08.10.08
Posted in Buffalo at 8:55 am by Amy Maxwell
A good friend of mine is getting married in 4 weeks and I’m singing at his wedding. His older brother is one of my closest friends. They both live out of town. So when his older brother mentioned the bachelor party being in town this weekend, I asked what the plans were.
I was fortunate enough to have dinner with both of them when the groom-to-be arrived on Friday night. Saturday’s plans included a day of golf, dinner downtown and then starting out on Chippewa and going from there.
I opted to join them after dinner for drinnks. It was after all, his bachelor party and typically, it doesn’t include women. We had a drink where they ate and then we headed down to a couple different bars on Chippewa.
Around 12:30, I made the realization that I was much too old and too exhausted to still be out on a Saturday night. The last time I’d done it was when my best friend (also a guy) got married 4 years ago - we spent the Thursday night before his wedding out and about.
Then we walked by the son of someone I work with who was headed out for the evening…
Hey, it was fun to hang out with the boys, but reality always sets in…and for once, I welcomed it!
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07.24.08
Posted in Buffalo at 6:44 am by Amy Maxwell
About a month ago, I was having dinner with friends in Lockport (where I grew up). I ran into a classmate from high school. We hadn’t seen each other in 15 years! It was good to see him and we exchanged contact information.
Dave and I were never really part of the same crowd in high school. He played football and was definitely one of the jocks. I was friends with everyone, but more of the nerdy group (hard to believe, I know!). So when we decided to have dinner and catch up, I was a little unsure of it all because I thought we’d have NOTHING to talk about.
Well, we were at dinner for 3 1/2 hours…and caught up on just about everything old and new…friends, jobs, relationships. And it was really a lot of fun. At the end of the night, I looked at him and said I couldn’t believe how the time had passed…
And over the next two weeks, I’m seeing a couple of old friends who live in Florida, but will be in town visiting their families…haven’t seen either of them in 15 years, so I’m looking forward to reconnecting!
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07.20.08
Posted in Buffalo at 5:14 pm by Amy Maxwell
So, about 6 weeks ago, a friend of mine from Lockport (where I grew up and went to high school) sent me an e-mail. She was talking up Facebook and encouraging me to join. She said that she’d reconnected with a bunch of our high school chums and I’d really like it.
I have an aversion to social networking sites that serve no other purpose beyond that. So I was very hesitant to do so. After much debate, I decided that I’d give it a shot. So I joined. It’s free so I had nothing to lose. Except some wasted time.
One of the first messages I received was from our good friend Chris Smith and he assured me that I’d grow to hate it. I wasn’t surprised by his comment, knowing him as I do, but I thought it was a strange comment to make to someone who was new to a networking site.
Then I received a similar message from a friend of mine in Baltimore. And I thought it was strange from him as well. First, we hadn’t communicated in a lot of years and for one of the first things he says to be negative, I found it a bit odd.
Here we are, 6 weeks later. And I love and hate Facebook. I’ve reconnected with a lot of old friends and met some new ones. But once I’m on the site, it’s an easy way to waste A LOT of time. There are more applications and just random “stuff” to do and most of the time it’s so overwhelming.
Things I’ve learned from Facebook:
- I’m Jerry Seinfeld according to the “Which Seinfeld character are you?” quiz
- I’m a classical guitar
- I’m a morning coffee biscuit
- I’m prick (according to swear words)
- I’m beaujolais
- I’m President David Palmer from “24″
Good thing I joined. 
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07.18.08
Posted in Buffalo at 5:56 pm by Amy Maxwell
Okay…so maybe that’s an exageration, but I had a relatively disturbing experience this morning on my way to work. I made a rare trip through Tim Horton’s drive-thru to grab myself an iced cappuccino. I figured it would keep me cool since it was already in the mid-70’s at 7AM.
So, I get order my drink and it comes to $2.82. Not completely outrageous. And not the disturbance.
I hand the girl, who was 16 or 17, $5.02. She turns to the register and the register drawer is open - a trick to keep things moving quickly during busy times - and is completely baffled. She had no idea how much change to give me and also couldn’t get the buttons to do the math for her.
So I yelled “two dollars and twenty cents”. She immediately put the money in the drawer, retrieved $2.20 and handed me the money.
I drove away, a bit stunned. We’ve gotten to a point in society where our youth (and yes I know I’m still relatively young) are unable to calculate basic math in their heads. I mean, is it really that difficult to do subtraction? I find it a bit troubling that we’ve come to rely so heavily on technology that the fundamentals are being lost on our youth…
Just food for thought…
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07.14.08
Posted in Buffalo at 9:27 am by Amy Maxwell
After a lengthy hiatus from blogging, I’ve re-entered the world of all things blogging. My brain really needed the rest especially since things picked up significantly for me at work.
I’ve been really trying to enjoy the summer so far. There is always so much to do and not enough time to do it in…festivals, art exhibits, Shakespeare…and trying to get to everything is simply an impossibility. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the weather (nice to have friends with a pool) and trying to spend as much time with friends and family as possible.
My little brother (and by little, he’s almost 31) is arriving home today. He is an Army guy. He was in the Army for 5 1/2 years before deciding it was time to get out. Then he worked for 3 1/2 years before re-evaluating and changing his mind about having left. After about 8 months, he ended up back in during 2006. It’s not likely he’ll see combat time overseas (thank goodness), though it’s one of the main reasons he re-enlisted.
He spent almost two years out at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I joined him on a road trip to drive his newly purchased vehicle (purchased from our folks) out West in February. We drove straight through - 25 hours or so. He showed me all around Garden of the Gods and we drove up Pike’s Peak - not for the fainthearted! He’s spent the past two months training at Fort Lee in Virginia.
I’m always excited to see him - we spend as much time together as possible just hanging out. When he leaves in a couple weeks, it’s likely I won’t see him for quite some time. He is driving up to Alaska, where he’ll be stationed for 3 years. He’ll be at Fort Richardson, which is very near Anchorage. I’m going to do my best to visit him at some point.
So, it’s mid-July folks. Hope you are all enjoying your summers and I look forward to seeing you out and about all over WNY!
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07.10.08
Posted in Activism at 11:53 am by admin
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