Random thoughts from a random mind

Having had hot dogs and been to the drive-in in the last week, it is now officially summer — no matter what the calendar says. Now I just need the kids to get out of school and the real Leffler family frolicking can begin. Yes, we frolic … as should you.

I’ve been lucky enough to get out on my bike the past few weeks and see Eastern Niagara County from a slower vantage point than I usually do. I’ve made trips as short as a couple miles and as long as 22 miles. It feels good to do it and I’ve noticed that when I put a few miles on the bike, I’m more inclined to eat better, too. Maybe I’ll be healthy some day. Maybe.

Over the course of the past few years, I’ve gone from around 220 pounds to about 180. In fact, the photo that accompanies this column doesn’t even look like me, I’m told. I guess that’s a good thing. I’ll have a new one soon. The weight loss is due to a combination of a better diet and exercise. But mostly stress. Seriously, not eating will do wonders for your figure.

I was hoping to lose about another 10 pounds before next Saturday in hopes that I’d look better in my dress, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I got donut sticks the other day … and my oldest daughter spends all her money on ice cream and then forces me to eat it. She’s such a bully.

Oh, yeah, you read that right. I said dress. I’ll be wearing a dress. Again.

For the third year in a row, I’ll be one of a couple dozen guys participating in the “Peaches and Creme Fashion Show,” a fundraiser put on by Anne Scinta LaSota, team captain of Maurice’s Relay For Life. The fundraiser, held at Lockport’s Palace Theatre at 7 p.m. on May 18, will hopefully be bigger and better and bolder than the previous ones, which were already pretty incredible events, I might add.

Tickets for the show are available from any of the guys in it — including me — for a mere $10. Or you can get them at Maurice’s. They’re also available at the door the night of the show for $15.

Please come out and watch me make a fool of myself. I usually do it for free, but since this is such a good cause, help us raise money to fight cancer? Please?

I mentioned the drive-in earlier. I saw “Oz, The Great and Powerful” and “Iron Man 3” with my girlfriend and her wonderful children. Iron Man was pretty decent, but I was really blown away at how much I like the Oz prequel. I truly appreciate unique adaptations of things that we think we already know. It’s why I’m equally excited about The Great Gatsby. Also the new Star Trek movie which comes out next week. Zachary Quinto is perfect as Spock.

I hope there will be plenty of movies in my near future. It is summer, after all. Let the frolicking begin.

Scott Leffler is a Doctor Who fan whose columns run on Fridays now. Fridays are cool. Follow him on twitter @scottleffler.

Warm weather plays tricks on my mind

Now that the weather seems to have switched to spring for good (ignoring the snow on the ground Monday morning), my mind has jumped forward to all the fun things I want to do this summer.

Add in my impending income tax refund and I feel like I’ve won the lottery and just have to cash in my check. Never mind the pittance that is my tax refund is all but already spent.

With warmer weather, I start thinking about summer festivals and concerts and just doing things outside.

Last week my oldest and I got milkshakes in what I hope I hope to be a recurring theme over the course of the next several months. Milk shakes always perk things up.

Every year I create a list of things I want to do that year. And most years I have to roll several things over. The last two summers I had to roll “skydiving” into the next year. I’m hoping to actually be able to cross it off my bucket list this year.

Many people think my desire to skydive is a bit peculiar — especially when coupled with my completely rational fear of spiders. In perspective: Plunging to my death is not a concern ... but spiders freak me out.

I’d also like to run with the bulls in Pamplona. But that first requires that I get to Spain, which is a rather lofty goal since the furthest I’ve traveled away from home in the past two years is a trip to Rochester in October.

I like to travel. I miss New York City and have been jonesing for a trip to Washington DC since I was leaving the city in April of 2011. I’d also like to find my way back to Ohio this year to visit my alma mater. Haven’t been there in about a decade.

DC, NYC and Ashland, Ohio were all on my “to-do list” in 2012. And they all rolled over to 2013. Let’s hope they don’t roll over to 2014.

It’s not that there’s not a lot of fun things to do right here in Western New York. But I have always suffered from wanderlust.

Over the past couple years, I’ve really fallen in love with taking photos of everything I do. Maybe it’s due to the popularity of that hobby on the Internet. More likely it’s that my phones have had pretty decent cameras on them and as such, I always have the capability of taking cool photos in the palm of my hand.

My latest phone has a 3D camera. I thought it was gimmicky and didn’t expect to use it but have been surprised at just how cool it is. Needless to say, I have a nice collection of 3D photos now and really look forward to taking 3D photos over everything this summer.

Of course, I have to remind myself that it’s not summer yet. And my tax refund is not really comparable to lottery winnings. But the dreamer in me is excited.

Scott Leffler is a newspaper columnist and former radio talk show host. Apparently that makes him part of the problem for which positivity is the only solution. Follow his tweets @scottleffler.

Summer here. Summer gone.

Ah, Summer, we barely knew ya.

As we turn the calendar over to September and make out last minute preparations to send our kids to school, we do so with a heavy heart, knowing that the calendar might say there's still three weeks left in Summer, but, really, it's over.

Earlier this year, I said, “This is the year that I cross more things off the list than not. This is the year that I refuse to let the warm months slip by. This is the year that I refuse to let life get in the way of living.”

I wish I could say I was successful in that. I wish I could say that I didn't let the warm months slip by. But 2010 was very similar to 2009 in that fashion.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I didn't do anything. Oh, I did plenty.

I went to Darien Lake with the kids, Toronto with a cute brunette, and took a nap in Delaware Park all by myself.

I ran into friends at the Allentown Art Festival, Canal Fest of the Tonawandas, and the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts.

A saw Pearl Jam at HSBC, Public Enemy at the Town Ballroom and George Thorogood at Artpark.

I enjoyed Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the Erie Canal and every vantage point of the Niagara River.

I ate tasty food at the Taste of Buffalo and drank tasty beers at the Buffalo Brew Fest.

Despite that laundry list of accomplishments, though, I still feel like Summer slipped by because this is Western New York, where we're blessed with summertime entertainment 24/7 and there's so much I didn't get to do.

I guess I'll have to stick around another year and see what I can accomplish in 2011.

Maybe my accomplishments will be of the laundry list variety I displayed above. By the way, that laundry list is abbreviated. There's just too much to write. Or maybe my list of accomplishments will be something more meaningful.

I'd love to improve our community. I'd love to find the magic bullet that makes everything all better. Or have a hand in removing the cancerous things that keeps us down.

What Western New York really needs is better leadership and vision. Less promises and more action. Less talk about the next great fishing store that's going to make everything better and more doing away with burdensome taxes and regulations that make it hard to keep afloat.

As much as I love our free concerts and festivals, when the summer ends, we're reminded that the problems we had in spring are still problems. Bread and circus might work in the warm months, but when the days get shorter, the circus leaves town and we remember who the real clowns are.

Summer is a great time to forget our problems and just go with the flow. But as the kids go back to school, we need to get back to work. We have an election coming up. Better start studying.

Of course, if you're content with just three good months a year, sit back and do nothing. It'll be festival season again soon.