Contentment.

Earl and I are in Buffalo for the weekend for “Buffalo Bear Trap”: a gathering of furry men of all ages and sorts (and those that admire of them) where we meet up, bump bellies, party a bit and hang out with old and make new friends. The festivities began last night.

I don’t know if it’s the recent bout of illness, a feeling of “turning a corner” in my life or what but I am the most content that I have been in a very long time. I’m in full relaxation mode this weekend. I’m happy with the way I feel physically but more importantly I’m happy with where my heads is at. I guess my contentment could be interpreted as “completeness”. I feel complete these days. Complete and comfortable. I am happy with who and what I am. Complete and comfortable therefore equals contentment.

Last night I was the “sound designer” for the performances last night, which included a musical guest (complete with video) and two stand-up comedians. Kendall took the stage first with his music, followed by Kristen Becker and Frank DeCaro of Sirius Satellite radio’s OutQ. The performances went well and my DJ sets before and afterward seemed to go over well with the crowd. The space was basically a large box with 25 foot ceilings and the group rented a sound system. It was a bit of a challenge to keep things and sounding good without a huge amount of echo.

One of the best things about the weekend is meeting up with our friends Steve and Tim. It’s been a year since we’ve seen them but we seem to pick up right where we left off a year ago. Our schedules have been too crazy to get together any more than that, we need to make a better effort in 2009. We love them both.

I’ve taken a bunch of pictures to share but neglected to bring the interface cable. This is a little bit of a pet peeve of mine: I own my third Sony digital camera. The first two, and our video camera, all used the same cable to transfer pictures to the computer. This camera uses a completely different cable and of course it’s sitting on my desk at home. I guess I’ll share the pictures tomorrow night when we get home.

Tonight it’s the big party at a local show house and then an after hours party at the hotel. It’s going to be a long night.

I’ll be the guy in the corner who is content watching the crowd.

11 October 2008 by Bears. Fun and Games Dept Gayish. 0

Role.

Dear Ms. Palin:

Is it o.k. to call you “Ms.”? I should call you Governor but I’m not sure that the title appeals to the Joe Six Pack crowd you adore so much. Maybe I’ll stick to the traditional approach and just call you “Mrs.” or “Your Ladyship”.

Anyways, a quick question for you if you’re not too busy being all mavericky. From my backyard I can watch brand new Boeing 777 Dreamliners and AWAK planes and military fighter jets land and takeoff from the local airfield. Because of this, would you please consider me to be the new head of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) should you and the Spooky One1 get into office in November? I believe my credentials are equivalent to yours, what with you being able to see Russia and all.

Thank you.

1 I’m waiting for the end of this bad episode where Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby rip off McCain’s mask to reveal who the mean guy really is.

9 October 2008 by Politics. 1

Sick Day.

Photo 89.jpg
I called in sick for the first time in around 15 years today. I’ve been fighting a bit of a cold for the past 48 hours and this morning I just couldn’t get my head off the pillow. I was up most of the night with the sniffles. I’m hoping that a day at home resting will help the situation so that I can get back to work tomorrow.

I’m not a fan of calling in sick. I don’t really believe in it. However, I felt that I would be doing more harm than good by going into the office: I would prolong whatever it is that I have and I would not get any better due to being in the office. The new landlord of the building has decided that the lease agreement with the company I work for is unfair to him. Said lease agreement includes utilities. He thinks they should pay extra for utilities. To make his point, he has decided to not turn on the heat until November. It has been between 55 and 60 in the office all week. Thank goodness for sunny afternoons, it has allowed the office to warm up to a generous 62.

I don’t mind working in cool environment, but it’s probably better to be moving around to keep warm. My job involves sitting at a desk, talking on the telephone and troubleshooting various components of networks that span hundreds of miles. Aside from the brain power, there’s not a lot of moving around. I can’t help but think sitting in the cold allowed whatever wanted to make my body ill to make it’s move on my system. Therefore, I have sniffles.

Hopefully the company (and it’s team of lawyers) will win the skirmish and we’ll have heat soon. Today, I lie in bed, lie on the couch or lie in the sun in an effort to keep warm.

9 October 2008 by Ponderings and Musings 0

I’ll Take Life for $200.

I just spent 10 minutes of my lunch hour watching every spin Lynda Carter did as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman from the second season of her show.

The sound geek in me realised there are MANY variations of the music. Some are recorded, some were played live. I also prefer the slightly translucent balls of light.

If you want to get dizzy with me, have a look.

7 October 2008 by Geek 1

Dash.

A tasty treat in an otherwise bland day: Earl’s homemade chili with rice and a “secret ingredient”.

Fabulous.

7 October 2008 by Food. 0

Monday Commute.



Monday Commute., originally uploaded by iMachias.

I’m getting a little furrier than usual. I wonder how furry I should get.

6 October 2008 by Fun and Games Dept 2

Priorities.

I am looking into updating my DJ gear. As I have mentioned before, all my DJ equipment is Mac based as I use my MacBook Pro to maintain my music library and edit tracks and I use my older PowerBook G4 to spin using a MIDI controller/sound card combo designed for what I do. It’s a setup that has worked well for a number of years. However, the capabilities of my DJ software is limited when compared to what is available on the market today and the PowerBook won’t support anything much faster. I am striving to build a larger presence in the gay community as a DJ. I have dreams of cranking up the crowd in a larger club and making myself known. By spinning at charity events and such, I’m confident that I can make a positive contribution to the community.

Hence, I search for a new solution.

I am really thinking of going in a different direction with all this. I found a new software program and DJ interface that I really like. It cost a little more than what I use today. I’m thinking of buying a Dell (Product) RED XPS laptop to support it.

Shocking, I know!

There are a couple of reasons that I’m looking at the Dell (Product) Red laptop. First of all, tricked out to the specs I need it still costs only about half of what I have invested in the MacBook Pro and that includes a (Product) Red version of Windows Vista Ultimate. I know other Mac fans will proclaim “but it’s Vista!” but with the economy the way it is, I need to be reasonable with my budget. Plus, the more I use and support Vista for work, the more I actually like it.

Secondly, I feel that Microsoft is doing more than Apple in the philanthropic arena these days. It could be that Apple isn’t as vocal about their efforts as Microsoft (and related entities) is. However, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does a lot of wonderful things for a lot of people. And I can’t help but admire that. In addition, both the Dell laptop and the version of Windows Vista that I would run are (Product) Red1. Even if I were to not buy the (Product) Red version of the hardware and software, I would still save half the money that would be spent on a new Mac setup and that money could probably be better used with a local AIDS/HIV charity. Too many people that I know and love are HIV positive and it angers me that the necessary medication is so damn expensive. Plus, more money means more research which hopefully brings us closer to a cure for this disease. There are more important things than having the shiniest computer at Panera and if I can use that money for a better means then that is what I’m going to do.

So now I consider all my options and try to decide what to do. I would really like to hear anyone’s thoughts or experience with the (Product) Red Project or anything else I’ve mentioned in this blog entry.

1 proceeds from (Product) Red support AIDS relief in Africa.

6 October 2008 by DJ Ponderings and Musings Why. 0

Busy Weekends.

This is one of the reasons I am not a fan of daylight saving time. It is currently 6:46. I am to be to work at 8:00. My body is saying “but it’s dark and therefore we must sleep!” But no, we must drag ourselves out of bed, going against nature because we all know better of course.

I wonder if the world would be a happier place if we lived in harmony with nature instead of railing against it all the time.

I had a three day weekend but I’m not feeling particularly rested. The house is oddly quiet. I guess I got used to having my sister and the baby in the house. We drove them to Toronto Thursday night in anticipation of her flight to Switzerland this weekend so that she could join her husband in Biel-Bienne. We weren’t even in Toronto for 24 hours. I like Toronto. I wish we had time to go into the city and do our thing. But no, the schedule didn’t permit that this time.

Saturday night Earl and I played hosts of another bear night here. It was the busiest yet. The bar was packed and we had no food left. The theme was “OctoBEARfest”. We served brats and bavarian pretzels. Sauerkraut too. The night was a lot of fun. The bear nights are going well. We are going to do another one in December. We also raised a nice chunk of change for a local charity that helps those with HIV and AIDS. I fear that the younger generation forgets about HIV and AIDS. They shouldn’t.

Yesterday I knew it was autumn as I went into some weird happy homemaker mode, washing the sheets on all the beds, organising very odds and ends. I also contemplated baking cookies but then the sauerkraut from the night before started catching up with me and I figured that we had done enough cooking for the weekend. Even though sauerkraut shouldn’t have anything to do with cookies.

6 October 2008 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Seemed Appropriate.

As Earl and I drove along the New York State Thruway tonight, we tuned into CNN on Sirius radio and listened to the Vice Presidential debate in it’s entirety. As the debate came to a close it seemed only appropriate that we crossed the border into Canada as the discussion came to a close.

O Canada!

Now, what’s that tangerine drink again? I need a boost.

2 October 2008 by Politics. 2

Underlying Feeling.

I mixed together a new DJ SuperCub mix last night, focusing a little more on progressive house and trance music. (It’s available here). I’m finding myself liking the simplicity of some of the tracks I chose last night.

A little search on YouTube turned up the video to the first track in last night’s mix, “Underlying Feeling” by Sylvia Tosun. Her breathy vocals accompanied by sparse instrumentation really presses some of my aural buttons. The video compliments the sensual sound of the track perfectly.

Here it is for your enjoyment.

1 October 2008 by DJ 0

About J.P.

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!

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