Sarah Palin Kills Flies!

So that blog title should generate some weird google search results. But let me explain.

So on Wednesday I had all new windows put into my condo. My old windows are crappy, either wouldn't open, or wouldn't stay open. So my association did some research and worked a deal where owners could buy new windows, get a decent discount, and get the tax deduction. Bingo, I'm in. So Wednesday was the day the two guys came to replace the windows. I think they were Russian. Cute I guess, but a little bit smelly. And they were late of course. But they did get the job done. The problem was that Wednesday was one of the hottest, most humid, days we've had so far. So having no windows to keep the heat out was not a good thing. I sat there and tried to do work while they were working and kept looking at the temperature gage go up, and up, and up. I think it got to about 84 degrees in my condo. And I'm a cold person. I like it cold. Without air conditioning it got super hot in the condo, but that's not the worst part. I also got a nice little swarm of flies in my condo now. Lovely. The good news is that I'm getting good at using the Time magazine with Sarah Palin on the cover to kill the flies. I think there's only one of those little buggers left. I know Sarah will get him!

Speaking of Sarah, I went to do a Youtube search for a song I heard on BPM and found this. Just too funny. And not entirely safe for work.

Ken & Ken and GC09

So around a month ago or so, Lawyer X and I were at Nordstroms and we both liked the same shirt. I tried it on and I like it. He tried it on and he liked it. And we had a short discussion about which of us should buy it. And I was like, look, we both like it, so we should both buy it. It's not like we're going to wear it at the same time. And then a couple of weeks ago we were in Georgetown running an errand and we decided to hit the Lacoste store since they were having a sale. And we both found these distressed Lacoste shirts. Mine olive green, his a royal blue. And we had the discussion again. And I was like, they are different colors and we just won't wear them at the same time. And then last week, we got up in the AM to go to the gym and I realized that we were wearing the EXACT SAME Navy t-shirt. Oh well. We tried to avoid the whole Ken & Ken thing, but sometimes it happens. Yesterday, LawyerX picked me up so we could head to Bmore for a wedding. Just as I was about to hop in his car, I was like, "Umm, what color is your sportscoats." "Sort of yellow/gold with a black/brown pattern in it." Crap. We had to stop right there and check out the jackets. While they were similar, they weren't that exactly the same. But it was kind of funny!


Work has sucked my will to live lately which is one of the reasons that I haven't blogged much lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't kept up with the blogosphere. Especially as it relates to the Episcopal Church's General Convention. Held ever three years, the GC is where the Episcopal Church defines itself in rules, policies, budgets, and all of the other minutia of a large organization. But it was the policies that held my interest. The policies on same sex blessings as well as the policy of electing to ordained ministry GLBT clergy to the level of Bishop (or any level really). After the horrible decision that was made in 2006 on a moratorium on electing GLBT clergy to be Bishops, and the unceasing attacks on the Episcopal Church by those who would like to see the church turn it's back on its GLBT, the Episcopal Church, in a very American democratic way, finally removed any type of discrimination from the discernment process so that anyone who is called to the clergy may do so. In addition, the groundwork was laid for the creation of same sex blessing in those dioceses where state law allows same sex blessing. So very good news indeed and I'm very proud to be an Episcopalian these days. I'm sure the schismatics will use these decisions to foment misunderstanding and discontent, but atleast we're being honest and trying to live the Gospels as best we can.

One of the more interesting things I discovered while hop scotching across the Episcopal blogosphere was that Mathew Sheppard was an Episcopalian. Bishop Caldwell gave a very moving speech at a luncheon at General Convention. It's a little over 6 minutes long, but please watch:

Pet Peeves, Boston, and Obama

So in general I don't mind going off to conferences. It's kind of a necessary evil in the DoD & IT world. But for the love of God, if you're going to put 100+ IT professionals in a room, can you please allow laptops and/or some sort of wireless access? Coming back to the hotel room (which is fab BTW) and downloading 200+ emails and trying to deal with all of the sh!t that happened in the office while I'm gone is just depressing. And using my crackberry during the meeting won't solve the problem, but it will help me triage the situation and figure how long I'll be working at night.

Boston. I'm so close to Ptown, and yet so far. Lawyer X has some stupid "ethics" training on Saturday, so my dream of skipping off to Ptown for a little fun weekend was dashed. In theory I could go to Ptown without him. In theory. But this is one of those things about being in a relationship. You just don't do that. Sadly, this will the first time in 8 years that I haven't been to Ptown in the summer. But I really can't complain. We've got the sailing trip in August. The cruise to Egypt, Greece, and then the Amalfi Coast. Kylie in Vegas. And then the food and wine festival in Disney World. On second thought, I can't afford to go to Ptown anyways with all of the trips we've got planned!

So I'm staying at one of the new trendy Aloft hotels in the Starwood chain. And I must say it is fabulous. It's like a Virgin America Hotel. Very hip, trendy. Cool little bar. Some soft techo playing in the elevator. The room is great. Huge shower stall. Ginornmous flat screen mounted to the wall opposite the king size bed. Just very, very, nice. And it's like a mile from the conference I'm at this week.

"I don't agree with the characterization of gay relationships in the DOMA brief submitted by the DOJ and I regret that my administration used such language." That's all Obama had to say. He gave a 20 minute speech to member of the GLBT community on the anniversary of Stonewall and if he had said those 26 words, I would have probably still been a bit upset, but would still support him. But he didn't say that. And he hasn't said that. And Robert Gibbs continues to say that Obama stands by the brief. And then you've got Gates talking about a more "humane" implementation of DADT and Mullen says he's advised the president "to move in a measured way" on overturning DADT. So there's a lot of talk. Bad talk. And no action. So while I really want to support Obama, he needs to support me as well. It's called loyalty up and down the chain of command. And yes I know he's got his hands full with the multiple disasters left over from the previous regime. But it really doesn't take much to issue a stop loss order or for him to not file a brief supporting DOMA, while Congress gets their act together to repeal DADT and DOMA.

I still think that Obama's trying to do the right thing on Iraq, torture, the economy, etc. And I wish him the best of luck. Our country definitely needs help turning around and getting on the right track. But I'm not going to give a single penny to any Democratic candidate or organization until I've got equal rights as a citizen of this country.

An Open Letter

This is going to every democratic organization email address I can find:

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you to let you know that President Obama’s and Congress’ recent failure of leadership on LGBT issues compels me to withdraw my support for the Democratic Party at every level.

I was an early and vocal Obama supporter. During the campaign I not only phone banked for President Obama, but I gave money to him and other Democratic candidates and organizations around the country. While I wasn’t particularly thrilled with his stance on gay marriage, repealing DOMA, DADT, passing ENDA, Hate Crimes, etc would be good enough for me.

However, apparently the “fierce urgency of now” doesn’t apply to LGBT Americans. President Obama’s claim to be a fierce advocate in the White House ring hollow since he won’t actually use the inherent authority of Commander in Chief to issue a stop loss order on LGBT Americans who are currently serving in our military and only want the opportunity to serve honestly. As a veteran and US Naval Academy graduate, I find this lack of integrity extremely disappointing.

But it wasn’t his failure of lead on the DADT issue that caused me to write this letter. It was the DOMA brief. While many have argued that the Justice Department had to respond (and there’s a lot of people who disagree with that), it was the language in the brief that made me lose hope in the President and the Democratic Party. Comparing gay marriage to incest and pedophilia, the brief sounded like it came from the typical Republican hate filled playbook. And then President Obama, and several prominent Democrats, stood by the brief. They supported the most hateful, biased, ugly legal arguments against gay marriage and I felt like I had been sucker punched. While I don’t expect a lot of support for LGBT issues from the Democratic Party, atleast it isn’t actively working to take my rights away, to make me a second class citizen like the Republicans usually do. Or so I thought. The Obama DOMA brief proved me wrong.

While I appreciate President Obama’s recognition of the 40thanniversary of Stonewall, I think the more relevant event that night was the gay bashing by Ft Worth Police that left a young gay American in the hospital with a significant brain injury fighting for his life. The separate body of laws for LGBT Americans (DADT, DOMA, etc) continues to create an environment where LGBT Americans are less than equal, less deserving of support, less deserving of respect and so discrimination, harassment, and violence against LGBT Americans is okay, acceptable, commonplace. President Obama and the Democratic Party's failure to address these issues only perpetuates that environment. And that has to stop.

Until President Obama and the Democratic Party provide significant leadership in repealing DADT & DOMA, in passing ENDA and Hate Crimes legislation, I will not provide any support for the President or the Democratic Party at any level. Please immediately remove me from all mail lists, phone rosters, and email lists.

Respectfully,
Me


*Feel free to copy and send your own version. Here are the email addresses I've found so far:
White House: info@barackobama.com
Democratic National Committee: Democraticparty@democrats.org
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: info@dccc.org
Democratic Senate Campaign Committee: info@dscc.org
Democratic Governors Association: info@dga.net
Democratic Party of Virginia: info@vademocrats.org
Speaker Pelosi: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov
HRC: hrc@hrc.org

SHUT UP and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!

So I was driving to the base yesterday with the top down jamming to BPM and the new Katy Perry song, "Waking Up in Vegas" came on. The dance remix of course. And part of the refrain is "Shut Up and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!" So of course I had that stuck in my head all morning and when I wasn't paying attention, I would say to myself, "Shut up, Shut up, Shut up and put your money where your mouth is." Of course the last part would fade to a mumble, so the only part that was really understanbable was "Shut up!". Thankfully no one was paying attention to me so it wasn't that big of a deal, but kind of funny/irritating.

But speaking of "Shut Up and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!", I think President Obama needs to LEAD! Not wait for Congress to pass some LGBT legislation. If you are really a fierce advocate for gays and lesbians, then prove it. I don't want to hear any more about the need for a legislative solution to provide an enduring solution to the DADT, or DOMA, etc. You've got the power to issue a stop loss order. Just Do It!! Shut Up and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!

Speaking of Money. I'm done. No more money for anyone related to anything in politics. I plan to write a letter to the DNC, DSCC, DCCC, etc saying that they will get nothing from me until they do something about DADT, DOMA, Hate Crimes, and ENDA. I can find lots of worthwhile charities to give my money to, and get the tax write off to boot!

So sing it with Katy: "Hey Dems! Shut Up and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!"

Pride, Faith, and Hope

So Pride was this weekend. And I really did have a good time. Lawyer X, Museum Man, and I went to Town to see Rupaul Friday night. It was okay. Let’s just say that considering her famous tagline is “Supermodel, you’d better WORK!”, she really wasn’t working it. And yes some of it was the awful sound system, but even when they fixed that, I just don’t think she was that into it. It was still fun, but I seriously think I dropped three pounds that night just standing in the overwhelming crowd it was just that hot and sweaty. Ms. Thing didn’t come on till 1230, did a 30 minute set, and then Lawyer X and I danced a bit before bailing. But we got to hear my new favortite song:

On Saturday, I hosted my Pre-Pride Parade Party at my place. It was lots of fun and I had quite the crowd. Museum Man invited some of the gay and lesbian midshipman from the Naval Academy. Was I ever that young? I went with a champagne themed party with a bunch of different fruit juice mixers. I actually managed to get the food right as I had virtually nothing left over. But I continually underestimate that the gays are drinkers. About an hour before we were going to leave for the parade, I had to make an emergency liquor run to buy some more champagne! Around 6PM we headed out to watch the parade. Now it really doesn’t compare to NYC, SF’s, or Sydney’s parades, but it’s still fun. And despite the tres $hitty week (more on that later), it was good to go out and celebrate being gay. And I know there may be many who ask why we need to celebrate being gay? And it’s hard to explain. But if you’ve been listening to the news, if you’ve heard about the children bring bullied in school, the gay men and women being beaten and killed for who they are, then you’ve got lots of reasons for Pride. We’re standing up for them and for all of the gays and lesbians in small towns across the country who don’t get to be who they really are. They can't only not celebrate, but in fact have to hide who they are. We aren’t hiding any more. Go read Joe’s “Watching the Defectives.” It really is just the best explanation Pride that I’ve ever read.

On Sunday, I went to the Pride festival early to work the St. Thomas’ booth. You want to know the hardest job in the world? Working at a church booth at a gay pride event. With all of the crap that the GLBT community has gotten from organized religion, it’s almost like working in a danger zone. I worked the early shift as the crowds were just starting to build and I stood in front of the booth saying “Happy Pride” as the people walked by with a little dish of chapstick (cause everyone needs chapstick) and some lollipops! And while most people just gave me an odd look, a gay man trying to shill for Jesus? There were quite a few who stopped by to chat with us and pick up a piece of literature. I’d start to go into my schpeal about how St. Thomas is a historical Episcopal Church in Dupont etc. The responses were mixed. Sometimes I got the “Oh, one of the good churches” a young woman said to me. Yes, one of the good churches. One that is welcoming and inclusive and wants everyone to be loved by God. When I got a person like that, it felt good. When I got the “I don’t do God” I kind of felt sad. But I would say thanks for stopping by and enjoy Pride. Now, while most people stopped by for the chapstick or lollipops, I did have one admirer who was interested in St. Thomas, wanted to know what service I went to, and whether I had a boyfriend. I said that I did, but that we had lots of gays so he should still check us out. Kind of funny.

Hope. So it’s been a really crappy couple of weeks. I was an early Obama supporter. I remember refreshing my browser to get the updates on the Iowa caucas results and cheering as his numbers climbed higher. And I gave money to the Obama campaign. A decent chunk of change over the course of the campaign. While I wasn’t particularly thrilled with his stance on gay marriage, repealing DOMA, DADT, passing ENDA, Hate Crimes, etc would be good enough for me. And I supported his stance on the war on Iraq, torture, the econonmy, the environment, etc. I had hope that this man would be able to be the President that really led the country, unified it, helped restore it. And I think he’s done some good things. But then there was the DADT fiasco. I’ve met Lt Dan Choi (he actually hit on Lawyer X, while I was standing there!). And I kept thinking, oh Obama will do something. He’ll send a bill to Congress to repeal DADT. Or, if not that, just issue a stop loss order for now while Congress gets its act together. But nothing. And so my hope started to fade. And then the DOMA brief. Yikes, I can’t even begin to tell you what that did to me. Comparing gay marriage to incent and pedophilia? Did you just pull out an old brief from the Bush days and say this is good enough? And even after it came out, I still kept hoping that the Obama administration would say that it was a mistake, or something. But no, they stood by it. They supported the most hateful, biased, ugly legal arguments against gay marriage and I felt like I had been sucker punched. I’ve always considered myself fiscally conservative and socially liberal. And I’ve voted democratic since the republican’s weren’t really fiscally conservative anymore. But more to the point, while I don’t expect a lot of support of LGBT issues from the democrats, atleast they aren’t actively working to take my rights away, to make me a second class citizen. Or so I thought. The Obama DOMA brief just proved me wrong. And now my hope fades a little bit more.

The ironic thing in all of this is that while I’ve always supported the idea of gay marriage, I never thought it would apply to me. But with Lawyer X, that’s changed. I can definitely see us getting married some day. Or so I thought. Just when I started to buy into the dream, the President I help elect just made that dream a bit harder to realize.

Hope fades.

A Thruple

So, I'm a little ashamed to say that I'm involved in a Thruple.

No, I'm not cheating on Lawyer X.

But I have met someone new. His name is Fritz.

Isn't he wonderful?

Yes I still have Sven. Hence my current tripartite relationship status. And while I did love Sven for a very long time, it's just gotten old between us. The love was gone. And so I kind of wandered a bit and then I found Fritz. He reminds me of the Baron, my first love. But with a cool, funky transformers thing going on.

Sadly, I think it's time for Sven and I to part ways. I want to say that I will always love him, but let's be honest. When I'm with Fritz and the top is

down, and BPM is playing loudly on the stereo as I cruise down 66, I won't be thinking about Sven..

Sven goes away

this weekend. To greener pastures where I hope someone will buy him, take care of him, and love him.

Paris (Part 1)

Note to self. Saving $300 on a plane ticket to fly a connecting flight to Paris on US Airways does not equal a direct flight on United where I get Economy Plus seats. Yes I get points for the US Airway flight, but I’ll never get the leg room, or the chance for a semi-decent night sleep on the flight, if I fly US Airways. I’m not a snob, I’m just saying.

Having said that, despite the dash through the airport in Philly (which I don’t remember being so big), I had a decent flight to Paris. The Nyquil helped. When I awoke, something was wrong. It was sunny. I was on the right plane, and we were descending into Charles de Gaulle, but it was sunny. In Paris. So odd.

Got my luggage and my BNL was there to pick me up. And again with the sun. I actually needed sun glasses. Usually when I come to France. It’s cold. And raining. All the time. We fought our way through the traffic into the 16^th where I crashed for a quick disco nap and then I got up and after a quick baguette sandwich, I started on my trek through Paris. The goal? Keep moving. Stay in the sunlight. Try to force myself to adjust the new time zone as soon as possible. So my first stop is always Trocadero, overlooking the Eiffel Tower, it’s like my first “Bonjour” to Paris. I made my way down to the Seine and then walked along the water till I got to the Grand Palais where I cut across to the Champs Elysees. Up the Champs to the Arc and then along the Foch back to my sisters place. I did step into Zara's to do a little bit of window shopiing. Mind you, everything is insanely expensive, but still. Now here's the thing. French men are twigs. I think they like their cigarettes so much that they want to look like one. And I am not a stick. At all. But I see a shirt I like and I thought I would try it on. You know what words I hate? "Slim Fit." You know what's really disgusting? "Super Slim Fit." That's right, when slim fit isn't tiny enough for you, now there's "super slim fit." I tried on the shirt and it was not pretty. Really bad sausage casing. Okay, I get it. I can't shop in these stores. But I feel sorry for the odd french guy who doesn't have a 28in waist. Where does he shop? The other fashion comment I'll make is that it's hot and sunny outside and people are in long sleeves, sweaters, and jackets. How can you possibly not be just sweating to death. Oh, and only the French would have "summer scarves"? Seriously, WTF? Anyways, my trek like a 4 plus hours long and it was great. But it was sunny, and hot, have I mentioned that? So I was just ugly sweaty by the time I got back. The kiddos were back from school then so I got to spend some quality time with them.

Note to self: Need to practice my Wii skills.

Since the kiddos we out of school (for Ascension?) we had to have a mission for Thursday. When they aren’t in school, you really need to make an effort to get them out of the flat and away from the Mac, Wii, and TV. So that’s what we did. We headed out to Auvers. Auvers is where Vincent Van Gogh lived right before he died. So we all piled into the minivan and made our way out of the city on another GLORIOUS sunny day in France. It was about an hour or so out of town, give or take some mis-direction by bitchy Betty (the GPS wench). Auvers is cute. A very small, quaint little French village. After parking the car, we made our way o the châteaux which had been converted into a museum about Paris around the time of the impressionists. It was oddly fascinating. While I had been expecting to see rooms filled with period pieces, instead we learned of the building of modern Paris. How the trains opened up the French countryside and how that impacted the impressionists. It was very interesting. And I do love the audio guides. After the audio tour, we walked around the gardens where some people were setting up for some performance art thing. One woman has these huge white cloth wings that she was waving back and forth. In the middle of the garden, two women were wrapping themselves up in a huge piece of purple cloth. After the tour of the chateaux we had crepes at a little creperia in the middle of town. I’m good with sweet crepes, but I’m still getting used to the savory crepes. After lunch, we headed up to the cemetery where Vincent and his brother Theo are buried. Kind of cool and it was a good outing and we had spectacular weather. We managed to make our way back into Paris without incident and had a nice quiet dinner at home. The BNL makes a mean Kir Royal. Love them.

Friday AM we were off to the Grand Palais to see an exhibit by Andy Warhol. The Grand Palais used to be this huge palace that is now one of the main exhibition spaces in Paris. It’s huge. We got the relatively early, but there was already a line. At 1000. Which was kind of shocking since the Parisiens don’t really do early. My nephew has a standing aversion to anything that has the word museum in it, but he was a trooper and made it through the exhibit. So I know a little about Andy Warhol, but it was definitely interesting to learn more. First of all, the Andy Warhol Museum is in Pittsburgh? Most of the pieces were from there, though there were many that were donated from Paris, New York, Cologne, and Tokyo. The exhibit was huge and took you through all of his major phases. It really is interesting and very different. And the Society for Cutting Up Men? SCUM? I knew he had been shot, but not the rest of it. I guess in his heyday, he was charging $25K per portrait. Nice work if you can get it. And he would paint businessmen and royalty to earn a living and then return to New York where he did more of his experimental work. So very interesting. After the exhibit, we headed to the lower part of the 16^th questing for a solar car. Long story short, my nephew’s teacher gave him a little solar car for him to put together and it got gone. Lost or stolen we’re not sure. So we hunted for this store that I will say reminds me of the Discovery channel store to look for a replacement. We get there and they don’t have it. And while I love the French, their customer service skills suck. “It’s out.” No, “we’re sorry”. No: “Do you want me to check another store”. Just: It’s out. Thanks. And my sister speaks pretty good French, so this isn’t a language issue. Now my nephew was not happy, so we pestered the sales lady to call another store to see if they had one. They did. So we were off to another part of Paris. We did finally obtain the solar car. Afterwards, we grabbed some baguette sandwiches and picnicked in a nearby park. It was another sunny beautiful day in Paris so we just hung out in the park for a bit. And while it wasn’t crowded at first, it definitely got more crowded as we hung out. I guess when the weather is nice, everyone leaves their small little apartments and just hang out in the parks. So it was a good day.

Marriage Equality

So the Prop 8 ruling wasn't that surprising, but it still hurt. 

I guess the only silver lining is that there are still 18 thousand married gay and lesbian couples in California.  Still legally married.  And at some point, people are going to understand that having married gays and lesbians is not going to destroy the families of California, but help strengthen them.  And that marriage is a fundamental civil right t

hat belongs to all people, not just heterosexuals, and not just to the special, and lucky, 18 thousand gay and lesbian couple who managed to make their way over the rainbow during that brief moment in time in California.  

I went down to Dupont Circle last night to support the Day of Decision rally in Washington DC.  It was great to see all of the people who came out, in the rain, to stand for marriage equality.  Young, old, black, white, gay, and straight.  It really was great.

But a rally isn't enough.  We all need to do something.  We all need to join the movement to repeal Proposition 8.

Rock the Vote!

I'm off to Paris. 

Don't hate.

But your mission . . . . . . .

should you choose to accept it . . . . . 

is to . . . . . .

Gay Blinders

So one of the fun little interesting things about the whole gay community is that some people, not all, but some people, get issued a set of invisible gay blinders that allows them to see the rest of the world, but not certain people. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen someone I know or have met (either via a date, a hook up, or at a random encounter at a bar) whose eyes just seem to glide right by me without recognizing me. Now I'm not pretending that we're friends. But I think acknowledging the other person's existence with a simple, civil, polite, little head nod, isn't asking too much. It's just a simple acknowledgment of the other person.

Ironically enogh, it now seems I need my own blinders. Someone who I thought was a friend sort of faded away. Not exactly sure why, but it happened. But the problem is that he lives really close to me. So I'm bound to run into him around the ghood. And sure enough I saw him a couple of months ago at Commissary and he wouldn't look me in the eye. My first thought was that he was on a date and didn't want to appear rude. And I didn't want to interrupt, but it's clear now that he's studiously avoiding me and refusing to recognize me. And this was someone who I once thought of as a friend. I've now had two close encounters with this person and since he's acting like I'm not there, now apparently I'm supposed to act like he's not there. It's all very strange. And sad. At one point I thought it would be good to try to re-connect with him, but now I don't think it's a good idea. And he still lives close to me. So I guess I need to keep my invisible gay blinders handy for when I'm walking around the ghood.

Star Trek, Morning Walks, and Car Shopping

So SuperLawyer, his BF, Lawyer X, and I went to see Star trek on Saturday night. Loved it! Lawyer X had some problems with the story line since it kind of broke with Star Trek canon. But hey, if you're going to re-boot the franchise, then you need to make room for some new story lines. And creating an alternate world by changing the space time continuum seems like a no-brainer to me. So Kirk was hot, but I have to tell you I think young Spock was kind of hot as well.

Morning walks. So I'm spending a lot of time over at Lawyer X's house since he has Shiva to take care of. And yes even pets have nicknames on this blog. And Shiva is a pretty good one since we also call her the "Princess of Destruction." Anyways, in the AM, sometimes after the gym, but sometimes not, I make the walk back to my place. And I won't call it the "walk of shame" since it's not a hook up. We're dating, well more than dating. And sure sometimes I'm walking down P St in the clothes I wore the previous night and a bad case of bed head, but still. And trust me, I've seen the folks making the walk of shame down P St. So I'll just call my commute from Laywer X's house to my place just a little morning walk. ;-)

So why does buying a car suck so much? I went out to a VW place in Fairfax and the slimey sales guy pulled out the whole bag of tricks, "What would it take to put you in a car today." An act of God. I'm just trying to get information. "What would you say if I would give you 3K for our trade in." I'd say I'd still like to know how much the car I'd like to buy is going to cost me. "What if I gave you $4K?" "What if I gave you $5K?" I'd say that even if you offered what I originally paid for the car I'd still like to know how much the car I want is going to cost and you still haven't answered my question. Agh! I finally got the answer, but it was like pulling teeth. And then we got into a beyond insane conversation about mortgages. Don't ask. I still want the car. Just not sure I'm going back there again.

Kylie 2009!

Lawyer X scored tickets!!

And you know what they say, "What Happens in Vegas . . . . . "

Maine Rocks, Crazy Marion Barry, and Kylie's Coming to America!!

The governor of Maine signed into law today the bill that would allow same sex couples in Maine to get married. I watched/listened to some of the debate from the Maine legislature via the intertubes and couple of times I just got so choked up listening to men and women, gay and straight, young and old, arguing for equal rights for all of Maine's citizens. And just a big thank you to the governor for changing his position and signing the bill. So Maine makes 5! Do you know what that means? That 10% of the states in the US allow same sex marriage. I know we'll lose some battles along the way, but I really think we are winning this war and history will look back and say, "Really, you were freaked out by this? How sad."

Of course, some people just won't be happy. Including our own crazy Marion Barry who after years of being an advocate of gays rights, has decided to side with the wing nuts. Another poster child for the right wing. Multiple divorces? Check? Problems with the law? Check (tax evasion), Check (drugs the first time), Check (drugs the second time), Check (hit and run accident), and Check (bribery). So to Marion Berry, I'd like to dedicate this song (so totally NSWF, but oh so fabulous!)



And the most important news of the day (okay, maybe below the announcement from Maine), comes word that Kylie Minogue is coming to the United States. OMG! Must go see her. Must. Ms. Showgirl is only playing in like 6 cities, and not DC, so you know what that means don't you? Road trip! Need to see if we can get tickets when she plays in Las Vegas! I *must* get tickets. Must! So excited.

Ms. Kylie was the soundtrack of my coming out while I was Down Under. Here's the song that started my love of all things Kylie:

Today's Post Brought To You By the Letter "B"

B is in BOGO. Buy one, get one off. I've seen it before, ad nauseam, on those Payless Shoes commercials. And I guess it makes sense for relatively low cost items. But when I was home in Colorado I was flipping through the really tragic local newspaper and since I'm sort in the car shopping mode I was checking out the car ads. And there on the back of the Sports section was a BOGO add for a car! Yep, if you buy one 2009 Hyundai, then you would get a like a 2002 Hyundai for $1. Now, let's forget the whole, it's a Hyundai thing. I still think it's kind of crazy that they are doing BOGO for cars. But i guess it's a sign of the economy, especially in the car business these days.

B is for Boytoy. Lawyer X has now started to refer to me as his boytoy. Which I think is a little bit presumptuous and not really accurate. For one thing, I am older than him. And I'm fairly certain that I make more money than him. But he thinks it's cute/funny and it sort of is. So I'll let it slide. For now. ;-)

B is for Big Breasted Bigots. Specifically, Miss California. Sigh. I get that you don't believe in same sex marriage. Fine. But here's the deal, atleast be able to CLEARLY articulate why. If I was a judge, I would have given you low marks not on the content of your answer, but on your inability to articulate what you are saying. I'm guessing her major isn't in communications. Of course, now that's she popping up on ads for NOM, interviewing on The 700 Club, I guess I could be wrong. And I'm not really appalled by fact that she has breast implants. Hello, she's from California! But I do find it interesting that the Miss California organization paid for them. That's interesting. Anyways, I hope Miss California has learned to do her own hair and make up, because after her remarks at the Miss USA pageant, there isn't a gay man in the US who's going to help her dye her hair again. Those hair and make up gays will make her look like Broomhilda if she ever makes the mistake of asking for help from them.

Parentland

So after another awful trip to Nof&ck (and is there really any other kind), I drove back to DC, had lunch with Lawyer X, and then caught a plane to Colorado Springs aka Parentland.

I hadn't seen my parents since Christmas and they are getting up there, so I wanted to go visit and check in on them. I arrived on their 49th anniversary, so I scored the bonus points there. Of course, I can't believe they are still married since sometimes they snip at each other pretty badly. But if you've been living with someone for 49 years, no doubt some of it will rub you the wrong way.

Anyways, they are doing okay for their age and I'm really happy about that. But coming back to the Springs is a weird experience for me. Most of my high school friends have moved on, so there's no one there for me to hang out with. So it's the parental units, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And first thing Firday AM, it was time for the chores. Oh yes, I had a long "honey do" list to accomplish. Mom was certain that Dad had wired the new VCR incorrectly since she couldn't program her shows. And after a good half hour trying to figure the thing out, I finally realized that the VCR/DVD combo doesn't have a tuner. So it can't record her shows. So we get saddled up and head to Sears where she had bought it. And why Sears I have no idea. And the nice guy at Sears basically confirms that you can't buy an old style VCR anymore. They sell the types that will play VHS tapes, but they can't record shows. Unless you want to shell out $300+ bucks. Pass. We're off to Best Buy. Where the strangely thin and overly tattooed "geek squad" helper explained that technology has moved on and it's all about DVR now. They did have a VCR recorder, but again it was in the $300+ range. And really, isn't it time for my parents to wake up and smell the Tivo? So we purchased the Tivo despite my Mom's fear of any new technology and headed home. Now the real work began. I had to move the VCR from the downstairs den to Mom's bedroom. The VCR from the upstairs den to the downstairs den. And then install the Tivo in the upstairs den. Quite the drill of musical VCRs. But I got it all working and I think Mom even understands how it works. I hope so, it is really easy to use!

Friday night, I joined Mom and Dad at the Martini club. It's a group of their friends that get together once a month for drinks and "heavy horses" as my mother says (hor d'ourves). I was easily the youngest person there, except for one lady who may have been a trophy wife. Not exactly sure. Anyways, it was very pleasant and I played the dutiful son quite well. When asked about my family, I just replied that I was single. No need to go into the whole gay thing. It would definitely make Mom and dad feel weird and just not something I needed to go into. I didn't lie about it, I just didn't talk about it.

Now, one of the highlights of the trip was that I was going to get a chance to catch up with Lawyer X's sister, Agent K. She lives in the Springs and so we had planned to get together for drinks and dinner on Saturday night. So she came over to my parent's place where we had a drink with my Mom and Dad. It was all very civil and very nice. So that was good. Afterwards, we hit this cool new restaurant (well new to Agent K and I) in the Springs called Blue Star. It's in a part of town that I would call sketchy, but it was really nice. Of course, we open the door and the little lobby area is packed with the prom set. Wow. Do I feel old or what? But we made our way to the bar and sampled an adult beverage before we got our table. Had a great time eating, drinking, and just chatting. So much fun and Special K is just great. After a very filling (and yet oddly cheap (well by DC standards)) dinner, Agent K dropped me off back at my folks.

Sunday was interesting. I know have a glimpse into what divorce kids have to go through. On Sunday AM, Dad and I went to the Episcopal church and Mom went to the Anglican church. There's a huge back story there that I won't go into, but needless to say, it's all very odd. After the service, we drove up north to an Italian restaurant for brunch which was good. I'm now now shy at all about ordering a cocktail at brunch. If I'm not driving, why not. After a post brunch nap, I climbed up on the roof to try to caulk the skylights over the deck. (I called Lawyer X on Saturday to tell him I was cruising Homo Depot looking for caulk. I thought it was funny, but he was not amused!) Anyways, I climb up to the roof to try to caulk around the skylights which I guess leak during rain/snow melt. It got rather cold up there and when I was done I looked towards the mountains and they were gone. The storm was rolling in and the mountains were no longer visible. A clear sign that I needed to get off the roof.

When I woke up this AM, it was actually snowing! Friday, sunny, 70s degrees, shorts weather. Monday, snowing! Yep, that's Colorado for you.

Anyways, with the exception of some missing luggage (details!), the trip back was uneventful. Lawyer X was waiting for me and it was great to see him again.

I think that's my last trip till Paris at the end of May, but Lawyer X goes into trial mode so I'm not sure how much of him I'll be seeing. Kind of a bummer, but I'll deal. I seriously need to get back into my gym routine.

Tilghman Island

You know what’s weird? Now that I have a social life, I don’t seem to work insane hours (well as insane) which is good I guess. But I apparently don’t blog as much either. Hmm, go to dinner with Lawyer X, or blog? Wii bowling with Lawyer X, or blog? (Insert almost anything) with Lawyer X, or blog. Seems the blogging is losing out in this deal. I’ll try to find a way to balance my real social life and my online life a bit better.

Anyways, so Lawyer X and I passed a major milestone last weekend. First it was our 6^th month anniversary (the exact date we started officially “dating” is kind of arbitrary, but that’s what I’m saying it is) and we had our first trip together! Yep, we decided to skip out of town and where did we go? Tilghman Island, MD. Yes, I know, how random, and not very gay, but it was great!

We actually ditched work on Friday and around 1030 or so we headed out to Annapolis. Can someone please explain to me why traffic SUCKS heading out of DC on a Friday morning? Anyhoo, we made it out to Annapolis and the weather was GLORIOUS! After some rainy, dreary, cold days, the weather had finally turned and it was just amazing. We had lunch at Chick and Ruth’s, a serious dive from my midshipman days. The food was good and the milkshake was delicious! Afterwards, we walked around the Yard (USNA campus) and I showed him the Chapel, John Paul Jones’ crypt, some of the academic buildings, Bancroft Hall, etc. It was fun, though I can’t seem to remember a lot of the details anymore. It must be that getting old thing. We hit the Midshipman Store for some quality shopping and then got on the road around 4PMish for the eastern shore.

So the drive was fine and we made our way to Tilghman Island Inn. Now I had heard about this from the Washingtonian’s website and it looks really nice. Plus they had a really nice restaurant and Lawyer X is a foodie. So I knew he would be happy. The Inn was really nice, on the edge of a channel and across the water is a marsh area where you could see all sorts of egrets, ducks, etc. Very nice room, with a fireplace on a timer and a bathtub spa! After settling in a bit, we sampled the cheese plate and champagne that we got as part of the weekend package. Very nice. After a couple of glasses of champagne, we went down to dinner, with a quick stop at the bar for a cocktail to enjoy as we watched the sun setting. Since the Inn is on the western edge of the eastern shore, we had a beautiful sunset over the water. Dinner was amazing. And included a couple of glasses of wine. And then we had a dessert wine to finish the meal. If you are counting, that makes basically 6 different drinks. Needless to say, after dinner I wanted to make sure I got a glass of ice water to take back to the room. At the bar was the executive chef. When we had come down for dinner originally, he had been at the bar working on his 3^rd or 4^th glass of scotch, or so I thought. Well by this point he was pretty buzzed and very chatty. He’s talking about his grandkids, etc and now I’m tired and starting to tune him out. And then all of a sudden, he’s talking about his partner!! Apparently they own the Inn and one runs the Inn and the other the restaurant! So I guess it was going to be a gay weekend after all.

Saturday AM, we sort of slept in and then got up around 10ish to grab a quick light breakfast before heading up to St. Michael’s. St. Michael’s is just the cutest little village. It’s a short drive away. We parked and then basically walked about the town. Had lunch at a restaurant in the harbor and then wandered around the little shops that lined the main street. The weather was amazing again and the little town was packed with tourists. We wandered over to the local winery for a tasting and since the outside area was full we were taken deep into the winery where the settling tanks are and where they have another sampling area. It was kind of dark, and cool, and it was kind of romantic back there. We sampled some wines and most of them were good. Lawyer X bought some a cabernet, while I got the chocolate zin (a-ma-zing!). After that, we discovered that the local brewery was right next to the winery (talk about some city planning!) and so we had to sample a flight of the local beer. Some good stuff and some interesting conversations with the locals. Afterwards, we drove down to a small town that has the oldest, consecutively running, private ferry which took us across the river to Oxford. The ferry could probably only hold 9 cars and it was a short ferry ride, but it was just fun to do. Oxford is another one of those picturesque towns and the waterfront houses are all just so pretty. And I’m sure quite a pretty penny. Our whole mission to Oxford? To get ice cream. Apparently the ice cream place there is quite well known and we both got two HUGE scoops. Birthday Cake Oreo and Carrot Cake for me. OMG, so good. And if you notice a food and alcohol theme for the weekend, you wouldn’t be wrong. At all. Back on the ferry and then back to the Inn where we did an encore of the afternoon cheese plate and champagne. Yum. Then I had made reservations in St. Michael at another high end restaurant. Apparently Rumsfeld and Cheney eat there occasionally. If I had known that ahead of time, then I would have gone somewhere else, but as it was they were not there and I didn’t have to try to do a citizen’s arrest on them. Dinner was again phenomenal. And included some great wine. We were fat, buzzed, and happy by the time we made our way back to the Inn.

Another leisurely get up on Sunday AM. I will say that it’s weird to hear boats going by in the morning. But they actually have a real fishing fleet at Tilghman Island, plus all of the wannabe weekend fisherman, so the channel was hopping. Brunch was included in our package so we settled in to another great meal. Gumbo, eggs benedict & French toast with grand marnier, and then a brownie with ice cream for dessert. All so delicious! Now, you know how I hate to talk about other people, oh wait, I actually like to do that. So let me tell you about the other guests having brunch. A nice couple (boring), a cute young gay couple (hate them), and then we had this one straight couple. He was a bit older (late 40s), a bit dumpy, glasses, tragic comb over. Just kind of sad. His “companion”? She was Asian, much younger, but not really that attractive. Sporting a black bustier that highlighted her ample chest and then some black short, shorts. For BRUNCH? This is what you wear to brunch? After I pushed my eyeballs back into my head, I’m like, “don’t look at them, don’t look at them. “ But it’s like a car wreck. I can’t *not* look. That’s when I notice the short shorts have a big metal zipper that goes all the way up. Lovely. When he starts to feed her salad (salad?!?!?!), that’s when I’m like, we gotta go. Just too weird.

On the drive back to DC we hit the outlets just before the bay bridge and did quite a bit of damage.

Overall, the weekend ROCKED! Just some good quality time with Lawyer X. We got along amazingly well. The Inn was fabulous! The food was great. And the liquor was copious! So it all adds up to an amazing weekend!

Joint Custody and Those Crazy Fundies

So with Lawyer X virtually sequestered  preparing for some legal thing (yawn!) on Tuesday, I've gotten joint custody of the Princess.  I was just going to walk her highness this evening and then I succumbed to her "poor little me" look and decided that since Lawyer X was working late that she should spend the night with me.  She's already claimed her spot on my good red chair and when I went to fold some laundry she just hopped up on the bed and curled up.  No, please.  Make yourself at home!  I'm assuming that Lawyer X will show up at some point as well. 

And if this is all sounding slightly domesticated, it is.  And secretly I'm loving it.  

Now, I'm used to pop culture stealing things from gay culture and turning it into something hot and trendy.  I got that.  But now it seems the fundies are trying to steal some of our things and needless to say they aren't good at it.  Sigh.  Teabagging Parties?  Really?  Are you kidding me? 

And then it was Two Million For Marriage, but they thought they would be hip and call it 2M4M.  Wow.  Really.  Is it possible to be that cut off from reality?  Or to not have the common sense to look up what these things mean before you decide to make it the centerpiece of your political message?  Of course, considering who these people are and how archaic their political message is, I think they deserve all of the ridicule that they get!

These people really need to get a life.

Iowa, Vermont, and Thomas Jefferson

Wow, what a crazy couple of days.

Iowa. Again wow. Who would have thought that change, dramatic change, would happen so quickly in the heartland. Bravo to the Republican judges who ruled in support of gay marriage. Bravo!

And I love this clip. Kind of makes me tear up inside:

And Vermont! You paved the way for civil unions and now this huge step towards equality. Thank you! I'll be having some of Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream to celebrate your vote (vote! not court decision!) and to help out your economy. And while I love Americone Dream already, if you think about it, the American dream is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So it just makes sense to celebrate with Americone dream!

Despite the fact that work sucks my will to live lately, I surfed around the intertubes looking at the responses to both the results in Iowa and Vermont, I stopped by Jimbo's blog where he had some famous words by Thomas Jefferson that are inscribed in the walls of the Thomas Jefferson memorial on the Mall:

"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

Were our founding fathers amazing or what? I'd like to take some of our current politicians down there to show them what a real statesman looks like. I've always liked the TJ Memorial the best. I need to go back down there again soon.

At Sea (The Last Day)

Six little words.

I’ll start my diet on Monday.

Seriously, like I need to see that at the pool first thing in the AM?

The morning after the White Party is always interesting. The gays like to party hard, and then sleep late. And with the White Party going till 9AM, it means that the pool deck is strangely empty until about 11AM when the first round come out to bask in the sun and burn away the demons from the previous night.

Of course I’m up early, but I’m off to the spa for a hot stone massage. Fan-tan-stique! As the French would say. Insanely expensive, but great. And then it’s back to the pool deck to bask in the sun. But I’m actually getting a little bit toasty so I wander into the solarium to work on book # 3.

I did go to catch some of drag bingo with Ms. Ritchfield. She’s hilarious! So much fun.

And then it was time for the last Tea Dance. And it was one of my favorites. So much good music. So many hot guys. Just a great, great time. As the sun began to set, we burned across the pool deck dancing like there was no tomorrow.

After the tea dance, I had a leisurely dinner and then started to pack my bags. Sigh. The last event for the cruise is the Last Laugh Comedy Show, this time with Alec Mapa. Again. Hilarious. So much fun and a great way to end the week. There is the final “Last Chance” dance, but I’m done. Stick a fork in me. Another great Atlantis vacation.

I won’t bother you with the details about the logistical trip back home, except to say that it was great to see Lawyer X again.