Those Friendly Skies

Cute article that made me think back to my flying days.

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2009/05/06/AR2009050603392.html

Cuidate.

Simple Pleasures

Most of the time, it really is the little things that bring enormous amounts of pleasure; not how much money you spend or how important you are or how much stuff you accumulate.  So in keeping with lean economic times, I offer up what brings me simple pleasure.

1.  Best of craigslist

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/

This material is some of the funniest shit anywhere.  I cannot help, but crack up at Best of craigslist.  A lot of these people would probably be award-winning writers if they were not just blowing off work and posting on cl. 

2.  (I preface this one by saying I know I am a horrible person.  Yes, I am well aware of it.  Thank you in advance for judging me.)  So the building I work in has a public parking structure below it.  There are elevators, but after 5 PM you need a key card to enter the building.  Inevitably, when I am beginning a night at work, there is a person or person(s) parking nearby that sees me enter the lobby and heads in my direction.  By this time, I have swiped in and an elevator has arrived because no one else is in the building.  I am just pressing my floor when I hear people jerking on the door and saying, "What the hell?  How did that guy get in?"  It is mean and stupid, but it is really fun for me at the same time.

3.  YouTube.  What did we do before YouTube?  Who knew that countless hours could be filled by looking up old Journey videos or Wonder Woman episodes?  Good times my friends, good times.

4.  It is fun to watch people in the service industry with a difficult customer.  After many a year of people wanting more free bread, complaining about why they have to sit in the middle seat, or explaining to people why we won't take off in a bad thunderstorm, it is a pleasure and a relief to not have to deal with that anymore.  Even better, usually I am the one in line behind them and end up with something free because I am patient, polite, I speak English fluently, and I smile.  Usually I am thanking God that he and/or she got me out of that life.

5.  Hanging out with friends or family members whose company you enjoy.  Shared histories and laughter are really what it is all about.  And a juicy bit of gossip is like the cherry in a Shirley Temple.

6.  Reality TV.  Some of the shows are really fucking stupid, granted.  But what did we do before people got voted off the island?  Why did Puck have to stick his finger in Pedro's peanut butter?  Is it a bad sign that more people vote for American Idol than vote in national elections?  There is something so great about hearing the words "Auf Wiedersehen".  

 Now that I give serious thought to the issue, I am confident gay people had a lot to do with the reality TV revolution.  There would not be any Project Runway nor Queer Eye without the my peeps.  Nor would there be any makeover shows.  Let's be serious, who wants to see a straight person make over anything?  Me no likey.  As a side note, super super guilty pleasure is RuPaul's Drag Race on Logo.  Set your DVRs, you will note be sorry.  It is better than The Girls Next Door and that is saying something.

7.  Sex and the City.  The simplest pleasure of all, no explanation necessary.

8.  Getting a haircut.  There is nothing like a guy's head the first couple days after he has had a haircut.  Grr, very sexy.  Girls too, doesn't everyone enjoy a good haircut?

9.  Finishing crap on your To Do list.  I have been staring at a bunch of e-waste that I have been wanting to get rid of (old printers, digital cameras, etc) and I have had a post it note on my fridge telling me where to drop it off.  I finally had the time to do it the other day and it took me all of about five minutes.  Now every time I walk in my house, I say to myself, "All of that crap is finally gone!" and beam.

10.  Eating junk food.  In my line of work, this is an occupational hazard.  Try sitting in the same room for eleven hours, bored for most of it.  The question most asked is, "What can we eat next?"  Taco Hell at 2 AM, divine; Jack in the Crack at 3, even better.  If that doesn't satisfy your craving, 7-Eleven is always there with the Big Gulp and the McRib rip off.  For the truly twisted, there is now a product called Chocodiles which are Twinkies dipped in chocolate.  This seems so wrong on so many levels, but my coworkers swear by them.

I hope you are all having a great week.  Cuidate.

Great article

Great article in USA Today on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the lone female currently on the Supreme Court.  She speaks eloquently as to why we need more women on the high court.  Hope you all read it!  

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2009-05-05-ruthginsburg_N.htm

Cuidate.

Swine Overload

When the news of David Souter retiring hit newsrooms this week, it was like being in the eye of the hurricane that was swine flu news coverage.  Yet again, the 24 hours news cycle turned what should have been a developing story into a full fledged news panic engulfing everything in its midst.  I do pretty well with ignoring most of the hype, but even NPR was taken in with this one.  Thankfully, Souter retiring seemed to give the networks something to talk about besides emergency rooms being flooded with people who did not even have the flu, much less swine flu.

Having lived in New Hampshire during my high school years, I remember well when David Souter was nominated to the Supreme Court.  John Sununu (the older one) left the governorship of the state to become George H.W. Bush's chief of staff.  Within a week of the inauguration, the Seabrook Nuclear power plant was given a license to operate after years of being stalled and it was clear that Sununu was calling the shots from D.C.  Souter was nominated not long after this to the U.S. Supreme Court on the strong recommendations of Sununu and Senator Warren Rudman.  Over the years, Souter has proven to be something of a mystery for the media and politicians alike.  He has a strong dislike for the nation's capitol and flees home to his family's farm in New Hampshire whenever the chance arises.  He rarely speaks in public, does not write books, or lecture like many of his colleagues do.  He does not attend Washington social gatherings of any kind.  He does not have a cell phone nor a computer and drafts his writings with a fountain pen.  Though nominated by a Republican, he has ended up being one of the more liberal members of the Court over the last twenty years.  He was once engaged, but has never married.  There is speculation that he may be gay, but it is merely that; speculation.  To me, he seems like a very classy guy who has worked hard to remain a private person and took his job very seriously.  In today's age of instant celebrity or infamy (think Paris Hilton or Susan Boyle), it is refreshing to find someone who is authentically himself or herself and does not require more than that.  It is also so cool that he is retiring.  Yes, one has a lifetime appointment to the Court, but sometimes there are more important things than power or a job.  If you think about John Paul Stevens who is nearly 90 and still on the bench, I imagine there are days he does not want to go to work.  Anyhow, good luck to you Justice Souter.  You have my respect and admiration.

I have settled back into work after a couple of weeks away.  The nice thing about my job is that it is pretty routine.  Yes, different stuff happens on different days, but the radio traffic never stops and the phones keep ringing.  I have more time off coming in June the week before Gay Pride, so I am looking forward to that.  Each year I donate money to the Film Festival, but inevitably only get to see two or three films because I am working a lot.  This year, I should get to see a bunch and put my gold pass to good use.  

After a couple of weeks of wrangling with realtors and sellers, I have tentative acceptance of an offer I made on a live/work loft in West Oakland.  It is a nice property, very big and open, about two blocks from West Oakland BART.  It is less than ten minutes from the Emeryville Bay Street area and the city is a hop, skip, and a jump across the bridge.  The neighborhood is a little sketchy, but that whole area is gentrifying and it is a good place to invest.  I am now just waiting to hear back from the bank that they will agree to the price, which could take sixty to ninety days.  It is exciting to consider that I may be a homeowner, something I did not think was going to be possible in the Bay Area which I love so much.  So keep your fingers crossed for me and I will keep you all updated.

I am finishing up school this week for the semester.  Now that I taking classes to fill pre-reqs, it is not as fun as mindlessly taking whatever I wanted to before.  Intro to Art was an interesting class these last few weeks whereas Public Speaking was not.  I have enough credits to earn an Associate's degree, but I am short two PE credits.  WTF?  Gym class, which I thought I had comfortably left behind in high school, is haunting me again.  

I am off to hang with my brother who is in town this week.  Hope you are all doing well and had a great weekend.

Cuidate.