thomasanesta

End Movember 2013

2013-12-01T14:37:00.001-08:00

Hello Readers,

after another november it's time to take stock of how much we've raised. with your help our team, The Moustacian Theorem has raised $415.50! yay. anyway since you've waited so long here are the moustache results

last day:

and now it's gone:

such shave. so smooth. wow.

thanks for all your support!

Movember 2013

2013-11-09T08:25:00.001-08:00

Hello Readers,

I'm participating in Movember again this year and growing a moustache again!

Movember is an annual fundraiser to raise funds for combating health issues that affect men including prostate & testicular cancers and mental health. If you want to find out more about movember you can read some of my previous blog posts or read about the program here.

Day 8

Here's my current progress on my moustache:

day 1

If after checking out Movember you think it's a worthy cause, could you please donate at my page?
Thank you very much for your support!

-Tom Anesta

Buffalo Seafood Casserole, Version 1

2013-10-08T19:32:00.001-07:00

Hello Readers,

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. It's been an extremely busy last semester and summer for me. I'm finally finished with my schoolwork and am just waiting for the registrar to process my grades so that I can graduate. More good news is that I got a job as a test plan runner at Epic Software in Verona, WI, and leased an apartment in Fitchburg, WI, at The New Fountains. It's pretty neat here so far!

But anyway It's time to get down to what I intended to post about: Cooking! I had wanted to make a Buffalo Seafood Casserole over the weekend so I decided to search for a recipe, but there did not appear to be any on the internet. So I decided to make a new recipe!

Here are the ingredients I used:

1 head of celery
2 baking potatoes
1 white onion
2 spoonfuls minced garlic
1 23oz bottle of Frank's redhot
a good amount of olive and/or canola oil
little bit of butter
20oz Frigo crumbled blue cheese
15oz tub of Roundy's part skim ricotta cheese
2 starkist chunk light tuna in water family size
1 Kanimi 1lb crab flavored seafood flakes
Ocean eclipse bay scallops, 1lb bag frozen
Roundy's cooked shrimp tail on, 2lb bag frozen
little bit of salt
little bit of black pepper

Here are instructions:

defrost bag of shrimp and scallops. Separate half the bag of shrimp and refreeze for later. take 1/4 of scallops and refreeze for later.
detail the lb of shrimp and put it in a plastic bag
take the lb of seafood flakes as a block out of the bag and cut it in strips short-ways
put the defrosted shrimp and flakes and scallops in the fridge
peel rinse and slice your potatoes into very thin circles and put them in a bag
preheat your oven to 350 degrees
rub your little bit of butter onto the bottom of a 13x9 casserole pan/dishtypething
cut leaves off stalks of celery and place them concave side down facing so that they are lengthwise from 9" side to 9" side of the pan.
chop onion
Sautee onion and minced garlic in olive or canola oil in a really big frying pan
scoop onions and garlic over celery
put a little bit more oil in the pan, add your shrimp and add enough Frank's redhot to serve as a cooking base.
cook down your shrimp a bit so that they are small and hot
scoop your shrimp out of the pan and layer over your celery and onions
put your scallops in the pan with the leftover juices. add more hotsauce
cook your scallops down until they are tiny
pour your scallops and hotsauce mix over the rest of the stuff
put a little oil in the pan and put your seafood flakes into the pan. pour hotsauce over top and stir hotsauce in until the flakes are coated
cook your flakes and put them over the rest of it.
sprinkle 10 of your 20 oz of blue cheese over the stuff. drizzle hotsauce on top
open your packages of tuna and put it in the pan. stir hotsauce into the tuna and cook to get the water out of the tuna and the hotsauce flavor in.
spread hotsaucey tuna over the other stuff from end to end of the dish
attempt to cook your potato slices in olive or canola oil. add your salt and pepper
distribute your potato slices evenly over the stuff.
sprinkle the rest of your blue cheese over the stuff.
scoop out some of the ricotta cheese in as tiny quantities as you can manage and distribute evenly across the pan. you don't have to use the whole tub. drizzle hotsauce on top
cook in oven uncovered for 30 minutes
after taking out of the oven use a knife to make many cuts so that the celery will be in smaller pieces.

On the whole I think it turned out very well, but I have some ideas for improvement that I will try next time.

I had two stalks of celery that would not really fit. next time I'll cut up the celery into little bits beforehand and fit them with the cut side down on the bottom of the pan
I could have used another half of onion.
I could have used 1 and 2/3rds potatoes instead of two
The potato slices got very hot but they were definitely not cooked. stuff kept burning to the bottom of the pan because I didn't clean it after cooking the tuna. I should have sliced the potatoes thinner and cooked half of them then cooked the other half.
I would use 1 package of tuna instead of two. I realized when I was adding the tuna that, hey I tried buffalo tuna before and I didn't really like it. It turned out well this time but if I used less tuna I could use more room for other things. since there would not be enough tuna to spread to the edges of the pan, I would space 6 dollops of tuna evenly.
I would have used all of the shrimp and scallops because they cooked down a lot and now I want something to balance out the decrease in tuna
I would put the cheese down before the potatoes

If you try out the recipe with the improvements let me know how it was!

-Tom Anesta

more pictures of kitties

2013-01-13T14:30:00.001-08:00

Hello Readers,

I have returned to RPI and as I said I have taken many more pictures of my family's new kittens Sam and Leo over winter break and I thought that I would share them with you. The kittens are enjoying frolicking around the house very much and can go most places in the house. They not allowed to go into closets though and the basement is closed to them, but soon we will open the basement to them as well. Also, my grandfather made a little corner shelf that fits into the window frames in the patio room for the kitties to sit on and look out the window without having to get on the table. The kitties are enjoying that very much too.

Here are pictures of the kitties:

Sam resting in the dining room

Sam that is my chair...

Sam exploring a totebag my mother left in my room

Well I was home Sam would sit on the table and help me with my work

Leo likes to play in paper bags

he has also taken to sleeping between my bureau and bookcase for some reason

how did you get in the closet?

how does he sleep like that?

rocking chair is leo's favorite chair

but look out! Sam is trying to steal the chair

Here are the kitties enjoying the shelf that my grandfather made for them.

snoozy Mr. Sams

Sam wants to go hunt the creatures outside

Leo being watchful

wirrrr turret cat is rotate-y

in other news:

Leo decides to try out my newly made bed

and then of course Sam has to try it

Sam and Leo on Mom and Dad's bed

I really hope you are enjoying the picture of the cats. I will post a few more with the post about my other cat, Cookie, when I make that one.

-Tom Anesta

NEW KITTIES

2012-12-21T17:59:00.004-08:00

Hello Readers,

just wanted to let you know that there are kittens at my house now! Their names are Sam and Leo. They are about six months old and are brothers are very sweet and love-able. I decided that you might want to see some pictures of them so I took many pictures of them during Thanksgiving break and took a few more pictures of them over winter break. And I will also tell you all about them first before pictures.

Some of my parents' friends new that my parents were looking for kittens, partially because they thought my other cat, Cookie, was lonely. I did not think this was the case but whatever. Early to middle November one of my parents' friends were at a vets office and there were two kitties there that wanted to be adopted. So my parents went to go see the kittens at the vets office. They spent a half hour with the kittens and liked them very much so they decided to adopt them.

Around the middle/late of November my parents went to the vets office to pick up Sam and Leo and take them home. At first Sam and Leo were very frightened and hid and my parents could not get them to come out. My parents thought they would have to find another home for the kitties until my brother Jim thought they should keep the kitties in the patio room until they adjusted. This was a very good idea because we had a place where we could talk to the kitties and they could get used to us being their new family. Sam and Leo stayed in the patio room during the first half of my Thanksgiving break and got very comfy there.

After about a week in the patio room, we let Sam and Leo explore the living room. My dad jury rigged some tall gates out of plywood since Sam and Leo could jump over the baby gate that we used to use to keep Buddy out of places. Sam and Leo found some new favorite places to sit and had a much bigger space to explore than the patio room. After about a week in the living room my parents let them explore most of the rest of the house and they are now very comfortable here.

Sam and Leo are brothers and are both white with spots (Sam's are black and Leo's are gray) and big fluffy tails, but I think they are not very hard to tell apart.

Leo is white with gray spots. He has two spots on the top of his head right next to each other. He has 3 spots in a triangle pattern on his back and one spot in front of his tail. The fur on his upper back legs is thicker than the fur on his lower back legs so it looks like he is wearing kitty pants. Leo's face seems more pointy than Sam's and his fur sits down more than Sam's.

Leo!

Leo on the side table

Leo being sneaky

Leo being snoozy

Leo is the more explorative of the two. He is more energetic and likes to play more than Sam does. He likes to go see what new things are happening and what new people are in the house. He likes to sleep in the rocking chair in the living room and he watches me with much curiosity when I am exercising. He lets his paws dangle over the edge of wherever he is resting. He is less likely to run away if you go to pet him if you are new in the house, but he is not a very snuggily cat and he is very quiet.

Sam is white with black spots. He has a big spot over most of the top of his head. He has two big black spots on his back and one narrow spot on his left side. a lot of his back legs are black. Sam has a little black spot at the bottom of his nose. Jim thinks that Sam looks like Hitler and he kind of did. He and Leo had one of their play time wrestling matches and Sam's nose got kind of scuffed up so now he looks like he has an evil villain mustache. Sam has fluffier fur than Leo.[pictures of sam now]

Sam!

Hello!

peekaboo

Sam being sleepy on the couch

Sam is the more shy of the two. He is not as interested in being in the middle of the action and does not care as much about new things. He is more likely to run away if he does not know you. When he does get to know you, however, he is much more snuggily than Leo. He loves to be cuddled and will gladly curl up in your lap and sit there and purr. He is more talkative than Leo. Sam likes to perch on top of things more often than Leo does and likes to sit on the table and help me with my homework.

Here are some pictures of the cats together:

Jim being dumb

good morning!

what are you doing with that vacuum.
you cannot clean the carpet.
you are cats

sleepy sleepy cute cute

table cats!

Leo keeping lookout for Sam while he naps

Sam and Leo have some cat toys that they love to play with. They have a toy that is a wire that you hold that has little rolls of cardboard at one end. you can just sit and move the wire around and they will chase it around in circles and try to bat it out of the air and catch it. Sam likes to try to chew the cardboard rolls. If you want to get the toy out of their paws you can push on the wire instead of pulling on it. Sam and Leo also have some green stuffed mice kind of like the ones here (but with no tails and red pom poms for ears) that they like to wrestle with. Sam and Leo also have some catnip toys they like to carry around. Sam carries the sausage shaped one around like it's a sausage. They also have tunnels that they like to chase each other through and hide from each other in.

I am very happy to have Sam and Leo around the house to help me with my homework and to play with. I will probably post some more pictures later, maybe when it is their birthday.

-Tom Anesta

PS: thank you to Mr. Kris Reisz for the humorous mustache post.

soon to be return of the power w

2012-12-03T19:27:00.002-08:00

Hello Readers,

now that Movember is over, you will be glad to know that Tom Anesta's classic "Power W" facial hair will be returning to my face.

The Power W is a most stylish sort of facial hair shared by the likes of Lemmy Kilmister, Glenn Chocky (no, I don't know who he is either), Franz Josef I, and Chester A Arthur. Some earlier variations are called the A La Souvarov and Franz Josef, and the Friendly Mutton Chops (and if you grow out your sideburns it becomes a Hulihee [like this]).

On a related note, I am kind of disappointed at the lack of Power Ws on the internet. This blog (yes, I did look through the whole thing for Power Ws), has only a few people with Power Ws. The more disappointing part is that so many almost have Power Ws, but they still have that ridiculous goatee. Samuel L Jackson almost has one in this picture, and so does Hugh Jackman, but not quite. It seems that I should start a movement (it's better than bringing back the chia pet, Ann Webb). All of you Power W + Goatee wearers should seriously consider the pizzazz you could gain by switching to the Power W. Additionally, there is no wikipedia page for "power W". You have my pledge to remedy this by the time the Power W is back.

-Tom Anesta

Movember 2012 Last Post

2012-12-01T18:06:00.001-08:00

Hello Readers,

well It's December 1st meaning that our fundraising for Movember is over and I thought I should give you one last update.

Overall, the RPI Acacia Movember team raised $190 dollars. I'd like to thank all those who participated and also everybody who read these blog posts. remember that knowledge is power and the more informed you are the better. glad I could help.

In other news, Movember got a few articles on CNN. Both about the organization and about individuals participating (not to mention they were pretty good articles). recognition is important toward attracting new participants, and I hope that you too will participate in Movember in the future. I know that I am going to again.

Lastly, here's the moustache i grew

-Tom Anesta

Movember 2012 3rd post

2012-11-17T05:13:00.001-08:00

Hello Readers,

this week I'm going to give you a little bit more information on how Movember helps to improve men's health, a guide to calculating an appropriate donation and also an update on how my moustache growing is going.

Movember doesn't just help improve mens health by fundraising for PCF and LiveStrong. Movember also helps to improve men's health by working towards changing attitudes toward health among men. Increasing awareness of and education on men's health issues is a key goal of the Movember initiative. The Movember site estimates that each moustache grown generates 2,413 conversations around men’s health.

Remember that "Knowledge is Power" and the more you know the more efficient action that you can take. For instance, testicular cancer is the most common cancer among American males between 15 and 35 but the overall incidence rate of testicular cancer is very low. However, it is expected that 1 in 6 males will contract prostate cancer. It is estimated that the reasons for why the current state of men's health is as not as good as it could be include attitudes of men toward their health. Men are less likely to regularly schedule a doctor's appointment than women which is not the best idea ever. Having regularly scheduled health checkups can be extremely advantageous to men given that (see link below) a significant percentage of people gain the most health information from a health care provider. Checking up with your medical care provider can also provide you with the opportunity to refamiliarize yourself with your family health history which can give you a better idea of how to manage your health around your individual risks. In addition, having regularly scheduled health check-ups gives you the opportunity for early detection of illnesses and timely treatment before these issues become more serious problems.

Preventative measures are also important when dealing with your health. Beyond preventing things such as testicular and prostate cancers as a motivation, preventative measures such as good diet and exercise benefit all dimensions of your health. Walking to and from class everyday is one of the ways I keep up my exercise on a regular basis. also don't forget to eat your vegetables. It is also important to manage your stress and take time out of your day to do something relaxing (i know from experience that this will help your general sense of well-being).

Through participating in Movember, you can help support their efforts to spread health related information. Particpating can be as simple as directing friends to schedule a health check-up, or pointing them to internet resources. Simply taking in the information provided can provide you with the resources to prompt health-related conversations in the future. Donations to Movember may help enable future campaigns to spread health information to populations without easy access to this knowledge.

So how much would you like to help out? If you think that your standard of living could benefit from a reduced rate of prostate or testicular cancer, then why not donate? follow this handy and completely arbitrary guide on how to calculate your ideal donation:

First, if you are male, decide how much you'd be willing to pay to prevent yourself from contracting and/or dying from prostate/testicular cancer, then divide that by about six. if you are not male this number should probably be zero because females are very unlikely to get prostate cancer.

Then decide how much you'd be willing to spend to prevent one of your male immediate relatives from contracting and/or dying from prostate/testicular cancer, multiply that by the number of immediate male relatives you have and divide that by about six.

Then decide how much you'd be willing to prevent one of your male friends from contracting and/or dying from prostate/testicular cancer, multiply that by the number of male friends you think you have, then divide that by about six.

finally, sum all those numbers and that's your ideal donation! I am donating based on this calculation ($0*1/6+$10*6/6+$5*36/6=around $40) and I hope you'll follow my lead.

lastly, here's a picture of my moustache right now:

after 16 days

-Tom Anesta

Movember 2012 Second Post

2012-11-10T10:39:00.004-08:00

Hello Readers,

just thought that i would get back to you with more information about Movember 2012. This week I'm going to give you some information on how Movember contributes to researching men's cancer.

Monetary contributions to Movember primarily go to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the LiveStrong Foundation.

The Prostate Cancer foundation is a leading philanthropic organization funding and accelerating cancer research globally. Founded in 1993, PCF has built a global research enterprise worth nearly 10 billion dollars and fund more than 1500 research programs internationally. Individual donations alone have contributed more than 500 million dollars. The PCF is behind the blue wristband for raising awareness of prostate cancer. They hold annual scientific research retreats, release papers about cancer and cancer prevention methods, and have been featured in multiple publications. Many scientific breakthroughs have been accomplished with help from contributions by PCF. PCF has launched Athletes For A Cure as a fundraising method similar to Relay for Life. They also have a snazzy store.

Live Strong Foundation is a survivorship focused cancer community foundation founded in 1997 by Lance Armstrong. The LiveStrong foundation is behind the yellow bracelet, selling more than 55 million to raise money for cancer research. They have worked with the CDC on addressing cancer survivorship in medically underserved populations and the National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship. In 2004 they launched SurvivorCare to provide 1 on 1 support to cancer patients and cancer survivors. In 2007 they distributed more than 261000 Living After Cancer treatment brochures to cancer survivors. In 2008, questions from the LiveStrong foundation prompted both presidential candidates to release cancer plans for the first time in US history. They also have their own blog, their own manifesto, and multiple annual fundraising events. Even more information about what they do can be found at their site.

The Movember site also has information about the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the LiveStrong Foundation. Movember doesn't just help out by moving donations to these organizations. I'll explain more of what else they do in my next blog post.

Remember that if you'd like to help us fight prostate and testicular cancers, you can donate at RPI Acacia's Movember page or at my personal movember page. We've already raised $100 (that's more than $17). Also, thought I might as well give you an update on how my moustache is going:
-Tom Anesta

Day 1

like 9 days or something

PS: we have a mascot! It's Anaximander!

handsome cat is handsome

Movember 2012: First Post

2012-11-02T16:26:00.001-07:00

Hello Readers,

This year I and hopefully several of my friends from Acacia Fraternity will be participating in Movember. Movember is a program to raise awareness of men's health issues including prostate and testicular cancers. At the beginning of Movember (November 1), Mo Bros shave their faces and begin to grow and groom an epic moustache over the course of the month.

Here's the before and after pics of my face when preparing for Movember:

Before Shave

After Shave

Shocking, isn't it?

As part of Movember, I'll be keeping my readers regularly updated on our fundraising progress and my moustache growing progress. I'll also be providing more information about how the Movember program helps to research men's cancer and improve survival rates of those suffering from men's cancer. Hopefully I can get my team to do some group photos as well and hopefully they will turn out better than this. If you would like to help research men's cancer issues, you can donate to RPI Acacia's team here or to my personal page here. Even if you aren't the flat out philanthropic type you can still help by purchasing some stuff from some people who will give the profits to help fight men's cancer

Sincerely,

Thomas Anesta

Oct2 Blood Drive

2012-09-28T11:24:00.002-07:00

Hello Readers,
Just thought that I'd let you know that Acacia Fraternity and Sigma Chi are co-organizing the Red Cross blood drive at RPI on October 2nd and a little bit about how donating blood can help to save lives.

On October 2 2012 The American Red Cross will be having a Blood Drive in the RPI Mueller Center. These blood drives are regularly scheduled at RPI and often fraternities and other student organizations volunteer to sign up individuals for appointments to give blood. For the Oct 2nd drive, Acacia Fraternity and Sigma Chi have been signing up volunteers over this past week. We'd appreciate it if you could help out by signing up too!

How does donating blood help the community? More than 44,000 blood donations are needed every day, and 1 blood donation can help to save up to 3 lives. Blood donations only last up to 42 days so new supplies are always in need. Blood donations are needed for various purposes including blood transfusions in the case of serious accidents/injuries. Cancer patients may need blood transfusions during some treatments that they may need to endure. Blood supplied by donations also helps those with Sickle Cell Anemia who may need multiple blood transfusions throughout their lives. The blood used to help people in need comes from volunteers like you! You can learn more about the value of blood donations here.

The expected time commitment to donate blood (a whole blood cell donation) is between 45 minutes and 1 hour. The actual donation process only takes around 6 to 8 minutes, but before that time donors are required to review necessary reading material, complete a questionnaire on medical background, get the iron content of their blood tested (just a little finger prick), and be supplied with the apparatus necessary to donate blood. Depending on the results of these tests, Donors may need to be deferred from donating blood. If not deferred, the donor will then be given their own cot, and have their arms checked for appropriate sized veins. Red Cross specialists will thoroughly sanitize the area from where blood will be taken. The blood will be drawn by inserting a needle into your arm and you are free for the most part to just relax while the blood donation is being made. Also, Following your donation you will be able to recuperate with a tasty snack and juice and can talk with members of Acacia and Sigma Chi who will be distributing the snacks. Be sure to drink lots of fluids after donating! You can learn more about the donation process here.

In order to make sure that we have enough donors to make the Red Cross's time worthwhile, Acacia Fraternity and Sigma Chi Fraternity are in the corner of the DCC just a few feet from Jazzman's from 10 am to 4 pm Today(sept.28) and Monday the 1st. We've got a lot of people signed up, but there's still plenty of space on our schedule! If you can't make it to the DCC during those times, you can register with the red cross and sign up here. While walk ins are welcome, signing up for an appointment will make it easier to donate when you would like and decrease your wait time, and helps the Red Cross get an idea of how much labor they need to supply.

P.S. : sign up to donate and we'll give you a coupon voucher that will get you a coupon for a free taco from Taco Bell
P.S.S. : if you are blood type O- or O+, it would be great if you could do a Double Red Blood Cell Donation. you have the opportunity to give twice the red blood cells and you get your plasma back! Yay plasma!

-Tom Anesta

Tom's Website

2012-08-10T13:27:00.002-07:00

Hello Readers,

Just wanted to let you know that I've been working on a personal website being hosted by Gandi.net and being built using Gandi's Sitemaker. You can go check out the work I've done so far here. feedback and suggestions would be much appreciated

-Tom Anesta

Buddy

2012-08-06T20:38:00.001-07:00

Hello Readers,

My cat Buddy had to be put down on July 20th, 2012. He was a very good cat and I thought that my brother and Mom and Dad and I would work together on a blog post to share about him and share some pictures.

Buddy and Cookie and Buddy's spot in the basement:
When we got our second cat nine years ago, Cookie, Buddy did not warm up to her that easily and (for lack of a better term) terrorized her. After about two years of allowing both of them free range of the house at night, we decided we had had enough of them fighting at two in the morning. So we set up a system where at night Buddy would visit his "hotel," the basement. We set up a chair and cat box, food and water bowls, and every night we would feed him and lock him in the basement. At first he hated it, but grew to love his personal time for reflection. It got to the point where he would chase after one of us if he had not been taken down yet. He would follow us around the house meowing until we made our way over to his food.

Buddy's chair in the basement.

Buddy became so protective of his space and alone time, that he would become testy when someone came down to disturb him even right after he was brought down at around 11. Or if it was multiple people. at 3 in the morning. He was so upset at Jim and his friends that he walked between them and hissed until they all left. For a week or so if Jim came down the stairs Buddy would hound him until he left.

Buddy and Food:
Buddy was fat. very very fat, because he stole cookie's food and we fed him too much. then he got diabetes. We gave him insulin shots twice a day and he was generally very good-natured about taking his shots... sometimes because he was too lazy to do anything about it. He liked to eat crumbs off the table when we were done eating and he would try to eat our food while we were eating.

buddy wants to get into the fridge

give me food now

Buddy and his nap spots:
Buddy would basically nap anywhere. He liked to sit on the chair in front of the dining room window and look at the cars and stuff. He was also very happy about us adding the patio room onto our house because then he got a new couch and a new chair and a comfy stool to sit on (not to mention a steady stream of sunlight during the day). He would sleep on beds and floors and on the table sometimes. Naps were one of Buddy's favorite things, especially when he got to roll onto his back and let the sun warm his stomach. But his favorite place to nap, was with someone sitting next to him. If you were reading or watching TV, Buddy wanted to jump up next to you and keep you company. He fell into such a deep sleep that you had to yell at him and shake him to make sure he wasn't dead.

mrrrrr leave me alone

Buddy loved this spot

zzzzzzzzzzz

buddy on a bed

Buddy and Christmas:
Buddy loooooooooved Christmas. He would sit with us while we unwrapped our presents and play with the wrapping paper. We would ball up the wrapping paper and then toss it to Buddy and he would catch it and we would have a great time. We also took many Christmas pictures with Buddy and sometimes put Christmas hats on him.

buddy and wrapping paper

buddy's christmas card picture

Buddy and my grandfathers:
Buddy was scared of Papa (my grandfather on my mother's side), like he should have been. Our favorite memory of Buddy and Papa was when we were having a family dinner and Papa was sitting at one end of the table. Buddy thought that he would jump on the table like he usually would and try to steal our food. Buddy landed on the table next to Papa, and without looking up from his food Papa shoved Buddy right off the table. Buddy's face was priceless. Grampy (my grandfather on my father's side), never knew Buddy's name and would always just call him Fido.

Buddy and Jackson:
My little cousin Jackson got to meet Buddy before he died. Jackson's two now, and before Buddy passed Jackson always wanted so see him. Asking "Kitty? Kitty?" every time he came to visit. When we came to his house he would ask the same question pointing to my mom's phone, knowing there were pictures of Buddy on its memory card. It's too bad Buddy died before Jackson was older, because then our cousin would have had some extremely fond memories of our cat.

Buddy and Dad:
Dad says Buddy was the finest, bravest and wisest of cats. From the first minute he arrived he knew this was his forever home and we were his forever family. He was always ready to keep us company, especially if we were eating or napping. If one of us was ill, he would always stay close to keep an eye on his patient. Dad's favorite memories of Buddy are weekend mornings when he would bring home breakfast for the family and he would try to eat Dad's breakfast, working his way around his defenses. He loved and accepted us all for who we were, with our flaws and our good points, and he expected the same treatment from us. Dad misses him very much.

Buddy and Jim:
Buddy and Jim got along swimmingly, at least for the most part. Jim liked to sit on the couch when he watched TV, and made sure that Buddy had room next to him in case he wanted to join. Buddy usually did, and would fall asleep while Jim watched a movie or read a book. Jim's favorite activity with Buddy was laying on the floor next to him, picking him up, and making him dance on his stomach for a couple minutes at least. Somehow, Buddy tolerated this idiot. Jim says if he was sick for any reason at all, Buddy would find him and try to make him feel better by staying with him. Jim's fondest memories of Buddy involve waking up to him jumping on his bed on weekends, where they would both sleep for another hour at least. One time Jim woke up to Buddy's face one inch away from his, staring at him. Disconcerting, but reassuring as well. Jim was able to "teach" Buddy to come, but only if no one else was around. If just Jim and Buddy were in the room, Jim just had to snap his fingers and say his name and Buddy would come trotting over. But if one other person was in the room, Buddy made sure he was the one in control and would just ignore Jim and his calls. Jim will always remember Buddy as a great friend and companion, and will always be in debt to him for the joy and comfort he gave, whether it was during naps, playing with cat toys, or just hanging out.

Buddy and Mom:
Buddy was our second cat; we got Buddy about 6 months after our first cat, Figaro, died of heart disease. Jim and Mom were the ones who went to the Cranston animal shelter to check out the kittens. The first time they went to the shelter to look at kittens, there were 2 that looked promising -- a black and white one called "Sylvester" and a small, gray tiger. Mom looked at the gray tiger and said "Hey, Buddy" and it was like fate. He sat in compartment "E", with his front paws crossed and would meow regularly to get attention. Dad and I went the next day to see the 2 kittens; we decided that we didn't want a second black and white cat so we decided that we wanted the gray tiger. He had just been brought to the animal shelter, so we had to wait a week before we could adopt him. Mom brought him home and he hopped out of the cardboard box and immediately started looking around the house as if he owned it. Dad said he was all ears, eyes and tail as he was so scrawny. We found out that he also had fleas and ear mites when we took him to the vet for his first visit. The vet thought he was about 6 months old, so he was born right around the time Figaro died -- fate again. While Mom didn't like it when Buddy jumped on the dining room table at meal times, she loved him very much. She was the one who gave him his insulin shots most of the time and took him to the vet for chemo treatments. He was a very important part of our lives for over 13 years and both Dad and Mom say we will never have another cat like Buddy.

Buddy and Tom:
I miss buddy very much. It is very odd not having him sleeping around the house when I am at home. Cookie is not very good company because she is always hiding from people. Buddy would always be around somewhere if I needed some fuzzy stress relief. If I was just chilling out by myself Buddy would always walk over, maybe say meow, and hop on the couch next to me. When I was sick Buddy would hop on my bed and take a nap with me. Buddy was always there when I needed some fuzzy kitty therapy.

Buddy and being sick:
Over the first few months of 2012, Buddy was slowing down. At first, Mom and Dad thought his age was showing, but in late April, he was out of breath a lot and couldn't walk more than a few steps without stopping to rest. They brought him to the vet's for a check-up and blood work. Unfortunately, his blood work indicated that he had some kind of cancer. So he went to see a veterinarian oncologist. After a lot of tests and procedures (like ultrasounds and fluid aspirations), he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (a white cell cancer). Since this cancer is very rare in cats, the oncologist, Dr. Hunley, told Mom and Dad that there wasn't a documented course of successful treatment, but taking into account Buddy's age and other health issues (he had diabetes for over 5 years), there was one chemo drug that he thought would be a good place to start. So Buddy, who had lost more than 3 pounds since late April, started chemo on May 16th. The good thing about losing so much weight, was that he did not need insulin injections any more. He responded well to the chemo treatments (he had a second on May 23rd and a third the first week of June) -- he was much more active and interested in what was going on around him. Each time he visited the oncologist, we were told he was a wonderful patient! His blood work indicated that the chemo was working and his appetite improved. Mom and Dad were going on vacation right after the 4th of July and thought it would be best if he stayed home with Jim rather than being boarded at the vet's. They were concerned that the chemo had compromised his immune system and they didn't want to take a chance that he would get sick while at the vet's. So Jim, Buddy and Cookie took care of the house while Mom and Dad went to Maine. Jim did report that Buddy wasn't eating or drinking that much, but we figured that he was missing Mom and Dad and didn't like that his schedule was off. My parents got home on July 14th; he looked like he had lost more weight and appeared dehydrated. After talking with the oncology technician, Mom brought Buddy back to the oncologist on July 18th so they could check his blood work. Dr. Hunley spoke with Mom that morning, letting her know that Buddy was very sick -- there appeared to be problems with his liver and kidneys; Mom visited with him at the vet's that morning and took some pictures. They called me that night to let me know what was going on. After more tests and procedures, they determined that the cancer had invaded those 2 organs. The outlook was not good but Mom and Dad agreed to try a different chemo drug, which was administered on Thursday, July 19. Both Jim and Mom visited with Buddy at the vet's that afternoon. They were able to tell him that I loved him and that he was a good kitty. The overnight vet called my house at 6 the next morning -- Buddy was having trouble breathing and they wanted to do a chest X-ray to see if his heart was causing the breathing problems. A few hours later, Mom talked to Dr. Bushnell (the vet who had been taking care of him on an emergency basis since he was admitted on July 18th) and she said that while his heart was not causing the breathing difficulties, he was also having neurological issues and he was not going to make it. Mom asked if they could keep him comfortable until she, Jim and Dad could get there to be with him when they put him down; unfortunately, he declined more rapidly than expected and about 20 minutes later, the vet called and asked to put him down before he went into cardiac arrest, which Mom agreed to. Even though my parents and Jim could not be there when he died, they were able to visit with him after to say "good-bye".

Jim and Buddy at the animal hospital

buddy's funeral. looking very peaceful

box with Buddy's ashes

-Tom Anesta, and my Mom, and Dad, and brother Jim

PS: thank you very much to the staff at Atwood Animal Hospital for the nice condolences card

GrooveShark & Spotify

2012-07-30T13:58:00.002-07:00

Hello Readers,

This post I'd like to talk about my first impressions of Spotify and Grooveshark, which are both music streaming services. I plan to eventually include a link in my website to one of them, so I took a look at both. Here are my thoughts:

Grooveshark is a music streaming service that runs in your web browser. The music player component runs using Adobe Flash. Each user gets a profile that can be switched between private and public access, with an option to hide music activity for the current streaming session. Grooveshark gives you the option to sign in with Google or Twitter, but the link to sign in with Facebook does not work. There is a radio feature.

Spotify is a music streaming service that requires a client application to be downloaded. there are downloads available for Windows (xp/7/vista) and Mac OS X operating systems (they are also working on a Linux version, but it requires some console work to download the preview). I only have experience with the performance of the windows version. There are also mobile clients available. You need to have a Facebook account to use Spotify. Songs in Spotify's music library can be sent to other users that you know, who are exposed to you using your Facebook contacts. Playlists that you create can be set to be published automatically, not published, or published on a case-by-case basis. There is a radio function that can be used when either selecting an artist or song to build a radio station of similar music to listen to.

Some of the things that I like about Grooveshark include: a simple interface that clearly articulates what you are looking at. It's clear of clutter. It is easily accessible for anybody with a web browser and you do not need to install any software to use it. A Google or Twitter account can be used to connect to Grooveshark without having to create a profile specifically for Grooveshark. Grooveshark's play queue is extremely easy to organize. You can drag and drop songs from one location on your play queue to another, remove songs and add songs either to the next position in queue, to the end of the queue or interrupt the current song and go straight to the one you want to queue next. Your individual song library is pretty easy to navigate. It is split into three columns: 1 for artist, 1 for album, and 1 for individual songs. This allows you to sort by all artists then choose any album, sort by 1 artist and choose any of their albums, or choose any artist and any album and search through your whole library with no filter. Another thing I like is that you sometimes find content unreleased on commercial albums. For instance, Grooveshark has quite a bit of content from Skrillex that I can't get on Spotify.

Some of the things that I dislike about Grooveshark include: While you do have the option to upload your own music, Grooveshark has no business connection with anything along the lines of Gracenote, so they can't verify the title artist or album of songs you upload. also, it appears that basically anybody can masquerade as an artist considering you'll have multiple listings for the same artist. some albums uploaded don't even have all the track titles. you basically have no guarantee that you are listening to the music you're looking for until you listen through the whole song. I am not sure whether or not I like the radio feature of Grooveshark because I have not used it very much. Even though I like the fact that groove shark is run in your web browser because you don't need to download anything, I also don't like it because I need to make an extra step to get there. I have to open my browser then go to Grooveshark instead of just opening a desktop application. The interface, because it is done in html is sometimes difficult to navigate between pages to get back to different things that you were looking at. Sometimes you can get a bit lost. Grooveshark has also had lots of legal problems. I don't mind music sharing, but I do mind shady business practices and it looks like they've taken advantage of some people's confidence-ish.

Some of the things that I like about spotify include: You can point Spotify to where you keep your local music files so that you can listen to music that you would listen to through something like Itunes using Spotify. Spotify also have multiple applications that you can integrate with it such as TuneWiki which I use pretty often. Spotify is also integrated with Last.FM. You also have the option to send music that you like to other Spotify users. since Spotify is integrated with , you can easily send music to all your facebook friends that are on Spotify. When you use Spotify you have a much better guarantee that the music comes from real artists because you can't just upload music to Spotify, I don't think. While I don't like spotify's play queue at all, which I'll explain below, one thing that it is good for if you just want to listen to like all of one artist's material. you just select a song hit play and the queue autopopulates with the rest of the material from that artist.

Some of the things that I dislike about Spotify include: You need a facebook account to log-in. This may be a particularly troubling requirement for people who's employers monitor the time that they are logged in to sites such as Facebook, because it effectively prohibits them from using the service during work. Spotify is downloaded as a desktop application meaning you need to reserve some space on your computer for its files. also this means that if your operating system does not have an installer, you're out of luck. They are working on a linux version, but my friend Tripp who runs linux says it's pretty buggy. I've experience the occasional crash of my windows version of spotify as well, so I guess it's not as stable as Grooveshark oddly enough. But then again they have to deal with all this application integration so maybe that's causing some problems? I really dislike the way the play queue is set up. basically what you do is you can click a song to play then the queue will autopopulate with all these things you can't get rid of. the only songs that you can remove are the ones you add manually to the play queue using the "queue" option. you can't reorder songs either. the only way to change the order is through scrambling the queue. in order to clear the play queue completely of all songs not manually added by you you have to start playing an empty playlist which is pretty ridiculous. To keep songs that you stream from spotify in your library you either have to star them or add them to a playlist, you can't just say add to library. since starring is supposed to be to distinguish songs and not say that you want them in your library, I find that to be a definite design problem, and on top of that you need to keep a playlist only for keeping songs on record.

One thing I don't have much experience with on either service is communicating with other people. I haven't sent anybody music or shared playlists on Spotify and I have not tried to follow anybody on grooveshark. so I can't really comment on how well those features work.

I did have time to take a look at the radio option for Grooveshark, but not a very in depth look. My friend Michael has been using Pandora music service for many years and feels that because Grooveshark and spotify are not primarily internet radio sources their recommendation engines are not as good. I have been doing some listening to Spotify radio lately and I have to say that their code for choosing songs is not very good. I might get a repeat of a previously heard songs in like 8 songs, which is ridiculous. They seem to really focus on the hits and don't do a very good job of exposing me to new things I feel, so what I've kind of done with Spotify is just chosen an artist and listened to them for a while in the play queue.

I think that the final verdict will be that I use Spotify to compose playlists and use for listening on my own, and I will use then go to Grooveshark and copy the playlists that I have created in Spotify. Go ahead and take a look at my public Grooveshark profile here. I'll be adding more playlists to it hopefully very soon. Enjoy!

-Tom Anesta

PS: be sure to comment if you have any advice or questions. I may make a new post with later impressions at some time in the future

A Game Developer Approaches

2012-07-30T11:59:00.002-07:00

Hello Readers,

One of my fellow Games Majors is starting up his own game studio called Electric Coffee Games with one of his friends. They're going to be presenting their first game at the Fun and Games Conference in September, located in Toulouse, France. Their game, "Photons" is shaping up to look pretty good. Why not pop on over to their site to check out some screenshots?

-Tom

Anaximander

2012-07-17T15:12:00.002-07:00

Anaximander is the cat that lives with us at Acacia Fraternity house. one day like 5 years ago or something some brothers were walking back to the house in winter and Anaximander followed them. he followed them inside and they gave him some food and he decided to stay. He took care of our mouse problem and all the chicks dig him. He is a very good hunter and sometimes leaves dead mice for us around the yard. He is very good natured and generally doesn't mind being picked up and snuggled. Here are some pictures of Anaximander.

comfy sheets are comfy

curled up on couch

mrrrrrrr leave me be

We named Anaximander after one of the teachers of Pythagoras, our mentor.

Naxi likes ottomans

very much

We give Anaximander whatever kind of cat food we find at the store. he is not very picky. he probably goes hunting for food also. sometimes he will go down the hill to RAHPs where people will give him free food. He likes to explore the wilderness. one time he followed Glazier and me all the way down to Psi Upsilon on Burdett Avenue. He does not like parties and will run away if there are too many people in the house. Also, I have many more pictures of anaximander but I will put them in a later blog post. TTFN, time to go do some cooking

d'awww what a snuggle-bug

Troy Summer Farmer's Market

2012-06-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers,

Just thought I'd give you a little information if you were ever planning on visiting my current home in Troy, NY. If you're looking for things to do, the Troy Waterfront Farmer's Market that takes place on Saturdays. The summer market is every Saturday from 9am to 1pm and the winter market is Saturdays in November through April in the Uncle Sam Atrium. I don't go to the winter market because I'm usually busy with school work, but it's probably a bit smaller than the summer market. But if you're in Troy during the summer, I'd definitely recommend this.

The summer market can be found on River Street. I usually start at one end, at the corner of River Street, Fulton Street, and 3rd, at the Market Block Building, home of Market Block Books and the 1st Playable Games development studio.

The historic Market Block Building

Market Block Books

I've been window shopping in Market Block books a few times. I haven't bought anything yet, but they have a wide and interesting selection in a very well designed store. There is a nice reading area if you would like to take a few minutes to curl up with a good book.

OMG it's Uncle Sam

If you're taking the bus, particularly if you're arriving from albany, you may arrive at the Uncle Sam Bus Station. While you're there, you might as well get your picture taken with Uncle Sam.

Some really interesting vendors to look at include Buddha-Pesto, Gar-La-La (garlic based spreads), Dreampuff Marshmallows (homemade!), Flour City Pasta, Roger's Rustic BBQ (spices and sauces), Well's Maple Farm (maple syrup and old style maple candy), and many local farms.

Continuing through River street you'll come to Monument Square, between River Street, 2nd Street, and Broadway.
If you're hungry for lunch, most of the lunch vendors are in this area. Some local restaurants will set up tents here to bring their business to the farmer's market. While you're enjoying the farmer's market, you can also take in the civil engineering of some of Troy's many war memorials scattered around the area.

Memorial Square

Xs&Os vegan bakery

Also, while you're in this area you should take a look at the tent run by Battenkill Valley Creamery. A lot of my brothers at Acacia Fraternity get chocolate milk there, and it's really good. The cream is also great for White Russians.

Try stopping by Our Daily Bread. I got some really nice focaccia there once for a good price. If you're in the mood for something sweet, try out Xs&Os Vegan Bakery. I tried a sample of their tornado brownie and it was quite good. Let me know what you think as well in the comments section!

man playing guitar at the Exit 97.7, my favorite radio station in NY

Continuing past all the food, you may come to the Troy Flea Market. You never know what you might find at flea markets. Some of the vendors for the troy flea market will most likely also come to the Troy River Street Festival in June, another great event to go to. Be sure to look out for Matthew Bartik's Fork Art. He makes all his pieces entirely out of forks, which is pretty amazing. While you're here at the farmer's market, be sure to enjoy live musical performances, and don't forget to tip! Speaking of Music, a short distance down river street is the River Street Beat Shop (below). It's a pretty swanky little place. I've bought a couple of used CDs from them, and they don't just have music, they also sell old VHS tapes and music-related books. They put out whole tables of stuff during Troy Night Out.

River Street Beat Shop

Street performers

Also, the farmer's market is really dog friendly apparently. I see people bringing their dogs their all the time, so If you do have a dog, don't have too many reservations about bringing him along.

River Rocks Bead Shop

Between River City Beat Shop and the farmer's market is River Rocks. I stopped in there this Saturday because they just happened to catch my eye. If you're the arts and craftsy type and enjoy making necklaces and bracelets, you'll probably enjoy shopping here. They had many interesting beads including carved bone owls.

On your way out of the Farmer's Market, you may be feeling a little bit hungry. If you're low on cash, try out Famous Lunch. You can grab 4 mini-hot-dogs with the works and an RC Cola for just $4! It's a favorite among my brothers and I.

mmmmm, mini hot dogs

If you're looking for other places to shop after the farmer's market, and you're kind of nerdy like me, go check out Foam Brain Games, which sells all sorts of non-digital entertainment. It's this quaint little basement shop where you can not only purchase games, you can bring your friends and try out a few used games before you buy one. they also have tournaments and other events on a regular basis. Try and stop by there during Free RPG Day if you're in the area

If it's around 12 or afterward, stop in at Aquilonia. They have a crud-ton of comics and sell MTG cards by the box. It's where my brothers get their cards to draft with.

At this point, you probably want to get home and get whatever you've bought at the Farmer's Market into the refrigerator. While there are still plenty of other things to do in Troy, if you aren't local you'll probably want to be heading home about this time. I hope you decide to visit some time, because the Farmer's Market is really a great experience!

P.S. who's used blogger before? The position of these pictures is really hard to format. any help would be appreciated. Maybe I should try formatting this in HTML.

woot first post

2012-06-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers, and welcome to Thomas Anesta's personal blog. I hope to update this blog regularly with interesting and thoughtfully composed content and pictures of cats.

-Tom Anesta