All Over Albany

The most popular items on AOA in 2011

He was living large in 2011. (Until he melted.)

At the end of each year we like to go the through the traffic stats on AOA to see which posts were most popular. It's a fun way to remember all the stuff that's happened.

So, here are the most popular items on AOA for each month during 2011...

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What ever happened to...

We're starting to plan an upcoming theme week called "Whatever happened to..." It's exactly what it sounds like: a series of posts about people or things that have left or are no longer in the spotlight.

For (a silly) example: Whatever happened to the Flabby Tabby? Did he lose the weight? Is he still living large? (Please let there be a cat wearing a headband on treadmill somewhere.)

So, what are some people or things upon which you might like to see some follow-up?

We'll try to follow up on some of them. And if you're interested in writing a post for the week -- pitch us at editors |at| alloveralbany |dot| com.

AOA Birthday Party 3 photos

If there's a sock monkey present, it must be a party.

Thanks again to everyone who came to celebrate AOA's third birthday at The Point last week. It was a lot of fun! And it was great to meet so many people/see so many people again.

A whole bunch of party pics are after the jump.

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Tweets from AOA Birthday Party 3

Thanks to Laura for making such fun buttons!

We had a really great time last night at AOA's third birthday party at The Point. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us!

We've said this a few times before, and it's still true: the thing we appreciate most about working on AOA is the people. We're so lucky to have been able to meet all of you.

After the jump: a bunch of tweets and pics and links from last night's party. We'll have more party photos tomorrow.

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AOA Birthday Party 3

The cake from our first birthday party. It tasted a lot better than it looked.

AOA is now three years old -- so we're having a birthday party! And you're invited (of course)!

We'd love to see you at the The Point in Albany on March 23 from 5:30 to 8:30 for some tasty free snacks, a bunch of fun people and... cake!

Because space is limited, we do ask that you RSVP (that part is important -- almost as important as the cake).

See you there!

Earlier on AOA: AOA Birthday 2 photos

Thank you

It was a pleasant surprise to see that we were voted "Best Local Website (Community)" in the Metroland readers' poll out today, as well as being named in a handful of other categories.

Thank you to everyone who voted for AOA. It's an honor to know that you keep us in mind. We appreciate it. A lot.

It's great to see how many independent sites are represented in this year's poll -- Nippertown, Friday Puppy, Keep Albany Boring. It makes us proud to see the local online ecosystem growing.

Here's to a thriving neighborhood.

AOA Valentines

Just for fun, we created a few AOA valentines. That's one of the above. There are two more (Otto makes an appearance in one of them).

Feel free to send/facebook/tweet/copy as you like.

Happy Valentine's Day.

AOA, now with more snow globe

Our Monday was little feeling a little gray, but this has brightened things up a bit. It's an AOA online snow globe -- go ahead and check it out.

On some computers (Mac with Firefox), you can actually make the snow globe "tilt" by tilting your laptop side to side. In other browsers, you can direct the snow with your mouse.

We've been keeping this open in a tab and switching to it every hour or so. It's made the day pass a little faster.

Meet Akum and Liz

Akum | Liz

Please extend a big AOA welcome to Akum Norder and Liz Clancy Lerner, our two new associate editors.

We're very excited to have them working with us for the next few months. Akum and Liz are both smart, fun, interesting and interested.

Here's a little bit more about them...

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The most popular items on AOA this year

The Flabby Tabby was living large this year.

Toward the end of each year we like to go the through the traffic stats on AOA to see which posts were most popular. It's a fun way to remember all the stuff that's happened.

So, without further ado, here are the most popular posts on AOA for each month during the last year...

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"I'm not sure I've ever been involved in an interview... about dog poo"

When the people at the CW15 invited us on their new newscast at 10, we're betting they never expected such high-minded topics. Yep. Jerry gets a +1 for providing the thematic frame to the segment.

AOA's weekly segment on the CW15 News at 10 is now on Wednesdays. Thanks to everyone who's been watching -- we appreciate it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Thank you to everyone who's been a part of it. We appreciate it.

AOA on CW15, now on Wednesday

Check it out: AOA's spot on the CW15 News at 10 has been moved to Wednesdays!

We'll be on tonight with Dori talking about backyard chickens, Ryan's question about the best burgers in the Capital Region and... pancake bites.

Update at 8pm Wednesday: ... or not. We just heard that there was a technical problem - and as a result, no AOA segment tonight.

Update again: Now we're going to be on Friday this week! But next week -- and the weeks after -- Wednesday.

AOA is hiring

We're looking to bend these curves.

The chart above is a quick organizational history of AOA. As you can see, we could use some extra people.

So, we're looking to hire a part-time associate editor. The job description is after the jump.

If anyone knows who might be the right person for this job, it's going to be the AOA crowd. So if someone spring to mind, please forward this along.

Any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact the editors.

Thanks!

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AOA on TV

Update: Here's the segment:

____

Check it out: the Editors will be appearing weekly on the new CW15 News at Ten. And our first appearance is... Thursday night! We'll be talking with Dori Marlin about the Tournament of Pizza, Maeve's Capital Region ghost stories and... things that are TOO DAMN high.

Our regular segment will usually air on Fridays, but we got bumped ahead a day this week.

Thanks to CBS6/CW15 for inviting us on the show!

I'll see you later

This is hard to say, but I'm taking off. It's been a good ride but it's time for me to try something new in life and unfortunately, that also means taking a break from Albany in the form of graduate school in the Midwest.

Like so many of us, I never intended to come back here. The lure of immediate post-graduate employment in the form of a job with the Associated Press brought me back, and ended up pushing my dreams of moving to San Francisco to the side. So I stayed... longer than I ever anticipated, and I've enjoyed myself more than I would ever have expected.

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We want you to review Salt

The U-Haul building, serving as an extra with Angelina.

Update: Lou will be reviewing Salt!

Update: The deadline has passed. We'll contact the winner tonight. Thanks to everyone who entered!

As you know, Salt -- the Angelina Jolie movie -- was partially shot here in Albany (the director would like to thank the citizens). And it opens this Friday.

So, we're looking for someone to review the movie. And that person could be you. Here's the deal:

+ Post a comment telling us what your favorite movie is, and explain why. It doesn't have to be anything long. A few sentences will do.

+ Based on the posted comments, we'll pick a winner to review Salt.

+ That person will get two free tickets to see Salt at the Spectrum this weekend -- so you can bring a friend (it's always good to talk about a movie with someone afterward).

+ The winner then sends us a short review of Salt by Monday at 9 am. The review should be no more than 500 words. And we hope you'll pay special attention to Albany's cameos in the movie (787 apparently makes quite an appearance).

+ We post the review later that day.

So, that's the deal. We think this could be fun.

Important: One entry person. You must answer the question to be considered. Your comment must be posted by 5 pm Wednesday July 21. You must include a working email address (that you check regularly) with your comment. The winner will be notified by 11:59 pm on Wednesday and must respond by noon on Thursday July 22.

Earlier on AOA:
+ Lining up for Salt
+ More Angelina and more Albany
+ That's Angelina and that's Albany
+ Angelina Jolie to stop traffic in downtown Albany

screengrab: Sony

I'll have the AOA

So, last week as part of the totally informal lunch-up at the Capitol Park food trucks, Nipper's Hot Dogs offered an AOA special: two classic Chicago-style hot dogs for $2. It's a good deal -- lunch doesn't get much cheaper.

Well, much to our surprise, the Nipper's guys have decided to rename their classic dogs the "All Over Albany Classic Hot Dogs" and keep the special price for the rest of the summer! We're very flattered! (And, it must be said, a little hungry.)

It was great to see everyone at the lunch up. Thanks for stopping by!

Lunch-up on Thursday

The AOA special: two of these for $2

As part of Lunch Week, we thought it would be fun to have an informal lunch meetup.

So... AOA's having a totally informal, no-sign-ups-or-anything lunch get-together this Thursday in Capitol Park in Albany (it's the park just behind the Capitol with all the lunch trucks).

We're planning to be there from noon until about 1 pm or so. If can you can stop by during your lunch hour, it'd be great to see you. (Weather permitting, of course. Let's hope.) We'll be over by the Nipper's stand on State Street (look for the rainbow umbrellas).

Hot dog bonus!
The guys from the Nipper's Hot Dogs will be offering an AOA special that day: two classic Chicago-style hot dogs for $2. We can speak from experience -- these are good dogs, and filling. If you bring a friend, you can probably both have lunch for about two bucks.

And remember: Wednesday is snap a pic of your lunch and send it to AOA day. Two people will win $25 toward lunch at their favorite local spot.

Next week is Lunch Week

That had been a bagel.

We have something new coming up next week on AOA: Lunch Week.

It's pretty much what it sounds like -- a whole week with posts about... lunch. There will be other stuff, too, including all the usual items. But every day will have at least one post about lunch. Trust us, it'll be fun. We have some excellent contributors lined up to help out.

Here's where you come in

On the last day of Lunch Week (Friday, June 18) we want to do a post about what everyone had for lunch that week. Specifically, the Wednesday of that week (June 16).

So, next Wednesday we'd love for you to snap a pic of your lunch and send it to us at this email address: lunch |at| alloveralbany |dot| com. Please include what's in your lunch, where you got it and how you'd like to be identified.

Lunch can be whatever you're eating that day -- a PB&J from home, a sandwich at your desk from the deli, Chinese at the place down the street, whatever. If you ate it around noon that day, it's lunch.

Everyone who sends along a qualifying lunch photo will be entered in a drawing for, yep... A FREE LUNCH. We'll pick two winners at random. They'll get a $25 gift certificate to their favorite local lunch spot (yep, the winner gets to pick).

OK, to review

1. Next Wednesday, snap a pic of your lunch and send it, along with a description, to lunch |at| alloveralbany |dot| com
2. We'll post the photos and descriptions on Friday
3. Two winners will get free lunch at the local spot of their choice
4. We all have some fun

The Matthew Carefully song for AOA

Remember that contest where we asked for ideas for a Matthew Carefully song? Well, we ended up picking the suggestions from Arielle and Jackers.

Well this morning, Matthew's song -- based on Arielle and Jackers' ideas -- was waiting in our inbox. It's titled "Half-sleep."

It's embedded above. And you can download it here.

Lyrics are after the jump.

Thanks to Matthew for the song! And thanks to everyone who posted a suggestion!

Matthew's new album, Community Balloon, is now available. And here's recap (and photos) of his album release show at Caffe Lena.

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Thanks!

The past week has been unbelievably good to AOA. First the birthday party, which was a great time -- and now this: a top-three ranking in multiple categories of the Metroland readers' poll.

AOA was voted best local web site (community) and best local web site (arts).

We were also voted second for best local web site (news) and best local blog (congrats, Matt!). And AOA finished at #3 for best local web site (music).

We're especially proud of the best local web site (community) honor. The most fulfilling part of working on AOA has been the chance to meet so many interesting/smart/insightful/kind/funny people. Your support and encouragement keeps us going on the tough days -- and on the good days, it pushes us to do more.

Thank you so much.

AOA Birthday 2 photos

Midtown was packed for the party.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Midtown Tap and Tea Room last Thursday for the AOA birthday party. It was a really fun time! It was great to see so many people again -- and meet a bunch of others for the first time.

There are a whole lot of photos from the party after the jump. Also, here are recaps by Albany Jane and The Exile. And you can read most of the party tweets by searching for the hashtag #AOA2.

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Birthday present: Complexions Spa

We'd like to makeover the AOA offices to look more like this.

Well, the party is over, but there are still more presents to be had. We've got one prize left in the AOA birthday bag. The winners of today's drawing will get $100 gift certificates for Complexions Spa and Salon or their new barber shop and hair salon. There will be 3 winners.

So here's today's question:

What -- and how -- would you makeover in the Capital Region?

We're looking for constructive ideas about how to make over something that already exists here. Think broadly -- it could be a street, a neighborhood, a building, an event, an attitude, anything.

Important: All comments must be submitted by 10 pm Friday (Feb 26, 2010) to be entered in the drawing. One entry per person, please. You must enter a valid email address with your comment. The winners will be notified via email by 5 pm on Monday and must respond by 5 pm on Tuesday.

Happy birthday to us

Sprinkles!

Update: Recaps from Albany Jane and The Exile.

Update: You can read a lot of the tweets from the party by searching for the hash tag #AOA2.

We're kicking off a little early this afternoon for the birthday party.

There are cupcakes to be eaten.