Karmic-Dragonfly

Hail, Carrots, Friends, Trojans

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:06:03 GMT

Hail

So, I was waiting around for a bike ride today to see if it would warm up any...and it started getting colder...and then the hail storm made my decision about whether I was going biking!

Carrots

I had totally forgotten sowing some carrot seeds earlier this year. I remembered today, and so I got my harvest (after the hail stopped, lol!) --

Friends' Get-Togethers

Tonight, Deege and I went to two different parties -- the first by a male couple in my neighborhood -- they've been in their house for 22 years! The other guests were mostly from my neighborhood as well, so it was nice to meet other gay men in the area! And their house is of about the same time period as mine, so the furnishings & colors were to my taste.

We were probably only there an hour and 1/2 or so before we left to go to the party in the Fan. Enjoyed the second one very much too -- different crowd, but very enjoyable. I'm totally going to be dry tomorrow when I wake up. I have to be sure to drink a lot of water before hitting the sack tonight.

Trojans, Viruses

On a different note -- I was in Facebook tonight, and without clicking anything, the browser URL was suddenly transferred to a different site.

The new site promptly told me how many trojans and viruses were on my system. (I can guarantee you that I have ZERO of those on the Mac...) I was rolling my eyes...

Funny thing was that the site was using a bunch of Windows terminology to warn me -- showing me "My Documents" for example, when there is no such thing on the Mac...or popping up a fake dialog box about Windows alerts...Helllooo -- I'm on a Mac here -- no Windows!

I hate sites like that!

Friday After

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:39:47 GMT

Yesterday, I got a brief bike ride on the commuter bike during the morning (with only a minor turnover on some wet leaves at the park).

And then had a very nice time visiting with my sisters. We don't get as much time as I'd like for just the three of us to be together as adults chatting. Both of them have already commented on how much they enjoyed just sitting around and talking yesterday, and opening birthday gifts, and eating pie (my sweet potato pie and one sister's pumpkin pie).

I took the road bike into Performance today because the chain was dragging against the front derailleur at higher gears. The chain cackled -- the higher the gear, the louder it cackled. I wasn't going to go riding today because the weather is sort of cool, but now that the road bike is in working order again, I'm thinking seriously about getting out. I can tell that I'm going to freeze my tits off again -- I bought a thicker jersey at Performance today, so maybe that will help.

Tonight, heading out with a friend to a couple of parties, and definitely looking forward to getting out!

***
I forgot that this is Friday...so here's an update with some eye candy...

Fascinatin'

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:41:54 GMT

Whenever I shop for Christmas, I also usually buy stuff for myself also. Recently, I bought the DVD for that Star Trek movie that was in the theaters earlier this year.

There were a couple of extras on the DVD, including a gag reel. Really, not many bloopers, but this scene was cute (wonder how long this will last on Youtube before it gets removed?) --

Musings on a Cold Rainy Monday

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:27:07 GMT

Counting down the days until the long holiday! It will be nice to be off! I am still not sure what I'll be doing on Thanksgiving. The standoff between my Mom and me is creating emotional stress fractures in the family.

The middle sister has been on again, off again about having a dinner on Thanksgiving evening. Even if she doesn't have a dinner, I was thinking of driving to visit the sisters, so that we can trade birthday gifts. It's our tradition that we call each other and send cards on our birthdays, but that we hold the presents until we see each other later in the year.

***
My nephew's wife sort of went into labor last night. She was having contractions and dilated to 2.5cm...but didn't go much past that...so I went over to the hospital and visited for a while, then got word this morning that they were sent home. So, I might have a Thanksgiving great-nephew after all!

***
I had lunch today with a friend of a friend who looks to be in his early 50s (I don't know his exact age)...he is just now coming out as a gay man! Wow, it seems hard to come out after you've been married and had kids...but I'm glad he finally did it! I was telling him that I came out 17 years ago...hard to believe that it has been that long!

***
I've been testing a new (to me) browser called Camino. Evidently, Camino was around on the Mac before Firefox was written for the Mac. It's built on the same rendering agent as Firefox, so it functions similarly. I'm writing this post using Camino.

The reason I have been using Camino is because Facebook and Safari do not work well together. And the friends list has not been working well for me in Firefox -- ever since I downloaded a beta version of Flash -- not sure if that is what caused my issues or not.

Camino feels more "Mac-like" than Firefox...I'm tempted to switch!

Network performance has been pretty crappy for me lately anyway -- I've noticed that my cable modem is blinking its ass off, even when I'm not using it. Console is filling up with firewall messages that there are stealth connection attempts -- some from IP addresses outside my network. So, I'm not sure what's going on right now!

***
Going on the first official date with "neighborhood guy" this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to it -- I had gotten tired of the sex romp thing and was pleased when he asked about having an "official date." And we finally have gotten our schedules together, so Sunday it is!

Garnett's, Pennyshaker @ Bogart's

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:47:29 GMT

Had a good time last night.

I did a quick run to the wine store to pick up a couple of bottles of a favorite Nebbiolo to take with me to a couple of "day after Thanksgiving" parties that I've been invited to (no, alas, the cutie that works at the wine store was not working last night).

Deege and I went to Garnett's on Park for dinner. Not a bad place. I went there once when it was Table 7, but I like the food better now. It's owned by the same folks as Ipanema, although this place is not strictly vegetarian. As a matter of fact, there were only a few options for veggie folks, but what I had was good - a "WBLT" -- a white bean lettuce and tomato. The white bean and garlic spread they used on it was very tasty.

Then, we went to hear Pennyshaker at Bogart's. The lead singer had a good voice, and the musicians did a great job as well. They were giving away one of their CDs, so I picked one up. Ripped it to iTunes this morning, so I can give the original CD to Deege later.

Right now, I'm doing some laundry while I wait for it to warm up enough for a bike ride.

Friday Eye Candy

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:04:12 GMT

Leaving That Awful Smell...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:42:43 GMT

I think I might have posted about this before, but I have always liked this quirky song by the Bobs --
Spontaneous Human Combustion

Poof! There goes another one! LOL!

Here's the iTunes link to the song.

Youtubes

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:24:03 GMT

I never pictured an Hasidic Reggae singer...

And I liked this one --

Youtube is good for some things, but one thing it is NOT good for is finding clips of songs from TV shows. I wanted to find a clip of Willow singing to Tara in one of the Buffy episodes -- I could find the song, but not the actual clip.

Mantra

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:09:20 GMT

Today was the first sunny day in a week! So, I got my butt out on a bike ride.

It was a good bike ride, but there were several hills that were hard -- the worst was the hill from the Huguenot bridge up River Rd to Cary St. I took a small detour there, thinking I might find an alternative to River Rd -- and the blue arrow shows the only place on the ride that I actually dismounted and walked the bike -- I was just too used up at that point to make it up the hill on Huntley!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3322627

Couple of pics from the ride...all the rain and then the wind lately caused some trees to fall. This one was across the road near the Pumphouse at Byrd Park.

View of the river from Riverside Drive --

***
Afterwards, I went to the Byrd to see a "Zen Horror" flick, lol! It was called Mantra. It was odd, no doubt. Very gory. But not scary in the typical horror flick fashion -- more like watching a nightmare. It was set as a bunch of campers attending a new age retreat -- all of them bringing some major personal demons afflicting them (like the wife of one had recently died, and another had attempted suicide several times). Throughout the film, this blue demon figure kept going around and making sure to tempt people with their desires -- sex, food, regret, etc.

I can't say that I could make heads or tails of it, except that people really are caught in their own desires like that...and they don't even know it. So, I'll leave this with a couple of verses from the Dhammapada that seem pertinent to this movie...

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it. (1:1)

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves. (1:2)
...
By oneself is evil done; by oneself one is injured. Do not do evil, and suffering will not come. Everyone has the choice to be pure or impure. No one can purify another. (12:65)

***
Tonight, I rounded up a couple of friends to walk over to Bev's in Carytown for ice cream. It was my reward for a hard bike ride!

Lazy Saturday

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:57:00 GMT

Lazy day so far...clouds, and the marathon, 1/2 marathon, and 8K is today, so it would be a hassle to get out in the car right now. I usually go out and clap for a while, but I have this feeling that I'm just going to hang out inside today. I only know a few people who are running, and who knows when they will come by. Last time that I actually looked for a particular friend, I saw everyone except her!

Anyways, I was disappointed with my my cholesterol level on my recent blood work. Here's the deal -- over the last few years, I have had a particular negative side effect to every statin I tried -- nothing life threatening, but also not something that I will put up with. So, I won't take any more statins.

Given that I was not on meds, I knew my level would not be in the proper range. But considering how much biking I have been doing, and that I have lost about 10 pounds since the last time I was there, I expected the level to have gone down a bit. Instead, it rose 25 points!

Since the doctor knows about my statin side effects, the suggestion is that I start taking fish oil, which I have now started.

I have no real plans today, except to do some errands and get a bike ride in. I might head out to J. Emerson to grab a bottle of Barboursville Nebbiolo -- it's one that I like very much, and I might take it with me to an upcoming get-together.

Friday Eye Candy

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:10:51 GMT

Enoteca Sogno

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:30:31 GMT

Deege and I went to Enoteca Sogno for dinner last night -- wine bar with good Italian food.

I liked it. I'll go back. One blogger suggested that it was overlooked and that is is an alternative to the crowded Edo's Squid and to Mama Zu's. I'd probably agree with that, except that I really liked the eggplant at Edo's.

It's on Broad across from Pleasant's, so you almost have to know it's there -- it's not something that you notice much as you drive by. I think the interior could be improved on -- I am not a huge fan of a big exposed brick wall. Deege mentioned that it looked like a store.

Having said that, the food was good, as was the service (waiter was a cute, pleasant guy that I recognized from his other job). I had no idea how to pick from their list of wines, so I got the waiter to help.

It was a cold, rainy Wednesday night (Thanks, Ida!). There was another 4 top in there when we arrived. By the time we left, a second 4 top arrived, and there were a few folks sitting at the bar. Not a lot of people, but the weather was nasty, and it was a Wednesday.

I had the gnocchi in marinara sauce and some butternut squash soup. I can't remember what Deege had -- something with meat sprinkled on it...totally of no interest to me.

We chose a Montepulciano wine because I had never had that grape, and because Deege said he didn't like heavy reds (blasphemy!). This was sort of tannic -- but perfectly good to me (it's hard not to please me in that respect).

We split a cannoli -- I don't remember having had a cannoli before, and I decided that a pastry with sweet cheese piped into is not my fave. I prefer fruit -- like pies and cobblers. So, I'll have to see what else they have for dessert next time.

As an aside, I mentioned the Mascarpone cheese and bagel from the other day, and Deege muttered something in Yiddish (goyish or goyemish or something)...saying that no Jew would ever eat that on a bagel, lol! I thought that was funny -- as if I was trying to eat bagels like a Jewish person. I liked my Mascarpone, thankyouverymuch! I probably deserved the comment, since I called him a NY Jew a few weeks ago (all in good fun of course, lol!)

I noticed the (cute, pleasant) waiter brought the check to me, lol! I think he was surprised when we split the check.

Mid-week Holiday

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:07:55 GMT

I have today off. It's been 20 years since I have worked at a place that had Veteran's Day off. It's an odd holiday because it has never been moved to Monday -- so this year, it falls smack dab on hump day.

It's been rainy and cool, but I got out early to get some blood drawn for my annual checkup...The damned place now requires a credit card in addition to your insurance information -- just in case the insurance doesn't pay everything. That just pisses me off.

So, the damned teabaggers (don't they research names before they use them?? -- it amuses me that they chose the nickname for a sexual activity) are anti national health care? I'm glad they like the crappy insurance situation we have now in the US. They are such tools.

Anyways, afterwards I went to Carytown with the laptop for coffee and quiche and to surf the web a while.

Then, ran some errands and have been doing some online Christmas shopping.

Tonight, I'm looking forward to dinner with a friend.

Monday, oh Monday

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:59:41 GMT

Update: this post was so effing whiney that the next day, even I didn't like reading it, lol! So I hid it...but I've decided that, given all the other crap I've let hang out there on this journal, why should I be concerned about airing this, right? So, here it is again...

A friend hurt my little feelings lately, lol! (God, I'm so sappy.) My first instinct was to back off for a while, which I did...but then I got to thinking --

1) I don't know him all that well, in the grand scheme of things, but I can't believe he would intentionally hurt me. I can't be that poor a judge of character -- he has a good soul.
2) Although his action/lack of action made me feel a little like day old bread, I know for a fact that I'm piping hot from the oven (!)...so I will only feel like day old bread if I allow it! I choose not.
3) He may be going through some stuff that I don't know about, so why would I add to that?

I guess I chose a more positive course of re-action.

Anyways, I'm making comfort food tonight -- mashed potatoes and baby peas -- total insulin attack, right? At least I did get a short walk in tonight!

Hangin'

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:37:39 GMT

I've been kinda doing my own thing lately...not really posting on here or Facebook very much.

I went to First Fridays -- I liked the black and white silent movie that was projected on the building on Jefferson St. -- I had not seen that before. And I was glad to go into Gallery5 when it wasn't full of costumed people.

The weather was nice enough yesterday that I got a bike ride in yesterday -- about 20 miles. Route is below.

There was a game at the UofR stadium, which I didn't expect, so the traffic was backed up. I actually dismounted and walked the bike past the parking lot because it was too hard to deal with the stop and go traffic. Today is supposed to be gorgeous (for November), so I plan to get out on the bike again!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3308338

I had a date last night, which was nice. That particular situation seems to be changing unexpectedly -- what started out as just a sexual romp is starting to lean more towards conversation. He's a nice guy, and I enjoyed talking last night. (of course, I enjoyed the non-conversational part too...) He speaks French, how bad could he be, right? He was last in Paris 7 years ago, so he and I are both due a visit.

Other than that, I got nothing...so here's a Rick and Steve clip.

Watch Gay Video & Lesbian Movies

Baby Cries Match Parents Language Patterns

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:41:58 GMT

Of course, I found this interesting --

A new study of over a thousand recorded cries from 30 French newborns and 30 German newborns found differences in the cries' melody patterns. French cries tended to have a rising melody, while the German cries tended to have a falling melody.

...
"Crying is not linguistic, yet they seem to be echoing the acoustic patterns that they've heard either in utero or every early on, very early exposure, right after birth."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120131516&ft=1&f=1001

So, the poor baby is screaming, "hel-LOOO, a little Desinex here!" in the same tonal qualities as whatever language his mom speaks, lol!

Friday Eye Candy

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:10:53 GMT

Moon

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:33:25 GMT

I love the moon, even though I can't take the pictures I'd like to of it!

Hanover Ave Halloween, then Gallery 5

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:12:43 GMT

As usual, friends and I walked over to Hanover Avenue for Halloween. It's always very crowded and fun to look at the lights. This year, I missed the guy who usually is in the noose!

Here are pics --

I liked the mask I was wearing this year - although it was a bit scary to other people since it looks pretty fierce with no smile or anything. I was chatting with a girl in the tarot line, wondering if people could see the smile in my eyes. She was like, no, the shadow from the mask hides my eyes. So, the mask is a true mask -- you don't know what's behind it!

Afterwards, we ate dinner, then my friends and I parted ways, and I went solo and headed off to Gallery5, like I had planned.

The Gallery5 carnival was essentially a big Halloween party...so probably 99% of everyone was dressed up. I think I had expected fire -- since it was called the "Carnival of 5 Fires," lol, but alas, there were no fires! There were bands playing. It was pretty crowded. There was a long beer line.

I stood in line to get my tarot reading done.

Reader: Do you live with someone?
Me: No.
Reader: All alone?
Me: Yes.
Reader: Take this for what it is. There's a man in your house. (I'm thinking, if only!)

She asked if someone near me was pregnant. I told her that my nephew's wife was. But she didn't seem to think that was it, so she changed it to say that I was changing into something new, like giving birth to a new me. I basically agreed, and told her that I keep telling my friends that I am in transition.

She says that a lot of opportunities seem to be offered to me.

She kept saying that whatever happens, whether in a relationship or in a business relationship, that I should be sure that it is equal -- that I'm not the only one giving. She repeated that like 3 times. Good advice, considering my last relationship.

Reader: Did you live a guarded childhood?
Me: Umm...maybe. (I'm thinking, yes, but don't want to admit that to her.)
Reader: You are now in the process of dropping your guard, and trying to figure out how to find balance in your life.

While I was at Gallery5, I briefly saw a friend of Deege's. I was like, hey...and she just looked at me...then I realized I had the mask on, lol! So, I took off the mask, so she could recognize me.

Happy Samhain!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:02:00 GMT

I was a little disappointed last night that I didn't make it out of the house. Earlier in the day, I did not have plans, but then a Facebook friend popped up with the idea of going to the Camel to hear a jazz band. I have been meaning to get to the Camel (I hear good vegetarian options), so I was excited to go.

Unfortunately, his daughter has the H1N1 flu, and started having more nausea, etc. than expected last night. So, they took her to the ER to have it checked. So, he couldn't make it.

C'est la vie, of course, so I just got some stuff done around the house.

Heading out tonight to celebrate All Hallow's Eve with friends. One thing I would like to do is to head over to Gallery5 for their Carnival of 5 Fires...the vibe of it resonates with me.

I never really get a costume...I always just buy a mask and wear it. I have this attraction/thing for faces, and I guess the mask plays on that attraction. If you walk around my house, you'll see that a lot my decoration involves faces hanging on the wall.

I've been listening to The Dandy Warhols lately -- I downloaded "Welcome to the Monkey House" from Amazon last night.

Friday Eye Candy

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:01:53 GMT

Variegated Wednesday

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:59:33 GMT

I haven't felt much like posting the last few days. No real reason -- things have been going fine...I guess my muse was on holiday or something. Or maybe it was the rain.

***
I posted a Facebook status about an event night, but here is more detail. I had a sort of stressful event when I started my Christmas shopping last night. The start of my Christmas shopping involves going to Bath and Bodyworks and buying a crapload of lotion and bath gels.

That's because nearly every female on my list gets (at least) this from me. Some women (like my sisters and Mom) get additional gifts, of course, but women like my nephews' wives get only this from me. I figure it's not very much money, and they can definitely use it (and usually appreciate the scents).

So, I had a coupon -- 20% off -- plus another coupon for a free travel sized item. I got to the counter to pay, and then the cashier pointed me to the selection of travel sized items. So, I squatted and moved around the display until I found what I wanted.

I stood up, went back to the counter, and reached for my wallet. There was nothing in my back pocket! So, I felt around my jacket. Nope, no wallet!

So, I went to the car. Nothing. Nothing lying around the parking space. I drove home to search and nada.

I drove back to the store and asked if the cashier had found it. She said, no, but we looked around.

Finally, we found it! Evidently, I had taken the wallet out to pay at the counter, then when I squatted to look at the display, I had absent-mindedly laid the wallet down on a shelf next to the display. I had no recollection of doing that. I remembered having the wallet in my hand before I went shopping, but that was the last thing I remembered about it.

I'm just glad I recovered it before someone swiped it!

I think the cashier was more stressed about it than I was, lol! I actually gave her a hug, lol!

***
On a different topic, you know I use Facebook in French, right -- just for kicks. But what's weird is the mishmash that I sometimes get.

For example, here is the list of notifications (in the right hand corner) from a few weeks ago (as usual, I've covered last names).

Notice that some are all in French. Some are in English, except for the French word lien --

***
This is kind of funny. A memo from Arnold Schwarzenegger (governor of California) to one of the Assemblymen contains an obscene acrostic.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/features/view/feature/Schwarzeneggers-Obscene-Acrostic-262

***
One thing I need to do is to get some control of my finances again. When I first started working again, I put a lot of mula back into primary savings. But I haven't saved anything in the last couple of months!

That's because I have been on a spending spree -- new bike, repair work on the Subaru, a trip to Asheville (and staying in the B&B), and all along I've been buying new clothes for myself because I have lost weight and all my old clothes are too big. Now, I start Christmas shopping!

Monday Morning

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:48:12 GMT

Had a good weekend. Couple of bike rides, and last night saw some friends who are back in town as they try to figure out what to do with their house -- it's not selling, even though it's in a great neighborhood, and they have lowered the price. So, they are thinking of renting it. No pictures from the get-together -- the pictures I took just didn't come out well.

Here's a pic from the bike ride yesterday. I do like Libby Hill Park --

***
On a different topic, like the writer of the article below, I too have been wondering when we'll get around to having more touch interfaces for computers.

The article is dead on about the mouse -- it mentions "touch mouse" which is somewhat similar to the "Magic Mouse" that Apple just released.

While it may be hard to imagine right now, eventually there will not be physical keyboards. Apple’s tablet may well be the first product that will get users accustomed to this idea. And yes, as I said, plenty will bitch. But eventually, technology will improve, and virtual tacile feedback will improve, and there will be no need to take up so much surface area on any device with physical keys that really serve no purpose.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/29/touching-all-rumors-point-to-the-end-of-keysbuttons/

Evidently, Apple is working on a tablet. Here are some ideas of how it might look --
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-will-the-apple-tablet-look-like-2009-10#perhaps-the-best-weve-seen-1

Neighborhood Foliage

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:14:23 GMT

Took a short tour on the bike through the neighborhood yesterday to take some pictures of the Fall foliage in the neighborhood -- the leaves have been pretty gorgeous this year!

I'm not sure what combination of factors caused the extra nice display this year. Maybe because it got cold for a week earlier in October, then turned warm again?

Friday Eye Candy

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:54:18 GMT