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Thursday, February 28, 2002
After a two-day hiatus, (I hope you all saw the gay penguin article I posted) it's back to me. I don't know exactly why, but yesterday my nerves were raw and my patience was fried. Finances, deadlines, exhaustion and other frustrations I can't name because this *is* a family site all played their part. I finally had to go to bed to get the day over with. I couldn't have a conversation (online or in person) that didn't deteriorate into my being just plain rude. My apologies to anyone that I talked to who thought i was being "short" with them. And anyone I didn't talk to, consider yourself lucky. *big cute grin* This morning I have been learning the fine art of indexing, cross- and page number-referencing, and bookmarking in MS word. Its all for a project that I'm doing at the office. They're all features of Word that you never need unless you're creating a document that has literally hundreds of pages and want a Table of Contents and an Index. All I can say is "Fun!" Sarcastically of course. Called Time Warner yesterday. I'm going back to digital cable for the duration of Brett and Jamie's stay. It's only $9 more than normal cable with the movie channels, and I'll have BBC America AND the Game Show Network again. mmmmm... the Game Show Network. Last night Brett moved his and Jamie's stuff in. They have to be out of their place by noon today, so tonight will be the first night that they stay over. I was a little stressed at first thinking about what it would be like to share my apartment with two people, after living on my own for eight months. I mean, I'm not going to be able to walk from my bedroom to the bathroom naked anymore, I'll have to close the door to the bathroom, I can't blast my music when I'm in the shower in the morning... but I'm going to love the company. Brett and Jamie are two amazing people, worth the stupid little sacrifices. I'm looking forward to having them around. :-) I also finalized plans for my trip to Chicago in April! And... I'm going to be there on my friend Harlie's birthday. Things *are* looking up. :-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, February 26, 2002 For those of you that haven't heard about the gay penguins... "Aquarium discovers two 'gay' penguins" By Beth Shapiro, 365Gay.com Officials at the New York Aquarium finally realize that the most dedicated couple in the penguin enclosure is a pair of males. The male penguins, each about 14 years old, can't get enough of each other. The couple has been together for the past eight years, and the two have sex with each other whenever they can, which is often. Presumably penguins can tell the guys from the gals, but aquarium officials apparently can't. For years they thought the pair was one of each. The truth didn't come out until aquarium staff carried out a blood test. Angie Pelekedis, a spokeswoman for the aquarium on Coney Island, said: "They're one of the most dedicated couples in the penguin enclosure." Penguin keeper Stephanie Mitchell added: "I was only seeing one mate with the other, but then one of the other keepers saw it happen the other way round so we did a blood test that proved they were both male. "Cass tends to be a rather aggressive bird. Wendell is very nervous; always has been. He's on edge all the time. They're currently in a dispute with another couple over their nest. It seems to be one of the most desirable places in the penguin enclosure." | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, February 25, 2002 The problem is really that the longer I go without posting to my site the less I want to do it... because I have more and more to say and it takes forever to type it all out... I don't even remember what I last typed... Do y'all know that my friends Brett and Jamie are moving in with me for a little while? I have a tiny spare room they're going to share. Last week I spent some of my spare time pulling junk out of the room, distributing it around my apartment, and vaccuuming out the empty room. Last night Brett and Jamie came over to paint. I guess the second coat goes up Tuesday morning. The room is going to be a deep slate grey with just a hint of green. They'll be bringing stuff over throughout the week and I assume their first night staying over will be Wednesday or Thursday. I have a few things to do myself... for example, call and arrange the installation of Showtime and HBO at my place... I have been going to their apartment to watch "Sex and The City", "Six Feet Under", and "Queer as Folk". Saturday I spent the day with Cheri, Jamie, Eric, and Julie. We took the Chili Cook-off by storm. Tastings galore, then to Micawber's to get some warm apple cider and a short break. A brisk snowshoe race between the five of us and then we watched Cheri ride the mechanical Bull. She ended up with the longest time on the bull, 38.25 seconds! Cheri's trophy was almost bigger than the trophy for the best Chili. Heh. Of course, she was a ringer, being from Texas and all. They have mechanical bulls in just about every bar down there. After she won the trophy it was like walking around with a celebrity. Everyone stopped us to ask what the trophy was for, or to give her a high-five. We went back to Micawber's and the owner treated us all to hubcap margarita's to celebrate (without question some of the best margaritas I've ever had). I've got some fun pics from Saturday that I hope to upload soon. I was ready for a nap after all that. Then, Saturday I went out to Common Ground for a few hours to say happy birthday to two friends (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE AND DON!!!). That's pretty much it... except I got a funny phone call from Lori who came across my site Saturday. Apparently, Keelinn was sitting at Lori's computer and she's figured out that when she sees a flashing cursor she can type. She put her name into Google's search engine, and the only result that came up was my site. Keelinn was so excited that she could see pictures of me and Chrissy online. I only wish I had pictures of her up there so she could have seen herself on the web. Lori made a fuss about not being listed on my friends page ;-) so I guess I'll have to fix that ASAP too. :-) I do love you Lori, I promise. :-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, February 20, 2002 This is for you Mikey... from rumandmonkey.com If you were an evil criminal who would you be? (I'm Imelda Marcos. *big cute grin*) If you were a terrible affliction what would you be? (I'm rabies. Yikes.) What would your mormon name be? (Mine is Shandell Pledger.... whatever...) | private feedback | (0) public comments ASK ME QUESTIONS -- I know that people visit my site, whether they get there through my random online personal ads or whether they're friends or family... my hit counter is just about to pass 9,000. I think that's super... but I don't get much feedback... and I wonder if that's because my content just plain sucks. Well, I want to start a new feature... "Ask Shane Anything..." There has to be something about me you want to know that I haven't thought of... "Why do you lip sync when you're on the treadmill at the gym?" or "Which cartoon character do you most identify with?" "Why do bois suck?" I really don't care, I'm not putting any boundary on the topics. :-) And.. if y'all don't ask me questions, I'll come up with my own... noone wants that. :-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, February 19, 2002 It's been a few days since I've posted anything, I don't even know where to start. TONS has happened in the last few days. I was in such a good mood at the end of last week that I thought I could brave visiting the Common Ground Friday night. I ended up leaving early with Brett and Jamie, got subs at shortstop and watched part of Charlie's Angels back at their place. By the time I got home and went to bed it was a little after 3. I was exhausted. Saturday morning I had breakfast with Brett and then went home to take a nap. Mike called somewhere in there to see if I wanted to go shopping. Of course I did, I had GAP certificates to use. ;-) The selection at GAP right now is horrendous. Its so sparse in the store, it looks like they have no inventory and everything is so bland. What happened to color!? I actually had to force myself to get something that I didn't really like just so I could use this certificate. I have NEVER had to do that at GAP before. I had read an article recently about how GAP couldn't find their groove. I hope they do soon. Then on to Best Buy where I helped talk Mike into buying a flat-screen TV. It wasn't all that hard, he had been wanting one anyway. ;-) Then on to BonTon so I could look at new pillows, but ended up buying a feather bed instead. In fact, when I got to the checkout counter it was even cheaper than the signs that were posted. Gotta love the BonTon. (P.S. After sleeping on it for a few nights, I have to say life does not get any better than a feather bed! And Chrissy loves it to, she sinks right in it.) After shopping, I only had an hour or so before I had to meet Rodney for dinner. We went to Benchwarmer's, got seated right away and placed our order within minutes... But it took almost an hour for our food to come! By the time it actually came we had to have it wrapped to go. We didn't have much tiem before we got picked up by our friend Don for a night out in Binghamton (Prism). I had called my friends Denise and Jane, hoping they would meet us out. They didn't disappoint me. I made such a scene when I saw them. Everyone turned their head. Heh. I had such a blast Saturday night! Danced up a storm (great music), played pool with Don (apparently I'm better at it when I've had a few drinks), and laughed with Denise and Jane. I always have such a great time when I go out of town. We must have left Prism around 2 and got home shortly after 3. I got up Sunday in time to catch Meet The Press. More insanity in politics. Went to the gym, met Eric for coffee (and some amazing conversation), went to see In The Bedroom with Josh and Jon. (Great movie. I didn't know what to expect, but it did not disappoint at all. It was sort of dark, and very subtle. Focuses on characters and how they react to situations and each other. A few plot twists and an ending that I didn't expect. Marissa Tomei and Sissy Spacek were amazing! I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed... they were both nominated for Oscars. Go see it!) Then on to Brett and Jamie's to catch Queer as Folk. Pretty good episode, they're finally getting some good story lines. Brett and Jamie also had a little bit of news for me. They're going to stay with me for a bit while they figure out where they're moving to next. Their lease ends in about ten days and they need an interim place to stay. It's gonna be a blast to have folks living with me again. I have a lot of work to do... cleaning out the spare room. ;-) Work yesterday was very busy. Lots of things going on. 4 meetings and a few proposals to be done. Deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines. Went home and cleaned up a little bit in the apartment. Only got half of my dishes done (all that would fit in my dish rack). Then Eric and I went to see a movie, Gosford Park at Fall Creek. Another really good movie, takes place in the early 30's in England, a murder mystery. By the time I got home it was nearly midnight and I was exhausted. I forced myself to watch Politically Incorrect and then went to bed. :-) About the only other exciting thing that happened in the last few days was that I figured out a way to save $157 on my taxes by adjusting my income for the student loan interest I paid in 2001. ;-) Thanks for the tip Brett, I owe you dinner. One more fun thing I wanted to pass on, is a really cool feature of the Apple Web site that not many people know about... a library of trailers for movies that are currently in theaters. Go to http://www.apple.com/trailers. And finally... Mike, I hope you're feeling better. *BIG HUGS* P.S. Please excuse any spelling errors... this post is way too long to go back through. ;-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, February 14, 2002 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! I've been in the best mood all day. I decided this year i would take a new approach. Instead of seeing all the flowers and pink and red and getting depressed that I don't have a Valentine of my own... I will be happy that there is so much love in the world. Heh. Is that a little corny? Alright it IS, but it HAS helped. ;-) No plans tonight to speak of. Maybe I'll pamper myself with a jacuzzi bath, candles, soft music, and a little personal R&R. I still have some cheesecake left too... does life get any better than that? | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, February 13, 2002 Last night was spent entertaining the ever-energetic Keelinn. We watched Clifford for an hour while drawing with crayons (I couldn't draw Clifford's ears right and Keelinn constantly reminded me so). We walked to Juna's to get a chocolate cookie (she made me carry her over every mudpuddle so she didn't get her "pretty shoes" dirty). Then we walked to the library where I ended up reading to Keelinn and one of her friends from pre-school. (I narrowly avoided "The Birds, The Bees, and the Berenstain Bears" by suggesting they might rather read a book about a slumber party. I'm sure the book is super informative, but I wasn't in the mood to educate a 3 and 4 year old about the facts of life. hehe) Then we went to McDonalds for dinner, and I went home with Keelinn and Lori to spend the night. Keelinn was adamant that I see her bedroom ('cause she just got a new bed) and I don't get to spend near enough time with Lori (my ex-roommate). I read Keelinn three bedtime stories, but I couldn't use my wolf voice during "The Three Little Pigs." She said I scared her when I talked like that. Just as I was about to say good-night she said, "Shane, I love you." My heart melted and I could have floated down the stairs. She's just too cute! This morning we dropped her off at school and as we were leaving she ran up to me and grabbed my legs and said "Shane, don't go!" I'm so glad I hung out with them last night and this morning. No matter how bad your week is going, it can't help but get better when you spend some quality time with a four year old!!! | private feedback | (0) public comments Marie bills herself as a Reba McEntire impersonator. Visit her site by clicking here. If you didn't catch her on tour this year (at the Gettysburg Campground), you can still buy a t-shirt from her site. ;-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Woohoo! I get to watch Keelinn tonight after work. A welcome distraction. If it's not too cold we'll take a field trip to the library, just up the street from me. She likes to run around the aisles and look at pictures in books. By 7 o'clock I'm going to be exhausted. More later, if I can muster up the strength to type. ;-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, February 11, 2002 My mom is currently going back to Nazareth College for her bachelor's degree. I'm super proud of her. She's taking three classes this semester on top of working two jobs. Yesterday, she called in the midst of a book report asking me to help her out. Maybe I could read her paper and help her try to beef it up a little. She had to write 3 to 4 pages and she had only written 1 1/2. By the end of the conversation I figured out that she really wanted me to write it for her. I finally said, "Mom, you're gonna have to do this one on your own, I haven't read the book." I felt like such a parent. I couldn't get off the phone until I promised to read the next book with her so that we could talk about it together and give her ideas about what to write. Its called Journey Into The Whirlwind by Eugenia Semyonova Ginzburg. About a woman's struggle through Stalin era Russia. I did some research online today. Little did I know it was a dense, 450 page book chock full o' history facts, and translated from Russian that I was agreeing to read. All within three weeks. Yikes. Thankfully I finished Becoming a Man today on lunch, so at least I won't be juggling more than one book at a time. Also yesterday I was at Juna's on the commons for 3 hours listening to tunes and typing out some autobigoraphical stories. It was very therapeutic to sit and type out stuff about my pre-Ithaca life. There were a bunch of stories that I only really clearly understand now (and their lasting effects) since I've taken the time to type them out and read them on the screen. If I can polish it up, I may post it online. Tonight I have BooktalkQ where I get to discuss Becoming a Man. I really enjoyed the book, so I can't wait to see what everyone else thought. | private feedback | (0) public comments Sunday, February 10, 2002 I can't really think straight right now. The only thing I keep going over and over is that I bought a Valentine card Saturday for a guy that I'm not dating anymore as of this afternoon, let alone Thursday. I wish I could have seen this one coming. Bring On The Rain Jo Dee Messina Another day has almost come and gone. I can't imagine what else could go wrong. Sometimes I'd like to hide away somewhere and lock the door. A single battle lost, but not the war. Cause tomorrow's another day. And I'm thirsty anyway. So bring on the rain. It's almost like the hard times circle 'round. A couple drops, and then they all start comin' down. Yeah, I might feel defeated, and I might hang my head. I might be barely breathing, but I'm not dead. Cause tomorrow's another day. And I'm thirsty anyway. So bring on the rain. No I'm not gonna let it get me down. I'm not gonna cry. And I'm not gonna lose any sleep tonight. Cause tomorrow's another day. And I am not afraid. So bring on the rain. Tomorrow's another day. And I'm thirsty anyway, So bring on the rain... | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, February 06, 2002 About a week and a half ago I stopped in my bookkeeper's office to pick up some reports and stuck around to talk to her for a few minutes. During our conversation, the receptionist walked by and said, "What is this box on your desk?" It was labeled "Adult." The receptionist lifted the top of the box and it was full of porn videos. Of course the bookkeeper got a little embarassed and red in the face that this happened in front of me, her client... and proceeded to tell me the story of how they ended up in her possession. She was adamant that they weren't hers. It seems her boss has a client that owned a video store that recently went out of business. Her boss agreed to store the videos that were leftover until they could find a buyer for the inventory. Apparently, they had collected all their tapes but this one box. Her boss asked her to get rid of it, and here it sat waiting for trash day the following Monday. Everytime I went over I gave her a hard time about the porn, she was completely embarassed and always got red in the face and tongue-tied. I really enjoyed making her squirm. Last Friday I went to pick up more reports and she handed me a brown paper bag and said, "I hope you're not offended. Open this at your office." I was totally clueless. When I got back to my office and opened the bag, there were two porn videos inside! LOL. The funniest thing is that she gave me GAY porn! I thought she had no idea I was gay. (Boy was I naive!) I had never explicity stated it, but I think she was trying to figure out a way to get me to. Today was the first time I had seen her in person since Friday, and both she and the receptionist had a huge grin on their face they could hardly contain. I KNEW what they were thinking. The receptionist finally said, "So, you have anything you want to tell us?" I just started laughing and said, "Seems like you know already." I still can't believe my bookkeeper gave me porn!!!!!! LOL. | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, February 05, 2002 Stayed up last night working on more sample GMAT questions. I'm trying to commit myself to studying for this exam on a consistent basis so that I do really well. I have the Kaplan review book which seems to be a good study aide. It not only shows you what to look out for, but also establishes a few simple tricks that you can use on questions to figure out answers (or at least make educated guesses). I'm actually doing better than I expected on the sample questions, so it's boosting my confidence a little. And I found out you can take the exam pretty much year round since it's all on the computer now. I'll probably aim for a mid-summer test date. I've got to seriously start the research into schools soon... Busy day at work today, a few project meetings, and trying to wrap up a few proposals. The boss is out with a bad back, so at least I'm left to my own devices. :-) I had an impromptu lunch with a friend I ran into on the commons. Tonight, I have a mediation, a division of property case. Should be fun. I'll keep my fingers crossed they show up. I have a reputation for having parties not come for their sessions. Its a curse (but sometimes a blessing when I have other plans). | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, February 04, 2002 Go Patriots!! *laugh* As if I care who won the super bowl. :-) I started out with good intentions. I watched the game for the commercials. But I kept finding sample GMAT questions more exciting, and so by 7:30 I was ready to escape to a friend's place and indulge myself in the "Pop Stars 2" mini-marathon, "Sex and The City," and "Queer as Folk." Is anyone else disappointed in how pathetically transparent and predictable the plot lines on QAF have been lately? It's almost not even worth watching for the FEW random good lines anymore. The only good one last night: "Watch it bitch, or I'll roll over your foot." Or something like that. :-) "Sex and The City," on the other hand, seems to be one of the best shows on television. The baby shower scene had me cracking up last night. My current top shows? "Sex And The City," "Will & Grace," "Friends," "King of Queens," and "Everybody Loves Raymond." | private feedback | (0) public comments Saturday, February 02, 2002 It was 24 hours after mom left the initial message on my machine, but she finally called me back to let me know Grandma had been rushed to Strong Hospital in Rochester to be operated on. Apparently Grandma had at least two blockages in arteries. They performed angioplasty and she's recovering now. So that's a relief, and if I can get away next weekend I would like to go see her. I don't know how long it takes to recover from that type of surgery, so I don't even know if she'll still be in Rochester. | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, February 01, 2002 My mother and I were talking two nights ago about how she hasn't called her parents since before Christmas. She tried to make some lame excuse about how Grandma always asks "Has Shane met a nice girl yet?" and she never knows quite what to answer. So I laughed and said, "Tell her I did find a nice girl. Her name is Michael." Not that I'm any better when it comes to keeping in touch with distant relatives. I haven't talked to Grandma and Grandpa in years... not since my cousin's wedding. (She's already had two babies since then.) Well... we're kicking ourselves this morning. Mom called last night and left a message while I was out seeing Shakespeare's R & J. Seems grandma had a heart attack last night and mom was on her way to the hospital in Wellsville. I tried calling her back to get details, but she didn't answer her cell. I hope that she calls me at work today so I know if I have anything to worry about. | private feedback | (0) public comments |
Hey! I'm Shane... a proud gay progressive Democrat who has recently relocated to New York City from Ithaca, NY. As I am no longer in Ithaca, I haven't quite decided the fate of this blog. Drop me a line!
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