Why is it that guys wear torn, ratty clothing to the gym? Do they think it gives them more “street cred” as a meathead or something? Granted I don’t wear new clothes to the gym but I don’t go looking like a street person. I’m not judging, I’m just curious what the point is. And I’m not talking about shirts or shorts cut for more room or flexibility.
I often see one guy who’s clothing is so torn it is falling off of him. Don’t get me started on his other gym habits. While he does have some bulk, it’s a bit disconcerting. I guess I should be pleased he isn’t like the other ancient guy who’s shorts are so short his balls are usually hanging out.
What do you wear to your local sweat box?
It was a year ago that Apple guy and I had to put Spike down. I still miss him immensely and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him in some way. To this day, there is a hole in my life where he used to be. No matter how much I love little Cooper, I still miss Spike. Here is just a quick shot of the hundreds I have of him. He was only in my life for just under 2 years but he brought me so much joy. I still remember the first day I met him. . .
Due to timing and cost, Spike arrived in SF before Apple guy. We had decided it best to ship him cross country instead of by air to avoid not only the extra cost but also the potential health risks. As soon as the guy opened the back of the trailer and pulled his cage out, he bounded right toward me as if he knew me. He ran up to me and promptly rolled over and presented his belly to be rubbed. I of course complied and knew I’d have no reservations about him coming to live with me. I took his blankie [1]Spike had his own blanket that he loved and it came with him to ease the tension and collar and introduced him to his new home. After lots of affection and attention later, he investigated his surroundings for a bit and then decided it was nap time. This new place was his home for the rest of his life.
As time passed, he became such a huge influence in my life and brought me happiness I’d never experienced with an animal before. I never once regretted his presence or the attention he needed even after Apple guy and I split up. His death was a great loss and is still very painful for me. Having raised him from a pup, I’m sure Apple guy’s sense of loss is that much greater.
Much like Cooper, Spike was a rescue. Apple guy rescued him when he was not much younger than Cooper and gave him a life of joy and happiness. Coming to live in SF seemed to agree with Spike and he quickly settled into a life of leisure. lol He was vibrant and mobile up until the very end. His last sight in this world was of us and I can’t think of a better way to go. He was loved and he knew it.
Spike, where ever you are, you are missed and most definitely not forgotten. You brought light and joy to my life and I will always be thankful for that.
I miss you Spikey.
References
| ↑1 | Spike had his own blanket that he loved and it came with him to ease the tension |
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I hit a new personal best at the gym the other day! It felt so good too because it was my chest muscles. hehehe Being a 
typical homo I work out my chest a lot. One, well the obvious and two, I have such a hard time getting my chest muscles to grow.
I’ve you been using the exhaustion method a lot lately and I’m feeling/seeing the results. Instead of doing a prescribed list of set/reps I push heavy on the first set to failure [1]failure is officially the number of reps you can do WITHOUT breaking form, second set lighter weights usually by about 20/40 lbs to failure again, and so on. This method often requires more time in the gym as you need more rest time and going to failure naturally goes slightly longer.
Having recovered fully from my shoulder injury, I’m also doing almost 100% free weights now. I usually alternate between benches and dumbbells. The only problem with dumbbells is I’ve reached a point where it’s hard maneuvering the weights w/o a spotter. lol Once in position it’s easy but getting to that position can be a hassle and creates a higher risk of injury. Don’t even get me started on the hassle of trying to to decline bench press with dumbbells. Having been at the same gym for basically forever, I know enough guys to reach out and ask for help. Often there are at least a couple guys I know that will pop over and help me when needed. I certainly don’t want to injure myself again so better safe than sorry.
Anyway, it felt good to push past a plateau I’ve been battling for awhile now. I’m not expecting any huge jumps but just being able to say I did it feels great. I’ve also been really good about not blowing off my cardio or leg workouts. I’m not pushing for huge increases on my legs but I wanna make sure they stay in proportion with the rest of my body. I’ve dropped all the extra fat weight I’ve gained lately as well. I’m taking the opportunity to see if I can lean up a little bit more. Naturally, this is a battle against my love for eating good food. [2]The previous batch of homemade cookies and cakes didn’t help none either! lol Either way, I’m comfortable where I am but looking a little more trim never hurts.
References
No, not what you’re thinking. However, have you logged in here lately? Moving on.
Being in a multi-device, multi-OS household, am I the only one that sometimes forgets you can’t reach up and tap the screen on your laptop or computer to move the cursor? lolol
I catch myself doing this all the time now. I’ll be on the laptop and trying to move the cursor and without thinking I’ll tap the screen expecting it to jump to my finger. I seem to be doing it more and more lately. I’ve gotten so used to being on the phone or the iPad, I’m totally conditioned to just tapping.
*tap, tap, tap* Is this thing on?
Stands for Act of Random Kindness. [1]Totally stolen from Evan Almighty, the movie
I recently helped a friends sister with tips on how to get a job as a dispatcher. She happens to be in a different state but they utilize some of the same testing services we use here. I originally thought she was applying locally but whatever. lol I gave her my best advice on what I know based on how we hire. Basically, be yourself, answer honestly not what you think they want to hear, be polite, and dress appropriately. Not that hard but you’d be surprised how many folks miss the last two.
She got the job and sent me this lovely container of homemade cookies and cakes! I was really surprised she went to so much effort but it was very sweet, literally. lol I’m sure it wasn’t cheap to the mail them and I was truly touched. Of course, I’m already half-way thru the whole container. lol I set some out for the ginger [2]my new/old roommate but he hasn’t been around much this week. I’m sure once he sees them he’ll help me polish’em off.
It just goes to show, sometimes the smallest thing can mean something huge to someone else. It took me all of 5-10 mins to share my views on the subject. IMHO we should all strive to help others and do good in the world. If we did, I honestly think the world would be in much better shape today. I know from my perspective it has paid off time and time again. Karma if you will or just plain good will being returned to you.
Just a thought…
I normally don’t post hottie pics here but I figured once in awhile wouldn’t hurt. lol I stumbled over this pic somewhere recently and it sort of grabbed me. In a word, the guy is hot. I have no idea who he is or where he is from but he certainly got my blood pumping. The photo is obviously some sort of production shot which is often a minus in my book but moving on.
I think I’ve mentioned here on occasion I don’t have a set type. I like guys that are lean all the way up to muscle bears. Blond, brunette, hairy, smooth tall, short, it all depends on the total package to me. Some qualities on one guy that get me hot & bothered do nothing for me on another guy. I like this guy’s overall appeal. The smile/snarl grabbed me right away and pulled me in. lol His sexy stare and overt sex appeal is obvious and I find that alluring. The slightly erotic rub of the nipple coupled with the stare and snarl just polished the pic off in my opinion. The body is great if a tad too perfect but still very inline with the obvious intent and look of this guy. [1]A topic of another time I’m usually not a fan of Mohawks but even that works for him in this pic. Oh and the other shot of his backside I didn’t post certainly did wonders for my afore mentioned blood flow. hehehe
I’m not sure why I felt the need to stop and post this. I just liked his look and decided to give it a go. I’m actually envisioning what he looks like not all done up. What I imagine him to look like in real life is actually more appealing to me. I bet his less than perfect polish in real life gives him the final humph that would make me wanna grab him and throw his ankles over my shoulders.
Happy weekend guys!
References
| ↑1 | A topic of another time |
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Cooper survived his first vet visit last week since coming to live with me. I’ve been putting it off as long as I could to avoid
the anxiety I thought it would cause him. He got left at a animal shelter/hospital and I was worried he would think the same thing was happening all over again. Dogs have long memories and bullies are especially known for theirs.
Cooper knew the moment I opened the door where we were. Be it the smell, the look, or a combo of both he immediately got anxious. He kept getting between my legs while I was walking and would occasionally whine. While we were sitting in the waiting area he refused to sit anywhere but partially laying on top of me. I soothed, petted, and reassured him with a loving tone in the hopes he would understand. I was almost in tears at the very idea that he thought I could leave him. To this day, it is beyond me how anyone could abandon an animal capable of so much unconditional love.
Anyway, to his credit he did better than I expected. While very much on his guard, he calmed down after we got in the vet’s office and he got treats and attention. Having done such a good job with Spike, I figured I could trust the SPCA clinic with Cooper’s care. He has had some reoccurring skin infections and I needed an expert opinion. I put it off as long as I could but it was time.
Anyway, I explained to the vet why he was anxious and she immediately begin to help sooth and calm him down. She rubbed him and got him to touch her with his paws, which is usually a dog’s way of showing trust. I’m continually impressed with the veterinary services offered by our local SPCA. They do such a wonderful job. The vet was very thorough with her questions for me and her examination of him. She wasn’t rushed, answered my questions, and had obviously treated a bulldog before as she ruled out a couple different brands of meds right away.
In the end, she prescribed some antibiotics for his skin infection. We both thought his skin problems were related to his allergies. I’ve since put him back on Benadryl at a slighter higher dose, hence the picture of him almost zonked out. lol I took him off of it originally as I didn’t know what effects, if any, it might have on him. The vet said he could tolerate it w/no problems and it would help keep him from getting reinfected. Bullies are often prone to skin problems so it wasn’t a surprise for either of us. I also got his heartworm meds refilled. While he doesn’t spend much time with other dogs, I still want to prevent him from ever getting heart worms. It is very hard to get rid of after the fact vs 1 pill a month prevention.
As for taking his meds, well that has presented a challenge. Normally, I just use the pill snacks, which is just a little treat hollowed out so you can insert a pill. The antibiotics must give off a smell because he absolutely will not eat them. Knowing how much he loves cheese, I wrapped his meds up in a small piece and he gobbled them down right away. Problem solved. hehehe
I took the day off from work and spent the rest of the day with him. I was kinda having a headache already so it worked out. He got to nap in the bed with him while I napped. We went to the park for a romp and I generally spent a lot of time showing him affection. By bedtime, he was perfectly settled down again.
I’m hoping next time we have to go to the vet he won’t associate it as a bad thing anymore.
I was on day shift all last week for meetings with our primary software vendor. We are in the beginning stages of upgrading our software. While with the same vendor, the new system is built new from the ground up [1]new as in newer than we have now but still mature as a product and in many ways fundamentally different from what we have now. These type of upgrades occur only a few times in the life of a call-center. With emergent technologies, it is a necessary upgrade. We must do this or jump to a whole new vendor which would be a whole a lot more money than just an upgrade. And a new system is always rough on the end users. lol
The process itself wasn’t bad albeit a bit tedious at times. I had to flex my hours for the week to accommodate the vendor schedules. While a hassle, not the end of the world and well worth it considering the impact this will have on myself (and others) as the end users. Only 2 big surprises so far. The first surprise was a functionality problem. The new system while more robust created a more tedious format for one of our daily (and constantly repeated) functions. The architecture of the new system would not allow a fix no matter how much money we might have thrown at them. We were upset because this was not properly demonstrated during the initial investigative phase. Needless to say this caused some tense conversations. My big boss happened to be in the meeting at the time and was also not amused. But, while unfortunate and most definitely annoying, it was not a deal breaker. It does mean some training issues are involved and some headaches for the end users for the first few months.
The second surprise came from a sub-vendor regarding hardware upgrades and would be a total deal breaker. The software to control the hardware had to be modified and the modifications were just not going to work for us. The sub vendor was a bit miffed and seemed completely at a loss that what they had designed wouldn’t work for us. It’s always funny watching folks who don’t routinely use the software they create get frustrated when the users don’t like it. There are certainly two sides to that coin but at the end of the day the user-base should be happy, or at the very least still be able to do everything they need to do. In this scenario, it just so happens some of SF’s daily operations are unique and created a conflict. Naturally, the fix requires more than just some drop-in code. The interface will have to be almost completely rewritten. From my perspective, I see it as poor programming as the issue deals with API calls and they wrote an interface with no flexibility. It was all or nothing and as-is, it was nothing for us. lol The good news is the vendor wants the contract bad and will bend over backwards to make it work within the budget constraints. Granted some money issues will be discussed but that is way above my pay-grade. I think we’ll end up with a decent fix.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bitching or even unhappy. I’m actually glad I got to be part of the process. Being a bit technology-inclined I had a higher-knowledge base to work from. And while I may not have understood some of the hardware terminology, I was never once lost in the process. Both my coworker and myself pointed out some real issues along the way and the main vendor was very responsive to our needs.
In the end, the project will probably remain on budget but just barely and there will be some serious code re-writes to accommodate what we need. The rewrites are going into the base code which means less headaches anytime a system patch or small upgrade is put out. As for us, there will be some definite training issues and adjustments but overall the upgrade will make life easier for us. The project won’t go live until early 2014 so still plenty of time to hammer out the details.
I was very happy my boss included us because often times a lot of very important decisions get made about software w/o the end-user being consulted. Our input helped avoid some major problems that would have been over-looked otherwise. This of course, saves us a lot of grief being stuck with a product that only partially meets our needs.
References
| ↑1 | new as in newer than we have now but still mature as a product |
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Someone emailed me awhile back asking what I thought my foster mom would have thought of me being gay.
The truth is I don’t know. My foster mom died when I was young and I hadn’t reached a point where I could articulate what was different about myself. I’d hope that she would have been more accepting than my dad was. Granted, my step-mother had a huge part in his eventual explosion over it but still. I’d hope that she would have accepted me even if she didn’t understand.
I’d like to think that, like me, she figured out pretty quickly I was different. Maybe not on a conscious level but mothers are often more attune to such things. Even as I child, I knew something was up, just not what. Spending a lot of time with me, I’d assume she had a clue. Having never known my mom in an adult capacity, I have no idea what her feelings on the matter were. I can’t for the life of me ever remember her using the F word. That could just be I was too young and the memory didn’t stick or it could be that she just didn’t use it. I only remember her thru a child’s eyes and that is a very different view. I don’t remember her ever really disparaging anyone, which gives me hope she would have been more understanding. While I was her only adopted child, she never treated me differently. And if she did know, it never showed.
So dear reader, I don’t know the answer to your question but I am optimistic about it.