Slow News Week

It must be a good news week, because the Today show all week has been showing nothing but scare stories. It follows the motto No News is Good News.

Earlier in the week, the big story was how stores were putting returned clothing back on the rack, specifically underwear and swim suits. It took them until near the end to finally tell us that this is against the store policy and they will re-inform employees of this.

Then this morning it was that bath toys for kids might have germs on them. Really?!?! You put one of those crawling and walking disease factories into a tub of warm water and really expect its toys to stay sanitary? What's next, diapers are smelly?

If this is all we have to worry about, then things must be awfully good in the nation. Either that, or the network spent their wad of money on the Olympics coverage and have to tighten their belt for the rest of the year.

Joanie Loves Chachi - at 3800 Feet

Was climbing a trail, and found this park bench at its peak at around 3,800 feet. This is be where the local kids go to proclaim their 4EVER love.

Killians of Conover

Pictured is the business of Killians. Way back when, there was a hardware store next door, and that eventually turned into...something, tire dealer I think. Supposedly one brother or another got it, and the other got this place. And even if I am on a first name basis with the Craters of Conover, I still don't know.

Anyway, it makes for an interesting picture to me. Dad refuses to do any business whatsoever with the Killians. He says they lied to him and he won't even stop to take a closer look at the plane up top or the train engine. I seem to remember this, vaguely...

Memorial Cookout

It was Memorial Day, the beginning of summer, and the start of many cookouts. Rick has a cookout each year, and it looks like it just keeps getting bigger. I've posted pictures from the day complete with horseshoes and kids, dog and food over at flickr. It was a nice relaxing day, just what I needed to get away from it all for awhile.


I don't have a picture of me in any of them, that being the curse of the photographer. I was wearing a Dr. Pepper shirt that said in big ol' letters across my chest "I'm A Pepper." Now I thought the shirt was red, but mom tells me it was pink. She gets confused about things sometimes, and I aint so great with colors, so who knows? And anyway I've come to decide that I like or don't like a color based on what I see, not by the name it goes by.

The real eventfor me was finally meeting my brothers son. He is only 4 years old and already I can see a kindred spirit. I think I just might watch out for that boy, make sure he grows up to all he can be.



Just before the food was served, the girls joined in the Space Room to chat...



That was the start to me memorial day weekend. There's lots more that happened, such as being enroute into Maine, and the tin mans brother from Oz. Just keep watching here for the next few weeks.

Found It

Today was a very busy day. Went bike riding, walked the pup down to the store for treats, and watched the softball game. I think I'll root for the Flamez, since the Riders had a not so nice dog with them.

And, I found the right path, in this picture.

Creepy Plate

This plate is just creepy. Tell me again who it is that is recruiting little boys to their lifestyle?

In The Pitts

Some days, this is where you end up.....

The Rally

The rally was much larger than I expected, though truth be told I had no idea how many people were expected to show. The estimates were around 1,400 people. This apparently was at least the same in all the other 49 state capitals on the same day. A site JoinTheImpact got things started and it took off from there in just 4 days!

I forgot my camera, but luckily A Captured Image's photos are available at Flickr, including this one with some of the many, many signs.



We gathered at the legislative building and had several speakers. The rain held out until the politician (who was it?) and then it opened up the skies. He stayed on with his speech, the rain let up and we marched around the capital and protested in front of the governors mansion.

This was the first real protest march I've been in. I did march on washington back in the 90's but that was more of a huge festival. This was local and did one thing, protest. The organizers were Wes Elliot and Tom Greene. I know of Wes through his monthly gay happy hours around town, but Tom is new to me. I suspect however that this isn't the last time we see him.

There was one identifiably feature about all of the people gathered. They were all people of pallor. When I first noticed that I took a good look around and found only one black man. I can't say that I was looking for latinos but I don't remember any. Mostly it was youth or middle class.

There were no counter protests, I guess they didn't have time to organize. Or, since all the ones we seem to get are from out of state, they had others capitals to pick from. As we rounded the capital building a white bus with darkened glass went past. How they got around with the snarled traffic I have no idea, but when we came to it again several black men were jeering out the back windows. Wes stood opposite and kept everybody moving along.

Afterwards I was supposed to meet with the ski group. But along with forgetting my camera I also forgot my wallet. So I popped home, picked them up and went back. They were meeting in the Flying Saucer, but when I spent 15 minutes at the bar trying to get his attention I finally gave up and went to the Burrough instead. This was at least an hour after the march had ended. Wes & Tom both were there along with a couple of friends / organizers getting a burger. No big party, no huge todo, they were decompressing before heading on...who knows maybe there was a party waiting for them elsewhere.

A week ago nobody was even talking about protests, and in just a few days all 50 capitals. Not too bad!

Hiking Hanging Rock Park

Sunday was a day trip out to Hanging Rock State Park, just outside of Danbury, NC. It was quite a day, and I was whooped at the end, but it felt good. We came away mostly uninjured, one person came close to knee problems, another just got beat down. But the rest of us, 15 total, came through fine.

Here are a few pictures from the hike (larger resolutions on clicks). We did around 10 miles with ascents of 650' to 750'. The weather was nice though, getting to around 60 and mostly sunny. But let me tell you that it got cold when we made it to the watch tower and a cloud wafted by along with a breeze!

This is the valley looking north westerly. Off in the distance is Pilot Mountain, which for you Griffith folks you may have heard of as Mount Pilot

One of the several rock cliffs we scaled

Lunch time

The lookout tower, our final destination and the stone steps leading up to the lookout tower. We ended up only going down the steps since we came around the back way. Walking down steps is harder than you think, especially these ones....

This is most of our group, and as you can see most of the leaves are off the trees. I was hoping to catch the fall foilage but it peaked last week, dangit!

It was a fun day, and quite tiring. I can promise that dinner last night tasted especially good!

The Other State of Mind

It's been an interesting several weeks since I last wrote something. And that was kinda bland and boring if I remember correctly.

It's not that I've not been doing stuff. I just haven't taken the time to write about it. For instance, we had our local gay pride parade end of last month. North Carolina (meaning the state, sans Charlotte) has the festival in late September. The first year they did it, something like 14 or 15 years ago in July, people passed out from the heat. So it's a nice end of summer festival. I was in the parade this year.

And last week was spent in Minneapolis. It was a week in training, but I've not been there since I was 21 years old. As a matter of fact, the diary entry took place on the eve of my leaving that fantastic city. Back then I was temp duty 6 months there, far from base. I explored Hennepin back then and all of it's dens of iniquity. I tried to do that this time, but everything moved 5 or 6 blocks east. The Eagle was fun, especially playing bingo on Thursday.

Then there is the study I volunteered for at UNC. It's an alcohol cessation study of a couple of drugs. It's double blind so I have no idea if I have the real drugs or a couple of placebos. Maybe the counseling is helping too, since it's been 3 weeks since I ventured into an adult beverage. Pretty good since it's probably never been more than 2 day ever since Minneapolis or a short bit afterward.

The old house is still out there. What are the chances it's going to sell quickly in this market? Winter is looking like a good time for some fix'it chores. That damn pool needs a new liner. The deck needs painting. But already got the roof and carpet replaced.

With my nights suddenly free, there's lots of time for activities in the evenings. I've joined a gym and manage to fit it in on 3-4 nights a week. Other nights I figure out something to do. Tonight it was a visit to the bookstore, and as soon as I find a nice coffee shop nearby I'll go there sometimes. I'm kinda setting up an alternating mind/body schedule. Tonight I enjoyed reading some of Hawkings theories on the universe. And now I'm blogging.

Did I mention that I've been nicotine free for over 2 years now? Minnesota state law doesn't allow smoking indoors, including in bars. I had been there four days and six bars or grills before discovering that. How awesome is that?!?!

I think I am making great progresss at putting myself into the other state of mind ... of health and happinesss.

Halloween Masks

This is a very strange political season this year. I really do not know what to make of it. I think both candidates need to make some hard selling for me, cuz neither is worth the trip to the ballot.

But today I was walking around the fabric store and came across a rack of masks for halloween. The choices were - Bush, - McCain, - Hillary and - Britanny.

But no Obama.

I can only imagine why. If I were a conspiracy theorist (or ideologist) I'm sure I could come up with at least one really good one.

Do those masks even exist? But I'm too lazy to google that...

I'm way past this

RoboCalls

Not too much to report on Apache this weekend. I moved the outdoor furniture this weekend, and on Tuesday Jay will be coming by to help me move the fridge, plus a couple of other large items that needs 2 people to move.

For the first time in forever, North Carolina is important in the national election. And our primary is on this coming Tuesday. So of course I am getting the RoboCalls for the candidates. Funny, the politicians made it illegal for telemarketers to call you if you tell them not to, but there is nothing to stop politicians from calling you 20 times a day!

Pictured is the caller-id for a robocall for "North Carolina For Hillary". Notice that it is coming from South Carolina? You would almost want to be insulted that she wouldn't use an office in NC if those are the votes she wants. (Actually, it is probably becuase inter-state calls are less expensive than intra-state.)

Now, who do I want to vote for?

The Cigarette Butt

One thing always leads to another. As you know, I've been making a lot of lifestyle changes. Getting out and being social is one of the major ones. But staying in and being even more social is another part of it too. And so, risks increase. I've played quite physically with a couple of adult men, some of whom I haven't know quite as well as maybe I should.

Which leads me to maybe a little paranoia on my part. A week ago I found a cigarette butt around the back of the house, Tahoe brand. It was new, not sogged from the rain a few days earlier. And considering that it is quite far from anywhere any person should be found. I got a little worried that I've had a visitor. An unknown visitor to the back of the house.

Which led me to the next step. This morning I visited the local gun shop. It's the second time I've been to that shop, and to be honest, I felt pretty intimidated the first time. I haven't touched a gun since I was 10, not even in the Air Force. This time was much easier.

I didn't really know what I wanted, just that I needed a deterant, and the last word. We told the man that I wanted personal protection, possibly for conceal carry. He showed me a couple of handguns, light and small and fits easily into pants pocket. One was a 38 I believe, something that is brand new on the market and back ordered. And then I asked to look at shotguns.

I've asked several people for a recommendation on which to buy, hand gun or shot gun. There seemed to be good reasons for or against either one. The other night I decided to talk with a friend of mine who is a marine. His immediate response was to get a shot gun. He said that cranking sound as the shell is loaded into the chamber says loud and clear that we're not funnin' around here. That pretty much set the decision.



So, thanks to a stray cigarette butt, I am now the proud owner of a Browning BPS 12 gauge shotgun. One day soon I'll be out on a shooting range getting myself familiar with it, and knowing what it will feel like when it is fired. Yea, it's funny how one thing leads to another.

Earth Hour

Well, I'm just a little under 15 minutes until the start of Earth Hour. I'm right in the middle of watching (for my first time) Mrs. Miniver. But I'll hit the pause button, then shut off the DVD player at 8pm and proceed to shut down all of the rest of the house. Lights, fridge, heating, pool pump, computer, all off!

An hour of solitude, reading a book by candle light. How awesome is that?

The Right Path?

This blog post is pretty interesting, and it plays into where my head has been for quite awhile now. The whole house hunting thing is an outgrowth of my trying to be independent. This is the path that I've been following, and it sums up one aspect fairly succinctly:

Mainly, I could have been a better employee to former employers and living below your means allows you to do “stupid” things like quit your job and start your own business. It’s an adventure and trying at times, but most things worth doing aren’t easy.

The key in that statement is the living below your means. I've been doing that for several years now, and it has been paying off. With a new house, I will be cutting the final line, the mortgage.

By the way, the house I wrote about did not survive the inspection, so the deal fell through. The house almost fell through itself, literally. The inspection uncovered some serious structural deficits. So it's back to more house shopping.

The Talking Chests

Lately I've been a little more active at gay.com and chat sessions. I've never really been much of one for chatting online, although I have had spells in the past.

My main picture on the site is of my chest (pictured here), with secondary pictures of me overall, including my face. It's a funny thing ... most of the guys that page me usually have a chest picture of themselves as the primary. Of course in many instances it is also the only picture, but that is another story altogether.

Last night, as I was chatting away with a beautifully built guy I realized that it was more or less a couple of "talking chests." It was as though there were no heads involved. The mental picture I conjured up caused me a big ol' grin!

It's funny, if it weren't so sad in some ways.

Male Attractiveness

A fascinating research group (I assume it is a group) that is studying faces and peoples responses to them. I just finished taking one of their tests, titled "Male Attractiveness". (If you want to take the test, you will probably need to register.)

I assume that my test responses were added into the aggregate, but here is the feedback I received from my test:

On average, people preferred the more masculine images 60% of the time when the faces were more masculine than average and 39% of the time when the faces were more feminine than average. You preferred the more masculine images 90% of the time when the faces were more masculine than average and 90% of the time when the faces were more feminine than average

So according to the test, I am almost uniformly attracted to men with masculine features. I could have told you that without taking the test! The test was fun, especially when being shown what was essentially the same face with slight differences.

I've take a few other tests, but the Male Attractiveness one is by far the best. Try it out for yourself! For those of you who are more attracted to the female half of our race, there are tests there for you, too!

The Thrilling Wonder Of It All

I recently came across a web site called Thrilling Wonder that I think is awesome. The collections of pictures they post are always of great quality and uniquely mind stretching.

Todays post is a Humour Digest Part 1. If past collections are any indication, the next parts are also going to be fun. I love this picture, captioned "Darn kids! some of them are contemplating unmentionable, daring feats." I'll say! I'm getting queasy just looking at it.

There are quite a few fascinating collections of photos. I highly recommend visiting and feel yourself becoming engrossed!

Funky Weekend

This past weekend was really quite funky for me. For someone who is not particularly a social butterfly I had enough socializing to last for quite a while. By yesterday I was completely worn out, exhausted and in an odd sort of way, settled into a combined satiated-yet-yearning mood.

It started Thursday with my first meetup with the Sci-Fi Meetup.com group. It was in a pleasant coffee / snack shop and about 10 people showed up. We talked about lots of sci-fi stuff, mostly centered on TV and movie entertainment, but occasionally venturing into other types of media. Unknown to me, the new Dresden Files show is based on a whole series of books by the same name. I guess I live in a cocoon or something! In any event, I spent the evening having fun with a group of people, not a one of whom I knew, having fun and talking about a subject I enjoyed.

Then Friday arrives, and it is time for the monthly reading group gathering. I've been with this group, hit or miss, for a couple of years now. The original intent of getting together was to share with others the various books that we had read over that past month. With this being gay men, the books were generally themed as gay. But, with the exception of S. (who would droll on for an hour over the 7 historical/biographical/etc books he had read...ugh!) at most we would only have 1-2 other books. So other media came in, especially after the film festival and we now discuss all sorts of gay entertainment.

This was more fun socializing. This time though, I knew at least half of the people there, so it was much easier. But now we've got 2 nights in a row of meeting new people, socializing and in general being an extrovert. If you don't understand just how hard this is for someone, then I think I might just hate you, because 2 nights put me into deep exhaustion!


Oh, but we aren't done yet! That only gets us through Friday. Saturday was hike day, and I had signed up to hike through Duke Forest. This group was smallish, around 10 people ... I suppose the 40 degree weather kept most at home. As usual with THOG hikes, almost everyone was new, with the exception of Harry. Everyone is nice, but my already strained reserves are put to yet another test ... more new people.

I've come to learn that if Harry is on the hike, then it will be an actual hike. Many of the "hikes" that THOG have turn out to be not much more than a walk in the local park. That might be fine, and now that I know how the group works I can go or not go, but I really prefer to have some exertion in the hike. And where Harry is involved there usually is. The hike in Duke Forest had us climbing over rocks and working to avoid going into the frigid river. Plus what was originally a 1-2 hour hike ended up at 4, and us going to the local watering hole afterwards. Ahh! Socializing at it's best!

We're not done yet! On the way back from the bar, I decided to stop in at the Raleigh location for pleasures of the skin. Umm ... I haven't done this since I was about 22. And it doesn't seem to have changed all that much. And just what led me to stop, I don't really know for sure. But suffice it to say that I've probably added another $100-200 to my fine, and it was worth it!

Sunday comes along, and it's all finally caught up with me. I pretty much figure I just need to hole up for the day and recuperate. Anti-climatic as it is, that is what I did. I did my taxes. Then I updated my TiVo so that it was no longer hacked. This is so that it would get the latest versions of the software. With the screwed up time change approaching, I wanted to make sure it was properly set. I'd go into withdrawal if my favorite shows didn't get recorded!

Okay, so I know that I've wanted to be a party animal. At least I like the idea of it. But just a few days of it, and very mild days at that tell me that I'm just not cut out for it. But ... and this is a big "but" ... I do not plan on slowing down much. I need to get out and meet more people, hopefully finding some who want to spend large amounts of time with me. That won't happen if I don't get out there.

And in reality, even for as worn out as I felt after all that, it felt great!