IMGP0816.JPG
Originally uploaded by ibod8x5
I survived. Pics of the scar to come as soon as the pain goes down.
Paging Dr. Drill…
With The Living
Offline
It took some effort to write this out.
I will be offline for a bit. I was either sideswiped or cut off by a car [1]I don’t really remember for sure today and crashed my bike. I have a fractured collar bone, multiple contusions, abrasions, etc.
I’m banged up but home from the hospital and enjoying the bliss of modern pharmacology. I expect to make a full recovery with time.
I managed to upload a quick photo via twitter today and the support has been overwhelming.
Adam was kind enough to come over and nurse-maid me tonight.
I’ll try to write more when I can.
References
| ↑1 | I don’t really remember for sure |
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Grumble, Grumble, Grumble
Today was a test of my patience. Nothing really awful but several unfortunate happenings found me in a particularly foul mood. A mood which seemed to only worsen as they day went by.
First, I get spurned at the gym by a hottie I’ve been oggling. Not the end of the world but a kick to id.
Then, I find someone has backed into my bike and cracked the side fin. Thankfully, the same fin that has been scratched before. I think they might have actually knocked it over as I discovered later my low beam headlight was out.
Lost my favorite shirt. It could be in the laundry but I don’t think so. I haven’t worn it lately. My own fault, I know.
Work starts off slow. An incident in policy occurs between myself and a field unit. It was a huge safety issue for the field unit. I called him on it and his reply was completely out of line, I made a complaint and management did nothing. I’m not sure why that surprised me. They don’t give a rats ass about us. Anything outside their immediate bubble of responsibility is shunned and avoided at all cost.
Of course, I get a barrage of cranky callers who are insolent and nasty. I almost cursed one lady out. I told another she needed to grow up. Not very civil servant like behavior to say the least.
To top it off, I read some posts on an employee forum whining about how victimized they are and how the [Union] chapter was doing nothing. Well that just set me on fire. I bust my ass to defend my coworkers. I don’t get paid for it and it eats up a lot of free time. And frankly, I’m good at it. [1]not arrogance just confidence in my abilities I’ve gotten numerous punishments overturned and/or reduced. Management knows if I’m involved they better have their ducks in a row or I’m gonna have a field day tearing it apart. Anyway, I wrote a very scathing reply, thought better of it, edited most of the bitterness out.
I’m home now. My mood is foul, my bed is empty, my libidio is up, and I’m not a happy camper. Thankfully, I’m starting a 3 day weekend.
References
| ↑1 | not arrogance just confidence in my abilities |
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Q&A
I thought I’d answer a list of recent questions. [1]Ok, most are recent, some are old and I just haven’t gotten around too yet.
1) Are all your "stories" about your playtime true? Absolutely. I’m not a slut just sexually very generous. [2]This is probably the #1 question I get asked
2) Now that the MH founder has resigned, will you go back? Nope. He still has controlling interest so nothing has really changed in my opinion.
3) Why can’t I read your hidden stuff? Probably, because you didn’t reply to my email request. Or, my email might have gotten swallowed by your junk filter. [3]Especially, if you are on aol, hotmail, msn, yahoo..their filters suck big green donkey dicks.
4) Why are you such a dick? Because I can be. Any questions? lol (This guy was mad at me over my comments about MH on joe.my.god’s blog.)
5) Where do you find all your plugins? No single place. Sometimes I google’em. However, I often go here first.
6) Have you ever regretted being gay? There was a time when I first came out and was still very confused. Since then? Nope. Being gay has helped to make me that man I am. I wouldn’t change that for all the Gold in M. Phelps’ pockets.
7) Were you in the local paper recently? Yes but the article was about my work not me. They just happened to use a stock photo of me. It also had my full name so I didn’t link it here. (I’m pretty not stupid. lol)
8) What is twitter? A micro-blogging service. Look at it as a blog meets random spur of the moment updates. It is highly addictive if you aren’t careful.
That is all I can think of at the moment.
Oh and if you use any sort of filtering software for your blog, add 63.243.145.133 to the banned list. This is the #1 IP I get junk from.
Time to head off for work.
References
Almost There
I fixed a few of the last remaining annoyances with WordPress upgrade. he Cocomment thing almost never worked right so it was first to go. And since they still haven’t upgraded it to work with Firefox 3, I just figured it is no longer worth it.
I also nixed the poll. I really like the poll and it will come back at some point. However, I need to find one that works w/my version of WP.
Lastly, I fixed the email link. Switching to a widgetized version of sidebars on my blog caused some unexpected errors w/link routing hence, the old email call function not working. It was actually pretty easy to correct and still protect my email from being harvested by bots. You’ll notice the link (lower left) is an image file of my actual email addy and clicking it auto-fills the To field on your email form.
Of course, for some odd reason the Title for the recent comments widget has gone bonkers. I am wondering if there is an errant piece of code throwing it off or just poorly written. Either way, it is a mild annoyance and I will fix it in time.
That is all. We now return you to your regularly schedule blog surfing…
Is It Me?
Drip, Drip
I had originally planned to post this sooner but the whole MH scandal pushed it back. Tsk, tsk. This post is not to be considered medical advice but more as basic info. I hope you’ll take the time read it all the way thru.
Many of you read about my unfortunate trip to the free clinic. I also had the glorious task of notifying my play buddies of exposure. Well, they were more than grateful. And let’s face it, I get around. I know color you shocked right? lol That said, I take my sexual health
I still get surprised by the number of gay men who do not know about STD’s and HIV. [1]For the record, HIV is an STD but for the purpose of this post I will discuss it as a solo item. While I’ve beat this horse before I feel it bears repeating after getting a slew of questions via email and twitter.
I hate to sound like I’m scolding but I am. As sexually active men, you should at least know the basics. With the ability to play around comes responsibility. Besides, hiding behind fear and ignorance is so 80’s. Take it upon yourself to get educated. It is your responsibility. Besides the plethora of free info available on the web, you can also get printed documentation thru your doctor or neighborhood City clinic. Unless you are in a closed monogamous relationship this applies to you.
If you have sex (with another person) more than once a month you should probably get screened for STD’s once every 3-4 months. Not everyone will develop symptoms of having an STD so it is very easy to spread without regular checkups. STD’s, if left unchecked, can cause serious health problems later on in life.
Gonorrhea/Chlamydia/Syphilis are much easier to catch than HIV. They are also easily treatable in most instances with prescription antibiotics. No you can’t use the same antibiotic to treat all three. Most Cities offer some sort of free or low cost alterative for STD/HIV testing so there no excuse other than irresponsibility not to. Most clinics also offer programs for anonymously notifying your sexual partners of exposure as well. This means you don’t have to necessarily be the bearer of bad news. [2]I kind of see that as a cop-out but as long as they get notified, who cares.
As for HIV, things are different. HIV is much harder to catch but there is also no cure. And while the number of HIV related deaths has decreased with the advent of better meds, people are still dying. Fortunately, HIV is a rather fragile bug. Unless you are using injectable drugs (read dirty needles) the primary infection route for gay men is unprotected anal sex.
And this line, "well he said he was negative" is a bunch of bullshit. NO ONE is responsible for your health but you. [3]Don’t get me wrong, people should be held accountable for their behavior however, that doesn’t do you any good health-wise if you sero-convert. And frankly, you should get away from worrying about other people’s honesty and focus more on finding a sexual pattern that works for you. Regardless of whether a person is poz or neg, stick to the same practices. This avoids the temptation to engage in high risk behavior in situations where you don’t know or think you know a person’s status. If you stick to the same behaviors you also tend to worry less.
It really is simple folks, if you are sexually active get tested on a routine basis. Pleading poverty or ignorance is not an excuse. Know the facts about transmission and protection and act accordingly.
/rant
References
| ↑1 | For the record, HIV is an STD but for the purpose of this post I will discuss it as a solo item. |
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| ↑2 | I kind of see that as a cop-out but as long as they get notified, who cares. |
| ↑3 | Don’t get me wrong, people should be held accountable for their behavior however, that doesn’t do you any good health-wise if you sero-convert. |
Self Portrait
Recently, not one but two of my blog buddies sent me T-shirts in the mail. This pic was sent by Large Tony. I absolutely love it! He was worried if I would wear it. Hell, I’ve already worn it 3 times. lol *Thanks T, I greatly appreciate it!*
Oddly enough, the 2nd shirt is also black and was sent by an anonymous source. When I get time to wear it, I’ll snap off a pic.
My weekend is fast coming to a close. Friday, I spent about 3 hours doing continuing education for my Fire training. I’ve mentioned before I’m a training Officer for the Fire civilianization project. I previously went down to SFO to see Fire operations at the airport. This time I got to drive all over the bay in one of the 2 fireboats owned by the Fire department. It was awesome of course!
This trip is normally reserved for Supervisors and Managers. There were a couple of snarky comments made in the background questioning whether I should be there. I was happy to hear the Fire training manager silence them with a curt explanation. [1]Forgetting for a moment, I have more fire/medical training than most of them combined. I don’t understand petty power trips at all . Anyway, you can click over to flickr for a full rundown on the pics. I tried to take a few more this time even though some are pretty much the same picture.
*
Saturday was pretty low key. The Latin came into town and we spent a good chunk of the day just hanging out. I hadn’t seem him lately, we had fun. We also decided to go see the Batman flick. I’d been wanting to see it and he hadn’t seen it either so it worked out great. The movie was exceptional! Much better than I ever expected and way better than part I. Keith Ledger turned in one of the best performances of his career. Not to mention, the plot was very complex and constantly evolving.
He took off to go bar hopping with some coworkers and I met up with Adam for Sushi for dinner. Brad is at a conference so it was just the two of us. We were caddy as usual. Afterwards, we hung out at 440 Castro (aka the old Daddies bar) with Dan. Ironically, we spent a good chunk of time watching the Olympics while there. lol We watched this one chick slaughter the entire competition in a long distance run. Even if we kept laughing at how emaciated and hungry she looked.
I didn’t stay more than a couple hours. [2]I get bored in bars easily these days w/o some sort of carnal distraction. hehehe. I left the boys and came on home.
So now, I’m just finished uploading pics to flickr, made myself a yummy egg/bacon bagle, caught up on Tivo, and replaying thru Gears of War. GoW 2 is due out in November and I can’t wait!
Not a bad weekend. Not too terribly busy but still managed to be preoccupied.
References