We have recently discovered the new series “Pan Am” on ABC. Having enjoyed the pilot episode, this series has a new spot on the DVR.
If you haven’t seen it you might want to give it a try. Enjoy the days when flying was classy instead of riding a Greyhound with wings.
As I’m sure you have heard on the news today, at 12:01 a.m. this morning the military officially ended their policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. I believe this policy was enforced for 18 years. As mentioned on other blogs in the blogosphere, one must note that since the repeal of this policy there has been no hints of an armageddon-like event, nor has there been an angry tornado, hurricane, earthquake or monsoon indicating that God is not pleased with this. We can assume that the lack of a response from the sky means that he is happy.
Well he should be.
Back in my senior year of high school I very briefly considered joining the military but then decided that I would get the shit beat out of me if I ever did make it even as far as basic training. I never shared this revelation with anyone, well, I told one person and they looked at me unbelievably. I did good on the tests that they give you to see where you would be an asset for Uncle Sam; unsurprisingly I did well in technology. I’m a geek like that. Part of my consideration for joining the military addressed the inevitably being asked about being gay. I believe before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” they used to ask you outright if you have ever had sexual relations with a person of the same sex. At that point in my life I could have technically answered in the negative on that, but in reality I knew that I really wanted to. Though, admittedly I did not want to pursue this while in the military, simply because I couldn’t figure out how the mechanics of same sex sexual relations would work in a room filled with a large number of guys would work without getting caught and then I would end up discharged anyways, probably being beat up on my way out. Ultimately I would have been lying when they asked me and I figured if you were to become a soldier, you were meant to be honorable, and starting that path in your life shouldn’t start with a lie. Lie is dishonorable. So I dropped it.
This line of thinking continued into my career choice. I went to college the first time to become a music teacher. However, I had no interest in teaching in a big school. I didn’t want to live in a city, I wanted to teach in a smaller school district that was much like the one I graduated from. My first versions of gaydar picked up on teachers that were gay and they either lived far away (and drove through lots of snow storms to get to work) or they lived their life in the closet. Well this didn’t seem right to me. It was midway through my first year of college that I figured all this out and that I couldn’t be an openly gay man and teach at a smaller school district at the same time. The public wasn’t ready for that yet and I wasn’t sure that I was ready for the challenge that that would bring. So I decided to give that up. My interest in the whole thing had wained a bit anyway. Though television proclaims to the contrary and some sheltered folks believe that you can be gay anywhere without ramification, I guess I’m still old school enough to live on the side of caution a bit. I’m not sure that I could even get away with being an openly gay music teacher today in a small school district. I’ve heard stories of gay teachers and administrators being dismissed on somewhat trumped up terms as recently as two years ago. “We don’t want that kind in our schools around our children.” It’s sad when a year ago that person was voted teacher of the year.
So while I am very happy that there can now be openly gay soldiers in our military today, I’m hoping that while they celebrate (which they have every right to do), that they’re concentrating more on why they joined the military instead of just being gay. I can’t wait until being gay is no big deal for a vast majority instead of a slim majority of people. Hopefully society will calm down a bit.
And I’m am 1 1/2 years too old to even consider joining the military today. But at least now I could be honest about it.
– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad
I tend to become slightly obsessed about little things. For example, I used to work with a woman who put a period at the end of her signature. She’d sign her name and then plop a dot at the end of it. Since we all had to sign the same logs day after day, I’d see her signature there with that annoying plop of punctuation at the end of it. It drove me crazy. I pointed out to her that her name is not a sentence. She told me I was right and she would change her way.
She started signing the log with just her initials, even though it said “Full Name” at the top of the column. The plop of a period remained.
I ended up quitting that job for something better: a place without rampant abuse of punctuation.
I can be a little obsessive.
McDonalds is running a promotion in where you get a free Coke glass when you buy a large value meal. The glasses come in green, blue, purple, brown and clear. I love these glasses because they have some heft to them and I like the way they feel in my hand. Now they’re not as good as the lead painted glasses we got back in the 70s from Carrols, those glasses you could literally die for if you licked them hard enough but how they’ve become collector’s items.
I don’t know that the McDonalds glasses will become collector’s items but I’m determined to stock our cupboard with at least two of each color variation. Always trying to find a better body, I have been avoiding large value meals, or value meals of any type for that matter, but I scarfed one down on Saturday night and scored a glass. I was rewarded with my first purple one.
On Sunday we stopped at a McDonalds for a quick drink. I asked the person at the counter if I could just buy a glass and she answered in the affirmative. But they were out of clear ones (the only one I really needed), so I added another blue glass to the collection.
Today I stopped at the McDonalds near work for my lunchtime iced tea and an absolutely horrible thing happened. They are not participating in this Coca-Cola glass promotion.
I almost jumped up on the counter and started screaming like a wild man. Here I was, buried in a line of people that seem shocked when given the total of their order to the point that they’re overwhelmed by the concept of having their money out of their pocket ahead of time and there is no promised glass at the end of monotony of this ordering process. What the hell is wrong with these people? Do they not watch their own, never ending commercials on television? Do they not realize that not only will I soon have a complete set of glasses for a dinner party of 16? Do they not understand that these glasses look good in all situations, whether in a formal dining room or in the room at the ass end of a mobile home?
I was going to say something snappy and witty to the disinterested counter person but I decided not to and instead of I gave the change she threw at me to the Ronald McDonald House fund.
Instead I just glared at her.
Back in February I bought Earl season tickets for SU Football as his birthday present. We have been excited about the arrival of football season and since we always love a chance to go to the Dome, we acquainted ourselves with our season ticket seats yesterday. We are on the 20 yard line in row K. There were no nose bleeds as we’re on in section 115. The Orange played Rhode Island. We won, though it probably wasn’t as easy a win as it should have been.
I have always loved going to the Carrier Dome and I still feel the same excitement that I did when I first went to it back in the early 1980s. It was good to get back into football season and Earl seemed very happy with his birthday present. Now we’ll probably get basketball season tickets too.
I just listened to part of President Obama’s speech in Richmond regarding the Jobs Act he spoke about last night during his address to Congress. One of the points he was talking about this afternoon was the effort to hire our soldiers as they come back from war in the Middle East. I think this is a very admirable effort and it’s something I mentioned earlier in the week when I talked about the poster that is up in the lobby at work. I have never had the opportunity to serve our country as a soldier. If I had approached the subject back when it mattered they would have asked and I would have told and then it’d be no dice anyway so why even put it up for consideration. I can’t help but to think that armed forces missed out on some very good soldiers with that antiquated philosophy but luckily we are moving away from that line of thinking.
As I listened to President Obama speak this afternoon, I noticed that he had a great deal of energy in his voice. I don’t know if it was because I was listening to him on satellite radio or if he feels like he has some extra pep in his step after his speech and revealing of his new Jobs Act plan last night, but I can’t help but appreciate the persistence I heard in his voice.
I like that in a person. Energy. Forward thought. Forward thinking. I often write about my past experiences in my life here on my blog but it’s not because I dwell on the past, it’s because I recognize that what has happened to me along this life has shaped me into who I am today. The learning experiences of the past, coupled with a positive attitude of the future, give me the energy to seek what I want and to find the energy to go after it. I think that’s why I’ve been smiling more, well, that and a particular wedding that in my fairly near future.
Life is good. And I have the energy to make sure it stays that way.
– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad
I read blogs. I read plenty of blogs. Some of these blogs are devoted to technology, others are devoted to politics, while others are devoted to ‘gay causes’ or ‘gay news’, however loosely that term applies since I believe that all news is gay related in some way. Most of the blogs I read are personal blogs, much like the one you are reading right now.
I like to think that we can glean a good deal of information about someone from their personal blog. While they may be writing “in character” of someone they want to portray themselves to be, for the most part I think many of the blogs are from real people. I’m usually good at weeding out my so that the folks that are just trying to get attention or page hits aren’t at the top of my priority list if they make the list at all. I don’t particularly enjoy attention whores in public, why would I enjoy the writings of an attention whore?
Writing that last sentence made me pause for a few moments to reevaluate myself and determine if I am one of these attention whores. The time spent on this thought is not evident with my writings, so you’ll have to just trust that I had the thought and am cognizant of my behavior in this area.
A while back someone left a fairly nasty comment on my blog and when they read my response, they let a whole mess of fury out of the bag and into an email back at me. It was clear that this person put the drama in “drama queen”. I decided to start reading the blog at the end of the link they provided to see if they really were like that (or portrayed themselves that way) or if they were perhaps having a bad day. After a few months of reading their blog, I have decided that I really have no interest in our paths ever crossing in the real world because they portray themselves as an unlikeable (at least to me) person. Why waste my time? I deleted them from my personal reading list.
At one time I would have been bothered by this because I wouldn’t be able to handle not liking someone; it just seemed wrong and if I didn’t like them then they wouldn’t like me and I couldn’t have that back when I was a bundle of insecurity. Now older and wiser, I guess I couldn’t care less whether people like me or not so why should I make an effort to like someone when I find them unlikable? I don’t have to endure anything and no one says I have to, so why should I? Delete delete delete.
There are a couple of attention whores in the mix that I know are simply writing for the comedy of it all and the amount of reaction that they can stir up amongst the gentle readers. These folks don’t get lumped in with the unlikable, especially when I have met them in person and find that they are quite lovely. That’s why I like to meet fellow bloggers in person; proof is in the pudding and all that.
I never knew why pudding had proof but that’s the way the saying goes so we’ll just continue the tradition.
– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad
I have no comprehension as to where we are in the week. I thought yesterday was Thursday. This morning I woke up knowing that it wasn’t Friday because it didn’t feel like a Friday but I had to look at my watch to see what day it was. My watch said WE. I have no reason not to believe it.
You would think that a person so obsessed with time, well at least making sure that the choreography of time is completely in sync, would have a keen awareness of where we stand on the timeline. I could be optimistic and say it’s because I’m living in the moment and I’m not concerned about what’s behind or what’s ahead, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. I have to admit that I occasionally enjoy looking at a snapshot of “now” and saying, “Yes, my life is cool”. When I say things like this I worry about sounding too Pollyanna and making people gag (spoon optional), but my life is good. I’m loving the moments.
Way back when this was a wee young blog and I still had hair on top of my head, I remarked that it seems like time is flying by faster and faster. Almost like someone has sped up the clock. I feel like I was enjoying the moment of seeing a yard full of dandelions just a few moments ago and now I’m looking at leaves that are changing on the trees in the back lawn. Sugar is mixing in with my ginger spice blend of a beard. Where is the time going? I certainly don’t feel like I suspect a 43 year old is suppose to feel so somehow, somewhere, something has gotten ahead of where I think we should be. Perhaps this is because of this sped up clock I’m always blaming.
Even though I had no idea of what day it was when I woke up this morning, I knew that I felt good, I felt confident and I felt happy. I guess that is what’s important and I shouldn’t worry about the rest.
After glancing at my watch and deciding that it was right, it took me a few more moments to figure out that WE meant Wednesday. I guess I would have better moments if I could sleep in a little bit.
– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad
We got a lot of rain yesterday. This wasn’t the whimsical, ‘water the flowers’ type of rain that one would hope it would be, no, this was rain that fell from the sky in buckets for several hours. More than a soaking rain, Hurricane Irene brought us some flood-inducing rain. To keep it interesting, there was enough wind to knock around and down some trees and powerlines, though we didn’t lose our power. There was one impressive gust that tried to bust out one of the windows in the great room but we fought back and won.
The back lawn flooded a bit yesterday but that’s to be expected. The county and the town have been fighting over the ownership of the drainage ditch that goes across the back part of our property for years, so it hasn’t been cleaned out by anyone. I guess if we want the ditch cleaned out we’ll do it ourselves and send the government the bill.
Yesterday afternoon I decided to run to the store to pick up a few household items. I was a little surprised to see that the driving rain had flooded one of the local rivers this much:
This morning I was up and ready to go at my normal time. I headed off to work 10 minutes earlier than usual, thinking that I would have to use some creative measures along the way to navigate some of the back roads since I expected more detours to be in place. I wasn’t disappointed.
The Thruway was closed in both directions from milepost 210 to milepost 173. In these situations traffic is usually diverted onto either neighboring NY Route 5 or NY Route 5S, however, because both of these routes go through the Mohawk Valley as well, they had been flooded out along with the Thruway. Therefore, traffic was diverted to the high grounds, along the exact route I take to work through Amish country on NY Route 67. “New Turnpike Rd” was never meant to live up to the name it’s hyped to be, so there were countless out of state drivers and tractor trailers mingling with the Amish buggies that make me smile on a normal day to work. As I mentioned on Facebook, folks should remember to slow down on these back roads and also remember that Amish buggies do not have EZ-Pass.
I was at work for an hour and a half or so when Earl called to tell me that he wasn’t feeling good and heading to the ER. I headed home to be with my husbear. We are now back from the ER and they have changed his meds again. His MRI came back clear and they think he has an upper respiratory infection of sorts. These meds should knock it out. He seemed well enough to eat for the first time in days when I made him a turkey sandwich on toast.
Today has been a day about detours. I’ll be happy when they lead back to the main path again.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This is my second attempt at writing this blog entry. The first attempt, written on my normal iPad app, BlogPress, was swallowed up to be never seen again. BlogPress froze up as well and wouldn’t relaunch, I had to delete the app and start from square one. Another recommended app, Blogsy, doesn’t seem to be compatible with iOS 5 (which I’m running on my iPad for development purposes). The WordPress app is crap all the way around, so here we are. I knew this would happen when Steve Jobs resigned as CEO.
As I look around the lawn I notice that hints of impending autumn are also present. The maple trees are starting to make their change to fall colors first. One tree in particular is changing before the others, she does that every year. I guess she’s a precocious tree or something. Funny how I think of this tree as a she, but nevertheless I do.
Tonight the wind and rain is suppose to start in these parts. We are expecting 30 MPH winds with 40 MPH gusts, according to the National Weather Service, as well as 2 to 4 inches of rain. For those unfamiliar with the Empire State, we are located about 200 or so miles northwest of the City of New York. Many assume that because we have “, N.Y.” in our mailing address that we can see skyscrapers. The closest skyscraper is at the local casino and it sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of corn fields and cow pastures. Nevertheless, that’s where we’ll be getting married.
I plan on getting up in the middle of the night to see the predicted foul weather move in. I have my rain coat ready and have secured a few of the loose items around the back of the house (old fence, etc), because every house in these parts has loose items hidden from the street view.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying the calm and the arrival of autumn colors. The ragweed isn’t making me sneeze this year. Let’s hope that trend continues.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I am suppose to be ready to head to work at a moment’s notice this weekend in case the hurricane gets the best of our 24/7 operation. I suppose this is the part of the job that is somewhat satisfying to me; making sure connections remain in place for the masses. If grandma can call her grand kids in the midst of a hurricane then we are doing good for the world.
CNN seems genuinely disappointed that North Carolina hasn’t been wiped off the map. They have shown a fallen Dairy Queen sign a number of times. Video of roads “so flooded” that you can still see the yellow stripe on the pavement are designed to scare people. I hope folks are safe and more importantly, using common sense.
I don’t know how I would handle a mandatory evacuation because I have never been in those circumstances. I know my first impulse would be to rebel and ignore such commands. I believe that people should be intelligent enough to make these decisions without having to resort to the government to tell them what to do. Consequences are consequences. I don’t have an issue with folks recommending evacuation, but mandatory evacuation just strikes me the wrong way. Of course, if I choose to stay and then were to drown then I would hope that I knew better in the next life. But that’s just the way I think.
The Twitter stream is interesting because downstaters are now mentioning the word “over-reacting” quite a bit. Again, I hope folks are making smart, thought out decisions given the circumstances and not buying completely into the hype. With the 24 hour news cycle and the amount of ad revenue required to keep these behemoths alive, folks might be saying things to frighten and sensationalize. Politicians may be grandstanding to show that they’re not being like Bush during Katrina. Everyone has something to prove.
Just be safe, be cautious and be smart.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
Weird? Eccentric!