Thanks in part to this very web site, I was reunited with my best friend from high school, Jess, after not seeing or communicating with each other for almost 10 years. That's a long time! She lives out in Arizona now and owns her own cosmetics company, where she makes all the makeup herself. (Wow!) She was in New York visiting friends and family, so she stopped by my place after work to visit. It was like one of those Oprah Show reunions - very hysterical and emotional. Jess hadn't been back to Binghamton since the mid-1990's when she moved to Albany. According to her, nothing had changed (typical Binghamton!). For her, it was like a trip back in time. She even recognized my house! One thing that had changed though was the Lost Dog Cafe, where we went to eat (yeah, I take everyone there...). The Dog used to be a small coffee place on Main Street when it first started out. Now it's a hip and classy restaurant with a banquet room and a bar. At right is the picture I made one of the waitresses take of us. Let me tell you, we haven't changed a bit looks-wise since high school. Though I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

Jess finally found me by Googling me (hey, we've all done it at some point...who isn't curious about what's out there on the people you know?). Since my page is buried somewhere on the fourth page of the search results when you Google my name, she actually found my page through the link on Dave Metraux's links page, which consequently is on the FIRST page (what's up with that??). That's why it's always good to put links to your friends' pages on your own because you never know who may be looking for them!

Site Update

Look to the left...notice anything different? I moved the menu from the bottom of the page to the side for easier access and more visual appeal. Yeah, I know, it's not that exciting. My page is like Binghamton: slow to change!

July 14, 2006

Before the Flood

Here's the update I was supposed to write before the flood threw my life a curve. My sister Emily, who recently moved to Florida, came up for a visit the week before to celebrate our birthdays (hers is June 17, mine is June 22...convenient, huh?). We had a great time hanging out, going out to eat at our favorite restaurant the Lost Dog Cafe, going to the movies (to see "Cars"), and going to the Lackawanna Coal Mine with our mom and her boyfriend Bob. The week was quite literally the calm before the storm. 

The coal mine was a blast (sorry, no pun intended). It was an old coal mine that had been used from the late 1800's until the 1960's. It has since been converted into a tourist spot (of course!). The tour was very interesting. It was more of a history and geology lesson than anything. They had mannequins displayed throughout representing coal miners at work. The most interesting one is pictured at left: you can see hands poking up through the pile of coal, demonstrating the hazardous working conditions the miners faced. What probably surprised me the most was that the mine used to employ kids as young as seven years old back in the early 1900's. They would work in the cold, dark, dangerous mines all day long and then go to school for two hours afterwards. I'm glad times have changed!

It was fun doing something with my family. It felt like the family vacations I used to take when I was a kid. My sister and I were sitting in the back seat together playing silly games (like "Name that Artist" where we would have to guess who was singing the song on the radio) and making fun of some of  the drivers passing by (like that guy who had his mouth wide open and his finger shoved in his throat - while driving). My sister and I do the nuttiest stuff together. You get us together and there's no telling kind of stuff we'll come up with!

My sister's last day with us was on my birthday. That was also the day I got Miss Kitty for the week. She's my aunt's cat I had offered to take care of while she was on vacation. Poor Miss Kitty was blissfully unaware that she would soon be carried on an inflatable raft through flood waters to safety!

Flood Update

It has been a little over two weeks since the flood, and though things at home are pretty much cleaned up, it been like the plagues of Egypt around here. First there were a whole bunch of ants in my bedroom, brought in by the rising floodwaters. I have peony bushes outside my window where the ants normally live, but until now I've never had a problem with them coming into my room. So I'm sure they took cover by crawling through the cracks around my window into my room. Then I was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes in my yard while I was cleaning up after the flood. They must have bred in the standing pools of water left over from the flood, because I've never had a mosquito problem at home before. And now there are a whole swarm of flies in my kitchen that I've been swatting left and right. They were probably attracted to the piles of garbage everywhere. It's just one thing after another! It's like the flood has disrupted the whole ecosystem or something.

There is some good news out of all of this. First of all, I got a very good settlement on my car. Yes, me, the one who had such a horrible experience with the last insurance company I had to deal with actually had a very pleasant experience dealing with my own (thanks Progressive!). Because I just bought the car three months ago, they fully reimbursed me for what I paid for the car, including tax (though minus my deductible). And just two weeks after the flood, I have my money in hand. Now all I need to do is find a new car.

Also, surprisingly a lot of stuff survived the awful flood, even though the entire basement filled up with water. Here's a brief list of flood survivors:

• Our Christmas ornaments
• My baby book (inside a plastic container with a bunch of my mom's papers that didn't get a drop of water on them)
• My first diary from when I was 10 and my two journals from high school (they were all in a plastic bin that thankfully didn't leak)
• My very rare first generation panda Beanie Baby that was stored inside a plastic tube
• All my old cassette tapes (also in a plastic container)
• All my old letters from friends through the years (they got completely soaked, so I had to lay them out to dry one by one)

Sadly, some things did not survive and had to be tossed. They are:

• All my high school yearbooks. They were stuck in a plastic crate and I couldn't even remove them. They had blown-up so much from the water that the sides of the crates were bending outwards.
• All my work and writing samples that were in two portfolios. Thankfully most of those are online, and I had scanned some of the newspaper articles. My current work samples from Horizons are in my bedroom, so they're safe. But anything before that is gone (in their physical form, at least).
• My college diploma. Though thankfully I can get a new one from Syracuse University. And this time, I'm actually framing it and putting on the wall where it will be safe!
• And of course, my car. The second lost car this year. Will third time be the charm?

 Thankfully all our photo albums were in my mom's closet, so they didn't get touched. From now on I'm keeping all personal mementoes OUT of the basement! I don't care if my closet is packed and overflowing. At least they will be safe. 

July 6, 2006

Flood of '06

I was supposed to have happy things to report to you this time around, like my birthday and my sister's visit, but unfortunately things took a turn for the worse on June 28. That was the day my neighborhood, including others in the Binghamton, NY area, became severely flooded in what everyone here is calling the worst flood in our history. My whole neighborhood on the north side of Johnson City was submerged. My mom and I had gotten off work that day since we were under a state of emergency, so her boyfriend Bob offered to take us out to eat and to take pictures of the flooded Chenango River in downtown Binghamton. When we left, our neighborhood was soggy but certainly not flooded. Everyone's sump pumps in their basements were working and keeping the water levels down. I even talked with some neighbors beforehand and nobody was worried--nobody even had an inkling as to what was about to happen. When we returned, our entire street was under water. It was probably one of the most scariest experiences of my life. We had to wade through waist-deep water to get to our house, where we quickly gathered some things before leaving on the fire department rescue boat waiting outside. I was babysitting my aunt's cat at the time, but she wouldn't go into her kennel. So we had to leave her behind. That broke my heart. A few hours later we went to Wal-Mart to purchase a raft that we could carry the cat on. We went back, waded through the water some more (it was even deeper this time) and finally got the cat out and brought her to safety.

So what happened? Apparently the sewer system backed up because of all the water and everything started pouring out into the streets. It happened very quickly - apparently things were flooded in about 20 minutes. So if you weren't there at the time it happened, you had no warning whatsoever. Because we were flooded by sewer water, my street smelled for a week (and still does in some places). Everything contaminated by the flood smells like toxic decay.

Our entire basement filled with water, though fortunately it didn't make it's way into the first floor. My mom and I both lost our cars (hers was parked in the garage and mine was in the street), but fortunately our insurance covers them (thank God for comprehensive!). We had to get a new water heater and a new washer and dryer. Sadly, most of our personal mementoes and such were stored in the basement (like all of my high school yearbooks), and those cannot be replaced. Though we were able to salvage some glass things and stuff that was stored in plastic bins (like Christmas ornaments).

Though the floodwaters subsided the next day, we had to live with my mom's boyfriend for several days because there was no electricity. I finally moved back home on Monday after the electricity came back on. Though I like being home, the downside is that I have to live among piles of trash that haven't been picked up yet, and I still have to smell that decaying stench on some things.

Of course, I took a ton of pictures of all this, even though it was painful at times. I think the pictures speak better than words anyway.

This is what my street looked like the morning before the flood - soggy, but nothing serious. Nobody suspected a thing.	This is what we came back to - a car and street underwater (the water level eventually reached my windshield).	Here's the fire dept. rescue boat coming to pick us up at our house.	This photo of my house, car, and flooded street appeared on the front page of the local newspaper.
After the waters receded, the clean-up began. Fire depts. from all over came to help us out - including this one from Big Flats, NY.	You know things are bad when the Red Cross disaster relief truck visits your street several times a day (though I didn't need anything - I just walked to Subway!).	You can clearly see the water line on all the plants and bushes. The water left a muddy residue that is hard to hose off (believe me, I tried!).	Here's some of the trash that was pulled from our basement. I've had that trunk with the monkeys on it since I was a baby!

Things may look bad for me, but believe me there are people who are far worse off than I am. Over 800 people in the area lost their homes. Many more lost more possessions than we did. I'm lucky that my car is insured against floods, and the water didn't get into our apartment. I feel sad for the things I lost, the things that cannot be replaced. But life must go on.

June 13, 2006

I'm back from San Francisco! And I had the best time of my life!! I saw just about everything I wanted to see, and then some. Here's a brief run-down of what I managed to do and see in four whirlwind days:

• Saw the famous Victorian houses at Alamo Square (ok, I want one...)
• Drove and walked down crooked Lombard Street
• Spent time at Fisherman's Warf (very touristy, but lots of fun)
• Ate New England Clam Chowder out of a hollowed-out sourdough bread bowl (a SF specialty)
• Saw (and smelled) the sea lions at Pier 39
• Biked from Pier 43 1/2 all the way across the Golden Gate Bridge (and saw the marina and the Presidio along the way)
• Rode a cable car (of course)
• Ate chocolate at Ghirardelli Square
• Visited Alcatraz (one word: BEAUTIFUL)
• Trekked around Golden Gate Park and visited the Japanese Tea Garden
• Toured the beautiful, but bizarre, Winchester Mystery House in San Jose
• Played mini golf at the Santa Cruz boardwalk (and won for once!)
• Saw the incredible view on the top of Mount Diablo

Needless to say by the end of the weekend, Michele and I were exhausted! Though it's good to have one of those vacations every once in a while. It means you got a lot done and had a lot of great experiences that will be remembered forever. Though I think my next vacation this year (still have a week of vacation time to use up) will be a relaxing one!

Coming soon (hopefully) will be an entire area of my web site about my San Francisco trip. I say area because it will definitely take up more than one page. While the interesting things about Binghamton take up only one (ha!), San Francisco needs at least ten. So stay tuned. I know there are many out there who are anxious to see more pictures and hear all about my experiences, but it must wait. I don't like putting up incomplete web pages (and those silly "under construction" animated gifs that people used to put on web pages back in the '90s).

My General Impressions of San Francisco

Overall, I really loved San Francisco. It is, hands-down, the most beautiful city I've ever visited (then again, I haven't been to Paris or Rome yet). It doesn't feel much like a big city like New York or Boston. It's much more laid-back and the people seemed very friendly. San Francisco is definitely my new favorite city! :) I hope to return there someday, and maybe do some non-touristy stuff.

What I Liked the Best: Biking from Fisherman's Warf across the Golden Gate Bridge; Alcatraz; the incredible views!

What I Liked the Least: the wind; some of the public restrooms I had to go to (I won't even go there!)

What Surprised Me the Most: the amount of tourists and seagulls everywhere; how beautiful and peaceful Alcatraz was (despite all the tourists and seagulls)

May 18, 2006

One more week until California!!!

I'm so excited I can hardly sit still! I can't wait! Michele and I are in the middle of planning our activities, but so far it looks like we've got some exciting things planned in the San Francisco Bay Area, both in and around the city. It helps that we share similar interests, like biking and horseback riding (which we plan to do while I'm out). Michele does the same type of riding I do (hunter/jumper), but she's much more advanced since she's been riding and taking lessons a lot longer than I have. See her in action here!

Speaking of horseback riding, here's a picture of Candy, the horse I ride for my lessons. I know I mentioned before that Candy was lame and couldn't be ridden again. Turns out it was only temporary, because I went to a lesson one day and my instructor told me she rode her one day and she was fine. Which is great, because Candy and I get along very well. She responds very well to leg signals--just a little kick or squeeze and she goes. I've ridden horses that require crops or being kicked HARD and very aggressively before they respond to you. On the contrary, you have to be very gentle with Candy. My riding has improved so much with her because since I don't have to fight with her, I can just focus on working on my skills. I wish she were a better jumper though! She hates jumping!

In other news, this past Saturday a bunch of us from Horizons FCU held a chicken BBQ to raise money for the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life. We even had an employee dress up in a chicken suit and stand next to the road holding a sign (she was such a good sport, she stood out there for 3 1/2 hours in the hot sun with only two breaks!). We usually hold a bunch of fundraisers for Relay For Life throughout the year, but this was the first year we had a BBQ. Though we didn't sell out like we planned, we did sell most of it and made a lot of money for a good cause. And the chicken was delicious. (The food kind, not the one in the costume!)

That's about it for now. The next update will be after my vacation. I plan on doing a whole web page/section devoted to my San Francisco trip, so stay tuned!

May 2, 2006

You know you're getting old when you receive a notice in the mail about your upcoming 10 year high school reunion. EEK! Has it been that long already?? Some of the activities under consideration for the reunion include golfing and a football game at our old high school. But since I don't golf and our high school's football team sucks, it doesn't look very promising that I will attend. Plus, I've lost contact with all my old high school friends, so I'm not even sure if any of them will be there. By the way, if any of my old high school friends are reading this, email me! I would love to hear from you. Maybe we can arrange our own personal high school reunion that doesn't involve golf or football? 

Speaking of high school friends, I was on Classmates.com the other day and was surprised at how many people are signed up. Practically my whole class. The only problem is that the stupid site makes you PAY to read the profiles and contact people. That's just wrong. I can understand if they want to charge people to post pictures since they take up a lot of bandwidth, but profiles?? It's just another example of a large company wanting to make money off of people's desire to reconnect with old friends (like its counterpart Reunion.com). So, in protest of Classmates.com's greedy ways, and for the benefit of old classmates who are curious, here is my Classmates profile, FREE OF CHARGE:

Q: What do you do with your free time:
A: Arts (museums, theater, etc.), Go to movies, Listen to music, Read, Sleep, Spend time with family, Surf the Internet, Travel, Vegetate, Volunteer work, Watch TV, Work on my hobbies

Q: Current relationship status:
A: Single and loving it
(This is a dumb answer, but the only choices given were either that or "Single and hating it". As if you couldn't just be "Single" and neutral about it. However, they did not put "Married and loving it" and "Married and hating it" as answers. I call discrimination!)

Q: About children:
A: I don't have any children

Q: Your gender:
A: Female

Q: Indoor hobbies you enjoy:
A: Books, Computers, Photography, Shopping

Q: Outdoor activities you enjoy:
A: Bicycling, Camping/Hiking, Equestrian, Walking

Q: Describe your current living arrangement:
A: Live with parents, relatives, or friends

Q: Country you live in today:
A: UNITED STATES

Q: State you live in today:
A: New York

Q: Kind of pet(s) you have:
A: None

Q: How do you feel about your life right now:
A: I'm headed in the right direction

Q: Your favorite type of movie:
A: Action/Adventure, Animation/Cartoons, Classics, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Family, Foreign, Independent, Musicals, Romance

Q: Your friends would describe you as:
A: Cheerful and easygoing

Q: Kind of car you drive:
A: Compact, I get around by bicycle

Q: Your dream vacation:
A: Backpack through Europe

Q: If you won $100 million tomorrow, you would:
A: Travel around the world
(As if that's not obvious!)

Q: Your biggest pet peeve:
A: Telemarketers

Q: How you meet most of your friends:
A: Associations/volunteering, Through other friends, Work

Q: Describe your political views:
A: It depends on the issue

Q: Your main source of current events:
A: Internet

Q: Household Income?
A: I prefer not to answer

Q: Why you're here at Classmates:
A: Just looking/curious
 

April 2, 2006

Two months from now, for Memorial Day weekend, I will be flying out to San Francisco, CA to visit my friend Michele and see the sights. I can't wait!! I will finally get to cross an item off my Travel Wish List (San Fran is #10). And I haven't seen Michele since we had breakfast at Friendly's almost a year ago. So it should be a nice vacation! And I haven't taken a vacation since I got my new job last year, so I'm way overdue for one. Also, this will be my first time on an airplane, which I'm looking forward to. So it should be an exciting time. :)  Right now I'm putting together a list of places I would like to see. Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, and Golden Gate Park are high up there. Basically your run-of-the-mill touristy stuff. But whenever you go somewhere for the first time, you've got to get the touristy stuff out of your system first. After I get back from my trip, I will create a whole page on my web site devoted to my time in San Francisco. So stay tuned!

In other news...I GOT A NEW CAR! A 1998 Chevy Cavalier. And it's very, very...WHITE. Not my first choice of color, but it looks OK. The challenge will be keeping it clean and sparkling. And making sure it lasts more than four months!! How does it compare with my last car? It's about the same size (maybe a bit bigger), same gas mileage, though it doesn't have power locks or windows (which I really miss) and it has about 50,000 more miles on it. Though it does have some safety features my last car didn't have, like anti-lock brakes and daytime running lights. I'm very, very relieved to finally have a car again. It's not good sitting home doing nothing and having to rely on others to give you rides. Though it did help a bit that this past winter was pretty mild for Binghamton, so I got to ride my bike to work a few weeks. But thank God that whole thing is over! I hope this means I'm not due for another accident for at least another 100 years. :)

Since I got a car again, I have been able to resume my horseback riding lessons. I had a very good lesson today. First of all, the weather was perfect (about 60 degrees, dry, and sunny), so we got to ride in the outdoor arena. Unfortunately the horse I used to ride, Candy, is now lame and can't be ridden again (she's pretty old anyway, so it's probably time for retirement!). I loved riding that horse, and will miss her a lot. :( Today I rode the first horse I ever rode there, a chestnut gelding named Cody. Though he can be a pain sometimes, today he was surprisingly docile. He cantered when I wanted him to canter and he jumped when I wanted him to jump. As for myself, I did pretty good considering I had a three month hiatus. I guess riding a horse is sort of like riding a bicycle--you never forget. It's nice to be "back in the saddle again" (sorry, I just had to say that!).

March 1, 2006 

First of all, I'd like to congratulate my friend Michele and her long-time boyfriend (now husband!) Mike on their marriage on February 25. They got married at the beautiful Decker Mansion in Binghamton. I can't wait to see the pictures!

Wow, I can't believe it's March already! And I can't believe I still don't have a car!! For those of you who have never had a car totaled before, let me tell you that insurance companies can be very slooooooow to process claims (especially Met Life Auto & Home...good lord are they all on sedatives or something?). And if you're someone of limited means like me and can't just go out and buy any car on a whim, you must wait and shop around for a good car that's cheap. And those are hard to come by. But hopefully this weekend I will finally get one. I'm going to the same dealership I got the Neon on Saturday to check out a cool Saturn they had on their web site, and hopefully check out a few more cars they may have picked up at some auctions this week. Buying used cars are pretty much hit or miss. It alls depends on what's currently in inventory. My next after this one (which hopefully won't be for a long time) will hopefully be new, so that way I'll get what I want. Though I will have to worry about loan payments and such. 

It's amazing, though, how much your life is put on hold after a traumatic event such as an accident. It feels like the accident only happened yesterday, not over two months ago! Some people may think that my accident wasn't that traumatic since I didn't get injured (thankfully) and only had "property damage". Well, losing a car, especially one you loved very much and only had for four months, is very traumatic. For those who are injured in accidents, they're mainly concerned with their own health and they don't really mourn the loss of their vehicles very much. But when you come away from an accident unscathed, your attention is focused on the loss of your car and your livelihood. And while you're not experiencing physical pain, the emotional and mental pain can be just as bad. When I start driving again, I know I'm going to feel very vulnerable and scared for a while. I'm going to be afraid that someone is going to run into me again. But the best way to get over those fears is to drive as much as possible. The more you do the thing that scares you, the more you'll feel better about it. Plus, I feel that since I already had a bad accident, I'm not due for another one for a very long time (say, 50 years?). Because seriously, what are the chances that some random person will run into me again? Let's hope it never happens again!

The ironic thing is that I was counting on the car to get me through the winter. As you know, I like riding my bike when the weather's warm. And the car was for cold weather. Well, as soon as winter rolls around it gets totaled and I end up spending most of the winter with no car! Though thankfully this winter so far has been very mild. There have been many days with 40-50 degree temperatures that allowed me to ride my bike to work, which is normally unheard of for winter in Binghamton. Last winter my bike stayed in the garage from January through March. Well, at least I'm getting some exercise!

February 14, 2006 

Happy Valentine's Day!

You've probably been wondering what the heck I've been doing the past few months (my last "what's new" entry being in November). Well, here's a quick run-down:

Totaled my car

Well, I didn't total my car. Some moronic 20-year-old male driving a pickup truck who thought that answering his cell phone was more important than other people's safety rear-ended me and crushed my little Neon into the Chevy Suburban in front of me. Everyone else was stopped for a red light, and apparently the guy didn't think he had to stop as well. My beautiful little car is now reduced to salvage material, its final resting place being Gary's-U-Pull-It auto recycling center, where it is being farmed for its parts. (Sort of the automotive equivalent of organ donation.) The pictures at right speak for themselves, I think. No, I wasn't hurt. And yes, I'm very angry. 

Here's what I've learned from the experience:

• No matter how nice a car you have, it can be reduced to scrap metal in a matter of seconds.
• Males under the age of 21 should not be allowed to drive. Especially their dads' pickup trucks.
• Men who have sons under the age of 21 should not allow them to drive their pickup trucks.
• Insurance companies are evil.
• Cell phones are good to have in your car for emergencies (after this experience, I'm definitely getting one of those pay-as-you-go ones), but for the love of God, if your ringing cell phone falls on your car's floor right after you've just turned onto a busy road during peak rush hour during the peak holiday season, LET IT GO!!!

OK, so I was sort of kidding about number 2 and 3 (though there is an epidemic of clueless young drivers out there). But all the other ones are true. ;)
 

Hung out with hockey players

Well, sort of. Me and a few people from work volunteered at the MDA's "Spaghetti on Ice" fundraising dinner in January. During the dinner, members of the Binghamton Senators (Binghamton's AHL hockey team) served the guests their food as well as gave autographs and posed for pictures. My coworkers and I helped out at the silent auction, which auctioned off the jerseys the players were wearing during the event. Man, those guys were hot! I need to go to more hockey games or something. Now I know where all the hot guys in Binghamton are hiding (even though most of the players are from Canada). Oh yeah!

Well, that's pretty much it really. My life since the accident on December 19 has been consumed with dealing with the guy's insurance company (hell) and trying to find a new car (no success). I've had to forgo horseback riding lessons for the time being until I can get a car again. But the good news is that I've been riding my bike more often, partially out of necessity and partially because the weather lately has been really warm for winter in Binghamton (meaning temps in the 40's), so I might as well take advantage of it! But I do hope I get a new car soon. It's all a matter of finding the right one at the right price.