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Studio Arena bankruptcy moves to Chapter 7.

They (the board) paint things like they tried everything and couldn't make it work, but the fact is that they refused to try anything involving risk or effort. Ideas were presented. Plans were developed. There were people willing to lead, but the board wouldn't let them. They wanted a quick and easy way out, and when they couldn't find it, they gave up. They might look good in the press now, but each and every one of them should be ashamed that it ever got to this point.

The future of the building is not the issue. It will very likely live on under the management of Sheas. But Sheas has no interest in continuing Studio Arena's legacy as a nationally recognized producing theatre. It will become another road house where the productions come in a box and leave in a box. No local talent involved.

Studio Arena, the production company isn't necessarily gone either. If enough people want to keep it alive, it will return. But it will be a long road back to LORT B status.

IATSE Local 10 joins WNYLaborToday

So, against my better judgement, I have joined the world of social networking. I am now on Facebook. It has already proved its usefulness. I have found there are a lot of people out there I forgot that I knew. Now I can spam them all with totally useless information.

Corbin and Kira got cameras for Christmas. I've been meaning to post some of the pictures they've been taking, so here they are. Corbin seems to have the idea. Kira just likes to hear it beep when she presses the button.

So I grabbed a handful of pictures taken with my shiny new camera, including such fine moments as Corbin's first car, the pilfering squirrel, Kira's parking lot, and Corbin loses his first tooth.

The kids

The bad squirrel

kjfx.net is now running off a brand new server purchased by IATSE Local #10 and installed at the Matrix data center located in Amherst. It is with regret that I have to terminate my contract with ICD hosting as they have provided excellent service and support with near zero downtime since I started with them in 2004. But I get to use this server for free in return for keeping it up and running.

I order some LED christmas lights from Christmas World and when the order arrived, 5 of the lights were either dead or broken. I wrote them an e-mail, and in less than 24 hours they responded that they would ship replacements. And they did. And now I have some pretty christmas lights that use a quarter watt each.

First off, Happy New Year. Yes, it has been nearly a year since my last update, but not a whole lot has changed. Studio Arena is still hanging on while looking for the light at the end of the bankruptcy tunnel. The kids are growing like weeds.

But I figured one thing you don't often read about is when you contact customer service and actually get what you were looking for.

I bought some software from Smith Micro which included a $20 rebate. I submitted the rebate form, got the check, and took it to the bank. Something like two days later, I get another check from them with a note saying that the company who processed the first check had gone bankrupt. (common theme here) Well, that doesn't help me since I already deposited the first one. Sure enough, I get a note from the bank that the first check had a stop payment on it, so they took their $20 back and an additional $10 because a computer somewhere was inconvenienced for .00001 seconds (thanks M&T). So I sent an e-mail to Smith Micro customer service asking who I should address this with. Not even 5 hours later I get a response that they will be mailing me a check for $10! And sure enough, they did. No questions asked. I figured that kind of effort deserved some recognition. I could rant more about M&T, but this is supposed to be about good customer service.

As some of you already know, my primary employer, Studio Arena Theatre, is ending its season early. The board of directors has determined that the best direction forward is to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Many years of mismanagement has brought things to the point where we can't even buy basic supplies like batteries and toilet paper. There is hope that the theatre can emerge successfully from bankruptcy and produce a smaller season in the fall. In the mean time, I am volunteering my services to maintain their web site, so keep looking there for news and updates.

OK. FINALLY I have installed a spam filter. Let's see if it works.

Today we hiked to Kaaterskill Falls in the Catskills. Normally getting there isn't a challenge, but that section of route 23A is undergoing road work, so between that, and a good Samaritan call to AAA for a broken down car, it took us an extra hour to get to the foot of the trail. The trail itself is very well maintained and worth the trip by itself. We climbed to the top of the lower falls, where there is a shallow pool. After playing in the water and lying in the sun, we returned to civilization. My camera behaved a little better today, so there are lots of pictures.

Today we visited Belleayre Mountain where we hiked from the "Discovery Lodge" (elevation 2025 feet) up to the "Sunset Lodge" (elevation 3325 feet) using a combination of hiking and ski trails. I would have taken more pictures, but my camera isn't behaving too well these days. photo gallery

OK, maybe famous might be too strong a word, but I want to share none the less:

Hierarchical forms with fleegix.form

A few of the kids

Studio Arena weekend at Hickory Hills

Family vacation at Lake Charleston

On a side note, I apologize for the invasion of spam in the comments. I've got some plans to write in a filter, but haven't had the time to do it yet. In the meantime, I hear it tastes great with some Ketchup.

We took a field trip to Yonkers to return some rental equipment to Sound Associates. We set up camp in their parking lot and figured "What the heck, let's cook up some hot dogs." Actually, there is more to it than that, but the story is really not that interesting. Well, OK, since you asked. They usually do a cook out on Fridays when it is nice out, but since they were so busy and we had 5 pounds of Sahlen's in the freezer, we dug out the grill and made sure they wouldn't forget the guys from Buffalo.

Kevin, to Corbin who is playing with his hot dog:

"Corbin, I am only going to tell you this once, so listen good: There is no playing with your wiener at the kitchen table."

I figure this should be good for a few comments.

I updated how the pages are cached, which changes absolutely nothing that you can see. However, pages should load a lot quicker the second time around, like thumbnails in the picture galleries and stuff. If you notice any strangeness - comments not appearing, pictures not loading, money missing from your wallet, etc. - then send your carrier pigeon my way. Due to environmental issues, I am no longer responding to smoke signals.

Isis is kind enough to let Sadie use her bed. Most of the time she just hogs the whole thing.

I've rounded up a collection of pictures taken since I stopped doing updates sometime late last summer:

The Oct. 13 storm: the Storm and the Cleanup

The kids: update 1 and update 2

Enjoy! Hopefully I'll do a better job keeping updates coming.

So, after 9 months of neglect, the site has been updated. Some things haven't changed though. If you are still using Internet Explorer, you really should stop now and go somewhere else because IE is a lame excuse for a browser and I refuse to hack my code to support it.

Anyway, new pictures will be coming just as soon as I make sure the site works the way I think it should. In the mean time, if you discover any bugs, please report them!

Gallery #50! There are now 770 pictures online.

Monsters on Wheels

Easter and a few more...

Palm Beach Pictrues

I got rid of the flash intro page. If you sill want to see the little intros, they are here.

Cookin' with the squirm and

Have a merry monster Christmas!

This is the update you have been waiting for... Some pictures of the zoo indoors, some outdoors, and some of our zoo making Christmas cookies!

Two more new galleries. This one is a bunch from the last 3 months. This gallery has pictures of the kids playing outside and celebrating Kira's 18 month birthday with "happy to you cake" as Corbin calls it.

Lots of pictures from June, and some more from today.

Fresh pictures. Get 'em while they're hot.

Pictures from the last month or so, including Kira's 1st Birthday.

Playtime at cousin's house and more miscellaneous pictures.

Indoor Monkies

Snow Monkies

Triple Whammy: a baby gallery, another baby gallery, and a whole stack of cruise pictures.

Kira is 2/3rds of a year old now, so here are some pictures of her all ready for Christmas. This is also the 30th gallery of the rug-rats for over 230 pictures.

The wait is over: page 1 and page 2.

Sum mo pikturz heerz.

This gallery comes with a bit of a sad note... It will likely be the last batch of pictures taken here in South Carolina...

The two rugrats have been keeping us quite busy, but we got some pictures of 'em.

Kira's first "official photoshoot" and the whole family

some printable and some not printable.

Home, day two

Kira, and Corbin too

meet Kira

last pictures of squirmy as an only child...

What do you do with a monkey on a warm weekend? Let him loose on a jungle gym!

Our very own Polar Bear.

More squirmy pictures.

I am way late with updates... I know... I'm sorry... anyway, ice, ice baby and monkey boy.

Corbin's Christmas fun.

sorry I'm a little behind, but with the turkey and all... here are the pictures!!

Corbin is 1 year old!! hard to believe it has been a whole year. I will try to get pictures really really soon...

check it out...

11 months! More pictures.

Check out the aerial photography done this past spring.

Wow, 10 months already. How about some pictures?

Corbin just turned 9 months old! 9 months. 3/4 of the way to 1 year already! Anyway, here are some pictures.

Can you believe it? Corbin is already 8 months old! Check it out!

Today is Corbin's 7 month birthday and we have more pictures! And you better darn well appreciate them because Lisa and I got eaten alive by mosquitos to get them!

Corbin's 6 month Squirmabration is online!

Mother Nature sure has a funny sense of humor!

This week Thursday Corbin logs 6 months of squirming under his belt. Check back a week from today to see what I've done with all the time on my hands...

Here are some new baby pictures. I apologize for the wait, but we were holding them ransom till Lisa's sister got us her pictures.

Happy Anniversary! KJFX.net has been open 1 year now.

Under threat of death, i have posted more baby pictures.

i think the drought may be over...

New baby pictures!!

Corbin is 2 months old today, so for his birthday, we got him 4 shots. He now weighs 11 pounds 10 ounces and if he could stand he would be 23 1/4 inches tall.

It's here!!

Added pictures of Fall in South Carolina.

Added my newest invention, the Bongo Bob Quote Generator! Why? Because I can.

Lisa finally caved in. We now have baby pictures: baby pictures

Itching to get us something for Christmas? Well, you're in luck! Our Wish List is online! (yes, I know, I have way too much time on my hands.)

I gave up my battle with IE for Windows. Since Microsoft can't get their act together, I had to lose some of my nifty CSS tricks. Using IE on Windows is like touring an art gallery in the dark!

Added pictures from Renee's wedding.

hot enough for ya?
darn good thing there is a lake in the back yard!

minor overhaul - no more frames!

cast your vote on the baby!
(clue: it happened sometime in february!)

open for business!