philly

Got $5 for Tsunami Victims?

That used to be a village in Sri Lanka, now, it's rubble.

Got $5 you can spare? Donate it to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund here.

Photo: AFP

Horrible Tragedy in South East Asia

From what I've read and seen, the count is somewhere between 9,000 and 13,000 as of right now.

Definitions from WikiPedia:
Tidal Wave / Tsunami
Earthquake

I have a college friend currently travelling in Thailand. I hope she's safe.

Does anyone know how we can help out?

Yushchenko Wins?

Yushchenko is up 12% with 90% of the votes counted, reports BBC News. I'm not holding my breath though. I'm sure Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych will file suit in court to muck things up. But with 12,000 international polling place observers, fraud is out of the question.

Score one for the good guys?

Selling a Sony DSC F717

Here's what it'll come with:

• 1-piece lens + body
• form fitting Sony case
• Li-ion battery which still holds a solid 230min charge
• 3-piece lens filter kit: uv, polarizer, flourescent
• 256MB Sony MemoryStick Pro - holds about 120 5MP fine-.jpg shots
• everything else that came in the box plus the original box it all came in
• 2 years left on the Circuit City protection plan - if anything goes wrong, they fix it for free

This camera is much better than the DSC F828 and its 8MP. Read the review and you'll see. At 5MP, the F717 produces better images.

Full specs can be found here and a very in-depth review here.

I'd like to get around $450 for all of that. The camera [$400], the 256MB MemStick [$75], the case [$15], filters [$20] and the 2 years left of full warranty protection [$150] is well worth $450.

Email me with any questions.

Christmas & NYE of 2003

Just posted a few photos from Christmas and New Year's in NY from 2003. Justin has grown qutie a bit and so has my camera usage. My first digicam, the Sony DSC U10, a.k.a. the Cybershot U, has for the most part been retired, all 1.3MP of it. And I now plan on selling my 5MP Sony DSC F717 as soon as my new Nikon D70 arrives on Tuesday or Wednesday. Any takers?

Second Snow in NY

It's supposed to snow up here in NY for the second time this season. NY got blanketed on Monday with a coupe of inches. Sunday should only be another dusting - it shouldn't interfere with the drive home. Methinks Lady and I will stop off at the Candlelight Inn [519 Central Park Avenue Scarsdale, New York] for some grub to wait out the traffic.

In the twenty or so years I spent in Westchester, I spent the most money on food at the 'Light. It has, hands down, the best wings I've ever had in my life. They also make a killer Buffalo chicken sandwich using the same hotsauce as in their wings recipie. The mozzarella & gravy fries are to die for as well. And they don't skimp on the cheese there on the fries. They also have the tastiest jalapeno popper's I've had as well. I think that until I venture up north to Buffalo, I may never meet wings as good as at the 'Light and perhaps even then, the 'Light may reign supreme.

If you're ever in the area, you cannot pass up a meal at the 'Light. It's worth the wait to sit down and eat at one of their 12 tables. If you've got a place to stay close by, get an order to go and don't forget the napkins.

Ukrainian Re-Vote

I believe the runoff starts in about an hour. Let's get ready to rumble!

Dave Letterman

I just saw this photo over on iFlipFlop and it made me happy.

Not too many entertainers will go overseas to see our troops in times of war, but those who do - Repug, Dem, Liberal, Conservative, or whathaveyou - are brave. Letterman has been in the game for a long time now and he's made his millions. I don't see many big names doing these things.

Photo: AP & AP story

Nikon D70 Is MINE!

Victory!

Back in stock and shipping to MEMEME Monday. I should have it by Thursday at the latest. Interest free until January 2007.

Merry Christmas to myself.

Christmas Gifts

My gifts received recap:

• Hand Vac
• Two button down shirts
• Gift Card
• Cash

It's funny as I've grown older, my present requests have become more sensible. I used to have gigantic lists of just about everything there was to have when I was younger. This year, I asked for a fucking hand vac and a gift card to get my ass some new shoes. That's it. Seeing Justin open up all of those gifts took me back 20 years to when that was me. It's nice to be on the giving end though.

My gifts given:

• Justin: TMNT Activity book, Sponge Bob color book, Wolverine toy
• Emily: One-piece outfit, Baby Einstein DVD
• Sis: Scrabble computer game [she's obsessed]
• Bro: Chappelle Show Season 1 DVD
• Sis-in-Law: Spa socks
• Dad: Three Tenors CD/DVD
• Mom: She got herself a Pilates DVD and left me a voicemail saying so and that it was going to be my gift to her. She then proceeded to give it to me to wrap and give it back to her. I left the price tag on.

Ah yes, Lady and I had our Christmas before we left Illy. I got her a cutesy lamp she's been eying from Mineralistic a funky Dungeons & Dragons like store on South St & 4^th St or so. The lampshade part is a little red dress and the feet of the lamp are, well, feet - with red toenails. Pretty cute. Lady got me the Chris Rock DVD: Never Scared which I've wanted for awhile now too.

Funny story about that... We were in Tower Records trying to track down the Three Tenors CD/DVD I wanted to get my Dad. I saw the Chris Rock DVD on sale for $14 and I grabbed it. Lady got all huffy and told me not to buy it. But I relented, I really wanted it. But she said that this shopping trip was not for me and, rather, was for my family. So I reluctantly put it back on the shelf, apparently, much to her relief. Hehe. I almost ruined my own Christmas present.

An even funnier story? Lady and I got each other the same present last year. Jon Stewart's Naked Pictures of Famous People. Isn't that funny? I had her open her present first. I wrapped it up, then put it in a bigger box to throw her off. She opened the box and saw the smaller wrapped, book-sized present and started to laugh and then I opened my copy. And we had a good laugh. Great book though, I totally recommend it. You'll finish it in a day or two, you can't put it down. Not quite The Gift of the Magi, but funnier, eh?