Showing posts with label Capital Region. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Capital Region. Show all posts
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Lost Kitty In The City (Albany)
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I was on hand for the festivities at Albany City Hall Saturday night into Sunday morning: New York is the sixth, and largest, state to legalize same-sex unions. Several other states are considering following suit.
Congrats to all of you couples! Scroll down to the bottom for my musical gift to you!
Six gay and lesbian couples from around the Capital Region were among the first in the state to legally wed under New York’s same-sex marriage law. Mayor Jerry Jennings and Judge Joseph Teresi officiated in Albany. This is what it looked outside City Hall around 11pm, an hour before things got underway...



Lights, cameras... ACTION!

When I first arrived at City Hall, I jokingly mentioned to Dori Marlin that it's been about three years since I last saw her out covering a story. "You're the third person who's told me that tonight," said she... No, she and Dan Levy weren't tying the knot... they were witnessing


Judge Teresi officiating the wedding of an African-American couple who had children with them. I wasn't able to find out who the kids were. Everyone was smiling most of the time, except during those "serious, solemn" moments! Here's the Times Union account of the evening... I mentioned in my radio report that gay rights and human rights activists hope the Empire State's same-sex marriage law will have nationwide impact - that it will impress lawmakers throughout the land, all the way to President Barack Obama. Gay marriage advocates now say they will push for Federal legislation that would require ALL states to recognize same-sex unions.

Mayor Jenning's longtime friends ("Super Secret Couple") Dale Getto and Barbara Laven were married by hizzoner. After the City Hall proceedings, they jumped in a stretch limo and headed up to Saratoga for celebration at Vapor! Congratulations, ladies!


Old chum Dan Levy from NewsChannel 13 takes a seat to jot down a few notes...

Albany City Councilman Anton Konev was on the scene to "witness history." This fellow attends more local events than Brian Scavo!


I love people! Comrades-in-arms Fox23 reporter and cameraman mugged for my smartphone as the crowd began leaving City Hall. Good job, guys!

And here's a musical gift for you Gay Couples! Ronnette's Ronnie Spector with substitute 'nettes Belinda Carlisle (Go-Gos) and Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane) with the late great Clarence Clemmons on sax!



Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Photographs are the property of Dave Lucas and may not be used without permission. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
#ssm Gay Marriage Albany Wedding Album
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Broilin' today!

WoW! What a gorgeous, lusty, tropical day! Cooling foods, like salads and ice creams, icey cold tea, coffee and Milo... Sade and Alice Smith on the stereo... plus we dug out "Summer" (My time of year) from WAR!

So how was YOUR day? Here are a few HOT links for a Heat Wave!

What is Prometheus? Ridley Scott Unveils Footage at Comic-Con


The Comic-Con Diaries

Paul Scheer heads to Comic-Con to document the oddest sights he encounters at the geek mecca!


Eight couples seek head-start on gay marriage in Albany!


Twitter and Latin American Presidents: Does It Make Them Closer to Us?

MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS!

20-year old lovely Cassandra "Pepper" Thigpen, of 350 Leedale Street was charged in a very hot and humid Albany city court Thursday with second-degree robbery, third-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child and possession of a noxious material: she was caught shoplifting on Central Ave. so she gave the store clerk a snoot full of pepper spray!

Here's what she looks like, so you can cross the street if you forgot to bring along your gasmask!

Sum-Sum-Summertime!
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Life is so relentless... every now and then a person needs a treat... what better gift to oneself than a dollar smoothie ( or "SMOOTIE" is it?) from the Central Ave. Mickey D's?


The Central Ave. restaurant is more 3rd world than 3rd world McDonald's I've visited along the years... a cool stop on a hot day, totally charming, a cacaphony of voices speaking in many different languages permeates the french-fried atmosphere... the workers are friendly and polite...


This was my first time tasting this Mango/pineapple concoction: it was delightful. (I'm still working on my idea for a high-fiber lo-cal milkshake) Really hit the spot! (But I still prefer the Southeast Asian McD Mango Pies w/Fried Chicken!)


Thank-you, McD's! ♥♥♥

#Lunch was awesome!
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Perhaps they could have converted the old bookmobile into one of these snazzy weiners (not YOU, Anthony!) , and dispensed free hot dog lunches at designated locations across the city?
Nah!



In these economic times of trouble, when you can't even buy a junky used car for $2500, and the Albany Public Library is hurtin' for money (you would be too if you bought a bunch of $1000 apiece chairs for computer-users at the branches), I was shocked to see they sold the bookmobile for a sliver of what AllOverAlbany says it is worth!

Ah well, it was way too big for my driveway! Maybe the library got some sort of nice tax write-off or something - the behemoth costs around $100K a year to operate, according to the Times Union story...

Your tax dollars at work, Smallbanians!

Albany Public Library Bookmobile SOLD
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Take advantage of the "Extra" savings items: WATCH OUT when buying anything else!

A week ago today I mentioned the vast difference in prices on grocery items when comparing Price Chopper vs. Hannaford [read that here] ...now, with Shop-Rite breathing down it's neck, Price Chopper is loading up those "loss leader" items.

The other day my neighbor got out of his SUV with some Price Chopper bags and proclaimed (as we exchanged 'hello's'') "Look at this! I got two GIANT bottles of Hawaiian Punch for just $2.19!" I replied "up - I got the same at Hannaford for $1.49 each." He looked back at me incredulously.

Here's how it works, people: For most of june and early July, Price Chopper was selling HP for $2 a bottle. It was $1.99 at Hannaford and Sav-A-Lot.

Price Chopper has a new "Double Coupon" deal where they double any manufacturer's coupon up to a dollar. It seems that when a manufacturer's coupon comes out in one of the weekly fliers, they "adjust" the price.

Hawaiian Punch (when the mfg 50cents off coupon began circulating) went up to $3.19 at PC but stayed the same $1.99 at HFD and SAL.

So, when you buy the product and present the coupon, you're still paying more for the item! What I did was take my 50cents off coupon to Hannaford, and bought the item for $1.49.

MORAL ::: when couponing, watch your prices carefully. You may have similar differences between supermarkets in your onw area. DO NOT BASE YOUR SHOPPING LIST ON YOUR LAST TRIP TO THE STORE (especially if a new 50c or less coupon is out!) And be especially vigilant at the Price Chopper checkout. On more than one occasion the electronic scanner has rung up a price more expensive than the marked price. DO NOT BUY ANY ITEM THAT DOES NOT HAVE THE PRICE ON IT. If you do, you have "no proof" at the register.
Attention Shoppers
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Joely Schwenk auditioning for NBC's "The Voice"
A local singer with a large following in the Capital Region hopes to extend her fan club as she prepares to audition for the hit NBC Show "The Voice."
TechCrunch
Zappedy Acquired By Groupon. What’s Zappedy? - An anonymous tipster tells us Zappedy, a company that offered various technology products for local businesses, has been acquired by Groupon.

Twitter and Microsoft Hammering Out Bing Integration
PC Magazine
By David Murphy Having recently lost its contract with Google that gave the search giant a stream of tweets to throw alongside the company's search results, Twitter is treading shaky waters in its ongoing negotiations with Microsoft over a similar use ...

Tim Pawlenty tries Twitter to tweak Romney and talk about jobs
Los Angeles Times
Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty took to his @TimPawlenty Twitter account Friday to issue a challenge to fellow Republican contender Mitt Romney. He inserted a linkfrom his recent conversation about the debt ceiling vote with CNBC's Larry Kudlow

Miss Info
New Music: Mac Miller “Just A Kid”, plus Kelly Rowland Feat. Big Sean, Curren$y & More… - Mac Miller’s Twitter following is steadily growing fast, yesterday he hit 600k followers so to the fans he released “Just A Kid”.

El Punto Es [es] publishes an interesting interview with the Puerto Rican DJ Marcos Flores, who lives in Madrid, Spain.



In case you missed these ::: Harry Potter #8 posts:

Geoffrey Philp's Blog Spot
Thank You, JK Rowling - Last night as my family and I got ready to watch *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2*, I remembered anticipation of my children, especiall...

Dave Lucas' Notes
Pop Clips » 16 July 11 - *HP Slideshow from a recent New York Magazine!* *Pottter shatters records...* * * The eighth film in the Harry Potter series broke single-day box office records..




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NetActive 17 July 2011
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I don't get it. I ride the bus every day and I'm always baffled as to why passengers thank the driver when they get off at their stop. Thank-you. Thanks for what? For letting me off the bus when I pulled the cord? For not getting into an accident along the way? For accepting my fare in the wake of increasingly poor service?

The bus driver is likely the highest-paid annual wage earner aboard the vehicle. He should be thanking US for giving him a cush job where he can sit all day long as he tools around town.

Pictured: a "600 series" GM motor coach, used by CDTA's private sector predecessor, United Traction Company. These small-diesel powered workhorses were so efficient and economical, they remained in daily use through the 1970s!

Let's see how many people are thankful come this fall when CDTA "revises" bus routes. Based on previous performance, here's what they'll possibly do:

(1) eliminate more bus stops like they've done in the past, especially where a disabled person or a small child may have been getting on, forcing them to walk a long distance under sometimes treacherous conditions to get to an "official" stop - especially in a suburban area - or smaller town

(2) extend some routes to enable busses to pollute more and damage roadways - like the Second Avenue line. It was extended over Whitehall Road to St. Peter's Hospital. The noisy vehicles whiz by with a single passenger (most of the time they're empty) and badly damaged a portion of Hackett Boulevard, where a cement slab had to be put down to accomodate them. (The buses draw traffic from the #9 Whitehall Road bus, and I'll betcha the CDTA is going to announce #9 is shutting down because "fares are down" because about ten people a day hop aboard the Second Ave. line, because they travel about a minute in front of #9)

A more LOGICAL thing to do: KEEP #9 because it's the only way one might travel from Whitehall Road to near Central Avenue (get off at Partridge, Quail or Lake) without having to pay more $$$ for another bus, since the transfer system was abolished. And why not EXTEND #9 at the Morton Avenue area to run all the way down Morton and over South Pearl instead of crossing Eagle?

NOW I "get it" ::: CDTA just doesn't get it.

Let's hope they don't raise bus fare again.

You "thank-you" folks would be smarter to run out and hug and thank the guys who take your garbage out on trash day.


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Watch Your Ride
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"This story is available only in print" - the Albany Times Union

Without Anthony Weiner to poke (fun at)and with the Casey Anthony trial "resolved," the Sunday news is a little tamer this weekend: the sensational stories (except maybe for what's happening with Rupert Murdoch) take a back seat today.

It's great when a newspaper takes an original story and keeps readers "in the loop." There's nothing worse than wondering "what happened" - the Albany Times Union has done a marvelous job following the life and times of "Poppy" - and the timing here was just right for a page-one follow-up to the transient's seemingly never-ending story! Poppy has settled for now in Ravena. (For those wishing to read the storyonline, don't fret - the "print exclusives" eventually show up at the TU's website.)

Right below the Poppy article there's a story very timely for seafood lovers: a warning that imported fish containing banned chemicals are being sold in the U.S.

"Death Arrives in the Neighborhood" is a story out of Lake George with a very unhappy ending, like so many stories of "relationship violence" turn out. Just as I wonder about suicides, I wonder how bad life has to be, how low one must sink, how severe heartbreak must be, for things like these to happen. Your prayers for all of the people involved in this and the Massachusetts story that follows below are needed!

THE BOSTON GLOBE has the bigger story (a sensational one in the Greater Boston area)::: that of Nathaniel Fujita, the son of Berklee College of Music assistant prof. Tomohisa Fujita, charged with the July 3rd murder of Lauren Astley.
Back to "LOCAL" ::: Way deep in the "Capital Region" section on pp D10-11, there's a news article/obit for New York State Assembly director Sisa Moyo... the 47-year old found dead in her apartment the other day. I'm glad I don't live alone. If you live alone, you die alone. Across the page there's a story about the army amputee who fell to his death from a roller coaster just outside Buffalo. That's gotta be as sad as the poor chap who fell to his death trying to catch a baseball for his 6-year old son at a major league game.

Deep inside the Sunday Times Union there's an ad where Hannaford vs. Price Chopper over the cost of cereal. REALLY? Hannaford, why the kid gloves? Why not go after them on the cost of MEAT. I'll give you an example. Roughly a pound of hamburger at the Delmar Hannaford cost me $3 and change on Saturday. The same day, roughly a pound of hamburger at the Madison Avenue Price Chopper ran around $7. I picked up a steak at HFD for $2.14. A nice steak, big enough for three (four with samller portions). I couldn't find a steak at the Madison PC for less than $8.

Now, Price Chopper may be advertsing lower prices for meat, but everytime I've gone to the meat section I CANNOT FIND a single package steak or hamburger being sold for less than $4 or $5, where at Hannaford, I can ALWAYS find a $2.50 steak and a $2.89 package of hamburger - and if it expires that day they'll even have a markdown slip on it anywhere from 75c to $1.50 off!

THE SARATOGIAN is running stories about economic uncertainty and the decline of fine arts possibly threatening the New York City Ballet's future with SPAC and the preponderance of "invasive species" making Saratoga Lake a "travel destination."

THE NY POST homepage showcases Derek jeter's 3000th hit. And so it goes. Another newspaper Sunday is in the books.


Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
Sunday's Newspapers 10 July 2011

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