The Mind of the Mangi

Nice Idea, Wrong Reasons

2009-09-17T00:33:00.002-04:00

So I got a request from someone I know to go on a certain trip with them. Normally this would be fine since this would have meant traveling to a new place and hanging out with a good crowd. However, it's not one-hundred percent because he wants me along because he's interested in having me hang with him and/or I would mix well with the others. One of the reasons he wants me along is because needs protection from the horny host who despite getting married, can't keep his hands off of other guys.

Normally if someone would come to me with an issue like this, I would try to help them out by being that sort of protection. Of course, this usually happens to someone when they're out at the bars. This time around, I hear this, and I feel a bit resentful that this would be something that I am asked to do. A big reason for this is that this situation could be avoided. Quite frankly, if you know you've been invited to be in close quarters with a group and that one of the people in the group is trying to get you into their bed, you have no desire to, and they can't seem to take no for an answer, then don't go. If you still feel you must go, then you will just have to make sure to stay busy with other activities, and make sure to keep your wits about you. That means no getting hammered out of your mind on alcohol.

The person who asked me this, while it's a nice gesture, it's for all the wrong reasons. If he still feels he must go, perhaps this can be a lesson in how to deal with people, especially those who are too pushy.

Go Further, Yet Step Back

2009-09-14T00:23:00.005-04:00

So for the last few weeks I have talked about some of my interactions with people and how it's come to make me realize that with certain groups there is a sort of mob mentality that I have just not really followed into. Part of the problem I have with it is that it seems to be very limiting. Well I was having a discussion with my mom about the situation I've been through and what I've been feeling, and she asked a rather pointed question:

Do you have many straight friends?

My response was: I could use more of them.

Mom ended up bringing in a new perspective that I had not considered before. I have become complacent about looking for GLBT people who share similar interests that I do, likely because that has felt safer for me. It's time to step out of that comfort zone and involve more than just "my own kind" when it comes to my activities. Besides, then maybe I could find people that won't look at me like I have two heads when I start talking sports ;-)

It's not that I have absolutely no straight friends either, it's just more like when it comes to the mix, it's about 75% GLBT, 25% straight, and so it would be good to try and balance things out a bit anyway. So now it's just a matter of doing it. Much like when I first had to figure out where all the gays are, now it's time to take another look at where all the straights are.

Since I'm here, I might as well visit the fact that summer has basically ended and one of the things I had said was I was suspending the BF searching and just doing my own thing. Well I am going to take it a bit further back. I would again like to continue to focus on myself and the things I like to do. I think I've also made it clear by what was said up above that there are things I should continue to focus on for myself as well. Besides that, even if I have bitched at times that I have hated doing some things alone quite often, fact of the matter is that I still know damn well that when it comes to some of my interests, I am on my own with them. It ties into the fact that I need to expand my horizons of who I socialize with. I could find more people who share similar interests if I do so.

Besides that, events that I have observed over the summer seem to be a sign that right now is not the time for me to really be getting into anything with anyone else. Every time I have really had the dominating thought internally of "I really want someone here" then there has been some drama involving someone I know and their relationship with someone else. Along with that, I've also observed people I've known falling into certain patterns when it comes to their interactions, and they haven't clued in yet on just why it is that things get screwed up for them. I want to distance myself from that as it is, but since that is not always possible, I'm taking the Prime Directive as well, and I am not going to do anything that would be seen as some sort of interference. All I am going to do is sit back and watch what happens and take my own lessons from it on what not to do. It's not even that I feel like I need to swoop in and "save" them in some nice way, it's more like I want to deck them for being so damn stupid when they should know better. I shouldn't have to be the voice of reason when they're supposed to be the ones who are "older and wiser."

But I digress.

Point being here is that I'm just going to do what I feel like at this point, and pay attention to what is going on with me so that I don't fall into a destructive pattern. I think in the long run it's going to make me a hell of a lot happier.

King's Dominion - Sept 2009

2009-09-13T22:24:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I made my second trip to King's Dominion for this season (a third trip will be in the works) partly because I had bought a ticket to attend an after hours party there. I also brought a friend along since he had never been to the park and he wanted to go.

We got to KD after a later start (he's an EMT and needed some extra sleep) and luckily traffic was no major issue. Oddly enough though I had a computer snafu that involved my season pass. When I got to the park my pass refused to scan, saying it was invalid for parking, so I had to pay to get in there. However, when I took my pass to guest services, for some reason it was valid for admission, but not for parking, which was wrong because of the level of pass I had. Luckily I was able to get that parking fee refunded. Still odd though because for the entire summer I've been going into KD and other Cedar Fair parks and not had a problem at the parking gate. However, I do know how databases can screw themselves up and such. Thank god for good customer service. I did also go and renew my season pass for next year, so I will be good and ready for Intimidator 305 (The pieces are already in the parking lot, waiting to be put together).

First ride was on Dominator, which was a blast as usual, then Volcano, Flight of Fear, Back Lot Stunt Coaster, Avalanche, Hurler, Rebel Yell, and Grizzly. All of them had relatively short lines because the park wasn't as busy as it would be on a summer day, and again, the folks are smart enough to keep enough cars running to keep the lines moving. We did watch one guy practically have to be stapled into one of the cars on flight of fear because of how tall he was, though somehow they made him fit. Still, all the rides were fun.

At the end of the regular time at the park, we stepped out and got in the lines to get in for the party. I called up my friends MB and JHs to let them know where we were and made arrangements to meet once inside the park. This was their first time at the park so I basically spent the night playing tour guide. There were probably a few hundred people there when things got started. I don't know what the official numbers were for how many actually showed. Hopefully it was enough to continue justifying doing this.

Along with MB and JHs were K&D as I know them. I had met them in the past but didn't realize we had mutual friends, so they were along as well. All together we rode Dominator, Volcano, Flight of Fear, Anaconda, and Back Lot Stunt Coaster. For some reason it took a few minutes to get the rides going once they started letting people in, but then the lines were rather short, so that meant getting to repeat some coasters that we liked again. Ultimately by the time the rides were over, we had gotten to finish with riding Dominator one more time. It was a lot of fun and I was glad to be able to meet up with friends to do so.

After the rides were over there was a dance party in the center area. I was driving so I didn't do any drinking while there, but I did hang and chat with folks I knew before heading home an hour before the party was to end (1 AM). The reason I did that was because I knew if the parking lot was going to be anything like Carowinds, I would have been in a clusterfuck to get out of there, and I was going to be tired enough as it was.

What else can I say other than I love this park, and with a new coaster coming there and to Carowinds next year, already my season pass will be justified.

Liveblogging the Address

2009-09-09T20:04:00.002-04:00

8:02 - Michelle Obama has walked in, I see she has sleeves on this time

8:04 - The cabinet is walking in. NBC is chatting about how some of the Republican gang of six is still trying to find common ground.

8:10 - Talking about how name dropping could be rather powerful for this speech, and that Obama is doing this to attempt to calm the political waters.

8:11 - Obama has just been announced, everyone is clapping and cheering. Obama is walking in with Harry Reid behind him. NBC is talking about what they know about the speech, says obama is going to extend a hand rather than clench his fist.

8:13 - Obama makes his way slowly down the aisle, everyone is stopping him to shake his hand, he just hugged Hillary. He just got up to the podium and handed copies of his speech to Biden and Pelosi

8:16 - Pelosi is banging the gavel to try to get everyone to quiet down. She introduces Obama, now everyone is clapping all over again. He's ready to get moving. Starting out talking about how his last speech was during the recession, credit frozen, 700,000 jobs lost, things are getting better, but recovery is still months away, he's not going to stop until people are back to work, credit can thrive, but we have pulled this economy back from the brink.

8:18 - Thanking congress for his support, including taking part in difficult votes, thanking the people for being patient with them to get economy back on track. Not here to clean up messes forever, time to move forward. Here tonight to talk about health care. Vows to be the last to have to talk about health care like this. Nearly a century since Teddy Roosevelt called for health care reform, everyone since then has tried it, but it hasn't happened. John Dingell's father introduced a bill back in 1943, and he continues to introduce that bill every year. Failure to pass reform has brought us to the breaking point. People are going bankrupt from health care, not poor, but middle class. People cannot be covered due to pre-existing conditions. Only advanced democracy to allow such hardship. 1 in 3 don't get insurance or can't get it. Even those who have insurance have less security and stability, afraid to change jobs because they'll lose coverage. Paying insurance but get dropped when they get sick. One man lost his insurance during his chemo because of a previous condition, and he had to stop chemo and died. Another woman had to cancel surgery due to her insurance canceling her policy right before, and it complicated her breast cancer. No one should have to go through that.

8:23 - Rising costs, 1.5 times more than other countries spent on health care, yet we are not healthier. Employees paying more for insurance or being dropped, entrepenurs having trouble starting businesses because of insurance costs like that. People paying $1000 hidden tax every year because of ER visits by uninsured. When HC costs keep growing fast, it puts strain on Medicare and Medicaid and soon more will be spent than taken in. These are the facts, no one disputes them, the system must be reformed, but how? Some support a single-payer option that puts restrictions on private insurance and guarantees health care for all by govt, others support letting private insurance continue. Believes we should build on what works in the current system, rather than trying to build a system from scratch.

Congress has been at its best and its worst, working tirelessly to give ideas on reform. Some ideas have been supported overwhelmingly by health care industry, which usually opposes reform. We are closer to reform, however, there have been the partisan fights and scare tactics that piss people off and mistrust the govt. Lots of confusion now due to bickering and people scoring political points. Now is the time for action and to knock off the fighting, that we can deliver to the american people on health care.

3 Basic Goals - More security and stability to those with health insurance, provide health care to those who don't, and rein in the rise in health costs. It asks for everyone, including employers and individuals to be involved with this.

First, if you already have insurance, or medicare, or medicaid, or VA, nothing in this plan will require you to change your coverage or doctor that you currently have. What it will do is make the insurance you have work better for you. It will be against the law to deny insurance due to pre-existing conditions. It will be against the law to reduce or drop coverage when you get sick. No longer able to put an arbitrary lifetime or yearly cap on coverage. Limit on out of pocket expenses, no one should be unable to afford to get sick. Insurance companies required to cover routine checkups and preventive care at no extra charge, will save money and lives. That's what americans who have insurance can expect, more security and stability.

If you don't have insurance, this plan will offer you quality, affordable choices. Lose or change job, or create own business, you will be able to get coverage. Create exchange marketplace for customers to find insurance. Currently how congress, large companies, and federal employees get insurance, the rest of the people should be able to do the same. If still can't afford it, tax credits provided to help get coverage. Exchange will be created in 4 years. Immediate offer to low cost coverage to those who need it and can't afford to be ill, was a good idea from John McCain.

Even if options provided, some may not want coverage or decide not to do right by their workers. Irresponsible behavior that costs everyone else, especially when they show up in the ER or picking up the tag for their other workers. Businesses and individuals must do their part as well. Basic health insurance must be carried by everyone, just like if you have auto insurance. Businesses must offer coverage, or must chip in to help with costs. Hardship waiver available if it comes down to it, however, large business must chip in, they can't game the system.

These reforms would benefit all americans, and the economy. There is a consensus to do it, but with all the misinformation out there, it's making people nervous. Some people are spreading misinformation because they want no reform at all. Some are talking about the death panels for senior citizens. The death panels are a lie, period (none of the republicans are clapping). The reforms would not apply to illegal immigrants (someone just screamed LIES). No federal dollars not used to fund abortions, all current conscience laws will be left alone. One attack has been on being able to choose a public option offered by the government. He believes that consumers benefit by having competition. Unfortunately in 34 states, health insurance is controlled by 5 or fewer companies, in alabama, 95% of the people covered are covered by one company. This doesnt give incentive to be good or to keep rates reasonable. Insurance folks are encouraged to maximize profits by dropping coverage or watering it down to make more profit. Obama not interested in putting private insurance out of business, but holding them accountable to the people instead of wall street. One way to keep them honest is to create a not-for-profit entity in the insurance exchange market. Only an option for those who do not have insurance, no one will be forced to it. Less than 5% of americans would actually sign up for it. Taxpayers will not be subsidizing it, it would have to be self-sufficient. Wants it to be much like how public and private universities can co-exist.

Not everyone is supporting this, but no one should exaggerate the benefits of reform in order to score political points. The public options is only a means to the end of preventing fraud and corruption in the insurance. Democrats or Republicans should not fear this. Proposals for co-ops, or only providing it to places that no affordable coverage there is. Viable options, but still want to make sure americans have a choice, period. Make sure that no bureaucrat, private or public, will stop an american from getting the insurance they need.

8:46 - How do we pay for this plan? Obama will not sign a plan that will add a dime to the deficit, now or in the future. More spending cuts if the savings do not materialize. One reason why nearly trillion dollar deficit now was due to unfunded initiatives kicking in (Iraq War). Will not make that same mistake again. Waste and abuse must be rooted out of the system to help realize savings. Four decades ago, medicare was created so seniors after working all their lives would not have to spend all their remaining money and years to pay for health care. Not one dime of the medicare treasury will pay for this plan. Rooting out waste and fraud will help pay for this plan and provide better health care to seniors. Will get seniors the benefits they were promised, and ensure medicare will continue for generations, and help pay for the gap in coverage that prevents some seniors from getting their medicines. Don't pay attention to stories that your coverage will be cut. Medicare will be protected by obama, the ones saying those stories are the ones who fight against medicare.

Since medicare is a big part of the system, making it more efficient brings about changes to help fix the rest of the system. Listening to other doctors will help bring forward the best practices to help fix health care. Insurance will benefit because they will get new customers. More preventive care could help bring costs down.

Republicans want to reform malpractice, not a silver bullet, but should be explored. Rein in the cost of defending medicine, and let the doctors practice medicine instead. Directing HHS to explore this. Fixing HC will cost 900 billion over 10 years, way less than what the Iraq war has been costing. Most costs will be paid for by what is already being spent, but is being spent badly now. Make it more efficient and it wil be fine. Deficit reduced by 4 trillion over time. Come to me with serious proposals, and I will listen to you. I will not listen to those whose only goal is to kill reform. I won't stand by while special interests work to keep the status quo. I will call out those who spread misinformation. Status quo is not the solution! Everyone in congress knows what will happen if reform is not passed, more americans will go bankrupt, more will lose coverage when they need it most, more businesses will go out of business because of costs. People are counting on us to pass this.

Received a letter from Ted Kennedy, after being diagnosed, to be opened on his death. Talked about the times of his life with his family, he wanted it to be this year that health care reform is passed. What we face is not just a material issue, but a moral issue as well, it is important to the character of our country. One of the wonderful things about america is our self reliance, healthy skepticism of govt, and our defense of freedom. The skepticism is throughout history as it should be. Those of us who knew Ted Kennedy know that what drove him was people like orrin hatch, john mccain, chuck grassley, all worked together to bring health care to children and people with disabilities. Not because of ideology, but because of a desire to help people. Understood the fear of dealing with major illness and the large heartedness to help people. Hard work and responsibility should be rewarded with security and fair play, sometimes govt should step in to uphold this. 1935, social security created to help those who had lost all their money due to depression, people claimed socialism, but congress stood firm and american has been better for it. 1965, a similar story with Medicare, but yet it was passed. The people then understood that there is a danger of too much govt, but there is also a danger of too little govt. If we lose the ability to debate and to be able to talk about the hard issues and the ability to try something hard, we lose something in ourselves. This moment does not call for kicking the issue down the road again, it is time to act rather than fear the future.

We can still act on the hard issues, and we can meet this moment in history. Thank you and God Bless You.

Enjoying It

2009-09-08T00:00:00.004-04:00

This past Friday has certainly been an exercise on how doing something different can pay off.

I had the day off on Friday due to having to move my AWS day around from the holiday. I pretty much used it to be lazy, at least until the night time. A group of folks in Baltimore were heading out to the Little Havana restaurant and bar, and I decided I would check it out, as I had done this a few months ago for a similar event at the Bay Cafe. The bar itself is nice, has a nice deck with a view of the harbor. Seriously though, they need to put some fans in that place. With about 100 of us showing up on top of their usual clientèle, it did get hot in there, and there was no breeze coming off of the water to help. Someone I talked to that evening did mention that the place does a good brunch so I might have to consider checking it out some weekend. At least I was also able to find a good parking spot off of the Key Highway, and I lucked out in that the meter maids must not have been bothering with the meters that night because I knew I was pushing my luck with the one I was parked next to.

Anyway, so the main part of the evening for me was to chat it up with a number of folks because I was on my own for this event, so it was an opportunity to meet new people and see what came of it. Luckily when it comes to Baltimore, the people are friendly so it's not difficult to get in on the conversation. I met some great people while I was there, and I was just glad to see that plenty of us showed up, despite the holiday. The payoff would come later that evening in that I got an invite to a pool party on Sunday, yay!

If there was one thing that I would say kind of detracted from the evening, it was having some people who would forget a rather important detail about their own lives. Now I am a friendly person, and I do get flirtatious, and there are people who respond to that. It's one thing if I'm flirting a bit and you tell me that you're attached to someone. I'm not going to get bent out of shape over that because you're being real with me. However, if you're giving off the signals and hints that you're very interested in me, and then I find out through other conversation with you or someone else that you're attached, and you didn't tell me this before, all bets are off motherfucker. If you're willing to conveniently hide something major like that, who knows what else you're not telling me. Yes, I did have that happen last Friday, too bad because he was cute. Hopefully it doesn't reach the point where I have to start asking any cute guy I meet if he's attached because that's just tacky.

Either way though, I had a good time, and I'll definitely be heading to the event next month again, if not just spending more time at the Baltimore bars in general.

You're Not Helping

2009-08-31T22:44:00.003-04:00

A while back I wrote about learning the hard way that by being a gay man, I am essentially banned from donating not just blood, but also bone marrow. I went into a tear about how I hated the assumption that because I have a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend, that must mean I have HIV/AIDS and therefore I should never ever be allowed to donate blood. Never mind that my own personal behaviors lean much towards being safe rather than being stupid, and I have been tested and know that I'm clean. I know I'm not the only one who has felt this way and want to have the rules changed, especially because I did give blood for a number of years before I came out.

So I find it extremely distressing when I start hearing the media report on remarks and reports coming from places like the CDC about new HIV infections, and the numbers are not good at all. What the media is saying is that when it comes to gay and bisexual men, they are fifty times more likely to catch HIV than those who are straight. Now one thing I could argue here is that they don't report that a comment in the CDC written report is that one reason the numbers could be going up is that more people are getting tested for HIV. However, still looking at the raw numbers, the highest groups are the ones who have had male-to-male contact every year.

Either way though, when you look at the numbers, they're not good, especially the numbers for people who are getting HIV through male-to-male sexual contact. Those numbers are going back up again after declining for a few years.

The point here is that it certainly isn't helping my cause to want to change the minds of those who help decide guidelines for things like blood donations. How can I convince them that someone like me when the numbers are coming back that people who have a similar background as I do are not only the ones who are catching HIV most often, but the number of new infections is going up?

So long as people continue to be reckless, then it's just going to give those who write the discriminatory rules and policies a justification to do so. They read these reports as well and in their minds, it tells them that it will continue to be better to do things like ban gay men from being able to donate blood because their donation will likely fail the disease screening and have to be thrown out anyway.

For fucks sake people, if you're with someone and the relations are relatively new, wear a condom, and/or make your partner wear a condom, period. Don't go off and have unprotected sex unless you and your partner both get tested and you're both monogamous. After that, if you two want to go at it raw, then by all means go for it, but only as long as it's just the two of you. Realize that only you can protect yourself from catching a disease, don't rely on a sexual partner to do it for you. Your actions do have consequences that can be far reaching and they do affect everyone.

Stepping Forward

2009-08-27T23:47:00.002-04:00

A while back, I made much ado about needing to make a change. The first steps toward that are starting to be taken.

The biggest step(s) come from a little bit of self-realization from the other night, after a long chat with a buddy of mine on our weekly walk. For me, as much as I am attracted to a certain group of people, I just don't fit in with their "community" and I don't plug into their hive mind. I find that when I have become more involved with them, or watched other people who are involved with them, their actions become very routine, and the scope of their activities becomes limited. Perhaps to some people they need that familiarity all the time because that's what makes them feel comfortable, no matter what happens.

Thing is, it's not me. While there are some aspects of my life that tend to be routine because they do provide their own comforts, I like to go out there, try new things, and mix it up whenever I can. I find if I start repeating some of the same activities over and over and over again, I get bored and restless. Hell, it's why I've given the warning to folks that it sucks to be around me when I'm recovering from being ill. If I am laid up on the couch for too long, it makes me cranky (poor "grandma"). It's also why if I have the opportunity to do something different for an evening, I have no qualms about changing my plans unless someone else is depending on me to be somewhere.

However, I could have gone the way of just sticking with routines and not really going for the spontaneity. During part of my second year of college, I had started becoming more of a homebody because it had felt comfortable. If it hadn't been for two of my friends, I probably would have either broken out of my shell way late, or never done it at all. Of course, they were also the kind who basically said to me "Mangi, cut the bullshit, you're coming with us," and I'd be taken out to hang with them and/or with other folks as well. I'm glad they basically had the balls to do that.

Anyway, so I realize that I don't fit in with some of the groups and communities I have looked at, and that's okay, I don't have to. What I do need to do is expand my reach a little bit and look more into things that fit my passions. One part is that I'm trying to see about connecting with one of the Ravens Roosts in the area. It would be nice to connect with folks who share my passion for football and the Ravens. I will be exploring finding other groups with similar interests, but as I pointed out in a conversation with a friend the other day, it seems that I can find the organizations that are on a national level, but how about finding one that's actually on a local level?

The other thing I will be doing is cutting back my time on some of the social websites I have been on. They aren't quite meeting the standards of what I was expecting to get out of them, so why waste my time with them?

All I can do is go out there, this is not the time to retreat.

General Stuff

2009-08-27T21:55:00.003-04:00

The last few days have had their ups and downs.

Monday morning was spent at the local car shop getting work done on my car. The joy of rolling over 180,000 miles is that it means that there is stuff that has to be done if you want to keep it running. In this case, it meant replacing all of the tires, getting an alignment done (it apparently did need it) and also getting the power steering flushed. In the future I have to get the oil changed but I am waiting until after this next batch of fuel injector cleaner is run through the tank. Eventually I'll have to do the 30,000 mile servicing, but that will be when I have more fundage.

I have narrowed my search down to the camera I want. After some hunting and posting to a photography forum, I was led to the Nikon Coolpix s710. It seems to be one of the few point and shoot cameras sold these days that contains a full manual mode. I want something I can easily carry to an event like football or hockey. You can also bet that the next time I go to white sands, I am going to put that camera in a ziploc bag and just shoot pictures through that!

My church is participating in the labor day parade in Greenbelt, so I'll be returning to walking in that parade after taking last year off. It should be fun, if you're around you should cheer us on, unless you're part of St Georges, then you should be walking with us ;-)

I'm going to go to Busch Gardens this weekend, weather be damned (glares at TS Danny). They're taking The Big Bad Wolf out after Labor Day, so I have got to ride it now, or completely miss an opportunity to ride the very first suspended roller coaster in the world.

Tomorrow night will be a moment of geekery. I am going to Wolf Trap for the first time, in this case to see LOTR: The Two Towers while a live orchestra plays the score. My friend BG won tickets to go so a few of us get to check that out. Hopefully the weather holds up, though they claim the show will go on, rain or shine.

There may finally be a light at the end of the tunnel for some of the things that have been requiring my focus at work. With many conference calls and such, I think we have found the issue at hand, and with much testing from myself and others, it looks like we at least can make a settings adjustment to resolve part of the issue. However, we still want to know why things broke, but that is more of a question for the developers of the off-the-shelf software that we're using. We shall see what happens with that.

Make It Different

2009-08-19T23:36:00.006-04:00

I need a change.

It's becoming painfully obvious that I need a new approach and scene when it comes to meeting other guys. I haven't really been meeting anyone that captures my interest, or that are actually interested in what is in my head rather than what is between my legs.

The thing is, where do I go at this point? It seems that most folks around my age are interested in going to the bars as a way to meet others, but it does get old after a while. When it comes to some of my interests, when I have met other folks, they tend to already have someone else (dammit!).

On the other hand though, the experiences I have had are helping to define just what it is I like, what I could potentially live with, and what will be a deal breaker. What I should do is begin writing it down somewhere, if only so I can compare notes and re-evaluate as I go along.

Once again though the universe gives a very strong hint that now is not the time for anything too serious. I joked to my mom the other night that every time I have a major moment of feeling lonely or frustrated when it comes to dating that then someone comes crying to me because something's fucked up in their relationship or they're having drama with someone, and all it does is make me think "This is why I'm glad to be single". Sure enough, the next day someone comes to me about some drama they were having. All right, so I get it, keep going and don't even think of settling right now. Besides, settling for the next person who has come along is what has gotten me into trouble.

Making it too Easy

2009-08-15T20:56:00.002-04:00

If you read through my entries about visiting New Mexico, you know that I basically killed my current digital camera because of taking it out to the desert and letting sand get into the lens area. I've started doing my research on finding a new point and shoot digital camera, and admittedly I am not entirely happy with what I see.

The thing that I loved about my camera (Sony Cybershot DSC-W5) was discovering its full manual mode. In that mode I had complete control over what I could do with the camera, including the shutter speed and the aperture. Prior to discovering this mode, I typically used one of the scenes or the fully automatic mode. The problem with those modes was that when I tried to take pictures of fast action like hockey games, the camera would be so busy trying to get the right light that it would set the shutter speed to be way too slow, resulting in a ton of blurred shots. It sucks when you take 50 pics, and maybe have 5 of them that are usable.

Anyway, so when I went to look today, it is with dismay that I am finding that most camera manufacturers are dumbing down their point and shoot camera models to the point that they have removed control over things like the aperture and shutter speed. What I found with nearly every single model was that I could go full-auto, I could pick some scene and it would do its own compensations, or their manual mode allowed me to control the EV value, ISO, white balance, and flash intensity, but no control over the shutter speed or aperture.

I could potentially live with only adjusting the EV value, but it's a pain in the ass to get to the adjustment because they bury it inside the menu. I really liked being able to press one button and get right to adjusting the aperture and shutter speed. I certainly needed that when I was taking pictures of the STP concert last month.

So now what do I do from here? Do I finally take the plunge and get an SLR? That would be nice, but that's a bit bulky to carry to the Verizon Center every time I want to go to a Caps game. I would rather stick with a point and shoot if I can. Does anyone know of a good forum where I can find out from other people about what kind of camera I can get? Ultimately, if I can't find what I want, perhaps I will just have to hit Ebay or Craigslist for my camera.

Argh, Stupid Archaic Rules!

2009-08-13T23:50:00.005-04:00

Nearly 2 years ago, I essentially fired Comcast (AKA Comcrap) as an entertainment and Internet provider when I moved into my own apartment. I decided to stick with rabbit ears and DSL to get what I need when it came to services. One of my major moves was not only to use Netflix, but to get a Roku box so I could stream any Watch Instantly movies to my TV.

If you have Netflix and can't already output your computer desktop to your TV, get a Roku box, it is one of the most awesome inventions. Besides the Netflix, you can also stream Amazon Video-On-Demand videos that you have rented or purchased to your TV as well. This week they have just added a new feature. If you subscribe to MLB.tv, you can now stream the games you would watch on your computer through the Roku box. Sounds great, especially if you're say, an Arizona Diamondbacks fan, but you live in Mobile, Alabama. However, there's one problem with the service...

MLB.TV is subject to MLB's blackout rules when it comes to TV broadcasts. What that means is that local TV broadcasters get priority for showing a game, and if another channel would be showing that game or a baseball game for another team, they will be blocked out from showing that game. In this case, it means not being allowed to watch any Baltimore Orioles or Washington Nationals games online.

Here's the stupidity of the blackout rules. I can't see any Orioles or Nationals game as it is because they don't put baseball games on over-the-air broadcast TV anymore. It only comes in via cable, usually through Comcrap's dedicated sports channel, or ESPN. Since I have no cable, I can't watch games as it is, and because of blackout rules, they will not show Orioles or Nationals games on the Internet for me.

So what is the freaking point then to getting streaming games to my Roku box if I can't even see my local team? From what I hear, more and more people are cutting the cable as it is and going completely Internet, but many more say the only reason they keep cable is to watch sports. It would be nice if MLB would realize there is a market for people who want to watch any game at any time, including their local teams live.

I suppose I could mess with running my Internet through a proxy server to trick the MLB servers into thinking I live across the country or something, but then it doesn't give them incentive to change their rules if they're still getting my money for MLB.tv. I'd rather send a message by not subscribing and letting them know that until they lift the blackout rules for MLB.tv, they're not getting a freaking dime out of me.

Sunday Spirituality, Dancing, and Dinner

2009-08-10T23:12:00.000-04:00

For the first time in about five weeks, I went to church. No, it's not because I'm at odds with St. Georges, I just haven't been at home to attend. KS started a search of finding a church that was accepting of her, and she has found Grace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces. I was invited to go along, and since I had never been to a Lutheran service, I decided to check it out.

The nice thing about the Episcopal Church and the Lutheran church is that their services do follow a similar structure, so it is not like I was lost at where we were at during the service. I definitely noticed some subtle differences in worship style, but that could also be the way Grace Lutheran does things, and not necessarily the entire Lutheran Church. The sermon was definitely something worth listening to for a lot of people, a discussion about forgiveness. In summary, forgiving can mean trying to engage someone about the issue at hand, but forgiving does not mean forgetting. If there is someone who continually wrongs you, you can forgive them and learn not to engage with them again in a situation that will cause a wrong. It also means learning to let go of the residual anger behind the fact that you were wronged. If you can't do that, you haven't really forgiven the person.

After the service, I met with the priest and some of the other congregation members. Everyone seems very nice and made me feel welcome, sounds kind of familiar. I wonder if they're also the kind of people who will take care of one of their own when that person is down with illness or surgery ;-) Seriously, my dad reminded me earlier this week that his mother remarked that she was glad the people of St. Georges took care of me when I had my appendix out because that would not have happened at her church.

A few of us headed over to Break an Egg for Sunday brunch. The restaurant itself is different in that it is very movie themed. The inside lobby looks a bit like a theater box office area, and there are posters of various movies all over the place. There are TV screens playing a movie in the background (Thoroughly Modern Millie that morning), and some of the menu items are named after known movie jobs, such as The Director, The Producer, etc. The food itself was very good, though for some reason service was slow.

After brunch, KS and I headed over to the local mall to look at shoes to go with her dress for a wedding the following weekend. I had already seen the dress that morning, so I was serving as the "second opinion" for finding something comfortable for her to wear, and that could be used with other outfits in the future. We hit the payless and after looking at several pairs of shoes and sandals, we found some sandals that would look perfect for her dress and would totally rock with her tight jeans at the club.

We looked at a few cameras at Radio Shack and did some inquiries about finding some earrings to replace one that she had lost somewhere. I also met KS's cousin since we dropped in to chat at her workplace while it wasn't completely busy. I got to be filled in on some of the family drama that was going on, which believe me, if I didn't know any better, I could claim that KS and her family was Italian ;-)

We went home and watched a few episodes of stand up comedy while I napped for a bit. In the meantime I also got a call from my friend HT and made arrangements to do dinner at La Posta de Mesilla. Around 6 we headed over and met up at La Posta. If you're in Las Cruces, you should make a stop there. It's a famous place and you will see why once you've had the food. It was very good to see HT because I haven't seen her since I left for DC four years ago. Her family is doing well, and it was great to be able to catch up. KS enjoyed their company very much as well and they seemed to enjoy her. I would definitely like to get back over HT's way to see Silver City and how much it has changed because it is one thing to hear someone tell you what has changed, but it's another to actually see it.

After dinner KS brought me to the store and I went in and raided the green chile bin. Nine pounds of chiles later and I had restocked one of the main things I came for. Seriously, green chile is the one thing that I will not break my addiction to. Besides, how harmful can eating hot peppers be, they claim it's good for you in so many ways. We got back to the house and CO came over for a visit as well. We showed him Nurse Jackie, which KS got me hooked on over the weekend thanks to on-demand. I have so got to see if I can find the show somewhere online to watch. Besides that, Thor reminds me of someone I know, I just need to pull the clip and show it to them.

After watching some TV and getting laundry done, it was time for bed, since I had to be up early tomorrow to get myself to the airport and return home.

Saturday Dancing

2009-08-10T23:11:00.000-04:00

The evening hours would bring a new experience for being in Las Cruces. KS and I went to the Hotel Encanto's Azul Lounge for what they were calling "Sexy Saturday Night." The thing about it was it was going to be a dance party for GLBT folk in the area. Since it was the first one and it was being put on by some of KS's friends, we decided to check it out.

The Azul lounge itself is pretty good, there's a well-stocked bar and plenty of comfortable chairs to sit in, along with a patio area for people to go out and chill at. There's also a small dance floor area, which became a logistical problem later as more people showed up. KS said the patio reminded her of West Hollywood bars, and the bar itself was like an NYC bar. I've only been to an NYC bar so I can vouch for that, but I'll take her word for it about the patio ;-) They also have a pretty good selection of beers on tap and bottled beer as well. I would partake in bottled Shiner Bock since it has been a while since I had any that was from close to the source.

The party itself started out well, with lots of good music to dance to. I also met a number of KS's friends and some new folks as well. As it was, I was just glad to see that there were people coming out to this thing. I also got to meet a friend and co-worker of KS, CO. CO had moved to Las Cruces from San Antonio a few months ago, which is funny considering now my parents are moving to San Antonio. Perhaps I can drag him back there to be a tour guide when I visit my parents at some date in the future. Anyway, so of course with the music, there would be plenty of dancing that night. It's been years since I have gone dancing, and seriously, I need to do it more often. Perhaps it's time to explore some of the dance clubs again in DC and Baltimore and see if I can find one that's fitting.

The thing where the party didn't quite fit anymore is that when it was advertised on the radio, there was no mention this was primarily for the GLBT crowd, so of course we got a lot of straight people coming in to party as well. It does make things a bit uncomfortable because you don't know how they're going to react if they see any same-sex dancing or PDA's going on. Eventually KS, CO, myself, and a few others decided to take off to another bar just to hang out because by then it had gotten really crowded and the music being played became a bit lame. All of us may have grown up in the 80's, but it doesn't mean we wanted to start hearing the music again, or any more Michael Jackson, especially after how much he has been (over)played in the last month.

We got to the other bar but it was closed unfortunately, so we hung in the parking lot and chatted before heading home since it was after 1 AM by then.

The thing is, I could see the Sexy Saturday Nights being a success, but we need the GLBT people to actually go out there and actually make their presence known. It would be nice to have a place to go on Saturdays in Las Cruces for them because there isn't much as it is for GLBT folks in the southern New Mexico area. I know when I was dealing with coming out, I would have killed for a place I could go to meet with other folks to socialize. However, it's not going to happen until either there's more open people in the area, or until a person's sexuality becomes a non-issue. I'm betting on the former.

Still, if they're doing it the next time I'm in town, I'll drop by and see how it is.

Going to Cruces and White Sands

2009-08-10T23:07:00.001-04:00

Friday morning it was time to say goodbye to Phoenix and head off to El Paso, TX. As usual, through ticketing and airport security in about 20 minutes, and the flight itself was only 53 minutes. Nothing to report there other than I spent the flight reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows since I had not read it again after reading it the first time two summers ago when it came out.

I got to El Paso and waited for KS to arrive. She picked me up and we headed off to her parents house first, where I met her mom and her step-dad, along with their dog Uggie (sp?). We had dinner at Kiki's Restaurant, where I had some awesome green chili chicken enchiladas. Ah, hatch green chile, how I have missed thee for the last three years. We then headed back to KS's place in Las Cruces, NM.

I gotta say that KS's place is awesome in where it is located. There are people who may bitch and say it is out in the boonies, but it really isn't that far outside of downtown Cruces. As I did on Friday night, we sat outside and watched the moon rise over the Organ mountains with a bit of cloud cover. It was quiet and warm with a bit of breeze outside, and the view was just beautiful. I once said before I left for DC that I would love to buy a plot of land down in New Mexico and eventually build a retirement home (or vacation home). I had sort of put that idea aside because I was convinced that maybe I had romanticized things out in New Mexico a bit too much, but after what I saw, I still want to do it. If you ever visit New Mexico and see a sight like that, you'll understand.

I got to meet the "infamous" Maya, who is KS's dachshund. She was such a little sweetheart to me, and very energetic as well. She loves having her toys thrown for her to chase, and could probably do that for hours if you let her. Once she has her toy though, she will not let go very easily. There is a picture of me picking her up off the ground while playing tug of war with her to get the toy back. Just beware that she does show her love for you by trying to lick your face and ears off ;-) She was definitely loving having her uncle Mangi over this weekend.

Over a few beers that evening, KS and I watched Moonstruck, which is a favorite movie of ours. We're also such dorks we were giggling the whole way through, and tweeting favorite quotes. Of course, not entirely knowing that Twitter was blocking SMS tweets at that moment, it was rather interesting to see all of our quoting go through on Sunday morning, including some tweets that were also supposed to go to Facebook, and showed up at the complete and utter wrong time. Anyway, so we finished the movie before heading off to bed.

The next morning, KS and I got up and took Maya on a walk before also going on a 1 mile run. The knee brace I had purchased came in handy as I had no pain, however, I do not want to become dependent on it. We came back and got our things together before driving up to White Sands National Monument since I had never been there.

White Sands was a lot of fun, besides the usual hiking activities, there is also the opportunity to go and slide down the dunes. We originally tried using some cardboard as a makeshift sled, but gravity was just not overcoming friction and so we went back to the visitors center and rented one of the saucer sleds to use. There is video of me sliding down the dunes in various ways of course. I went forwards, I went backwards, I went kneeling, I went laying down. I find that it worked best to lay down on the sled as much as possible. Unfortunately for me, I screwed up my camera out there because sand got into the it and jammed the parts that let the lens move back and forth. I'm hoping that if I can take it apart I can clean the sand out and get it working again. I'd rather not have to replace my camera because it is a Sony and they're the only freaking company that uses the memory stick for a memory card. I have no other devices that use a memory stick at this point so they'll pretty much be dead unless I buy another Sony.

Anyway, so we spent the afternoon going down the dunes and occasionally taking breaks as well because it was freaking hot out there. Between the two of us, we killed a bottle of Gatorade each, and 3 liters of water. However, it was a lot of fun and I am glad we got to do it.

Bee Stings and Moving

2009-08-06T00:07:00.004-04:00

My little brother is changing dorms this week at college because he had to live in one for the summer, but now he's moving to another one for the school year, and this was the week he had to do it. It's so that way they can get all the people who stayed for the summer all moved in before all the incoming freshman and returning students show up to move in. The plan was that my dad and I were going to go up to help him move his stuff and get settled in, along with bring some stuff from Costco that he had asked for.

Did I mention that my bro has his arm in a sling right now? Yup, he messed up his AC due to an accident at work so he's "Mr. Gimpy" right now. This is especially why he needed our help.

Yesterday my dad had made arrangements to board our dogs so that we wouldn't have to worry about them while we were gone for the day. However, during the afternoon, I had let them out to run around in the backyard for a few minutes and get their business out of the way. I let them back in and everything seemed okay, until later on when one of our dogs suddenly decided to make a mess, which usually indicates something is wrong. It was then that we noticed her muzzle was swelling up.

After a phone call to the vet, it was off to see them and find out what was going on. Even though her face had swollen, it hadn't spread to her tongue, and her behavior was still normal, besides that she was rubbing her face against the seat every so often (likely it was itching like mad). The vet gave her a shot of Benadryl and told us to keep her collar off just in case. He thought it was because she got stung by a bee, likely while trying to eat one of the plants, though we didn't find a stinger in her lip. So because now she was "sick" it meant no boarding the dogs. I would be on my own for visiting my bro. It happens.

I got up early this morning and headed up to Flagstaff. The drive itself was pretty easy since I was going the "wrong" way for traffic on I-17, plus with tunes blasting out of my MP3 player, I was good to go. I got up there and immediately the task was to get the stuff moved out of one dorm room and pack the car as full as possible. Luckily my bro was at least able to get his stuff packed up so it was just a matter of hauling it down there. About 3.5 hours later and a few trips, with a bit of help from his roommate and friends, we got all of his things moved to his new campus apartment. I would be lying if I didn't say it wore me out a bit because I hauled a lot of heavy tubs and boxes. This should make up for any fatassery I have done to myself this week with going to places like In-N-Out Burger. Now my bro gets to enjoy the task of unpacking all that crap and figuring out where it goes.

I treated him and his friends to lunch before getting them back to their respective places, though my next task was to get my bro to his dentist appointment up the road. That crazy boy has actually walked to his appointment before and it takes about an hour each way, so there was no way I was making him do that today. I sat and watched TV in the waiting room while teasing one of the hygienists since she was joking that I was his bodyguard. After he got done, I dropped my bro off back at his place and drove back to Phoenix.

Now my bro is settled in, and I am just here on the couch putting up the slightly sore feet and will probably sleep damn good tonight.

Final Visit?

2009-08-03T23:13:00.002-04:00

Back in April, Southwest Airlines ran one of their usual screaming deals on airfare, in this case, the ability to fly from Baltimore to Phoenix for only $99 each way. So I made plans to fly to Phoenix in August to visit the parents and friends out there because I figured I could use a vacation by then. Besides that, I also used the sale to make a stopover in Las Cruces, NM, since I have not been there since leaving to move to DC just over four years ago. I was due to make a visit.

How was I to know quite a few circumstances would change between now and then?

As I sit here at the household it is myself, my dad, and two dogs in a house that looks much more bare than I have seen it in years past. So just what the hell has happened, and why is it that it could be my final visit?

In the middle of June, my mom flew to San Antonio for an interview with a hospital because she was ready to move on. The first hospital screwed up royally with her interview, but then while she was there, another hospital called and asked for an interview and she went in, interviewed, they liked her, so they offered her the job she wanted, and at the price she wanted as well.

So this last week, her and my dad drove out to San Antonio with some of her things and got her moved into an apartment. He has come back to Phoenix in order to sell this house before moving on to San Antonio as well. I hope and pray that he is able to sell the house fast because it just plain blows to have to sit around and wait for someone to buy your house before you can join your wife where she is at.

Anyway, so for me, this is likely my last visit to Phoenix for a while because when both of my parents are gone, there isn't a huge incentive for me to come over here. This area was my stomping grounds for maybe two years, and even then, it was only when I went home to visit my parents from college. If anything, I'm more likely to go to Las Cruces and Silver City simply because I have friends there. I'll miss this area, but at the same time, life goes on, and at least it can be a central location for me to stop at before heading somewhere like the Grand Canyon.

The flight to Phoenix was uneventful, a non-stop from Baltimore. The unfortunate thing was that I checked in late enough I ended up toward the back of the plane in a window seat. Most people would cheer at getting a window seat, but for me it meant less room to be able to stretch out my legs and less chance to get up and move around. On the other hand, I did get through three episodes of The Wire, and I should be able to finish a few more this week.

Most of my time so far has been spent relaxing, and running a few errands as well, but they have been more of the fun errands. I got to try some awesome Dim Sum yesterday at a local restaurant, as well as pick up authentic Italian deli meats from down the road. I've also gotten up and started running again, though I had to pick up a knee brace because one of them is bothering me badly enough it's forcing me to slow to a walk. I'm going to test it out tomorrow and see if it helps me out. I must also look up knee exercises and stretches.

Beyond that, I'm just going along with whatever comes my way. I've connected with a friend here and we'll probably be doing lunch sometime this week. Maybe I'll make some new friends as well, and perhaps that would give me more incentive to come back to Phoenix sooner rather than later.

Thoughts on Dating

2009-07-23T22:55:00.005-04:00

It seems that shortly after I wrote about how I couldn't watch the video for Beyonce's Halo because it made me go to the "I need a BF" place, God/Karma/Fate/Evil Bunnies/etc. decided to remind me that I had better damn well take my time with being on my own and finding that right person, or I am going to screw myself out of years of happiness.

To make a long story short, after watching several couples in action and discussions where I have been the listening ear because someone is completely and utterly unhappy with their partner in more ways than one (I'm not counting sex issues, everyone seems to have those), it makes me wonder just how many people were in the position I was in of feeling that bit of loneliness or vulnerability and just settled for the next person that came along. I've made that mistake, I've repeated that mistake, dammit, I am not going to do that again.

I've just also reached this point where I really don't feel like getting into serious dating with anyone right now, and it's purely for selfish reasons (I am a Scorpio after all). It would be hard for anyone who knows me (friend or more) to deny that I am a giver, meaning that I give a lot more to another person than I take from them. That would be fine and dandy, except at times I've become too concerned about the other person and stopped taking care of myself so much. That has got to stop because I really should take care of myself first before I give to someone else. I am liking that right now I pretty much have the freedom to do what I want, when I want, and for the most part if there's anyone who doesn't like it, they can kiss my ass. It's why that despite my bitching a while back about the people who look at me in horror that I was going on travel by myself, it hasn't stopped me from continuing to go, because deep down, some of them are probably jealous that I'm not tied down like they are.

If one hasn't figured it out already, I'm very independent, and it has driven past boyfriends and girlfriends crazy. Going back to that I tend to give much more than I take, they get used to that I am pleasing them so they figure that I'll always do what they want to do, and then they get a nasty shock when they discover that if there is something I really truly want to do, I'm going to do it. If they say they don't want to do it, I have no qualms about doing it on my own. They can't seem to wrap their brains around the concept that I may get an enjoyment out of pleasing them, but I'm still my own person.

Until I find the person that can respect the fact that I will act independently of them when I so choose, and that they also have their own sense of independence, I will just continue to go along as I am doing now and doing it for myself only.

One thing I have noticed though when it comes to the dating life and the gay community in general in DC is that it's more like a small town than a bigger city. Seems like everyone knows everyone else, and many know (or think they know) far too much about other people's business and have no problems with telling everyone and their mother about it. It's a behavior that I don't particularly care for, and because of that, I tend to proceed with caution with most folks in order to stay off the radar. I've dealt with being on the receiving end of how damaging something like gossip can be, and I'd like to not put myself in a situation where it happens again. Yes, it could happen again, but at least if I watch myself, it limits any of the potential damage that could come of it.

Perhaps that's also why I tend to be friendlier with folks when I am on vacation somewhere else, I know I'm not going to be in that area for very long, and so even if something goes wrong, it will drop off the radar quickly.

By the way, if most of your social networking profile is devoted to telling everyone how much you love the person you're with and how great your relationship is, what the fuck are you trying to gloss over and/or hide? That person is likely not the right one for you and it's made you insecure enough that you're trying to convince yourself that everything is okay. It's one thing if you do a write-up about your other half when it's an anniversary or even a birthday, but if it's every other day? Problem.

Cheesecake and STP!

2009-07-20T19:46:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I attended the Stone Temple Pilots concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion with my friend CA. Her and I are both fans of STP and she managed to get floor seats to the show so I definitely jumped at the chance to go.

Since we knew things were going to get crowded, we decided to do a late lunch up in Columbia before heading over to the pavilion. The mall was nearby and they have a few good restaurants there, it was just a matter of finding the right one. I had never been to the Cheesecake Factory before (which is apparently a sin according to her and DB) so we went there for lunch. I got the Thai chicken pasta there, which was done up in a really tasty peanut sauce. I must learn how to make peanut sauce because I think it would end up being a really kick ass thing to make with some of my stir fry's. CA got the bang bang chicken and shrimp. Of course, both plates were so huge we couldn't finish it all (work lunch!!) unless we wanted absolutely no room for cheesecake. We both wanted to keep it simple since we didn't want something too heavy while rocking out later, so she went with a lemon raspberry cheesecake, and I went with key lime. I will definitely have to drop in at the place more often, even if it is just to buy a slice of cheesecake to take home.

We drove over to the pavilion and hung out in the parking lot for a while before heading into the concert area. Since I had never been there before, CA showed me around to the various places that were offered and also pointed out where the cleaner bathrooms were. We grabbed large drinks so that we could make sure to stay awake and headed down to the floor to catch the opening band, The Meat Puppets.

The Meat Puppets were good, though neither CA or I were familiar with them, so we didn't recognize any of their songs. Still, a good way to set the mood for later that night. They played for about half an hour before heading off-stage.

As the crew began to set up the stage for STP, I began to experiment a bit with my camera. One of the things that has made me crazy about my digital camera is that when trying to photograph things that can't use a flash, such as a concert or in front of glass, its full-auto mode sets the shutter speed way too slow and I end up with a lot of blurred pictures. It's really bad when I will go to something like a hockey game and out of the 50 pictures I take, 40 of them have to be rejected because they're blurry or considered too dark. I decided to try setting my camera to full manual and setting the shutter speed on my own. With a bit of experimentation I was able to come up with shutter speeds and F-stops that looked like they would work for when STP was up there.

So after another half an hour, STP finally came to the stage. The floor got crowded very quickly as more people pressed forward to get to the front of the stage to see folks. Since we were smart enough to get there early, we had an awesome view of the stage. As you will see from the pictures, we were good and close.

STP went through the catalog of their songs old and new, and it was a blast all around. Only one incident of someone hopping up onto the stage happened, and they were quickly removed. There was a guy next to us who must have been on something because he was really getting into the music, to the point where he tried early on to start a mosh pit but most of the people around him were not having it. BTW, what is with the women who were wearing dresses to the concert, especially being crowded onto the floor? Then there was the screamer in front of us, she had this high-pitched Xena warrior yell going on every time something would happen. If STP wasn't going to cost me my hearing, she definitely was.

So there were lots of good songs, a good performance, plenty of singing along, and going to manual pictures totally worked. I compared a few auto pictures to the ones I did manually, the manual ones were totally better. I had to do a lot less work in Photoshop to prepare them for uploading.

It was a concert that was totally worth attending. I see that the Killers are going to be there at the end of August, I should see if I can get tickets.

Since I am actually able to keep up this time, here are the pictures from the STP concert. Click below to see them all :-D

Summer Pictures and Video (So Far)

2009-07-20T01:23:00.004-04:00

If you're on Facebook, or maybe even Twitter, you've already seen me advertise these are up, but if not, here's the pictures and video from my summer so far. Enjoy!

Las Vegas:

Carowinds:

First Video of Night of Fire at Carowinds (5 total on Youtube)

Nature:

Dorney Park:

There are no sets of pictures from The Woods during my recent visit. The reason for that is because The Woods is a private campground and there are likely people who do not want pictures of themselves or their site (especially if they are a permanent) taken and put up on the Internet. Since some people were not there so I could obtain permission to photograph items such as their site decorations, I chose not to take pictures.

The Woods and Dorney Park

2009-07-20T00:25:00.003-04:00

So to round off my travel for the last few weeks, I made tracks up to Lehighton, PA to go to The Woods, which is a campground I visited last October (pictures), but decided to visit again. The reason for this visit is because I have forever heard about attending one of the theme weekends there, and so I decided to go for it.

I left work Friday afternoon and drove straight up there. Thanks to GPS I was able to avoid the hellacious traffic on I-95 and I-83 and make it there in a decent amount of time. I got to the registration desk and the woman there recognized my last name as Italian and therefore after that I was known as "paisan." She also remarked that I needed to grow my hair longer (my DL photo has me with longer hair) but I said I only did that during the winter. She said I need to "winterize it" then. I think I'll stick with my short hair until I have to stop wearing sandals outside ;-)

I got out to the field and got my tent set up. Strangely enough I was actually not hungry that evening so I did not bother cooking. Instead I headed over to one of the sites where I knew that a friend of mine, DB, and the group he had come up with were staying. They had left to go to dinner in town, so I wandered around the campsite and looked at how all of the permanent sites were decorated since last time most people had already packed their things up for the winter. I also took a walk around the lake. Thanks to all the rain this summer, the water was actually coming over the dam and into the creek.

I got back and ran into DB and his crew and hung out with them for most of the evening. We went over to where there was the bonfire and such and chatted with a few folks. I had to stick my fingers in my ears at one point because I could hear someone butchering "Last Dance" over at karaoke. I refuse to let anyone ruin Donna Summer for me ;-) Friday night ended up being chilly with plenty of dew by 10 PM, which made for a chilly tent, but luckily I managed just fine.

Saturday was spent hanging out by the pool for the most part. It both helped and hurt that it was overcast out (storms were going to come along later). Still was enjoyable for the most part. Nothing really to report there except for laying out and having a few beers in the afternoon before heading back to the tent to fry up some burgers for dinner. Afterward I was over at one of the sites hanging out with buds until the thunderstorms started around 9ish. For the next five hours or so it would pour rain and flash lightning. Things looked okay at first, but then the ground ended up saturated and so the water started to run. I was concerned because I was towards the bottom of a slope. However, nothing got wet in my tent, thankfully. I did get to fall asleep listening to the rain.

Sunday most people left by the afternoon, however, I stayed because I had Monday off so there was no reason to drive back towards DC and have to fight traffic with all the other folks who were coming back from their weekend getaways. DB was staying as well since I had my planned trip to Dorney Park, which he had never been to before. I was able to move over to his site by paying the difference between what I paid for the field and what the cost of a site was, in this case a whole $2 since it was a weeknight. I really had to break the piggybank for that one.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day so we headed out to chill by the pool. Towards dinner time we ended up chatting with a few of the perm site campers, and one of them told us to visit his site and go meet his partner. We did so and ended up invited to have ribs with them and play cards since the folks on the site basically do dinner and play cards on Sunday nights. Let's see, ribs vs hot dogs/hamburgers for dinner...which would you pick? ;-)

So DB and I went back and got our S'mores stuff to offer for dessert. The ribs and side dishes were awesome and there was more than enough for all of us. We then started a round of Wizard before going and making S'mores. After S'mores we all hung for a bit before DB decided to head up for bed. I wasn't tired so I decided to stick around for while longer. I eventually did head back to the tent and crawled into bed as well.

Monday morning we got up and I fried up some eggs and bacon on the Coleman before packing up my car and driving to Allentown, PA to visit Dorney Park. Once again it was another Cedar Fair park so it meant free access for me, and I found a discount ticket for DB. The first coaster was Talon, which was a lot of fun. DB didn't ride that one because it seemed like he couldn't quite fit the seat (the arms are a bit narrow) but it turned out later that he needed to slide into it rather than just try to sit down from the top. Anyway, we moved on to Hydra, then Thunderhawk, and then Steel Force. When we came to Possessed (formerly known as Voodoo) I rode that one on my own. The last new coaster for DB was to ride the Wild Mouse. From there, it was a matter of repeating any other coaster rides. We did try going to Talon again so DB could get a ride on it but it broke down right before we got there. It actually stopped on the lift hill, so they had to let everyone off of that. I didn't see it get back up and running the rest of the day. I know in a situation like that it's usually because some fail-safe went off on the coaster itself, likely a problem with one of the restraints for whatever reason. Better safe than sorry, perhaps that's why you don't hear of any major accidents at a place like Dorney Park, plus at least they work on trying to fix it rather than look like they're just screwing around up there.

Anyway, so we repeated a number of the coasters, which is something I love to do anyway. I was reminded of why I like Steel Force even though it doesn't look like anything fancy. It is a long ride with lots of air time from the hills, and even someone who gets dizzy from coasters could ride it since there's no loops or major curves. I also love Hydra because that does have some sick turns.

Late in the afternoon it was time to head back to DC. I knew there was going to be traffic, but that was just how it was. I really need to teach my GPS to avoid I-95 because it seems to try to send me there because it thinks it's faster, even with the traffic delays factored. We took a bit of a scenic route on the Baltimore Pike (US-1) to get past a lot of the traffic crap before finally getting me home to drop my stuff off, and then getting DB to his place so he could drop his stuff as well.

So it was another fun weekend for me, that's for sure. Now I just need to plan when the next roller coasters come up :-D