Stumbled Upon - March, 2006

March
22 Controversial ad by Australia Tourism
www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com
23 Niko's Mediterranean Grill & Bistro
http://nikosgrillnyc.com/page/o5pw/Home_Page.html
24 Eliot Spitzer's remarks at Maxwell School, Syracuse University, March 21, 2006
http://www.spitzer2006.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cmpSpeeches&htmlId=5263
25 Steve Ellwood's photographs of Northeast England
http://www.steve-ellwood.org.uk/
31 Nellie and Joe's Lime Juice http://www.keylimejuice.com/

Favorite Places

I wonder why I can't settle on a theme for this little blog. Some of the very best blogs stick to one topic, tho the political and news oriented ones get so tedious. They also tend to have links to other blogs running down the entire sidebar. Boring.
I really would like to do just one topic, but it's never going to happen, no matter how much I want to. One Bookmarked site leads to another, and before I know it, I'm somewhere totally off in w.w.w.land.
Here's what I've been doing tonight - wandering around looking at my favorite local restaurants.

My favorite sub shop is Jreck's. I've been eating them since the 60's, back in the Potsdam days. A Jreck's sub meant spring had arrived. We'd get a couple and eat them down by the Raquette River. Heaven. Now, I've got a brand new Jreck's right up on the corner of Kasson Rd. and W. Genesee St. (Route 5). They're way better than Wegmans subs, or Subway.

Tucked in Elm Hill Plaza, maybe it's called Town Center, or something, is Cora D's. Either way, it's at the corner of Hinsdale Rd. and Milton Ave. Classy with a good menu, but not as fun as the three below. It's a decent replacement for Poor Richard's, which used to be at the mall.
Now, we get to have Walmart, Lowe's, and Applebee's. Add in Wendy's, Dunkin Donuts and Quiznos, and we'll all be fat and happy. I can't even think about Camillus Mall. It's so depressing.

First is Victor's Inn in Camillus. Many happy memories here. It used to be the Green Gate Inn. Some of us think they should have kept the name. We still call it that, so I guess it doesn't really matter. It's cozy and comfy, all done up with Victorian furnishings.
Have a look at it Victor's Inn. It's right in the heart of the Village of Camillus. They have these divine little onion rings they serve with the open steak sandwich. They pile them up on top - yummy.

Heading west out of the village on Route 5 is Gilfillan's West Hill Catering Club. It's a great place for a wedding reception, and the food is excellent. Every reception I've been to there has been a lot of fun. The only drawback is the brown wood paneling in the upstairs room. It makes it hard to get a decent photograph. Also, the cord from the big wall air conditioner hanging down to where it plugs into the wall isn't too attractive. Come to think of it, the restrooms could be spiffed up.
February 22, 2008 update: They don't have a website anymore. I hope they get one back up and running soon.

West of Gilfillan's, on Route 5, is The Inn Between. The salmon with asparagus and dill sauce is good, but they only serve it at private parties. I think. It's the perfect place for a baby or bridal shower. You don't have to lift a finger, and the porch is gorgeous. The price isn't bad considering the meal and service. It's worth every penny.

**Update January 22, 2008 - Gilfillan's doesn't have a website anymore. Victor's Inn was bought, and now it's back to its original name, The Green Gate. Reviews are mixed. The two times I went there, the service was so slow, I felt like leaving. Skip it, and go to Cora D's.

This is Spring?

This is the first day of Spring?
Clinton Square in downtown Syracuse looks a tad bleak.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

March Madness

Syracuse Orange - wins the Big East Championship at MSG!

Wednesday, March 8 74-73 vs. Cincinnati
Thursday, March 9 86-84 vs. Connecticut
Friday, March 10 58-57 vs. Georgetown
Saturday, March 11 65-61 vs. Pittsburgh

Syracuse Basketball photos and scores for the 2005 - 2006 Season

A Really Gone Oldie

Cleaning out Bookmarks

Came across this little gem. In the old days, AOL had a software download area.
There were some goodies, like Ghostools and AOLPress.
I've got to stop being sentimental about these things!
Here's the description for AOLPress:

Subject: AOLpress 2.0 for Win95/98
Author: America Online
Uploaded By: Mary UKDate: 6/15/2001
File: AOLP2032.EXE (3600609 bytes)
Estimated Download Time (61570 baud): < 16 minutesDownload Count: 12643
Needs: AOL 3.0 or 4.0 for Windows 95/98 (32bit versions only)
AOLpress 2.0 for Windows 95/98/NT (32-bit)

NOTE: AOLPress 2.0 requires AOL 3.0 or 4.0 for Windows 95/98 *unless* you have another method of connecting to the Internet (such as an Internet Service Provider account). If you are using AOL 3.0 or later for Windows 3.x for your Internet access, you should download the 16-bit AOLPress 2.0 instead.

See below for requirements and installation instructions. For help publishing to your members.aol.com web space, please see aolpress.com/press/documentation.html
Please see the readme file (included with AOLpress) for known bugs and tips.
AOLpress is an integrated browsing and WYSIWYG authoring tool for the World Wide Web. AOLpress was designed both to make WWW authoring more accessible to beginners and to save valuable time and effort for professional Web publishers.

1. System Requirements
RAM: 8 megabytes or more recommended, 16 megabytes when using AOL and AOLpress simultaneously
Display: 256 or more colors
Processor: 486 (AOL 3.0/4.0 for Win95/98 requires at least a Pentium)
System: Windows 95/98 and AOL 3.0 or 4.0 for Windows 95 or 98
Disk Space Free: 8 megabytes
Note: AOL 3.0 or 4.0 for Win95 or Win98 is recommended for a Pentium and 16 megabytes of RAM

2. Networking Requirements
If you plan to use AOLpress as a browser and/or remote authoring tool, you will need the following:
Internet service provider
Modem
Connection software (Trumpet winsock, Chameleon, etc.) If you do not already have a WINSOCK.DLL, one will be installed that allows you to operate AOLpress locally.

AOLpress can also be installed locally. If you later decide to install AOLpress with a network connection you will need to delete the winsock.dll in the AOLpress directory for AOLpress to use the network.

3. Installation and Configuration
1.Download the aolp2032.exe self-extracting executable.
2.Double click on this self-extracting executable to extract its contents to a temp directory and it will automatically run setup.exe to install AOLpress.
3.Setup.exe will prompt you for a directory in which to install AOLpress.
4.Launch AOLpress by double-clicking on its icon.

AOLpress does not insist that you set a proxy server and a name server but when using an ISP it is highly recommended that you set them using Tools=>Preferences=>Network. AOL members only need to use screenname@aol.com as the Return address and a.mx.aol.com as the Mail Host in this dialog.

Known Problems with Installation and Download:
1) Extract=-9 If you receive an Extract=-9 when installing AOLpress it means that the installer was damaged during the download.
Workaround: The solution here is to download the file again.

Fort De Soto Park

This is one of my favorite spots at Fort De Soto. It's probably one of my most favorite places anywhere.
The St. Petersburg Times is one of the best newspapers in the country.
Howard Troxler is one of its best columnists.
His column of February 14 is a must read.
It's about Fort De Soto Park and what Pinellas County wants to do with it to make it 'better'.

If you've ever been to Fort De Soto, you know that it's fine just the way it is.
I hope enough people will write to the Pinellas County Commissioners to voice their opinion about this development project. Please.

Troxler's column can be read at:
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/02/14/news_pf/Columns/
Who_wants_all_that_ic.shtml

The Pinellas County Commissioners can be contacted at:
http://www.pinellascounty.org/

State of the Union

I think we already know what the state of the Union is.
All I want to watch tonight is House, and instead American Idol is on.
Maybe I'll tune into NBC to see what tie Brian Williams is wearing.

This & That

I could have sworn I had two cookie sheets here in the RV. I could only find one this afternoon. Everyday is a bad hair day in FL. It looks ok for about ten minutes, and then it starts to go all weird on me. And, every morning at 10:00 am, I have a hot flash, and I have to stick my head in the freezer for a few minutes. That doesn't help the hair either. I suppose things could be worse. A lot worse.

Here's a photo of the backside of my favorite beach - Indian Rocks Beach. I think it's at 18th St.

$$$ Procedure and Renters, cont'd.

Got another bill for the biopsy: $1000.00. Now, it's up to $5000.00. Still no bill from the radiologist.

My bathing suit is missing, along with my nail clippers, and I Love NY hat. The lasagna pan is chipped, and the chopping board was dirty. No more renting, tho maybe the money was worth the aggravation. Who would take someone else's bathing suit?

$$$ Procedure

I got the bill for the stereotactic breast biopsy: $4000.00. That doesn't include the radiologist's bill. Pretty expensive porcedure. One of the x-rays was $1780.

On another note, here we are in Florida. The last renters washed my pretty crocheted doily on the glass table, and it shrank. About two inches. It's disappointing because it was really big and pretty, covering almost the entire tabletop. The woman must have tossed it into the washer and dryer. I washed it last year, but by hand, and I dried it over the railing outside.
I guess that's what you have to expect from renters.

2006

I don't know where the rest of 2005 went. That's not exactly true.
I had two suspicious mammograms which led to a stereotactic biopsy.
Not fun, but it wasn't THAT bad. It's just kind of bizarre.
The surgeon said my chances of the cluster of uneven microcalcifications being OK, were 30%.
I lucked out. They were ok. I was ready to do battle.
I have a little metal marker inside just in case they need to locate the area again.
The whole thing started when I thought I'd be clever and get the mammogram out of the way before the holidays. Not smart.

Bad things tend to happen on ordinary days. That's today's deep thought

I do hope it's a better year.

Turkey Time

Turkeys we've picked ...

Here's me

eBay part 2

These are my second favorite mums in the yard. They have an antique look to them. My favorites are a creamy off white, with a dusty rose center.

The Roseville vase went for $112.50. Nice. I've decided that for items over $100.00, I'll include the insurance. I'll have to find something to list today. Stuff that I would think would go for $$$, doesn't. Both times, when the item sold, I have doubts about whether or not I should have let the item go. If someone else wanted it badly, maybe I should have, too.

eBay

I've decided that it's much easier to buy, than it is to sell, on eBay. I listed my first item about a week ago, figuring it might get about 5 or 10 dollars. It was a set of beer coasters - the kind you throw away. The winning bid was $138.50. So, flush with success, I listed another item today. It's an old Roseville vase, and it's pretty ugly. I took multiple photos showing all the flaws. It took forever getting the description just right, tho it looks like it took about five minutes.
So far, no one has bid on it.
I think I'll go back to buying.
I hope I don't get a bad feedback on those coasters.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

I think this one is called Wild Pansy, 1910.

Dishes

There's a set of these dishes with twelve place settings, and all the serving pieces, under the buffet at 229. I always thought they were grocery store dishes. You know, the kind you get for $1.99 a plate if you spend $20.00. They appear to be mint.
Cher looked them on on Google, and before you know it, a price list from some replacement place came in the mail, listing what they'd pay me for individual pieces. Well! For the covered soup tureen, they'll pay me $116.00.
I guess they're prettier than I thought they were. :)

Nice

Keep this nearby

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will.
You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time.
You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken.
You'll fight with your best friend.
You'll blame a new love for things an old one did.
You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love.
So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Thanks to a lovely woman and, friend, for this.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

It was the hottest summer on record ...

First off , AOL can be so very annoying. When you're creating a blogspot post from AOL, the carriage return won't work. Everything just keeps on going on the same line until it comes to the end. Pretty soon, I'll be at the end of the AOL line.

Besides swimming just about everyday in an 80+ degree pool, the kitchen was completely renovated.

Never again. I love it, but it was a dreadful process, even tho it only lasted 24 days. All the walls, ceiling and floor were gutted. The sheetrock dust was kept to a minimum, but it seeped into other rooms.