The Future of Downtown Albany?

Hearing all this talk about the Albany Convention Center and the proposed redevelopment of downtown Albany got me thinking...what will all this look like? While I was downtown today I ran across the Albany Convention Center Authority and found these plans for the Convention Center, residential development, and the mixed use commercial opportunities. What is striking about these plans are the potential parking sites. I only see one potential parking site on this plan. Is that the best we can do? Every large city and college campus has parking problems. Why not put more parking...and make it free!

On another note, Rensselaer is putting a whole new face on their downtown with the new Rensselaer Waterfront Development. More photos of the Rensselaer development in future posts.

1940's Ford Truck

I came across this truck when I went to the grocery store today. It's a Ford that I believe was built sometime during the 1940's.

On another note...did you go to the casting call for 'Taking Woodstock' today at the College of St. Rose? It sure was a scene. Good luck to all those to showed up to be extras.

A Crude Awakening

Without getting into a lengthy debate about why the price of oil is so high and continuing to increase, let me say that when I fill up my vehicle it's the worst day of the month. The cheapest gas that I personally can remember was $0.99 back in the mid 90's. (I'm not that old if you can't tell from that previous statement) So to commemorate this fine rainy weekend, I have decided to conserve my gas use by taking an inside approach. I will be adding to the list of independent films I've seen by watching 'A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash' this weekend. It's accolades include winner of the Zurich Filmprize and official selection at over 40 film festivals worldwide including the SXSW Film Festival (Go Austin!). Enjoy your week, stay dry, and conserve gas.

SUNY System Administration

This is the System Administration building for the State University of New York (SUNY). It is a beautiful building with wonderful architecture. Don't know much more than that.

Alive @ 5 - Joan Osborne

You probably know her by the song "One of Us" back in 1995, but she is more than that. Born in Kentucky, she moved to New York City to study film at NYU, only to make her big splash after singing at local bars around the area. Today she graced the stage at Albany's Corning Preserve for Alive @ 5. Playing Breakfast in Bed, St. Teresa, Spiderweb, Ain't No Sunshine, Who Divided, Right Hand Man, Only You Know and I Know, and a wonderful cover of The Greatful Dead's Brokedown Palace, this was a show not to be missed. While she hasn't experienced as much mainstream success since her 1995 hit "One of Us," she gets plenty of respect from public and indipendent radio stations as well as numerous music critics across the country. You know you're doing something right when you have complied multiple grammy nomintations, have influences such as Janis Joplin and The Rolling Stones, and have toured with Phil Lesh as well as Sarah McLachlan over the course of your career. She played many tracks from her new album due out September 9th.

Rockin' On The River - Shirt Of The Day

While I was at Rockin' On The River in Troy tonight, I ran across this guys shirt and couldn't resist the opportunity. I have a large collection of t-shirts myself, and many photographs of cool t-shirts I see, but I've never seen this one.


Warning: Please DO NOT imagine this man naked.

Green Island Bridge

Yesterday while I was at Brown's Brewery I walked out to the Troy Riverfront area and found this boat with the Green Island Bridge in the background. Nothing special, but it gives you a feel for what the area is like.

Troy Mural

Today I stopped by Brown's Brewing Company for lunch. I've seen this mural many times before, but this time I wanted to document the facade of this building cause I thought it was pretty cool. I'm not sure about much of its history or tradition.

SUNY Fountain

Today I went exploring around the SUNY-Albany campus. I found this shot from an open room from the Physics building. You can see an incoming storm in the background. Sorry you can't see much of the fountain, but it's easily visible during the winter. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Art on Lark!

Art on Lark was held today. Lark street was full of vendors and people. This was a street display of a bunch of old cell phones that were all the same model. This photo shows part of the whole display. I got a few good finds and need to give shout outs to the following vendors. I would also like to wish them all the best of luck.

Jason Bryer
JasonBryer.com

Backyard Designs: Susan Merrick
backyard-design.com

Melissa Clarke

Cell Phone Art: Rob Pettit
robpettit.com

When gas becomes so expensive

I guess this is what happens when gas becomes so expensive. These appear to be large gasoline tanks that you would find at gas stations. I ran across these things when I was driving through SUNY and just had to follow them to get a full shot.

Nicole Atkins & The Sea

Summertime means free concerts here in the Capital Region, and tonights show was truly stellar. Nicole Atkins and The Sea are from Brooklyn/Jerz and she has been a true up-and-comer for quite some time (Featured in Paste, Yahoo Music, and Rolling Stone). She played the Austin City Limits Music Festival last September, but I missed her. She was featured as WXPN's Artist to Watch for February 2008 and is hot on the heels of playing every major music festival in American (Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, XPN Festival, Outside Lands, All Points West). The show was suppose to be outside, but due to the rain (again) it was moved inside Revolution Hall. If you haven't heard of her you should check her out. She's playing with My Morning Jacket tomorrow night (6/19/2008) on Conan.
She has an amazing voice and knows how to use it.

Happy Birthday Ice Cream

A friend of mine celebrated her birthday a week ago this past Sunday. In honor of this milestone I decided to make her some homemade Vanilla Oreo Ice Cream. I must say it's probably the best ice cream I've ever made. This past Sunday I was on a mission to find pasteurized cream since ultra-pasteurized cream loses much of its flavor and texture from being heated to high temperatures. If you are a foodie like me, you may be wondering, "where in Albany, NY can I find pasteurized cream?" Since we don't have a Whole Foods, and Price Chopper/ Hannaford don't carry it, I tried The Honest Weight Coop. BINGO! However, they were were out of stock and wouldn't get any until Monday/Thursday (fyi....those are the only days they get deliveries). Since I needed Oreo's and milk anyway, I went to our big new Wal-Mart. BINGO AGAIN! They sell Byrne Dairy Grade A Pasteurized Cream which is made in Syracuse, NY along with an assortment of other Byrne Dairy products (shameless plug I know). Since summer officially starts June 21st, you still have time to stock up on supplies and recipes so get crackin'.


Again...Happy Birthday! :)

Did your garden survive the hailstorm?

After yesterdays hailstorm I was concerned how my garden would bounce back. From this picture you can see we still have blooms on our tomato plants and our eggplant, squash, and peppers all appear to be fine. We currently have 2 small tomatoes which is very exciting. Some of the plants lost a few limbs, but we should be fine. I'll continue to update the progress of the garden throughout the summer.

Rain. Hail. More Rain. More Hail.

My camera battery died while I was out and about today so I wasn't able to catch the hail that was falling all over town. I was able to catch the rain that was falling heavily instead. This was probably the scene you saw while driving around town today...or worse. The hail started as pea sized and then turned to dime/penny sized during the second round that I saw.

Nanofab East

Have you seen the new Nanofab East building of Albany Nanotech? The outside looks finished, and it appears they are beginning to put walls up inside the building. Expected completion date is Fall 2008.....or so they say.

Anyone know anything else?

Albany Institute of History & Art Gala

As I passed by Albany Nanotech today I saw this giant tent that was setup and became curious. Who is having an event at Albany Nanotech, and why is it outside? The Albany Institute of History & Art is having a Gala tonight. Still makes me wonder why they didn't have it at the Albany Institute of History & Art. I guess the Albany Nanotech buildings can now be considered 'art'.