Alex

The day has come! Starting now I am no longer blogging on LiveJournal. All my blog posts will be on my website, www.alexburr.com.

You can still read my posts on your LJ friends page by adding the syndicated feed from my site: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/pokealex_blog/

Thanks guys - happy reading.

This weekend Sarah and I (and many others) hit Toronto for Steve and Caitlin's wedding celebration. Or is it Caitlin and Steve's wedding celebration? Well, either way. There were some peeps I haven't seen in quite a long time (Peter, Skye, the Winns, Steph, Julie, Hilary...) as well as some good dancing. Just enough dancing to make me feel happy about dancing and tire me out completely due to lack of recent frequency.

Also we had a fantastic dinner for which I paid far too much. Ask me about it sometime and I'll elaborate. Sunday's trip back included a stop-off at Niagara Falls with the peeps, which was very very cold and icy. I'm sure the thunder god He-No wants us to visit his waterfall during the summertime.

Some interesting things happening lately. To start, there were two deaths recently at the Seneca Park Zoo: first the baby elephant that had been due for two years now died in delivery. Then the adult male orangutan mysteriously dropped dead. The clips on the news are absolutely heartbreaking, and I choke up a little when I see the dozen of children hanging signs they've made and flowers they've brought. One particularly tearjeaking sign simply said "Sorry Jenny C" in purple crayon with a backwards J (Jenny C is the mom elephant's name).

On the dancing front, Groove Juice Swing just finished our best ever four week Intro to Swing series. Twenty students, most of which were very enthusiastic! We had great participation, lots of laughter and clapping, and high spirits all four weeks. Several of our students approached us to tell us how much fun they had and couldn't wait to come back. Now we'll see if they all actually keep dancing...

There were a lot of people at Friday's dance, actually, and I did see quite a few of our students. So far so good...

Also, this weekend Dick Cheney shot someone. Is was really just a matter of time, wasn't it?

In the web world, it looks like dictionary.com is going to be getting a new design, courtesy of Happy Cog Studios. Technically this is old news—like, November old—but it's the first I've heard of it so I'm posting it here. I for one am excited. I use dictionary.com regularly and have always felt it was abysmally ugly. Hint, hint, Google...

I haven't had a blog post in a while. It's been a long and very busy week on more than one front. I'm looking forward to it being Saturday.

I almost never do these things, but why not. Courtesy of Mugsy

• A - Accent: Fairly neutral Upstate NY, although I'm slowly acquiring the Western NY/Buffalo/Rochester accent that makes the word "pants" come out like "peeants".
• B - Breakfast Item: Today? Frosted Flakes. They're Grr... well, you know.
• C - Chore You Hate: Hm. Washing dishes probably, but just because the sink is always so low, and I get icked out by hunks of wet food floating around. Bleah.
• D - Dad's Name: Robert.
• E - Essential Everyday Item: A belt. I'm not letting THAT happen again.
• F - Flavour Ice Cream: Vanilla. Or something with caramel in it.
• G - Gold or Silver?: Silver.
• H - Hometown: Rochester, NY. Formerly Clifton Park, NY.
• I - Insomnia: Not really. I rarely have trouble sleeping.
• J - Job Title: Production Manager.
• K - Kids: None yet.
• L - Living Arrangements: Crammed into a teeny studio with Sarah. We're moving up and out this summer.
• M - Mom's Birthplace: Buffalo NY.
• N - Number of Significant Others you've ever had: Three.
• O - Overnight Hospital Stays: Twice, I think. I had my tonsils out as a kid, and in high school I had a tympanomastoidechtomy. I had tubes in my ears several times, but I think that's all outpatient.
• P - Phobia: Spiders.
• Q - Queer?: I liked Brokeback Mountain but I don't think that means I'm queer. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
• R - Religious Affiliation: Hm. I think I was baptized Lutheran, and confirmed Methodist. But my heart was never in it at all. Today I remain happily unaffiliated.
• S - Siblings: Two younger sisters.
• T - Time You Wake Up: I wake up around 6:30. I get up around 6:40. Unless it's Saturday.
• U - Unnatural Hair Colours You've Worn: For a month or two in high school I had it bleached.
• V - Vegetable You Refuse to Eat: Brussels sprouts. Bleah.
• W - Worst Habit: Jeez, where to begin. I guess I should say that I bite my fingernails, and I pick my nose. Sometimes I do both in rapid succession. Gross, right?
• X - X-rays You've Had: Head, Neck, Teeth.
• Z - Zodiac Sign: Libra.

Well, it's a little later than I promised, but I'm a busy man. The 10th Anniversary Cheese-A-Thon was great! Ryan and Mike put some video clips together commemorating the movies and people of Cheese-A-Thons past, and I helped with printing out the official programs and the various awards we gave to attendees.

The movies were all past 'Thon favorites (save one), and are now retired from the repertoire.

First up was the classic Plan 9 From Outer Space directed by Ed Wood. It was no better now than when we watched it at the first Cheese-A-Thon, but it's still hilarious. Notable points include the consistent switching between day and night, the obvious replacement of an actor at several spots in the film, the flimsy cardboard sets and props that bend and buckle under the slightest breeze, the horrible horrible dialog, and the complete lack of plot coherence. Oh and the pie plate UFOs.

Next up was the perennial disaster known as Mac and Me. This is a pretty blatant E.T. rip-off that features, among other things: Giant sea-monkey aliens that suck Coca-cola out of the ground, a rubber dummy little girl being flung around a room by a vacuum cleaner, a little boy in a wheelchair going over a cliff, a dance scene at McDonald's, and the same little boy in a wheelchair perishing in a massive gas station explosion. It's got everything!

Then we suffered through Manos: The Hands of Fate. I'm still trying to figure out why.

The fourth film on the roster was one of my personal favorites, Troll 2. I think this is pretty much the best movie ever made. From the terrible acting, to the ridiculous plot, to the cliched camera trickery, to the awful costumes and effects, to the Mormon cast running around in burlap sacks, to the young man suffocating under popcorn, to the complete lack of trolls in the movie, there isn't a minute of this masterpiece that doesn't bring me ecstatic joy. Seriously.

And finally, we all mostly slept through Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy, which was basically made as an excuse to get young Jane Fonda to float around a room naked in zero gravity. This one has it all, too, but despite that it's still pretty tough to watch. It's not one I'm sorry to see go into the Cheese-A-Thon vault - ne'er to return.

So there you have it. I believe there's some photos out on Flickr from Ryan and Melissa, and Mike posted the video clips online too. Enjoy!

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the Somewhat-Annual Cheese-A-Thon - and I am super super super super super super psyched.

For those that aren't familiar: Cheese-A-Thon is an event begun by my friends and I in college when we discovered we not only loved cheese the food, but cheese the filmic entertainment as well. So (for some reason) we had that idea that a marathon of cheesy B-movies should go hand-in-hand with a gastronomical engorgement of cultured dairy products, and Cheese-A-Thon was born! Five movies + dozens of cheeses + a gaggle of friends + a few gallons of Tang = a Helluva Good time.

This one will be big: We rented out the Tango Cafe for the night as well as a giant projection TV. Stay tuned Sunday or Monday for the recapitulation.

From Al Gore last night:

The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors. The very existence of our country was at risk.

Yet, in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the Bill of Rights.

Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of missiles poised to be launched against us and annihilate our country at a moment's notice? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when our fathers fought and won two World Wars simultaneously?

It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they. Yet they faithfully protected our freedoms and now it is up to us to do the same.

We have a duty as Americans to defend our citizens' right not only to life but also to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is therefore vital in our current circumstances that immediate steps be taken to safeguard our Constitution against the present danger posed by the intrusive overreaching on the part of the Executive Branch and the President's apparent belief that he need not live under the rule of law.

It's about time somebody put it this way. I hope this is the first step in an all-out and much needed revolt.

Rochester's new mayor Bob Duffy has started his term by doing the best possible thing he could have: He cut the funding on the Fast Ferry fiasco.

For the non-Rochesterians, a little history:

A few years ago, some local business-types and politicians decided it would be a good idea to develop plans for a ferry between Rochester and Toronto (across Lake Ontario). Many in Rochester took up arms for this holy cause, as the general consensus was that it could only promote economic growth locally as businesses cashed in on that sweet, sweet tourism money.

The first problem quickly became apparent: while a boat ride on road-trip to Toronto sounds like a great idea, very few people *in* Toronto are really in all that much of a hurry to get to Rochester.

As such, the general response in Toronto was "meh." Somehow, with minimal support from the other side, Rochester went ahead with the plan anyway. In fact, there was some outright negative feedback from Toronto media, but that didn't crush the wills of the indignant Rochester political community. What followed would have been a comedy of errors if it hadn't been so damned expensive:

• First Rochester spent a buttload of money to build a really pretty terminal in Charlotte (which isn't really Rochester at all. Rochester is several miles south from the lake).
• The boat was built in Australia for another buttload of money, prompting Toronto to say, "This is really happening? Well, okay..."
• As the ship made its journey to its new home, it damaged its hull in New York City and had to stop for repairs.
• When it finally got here, it need more engine repairs.
• Soon after, a surprise discovery was made of additional costs for border services imposed by the Canadian government.
• Then, just as things were about to get underway, Toronto went, "but we haven't even built a terminal yet!" Voyagers for the first few weeks arrived to basically a tarp and a big pole.
• Rochester, by this point, had already put giant "FERRY" signs all over the highways across the county.
• However, still nobody rode the damn thing for four months, so the original company went bankrupt and the ship was seized for resale.
• Right around this time Toronto finished building their terminal and gave Rochester a collective "What the hell is going on with this thing, eh?"
• Not yet convinced of the entire idea being a bad one, the city of Rochester itself bought the ferry at auction for yet another buttload of money.
• A few more repairs and general shenanigans later, they finally got it running again - and once again, nobody rode it.
• They finally suspended running the thing indefinitely until Duffy pulled the stopper out of the bottom.

Find more of the story at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Ontario_I. Thank you Mayor Duffy. I certainly hope he's not the only person working downtown with a brain in his skull.

Well, it's been a week since my last post, so it's quick catch-up time:

New Years was spent at Frank's party, which was fun except for when he grabbed my girlfriend's tush. Then I received word from the entertainment store that they would like me to stay on after all, so I've decided to keep working a couple extra nights per week. A little extra cash never hurts anyone.

On the dance front, the next series of Groove Juice classes are starting in a couple of weeks. They should be fun, but mostly I'm glad at how streamlined we're finally able to get some of our curricula. We definitely all need to be involved in the process for each class session - it doesn't work so well when one or two teachers mold the curric. themselves.

I went to Lindy Jam this week for the first time in Who Knows How Long, which was the first time I've danced in about two months or so. I've definitely lost a lot of endurance.

I've also made my first purchase on iTunes this week! I spent my money wisely: A digital copy of the 1971 T. Rex album Electric Warrior. I really should be wearing something glittery but that might cause them to rethink my promotion at work.