Chelsea Dobson's blog

So, as Peter and I have time, we've slowly started to explore Batavia. We're both from the Hilton/Spencerport area, and do not really know the good places to go and who to call when we need stuff.

One of our first discoveries was Main Street Pizza last summer, and we love getting pizza from there. We order a large and bring it home to eat it for days. The coupons in the penny saver are great, too.

We've been shopping at Neptune Gardens for a while now, for all of our fish. While some supplies are limited, the fish we buy from there generally last and are quite healthy.

This past Wednesday, I got out of work early, and we decided to go out for a bite to eat. We hit up T.F. Brown's. It was terrific. Peter got corned beef and cabbage, and I got a personal pizza, and we got wings for a starter. We'll definitely be going back.

This morning we wanted something quick and easy for breakfast, and so we debated between Settler's and Miss Batavia, and chose Miss Batavia. We were in an out in less than an hour and the food was great! We both got great meals, with good portions and prices. We'll be back, and even will recommend it when we have people in town.

I think as we explore more, I'll post about our experiences. Many of our ideas about where to go comes from local advertising, such as The Batavian. We also got a few ideas from the place mat ads at Miss Batavia. While we may not know a lot of people, I'm hoping the more the explore, the more we find places to go where we might be able to meet more people.

Peter and I have been discussing an idea for a few months and wanted some feedback. We're thinking about possibly opening a bakery in Batavia. We'd like for it to be on main street, so it is available to people who drive and/or walk around.

I have a few questions for all of you local Batavians and those in Genesee County:

1) Would you utilize a local bakery instead of using Walmart and Top's baked goods?

2) What kind of goods would you like to see from a local bakery?

3) What features would you want in a bakery (ex: coffee, a cafe/eating area, etc)?

4) During what hours (and times) would you most likely visit a bakery (ex: morning, afternoon/lunch, holidays, etc)?

5) Would you utilize a specialty cake service?

Thanks for your input!

I just got back from walking Daisy, our new dog. We got her about a week ago from the Batavia Animal Shelter (who were fantastic, by the way). Anyway, our walk took us down Ellicott to Liberty to Main St down to Chambers, then we turned around.

We're working on walking Daisy, and socializing her, so I figured a 2pm walk would mean that we would run into a bunch of different people in different circumstances. And, we did meet some people, but not more than 10. Daisy barks at most men, wagging her tail and sniffing the whole time, but I think she's just intimidated by them, so I'd like her to be socialized with both people and dogs. Are there places and times in Batavia that would provide a nice environment for Daisy to get to know people?

There are a lot of problems posed in this well-written article about the problems with the proposed health care reforms: 

“There are serious questions that are associated with policy aspects of the health care reform bills that we’re seeing,” said Gail Wilensky, a veteran health care expert

Dr. Scott Gottlieb...his critique is based on related fears that the plans being discussed would inevitably lead to increased government involvement in personal medical decisions and eventually affect vital services.

But, starting out with a general distrust of government solutions, even conservatives who agree that tens of billions of dollars are wasted annually are dubious about the government’s ability to find significant savings without eventually affecting care negatively.

In the meantime, Mr. Goodman said he hoped his side could do a better job at making clear it had genuine misgivings about Mr. Obama’s proposals.

“I think the critics have approached this in the wrong way; saying there’s going to be a death panel is not the right way,” he said. “The right way to approach it is to put the burden of proof on the administration — tell us how you’re going to do that without denying care to people who are really in need.”

So someone explain to me how problems will cease to exist when the government takes over? Money needs to come from somewhere and then choices need to be made on whom and what to spend that money on. That means some people will not get the medications and treatment that they need, and may end up dying because the government chooses to not fund their treatment. In the current proposed reforms this question is not and has not been answered.

Here is an article from the New York Times that I really like. It's not political or an opinion piece about something political. It's about life, love, and happiness.

But wait. This isn’t the divorce story you think it is. Neither is it a begging-him-to-stay story. It’s a story about hearing your husband say “I don’t love you anymore” and deciding not to believe him. And what can happen as a result.

You see, I’d recently committed to a non-negotiable understanding with myself. I’d committed to “The End of Suffering.” I’d finally managed to exile the voices in my head that told me my personal happiness was only as good as my outward success, rooted in things that were often outside my control. I’d seen the insanity of that equation and decided to take responsibility for my own happiness. And I mean all of it.

I work for a college, it'll remain unnamed. In the office where I work our students are primarily adults. We offer different degree options, and full-time status so that our students qualify for financial aid. On top of my normal office duties, I also tutor students in writing.

I attended a traditional (private) four-year instutition in New York State. I have a BA and I consider myself pretty intelligent. I could probably teach some social studies courses and have a healthy experience teaching high school, if I so desired.

I'm attending graduate school to get my Master's in Educational Leadership, I want to work with college students, specifically (eventually) adult students at a traditional 4-year institution.

Through these experiences I am always amazed at the lack of reading and writing comprhension. Even at the Master-level, students do not read or comprehend the reading. They do not engage with the reading. They have no questions or comments about the reading. It's sad. The students I work with have no idea how to form an academic argument or even write the traditional 5-paragraph essays.

Here on the boards I'm amazed at what is considered fact and reliable. It's not that there are "bad" sources out there (well, there are, but pretend for a moment there aren't any) but what we use to back up our arguments here on the internet (all over the internet) would never be accepted academically. They wouldn't be accepted in the high school curriculum in NYS. But, my main point is, here on the internet are "real" people, those that actually exist in this world without the help of an academic sitting on their shoulder. It amazes me how our education system has failed so many people.

Here's an article that really sums up my feelings, and frustrations, as a student and educational leader (you may or may not be able to read the whole thing, I'm at work so I'm not sure what's private on the site). http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2009/06/2009063001c.htm (and I realize this post might make me sound high-and-mighty, but it's really just about observations I've had through my experiences)