The blog of the thirty-something fag- October 2006 Edition

"Rumsfeld is the true appeaser, along with the president and vice-president: men who faced a defeatable enemy and chose to send just enough troops
to lose.
–Andrew Sullivan | The Daily Dish:

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion."
–Donald Rumsfeld
October 27th, 2006

Podcast pending- Stand by

Not to be left out of the technoloop, Im planing on posting a silly and irreverent podcast. I'm hoping I can make it edgy, bitchy,timley and a little thought provoking. Perhaps, maybe in the style of Sandra Tsing Lo and her commentary on American life or Angelinos in general.
or perhaps something that only interests or entertains ME.

Perhaps.

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October 17th, 2006

Kitesurf update: Grounded

First the good news, I got up.

After my last few tries I sincerely believed I had chosen the wrong sport. The whole concept of getting up on the board seemed impossible, and the fact that I wasn't getting my kitesurfing instructors attention long enough even to get them to show up for scheduled lessons, I was a bit discouraged. Last week I went to the beach, and when Bill didn't arrive for our 1-to-4, I decided to go ahead and try to teach myself instead.

I was in the water, kite in the air, board on my feet, and as I was fumbling to try to get my kite to swoop through the wind window I suddenlty noticed that I was standing up and zooming across the surf. I did it! I got up! I'm officiallly a Kite Surfer/Boarder person. I was so excited I wahooed!

. . . now the bad news.

I landed and left the water, and started the walk of shame upwind to my starting point again, and before I had the chance to make it to round 2( and prove it wasn't a fluke) My kite had a blowout.

It didn't pop or anything- but the exterior fabric did rip open, and the airbladder (a part of the kite that gives it the proper amount of rigidity for relaunching) came bulging out. I swear it looked just like a hernia- freaked me out.


On closer inspection, I saw the fabric had ripped 30 inches along the seam, and this kite is officially out of commmision. A crying shame too, because we're supposed to get some windy conditions over the next few days, and I won't have a kite to take part in it.

The sales peope I talked to said it's under warranty and not to worry, but they haven't done much this week as far as getting me a replacement kite. I've called twice, and they basially said ". . . We'll call you!"

Bummer. When I got home from the last hurrah I found a blue and grey wetsuit on my kitchen counter. Thank you cousin Jay for giving me your old wetsuit- it fits perfectly!

Next week hopefully I'll have some more kitesurfing updates for you. Until then, we'll get our excercise some other way . Stay Tuned!




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October 17th, 2006


The Big Four Oh! revisited

I thought when I turned "Not 39 Anymore" I would start the slow and steady slide downhill, eventually landing feet first into some generation X version of a mid-life crisis. Surpised to report, it doesn't seem to be happening, not yet anyway.

Taking stock in my life lately, I realize I have a lot going for me. With my daily cycling regiment, my weekly racquetbal games, my new kitesurfing project, I have a lot going on. Between that, and my subscription to OUTSIDE magazine providing lots of incentive to stay active and spend more time in the outdoors, I feel it's safe to postpone the mid-life crisis one more year and see how it goes. As it is right now, I'm too busy to be distracted by a number like 40. Denial? Maybe, but until I need a walker and start taking my geritol, I'm not ready to admit defeat.

Joining the ranks
Kelly turned 40 earlier this month, and Bang and I drove up to San Rafael to attend her 40th birthday party. It was a lot of fun until death showed up, then everyone at the party, reminded briefly and effectively of their mortality, started drinking more heavily.

The next morning we took the top off the piece of jeep we rented and drove out to breakfast, taking a quick tour through a redwood-forest neighborhood- kewl!

A nice long walk up Mt. Tam gave us stunning views of the Pacific, and the drive down gave some of us stunning motion sickness.

Overall, a great weekend! YAY!

Back in Los Angeles

Alan turned 40 this past Saturday, and his partner threw a surprise party for him. Bang and I were on the distraction commitee, so we did our best to appear clueless and disinterested in any birthday talk. He was completely fooled, and we barely had to act at all.

I don't think there's anyone left this year to turn 40, we've all covered it as far as I know.
Next, Luis turns 40 in June. I'm shopping for bedpans and walkers for him already . . .

A fun trek up mount Tam
Redwoods
Rent-a-Jeep

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October 4th, 2006

Give a listen
Did anyone out there (aside from very close friends and family) know that I play guitar and write music? It's true, and not the hot and rockin stuff most people my age and younger are into, I write the corny country/folky sounding crap of the 70's. the stuff I grew up on, a fusion of hometown 3-chord folk and contemporary pop-romantic love melodies.
A genre well defined by my nephew who once labeled it "Chick Tunes".

My friend Brian and I were entertaining the thought of bringing some of the old recordings out of the closet for listening pleasure. I found the music, he found the kleenex, and we rifled through the memories to our hearts content.

After transferring the old recordings to digitial format, and trying like hell to mix the noise out of it, I got a decent recording of an original tune I wrote back in the 80's.
Here it is for your litening pleasure(or your mockery, whichever)

Please don't be cruel, positive feedback only. If I hear nothing back, then I know you were too busy vomiting from sacarin overdose to enter an email- it's copyrighted and registered with ASCAP, so no pilfering, ya hear?


maybe I don't love you anymore

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October 3rd, 2006

Some families play scrabble . . . . .
or "It's Bigfoot Season again!"


I found this website the other day at www.ourbigfoot.com.

Appparently a family in Ohio who, beginning with Grandpa, have been cavorting with a bigfoot clan for decades. They have footage, photos and some amazing stories to tell.
I was following the storyline, wondering if this would be the breakthrough we've all been waiting for. Some of the images put the Patterson/Gimlin film of 1967 to shame for it's detail and authentic imagery.

Then I found the "About Us" section, and started reading about the 'investigator" and I suddenly found some issues. He's shown in photo with safari hat and dark glasses. We'll call this Issue Number 1: Who would pose for a photo looking like this and expect to be taken seriously? Why not just dress in camouflage and throw a rifle over your shoulder?

Issue number 2: As the story goes, he inherited the lagacy of the bigfoot research from his Father, who came back from the dead (in a dream of course) and urged him to share the data with the world.

Well, he had me right up until the "back from the dead" part.

Now I ask you, why is it that we can get so close to an interesting and ground-breaking truth in a paranormal investigation, and always get tripped up by some semi-serious hack in a pith helmut, conveniently cock-blocking all the creditbility this new find might have with their psycho-spiritual nuttiness.
Is it a requirement of all those interested in the unknown that they be a dungeons and dragons weekend warrior paintball-trophied nutjob?.

Check it out. Click on the image for a larger view.

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October 3rd, 2006
Homo Improvement

Building something out of wood is a lot like making a dish or a meal. You start out with your lumber list(ingredients) and your plan (recipe) gather up the proper tools and you set some time aside to put the whole thing together to get that souflee, cake, casserole or doghouse you were imagining only hours before. It's a process of grand manifestation, what starts out as an idea in your head, becomes reality. It's fulfilling and validating and does a great job of filling up an afternoon that might otherwise be spent lagging behind your partner, carrying heavy shopping bags of newly aquired products while he browses the aisles of Target, Macy's and H&M .

Build Gates
On Saturday of this past weekend I made the gates.
Our deck has two entrances, one on each side, and I wanted to install gates to keep the kids in. I followed the recipe of those that made the original deck railing design and pulled it together in an afternoon. Amazing what one can do when he has the proper tools.

I give a great deal of credit for this project to my chopsaw, which made the ENTIRE process go smoothly, quickly and without incident. Thank you Chop saw!


In the previous week, I went a little nuts, bought some wood that Home Depot calls "Outdoor wood"(?) and framed a nice little box to fill with pea gravel and get the grden area just a little more level.
The crooked walk has been driving me nuts since we bought this place, so a nice tidy solution was in order.
Surprise, Bang doesn't hate it, so I think this one counts as an actual partial semi-permamanent solution! YAY!




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October 2nd, 2006
Oh You Dog! You Poser!

Our friend Brian Behrend of Lemonchicken(www.lemonchicken.com) showed up the other day with a custom pumpkin he made with a dremmel tool. I was in the office, but I heard Bang squeal with delight on the level of a publishers clearing house winner, so I bounded out of my (not Aeron) chair to see what the heck was up.

You have to admit it, this is probably one of the CUTEST images we've seen in a while.

Isn't it? I mean, LOOK at the expression on that FACE!

Can you see the pride in that smile?

My God, I think I'm gonna DIE!

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October 1st, 2006
Another Urban Myth Dispelled

Myth: "People with bad backs should sleep on a hard bed or surface. It's better for them."

Last week Bang purchased a featherbed mattress topper to emulate the dreamy sleep we had while at the Marriott in Buelllton last month. Our bed, though complete with a pillow-top surface, still feels hard to me. I typically wake up every morning with aches and stiffness, and I take a muscle relaxer(hollistic) to chill it out.

After the new featherbed(which by-the-way is just a glorified down-feather duvé that goes under you instead of on top) was all that I needed to get the proper comfort for a good nights sleep, as well as an ache-free morning. Who Knew?

Feedback to this article HERE