A 'Doug' Theory

For those of you interested in the Doug-Doug saga, something occurred to me. It's quite possible that he noticed that I was teaching a spin class that night, and he maybe recognized me from his classes, and had a weird reaction to the fact that here was a spin instructor in his class (Maybe spying, stealing his techniques? Who knows. I do like to go to other classes to see what other instructors do. Maybe he thought I should have introduced myself or something.). This was the same room where he teaches too, so maybe he's territorial.

I remember when I mentioned Doug to my former classmate/fellow instructor Mitch, he warned me 'not to get on Doug's bad side,' which is kind of ominous, making you wonder what kind of bad side Doug has. I wonder if I'm on it now? I think I'll make a poit to go to one of his morning classes next week and see if I get a reaction.

Except I think I'm coming down with a cold. And I know just where I got it: John the branch manager has been sick all week, and several times he's been down in my department using one of the PCs. Probably got his nasty germs all over the mouse and keyboard. Ew.

Call me crazy

(and by that admittedly 'pop' personality disorder test, I probably am -- though also my shrinks thought I certainly had my share of issues), but after reviewing my very high scores for Schizoid and Schizotypal, and my high score for Avoidant, I am all the more amazed that I actually go get in front of a bunch of people and holler and teach these spinning classes every week, sort of competing with other instructors for students. And to go on two cruises by myself (and meet fun people to hang out with both times). And here I am headed off to Fort Lauderdale next month by myself. So there.

The Thorpedo and Michael Phelps

Michael: "Kiss me you Aussie stud!"
Ian: "Michael -- not in front of all these people!"

TiVo vs. the Comcast DVR

I mentioned this in passing earlier, but thought I'd go into more detail. Comcast foolishly called the other day to ask me how I was enjoying my new HD tuner with DVR. I said it was okay, but it was awfully crude compared to my TiVo -- my first generation TiVo. She seemed surprised. I listed the DVR's shortcomings:

• The tuner has two fast-forward/reverse speeds; TiVo has three. TiVo also lets you skip ahead in 15 minute increments.

• The tuner has a pause but no slow-motion. (Very disappointing to rediscover this when watching Desperate Housewives and wanted to watch the high school lover-boy flying out of the window nude.)

• TiVo has a neat feature which -- when you hit FF to go through commercials and then hit PLAY again, it automatically moves the recording back a couple of seconds, because of course you can't hit it right when the show comes back on. This is v. annoying with the DVR, because I'm a few seconds into the show and have to manually reverse then PLAY again.

• If I get partway through a show and decide to watch the rest later, I can pause TiVo and when I come back to it, I can resume where I left off. The DVR sometimes seems to do this, but at other times I find it has gone back to the beginning. Vexing.

• And this doesn't even include the fact that TiVo has searching features under an array of categories (I can locate and record -- or just put on a list for me to review -- any show in which, for instance, Justin Timberlake appears. Or it can keep an eye out for when Sci-Fi happens to show a block of Xena or Space: Above and Beyond episodes.) And the daily TiVo schedule download usually catches the stupid network monkeying with show lengths. Even though I have an older box, I have had at least three software updates (free with my lifetime subscription) that added new features.

The only good thing about the DVR is the HD is huge by comparison: 160 GB. I don't know what my TiVo's is, but it only holds about 9 hours of tv at the highest quality setting.

Test Your Gaydar!

Oooh! Watch ABC News Tonight and test your gaydar! Then let me know how you *ahem* scored!

Spinning Stress!

So today after work I head to the Clarendon club for my Thursday 6:30 spin class and who do I see already there on the stretching mat? Doug-Doug the cycle stud! A couple times I catch him looking at me strangely (not exactly hostile but not exactly friendly either -- maybe just 'that guy looks familiar; is he in my class?')

Then I go check in at the desk and who is there but... Mary! Mary is the Virginia Group Exercise Director; essentially my boss and the one who (with some reservations) hired me on Vicki's recommendation. She is her perky self and announces that she is going to take my spin class. (Insert ominous music here). My heart rate goes through the roof. What if she thinks I stink? Am I gonna get fired?

So I was a little bit nervous. Fortunately there were several regulars there and it all went pretty well (not my best class but not my worst. At the end she left pretty quickly though, and I was thinking: uh-oh.

But then in the lobby area she comes up to me and says that my class was very good; much better that when she first 'interviewed' me. I said, "Well I hope so, I've been doing it a few months now." (Note to self: learn to keep your mouth shut, smile and nod when complimented). Anyway, she said she particularly liked my music selections. Here they are for tonight (I call it my 'Butch it up' mix):

More Than a Feeling -- Boston
Blue (Da Ba Dee) -- Eiffel 65
Bootylicious -- Destiny's Child
Rebel Yell -- Billy idol
The Reflex -- Duran Duran
Rock Your body -- Justin Timberlake
Unwell -- Matchbox 20
Born To Run -- Bruce Springsteen
Summer of 69 -- Bryan Adams
Skidmarks on My Heart -- Go-Gos
May it Be -- Enya

So then I go shower and who should come in as I'm dressing but... Doug. Turns out his locker is right above mine. But he doesn't say anything, he slowly undresses down to his (ahem, well-filled) bike shorts, and then when I'm packing up he comes over and opens his locker (I politely move out of the way, trying not to stare). Then I go get a drink from the fountain, and by the time I pass by him on my way out, he's done the lame put-on-towel-then-pull-shorts-down thing. Really surprising for this guy; he was really quiet and subdued; not the arrogant drill sergeant of class. And it's not like I was ogling him; in fact I made a point not to look at him.

Oh well.

On a lighter note...

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

The latest...

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Moderate
Schizoid:	Very High
Schizotypal:	Very High
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Moderate
Histrionic:	Low
Narcissistic:	High
Avoidant:	High
Dependent:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

The newest iPod

Cool, I suppose, with the photo features and the color screen, but it would have been even cooler if it had a built-in camera.

Enterprise limping along

I actually kind of enjoyed last week's Enterprise with Trip visiting Vulcan (though I fast-forwarded through most of the Archer rock-climbing junk). It certainly was better than that silly 2-parter with the aliens in WW II earth. Enough with the Nazis!

Also promising is that apparently the Vulcans on Enterprise have been assholes for a reason, (though I wonder if this is a bit of revisionism, in response to a fan outcry at the writers making them out to be such jerks) and there will be a big social upheaval on Vulcan.

So I was about to give up on the show, but with a Brent Spiner 3-parter coming up, I won't delete it off TiVo's season pass just yet.

I wish we got UPN in HD here though, so I could watch it on the big screen.

Cassini-Huygens at Titan!

New pictures of Saturn's moonTitan!

Eminem's anti-Bush anthem

My goodness, even Eminem's in the act.

OMFG

Desperate Housewives is GREAT! I missed the premiere but had the HD DVR record it and man is it good. I mean, lawn boy is freakin' hot, but the main thing is the very real complicated lives of most of the women. The redhead who was on Melrose is still awesome as the psycho control-freak, and the mom of twins (with ex-Melrose gay guy hubby) is good, and I love Terri Hatcher (though her putting off the hot man -- who is that actor?) -- is a bit silly, but the dead woman's son is a real tragedy (not to mention redhead's son) and overall it is riveting! Five stars!

We know what you're listening to...

For some reason I find this really creepy -- the exact word used by the privacy expert below. The full article in the Washington Post is here. (registration required)

Advertisers Tune In to New Radio Gauge

By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 25, 2004; Page E01

The device, the size of a shoe box, is tough to spot unless you make a habit of looking skyward to inspect utility poles while driving.

But in 14 locations around the Washington area, the devices are there, sensing which radio stations drivers are listening to by picking up faint electronic signals emitted from car antennas as they drive by.

The technology, owned by MobilTrak Inc. of Phoenix, was introduced in this region in May. By year-end, MobilTrak hopes to mount nine more units to monitor the listening habits of more than 1 million drivers and present the results to advertisers eager to better reach the audience in the country's eighth-largest radio market.

The monitoring aims to help retailers choose where to advertise by giving them a snapshot of which stations consumers tune into as they drive by their businesses. The most enthusiastic MobilTrak adopters: auto dealers, who generally believe that 80 percent of their business is with people who live or work within 10 miles of a given dealership.

"It's all about precision marketing," said C. David Boice, 39, MobilTrak's managing partner. "It's about giving marketers real-time data about what's happening in certain areas at certain times so they don't waste their advertising dollars."

The approach is the most recent example of the powerful ways marketers are using technology to track customer behavior in natural settings. The strategy in slightly different form is already well entrenched in supermarkets, which track customers' purchases with loyalty cards. Much to the alarm of privacy advocates, technology is helping marketers identify their ideal customers, such as the frequent buyer of a certain brand of detergent, and fine-tune their selling.

In this case, privacy advocates are not too worried because MobilTrak does not collect identifiable data about a car or the person driving it. It cannot see or eavesdrop on the driver. MobilTrak compares its technology to a rubber hose laid across a road to count traffic.

Its solar-powered units randomly pick up signals across six lanes of traffic from cars up to 140 feet away in the same way a police officer measures car speeds by pointing a radar detector at traffic and repeatedly resetting it.

Still, one privacy expert called the technology "creepy" while another raised concerns about the potential of combining it with other technologies to create more intrusive marketing techniques.

"It would be a quick leap to connect that data with other data," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union. "Technology is moving at the speed of light. We've reached a point where there are few technological bars to doing anything."

Tis the season...

Almost. At least the time (around Thanksgiving) for the annual viewing of two of my favorite movies: Lady Jane, and A Man for all Seasons.

The former stars Helena Bonham Carter (as the girl who ruled as queen for 9 days after Edward died; she was a smart girl and a protestant, unfortunately a political victim) and a young Cary Elwes (nekkid!) with Patrick Stewart and a host of famous English actors; the latter a multiple Oscar-winner about Sir Thomas More, the man who would not bless Henry VIII's divorce because it was against all he believed (he comes off as heroic and thoughtful, even if he was a Catholic).

Steven has been after me to host a movie night; I was going to wait for the arrival of the gargantuan four-hour and 10 minute RotK, but maybe a pre-Thanksgiving 'eat and watch sumptuous English period movies on the big tv?'

(God I spent 20 hours this weekend in the damn office. I'm ready for my mini-vacation!)

To Boldly Go...

...where no... actor-has-gone... BEFORE!

William Shatner has signed up to go on Branson's commercial spaceship.

Hell if I had $210,000 lying around, I'd go too. Especially if Kirk was on board. We might run into a giant amboeba or Gary Seven, or the Vulcans!

Michael Moore on Fresh Air

I'm listening (while stranded at work) to the NPR interview show Fresh Air where Terry Gross interviews Michael Moore. She asks him about the Bush 9/11 seven minutes of inactivity, and I was interested to hear him say that he hoped people would imagine what some other president would do when they were told by their Chief of Staff "A second plane has hit the world Trade Center, America is under attack." As Moore said, certainly they would not sit there for seven minutes.

Of course that's exactly what I imagined: Bill Clinton would have leapt up and gone into action, as would almost any other president.

Heaven is a Borg Cube

According to the essay linked here. Hmm, that that would make the Borg Queen God? Kewl.

I thought Heaven was a place on Earth; that's what Belinda Carlisle (formerly of the Go-Go's) said.

Snicker

It appears that Hunter of the Bravo bomb (even I stopped watching after episode 1, though I have it lurking on TiVo) Manhunt had another vocation before trying to be a 'legitimate' model.

For the record, my favorites of the group were:

Blake: what a cute face and beautiful lean body.

Matt: Pretty eyes and handsome face. A bit soft but nice

Kevin P: The mole/real model hidden in the group. Gorgeous though a bit much. Give me Blake.

And Rob: (who I'm sure is gay). I like him partly because of that and his personality, and he's cute too in his way.

I'm hypersensitive

I mean besides emotionally!

I'm not sure if it's entirely physiological, but it mostly is. They gave me a hearing test when I had that ear infection a few weeks ago, and the doctor was surprised at how good my hearing was (especially for my age). In a quiet room I can still hear that high-pitched hum of a computer monitor.

On the downside, in DC when some ambulance or fire engine or cop car goes crawling by through the traffic, it's so painful to me that I have to plug my ears.

My eyes are very light-sensitive as well. On a bright day I cannot be outside without sunglasses or I have to squint and my eyes water. I can see pretty well in the dark, but I'm not to good with night driving because of the headlight glare.

I'm not as sure about the other three senses. The other day a client came in wearing that scented oil, and I though it stank up the whole floor, other people didn't notice it as much. I have decent tactile sensitivity (and I'm ticklish; I wonder what gene makes you ticklish?)

Janine and me

Over the last few months I've been working more closely with one sales person at work -- Janine -- who I would guess is in her mid 30's or so and has one child, a boy name Derrick (she may have others, but she talks about Derrick and I've even met him: a quiet boy in kindergarten).

Anyway, I pushed for her to get control (and so commissions) of a lot of legacy 'house' accounts that were languishing after the old buy-out owner was let go (no names here); and between Peter (oops) and, me the New York gods relented. Overall I'm glad that the accounts get some attention and Janine will get some commissions. Though of course there is a pang of jealousy sometimes because we have kept these clients mainly because of my personal relationship with people in these companies. They trust me and know I'll get their work done for them.

But I digress; what I really wanted to talk about was some of the interesting family discussions that Janine (as a mother ) and I (as a son) have had. When I rode along after a client meeting to pick up Derrick one day, I mentioned that I had missed kindergarten, because after 6 weeks of it, we moved from WI to PA, which had different ages for grades. I was given some tests (my mother said, and I quote as I remember: "of course, you cried the whole time") which I passed, and they stuck me in 1st grade, 6 weeks behind. So I said to Janine, "So I missed that whole kindergarten 'learning to play well wth others' thing." And she said with a completely straight face, "Well, that explains a lot."

Then just today we were talking about parenting and spanking and how she doesn't believe in it. I said I don't remember ever being spanked, but the threat (by ping pong paddle) hung over us. And we talked about the crazy threats our parents made to us when we were kids. She remembered telling her mother about some awful threat that her mother swore she never made, but Janine knew she had. Just like some horrible things my mother said to me that are burned in my memory.

I wonder how many, of the cruel, nasty things my mother said to me, that she would say she couldn't remember.

The irony!

The news is full of ironies, more so than usual...

Just earlier in the week I was thinking that we hadn't heard from that conservative crackpot Pat Robertson. Then (oops!) this morning on NPR I heard that he had warned Bush about attacking Iraq. Here's the story from CNN, but the kicker is:

Robertson, an ardent Bush supporter, told CNN in an interview Tuesday night that he urged the president to prepare the American people for the prospect of casualties before launching the war in March 2003.

Robertson said Bush told him, " 'Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties.' "

The thing is, I can believe that 1) Bush really said it; and 2) He really believed it. I think the man is living in a fantasy world.


Then this today from the AP:

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday the United States would recognize the election of a Shiite Muslim government in Iraq provided the voting is free, fair and open.

But in an interview with Abu Dhabi television, Powell said it was unlikely Iraqis would elect a radicalized government or one that would not protect the rights of all Iraqis.

Meanwhile of course, Bush is trampling my rights and trying do deny me at least one by modifying the Constitution. Oh but he wasn't exactly elected though, was he? Do they have an Electoral College in Iraq?

And today I heard Bush saying that Kerry's health plan would bring in government control and reduce the quality of health care. He said that "Health care decisions should remain between the doctor an the patient, without government interference" (or something similar). Obviously Bush has never had to deal with an HMO making decisions about his health care.

Hamm will keep his gold medal

Care of CNN, a report that gymnast Paul Hamm will keep his gold medal.

I'm glad he got to keep it, though it does seem unfair that the South Korean is essentially robbed of a gold medal because of what was apparently a scoring error. But as the article points out, a lot of other things could have happened.

Ah, the Olympics. Men's synchronized diving, Michael Phelps... sigh.

Bleah

I haven't been blogging much lately, just too busy at work and too tired otherwise. Class tinight, think I'll give them my Gypsies mix since the Saturday crowd liked it (though Thursdays is generally more guys).

Had the strangest dream last night. So strange and creepy that I can't even post it here.

How Ironic

I was just emailed this interesting list of those who have served, and those who have not:

Democrats
* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

Republicans
* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon! Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year
National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued in NFL for 8 years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Pundits & Preachers
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.


* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don't shoot back.)

Pattern Here?

All I want for my Birthday...

I just wish courier bike boi was here today; they sent the (even prettier) elfin one instead, but I'd rather have our regular twink -- I mean courier.

Maybe they are going to deliver him later and he'll pop out of a cake for my birthday.

Hey, I can dream.

UPDATE

I just found out that courier bike boi and the kid they sent in to sub for him are "ROOMATES" Hmmmmm.

This Day in History

Happy Birthday to me! And here's some stuff that happened on This Day in History

Call me MISTER Chatelaine

Last night I threw together a new mix for my Saturday class, which to me seemed completely random and even a little bizarre:

Tainted Love -- Soft Cell
Absolutely Not -- Deborah Cox
Tubular Bells -- Mike Oldfield
Don't Call Me Baby -- Madison Avenue
Every Other Time -- LFO (the butch boyband)
Gypsys, Tramps And Thieves -- Cher
Miss Chatelaine -- k.d. lang
Tragedy -- covered by this German boyband B3
She Works Hard for the Money -- Donna Summer
Don't You Want Me -- Human League
California Dreamin' -- Dance remix, DJ Sammy
Save a Prayer -- Duran Duran

Everyone seemed to enjoy it (class of all women today) and afterwards I asked one of my regulars what she thought, and she said "it sounded like a tribute to all women with shitty jobs!"

Well! I guess it's what you make of it.

So much to blog...

...so little desire at the moment. Why the low-carb thing failed me (holding at 167 today), reviews of Manhunt and Lost (find 'em yourselves, I'm too lazy to do links tonight). In fact, I really need to do a new music mix for tomorrow's spin class, but what I want to do is pour myself a stiff glass of Dewar's on the rocks and lounge in front of my 50" tv and watch something comforting and familiar.

Which might include anything from Tim Hamilton on a Greek Cruise to Hayden Christensen having a nightmare to Harry Kim and Tom Paris making eyes at each other on the bridge of Voyager with Captain Kathryn Janeway looking on approvingly. Maybe I'll let you know tomorrow what I decided on.

Ugh

What a week. The short weeks are the worst for some reason (even though we didn't even have a short week.)

Jobs gone wrong, saving courierboi's ass (only figuratively, sadly), more jobs gone wrong, frantic managers, staying out too late and drinking way too many G&T's with another manager, equipment failing. All my Macs (I have no less than three on my big U-shaped desk, thank you very much: a G4 Silver, an iMac, and a creaky old G3-card upgraded 8100 running something like system 8.5 that I still use to run most of my Quark 5 jobs... since Q5 crashes less than crappy OSX Q6) held up well under pressure though. And I was planning on taking off Monday for my birthday, but because of other staff shortages (and my request for 3 days off in less than a month for Florida) I offered to come in after all.

I'm still waiting for the bouquets of thanks.

AOL is a memory hog!

I was wondering why sometimes my Mac at work is acting up. Even though I do tend to have several apps open at once, and open and close and switch, I do have 1.25 gigs of RAM; that should be enough for anyone. So, I download this freeware utility called Memorystick which monitors how much RAM is being used. After AOL is on awhile, it starts grabbing more and more. When I quit, suddenly a huge block is released. Hmmm.

Good to Be in DC

From the crazy people who brought us This Land comes another hilarious Kerry-Bush flash presentation

Dungeons & Dragons

Tonight on Marketplace (on local NPR station WETA at 6:30 PM) they are going to be talking about the D&D financial juggernaut. I'll be interested to see how far in depth they go; the strange changes of ownership, how Wizards of the Coast went from a one-man company to a playing-card monster that ended up buying TSR, the original D&D producer.

I can't help it

I'm having impure thoughts about our new bike courier. To tell the truth, they are actually for the most part pretty pure... or not even really developed fantasies or anything. And certainly I'd never do anything; I'm trying to not even look too much so I don't make him uncomfortable. He's just so darn cute I can't help looking at him.

And he's a vast improvement over our previous guy, who was a kind of creepy grouch. This kid (he looks barely 21, yes I am awful, aren't I?) is tall and slender, with a kind of funky short haircut with a few longer locks in front of his ears (his explanation is that he's from Seattle... okay). He wears t-shirts and pants all kind of hacked-off at the calf. He's kind of quiet but very polite and always happy to make a run. And he's just... cute; almost pretty. In certain circles he'd be called a (ahem) twink.

I wish he'd wear a helmet though; I'd hate to see his brains splattered on the street. Drivers are crazy in DC.

I splurged

US Airways (motto: "We're not bankrupt -- yet!") sends me regular emails with fare sales, and yesterday I got one with flights from DCA (National, my preferred DC area airport) to Ft Lauderdale for $112. I've been wanting to get away for a few days, and it was just too good to resist. And in fact, when I went to the site and fiddled around, I got a flight for $88!!

I'm going in November for just three days and staying in a little inn near the beach (I'm not even that big of a beach fan, but it has a nice pool). So I'm looking forward to a little getaway. And I hope to get a lot of writing done, something that I just can't seem to do while home.

So, I can blame Mom for this too...

The newest dirt on the "gay gene" -- or I guess I should say Gay Genes

It's getting worse

Today on the way to work I was listening to Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time I started to randomly tear up. And I didn't even have my sunglasses to hide my eyes.

The other night at the end of a Charmed episode when Grams summoned the Halliwell female ancestors to witness baby Chris' Wiccaning I got teary-eyed too. I guess you have to know Charmed to get that, but it was touching, trust me. And of course it's even weirder than it sounds, because last season Chris was not a baby but a young adult, (played by the hottie Drew Fuller) who travelled back in time to save his 'older' brother Wyatt.

'Tis the Season

I love the fall, with the cooler air and the lower humidity. At least I think I do. The last few weeks I have started to feel the beginnings of the depression creeping back, which really makes me wonder if it is at least partially that seasonal depression thing.

One thing is for sure, I need a vacation.

Manhunt

Remember when I said a few days ago that the new Bravo show Manhunt would be a guilty pleasure? This week's Entertainment Weekly is reporting that halfway through the first episode...

...the 16 hottie contestants go tandem skydiving, in Calvin Klein underwear. To the tune of "It's Raining Men." How this relates to modeling is unclear, but we won't worry our pretty heads about it. Grade: B-

Just imagine what those skydiving harnesses can to, and in nothing but boxer-briefs...

I think I may need to go reset the TiVo recording quality from "High" to "Best."

And yes it's official: I have no life.

So here I am... at work

Isn't this a Federal Holiday? (Not that I think Colombus deserves a Federal Holiday, but that's another matter.) But just about everyone is off work but us. Downtown is pretty dead; the Metro is running on one of their 'modified Saturday schedules' whatever that means.

In little fit of rebellion, I came in half an hour late. Maybe I'll leave early too, so there!

At least our new cute-as-a-button young bike courier is here, so I have some eye candy. I really shouldn't loiter around the dispatch area so much though...

Maybe I'll do that Photoshop self-tutorial; I'm sure there are features in CS that I'm not aware of.

Or maybe I'll send out my resume. I've got a list of ads from the Post and the San Francisco paper in my inbox.

*Sigh* San Francisco.

Or maybe I'll go to the gym.

Darth "Hottie" Vader

Some very nice pictures of the delectable Hayden Christensen in the third Star Wars movie.

Varekai!

Last night Steven and I went to see the Cirque show; we were both running late, and my train got stuck just outside of the station where the show was, so I of course was internally freaking. I didn't care as much about the rest of the show, but I HAD to see the TWINS.

As it turned out we were there in plenty of time and settled into our seats in the 7th row. It was much like Dralion (which I had seen in Baltimore) in overall format, with a vague plot and a rotation of clowns, acrobats, and aerial artists backed by music and vocals in some language I don't recognize. The first half was ok (The Icarian games was less cool than I expected), and I was stressing over whether the twins would do their routine, because I kept seeing acts that were not on the Fire Within tv show, so I wondered if they were taking a break or something.

But then I recognized the music. The stage lit to reveal Kevin and Andrew as they were lifted up and flew away from each other over our heads.

For the next few minutes I was in heaven as the twins spun and swung, intertwined and then whirled away, flying far up over the audience. A few times one brother held the other only by the wrist as they whipped high in the air with no net under them. At other times they held each other while displaying amazing strength and balance as they interlocked in an amazin aerial ballet.

Steven said later that he was a little disturbed by the 'incestuous' nature of the routine (aerial straps is normally performed by a male/female couple and it is sensual in nature) but I have to admit that I found the vaguely homoerotic overtones to be part of the guilty pleasure (Part of the rationale is that they are supposed to be twin gods Castor and Pollux, blessing the union of the reborn main characters). There's no doubt the directors knew what they were getting into, and the twins themselves created a lot of the routine, so they knew what they were doing. But a lot of it for me is seeing how much they must trust each other in this act, one literally holding the other by the hand, or catching him as he releases a strap. One slip and Kevin or Andrew would face a serious injury...and they do this every day.

And at the end, they both have these very genuine smiles (not like some of the fake performer smiles) like they still love doing this.

Bizzzy

Sorry for the relative dearth of postings, but I have been swamped at work the last couple of weeks. And it isn't as much because I no longer have an assisstant as we have just had more and bigger projects. Not that I'm complaining; I like to be busy, and I've built good relationships with many of our clients, including ABC News next door and several design firms. I'm also pleased that we do work for several nonprofit organizations that I support, including the Defenders of Wildlife (HQ around the corner), Ocean Conservancy (down the block), and the client just up the street who we have been doing a huge amount of work for lately, the Human Rights Campaign.

Boston Legal

On a whim I decided to TiVo this, and watched it last night. Definitely a guilty pleasure, with James Spader and William Shatner as kooky/sleazy lawyers.

Spader has gone from teh callow brat-packer to the callow Dr. Jackson in the Stargate movie, to buff spaceship captain in Supernova to now this sort of puffy-faced deadpan sleazeball attorney.

And Shatner... watching him as the screwball lawyer makes me realize that there have really been two Captain Kirks: the one from the old series, and the one in the movies (beginning with Wrath of Khan, where I think he was beginning to consiously parody himself sometimes, to Generations where he was definitely playing his bigger-than-like Kirk off of the more serious Picard and having fun with it.

And... bonus... Rene Auborjonois plays a straighlaced senior partner in the same firm!

Another Classic Non Sequitur

I just love today's Non Sequitur from Wiley

Today (Saturday) at Spinning

I had all women today, including one who had never done it before. She needed a lot of help setting up, but seemed to enjoy the class. Today I did a mostly 80's mix:

Video Killed the Radio Star -- Buggles (first video played on MTV)
I'm Still Standing -- Elton John
Karma Chameleon -- Culture Club
Color of Love -- Amber
People Are People -- Depeche Mode (Tears for Fears for gay people)
Boys of Summer (DJ Sammy Dance remix)
We Didn't Start the Fire -- Billy Joel
Let's Hear it for the Boy (Katty B 'QaF' Remix)
Steppin Out -- Joe Jackson
Hungry Like the Wolf -- Duran Duran
Lay All Your Love on Me -- ATeens (cover of ABBA)

When we were stretching afterwards, I brought up the Real World scene where they go to the Philadelphia Sports Club and the jock guy can't handle the spinning class. A few of them had seen it; they all seemed to find it amusing. Important to connect with the students!

Bloaty McHelium?

Oooh. Richard Thompson is weighing in (pun intended) on the blimp controversy.

"Lost" plot twists and bizaareness

I just rewatched the second episode of Lost (and cursed the relative crudeness of the DVR attached to the digital HDtuner: no slow-motion, no skip ahead 15 minutes, no pause and hold until you want to watch the rest later...)

Anyway, I noticed that the litle black kid is looking at a comic book he found and there is a polar bear attacking the (Justice League?), and a while later a real charging polar bear attacks the group of climbers. This, combined with the fact that the kid was looking for his lost dog (who's survival seems unlikely) while the first thing Jack the doctor encounters is a gold labrador, suggests some kind of weird 'mind creates reality' like in Michael Crichton's Sphere or the famous movie Forbidden Planet based on the Shakespeare play The Tempest. it's either that or one of those weird 'one character's dream' copouts.

Time will tell. The first 2 episodes repeat this weekend sometime. Check local listings!

The Debate, part I

I tried to watch the debate, I really did. Jim Lehrer seems so in command behind his big desk.

But then Kerry started off with what I thought was a gratuitous thanks to the (coincidentally battle-ground-state, I'm sure) brave Florida voters for hosting the debate. And I was kind of surprised that FoxNews (the network who got to operate the 'pool' cameras for this debate) went right with the split-screen so we could watch the unbelievably doofy, smirking Bush while Kerry talked. And it was so annoying that I just couldn't watch. Just Bush's voice makes me grind my teeth. Being forced to look at him was just too much.

I am still wondering why Kerry doesn't hone in on a couple of things, though. He could draw the distinction between being resolved (as Bush claims to be) and single-minded (as he is) about iraq.

And I have said it before, but since Bush rants about 'leadership, leadership, leadership,' why doesn't Kerry bring up the time when Bush's leadership was most needed in the last 4 years? When he was told the second plane hit the World Trade Center, he sat, frozen. A leader would have lept into action, taken command, been a leader ("sorry kids, but I need to go, urgent presidential business!). He sat until an aide told him that they really needed to go. Cheney had to give the order authorizing the military to shoot down civilian planes. Bush had to have Cheney at his side when they were questioned by the 9/11 commission. He doesn't sound like much of a leader when the going gets tough to me.

A Beautiful Morning in DC

Sunny and brisk this morning, low humidity and an expected high of the mid-70's. Perfect!

In short, San Francisco weather.