One-one-thousand

It's funny those little things that stick with you from childhood, like counting after a lightning strike to see how far away the storm is.

As I've mentioned before, one of the really nice things about my unit is the sound of the rain on the roof when it rains. A new thing I've noticed is the ability to watch fork lightning as it strikes over downtown worcester. It reminds me of the many evenings staying at my Dad's apartment on the weekends when he would wake me up after my brother had gone to sleep and we'd sit on his deck and watch the heat lightning in the distance. Everytime I would stay with him I'd hope more than anything that there would be a summer storm. I was often rewarded for my hoping. :)

My mom says I get my enjoyment of the storms from my Papa. My Grammy on the other hand doesn't like storms one bit, neither does my brother to any great degree. This weekend has been a real treat with two days in a row with fairly substantial thunderstorms. I just lay in bed for a large part of yesterday morning, eyes closed, just taking in the thunder and the sound of the rain. It was absolutely great.

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This and that

Ok, just a few updates since I don't really feel like doing a full out post.

• Saw Transformers a while ago. Lots of fun. Go see it.
• Saw Harry Potter last week. Twice. Once in IMAX. Go see it. It's a lot darker than before, less whimsy. Dolores Umbridge is sublimely and wickedly played by Imelda Staunton.
• Finished with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'll say no more than it's very dark, very well written, has a pace that just keeps on hitting you and is very satisfying.
• Saw Hairspray. Go see it. It's a laugh riot, with great singing and dancing.

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Damien Rice

I recently came across the work of an Irish folk singer, Damien Rice. He has a hauntingly crystal clear voice. I just bought his first ablum "O" and two songs that I've really come to enjoy are "The Blower's Daughter" and "Cannonball". You may find that it sounds familiar to you as his music has been in TV shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Alias, Bones, CSI:NY, ER and House among others.

If you like acoustic guitar folk style music, I recomend this highly.

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Happy Independance Day

Well I hope everyone is having a great 4th! My annual BYOBBQ was last night and as usual it was a great time. Special thanks to Remby for being the Grill Master again and bringing his grills.

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What's up doc?

So Day two of the Rabbit. I dropped off the title to the Audi, so I am officially done with it. *sniff* *tear* It was a good car.

My god this car can move. It's got great pickup and I can be above 60 without even trying, so I need to keep an eye on that. I'm getting better.

It's officially been named too! The car's name is "Roger". Yes it's a boy car. :)

One of the cool features is that it has an iPod connector. No more stupid FM tranceiver that doesn't get loud enough and has static most of the time. The only negative is that it doens't fully interface with the iPod. It's designed to take the first 5 playlists and assign it to CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 and CD5. CD6 is the setting for whatever you are playing on the iPod, so if you want ot listed to one of the playlists after the first five you have to manually select it and then plug the iPod back in. Still it's better than the FM Transmitter.

Switching gears, the surgery is still healing but I'm probably about 96% at this point. It's still tender but I really can't feel it anymore. I'm thinking it'll be mid-July before I'm 100%

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The Audi is gone, long live the Audi

Well I did it. I have finally, after 7 years ( I got it in March 2000) I have retired the Audi. Today I went and I bought a 2007 VW Rabbit. The car is sooo much fun. It's black with grey interior and it's a standard!! I forgot how much fun a 5 speed is and this thing has some GREAT pickup.

It's also exciting because this is my first new car. Ever. This should be an experience.

Additionally I visited Patrick on Wednesday. It was great seeing him and we really need to get together more often. It made me realize how much I miss having him around.

Well, that's all for now. Ta ta!

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How they voted...

If you want to know how your representative or senator voted go here:
http://www.massequality.org/howtheyvoted.php

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151

We have won. After over 5 years of waiting and hoping and lots of holding of breath we have won. The latest attack on the right to marry for same-sex couples has been killed by the legislature in an up-and-down vote of the matter. No procedural maneuvers this time, not that I'd care if there were.

I don't doubt that anti-gay groups will still try attack gay marriage in Massachusetts but they will find that we are a stronger and more renewed group after today. We've seen the future and it involves continued full rights to gay marriage.

Here's a brief history of things. (A more complete history can be found here)

July 17, 2002 - First voter petition is killed in a procedural maneuver to adjourn the ConCon. 137-53

November 17, 2003 - The MA Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) allows Gay Marriage. Delays effect of ruling 180 days.

March 29, 2004 - the Legislature passes the legislatively initiated anti-gay marriage amendment.

May 17, 2004 - Gay Marriage is now legal. World doesn't end.

May 17, 2005 - First anniversary of Gay Marriage. World still hasn't ended.

September 14, 2005 - the Legislature kills the legislatively initiated anti-gay marriage amendment 157-39. This is mostly because a more conservative and restrictive version is being submitted via voter petition.

December 7, 2005 - the voter petition is certified to be voted at the next ConCon.

May 17, 2006 - Second anniversary of Gay Marriage. Still no apocalypse.

January 2, 2007 - The legislature finally votes on, and passes the voter petition 61-132. Not happy.

May 17, 2007 - Third anniversary of Gay Marriage. Are the four horsemen usually this tardy?

June 14, 2007 - 45-151. 151 Legislators vote against the amendment. It's over.

For more information here are blog posts from the years:

11.18.2003 - I do....
04.12.2004 - Cheney's Opinion Sucks
01.13.2004 - Delays, delays, delays….
02.04.2004 - Hurrah!! Hurrah!!
02.16.2004 - Marriage, Valentine's Day and other matters
03.29.2004 - Strike 1
09.07.2005 - Fuck the world
09.15.2005 - Well the world gets a repreive
09.20.2005 - "... it's going to be a fun time..."
07.11.2006 - And the fight continues...
09.09.2006 - Do I Dare to Dream?
01.02.2007 - Dissappointed

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What to say, what to say...

So I've had very little motivation to post lately. It's been a whirlwind since I returned to work. The wound is healing mostly well. If I sit wrong it feels like its pulling a bit and it's been bleeding a little since the stiches came out (I called and they said it was normal).

Living with Cate is going well at the moment. Additionally she's doing well in her classes which is key.

The main thing is that I want to get out and do fun things like go bike riding, or swimming or anything that I'm not supposed to do right now. I just want it to be healed and done with. *sigh* I suppose I should be thankful it was sutured and not packed and that its proceeding as fast as it is, but you always want more. :)

Let's see... what else...

Last week I went up to NH with Max. It was a great time and probably more strenuous than I should have been 2 days after stiches coming out. Ah well. We ended up staying in a Comfort Inn in North Conway. Pretty much everwhere was booked and all that was left was a smoking room. NEVER AGAIN. I will search through every last hotel, motel and/or B&B before I EVER take a smoking room again. It was the most vile, disgusting thing I've had to deal with in a while. The room was caked with the stale oder of cigarette smoke everywhere you went. Hell next time I'll just pop for the honeymoon suite (which was the only available non-smoking room) if that's all that's left. It'll be worth the money not to feel like my lungs were filling with toxins.

On Friday I went to the 25th anniversary concert for the Boston's Men's Gay Chorus. It was their annual concert for pride weekend and it was a great time. They had Linda Eder as a guest. Her "Don't Rain on My Parade" with the chorus just brought down the house, it was fantastic. Also great was the fact that they sang "Brothers Sing On" which is what the WPI Glee Club sings at every concert. For an encore Linda sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". My fraternity brother and fellow Glee Club alum JJ invited me to see the show. He's been trying to get me to a show for ages and schedules finally aligned. I decided to get two tickets and take someone with me. I initially invited Patrick but he couldn't go. After that I called up Judd and he was happy to come along. He loved it and was glad I "dragged him" there. :)

Afterwards Judd had to go home but I went over to JJ's along with Kurt and Pere and we caught up and had a great time. I ended up leaving Boston about 2:30 am, took a cab back to my car and then drove back to Worcester. I got to bed about 4 am and then slept until 3pm on Saturday.

Sunday I went to see Ocean's 13. It was good, I enjoyed it. I rented Ocean's 11 and 12 and watched them Friday. I liked both as well. For those who've seen the first two, 13 is more like 11. It's a straight out caper film.

After that I ended up getting tipsy with Martha and Dani. It was FANTASTIC.

Well that's all for now.

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A stitch in time...

Well I got my stiches taken out today. Oddly enough, this was the most painful part of the entire procedure and that included the 3 attempts to do my IV. It was the sharp pain when he pulled taut and then cut the sutures that really was source of the pain.

Granted, the actual cut had some pain, but it was more dull and simply "sore". I'm sure the vicodin the first few days helped in that regard.

So at this point I have to be careful for the next week so that I don't reopen the wound, not that the Doctor is really worried at 10+ days after the surgery.

I also can't do any strenuous activities for at least a month, so we're looking at July. Good thing I'm single ;)

At any rate, I'm doing quite well and will be back to work next Tuesday. I would have been back to work on Monday but I've requested Mondays off in June to get rid of vacation time.

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