Randy

From Blood to Wine

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Red WineToday I lived up to my reputation as pure klutz. As some of you know Wegmans is in the progress of decorating for the holiday season (yes Christmas already). In order to decorate my area I needed to use a staple gun, however the only one I found was out of staples. I retrieved the staples and proceeded to put them in the gun. However; while splitting a row of staples in half my hand slipped and the staples caught the knuckle of my index finger. The cut was deep and I made an absolute mess of the craft room (sorry Becky). A numbed finger and 3 stitches later I was on my way home to nurse the wound.

Randy was feeling guilty because he wasn’t there to save me from the staple gun so we went out to eat with his mother and Kay, a friend from work. We went to the cheesecake factory where I enjoyed a nice glass of wine(easing my pain) with my thai chicken and keylime cheescake. While it was my 3rd trip to the cheescake factory it was Randy’s first and he thoroughly enjoyed the experience along with his pasta DaVinci and upside down pineapple cheescake.

10 Tips to help you Park it and Forget it

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RTS BusSo I guess it’s safe to talk about now that I’ve been doing it for a month and a half. I tried riding the bus over a year ago and quickly stopped. This time I did some things different and it has worked out for the best. I’d like to share a few things I did and thought differently this time around that really helped me overcome the dread of using public transportation.

  • Live in a big city. For those of you who live here you know that Rochester is by no means a big city. However; it does have regular public transportation and thats a start. In order to be useful, It needs to go close to where you work and where you live. Its best if you can walk from home to a bus stop but driving a short distance is better than driving to work every day.
  • Make one change at a time. The biggest two reason I stopped riding last time is I would wake up a bit late and miss it and I felt I had to fit within the bus schedule. It’s true you have to fit the bus schedule, but there are many buses throughout the day. During the normal commuting times they are only 20-30 minutes apart. Missing one is really not that big of a deal. Last time I tried to change my schedule (get to work slightly earlier) and begin riding the bus at the same time. Its best if you can make one change at a time. Stick with it for a while and once you’re satisfied with the results move on to the next item. Determine what time you normally get up and find the morning Bus route that fits with that.
  • Set a Goal and evaluate your performance. When I started I said I wanted to ride for 2 weeks and see how it went. At the end of my 2 weeks I evaluated my experience and it had gone so well I immediatly switched my commuter plan at work to the bus pas instead of downtown parking saving a whole bunch of cash.
  • Take it With You. I carry my bag with me every day. This means I always have something that can occupy my time with me as well as giving me a place to put things I need to bring to or from work. My bag always includes my: laptop, ipod, book, water bottle, umbrela and camera.
  • Utilize your Time. I decided this time around I wanted to maximize my time and get things while riding the bus. It does take me a little more time to get to work, but now that time is spent productively. I could be doing things that would normally take time away from me at home (like posting this blog message) or I could be doing something I wouldn’t normally take the time to do (read a good book, most recently Second Horseman by Kyle Mills). Don’t just sit there like a log.
  • Make use of whats there. The buses run with or without you. Whether you’re a tree hugger or not I think you’d agree that its good to reduce your environmental impact. Using public transportation is a big way to do that.
  • Save some Money. We all know Gas is expensive, but there are several other ways you can be saving money by riding the bus. You can lower your insurance rates (in my case over $100/6months) simply by telling your insurance company you now drive only 2-3k miles a year. On top of that if you drive and work downtown chances are you have to pay for parking. This is all on top of the general wear and tear on your vehicle.
  • Park it and Forget It. Its easy to take little side trips on your way home if you’re driving. Often you’ll buy things you really don’t need. If you ride the bus make it a point that once you get home you don’t leave unless absolutely necessary or if you can, take the bus again.
  • Get an Unlimited Ride Pass. It works out almost even for you to buy an unlimited pass. They’re $56 so if you ride them 46 times a month (23 work days) its 1.22/ride. If your employer is like mine, they’ll even contribute a portion to the cost of the pass and you’ll break even long before the end of the month.
  • Walk a little. We all need a little bit of excercise. If you can walk to the bus do it. It’ll give you just a few minutes of excercise a day but it’s a few minutes more than you were getting before. If you really want to get some benefit, take the long route and maybe add your bike to the mix once and a while.

Mountains out of Mole Hills

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While in New Hampshire we took the time to climb a few mountains. No we didn’t strap on our hiking shoes and packs and trek up the mountains but we did make it to the top of both.

To get up Cannon Mountain we took the Gondola. On the way up we didn’t get much of a view because it was snowing! Yup we’ve already seen the first snow of the year. It was a little below freezing at just over 4k feet. We hiked the 1/2 mile trail around the top and even managed to climb the weather tower where the wind blew so bad it hurt. On the way back down the skys opened up and we had great views of Echo Lake.

Gondola Up Cannon Mountain Rachel at the Top of Cannon Mountain View of Echo Lake from Cannon Mountain

Our trek up Mount Washington is less exciting. Well, the trip up is interesting but the hike at the top and the views are night and day from Cannon. To get to the top we took a Cog Train. This isn’t a trip that winds around the mountain speedily going to the top while at the edge of thousand foot cliffs. No, this train goes straight up the mountain at a 37% incline inch by excruciating inch. It’s not only painful but it’s expensive. Oh and you can’t see anything because its so cold (6 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill) that the people in the cabin steam up all the windows, not to mention the cloud cover. All in all a worthless ride, and one I would only recommend in the middle of summer. Even then I’d suggest a drive up instead. It’ll take less time and you’ll have better views. At least now we can say we’ve been to the top of the tallest mountain on the east coast.

Train Returning from the Top of Mt Washington Rachel and I at the Top of Mt Washington

High(er) Resolution Wedding Slide Show

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I just stumbled upon stage6 and decided I’d finally upload a better quality version of the wedding slide show like I promised months ago. The experience has been good thus far except the site forces you to convert to divx before doing an upload. Since I didn’t have anything to do that with it took me a bit longer than I had hoped but worth it in the end.

[stage6]http://stage6.divx.com/user/randyaa/video/1776882/Randy-and-Rachel’s-Wedding-6/9/2007[/stage6]

Sky Full of Birds

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Fall Foliage at MCC PondToday Driving past MCC I noticed that the foliage over the pond had turned and decided I’d stop by to take a few pictures. I’ve only walked back there once before which was at least 3 years ago. I think the same guy was there today playing with his dog as was there 3 years ago. Strange. In any event I ended up with some nice shots of the pond and the foliage along with the surrounding scenery.

Seaguls Take to the SkyLeaving MCC I noticed there was a parking lot full of seagulls. Normally I pay them no mind but today I had my camera.

Why Not?

I put the camera on Burst, held it out the window and sped through the middle of the seagulls. They came out kind of blurry but more or less the effect I was looking for. Lots of fun and I hate those birds anyway.

Our New Hampshire Getaway

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This past weekend Rachel and I were relaxing in New Hampshire. We stopped over in Albany on the way and then spent the rest of an extended weekend in the White Mountains. We saw some fantastic scenery and great fall foliage. We’ll have to make the trip a regular one.

Below is the first slide show I’ve created using Picasa. Picasa will most likely become a more commonly used tool around here so brace yourself.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Ryan's Wake

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A Beer At Ryan’s WakeFriday we went to Ryan’s Wake. No no Ryan is fine, This isn’t some sadistic planning session. It’s just the name of a bar in Troy. On our way to New Hampshire we stopped over in Troy to visit my good friend Emily. As it turns out some of Emily’s other friends were visiting this weekend too so we got to meet them as well. We had a great night and we were glad for the place to stay for the night. Thanks Emily!

The Amazing Maize Maze

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The Cool BusYou can always tell its fall again when my department organizes the annual Maize Maze team building exercise. This year is no different and Friday my team (consisting of myself, Mike and Matt) came in 3rd overall and 2nd among those obtaining all pieces to the map.

While we were at the Farm we had to give the coops something to do and we arrive at the ‘Cool Bus’ Ryan and Matt are up front with our coops, Anne, Andrew and Matt taking the backseats.

Definitely beats working for a few hours!