Almost Goodbye

They've been talking for a while about filling in the old Subway; last time I was here the Jenga blocks were already in, today there's a few more signs we might not have this spot much longer. Once again, the city has offered millions of dollars to rebuild Broad street and fill the tunnel, but this time it's not just the money talking: construction cones, heavy haulers, and light trucks left in the tunnel, and some fresh chain link fence blocking off the Dinosaur end. Brown street end Knocking down the tunnel walls -- I'm not sure how much I'd…

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Belly Of The Whale

Some explores are just meant to be. I was already home and writing about the day's adventures when Ian texts me to make sure we were meeting at 10:30. Any normal person would have said yeah, and you missed it by 10 hours already. I figured, why the hell not, let's go for round 3, and called everyone i knew that missed the morning chance. Which was mostly people who had never even been to a drain before, but I've never been one to judge. I'd had a sneaking suspicion since last summer, and known almost certainly since that clusterfuck…

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Wings of Progress

Are they claws? Antennae? Batman? Rochester's Times Square building is best known for its Wings of Progress The building, commissioned in 1928 and built as the country plunged into depression, was meant to symbolize, along with the statue of Mercury across the street, Rochester's position as a technological and economic leader. The bank that built the tower fell in the bank runs of 1930, and it's held a variety of banks and offices ever since. Obviously, this is a building best left to tours, but if you get the opportunity, I would recommend seeing it. The basement, which was a…

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Slime

I'd just like to take this opportunity to let some people know how I feel about that UER meet this weekend. I don't know whether to call it discrimination, bad blood, or just bad luck, but it needs to be known that these people left me in Holley, 23 miles from Rochester, and it only gets worse from there. It started out like every other monthly meeting, with coffee and bagels and deciding where to go which is mostly bragging about what everyone else found. For once I had something to bring to the table, I've got some new drains…

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Introducing IOLA

Third meet of the UER season, and a chance to meet some new explorers. NeonTempest wanted to introduce us to this place, the Iola Sanatorium, to show us what "real exploring" was like. Which, to him, meant something like park a mile away with 12 people, and march right onto the grounds in the plainest sight possible. Just to take us straight downstairs into this. The whole point of going was these tunnels, blocked off with fresh new cinder blocks. So we get to try another entrance, going through this just to find more cinder blocks. By the time he's…

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Sykes Datatronics

You have dialed 716 458 8000, Sykes Datatronics' demonstration number for Comm-Net 3000. Press 1 for English. Нажмите 2 для русского. 日本人はを押してください 3. I'm sorry, 6 is not a valid option. Please hold. Comm-Net 3000 is a national leader in automated voice response systems. Press 4 to learn more. Press 5 to learn even more. Press 6 to learn more than you ever wanted to know. For all of the above, please stay on the line. I'm sorry, *HANG UP* is not a valid option. Please refer to the User Guide, or press 6 for an overview of all options…

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