Breakaway

We are finally going on vacation.

Yes, we've taken 2-3 day trips to Vegas (work), DC (work), NYC (Madonna - which was kind of like work). However, an honest to g-d full-ish week vacation has not been had since October 2005!!!

As always, we come late to planning anything. Whereas Morty will plan his vacations for a year - like a good fag would - we will take a few hours, sometimes only week or two before we actually leave for our destination. ....just like this time.

I think a week or so ago we had narrowed it down to the Outer Banks or Quebec. Yes, I know they are two very different places - neither of which we have been to. Well, that's not true. Denton has been to OBX with his family, but that's been about three decades ago. Me? I've been to the Charlotte airport....once.

But as I've mentioned, work has gotten the best of me these last few weeks and where I would have loved Quebec, it seemed like it would be a place to tour and do things. It seemed like a lot of activity. It seemed like work.

We opted for OBX so we could get a chance to decompress. Do nothing, as it were. Beach. Read. Sleep. Pool. Drink. Eat. Possibly not in that order.

The place (pictured above), is gay or gay friendly. I don't have to have it be overrun by all queers, but it is nice to be with some of your cohort. There is b'fast daily and and more importantly, a 2.5 hour cocktail time.

As sad as it sounds, we went out and bought new swim trunks over the weekend. That's not the sad part. That would be, it was because we haven't bought (or had to) new ones for over 10 years. We picked up some shirts and shorts too.

Now if Cristobal would just move out to sea, we'd be golden.

I'm in DC almost all week for work. I get back and we leave the next day. Even though the first week is work, it will be two glorious weeks away from the office....save one day.

If all works out, we get to see Jon, Tommy and their two doggies (who hopefully won't lunge for my face!) on the way back home!!


Song by: Big Pig

older chests

Friday night we went out to dinner. The meal was so-so, but I had had a shitty week and just wanted to get out and have some tequila. ....oh.....and food.

But on the way home, a Blondie song popped into my head, since I looked down and saw that "I'm on E....I'm on E.....". We stopped at BP so I could do a $53 fill-up.

I can't even take credit for being aware of my surroundings. As I mindlessly watched the numbers on the pump ever increase, Denton pointed me towards a sign in the attached AM/PM Mart. Ruckiry (not Jon's boss), I had my cellphone camera with me.


It'd been a long day. My 18 hours probably would have been up anyway. I let them keep it.



Song by: Damien Rice

Cat People (Putting Out Fire with Gasoline)

Maybe I'm not a dog person. I always think I am. I want to be.

We had to hit Petco today - as we were in need of litter and fud. Naturally, Denton was with me. It was Saturday and we had to do our EDL things. That's 'Everyday Living' things. You know - shopping, laundry, stuff.

Normally our Petco doesn't have the cages of cats and dogs for sale, but the Humane Society was there doing adoptions. There were some great brother/sister cat combos and then one cat that had to be 20-25 pounds. So nice. So gentle. So HUGE.


But outside there was a dog. A puppy. A larger puppy, but a puppy nonetheless. Mostly golden retriever, but it looked like he/she had some shepherd in him/her. The pup was on a leash and was with someone from the Society. But as I was about to walk in the store, the dog walked over to me.

I got down and petted him/her. They seemed to like it, and even licked my hand. But then things turned ugly. I heard a noise, but wasn't sure. But it was there......a growl. One that got louder. And then the pup lunged, growling, snarling - teeth all bared.

Ruckiry (not Jon's boss), I had quick reflexes and jumped back a bit. Just out of range of a mad dog on the end of a leash. To paraphrase Buddy Cole, "that could have been nassssty".

All this happened in about 45 seconds. When I turned around, Denton was gone. He missed the entire thing. He was inside already looking for cat treats.

On the way home, I finally told him what transpired. Somehow I got chastised for being "too trusting". ....for both dogs and people.

People? Really? It's like he's never even met me!



Song by: David Bowie

Record of the Month - Classic

Normally, I have a Record of the Month post. But I have 400+ CDs and roughly 27 blog posts per month. I gotta fill this space with something! So now, in addition to the RotM, you get a RotM Classic. Most likely a disk that is at least 5 years old. I buy enough music that is 'new' to continue my original subject of RotM.



RJ had posted something a while back and briefly mentioned listening to Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Raincoat. Though I don’t remember exactly what his post was about, the disk mention itself was completely tertiary to the actual post.

But what it did was plant in the back of my mind how that should be, at some point, one of my Record of the Month posts. Now it is my first “classic” post.

Warnes released the disk back in 1986. I remember doing my weekly sift through bins at Schoolkid’s Records on N. High St when the clerks put it on. I could sort of place the voice, but in reality the only thing I knew her from was a few movie soundtrack songs and her other hit “Right Time of the Night”.

None of those things ever would have made me buy one of her disks. But I immediately went up and asked about this one. They told me and pointed me to the one and only copy they had in stock – let’s face it, this was never going to be a big seller.

Unofficially titles: Jenny Sings Lenny, Warnes covers nine songs from Leonard Cohen. I know this always ticks people off, but I don’t like Cohen as a singer. As a writer, he is great – but I don’t see him being the consummate artist that so many do.

I would say the material suits Warnes to a T, but I don’t really know most of her repertoire to confirm that. She certainly embraces it and runs with the style and does quite well at it. The recording itself is clear and crisp – as for a long time I had read in many audio magazines that store would use her “Bird on a Wire” to demonstrate their sound systems.

I’d like to point out the highlights of the disk, but I’m not sure there is a bad song on the disk. I am a huge fan of “First We Take Manhattan”, “Song of Bernadette” and the title track, but in actuality, the entire disk is extremely strong. She wisely opted not to record the oft covered “Suzanne”. I’m not even sure “Hallelujah” was around when this was recorded, but it’s probably a good thing that wasn’t touched either. Jeff Buckley did one of the better versions of that that exist.

For a compact disk that was recorded and released so soon after the medium came into the market, it is and was technically well done when many of those recordings are now in desperate need of remastering.

There is a 20th anniversary edition that was release in 2007 – with an extra track or two, but I haven’t gotten it. At least yet.

This is one disk I would hardly recommend. It's not standard fare, but I think it is something I think most would enjoy.

Nothing


I got nothing. Zilch. Zippo.

I've been Mr. Kranky Pants lately. I don't think I've shown it here, but it is true. It is mostly work-related. Stuff I am not quite willing to talk about yet. Not here. Not yet.

Suffice to say, today I will be meeting my new boss for the first time. My 3rd one in 18 months. Mind you - I haven't switched jobs. That's all I have to say about that.

That being said - we need vacation. A real one. Not one where he is working in Vegas or me in DC. No - we need to get away for a week. A full week. If we can pull this off, it will be the first time in three years that we've done it.

We have it narrowed down to: Quebec or possibly North Carolina (be afraid Jon!). I like the idea of the beach, but that whole hurricane thing has thwarted more than one vacation - be it Rehoboth or the Keys. Unfortunately, this is the way we plan vacations. Spur of the moment but usually they work out - if we follow through.

All I know is that I need to decompress. Soon. Very very soon.

I guess I didn't have nothing!




Song by: Depeche Mode

Ride the Ride

On a pseudo-whim, we went to Cedar Point on Sunday. It is kind of the reason for my pseudo-post yesterday. I was just too lazy to write anything about anything.

CP is the roller coaster capital of the world. All those tv documentary stories on amusement parks say so. It must be true.

One of my many nieces is in town, so it was Denton's idea to get a group of the in-town kids to go too. It was our treat. Kind of. When we arrived, we found a number of corporate employee appreciation days going on. Some guy gave us three free passes he couldn't use. His company only had to pay $22 instead of the normal $43 (!!!!) admission price. Denton was smart and went to the ticket counter and said he needed four more - and they sold them to him at the $22 price!!! SCORE!

For all this talk of people doing 'staycations' (g-d, I hate that word!), the park was packed. No one stayed home! The major rides (Millennium Force, Maverick and Raptor) had 90 minute+ waits. That was hard to justify when you had four kids under 11 years old with you....and two of them weren't even tall enough to get on the adult rides.

So for the most part we kept to the kiddie park. It was fun for the kids, laborious for me. My 9 year old niece went with me on a number of the coasters. She is absolutely fearless. We did the Gemini, Corkscrew and Blue Streak (which is almost as old as I am!! .....and just as rickety).

I've been on all the coasters except Maverick and was looking forward to it, but I think we'll go back sometime with no kids.

There are a few rides I just won't do. Like this one

Nothing says 'vomit' like 70 or so of your not-so-close friends swinging back and forth and spinning. No good can come from this. I don't do spinny rides.

Or the Top Thrill Dragster. 2+ hours for a 48 second ride. Besides the up and over thing just doesn't seem fun to me.

Back in those days, they played Chicago, the Carpenters and America over the PA system. They still do. Clearly the royalty laws still favour middle of the road FM delights.

I remember when my parents would take us to the Point each summer. I wasn't the only kid with Dippity-Do'd hair. Lots of kids today have product today - but all in the form of faux hawks. It's like they all stepped out of their double-wide, got their tattoo and were allowed admission to the park. And they're five.

Was that too judgment-y?






Song by: the Bangles

Milk Train

I don't know why I was so amused by these guys last week. I was down in the middle of nowhere Ohio and just saw them there. 40 or so acres to roam and they all congregate in a 30 square foot area.


As I drove a little further, I flashed upon a Far Side cartoon (well, one of many) that had to do with cars on the side of the road.




Song by: Jefferson Airplane

Living in a Box

Chef Bob and Nurse Matt are grandparents for a 2nd time. Or is it the 5th time?

One of their dogs, Jake, had her second litter of puppies less than two weeks ago. The first litter had two puppies. This one had three. Don't get hung up on the mom's name. Clearly she has gender issues, brought on upon her by her dads.

The puppies are cute - as you might imagine. Golden Labs. Right now they kind of are a cross of Sharpeis and hamsters/gerbils. When I visited a few days ago, their eyes weren't even open.

Jake had two boys and one girl - now known as Peter, Paul & Mary. Temporarily, I hope. I'm all for a good folk trio, but this might be a bit much.

Bob is trying to talk me into getting one. Of course, I want one. The girl. I'm all about the girls. Denton says if I can find a way to make it work with our schedules, I can get her. He knows deep down that I can't get it to work - so he doesn't have to be the bad guy by saying 'no'.

Meredity is worried that I'm not a good dog parent because I don't believe in obedience. That's a lie. I just like dogs to be dogs. If that means jumping and licking and rolling around with them, then yes, I'm not a good parent. (though the dogs LOVE me for it!)

In reality, a golden lab is probably too big for our first dog. And I'm really ok with a mutt from the shelter. But we still have to work on our schedule thing.

Here are pics of the pups, who are indeed, living in a box. They were crawling on their bellies more than they were walking. And they have the cutest noises coming out of them.

you can see Jake here, tending to her children

this is Mary. isn't she adorable??

Song by: Living in a Box

Dinner at Eight

...that's what we had yesterday at Cafe Tandoor.

It wasn't just the two of us either, but with 16 other gay men. It is all part of our quest to be more social. I'd say this qualified.

The Cain Park Arts Festival started yesterday evening. We usually end up attending and always go home empty-handed. Yesterday was no different, though we did see some pieces we liked. The two artists were pretty local and we got their info to see their studio stuff as opposed to whatever they could or decided to haul to display. Our house is woefully in need of real art and not just prints of other stuff.

We did run into our first Cleveland landlord, Howard (I'll forgo his last name, so you don't all Gooooogle him). Honest to g-d, if Denton didn't say his name, I'm not sure I would have recognized him at all. He still has a wickedly handsome face, but now has a mane of hair that is greying and not in a handsome way. His new girlfriend, Andrea, (I'm sorry - anDRAY-ah) was with him. Remind me to post stories later about Howard as a neighbor and a landlord.

Anyway, the plan was for all the gays to meet at the festival at 6p and have dinner at 8p. We could only find some of the men, since we didn't know about one-third of them. So yes, we expanded our gay circle by another ring.

Dinner proved to be a bit difficult, as it was a long table - so conversations could not flow easily and some people didn't get a chance to interact at all. I would say only about half the guys knew everyone, and the other half knew almost no one - so we weren't alone in the same proverbial boat. But a good time seemingly was had by all.

We'd like to try that again sometime, but we don't most of the guys to arrange it ourselves. We'll see how it goes.




Song by: Rufus Wainwright (btw...the image at top is from the movie of the same name as the song and title post)

Site of the Month

Yes - it's that time of month. When I've worked a full week and gone two solid weeks of blogging and didn't really pace myself, so I have nothing really to post.

But there is a reason I sub-titled this thing 'Stuff & Nonsense'.

Yes, this beats the Star Wars geeky Wookiepedia which I think I featured about a year ago. ...perhaps less.

Dickipedia isn't about the actual penis at all - so you can all breathe a sigh of relief.....or grumble in private, depending on your view of what you hoped/thought it was. It is a suitable for work site.

The list of Dicks is a a good one. Not are all written as funny as they could be: see Jimmy Fallon - though the last line is good. But for every Fallon or Kobe, there is an Ann Coulter or George Lucas.

It's an ok time killer - and no less (or more) funny than David Sedaris' last book. Unfortunately.

Shopping with Blobby

Yet another installment in the drudgery that is everyday shopping. The camera-phone makes it a bit more fun - though I get looks whenever I take pics of products. Like I care what people think!

Seriously? Organic Cotton Candy?

Since when has Candy Floss (what a great nom du porn) gone free range? Is there anything even remotely natural in it? I guess sugar.

Red Dye #2 probably isn't....or whatever food colouring they have in there.

I'm assuming it is disgusting in any form. Mother Nature isn't making it any better.

I Just Wanna Live

I can't help feel I've posted something like this before, but damn if I'm gonna look through almost 1200 posts to see. I do have a life - as hard as that might be to fathom.

Someone at work provided me this Health Risk Assessment. I cannot confirm or deny its accuracy, but folks in my field think it is a pretty good indicator of you and your "lifestyle".

Yeah - that there up above is me after taking the test. I shaved almost 10 years off my life - virtually. Unfortunately, I'm scheduled to live almost another 40.

There are usual questions on alcohol, smoking and eating, but some others like parent's age, history of coronary artery disease and stature (stocky or stocky and bald) are included. For the record, I put down "average". They don't seem to cover some other things you think they might - but they're the experts.........I guess.

How accurate this is can only be as good as how honest you are at answering the questions. I think I did ok.

14700 days left to live. Shoot me now!



Song by: Good Charlotte

Think

Not only does Cleveland has a world renowned orchestra, but it also has an equal counterpart in the art department.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of the premier places to pictures and stuff. It has also been undergoing a major renovation and will continue for another four years.

But a section was opened this last week - 19 galleries to be specific. We walked down and looked around. It was the first time we walked in the front. Normally (as in Always) we come in through the North Gallery, which is a newer ickier building.

So I hate to say it, I've never seen Rodin's "The Thinker". I mean - I have seen it, but not in Cleveland. When we were in San Jose back in the day, there was a Rodin exhibit at Stanford (or was it an entire garden?). There was also a "copy" of it at the Toledo Museum of Art.

It got me thinking (ha! get it?) - how many of these things are out there? According to Wikipedia, there are something like 28 of them worldwide. It hardly seems special that we have one. Or that anyone has one.


Ours has the distinction of being damaged - like many Clevelanders. It was damaged back in 1970 by vandals. They never repaired it. Someone in the Netherlands also vandalized their version.

It's still pretty impressive even for a cast. The original is in Paris.

Inside were some impressive things - Egyptian art, German stuff - and lots and lots of French frilly stuff that doesn't hold my interest. I did like the swords and bodies of armour though.

Loved the cod-piece on this guy. But he was the only one of the bunch who was protected, you know.... "down there".

Who'd a thunk?



Song by: Aretha Franklin

Computer Blue

We topped off (or at least finished-off) the holiday weekend with a showing of Wall-E, Pixar's lastest release.

I think it's official, we've seen every Pixar movie on opening week. I can only say, I haven't cared for one of them (Finding Nemo) and downright didn't like one (Monsters Inc. ...or as I call it, Monster's Ball, Inc.).

It think it is also safe to say that Pixar is the only studio that can make you like a rat (Ratatouille) and feel really bad for a cockroach (Wall-E).

I won't blow too much about the flick. But in a bold move, there is little dialogue in the first place and none in the first 30 minutes. And it is the first time in the studio history that they use human talent that doesn't come in the manner of voice.

Denton loved the movie because for the first two-thirds, it was almost poetic and very out of character for any big screen animation movie. He was a bit disappointed it had to eventually do the standard route of all summer movies.

I thought Wall-E himself (itself?) was great. I think Eve phoned it in.

...and yeah, Wall-E reminds me something of that robot from Short Circuit, but that was more of an Ally Sheedy vehicle, though the robot had more range. ...she was so much better in Maid to Order, don't you think?

The movie does have a message. A not so subtle one, but one unfortunately that mostly likely went over the head of the lady across the aisle from me with her biggie-sized drink, which she spilled all over the floor near the end of the movie. Yes, this entire last sentence ties directly in with the movie message.

As always, one of the best things about a Pixar movie: the Pixar short before the movie. It was possibly the best one I have seen. Not as technically ground-breaking as some, but very cute and very very funny.

Oh - and outside the theater was the Batmobile. Not the Adam West one (which I thought was soooooooooo cool when I was a kid), but the Christian Bale one. Unfortunately, there was no Mr. Bale posing outside of the vehicle. ....a damned shame. (as always, click on images to make enbiggen them - it's a perfectly cromulent word!)



The Dark Knight opens in two weeks (?). It should be good. I like Heath Ledger and all, but seriously - Bale is hot. ....and don't even get me started on Michael 'send me the script, I'll do it) Caine!



Song by: Prince & the Revolution