RainbowDishes

I'm Gone......

2010-07-13T21:09:00.001-05:00

.......to the HLCCA Conference in Nashville! I'm Gone! See y'all later!!

Roommate From Hell

2010-05-21T10:42:00.000-05:00

After reading SharkBoy's blog about his Evil Roommate, it made me start thinking about my roommate from hell.

This was the summer of 1991. I had been living at home after I dropped out of college. I had lost my drivers license because of so many tickets, so I needed to move into town. Plus, I really didn't want to be living with my parents again. I had already signed a lease for the fall, but I needed to find a place to live for the summer. So Jack, a friend of mine, said he had a cool 1 bedroom apartment that he was going to rent for the summer. He wanted to know if I wanted to stay there. And just for the record, Jack and I were never very close friends. We just knew each other and he often hung around my circle of friends. This was a small town and most of the gay men knew each other.

The living arrangements started off good. He worked at the restaurant/nightclub next door. The restaurant I worked for was about 6 blocks away and easily walkable. Our schedules were different with me working mornings and him working evenings, so we rarely saw each other. And for most nights, he wouldn't sleep in his bed, he slept on the couch. Life was pretty good.

Soon enough, the problems began. He never once bought anything for the apartment. He was eating my food and drinking my drinks. And he would go through toilet paper like crazy! I stopped bring food and drinks into the apartment unless I was going to eat them right then. I also never bought any more toilet paper. I was very good at holding it until I would go to work or a friend's house.

It was a very hot and humid summer that year. I walked in and the apartment was very warm. I checked the thermostat thinking he had turned the a/c off, but no, he had turned the thermostat down to below 50°! If you have never tried this before, our a/c unit was in a closet. When he cranked the thermostat down to below 50°, it froze the pipes in the a/c unit. By the time I had found it, the a/c unit was a solid block of ice. This same even happened at least 3 or 4 times that I remember. And each time, I would bitch him out and tell him that you cannot turn the temperature down that low. We would be without a/c for a few hours each time.

And then I started to notice stuff disappearing. First I couldn't find a few shirts of mine. And honestly, I thought I had probably left them at the laundromat. But then other things started to disappear. A music CD. Some food. A skillet. Some books. When I would confront him, he said he had no idea where they were. So I packed up everything I owned except for essential clothes, and stored it all at a friend's house. Jack never once said anything about how all of my stuff had disappeared.

Fast forward to the end of the 3 month lease. Jack is moving out a week before the lease is over and he was moving to his mom's house in Oklahoma. The night before he was leaving, he had to work had left all of his belongings packed in garbage bags. So I untied the bags and started going through them. Sure enough, there was all of my shirts that had disappeared. I also found my skillet, music CDs and books. I also found some of my underwear (with shit tracks in them, DISGUSTING!). UGH! I removed all of my belongings (except for the shit covered underwear, he can keep those) and tied the bags back shut. I was at work when he left town. He never once left a note or tried to contact me again. Of course, I had the last laugh. It was his name on the lease, not mine. I never bothered to clean when I moved out. After all, in the 3 months we had lived there, he never once bothered to clean anything. And he sure didn't bother to clean when he left. A few years later, my best friend Jeff ran into Jack in a St. Louis bar. Jack told Jeff how upset he was because I left the apartment such a mess. Honestly, I didn't leave it any messier than he had left it. I just never cleaned anything. He was upset of course because he never got his security deposit back. I should have been nicer I suppose, he could have used that money to buy some toilet paper to wipe his ass properly. That would have kept somebody else's underwear from being so nasty!

My Visit with Charry

2010-05-18T19:43:00.003-05:00

The Fiesta message board,Collectible Medium Green (CMG), that I frequent is having a little fun with a Chartreuse 10" vase, that we have named Charry. Charry is being sent to different CMG members around the country. They take pictures of Charry around local attractions in their area. My turn came up recently, and this was my visit with Charry.

The other day, I had double the surprise when Charry and the Dish Fairy both visited. Charry said he was feeling a little bit claustrophobic and wanted to get out and stretch his "legs" after the long trip from California. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating very well. Luckily, a few days later, the sun made a nice and very welcomed visit! So I took Charry to one of my favorite places in town, the Wandell Sculpture Park at Meadowbrook Park. This is where I love to go bicycling or walking.

Charry was a little bit nervous after meeting some of the "folks" that love to hang out at the park.

Next, we came upon a naked woman, and poor Charry had no idea what to think of this place.

Charry couldn't get away from the naked woman fast enough! But he was a bit curious about the couple he found around the corner. They seemed to be in the middle of some sensual dance.

Next up was this pair, who looked like they might be in the middle of some fight. Charry tried to get in the middle of them and break them up, but they were much bigger. So Charry decided to leave them alone.

But soon after we left the more colorful people of the park, we came across a HUGE rabbit. Charry thought he had died and gone to chocolate easter egg heaven, but I warned him about those "chocolate" eggs. They might not taste very well!

After seeing such a big rabbit, Charry wasn't a bit surprised to see such a big bear. Of course, Charry wanted to know why the bear was sitting on a pine cone. Unfortunately, even I could not answer this question. I just let know Charry that we are a bit different around here. ;D

Charry had a good time checking out some of the other sculptures around the park.

And Charry was already to play when he found this group of kids having fun. This colorful bunch welcomed him right away and he couldn't believe he had finally met some people that were almost as bright as him.

After the kids had gone away, Charry was still in a playful mood. He decided to play a little hide-and-seek.

We were having so much fun, Charry never noticed the signs of keeping off of the sculptures. Luckily, we made a quick exit before anybody kicked us out of the park.

After all of the walking and playing around, Charry was ready to go back into his box for his next adventure. So Charry was sent on his merry way!
(Please note: your computer has to be facing the right direction for the arrow to match up to where Charry is visiting next!)

Jam & Spoon and Tokyo Ghetto Pussy

2010-04-29T10:48:00.008-05:00

Here is one of my all-time favorite songs. It was released in 1994 by the duo Jam & Spoon. Sadly, half of the duo (Mark Spoon) died in 2006 from a heart attack at the age of 39. They made some of the most beautiful techno music ever!

Jam & Spoon - Right In The Night

Also from 1994, here is a song from another favorite duo of mine, Tokyo Ghetto Pussy. After reading about Jam & Spoon on wikipedia, I found out they also released music under the pseudonym Tokyo Ghetto Pussy. I have loved both of these duos for 17 years and never knew they were the same people. LOL

Tokyo Ghetto Pussy - Everybody On The Floor

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T10:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter

Ain't No Son, My Story

2010-03-29T06:38:00.001-05:00

The previous post is about the new song being released by the Court Yard Hounds (2/3 of the Dixie Chicks, sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire), called Ain't No Son. The beginning of the song is about a gay man who tells his homophobic father that he is gay. The rest of the song is the father's angry response.

What happened when I told my father was a completely different story than what happens in this song. First off, I never had a chance to tell my mother. She was diagnosed with cancer when I was in college. This was the same time I started to realize I was gay. I kept putting off discussing this with her until she got better, but unfortunately, she never got better. My sister told me they had discussed it shortly before she died (my sister knew about me at the time) and my mother had no problems with it as long as I was happy. And I believe she meant that. My mother was an amazing person. I always had looked up to her, and I am very happy to think I ended up much like her.

My father and I were never very close. Even though we all lived in the same house, my father kept to himself quite a bit. He had built a small room in the back of the garage that was his workshop. He was an electrical genius. When I was in grade school, he built our first computer. The computer was the size of 2 refrigerators and had no memory. Every time you turned the computer on (or even worse, the lights flickered) you would have to type your program in. And yes, it only ran 1 program at a time. But every night after work, he would eat his dinner and then retire to his workshop. That was his life.

When my mother died, my father tried to be a lot closer to my sister and I. He was busy buying us stuff (a new car for each of us), giving us monthly allowances, paying for braces for my sister and contacts for me, etc. We spent a lot of time together during this period. And for the first time ever, my father and I started actually talking about things. About this time, I had started dating a guy. My father was becoming very good about asking me questions but leaving the pronouns to be very sexually vague. "Are you seeing anybody?" "Do you like THEM?" "Do THEY treat you good?" "How long have you been seeing THEM?"

This period didn't last very long though. Within a year of my mother dying, my father met a new woman. It was a very strange relationship for all of us, just for the fact that this woman he was now dating had shared an office with my mother for many years. She is a very nice person, but it was just strange that I had known her for many years already. But once they started dating, the closeness with my father started to disappear again. Only this time, he wasn't disappearing into his workshop, he was disappearing into her life.

Shortly after he was seriously dating this woman, I had started seeing a new guy, Mark, and we were getting ready to move in together. So I had decided for my father's 47th birthday, that I would write him a long letter about myself. In this letter, I told him about Mark and that for the first time in a long time, I was very happy and felt like my life was going great. I also told him that since he came from what I considered to be a very redneck and probably homophobic family, I understood if he didn't accept this, but he would always be my father. I chickened out from giving him this card personally. I left the card on his pillow right before I left his house. The next day, I got the email from him.

The email was a good email. :) He told me that he always suspected and had no problems with it. He said he was very glad I had somebody in my life, because he knew how much happiness he had with the new girlfriend. He also mentioned that even though they had never discussed it, he was pretty sure my mother would have had no problems with it either. He said the only thing that mattered was that I was happy with my life, and he would support me 100% with my decision. (Not that it was a decision.)

My father died about 7 years after that email. Our relationship was a very rocky one the last few years of his life. He had married the girlfriend, only to get divorced from her about 5 years later. He lived with his father for a while, but that just didn't work out. He bought a house close to his father and once again, he retreated into his workshop (new house). When he died, Mark and I had broken up and moved on with our lives. But Mark was very kind and escorted me to the funeral. But with all of the ups and downs I experienced with my father, I am very proud to say, I AM HIS SON, and HE IS MY FATHER!

Ain't No Son

2010-03-29T00:05:00.000-05:00

I am a lover, not a fighter. And when it comes to music, my musical taste knows no limits. Since I grew up in a small farming community, country music was everywhere. As much as I hated country music while I was growing up, I actually like it now. The Dixie Chicks are my absolute favorite country band. I use country band loosely since the Dixie Chicks were disowned by the country music business for making a comment about Dubya. And in the end, Dubya had such a low approval rating, yet the Dixie Chicks still aren't allowed to play in the country music business games. All I can say to that, the country music is much sadder place without the wonderful Dixie Chicks. But on with this post....

The two sisters in the Dixie Chicks, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, are releasing a new album with the new name The Court Yard Hounds. One of the tracks is called, Ain't No Son. The song is about a gay son who comes out to his homophobic father and is disowned. The bluegrass intro to the song is the son saying he wants to talk to his dad. The rest of the song is more rock like and is the angry father disowning the son. It is a very powerful song. But at the same time, it is also a very sad song knowing that this is happening all over.

Here is what Emily Robinson said recently in an interview about the song:

"I turned the TV on, and it was A&E or one of those documentary kind of shows about these poor teenage kids who are devastated that their parents won't let 'em stay in the house because they found out they were gay," she explains. The lines, 'You ain't no son to me/Eight pound baby boy I bounced on my knee' were around from the very beginning. That idea, how can you have kids and love them so much and one day decide not to -- it just boggled my mind."

"Ain't No Son" by the Court Yard Hounds
I've got something to say
I'm scared and so afraid
Can you take me as I am
Come what may our blood is all the same
I'm still your little man

He said you ain't no son to me
You ain't no son to me
Eight pound baby boy I bounced on my knee
No, you ain't no son of mine
You ain't no son of mine
Aw, forget it girls there ain't no use in trying
Don't expect to get my love for free
And don't blame me

Well this ain't no fun for me
This ain't no fun for me
Oh boys should be boys
That's how it should be
You ain't coming home
No you ain't coming home
Til you walk the straight line
You'll be out on your own
Don't expect to save your soul for free
When you're the one who turned your back on me

Aren't you a sight to see
Yeah, you're a sight to see
What you call freedom makes you look like a freak
You must get around
Cause it sure got around
Don't you know that I can't show my face in this town
Don't think I'm gonna get you up off of me
When you're the one who turned your back on me
Stranger, stranger on the wall
When the neighbors come to call
I just don't know what to say
So I'll put you away
This time I won't leave a trace
I'll fill up the empty space
When I put you, I put you away
I put you away

He said you ain't no son to me
You ain't no son to me
Eight pound baby boy I bounced on my knee
No, you ain't no son of mine
You ain't no son of mine
Aw, forget it girls there ain't no use in trying
Don't expect to get my love for free
When you're the one who turned your back on me
Don't blame me
Don't blame me
Don't blame me
Shame on you
Shame on you
Shame on you

You probably think this post was written about you.

2010-03-04T17:13:00.001-06:00

Carly Simon is having a video contest for the remake of her song, You're So Vain.

Here is my favorite Christian, Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's best Christian, and her rendition of You're So Vain.

And here, Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's best Christian, speaks about Traditional Marriage.

Colors By The Sexes

2010-03-03T10:02:00.002-06:00

Matt Alber - End of the World Remixes

2010-02-16T12:50:00.005-06:00

Matt Alber is back again with remixes of his beautiful song End of the World. He re-recorded the vocals for both of these awesome mixes. This song is still one of my favorite songs ever. And both of these remixes are available on iTunes.


Matt Alber - End of the World Saul Ruiz Club Mix	Matt Alber - End of the World Morgan Page Pop Mix Extended Remix

Matt Alber - End of the World

I don’t want to ride this roller coaster
I think I want to get off
But they buckled me down
Like it’s the end of the world
If you don’t want to have this conversation
Then you better get out
Cause we’re climbing to our death
At least that’s what they want you to think
Just in case we jump the track
I have a confession to make
It’s something like a cork screw

I don’t wanna fall, I don’t wanna fly
I don’t wanna be dangled over
The edge of a dying romance
But I don’t wanna stop
I don’t wanna lie
I don’t wanna believe it’s over
I just wanna stay with you tonight

I didn’t mean to scream out quite so loudly
When we screeched to a halt
I’m just never prepared
For the end of the ride
Maybe we should get on something simpler
Like a giant balloon
But I’ve got two tickets left, and so do you
Instead of giving them away to some stranger
Let’s make them count, come on
Let’s get back in line again and ride the big one

Don’t you want to fall, don’t you want to fly
Don’t you want to be dangled over
The edge of this aching romance
If it’s gonna end, then I wanna know
That we squeezed out every moment
But if there’s nothing left can you tell me why
That it is you’re holding onto me
Like it’s the end of the world

lyrics thanks to Andrew Sanders

Happy Eff'n Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T08:34:00.001-06:00

What a way to spend Valentine's Day. I guess he will think twice about such a public proposal.

Happy Birthday, Mom

2010-02-13T01:09:00.000-06:00

This is a repeat from last year. Today would have been my Mom's 62nd birthday today. This video is in honor of her. She was known to use a few of these statements on me.

Happy Birthday, Mom. Thanks for everything!
Love from your favorite (and only) son, Craig

T-Shirt War!!

2010-02-09T15:39:00.002-06:00

A very cute video.

It took 222 different t-shirts to make the video. Very clever.

And the new color is…

2010-02-08T16:46:00.001-06:00

It has been announced (unofficially of course) that the name of the new Fiesta color is Paprika! :)

The color is said to be a reddish-copper color. I think this color will be a very nice addition to the line-up.

My Fiesta Beginnings

2010-02-08T11:50:00.001-06:00

I started my Fiesta collection in 1999. I was on vacation in Saugatuck, MI, with a group of friends. We were visiting a junk shop. Please note, they claimed to have antiques, but for the most part, I would claim they had a lot of junk and newer items. In this shop, I ran across a stack of Fiesta plates sitting on a table. The sight of these plates instantly took me back to my paternal grandparent’s table when I was growing up.

I was never very close to my father’s family. Even though they lived the same distance from our house as my mother’s parents, emotionally, that distance was a lot further. There were the few Thanksgiving dinners when the whole family would gather, but those had ended by the time I was 7 or 8. And we would stop by their house each Christmas morning, but it would only be us visiting. I rarely ever saw my aunts, uncles or cousins. Even more strange, I grew up less than 10 minutes from one of my aunts and her three daughters. I saw them even less than my grandparents.

The one thing I always remember about my grandparents though was their table. It was always set with Fiesta dishes. Of course, when I was a small kid, I never knew (or really cared) about the dishes. But now that I look back at those times, I fondly remember. The colors I remember were Red, Yellow, Cobalt, Medium Green, Ivory and Turquoise. I don’t recall any of the other 50’s colors or Original Green for that matter either. I know my grandmother bought them when she was working at a local department store. But I have no idea when she worked there. She would be a few dishes at a time, as the budget allowed.

Sadly, my grandmother passed away in 1995 and my grandfather was put into a nursing home in 1999. When he went into the nursing home, all of his belongings were auctioned off. This was the same time that I was really getting into collecting Fiesta. But with the lack of communication in the family, I was never told of the auction until after it was over. I would have gladly bought all of their Fiesta dishes. The main prize would have been the Turquoise disk pitcher she used for every meal to pour her iced tea. And for me, that one piece will always be the iconic piece of Fiesta.

And that stack of plates I saw in the junk shop, they came home with me. At the time, I had no idea what they were other than the items that triggered my Fiesta obsession. I thought they would make great dinner plates, but they turned out to be the 11” chop plates. A bit too bulky and way too large for dinner plates. The colors are Apricot, Rose, Periwinkle, Turquoise and Cobalt. I think I used them once for eating, and realized they were too big. They have been dust collectors ever since. But they still remind me of my grandparent’s table and the beginning of my collection.

Super Bowl

2010-02-07T11:36:00.001-06:00

Here is the original, unedited version of Men on Film that aired during the 1992 Super Bowl.

I am torn on this Super Bowl. I live close to Indianapolis and I also once ran into Peyton Manning (HOT!) at the Indy Airport. Go Colts!

But my home-away-from-home is New Orleans! Geaux Saints!

Enjoy the Ride

2010-02-07T11:31:00.000-06:00

I don't speak often of personal matters, but I thought I would just throw this out there.

I have met a guy I really, really like. We've only been on 2 dates so far. Even though I am the hopeless romantic (hopefully the hopeless part is over), I am not assuming anything just yet. But I will just say, I am really enjoying it so far, and I am excited to see where this goes. If something does come out of it, I am all for that. If it doesn't work out, I think I at least made a great new friend. So for now, I am just enjoying the ride! :)

Happy Groundhog's Day

2010-02-02T04:40:00.000-06:00

No need to worry, no Bill Murrays were harmed in the posting of this blog.

The End Is Here!

2010-02-02T04:23:00.000-06:00

Tonight's the night we'll make history,
Honey, you and I...and Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Claire and Benjamin Linus and Sun and Jin and Hurley and John Locke...or is that really John Locke??

Tonight is the beginning of the last season of Lost.

For Your Enjoyment: The Fight

2010-01-29T09:28:00.000-06:00

My wife and I were watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed.
I turned to her and said, "Do you want to have sex?"
"No," she answered.
I then said, "Is that your final answer?"
She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying "Yes."
So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend."
And that's when the fight started....
.............................................

Saturday morning I got up early, quietly dressed, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, and slipped quietly into the garage.
I hooked up the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour.
The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad all day. I went back into the house, quietly
undressed, and slipped back into bed. I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, 'The weather out there is terrible.'
My loving wife of 10 years replied, 'Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that?'
And that's when the fight started....

.............................................

I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my
order first. "I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please."
He said, "Aren't you worried about the mad cow?""
Nah, she can order for herself."
And that's when the fight started....

...........................................

When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive... so, I took her to a gas station.
And that's when the fight started....

...................................................................................

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.
She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds. I bought her a bathroom scale.
And that's when the fight started....
..................................................................................
One year, a husband decided to buy his mother-in-law a cemetery plot as a Christmas gift.
The next year, he didn't buy her a gift..
When she asked him why, he replied, "Well, you still haven't used the gift I bought you last year!"
And that's when the fight started.....
............................................
A man and a woman were asleep like two innocent babies.
Suddenly, at 3 o'clock in the morning, a loud noise came from outside.The woman, bewildered, jumped up from the bed and yelled at the man 'Holy Crap. That must be my husband!'
So the man jumped out of the bed; scared and naked jumped out the
window. He smashed himself on the ground, ran through a thorn bush and to his car as fast as he could go. A few minutes later he returned and went up to the bedroom and screamed at the woman, 'I AM your husband!'
The woman yelled back, 'Yeah, then why were you running?'
And that's when the fight started....
And then...........
My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping the channels.
She asked,'What's on TV?'
I said,'Dust.'
And then the fight started...
---------------------
My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion, and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he sat alone at a nearby table.
I asked her,'Do you know him?'
'Yes,' she sighed,'He's my old boyfriend... I understand he took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear he hasn't been sober since.'
'My'! I said,
'Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?'
And then the fight started...
------------------
I rear-ended a car this morning... So, there we were alongside the road and
slowly the other driver got out of his car.
You know how sometimes you just get soooo stressed and little things just
seem funny?
Yeah, well I couldn't believe it... he was a DWARF!!!
He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted,
'I AM NOT HAPPY!'
So, I looked down at him and said,
'Well, then which one are you?'
And then the fight started....
---------------------
When our lawn mower broke, my wife kept hinting to me that
I should get it fixed.
But, somehow I always had something else to take care of first, the truck, the car, playing golf. Always something more important to me.
Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point.
When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily
snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for a
short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a minute, and when
I came out again I handed her a toothbrush.
I said, 'When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway.'
The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.

2009 Wordle

2010-01-24T09:39:00.001-06:00

I haven't done this in quite a while, so I thought I would just do one for the whole year of 2009. Here is the top 250 words that I used in my blog, with the largest words being used the most down to the smallest words being used the least. Click on the picture to enlarge, but be warned, it is a huge picture/file.

Amazing video Grace

2010-01-14T12:07:00.001-06:00

Boy George is getting ready to release a new single, Amazing Grace, which is simply AMAZING! This song/video are stunning in their graphics and melody.

Amazing Grace Boy George ft Ana LainsClick the link to see the video. The video cannot be embedded currently.
it was just another ordinary day,
how could you know your life was going to change,
forget about tomorrow,
don't be a slave to time,
because life is in the moment

I remember the first time I heard Culture Club and Boy George. I was in 10th grade, and my geometry teacher (who was a great guy) couldn't believe they would let a guy who dressed like that on television. All I can say is, thank God we have changed that much! Boy George is an amazing song writer/singer. While his post-Culture Club music hasn't been the most "top of the charts", the music has such emotion and feeling. He is a very gifted story teller.

The Adventures of Mikey Mouse

2010-01-13T09:12:00.000-06:00

I LOVE to read! I have a small collection of books that I have read over and over and over. With no computer for 7 weeks, I started reading some of these books. But now that I have the computer back, I think I might have lost my mind. LOL For some reason, I have decided to start re-reading the Tales of the City book series. Written by Armistead Maupin, the first book of the series, Tales of the City, takes place in San Francisco in 1979-1980. It originally started out as a newspaper serial, which was later put into book form. I must admit, I got my first taste of TOTC by watching the first mini-series which was shown on PBS. Imagine, PBS showing homosexuality, drugs, and nudity! THE HORROR!!! LOL But after seeing the mini-series, I found the books and started reading all of them.

There are 6 books in the original series: Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others and Sure of You. Maupin also released another book in 2007, Michael Tolliver Lives, which brought a lot of the TOTC characters into the new millennium. And if you really wanted to stretch it out, Maupin also released The Night Listener which has 1 minor character that was also a minor character in TOTC. The Night Listener was released as a feature film starring Toni Collette and Robin Williams, but the book is MUCH better!

What makes the reading of the series so daunting to me is the fact I don't own the individual books, I have the 2 TOTC collections: 28 Barbary Lane and Back to Barbary Lane. The first collection, which contains Tales of the City, More Tales of the City and Further Tales of the City is 754 pages long. Back to Barbary Lane contains the other 3 stories and is just as long. Luckily the stories move quickly and it never feels like such a long task of reading.

This is probably the 6th or 7th time I will have read both books. And if this time will be like the last, I will finish the books with a very happy but sad feeling. And yes, Mikey Mouse does live on!

The Beginning of the End

2010-01-13T00:49:00.007-06:00

It is going to be a very sad time around the RainbowDishes home. On February 2nd, the all-time greatest television show ever (in my super-humble opinion), will begin their last season. I was addicted to Lost before the show even began. I remember seeing all of the very cryptic commercials and knowing that something great was about to begin. Luckily, I have watched every show when it aired, since it is definitely not a show you can just jump into it and understand what is going on. Actually, if you haven't seen all of the previous episodes, you would be totally lost.

The show has been very cryptic and mysterious. The cliffhangers leave you begging to know what happened. While the new reveals will usually just blow your mind away. Sometimes, they will do something so totally out there, you would be left totally speechless. And yet sadly, after seeing every episode at least 3 times (thanks to the DVD's), I still have no clue as to what will happen in the last season. I have a very strong guess as to what MIGHT happen. But in the past, every guess I have made about what would happen next on Lost never happened that way.

So they give us this mesmerizing show and then end it after 6 seasons, and as if they are trying to add more insult to us, they announced that there would be absolutely no spinoffs or sequels to Lost. So after this last season, the show will only live on through DVD's.

Here is the AP story about the upcoming season. Very few secrets were told. And no major spoilers were announced.

No sequels, spinoffs for `Lost'
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
PASADENA, Calif. – When ABC's drama "Lost" ends in May, it will definitively end — don't look for any sequels or spinoffs.
The show's producers said Tuesday they've known the final image of the mythologically dense series about Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 since the first season, although Carlton Cuse said the last episode hasn't been written yet. It will air sometime in May.
Cuse and Damon Lindelof were giving away few secrets to the show's rabid fans at a news conference Tuesday, even refraining to show video clips. They said the show's sixth and final season will hearken back to its first, and most popular, season in 2004.
The producers were initially sweating about their two-hour season opener, scheduled for Feb. 2, when they heard President Barack Obama had been considering that night for his State of the Union address. It promises to be a challenging episode; actress Emilie de Ravin said she had to read the script three times before it made any sense.
"Get ready to scratch your heads, America," Lindelof said.
A one-hour recap special, an attempt to get uninitiated or casual viewers as familiar with the story as they can, will precede the opener.
In its lifetime, "Lost" proved that it's possible for a television series to challenge its viewers and pull off production values that rival feature films, said Stephen McPherson, ABC entertainment president.
"It will arguably be one of the most influential shows of the decade, if not of all time," McPherson said.
One secret producers did reveal: actress Cynthia Watros, who played the character Libby before being killed off in the second season, will return this year.
"Finally, all of your questions (about Libby) will be answered," Cuse said.
"No, they will not," Lindelof said.
That's something fans should prepare themselves for overall: not all of the questions raised during the series will be answered. "That would be too pedantic," Cuse said.
They're hoping that final show is something that will be talked about afterward in much the same way as the diner scene that ended " The Sopranos."
"I don't think it would be `Lost' if there wasn't any arguing and active debate among the viewers about whether or not it was a good ending," Lindelof said. "My mom will say it's a good ending, even though she doesn't understand the show."
"Lost" has gone through so many inexplicable twists and turns, and flash-forwards to the future, that one writer wondered whether fans had already seen the ending in a previous episode. Cuse said no.
Actors said filming the series has been an emotional journey.
"I'm going to cry like a baby when this series ends," actress Evangeline Lilly said.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

2010-01-12T19:58:00.000-06:00

I am not pointing at anybody with that title, but can you picture 7 dwarfs whistling that tune? LOL

Even though I said I am working on focusing on the positive, I am going to use this post to talk about my job. While it is very positive that I have a job after what it took me to get the job, things aren't so positive at work.

I work in a very large retail store (think the size of a Super WalMart but more upscale). The department I work in has about 10 people. There are supposed to be a minimum of 3 people who do my exact job. From the end of January 2009 (that is last year) until the beginning of December 2010, we had exactly 2 people doing the job of 3. Our boss would help out from time to time, but it was mainly Don and me doing the job. At the end of November, they finally hired a 3rd person for the job! YAY!!! It was very nice because he had some experience and I was finally moved up a spot. I started getting better hours and I actually had time to get things done! :) Everything was working out great!

UNTIL....and that is a big UNTIL! Until, the end of December comes around. The new guy decided that he was missing his daughter too much and wanted to go back to his old job. The part I never understood, he worked more hours (and basically the same night shift) at his old job. But he gave his 2 weeks notice, and we were going to be back to 2 people again.

Him quitting now really sucks because Don is going on his vacation at the end of January. So for the 10 days he will be off, it will be just me and my boss. Luckily, my boss is experienced enough that he can fill in (which wasn't the case with the last boss we had!) But it also means that I will be getting extra hours (BONUS!!!) which are next to impossible to get since they have really cracked the whip about overtime. Plus with him quitting, it means I am going back to working mostly nights. :(

And I feel like I should be bitching about my job today, since it was my day off but I ended up working. :( I just kept telling myself to think about the overtime!

In With The New

2010-01-11T11:54:00.000-06:00

I have never been a resolutions type person. I often make goals, but I don't come up with a list of items that I want to change on January 1st. The best part of my New Year Resolutions, when January 2nd comes around, I am still following all of my resolutions, because there are none!

This year I am working on something different though. After the bitter end of 2009, I have decided to make 2010 totally different. I have already changed my diet and continue to lose weight slowly (being sick most of December helped too!) I don't smoke or do drugs, so no need to give them up. My drinking is so minimal that I rarely drink anymore. I think I am good on that part.

My big change for 2010 is to concentrate on the positive and leave the negative behind. I don't have an anger issue, but I do have a problem of negativity building up before I vent. And when I get upset enough, it often makes me explode!

This might seem easy, but it is a goal that I will really need to work on. Luckily, I have a few things that help me stay positive. My dog is such a sweet dog, it is hard to be mad around her. Just one look at her face and it will melt any anger. Also with all of the colorful Fiesta dishes around the house, who could be mad? Just one look at either of the Fiesta cabinets will put a nice smile on my face.

So I am looking very forward to 2010. :)

Out With The Old

2010-01-11T00:19:00.000-06:00

WOW! 2009 ended up in the toilet, for me at least. It all started in November. The person, that I considered to be my best friend, pretty much stabbed me in the back. Of course he didn't actually drive a knife into me but it hurt all the same. And the worst part was that he has yet to make any attempt to tell me why or apologize.

Then Thanksgiving dinner happened. After working Thanksgiving morning, I went to a friend's house to enjoy a nice dinner with their family. The next day though, the dinner wasn't as nice, I was sick. I won't go into details, but I ended up spending most of the next day on the toilet. Later on, I found out that everybody that had been at the Thanksgiving dinner got sick. Sadly, the next week I came down with the flu. Once again, I had the pleasure of spending some quality time on the toilet. I was suffering from lots of stomach issues and a fever. Luckily, this only lasted for a few days. But the real fun came about 10 days after I got over the flu. I don't know for sure, but I do believe I came down with H1N1 (swine flu). This time I didn't have many stomach problems, but I did have a high fever and my whole body was in pain. I had aches in places that had never hurt before. The fever lasted for 2 days, but the aches continued on for almost 3 weeks. So I was sick for most of December.

And to make my sickness all the more fun, my laptop decided to have a meltdown. I was watching a movie one night and the screen went green and then black. The movie continued playing for a few minutes (I could still hear the dialogue). And then there was nothing. I could turn the computer back on, but the screen would remain black. I plugged an old computer monitor in and VOILA, I could see the screen. But sadly, I was getting tons of error messages. It was unable to load Windows. It was also having problems when I tried to load up the recovery disks. When I took the computer back to Best Buy (luckily it was still under warranty) they said most likely it was the motherboard (which loves to overheat) and would take 2 to 6 weeks. The day after I took the computer in, I got an email from Best Buy/Geek Squad. It basically thanked me for using Geek Squad. During this time, I started watching more DVDs (I don't have cable or satellite tv) and reading books. I even started watching television, which is something I rarely do anymore. But since I don't have cable or satellite television, I am lucky if I can get 4 local channels. It took Best Buy a LOT longer than 2 to 6 weeks! I got a letter (snail mail) from Best Buy that said my computer has been ready since December 18th. I got the letter on January 8th! What really pisses me off is the fact I had called after December 18th, and they said they didn't have it yet. The letter said they had called on December 23rd. I never received a phone call from Best Buy (or any other unknown number) and there was never a voice mail left. Needless to say, I am very glad to have my computer back! :)

But with this posting, I am taking all of the bad and negativity that the end of 2009 brought to me, and putting it behind me.

HELLO 2010! :)

Just in time for Halloween

2009-10-28T07:28:00.000-05:00

Here is a new remake of Michael Jackson's Thriller done by Imogen Heap. She slowed it way down. I have never been a very big MJ fan, but Thriller was a pretty good song. BUT, and you should notice that is a BIG BUT, this version is awesome! It gives the song a whole new spin.

Listen here:

Ankie Bagger - Where Were You Last Night

2009-10-28T06:16:00.000-05:00

OMG...hold your horses, here comes a post! LOL

This video is of a remix of the song that possessed my friend, Jeff, and I through the end of the 80's and all of the 90's. We first heard this song sometime in 1989. The local gay bar had 1 copy of the song. Jeff fell in love with this song first. I don't remember hearing it, but he kept raving about this song. We had no idea who it was singing. Even worse, we never heard the song anywhere else. The dj that was working that night was no help either.

A few months later, they played the song again. I heard the song this time and I also was in love. Luckily, the dj was more cooperative and gave us the artist's name. Unfortunately, the only copy they had of this song came from a music mixing company. They only sold their music to dj's and nightclubs. This began 12 years of hell for us!

The problem was that this song just didn't exsist in the U.S. Or at least, we couldn't find any existence of the song. Another problem we had is we weren't sure of the exact spelling of her name. Ankie Bagger isn't exactly a typical name. We were constantly visiting every record store we could find and looking for variations of how we thought her name would be spelled. Not only could we not find her music anywhere, nobody had ever heard of her either. Finally coming to the conclusion that we would never find a record or cd of hers, we started religiously looking through the compilation collections. We figured this was our best bet on finding this song.

During the early 2000's, Jeff and I both became fans of ~~"music sharing"~~ Peer-to-Peer (P2P) websites. We both started with Napster before it was taken away. We also tried a few other places that would last a while before they would close down. At each one of these sites, the first song we would look for was always Where Were You Last Night. It wasn't until we discovered a new P2P site that we finally stumbled upon our own holy grail. I remember typing in her name when I started using the latest P2P program. The first few months, nothing would show up. But one day, on a whim, I typed her name in again. And VOILA! Not only did the song show up once, it showed up TWICE! Two different people had the song! After more than 12 years, we had found that elusive song that had escaped us for so long!

I don't remember who found what. But between Jeff and me, one of us had found the original version and a few days later, the other one had found the remix version. We later found out the song had even been remade by another band. But, the original by Ankie will always be that song that drove us crazy. And I dedicate this song to Jeff, who would have turned 40 earlier this month. Whenever I play this song, I always think of the great times we shared. And I always remember all of the time we spent in record stores searching for some woman named Ankie.

Ankie Bagger - Where Were You Last Night

Heterosexual Ice Cream

2009-09-23T20:18:00.001-05:00

RIP Swayze, But....

2009-09-15T10:22:00.000-05:00

7 Days of PSB part 8

2009-09-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

So it is 8 days...I lied! LOL Here are 2 great videos. The first is from when Absolutely Fabulous was the rage.
Pet Shop Boys - Absolutely Fabulous

This next one is the PSB's performance at the Brit Awards 2009, right after they accepted the Outstanding Contribution To Music award. Look for Lady Gaga (singing Dusty Springfield's part) and Brandon Flowers (from the Killers) singing my fave It's A Sin.
Pet Shop Boys - MegaMix performed live at the Brit Awards 2009

Luv ya guys, I am in Milwaukee watching PSB! Eat your hearts out. And do you choose the hard or soft option?

7 Days of PSB part 7

2009-09-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here is the last set of videos leading up to me seeing the PSB concert in Milwaukee.

Here are the top 2 of my favorite PSB songs. Both songs definitely have to do with being different (gay). The first, It's A Sin, has always been my number 1 song. This video is of them live in concert in Rio. I love this version, it also includes some of I Will Survive. Those 2 songs fit perfectly together!
Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin

The second is my favorite song from Very.
Pet Shop Boys - Can You Forgive Her

7 Days of PSB part 6

2009-09-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here is the sixth set of videos leading up to me seeing the PSB concert in Milwaukee.

Pet Shop Boys - What Have I Done To Deserve This

And continuing with their remakes of other great songs, here is their version of a Village People song. This is from the 1994 Brit Awards performed with the world famous Llanelli Male Voice Choir.
Pet Shop Boys - Go West

7 Days of PSB part 5

2009-09-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here is the fifth set of videos leading up to me seeing the PSB concert in Milwaukee.

Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind

Pet Shop Boys - Where The Streets Have No Name

7 Days of PSB part 4

2009-09-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here is the fourth set of videos leading up to me seeing the PSB concert in Milwaukee.

Pet Shop Boys - You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk

Pet Shop Boys - I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More

7 Days of PSB part 3

2009-09-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

Here is the third set of videos leading up to me seeing the PSB concert in Milwaukee.

Pet Shop Boys - I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing

Pet Shop Boys - Left To My Own Devices

The Big 3

2009-09-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

It is very hard to believe that today is the third anniversary of RainbowDishes Journal. I guess the main reason it is hard to believe, is because I just haven't been blogging much lately. That is very sad, because I have a lot to say, but I just don't feel like putting it out there a lot of the time.

I hope the next year is even better for blogging. Thanks for reading, you make this all worth it!

7 Days of PSB part 2

2009-09-09T07:00:00.010-05:00

Here is the second set of videos leading up to the PSB concert in Milwaukee.

This was the first release from their latest album, Yes. (Does anybody still call them albums???) Recently, they have had some mediocre releases, but they did an excellent job with Yes!
Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc.

This video features Little Britain performing as the Pet Shop Boys. The song supposedly is about George W. Bush and Tony Blair's relationship.
Pet Shop Boys - I'm With Stupid
Pet Shop Boys - I'm with Stupid

7 Days of PSB part 1

2009-09-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

1 week from tonight, I will be in Milwaukee to see the Pet Shop Boys. I last saw them in 2002, and while that show was very laid back from their usual concerts, I was still in awe.

Over the next 7 days, I am going to post some of my favorite PSB videos. Here is the song that started my PSB infatuation. This was the very first PSB song I ever heard. Of course, it was their biggest hit ever in the US. I discovered both PSB and Erasure around the same time. I wasn't even completely out to myself at the time, and I had no idea about either PSB or Erasure at the time. In fact, it would many years later before I would find out about their gayness. And who says gaydar doesn't exsist. It worked for me, even when I couldn't admit I was gay.
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls

And this is one song that has always kept a strange musical power over me. For whatever reason, I have always loved this song since the first time I listened to Introspective. It is definitely not the best song ever released, but all the same, I am always in love with it.
Pet Shop Boys - I Want A Dog

2 Weeks From Tonight!

2009-09-01T14:49:00.001-05:00

"Demented and sad, but social."

2009-08-06T19:51:00.000-05:00

This one man is probably responsible for shaping my early adult life more than any other person that I have never met before. He will be sadly missed.

Click on his picture to watch a montage of his movies.

"They think he's a righteous dude."—Ferris Bueller's Day Off

YES or NO

2009-08-03T10:17:00.001-05:00

I forgot to add that this came from Kelly at Comfort in Conecentrics. Thanks Kelly! :)

You can only answer YES or NO

2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and asks. And believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming...nothing is exactly as it seems.

3. It is harder than it looks. But no explanations !!! You will want to...But don't!!!

Copy and paste the questions, delete my answers, type in your answers, and and post. Very simple!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kissed any one of your Facebook friends?--- yes
Been arrested? --- yes
Kissed someone you didn't like? --- yes
Slept in until 5 PM? ---
Fallen asleep at work/school? -- yes
Held a snake? --yes
Ran a red light? --- yes
Been suspended from school? ---no
Experienced love at first sight? --- no
Totaled your car in an accident? --- yes
Fired somebody? ---yes
Sang karaoke? --- no
Pointed a gun at someone? ---no
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? --- yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? --- yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? ---yes
Kissed in the rain? -- yes
Had a close brush with death (your own)? --- yes
Seen someone die? --- yes
Played spin-the-bottle? -- no
Sang in the shower? ---yes
Smoked a cigar? --- yes
Sat on a rooftop? --- yes
Taken pictures of yourself naked? --- yes
Smuggled something into another country? --- no
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? --- yes
Broken a bone? --- no
Skipped school? --- yes
Eaten a bug? --- yes
Sleepwalked? --- no
Walked a moonlit beach? --- yes
Ridden a motorcycle? --yes
Dumped someone? --- yes
Forgotten your anniversary? --- yes
Lied to avoid a ticket? --- no
Flown in a helicopter? --- no
Shaved your head? --- yes
Played a prank on someone? --- yes
Hit a home run? --- yes
Felt like killing someone? --- yes
Cross-dressed? --- yes
Been falling-down drunk? --- yes
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? --- yes
Eaten snake? --- no
Marched/Protested? --- no
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? --- no
Puked on amusement ride? --- no
Seriously & intentionally boycotted something? --- yes
Been in a band? --- yes
Knitted? --- yes
Shot a gun? --- yes
Skinny-dipped? --- yes
Caused someone to need stitches? --- yes
Eaten a whole habenero pepper? --- yes
Ridden a surfboard? ---no
Drank straight from a liquor bottle? --yes
Had surgery? --- yes
Streaked? ---yes
Taken by ambulance to hospital? ---yes
Passed out when not drinking? -- yes
Peed on a bush? --- yes
Donated Blood? --- yes
Grabbed electric fence? ---yes
Eaten alligator meat? -- no
Eaten cheesecake? ---yes
Eaten kids' Halloween candy? --- yes
Killed an animal when not hunting? --- yes
Peed your pants in public? --- no
Snuck into a movie without paying? ---yes
Written graffiti? --- yes
Still love someone you shouldn't? --- yes
Think about the future? ---yes
Been in handcuffs? ---yes
Believe in love? --- yes
Sleep on a certain side of the bed?--- no

Post-Conference Blues

2009-07-16T11:27:00.001-05:00

I'm very sorry to say...I had to come home from Pittsburgh! I first off want to thank everybody that was there, I had the best time! I had the wonderful opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I had been chatting online with some of them for almost 10 years now. I am not even going to begin to name all of the people I met because I will only forget twice as many.

I got the honor of meeting all (except for Papa who didn't attend) of the members of the Hump Night Chatters Club. Just as we do twice a week in the chatroom, we had a blast in person!

I also got to meet so many new people and make new friends.

Lastly, a HUGE THANKS to all of the HLCCA officers, the conference volunteers and everybody who made Pittsburgh 2009 such a huge success! I just hope Nashville knows what they are getting into next year! :)

The bad news was when I got home, I had no internet connection! After MANY, MANY hours on the phone with the phone company and 3 visits from the AT&T repair department, they finally diagnosed the problem. Sadly, it took 3 days to fix! That was 3 days of dialup (and 1 night of using Douglass's internet) of trying to catch up with the Post-Conference discussions and photo sharing. Tonight I will start adding my photos to the collection.

I'm Outta Here!

2009-07-08T08:48:00.004-05:00

The bags are packed, the gas tank is filled up and I'm out of here! I am leaving today for the annual HLCCA (Homer Laughlin China Collectors Association) Conference.

Even though I have been chatting with some of these people for 10 years (first on MediumGreen and now CollectibleMediumGreen), I have never had the opportunity to meet any of them face-to-face. I have wanted to go to the last 3 conferences, but other circumstances have kept me home.

I am picking up my friend Val from the Indy Airport and we are driving the rest of the way to Pittsburgh. We will also be stopping at quite a few junk/antique shops/stores/malls along the way. During the conference we will be visiting the Homer Laughlin factory, where we will see our beloved Fiesta dishes being made. On Saturday, Val and I are going to be joined by 2 other CMG guys. We are going to take a little trip to go visit Fallingwater. Fallingwater is probably Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous design.

You can turn this world around
And bring back all of those happy days
Put your troubles down
It's time to celebrate
Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
And make things better
We need a holiday
See y'all next week!

Africa

2009-07-02T16:10:00.000-05:00

Check out this version of Toto's "Africa". This is done without any instruments or any synthesizers. And yes, it includes the rain and thunder. The thunderstorm is very well done! The song is done by Perpetuum Jazzile, a jazz choir from Slovenia.

Pittsburgh or Bust

2009-06-24T16:20:00.000-05:00

Two weeks from right now, I will be leaving the Indianapolis Airport with MsVal on our way to Pittsburgh. You have all been warned about this trip. I suggest you take the young, the elderly and the weak-hearted and GET THEM OUT OF OUR WAY! We are going to have the time of our lives and nothing is going to stop us!!!

Pittsburgh will never be the same!!!

The Pussy Cat Song (NSFW)

2009-06-24T15:48:00.002-05:00

In honor of all the stinking hot (and very humid) weather we are having right now...I thought I would post about my favorite friendly little cat. BTW, this is definitely NSFW (Not Safe For Work)!

Toy Story 3

2009-06-23T12:39:00.005-05:00

Some of the best news in a long time! And only 1 year to wait!

June 7, 1968

2009-06-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

41 years ago today, my mom was in the hospital thinking "WHAT THE HELL AM I GETTING MYSELF INTO?" She had no idea!!! LOL

Today is my 41st birthday. :)

Rough Road Ahead

2009-06-05T17:57:00.001-05:00

Today was a rough day. YIKES!!!

I need to just relax and let things work themselves out. And some good old-fashioned conversation about the situation will help. It ain't the end of the world, just another pothole that I seem to like to hit.

New Blog Award

2009-06-03T17:47:00.000-05:00

I am awarding myself "The Laziest Blogger Award". And I am so lazy, I am not even going to make a kick-ass graphic for it. That is exactly how lazy I am.

Honestly, there have been a few issues with me blogging recently. I have corrected them (I think) and I will begin blogging very soon. It will soon be back to youtube videos and meme heaven around here.

Pitts in July

2009-06-03T11:12:00.003-05:00

Not that I am counting...but as of today...only 35 days until my vacation starts and I am headed off to Pittsburgh.

More Fluff

2009-05-26T15:31:00.049-05:00

Instead of doing housework, I got this meme from Kelly.

Tired of all of those surveys made up by high school kids? Here's questions for the people who are a little older...(Not sayin' we're OLD or anything!!)

You know what to do. Copy and paste into your own note, then answer the questions. Finally, tag your friends. But only if you want to.

1. What bill do you hate paying the most? Housing

2. Do you miss being a child? No...I really hated my childhood.

3. Chore you hate the most? Housecleaning

4. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner? A long, long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away....let's just say it has been a long time

5. If you could go back and change one thing what would it be? I'm not even going to go there.

6. Name of your first grade teacher? Mrs. Johns

7. What do you really want to be doing right now? A few things.

8. What did you want to be when you grew up? I had no idea.

9. How many colleges did you attend? 1, so far

10. Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now? It was on top of the pile of t-shirts.

11. What are your thoughts on gas prices? Why do they keep going up???

12. First thought when the alarm went off this morning? No alarm today...day off from work. But I did get woken up by the phone ringing at 7am. Scared the crap out of me, I thought I was late for work. But it was a very good call...so all was forgiven! :)

13. Last thought before going to sleep last night? I wish the dog would sleep on her side of the bed!

14. What famous person would you like to have dinner with? Ellen Degeneres

15. Have you ever crashed your vehicle? Yes.

16. If you didn't have to work, would you volunteer? Most likely.

17. Get up early or sleep in? Sleep in!!!

18. What is your favorite cartoon character? Tigger

19. Favorite thing to do at night with a guy/girl? I am going to keep this nice and clean. So I plead the 5th!

20. When did you first start feeling old (but never too old for this $#!@)? When I pinched my sciatic nerve in my back. I felt very old walking around with a cane.

21. Favorite lunch meat? Roast Beef or Pastrami.

22. What do you get every time you go into Wal-Mart? I don't go to Wal-Mart.

23. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual? Outdated in that it isn't legal for everybody.

24. Favorite movie you wouldn't want anyone to find out about? I used to watch The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert every night for about 6 months. I can still quote most of the movie. "Listen here you mullet! Why don't you just light your tampon on fire and blow your box apart. Because it is the only bang you are ever going to get, Sweetheart!"

25. What's your favorite drink? Iced Tea

26. Who[m] from high school would you like to run in to? That is wide open since I haven't kept in touch with anybody from high school. But since I have started using FaceBook, I have started chatting online with a few of them.

27. What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now? I don't listen to the radio usually..but it is probably on 94.5

28. Sopranos or Desperate Housewives? I have seen 0 (zero) episodes of the Sopranos and 1 (one) episode of Desperate Housewives.

29. Worst relationship mistake that you wish you could take back? I would have tried harder and done many things differently. But the worst relationship mistake wasn't communicating with him very well. We were both very guilty of it and it cost us our relationship.

30. Do you like the person that sits directly across from/next to you at work school? Well, I share a room with 2 other people...not that we sit though. Yeah, I like both of them when we do work together.

31. Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purposes? Nope.

32. Last book you finished reading? I haven't read in awhile. The last book I bought was Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin.

33. Do you have a teddy bear? I have one. It was a souvenir from a Bette Midler concert.

34. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth? In the shower? 99% of the time at the bathroom sink. 1% I will walk around the house while brushing.

35. Do you go to church? I haven't been in years. I am religious, I just don't believe in 99% of the churches.

36. How old are you? 40

Me and My Name(s)

2009-05-21T09:08:00.000-05:00

This is also from Elaine. Thanks Elaine!

This is cool...
if I go by my real name:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
6
people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

if I go by the name I have always gone by (which is Craig btw):

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
1
or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Craigology

2009-05-21T09:05:00.000-05:00

I borrowed this from Elaine (who is one of the many that I can't wait to meet in Pittsburgh this summer!

THE RULES: Once you have been tagged, you are supposed to wipe out my answers and supply your own. After, choose some people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If you were tagged, it's because I want to know more about you. To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note along with your answers, Publish it, go back in and edit your Note and then tag a bunch of people.Let others know a little more about yourself, re-post this as your name followed by "ology"

**********FOODOLOGY***************
1. What is your salad dressing of choice?
Blue Cheese

2. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Chain-- El Toro (does 5 or 6 restaurants make them a chain???)
Individual Restaurant- Farrens

3. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
Lasagna, Pizza, Tacos

4. What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Pepperoni and Italian Sausage

5.What do you like to put on your toast?
Butter and Peanut Butter

6. Any vegetables you don't like?
Lima Beans

7. Do you eat seafood?
NO!

***********TECHNOLOGY***************

1. How many televisions are in your house?
One, but I only use it to watch DVDs

2. What color cell phone do you have?
plain old black

3. How long would it take you to look up who invented the Rubber Band?
Just long enough to type it in Google. "But I invented Post-Its. Actually I invented a special kind of glue. Well, ordinarily when you make glue first you need to thermoset your resin and then after it cools you have to mix in an epoxide, which is really just a fancy-schmancy name for any simple oxygenated adhesive, right? And then I thought maybe, just maybe, you could raise the viscosity by adding a complex glucose derivative during the emulsification process and it turns out I was right." BTW - I LOVE that movie!

4. Have any idea how may Megahertz your computer has?
Which computer??? Both of them are very fast

***************BIOLOGY******************

1. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right

2. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
My appendix a few years ago

3. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
something at work

4. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
yes, in an car accident

************BULLCRAPOLOGY**************

1. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Probably not

2. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I have never been crazy about my last name...and since I am one of only 2 left with that last name, it wouldn't be a big deal to change it for me

3. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
Yeah, I probably would...but since I eat hot sauce all the time, that wouldn't be a big deal...but I need the $1000 up front!

************DUMBOLOGY******************

1. How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
I think I have a pair somewhere...I never wear them though

2. Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
Had to call the cops last night on some crack whore in the store...she had a good run-in with them when they threw her down on the concrete floor

3. Last person you talked to?
Douglass last night

4. Last person you hugged?
one of my friends when I went out the other night

**************FAVORITOLOGY****************

1. Season?
I like all of them

2. Holiday?
Probably Christmas

3. Day of the week?
Mondays! (I am usually off on Mondays)

4. Month?
June (My birth month!)

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************

1. Missing someone?
Yes

2. Mood?
Relaxed

3. What are you listening to?
Birds outside my window

4. Watching?
The dog trying to get comfortable next to my feet

***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************

1. First place you went this morning?
The bathroom

2. What's the last movie you saw?
Star Trek

3. Do you smile often?
Sometimes

***************OTHEROLOGY*****************

1. Do you always answer your phone?
No.

2. It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
The only text messages I get at 4am are from this one person that won't take no for an answer

3. If you could change your eye color what would it be?
My eyes change colors on their own enough....right now they are a grayish color

4. Do you prefer cold or hot?
As in???

5. What's your favorite gossip magazine?
Don't read them

6. Have you ever had a pet fish?
Yes...I used to raise Oscars...they are such friendly fish

8. What's on your wish list for your birthday?
Money and a nice evening out

9. Can you do push ups?
probably, but with my bad back, I don't think I would try

10. Can you do a chin up?
Look are the push ups answer

11. Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
Excited.

12. Do you have any saved texts?
Yes

13. Ever been in a car wreck?
Yes

14. Do you have an accent?
Nope

15. What is the last song to make you cry?
End of the World by Matt Alber

16. Plans tonight?
Work :(

17. Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
Yes. The good thing is that there is nowhere else to go but up!

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday.
A charger for my iPod and lunch....2 out of 3 ain't bad

19. Have you ever been given roses?
Yes.

20. Current worry?
None

21. Current hate right now?
Not so much of a hate but some MAJOR ISSUES (almost to the point of hate) with a coworker...luckily my boss agrees with me on the issues about this guy...unluckily, the guy is still there

22. Met someone who changed your life?
Oh yeah!

23. How will you bring in the New Year?
With my friends.

24. What song represents you?
Right now, End of the World by Matt Alber

25. Name three people who might complete this?
No idea

26. Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
Of course...there are a few people I would love to see one more time

27. Have you ever dated someone longer than a year?
Yes

28. Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
One of one and still planning on the other

30. Does anyone love you?
Yes.

31. Ever had someone sing to you?
Yes

32. When did you last cry??
It has been a while

33. Do you like to cuddle?
Yeah.

34. Have you held hands with anyone today?
not today

35. What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school?
Top 40

36. Do you like pulpy orange juice?
Yeppers

Which Dallas Character Are You?

2009-05-12T10:39:00.001-05:00

You are Sue Ellen Ewing! Always the center of attention, you are constantly setting new standards for others. Despite your occassional boozing and infidelity, you remain a pillar of the community, and queen of the social scene. Bitch.

Take the quiz for yourself , at least I didn't end up being Miss Ellie or Lucy. Sue Ellen was always my favorite as a kid. All the crap she took from JR but in the end, she always stood strong and bitchy. What a woman!

Which Dallas Character Are You?

65 Questions

2009-04-28T11:44:00.006-05:00

I haven't been posting on my blog lately, so I thought I would steal this.

1. First thing you wash in the shower? Usually my face

2. What color is your favorite hoodie? Red

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Yes

4. Do you plan outfits? Almost never....t-shirts with jeans or shorts don't need to be planned

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? very relaxed

6. What's the closest thing to you that's red? Look at #2, I am wearing it right now

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having? I never remember my dreams

8. Did you meet anybody new today? Nope...I haven't been out of the house yet

9. What are you craving right now? Something sweet...I am eating Runts right now

10. Do you floss? Yes

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? Corned Beef

12. Are you emotional? Very rarely

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000? Why bother?

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? Both

15. Do you like your hair? Yes what is left of it.

16. Do you like yourself? Most of the time

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? Yeah, but it might end up with the secret service whisking me away because I have gotten a bit vocal with W.

18. What are you listening to right now? The Young and the Restless theme song just came on...The Price Is Right just ended.

19. Are your parents strict? I don't think they were extremely strict. I might have pushed the issue a few times. LOL

20. Would you go sky diving? Hell yeah! The older I get, the more adventerous and risk-taking I become!

21. Do you like cottage cheese? Nothing better! I could eat cottage cheese with every meal! Cottage cheese and hot dogs are the best!

22. Have you ever met a celebrity? I met Doug Wilson (Trading Spaces) once. Of course he is from this area. But I won't tell you where I met him! LOL

23. Do you rent movies often? Yes, I signed up for Netflix (yet again) to catch up on some of the newer gay movies.

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in? Nope

25. How many countries have you visited? Just one...the United States.

26. Have you made a prank phone call? Yes

27. Ever been on a train? Yep...take the train when I go to New Orleans every so often.

28. Brown or white eggs? Does it matter? Either one is fine

29. Do you have a cell phone? Yes

30. Do you use ChapStick? Yes

31. Do you own a gun? No

32. Can you use chop sticks? Yes

33. Who are you going to be with tonight? Most likely Douglass...I am cooking BBQ'd ribs tonight

34. Are you too forgiving? I am for most people, but there are a few that I doubt I will ever forgive

35. Ever been in love? Yes

36. What is your best friend(s) doing tomorrow? Working

37. Ever have cream puffs? Yes

38. Last time you cried? Not sure, it has been a while

39. What was the last question you asked? "Another stupid question list?" LOL

40. Favorite time of the year? I like all of the seasons, even Winter!

41. Do you have any tattoos? Not yet, I am still thinking of what I want.

42. Are you sarcastic? MEEEEEEEEEE???? NEVER!!!!

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect? Yes, but what kind of stupid question is this? When I go back in time, I will skip watching the Butterfly Effect

44. Ever walked into a wall? Yes, I am a klutz with 3 left feet

45. Favorite color? Chartreuse

46. Have you ever slapped someone? Yes

47. Is your hair curly? Nope and most of it isn't even there anymore

48. What was the last CD you bought? I can't even remember.

49. Do looks matter? Nope...it is what is on the inside that matters more.

50. Could you ever forgive a cheater? Yeah, I am too forgiving sometimes.

51. Is your phone bill sky high? No

52. Do you like your life right now? Yes

53. Do you sleep with the TV on? Doesn't bother me

54. Can you handle the truth? Yes

55. Do you have good vision? Hell no

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people? Nope...I can only think of 1 person I dislike.

57. How often do you talk on the phone? Every day

58. The last person you held hands with? This one will be announced later.

59. What are you wearing? Still wearing #2 and lounge pants

60. What is your favorite animal? Sassy the wonder dog

61. Where was your profile picture taken? In my living room in front of my Fiesta cabinet

62. Can you hula hoop? Nope

63. Do you have a job? Yes

64. What was the most recent thing you bought? A cooling pad for my laptop...it gets very hot

65. Have you ever crawled through a window? Yes

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T10:39:00.002-05:00

TNG episode 15 - "That Jean-Luc Picard"

2009-04-12T09:19:00.001-05:00

Somehow I must have missed this episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Lemongrass and Chartreuse Comparison Photo

2009-04-07T10:20:00.008-05:00

Here is an excellent comparison picture that compares Lemongrass, Post86 Chartreuse and Vintage Chartreuse. HLC said that Lemongrass was a yellowish-Chartreuse color. After seeing this picture, I would say that Lemongrass is much more vibrant than Chartreuse.

Thanks to MaryAnn. Don't forget to check out their new website, Colorful Dishes, and check out all of the wonderful dishes they have for sale.

Previous Lemongrass Postings:
Lemongrass
Lemongrass Update

NEW Lemongrass Update

2009-03-30T07:32:00.001-05:00

Here is an amazing pic of Lemongrass surrounded by all of the other current Fiesta colors (not including Marigold which is the 75th Anniversary Color). It definitely gives you an idea of what it will look like. Too bad they didn't include Chartreuse, since Lemongrass is supposed to be a yellow version of Chartreuse. It would have really shown just how different/similar the colors are.

Also, the release date for the new color has been updated. I originally posted that it would be released in November, 2009. That information was taken directly from the HLC (makers of Fiesta) website. That has now changed to June, 2009! So we are only a few months away from the new & improved (hopefully) ~~Chartreuse~~ Lemongrass!

Portia DeRossi wants to "apologize" for getting married

2009-03-23T10:46:00.000-05:00

I am a little late with this (I did see this last week). But Portia DeRossi wants to "apologize" for getting married to Ellen DeGeneres.

Portia De Rossi "Apologizes" For Marrying Ellen ;-)

Paid for by married gay people who are sorry LOL

Sassy Pink

2009-03-23T00:53:00.001-05:00

There seems to be some confusion about the big announcement yesterday. This was originally scheduled to be announced at 12am yesterday, but it got lost in the internet webs.

Early April Fools

Lemongrass

2009-03-22T11:25:00.004-05:00

Today Homer Laughlin announced the newest Fiesta color, Lemongrass. It is not expected to be available until November, 2009. The color is said to be a more yellow shade of chartreuse. Which would be very nice since Chartreuse is my favorite Fiesta color!

Up To Speed

2009-03-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

Here is a quick post to bring my blog up to speed. First off, let me say that I am sorry about not posting very much lately. Between my new job and this awful crappy weather, I have just been in a funky mood. The job is going okay. There has been many managerial changes at work lately, and it has become a super stressful experience. One of the things I enjoyed when I first started was the lack of drama that was always present at my last job. But this place is even worse! Luckily, I just get to stay back in my room for the most part and avoid a lot of it.

Fiesta wise, there is nothing much to report. I did get a chance to take a look at the new Square Fiesta dishes. The local store had 3 sizes of plates and the bowls in stock. The color choices were Chocolate, Scarlet, Sunflower, Peacock and Ivory (I believe). I really like the plates. The large plates will make awesome chargers for the round plates. As for the bowls, all I can say is that they looked better in the pictures. Sadly, the bowls do NOT stack. What good are bowls that don't stack??? I was very disappointed with them. And I am now not looking forward to seeing the mugs. Oh well, win a few, lose a few.

The weather has been so-so around here lately. We had a few days over 70°. Most of the days are at least over 50° which is very nice. I have been riding my bike a lot again. I can't wait for nice warm weather all the time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T13:07:00.000-05:00

Trashy Tuesday - St. Patrick's Day - Pet Shop Boys and Baltimora

2009-03-17T13:03:00.001-05:00

Okay, this is a stretch for St. Patrick's Day, but here it goes. In the 80's I was totally in love with U2. Joshua Tree was by far one of my favorite albums at the time. So when the Pet Shop Boys released their version of Where the Streets Have No Name in 1991, I was totally in love. An excellent song being remade by one of my new favorite bands. I first discovered PSB's version from their Discography album. I had just came out a few years earlier and was discovering my new found sexuality. Pet Shop Boys were bing played all the time at the bar and this was one of the great PSB songs being played all the time. So first up, here is PSB's remake of Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You).

Pet Shop Boys - Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)

And one last stab at 80's/90's dance music with an Irish twist, here is Baltimora singing Tarzan Boy. The song was released in 1985, but it didn't hit the charts here until 1986, eventually peaking at #13 in March, 1986. Even though Baltimora was actually an Italian group, the frontman of the act was Jimmy McShane from Ireland. Even though Jimmy McShane is seen in the video and did all of the performances, he was NOT the singer. Music producer and musician, Maurizio Bassi, is the one that was the vocals behind Baltimora. Baltimora is considered a one-hit act even though they did have a few other songs that skimmed into the Top 100 of a few countries. Unfotunately, Jimmy McShane died in 1995.

Baltimora - Tarzan Boy

Trashy Tuesday - Erasure

2009-03-10T23:35:00.001-05:00

I remember hearing both Chains of Love and A Little Respect while I was in college. I immediately fell in love with Erasure. This was about the same time that I started dealing with my own sexuality. Both of the songs really hit home with me. Erasure just put out a new release, Total Pop! - the First 40 Hits.

Here is their first hit, Oh L'Amour. This is the video remix from Total Pop!.

Erasure - Oh L'Amour (Video Remix) from Total Pop!

Here are two other Erasure faves of mine. First up, Take A Chance On Me from their Abba-Esque CD.

Erasure - Take A Chance On Me

And a live concert video of Love To Hate You

Erasure - Love To Hate You (live in concert)

Matt Alber - End Of The World (Live at Defying Inequality at Broadway)

2009-03-03T22:28:00.001-06:00

I first posted about Matt Alber and his AMAZING song/video on January 27, 2009. Since then, it has become #1 internet search link for my blog. So I thought I would post a little more about the song. I still listen to this song every day. I really urge you to buy his CD, Hide Nothing.

He recently (February 23, 2009) performed lived at the Defying Inequality on Broadway. It was an event held to raise money for the marriage equality rights. They raised over $400,000! The list of performers is included after the jump.

Matt Alber - End Of The World (Live at Defying Inequality)

Here is what Matt Alber says about performing at Defying Inequality:

I was invited to perform my song at Broadway's benefit concert for marriage equality on Feb. 23rd, 2009,
alongside the likes of Ellen Degeneres, Harvey Fierstein, Keith Olberman, Carson Kressley, Stephen Schwartz and Cyndi Lauper. The event raised over $400,000 for the fight for equal rights. (tidbit: When I walked off the stage Linda Carter (aka Wonder Woman) kissed me and gave me her phone number.)

LYNDA CARTER! Damn, I have been in love with her every since I watched Wonder Woman as a kid.

Performers at Defying Inequality on Broadway, February 23, 2009
Cyndi Lauper
Stephen Shwartz
Marc Shaiman
Matt Alber
Shoshana Bean
Douglas Carter Beane
PJ Benjamin
Mike Birbiglia
Stephanie J. Block
Tamara Braun
Daniel Breaker
Lisa Brescia
Kerry Butler
Lynda Carter
Gavin Creel
Harvey Fierstein
Jane Fonda
John Gallagher, Jr.
Malcolm Gets
Judy Gold
Jonathon Groff
Jayne Houdyshell
Crystal Hunt
Mark Indelicato
Allison Janney
Capathia Jenkins
Carson Kressley
Nathan Lane
Leigh Ann Larkin
Adriane Lenox
Rue McClanahan
Phyllis Newman
Kelli O'Hara
Keith Olbermann
Nicole Parker
David Hyde Pierce
Billy Porter
Christine C. Quinn
Seth Rudetsky
Sherri Saum
Rev. Al Sharpton
Carole Shelley
Christopher Sieber
Doug Spearman
Sally Struthers
Tamara Tunie
Michael Urie
Scott Wittman

Also the cast/members of
Sesame Street
Billy Elliot
The Color Purple
Gypsy
Hair
Jersey Boys
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
Mamma Mia!
South Pacific
Spring Awakening
Wicked
Laughing Pizza
Don't Quit Your Night Job
The Broadway Boys
NYC's Gay Men's Chorus

Trashy Tuesday - Deborah Harry - I Want That Man

2009-03-03T21:40:00.002-06:00

Here is the video of this Deborah Harry hit from 1989. Of course, by hit I mean dance song. I remember dancing to this song on top of the speakers at C-Street (for those of you who have been to what used to be one of the best dance bars in Illinois!) Deborah Harry, as the lead singer of Blondie, is one of the best pop/punk singers ever.

Deborah Harry - I Want That Man (Extended Mix)

Here is the video for the song. Deborah Harry as a vampire! EXCELLENT! This is the video that was posted on Boy Culture. I had never seen the video before, but I love it. Definitely from the 80's. Boy Culture also posted that the song was written by the two main singers from the Thompson Twins. I never knew that.

Deborah Harry - I Want that Man (Remix) Video

Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc.

2009-02-23T18:40:00.000-06:00

The Pet Shop Boys have been a favorite of mine for many years. I remember the first time I heard West End Girls playing on the radio and was amazed. It wasn't until Discography came out (and I also came out of the closet finally) that I was blown away by their music. Since then I have bought all of their CDs and DVDs. By using not only their music but also video, their concerts are works of art themselves.

Here is their latest single, Love Etc. from their upcoming CD Yes.

Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc.

I had the pleasure of seeing PSB in concert in Chicago in 2002. The concert was amazing! I would jump at the chance to see them perform again. Their concerts are simply out of this world!!!

Here is the PSB performing live at the Brit Awards. They sang a lot of their previous hits (including Love Etc.). Also performing with them is Lady GaGa (doing the Dusty Springfield part from What Have I Done To Deserve This? and Brandon Flowers, from the Killers, singing It's A Sin (my all-time favorite PSB song). As usual, it is an excellent performance by them!

Pet Shop Boys live at the Brit Awards

100 Truths

2009-02-16T00:10:00.000-06:00

Since I skipped over the 25 Questions meme, I will do this one. Thanks to Laurel (a classmate from high school...Go Trojans!)

FIVE LASTS:
1. Last beverage → Diet Sunkist Orange
2. Last phone call → Douglass
3. Last text message → Douglass
4. Last song you listened to → Matt Alber "End of the World"
5. Last time you cried → It has been a while

SIX HAVE YOU EVER:
6. Dated someone twice? Yes
7. Been cheated on? Yes
8. Kissed someone & regretted it? I don't think so
9. Lost someone special? Yes
10. Been depressed? Yes
11. Been drunk and threw up? Unfortunately, Yes

LIST FOUR FAVORITE COLORS: (These are my top 4 Fiesta colors)
12. Chartreuse
13. Scarlet
14. Tangerine
15. Peacock

HAVE YOU:
16. Made new friends → Yes
17. Fallen out of love → No
18. Laughed until you cried → Yes
19. Met someone who changed you → Oh yes
20. Found out who your true friends were → Yes
21. Found out someone was talking about you → Yes
22. Kissed anyone on your friend's list → yes
23. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life → All of them
24. How many kids do you want to have → I would like 2, but would be happy with 1
25. Do you have any pets → Yes, currently 1 dog and 1 parrot
26. Do you want to change your name → No, but I am not against changing it either
27. What did you do for your last birthday → Don't remember
28. What time did you wake up today → around 10am
29. What were you doing at midnight last night → On the computer
30. Name something you CANNOT wait for → the HLCCA Conference in July
31. Last time you saw your father→ February or March of 1999, he passed away April 1, 1999.
32. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life → I will keep that one to myself.
33. Been in love? ---> Yes
34. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom → Yes
35. What's getting on your nerves right now? → The cold weather
36. Most visited webpage → My blog
37. What's your name → James Craig Wiman
38. Nicknames → I have always gone by my middle name, Craig
40. Zodiac sign → Gemini
41. Male or female or transgender → Male
42. Elementary → Robinson, Ashmore, Jefferson
43. Middle School → Charleston Jr. High
44. High school → Charleston High School
45. Hair color → Brown
46. Long or short → VERY Short, I shave it every so often
47. Height → 6'3''
49: What do you like about yourself? → Sense of humor
50. Piercings → One
51. Tattoos → Not yet
52. Righty or lefty → Right

FIRSTS :
53. First surgery → Appendix removal
54. First piercing → I only have the 1...somewhere unmentionable
55. First best friends → Jeff Anderson
57. First pet → Barney
58. First vacation → Higgins Lake, MI
59. First concert → Jackson Browne (my dad dragged us there on vacation, I was 9 at the time)
60. First crush → We'll leave that one blank ;)

RIGHT NOW:
61. Eating → Just finished
62. Drinking → Ditto
63. I'm about to → Go to sleep
64. Listening to → Nothing
65. Waiting for → The dog to go outside before bed

YOUR FUTURE
66. Want kids? Yes
67. Want to get married? Yes
68. Careers in mind? The geek in me wants to do something techy

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX? (Sorry, I went same sex here...DUH)
69. Lips or eyes → Eyes
70. Hugs or kisses → Kisses
71. Shorter or taller → Taller
72. Older or Younger → Doesn't matter
73. Romantic or spontaneous ? Both are good
74. Nice stomach or nice arms→ Arms
75. Sensitive or loud → Sensitive
76. Hook-up or relationship → Relationship
77. Trouble maker or hesitant → Hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER :
78. Kissed a stranger → Yes
79. Drank hard liquor → Yes
80. Lost glasses/contacts → I have never lost either, unless you count all of the contacts that the dog has eaten.
81. Sex on first date → Yes
82. Broken someone's heart → Yeah, I used to be called a tease all of the time
83. Had your own heart broken → Yeppers
85. Been arrested → Yes
86. Turned someone down → Yes
87. Cried when someone died → Yes
88. Liked a friend that is a girl? → Yep...and even liked one of them a lot more

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
89. Yourself → Yes
90. Miracles → Yes
91. Love at first sight → Yes
92. Heaven → Yes
93. Santa Clause → Yes
95. Kiss on the first date? → Yes
96. Angels → Yep, and I even met a guardian angel once (probably a lot more...I have survived some stupid things)

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
97. Is there one person you want to be with right now? Yes
98. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time? Yes
100. Posting this as 100 Truths? Yes

Weekly Meme: Be My Valentine

2009-02-15T02:05:00.003-06:00

I am going to try another weekly meme. Hopefully I (and the meme writer) can keep up on it. This is actually from last week, but I thought I would start here.

randomness...feed your mind and your blog

In honor of Valentine's Day:

answer the following....
1. If you could have any Celebrity Valentine, who would it be?
Jason Statham, very hot, sexy eyes, and that voice!

2. What is your idea of a romantic date?
I can think of all kinds of romantic dates, but each one involves two people that are more into each other than what is going on around them. If they are truly into each other, it doesn't matter what else is happening.

3. Do you prefer chocolates or flowers on Valentine's Day?
Neither. I am not a chocolate person. And definitely not a flower person either.

4. What is your favorite romantic movie? romantic book?
I guess the Tales of the City books. I always cry when Mouse and Jon are together. And I definitely cry when we learn that Jon died.

5. Do you like those 'conversation hearts' or do you think they taste gross?
I LOVE them! I get a bag of them each year.

6. Who is your Valentine this year?
The same as it has been the last 4 Valentines Day. Even though we are just "special" friends right now, he knows that I love him.

Extra word association:
I say...you think...
1. Valentine Hearts
2. Cute Smile
3. Romantic Love
4. Red HOT
5. Flowers Spring
6. Candy Sugary-Goodness YUM
7. Cupid naked arrow-shooting baby

till next time....

Happy Birthday Mom

2009-02-13T06:00:00.002-06:00

Today would have been my mom's 61st birthday. There are quite a few of her wisdom's in here!

Thanks for everything mom!!!

46 Questions

2009-02-06T11:30:00.119-06:00

I stole this from my friend Terry. He originally posted this on Facebook, so I thought I would put it on my blog. And I kept his instructions, even though they are written for Facebook. And I don't tag people. Fill this out if you feel the need or desire. Otherwise just read and enjoy. And you can comment, it won't kill ya!

Here are the rules - post this list on your profile (in Notes) replacing my answers with yours.

Tag 25 people to do the same thing. (or tag the number of people you think will enjoy this the most)

If I tagged YOU, it's because I want to know more about YOU! and I am evil.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANY ONE? My first name, James, is a family name on my dad's side. It was his name and it appears way too many times in the family tree. I have absolutely no idea where the name Craig came from. And for your info, my parents, even though they named me James Craig, they always called me Craig. The only time I ever went by the name James was for a very short time in college. I hated going by James, and when the professors would call me by James, I would have no idea they were talking to me. No idea what they thought of me when I couldn't answer my own name. LOL

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Sadly, every since Mikey died, I haven't had a good cry. When I am feeling sad or emotional, I get the same feelings and emotions as crying but it is extremely rare that there are any tears. Yeah, I am a freak. Thanks for asking. :P

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It is okay. It is a hybrid of cursive and printing. Plus my handwriting likes to go a few different ways from time to time. Sometimes my handwriting looks like a mixture of my grandparents. My grandmother has a very distinct and neat handwriting, while my grandfather has a very messy chicken-scratchy handwriting.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I am not very picky about lunch meat. I like turkey, chicken, ham, roast beef, pastrami, and braunschweiger. I just don't eat a lot of lunch meat.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? I have a 2 1/2 year old pitbull puppy who is the biggest baby around. I also have a 9 year old Yellow-Naped Amazon parrot. After them, I don't think I could handle kids.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Only if I paid myself. LOL Just kidding. Hell yeah I would be friends with myself. I am the only sane person I know. LOL Just kidding again. Or am I???

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Who Me??????? (looking very angelic) HAHA

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes, I keep it in a jar in the kitchen. I sure hope nobody cooks it by mistake. HA, just kidding. Yes, I have never had my tonsils taken out. I did have my appendix taken out 3 years ago.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Hell yeah, in a second I would do it. But since it is extremely flat where I live, it ain't gonna happen around here.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I don't eat a lot of cereal, but my faves are Raisin Bran or Lucky Charms. Used to be Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries was the only cereal I would eat.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Nope. Well, I have to untie my fireman boots that I wear sometimes, otherwise I couldn't get them on or off.

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Pretty much any ice cream that has peanut butter (salmonella free of course), fudge and/or caramel in it.

13. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? I am weird, I just get a feeling that I notice. I sometimes remember their eyes or smile.

14. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONLY ONE ALBUM FRONT TO BACK FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? In this day and age...who has albums anymore? If I had to choose just one CD, it would be Pet Shop Boys Discography.

15. RED OR PINK? Sorry MsVal, but it is definitely Red. I am not a pink person.

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? That I am a procrastinator and that I get so emotional over silly things.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? I miss my parents, Mikey and Jeff the most. I am pretty sure I think about them everyday.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? I am not a tagger. If you want to do this, knock yourself out. I am pretty sure a few of my blogger friends will do this. We are just that way!

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I am wearing some green and blue plaid lounge pants and no shoes. Does that turn you on??? Sick perverts.

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The TV is on but I am not watching it.

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? How racist. I would be the rainbow colored crayon.

22. FAVORITE SMELLS? FOOD!!! Yeah, I am hungry right now. I need to finish this up so I can go get something to eat before work.

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Douglass, even though he has lost his voice and can't talk very well right now.

24. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Nobody sent it to me, but I am friends with the guy that I stole it from.

25. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Baseball or College Basketball or College Football

26. HAIR COLOR? Brown. It is still brown (very little gray is showing up) but the hair on my head cut extremely close so it is very hard to tell what color it is. My goatee (when I had it) had a lot of gray and white hair in it. But I got rid of the goatee with the new job.

27. EYE COLOR? Green, no Hazel, no Grey. Honestly, my eye color changes every so often. Nothing dramatic but it does change between those colors.

28. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Sometimes. I need new glasses, so I am beginning to wear my contacts more often. I usually only wear them when I go out.

29. FAVORITE FOOD? I LOVE food...and my waist shows it!!! A good steak or a very good cheeseburger any day, any time! Did I mention that it is lunch time and I am hungry????

30. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Somewhere in the middle. I find most scary movies lack any mind captivating

31. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I started watching Naked Men Singing the other night, but I fell asleep. I am getting old.

32. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Black.

33. SUMMER OR WINTER? Even though this winter has been bad, I still prefer winter over summer.

34. HUGS OR KISSES? Hershey Hugs are the best, but Kisses are good too. And yes, I don't go crazy about chocolate. But the Candy Cane Kisses that I got this Christmas were AMAZING!!! As for Hugs or Kisses, if the person isn't repulsive, I don't think I have turned down either.

35. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? That one and that one over there. Guess where I was pointing.

36. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Them and them. Still pointing. I guess my mother never taught me not to point.

37. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? I was reading Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, until the dog chewed up the book when I only had 50 pages left. BITCH!

38. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? The mouse! What a stupid question. Actually I am on the laptop right now, but the mouse for the desktop in on a Dell mousepad, even though the computer isn't a Dell.

39. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Sadly, I wasn't feeling 100% last night, so I slept off and on most of last night. The TV was on, but I have no idea what was playing.

40. FAVORITE SOUND(S)? The sound of dollar bills being stuffed into my g-string. Oh wait, I was having a stipper flashback.

41. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Either/Or. I like some of the music of both of them, but I don't love either one.

42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Go to Google Maps and figure it out yourself. Either New Orleans or North Carolina. Yeah, I don't get around much.

43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Sure....you wanna see it? (said very sarcastically)

44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? In a hospital. What a silly question. The hospital was in Monmouth, Illinois. For those who just have to know.

45. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? The ones that answer. DUH! Did I mention that I might be sarcastic???

46. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER? I think where we met the first time is better left unsaid. But when we first started seeing each other, we were talking online.

43 Odd Things About Me

2009-02-06T10:45:00.084-06:00

This meme comes from Becky's blog.

1. Do you like bleu cheese? I LOVE IT!!! I could eat blue cheese all the time.

2. Have you ever smoked? Yeah, for a very short time.

3. Do you own a gun? I have 2 squirt guns if those count. They are very sentimental to me. All I can say is June 7, 1991. For those of you who might remember. It was an excellent day for such a sad time.

4. What flavour of Kool-Aid was your favorite? Probably cherry. I haven't had Kool-Aid since I was a kid.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Sometimes. Mainly because I hope my blood pressure has gone down and I don't get scolded by the doctor again.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? A typical lunch for me.

7. Favorite Christmas movie? Without a doubt, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!

8. Favorite thing to drink in the morning? Pineapple Orange Juice

9. Can you do push ups? No idea, haven't tried in years.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? I only wear 1 piece of jewelry.

11. Favorite hobby? Fiesta dishes.

12. Do you have A.D.D.? Most likely...I am pretty sure I have had this since grade school. I never did well in school because I could never concentrate. I still suffer from this problem.

13. What's one trait you dislike about yourself? I am a terrible procrastinator.

14. Middle name? Craig. Ha...that doesn't help you out much. James is my first name.

15. Name 3 thoughts at this moment: "What am I going to eat for lunch" "How much time do I have before I need to get ready for work" "Another meme???"

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Water, Iced Tea and anything diet soda

17. Current worry? The car.

18. Current dislike right now? The fact that I really need to be cleaning this place instead of being on here. Oh well, even though I have said it for a few days now, I can always do it TOMORROW!!!

19. Favorite place to be? Bourbon Street, New Orleans

20. How did you bring in the new year? At home, I had to work that night and didn't get off work until 10pm. I know...BORING!

21. Where would you like to go? New Orleans (of course)or San Fransisco but the only plans so far are for Pittsburgh in July.

22. Name three people who might complete this? I am not a tagger. I always leave it up to other people to do it if they wish.

23. Do you own slippers? Yes, if the dog hasn't chewed them up, I have a pair of slippers somewhere.

24. What shirt are you wearing? A black t-shirt with the logo of a piercing/tattoo parlor. I got it when I got my body piercing (deals with #10).

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Not particularly. I prefer flannel sheets when it is cold and cotton sheets the rest of the year.

26. Can you whistle? So-So. Believe me, they won't be calling me to remake the Andy Griffith theme song, but I can get my dog's attention.

27. Favorite color? Blue

28. Would you be a pirate? Hell ya....that would be an awesome job. ARRRRHHHHH!

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I am not a singer. I might sing along with the radio in the car but only if I am by myself.

30. Favorite Girl's Name: Robin

31. Favorite boy's name: Noah or Jake

32. What's in your pocket right now? Lint

33. Last thing that made you laugh? I had a good laugh when I found out somebody had been fired. And no, it isn't anybody I worked with. Long story behind it, but this person got what they deserved.

34. What vehicle do you drive? Toyota 4Runner

35. What is the worst injury you have had? Either my numerous back problems or the car accident in 1990 when I suffered a concussion. I still have memory problems that I blame on that concussion.

36. Do you love where you live? Not really. It is an apartment.

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 1 TV and the laptop has a tv tuner.

38. Who is your loudest friend? That would be the pet parrot. It is mating season and she is extremely vocal lately.

39. Does someone have a crush on you? I think there are a few people.

40. Your favorite book(s): There are quite a few. But I love to read and will read just about anything.

41. Do you collect anything? Fiesta dishes, Tigger items and Christmas items (including Dept. 56 North Pole Village).

42. Favorite Sports Team? Used to be the New York Mets, but I haven't kept up with them in a few years. I do enjoy watching games at Wrigley Field in Chicago, so I guess the Chicago Cubs.

43. What songs do you want played at your funeral? "The Rose" by Bette Midler. It was one of my mom's favorite songs. We had it played at her funeral and every time I hear it it still brings a tear to my eye.

Work is a VERY DIRTY 4-letter word!

2009-02-03T09:57:00.042-06:00

Work has been unbelievable this past few weeks. There are 2 other guys that have the same position as me. Don is the most experienced one of the three. The other guy is Seth. The nicest thing I can say about Seth is.......let me get back to you on that. It takes 3 of us to get everything done and cover all of the hours. Our department is open from 8am to 9 pm everyday, so there is very little overlapping in our shifts.

It has been no secret that Don would be on an 10 day vacation towards the end of January. He was leaving on a Friday and wouldn't be back until two Mondays later. Our boss was going to help pick up the extra coverage, but even he admits that he is unable to do our job very well. So it was going to be Seth and me. That is stressful enough, but it got even better when Seth decided he was going to quit. So it became a guessing game as to how long he would work. He did work 2 days of the week, so it wasn't a total screw up, but it still SUCKED!!! I ended up working 14 days in a row. Last week I ended up with between 65 and 70 hours. That doesn't include the work I did off the clock, only so we wouldn't be in as much trouble. Yeah, we (my boss and I) were informed that there would be NO overtime! HUH! AS IF!

The week started off pretty good. Business was so-so. So there were no major catastrophes. Friday and Saturday were crazy. Friday business really picked up. We knew it had to happen eventually, they hadn't been in during the week, so we knew they would hit us hard over the weekend. Saturday was INSANE!!! It started off crazy and only got worse. Business was HUGE! The sales ad we had last week was CRAZY!!! It is one of the worst sales ads out there, it takes a lot of labor to keep up with it, so it was definitely not the right week for that. And with the Superbowl on Sunday, it was only that much more crazy!Sunday morning they called all of us into a meeting. It turns out Saturday had been one of our best sales days yet. They were all impressed by how much we did and how well we kept up! And then we all had to get back to work, because with the big game later, sales were starting to build up. I only ended up staying an extra hour on Sunday. I was so sore from the previous week that I couldn't make it. I guess that the business never really died down from there.

I had to work Monday (day 13 in a row without a day off!) The good thing is that I am back to working evenings!!! The bad thing, I had to listen to the night managers bitch and moan about how poorly this place was taken care of last week during the evening shifts. So sorry, I was having to work the day shifts and there was nobody qualified to take care of it.The best news, I have 2 days off in a row!!! I can finally get caught up on bills, laundry, cleaning, dishes, mail a couple of packages and RELAX!!! So Sallie, Kelly and MySuperSecretSanta, your packages on the way. And no, I am not saying who MySuperSecretSanta is....they might or might not read this message board. Cheers!

Matt Alber - End of the World

2009-01-27T04:57:00.048-06:00

I just saw this video posted over at Joe.My.God. AMAZING is all I can say about this video. First off his voice is remarkable. Rufus Wainwright immediately comes to mind, but Matt's voice has so much more soul. The song, End of the World is from the his debut Hide Nothing. The lyrics to this song are so eloquently written that they pull at your heart. The emotions of this song are definitely (and sadly) the same emotions I have been dealing with for the past year.

According to Matt's blog, he wrote this song 5 years ago while riding the bus on his way to work. He says he wrote this because the biggest love of his life had fallen out of love with him because he thought Matt had fallen out of love with him.

This video has been playing on Logo (a gay cable channel) but since I don't have cable, I haven't seen it until now. I am very impressed with this video and some of the other videos I have found online.

Matt Alber - website

Lyrics after the jump

End Of The World
I don’t want to ride this roller coaster
I think I want to get off
But they buckled me down
Like it’s the end of the world
If you don’t want to have this conversation
Then you better get out
Cause we’re climbing to our death
At least that’s what they want you to think
Just in case we jump the track
I have a confession to make
It’s something like a cork screw

I don’t wanna fall, I don’t wanna fly
I don’t wanna be dangled over
The edge of a dying romance
But I don’t wanna stop
I don’t wanna lie
I don’t wanna believe it’s over
I just wanna stay with you tonight

I didn’t mean to scream out quite so loudly
When we screeched to a halt
I’m just never prepared
For the end of the ride
Maybe we should get on something simpler
Like a giant balloon
But I’ve got two tickets left, and so do you
Instead of giving them away to some stranger
Let’s make them count, come on
Let’s get back in line again and ride the big one

Don’t you want to fall, don’t you want to fly
Don’t you want to be dangled over
The edge of this aching romance
If it’s gonna end, then I wanna know
That we squeezed out every moment
But if there’s nothing left can you tell me why
That it is you’re holding onto me
Like it’s the end of the world
lyrics thanks to Andrew Sanders

Aretha's Wind Turbine Energy Plan

2009-01-24T02:37:00.007-06:00

Originally uploaded by robbroccoli

This week has been crazy. Work is getting very interesting (more on this later) and will only get worse next week. My car is still acting up. So I have been walking a lot lately and today I used the bus *GASP* for the first time since I moved here in 1992. On Tuesday, I got to watch quite a bit of the inauguration....until I was in Obama Overload. But I did get a chance to check out Aretha and her ~~wind turbine~~ hat. I think she was the high point of the day....well, besides Obama replacing Curious George as president.

There is an entire flickr group devoted to pictures that have had Aretha's hat photoshopped on to them. I love this one of Dick Cheney. The caption reads "No wonder he had back trouble." Classic!

The logo for my blog even got Aretha-ized.

Make Your Own Obama Inauguration Kit

2009-01-20T09:00:00.003-06:00

Here are some things you can be doing today during the commercial breaks or the downtimes of the inaugural events. Please note, I was having problems getting on to some of these websites today. With all of the events going on, I bet these sites are very popular.

Obama QuotesFill in a few words and have your own instant Obama quotes.

Make your own Obama inauguration speechOnce again, fill in some key words and have your own instant Obama Inaugural Speech.

Obama Comics
Create your own Obama comics.

Obama Logo
Using your own images, you can put that image in the middle of the Obama logo.

Obama Poster

Click on any of them to enlarge.I tried this but it didn't turn out very well. It definitely takes the right type of picture for this to work. But you use your own image to make your version of the Shepard Fairey poster made for the Obama campaign.

1.20.09 The End of an Error

2009-01-19T14:48:00.003-06:00

The last installment of David Letterman's
Great Moments In Presidential Speeches

Tanks for the Memories (edited)

Thank your lucky stars

2009-01-19T14:36:00.001-06:00

A New Version of Safe Sex

2009-01-15T10:05:00.000-06:00

There is a rise in STDs. I read where they thought the rise in STDs was because of more HIV positive men having unprotected sex. Even though you are already HIV positive, you are still able to be infected with any other STD. Wrap that willie! Here are a couple of videos about safe sex. The first gives a whole new meaning to Balloon Animals.

The second video is after the jump. It is a bit more graphic and deals more with gay sex. It is also probably NSFW.

This video by Eric Leven (knucklecrack) is probably NSFW (Not Safe For Work)!

Why are we... from Eric Leven on Vimeo.

My meme Mosaic

2009-01-15T00:27:00.007-06:00

Click to enlarge

Becky (Random Musings of a Deco Lady) posted this photo mosaic meme on her blog. Just like her, I have seen this one before, but I have never done it. So after seeing hers, I thought I would give it a try.

Use fd’s Flickr Toys to make a mosaic.

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite colour?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

I love living in the arctic tundra

2009-01-14T23:29:00.002-06:00

UPDATE: The current temp is now -14° (even though the forecast was for a low of -10°) with a wind chill of -36°. SUCH FUN!!!

Current temp: 0°.
The low temp tonight: -7°.
The high temp tomorrow: 0°.
The low temp tomorrow: -10°.
And the predicted wind chill tomorrow: -19°.

Doesn't that sound like perfect weather to have car problems. I am glad my car decided that. So tomorrow in the very arctic weather, I get to change the fan belt on my car. I am so looking forward to that. Please be advised, there was a ton of sarcasm used in this post!

Doritos Super Bowl Ad

2009-01-12T12:48:00.000-06:00

Doritos is having a contest where you can vote on which ad to show during the Super Bowl. This ad is freaking hilarious! It should win!!!

Vote here for this ad.

CMG Chat Haiku

2009-01-11T17:39:00.000-06:00

Every Wednesday and Sunday night, a group of people from the Collectible Medium Green (CMG) message board meet in the chat room. There is a core group that pops in most of the time with a few others that pop in from time to time. While CMG is a message board about Homer Laughlin's dishes, the topic in the chat room is usually another story. Yes, we do discuss our favorite dishes, but the topics also have been known to include dead parakeets, bad neighbors, our individual blogs, the Chippies (don't ask, we won't tell), jobs, pets, kids and of course pretty anything sexually related. *meow* The best thing about the chat room, it gives us a chance to sit and talk with people who understand our dish obsession. And we all get along very well.

Last week, after discussing another blogger who is frequenting the blogs of one of the chatters, we noticed the blogger writes all of her posts in haiku. So we decided to have a haiku challenge. Below are the two haiku that finally got finished during our bi-weekly chat.

Elaine wrote this one. I really love it and it reminds me of when I used to be in a dish buying frenzy!

Men in brown shorts,
spreading joy and dish love,
my money is gone!

This one was directed towards M, who was wanting to post these on her blog. M spent a bit of time looking for a lid for a green marmalade dish. I believe that this completed her collection of the vintage mustards and marmalades. So I wrote this to her:

Oh green marmy lid,
It took forever to find,
But now you are mine!

The 4 Letter Word: Work

2009-01-11T15:19:00.000-06:00

Let me start this off by saying I am glad to have a job. I don't talk much about my job in my blog, I do like to keep somethings more private. My last job, which I was fired from (for no reason), I was the assistant manager of a grocery store here in town. The company (under the bad direction of a vice president) decided that they need to cut back on expenses. The first expense that they cut was labor. Within a 30 day period, they fired (or talked them into quitting) anybody who made more than minimum wage. The problem with this is, in order to run a store properly, you do need some key people that can run the different departments and/or the store. When you only have 1 person with the experience to run the store, things go down hill very fast. Needless to say, the store manager was new and had almost no experience. I was in the process of training him when his boss made him fire me. This new store manager, didn't do the schedules, had never ordered anything, was just learning all of the paperwork and was clueless about the day-to-day operations of the store. There isn't a day that goes by that one of the customers from that store doesn't come into my new store and complain about how dirty and understocked the old store is. They keep saying that I need to go back. I just smile and let them know that I am very happy where I am now.

So back to the original topic, my new job. Even though my pay is the same, I am in a much lesser role at my new job. Instead of being in charge most of the time, let's just say I don't have anybody who works under me now. It is a nice change of pace without losing any pay. The biggest problem I have is that my boss is always wanting me to be in charge over the other workers. The problem I have with that (and I have told him a few times) is that 1) I am not above them and 2) They know that. I am still the newest employee in the department. So these people don't look at me as somebody in authority. Plus, it really isn't my place to be over them. So after the fiasco last night, I am going to have to sit down and have another talk with my boss. I am not trying to cause any problems, but something needs to be done about this. Of course, another problem is that my boss is a nice buy and a big talker, but he often doesn't follow through on his plans. And I can always tell when his bosses are coming down on him for not following through, he will then open up and start telling me things he shouldn't be telling me and he will also usually be a little more authoritative with me (which he needs to be doing all the time!)

Crazy Weather and Work

2009-01-11T04:22:00.001-06:00

I am glad I decided to leave early for work today, I had no idea that we had a thick coating of ice over everything this morning. So I started the car and let it run for a few minutes and no more ice! I put the car into 4wheel drive and off I went. Work was a madhouse when I got there. It turns out that a good-sized portion of the town was without electricity because of the ice. Our biggest competitor, Wal-Mart, was in that good-sized portion without electricity, so they were closed down. It was nuts at work. Wal-Mart was opened up again sometime in the afternoon. But until they were reopened, I was kept running around like crazy. Needless to say, sales today will be very good.

Stop Gay Marriage

2009-01-09T12:42:00.000-06:00

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

2 Weeks and Counting

2009-01-07T17:45:00.000-06:00

In 2 weeks, on January 21st, season 5 begins for Lost. Season 4 ended with an unbelievable but captivating ending. But as with all Lost episodes, it left more questions than answers. And for the "Oceanic 6" that fought so hard to make it off of the island, they now have to fight to get back to the island. These previews make season 5 look like it will be even better than season 4. I can't wait!

Bye Bye Classified Ads and Other Touch-Ups

2009-01-04T16:12:00.001-06:00

I am sad to say, I am deleting the Classified Ads website. It isn't that it takes a lot of time to run it, but I just don't have the time to do the upgrades and advertising that the site needs. So I am pulling the plug for now. In the future, I would like to incorporate something like the classified ads into a website. They even offer a website that is classified ads and an auction site in one. Of course that one costs money and since I have no plans on charging people to use it, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

The wintry theme I had created was starting to look BLAH to me. And as I am sure MsVal will point out, I love to tinker with my layout. So goodbye to the frost and penguins! I also want to say goodbye to the use of the red and yellow. Last June, I totally redid the layout of the blog. I went from the 2 column layout to the 3 column layout. But I really liked this layout because the right column is actually 1 column that is then split into 2 separate columns. The original colors were going to be dark red and red. Somewhere along the way, yellow ended up in the mix. I have no idea why I added yellow, but it stuck. And since red and yellow (actually Maroon and Gold) were my high school colors, the colors looked good to me. Well, the colors are now moving on, so I thought I would like to do some blues. Of course these blues would have looked better with the wintry theme I had been using. And I am afraid after a bit of use, these colors will start to look BLAH to me too.

And I brought the fish back, so please don't forget to feed them....they are always hungry!

My Ex Rant...Yeah, I am feeling bitchy today

2009-01-03T12:08:00.000-06:00

I met my first "true" boyfriend when I was 21. My mother had just passed away, and I was continually going to the local gay bar with my friends even though the bar was 45 miles away. My friend Brandon had met Doug at the bar and ended up letting Doug move in with him shortly after that. Doug was the type of guy that could and would talk to anybody and would become instant friends with them. Doug was also famous for dating many, many guys. If they were still dating after 3 weeks, you knew they would be broken up within the following week. And of course, Doug would be on to the next guy.

Brandon and I went a drag show at the bar (so it was on a Sunday night, the only night they had drag shows) and were going to meet Doug and his new guy. For whatever reason, we ended standing behind the bar next to the dance floor. I remember thinking that Mark, Doug's current fling, was actually pretty hot. Nice body and nice smile. Plus he seemed to be very friendly. A few cocktails (or maybe 10 or more) later, I was standing behind Doug and Mark (arms around each other) and I was grabbing Mark's ass. That is very out-of-character for me. At one point, Mark turned around and smiled.

A few weeks later, Doug announced that him and Mark were through, he had found a new man. BLAH BLAH BLAH...YADDA YADDA YADDA. Same story, different day. I ran into Mark a few months after that, we chatted for a little bit and exchanged phone numbers. We ran into each other a few times at the bar (after all, there was nothing else to do in this town for gay men besides the adult bookstores). After 6 months of just meeting at the bar, we finally started dating. Unlike Doug, I was with Mark for 7 years. That is until he dumped me for somebody much younger than me. The sad fact is that Mark is 9 years older than me and his new guy is 9 years younger than me. 18 years is a big gap. But Mark and I broke up 11 years ago and they are still "together".

Now let's get down to the bitch part of this post. I used "together" in quotes for a reason. I talk to Mark about once every 6 months (if even that). It is usually just a quick hello and then we are on our way. But lately, Mark has taken to posting on Craigslist's personal ads. And not only is he posting his ad, he is posting naked pics of himself with his face pic. But my biggest gripe is that he says he is 37. 37????? He just turned 49 in 2008. He will be 50 this year. The one thing I cannot stand is LIARHEADS (sorry Carol, I am still stealing that word!)

Of course, if I was Mark, the thing I would be worried about is his boyfriend. The boyfriend hates gay people (must hate himself too) and used to be an officer of the local NRA chapter. Yeah, the gun people. I am just glad that I am out of that mess. But honestly Mark, STOP POSTING YOUR NAKED BUTT AND FACE PIC AND FAKE AGE at least 4 times a week on Craigslist. It just makes you look very desperate!

Happy New Year from Calvin & Hobbes

2009-01-01T11:11:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite comic strips of all time is Calvin & Hobbes. For those not familiar with the strip, it is about a 6 year-old Calvin and his tiger named Hobbes (who to everybody but Calvin is just a stuffed animal). The other people (and often nemesis) in the comic strip are his parents, Susie Derkins (the 6 year old next-door girl), Miss Wormwood (his school teacher), the school principal, and Rosalyn (the babysitter). Calvin is often very philosophical about life but other times he can be daydreaming up new worlds, dinosaurs or space aliens. The palette of his worlds and creativity often consisted of snowmen, snowballs (often targeted at Susie), sports (croquet or baseball will never be the same) and toy cars. Cleverly written by Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes was only around from 1985 to 1995. Sadly, on December 31, 1995, this last comic appeared for Calvin & Hobbes.

Click to enlarge.

Happy New Year to Everyone (Non-Fiesta Collectors too)

2008-12-31T11:11:00.001-06:00

New Year meme

2008-12-30T22:26:00.001-06:00

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
--Lived by myself.
--Had an MRI.
--Applied for unemployment. Not a high point.
.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Yes, I kept the one resolution (lose weight) for the entire year but the other resolution (join a gym) lasted for 6 months, but I had to give it up after I injured my back. (See #10) Will I make new resolutions, probably not.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No
.
4. Did anyone close to you die? No

5. What countries did you visit? United States!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? A boyfriend.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? The election on November 2nd. It was exciting (Obama making history) and depressing (Prop8 passing).

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Finding a new job. Rebuilding my relationship with D.

9. What was your biggest failure? Either getting fired from my job, or the second hard drive in my desktop crashing. I lost all of my picture, music and video files that was on there. The 500gb hard drive was full and now they are all gone.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I fell and hurt my back in May. I was in constant pain for 4 months until it got corrected. Unfortunately, I hurt it again in November at my new job. I am back to the constant pain.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Some Fiesta. I didn't buy much this year.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Marcella moved home. Not sure that was as much about his behavior, but it is nice to have him back here.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My ex-employers. I used to really respect the family-owned company that I worked for. But in order to save a few bucks, they decided to fire the people who made more than minimum wage. The sad thing is, I now work for a competitor of theirs and I see their regular customers in my new place of employment all the time. I am constantly being told how bad the old place is now that I am gone. I am at least happy to hear that.

14. Where did most of your money go? Bills and medical bills. And more bills.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Going to the HLCCA conference in Minneapolis to meet the people I have chatted with online for the past 8 years. I didn't get to go because of #10. I am planning on going in 2009.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Tom Baxter - Better

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier, much thinner, poorer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Activities outside the house

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Goofing off at the computer and procrastinating.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? On my yacht in the Caribbean....I can dream at least.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? Nope

22. How many one-night stands? A couple of them.

23. What was your favorite TV program? Still LOST!

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Yeah, I can think of two people, a couple that used to be good friends of mine. Hate might be a strong word, but I cannot stand the thought of them.

25. What was the best book you read? Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Tom Baxter and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

27. What did you want and get? A new president.

28. What did you want and not get? My wish to come true, I am still holding out for 2009.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? Dark Knight was good. I also liked Sex and the City. But the best film I saw this year was a rental "Death At A Funeral". The movie is from Great Britian and came out in 2007, but I didn't see it until 2008.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I hit the big 4-0 this year. I did the ever exciting thing of working on my birthday. I might have gone out that night, I don't remember.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If Prop8 had passed. (Or the measures in Arizona and Florida too.)

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? I changed uniforms. I am still a t-shirt and jeans (or shorts in summer) kinda guy. But I do clean up nicely sometimes.

33. What kept you sane? My codependent dog, Sassy. And watching Tina Fey in her parodys of Sarah Palin.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Wanda Sykes, she stood up at a Prop8 rally and came out of the closet.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? Gay marriage (Prop8)

36. Who did you miss? My parents, Mikey or Jeff

37. Who was the best new person you met? Good question. I met a few new people, but I don't know if I would call any of them the best.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Don't take a job for granted. It doesn't matter that I worked my ass off for that job, I still got fired for them trying to save a few bucks.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. (See #16) Our love has changed, it’s not the same, and the only way to say it - is say it - it’s better. I can’t concede this way I feel. For all the time we spend together...forever, just gets better.

My 2009 New Year's Resolutions

2008-12-29T21:35:00.004-06:00

I don't believe in all the hocus pocus that people call resolutions. After all, are those people so weak that they are unable to make a change in their lives on the other 364 days? When I set my mind to change something, I don't wait until January 1st, I just start doing it. Last year I made 2 resolutions, but honestly, I had already been working on them. The first was to workout more. I did that until I hurt my back in the summer. I tried to workout (very carefully) with my back pain, but I never got very far. So I dropped my gym membership. The second resolution was tied to the first. It was to lose more weight. I did lose more weight, but I didn't lose as much as I wanted. But I am very happy. My goal is to continue with that, but of course, that is a lifetime commitment, not just 2009.

And before you start to throw shoes at me, and please, keep those shoes for your favorite soon-to-be-gone-but-not-gone-soon-enough elected officials, let's keep in mind what helped fuel the passion at the elections this past November. Change. This country is long overdue for change. Obama was elected on the platform of change. But that change began with us (we did elect him) and it will continue through us and not him. He will do his best, but nothing is going to correct itself without our help. So my resolution will be to get out there and make that change happen and to make it stick.

I am not any activist by a long shot. But the change I am talking about is the little things. Going out there and helping your neighbor. Buy a meal for a friend who needs a hand. Take some food into work and feed your coworkers. Give a gift to somebody who is sick. That is how change begins. And it is contagious. Once you begin the change, the people you touch will turn that around and pass it on to others. That is my resolution for 2009.

Have a great and safe new year. And lets hope for many more new years in the future for all of us. Have a great 2009, I plan on it!

Bloggers Block

2008-12-29T21:15:00.000-06:00

Yes, I admit that I haven't been posting very much lately. I am suffering from a bad case of ~~writer's~~ Blogger's Block. After reading the usual other blogs, I still don't have anything to ~~steal~~ write about. So this post will be about my very exciting (sarcasm is great) Christmas. Being the "new kid on the block" at work, of course I get to work the crappy shifts! So I got the thrill of closing on Christmas Eve and working at 5am the day after Christmas. Thank goodness we are closed on Christmas I guess. This actually works out great for me. My grandparents have been doing their official Christmas celebrating on Christmas Eve. WHAT?!?!? That's a shame, I have to work. Hold on, I need to get a rag to wipe up some of this sarcasm...it is dripping on the keyboard. So last year and this year, I go down on Christmas Day. I get to see my aunt (and her roommate) from Columbus, Ohio for a few hours before she leaves to head home. The rest of the day it is just my grandparents and me. We enjoyed a small breakfast and the gift exchange before my aunt and her roommate left. Then I helped my grandparents with some tasks. Took down their Christmas tree and put it away in the basement, helped them with their digital photo frame I got them 2 years ago, helped them with their computer and tried to help them with a new alarm clock they received. Oh yeah, I took a couple of cat naps in between some of those tasks. We also enjoyed a dinner of leftovers. Overall, it was a very nice and relaxing day. I would take this anytime over a day full of kids running around and screaming. Plus my grandparents are both getting up there in age, so it was nice to get to spend time with them.

Gotta Love This Weather - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

2008-12-27T11:50:00.001-06:00

The weather has been crazy for the past few weeks. We have had lots of snow and 4 ice storms (only 1 of them was semi-severe) in the month of December. Temperatures have been very cold in the past few weeks. It wasn't even a week ago that the temps were below 0° with a wind chill of -35°!

So yesterday the temps went up. By 1:30pm when I left work, the temps were just below 40°. Last night around 11pm, the temps were up to 60°. What is up with this weather??? Today, the temps are still around the 60° mark. The forecast is for lots of rain, severe thunderstorms and lots of wind. And just a little bit ago, they now put us under a TORNADO watch! WHAT??? It is December, we should be having lots of snow and cold temps. Now we are having Spring weather! The tornado watch is until 7pm tonight. I noticed there are a few counties over by Springfield that are under a tornado warning! YIKES. I am hoping our watch turns out to be nothing. But they are calling for it to be very windy with some huge wind gusts! Happy Holidays! Bah humbug!