Oh, hello... welcome to my ski lodge

Ah yes, please come in and enjoy some cocoa.

Just wanted to give everyone my best wishes for the holidays. For those of you of the Christmas celebrating persuasion, have a happy and enjoyable Christmas. Here's to a great 2006, a year whose preemptive motto ought to be "hey, it can't get any worse!"

No corners for you!

Apparently, They Might Be Giants have been challenged by an eccentric billionaire to write a new song about each venue or city they perform in on their latest tour. Their song about the Egg in downtown Albany is brilliant! It's an early Christmas present for all of us from the futuristic capital of the state of New York from John and John.

You need Flash to view the site linked above, where the Egg video can be found. Also you need audio. Aw hell, why not buy a new computer?

Best concert of the year - or something

It may not have had the flashiness of U2's show that also went down last night in Buffalo, but I was treated to a local feast of geekiness and laughs at NIPPLEPALOOZA II yesterday.

The Worm Quartet led off the show with a set mixed with favorites about his procreation habits and hair on the soap, along with a couple of mullet-tastic new songs too. For those not in the know, WQ is really just one guy named Shoebox, and he will rock your socks off like Jack Black wishes he could. WQ didn't rock me quite as hard as they did when I caught my very first performance back in May, but then again, I ain't no WQ virgin anymore either. I really want to make a button that says "I asked about the peas" if I can get my hands on the button maker at work. Guess you had to be there.

The inimitable Powered By Satan was next - he of the flashing devil horns and stuffed jock. Strangely enough, PBS's home page is like the 10th result in a Google search. Proof of evil at work? The Man In Red delivered several favorites, including a couple from my own memory vault. To think that this guy played at Risley more than a decade ago - I didn't know what I'd walked in on at first, but he's still around. Powered By Satan appearances are increasingly rare, it seems, so catching him is always a must. With all the evil taking over in today's world, perhaps it's no surprise. BEEF!

WQ and PBS both have Rochester connections, but the soiree's special guest was The Great Luke Ski, coming to us all the way from Wisconsin. Think of a short, blond-haired Weird Al who sings (and raps!) parody lyrics about science fiction and fantasy. If you've ever wanted to hear the story of the original Star Wars movie sung to the tunes of the Grease soundtrack, well... what's wrong with you? But Luke Ski provides. He totally outdid himself with his Subterranean Homesick Blues inspired take on the Star Wars prequels, complete with cue cards. And every male my age will appreciate The Ballad of Optimus Prime.

Dammit, why didn't I bring my camera? I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it.

More comics talk, with a NINJA flair

It's been a while since I posted something, so I'm going back to the well of webcomics for this one. Lately I've been thinking: what is it about the obsessive connection between webcomics and ninjas? Perhaps the best (and weirdest) example is White Ninja Comics. Man, these guys are weird. It's like a sandwich of irony and inanity, between two slices of bizarre bread. A moronic muffuletta, if you will. Check out the latest White Ninja to see what I mean. It's like the proverbial car wreck you can't look away from. You will either think it's utterly stupid, or you'll spend your whole afternoon reading through the archived comics.

One two three four, birthdays wanna hop some more!

Well, it's happened. I've lived for 29 full years.


Tell 'em how it is, Quincy.

I won enough to pay for cab fare

Well, I have now returned from Las Vegas. In order to fully return to normalcy, I did an hour of yard work earlier today. No flashing neon lights involved in that.

Anyways, there are some interesting things hiding just behind the big Strip resorts, as the photo demonstrates. Las Vegas - constantly plowing over itself for 100 years.

Also, it turns out that some of my traveling companions are recorded musicians. Check out their music (note: these are real honest endorsements and are in no way payback for the free CDs I got). First, there's the Latino-Jewish rap sensations Hip Hop Hoodios, co-fronted by the mysterious Josue Noriega. And don't forget country-fried city boys the Cobble Hillbillies. Who's that on bass? None other than young Sir Robert Bentley!

Just take the contents of my wallet now

I'll be off tomorrow for a weekend in Las Vegas. It should be fun, but for someone who's, well, thrifty as I am, maybe it will be a little scary too.

Maybe I'll post an update or a crazy photo or two when I get back. Then it's off to visit my family for Thanksgiving.

Wastefulness and gluttony ahoy!

Boom crash flash

Thunderstorms in November.

Man, that just ain't right.

In other news, I entered a new link in the links section - not another friend's blog, but a cool resource I just discovered. Rocwiki is the community-run portal to all things Rochester. I wanted to know what restaurants are at the Village Gate, and I found out on Rocwiki. Cool.

Cartoon graveyard

Hey, it's a Make Your Own Cartoon Speech Bubble site!

Halloween already?

Time to put out the Christmas decorations on store shelves everywhere - it's HALLOWEEN!

woooooooooooo

Spooky.

Today I am posting from the spirit realm. (imagine me saying this last part in a tight extreme close-up) Perhaps I will return to this mortal coil tomorrow, in the candy-bloated flesh, with an all time king hell sugar-induced headache.

- the spirit of Roman

Those journal cuts really catch up to you after a while

I rarely post about my line of work, but today I read about how the University of Pennsylvania libraries just cancelled over 2000 journal subscriptions. At once. Ouch.

Though Penn's situation is notable because of its scale, it is not at all unique. One of the final things I did at my old job at Binghamton was decide which journals to cancel. We had a major cancellation that year. At my current job, we've taken a slightly different approach, cutting a little bit each year. And I could very well have been faced with that massive cancellation myself, since I interviewed for a couple of jobs at Penn in years past.

There's a lot I could say about the squeeze we feel as the years go by. But that would be boring. Why not read about it on the flashy, interesting, punchy Create Change? I know some of you are current/future scholars, so this is an issue that affects you just as much as it affects me. If you really want to get the soapbox oration from me about this issue, corner me next time you see me and I'll be glad to bend your ear.

Note for those of you who don't care, because you work in IT or insurance or something: don't bring this up with me or any librarian unless you want a long impassioned stump speech. Because we're mad as hell, and, well, you know the rest.

Montreal is a very silly place to watch sports

Those crazy Montreallers. They've taken the former mascot of their now-defunct baseball team (Youppi!) and made him into the mascot for their once-dominant hockey team. What a weird town.

Youppi! looks kind of like an orange version of Big Bird with a much shorter beak. And he can easily be identified by his Montreal related sports clothes. I mean, who else wears those?

No blog like a bad blog

I am incredibly bad at this blogging thing, aren't I? I feel like I should be saying more, or at least saying more interesting things. But, this being a blog, I guess you'll have to settle for ranting and raving and foaming at the mouth:

PUT TOM DE LAY IN JAIL
OMG EVERYBODY THINKS IM A DORK
SNAKES ON A PLANE!
STAR TREK
FURRIES
CRAP
LEGALIZE MARKER HUFFING
SCHWARZENEGGER IN '08 - AMEND IT NOW, M$@&**@ERS!

There, that's better. That ought to get me noticed.

Wow, the natural world

Hey, I've continued exploring the landscape of western New York (with my new lady-friend, who will undoubtedly kill me just because I mentioned her). Here are some photos from Letchworth State Park. It was a fantastic day last Saturday.


AHHH, THE GREAT OUTDOORS!

Man, what a dork.

Snakes on a plane!

It needs to be repeated: SNAKES ON A PLANE!!!

That is all.

EXCELSIOR!

I apologize to my loyal readers (both of you - you know who you are!) for not updating for several weeks. I also apologize for the stupidity of the updates, when they are eventually posted.

So, how's by you this past weekend? I checked out the annual Grape Festival down in Naples, New York (at the southern end of the stunningly beautiful Canandaigua Lake). They sell a great local delicacy there this time of year - GRAPE PIE. I'm so excited about it because I thought it would be terrible (sicky-sweet and such), but it was actually really good. I even found a fun article about the origins of grape pie, because I'm good like that.

So, anyways, that's the latest thing. Otherwise, I've been busy at work and at home. I had an unintentional swimming pool installed in my back yard the weekend before last, courtesy of a freak storm. But that's dried up now. I'm also excited about the fantastic web-comic-man John Allison's latest foray - an exploration of his artistic process, done in the style of Marvel Comics legend/gasbag Stan Lee! EXCELSIOR, as ol' Stan the Man would say. Hey, that also happens to be the motto of our fair state of New York, home of the Grape Pie. Wheels within wheels, I tell you.

Whoa - scathing

Square-jawed homunculus and Cornell alum Keith Olbermann's recent commentary about our government's response to that bad ol' hurricane can only be described as scathing. I pretty much never watch MSNBC or any other TV news program - thankfully, we have the internet now.

Bad stuff, man. Let's hope our leaders can come to some sort of consensus on how to keep us all safe. Frankly, I ain't got that much hope left.

I got your Chief Justice right here!

The next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America should be Mr. Benjamin A. Scales, Esquire! He will dispense immediately with all stupid stuff from the Constitution, and ensure that no more stupid stuff gets added.

Wow, I can't believe that is the only picture I have of Ben. He will no doubt exile me to Canada once he does rise to power.

HURRICANE KATRINA

AAAH! Run for your lives!

Poor, unfortunately named cat. Fortunately, she's not very destructive.

Take that, Nature!

Ha ha, fish, I have you now!

I went to Cape Cod with my family this past weekend, and one of our activities was pay-for-seasickness - er, I mean ocean fishing. We were out on a boat somewhere in between the Cape and Martha's Vineyard, when I managed to reel in this bluefish. Pretty freakin' rugged, isn't it? I've been fishing before, but it was years ago on a man-made lake in New Jersey that my uncle used to live next to.

Strangely enough, I was the only one to catch a fish on this particular outing.

I'm sure Greenpeace wants nothing to do with me anymore, even though I bought their calendar.

Online Comics, woo!

Web-based comics have apparently arrived. Witness coverage in no less than the New York Times. I've been reading comics online for over two years. Not just familiar syndicated stand-bys like "Get Fuzzy" or "Doonesbury", which you can set up RSS feeds for and get each day's strip in your news aggregator (I use Bloglines). I've been enjoying some of the new stuff that's only available online - you're not likely to see these in your local newspaper or comic book shop.

My favorite is Scary Go Round. Very humorous, in the British vein of humo(u)r. The artwork is bright and colorful, and it's amazing how much characterization John Allison (the artist behind SGR, as the "cool" kids say) can get into an oversized daily four-to-six panel comic strip. Two others that I highly recommend are Wigu and Overcompensating, both by Jeff Rowland. These both feature mainly hand-drawn artwork, but they consistently make me laugh out loud. Good thing my office isn't really near anyone else's. Both Jeff and John actually make a living through these comics. More specifically, they make money selling t-shirts inspired by the comics, and reprint books of their work. I admit I've dropped some coin on both. They've got my seal of approval, which I don't just whore around to anyone.

A somewhat different take on a web comic, the Perry Bible Fellowship straddles the line between syndicated, newspaper-style strip and web comic. There are no recurring characters to speak of, the style can be described as "minimalist," but I dare you to find something equally funny on the printed funny pages. Actually, the PBF (there's another one of them cool acronyms) has run in newspapers - it was published in the Syracuse University Daily Orange in its early years, and currently appears in several alternative newsweeklies, including the Rochester City Newspaper. The artist behind PBF, Nicholas Gurewich, lives in the Rochester area and was interviewed earlier this summer in the City paper - search the archives for the interview if you're interested.

Well, I hope I've given you some pleasurable reading material. I regularly read several other web comics as well, but I leave the rest of the online comic world for you to discover on your own, if you're so inclined.

Note: NY Times article linked above may require free registration

When the backlash gets the best of you

Some of you may know that the White Stripes have been a favorite band of mine for the past 3 1/2 years or so. They put out a new record earlier this year, but the advance word and initial reviews said it was weird. Because of this, I didn't rush out and buy it right away. Finally, a good couple of months since its release, I picked it up last night (at Target - ok, I don't usually buy CDs at Target, but I was there, it was on the rack...). And my first listen through confirms that the initial backlash was wrong. It's a great record, and easily stands up to the rest of their work. I will no doubt keep listening to it in the coming weeks. They continue to branch out, and despite their increased popularity and exposure, and Jack White's sudden transformation from weird nerd to mercurial rock star, they continue to stay interesting in the world of music.

I noticed something else interesting just now. The New York Mets have a better record than the San Diego Padres by one game (the two teams are playing today). The Mets are in last place in their division. The Padres are in first place in theirs. Huh?

Free day!

I was back amongst my family in the Albany/Troy area this past weekend for an anniversary party (my aunt and uncle - 25 years without injuring each other!). Saturday ended up being "free day" for me. Here's the dish - I was having dinner with Ben at Holmes and Watson in downtown Troy (if you've never been there, I highly recommend it - satisfying food named after Sherlock Holmes stories and an insane number of draft beers). Apparently, the cooks had prepared the wrong sandwich for me, but the waitress caught it before bringing it to me. She apologized for the delay (which didn't really bother me), and gave me my second beer on the house. Nice! Then Ben and I went to a baseball game. As we were walking in from the parking lot, some people asked us if we would like some free tickets to the game, courtesy of the local National Guard post. We gladly accepted them, on the condition that we wouldn't have to enlist. Score! Then, at the game, I got up to go to the concessions stand (helmet sundaes - gotta love them). I saw something on the ground, and stopped to examine it - it was a folded-up $20 bill. No one appeared to be looking for it, so it became a matter of finders keepers. Frickin' sweet!

I am still waiting for nubile young females to fall from the sky into my lap.

Who says it's no fun being a librarian?

Look what I came across in my book ordering activities! I think I may buy this for myself - the hell with the students! Let them get their own copy.

I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but there hasn't been much to say. Except that I'm slowly becoming obsessed with The Decemberists. Guys, if you read this, please come play a show in Rochester! Otherwise, I'll have to impose on Brian and see the Providence show in October.

Seriously, now

I don't intend to get political in this forum very often, but seriously - the more I hear about this Roberts guy, the more I think he's just a tool.

If you agree with me, tell them so.

Thanks - RK

I have created LIFE!

Well, not really. But I did manage to grow these nifty roses. And that ain't bad.

Nightmare scenario

I don't know how many of you are baseball fans.... well, I suppose I should, since you're my friends and all, but still. If you've been paying attention to the baseball season, there have been a lot of interesting developments and more than just the usual teams are contending, especially in the American League. So here it is, my prediction for how the season will end. You can thank me (or spank me) in October:

The Los Angeles Angels of Cucamonga, er, I mean Anaheim, will pull out an underdog World Series victory. Owner Arte Moreno will hold a grand victory celebration in downtown Los Angeles, surrounded by hundreds of Angels fans screaming with delight and thousands of Dodgers fans howling for his blood. The team will receive personal congratulations from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in front of the imposing phallic facade of LA City Hall. It will mark the ultimate triumph of commerce over tradition.

My god, it will be glorious!

And by glorious I mean HORRIFYING.

Sweet victory!

See what I have here?

Yeah, it's a room air conditioner that sits on the floor. So my problem is solved. It works pretty well. The only drawback is it's a little noisy, but so are window A/Cs.

Oh, and it cost quite a bit more, but let's not get into that.

Frustrating

I bought a window air conditioner for my living room the day before yesterday. Then, when I tried to install it yesterday, it didn't fit. And I mean just barely didn't fit - only one inch or so too wide. I had measured the inside of the window opening, but neglected to raise the screen and measure the outside opening, which was indeed narrower. The windows were replaced this spring, so they are the replacement windows with all sorts of doohickeys and little strips that can easily be broken by something large and heavy, like an A/C unit. Since I didn't want to deal with the consequences of broken weather stripping in January, I didn't force it.

So, the adventures of home ownership never end. But now, you can all laugh at the silly man and I will feel good about it. I wonder if I can get my hands on one of those narrower, taller window A/Cs. Stupid heat wave.

When renovations attack

In my last post, I mentioned renovations at the old place I used to live while a Cornell student: Risley Hall. Some of you probably lived there yourselves, and others have at least seen the place, so let me elaborate:

Brian and I arrived at Risley to find a cyclone fence strung around the perimeter. Cornell had put up a sign indicating what was going on. This summer, they are replacing all of the windows in the building with efficient modern windows. Also, the plumbing system is being upgraded, and apparently the bathrooms are being remodeled as well. They had some nasty photos of clogged pipes on the sign explaining the renovation. Good for Cornell, for investing in student housing. A few years ago they built new North Campus dorms. Currently, they are constructing new dorms on West Campus to replace the U-Halls - that's right, no more U-Halls. As already mentioned, Risley is being renovated, as is Balch Hall (though the renovations at Balch look to be less extensive).

Risley was built in 1911 and, if I remember correctly, it was last renovated around 1970, when they upgraded the heating system and made cosmetic repairs (the building had fallen into some disrepair). A few years ago, on visiting, I noticed that they had carpeted the rooms and purchased new furniture. I am impressed with these changes, and once again, I'm glad to see Cornell spending money on increasing the comfort for its students, rather than building indoor practice facilities for their football team (as a certain Midwestern university I attended chose to do).

Festivities back at the old place

Nobody worry, I'm doing just fine now. My good friends Brian and Kara came out to visit from Providence this weekend. We took a trip down to Ithaca so that Kara could check out the lovely Cornell campus, where Brian and I both went to school. There we are on the shore of Beebe Lake, not far from the dorm that we both lived in (Risley Hall), which is now undergoing extensive renovations.

NYARRGH!

Gah, everything is pissing me off lately. I've been hiding in my office at work mostly, because seems like when I interact with co-workers, they get under my skin. Blame it on the heat, or blame it on myself?

Anyone miss Wegmans?

I got your backs covered!

Sweet, sweet technology

Yes, I've posted my first photos to this blog - one of my house, one of my cat. I had to download Hello and Picasa to do it. I think I did it right. There's got to be a way to upload more than one picture to a single post. But maybe not. I guess I'll have to muck about with it, because I just ordered.... A NEW DIGITAL CAMERA!!!! (studio audience applauds and hoots) Sometime next week, I'll get my new camera. Should be pretty fun. Like I said, bear with me - it's my first day on the internet (hurr hurr).

Casa de Me

This is the old (new) Koshykar homestead. Newly sided this spring. Pretty swank, I guess.

Mysterious house pet in the picture window

Here's Katrina - my cat, sitting in one of her favorite positions.

Zoom! Whoosh!

I did manage to go to the air show on Sunday. The weather was absolutely miserable. I almost didn't go, because less than an hour before I told my friend I would get there, it was pouring rain. But the rain passed and gave way to - unbelievably oppressive humidity. This made it difficult to see the planes in the hazy sky.

But I made it in time for the Thunderbirds show. They do all sorts of crazy stuff that I would never, ever do - like fly upside down and pass within a couple feet of each other's wings. Then the show was cut short due to a potential for another thunderstorm. Ah well.

I still managed to get a little bit of sunburn on my face and neck.

And no, they did not play "Rock You Like A Hurricane." I can't help but be a little disappointed by that.

Hott

Yes, summer has arrived here. Ick. I'm caving in and buying an air conditioner after work today (yes, that's right, I'm posting at work - take that, the Man!). I'm going to put it upstairs, because my upstairs is really stuffy. I have ceiling fans, but I'm still hot, so I'm going to excercise my right as an American consumer, dammit. Each room upstairs only has one operable window. Two rooms (my bedroom and the spare bedroom) have a second, half-sized window that doesn't open. One of my co-workers says this is some sort of a unique Rochester thing - he's never seen these little architectural details (useless, if you ask me, except to let some light in) in houses in other cities. They are both on the north side of the house. Wonder if that means anything?

In other news (and there hasn't been much - hence the week plus without posting anything), I've managed to get a free ticket to the air show on Sunday. I've never been to an air show. I hope I can resist the temptation to say "vroom" and "whoosh" as planes buzz over my head. It should be pretty decent, I think. Better than doing yard work. I whooped my yard into some kind of shape, and it's still bearing me weeds. Alas. At least the roses are starting to get buds and blossom.

Yee ha!

- RK

Memorialized

Hey there. Hope this Memorial Day finds you in good form. I had a very busy but productive vacation. Lots of work got done around the ol' homestead, with the help of my parents. I have two shiny new storm doors, a motion sensor light over the garage door, and an overhauled and cleaned up front yard. Now, the little weed patch term really only applies to the back yard. I spent the afternoon at an alpaca farm, hanging out with a friend from Cornell and some other assorted people. True story.

So, back to the office tomorrow. Damn. I'll try to resist the temptation to post at work (again).

- RK

Do this I must

Yeah, I must blab a bit about Star Wars. I very much enjoyed Episode III. The weaknesses were pretty much the same as the weaknesses in the other two prequels, but less flagrant. The new trilogy improved with each installment, but we should have not expected it to be as revered as the original trilogy. It's hard to duplicate success once, much less five times. One thing kind of bugged me though - Yoda's reference to Qui-Gon at the very end. Was this stuck there as an explanation of the "blue ghosts" of old dead Jedis that come to talk to Luke in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi? Or was it just a "surprise!" moments stuck ungracefully at the end, when there was no time to elaborate, just so the audience felt like it got its money's worth? Most people I've asked seemed to think it had to do with the blue ghosts. I'm not convinced. I think it's more of a tacked-on surprise, and it didn't work. I mean, all the reviews are correct: there wasn't much that fans of Star Wars didn't know going in to this one. Anakin becomes Darth Vader, Yoda and Obi-Wan are forced into exile, and Palpatine is behind the whole stinkin' thing. But did the Lucas team really need to put some ill-explained surprise in at the last minute? I don't think it helps. Also, I was moderately disappointed in two other things: 1) Sam Jackson not being enough of a bad-ass (who would have ever thought?), and 2) Count Dooku biting it so early in the film, because more Christopher Lee is always good. Also, it was a long movie (the longest of the Star Wars films?), but that probably only bothered me because of the time of day I saw it (late afternoon on Saturday).

OK, enough complaining. Overall, I enjoyed myself very much. There were great space battles, some genuinely tense moments, and several little nuggets for the fans. Star Wars may be over, but we're left with six very entertaining films, a couple of which come very close to being great cinema. Stupid Lucas control-freak issues aside, it's good that they went out this way. No dancing Ewoks celebrating the end of this trilogy. But hey, the Ewoks were cool when I was 7. And isn't that what Star Wars is all about - kindling that childlike sense of "wow?"

- RK

Still getting used to this consarned contraption

Yes, it's true. I am not the world's best blogger. But I'm getting used to this malarkey. First off, I've enabled open comment posting, so you don't have to be a Blogger member to post (thanks to long-time jug bander and all-around mensch Mike Gray for pointing that out). Also, I'm using one of the canned templates because I don't know CSS for nuthin'. Learning basic HTML back in 1995-96 came in handy for a while, but it doesn't really cut it in today's go-go world, does it? Ah well. Anything else you want to point out, don't be afraid.

Note to Sebastian: don't you know I'm not a big fan of popcorn? I mean, I'll eat it if I'm hungry, but it's not my favorite food. But I'm happy that the Spirit of Corn hath moved you so, my son.

So, how's by me? My house has been resided and it looks sparkling neat and clean. I promise I will post before and after photos, once I have digital photo capability, and once I can kick one of our students off the terminal here at the library that has a scanner attached (this would be for the "before" photo). Enjoy Star Wars Episode III, all you lovely geeks, you.

- R

Where have all the corn stalks gone?

Yeah, I haven't done squatola with my blog since the day I set it up. Still working on that digital camera. I might actually buy one this weekend. Otherwise, things have been dull and busy. Dusy. Or Bull.

Hello and welcome

This is my first attempt at a darn blog. Blog blog blog. Heh. What a dumb word. Still, I'm just interested in trying this out. Over the years it's occurred to me that most of my friends are scattered all over. As I've moved about, so have my friends become more distant from me. So, more than anything, this is my sad little way of keeping in touch with folks. Well, that and a place to discuss the virtues of corn. Nutritious and delicious! More will be coming in the future. But first, let me set a few ground rules:

• I promise not to whine too much
• I'll keep the actual corn discussion to a minimum. It's just a silly name
• I hope to soon acquire a digital camera, so that I can share photos of my scintillating life with the world. But, until then, there probably won't be much here.
  
• Corn

Well, that'll get her started. Off to plow the fields,

- R