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The folks on the front page of the Buffalo News looked familiar to me, and sure enough, they were: Kevin and Val were there, as part of an article on how Blogistan has abetted the efforts of Sabres fans in building a virtual community therein. Very cool, and congrats to them; I always assumed that if Kevin and Val made the front page of the News, it would be as they were carried away in handcuffs by police officers after they protested something George Bush did. UPDATE: OK, I just perused the article online, and only then did I realizeDown the rabbit hole….

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In this post from yesterday, I discussed my belief that parking garages need not be disastrous ugly buildings that destroy cityscapes. In comments, “Bill” responds: The problem is not the ugliness, per se– it is really more that the street life disappears around parking structures. There is no pedestrian activity, and a big block of space becomes the urban equivalent of a desert. Worse, actually– the lack of activity can make these areas more dangerous. We have plenty of parking– and plenty of arid desert in downtown Buffalo. But again, my point is that this doesn’t have to be theDown the rabbit hole….

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Thanks to Buffalo Hodgepodge for pointing out this wonderful Sports Illustrated article about Buffalo and the Sabres. Weather was the last thing on our minds on Jan. 27, 1991. Not with paradise a mere 47 yards away in Tampa. I looked at the clock to preserve the moment: 9:37 p.m. Around town, similar scenes played out. Byron Brown, then the director of Equal Employment Opportunity for Erie County and now the mayor of Buffalo, was at a Super Bowl party at his mother-in-law’s house on Blaine Avenue in Hamlin Park. Mark Hutchinson, the chef and owner of Hutch’s, one ofDown the rabbit hole….

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It seems that the Buffalo Sabres are pretty good. Lots of people seem to think that this might be their year. Seriously, this is the most excited I’ve seen Buffalo about a sports team ever. I can’t really compare this level of excitement to the Bills’ run of four straight Super Bowl appearances, because for the first three of those, I wasn’t in Buffalo during the playoff runs. I was in college, in Iowa. So the Super Bowl run was a big deal for me, but in a different way; the Bills at that point were my main reminder ofDown the rabbit hole….

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According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Robert Congel, the head of The Pyramid Companies, is considering selling his portfolio of malls and shopping centers except for Syracuse’s own Carousel Center, which is the starting block of his Destiny USA dream/project. Pyramid’s major local holding is the Walden Galleria. Pyramid’s complete portfolio can be reviewed here. They also own The Shops at West Seneca, which if you’ve been by that location, consists of a Tops grocery store, a K-Mart, and a wide expanse of fenced-off undeveloped land where the old Seneca Mall used to reside. It seems that Congel has put hisDown the rabbit hole….

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Apparently the long-simmering deal to bring a Bass Pro store to downtown Buffalo’s waterfront has finally been brought to a boil: a deal was announced the other day for a newly-constructed complex right down by the water which will include the Bass Pro store and — well, a whole bunch of other stuff. I have to admit that I’m a bit conflicted here. If they build this thing as proposed, I’ll yield to no one in my happiness about it. But I also will not believe it until I see actual construction being done. And when I say “construction”, IDown the rabbit hole….

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Over at Buffalonews.com, they’ve posted the nine finalists for the short story contest online, including the Grand Winner of All The Universe (ahem). Apparently they’re only up for thirty days (after which time I’ll probably post my own story here, thus ensuring its permanent location on the Interweb). The stories are as follows: Twelve Presidents, by ME!!!The Color of Dreams, by Jennifer CantieGoodnight, Ernest, by Partho SarkarMcKinley’s Blood, by Meg JonesThe Red Carnation, by Lou ReraOne of a Set of Two, by Timothy DriscollLove and Anarchy, by Trudy CusellaThe Wilcox House 4, by Beatrice McManisFar Away Places, by Cynthia KeikenDown the rabbit hole….

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Oy. The new Borders that’s about 1.5 miles from Minas Jaquandor has opened. It’s what they call a “soft open” — when they open the doors before their anticipated “Grand Opening” — but I don’t care. Open is open. If I can walk in and buy stuff, you’re not softly open, or kinda-sorta open, or in a state that resembles openness. You’re open. Anyway, their parking lot is still unfinished — the islands have no grass in them, the surfacing of the lot is rough and uneven (they striped it anyway), and two other buildings on the same parcel (oneDown the rabbit hole….

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Updated Below This post is a placeholder of sorts; I’ll update it later on after I’ve had a chance to peruse the Buffalo News‘s new website. Longtime readers know that I’ve long found the current incarnation of Buffalonews.com to be a joke, but they are apparently finally moving into 2007, with a page that updates more than once per day and including blogs and other cool stuff. They go live later this morning, and I won’t be able to look at it until later this afternoon after I get home from work. Between now and then, feel free to useDown the rabbit hole….

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Kevin Hosey and his spousal unit Val are good urban types, to judge by the writings on their respective blogs. So apparently they ventured out of their urban comfort zones and out into…the suburbs! All the cars! Streets with multiple lanes! Big box retail! Cookie-cutter restaurants! The horror! OK, I’m just needling a bit here — they’ve never struck me as the obnoxious “City good, suburb bad” kind of people. What got me is something in his opening paragraph: Val and I ate dinner at Friendly’s in Cheektowaga Saturday; we saw a commercial for Friendly’s Thursday night, and we startedDown the rabbit hole….