Visiting Erin and Rand

I had a wonderful time visiting with Erin and Rand in Buffalo. I also got a ton of work done. :-) During the day, I worked on my laptop at Rand's library.



It's in a gorgeous area, and is steps away from a great little cafe / restaurant. The cafe people noticed how regularly I was dropping by and asked if I went to the college nearby. When I said I was visiting Rand, they said, "You know Rand? Oh, we LOVE Rand!"

I also got to see Rand in his new office:



I love Rand's library. It's well-lit, quiet, well-organized, clean, comfortable and has lots of power outlets. Plus a cute Library Director, of course.

We had lunch with Thomas Woods, whom I hadn't seen since he was the emcee for Rand's and Erin's wedding. Thomas is doing more web design, by the way, so be sure to check out his webpage.



Visited Don's Atomic Comics, where I bought the newest Flight: Volume Five and admired Don's impressive tattoo art.



I got to see Erin's and Rand's new house. Wonderful place with lots of natural light...and a fireplace! We spent one cozy night in front of the fire, watching some episodes of West Wing (which I had never seen before but loved).



I said hi to my old friend, Chunky Rice:



And admired some of their fridge magnets:



Rand bought the little photo of Jeff Bohnhoff as an infant at an Interfilk auction a while back. Heh. >:-)

John Kalisz came over to visit, and we all sampled some FANTASTIC ice cream that Erin and Rand had picked up in Ohio: Graeter's Ice Cream. My favourite flavour was the pumpkin, but the Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip was also to die for. I don't understand how they managed to keep the chocolate chips (big chunks of chocolate, not just chips) soft -- the chocolate bits in most ice cream is frozen.



One of my visit highlights was Erin's baking and cooking. Her homemade bread, for instance:



She also made pizza from scratch:



It turned out wonderfully, despite Rand's (frequent) attempts to distract her:



We also did some music together (I had my flute with me), going through both new and old songs. I especially loved hearing Erin and Rand sing together! Hopefully they'll do more of that at FilKONtario.



I opted to take the train there and back. I used to take the bus, but I find the train way more comfortable and less of a hassle. It takes longer at the Canada-U.S. border, but at least I could stay in my seat and keep working on my laptop instead of unloading all my luggage and waiting in line at customs. Plus there were power outlets at every seat!



Many thanks to Erin and Rand for being such fantastic hosts. It was great to see both of them again.

Comments

[Jodi]

Really glad you all had such a good time! :)

[Andrea]

Hi Debbie,

Graeter's "Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip" is Jim's favorite flavor, mine is coconut chip :-)

I am glad you had a good time!!

[Jim]

The secret behind Graeter's chocolate chunks is that they pour the chocolate into the ice cream while it's still in a liquid state, and it freezes inside the ice cream. I think I saw them featured on Food Network when they discussed this.

Buckeye Blitz is another fun flavor: little peanut butter and chocolate "buckeyes" mixed in with the ice cream.

[jennimi]

Erin's baking RAWKS, as does the new house. And how many previous directors of that library have been able to put up FLips, Dylan and Who posters???? He's really helping ring in a new era (not just because of the pop cultural affinities, but they do symbolize something I have trouble articulating). You did an AWESOME job on the wedding photos by the way. Great post, thanks for sharing. And does Thomas' new look not rock!!!???

PS, I visit my brother often in NYC... always take the train. Watch movies or work on the laptop, stretch out for naps, and the bathroom situation, though not IDEAL, is way better than buses. Glad you enjoyed.

[Debbie Ridpath Ohi]

Andrea: Jim has good taste! Mmm, I want to try Coconut Chip sometime, too.

Jim: Ah, thanks for the explanation. Buckeye Blitz sounds fantastic, too!

Jennimi: I totally agree re: Rand and Erin coolness. Thanks for the kind words about my wedding photos. And yes, Thomas looked great!