there've been whisperings about the sabres returning to the blue and gold. these images appeared on some sabres listservs, online boards, and have generally circulated among fans this past week.

it looks like buffalo's hockey team will be reborn this fall... as the buffalo flying mullets.





ummmmm... ew! gross!

for you simpson's fans (ahem... christielli) though some or all may have already seen this... tc sent this to me awhile ago.

here's today's funny.

enjoy your thursdays!

so if you haven't heard about the aol cancellation dealie thing that's been going around recently... here's the post by vincent ferrari on his blog.

here's the audio file he recorded of him trying to cancel aol... quite ridiculous if you ask me.

so @ the lab and all... waiting for a new stock of stuff to come in... however found out that one of the kits that helps me modify genetic materials i've been using, and was planning on continuing using has been discontinued by the manufacturer.

today was looooong. went to work... didn't get what i wanted to get done, other things came up. went into my lab in the afternoon. spent a couple hours trying to setup some standards for DNA quantification for my DNA inserts. didn't happen. we think maybe our stock solution of DNA got messed up somehow? got out of the lab with nothing to show for today.

there's been a lot in the news lately about how "upstate" new york (and upstate's in quotes because it is upstate defined by the geographically challenged new york city-centric people of the state, who cannot differentiate western, central, and eastern new york) pretty much has sucked for the last 50 years, and how it's just hemorrhaging people... especially young people. spitzer has said he will change the culture of government if elected as governor, and won't be accountable to the unions, special interests, and career politicos of the state. here's the thing... there really is a part of me that wants him to win. there's also some belief that he CAN change state government. however, i am also really scared that he could turn into another candidate that says he will change the culture, and gets sucked into the establishment like everyone that's come before him. albany's a tough place when the "friends" who helped you get elected turn their backs on you because you decide to cut some funding from them. however, that is exactly what the state needs... there's so much bloat in the system built up from all the years this state has been around. no one has said "no" in a long time... and so things just keep getting worse. the city of buffalo's population is less than half of what it was about 50 years ago. the buffalo-niagara as a region is barely over 1 million people. it's been said that high taxes, a bloated public health system, powerful unions, and lack of jobs are to blame. i'm a believer in taxes, i also believe in a system of public health... we need the government to provide some services, we need to cover people that can't afford coverage with insurance, but you really have to balance things out and spend money wisely. things need to be sacrificed in order for the general population to benefit. as more people/jobs leave the state, tax revenues go down, and without cost cutting, the burden for these government programs go onto the shoulders of people and businesses that stay in the state in the form of taxes. pretty much upstate is turning into florida... a place where lots of old people live, but definitely not as wealthy. i guess i just want to say that i hope spitzer if you get elected (and it looks like you will), you will push just as hard for reforms as you did as the state attorney general. i hope you know that even though the political parties, and unions might not support what you plan on doing... that there are many people... more people who might not have the money or influence that those special interests have... that are counting on you to make a difference.

in more new york politic news... new yorkers thing schumer is more effective than clinton. i think it has some truth to it. now i love both senators... but to me... schumer has always been the one getting down to the nitty gritty on the state level, while hillary is focused on the big ticket items for the state... which is also important for the long term viability of the different regions of the state, in a globalized world.

well... there has been some good upstate news... AMD is planning on building a fab for their processors in new york state. they just opened a large fab in germany and had the thing come on line the last year or so. this is big news... as AMD has really been pushing intel in the microprocessor market the last couple years... with their chips out-outputting over intel's pentium chips in terms of performance and energy efficiency. plus they just landed a deal with dell... the last holdout of the large PC makers to have AMD chips in their PCs.

so... apparently north carolina is not done taunting me... while i'm away @ aaron's wedding in north carolina i'll be missing the buffalo phil @ artpark with joshua bell (one of the best violinists in the world) performing the bruch violin concerto. if you've never heard this piece... go to the library and borrow it. i guarantee you, that you will enjoy it.

here's some more artpark news... they're going to be cross-mojinating with the shaw festival up in ontario. i've never been up to the shaw (or stratford) festival... i should go one of these years. maybe when i'm a little more wealthy, and can actually afford tickets =].

i have been to the different fests in buffalo though... and i'm waiting for the taste of buffalo to go down... and the italian fest.

i hope this doesn't jinx us for next year. here's a nice piece about one of the best coaches we've ever had who didn't get a contract extension after winning coach of the year his second year. he won with a bunch of nobodys on the team (kinda like the team we had this year)... players who never did make much of themselves after leaving buffalo (hello jason dawe, brian holzinger, dixon ward, randy burridge?) that team was full of more grinders than our team this year. i wish him well... but not too well... cause i don't want the isles taking the conference next year =p.

long post... sleepy time. night.

i think there's a conspiracy going on. c'mon... 2 straight cups won by 2 southern teams against alberta? really... tampa bay? raleigh?

while the teams did play well, and i suppose the winners did deserve to win... it's heartbreaking when the cup goes to markets where there is little to no interest in the sport. so with that... here's to the hartford whalers... winner of the 2006 stanley cup.

ah well... next year.

today was a really really good day for me. unwound from the lab, work, and other thoughts for a bit... and just soaked in a nice summer (well almost summer) day. it got up to 90 degrees F here today, which is around 30 something degrees C i think. there was a nice breeze going... and so it didn't seem as humid as it was. i'm a little sunburned i think.

ended up going to the juneteenth celebration in mlk jr. park. caught bits of the parade, watched some drill teams, and ate a lot of yummy stuff. lots of people were out... and boy... weather wise you couldn't ask for a better day to celebrate the emancipation of all africans/african americans after the civil war. i kind of wish there was more representation for people of other races to join in the festivities... especially on the east side of buffalo. of course... the politicians were there in full force... which i found funny... they talk a lot... but never seem to do much of anything for the east side.

after mlk jr. park... headed over to the naval ship park... and here's one of my pics. this is a shot of the buffalo river, the skyway that we should rip down, 2 grain elevators, and the outer harbor.


after walking around erie basin marina, ended up walking over to the baseball stadium and catching a game. i'm not much of a baseball fan... it's too slow for my adhd to handle. i like going with people and pretty much talking throughout the game... but i don't really have any interest in watching the game. it seems like that's how most people are. left after the top of the 7th during the stretch... i couldn't take it anymore... that half a inning in the 7th felt like it took 5 hours to complete. so... went back to catch the 3rd period of the hockey game (more my speed)... and i must say... i'm impressed with the oilers... and i really hoping for a win on monday.

wow... it's late... i'm tired... and all that. unfortunately my camera's battery was running low today... so not too many pics... but i'll have the new ones up on flickr soon.

have a good sunday!

so i haven't gotten into the rhythm of posting on my blog and reading/commenting on your blogs in a long time. after those finals and the trip... i've gotten back and been all sorts of out of it, and lucky to get a post in every week or so. i also have found myself with not much to say... maybe it's because i haven't been watching/reading the news all that much. perhaps it's also because hockey is over in buffalo for the year... and i can't bear to see what happens to edmonton now that they're down 3-1.

so... maybe to get back in the flow of things with the blog... here are some things i've been thinking about recently.

1) i've decided to get baptized this summer... i'm maybe aiming for a service in july. i like the church i've been going to, and i've been thinking about doing this for a long time... but have always put it off. part of me has always been waiting for the right place and time... but really... there is not right place or time... i just have to go do it right?

2) on my recent trip back to taiwan... lots of family members commented on how i rarely take pictures of people (especially if i'm in them). my mom has noticed that about me in the past also. for me... when i take pictures when i'm travelling, i like to capture the moment or scenary as i see it. this means that if i'm in the picture or if other people are in the picture it kind of "pollutes" it. there are times when i do end up taking pictures of friends and family, but usually it doesn't involve a grand view of skyline or nature. some people have said to me that i should be in the picture as proof that i was there. i think having the picture is enough... and the focus should be on the experience and not the person. am i that bizarro?

3) it will have been 9 years next week since i got into a car accident with a motorcyclist as i was finishing up my senior year in high school. it's still kind of strange to think that i was about 12 inches away from being very seriously injured... but i ended up being ok while the man riding the bike didn't end up making it through the night. i've spent a lot of time through these last 9 years questioning God, His purpose, and my faith in Him has been tested on more than one occasion. it's been a struggle at times, and the path that i had thought i'd take is not the path that i ended up taking. to me, i see this as my life being guided by someone/thing else... because if you were to have asked me where i'd be now, and what i would've already gone through 10 years ago, i would be dead wrong. i'm not doing what i planned, nor am i living where i had planned to live. there are so many things that are just way way off from what i would've imagined. i've learned a lot, experienced a lot, and grown a lot. i definitely still hope that either sometime in the past, or somewhere down the line it was worth me surviving and mr. b having to be taken away from his family.

Saturday June 10, 2006 @ Glen Falls

so... i've ps'ed some of these images to make them brighter, or sharpened up the ones that were a bit fuzzy. i'm still in the process of adding titles and captions to most of them. also included are some pics i took this weekend from the allentown art festival, and glen falls park in my backyard of williamsville, ny.

i guess this here flickr link will be my photo repository for awhile.

ps... i was kind of disappointed on saturday cause i was going to buy a print of an amazing photo of toronto @ sunset taken from olcott beach across lake ontario... however the photographer didn't have smaller prints available, and i didn't have the $40 to hand over for the larger print =[

pps... i have to redo some plasmid dna preps =[

ppps... some of my dna digests did come out though =]

so i haven't been updating lately, i've been tired from a combo of allergies, jet lag, work/lab time, and other things.

so i think i'm just going to use flickr, but i'll have to shrink my pics some more and take them down to a resolution of 72 in order to get under that 20 meg limit/month or whatever they have. i technically don't have a host, since i'm using a friend's, so i can't really easily implement the gallery php, mysql, apache program the way i want to. bear with me while i shrink everything down, the UI for flickr will be much nicer to just the bare bones directory listing in place now.

ummm... have to get up @ 7am tomorrow for work, then i'll be running a gel in the afternoon @ the lab. wish me luck... hopefully my plasmid DNA samples all came out ok... otherwise i have to redo the cloning process all over, and it's a pain.

here's today's funny, coutesy of my friend JP.

night.

Cause whose to worry
If our hearts get torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Don't you know this life goes on

-David Gray

so the season finally ended last night. it was sad to have everything end. the players themselves have much to be proud of. they weren't picked to finish in the playoffs, yet they made it to the conference finals. they played as a true team, with people stepping in when others were injured. it's unfortunate that 2/3 of the starting blueliners ended up out with injuries for game 7. that's 4 defensemen who've pretty much played all year, being replaced by a couple rookies called up from the minors and a season long benchwarmer/healthy scratch. the team really made hockey enjoyable to watch here in buffalo again, after the financial scandal and banktruptcy of the team. the team's still young... next year could be another good year, but i feel as though this would have been the year we won it all if we had a healthy team. we won't be as much of a surprise next season, teams will adjust to play against our strengths better than they did this year.

the only complaint i have is this. did it have to be carolina? sure they have a good team ... but shit... it's frickin carolina. do the people down there even know they have a hockey team? ugh... what might have been if we had even 1 more of our regular defenseman healthy.

i hope edmonton sweeps. it'd be nice for a canadian team to win it all this year. i don't know if i could handle the last 2 cups being won by teams from the south.

thanks again sabres... it was a great ride... i thoroughly enjoyed watching you play, and i look forward to seeing you again next year!

here's stuff about the new bioinformatics center that just opened here. here's more stuff.

the rest of my taiwan pics are up here. i think it starts from folder 110. anyone know of a thing like flickr that i can use for free and not have limits to the amount i upload? there are some video shots i took too.

that's it. hope everyone has a good start to their weekend.

so before i sign off to take a much needed nap before the game (eastern conference finals of the stanley cup playoffs game 7!!! for the right to go play for the cup... for you hockey challenged)...

here are some pics from the hong kong portion of the trip. sorry, i only really had time to rotate and edit down the size. no real fancy photoshopping. hope to put in some splanations later on where each pic/vid is from.

anyways... full day of work and jet lag aren't helping for the 7:30pm start time of the game. have another full day of work tomorrow... send good vibes to my team please!

GO SABRES!!!