luke | animal, vegetable, mineral?

November Tri-birthdays

2009-11-14T23:03:00.002-05:00

November is a big month for birthdays in my family! So my huge extended family got together and ate a ton of food (not I), opened lots of gifts (not I), ate lots of cake/pies/desserts (not I), and drank lots of alcohol (yes I). We couldn't stop laughing. We also can never pose for pictures normal (even thought it looks like it). Much inappropriatenesses ensued.

Winterizing The House

2009-11-11T19:41:00.001-05:00

Winterizing The House
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Re arranged the sunroom after putting up the winter windows. Loving the new feel.

50 Things to do in Rochester, NY

2009-11-09T09:09:00.000-05:00

My ongoing side project to collect AND do the many, many fun things to do in Rochester.

1. Watch a baseball game at Frontier Field (Rochester Red Wings)
2. Visit the Seneca Park Zoo
3. Happy hour and city's best chicken wings at Jeremiah's Tavern
4. Do a self-guided tour of Mount Hope Cemetery
5. Listen to an evening of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
6. Explore the Memorial Art Gallery
7. Discover the Susan B Anthony House
8. Go swimming in Lake Ontario at Charlotte Beach
9. Laugh hysterically at the Downstairs Cabaret Theatre
10 Visit the Rochester International Jazz Festival
11. Catch a show at the Geva Theatre
12. Check out the independent film festivals at the Little Theatre
13. Buy fresh produce at The Rochester Public Market
14. Visit the animals at the Humane Society at Lollypop Farm
15. Take a Bike Ride Along Erie Canal
16. Picnic and sight-see at Letchworth State Park in Mount Morris
17. Rent and do some Canoeing down the Genesee River from GVP
18. Geocache and explore the Rochester Subway System
19. Take a tour of the George Eastman House
20. Catch one of the quirky themed movies at the Dryden Theater
21. Hang out at Betty Meyer’s Bullwinkles
22. Enjoy the accents at The Old Toad English Pub
23. Take a date and tatch the laser show at High Falls on New Years
24. Nick Tahoe Garbage Plate
25. Spectate and attend an FLR autocross at MCC, Xerox, or RIT and cheer on the racers
26. Dine at Magnolia's and other lovely establishments on Park Ave
27. Squeeze into The Little Bakery on your Saturday morning travels
28. Take your pups to the dog park! (Ellison Park)
29. Grab a plate and enjoy the music at The Lilac Festival
30. Visit the Water Street Music Hall
31. Take a boat ride on the Mary Jemison and do a canal tour
32. Corn Hill Landing - Richport + Corn Hill Creamery + Awesome View of the City
33. Catch a friend's show at the Bug Jar
34. Drive past the Lyell Ave hookers
35. Go catch a show at Charlotte Beach
36. Watch the crew teams compete yearly at The Regatta
37. Check a broadway show at the Auditorium Theatre
38. Catch some mexican fare at Salena's in Villiage Gate
39. Visit the artisans at Anderson Alley in their yearly open houses
40. Avoid the craziness that is the Park Ave Fest
41. Go antiquing near Canandaigua Lake and visit the pier
42. Have a day of fun at Roseland, the waterpark in Canandaigua
43. Do a limo wine tour around the Finger Lakes
44. Grab a delicious burger at any Schallers location
45. Eat some amazing chicken wings at Country Sweet on Mt. Hope
46. Movies 10 on Tuesday nights! $1.00 to get in! Brandani’s pizza next door!
47. Do some extreme shopping at Eastview Mall in Victor
48. Frisbee Golf in Genesee Valley Park
49. Go running along the Genesee River walkway
50. Grab authentic NYC style pizza at Pizza Stop on State Street

Taboo & Shake/Bake/Fun

2009-11-08T23:45:00.001-05:00

Tonight was Nola's birthday. My favorite group of girls (and guy) all got together, had a fantastic home made meal, replete with homemade salsas, cheese things, chicken wing dips, homemade warm bread, shake & bake, delicious molten chocolate volcano thingies... and about 2 hours of rockin hilarious Taboo. This group always has a hilariously good time, and it was wonderful to meet a couple of Nola's friends outside the core. I think I spent more time lounging at Nola's today than I ever have. Was nice to just hang and not be anywhere....

PSA: Flu Shot

2009-11-08T13:45:00.001-05:00

This might be very un-PC, but Nola and I about died laughing watching this.

Wine Tasting

2009-11-07T13:37:00.001-05:00

Wine Tasting
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Out with mom doing some wine tasting on Cayuga Lake today.

Country Get Away

2009-11-07T08:47:00.001-05:00

Country Get Away
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Got out of the city and enjoying a quiet weekend out in the country.

Craziness. Absolute craziness.

2009-11-06T10:18:00.001-05:00

This. Has been my life. As of late.

(photo unrelated)

Zombie Apocalypse

2009-11-01T15:03:00.002-05:00

Zombie Apocalypse
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Visiting with the actors of Michael's Zombie movie.

Our jog this morning...

2009-11-01T09:41:00.005-05:00

Pushed myself to a full 10k this morning with Nola. Well, she was with me for about 3k of it, but still. Look at my odd ass path this morning.. but it was fun, and cold!

Electronics Dropoff

2009-10-30T08:15:00.001-04:00

Electronics Dropoff
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

I've had a car load of old computer parts for over a week and finally got to off load them this morning.

Goodbye, Tommy

2009-10-29T20:46:00.003-04:00

I just found out tonight that my friend Tom passed away recently. I talked to him the day he died. He was a really nice guy, and him and I kept in touch over the years. His death makes me very sad, and everything about it makes very little sense. Bye, Tom. :(

Picture taken at Forked Lake September 1, 2007 by me.

Obituary.

Thomas R. ‘‘Tommy’’ Leone
POSTED: September 23, 2009

Thomas R. ''Tommy'' Leone, 24, of 13 Toledo Place, Buffalo, N.Y., passed away in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

He was born June 5, 1985, in Dunkirk, N.Y., a son of Thomas A. Leone of Ashville, N.Y., and Sharon Bull Stevens of Fredonia, N.Y.

He was baptized and confirmed from the Kidder Memorial United Methodist Church.

Thomas was a 2003 graduate of Jamestown High School, where he participated in soccer, swim team and the a capella choir. He also attended Jamestown Community College, Alfred State College and earned his bachelor's degree in business with a concentration in financial analysis from the University at Buffalo School of Business Management. He was also a member of the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi, Alpha Kappa Chapter.

He was currently employed by the Bank of America, and had also worked at Wegmans on Sheridan Drive in Buffalo, and at Wegmans in West Ellicott during his college years.

Surviving besides his father and mother are his "Mom," Laura R. Leone of Ashville; four sisters: Christina L. (Carl) Olson of Gerry, Angela M. (Jason Basile) Leone of James-town, Samantha R. Leone of Ashville, and Nicole L. Stevens of Fredonia; two brothers: Paul S. Velzy and Brad Stevens, both of Fredonia. His paternal grandparents Russell Leone of Fredonia, Judith Leone of Dunkirk; his maternal grandparents Dale and Rita Kester of Ashville, and Lynn and Shirley Bull of Fredonia; and a nephew, Carson T. Olson of Gerry.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in Kidder Memorial United Methodist Church. The Rev. Rick LaDue, pastor, and the Rev. Arthur McElheny, retired pastor and family friend will officiate. Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday in the Lind Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to the Chautauqua County Humane Society, 2825 Strunk Road, Jamestown, NY 14701.

Council Meeting

2009-10-28T21:22:00.001-04:00

Council Meeting
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Nola and I just finished our Brighton Council meeting and we're hanging out at Zebb's for a late night snack.

Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah! Muh-muh-muh-muh-mah!

2009-10-27T12:50:00.001-04:00

Here, Jake, another reason to hate me. :P

Attack of the Zombies

2009-10-26T09:49:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was another shoot of Michael's Zombie Movie. They were shooting a giant horde scene and everyone was invited to come and be apart of it. As I was busy most of the morning and early afternoon, and the shoot was about 90 minutes east of Rochester, I arrived slightly late. But that's OK, I just wanted to observe anyway.

"Quiet on set!" It was a lot of fun. And they're all super professional... not that I would expect anything less. It was being filmed up on Lake Ontario. About 20 people were on set, plus about 10 spectators. There were a zombie horde and one non-zombie, and most everyone was half naked and bloody.

A model of Michael's face was used in a wood chipper scene

Jake recorded a promo for the movie at the very end...

The wood splitter scene, with film crew in foreground, and Zombies in the background!

The horde basically chilling out (har har) waiting for the next scene

By the end of shoot, the sun was low in the sky and a lot of people were getting cold. I ended up showing up to the shoot later than I wanted, and I missed the helicopter scene and shoot. But it was still a great time, and I'm glad I went.

Zombie Shoot

2009-10-25T14:07:00.001-04:00

Zombie Shoot
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

I'm at beautiful Lake Ontario for the zombie shoot. Just visited with the horde. It's great.

Picking Apples

2009-10-25T12:01:00.001-04:00

Picking Apples
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

I'm up on Lake Ontario picking apples this morning. :)

You know you are from Rochester when:

2009-10-24T23:09:00.002-04:00

Found this in my archives... thought I'd post it...

You know you are from Rochester when:

"Waking up with the Wease" doesn't mean you have a respiratory infection.

The thought of eating a "garbage plate" makes your mouth water.

The only thing at the annual May Lilac Festival is snow.

The worst four-letter word you could say is "Fuji"

Soccer games have better attendance than baseball games.

You cant swim at the beach.

You thought you figured out that alternate-parking thing, but wind up with a ticket anyway.

Toronto is about 70 miles away but it takes about four hours to get there.

Half the people bring their dogs to festivals and the other half complain about it.

The name "Greater Rochester International Airport" is bigger than the airport itself.

There's an 800 number to report a pothole in the road.

City planners begin yet another feasibility study, in lieu of actually doing anything.

You know "Can of Worms" is not something you take fishing.

Your baby's first word is "Wegmans".

You ask lifetime residents where the George Eastman House is, but they don't know either.

In a city where it snows at least 90 inches a year, they build a new sports stadium with no roof on it.

Buildings with statues of guys with wings on the tops of them is not unusual to you.

It can be 70 degrees one day, below freezing the next, and you think nothing of it.

Your mother is buying outfits to wear to Wegmans.

You try to go out to dinner at 8:30 and everyone's already closed.

You hear that there's a "dome arena", but you're really disappointed once you see it.

They build a new store right in front of a vacant one of the same size.

Your low fat diet is never low enough to exclude an Abbotts custard.

You order a white hot and a pop, and the counterman knows what you are talking about.

You can travel from Egypt to Greece in about a half hour by car.

D&C is a newspaper, not a medical procedure.

You find a metered parking spot downtown at the height of the Christmas shopping season.

Game Night Tonight

2009-10-22T21:35:00.002-04:00

Game Night
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Playing a game called Havre. Hmm. Not so sure I can win this.

Running is only half the battle

2009-10-22T15:36:00.003-04:00

So awhile ago, I get this phone call from my mom. She basically asked that I do her a favor and not ask any questions. "Sure." I'm a good son, really. So I ended up going grocery shopping for carb-heavy foods and delivering it to a very sketchy part of Rochester as a sort of mission of mercy. A quick trip to Tops, five bags of cookies, pasta, milk, bread, peanut butter later, and I was driving through gunshot alley and crime central (oddly enough, the road names had alley and central in them). The lady was nice, she had several darling little kids, and doing a little charity work felt good. Not asking any questions was tough though. And I was told... under no circumstances can I enter the house. Hmm, OK. Who would go into a strangers house? I'm no alarm salesman.

The new season if Stargate Universe has started. Brand new show. Basically a spinoff of the other two Stargate shows. It's started REALLY slow so far, but I like the concept.. and it has a mix of characters that are non-typical for a show like this. I'm really looking forward to seeing how everyone interacts being so disconnected from everything they know and love. But it needs to pick up some steam. There is a ton of waiting and hopelessness. And it's episode 3!

So for the last four weeks, my family has been trying to get together for a quiet sitdown dinner at a restaurant on Sunday. My mother and sister work on Sundays, and we figured the timing would be perfect. It's not happened. Every Sunday, something comes up and messes with the schedule. Nola and I have basically been available, since we wipe our schedules in preference... but it just isn't to be. At this point, I've given up. But the good news is, Nola and I have had a couple dinners together instead, and we've done some fun shopping. Hey, it works. But we do see each other all the time already.

Work has been going really well as of late. I've been working on some pretty interesting data research projects. They test the limits of my abilities, but I figure things out, get everything worked out, learn a lot in the process, and chuck it to the side for future use. Today I finished a 2 week process in which we needed to prepare data for a 3rd party company. Well, to check over the directions one last time to make sure it was all correct, I noticed a small note at the bottom. They're giving work two grand for me to work on this...! And not even my department. Sheesh. That seems a bit unfair. Buy me a work laptop!

Speaking of laptops, I just bought myself a netbook for my personal use. I've been going back and forth for months about getting one. I don't let myself buy much anymore except the basics, but I'm reaching the goals of my saving, so I should start allowing myself to have some nicer things. The new laptop should be here tomorrow night, just in time for me play with it and set things up this weekend. Only a couple more things on my list of "must buys" that I've been putting off, and I'll be super content. I'll leave the other items to your imagination.

So my running goals are being met. I'm pushing myself to run further, faster and longer. Week by week, it's creeping up, which is really great. And I've started getting used to running at night. It's really safe out, even if I can't see. But the cool air is really refreshing, and I love the smell of fall. Last night's run (pictured above), I almost ran into a 12 point buck. He was in the middle of the canal trail that I run on, and kept running ahead of me about 10 paces like I was chasing him. I finally walked past him, hoping he wouldn't charge or challenge me. I made it out safely, but the picture I took didn't really come out. Kinda funny if you ask me. When I ran the one night at my mom's house, it was about 40 degrees out, and I almost ran over a possum walking the road. Well, trying to scare it away by making hoots and claps really sucked. I hadn't realized how cold it was until my skin started stinging from the claps and my breathe filled the air with steam. Hilarious.

So I've donated 1/4 of my closet to charity. I usually wait until December to hoe out stuff, but I plan to completely replace every article of clothing I own in late December/early January. Nothing fits anymore. I've lost ## pounds since January, and I'm on pace to lose the last bit by December. I've dropped several pant sizes, several shirt sizes.. and stuff just looks baggy on me. I hate it. So after a couple small trips to the mall and Kohls the other day, it struck me: out of sight.. out of mind. So I loaded up 50+ pieces of clothing (shoes, pants, jeans, sweaters, dress shirts, t-shirts, etc) and dropped them off at Goodwill. Awesome. My closet looks THAT much more empty, but it's giving me clear vision ahead of my goals and my desires. I've put aside some $1,500 for a shopping spree to start a new wardrobe, and that's how it's going to go down. I've shared the word with the family for Christmas, and it will happen. I'm really looking forward to it. I've been sporting some of my new shirts as of late, and I'm really pleased.

I'm in final preparations for a trip to Los Angeles in mid-November. I'm waiting on final approval of the time off, and final OK from the girl I'd be staying with. I don't want to get too excited in case it all falls through.. but the prospects have put a permanent smile on my face.

Oh, and bye Tim.

Pie is done!

2009-10-21T20:25:00.001-04:00

Pie is done!
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Join me for a piece?

Apple Sauce

2009-10-18T16:09:00.001-04:00

Apple Sauce
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Making sauce out of last weekend's apples. Can't wait.

ABC Sale

2009-10-17T11:26:00.001-04:00

ABC Sale
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

At the Ronald McDonald sale in Henrietta doing some rummaging.

Goodbye fall?

2009-10-16T12:12:00.001-04:00

My friend Carrie took these this morning... what happened to fall?

Credit: Carrie Smalser

Gigi is here visiting

2009-10-15T13:40:00.001-04:00

Gigi is here visiting
Sent via camera phone by lukeawol.

Dogs are always a flutter at my work