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Saturday, July 27, 2002
Vegas bound... Today at 5 o'clock I board a plane that will take me to Las Vegas with my mother and her boyfriend. I am SOOOOOOO looking forward to this trip. I'm actually not calling it a vacation, I'm calling it a detox. I don't believe I have been out of Ithaca for an entire week in about two years. (Friends, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think long weekends have been standard the last few years.) It will be good for me. But... I still have tons to do before I can go... laundry... packing... so I'd better hop to it. Have no fear... I'll attempt to find a computer somewhere within Vegas and make updates as the week goes. I would hate to try to remember it all in one sitting when I return. ;-) More soon... | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, July 26, 2002 GODDAMMIT! Josh didn't get evicted last night on BIG BROTHER 3! I would have much rather looked at Tanya's oversized breasts another week than that little mole of a 'man' Josh. He's lucky the rest of the houseguests didn't see that he got maybe two of the true/false questions right in the Head of Household competition... they'd have seen how much he *cares* about them as people and takes an interest in their lives. And, within five minutes of the vote he's back to strategizing while the other ones are joking and laughing in the kitchen. They interviewed Josh's girlfriend last night... she gushed about what a sweetheart he really is and that she wants to marry him and that someday there will be little Josh's running around. (Apparently one childish Josh isn't enough.) What a brave girl, she didn't even ask them to put a black bar over her eyes. Bein' his girlfriend is nothing I would be proud about. | private feedback | (0) public comments Open mouth, insert foot I was ordering lunch with my copy of FAST FOOD NATION under my arm when a very friendly woman engaged me in conversation. "That's a great book!" I turned to her and said, "Yeah, amazing. I can't put it down." She says, "I read it in college." To which I say... "I didn't realize the book had been around that long." I can't remember if I stressed the word *that* or *long,* but either way it wasn't pretty. No amount of pleading (I didn't mean it *that* way) was going to make her happy. She sort of inched away shell-shocked. D'oh! | private feedback | (0) public comments You know its going to be a great day when the first thing you read in the paper is that the only stocks you own were downgraded to 'junk' status. Woohoo! | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, July 25, 2002 Completely random... Hmph. I missed MEET MY FOLKS last night. I completely spaced on it. But I *did* tape BIG BROTHER 3 and watched it before bed. Man, I wouldn't trust any of those houseguests. The only cool thing about the show is that sooooooo much plotting is going on that it cancels itself out and *anything* can happen. At this point nothing that any of them say *means* anything. Please, please, please let Josh get voted out tonight. He's the only one that just irks me to look at or listen to. And I think he should be a victim of the back-stabbing that he put into motion the first night there. It's *almost* official. My days of 'mcnuggets' and BK onion rings are probably soon over. (I dunno where the trademark symbol is on my keyboard. Sorry McD's and BK. hehe) I dunno if I'll ever be able to bring myself to eat at a fast food restaurant again. This book FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser has put everything in perspective for me. I'm now convinced that fast food is almost pure evil and that the anti-christ will rise out of some slaughterhouse or meatpacking plant in Nebraska. Just imagine for a second that the taste and smell of all the food you buy at fast food chains is *manufactured* in chemical laboratories in New Jersey. In fact if someone blindfolded you and stuck the right vial of chemicals in front of your nose, you'd swear someone was cooking and presenting you with a Big Mac. (Again, I dunno where the TM symbol is. My bad.) McDonald's (and I'm sure the other major fast food chains) has formalized procedures for dealing with employees who want to form unions... some pleasant, some not so pleasant. Fast food chains have systematically demanded such strict guidelines for meat and vegetable production (which they can do because they are the single-highest purchaser of beef and potato products) that individual farmers cannot compete... making room only for industrial farming/slaughterhouse complexes that rarely treat workers fairly or keep them in safe working conditions. 'Production is the #1 priority' and when profit margins are made on pennies per unit, companies will do *anything* to make the bottom line look better. This only scratches the surface. OK, folks... I'm only half-way through this book. I'm literally sick to my stomach thinking about the abuses of the fast food industry and their suppliers. Read this book, information is power. All of the sudden I can't remember what else I was going to write about. My grandmother once told me if I can't remember what I was going to say... then it was a lie anyway. Oh well. I had my co-worker pick me up a chocolate chip 'toaster-oven cookie' (so named because they are actually baked in kitchen-grade toaster ovens which make them uber-soft). Next stop, chocolate high. mmmmmmmm | private feedback | (0) public comments LOOK-EEE HERE!!! Now you can comment on my blog.... you know you want to.... just click the little 'comment(s)' link... and you can post whatever you want for me and others to see. Special thanks to the BlogOut creators... they were the only ones I could find with a usable commenting feature. | private feedback | (0) public comments OMG, how much do I love Dan Savage? | private feedback | (0) public comments Is it just me, or are people declaring their 'intentions' to run for President earlier and earlier? I can name at least two definites on the Democratic side, Al Sharpton and Howard Dean. Al Sharpton is basically a flake. I got such a skeeved-out feeling hearing him speak at Cornell a few years back. And Sharpton is always in the news for something notorious. Within the last few days he filed a $1 Billion lawsuit against HBO because they aired a police sting operation videotape of him discussing a drug deal. One Billion Dollars!? Does Al Sharpton even have $1 Billion worth of reputation left that he hasn't already destroyed himself? Yikes. I hope first impressions are wrong. I watched Meet The Press Sunday morning. Howard Dean was a guest. I gotta say the man didn't move me. I sort of got the impression that he's the type of person that would say anything to get elected and that he has aspirations to be President just for the sake of being President... without any altruistic motivation. But does ANY politician truly have altruistic motivation anymore? For those of you that don't know, Howard Dean is the current Governor of Vermont. He signed the Civil Unions Bill into law and in the interview on Sunday called it, "one of the defining moments of his political career." Hope he sticks to his guns cause he's going to get some flack for it. He knows that he's got an edge with Gay/Lesbian voters and he's 'campaigning' heavily on it. His most recent stop was at the GLBT Community Center in San Francisco. I only say I hope first impressions are wrong because Howard Dean seems like the kind of guy I'd LIKE to support. Stay tuned... | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, July 24, 2002 Small town drama... Development concerns. Traffic issues. A bias-motivated attack on an African-American woman. Are any of these pressing Ithaca issues the topic of most recent discussions? Well....not exactly. It seems that a few women's choice (wait... their RIGHT) to go "topfree" in Dewitt Park is all anyone can talk about. Good grief. So a few kids giggle as they walk through the park. Hopefully their parents know better. One of the women's letters is published in the Ithaca Times today and is worth repeating... I hope she doesn't mind. "The aim of the ["topfree"] picnic is not to fight the problem of ignorance of women's legal right to go topfree in New York State. Rather, we are challenging our culture's peculiar and damaging definition of women's breasts as sex objects, which hinders breastfeeding, breast cancer detection, body acceptance, and treatment of women as equals. "Finally, I would like to suggest that the next time you take a picture on an article about topfree equality, please take it from the front. A shot of people's back promotes the exact view we are trying to abolish -- that women's breasts are obscene." You go girl! | private feedback | (0) public comments Still no call from the Ithaca Sports Club guy. Surprised?... Me neither. | private feedback | (0) public comments All eyes on Hillary In one corner... Carl McCall: One of Hillary's first and most staunch supporters and probably the most qualified candidate for Governor in the history of New York State. In the other corner... Andrew Cuomo: A man who served in her husband's cabinet and who's married into the politically powerful Kennedy family. Who does Hillary endorse? SHOULD she endorse anyone? Now that Charles Schumer, who generally doesn't make endoresements this early, has endorsed McCall... those are the questions everyone is asking... and that Hillary is dodging. | private feedback | (0) public comments Flipping through the newspaper... 'President' Bush's approval rating fell into the 60s this week. Its about time... the man is a lump. And everytime he opens his mouth to reassure us about the economy, the stock market plummets again. Just shut up, man. Seriously. The Pope is in Toronto. Uhmmmmmmm ok. Donny Osmond is going to host a revival of the '$25,000 Pyramid' game show? They really ARE out of ideas for good t.v. Bring back Match Game!! (Is Brett Summers still alive?) | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, July 23, 2002 Remember a few months back I re-filed my 2000 and 2001 taxes... because my friend told me that I could get a larger refund by adjusting my income for student loan interest I paid? ...I had to fill out two very confusing forms called a 1040-X's... well I got two separate checks for the two years. Woohoo! The second check finally came in the mail today. Perfect timing... Vegas, here I come! | private feedback | (0) public comments I'm shocked that anything gets done in the Criminal Justice System... this afternoon's series of events which have me uber-frustrated.... and led me in a big circle... are as follows... I called the Binghamton Police Department. I was transferred four times... each person was progressively less friendly to me as I went... Finally I talked to a seemingly helpful individual in the patrol department because the detective division "didn't have a spare minute." He told me I could have the Ithaca Police Department mail my deposition/statement that I've already filed directly to the detective division in Binghamton and they'd get the ball rolling. All they needed was something official by which to start the complaint. And as a friendly note he added, "just make sure you include your contact information so we can call you with questions." So fine, I thought. A glimmer of hope. No biggie. I'll call the Ithaca Police Department and have them send the paperwork on. I called the Ithaca Police Department. The officer was adamant that they wouldn't just send and/or fax anything to anyone (even another police department!?) without them requesting it. Of course, the Binghamton Police Department won't request it because they don't have a complaint filed... and of course they don't have a complaint filed because they don't have the paperwork that the Ithaca Police Department could just fax them. You see what a big roundabout mess I'm up against? So, apparently, my two options have been whittled back down to the original one option... So now I'm back to trudging my ass to Binghamton to file this complaint. Apparently, is is the *only* option. All thanks to that no-good-rotten-piece-of-trash Scott Chaplin. *deep breath* No worries. I've already had three offers from friends to go with me to Binghamton to take care of this. I think I should start keeping track of the time I've spent dealing with this so that I can sue him personally... | private feedback | (0) public comments This tirade not meant for children... How PISSED am I right now? Citibank's fraud investigation unit JUST called me (a full month after getting my signed and notarized affidavit) telling me that they can't do a thing until I file charges with the locations in which Scott lives and made the purchases. That's three different jurisdictions!!!!! Fucking rat bastard asshole SCOTT CHAPLIN (that's right folks, you get a last name now) steals my credit card and *I* gotta jump through hurdles and hoops to get anything in motion. Man, where were all these fucking security measures when the bastard was out USING MY CREDIT CARD!?!?!? So the woman gave me 30 days to go do that or else I'm going to be responsible for the charges. Subtract the days I gotta work.... and the days I'm going to be in Las Vegas and that leaves me with like 8 days opportunity to go to Binghamton, Johnson city, and Vestal and sit in police offices filing statements at each one. Grrrrr. But you know, I *will* do it even if I gotta walk to all those places... because I want this asshole punished. I'm done fucking around. I also called the D.A. and the City Prosecutor this morning. I'll get shit in motion on my own. Who needs the Credit Card companies. | private feedback | (0) public comments I emailed RuPaul yesterday, telling him I think he should have a reality show... he didn't really respond to the content of my email... but... here's his response which I found in my inbox this morning: "sweetheart, your kindness means everything to me thank you, rupaul." That's super. *smile* | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, July 22, 2002 Woohoo! Senator Charles Schumer Endorses Carl McCall In his own words..."I enthusiastically endorse Carl McCall for Governor of New York. I’m going to be there by his side as he makes his case to the people of this state. As a New Yorker, I feel lucky to have a friend, a colleague and our next Governor in a man like Carl McCall. I can’t imagine a better candidate for Governor..." | private feedback | (0) public comments FEEDBACK from Greg... "I finally decided to sign your guest book after checking out your web site many times, I find it to be informative and quite funny!" I can honestly say I've never been called 'informative.' Thanks Greg!! ;-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Why don't you have a driver's license? I get asked this question all the time. And the simple answer is... I just never got around to getting it. The longer answer sounds like I'm trying to make excuses... but here goes. Essentially I lived alone in High School. Mom moved in with her boyfriend and let me stay in our apartment. (I put my foot down not wanting to change schools yet ANOTHER time growing up. And unlike similar instances in the past, this time I got my way.) So without a parent to teach me to drive (Dad had moved to NC by this point) and with a guidance counsellor that thought I should take AP Bio over Driver's Ed ("because it looks better on your transcript and there's a waiting list for Driver's Ed anyway") I never got my license before I went to Cornell. Once at Cornell they strongly encouraged students not to have cars, parking on campus is hell and expensive. And I got lucky and found a job within walking distance of my apartment in Ithaca. Until recently I haven't been much of a traveller, so I really have never lamented not having a driver's license. Plus, I save TONS of money not having a car payment, insurance, and frequent trips to the gas station. It's never really been an issue for me. People look at me a little oddly at first but folks get over it. *grin* Let me know if that answers your question? *grin* | private feedback | (0) public comments The car that I want to get when I (finally) get my license... Lori told me about it... she couldn't picture me behind the wheel of a car until she saw this cruising down the road... I love it! | private feedback | (0) public comments TODAY'S HOROSCOPE: "Your sex appeal is apparent to everyone." Correction... just lesbians and straight girls. ;-) | private feedback | (0) public comments You know, RuPaul would be a much better choice for a reality show than Anna Nicole Smith or Liza Minelli and her new husband. It would be like gettin' two characters for the price of one! Who do I gotta speak with to make this happen? | private feedback | (0) public comments You know those people that turn into awkward messes when they have a crush on someone? Well, I'm one of them. Friday after work I went home and called the Ithaca Sports Bar guy... I left such a rambling message about going to the movie and then I think I mentioned a "B-plan"... *deep sigh* By the end of the message I don't remember what I was saying. Gay or straight, this man will probably never return that phone call. I can't say that I blame him. :-( The movie (13 Conversations About One Thing) was pretty good... very thought provoking. All of the characters had multiple seemingly insignificant things happen to them that affected the rest of their lives forever. I guess the point is to make us ask ourselves how every little thing we do (or don't do) affects us for the rest of our lives. In one case it was the difference between smiling and waving at or avoiding the eyes of a stranger. Actually the more I'm typing about it and thinking about it, the better movie it was... in hindsight. I love that type of movie... the ones that are good when you think about them later. Saturday I got up later than normal. Mike called practically the minute I rolled out of bed. About a month earlier we had gotten coupons to get a Mocha Freeze at Borders Cafe for 25 cents. So we organized an entire afternoon centered around cashing in our coupons. We'd go get something to eat at the Mall, walk around a bit to let our food settle (and make room for the Mocha Freeze), and then get our Mocha Freeze which would hopefully cool us down enough to find a shaded tennis court someplace and play a game. So that's what we did. I think we found the only shaded court in the county... up on Cornell's north campus. We started out a little rusty but by the end we were able to volley back and forth. We finally gave up the court when a line started forming. Rodney called later in the evening and I decided to go with him to the Common Ground. "But, Shane, you hate the Common Ground." Yeah, yeah, I know, but Cheri was pretty sure she'd still be out and I hadn't seen Rodney for a while. And... Mikey was DJing. (He's getting very good!) It was the day of the Women's Music Festival, so I figured all my lesbian friends would still be out drinking and having a good time. (Trust me, I went for the company, not the place.) I hate to admit it, but I had a blast! You know I love my lesbians. And the Common Ground was full of them Saturday night! It was nearly like being in a lesbian bar. There were maybe six guys and TONS of women. I met at least ten new lesbians... :-) Woohoo! There is something about me that cries out to lesbians I've never met before -- "pull me onto the dance floor" or "come up and randomly start talking to me." Seriously, me and lesbians have this chemistry goin' on. I can't meet a guy for chrissakes, but new lesbians are sure to LOVE me. I've said it once and I'll say it again... if I were a lesbian I would never go date-less. Saturday I *did* meet this nice couple (of boys) from Seneca Falls. That was cool. My friend Terri tries to be helpful. If she sees someone she thinks I'd be interested in she'll go right up to them and introduces herself... and me along with her. Of course she couldn't have known the guys were there together. :-) It was a valiant effort and I have two new acquaintances... nothing to complain about. Yesterday, I had my second driving lesson with Lori. After dropping Keelinn off at the YMCA for a birthday party, we took the car down to the high school parking lot. I still cannot get starting and stopping down with a standard. I stall way more often than I can smoothly get into motion. ("You're not giving it enough gas." "No, this time I think you were too fast on the clutch.") When I get moving though it's not a big deal... But in the real world we have things like stop signs and traffic lights. They're going to be the death of me. The one hysterical thing that happened during my lesson was that I got stuck in this dead-end narrow part of the parking lot... and so I thought... "No biggie, I'll practice a three point turn" Well wouldn't you know it, at exactly this moment a red van pulls up behind us (there had been NO traffic in the entire parking lot until right now) so I have no option but to try and QUICKLY do a three point turn... did I mention it was a standard? So, I backed up, nearly missing the curb behind me and then pulled forward, again in a hurry to get out of this person's way... I didn't turn the wheel sharply enough and ended up with the front right tire up on the curb. I screamed some obscenity ("BITCHES!") and Lori and I started laughing hysterically... I swear we almost wet ourselves. Here we were, sitting with one wheel on the curb, laughing. The guy in the red van clearly thought we were nuts... he maneuvered around us and left. I let my foot off the brakes and we rolled off the curb as I was trying to put the car in reverse. It was the perfect parking job, although I highly doubt that I'd pass the driving test with it. Only slightly traumatized, I drove around a bit more before we called it a day. Let's see... what else did I do yesterday? OH YEAH! I did laundry. How is laundry noteworthy? I got hit on while I was at the laundromat! Yee-Haw! By a girl. :-) She was super cute, a senior at IC... she kept tripping over herself to tell me how outgoing and personable I was... it was really adorable. And everytime I got up to do something (fold laundry, check the dryer) she'd follow me. *grin* Then she said, "We should get together sometime." I said, "Yeah, you should meet my boyfriend. I'm sure you'd like him too." (Of course I DON'T have a boyfriend, but I had to say *something,* and that was all I could think of.) "You're WHAT?" she said as if she didn't hear me right. I repeated myself and she suddenly got red in the face and went to check her clothes. :-) Otherwise my Sunday evening was pretty uneventful. I am reading this book called FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser. So far, I'm only about four chapters in but it's amazing. If you didn't know already how evil fast food companies are, you need to pick up a copy of this book. The jury is still out as to whether it will affect my dining habits, but there has been more than one instance while page-turning where I've been utterly disgusted by the policies of fast food restaurants. The book talks about everything from labor, to the manufactured taste of the food, to the history, how fast food companies have affected urban development and contributed to sprawl, and how restaurants help spread "american cultural imperialism" abroad. And you've probably figured out that I'm a random-trivia-fact whore... this book is full of them! Who knew that Willard Scott (the famed weatherman) was the inspiration behind Ronald McDonald and he actually thought up the name for the mascot? Well... now you know. | private feedback | (0) public comments Sunday, July 21, 2002 Even RuPaul has a Blog... That's fierce! | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, July 19, 2002 *ahem* SUMMER SHARE is a collection of short stories by four authors and a VERY light read. I suppose 3 out of 4 good stories isn't a bad track record for a collection like this but I have more gripes than good things to say. First of all, the cover of this book is probably the most gawdy of any I have ever read. It has cartoon drawings of men (All of them beautiful and built, of course) on the beach, drawn in about every bright color you can imagine. About all this cover is good for is attracting attention to you as you carry it down the street. (I suppose you'd be right at home reading it on a beach in Provincetown or Key West or something... it would fit right in there.) But the level of superficiality doesn't stop at the cover. EVERY character in this book is built, beautiful, "at their prime," or otherwise the "most breathtaking specimen of manhood one could lay their eyes upon." Apparently I don't live in this world... and if you're looking for a book with characters that are outside the realm of reality, you've found it. Go pick yourself up a copy of SUMMER SHARE. Also, another theme that seems to work its way through ALL the stories is that everything works out fine and that everyone meets their soul mate, and that everyone winds up head-over-heels in love with Mr. Perfect. Again, great thought, not reality. In fact, the last story was SOOOO far-fetched and corny I had a hard time finishing it. [Synopsis: A jilted lover breaks up with his no-good boyfriend. The instant he's ready to date he meets Mr. Right while waiting for a plane... TA DA! Within ten minutes of the first date they're already telling eachother "their souls were meant for eachother." They don't even eat dinner because they find the bedroom before the kitchen (of course)... and by the end of the first date they're in love. By the end of the second date they've decided to build a house together. The dialogue is absolutely dreadful, and I can't even begin to go into any of the other less plausible (you can only imagine) details...] The first three stories are OK. Sort of like little gay soap operas... I have to admit that a few times I was flipping pages rather quickly to find out what would happen next. If you wanna read gay trashy stories that don't require a single brain cell (hey, sometimes we need a break) with an uplifting (yet unrealistic) ending... and if you're not going to get depressed by reading about so many beautiful people... buy SUMMER SHARE. But do yourself a favor and make a book cover like we used to do in gradeschool. | private feedback | (0) public comments Hey, how do you like that new picture I put up last night? Heh. Today, Mikey pointed out that you can see Chrissy's face in the area between my arms, chest, and legs. Kinda freaky actually.... | private feedback | (0) public comments Yikes, I can't believe I've gone all day without posting a thing. For a change, I don't really have much to say. ;-) Last night I ended up going to a softball game with Mikey. It was a last minute decision but I'm glad I went. I got to see all my girls, especially Cheri. :-) Thankfully I had brought my umbrella, it started to rain pretty good in the middle of the game and let up by about the 6th or 7th inning. The game was looooooong. They were supposed to finish by 8 and I think it ended almost an hour late. Another two teams were waiting to take the field after them, so who knows how long THAT game took. After I got back from the field I was SO exhausted... as if *I* had played softball... and so I went to bed. Even though I'm over Big Brother, I'm a little disappointed that I forgot the first eviction was last night and didn't tape it. It looks like Lori got bumped and Marcellas made Head of Household. So he's safe for another week. If he's smart he'll nominate two of the "Baywatch" faction and then one of his allies will win veto power and keep the nominations as is. (Gotta whittle down that NASTY alliance and make them cannibalize their own.) If only I was pulling the strings on Big Brother. *evil maniacal laugh* I guess I'm gettin' the hang of the game finally. ;-) But I still wouldn't want to PLAY it. Cheri and I are goin' to see "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing" tonight at Cinemapolis. I asked if it was OK to invite the guy I met at the Ithaca Sports Club. LOL. He'll probably say no, but at least it gives me an excuse to call him. I finished reading SUMMER SHARE last night... I may put up a review if I can find time this afternoon. | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, July 18, 2002 Thirteen Conversations About One Thing Karma. The interconnected lives of strangers and how our actions affect the lives of those we don't know. Fate. Sounds like my kind of movie! "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing" starts tomorrow at Cinemapolis. >> Movie Trailer >> Movie's Official Homepage | private feedback | (0) public comments Home Depot and Wal-Mart and Lowe's.... Oh My! I couldn't help but make a point of mentioning the big cover story in the Ithaca Journal today. It seems a development company plans to build a HUGE plaza behind the current KMart/Staples plaza which will include a Wal-Mart and a Lowe's, among other stores. These developers have done their homework, setting their gaze upon a less-controversial site for the plaza. (It used to be Ithaca's old landfill.) Southwest development is finally reaching a frenzied pace -- with the recent announcement of Home Depot across from Buttermilk falls and a Barnes and Noble set to open this fall in the Tops Plaza. Our little city is growing up and overall, it seems to be happening in a responsible way... all the big-box, traffic-heavy, car-dependent development will be in one corner of the city. Let's just see that it stays there. This just in... The guy I met at the Ithaca Sports Club last week called me at my office this morning. *big grin* My intern put a litle post-it in front of me with "Line #2" scribbled on it. I quickly picked up the phone with my standard "This is Shane" greeting and there he was! He wanted to get together tonight (I have no idea if it would have included the girls or not) but I had to say no cause I already have plans. (It was a very rushed conversation unfortunately, because this morning has been so crazy at work. I cringe everytime I hear my email beep or the phone ring.) Anywho, he's going to call in a few days about doin' something this weekend. The plot thickens... | private feedback | (0) public comments ...And yesterday evening... It was soooo hot -- thankfully, Lori invited me swimming with her, Darlene, and Keelinn. We got my swim trunks, some food to take with us, and went to Cass Park. Darlene and Keelinn were already there. Besides the water tasting like sweat, it was a good time. ;-) Keelinn is such a cutie patootie and she swims better than I do. She'll actually put her head under water. Heh. (Traumatic childhood experiences and community pool water prevent me from doing such things...) One funny side note which Lori said had better make it on my web site, so here goes: We're at the pool and Keelinn is walking around like she had to go to the bathroom. (You know the basics... legs crossed at the heels, bouncing of the hips, one hand over the bladder) So we were all like... "Honey, do you have to go to the bathroom?" And she was adamant that she didn't. But finally she admitted to it, and noone wanted to take her into the NASTY bathrooms at Cass Park. So... Keelinn promptly squatted in the grassy part of the park and peed... Yup, right there, the spot soon to be a brown patch. (Or will it be greener?) Not a care in the world. Oh, to be a kid again... *wistful sigh* And then I was home for a bit in between hanging out with Lori and meeting my friend Josh for coffee. I watched Big Brother 3. I'm really sort of getting over my love of reality shows. EVERY single show is about alliances and strategies. That was a novel concept in the first Survivor series, but now I want to see how people interact with eachother when it's not a game... when they get voted out simply because they didn't fit well with the group as opposed to big sweeping strategic plans. If I was living in the Big Brother House I would be so over that BS. I mean, come on, it's only a week into the game! UGH, work calls.. I gotta get movin'... | private feedback | (0) public comments For the second time in just over a month, a friend IMd me to tell me that someone had sent them *MY* pictures pretending to be me! WTF!? (Yes, two separate friends, but same circumstances). Of course, most of my friends know how I talk and how I construct sentences that even on AIM they know they're not talking to me... So this begs a question. Should I be wondering if there is someone out there pretending to be me to be spiteful? Or should I feel complimented? I must be naive, I just don't understand for a minute why anyone would want to pretend to be someone else online... what greater purpose does that accomplish? The last few months have been very disorienting... to find out that someone is pretending to be me online after the whole SCOTT stealing my credit card and pretending to be me to use it... I guess there is nothing I can do now... but.. Yikes. P.S. I have the two IM names of the phonies that sent out my pics.... just so y'all know if you're talkin' to a loser... ElevationCNY and BAZEBALLBOII26 | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, July 17, 2002 You'll notice that I've been busy joining Web rings lately... look below for links to the 'GayDiary,' 'BoyLOGS,' and 'I Kiss Boys' web rings. If you love Web journals, surf a few of the pages below -- they're all gay/lesbian-specific. P.S. Weblog Review says: "You are number 269 in line for review." It'll be any minute now. ;-) | private feedback | (0) public comments This feeling of being utterly lame has overtaken me this morning... (No, really... very different than my usual feeling of being just sorta lame). I have had my dates for going to Las Vegas WRONG for like the past month! Somehow, I got stuck in my head that I was going from the 20th to the 28th... and I've arranged life accordingly. In reality I am going from July 28th to August 3rd. Thank god my job is flexible enough that it really doesn't matter. But I just feel... well.. stupid. How could I have done that? I left a message for Mom last night to confirm our departure time Saturday. She called back and left a message late last night... something like... "Uhm, Shane... we're not going to Las Vegas till next week. Uhm, yeah. Love ya. Bye." So moving on... I got the sweetest email from someone who checks into my page every now and again. I hope it's alright that I put part of it up here... He says... "Hey, do me a favor! The next time you are gone for so long, take a laptop with you!!!! I missed your commentary on life, Ithaca, work and the world. You were missed!" Awwwww. See, the feedback I get MEANS something to me. :-P Keep it coming, I love hearing from y'all. Last night was pretty quiet, I was at work until 7:00 ish. I ran into the woman I met last Wednesday at the Ithaca Sports Club just outside of my office. Small world. (I guess I'll have to call her 'K' for the sake of this post.) K and I talked for about a half hour on the sidewalk. She is hilarious. At one point I could feel how beet-red my face was turning from laughing so hard. Gotta luv that! Anyway, she told me to call her so we could hang out again. Hopefully, now that I'm not going to be in Las Vegas next week as originally thought... *stupid grin*... we can make that happen sooner than later. AND, I couldn't help myself... I DID call that guy she was with... the guy that slipped me his number. "Just to see if he was free to hang out with K and Melissa and I some night soon." I called Melissa when I got home 'cause I HAD to tell her about running into K on the street. Melissa and I ended up getting root beer floats at Purity. I was SOOO in the mood for that. Pretty much the entire conversation was me explaining gay sex to her... of course all in hushed tones because we were sitting at the miniature-sized kids picnic table and there were corruptable children all around us. I'd like to think people turned their heads because of Melissa's loud reactions ("How does *THAT* work!?" "No way!" and "DOESN'T THAT HURT!?") and that they didn't hear a word I said. Although I am often told I talk too loud when I don't realize it. *fingers crossed* And then I watched the REAL WORLD reunion last night on MTV before bed. I have to say... they seemed much cooler during the actual show... Tonya was on the verge of tears during the entire reunion show and that host was really trying to get them to say some nasty stuff about eachother. Shame on him. I'm sorry to say I missed the entire last 25% of the series which is when it seems a lot of the conflict happened. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for reruns. Not even my coffee was able to get me kick-started today... I gotta figure something out to get me in motion at the office... More later... | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, July 16, 2002 My trip to Omaha... First I'd like to thank Mikey again for takin' me to the Syracuse airport. Thanks babe! Check-in was no problem, there wasn't even a line. I hurried over to security not wanting to take any chances. I normally go out of my way to clean all the metal out of my pockets and won't wear anything, not even a belt... choosing instead to hike up my pants every so often as I wait in line. I get so self-conscious to think that I'm responsible for making that machine go off and hold up the line. Well, since I pretty much came from work I was still wearing my belt and my Sketchers this time around and the metal detector went off. Of course, they pulled me aside. When the metal detector got to my waist, the lady asked me to undo my belt so she could check behind it... after a few pokes she made her way to my shoes, asking me to lift up my right foot. My Sketchers set off her hand-held detector too... so here I am with my shoes off and my belt undone with my pants fall down, my arms straight out to the side... and I'm holding up the line. My worst nightmare. :-) Before I go on, I was having camera drama and so I didn't take any pics outside of the zoo. Ok, Ok, I'm just lazy. But I've linked a bunch of stuff from here that will open in a new window... so you can follow along if you'd like. ;-) Everything else went much smoother all the way to Omaha. I had gotten something to eat at the McDonald's in O'Hare, my layovers were the perfect length and when I got off the plan I was expecting unbearable heat (even at 9 PM) but it was actually pretty nice. Rob picked me up at the airport and he said I was lucky, they had a break in the heat that was probably going to last at least the first few days of my visit. Woohoo! Pretty quiet night Thursday. I was tired. We watched Big Brother that Rob taped from earlier that evening. (He's a reality TV show fan too.) Friday I got a tour of the Old Market. (The pic on this Web site shows the inside of the building that I thought was the coolest. It was this huge open atrium with natural stone and tons of plants hanging out of every crevice.) The Old Market is this really cool historical part of town, I guess the original Omaha downtown district... a bunch of shops and restaurants, a few galleries now. We also walked around the Heartland of America Park and some really nicely landscaped waterways that run through downtown... I can totally see Ithaca doing something like that with Titus creek someday. Anywho... After that, we had planned to check out some of Omaha's clubs. Apparently they have quite a few. The first bar we went to, Gilligan's is sort of a neighborhood pub which was very cool, very low-key and laid-back. Perfect for warming up and getting ready to dance the night away. They had a jukebox that was about half-filled with country songs. It was the first time I had heard Garth Brooks in a gay bar. Go Omaha! Heh. If we had had time we probably would have gone to DC's which I guess is the Gay Country/Western Bar. It would have been cool, but I was much more impressed by where we ended up instead... THE MAX is an amazing bar. By far the best place I have ever been in terms of clubs. Ok, I haven't been to that many places, but when I go to a bar that I can hear 6 different types of music depending on what room I'm in and they have two different dance floors and an amazing patio off the back... it's no less than fierce! We met up with Rob's friends Brian and Chris and stayed there pretty much until closing (bars in Omaha close at 1). I got to dance a little, though I was in a very low-key mode from our excursions during the day, so it was perfectly fine that the place closed when it did. I was a little disappointed by the crowd, it was pretty dead and about half sorority girls, thankfully Brian and Chris were with us. They were great company and both very friendly. I wish we had a place half as nice as THE MAX in Ithaca or Central New York. (P.S. That Web page above does NOT do the place justice. Tip to THE MAX: Get yourself a new Web site, and fast!) Saturday we went to the John C. Fremont Days in Fremont, Nebraska, about a half hour north of the city. (Yes, even the John C Fremont Days has a Web site. They're not kidding around, folks.) This was the majority of our Saturday, I got to walk around the fest, visit with some of Rob's friends and even watch a hypnotist show. It does not get any better than this. :-) Perhaps the best thing about Fremont was meeting up with Rob's friends, Shelli and Jeff and their daughter Emma. Shelli is a hoot (she got up on stage and was hypnotized at the fest. She makes a SUPER Madonna! And Emma is 2, and absolutely adorable.) Oh, Oh, I almost forgot. Saturday, I got to try a Runza. Runza's is a Nebraska's fast-food chain, a place that would NEVER make it in NY... Hmmmm...the best way I can describe a "runza"... is loose ground beef, cabbage and some spices baked into a loaf of bread... and you get 'em with cheese and a few other things. They're not as bad as they sound! LOL I didn't mind them anyway. I have since talked to Lori who says she absolutely can't stand them, but hey... it was a new experience and apparently it's uniqely Nebraskan... exactly what I wanted. In Nebraska, Runza drive-thrus are about as common as McDonalds or Burger Kings are here. Sunday was THE ZOO!! Woohoo! I had been looking forward to goin' to the Zoo all weekend. Rob promised they had a great Zoo and he was right. They put a lot of work into their habitats, though sometimes I was a litte concerned about some of the single animals.. you know.. if they get lonely or not. Like that poor Rhinoceros. And then there were the turtles and the cotton rats, who I had no worries about considering they were in the middle of... *ahem* obscene acts when we happened upon them. I guess it all evens out in the circle of life, huh? They even had a little aquarium with tons of penguins and this funny video of the penguins hopping along a red carpet out of the back of a refrigerated truck to get to their new habitat. VERY cute. Sunday night was a BBQ and hanging out in the hot tub at the apartment complex... and then we watched THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES. Apparently (I didn't know this), the movie is based on actual events which make it all that much more disturbing. It wasn't a "frighten your out of your seat" kind of movie, it was more of a "scare you in the head and freak you out" kind of movie. (Although, I'll admit, when there were pounding noises outside the apartment while the movie was on, I DID freak out a little.) I definitely think folks should see this movie, its very good. Monday we checked out one of Omaha's three Malls. Like I expected, it's very much like our Malls in NY. Heh. :-) And then later in the evening, I was back on a plane headed for O'Hare and finally Syracuse... No problems getting through security this time (I had my belt and my Sketchers packed)... and on the second-half of the trip (from O'Hare to Syracuse) I sat next to a super friendly flight attendant (who swore up and down that he hated people) and so we chatted up the entire way home which made it seem much shorter. (Anything that took my mind off the teeny-tinyness of the jet helped a great deal.) And... then you know that my luggage didn't make it back... and that today has been busy... I think that's it... I had a great time in Omaha... THANKS ROB!!! You're a real sweetheart. Hopefully, I can drag your butt out here one of these days to show you all the excitement that we call Ithaca. :-) | private feedback | (0) public comments I'm walking down the street minding my own business... I'm going to get my afternoon beverage at the commons market... (Pepsi twist... mmmm). And I look across the street and my stomach immediately leaps into my throat. It's F*cking SCOTT from Binghamton!!!! SCOTT who stole my credit card... and he's walking down the street with an acquaintance of mine!! So my initial reaction was to chase them into the store (this is the first time I've seen him since the a-hole stole my credit card) and say "Hi" to the guy I know and warn him (right in front of Scott) to watch his wallet. Obviously, it got me a little worked up... I hate to see the guy walking around as if nothing has happened and meeting more people that he could potentially take advantage of. *sigh* I called the credit card company as soon as I got back to the office... the most they could tell me is that things are "out of my hands now"... and they're "working on it." No assurance at all. Grrrr.... Earlier, when I came back from my meetings today on campus, my luggage was waiting for me. *sigh of relief* Multiple clients today commented, "Nice sneakers." in a sort of condescending tone which just underscored the importance of having my bag back in a timely manner AND might prod me to get a second set of nicer shoes... just in case. This is actually the second time something like this has happened to me. (The other time my brother accidently walked off with my shoes because they looked so much like his. He eventually had to priority mail them to me from North Carolina.) Hopefully my play-by-play of the trip to Omaha is coming soon. Things are winding down at work... I just don't want to start before I can finish typing it all out. (No, Rob. It's not cause I didn't have a good time!) :-P | private feedback | (0) public comments So I'm looking over this form I had to fill out because my luggage got "lost" yesterday. Its called a "Delayed Baggage Report" as if United made a conscious decision to deposit my bags in Syracuse a full 12 hours AFTER I got there. Of course they'd never call the form "United-Airlines-Messed-Up-Your-Luggage Report" like they should. I remember thinking how funny it was when I started my travel that the check-in clerk made a point to say "And sir, we've got your bags checked all the way through to Omaha." I actually chuckled thinking, "Gee, thanks." I guess they caught me taking this for granted and wanted to show me what it would be like if they didn't, in fact, have my bags checked all the way through my itinerary. And come to think of it, they did NOT say my bags were checked all the way through to Syracuse on my flight back... coincidence?... *grin* United called a few moments ago, that's why I felt obligated to update you all on the status of my bag before I even get to type out any of the details of my trip. United found the bag and they're delivering it to my work this afternoon. Woohoo! | private feedback | (0) public comments I'm baaaaaaaaaaack. I made it home to Ithaca safe and sound (Thanks Mikey!!). Unfortunately, my luggage didn't. (They'd better find my new suitcase today, bitches!) As for work, I'm running around my office like a mad man. Already six phone calls to return and 2 meetings set up for this afternoon. Gon' be a long four-day week! (Just an example of what I had to come back to... the mail and newspapers were piled up in the foyer as though my co-workers were too lazy to bring it all inside the office. And almost all my phone messages were taken with wrong numbers. Ugh.) So... as you can see, I'll have to write more later. | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, July 11, 2002 Ok, y'all. I'm outtie! (The presentation went really well.) More to come when I return from Omaha... Look for a new post on Tuesday! *smile* | private feedback | (0) public comments Note from The Weblog Review: My site is currently 282 on the list to be reviewed... It's gonna be a while. ;-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Today's the day... I can hardly believe that I'm goin' to Omaha, Nebraska today. I'm "calling in sick" both tomorrow and Monday to make this happen. Not that I really have to do that, my boss is out of the country and out of communication until the end of July... one of the things I have to take care of before I leave, though is a presentation today at noon. Once that presentation is over I think I'll just go home, finish packing, and call it a week. I completely forgot to mention that I rented Shallow Hal the other day. I guess that tells you how much I liked it. No, no, seriously, you know how hard on movies I am, especially "mainstream hollywood movies." Sometimes you've just gotta be in the mood for a movie that is light. I definitely was in the mood for that the night I watched Shallow Hal. I don't really know what to say about it. It had its moments and Gwyneth Paltrow was very good, as usual. Not sure how I feel about Jack Black. He's just sort of... blah. It turned surprisingly serious and sappy at the end... and, of course, you knew exactly what the ending was going to be. There really couldn't have been a different ending. Jason Alexander played Hal's terribly superficial best friend. He has a lot of great one-liners, and his selfishness creates the circumstances in which Hal can realize that inner-beauty is "the thing." The unexpected... I finally called Melissa to see how she was doing. (For those who don't remember Melissa, she's the girl I knew way back in freshman year at Cornell. She took some time off school, but she's come back to Ithaca to finish up her bachelor's. I run into her everywhere and we keep promising we'll hang out but we never do.) So, we decided to meet at the Ithaca Sports Club at 10 to have a few drinks and play darts. We talked for quite a while, and I won a very long and drawn-out game of cricket (with steel-tip darts even which I've never used before). She's fun to talk to and so the time was flying by. Out of nowhere, as we're finishing up our game, this amazingly handsome guy comes up to us and starts a conversation. He is there with a friend of his, and they're playing pool. So we keep talking, and decide the four of us should play a game of darts. Before we get to start though, the guy says he's really hungry... but the kitchen at the Sports Club is closed. So he says, "Do you know of any place we can get some food right now?" He and his friend decide on Maxie's and then ask if Melissa and I want to go with them. Melissa for some reason thinks this guy is gay and his friend is a lesbian ("Or at least Bi, she's a vegan for chrissakes!"), and that we should go hang out with them. So I'm all about that. We get to Maxie's and they turn out to be two of the sweetest, funniest people I have met in a long time. I was laughing so hard my sides ached... and I did not expect to be out until 1 AM on the night before my trip to Omaha, but I was having such a great time! We said our goodbyes, and without bein' asked, the guy writes his number on a piece of the sales receipt and slides it over to ME, which I find odd considering that Melissa is sitting right next to him. Hmmmmm. So there you go, perhaps we made two new friends last night. Gotta love those little surprises life throws at ya! | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, July 10, 2002 Note from The Weblog Review: My site is currently 283 on the list to be reviewed... | private feedback | (0) public comments I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow for Omaha! I'm sooooo excited for a bunch of reasons... One of my bestest friends (Lori) grew up in the area, another of my friends (Cheri) says she loved her time in Omaha so much that she'd actually consider moving back there... and of course because of the person I get to hang out with when I get there (but more on that later). I got my new suitcase... a cute black rolling job with a little bit of silver on it. Mikey says it will look just like anybody else's rolling suitcase... so I was thinking about getting a rainbow sticker to put on it. *grin* But... on the other hand, I do want to make it out of the Omaha airport without being harassed. If anyone has any ideas, let me know... My travel advisory came from Lori. Two pieces of advice... 1) "It's going to be HOT there!" and 2) "Most all women in the Midwest look like lesbians." She's looking out for my well-being -- knowing that I love lesbians, and that left to my own devices, I might introduce myself (or be extra-friendly) to some of these corn-fed women, leading to my disappointment, or worse, getting beat up. Thanks Lori! I have been giving a lot of thought to my mission in life. I figure it needs to be just as superficial as Pat's "Kicking Matt in The Balls" mission. (If you haven't read "Letters from Pat," you're *SO* in the dark right now...) and since I don't have the evil streak Pat seems to have, I guess it will have to be something "nicer." So my mission in life is going to be to make one of the girls at the cafe I go to in the mornings into a genuine friend. *smile* Nice... innocent... but still a little bit of a challenge. I will measure my success by hanging out with one of the women... outside of the cafe. This also has the added bonus of getting me to working toward a goal before 9 AM (on those mornings when I am on-time for work). Sweet. I figure I already have a foot in the door... they know my "regular" coffee... and we have these superficial conversations... so I just gotta bump it up a notch. I'll let you know how it goes. :-) This morning at work is pretty much a waste. Our building is up for sale (much to my dismay -- I will HATE moving this office if we have to) and so there is a structural inspector coming through for the potential buyer. They've been here almost TWO hours and are asking all kinds of stupid questions. "Is this an original wall?" "Did you put in this fireplace?" "Do I look like a real estate agent?" "Do I look fat in this dress?" She's gettin' a little personal with me and frankly it's starting to freak me out. Maybe I can use this to my advantage and ask my new best friend to go get me a cup of coffee. I'll get a beverage, and she'll be out of my hair for fifteen minutes. It's a win-win situation as far as I can see. A few weeks ago I met a guy at one of the girls' softball games. It totally took me off guard that I would meet a handsome, intelligent guy in Ithaca. Of course after a few minutes conversation I realized he wasn't from Ithaca at all, he was visiting from Philadelphia. (Of course.) We still exchanged numbers and emails. I wrote him last week, and got an email from him this morning... it was a pleasant surprise. He was hopeful he'd get mentioned in my Web journal the night we met. (I told him I generally don't write about guys I meet in my journal 'cause it just makes me sound like I'm whining about the lack of decent men and the lame state of dating affairs in Ithaca.) I hope this makes up for it, Walter! *big cute grin* That's gotta be all for now... I'm sure there will be a few more posts before I leave for Omaha... and then I'll be on "Web journal vacation" until next Tuesday. | private feedback | Tuesday, July 09, 2002 Readin' The Paper I'm highly entertained by the article today in the Ithaca Journal headlined "Bush takes heat on scandals." The company that Bush was CEO of, Harken Energy Corp., was being investigated a decade ago by the SEC because of what Bush calls (and this is my favorite quote), "an honest disagreement about accounting procedures." *laughing* Who writes this stuff!? The article goes on about the barrage of questions concerning the Harken investigation and says, "Bush, who appeared irritated by the questioning, glared at reporters in the White House briefing room when he heard titters after that answer." (Titters? I would have been laughing hysterically! So much for my job as a newspaper reporter.) Then... another cover page article, "WorldCom blames accounting firm for misstating profits," says that WorldCom is blaming everything on Arthur Andersen. So how come just yesterday, the previous heads of WorldCom refused to testify and invoked their fifth amendment rights... if its not their fault? Hmmmmmmmmm. | private feedback | (0) public comments The 2002 G/L Consumer Online Census started July 8th, and will continue until August 19th. Once again, they are providing the opportunity to "Stand Up and Be Counted" - showing Corporate America, politicians, the media and fellow citizens just how influential the Gay Community is. 6,351 people got their attention by completing the 2001 Census. That is the LARGEST pool of respondents in the history of research into the GLBT community. Last year, the results of this survey made it to the front page of USA TODAY! TAKE THIS YEAR'S GAY/LESBIAN CONSUMER CENSUS | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, July 08, 2002 I've been haunted by the same thought for days... I cannot show up in Omaha, Nebraska with my lame-ass suitcase! A brief history... My mom's boyfriend has smoked so many Parliament cigarettes that he's apparently on the board of trustees... Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but Parliament *did* have a rewards program to keep their victims brand loyal. Anyway, you know what I'm talking about, you send in cigarette UPC codes and get stupid merchandise. And, you KNOW you have to smoke like 1.2 million cartons just to get one rinky dink key chain, right? Well this man got TWO martini glass sets, and TWO sets of luggage. No wonder he's on his deathbed! Somehow, I ended up with one of the sets of luggage and it even says Parliament right on it! I feel dirty and slightly embarassed just carrying it around when I travel. Maybe I should slap big anti-smoking stickers on the side of it, to ease my conscience. Ok, Ok, no need to bring attention to myself. I'll just buy a new one...with wheels... so that I can be in the "in-crowd." Everyone ('cept me) has one of those things! I also became the beneficiary of one of the martini glass sets with Parliament blue bases. It came with a pitcher that I used as a makeshift vase... until my cat knocked it over and it broke into a million pieces. Cheap-ass Parliament martini glass set. Needless to say, I didn't shed a tear. | private feedback | (0) public comments I am sooooo bored at my office today. I have a to-do list I could wallpaper my office with twice-over, but still, I remain unmotivated. Oh, sure, I've done a few things... answered the phone, written a few email responses... but the clock is ticking. I'm leaving for Omaha in just three days. Just so I could get up and go for a walk, I went to the bank to deposit a check... I walked by the Post Office and saw an acquaintance of mine in deep baby-talk conversation with a strange dog. I was embarassed for them, so I decided not to stop and chat. As much as I told myself I didn't want to spend any more money today, and I didn't want to drink a soda this afternoon, I STILL went to the commons market for a Vanilla Coke. I'm disappointed in myslef, but the Vanilla Coke makes up for it, so I suppose I'm back at "zero." *Note to self: Don't drink Vanilla Coke after having a piece of mint gum. EIW* I'm also laughing hysterically at a blog site I found today.... Letters From Pat. After reading this, I've decided I need a mission in life too. | private feedback | (0) public comments Since The Date Project (the only blog I was following) recently went offline... I found another one that I can get my dating inspiration from... A Mating Call in the Concrete Jungle. It was referred by the unfortunately short-lived Date Project, and seems to be a bit wittier. It's a little closer to home... based in NYC. Check it out! | private feedback | (0) public comments My "Romance" horoscope: YESTERDAY "You're understandably cynical about the idea of romantic love, but it will happen to you soon." TODAY "The love that once seemed so impossible is yours at last." TOMORROW "With your future assured, it's much easier to enjoy yourself in the here and now." Hmmmmmmm.... | private feedback | (0) public comments This morning has already started interestingly enough... the alarm was going off at my office when I got to work this morning. I guess the alarm monitoring company doesn't call me anymore (!?!) which concerns me a little. But... if I want to look on the bright side, they probably would have called me at 3 or 4 AM anyway. :-) And I *do* like my sleep. This weekend was pretty low-key, I hung out with friends mostly. Saturday was a busy day. I went to the Mall to get a tennis racquet and shop a little, went to the SPCA to look at puppies, and then played tennis for a bit. My legs are still a little sore. I guess I'm not used to hustling. I also finished THE SUMMER THEY CAME by William Storandt. A well put-together story, very well-written. And it goes pretty fast, definitely a nice summer book. The characters are a little 2-dimensional though, I didn't have the same disappointment when the book ended as I did with, say, DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD. (I always judge how good a book is by how I feel when I flip the last page.) Sunday, I sat at Juna's for nearly 3 hours reading the New York Times. I LOVE sitting in the cafe and reading the NYT, its such a treat! I read a very interesting story in the New York Times Magazine about ALICE, an Artificial Intelligence chat robot. Apparently, a scientist has figured out that 95% of all conversation is constructed from a finite number of responses and so they've programmed this chat bot with between 40,000-70,000 things to say (I can't remember which number its closer to) and it can have a conversation with you that you'd most likely mistake for another human being. You can chat with ALICE online through a Web site. There are a bunch of different versions (some that operate in different languages)... although the one I tried didn't seem very human-like at all. | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, July 05, 2002 Ithaca gets a sort of round-about mention in Dan Savage's Column this week. Well, ok... it's an "Ithaca is Gorges" t-shirt that gets mentioned, but that's still cool, right!? Now that I don't have Politically Incorrect to watch at midnight, I have taken to watching a show that is just about as comical and entertaining, a show on the Oxygen network called The Sunday Night Sex Show. I realized last night that this show originates in Canada. The premise? The host, Sue, answers call-in questions of a sexual nature. (Between Dan Savage and The Sunday Night Sex Show, apparently I have a one-track mind.) The things these straight people want to know about is hilarious... *grin* She disappoints me sometimes with the answers to questions.... she presents one-sided answers, or answers I would consider to be a bit conservative... but I'm not really watching 'cause I care about the answers. I get a kick out of the questions... Last night this hornball guy called in to convince his pregnant wife that she could still have sex right up until the day she dropped that baby. (Apparently, she was holding out with the excuse that she couldn't have sex while she was pregnant. Poor heterosexuals.) Well, hopefully it's going to be a slow Friday and I can leave the office early... For now, I'll leave you with Sue's words of wisdom, "Wear protection, and be alert. A child is born with just one squirt." | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, July 03, 2002 I finished reading THE MOST FABULOUS STORY EVER TOLD, a play by Paul Rudnick, last night. I was surprised it only took me the course of a day to read, but I guess I shouldn't considering it was mostly dialogue. I guess it shouldn't take any longer to read it than it would to see it performed. ;-) Although I did have to muddle through the stage direction stuff... but even the stage direction and set notes were written in a humorous style. I have a strong urge to recommend the play to the Kitchen Theater, which is well-known for small casts, simple scenery, and offbeat selections. This morning I had a doctor's appointment to look at this sinus congestion I'm having. I was only giving it 7 days to clear up but apparently the magic number is 10. (Although today is actually day 9.) The doctor also said it was most likely a cold (unlike any *I* have ever seen before), and that if it didn't clear up by Friday that I should go get some antibiotics. He said that instead of making me come back in Friday, he would give me the prescription today. He said I looked "trustworthy" enough to be able to judge for myself whether or not I needed it. "Trustworthy" enough to dispense my own drugs huh? Niiiiiiice. My coworker sent me this link today where you can send your name to NASA, and they will burn your name on a Disc that is going to be left behind on a future Mars mission. Cool enough, so check it out. :-) I also found a site that is dedicated to reviewing and listing web logs. I submitted mine for listing and review, we'll see if anything comes of it. It is called The Weblog Review, so if you like reading about strangers' personal lives or if you're on a quest to find someone whose opinions on politics and news match you completely, check it out. (But, I'll warn you, there are some WEIRD blogs out there.) I was thinking about listing myself as a web log reviewer, but it seems there is this whole application process that may take me longer than just a few minutes to fill out. ;-) I'll keep you posted. | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, July 02, 2002 I saw the funniest Ithaca bumper sticker I have ever seen yesterday. It was bright blue and said, "Ithaca: 10 square miles surrounded by reality." *grin* Other than that, not much is new. I got my order (finally) from InsightOut Books, a gay/lesbian Book-of-the-Month club. I started reading "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told," a play by Paul Rudnick. It's hilarious and the kind of thing I could see the Kitchen Theater doing. It's the story of creation but with two couples (one gay, one lesbian) as the first humans. Its probably going to go fast since its all dialogue and then I have two other books to follow (SUMMER SHARE and THE SUMMER THEY CAME) and a book on workout routines. On the same day my new CDs came, I had ordered Five altogether; Jamie O'Neal, Chely Wright, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Sara Evans, and a 2-CD set by The Mamas and The Papas. AND, I borrowed Rodney's Kinsey Sicks CD on Sunday so I'm overwhelmed with new music at the moment. Not a bad place to be. :-) | private feedback | (0) public comments (REAL) VIRUS ALERT: I was initially alerted to the existence of this virus because I kept getting "returned emails" saying that I was sending messages to invalid addresses. I didn't recognize any of the addresses to which these emails were being sent... and this morning I got a message saying that an attachment I sent was found to contain the W32Klez virus. But... the attachment was a ".exe" file, which are native to PCs, so I don't have any ".exe" files on my system.I wrote to Hotmail and did a little web research. Apparently this is a REAL virus alert... Hotmail's response: "I would also like to inform you about a virus that is currently spreading on the Internet, called W32Klez. The virus has most likely infected an address book of which you are a part. This does not necessarily mean that your computer is infected, but that a computer is infected that contains your MSN E-mail address in its address book or contact list." So, a little research on my part... and this is the clearest description I can find of what the W32Klez virus actually does: From various places including SoVerNet "First thing this virus does is read your address book and sends e-mails to people in your address book randomly. The second thing, and key to remember, is it alters the FROM area and sends the e-mails from somebody else in your address book. The subject line, message bodies, and attachment file names are random. The From address is randomly-chosen from email addresses that the worm finds on the infected computer. Then, the virus randomly chooses a file from the machine to send along with itself to recipients." To wrap up: I'm on a MAC so I DON'T have this virus... but someone with MY name in their e-mail address book DOES. All you PC users out there beware. There's an easy fix, if you go to that link in the previous paragraph I think you can find the applications that will rid your harddrive of this virus. | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, July 01, 2002 I was surprised to get an email last night from my dad's new wife. That's right, apparently dad and his long-time fiance (5 years) got married last week. She "just wanted me to know." Of course, the email was just from her... so my reply was short. "Judy, Congratulations. Shane" | 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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