September 2005

Well I finally got to the doctor’s to find out what was going on with my sinuses. During the night the bridge of my nose had swollen up more, giving me a rugged look that looked somewhat flattering but not at all natural. Enough was enough.

He thumped my chest, pumped my glands and stuck a light up my nose. Yep, it was a sinus infection alright, but it didn’t go beyond that, my chest, etc. sounded clear. Yay! Being allergic to penicillin AND the sulfa drugs, he gave me an antibiotic called the “Z-Pak” which you take for just five days, apparently giving whatever shouldn’t be in your body a one-two punch. I also received a prescription of Allegra-D. I took both at lunch time and surprisingly the Allegra-D doesn’t make me mean. I’ll have to save a couple of these puppies for later.

Having used my lunch hour to go to the doctor, I settled back my desk to eat a turkey sandwich I had brought along. My friend Shirley offered a bowl of her homemade chicken soup to go along with the sandwich since I wasn’t feeling well and the soup should really hit the spot. It did as intended, along with a chocolate chip cookie from the batch my friend Mike had brought yesterday when he had heard I wasn’t feeling well. It’s nice to have thoughtful friends.

So now I feel tons better already and am looking forward to seeing my old nose again.

My blog friend Terry has been getting in on this blog tag thingee that’s been going around on the internet. Here’s how it works:

The Official Interview Games Rules:
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying, “interview me”.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions – each persons will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I volunteered with an “interview me!” in his comments section today, simply because it looked like fun AND I’ve been working on coming out of my shell a little more this year and this seemed to be a wonderful vehicle on my journey of enlightenment.

Here’s my five questions from Terry.
1. We have been talking for ages now… but how did you first find my blog?
I wish I could remember how I found your blog, but for the life of me I don’t remember how I stumbled upon it. I think it had something to do with googling gay PowerBook users. I liked your style, I liked your blog and I found you very cute, so I stuck around.

2. How old were you when you lost your virginity?
Ah, it seems like yesterday. Actually, it was my second semester of college in March 1987. I was 18 years old at the time.

3. Top, Bottom or Versatile?
O.k. now I’m blushing. I guess “mostly top” would mean “versatile”.

4. You are being shipped to a deserted island for 3 months and you are only allowed to bring one CD. No iPod, no mix-tape, no mix-CD. One original CD. What CD would that be?
“While The Eagle Sleeps” by Alice Gomez, Madalyn Blanchett & Marilyn Rife. It’s Native American Flute Music that I often use to meditate and relax to.

5. When was the last time you said “thank you”?
Just a short while ago I thanked Earl for bringing home some Vicks Vaporub to help combat the congestion in my sinuses. I make a point of saying thank you to all that are deserving, people need to be more polite and I like to try to set a good example.

Anyone want to play?

When I’m up late for work and can’t sleep for whatever reason, I sometimes reminisce about my younger days working the second shift. I’d start work at 3, right in sync with my own circadian rhythm and would get home around 11:00, ready to settle in front of the television (armed with a bowl of popcorn) for a couple hours before calling it a night. This was before the internet, when I’d have to dial into the local BBS (bulletin board system) or GEnie with my ancient computer at 1200 baud and $2.95 an hour to chat with other guys – and they were all geeks. And there were no pictures, only characters literally crawling across the screen.

Not an efficient way of meeting people.

So I’d tune the television to the good cable station “11 Alive” out of New York, later known as WPIX (now the WB11). I’d catch the end of “The Odd Couple” (always a fun show) and then watch one of the original 39 episodes of “The Honeymooners”, followed by an original “Star Trek”.

Ah, the good old days. I think there was a boyfriend somewhere in that mix. I wonder what happened to him? Anyways, it’s fun to look back just 15-20 years ago upon television viewing habits and the fact that we weren’t assaulted with prescription drug commercials. “Can’t sleep? You need Lunesta.” I say drink a martini, count the fsckin’ sheep and hit the hay the good ol’ fashioned way.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t watched The Honeymooners in *years*. Like since 1990 or so! I don’t think Earl and I have ever sat down and watched an episode together. I don’t even know if we get WB11 here on DirecTV. Hmmm.

Back then I would tell others that cared that Audrey Meadows was the second Alice Kramden and that Pert Kelton was actually the first. I was obnoxious like that, spouting off facts that no one cared about. No one of my age believed me. “Pert Kelton. Pert Kelton? Who the hell is Pert Kelton?”. But there’d be someone older than me milling around at work that would show a faint familiarity with the name and would chime in to my defense. It’s not like there’s a bunch of actresses out there named Pert. Come to think of it, I think she’s the only one I’ve ever heard of. Who would name their daughter Pert? Wasn’t that a shampoo back in the mullet era?

I think I need to pick up a few DVDs of The Honeymooners. I have one favorite quote from the series:
Guest Star: “Mrs. Kramden, your husband is certainly a treasure.” (walks off the set)
Alice: “Yes, and if he keeps this up he’ll be a buried treasure.” (mocking the wife) Priceless!

Jackie Gleason and Pert Kelton in one of the original skits.

The familiar cast from “The Honeymooners”.

Due to some network upgrades at work last night, my on-call pager went off incessently from 11:00 p.m. until a little after 2:00 this morning. Blurry-eyed and very incoherent, I would stagger through each individual page making sure it wasn’t some sort of on-call emergency and try to catnap in between the screeching noise my pager makes. I wish there was a way to have it announce “Incoming! Incoming!” instead of these happy dancing tones that Motorola has programmed into the thing, it might make me feel a little better. I’d enjoy a deep voice saying “Excuse me J.P., but your attention is required.” but then I’d end up dreaming about Night Rider or something.

Anyways, because of these unsuccessful catnaps last night and Earl’s poorly timed departure for work this morning at 4:45 a.m., I’m a little incoherent today. For example, right before lunch I called a customer to let them know that their phone service issue was still in the process of being resolved, when I realized that I had just thrown the old woman at the other end of the line into a panic (something about day trading) and truth be known, I had dialed the wrong number and she wasn’t even a customer of ours. So I simply said, “Please excuse the call”, which is a phrase that hasn’t been heard since about 1966. I’ve been watching too many Bewitched reruns or something.

So now I’ve come home for lunch to play the “swing the door” game with the cat. He goes to the door, I let him out, I close the door, he immediately stands in front of the window waiting to come in so he can nibble on one piece of kibble, then he goes back to door and it starts all over again. Why sit down for a meal when you can run around the house in between bites? To add to the fun, he starts digging the moulding around the door if I don’t move fast enough. Isn’t he cute.

At least there’s a bright spot today. Earl e-mailed me to tell me that he’s not spending the night out of town, instead he’s coming home tonight. That did liven me up a little bit.

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I’ve been thinking of my little road trip next week and think I’m going to drop Earl off at Philly airport, then head down to Richmond, Va. and drive across Virginia and West Virginia before heading back home. Why? Because it’s there. I hear folks down there really like us gay boys from the north anyways.