for the first time since it was available on Netflix streaming.

The Back of The House

2011-05-29T19:17:00.000-04:00

A year ago, we had the foundation replaced on the back end of the house. At the time, I had big plans to immediately fix it all up and replant the bushes and flowers that I had to uproot so they wouldn't get destroyed in the construction. Fast forward a year later, and the plants I had taken out are still in planters looking fairly worse for wear, if not dead. Since I knew I'd have a little more

A Top Ten List of Things I'll Miss About Doing the News for WRFA

2011-05-25T11:10:00.000-04:00

Over the years, I've had people question my sanity in providing a volunteer service that involves me leaving my house in the later night hours 5 nights a week to record a news cast. Truthfully, I don't think I'll miss the late nights that much, especially after being sick so much of this past winter. That said, here's a top ten list of things I will miss about doing the news for WRFA these last

Ending One Thing...

2011-05-18T15:37:00.000-04:00

Next week Friday, May 27, 2011 will be the last day that my newscast airs during "Small Things Considered" on WRFA-LP. I have enjoyed volunteering my time to read the news for WRFA these past 4 years and also enjoyed my time with WKZA, which started in August 2005. Unfortunately, the demands on my time plus changes in local media have led to me deciding to end the partnership for now. I'm

A Surprise Delivered by the Postal Service

2011-04-27T09:04:00.000-04:00

A women in Rochester was at an Amvets Thrift shop where she bought a box of Christmas cards. When she got home, she realized there were other things in the box: business cards, photographs, a work ID card, and a love letter written from a husband to his wife on their 12th anniversary. The woman took a chance and sent the personal items to the address listed on the business cards with a note

When It's Time To Change, You've Got To Rearrange

2011-04-01T07:09:00.000-04:00

There have been some big changes in the works for several of our friends recently, mostly of the moving-out-of-town sort. It's going to be sad to see some of them go, but seeing them head off for new opportunities and adventures has made us think a bit lately. Both Matt and I have embarked on different interests outside of our regular jobs. We've discussed taking those interests to the next step

Elliptical Playlists

2011-03-13T19:50:00.000-04:00

Back in January, I discovered that I actually like using the elliptical or arc trainer for exercise. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I'm in a lot better shape than the first time I tried to use an elliptical some years ago. It also helps that I now have an iPod with thousands of songs and dozens of playlists to help make the time go by and motivate me. The first playlist I made,

20th Anniversary of the Rochester Ice Storm of 1991

2011-03-04T10:08:00.000-05:00

I initially blogged about my experiences with the Ice Storm of 1991 some years ago. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has a retrospective including a slide show of photos. The big thing about the storm, aside from the massive tree damage, was the number of people who lost power and then went days, some even weeks, without power. I was only 14 but I understood the concept that this was a

Certifiable - A Quest To Zumba

2011-02-07T15:27:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I did something that would have seemed completely foreign and mind-boggling to me just two and half years ago: I became an official Zumba instructor. The first time I took a Zumba class was November 11, 2008. I had the day off from work and Nicole, who taught my lunch time exercise class, told me I could drop into her Zumba class for free one time. I did it once and got hooked

Sun & Blue Skies in February

2011-02-04T15:14:00.000-05:00

It's a rare sunny and blue sky filled day today in Western New York. We've had more than our fair share of cloudy grayness for the past couple months. Zumba I decided I enjoyed taking the class so much that I signed up for Instructor Training with my friend, Ali. We head up to Rochester after work tonight for an all day session tomorrow. There's a serious need for evening classes in the

2010 - Is It Over Already?

2010-12-29T14:53:00.000-05:00

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before? I began teaching violin at Infinity Visual & Performing Arts 2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Not much of a resolution making sort of person, but I did pinky swear with a few friends that 2011 will be the year we're more positive. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My cousin, Rachel,