YankeeVox comes to Twitter

For those of you who have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon (or are thinking about doing so), I invite you to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/YankeeVox. I'll be happy to give you a follow as well.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Buffalo and chess making headlines together the other day. Ken Regan, an International Master and computer science professor at the University of Buffalo, was recently lauded in The New York Times for his work in developing a program aimed at sniffing out instances of computer cheating among top chessplayers. I highly recommend the article, which is extremely accessible to both chess and computer science laypeople. Of particular interest to me was the way in which the program can be applied to not only root out cheating but also to clear players who have fallen under suspicion. Give it a look.

In other news, today was the home opener for Dartmouth baseball. I was pleased to catch the first two innings; they looked good!

Playoffs!

The Major League Baseball season drew to a close yesterday, with the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals securing the American League and National League wild card playoff spots, respectively. While the division races were decided days (or even weeks) before the end of the season, not even nine innings were sufficient to determine the final standings. Both the Yankees-Rays game and the Phillies-Braves game went deep into extra innings before things were decided. And while it's tempting to rub in the demise of the Yankees' nemesis, I think the Red Sox's September record is punishment enough. Actually, I take that back. Watching the Yankees' ticker-tape parade next month will be punishment enough.

The U.S. Chess League is at the halfway point of the season, with the Philadelphia Inventors and the New York Knights tied atop the Eastern Division with a record of 3.5-1.5 (though Philadelphia currently holds the edge on tiebreaks). In the West, the Chicago Blaze are the class of the league, with an unbeaten 5-0 record. The San Francisco Mechanics are in second place with a 3-2 record. Next week sees interleague action, with New York taking on the Seattle Sluggers and Chicago facing off against the Baltimore Kingfishers.

Despite living in Buffalo for more than a year, I never acquired a rooting interest in the Bills. Nevertheless, I am pleased that the Bills' 3-0 start in the NFL season has given them something to cheer about. Whether or not it will last remains to be seen, but for the time being life is good in Orchard Park.

In other news, Ellen is running in her first marathon on Saturday. Everybody wish her luck!!

The year in pictures

With 2010 nearly in the books, it's safe to say that this has been a banner year. Between graduating first in my class in paramedic school to marrying the woman of my dreams, I will remember 2010 fondly for the rest of my life. Without further ado, the year in pictures.

Niagara Falls (American side), Valentine's Day weekend












Niagara Falls (Canadian side), July




















August












Wedding! September





















































Our first Christmas
























Happy New Year!

Moving

I packed the car last Sunday for another trip down I-90 to New Hampshire. This time, though, I wasn't simply visiting for a long weekend. At long last, after being too many months and too many miles apart from Ellen, I was moving to New Hampshire for good. Needless to say, this knowledge greatly alleviated the aggravation of packing. With one final goodbye to Buffalo, I folded my lanky frame into the car and set off for home.

The drive itself was straightforward, although I was combating rain for most of the trip. At times, the rain would strike the windshield with deafening ferocity. This flummoxed the noise-canceling feature on my hands-free headset, but when impeded phone conversation is the worst misadventure to befall you during a road trip, things aren't looking so bad (though don't get me wrong, I would much preferred to hear what Ellen was saying and vice versa).

I'm still settling into the apartment (I'm staying with my pastor until the wedding and will join Ellen in our apartment after the honeymoon), but the unpacking is going fairly smoothly. It's certainly a pleasant chore, and the best part is the company. It's hard to believe that after so much time apart, Ellen and I are finally back in the same area. Exciting times!

In other news, the New York Knights defeated the Boston Blitz 4-0 in the opening match of the 2010 U.S. Chess League season. Congratulations to all the Knights players and good luck in Week Two!

Black Eyed Peas

Part of my last-full-week-of-work duties involved a standby shift at HSBC Arena on Wednesday. I hadn't been to an Arena standby in a while--not since hockey season ended--but when the Black Eyed Peas came to town, I answered the call. All in all it was a fun concert. Even though I didn't know every song they played, it was a high-energy performance and an exuberant crowd. The concert was more of a production than the Elton John/Billy Joel show I saw in the early spring--costume changes and dancers and multimedia components--but it rarely detracted from the music itself. I hear Nickelback is coming to HSBC sometime in September ... I'm going to have to figure out a way to get on the schedule for that show.

With my departure for New Hampshire only days away, I've reluctantly begun to pack. Ordinarily, packing is pretty straightforward: I grab half a dozen trash bags and stuff all my belongings in them. Once I arrive at my new abode, I begin the arduous process of sorting through everything and weeding out items I no longer want or need. This year, I'm trying a different tack and sorting through everything before packing it up. I'm hoping to spend less time unpacking on the other end; there's certainly enough else to occupy me in the last days before the wedding!

Moving downstate, the New York City Department of Transportation just released a report analyzing more than 7,000 crashes from the middle of the decade in which at least one pedestrian suffered severe or fatal injuries. The report concluded, among other things, that left-hand turns were most likely to result in fatal collisions and jaywalkers stood a lower chance of being run down than people using crosswalks (these are not necessarily related. After all, it's hard to picture hitting a jaywalker while turning left in the middle of a block). The correlation-causation disconnect applies here, as it does to any statistical compilation, but it's nevertheless interesting to hear five years of collisions tell their tales.

In other news, football season is almost upon us. The New York Giants defeated the New York Jets in their preseason matchup Monday night. This is a great time of year to be a sports fan.

Buffalo anniversary

Today is the one-year anniversary of my arrival in Buffalo. Looking back, it doesn't feel like a year. Or maybe it does. Time is hard to measure retrospectively. As things wind down, I'm finding myself starting to say goodbye to people and places that have become familiar parts of my Western NY life. It's a little strange and a little sad, but the world is a smaller place than it used to be, and goodbye less final.

Since I'm moving out of Buffalo in sixteen days, I'm scrambling to get in all the touristy activities I haven't done yet. Yesterday, a college friend and I went to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo's art museum. We had a lot of fun; the Albright-Knox has a respectable line-up of big-name artists in their permanent collection--Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet--as well as a number of painters and sculptors I've never heard of (which admittedly isn't saying much).

I played in the Sardinia Open chess tournament today. In my first tournament since the end of January, I tied for first with a score of 2.5 - 0.5. At times I felt slightly rusty, but overall I was pleased with my play. Here is my favorite game from the event, a Round Two victory over Albert "Pat" Patterson, rated 1764.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 0-0 6. Be3 Nbd7 7. Qd2 c5 8. d5 a6 9. Be2 Rb8 10. g4 Ne5 11. h3 Ne8 12. f4 Nd7 13. h4 Nc7 14. a4 Nf6
















15. f5 b5 16.Bf3 bxc4 17. h5 g5 18. Bxg5 e6 19. h6 Bh8 20. Bh4 exd5 21. Qg5+ Black resigns.

If you can think of any can't-miss Buffalo attractions I should visit before moving back to New Hampshire, please let me know!

New York in the news

New York was in the news quite a bit today. For starters, the state legislature finally passed its budget. This would ordinarily be unremarkable, were the budget not 125 days late. The latest budget ever to be turned in, according to The New York Times, was passed on August 11, 2004. This year's edition avoided that dubious milestone by the narrowest of margins. I maintain that California remains the most dysfunctional state, but this budget fiasco certainly didn't help New York's standing any (neither did temporarily relinquishing control of the AL East).

The state legislature also passed a bill that would count prison inmates as residents of their pre-incarceration towns and cities, rather than counting them as residents of the town in which their prison is located. I'm not philosophically opposed to the idea--it makes some sense--but there's one part that confuses me. In some circumstances, individuals with felony convictions are not permitted to vote. What then is the purpose of redrawing Congressional districts to better represent people who cannot vote for their representatives in the first place?

On a more positive note, Tuesday's New York Times also featured an article about an experimental treatment for cardiac arrest patients: Induced hypothermia. The article, which was satisfactory but superficial, focused primarily on the implementation of cooling therapy in New York City. Apparently they piloted the treatment with local hospitals and are now beginning to train prehospital providers in its use.

Induced hypothermia is an interesting and promising treatment. Current research indicates that the actual mechanism of clinical death among cardiac arrest patients is a buildup of lactic acid and other toxic byproducts of cellular respiration. By lowering the body temperature, the reasoning goes, the body's metabolism is decreased, thereby slowing the release of these toxic byproducts. Early results from this new therapy are encouraging.

My only beef with the article--besides failing to give a suitable overview of what the treatment entails and why it might be effective--is that it barely mentions Buffalo's induced hypothermia program, which is much further along than Manhattan's. Whereas New York City paramedics are just now receiving training in the procedure, some ambulance companies in Western New York have been using it on the street for months. I did part of my field internship with one such agency, but I didn't have the opportunity to employ the treatment during my ride time.

Ellen's final Buffalo visit

Ellen came out to visit this weekend for the last time before I move back to New Hampshire. We had a terrific time, combining a belated birthday celebration with sightseeing and low-key time together too. On Saturday, we went to watch the Buffalo Bisons take on the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs in AAA minor league baseball (the Bisons won, 4-1). Watching a minor league game is a much different experience from attending a major league stadium; for starters, the minor league stadia usually have about one quarter the seating capacity of their big-league brethren. This means you can get much closer to the action without spending a fortune. In fact, it costs the same amount of money to watch two Yankees games from field level ($250 per seat) as it does to buy season tickets to the Bisons ($505 per seat for seventy one home games). Then again, you get what you pay for. Unless A.J. Burnett is pitching, anyway.

On Sunday we crossed the border and went to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. What an experience. We'd been to see the American Falls in February, but the Horseshoe Falls are considerably bigger. The weather was perfect for waterfall-watching: Sunny and clear but not too hot. We bought tickets for the Maid of the Mist boat, which was incredible. It first took us past the base of the American Falls before turning and heading right up to the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls. The wind and spray from the waterfall were pretty ferocious, but we had a terrific vantage point from which to appreciate the Falls. I'll post pictures soon.

Ellen is on her way home now, sadly, but it's only three weeks until I head back east for good. And I won't be hurting for things to do between now and then, so hopefully the time will pass quickly!

Anniversary post

I graduated from Dartmouth College a year ago today. Which means I'm now two classes removed from the undergraduate student body. And chatting with my old roommate this evening, he pointed out that in less than three months' time, nearly half our undergrad softball team will be married. Talk about surreal. What is growing up, though, but taking on the responsibility for which you are made ready?

I spent much of yesterday at a standby for the Allentown Art Festival in downtown Buffalo. There wasn't much opportunity to explore the various booths, but people-watching was a fascinating diversion in its own right. Everything was going smoothly until a police officer flagged down my unit to report a man bleeding heavily a block away.

Upon reaching the patient's side, we found the report of profuse bleeding was not exaggerated. As I treated the man's injury and packaged him for transport, a slightly adapted version of "Peace Frog" by The Doors kept running through my head. "Blood in the streets / in the city of Buffalo ..."

In other local news, the 2010 Buffalo Mayor's Cup was won by International Master Kenneth Regan with a score of 4.5/5. Held June 5-6, the five-round event featured two national masters, one expert and twelve other players of assorted playing strengths in addition to the victorious Regan. I had hoped to play in this event but went on my Westchester road trip instead. Perhaps next year I will make the journey back to play.

Congratulations Dartmouth College Class of 2010!!

11,000 miles

My car hit the 11,000 mile mark over the weekend. I bought it in August with more than 122,000 miles on it, and thirty weeks later it has consistently proven itself sturdy and reliable. With all the negative press Toyota has been receiving lately, I'm relieved that my car is as dependable as ever. Despite the fact that I haven't made the drive to or from New Hampshire in nearly three months, I nevertheless average fifty miles of driving per day. And with spring break trips to NH and MA looming, I bet that number will be climbing.

Not long ago, I received a letter from the community college inviting me to join Phi Theta Kappa, which is the two-year college version of Phi Beta Kappa. Evidently I qualified based on my high marks in my paramedic classes. It was flattering to be recognized in that way, but I am declining induction into the society. This feather seems unlikely to outweigh the Ivy League degree already in my cap. There is no point in paying a fee for an honor that I cannot utilize.

Lastly, my external checklist for verifying the arrival of spring is almost complete. The vernal equinox is past, Daylight Savings Time has begun and Opening Day is nearly here. All that remains is for leaves to reappear on the trees. I don't care how warm it gets; bare branches and springtime cannot coexist.

Weekend roundup

The NCAA first round games were played in Buffalo on Friday, and I provided EMS standby coverage for the first half of the day. There were relatively few calls, which allowed my partner and me to watch most of the games. We saw West Virginia destroy Morgan State and a battle between Clemson and Missouri that was close until the final few minutes. There are four HSBC events remaining in March--three Sabres games and a wrestling event--and I'm hoping to work at least one of the hockey games.

Ellen came to visit this weekend, and it was wonderful to see her. It had been far too long since our last visit. The weather cooperated, thankfully, and gave us two beautiful days before relapsing into rain the day she left. I'm heading out to NH next week for the ECC spring break, so it won't be nearly as long before our next time together.

The United States and Russia have moved forward toward a new nuclear arms treaty. The most recent treaty, 1991's Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, expired at the end of last year. One of my personal heroes, publisher and humanitarian Norman Cousins, was a lifelong antiproliferation activist. (He was also my great-uncle.) The upcoming treaty, which is expected to be signed next month, will represent continued progress toward a goal that was not realized in Norman's lifetime.

March Madness

I just finished filling out my bracket for the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament. Admittedly I'm a few hours late, but I didn't alter my picks based on the results of today's early games. Don't believe me? Just look how far I had Notre Dame advancing (Sweet Sixteen). Just for kicks, I compared my bracket to that filled out by President Obama; we agree on twenty three of the thirty two first-round games and have three of the same Final Four picks. As for the tournament champion, I see Kentucky winning it all. Not only are they a powerhouse, they have DeMarcus Cousins. You have to root for a team like that.

Speaking of March Madness, I'm providing standby EMS coverage at HSBC Arena tomorrow for the first round of games in the Eastern Region side of the bracket. Hopefully I'll be able to watch a good chunk of the action when my other duties don't call me away. And after I get home from that, I'll be mere hours away from seeing Ellen! Add to that a weather forecast calling for highs in the 60s and you have a recipe for an amazing weekend.

I haven't been playing much chess recently. Between class, clinical and work, there just hasn't been time. I have, however, been playing correspondence chess via email. After four of six games, my score is 4/4. My two remaining games are veritable battles--and uphill struggles both--but I'm thoroughly enjoying getting to play. It's not the same as over the board chess, but it's fun all the same!

In other news, The New York Times has a nice piece on Rudyard Kipling's Vermont home. Not only did I not realize he lived in Vermont for a time, I didn't know that he introduced tennis and downhill skiing to the state too. That, and he wrote a little bit.

Special events

The ambulance company I work for has a policy that only its part-time employees are eligible to cover events at HSBC Arena. When I first started, I was roundly advised to take full advantage of that policy. Talk about excellent advice. On Tuesday, I got to see the Billy Joel / Elton John "Face to Face" concert, and the next day I watched the Sabres defeat the Dallas Stars. There was work to do also--we treated patients with chief complaints ranging from cuts to difficulty breathing--but I was able to see the majority of both main events. My next shift will be on Friday for the first round games of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament.

I spent this morning at a clinical in the Electrophysiology / Cath Lab at the county medical center. It reminded me of the stroke unit clinical I attended last month, albeit focused on the heart instead of the brain. Both labs can place stents in patients, for instance, although I didn't get to see a cardiac stent procedure today. As I was leaving, the staff exhorted me to bring any heart attack patients I might have to them instead of to a competing facility. There are multiple hospitals in the area that can place cardiac stents, so I suppose you have to drum up business anyway you can.

Updating a previous item, the Texas nurse being charged with a felony for reporting an incompetent doctor was acquitted on all charges. The trial lasted four days; the jury deliberation lasted one hour. I'm surprised it took even that long.

Hockey, hockey, hockey

I worked my first HSBC Arena standby shift yesterday, spending sixteen hours covering the "Super Sunday" hockey games. Super Sunday, I learned, is the culmination of the playoffs for all of the high school and club hockey teams in the area. Eight championship games, one after the next, make for an exciting day. It was especially fun to watch some of the games from the Zamboni entrance, which was closer to the action than I'd ever been before.

Speaking of hockey, Team USA's overtime loss to Canada in the gold-medal game was a heartbreaking end to a remarkable run. Still, the American players and coaches exceeded all expectations and have a great deal of which to be proud. Goalie (and Buffalo Sabre) Ryan Miller's selection as tournament MVP speaks volumes to the high level of play Team USA displayed game in and game out.

Whether it's high school hockey or the single-elimination Olympic playoffs, defeat is heartbreaking. But Team Russia head coach Vyacheslav Bykov seems to want to break more than that. He said of his players, who lost 7-3 to Canada in the Olympic quarterfinals, "Let's put up a bunch of guillotines and gallows. We have 35 people on the hockey team. Let’s go to Red Square and dispatch with them all.”

Valentine's Day

Ellen came to visit this weekend, and we made the most of our time together. On Saturday we went to see Niagara Falls. Part of the Falls is in the United States and the other part, Horseshoe Falls, is primarily in Canada but visible from both sides of the border. We didn't have our passports with us, so we confined ourselves to American Falls. I'd never seen Niagara Falls in person, and I was duly impressed.

One thing that struck me, apart from the spectacularism of the Falls themselves, was the smallness of the surrounding state park. A display inside the visitors' center said that Niagara Falls State Park is 400 acres, 300 of which are underwater. 100 acres is a lot, but the parking lot, viewing area and observation tower were not spacious. Ellen and I didn't feel overly crowded, but there were only a handful of other people in the park since it was the middle of February. Things may be different during the summer!

Erie CC is on its Presidents' Day break, so I have today and tomorrow off. My stroke unit clinical, rescheduled twice by the hospital, is a go for Wednesday morning, and then the PALS written and skills exam is on Thursday. Next week begins geriatrics, I think, and then we start International Trauma Life Support in early March. Once ITLS is over, we'll be only six weeks or so from the end of the didactic portion of the program. It's hard to believe we've come this far so soon!

In other news, Nate Robinson of the Knicks became the first three-time winner of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday. I was pleased about Robinson's victory, but overall the contest was a disappointment. Consider the 1988 contest, in which Michael Jordan defeated Dominique Wilkins, Clyde Drexler, Spud Webb and four others. Where was the star power this year?

Buffalo chess odyssey

I won the top section of the Buffalo Quads on Saturday, but unlike many chess tournaments, the battle began long before the first move was made. I arrived at the tournament site, the University of Buffalo's Educational Opportunity Center, ten minutes before the scheduled close of registration. Much to my surprise, the front and side doors were locked. The tournament director and a couple other participants were waiting on the street as well, and the TD mentioned that this had happened at the last tournament also. Thirty frigid minutes later, there was still no sign of the UB security officer tasked with unlocking the center. With the crowd of chess players growing in number and discontent, the decision was made to relocate to the food court of the Main Place Mall, two blocks away.

The Main Place Mall is the site of Michael Mc Duffie's third Saturday tournaments, so chessplayers are well acquainted with the mall and vice versa. When the TD went to apprise mall security of his plan, he was told that he could not hold the tournament there because the mall hadn't received advance notice. This decision was met with surprise and disappointment by the assembled chessplayers, now numbering almost forty, who pointed out that the mall stood to make quite a bit of money by allowing twoscore hungry and thirsty people to spend several hours in its otherwise deserted food court.

Frantically wracking his brain to come up with an alternate location for the tournament, the TD tried calling a local library but to no avail. Just as he was about to cancel the event, the coach of one of the scholastic teams in attendance offered to open up his school for us to use. Some of the players grumbled that the school was too far away and the tournament had already been delayed too much, so they declined to relocate a second time, but approximately twenty of us got back in our cars for the ten-minute drive south. At last, the tournament was on!

One of the biggest challenges I faced was refocusing myself for the games. I had to approach the event as if it had always been scheduled to start at 11 am. If I viewed it as a 9 am tournament that was starting two hours late, I would risk getting flustered by the morning's delays and setbacks. Instead, I just concentrated on starting the event strong and trying to play three good games of chess.

The rest of my quad consisted of an expert, a Class A player and a Class B player. The Class A player and I had played in the same local club when we were in high school, so it was nice to see her again. As for the games themselves, I won two and drew one (against my high school friend), defeating the expert (actually a National Master whose rating had dipped) in a tight final-round matchup.

Basketball in the dark

Sounds like a profound metaphor, but it's actually just a description of my Saturday afternoon. Three friends and I headed over to my former roommate's church today to play, but all the lights were out in the gym and we couldn't find the switch! Luckily there was enough sunlight streaming in for us to play, but the passing and rebounding was a bit comical. Must be how the Nets feel.

It was definitely a fun way to get in some exercise, which can be difficult in Buffalo when you don't ice skate or ski. On the plus side, there's never a dearth of snow shoveling to do. I didn't do much (any) shoveling growing up, so I haven't yet been able to shake the feeling that it was devised by the Terrible Trivium. Perhaps Rhyme or Reason await at the end of it all, but I'd settle simply for spring.

Spring seems a distant apparition these days, though, as the snow drifts grow ever higher and the temperature continues to plummet. Between paramedic school and my various writing and reading projects, though, I'm not in any danger of getting bored staying indoors. I also signed on this week as an editor for a local Christian magazine. Its primary focus is Buffalo life as opposed to apologetics, so I'm looking forward to broadening my Christian publishing horizons.

In other news, freshman center DeMarcus Cousins has helped lead the University of Kentucky's men's basketball team to a #3 national ranking. We're not related, but I still get a kick out of headlines proclaiming, "Cousins leads Kentucky to victory!"

Fire and ice in Buffalo

It has been a slow week in Western NY. This is largely due to the arrival of the first "Lake Effect" storm of the season last Thursday, which deposited upwards of a foot and a half of snow. (Somebody once tried to explain the Lake Effect to me in meteorological terms, but I have a sneaking feeling that it just boils down to the locals blaming nearby, defenseless Lake Erie for the awful winter weather around these parts.) The storm was so bad that some stretches of I-90 were closed between Buffalo and the Pennsylvania border. Some motorists spent as long as twelve hours stranded in their cars before the roadway reopened Friday morning. I guess that gives new meaning to the phrase, "Cold shoulder!"

On the plus side, the storm meant that I got to enjoy my first snowday since sophomore year of college. I actually came pretty close to going to school anyway until I walked outside to warm up the car, looked around and realized that there was no way classes were going to be in session, a theory that was quickly confirmed by a call to the emergency closing hotline. I had just gotten my snow tires two days earlier, too, but I'm sure I'll get another opportunity to test them out soon.

Unfortunately I came down with a high fever over the weekend, which has only recently begun to abate. Although attending paramedic school full-time and working three jobs keeps me running around at an often frenetic pace, I'd much rather be out and about than laid up sick. Suffice it to say I'm looking forward to getting back on my feet!

In other news, several big-name pitchers are on the move. Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is bound for Philadelphia, who is in turn sending Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners. John Lackey, formerly of the Angels, signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent. These are all big developments, but the best rotation in baseball still belongs to the New York Yankees. Can't wait for Opening Day!

Arrival in Buffalo + How to Beat a Mosquito Bite

I arrived safely in Buffalo on Saturday, where I'll be staying with my college roommate and his family. They have been the epitome of friendliness and hospitality, and I'm excited to be living with them for the year. Jenny, their dog, is a great lover of turkey sandwiches, as all dogs seem to be. I was pleased to discover that while she will sit and beg for a bite of my sandwich, she will not take matters into her own paws. This is a pleasant change from Sadie, the Willemans' beagle, who once scaled a table and scarfed down half a sandwich without leaving behind so much as a crumb . . . all in the fifteen seconds it took me to retrieve something I'd left in the next room.

Paramedic classes begin on Thursday. I'm taking the program through a nearby community college. The campus is located within view of Ralph Wilson Stadium, where the Buffalo Bills play, but fortunately there are no classes on Sundays. I swung by yesterday to take a look at the facilities. As a whole, the campus is somewhat spartan but seems perfectly adequate for my needs. The EMS lab setup looks great, and I was impressed by the faculty when I interviewed back in the spring, so I'm excited for the year!

My once and current roommate, Chris, gave me the driving tour of the area yesterday, which included such highlights as the Bills' stadium and Chestnut Ridge Park, a neat WPA project that features a toboggan chute and a small lodge for winter recreation and an expansive Frisbee golf course for warmer weather, along with assorted picnic pavilions, tennis courts and the like. Rumor has it you can see Toronto on a clear day. The next item on my sightseeing list is Niagara Falls. It's a beautiful area, and the only drawback is that Ellen is 416 long miles away . . .

In other news, I heard an interesting tip on the radio last week. If you suffer a mosquito bite, it said, apply anti-perspirant to the bite site. The aluminum ions in the anti-perspirant will draw fluid away from the bite and will eliminate swelling and itching. I tried it out after getting bitten on Thursday and found that it worked extraordinarily well. So in honor of the new GI Joe movie, now you know, and knowing is half the battle.