Fun in Saratoga

RSS feeds continued

Well I apologize that it took me so long to get back to you on this issue.  On this snowy Saratoga evening, I will post the second part of RSS feeds that I promised last week.  Now if you are reading this post and you didn't read the first RSS post from last week, I suggest you first scroll down and read the entry "RSS feed available for Saratoga Performing Arts Center". If you are already familiar with RSS feeds, then skip this entire entry.

OK a very quick review.  RSS (Really Simply Syndication) is a feed that saves you a ton of time bringing several different web sites (that you choose) to one page so you can read the latest headlines, news stories, blog entries, updates, or whatever all at once.  Rather than going to CNN, ESPN, this blog, that blog, a podcast etc. to see if there have been updates, they all come to you, saving an incredible amount of time. 

For additional information, go to the Yahoo page that explains RSS feeds.       

LIke I told you on the first entry I posted on RSS, I am suggesting you print this one out as well so you can read and go to certain web sites at the same time. 

OK, now that you know what RSS is and why it is worthwhile, lets figure out how to obtain, or aggregate, RSS feeds.  The first thing you have to know is that not all web sites are RSS enabled.  Most news sites are (except of course for the Saratogian, at least as far as I can tell), most podcasts and blogs are, some reference sites are,  and you can even customize an RSS feed with specific language.  How?  Very simple - I subscribe to an RSS feed from Technorati (which is basically like a Google for blog entries) that feeds me any entry that mentions "Saratoga" or "Saratoga Springs".  You can do the same type of thing on Google News (or the main Google site) to find out when perhaps your name, or  your organization's name, or whatever, is mentioned on one of the thousands of news sites monitored by Google. To understand how to do this on Google - click here.  Most search sites allow RSS feeds of that search and it's pretty simple. 

OK, so how do you find out if a web site is RSS enabled?  The rest of this paragraph was copied right off Wikipedia's page on RSS - (although as of this posting someone is messing with that page in a dumb way - that's one of the potential pitfalls of Wikipedia I guess, lets hope someone corrects it before long).  On Web pages, web feeds (RSS or Atom) are typically linked with the word "Subscribe", (or in the case of my blog - you see the words "subscribe to this blog's feed"), an orange square, , or a rectangle with the letters or . Many news aggregators such as My Yahoo! or itunes publish subscription buttons like this: 

(Update 2/23: For an easy look at many of these things - check out the right side of radnauseum's blog).  Now I will explain how to add a page to "My Yahoo", however other web based feed aggregators are similar to "My Yahoo", so even if you use a different web site you should get the idea.  First of all, find the web page you want to get an RSS feed from. We'll start with this one, "Fun in Saratoga".  Again, look to the upper right of this blog and then RIGHT click on "Subscribe to this blog's feed".  Then click on "copy shortcut" and then go to the "My Yahoo" or whatever your aggregator page is and then go to wherever you add RSS feeds.  In "MY Yahoo!" that is to the right of the "Add content" box,  where you see the words "Add RSS feeds". Simply click into that box then paste the web feed URL, which you already copied, by clicking on "Control" and the letter "V" at the same time.  Then click Add, and then you have to click it again to completely add it.  There you have it, it's done, and that feed should now be on your page and any updates I do will automatically come to that page.  Now if they don't have the words but instead have one of the orange buttons shown above, then you simply RIGHT click on that orange button, then take the above steps.  Now, just to make it complicated, if they have one of those "My Yahoo!" or 'itunes" type buttons, then you would simply LEFT click it, and it's automatically added, but of course you must be using that particular feed aggregator to make it work with one of those buttons. Let me know if this explanation is user friendly by emailing me. 

OK these two entries took me forever so I hope someone got some value out of it.  Take care and be safe.

Dance Flurry and Saratoga YMCA

OK I have been very late in posting my second (and much anticipated - right???) posting to follow up on my RSS information in the last entry. Shame on me!  But I've been busy this past weekend having fun at the Dance Flurry and entertaining my friends who invaded my condo for the weekend.  Add to that a roof leak caused by the ice buildup and a hot water tank problem and well...the blog had to wait.  I will follow up tomorrow on the RSS stuff, for right now I just want to make a quick posting on the Dance Flurry and the new Saratoga Springs West Avenue YMCA.

Well the Dance Flurry was great, and really fun. I learned some new dances (namely the collegiate shag) and a few new swing and Charleston moves.  I probably didn't get into it as much as I did two years ago, when I took a bunch of different workshops, but I still had fun and learned some things.  My favorite events were the Lustre Kings, Johnny Rabb and Rocky Velvet doing the Elvis rockabilly birthday bash, Doc Scanlon's musical sets, and a Samba drum exhibition/workshop which was real cool.  Great time and just another reason to love Saratoga Springs.

OK I looooooove the new Saratoga Springs West Ave YMCA.  It even surpassed my expectations.  The building looked beautiful, and even stately, on the outside, and it was really nice and functional on the inside.  I liked the new weight equipment, and the new cardio equipment is in the front of the same room.  The sound system is fantastic, in fact the best I've ever heard in a gym.  The gymnasium and the pool are both big, new and just look great.  The running track is beautiful, and I did 4 miles on that nice rubber surface no problem. 

One thing about the Saratoga Y - they need to really trumpet the new building some more - their web site mentions it almost matter of factly, and they probably should have done a major mailing and a major grand opening.  It should have been a major party - talk of the town.  Maybe they are doing or did do some of this stuff and I missed it.  Nonetheless it's a wonderful facility and I am looking forward to working out there regularly. 

OK it's late and I'm tired.  I will follow up with the RSS info soon.  Take care.

RSS feed available for Saratoga Performing Arts Center

I was just on Livenation concert web site via the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) web site and I see you can subscribe to their RSS feeds for SPAC concerts.  That's pretty damn cool - I assume that means we will know about upcoming concerts or updated information to previously announced shows.  A few months ago I didn't know what RSS was - now I get excited every time I see it's available. Yep, I'm becoming a geek.

For those of you who already know about RSS and what it is, you will be wasting your time if you read further, because in the remainder of this entry I am going to describe RSS in layman's terms.  If you are unfamiliar with RSS (RSS:  Really Simply Syndication) feeds, then you should read on because it's a pretty cool and useful internet tool.

OK - here is the problem that RSS addresses.  Let's say that you like to keep updated on 10 different web sites and you would like to know about any changes in a timely manner.  You read a couple of blogs (like, sayyyy, Fun in Saratoga), several newspaper web sites, a specific columnist from a certain newspaper, a sports team's updates, Top stories on CNN's and ESPN's web sites, and then updates about concerts at SPAC like I mentioned above.  Well, the old way to check on those things was to log into all of those web sites and get through all of the delays and advertisements to actually look and see if there are any relevant updates.  It takes forever, and you may have checked a few web sites, but not many and not too often because it was too cumbersome of a chore. 

Imagine being able to check all of those web sites above in a total of about 30 seconds or less.  That's what RSS allows you to do.  How?  With RSS, all of those web sites I mentioned above can be listed on the very same screen, so at a glance you can find out what the latest news is, what brilliant commentaries I am listing on my blog, what your favorite newspaper columist is saying,  what's up with your favorite sports team, what concerts are coming to SPAC and any changes or updates on those concerts.  All of these different web items are brought together on the same screen, and for now it's mostly advertisement free, although that will likely change.  You can read more about RSS feeds by clicking on the Yahoo page that explains RSS feeds.

As a demonstration, I will create a Yahoo home page to show you how RSS works.  There are many other ways to "aggregate" RSS feeds, both on on the web and directly on your computer software, but since I know how the "My Yahoo" home page works, I will explain how to use that one and I will let you figure out how to use your "feed aggregator" of choice.  You may want to print this entry out so you can read as you go along.

OK, to view my sample RSS feed aggregator, you can go to Yahoo, then click onto "My Yahoo" and then click on the "Sign In" link which is in two places - you can either click on the blue "sign in" link just to the right of the red Yahoo (upper left of screen) or the yellow "sign in" button on the right side about halfway down.  The username I will use for this sample is (cleverly) entitled funsaratogarss and the password will be rssfeed.    OK go to Yahoo now but remember to go to "My Yahoo", sign in, and again the username will be funsaratogarss and the password will be rssfeeds.

OK now check out that "My Yahoo" page.  This is a customized page which "feeds" five Saratoga area blogs, 10 local and national news sites, the aforementioned SPAC concert update site, The Buffalo Bills web site top stories updates, a podcast for the Bills (my hometown team, by the way), Saratoga weather, Yahoo email, and a few other services from Yahoo.  Pretty damn cool, huh?  Look at all the web sites you just got updated on at a glance - you don't need to go to those sites to view them - they come to you. 

And it's all customized by the user - you choose the layout, the colors, the content, how many entries you want from each source - in other words do you want the last three headlines from Capital News 9 for the past three days, or the last 10 headlines from the last five days?   These sites let you choose all of that when you (easily) set it up.   

So, how do you set it up?  Well I was going to list that here but this entry is taking me hours and I've been working on it for two days.  So I will post this part of it now and hopefully tomorrow I can post another entry on how to set up an RSS feedreader (aggregator) using My Yahoo. Once you learn how to do it on Yahoo, you'll be able to figure out how to do it on MSN, AOL or on your Internet Explorer or other web browsing software.  So, I'll leave you hanging a little (oooh drama with RSS) and pick the second part of this entry up when I can.  If you are getting something out of this please email me and let me know.  Thanks.  If you have questions please post them on the comment section and I will answer them.

Charlie Gracie, Ally Jean, Guptills, and The Police

Damn I've been busy, which consequently means I haven't done a posting in a while.  Well, my posting here will consist of telling you what I've been doing the last few days.  My brilliant commentaries on life in Saratoga Springs will have to wait a few days. 

OK Friday night I went to see Charlie Gracie.  Let me explain a little.  I always regretted being too young to see some of the super-bands of the 60's and 70's in their heydays.  You know, The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Steve Miller, Wham (I'm kidding on that one! And yes I know they're the 80's but any reference to Wham is funny).  Well Friday night I saw Charlie Gracie perform two great sets that I will always remember.  Who is Charlie Gracie?  Well he is one of the very very few rock -n- roll pioneers still alive - and he's still rockin' like a young dude!  Oh what a great show - and what a great guitarist he is.  The 5'4" Charlie Gracie chased Elvis off the charts in 1957 when his song "Butterfly" replaced the King's  "All Shook Up" at #1.  How's that for an accomplishment?  Well, maybe not as good as one of his other feats - after performing several times on Alan Freed's rock 'n' roll reviews, "American Bandstand" (pre Dick Clark I believe),  and "The Ed Sullivan Show", Charlie went over to Europe and was only the second American rocker to tour there, after Bill Haley and his Comets.  While there, Charlie inspired future British rockers Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Van Morrison, Graham Nash, Joe Cocker, and others.  Don't take my word about Charlie.  George Harrison referred to Charlie's guitar technique as "brilliant" in a March 1996 interview with Billboard Magazine.  The other rockers I mentioned have been equally complimentary, and he has recorded and performed with many of them.  It was such a great and enjoyable show, and well worth the 190 mile trip to Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ.  Oh, and one of my favorite bands, The Hi-Risers, out of Rochester, opened up with two wild sets of their own.  That was a double bill I wasn't going to miss.

Saturday night I went to Savannah's in Albany and really enjoyed the reunion tour of Ally Jean and the Struts - a local rockabilly band led by Allison Jacobs (Ally Jean) on vocals and Graham Tichy on guitar.  Also, Kevin Maul was on steel guitar - that is just a great instrument and he's so good on it, which gave the band a unique and awesome sound.  Although it didn't have the history, I enjoyed that almost as much as Charlie Gracie's gig.

Today I went down to Gupkills and met some friends (and their kids) to go rollerskating.  Although I have rollerblades, I don't think I've skated inside a roller rink since junior high - so that was different - and fun!  Guptills is a real throwback - it was built in 1951 and hasn't changed a whole lot - and that is a neat thing.  I'm home tonight  - I am posting this entry then I will watch the Grammys on TV and see The Police reunion performance.  Sting, Stewart or Andy: if you're reading this, come to SPAC please!

Grey Gelding reviewed in Sunday's Times Union

Just a heads up in case you missed it, the Grey Gelding Bistro and Bar was reviewed in today's (Sunday February 4th) Times-Union.  It's on page H-1.  Here's my summary of the review:  Nice wine list (each diner gets a complimentary glass of sparkling wine - non alcoholic version available), very noisy, great food with entrees in the $18-29 range, kind of cramped, seemed popular with the 25-40 crowd, nicely presented desserts, attractive decor.  It was a positive review, with the most critical part being the aforementioned noise from the other patrons. 

Today's Saratogian had an article about Bruno's Restaurant on Union near the track.  It wasn't really a review, just an article about the new managers who stated that they want to "bring the restaurant back to what people once knew it as".  That apparently means the wood fired pizza is a good choice there - and the managers note that their most expensive entree is $16.95.  I don't live so far from there so one of these days I'll check it out.

Neither the T-U review or the Saratogian article was available in each respective paper's on line versions, but I get the feeling the T-U review will be available soon.  Update 02/05/07 - Here is the link to the review.  The T-U has a large number of archived restaurant reviews on their web site - and this includes reader reviews.  I linked the Times-Union's Saratoga Springs  and Ballston Spa restaurant reviews on the right column under "Saratoga Dining and Restaurant links".  There are other Saratoga communities listed in the T-U's restaurant archives, but I only linked those two.  You can easily search further via the links I provided. 

On a different note, Saratoga Springs Mayor Valerie Keehn made a speech about the state of the City on Sunday. 

I don't have time (or energy) now to discuss the Mayor's speech, but I did link the Capital News 9 story (with video) on it, and also the Saratogian story on the speech.  Take care and stay warm!

Concerts, SPAC, summer, and the blogroll

Holy cow!  David Lee Roth is back with Van Halen, they’re touring, and The Police are back together at the Grammy Awards and there is rumor that they may tour this summer also.  One word:  Cool.  Two words: F______ cool! (It’s a family friendly blog).  I hope they (both bands) come to the Times Union Center in Albany, but something tells me they will be playing at even larger outdoor stadium venues.  Maybe they’ll play at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo.  Because that is my home town, Buffalo works as well.  I think I’d be willing to go to Buffalo, Montreal, Boston, Toronto, New York – wherever – to see one (or hopefully both) of these bands.  Ahhh yes, it’s good to be from the 80s.   

Update:  02/05/06 - the Brock n roll blog advised that according to Van-Halen's web site, they will not be performing in the mega arenas, but the smaller venues instead.  So it looks like I was wrong and perhaps they will be performing at SPAC. Well I won't complain if that happens.

Speaking of summer concerts, it will be good to see what Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) has in their lineup this summer.  I don’t know when they will be announcing it, but hey summer is really just 4 months away.  That is a good thought in this single degree temperature.

Finally, keep checking the blogroll on the right side here.  Everytime I think I have all the Saratoga area blogs linked – I find a new one.  Yesterday I found two new ones, although they were by the same blogger.  They were different though, so peruse the blogroll and link to the other Saratoga blogs and see what they have to say. 

Some quick Saratoga Thoughts

Well my  city & county tax bill came today.  Hooray!  I am from the Buffalo area and they do the property taxes differently out there - basically you get hit with the entire year's bill all at once.  That's a heavy hit, but at least when you buy a house you take care of the year's taxes right at closing.  When I bought my home in Saratoga Springs last  year, I didn't realize that the city would be expecting quarterly tax payments from me that I was never billed for.  I probably should have been more on my game with that stuff, but I wasn't.  OK, now I am used to this system and the quarterly payments obviously work better.

Speaking of Buffalo, I have to go out there for a wedding and I am leaving soon.  That means I miss the Saratoga Winterfest, chowderfest and all that stuff. 

Bummer.  I love living here and hate to miss something that gets people out in the streets and socializing - especially when it's new to me, like most things in Saratoga Springs are.  Memo to all my friends:  Do not get married at this time next year!  Or in August. 

Well  The Saratogian got scooped again on a local story by another newspaper.  This morning's Glens Falls Post-Star reported that Doc's Steakhouse in Saratoga Springs was sold yesterday. 

I couldn't find anything about it in the Saratogian, but I did notice that the Saratogian actually had two days (or was it three?  I can't find Wednesday's edition) of actual editorials that weren't from another newspaper or a "Reader's View".  Yes someone down on Lake Avenue is actually writing Editorials!!  Maybe someone at the Journal Register Company made a phone call to the 518 area code and chewed someone out.  If this is a conscious effort on the editorial staff of The Saratogian to well, actually do their job, well then I appreciate the improvement. 

I would ask for further improvement by making sure the local reporters are on top of... local news.  The Albany Times-Union has been on top of Saratoga area news lately, such as reporting on the Ballston Spa Wal-Mart court case, and the story on the $29.6 million sale of the Steeplechase at Malta apartments,  which is just a mile or two from Saratoga Springs city limits.  I subscribe to the Saratogian for one reason and one reason only, to get local news, and I am often disappointed. 

OK I better get going.  Have a great weekend folks and enjoy the chowder!