Zahra/Jennie

Happy New Year!

2010-01-12T21:41:00.001-05:00

2009-05-27T12:57:00.001-04:00

Jennie and I drove down to Washington, DC to meet my brother Anthony (who was there for a military conference) and my parents (who are retired now and can do anything they want :) for the long weekend. We stayed in a nice hotel near the White House and explored the sites around the National Mall and beyond. It was wonderful to see my family and finally get to DC to see what its all about. Here are our DC pictures on flickr.

Vacation on Oahu

2009-03-13T13:10:00.004-04:00

We've just returned from an amazing vacation on Oahu. Jennie and I were there for 10 days, staying with my brother Anthony and his wife Veronica. We also got to spend time with Christine, Jennifer and their families. Click the image above to view the full photo set.

Goodbye Ben

2009-01-28T14:28:00.002-05:00

Benjamin "Big Boy" Langford-Posey

October 1, 1998 - January 28, 2009

2009-01-02T16:52:00.001-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

We got married

2008-08-06T17:21:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I got married while we were in California, same-sex marriage is legal there for now. We had our civil ceremony on August 5 at the Santa Cruz County Courthouse. Jennie’s sisters Diane and Cynthia served as our witnesses. It was great to be able to tie the knot in the city where we met. The process was surprisingly easy and our officiant was wonderful. Check out the pictures here.

Weekend in Ithaca

2008-05-27T20:04:00.005-04:00

Jennie and I spent part of our long weekend camping in Ithaca, just a two hour drive southeast. The weather was beautiful all weekend, we stayed on a pleasant tree shaded site at Buttermilk Falls State Park for two nights. Highlights of our trip were eating lunch at the famed Moosewood Restaurant, hiking 10 miles total in and out of 3 amazing river gorges and drinking cocktails at Felicia's Atomic Lounge. It was graduation weekend so we stayed away from the campus, but we did have the opportunity to do some shopping in the cute downtown area. On the way home on Sunday we stopped at Sheldrake Point winery for a tasting and some tasty gourmet lunch. View all of our Ithaca pictures on Flickr.

Harout and David visit Rochester

2008-05-20T20:26:00.000-04:00

My close friend and college roommate Harout was in town, along with his partner David, for graduation weekend. They stayed with us on Linden Street and between graduation events, we showed them around our neighborhood and Rochester. We also had the opportunity to meet the wonderful friends of their family who live in Pittsford. It was so nice to be able to spend time with Harout and to finally meet David. Although we keep in touch, we don't see each other very often. Now it's our turn to visit them in L.A!

Check out our pictures from the weekend.

Pretty Snow

2008-03-28T07:36:00.002-04:00

Blog Growth Stunted by Chocolate

2008-03-23T09:43:00.007-04:00

Since we started our chocolate company last year, I've had very little time to dedicate to the care and feeding of this blog. I wanted to apologize for that and let you know that this situation is more than likely to continue.

(Photo of us in our kitchen taken by Jen Rynda).

As a small consolation, here is a summary of our latest chocolate achievements:

We launched our online store in November 2007: www.hedonistchocolates.com.

We had an amazing Holiday season as the result of our first appearance on TV (view footage), our unique Holiday Truffle Collection (Champagne Pomegranate, Egg Nog, Fig, Ginger Molasses and Orange Clove), new line of Drinking Chocolates, and the support of our friends and family.

Our Valentine's season was boosted by some outstanding press coverage in Rochester Magazine (pdf) and the Democrat & Chronicle, another TV appearance; an aggressive tasting schedule and two collections that got everybody talking: Valentine's Spice and Raspberry Love

Our company is becoming more well known in Rochester, resulting in partnerships with some of the most respected businesses in the area such as Wine Sense, Craft Company No. 6, Mann's Jewelers and Arena's Florist.

We're very proud of all that we've been able to accomplish in such a short time. We couldn't have done it without a lot of support from our family, friends and community. We've just finished up with Easter which wasn't a big holiday for us this year and are moving on to Mother's and Father's day as well as thinking about our summer collection.

I'll try to update the blog when I can, but I can't promise to do it with any regularity. The best way to know what is going on with us right now is to check the website www.hedonistchocolates.com and join our company mailing list.

Goodbye Buddy

2008-01-28T10:00:00.000-05:00

Chocolate Spread

2007-09-30T16:41:00.000-04:00

We're a sponsor this year for ImageOut, Rochester's Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival. On Friday, we donated a chocolate spread (pictured above) to the opening reception of the Festival's fine art show: ImageArt. We set the table up and then went to dinner. By the time we returned to the event (half and hour later) almost of the chocolate had disappeared into the hungry mouths of attendees. They loved it!

Chocolate events

2007-09-25T20:51:00.000-04:00

We've been very busy with chocolate-related events this fall, hence the lack of blog posts. Here's a picture of our table at Chocolate for Champions, a benefit for Special Olympics that was held at Artisan Works. I've posted more pictures on our Flicker site. We also had a booth at The Women's Alliance conference and the premier local foodie event: Savor Rochester. We're hoping to get our name out now, so that people think of us for their holiday gift giving.
I've been spending most of my time working on our website, configuring it for online sales. Jennie has been making a lot of chocolate and doing weekly events such as the South Wedge Farmer's Market.

Candy Show!

2007-09-13T22:05:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I traveled to Atlantic City, NJ this weekend to attend the Philadelphia Candy and Gift Show. We learned a lot from the seminars offered for new businesses and got to take a closer look at packaging, supplies and equipment we are considering for the business. We also ate a ton of candy!
We thought it was well worth the trip, but did not see many high end chocolatiers there, I think we need to consider attending the All Candy Expo or the Fancy Food Show next year.
We did make time to do some walking on the boardwalk and check out the sights. We had dinner one night at Dynasty in the Trump Taj Mahal.

The Woods

2007-08-13T22:38:00.000-04:00

This weekend we traveled in the VW Vanagon to The Poconos in Pennsylvania with Tom, Eric, Jeff, Brian P. and Brian G. We camped out in a private resort called The Woods. We enjoyed gourmet camp cooking, DJ dancing, poolside lounging, and hot tubs. It was Illumination Weekend so on Sat. night, each camp was lit up for the competition. Our group's entry was beautiful: LED balloons floating in the night sky (thanks to Tom for the inspiration and organization). Although we didn't win any trophy, we had a lovely time. Here are the pictures to prove it :)

Ben's Ear

2007-08-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

We've been letting the cats out occasionally this spring and summer because they beg us to, Ben especially. Wilma always stays around the house, but Ben is more daring. Sometimes he gets out when he's not supposed to. One night in July he snuck past us when we were letting Buddy out and stayed out all night. When he came home for his feeding in the morning, his ear was split in half (first image). He didn't seem to be in a lot of pain and there were no other marks on him. We took him to the vet for antibiotics and an update on his rabies vaccination. It is pretty much healed now, the vet suggested that we could get the part that is now hanging down removed (second image), but I'm getting used to it now. It gives him even more of a rakish air.

Our first visit to NYC

2007-07-31T21:21:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I finally made the pilgrimage to New York City to celebrate Kelley's 40th birthday. We stayed at the Hotel Chelsea, sharing a room with the dynamic duo Chris and Rafael. Here's our itinerary:

Thursday
- Travel by train from Rochester to the city (thanks to Travis for the 4:30am pickup!), 7 hours on Amtrak with beautiful views of the Hudson River.
- After checking in at the hotel, we rode the subway south to Soho for our mini chocolate tour. We visited 4 of NYC's top chocolatiers and sampled their wares: Kee's Chocolates, MarieBelle, Jacques Torres and Vosges (our favorite).
- Drinks at the hotel with Kelley, Kate and the gang, then an evening in the Village which included dinner at the Garage Restaurant and drinking at the Stonewall Bar

Friday
- All day on the Downtown Loop of the Gray Line Bus Tour, a double-decker bus with tour guides that took us from Times Square to Battery Park, where we caught a ferry to the Statue of Liberty.
- Grabbed dinner at the delicious pizza joint just a few steps away from our hotel.
- Taxied to the Walter Kerr theatre, not far from Times Square to see Grey Gardens the Musical.
- Enjoyed a late dinner of pierogi and potato pancakes with old friends Ryan Rosetto and Max Miller (both from Siskiyou County, CA) at Odessa.

Saturday
- All day on the Uptown Loop of the Gray Line Bus Tour, with a stopover in Harlem to do some shopping.
- Viewing of the Whiteny Museum's exhibition: Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era
- Walk through Central Park
- Met up with the entire birthday party and took the Harbor Lights Cruise around the island to see the skyline and bridges. Amazing!
- Impromptu limo ride to birthday dinner at Bottino, drinks and general chaos at Barracuda.

Sunday
- Late rising to a rainy day. After we checked out of the Chelsea, we ate brunch at Trailer Park across the street from the hotel.
- Train ride home with dinner and a sleeper compartment.
- Arrival in Rochester around midnight, thanks to Tom for picking us up and to Nancy for watching the cats and dog.

Pictures from NYC

Michelle's Visit

2007-07-24T18:17:00.000-04:00

My best friend Michelle came to visit this weekend. It was her first time being away from her daughter London, who is just over a year old. It was such a treat to see her and show her around Rochester. Highlights of her visit were drinks on the beach at Marge's Lakeside Inn and seeing the new Dancing Wings butterfly exhibit at the Strong Museum. Here are the pictures from Michelle's visit.

Rochester Pride

2007-07-16T09:59:00.000-04:00

Rochester Pride was this weekend and our friend David came over from Syracuse to help us celebrate. We had a non-stop party weekend and even made it out to another event, the Corn Hill Arts Festival. Here are the Pictures from Pride weekend

Roadtrip to Vermont

2007-07-13T15:59:00.000-04:00

This week we jumped in the car with Travis, our neighbor and friend, and headed for the green mountains of Vermont to see Michael Franti and
Spearhead in concert. We departed on Wednesday night and spent the night in Lake George, NY. The next morning we continued on through mountains and bucolic countryside to Burlington, VT. We had time to explore the downtown, enjoy a meal at the local brew pub and even visit
Lake Champlain Chocolates for a tour. The concert was amazing and well worth the drive. In the morning we headed back to Rochester and arrived with plenty of time for Tim and Gerry's big Pre-Pride party next door. Here are the pictures from our roadtrip

Barbara's Visit & 4th of July

2007-07-08T21:57:00.000-04:00

This week my friend, mentor and former teacher at Santa Clara, Barbara Murry was in the area visiting her close friends Holly and CJ (Holly works at Xerox and we have become friends with her and CJ during our time in Rochester). Barbara and I hadn't seen each other in a few years and it was great to catch up. We enjoyed a long walk in Mt. Hope Cemetery and dinners at our respective homes. On 4th of July we journeyed south to the Corning Museum of Glass. My priority was to see the summer exhibition of glass flowers, which was stunning, but we were also amazed by the extensive permanent collection and very impressed with the live glassblowing demonstrations. Who knew glass could be so interesting, now we have a new place to take visitors when they come! Pictures from Barbara's visit.

California Vacation

2007-06-17T19:15:00.000-04:00

I'm very late in posting about this, apologies. I'll try to keep it short and just link to the pictures :)

We arrived at SFO very early on Saturday, June 2nd and crashed at Kelley, Kate and Eden's house. The next day, we had a BBQ at the house both to celebrate Cye and Jake's upcoming new baby and to visit with friends/family. It was great to see everyone and to drink beer out of baby bottles (a hilarious baby shower game). Photos of the BBQ.

The next day we left the fog in SF, picked Justine up from the Oakland airport and headed out to Finegold with Kelley, Rebecca and Cat for a few days of camping. D'Art, Shana and their two children Rocket and Marina met us out there. Photos of Finegold.

On Tuesday, June 5, we said goodbye to our friends and headed to Santa Cruz for a visit with Jennie's parents. We were able to spend a lot of time with Jennie's Grandmother Marcella, who had been sick. We also managed to visit some of our old haunts in the city, including Its Beach and see Jennie's Dad play with his band downtown. Photos of Santa Cruz.

We departed Thursday and headed north to Redding, where we finally got to see the Sundial Bridge that my parents had been telling me about. We ate dinner at Chevy's, where we randomly ran into an old Burning Man friend, Jim, who recently moved to Cottonwood. We stayed the night at the O'Brien Mountain Inn where we were once stranded by car trouble long ago. Photos of Redding.

We spent several days in Weed with my parents, siblings, and other family members. It is not often that we are all together at the same time and I really enjoyed it. Everyone came up to attend the party for my parents who were both retiring after years of teaching. I was so proud of my parents and it was very clear that everyone in the community loved them and would miss their influence at the schools where they taught. On Sunday, all 14 of us at breakfast at the Hi-Lo and then parted ways. Photos from Weed. Later, Jennie, Mom, Anthony (my brother) and I took a short hike to Mossbrae Falls. Photos of the falls.

While we were in Weed, Jennie received the sad news that her Grandmother had passed away the day after we left Santa Cruz. Thankfully, we were able to re-arrange our travel plans so that Jennie could stay in California to help her parents plan the services and attend them. On Monday, June 11, we departed Weed. We spent an amazing day at Folsom Lake near Sacramento with Jennie's sisters and their children. Afterwards, Jennie dropped me off at SFO and then headed home to Santa Cruz to be with her family.

Memorial Day Bike Ride

2007-05-28T16:09:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I got inspired this morning to ride our bikes down to the Genesee River Trail. It is very close to our house and we had only walked it once before. We rode along the river and through the University of Rochester campus and Genesee Valley Park. We then connected with the Erie Canal Trail and rode it West for a few miles towards Greece. On the way back, we reconnected with the Genesee river and continued along towards Downtown. We stopped at the
Corn Hill Creamery which offers a great view of the river, new bridge and downtown. Jennie had Mint Chip, I had Cookies 'n Cream :) When we returned home, I discovered that we had completed most of the Genesee River-Downtown Loop Trail described in our Take Your Bike! guide to rides in the Rochester area (a thoughtful houewarming gift from Harout a few years ago).

Article on Hedonist Artisan Chocolates Published

2007-05-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

Our first article in a city-wide publication was published today in the City Newspaper: "South Wedge company offers sweet indulgences" The article is a good one and appears in the first few pages of the printed publication. The pictures included in the printed version include a good one of the chocolate, in addition to the one of Jennie. (I had to work the day they did the interview, Jennie told me not to compain that they spelled my last name wrong.)

Here are some other press mentions thus far:

in our greater neighborhood paper: The Wedge (page 3)

in our neighborhood publication: The Ellwanger-Barry Neighborhood Association newsletter (this was a full article, but I don't have an electronic version)

in The Empty Closet (we were mentioned for the tasting we did just before Valentine's day at the Community Business Forum, but I couldn't find a specific link to the article online)

We're not really actively persuing press right now so these articles are a great bonus. We will make more of a concerted effort in the fall to anticipate the holiday season.

Tasting Chocolate

2007-05-14T21:30:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I hosted a chocolate tasting at our home this evening with our neighbors: Nancy, Larry & Collene; Tim, Gerry, Colleen, Danny & Suzy; and Travis & Carrie. Jennie has been formalizing her chocolate training with an online course at Ecole Chocolate and this activity was for one of her homework assignments. The goal was to gather feedback about a variety of types of chocolates (different origins, brands, blends, as well as percentages of cacao) and to think about how to best use them in your own creations. I think our neighbors enjoyed it!

The Bulbs Are Finally Up

2007-05-14T17:33:00.000-04:00

I planted these bulbs in the fall. It took them a while, beause we live on the shady side of the street, but they are up and in their full glory now. It is nice to have some color in the front yard, at least temporarily. We now have a plan for the rest of the front, but probably won't get to it until the fall.

Lilac Time

2007-05-13T14:19:00.000-04:00

This weekend marked the beginning of the summer season with the opening of the Lilac Festival in Highland Park just blocks from our house. The weather has been lovely and we have already enjoyed funnel cake, gyros, some live music and a stroll through the lilacs and tulip beds. The festival goes on all week and I'm sure we'll be eating dinner up there a lot ;) This morning we also took the opportunity to visit the Ellwanger Garden, a historic garden in our neighborhood that celebrates it's 140th anniversary this year. It is only open to the pubilc a few times a year and is quite lovely. We enjoyed a chat with the Master Gardener and she gifted us with an unusual variety of forget-me-not to plant in our own garden (she was thinning some out while we were there). We also got some good advice for gardening under Black Walnut trees, which we have in abundance. We're spending the rest of the day cleaning up the yard and will later visit the festival again to enjoy the zydeco sounds of CJ Chenier. Here are the Lilac-related pictures I've taken so far.

Happy Anniversary to Us

2007-05-10T23:06:00.000-04:00

Today is the 4th anniversary of our Commitment Ceremony in La Selva Beach, CA with many of our friends and family. Jennie and I celebrated by sampling some of Rochester's newest eateries: Virtu, where we enjoyed dinner and drinks, then Social on East Ave. for more drinks and dessert. The above photo is a self-portrait taken today. The photo below is from our celebration 4 years ago.

Backyard Blues

2007-04-23T19:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon we had the opportunity to spend some time in our backyard, which is now filled with brilliant blue flowers that herald the coming of spring. Here's Buddy, enjoying the sunshine on his old bones.

Edie Sedgweekend!

2007-04-22T17:51:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I spent the weekend with friends David and Donny in neighboring Syracuse, NY. I met David when he was working at the University of Michigan, he's now working on his PhD from the iSchool at Syracuse University. Donny is his fabulous roommate, who is just finishing up his Masters at the same school. The visit was a celebration of Edie Sedgwick's birthday and the 420 holiday. We enjoyed a small gathering on Friday evening with a group of their friends. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous and we made the most of it, starting off with a hearty breakfast at Funk and Waffles and playing with the furry penguin at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. After the zoo we checked out the cute shopping district downtown called Armory Square and ate dinner at a fun place called Dante. After a refreshing nap, we checked out the wildlife at two of Syracuse's best gay bars: Rain and Trexx. A festive time was had by all! Here are the photos to prove it.

Side Door Landing

2007-04-07T22:02:00.000-04:00

Yes, it has been a while since I posted. Apologies to those who wait up late at night waiting for my next riveting report ;) During my time off, we finished up another small project on the house. We have a door on the west side of the house that opens onto a small landing, with stairs leading down into the basement and up into the kitchen and the rest of the house. It was very boring and dingy when we bought the house, done in browns with old linoleum on the floor (see small image on right). Our realtor suggested we clean it up a bit. We found some nice vinyl tiles at Bargain Outlet, and picked out 2 shades of green that match some of the tile in the kitchen. I also bought a new light fixture with two bulbs to brighten the area up. We also replaced the old stair treads on the basement stairs. Jennie and I completed the work in pieces during February and March. The first picture is the most accurate in terms of color (the second image was tinted by the new light). I'm very happy with the way it turned out and it makes me feel good when I come home at night.
You may be wondering what ever happened to the kitchen. It is mostly done, but there are some small things I wanted to finish before I blogged about it. I suppose I should just post them, I'll do that this weekend. We have been doing other fun things, like attending a lacrosse game and an event put on by the RIT hospitality department with Holly and CJ, hosting a few chocolate tastings and participating in a fundraiser for Pride.

Back at Xerox

2007-03-20T20:34:00.000-04:00

I've started a new job at Xerox Corp. where I work as a Graphic Designer / Business Analyst. You may be wondering why I would go back to a company that laid me off a few months ago. The first reason is, it is a better job. I'm now in the consulting side of the business, Xerox Global Services. My primary function is "Communication Engineering (CE)," that is, helping clients (mostly banks and insurance companies) re-design their communications to their customers (bills, statements, welcome kits, etc.) to make them more comprehensible and effective. Here's a CE brief that explains the concept at a high level. For more detail, check out the CE white paper (which is currently being re-designed using the very principles it touts). I'm working with a great team and I get to travel to meet with clients. It is very much in line with my graduate work and I think I'll be happier doing it.

The second reason to go back to Xerox is convenience, Jennie and I don't need to sell our house, move to a new city, or disrupt our current setup too much to accommodate the new assignment. The third is money of course, most of the other options I was considering in the Rochester area paid substantially less.

I'm hoping to be able to stay with the company for at least a few more years. If I do get laid off again, I'll be better prepared for it. At least now Jennie and I have our chocolate business started so I can always fall back on that :)

Happy Birthday Tom!

2007-03-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

We hosted a surprise birthday party for Tom today, check out the pictures. Gerry also took some lovely shots as usual, his are also on Flickr

St. Patrick's Day

2007-03-17T22:41:00.000-04:00

Despite the snow, the Rochester St. Patrick's Day Parade went off without a hitch. Here's a picture of our neighbor Tim leading the Pittsford Fire Department Band. Jennie, Travis, Gerry and I made our way down to the Clarion Hotel for beers and a great view of the parade. Later, we met up with Larry, Colleen, Keith, Michael, Brian and many other friends at Carroll's Bar where I had the best Corned Beef sandwich of my entire existence. Thanks to Nancy for the ride home ;) Here are the photos on Flickr.

My Brother's Article

2007-03-12T20:30:00.000-04:00

My brother Cameron is an up and coming journalist and he wrote the cover story for The North Coast Journal this week, entitled: "Water, Dirt and Time: Bluff dwellers get relief, but what will the meandering Mad do next?." Check it out!

Chocolate Website Up

2007-03-07T08:01:00.000-05:00

I've put some information up on the web about our new business: Hedonist Artisan Chocolates. You can check it out at www.hedonistchocolates.com. Although we're not ready to sell chocolates online, I've set up a mailing list that you can join to receive updates and promotions in the near future. We'll keep the list low volume, I promise. The form fields are at the bottom of the site home page. I wrote the code myself in php so be sure to let me know if you experience any problems :)

Real Snow

2007-02-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

Not Snowed In

2007-02-11T16:34:00.000-05:00

Everyone keeps asking me if we have a lot of snow here because there has been some images on the news. Here's a picture of our backyard picnic table, taken today. There is about a foot of snow on it, but that is accumulation from several weeks. It hasn't really been snowing that much in Rochester, unlike surrounding areas. Our neighbor Travis's grandparents live in Oswego, about an hour and a half northeast of here on Lake Ontario. He said that they have had 72 inches since last Sunday and that schools have been shut down all week. No such luck here. We have had extremely cold weather though, so cold on Monday that the schools were closed. It has warmed up since then, right now it is a balmy 23 degrees.

Sweetheart Ball

2007-02-11T16:18:00.000-05:00

Last night, Jennie and I attended the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley (GAGV) Sweetheart Ball. The event is a Valentine's themed formal for the gay community in Rochester. We attended with Tim and Gerry and saw many other friends during the course of the evening, which included drinks, dinner, entertainment (drag queens) and dancing. Afterwards, we had drinks at Nasty D's. Jennie and Gerry were tired so Tim and I dropped them off at home and continued the party at Tilt. We capped off the night with a good deal more drinking, dancing, and debauchery ;) Pictures.

Open for business

2007-02-06T18:14:00.000-05:00

Today we made our first sales as Hedonist Artisan Chocolates! Jennie sold a gift box of 20 and 11 individual truffles from our new counter at Equal=Grounds coffee shop. We also have many gift boxes pre-ordered for Valentine's day (customers will pick their orders up at the coffee shop).

Jennie worked out all the licenses and permits last week and made the chocolate over the weekend in the commercial kitchen (pictured on the left). I decorated the case and have been running various supply and printing errands. We'll be doing a promotional event this week and making lots of chocolate over the weekend in anticipation of Valentine's Day. Once the holiday is over, I'll work on setting up the website for online ordering, you'll also be able to join the mailing list to get information about new flavors and promotions. Then will need to be ready for Easter, the next big chocolate holiday :)

Making Chocolate

2007-01-28T16:10:00.000-05:00

Jennie and I are taking steps to start a small chocolate business. We're calling it Hedonist Artisan Chocolates. We plan to create and sell handmade truffles using chocolate with a high cacao percentage and unusual/exotic flavors. Pictured here are some of our first efforts: Ginger Macadamia Nut, French Roast, and Lavender. We're currently experimenting with flavors in our home kitchen in preparation to sell chocolate for Valentine's day. We already have most of the licenses we need and will be producing the Valentine chocolates in a local commercial kitchen. To start, we will sell them from the coffee shop that Jennie works in and at a few other local stores. Eventually we will expand to other gift shops and Internet sales. Someday we'd like to have our own storefront, but that is a ways off. Jennie will run the business and be the primary chocolate maker, I'll deal with the website and marketing. I'm still planning on getting another job because this venture won't be profitable right away, but it is nice to have some free time now to get things going. We've always wanted to own a small business and recently settled on the idea of high-end chocolates. Jennie has some experience in the business and she loves to create things in the kitchen. When I was little I always wanted to own a candy shop :) Wish us luck! You'll be able to try our chocolates for yourselves soon... Here are some pictures of the process.

Ice Storm

2007-01-15T14:04:00.000-05:00

I just went outside to our porch to snap this picture of the neighbor's tree. We're experiencing freezing rain today in Rochester, luckily neither Jennie nor I have to leave the house (the coffee shop is closed on Mondays). We enjoyed a pleasant weekend in the neighborhood. On Saturday, neighbors Carrie and Travis invited us over for dinner, delicious spaghetti with eggplant meatballs. Yesterday we invited a few people over to our house for a champagne and waffle brunch. In the evening we feasted on seafood paella at next-door-neighbors Larry and Nancy's house.

We've been trying to get motivated to do many things at once, get jobs and start up an artisan chocolate business, while continuing with our social schedule and house work. Jennie is working at the coffee shop and applying for other jobs as they come up. She's also been pulling together things we need to start making and selling chocolate locally. We're planning on producing a small gift box for Valentine's Day to test ourselves and the local market. I've been trying to get organized for a targeted job search. My current barriers are a nebulous idea of what I want to do next and a resume that needs improvement. Opportunities keep coming up, but I don't feel prepared to meet them. This week I need to really get focused. I'm also finishing up a website I designed for friend and local artist Terry Hanney at: www.terryhanney.com and continue with small projects around the house. I have several photo/art projects I working on and still tying up the many loose ends in the kitchen. I promise to post pictures as soon as I'm satisfied with it :)

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T17:41:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture we took of ourselves just before midnight at Mark and Charlie's fabulous party. This was after I'd had about 4 drinks from the cosmopolitan cocktail fountain (yes, they actually had a cosmo fountain, see the pictures for proof). Afterwards we spent some time with neighbor's Nancy, Larry, Colleen and Katie at their friend Pam's party. Jennie was nice enough to refrain from drinking and she chauffeured us all home safely.

JJ & DD in Rochester for Christmas

2006-12-28T20:54:00.000-05:00

Justine and Dina came to visit us in Rochester for Christmas. We showed them some sights, introduced them to many of our friends and neighbors, ate, drank and were merry. We spent a few rainy hours at Niagara Falls, enjoyed happy hour at Lux Lounge, shopped/ate empanadas at the Public Market, tasted the finest wines around Senca Lake, bartended at Tim and Gerry's holiday party (or as Dina and Justine referred to it, the "Big Gay Party"), and enjoyed Nancy and Larry's hospitality for Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we opened presents at home and made a big turkey dinner (no, we did not have a white Christmas, I think it rained). When we weren't busy, we were hanging around enjoying the comforts of our Linden Street home. We had a lovely time with them and were sad to see them leave on the day after Christmas.

Elaine got Married

2006-12-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

I was in the Bay Area last weekend to attend my cousin Elaine's wedding in San Jose. I only went for a few days because at the time I booked the flight I thought that I had a job to come back to.

I arrived on Saturday and spent a lovely evening with D'Art, Shana, Rocket and Marina in Richmond. I slept in the guest bed and in the middle of the night Rocket got up and came to sleep with me, it was very sweet. Marina is one of the happiest babies I know and rapidly gaining personality. In the morning, I helped dress the kids for temple and headed south. I stopped along the way for some Spicy Chicken with Orange Peel in Los Altos.

The wedding was at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in the hills south of San Jose. I admit I was skeptical about the location, but it was beautiful. The ceremony was outdoors (a bit cold at 4pm) but we ate indoors. I posted the pictures on Flickr. It was wonderful to see so many of my family in one place although I was sad that my brothers Anthony and Cameron couldn't make it. Afterwards I made a quick stop at my Uncle Ray and Mara's house in Campbell where my parents were staying. I got to spend some time with my cousin Alex who is now substantially taller than me.

I spent the night in SF at Kelley's and in the morning we ate a delicious breakfast at the Pork Store in the Mission. We had a short visit with Rebecca and her Mom Barbara on Bartlett street and then it was time for me to go. I thought I was leaving myself plenty of time to get to the airport, but turns out I was wrong. For the first time in my life I missed a flight and had to wait 6 hours in SFO for the next one. I arrive home in Rochester 9 hours after I was supposed to and slept all day.

Merry Christmas from Xerox

2006-12-12T13:48:00.000-05:00

I was laid off today, along with 15 of my Industrial Design and Human Interface (IDHI) colleagues. I knew that it was a possibility, but didn't actually believe they would lay me off since I just moved to Rochester to work for them. Jennie and I are going to try to stay here since we just bought the house. We might have to get a roommate if I don't get a new job right away. They gave me exactly one month of severance. Sucks doesn't it?

2nd Annual Holiday Party

2006-12-11T19:39:00.000-05:00

Jennie and I hosted our second annual Holiday bash from 4-8pm on Sunday the 10th. Last year we invited all of the neighbors in to see the house just a month after we bought it. This year neighbors, friends, and co-workers came to celebrate and to see how we've progressed. We ate drank and were merry, for proof check out the pictures!

Thanksgiving 2x

2006-11-27T22:24:00.000-05:00

We had the privlidge of enjoying two full Thanksgiving dinners with our neighbors Tim, Gerry and Collene. On Thursday, we had Thanksgiving I, with many members of Tim and Gerry's family. There was a group of 12 for dinner and even more for dessert, which consisted of 8 pies! We brought two pumpkin pies, a green bean casserole and Jennie's special cranberry ginger chutney. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and felt special to have been included in a family event.

After Thursday, Jennie and I spent most of our long weekend working on the kitchen countertops. We built some custom ones to go around the stove and coveered them with a simple blue laminate (ordered in large sheets from Lowe's). We were learning as we went and it took us three times longer than we expected, but we did manage to get two small countertops done. Jennie did all the routering because it hurt my wrists, I did most of the cutting and gluing. The process involves contact cement and a router, I'll post pictures when the kitchen is closer to done. We still need to laminate the large countertop with the sink, but we're doing that in small increments this week. Hopefully by the weekend we'll be able to install the tile backsplash, Travis the neighbor will be helping us out with that.

On Saturday we took a break from the countertops and enjoyed Thanksgiving II at Tim and Gerry's, this time with a group of friends. We have the best neighbors ever!

Miami, baby!

2006-11-16T14:55:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I left behind the cold, wintry weather to visit friends Michelle, Chris, and their new baby London Isolde in Miami, FL. I arrived on Saturday afternoon. Chris had to work a show (Michelle and Chris are the principal wig and make-up artists for the Florida Grand Opera) that evening so Michelle and I headed down to South Beach with London in tow. London is a beautiful baby and minimally cranky, except when teething. We walked with the stroller along the boardwalk until after sunset, then enjoyed sangria and appetizer at Di Lido. Di Lido is an ocean-front, open air restaurant that is part of the Ritz Carlton Hotel with a great view of the beach. This place was lovely and I would highly recommend it. Afterwards we walked up the bustling Lincoln Road to enjoy dinner at Sushi Siam. I had some sushi and Michelle ordered a Thai dish, both were pretty good. Michelle and I stayed up late that evening, catching up and hanging out with London.

On Sunday I was privileged to be able to attend the Opera's monumental production of Aida. The show was nearly sold out, but Chris and I bought a ticket from an old man in front of the box office for $10. Before the show, Michelle got me backstage to visit with her while she did the makeup and wigs for the show's female leads: Angela M. Brown and Guang Yang, both of whom were beautiful and very down to earth. The show was amazing, with top notch costumes, sets, and of course wigs and makeup! I also enjoyed the opera house, which is brand new. After the show we attended a party at the production manager's home in a rather swanky Miami neighborhood and then hung out back at Chris and Michelle's house with friends Cristy and Barry.

On Monday we ate brunch at Dogma Grill, a gourmet hot dog stand. I ordered the 'Cali' dog with avocado on it and the garlic fries, which were amazing. My favorite thing about the place was the fresh mint lemonade. We spent the rest of our time on South Beach. The temperature was around 80 degrees with some high clouds/haze so it simply pleasant at the beach. We were able to get a few hours of sun in before I had to go to the airport. I arrived home to chilly rain :(
More photos...

Jeff's Visit

2006-11-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

This weekend my friend Jeff visited us in Rochester. Jeff and I met in Ann Arbor where we attended SI together; he currently lives in San Diego. His flight arrived early Friday evening. We went directly home to drop his stuff off at the house, and then went for dinner at Open Face. Afterwards we went for drinks at our regular watering hole, Lux Lounge. Throughout the evening, Jeff was able to meet many of our neighbors and friends. We wanted to make it out to Nick Tahou’s for the original garbage plate, but it is a ways out of town (west towards Gates). Ron recommended we try Mark’s Texas Hots, just over on Monroe Ave. They served a decent “Sloppy Plate,” which we shared. We also split a white hot just to prove they existed.

On Saturday we had a full day that started off with a hearty breakfast at home. Jennie skipped her soccer game to accompany us to the Public Market we explored most of the stalls inside and out, purchasing our veggies and fruit for the week. We also stopped in to the cheese shop and Java Joe’s where we ran into Gerry Symanski. Gerry pointed us to a very cool art installation at A/V Gallery on the perimeter of the market.

After the market, we went to see the Georgia O’Keefe: Color and Conservation exhibit at the Memorial Art Gallery. It wasn’t a large exhibition, but I enjoyed it. There was one image of blue sky seen through the opening in the hipbone of a small rodent that was particularly striking. There were many photographs of O’Keefe that were on display with the artwork (from the Eastman House collection) that augmented the show’s appeal. Since the weather was exceptional and we had a few hours of daylight left when we emerged from the museum, we decided to pick up Buddy the dog and go for a short hike around the Mt. Hope Cemetery. Although the leaves were past their peak color, there was a still lot to look at and we had fun wading through the piles of leaves on the ground.

In the evening we had cheese, snacks and wine at home. Neighbors Tim, Gerry and Colleen joined us later. We hung out in the house for a while before venturing out into the cold to walk to dinner at Flavors of Asia. On the way we stopped at what used to be a neighborhood bar, and is now transforming into “The Black Pearl,” a bar and restaurant. We had drinks (the restaurant part isn’t open yet), met the owner and reviewed at the planned menu. It didn’t look that exciting, but it is very close to our house so we’ll probably be regular customers once it opens. Dinner at Flavors was delicious as always. Afterwards Jeff and I wanted to see the movie Borat, but didn’t think we could stay up until the next showing at 11:30pm.

The next morning we made breakfast and hung out at home, before taking Jeff to the airport at noon. It was great to have him visit, I hadn’t seen him since graduation last year. View my photos and Jeff's.

Happy Halloween...

2006-10-29T20:10:00.000-05:00

...from my parents. Here's my Mom's latest card creation, just in time for the spooky holiday. Jennie and I don't have any plans for Halloween other than handing out candy. We've been invited to go over to Holly and Colleen's around the corner, they sit out in their front yard around a fire every year to see the kids and give them sugar.

The Coolest Thing Ever

2006-10-28T19:56:00.000-04:00

I'm in love with this vintage bathroom accessory. It is designed to be set into the wall above the sink, when you press the side of the door, it revolves to reveal a little compartment to hold a small cup and 4 toothbrushes. I first saw one of these in David and Donny's rental house in Syracuse. I asked Jim at Historic Houseparts to keep an eye out for me and the other day they got some in. Jennie and I went down there this morning to pick it up and check out their annual tent sale. The one we bought is in pretty good shape, but I'm looking into having it replated. We have to take out the walls in the upstairs bathroom anyway (probably later this winter), so this should be pretty easy to install. Now I just have to find a small glass to fit inside (I used a plastic one in the picture), and we might have to downsize our toothbrushes. They had such small ones in the 50s!

Fall Weekend

2006-10-23T18:02:00.000-04:00

My friend Lucilia came up from Syracuse for Jennie's birthday party on Friday night and stayed with us through Saturday. In the morning we made breakfast and then walked down to Equal Grounds to get Jennie some coffee. Afterwards we attended the grand opening of the South Wedge Green Grocer. This has been an eagerly anticipated event in our neighborhood, which until Saturday did not have a real grocery store. We mingled with old and new neighbors, sampled maple syrup and enjoyed some interesting music. The picture above was taken at the store by friend Gerry Szymanski. Later we hung out with Lucilia, Tim, Gerry and the puppies on our newly painted porch before bidding Lucilia goodbye. Jennie and I stayed home that evening, just puttering around the house. On Sunday we cleaned the house and made crème brûlée for the first time (thanks to Kelley, Justine and Dina for the thoughtful gift) in preparation for Holly and CJ's visit in the evening. We drove out to Sodus together and ate at a very authentic Mexican restaurant: El Rincon. I tried the tamales and Jennie had enchilades, both delicious. It was the first real Mexican food we'd had in the area. Afterwards we went back to our house for dessert. We had never used the culinary torch before, so we each took a turn carmelizing the sugar on top of the crème brûlée. We had fresh pomegranite seeds, sorbet and syrup to go along with it plus coffee to finish out the evening.

Jennie's Birthday Party

2006-10-21T17:36:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Jennie's birthday early at the Lux on Friday. I ordered pizza from Little Venice and made Jennie a Swedish Princess Cake. We also had cupcakes and a delicious chocolate/carmel cake provided by Shawn. Many of our neighbors and friends were there to celebrate Jennie turning 25 (again). After some time at the Lux, we traveled across the street to the wine bar that just opened in our neighborhood: Solera. They were having a grand opening celebration. Afterwards we attended another party at Mark and Charlie's new fixer upper in the Park Avenue neighborhood. Jennie pooped out at that point, but I continued on with Tim and Lucilia. We met up with Tim, Gerry, Carrie and Sarah at Nasty D's for a few more drinks to finish off the evening. We toasted to Jennie in her absence. More photos...

Keuka Lake Wine Tour

2006-10-16T17:31:00.000-04:00

On Sunday Jennie and I went on an afternoon wine tour of Keuka Lake, planned by friend Rich. We journeyed south with Rich, Mike, John, Janine and Julie to the town of Hammondsport at the base of the lake. We had brunch at a place on the town square and then spent some time in a few of the cute shops: Browsers and The Cinnamon Stick. Afterwards we drove north up the west side of the lake. The weather was perfect, partly sunny with high clouds, and the leaves were quite colorful. Our first stop was Bully Hill, I have never cared for the wines from this place, but they do put on a crass, but entertaining show during their tastings which they do in a large group rather than individually. We continued up the lake, stopping at Heron Hill, Dr. Konstantin Frank, and Hunt Country, enjoying our sampling of Finger Lakes wine. Our sommelier at Dr. Frank's was the best. We did end up buying a few bottles of white along the way. We finished up around 5 and took back roads home through farmland and turning leaves. More photos...

When we arrived home we were invited to dine next door at Nancy and Larry's house. They had a guest chef for the evening: Nancy's sister Jane. We enjoyed a delicious meal of green salad, pasta with chicken sausage, and fresh bread. Afterwards we joined Larry, Travis, Collene and a few of their friends at the Water Street Music Hall to see The Del McCoury Band. As usual, Del and the Boys put on a fabulous show.

Fall Colors

2006-10-13T10:07:00.000-04:00

Monday was the perfect fall day. I had the opportunity to be out of the cube and in the fresh air with my team at Xerox. For our 'teambuilding' event we took a field trip south into the Bristol hills. We ate lunch at a biker bar called Lock, Stock and Barrel. The main event was riding the Bristol Mountain chairlifts to the top of the hill and then walking down through trees at their peak fall color. Along the way there were numerous butterflies and a group of small snakes in the rocks beside the trail. Afterwards, Jeremy and I took a short drive up to Gannett Hill in Ontario County Park for another beautiful view of the colorful hills. Then we continued south to Naples to pick up some grape pies, a regional specialty. On the way home we stopped so I could get a pumpkin from a roadside stand. This warm, sunny, beautiful day was in sharp contrast to yesterday when it started lightly snowing in Rochester around 6pm. This morning there was about 1/2 an inch of the white stuff on the ground outside the house. I guess I should be grateful we don't live in Buffalo where they received 18 inches!

ImageOut 2006

2006-10-08T19:15:00.000-04:00

This weekend marked the opening of ImageOut, Rochester's Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival. Jennie and I started the weekend early, attending a show by Sabrina Matthews, a lesbian comic who was also featured in the Friday night movie Laughing Matters...More. We thought she was quite funny, but were disapointed that almost all the material she used Thursday night was repeated in the movie. Jennie harassed Sabrina in retaliation at the opening night party on Friday at Nasty D's, she wasn't all that amused.

On Saturday, friends David and Donny arrived from Syracuse. They caught the youth project shorts program (Listen Up) at noon and then came to hang out with us. We walked them around our neighborhood and then met up for dinner with Tom, Eric, and their visitors from North Hampton. Afterwards we went back to our house for a quick game of Cranium and then met up for the late movie: Another Gay Movie which was very entertaining. We decided to go out to Tilt to break the monotony of Nasty D's. It was a big hit and we stayed till closing. Pizza and cookies at home provided a delicious end to the evening. In the morning we had coffee at Equal=Grounds and then attended Flower City Flicks, a collection of local short films. I had low expectations of this program, based on last year's experience, but was pleasantly surprised. Most of the films were impressive in their own way, and those that weren't had the decency to be brief. After a long, mimosa-filled lunch at Magnolia's on a spectacular autumn day, we waved sadly goodbye to David and Donny. Now it's our turn to come to Syracuse, they've promised to take us to Trexx for an evening of fine entertainment. More photos...

We'll be seeing a few more films this week (more than we planned, thanks to Shawn who mysteriously received extra tickets in the mail): Puccini for Beginners, Shortbus, and Red Doors.

Party Weekend

2006-09-18T02:02:00.000-04:00

We had a crazy, fun, spontaneous weekend in Rochester. On Friday night we attended Gallery Night Out at ArtisanWorks with Tom. It was a sort of an open house with music and hors d'oeuvres. We got dressed up and wandered through the massive collection, meeting a few of the resident artists who were in their studios. We ran into a lot of friends there, I spent more time talking than I did looking at the art, but I enjoyed myself. Afterwards we ate dinner at Golden Port and then went over to Rich's house for drinks.

On Saturday we had invited Tim and Gerry over for drinks to celebrate Tim's birthday (which was on the 15th), it turned into a medium sized cocktail party that got pretty wild. I won't reveal all the details, but they include not only birthday cake, but puppies, Broadway show tunes, and silly hats. The volume on the front porch was loud enough to be heard around the corner on Meigs street (as reported by Linda days later). Luckily many neighbors were in attendance and we all departed for Bar Night at The Bachelor Forum around midnight before anyone called the cops.

Back in Rochester

2006-09-10T21:59:00.000-04:00

Our first weekend after returning from vacation reminded us that we don't always have to go out of town for a good time. Although we were still recovering from the nasty cold, we managed to get out for some fresh air (after having been in bed for a few days straight). On Friday we attended a Greek Festival in our neighborhood at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit just three blocks away. This is a small celebration and as a result the food prices were reasonable and the lines short. We walked, meeting Tom there, and enjoyed a great dinner, complete with beer and delicious cookies, while being entertained by the band and dancing. Afterwards we had hot chocolate at Equal=Grounds and checked out the newest shop in our budding neighborhood: Nook, a modern gift store.

The next day we hung around the house, Jennie continued her work on the porch (to be covered in a future post). In the evening we attended the last home game of the Empire State Roar, Rochester's professional women's football team. They played the New England Intensity at a high school in East Rochester. It was interesting to go to the game, but it wasn't much more exciting than JV football. Also, it was cold and rainy, probably not the best for our health..

The next day we were supposed to meet Kara, Mitch, Tom and Eric for brunch at The Penguin Diner and then go to the Clothesline Festival (arts and crafts). I had a relapse and didn't make it out of bed. Jennie rallied and met them for breakfast.

Burning Man

2006-09-09T12:54:00.000-04:00

Burning Man was a blast as usual. This was my 8th Burning Man and Jennie's ninth (our first year was 1996). We camped with Kate, Kelley, Rebecca and Ben: a great crew with very little drama and lots of fun. Rebecca and Ben went out early with friends Mark and Brandy on Monday to save us a spot. Things got crowded early so we ended up at 7:15 and Guess (see map). It was much more remote that we usually are, but ended up being great. We had a sweet camp set up with a much-coveted couch. I always have a hard time describing the event to people and lately I've just stopped bothering. I did take some pictures, they are primarily of us. There are some great videos produced by Current TV at TV Free Burning Man that do a good job of capturing the spirit of things. Of particular interest is the 8:30 "Camp Life" segment which features the Deep End: a camp that throws the best daytime party on the playa. Many of our camp-mates spent a good deal of time there, and friend Ronnie is one of the founding members of that group.

The Current TV 9:01 segment: "Art" covers two of the most impressive pieces on the playa, Serpent Mother by the Flaming Lotus Girls and Uchronia by Arne Quinze. Serpent Mother was a huge metal sculpture of a snake curled around an egg just opening. Each segment of the snake shot flames into the sky and participants could push buttons to make the flames go. Even when it got cold late at night, standing inside the coils of the snake was always warm. We even took turns pushing the buttons! The image above was taken by Mills - a Flaming Lotus plumber, check out her Flickr site for more amazing photos.

Uchronia was a gargantuan structure placed far out into the playa. Built only of wood, it looked like it had been blown by the wind into being. I didn't learn the real name of it until we returned because everyone out there referred to it as the "Belgian Waffle" (because it was built by Belgians) or "Tsunami." You can see the Belgian Waffle burn online. The image to the left was taken by Johnny One-Spur, another Flickr member with an excellent collection of Burning Man photos online.

My favorite part of Burning Man is the people. I love meeting new people and seeing old friends. Burning Man is the only place where I see certain friends and I always look forward to it. Some meetings are planned and others occur at random. I was happy to be able to catch the Miss Black Rock City Pagent which is MCd by my good friend Stacy. I hunted Elinor down in Camp Purple within the Blue Light District and we found Sean, Dexter and Vnes at Camp Comfort. One of my most memorable nights of meeting new people was at Vamp Camp where I sat at the bar, drank delicious vamp juice and helped Jeff cover his upper body with the names of the places where our newly made friends were from (Weed, Reno, LA, SF, NYC, Toronto, Sydney...).

We stayed through the primary burn of the Man on Saturday night, adventured on the playa all night and watched the sun rise on Sunday Morning (Sept. 3). Then we packed up our camp and headed for the Reno Hilton for some much needed showers and sleep. Rebecca and Ben stayed for the Sunday night burn of the Temple and the Belgian Waffle. On Monday we made it back to San Francisco and on Tuesday flew home. Although we were exhausted (and sick with colds for a week afterwards) upon return, Jennie and I both feel reconnected and re-energized, moving forward into a life where some of the unique spirt of Burning Man is in everything that we do.

Santa Cruz

2006-08-29T23:58:00.000-04:00

After my birthday party on Sunday, Jennie and I drove to Santa Cruz to visit her parents for a few days. We also did a lot of running errands and shopping in preparation for Burning Man. We went to the Bargain Barn twice with Jennie's Mom Peggy. The barn has changed quite a bit since we last visited, there are more rules (I was even told that I couldn't take pictures there), but we still found lots of great stuff at cheap prices. There's a good article on the controversy in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. We managed to eat and drink at many of our favorite places: El Palomar Taco Bar, Taqueria Vallarta (see photo above), Jamba Juice. We also had a nice visit with Jennie's Grandma Marcella in Capitola. More pictures...

Zahra's West Coast Birthday Party

2006-08-27T01:57:00.000-04:00

We celebrated my birthday a lot this year! Jennie, Kelley, and Rebecca organized a party for Kate and I in Rebecca's San Francisco backyard. I had a fabulous time with so many friends and family in one place. Justine made cakes so we could cut the heads off in the Danish tradition. My parents surprised me, making the 5 hour drive down from Weed and back home all in the same day. They brought my sister Dolly with them. My Uncle Ray, Great Aunt Mary Sue (with her friend Calvin) were also there to celebrate. Cari, Steve, David, Noor and Olga were there as well for a mini-Michigan reunion. We enjoyed BBQ, beer, and lots of cake. Here are the birthday pictures that Dina and I took with my camera.

Zahra's East Coast Birthday Party

2006-08-26T00:38:00.000-04:00

Tonight Jennie threw me a birthday party at the Lux Lounge. We invited all of the new friends we have met in Rochester to share pizza with us on the patio. Tom M., Kara, and Shawn each contributed a delicious cake (I'm pictured here with Tom's checkerboard masterpiece). I had a wonderful time and received many thoughtful presents. Jennie and I are lucky to have made such amazing friends in the year that we have been in Rochester. More pictures...

Toilet Water

2006-08-26T00:27:00.000-04:00

Ben the cat has decided that the toilets in the house are now his personal water bowls, despite the fact that we keep fresh water in the kitchen at all times. I'm just trying to keep them extra clean and hoping that this is just a phase...

What Ever Happened to the Kitchen?

2006-08-15T17:31:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year we put in a dishwasher/garbage disposal and tore the walls down. I posted a brief update in May when we were trying to get ready for guests. Since the guests have come and gone, we have done very little work inside the house because it is so nice outside. The kitchen is back in working order, but it is by no means finished.

You can check out some pictures I took of the project in progress. Here's what we've (mostly Jennie with some help from me) accomplished to date:

Updated all the electrical and added new outlets

Insulated the walls then put up drywall and painted

Switched the positions of the stove and the refrigerator

Installed pendant lighting over the sink and a new ceiling fixture

Sanded, stained and finished the wood floor: its dark blue

Installed a back door and stairs leading into the back yard

Installed a new microwave/hood over the stove

Installed new trim around all of the doors

Painted the brick chimney blue

Here's what remains to be done:

Install baseboard trim and thresholds at 2 doors

Install trim around the brick chimney

Install a nine inch wide cabinet in the corner (we had to remove some to get the dishwasher in

Re-laminate the counter top in Navy Grafix by Formica

Install tile backsplash in a mix of Navy, Moon Blue, and Moss 4 inch tile

Refinish cabinets and add decorative hardware

Eventually we'd like to add some cabinets and countertops around the stove, but we'll probably save that for later :)

Park Ave.

2006-08-08T20:07:00.000-04:00

Sunday, Jennie and I started our day off at the Commuinty Garage Sale at the Public Market (scouting out materials for Burning Man outfits) and the met up with Margaret for the Park Avenue Festival. We strolled up and down the street, looking at the people and crafts. Margaret bought a red clay soap dish and toothbrush holder for her bathroom. Jennie and I didn't find much we wanted to take home, except for some very cool spinning metal sculptures which we couldn't afford. We ate lunch off the street at Hogan's Hideaway, enjoying the sounds of Buddhahood.

Finger Lakes Wine Tour

2006-08-05T22:28:00.000-04:00

Today we took a wine tour of the Finger Lakes with our neighbors Carrie, Travis and Colleen, along with their friends Jason, Helena, and Brigitte. We traveled in a limo, which was something I had never done. Our first stop was the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, a brand new facility that Travis did some tile work in. It was a pretty fancy place, complete with a tasting room, a 'demonstration theatre', a gift shop, and a restaurant. The tile was fabulous of course. We did our first wine tasting here, the five wines were all from some of the other wine regions in the state and I didn't care for any of them.
Next we traveled to the shores of Seneca Lake. Our first winery was Fox Run a very popular, down-to-earth place that Jennie and I had visited before with Kara. Fox Run just happened to be hosting their annual Garlic Festival so we got way more than wine here. Jennie got a garlic hot dog and I enjoyed a roasted garlic bulb with brie cheese. The weather was prefect and the views of the lake spectacular as we continued down the west side of the lake. We visited Earl Estates Meadery, Fulkerson, Glenora, and Arcadia Estates. The most interesting offerings were from the Meadery, they had many fruit flavored meads and wines. Arcadia also had some good stuff, we bought the dandelion dessert wine. The region is best known for it's white wines, particularly Riesling. At Glenora, Brigitte and I enjoyed some wine ice cream, delicious! Next time we have visitors, I think we'll want to take them to see some of these wineries. There are so many of them that it is easy to make a day of it. The atmosphere at each was very casual, the tastings were free or very cheap, and the wine was good and affordable. This can't be said for many places in Napa and Sonoma.

Jennie vs. the Bushes

2006-07-23T17:15:00.000-04:00

This week, Jennie dug out the bushes that were against the fence between us and our new neighbors Nancy and Larry. The yard looks much cleaner already and we have more sunny space to plant vegetables next year.

Parent's Visit

2006-07-19T20:45:00.000-04:00

My parents came to Rochester for a visit last week, after spending a few hot days in Washington, D.C. Here's a picture of at Niagara Falls. I took them straight there from the Buffalo Airport on Friday morning. Afterwards we went to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo for their famous chicken wings. Although the weather was uncooperative, temperatures around 93 degrees every day with high humidity, we managed to fill their time with activities. We enjoyed a lot of time at our house, eating big breakfasts and having a BBQ. My Mom & I explored the Eastman House and took a guided tour of the gardens there. We borrowed Tim and Gerry's Jeep again and drove around the city, visited High Falls and even ate dinner and frozen custard on Park Ave.

On Saturday evening Cornell and Kathy invited us for dinner at their home in Churchville. The food and the company were both exquisite. We brought a salad, flowers and fresh fruit that we had purchased at the Public Market. I think it was nice for my parents to see a homestead more like their own in New York state. On Sunday we braved the heat for a 3pm guided tour of the Mt. Hope Cemetery. This is a must do for any visitor (sorry we didn't make it out there with Kelley and Kate!), the cemetery has more residents than the city of Rochester and some of them are quite famous (Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony). I am always inspired by the artwork and sculptural forms of the headstones. When it got too hot we went to cool our feet in Lake Ontario. We also visited the Erie Canal in Pittsford. At Lock 32, we were able to watch a working lock in action. Afterwards we ate lunch at Aladdin's. On Monday night Jay and Nancy (our next door neighbors when we lived in Ypsilanti, MI) stopped by for a few beers. They now live in North Carolina but were in the area for Jay's high school reunion.

Looking back on the visit, we did a lot, but during the visit I was always worried that we weren't seeing enough. I did want my Mom to see Artisan Works. I suppose we'll have to save that for the next visit. I'm glad that my parents were able to see where we live, I miss being able to see them more often.

Pride in Rochester

2006-07-09T19:51:00.000-04:00

Rochester has a large GLBT pouplation (I've heard rumor that it has the 3rd largest per capita gay population in the US, but I couldn't substantiate that) and thus has pretty impressive Pride celebration. Here's the D & C's article on the Saturday parade, there was also a Pride Picnic on Sunday. The above picture was taken at the Cultural Festival after the parade. Featured are friends Mary, Rich, Carrie and Greg. Jennie's wearing the 'In Charge' shirt because we volunteered at the event, checking IDs for beer drinkers.

4th of July

2006-07-05T20:07:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I were scheduled to go to Saugatuck, MI this weekend to meet up with friends Greg, Tom and Arnold but had to cancel because we needed to continue working on the kitchen. We did manage to get some fun in between the housework though. On Sat. we went to the Public Market for food shopping and discovered a wonderful resource for used building materials: ReStore, run by the local Habitat for Humanity organization. We found a great overhead light and two pendant lights that we can make work for the kitchen. They weren't exactly what we were looking for, but we liked the price. Sunday we spent working on the house and watching the first season of Lost on DVD.

On Monday evening we traveled to Sodus Point for the first time with neighbor Tim to attend a BBQ at friend Rich's cottage. We enjoyed great food and company with an ideal view of the water. I took a paddleboat ride around the bay with Carrie. Just before the fireworks, people on the shore around the bay light flares at the edge of the water, I was told they call it the 'ring of fire.' Once the flares burned down, the fireworks began.

On the 4th, we got in the jeep with Tim and drove south through the countryside to enjoy the Genesee Country Village's celebration. Tim led the Pittsford Fire Department Band in the parade and we enjoyed a staged reading of th Declaration of Independence. We also ran into Cornell and Kathy, as well as Margaret who was visiting the village with her parents. In the afternoon, we enjoyed drinks at neighbors Travis and Carrie's house. For dinner we rode our bikes with friend Tom to Dac Hoa, a Vietnamese restaurant that was the only one open in town (I agree with the reviewer, they have very good Bun). Later we met up with Tim and Gerry, we all rode our bikes down to Corn Hill Landing for the city of Rochester's fireworks. We were very close to the bridge where the fireworks were being set off and had a great view. The city must have spent a lot of money because it was the best one I have seen, ever. I tried to capture it on film, but I guess you just had to be there in person.

Kelley & Kate's Visit

2006-06-28T22:12:00.000-04:00

This weekend we enjoyed a visit from Kelley and Kate, on their way back from a wedding in Rhode Island. They arrived late Sunday afternoon. We had the kitchen mostly back together so we were able to prepare dinner: steak and shrimp with grilled vegetables and strawberry shortcake for dessert. The evening was warm so we ate our meal in the backyard where Kate saw her first firefly and cardinal. Afterwards we walked to the Lux for drinks. I took the day off on Monday, so in the morning we made breakfast together (Kelley was in charge of the bacon, of course) and then headed for the border to see Niagara Falls. We spent a few hours walking along the falls, getting soaked in the spray, then wandered the enormous gift shop at Table Rock and ate an early dinner at Edgewaters (some of the worst food I've ever eaten, but great view of the falls). On the way out of the parking lot we spotted a ground hog (or something similar), another first for Kate, she took some pictures of it ;). That evening we hung out at home and then went to Park Avenue with our neighbor Tim for frozen custard at Abbot's. We strolled through the upscale neighborhood, enjoying our custard on a warm summer night. I had to go to work the next day, but Jennie spent some more time with Kelley and Kate before they departed for San Francisco (via Buffalo). It was great to see our friends and be able to show them our new home. We miss having Kelley and Kate closer, but we'll see them in August for Burning Man.

Jen's Visit

2006-06-24T14:37:00.000-04:00

This past week we enjoyed a visit from Jennie's friend Jen who she met while working at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in 2001. The photo to the left is of Jennie and Jen at Durand Beach on Lake Ontario. Jen hails from southern Australia and her itinerary included Rochester NY, Toronto ON, Portland OR, and San Francisco CA. Although we weren't able to do a lot of touristy things because of our schedule and work on the kitchen, we did manage to share a slice of Rochester neighborhood life. We ate out quite a bit, since we couldn't cook at the house, so she got a good sampling of local cuisine, ranging from Hooters to The Triphammer Grill. We explored the bar scene, enjoying the drag king show at Muther's, free pizza night at the Lux Lounge, and drinks on the beach at Marge's Lakeside Inn. We had two BBQs at Tim and Gerry's house. Jen spent some time with Jennie at her new workplace: Equal Grounds. Everyone adored Jen and couldn't get enough of her accent. She also helped out quite a bit with the kitchen and some yard work. We miss her already and hope to be able to visit her in Austraila in the near future!

Limited Posts Until Kitchen is Done

2006-06-12T15:00:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I are in the middle of the kitchen project so I won't have much time for posts over the next few weeks.

Jennie took all the walls down (they were plaster and lathe covered with green/yellow plastic sheeting) and updated the electrical. We're moving the refrigerator to where the stove was and the stove to the other interior wall (where we'll also be adding a microwave). Jennie and I put up the drywall last week, Jennie also installed a door to the backyard and built some stairs. We spent this past weekend patching all of the seams. Jennie is painting today. Next step is sanding and refinishing the wood floors, then installing all of the trim, which should happen this weekend. Next week we'll put everything back together (stove, refrigerator, microwave, some cabinets that needed to be moved) and add new pendant lights. Hopefully just in time for our weekend guests: Justine, Dina, Kelley, and Kate! I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Memorial Day

2006-05-29T22:11:00.000-04:00

Today our friend Tom helped up do a badly needed tune up on the Jetta. We replaced the air filter, spark plugs, cap and roater. Afterwards we did some investigation as to the source of the current oil leak (image above). Tom also helped Jennie hook up some of the new electrical she had wired for the kitchen project. Later we went over to his house for an evening BBQ in the courtyard. What a great friend!

Adirondacks

2006-05-28T21:50:00.000-04:00

Memorial Day weekend, Jennie and I took a two day trip into the Adirondack Mountains, a short 3.5 hour drive from Rochester into the mountainous area of northern New York. The Adirondacks have always been a resort area for people looking to get away from the downstate cities and thus is full of 4 star restaurants and luxury vacation homes. We stayed in the town of Inlet, NY, in a cottage on the Fourth Lake in the Fulton Chain. It was a pretty place, lots of water and trees, but the 'mountains' were pretty small. Although the owners of the cabin we stayed in had informed us to the contrary, it was black fly season so we had to buy bug spray and we're not able to spend as much time as we wanted canoeing. Neither of us got bit, but it was annoying. Apparently they go away by mid-June.

I had Friday and Monday off from Xerox so we left Friday morning in a drizzle. The drive was pleasant though, we were on the Thruway to Utica and then turned north into forest. After arriving and dropping off our stuff, we went into town to get some information on activities and restaurants. It was supposed to rain for the rest of the evening so we had an early dinner in a town down the road called Old Forge. After dinner we saw the DaVinci Code at the small movie theatre in town. The next day we made bacon and pancakes at the cabin for breakfast. It was supposed to rain in the morning so we decided on a more indoor activity, The Adirondack Museum, up the road in Blue Mtn. Lake. It was a nice museum that showcased the region's history. Our favorite exhibit was the one on boats which were once the primary means of transportation in the area. We at lunch with the flies on Blue Mt. Lake. The weather cleared up later in the day so we went on a short hike to a place called Ferd's Bog. Half of the trail was on floating planks so we could get out into the middle of the bog. We did see some wildflowers and lots of pitcher plants. In the evening, we BBQed corn and sausage sandwiches at the cabin and watched the sun go down on the lake.

The next day we made breakfast at the cabin and then checked out. We went for a long hike around Moss Lake, where I saw more wildflowers. Both the Moss Lake hike and Ferd's bog are shown on this map of Inlet hiking trails. We headed home at around 1:30 pm and were home by 5. We spent some time working on the yard before it got dark.

Clean Sweep

2006-05-23T21:17:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, Jennie and I participated in a city initiative called Clean Sweep. It is part of the new mayor's plan to improve life in the city of Rochester. Our neighbors Carrie & Travis invited us to join them and we also met up with some other neighbors, Nora & Skip. We thought we would be cleaning up our own neighborhood, but ended up on a team that was assigned to an area around the railroad tracks near University and Winton. We spent three hours picking up trash, leaves and debris. Some of this included the parts and pieces of a homeless person's makeshift shelter, which we felt bad about. Other crews worked around the southeast area of the city, planting flowers, scraping telephone poles, and generally picking up.
Later in the afternoon we went to a party hosted by neighbor Carrie's father Larry and his wife Nancy. We didn't know what to expect, but ended up having a great time. It was nice to get to know Carrie and Travis better and to meet their family and friends. I talked to a lot of interesting people and the food was amazing. I learned about a sport called Platform Tennis which is played outdoors in winter on heated courts (many of the party guests were players). I also got some good recommendations for new restaurants in town to try. Towards the end of the night, Nancy brought out a selection of hats from her collection and we all took turns exchanging them. We stayed late and then walked home. We love our neighborhood!

Lilacs and Fried Food

2006-05-13T21:21:00.000-04:00

Jennie and I attended the opening day of the Lilac Festival yesterday, conveniently located in our neighborhood. We enjoyed fried food, wine, the music of Ben Lee, and a stroll through the thousands of blooming lilacs in Highland Park at dusk (check out the Lilac Report for more details on the plants). This morning we returned for the festival parade and more fried food. We also picked up a festival poster and had it signed by the artist, friend Jim Williams. I think we'll put it up in the guest room which we plan to paint plum. The festival continues through next weekend, hopefully we'll be able to resist the siren song of a second funnel cake.

Miami Shower

2006-05-06T22:18:00.000-04:00

I spent last weekend in Miami for my best friend Michelle's baby shower. She and her husband Chris are having a baby girl, due in July. They plan to name her London Amelia.

I arrived late Friday evening. Michelle and Chris are the head wig and makeup artists for the Florida Grand Opera, so they work late nights. I arrived just after they got off work at midnight. The next day we had breakfast in South Beach with all of the family members at The Big Pink. The menu was so extensive I couldn't decide what to order! Chris and Michelle actually had to work that day so I spent the rest of the day with their families: Chris's parents Karen and Mike, Chris's sister Erin, Michelle's parents Gus and Joan, Michelle's sister Annette and her son Arey. They have always treated me as one of their own and I had a fun day with them. Karen and Mike had booked a room at a fabulous hotel on the beach, Loews so we spent the day there between the beach and the pool. Around 5pm I went with Erin and Annette to the Palace on Ocean Drive to meet up with Erin's friend Jay and enjoy some happy hour cocktails and an outdoor drag show. In the meantime, the rest of the family enjoyed some shopping on Lincoln Road. Later we met up for dinner at David's Cafe II, a wonderful Cuban restaurant that was just off Lincoln but much less touristy than the other places around. Annette and I shared the coconut encrusted snapper with mango-guava salsa, delicious!

The next day was the big event. Michelle and I spent the morning in Costco with Mike and Karen, picking up all of the food. Michelle and Chris planned an atypical co-ed baby shower so they could invite all of their friends. We did have some traditional games though, including the poopey diaper door prize game, baby food tasting, pregnant limbo, celebrity, and my personal favorite: a drinking game played with baby bottles ;) I think that everyone enjoyed themselves and brought some very cute presents for London. After the shower we (all of the family members and I) went down to the water and enjoyed a sunset tour of the Biscayne Bay on a private yacht owned by Mike's boss. It was lovely just to relax and watch the ocean go by. We enjoyed drinks, a nighttime view of the city and even saw a dolphin. It was the perfect end to a full Sunday.

The next day we relaxed at a spa/hotel in Miami Beach. Michelle and I spent some time catching up in the sun on the beach while others relaxed by the pool or got massages. Later we both got pedicures (she hasn't been able to do her own toes for a while because of her growing belly!). I almost missed my flight home at 5pm because of traffic, but Michelle got me there just in time. I arrived home late, again wishing that my friends weren't so far away.

Wedding in Tucson

2006-04-26T22:01:00.000-04:00

Last week, we traveled to Tucson, AZ to share in the marriage of our friends Dina and Justine. Jennie has known Justine since the early years in Santa Cruz. Jennie, along with Kelley and Shannon, represented Justine's side of the wedding party. They were very proud of their socks, as you can see :)

Jennie went out a few days early to help with event preparations. I arrived late on Thursday night after work. That evening Justine and Dina hosted a BBQ at their home for all those who arrived early. They have a beautiful home with an amazing courtyard in the back full of desert landscaping, a fountain, a vegetable garden, an outdoor dining area and a small guest house. There were a lot of people staying over so Jennie and I volunteered to sleep outside under the stars, it was perfect. The next day the wedding party moved to our temporary home for the event weekend, the Royal Elizabeth, a gorgeous gay-owned B & B in downtown Tucson with a pool. The rehearsal for the wedding was in the morning and we helped host the rehearsal dinner at the B & B that evening. Justine and Dina's families were meeting for the first time at this event so it was quite interesting. There were lots of new people to meet and many old friends to catch up with. The food was delicious, catered by La Indita a Sonoran-style Mexican restaurant in town, and the setting was beautiful (we ate outside in the courtyard and around the pool).

Our breakfast on Saturday morning, prepared by hosts Jeff and Chuck was amazing, the watermelon gazpacho was my favorite. There was plenty of work to do, but we still found time to lounge by the pool as the wedding didn't start until 5pm. Both the ceremony and the reception took place at the Z Mansion a historic home close to downtown Tucson that is now used for large events. Everything took place outside in the courtyard under the trees. The weather was just perfect, warm and breezy. The ceremony was led by Jenessa, and included contributions from many dear friends. It encompassed traditions that combined Justine's Mexican and Dina's Italian heritage. I cried during most of it. Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner and many toasts to the new couple, including Jennie's, which was very well received. Then we danced and drank into the night, enjoying the sounds of DJ Ali and an open bar. Later, after the wedding was over and because we didn't want it to end, we walked to Plush to hear a local band play. The band members were friends of Dina and Justine, they dedicated a song to them and brought them up on stage to dance. Afterwards we went back to the B & B to enjoy the nighttime pool and hot tub action.

The next day was difficult because everyone was hung over, especially Dina, but we managed to clear out of the B & B and make it home to Dina and Justine's. We spent the next few days hanging out with our good friends, and then saying goodbye to them, one by one, as they departed for home. We left very early on Tuesday morning (the 25th) and were home by 6pm. We arrived exhausted and wishing that we lived closer to everyone we love.

Happy Easter

2006-04-16T21:41:00.000-04:00

Here's my Mom's newest custom greeting card, featuring her and Dad decorating Easter eggs. It was sent along with some delicious homemade cookies and rosaries for Jennie and I. They must really love us.

We spend Easter Sunday with our neighbors Tim and Gerry. In the morning we attended church with them at St. Mary's, a beautiful and progressive Catholic church in downtown Rochester. In the afternoon we enjoyed an Easter feast at their home with family members and friends. Jennie made deviled eggs and I made a chocolate cake (thanks to Kara for the recipe) and lemon bars for dessert. I spent most of my time on the back deck enjoying the warm sunshine and a cold cocktail. We are lucky to have such wonderful neighbors.

Lilac Festival Approaching

2006-04-12T12:30:00.000-04:00

The Lilac Festival is a big deal around these parts and it takes place just up the hill from us in Highland Park. My friend Jim Williams is the artist who painted the image above which was debuted today in the Democrat and Chronicle. We'll be hosting a brunch at our house on May 13th after the Lilac Festival Parade and we are looking forward to strolling through the lilac bushes and eating fried dough :)

That Place Where I Work

2006-04-03T17:58:00.001-04:00

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle published an article on my department last week: Xerox center studies ways to make products easier to use. It gives a very high level overview of some of the work that we do.

The Ivory Bedroom

2006-04-02T21:37:00.000-04:00

Do you remember the sleeping chamber, with it's strange manly wallpaper? We have since transformed it into a cozy nook with ivory walls and a bright striped comforter. Jennie and I couldn't agree on a color so we used the color we've been putting on our ceilings, its called 'Tusk Tusk.' Here's a picture of me steaming some of the wallpaper off. You can see that the plaster underneath was not in good shape. Jennie did all the hard work of filling and sanding the plaster, then priming and painting.

Color Odyssey

2006-04-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

Up until recently, Jennie had been stripping wallpaper, repairing plaster, and painting one room at a time. My office was the first project. Since then Jennie has finished her office, our bedroom, and the dining room (I'll post pictures sometime soon). The problem with this strategy was that the entire house had to be cleaned after each one because the dust from the plaster repair would get all over everything. In this last round, we decided to do three large areas at once: the living room, entryway/stairwell, and upstairs hallway. Jennie has become quite the expert at plaster repair, the walls are looking perfect. It has taken a while, but we are finally in the touch-up and clean up stages of the project.

It took us forever to decide on the colors for the downstairs rooms, but we finally settled on a color scheme from one of my favorite cards by Mudlark. We were able to match the periwinkle blue for the dining room exactly from the card. It was difficult to find the right tone of light blue for the living room and I'm still not convinced that it works; we'll see what it looks like when the furniture goes back in. We went with a medium green in the entryway and a lighter shade of that same green in the upstairs hallway because those two areas merge into one another. This is the most color we have ever had in our house and it is a little bit scary! Jennie keeps reminding me that it is just paint and now that the walls have been stripped and primed, it will be easy to paint over if we decide we don't like it.

This image was taken from the entryway looking through the living room and into the dining room. I'll post more pictures as we get things cleaned up and the furniture back in place. It will probably be a while before we have everything decorated though. The whole house seems brighter now that the dark wall paper is off and the ceilings are ivory. The only room remaining in the house with wallpaper is the guest bedroom. We're thinking about painting that one a plum/purple color, but not right away. It will probably take the imminent arrival of some actual guests (hint, hint) to motivate us to start stripping again. In the meantime, we're on to the kitchen.

Blue Backyard

2006-04-01T17:44:00.000-05:00

Our backyard is now filled with these pretty little blue flowers. We had a warm day yesterday and they all appeared. I've since seen them in other yards, they look so lovely, in some cases covering entire lawns. They're sure to be shortlived, but I'm enjoying them. We also have some small patches of snowdrops here and there in the yard. In the lower left corner of the image you can see the yellow flowers I posted earlier this year, they survived the snow. It's always exciting to see what comes up in the springtime in a new house. Later this year when we start landscaping projects, we'll be sure to preserve these little beauties.

Solo

2006-03-19T18:45:00.000-05:00

I had to entertain myself this weekend after dropping Jennie off at the airport on Thursday (she went to Las Vegas for Dina's bachelor party). I hadn't been feeling well all week, a stomach bug, so I stayed home from work on Thursday. I had to go in on Friday for some meetings and was feeling better by the end of the day.

Friday evening I treated myself to some new ear jewelry from Icon Piercing Studio, a very cool place with an amazing selection. The owner John helped me pick out some tiny spirals to go with the large spirals I just put in this week. I went home and ordered two pizzas for dinner (which served as my meals for the remainder of the weekend). Afterwards I went to the theatre to see V for Vendetta. It was one of the best movies I've seen this year, a haunting story told well with great visuals and an appropriate amount of violence (I'm so tired of PG-13 movies). Go see it. I topped my evening off with a solo visit to Rochester's only goth club Vertex (warning, their website is terrible). Its a far cry from Detroit's City Club or even The Box at the Blue Lagoon in Santa Cruz, but it provided me with what I needed: decent beats and space on the dance floor. I did meet a few locals, but mostly kept to myself. Supposedly Thursday nights feature a more industrial sound so another field trip will be coming up shortly.

On Saturday I went out shopping with Tom and Eric. It was Tom's birthday. We visited such diverse places as a uniform supply store, an antique store in East Rochester, and ReHouse (a used building materials warehouse that salvages things from old houses). In the evening, I met up with Margaret, Holly and CJ. We ate dinner at Basha and then attended a professional lacrosse game. CJ and Holly are big fans (and season ticket holders) of the Rochester Knighthawks, a National Lacrosse League (NLL) team. Margaret and I were first timers so we didn't know all the rules, but we thoroughly enjoyed the match against the Buffalo Bandits. The rowdy fans were treated to a close match with a big fight in the first quarter. It seems like a pretty rough sport, similar to ice hockey, the players use a stick not only to carry the ball, but also to hit opposing players! The game went into sudden death overtime, sadly the Knighthawks lost. I spent the rest of the weekend poking around the house, trying to relax before another long week of work starts up again.

The Kitchen

2006-03-12T17:18:00.000-05:00

Our kitchen was the next major project we plan to tackle once all of the downstairs walls are painted (that should be done this week, Jennie has the walls stripped and almost all filled, she should be able to complete the sanding, priming and painting by Friday). The receipt of our tax money bumped up the schedule by enabling us to purchase a dishwasher, garbage disposal, and new faucet, which we finished installing on Friday. We had to remove a few of the cabinets and perform field surgery on the counter top in order to make room for the new appliance. Jennie installed the garbage disposal and faucet, but she needed help with the dishwasher. The plumbing part would have been easy, but she wasn't sure about the electrical (and we didn't want to blow the thing up) so we hired handyman Joe to hook everything up. The image shows the final setup, everything is working and we're so glad that we won't have to wash dishes by hand again!

This is how the kitchen looked in August when we put our offer in on the house. We've since moved the refrigerator to the wall opposite the cabinets. Our plan has always been to rip out the walls of the kitchen (which were covered plastic wallboard) and replace them with drywall. A few weeks ago we opened up the wall that separates the kitchen from the dining room in order to find a drip that we have been hearing inside the wall. We're still working on that mystery because the interior of the wall is completely dry, it may be that the drip is inside the drain pipe or a heating duct. When we removed some of the cabinets we also had to take out some of the wall.

Today Jennie decided that we might as well start taking the rest of it off so we could make some decisions about where to install a door to the back yard and if it is possible to expand the kitchen into the pantry. I helped out some, using a hammer while she used the crowbar. We found some odd bits inside the wall, two books of old matches, fragments of the Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester's local newspaper) with no visible date, and a gum wrapper. Jennie also removed the sofit from above the cabinets. Here's what can to do next on our current low budget:

Consult an architect friend about removing the pantry wall

If feasible, remove pantry wall

Remove all remaining wallboard

Find and fix the drip in the wall

Insulate walls where necessary

Put up new drywall and paint

Redo duct for vent over stove (it needs to be smaller)

Add trim to the top of the cabinets (we'll store our larger dishes, platters, bowls and pitchers up there)

Install pendant lighting above the sink and cabinets, replace central ceiling light

Refinish wood floor

Re-install cabinets we removed to get the dishwasher in

Add chrome hardware to cabinets

Repair counter top front where we cut it off

When Jennie gets a job or some money falls out of the sky we'll attempt the following:

Install a door to the back yard in the wall with the small window

Build a small porch that the door will open onto

Purchase a new 30" stove to replace the existing 36" one

Purchase and install a microwave/hood for above the stove

Add/remove cupboards as necessary to accommodate new stove and microwave

Replace current counter top

Add a tile backsplash between the counter and upper cabinets as well as behind the stove

Turn the former pantry area into usable space with cabinets, a small round sink and a breakfast bar

St. Patrick's Day Parade

2006-03-12T16:41:00.000-05:00

Our weekend started off early with a COAP event at Hooters on Thursday night. Surprisingly, it was our first visit to the place. We enjoyed the beer and the company (do you think they knew that we were gay?), but the food was quite lack-luster. Friday we attended a swing dance put on as a fundraiser for our neighborhood association (Ellwanger Barry). There were lessons and a live swing band, we danced quite a bit and were able to socialize with many of our wonderful neighbors.

On Sat. we attended the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Rochester with our neighbor Tim who marched in the parade as the leader of a local marching band. The weather was beautiful and there was a huge, friendly, green crowd out to celebrate. We were treated to many bands, clogging performances, bagpipe serenades, Irish setters, and fire trucks as we followed the parade route. We ended up at Bennigan's in the Clarion hotel for beers, where we ran into more friends Keith, Brian and John. I think we might have a new favorite holiday, we're both part Irish after all ;)

Full Weekend

2006-02-27T22:03:00.000-05:00

This weekend was packed with good stuff. On Friday night we met up with Steve, a new friend who works at Xerox, for dinner at Open Face an upscale sandwich shop in our neighborhood. We walked down to South St. early and had drinks at Lux Lounge, a hell-themed bar at 666 South Ave. The drinks were cheap and the atmosphere cozy, there were all different types of people in there from hipsters to neighborhood locals. We enjoyed good sandwiches and conversation afterwards at Open Face. Steve introduced us to the owners, Drew and Jared. We discovered that they live only one block away from us towards South Ave., small world.

On Saturday we attended the Home Fair Expo at the Dome Center in Henrietta. There were a lot of local contractors there and we were able to talk to people about some of our projects such as the kitchen and bathroom. On Sat. night we attended a Mardi Gras party with Tom and Eric. I spent most of the afternoon working on my mask, I also modified Jennie's mask. The party was delightful and we met a lot of new people.

On Sunday we spent the day with our friend Margaret. We first went to the Memorial Art Gallery to view their current exhibit Extreme Materials. The Gallery put this exhibit of art made from unconventional objects (human hair, bones, sandpaper, vegetables, zippers, etc.) together in-house. We were all very impressed with the unique theme, and spent a lot of time with each work. I've been telling everyone I know about the exhibit! Afterwards we had dinner at Margaret's house, a short walk from the Gallery. Our plan was to make an Indian meal. Margaret selected the dishes and did most of the preparation. We brought drinks and helped put everything together. We had flatbread, a chickpea and potato dish and some amazing spicy chicken. For dessert we had cookies and ice cream. Everything was perfect. In a few weeks, we plan to have Margaret over and we'll attempt to make sushi!

Primroses in Winter

2006-02-25T15:54:00.000-05:00

Here are some more extremely early flowers. We found these in our back yard, growing out of a pile of dirt we moved from the driveway. My Dad identified them as primroses, I'm not familiar with this bloom so I'll take his word for it. These are now covered with about 3 inches of frigid snow, and there's more on the way. I hope they survive. The green bulb shoots that I posted a few weeks ago are still alive, tall enough now to be seen poking through the snow. Perhaps these plants know something that we don't and Spring will be just around the corner.

Japanese Weekend

2006-02-20T21:28:00.000-05:00

Our weekend had a Japanese theme. It started out fairly mundane, on Friday we stayed in and watched the first 4 episodes of the first season of the L Word (Showtime's Lesbian TV series). We're now hooked on it and are trying to catch up via Netflix. On Sat. evening we were invited to our friend Rie's house, along with another friend Kara, for dinner. Rie is a resident of my department at Xerox from Fuji Xerox in Japan. She and her friend Mizuka prepared a wonderful dinner, it was a delightful combination of both traditional and more western style dishes. We enjoyed a fine evening of food and conversation. We're already planning to have the same group over to our house (once we finish painting the downstairs!). On Sunday evening we hosted our first Come Out and Play (a Gay social group) event, a Japanese hibachi style dinner at Plum Garden in Pittsford. We ended up having 10 people for dinner an had a great time with our chef as he cooked our meal at the table.

Miami

2006-02-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

It had been forever since we had seen friends Chris and Michelle and everyone in Rochester advised a dose of sunshine in February (to break the monotony of winter), so we headed south to Miami this past weekend. We arrived late Thursday evening, after Chris and Michelle finished dress rehearsal for The Barber of Seville at the Florida Grand Opera where they head the wig and makeup department. It was a treat to finally be able to see their new home, which they put a lot of work into. We also got our first look at Michelle’s expanding tummy, a baby is expected in July!

On Friday we ate brunch at the News Café in South Beach. The weather was wonderful (70+ degrees) and we sat outside with Uno their tiny dog. Afterward we walked across the street and onto the beach where we whiled away the afternoon. Topless sunbathing is not frowned upon in Miami so I happily got some color in all the right places. Chris & Michelle had to go into work for a while, but Jennie and I stayed in South Beach. We wandered around a bit and discovered Nikki Beach, a restaurant/club on the beach with food, drinks, and sunbathing all in one. We arrived just as the sun was going down behind one of the condo skyscrapers that are scattered over South Beach. We wished we had found it earlier, oh well, something to do on our next visit. We were supposed to meet up with Chris and Michelle for dinner at Joe’s Stone Crab a must do for any visit to Miami. However, they got stuck in the traffic generated by the Cirque du Soleil show. Jennie and I ended up eating in the restaurant; Michelle and Chris had to settle for Joe’s Take Away because the wait for a table inside was forever by that time. The food was delicious though. We had a platter of stone crab and lobster claws with Joe’s famous hash browns and garlic creamed spinach, delicious! We did eat dessert together in the Take Away area; the key lime pie was amazing. We ended the evening on a quite note, going home to watch the new Dukes of Hazzard movie. I actually enjoyed the movie and was surprised that it addressed the issues of the confederate flag (sported by the General Lee) and Daisy’s constant use of her sexuality to help her cousins out of trouble, nice.

On Saturday, Chris and Michelle had a meeting with the costume designer for one of their upcoming shows. We went along and Jennie helped out by being their wig model. We next headed to Bayside Marketplace an outdoor mall, where we ate lunch at Bubba Gump and took a boat tour some of the manmade islands in the bay. The tour was wonderful, we sat on top of the boat in the open air while the captain pointed out the sights. We passed by the mansions of famous people like Shaq and Vanilla Ice. Chris and Michelle had to work that evening so Jennie and I decided to hang out at their house, we strolled around the neighborhood, made mac n' cheese and took a nap. When the show was over, we went out for dinner and drinks at Shuckers, an open air bar overlooking the bay, with a few of their co-workers. Afterwards we drove through South Beach to check out the neon and nightlife.

On Sunday the weather turned cold. After making strawberry banana pancakes for breakfast at home, we checked out the Miami Art Museum as well as local neighborhoods Coral Gables and Coconut Grove. The museum was small, but the Vic Muniz exhibit was fascinating. We spent a lot of time looking at his creations in unusual materials (dust, thread, chocolate syrup). In Coral Gables, we drove through beautiful streets lined with fancy houses, many built of actual coral rock, and ate German food at Fritz and Franz Bierhaus. We also took a peek at the Venetian Pool but it was too cold to go in. In Coconut Grove we did some window shopping and then found some delicious gelato. It was actually quite cold outside so we sought out warmth at Mr. Moe's, a lodge style restaurant/bar with a huge fireplace inside. We were able to get seated right in front of the fire and spent the rest of the afternoon there. The original plan was to eat Cuban food that evening, but we were a bit worn out and decided to postpone. In the morning, we at Cuban breakfast at Versailles, before boarding the plane home. Rochester was untouched by the storm that hit the East that weekend so we were home safe by 8pm.

Happy Valentine's Day

2006-02-13T20:14:00.000-05:00

Many years ago, my Mom started a tradition of creating a photo collage Halloween card each year for all of the kids who were away from home, using images of family members. At first they were constructed of real photos, but lately my Mom has been incorporating digital techniques. Now that everyone's out of the house we all get one and this year the tradition has grown to encompass Valentine's Day. Here's the postcard that arrived today, those are my parents on the cover, pretty cute huh? Last week they also sent us a package that included homemade oatmeal raisin cookies, See's candy, and some books. Its nice to have parents who love us and send us treats :)

Superbowl Sunday

2006-02-06T18:37:00.000-05:00

On Sunday Jennie and I went over to our friend Gabriel's hous to watch the Superbowl. I think it is the first time that I have ever sat through an entire Superbowl game as an adult. Gabe has a sweet setup for TV watching as you can see. He made his famous burritos, we brought chicken fingers and a fine time was had by all. My favorite commercial was the FedEx one with the cavemen. Jennie and I didn't care too much about the outcome of the game, but Gabe is a huge Steelers fan and he was pretty excited about their victory!

Spring in January

2006-01-28T15:16:00.000-05:00

In a sheltered corner of our front yard, these bulbs are poking up out of the dirt. Apparently, the warm weather we've been having lately has signaled spring.

Curiosity

2006-01-26T21:39:00.000-05:00

I caught our two cats, Wilma (left) and Ben (right), staring intently out the window this morning at a squirrel in the new-fallen snow. We bought that leather bench especially for the pets, they love it.

The Importance of a Good Shine

2006-01-24T18:44:00.000-05:00

From airports, to hotels, to street corners, I am always on the lookout for a good boot shine. Here's an image of me at the Cobo Center in Detroit having my boots shined by Aaron, who did a fabulous job. My boots are still looking good and this was a couple of weeks ago. I am perfectly capable of shining my own boots, but there is something special about having it done that most people don't seem to understand. It is the ultimate service and always makes me feel good. I must confess that I enjoy it even more than a pedicure.

One Room Finished

2006-01-21T19:52:00.000-05:00

We have one room in our house that is completely done, my office. We decided to start with this room as practice. Jennie stripped all of the wallpaper using our new steamer. It actually came off pretty easily. The walls were bare plaster underneath and they needed some patching, particularly the site of previous water damage on the ceiling.
Cindy helped out a lot with the patching and sanding while she was here between Christmas and New Year's (see below). I picked out the green paint to go with the Klimt print and the light wood of my desk and bookcases. I also made the curtains, from a sheer linen that lets light while providing more privacy. Jennie did all of the painting, first putting on a thick primer to smooth out the wall texture. I think it turned out pretty well, I finally put everything back together today and placed all of my accessories. Eventually, I'd like to add a large rug and some more decorative curtains, but I haven't found the perfect ones yet. In the meantime, Jennie also finished stripping and painting the sleeping chamber a light cream. We're still deciding on bedding colors so I won't post pictures of that room until it is complete. The next major projects will be the downstairs and upstairs bathrooms.

Auto Show Weekend

2006-01-16T11:55:00.000-05:00

Jennie and I traveled to Michigan this weekend with Tom, Eric and Tim for the North American International Auto Show. We met up and hung out with many friends from both Rochester and Ann Arbor. The group of us rented a mini van and drove to Michigan on Friday. We made it for the last Ford Rouge Factory Tour of the day. I wasn't expecting to enjoy the tour, but I fascinated by the history, the process of assembling F150 trucks, and the new steps the factory is taking to become more environmentally friendly (including green roofs, solar power, and water recycling). After the tour, we continued on to Ann Arbor. Jennie and I stayed with friends Eric and Tanuka, graduate students at U of M. Friday evening we met up with David, Lana, Julie & Brad, Johnathan, Jude, and Yong at Godaiko for sushi and then continued the evening at Bab's Underground Lounge. The next day was spent the auto show in Detroit. Even though it was opening day, it didn't seem too crowded. We got to view some on the new concept cars and to sit in most anything we wanted. The Mini Cooper section was cool, but mostly because it was well designed and had a DJ. We were impressed with the number of hybrid vehicles at the show and now dream of owning Toyota's hybrid Camry. After the auto show, we shared a pizza with Tanuka, Eric and their neighbors Matt and Alli who we know from our time in A2. We then moved on to the annual auto show cocktail party hosted by Victor and David. Most of the Rochester contingent was there, along with many of David and Victor's friends. We invited our friends Arnold and Mike who also live in Ann Arbor. It was a night of heavy drinking and scintillating conversation. The next morning we capped the weekend off with a visit to the Gandy Dancer's famous Sunday brunch buffet. Jude, Serene, Tanuka, Eric and Julie attended, along with Victor, David, Scott, Tom, Shawn, Brian, Tom, Eric, and Tim. The drive home was a bit long, but we made it without strangling anyone. When we arrived at Linden St., we discovered that the car was frozen shut.