Voice recorders are awesome, going to see Hancock tonight, etc.

Yesterday was a pretty fun holiday, all around. The barbecue at the dean's house was cool and the food was solid (but not great, considering it was catered. One of the items served was chicken grilled with Chiavetta's sauce, which was vastly inferior to what I make. I rule). Last night I went out to a bar downtown, Al's, which I'd never been to before. Definitely my favorite bar that I've been to in Syracuse (well, with the possible exception of the Bills/Red Sox bar, for obvious reasons). It was a tad pricey, but definitely worth it. A good mix of music on the sound system-- mostly jazz, with some rock thrown in, and they didn't play it so loud that it was impossible to have a conversation; I hate it when bars do that-- and they had probably the most well-stocked bar I've ever seen. And the bartenders knew what they were doing. One guy made me an excellent shot of Liquid Cocaine, and another bartender served up a Long Island that tasted great but still packed a powerful punch. And the place had some awesome leather furniture you could sit on while drinking and chatting with friends. Overall, just a great place.

I slept in pretty late this morning (by my standards, anyway. I think I got up around 9), since I didn't get home until 2 or 2:30 last night. After the breakfast-shower-coffee routine, I drove out to the Onandaga Indian reservation to buy some tax-free cigarettes. This was a bit of a disappointment. Their prices were way lower than in regular stores, where you can pay up to seven bucks a pack these days, but they were not nearly as cheap as the cigarettes sold on the Seneca reservation back home. So I just bought one carton, and I'll probably go to the Seneca reservation when I come home next weekend for Darren and Kate's wedding.

This afternoon, I went to Target to pick up a few things I needed. One thing that I bought there was a digital audio recorder. The professor in my news writing class sent out an email yesterday or the day before recommending that we buy one of these to use during interviews. The particular model he recommended runs about $120, he said. I found a Sony recorder at Target for $40 and bought that (there were even cheaper models, but I didn't want the bottom of the line). Considering the low price, I wasn't sure how well it would work, but when I got home I busted it out of the packaging and played around with it a little bit. This thing rules. The first time I tested it I was sitting on the couch in my apartment. Since I am lazy, I didn't get up to turn off my music before testing out the recorder. When I played back the message I had recorded, you could hear my voice pretty clearly, and you could also hear the music in the background well enough to tell I was listening to Muse. Then I did another test without any background noise in the apartment, and my voice came through clear as a bell. You also don't have to talk directly into the thing to get good quality. When I'm doing an interview, I'll be able to set it on a table or whatever and just let it record, and it should be fine. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the microphone and the quality of the recording as the situation dictates. I'm so fascinated with this thing. I want to take it everywhere and record random conversations. But people might find that suspicious.

Tonight I'm going out to the Regal theater at the closest mall to see Hancock. I texted a few of the people I've been going out with since I moved to 'Cuse to see if they'd be interested, but I'm going either way. Even used Fandango ahead of time to ensure I don't get shut out. If I'm feeling ambitious when I get home tonight, I might write a review and post it up here.

So yeah, that was my day. Tomorrow will probably be much less active. I have quite a bit of stuff I need to do for class on Monday, so I imagine I'll spend most of the day at the apartment working. Oh, and watching the Wimbledon final. Federer-Nadal, baby. It's strange, considering I've never played tennis in my life, but it's a sport I really enjoy watching. All right, take it easy.

-Niz