Red Pepper Spicy Rag

Here I am, Blobby, off on another cooking adventure.

Eh - it was easy and not that adventurous, but good nonetheless.

In an on-going battle to eat right, for both of us, you don't want to sacrifice flavour for less fat.  It's a constant struggle sometimes.

We like pasta, but I will admit to not being fully on-board with the whole wheat stuff.  So if we are using white floured pasta, we try to look at the sauce we might use in that instance.  This time I went with an oil-based one to keep any cream out of it at all.  That was nicely done.

But oil is bland, so one must infuse it with something to make it better. I went with garlic, scallions and red pepper flakes.  I added chicken and broccoli later for protein and some vegetable.

1lb boneless chicken
1/4 head of broccoli (cut into small florets)
1/3 cup of olive oil
1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes
2 cloves of garlic, minced for chicken
2 cloves of garlic, smashed for oil
1 scallion, diced for oil
2 TBL of red wine sherry vinegar
2 cups of penne or wagon wheel pasta
Salt
Black pepper
Parmesan cheese

serves 4-6.

First off, I cooked the chicken on a pan with a little olive oil and the fresh minced garlic.  I removed and tented it with foil while I got the rest of the dish together (sorry, I took no pictures, except for the ingredients and the final product).  If need be, removed the garlic as it cooks. Since the chicken cooks for a bit and nothing is worse than burnt garlic.

Boil water for pasta.

In another pan, heat the oil, garlic and red pepper flakes until the oil smells fragrant (yes, I said 'fragrant'.  I'm that gay).  Then add in scallions.

Before adding the broccoli remove the garlic. Add broccoli then salt and pepper it after you toss it in the oil.  Cook for about five minutes.  Then add the red wine sherry vinegar.  At this point, add the chicken (cut up into easy to eat pieces) in with the broccoli and oil.  Mix around.

When pasta is done, drain and add to the pan with all the other ingredients. Toss together.

The oil mixture might not coat all the pasta, but you can add a little more oil and heat through. You might want to season some more with salt and pepper at this point.

Grated Parmesan, after dishing it up, is a nice touch.

Granted, the pasta looks kind of plain without "sauce", but it is very flavourful.  And I might have used a heaping 1/4 tsp for the red pepper flakes, but the dish packed some heat as you went along.  Reduce it a little if you don't like spice.

This will definitely go into my rotation. It's easy (though you use two pans), tasty and if you have vegetarians in the house, just delete the chicken.



Song by: Bela Fleck

Site of the Month

I don't necessarily mean to have a blog post that is streamlined for, oh say, two people, but if I did, this might be the one.

Those two people may or may not be my friends Morty and Tornwordo.  

Now, some of my other friends and readers might be fecal-oriented as well, but they just might not be as "open" about it.  Or perhaps there are known odor issues.  Perhaps it is a combination of things.

Well thank your lucky stars - because now there is Poo-Pouri. 

A solution so portable, you can take it with you anywhere you might end up pinching a loaf. 

How does it work you say?  Well, after you spray it in the crapper (before the dump, that is), the diagram gives a very simple explanation:

Though, of course, I see a problem if you have floaters and not sinkers.  ....but maybe that is just me. Perhaps Morty or Torn can weigh in on this potential dilemma. 

But when you go to the site, scroll down and look at the purchase packages, like the Best Smellers or the Pooh of a Kind. 

Be careful however if you write an amazon review - because, well, they're publishing some of them with the name of the buyer / reviewer attached.*

*this warning does not apply to Torn or Morty. 

Under the Gun

Oy, the screaming headlines with yesterday's killings at the Navy Yard.  Don't get me wrong, they should be in a huge fucking font. Not that we, as a nation, ever learn from this - the violent acts or the reporting.

Wasn't it just yesterday I wrote about Boston or Sandy Hook?  Just a year ago about Aurora, CO? Of course there are all the times I didn't even bother to write about a shooting of some sort.

But how can one ignore a minimum of 12 victims?  Truth be told, how can anyone ignore one, but we do. We are desensitized to the fact, yet as you'd assume, some of the eyewitness accounts are absolutely harrowing.

Oh, don't get me wrong, many of us will all up in arms for about six days before something shiny distracts us and then the NRA quietly puts their hands in their pockets, looks left, looks right and nonchalantly whistles as they slink back into the shadows.......until the next time.

Not long ago I was contacted by a researcher (and her team from onlineMBA), who had read a post I had done back in 2012.  I would think she might have read my Sandy Hook piece too, but perhaps not.

As you mostly all know, I'm skeptical when someone approaches me to blog something of theirs - and actually, I don't think I've ever done it.  Oh, I've mocked a few people who wanted me to review their shitty short movie videos, but never really gone further than that.

But I did watch the video that was sent to me, and I think it's worth a repost.  While it was billed, to me, as "politically neutral", and technically it might be,  I think it skews a little to the left.  ....not that there's anything wrong with that.  ....and maybe that's just my take. No doubt it is the NRA's take.

Truth be told, I knew I would have probably use the attached video and link they sent my way - I just didn't know when. Sometimes the news cycle has other plans in regards to timing.

Regardless of what I think of the NRA, which is not much, economically it is scary on how much firearms are a business. BIG business.

As I draft this, no doubt the backlash from whatever the NRA will say will be in full motion. They'll rattle their chains about the government (read: Obama) wanting to take away their guns.  I already saw a laughable comment on a blog about how (and I quote): "President Obama should do the responsible thing and stand firmly against gun control laws, so that the GOP led House will pass some."

I had to laugh. This is one area in which Obama is seriously lacking.  Obama's administration is way way way too soft on gun control. So much so, it barely exists.  As for the GOP doing anything Obama wants is fucking hysterical!  He could come out for breathing being necessary for life and they'd dispute it. Limbaugh has already taken Michelle Obama to task for saying Americans need to drink more water.

As much as I like Aaron Sorkin and even like his HBO show, the Newsroom, it can be spotty. But he / they do good new story pieces, clearly in hindsight, but.....if there were a true liberal media, the NRA, the GOP and the Tea Party would have all been called out for their bullshit rhetoric.  It is an almost three-minute piece worth watching.



Like my other pieces - nothing has changed. Gun control does not exist nor will it. There is no backbone in any White House, or the Senate or the House.

Background checks, licensing, education and training do not and will not exist. I am a defeatist when it comes to these facts. I believe Wayne LaPierre could obtain a gun, legally or not, go on live national television and shoot his own daughter in the head and and he'd be cheered by his organization, as it is his g-d given right!

Oddly enough, for the 400 times I've been to DC, I've seen 'Navy Yard' as a stop on the Metro, but never been over that way.  Now I feel it should be another stop at which to pay my respects.

The artist attached to the title today is almost no accident.  It is unfortunate in certain ways that I have so many songs with 'gun', 'kill' or 'shot' in the title  - though I don't think that is an accident for our society either.



Song by:  the Killers

My Music Monday

Wouldn't you know it - a few hours after I publish the last My Music Monday segment and Arcade Fire comes out with their new song - the title track from their forthcoming album Reflektor.

I will say, at the initial listening, with the first third of the song I was a little put off.  I'm not a huge fan of Régine Chassagne's vocal style, so after I could get past her few solo lines, I was fine. She's a better co-vocalist or background vocalist than lead. But the last two-thirds "Reflektor" either found its groove or I found it - or a little of both.

Granted, the song is over seven minutes long - about 90 seconds too long, but still it works. I've listened to it dozens of times at this point and it doesn't get boring at all.  Personally, I dig Win Butler's delayed vocal on the title word from that of Chassagne.

While Arcade Fire is clearly their own band and has their own style, their new song has, odd as it might sound, hints of Bowie and even Duran Duran in their mid-years. It's a good mix.  Actually David Bowie appears on the song, albeit briefly (very shortly at the 4:03 marks and then for about 30 seconds at the 4:50 mark).  As far as I know, Simon LeBon shows up nowhere.

While I get that the band is not for everyone, they have always been innovative with their videos....like their one for "We Used to Wait".  (you have to have Chrome as your browser for that.)

They did two videos for "Reflektor". One for all to watch - posted here below. It's......um....interesting.

The second is, again, tech savvy. You need a laptop with a webcam and Chrome. You also need a smartphone or iPad (again, with Chrome). Yes you need both devices.  There is a lot of hoop-jumping if you want to see this version of the video.

For those interested you got to this site on your browser.  There they will give you a code in which you put into your iphone/ipad.

After you enter the code and hit enter, at this point, you have the iphone/ipad face the laptop.  The video will play, but you have the opportunity to make it do certain things by moving the iphone/ipad in front of the webcam. It has mostly to do with light and reflection.

Yes, it's work, but at least it's not a crappy / lame Beyonce, Lady Gag Gag or Katy Perry video.

But if you're not that interested - you can listen to the song via their other video.

Picnic

It's food, but I can't say it is "cooking".  A stove, oven, grill, campfire or microwave were not used in this process.

But we were having a family gathering and I knew I had to bring something. While I knew most would be bringing some prepared foods, and some their homemade stuff, I went with the latter.

I was actually testing out a new salad that I was planning on bringing to our neighborhood block party in a few weeks. I didn't think it would be bad, but why not use the family a guinea pigs?

I know I liked it.  They claimed to....and they are not ones to spare feelings.

The recipe was snagged from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa - a celery salad.

I am not sure how many people like celery plain - I do.  But add peanut butter or cream cheese on it, and I'm fine with it as a snack. That can't be worse than potato chips, right?

But for a group, celery needs some jazzing up - and this is really done with the dressing you put on it - for the most part.

Here we go (in the image, I forgot to include the shallots or anchovy paste. oops:

Ingredients1/2 cup good olive oil
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 cups thinly sliced celery hearts, tender leaves included, sliced on an angle (about 12 stalks)
4-ounce chunk aged Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
Whole flat-leaf parsley leaves


DirectionsAt least 1 hour before you plan to serve the salad, whisk together the olive oil, lemon zest, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, the shallots, celery seed, celery salt, anchovy paste, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Place the celery in a mixing bowl and toss it with the remaining 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. (Even though these ingredients are in the dressing, believe me-this step makes a difference.) Add enough dressing to moisten well. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the celery to crisp and the flavors to develop.

When ready to serve, arrange the celery on a platter, shave the Parmesan onto the celery with a vegetable peeler, then sprinkle with walnuts, parsley leaves, salt, and pepper and serve immediately


First off, the stated prep time of 15 minutes might be a little understatement. Chopping celery to get five cups is more time consuming than you might expect - and that's if one doesn't clean the celery, which I hope one would.

That said, with the cleaning, the chopping, the grating, the juicing and the whisking, you're probably closer to 25 minutes.

I skipped the walnuts, because, if you've been paying attention, unless it's cashew chicken, nuts should not be in food.  ....at least that is my rule, when making or eating.

Maybe it was the lemons I purchased, but I only needed one and a half to get the juice needed.

Anyways, the recipe is a keeper. It might be better for warmer weather eats, but it is fairly easy and serves up to six (probably more).

the dressing

the kind of finished product.  I forgot to take a snap until people already started digging in. 

Song by: Seals & Crofts

I've Got a Dog

Saturday is Petey Porn Day.  ...and I can formulate the posts days in advance and schedule them to publish. 

Win-Win. 

Instagram - stacked beds. 

 No stand-off.  Perhaps just a Mutual Admiration Society meeting. 

He (almost) never gets anything while I'm eating - but it never stops his cute & silent begging.
 Look at that face!

 No, not a stretch.  He's out like a light. 

Sentry Cat.  "You shall not pass!"

Yes, he has two (!!) beds in this room. But that wasn't enough. He stole a blanket, rearranged it and slept on it. I'm not about to say 'no' to him. 

Song by:  Dwight Yoakam

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 43rd 12 of 12. 

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, a number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Janet Hughes is now hosting the link that puts many 12 of 12'ers together (sometimes she keeps current, mostly she does not, so I might have to drop this link / reference).  The number of people linking don't seem to be as robust as they once were, but that stands to reason.  

I still continue to do this, because of all my consistent post topics, I actually like this one the most.  

07:05.  Petey going for the lean-in.  His first pee of the day. 

07:20.  The new 'no dumping' campaign. Water goes from the storm sewers to Doan Brook to Lake Erie.  I'd like to think our 'hood is a no-dumping community.

08:00.  Trimming the beard. I do it once weekly and still use the guest bathroom for this task. Why get the master bath dirty?

10:00.  Left note on package delivered to our house by mistake. It was a Mercedez-Benz auto part.

16:00.  Rain? check.  Light on? check.  Wipers on? check. Taking a picture while driving in the rain? ummm...check.

16:20. Only in Shaker Hts would an Audi TT be a Student Driver vehicle.

16:40.  Had to drop off some unwanteds for somebody who will hopefully want them.

16:50.  Admittedly, I drove past here on purpose though I didn't need to. It will be the title of my autobiography....which will also be pure fiction.

17:00.  Is this a social statement of some kind?

18:10.  I honestly didn't look, but I find it hard to believe we have cracks on the street - right in the middle and only on the lane markers - that are in this pattern.

19:15. Sophie hangin' with her Pops.

22:10.  Dessert  Hersey Sundae Pie.  710 brought it home from work. 

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!

I believe years ago I did a segment on the foolishness of the naming of wines.  Marilyn Merlot (ugh), or Plungerhead (that has a toilet plunger on some guy's head).

But I think we have now jumped the shark - so to speak.

I like Fleetwood Mac / Stevie Nicks as much as the next guy, though my love for them has waned over the last decade and a half.   ...but c'mon!

Yes, it's possible that the wine was named for a mythological Welsh figure, but I think no one ever heard of that character before Stevie Nicks wrote her 1975 top 10 hit.

I don' know who these marketing gimmicks aim for, but I'm assuming they had a crack analytical team knowing that forty or fifty somethings would buy this because it hearkened back to their youth.

I'm just not one of them.

Know Your Onion

Yes, it's 9/11, and I have not forgotten, but I won't be bullied into doing an annual post about that day.

We can talk about something more tragic - my cooking.

Last Sunday, 710 and I attended a bar-b-que at one of our neighbors house. They requested we bring chips and dip.

Chips and dip for 10 people?  That sounded, well.........boring. But I'm a good party guest and do as I'm told.  I mean, I wasn't exactly roped into what kind of dip or chips to bring. Many would bring store-bought dip and Ruffles.

Oh, I considered making salsa, but I had done that before, so I did go back to the thought of regular dip, as we were only asked about 20 hours before the party. However, in good conscious, I couldn't buy Dairyman's dip, but I wasn't making chips either.

So I compromised, I bought potato chips, but some nice kettle ones - Shears with 40% less fat (though less than what, I don't exactly know)  - yet I was going to "make" the dip.

Trust me, it wasn't a stretch. No limbs were gone out on.  As you can see, four ingredients. Total prep time was about 7 minutes.  Tops.

16oz of sour cream
4oz of crumbled blue cheese
4 tablespoons (or one package of) dry onion soup mix
chopped chives (optional)
1 tablespoon of milk (optional)

You know how this goes:  sour cream goes into a bowl, then the soup mix - stir it in until it is well mixed.  Then add the blue cheese and mix again. Chill for an hour or two so the flavours set.

If the dip thickens, you can add milk and stir in to thin it out a bit, but a good stirring will do the same thing.

I did chop some chives, mostly for presentation.....because, I am after all......me!

I thought this much dip would be enough for 10 folks, but it turns out only a few ate it. I would have been fine cutting the recipe in half.

Unfortunately for me, we have a bunch of chips and dip now hanging around the house - exactly what I don't need.

However, it is quick and easy and looks homemade, so if you're going to a shin-dig, you can pretend like you "made" it yourself and put some effort into the whole thing.



Song by:  the Shins

Festival

It seems I have zero songs with the word 'garlic' in the title. What's that about?

After yoga on Sunday (an iffy class at best), David and I broke from our normal getting tea and sitting around rapping (not like Young MC or Tone Loc) by him suggesting we go down to the local Garlic Festival.

David had been the day before and got roped into being their unofficial official photographer. Due to that fact, he snagged me an armband to get in for free.

The event is nice, but c'mon, it's $8 to get in and you still have to buy your food and beverages.

Now, I do love garlic and David expounded on the garlic shrimp and garlic fries. It's just that after yoga (well and during and before), I wasn't feeling great, so the sound of food wasn't that appealing to me.  Not only that, but the competing smell of garlic didn't always make for great smells.

Someone cooking meat versus chicken versus shrimp, well when all of those came together, the collective smell wasn't the winning combination. Of course, it could have been that I wasn't feeling that well either.

Still, it was fun to walk around and see the vendors (slow roasted heads of garlic - taking 6 weeks(!!) to roast??), the cooking demos to the bands and art. I ended up eating nothing. But it was fun to watch David work - he's very good at what he does. I hope the folks he took pics of get to see his work with them in it.

...and better yet, he only caught me in one picture and that wasn't with his fancy-schmancy camera, but with my iPhone.

CREEPY.  ....and this time, I am talking about the "guy" on the right.   ...but what abs!

The rest of the pics are mine and mine alone.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar ruined everything!

I liked the garlic chalk art though. 

I didn't stick around long enough to know who was crowned Ms. Garlic Cleveland. I'm not sure what her duties would be, but I'm sure it can go on a college application. 

The Garlic Fest was a great community event. Maybe next year I'll be ready to eat some of that food. 

Song by:  Sigur Rós

My Music Monday

There is some kind of weird world of mid-90's "rock" that is both comforting and disconcerting in its familiarity.

The mid-decade was littered with bands that had somewhat likable music but so generic that it was hard to tell one band apart from the last - if that was even possible.

I had lots of songs and bands to choose from for today's entry:  the Gin Blossoms. Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Third Eye Blind, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Semisonic, Tonic and to a degree matchbox twenty. I could go on and on.

There was something very safe about their songs.  Radio friendly, singable and taking no risks at all. They were a record company's dream artist. Give the people what they think they want.

You could say this about any musical era, no doubt.  It works for Artist A - so bring on B, C, D, etc. Maybe it is just me, but the '90s seemed to have more of this.

Like I said, it's not bad music - it's just there.  Fairly non-descript and while I know music fairly well, with some of these groups, I'd have a hard time assigning a song to each of them.

The same can be said for this week's selection:  the Devlins' "Waiting".

It's a decent song, but nothing that will make you truly stop to take notice. It's just one that you've heard before, or feel that you have.

It was used in a promo for Six Feet Under way back when.

I totally get that this post sounds like I don't care for any of this music - but that's not true. It shuffles through my playlists, but on the other hand they aren't songs I'd purposefully search out often.

The music is kind of like comfort food.

Unplayed Piano

BosGuy wrote almost a week ago about Boston's Play Me, I'm Yours public piano installation.

I'm glad Boston is doing it. New York City also has done it.

Cleveland has been doing it for the last few months as well, with a few pianos sticking around until the end of this month.

There was one in front of the Rock Hall during our yoga session last week. But there are a number of uprights down in University Circle as well.

Since 710 and I had lunch down there yesterday, I plopped my ass down to kind of play one, since I can only kind of play.

Sure I know some chords. I know all the notes. I can read music. But my coordination has never been such that I can easily play chords with my left and notes with the right - at least at the same time. I'd work on that more, but we don't have a piano - so I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Yet, I sat and played a little. What little I could.

The placement of three or four pianos in this area seemed apropos, as mine was situated right in front of the headquarters for the very prestigious Cleveland International Piano Competition.

Ugh - Now that they've potentially heard me, I hope they don't hound me to participate in next year's event. Who has the time?  ...and it'd just be embarrassing for the rest of the participants.

Since 710 was taking pictures, he told me to "smile".  This doesn't look too forced, does it?

Song by: Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan

Brother's Keeper

For those who are newer to my blog, or don't read for content, or have retention deficit issues, a little background on Petey.

He was my sister's dog and we took him in about 16 months ago - and have never looked back. But when he was at my sister's house, he had a brother. Not a biological one, but a Miniature Australian Shepard, named Boomer.

Boomer was, and is, a herding dog. Boundless energy and smart as a whip. But he is four years younger than Petey, and as such, Petey is somewhat the alpha in that relationship - not that you'd get it from the title image.  Or most of their images.

Boomer runs rings around Petey - literally, but that's his breeding. However, Petey would also steal his brother's bed and would sleep on both, which is why Boomer slept on top of Petey.

We took Petey to my parent's house last weekend. Unknown to us, my sister did the same thing with Boomer. It was like old home week for the two. They picked up just where they left off.

doing their "fight" / play thing.  There's no bad blood between them. 

I loved Petey shaking in this pic.  You get the nose, kind of the eyes and maybe an ear. 

Boomer trying to pin Petey down.  It didn't work. 

....and then a video of them at play

Not only did my sister and brother-in-law love seeing Petey, so did my parents and so did Boomer. 

Song by: Aimee Mann

Here Are Many Wild Animals

I mentioned a few months back that our 'hood had wild turkeys.

Apparently they are back. Maybe they never left, but if not, they've been keeping it on the DL.

Neighbors said they saw three together.  I've seen them a bunch over the last few weeks, but always two at a time. Never three.  Maybe our neighbor needs new glasses.  Even when she got a picture it was only two.

However, the image you see is mine from yesterday.

On coming back from our walk, Petey was very animated as we trotted up the drive.  There they were, in the middle of the yard. He wanted to go at them, but I was having none of it.  I don't know how wild wild turkeys are.  They ain't small, that's for sure.

As they walked around our two large maples, I watched the squirrels trying to approach the trees, but too afraid to get near these things. I have no idea what wild turkeys eat, but I'm guessing not squirrels.

The squirrels actually made the turkeys flap their wings, but I think they be flightless birds. Still the flapping got the squirrels to run, so it is a defense mechanism. I would have no idea what Petey would try to do to these guys, or vice versa - and I wasn't finding out.

I did go back out and try to capture video, but they went down the hill, on foot, fairly quick. I barely got this still shot.

Of course, if they charged me, I didn't know what I would even do.

Run like a girl, I suppose. Though not in Birkenstocks. They'd catch up to me and kill me.



Song by: A Camp

Judgement of the Moon and Stars

I have been hesitant to write anything regarding same-sex marriage recognition in the state of Ohio for a while now, but not probably for the reason you think.

If you had not heard - and most of my readers have - that in late July a gay couple in Cincinnati who had married in Maryland had sued to have their marriage recognized by the state of Ohio.  One of the husbands is afflicted with ALS and they wanted his inevitable death certificate to reflect their marriage status.

Federal Judge Timothy Black granted that request and the State of Ohio did not appeal the ruling. However, to be safe, Judge Black extended the order until December 31, 2013.

And two days ago, the same judge issued a temporary restraining order (which doesn't quite sound right, but.....I'm not a lawyer) to have the vital statistics office issue a death certificate for another married gay couple, to have them listed as married.  One of the husbands in that relationship passed away unexpectedly.

This is good news - though it is happening at bleak periods in those men's lives.

The part you have not heard about, and most likely will now not, is that in early July of this year, 710 and myself were approached to be plaintiffs against the State of Ohio to be recognized by the state. It was to be a coordinated effort of four couples filing in four different federal courts:  Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton.

The couples were to be one that was married (us), one that wanted to be, one that had children and I don't remember what type the fourth couple would have been.

This would not be a lawsuit to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage, but an extension of DOMA and that our relationship / marriage should be recognized and treated as legitimate in a state that does not have same-sex marriage rights.

710 and I talked it over for a short period of time before agreeing to do this. As a couple, we would certainly give up some anonymity and give those who don't know us exposure to our life that we normally would not.

But on the other hand, with the ruling of DOMA and Prop 8, which had just happened, we were thinking of being advocates and activists in the process.  We contacted the lawyer who asked and agreed to be one of the couples.

Our would-be activism was short-lived.  Probably.

The ALS couple, g-d love them, kind of thwarted what was soon to be the four filed lawsuits. With Judge Black's ruling going to the first of the year, we were put on hold to see what would happen. With his new ruling yesterday, it seems less and less likely we will have that opportunity.

Of course, Black's decision is good, but I'll be honest - I was hoping to be a catalyst for change - and not just by signing a petition or voting on a referendum. We wanted to really be part of the change agent.

I'm a little stumped that our right-winged governor and attorney general are not defending the State against the complaints. They did says they would fight the ban on gay marriage, but this is recognition, not the ability to marry.  It's a fine line, but I'm wondering what their end-game might be. This is out of character for these two. There has to be a shoe they're gonna drop, right?

I also wonder with these two rulings, and last week's IRS announcement, that they would recognize same-sex marriages regardless of what state the couples now reside (trust me, we'll be looking into how we file and what benefits us the most - because the IRS isn't completely altruistic), and yesterday's  Justice department notification that military benefits will go to spouses of veterans, how much of a hindrance or need there will be for same-sex marriage for each state.

If Social Security goes the way of the IRS, the DoD or the Justice Department, that really only leaves a few state laws (i.e. state taxes and some hospital regulations) that separate us from opposite-sex married couples. And if CMS or HHS put rulings in regarding reimbursement for hospitals to recognize us, then that medical roadblock will fall as well.

If all those things happens, why wouldn't states then allow same-sex marriages - could it expedite moving marriage through the system?  Or on the other side, why would they need it in every state - except for that state tax thingy?  It's possible they won't make that change because they don't need to. We can get married in 13 other places and still live where we want without the state feeling the need to perform these marriages.

Honestly, I don't think the fight for the right to marry would dissolve, but I think it could get derailed by the likes of NOM, if they need another tactic to beat their chest on the "sanctity of marriage'.  I can hear them say - you've got your rights recognized, all states don't need to allow you to marry.

....but then you have the National Guard from the lovely states of Texas and Louisiana who are defying the Department of Defense on providing benefits to same-sex couples. Since that crosses state and federal governance, I don't know who has the ruling, DoD or the state?  Someone pull back any and all federal funding for those branches and let them go it alone.  Kind of like those ass states that don't want FEMA, until a hurricane, tornado or a chemical plant blows up.

So even in that case, federal rights don't matter and I don't know that state passage would mean anything different to mindsets like those.

Either way - right now, I applaud Judge Black, but was hoping to we'd play a (bigger) part of that. Imagine those blog posts!  I'd have material for months!

Alas, not now.  At least unless something happens with these two rulings. I have not heard anyone scream 'activist judge' yet.  My fingers are crossed that we do not.



Song by: Joni Mitchell

White Blank Page

It is one of those days.  Post holiday blues and nothing going on.

There is almost nothing to write about so I'll keep it short and sweet: my noggin is about 85% better.  I have morning and evening pain, but during the day, over all it is much better - so there's that.  Another 10 days of meds and we'll reevaluate where I am in the healing cycle.

Of course, now I have some post-nasal drip and a sore throat. I am almost hoping it is just allergies.  Ragweed is off the charts up here on the pollen scale, not that I've seen any.  I'm just hoping it's not a cold.

So it is off to bed for me, early.

More tomorrow.  Probably.


Song by:  Mumford & Sons

Long Walk

There is zero going on that is exciting.

That's not such a bad thing. As you read, the weekend was filled with yoga, and that was just frickin' great.  I cannot say enough good things about last Friday's nighttime yoga.  While I said it was 90 minutes, and was scheduled to be, I was corrected that it went on for 120 minutes.

It didn't feel like it - even though the instructor pushed me to my limits. I hope there are other events like this.  Mind you,  as we move into Autumn and Winter, something the size of over a thousand folks is slim to none.

The rest of the holiday weekend?  Eh - nothing too much.

We did take Petey to my parent's house for Sunday dinner.  Unknown to me (or her), my sister brought Boomer, Petey's old brother - a miniature Australian Shepard.  They were great and fell into old habits of how they treat each other, but more on that on the next Petey Porn Day.

Then there were the everyday living things, most of the time - yard, house, groceries and such. Labor Day just gave us an extra day to do such crud.

I will say, between bouts of rain, we did get out for some walking - some with Petey, some without.

Our big walk was going through the Acacia Reservation.  Petey had been before, but not this time. 710 had never been. Had we not been running errands, of course we would have had Petey take us on a walk. But this time it was just us - walking a few miles through the park that is going from golf course to nature preserve.

Oh don't worry - Petey got several walks during the day.  And that play with his brother the night before wore his beagle butt out anyways.

However, now it is only a four-day week, so we got that.



Song by:  Lori Carson

My Music Monday

It is Labor Day.   ....but you probably already knew that whether you have the day off or not.

In keeping with the tradition of labor, why don't provide a song about work?

The Tragically Hip is the group for today - along with their song, "My Music at Work".

As Canadian band, they've been around forever - or you know, the early '80s.  But there aren't tons of bands that have lasted that long, at least that don't only come back every 5-6 years for reunion tours - or for the cash.

The Hip have been continually working the entire time and maybe have a dozen albums under their belt - the last one being 2012.  They still tour regularly, but I'm not sure how much outside of Canada they are known.

While I heard of them back in college, I didn't really hear them until basic cable brought us MuchMusic (Canada's way cooler MTV).

True, I don't own a single album from them, I do have a few individual songs, one being "My Music at Work".

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and today's holiday.

I Still Believe in You

Friday evening I made my way downtown to the Rock 'n Roll Hall o' Fame.  There was a planned event that a number of folks wanted to attend, and I said I would go.

Lest you think it was a concert, it was not, but one called Believe in Cleveland: a night of yoga, music, mindfulness and connection.  And food.

It was also about how Cleveland never gets a good rap and we are a great city. I notice most of the people who joke about the city have never been.  But it has a lot going on.

About 1,100 of my closest friends I'd never met were there.  It seems a fuck of a lot of people do yoga in Cleveland and not at the studios to which I go.

As it turns out, from the yoga posse, there were only six of us who attended - at least that I saw. Since we didn't have a pre-determined meet-up spot, I'm amazed that Nasim, Debbie and I even found each other.  They had "dates".  I did not.

Oh, I asked 710 and two friends to come with, and that they could show up after yoga and we'd hit the food trucks. I really wanted to sample the food trucks.  But as I then found out yoga wouldn't start until 20:00 and it was a 90 minute class, no one would have wanted to stick around until 21:30 to eat, or wait around for me to start eating.

I gotta say, the yoga was great. It was a challenging hour and a half with no regards level of practice. If anyone was a beginner they were kind of fucked. But it was kind of beautiful seeing so many people go through their flow.

The image is not mine, but I loved it and am using it.

It was extremely humid.  Thank g-d for the breeze off the lake.I was dripping halfway through and almost considered going shirtless, but you can all stand down, I did not. I'll wait for my cousin to do semi-naked yoga.

While yoga is usually accompanied by serene music, this wasn't exactly the case:  Prince, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, U2, Billy Idol and others were played, but I have to say, fairly well incorporated.

We did our "ohms" and the guy next to me was trying to be heard five rows ahead of us. It's not about that - but he tried his damnedest. ...and I didn't know it was possible to 'ohm' in a flat key, but lordy he did it - over and over.

Shavasna. You can't see me, because I am much closer to the Rock Hall doors. Again, the image is not mine.

At the end of the practice, the hosting group took forever to give their "thank-yous".  I was all, "Shut up - I want the food trucks."

But one of the announcements was that all but two of the 10 food trucks cancelled.  SRSLY?????  ...and one that was there was vegan....for 1,100 people.   Well fuck!

Now, I'm sure the organizers knew about the cancellation well before yoga started, but had they told us then, how many people might have left.  I hate to say it, I might have. I was starving before yoga started. By the end I was famished.

The five of us opted to walk up to the "hip" district to get food - mostly because now it was 24:00 and it is downtown Cleveland. It's about the only place to get eats at that time.  And since we, especially me, were dressed so casually, we opted for The Corner Alley, since it is a bowling alley.

Oh yes, I'm hyperlinking them here so maybe they'll go and see my comments. Or so that it warns people who might Gooooogle their name and see my post, to avoid it at all costs.

As I was in a sleeveless t-shirt, I was told our group would not be seated or served.  Both women however, had sleeveless tank-tops, which I pointed out, but it was I who was the offender. Clearly a double-standard, but then I don't have a C or D cup. So they refused service to us both with inside and outside seating..........at a fucking bowling alley that thinks it is way better than it is.

Mind you, this is a Friday night on the most crowded street in downtown Cleveland. They had only two tables occupied outside and another two inside. It's not like they had lots of opportunities to seat anyone at all.

Yes, I get that they want to be a high-end establishment, but you're at 20% capacity on arguably the biggest night of the week and when it comes down to it, you're still a bowling alley - get over yourselves.  Oh - and at the time, not one lane was being used for, you know, bowling.

Russell, from the group goes, "I have an extra shirt for you".  I said thanks, but no thanks,  as I would never set foot in that fucking establishment ever again - loud enough for all to hear.

We walked across the alley to House of Blues, which sat us immediately and laughed knowingly at their neighbor's dress code policy.

I'd like to say I enjoyed my HoB meal, but it wasn't about taste at that point, it was for fuel only. I shoveled it in indiscriminately and washed it back with two beers and about four glasses of water. Then I had to walk a mile and a half back to my car and drive home. While in desperate need of a shower, but I hit the sheets instead.

So, I get the irony that when I earlier said that Cleveland is a great place and we had a great time - and we did.....and then later, we didn't.  But as Donny Osmand once sang, one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch of girls.  It's just that we find those apples, toss them out and find better ones.

We did make the best of a situation and it was a fun group to hang with for the evening.  One of the folks I didn't know at all, and one I had only met once - so it was nice to sit around afterwards and chat over food and drink.

Since I didn't get home until almost 00:45, there was no way I was making my 09:00 class, and I didn't. But I'm back at the studio today at 11:00.



Song by: Vince Gill