I'm on the verge of quitting my job. On Wednesday I was in a scheduling meeting. As we went over the schedules, I was overcome by the feeling that I didn't want to do this any more. If I quit my job I would be free of micro managing project managers. Free of the boredom. Free of the paper work. Free to be outside in the sun. For the next fifteen minutes I thought through the logistics. How long could I live without a salary? What would I do next?

Wednesday night I talked about it with C2. We saw Kill Bill: Vol. 2 A fairly good move, though a bit too talky.

Thursday morning I approached my job with the attitude "I don't care if I get fired." I told my manager about two different areas that I didn't have enough time to do a quality job on. He agreed with me and we split my job into three.

Hmmm. So I have less work now.

I'm still going to do my resume. But, we'll see how things go.

We had survivor potluck last night. For the first time in a while, the food was great.

My garage needs lots of work. The contractors found a rotting log at the base of the garage. I live in a log house, so a bad log is very bad news.

Sunday evening when Steven got back from Victoria Steven said he suspects that a friend is reading this blog. Now. You know who are Joe. Admit it and say so. If not, I'll have to set a trap.

Friday night I had dinner with C2, T,J and H3. Afterwards T,J and I went to the Cuff. It was very quiet.

After the Cuff, I went to, um, a bath house. It was weird. I kept running into people I knew. You can't hide what you're doing when you go to a bath house. There are many good reasons to go to a gay bar that let you mask your cruising "I'm here to have a drink with friends." But a bath house? "I... Um... like the music!"

Eventually I ran into a man I dated a year and a half ago. We made out. It was nice.

Saturday C2 and I worked on the deck. We laid down some stairs.

Saturday night was C5's birthday. C2 and I went. Many of the A-list bears were there. One of C5's gifts was an issue of 100% Beef C5 knew about a dozen guys in posing in that mag. At least two were at the birthday party.

Sunday I worked on the yard a bit and worked out.

Today at work an Indian co-worker celebrated her birthday. Some friends brought her a cake, dipped their fingers into the icing and smudged the icing over her forehead and nose. It turns out that it's an Indian tradition to smudge icing on a birthday girl's face.

I'm trying to change my sleep schedule so that I sleep from 10:30pm to 6:30am. This is hard for someone who's slept from midnight to 8am for years. I'm doing it because I want to get home from work earlier and have more day light in the evenings. This will let me work out more regularly, or work on the house when I need it.

So far it's going well, although I've only been doing it for the past week.

This weekend in Seattle was Spring Thaw, a weekend long event/party

C2 was surprised how many out-of-towners there were. We ran into guys from NC, NJ and CA.

Saturday night I went to the under-bear underwear party at Eagle. I've never done an underwear party before. I was very selfconcious at first. I did run into a few guys that I know, but hey, they were there for the underwear party as well.

Hey Tommy.

We did the posts, beams and joists with screws. Screwing takes about as much time as hand nailing. For the decking we switched to the nail gun to save time.

I'll use screws if I ever have to replace a board. Screws cause less splitting-- especially if you predrill a guide hole.

My old cell phone died. I washed it with a pair of jeans. I got a new cell yesterday and switched cell phone providers at the same time.

It's strange how much bagged went away with the old cell phone. I lost Brian's (My ex) last voice mail to me. I no longer have his number. I've lost the numbers of old tricks, friends I haven't talked to in months, guys who dumped me, people I played softball with two years ago. The list goes on.

Mac and Joe have had a bit of bad luck. They had a wine rack in the front window of their boat. Seattle was so hot and sunny while they were in Mexico, that two red wine bottles popped their corks and poured out inside the boat. Because the were away at the time, the red wine set for days.

This week C2 and I accomplished a lot on the deck. The decking is down. There is still much to do- the stairs, railing, staining and a retaining wall.

Thanks to Steven. Steven helped a couple of days. Behr helped one, but then got 'busy.' Lazy ass. The man has been unemployed for four months.

We did the bulk of the deck nailing with a nail gun. It was much faster than hand nailing, but has its downside. Hand nailing looks clean. The nail gun rips the wood around the nail. Sometimes the nail goes in too deep. Sometimes not deep enough. Plus when the nail gun jams, it takes five minutes to clear the problem.

I used to go hiking and camping in my free time. Now I work on the house.

I took this week off to try and finish the deck that C2 and I are building. Today I think we finished the supports. Tomorrow we can start the decking.

It's a large deck. About 750 square feet. It's costing a small forture. I've already spent about $6000.00 on wood and cement. And then there's the hot tub. I'm not going to say how much that costs.

Too Much Time With The Guys

Seven of us were at the Villa in Akumal. Mac&Joe, Steven&Vic, Matt&Sandy, and me. You'll notice I'm the only single one of the bunch.

Both Joe and Sandy jokingly talked about giving me sympathy sex. I would go off one at a time with couples and have some fun.

It never happened. Not that I would say no if it did ;-)

Bye Wednesday, some of the guys started to get on each others nerves. In particular, Steven and Joe. Steven is very direct (He called him self a bulldog) Joe can be very passive agressive.

Well, something happened between them. I'm not really sure what. It involved poor restaurant service and a frog statue that was not for sale. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Joe spent Thursday morning avoiding Steven. Steven, Vic, Matt and I drove to a far away resort to try and buy the frod statue. We failed. We drove back. Steven and Joe started shouting at each other.

I left them alone and went kayaking. When I got back, they were both laying on the upstairs patio. Steven said "The coast is clear, you can come back now."

Weird. I'm sure one day they will tell me the full story.

Psychcoritas

We found a brand of tequila that gave us weird, sad & paranoid dreams. Two of the guys had to get up in the middle of the night and check all the windows and doors. Some of us had nightmares.

The first time I had the tequila, I dreamed that I was holding someone (Mac or Joe I think. Someone about their size) and I was crying.

The second time I dreamed that I was stalking Harry. He spotted me and said "Hello" He then invited me to a near by bar. We started to play around. Someone walked in. And that ended the dream.

Gee-Hai

The property manager for the Villa was a 55yo woman named Gee-Hai. She is a very special woman. Gee-Hai hails from Mexico City but was educated in Philadelphia. She's bright, intelligent and of Spanish decent. This is the root of her problem. The people of Akumal are uneducated, predominantly Mayan and live very simple lives. Gee-Hai has never fit it in. She has few friends around Akumal. Mostly retired couples who spend a few months in Mexico every year, but return to the U.S.

We talked with her for hours. She told us many great secrets-- where to find a good meal, where to buy good souvenirs, the history of the region.

She accidently found out we were gay. Mac and John were kissing and petting each other in front of the main entrance. Gee-Hai walked up to the screen door, saw what they were doing and said "Hello!" Mac and John ran away embarrsed. The rest of us laughed very hard and welcomed Gee-Hai in.

On Sunday when we left, we all kissed her good bye. As we pulled away, Gee-Hai started to cry.

Swimming with Dolphins.

We stayed near the village of Akumal. One of the first sites we saw was Xel-Ha. An eco-water park on the coast. Xel-Ha has many attractions (snorkeling, caves, lazy river inner tubbing)

You can also swim with dolphins. It's kind of pricy, but Steven, Vic and I sprung for it. For about two hours, 12 people and a trainer swam with the dolphins. The trainer showed us how to give them simple commands, feed them, ride them and touch them.

Their skin feels thin, strong and very smooth. They were very gentle, though I'm sure they could do much damage if they got angry with you. They are very strong and their mouth holds about 80 very sharp teeth.

I just got back from Mexico. I had a wonderful, wonderful time.

The villa was more beautiful than it looked in the pictures.

The weather was perfect. A warm breeze was constantly blowing-- taking the bite out of the hot temperatures. The ocean was beautiful

I have much to write. I'll post new entries through out the day.

I'm on vacation next week. The gang and I are going to Akumal in Mexico, about an hour south of Cancun.

I'm looking forward to it. Warm beaches. Sun. Ocean.

We rented a villa. It looks beautiful. We still have one bed available. Tommy, you want to go? ;-)

Last night I had dinner with Mac, Joe and Behr. Afterwards Behr and I went to the Cuff and met up with C2. C2 is is sick again with something similar to the welts/spider-bites he had a few months ago. I want him to see a doctor, but he wants to tough it out.