Evil Smokers

**If you are a smoker, you probably shouldn’t read this post as I’m sure to offend w/my comments below.**

That said, I absolutely detest cigarettes and everything that comes w/that. I grew up in a house w/both parents smoking. Lucky for me, I never picked up the nasty habit. So for those of you who do smoke and you went ahead and read this against my advice, I have just a few suggestions for ya.

1) No one thinks it is cool that you can talk w/your cigarette in your mouth.
2) The next time you wonder “whats wrong w/me?” Its not you, its the cigs.
3) No, it is not polite to stand in a crowd and just spew nasty smoke into the air.
4) What is the point of going outside if you stand in front of the door & let the smoke blow right back into the building?
5) No, I’m not moving away from you because you’re ugly, you stink.
6) No, I don’t have a light. Not everyone has such a disgusting habit.

I’m leaving the Castro today and I’m standing on the corner waiting for the light. Idiot Smoker walks up and stands just in front of me and then blows out a huge lung full of smoke, which of course, blows right into my face. I let him have it! Needless to say, I didn’t make a new fan. Nasty, filthy, disgusting habit. I think I’d rather have my head set on fire and put out w/a sledge hammer than smoke a cigarette. blech!

Offended? Well, I told you not to read.

Riddle Me This…

I discovered last week one of my blog links is dead. However, I’ve left it up in the hope that the author is just in some sort of switch over and will be back up and running soon. If you are like me and blog bounce, yes I know the link isn’t working.

I had a surprise date w/TH last night. His family weekend went over ok but apparently there was some friction which was very disappointing for him. I felt awful because I knew how much he wanted this weekend to go perfect. He sounded so distraught on the first message he left me on Saturday that I actually teared up a bit. Family problems are a sensitive spot for me I guess. Mine was so horrible I get overly emotional when I hear people going thru such unnecessary stupidity over being gay. I don’t think he’d appreciate me going into the specifics so that’s enough about that.

I did my best to distract him from it. We had a movie night and watched Auntie Mame. I just knew that would cheer him up. Plus, I told him he couldn’t carry his gay card anymore until he’d seen it. I mean NO gay man should grow up w/o watching The Grand Mamie! He loved it of course. We laughed our butts off. I felt like mission accomplished.

Before the date, I spent a chunk of the evening hanging out in the Castro w/buddy Tim and Norm Norm is one of the photographers for The Powerhouse and he also does a lot of the shots for the BCC as well. We ran into each other and started talking shop about laptops, pics, etc and then Tim came along and joined us. Tim proceeded to regale us w/tales of being cornered by a troll at the bar and wanted to know if the way he handled it was respectful/appropriate. Let’s just say he was WAY nicer than I would have been. I use the term “troll” to refer to people, regardless of their age, who force themselves on you and use your own good manners against you to further insinuate themselves into your personal space. There are other more derogatory uses but I don’t think I need to elaborate. I wonder if Webster has the updated definition of the word. *mental note – email Webster crew w/details and proper usage*

Not much else to ramble about I’m afraid. Give it time, I’m sure something will inspire me.

Random Tidbits

Lets see, not much to report today. Mostly random crap that I feel worth mentioning.

First, Republic of T had a great post regarding the Shiavo case and the Democrats total lack of a voice during the whole process. While I’m normally of the mindset that the “christian-not-right” drive more people to my side than against with all their madness, it would be nice if more than a few Dems. would grow a spine and voice an opinion once and awhile. As I’m writing this, I am thinking originally the Democrats probably thought it was a non-issue and the fact that the republicans latched onto it w/such fervor caught them completely by surprise. As a result, the Dems. are caught w/their jaw open staring in total disbelief at the sheer ignorance of the republican party. Well, thats my hope anyway.

The BCC contest this past Thursday went well. We got 3 more really good contestants. *I’ll have photos of the contest posted by Sunday on the BCC site. There are two more preliminaries to go before the finals so any of you locals who are having thoughts of making a go of it, get off your duff and get down to The Powerhouse next Thursday. You can even download an application to compete here.

TH’s family is in town for the weekend so I won’t get any solo time w/him until at least Monday. I know it is selfish to want him all to myself but at least someone I know has good family ties.

Roblog is doing a bit better in his drama as of late. I’m very happy to hear that. I’m trying to squeeze in another lunch in w/him so we can catch up.

I think I discovered a way to create a static html/php page using a plugin I found for WordPress. WTF you say? Static just means its one page instead of several. It would make it much easier for me to copy/past code into the layout of the new template. Thats is kind of low priority right now but I promise I’ll eventually get to it.

I’ve been hitting the gym sporadically but I’m almost back into my normal routine. I’ve lost some strength all over but not as much as I had feared. I got a nice pump today from my chest workout and that put me in a good mood. *G* The eye candy today was better than usual as well.

I was released on the fire side at work which means I can work solo over there now. *We are in the process of taking over dispatching from the Fire Dept.* The down side to that means I’ll be back on the PD side Monday and no more getting off early.

I think thats about it. No deep thoughts today. Just sort in the moment.

New Camera

As promised, I finally broke down and bought a new digital camera. The ex got the last one in the split. I ended getting the Canon A510

Canon A510

which is not their latest and greatest but that just means I got a better deal on it.

Not being a true ‘are-teest’, I don’t need tons of bells and whistles for the advanced photographer. I just need a decent pixel size, ability to transfer/print, and size. All of which is provided by this model. So now I have no excuse not to have more pics for the blog. I get so jealous of Homer, Jimbo and some of my other blogroller’s who always have such great pics on their sites.

Oh crap! I forgot to enroll in the extended warranty. I’m off to the website to get it!

I splurged and got it 2nd day delivery so I’m hoping it ships by Monday. I’d be surprised if it showed up any sooner than that.

Multiple Dating

I cross posted this from my tribe. I got some great and honest responses so I thought I’d post here as well and see what you folks think.

So heres a question. Can you or do you date more than one guy at the same time?

I’ve never been able to pull it off successfully. I know in the straight world it seems perfectly acceptable to have multiple suitors until one is chosen. However, I always end up feeling guilty and two-faced and it ALWAYS seems to happen to me.

I met a really nice guy a week or so back and we’ve just begun getting to know each other. I then run into another guy at the gym and we hit it off as well. Now the second guy wants to start dating as well.

Of course, TH is the one I was referring to. And if I had to go just on looks, I’d go for TH as he just does it for me in that area.

I probably over analyzing it but I made a promise to myself this year that I would take care of me first. Should I play the field and see whats out there? I usually just end up feeling so damned guilty as if I’m cheating. My best friend T usually says, “unless there is a ring on my finger, I’m still single and that means I can go out w/whoever.” Well, true but I’m not built that way.

This sorta goes back to my “Good Man” post. I try to be a good guy because I know thats what I want in return. And I wouldn’t want some guy I’m into two-timing w/someone else. And for clarity, I’m not referring to sex. Sex is so easy to find in this city. Its like pizza, you can go online and order in. I’m talking about the emotional aspects.

I’ve already made up my mind on how I plan to proceed but I’d love some feedback. (Write it down folks, Moby is actually ASKING for help!)

Edgar “Friendly”

While I’m on the topic of friends or being friendly, I had an interesting conversation at the gym today. After saying hi to a girl who was very helpful when I first signed up, she decided to ask me a burning question today. She was curious as to why I am always so friendly to her.

I’m the type, I have no problem starting up a conversation w/a complete stranger. (There’s a surprise right?) I don’t know if it’s just because I’m a friendly person or if it involves something much deeper. Maybe, because I was never given much physical affection as a child. On the latter, Dr Freud is on vacation so we’ll just have to save it and crack it open on a later date. Back on story, not everyone here in SF is always receptive to my friendly ways.

I could tell she was a bit timid so I just told her to spit it out. She wanted to know if I was gay. I said, “of course.” Her response was, “I thought so I just wanted to be sure because you are always so friendly and I thought you might be trying to hit on me.” So this got us to talking about my being friendly and how receptive people here are. Or more to the point, she wanted to know if it bothered me when people weren’t receptive. It took me a minute to form a response as I’ve never really consciously thought about it. But there it was, and I was given a chance to bring it into the conscious mind. My response was I really don’t care. Simply put, if I change my ways because I find some folks aren’t receptive then I let that mentality win over. I think my friendliness or being approachable is part of what makes me so appealing to most people. Of course, I’m sure it will turn some people off to me as well. However, no one is liked by all so again that’s a no brainer.

I just thought this relevant as it was kind of a revelation to me. Maybe just because I’ve never really thought much of it. It has just always been part of who I am. Today, I got an insight into myself from a complete stranger. I guess that shows I’m still learning.

Friends of A Feather

My dearest friend Tim sent me this email this morning and instructed me to share it will all of you, my dear dear readers. He apparently got it from one of you, and he sends his thanks.

Found this by searching through some of the contacts on your blog – so you have no one to blame but yourself

Monday, March 21, 2005
What are you reading?
Via Fragmentary Blue:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

OK, I knew you were busy so I have posted the three sentences for you, you just copy them and put them on your blog because I knew which book would be closest to you, here are the sentences

See Dick Run

Run Dick Run

Dick is a good runner

You are more than welcome.

Tim

Ahhh, the love of good friends. *mental note – remove Tim from the Xmas card list*

😛

Ignunce At Its Finest

I’ve been quiet about the whole Teri Shiavo case as I’ve been waiting to see how it unfolds. Let me say for the record, if I was in Teri’s shoes, I would not want to be kept alive that way. I am of a firm belief that there comes a time when you are faced w/a quantity of life vs a quality of life. Even if she does get ‘better’ as some limited few have stated. Better does not mean she will recover people. Their version of better means she would be confined to a bed the rest of her life and only be kept alive by the machines attached to her. Thats not living!

But, I can’t say who is right or wrong because I don’t know. What I can say is Congress’s actions are beyond deplorable. They have turned this horrible case into a political statement to appease their conservative base. Even with public opinion polls showing a whopping 75% of Americans would not want to be kept alive. I was reading some comments on Dunners’ blog and stumbled across a ‘holier-than-thou’ mentality. These people crack me up. They feel no shame in meddling in someone else’s life because of their own misguided beliefs. Let me spell it out for you. Keep your nausiating beliefs in your own backyard and leave me alone.

Today is a scary day indeed folks. This case will set a precident that could haunt us for decades. Congress does not need to be meddling in our personal lives. Once the line is crossed, there is no turning back.

On a side note, this article might be of use. If you do not have a living will or at the very least a DNR (do not resuscitate) in place, you are asking for the same thing to happen to you!