Sigh. The Brunching Shuttlecocks are dead. At it's peak, Brunching was a daily comedy sight that with a lot of good, different humor. The Ratings. Good or Bad. Lore

In the past year the entries have dropped off, from daily, to weekly, to sporadically. Today the site announced it's death.

Oh well. Guess I'll have to find some other way to entertain myself. At least the archives are still online.

Too much information...

Last night at my birthday party, Sandy and Mat gave me a dildo. I've seen dildo's given as birthday gifts before-- as gag gifts. Usually the gift dildo is a huge monstrosity that could never fit up the rectum of anyone sane or well balanced.

Not this one. One time, months ago, I told Sandy that I didn't own a dildo. So Sandy decided to fill in that void. He said he spent hours looking for my perfect dildo, one that I would enjoy for years. Not too big. Not too small. Something that would make me happy.

This is weird. I rarely have anal sex and I've never felt the urge to plug myself while JOing. I'm not sure what to do with the dildo. I hope Sandy won't be disappointed if I don't use it.

Played hockey last night. We won 2-0. The game was at 10:45 at night and were 4 people short, so I was worried that we would get our asses kicked. But, it worked out. The other team was green and couldn't form a breakout.

Steven just told me this over the phone. You could hear the stress in his voice. Steve was in Canada to drop Vic off for the ferry home when his tire blew out. But, the car didn't have a jack. Now in Canada, Monday was a holiday (Victoria Day), so he ended up waiting 5 hours for a tow truck! When the truck arrived, the guy put the jack under the wrong part of Steven's car and bent that corner all to shit.

Eventually Steve got the spare on. Since he was in Canada and 3 hours away from Seattle, he spent the night at a hotel and bought a new tire this morning.

Oh yeah. Today is my birthday. I'm 33.

Things are changing fast. Steven's house has sold (The final paper work hasn't been signed, so that could change) It looks like Steven will be moving out of his house before June 6th. That means he'll be moving into my new house, maybe even before I move in. After we got back from Vegas, Steven, Vic and I drove over to the log cabin-- my new house, so Vic could look at it. There should be plent of space for Steven's and my stuff.

Steven also has a new job. It's similar to his old job, but for a different company.

I'm back.

Vegas was a mediocre vacation. I got a 24 hour flu on Saturday. C2 got big blisters on his feet and had pain walking. Andy was still recovering from the shingles and slept most of the time. So, we were big party poopers.

Sunday night we saw Mystere a great show/circus act.

Vic and Steven had a lot of fun. They saw Ciline Dion on Saturday night and really loved the performance.

We (me and some people I work with) saw The Matrix Reloaded today. It's a good movie. The special effects are perfect. In a way, that takes away from the movie. When you expect anything to happen, you can't be suprized.

C2 just got this from Bruce...

>Hey C2
>I'll be leaving Seattle on Friday for good. Eventually, you can try to reach
>me in Vancouver. I don't think I'll be reachable at the start. Don't bother
>calling me at my US phone numbers or coming by my ex-residence.
>
>As for all of my possessions down here, I am basically moving some clothes
>and a few books. Everything else I will be carting to Goodwill or some other
>NPO for a tax receipt. It's just easy this way. No hassle with Canadian
>taxation doing an itemized list, etc.
>
>Take care of yourself.
>Bruce

I wonder if we'll ever hear from Bruce again.

Steven, Vic, C2, Andy and I are heading down to Las Vegas for the weekend. So, next post will be Monday.

I have a wireless network at home. A cheap co-worker has moved into the neighborhood-- kitty corner from me. He's been trying to get free internet from a local wireless network, but hasn't had much luck. The only open network he can find required him to stand close to a window and hold the antenna a certain way.

Just for shits and grins I opened up my wireless. He's on it right now. We've sent each other a few messages and he's thanked me a lot for giving him free internet. His signal strength isn't that great so he's going to build a Tin Can Antenna. I can't wait to hear how that turns out.

I didn't tell my co-worker this, but I've turned IP logging on in my wirless router. This means I can see what internet sites he's connecting to. So far it's been boring-- work, some goverment sites, his old school.

Nosey me.

Steven has a new job. He called me with the good news. He's got a good signing bonus as well.

Last night I was bad. I met a married guy who was in town on busness. We fooled around. Afterwards we had dinner. On the way to the restaurant he asked "Is this a gay date?" grabbed my hand and started grinning.

No good can come of this.

Sandy has entered MSN's Idea's Happen contest. Right now his entry is in the preliminary stage. Vote for him!

On Saturday, we finalized the inspection for my condo. The buyer wants a new garbage disposal unit, some caulking, and someone to check the gas fireplace. A portable gas leak detector said there was a small leak coming from the gas connection to the fireplace. I agreed to all the fixes.

This basically means my condo has been sold. If the buyer backs out, he'll loose his $5000.00 earnest money.

The owner of my log house has given me its keys. He’s isn’t fully moved out yet, but he said I can drop by any time I want.

Other than that, I spent Sunday afternoon with Mat, Sandy and John. We watched Mac play softball. Then we drove over to the cabin. They like the cabin. Sandy want's to be the hot-tub-consultant. Mat wants to help me with the landscaping.

Yesterday for lunch, Steven and I went to Dixie's BBQ. He's finally met The Man-- a very hot sauce. Steven started sweating after he had some of The Man.

Last night I went over to Mat and Sandy's. They think their aquarium is finally under control. A pet store person gave them bad aquarium advice. Over the months that advice cost them hunderds of dollars in dead fish. They've switched to a different store. The new aquarium specialist set them straight, and the aquarium cleared up.

We also watched American Idol. I don't really like that show, but my tastes in music arn't mainstream.

Last night I saw X2. It's a fun movie.

Still filling out paper work to sell my condo. The inspection was today. My agent said it went well, though they detected a small gass leak in the furnace.

Bah. Work paged me last night. I was on my way to a dinner party held by some guys that I rarely see-- guys who probably think I'm flaky because I keep backing out of their invitiations. I was no more than 5 minutes from their place when the pager went off.

I ended up working till 11pm.

Afterwards I went out to the Cuff. I ran into Behr and the Tease. Had a drink with them, and then went home.

Sandy's birthday had, well, interesting people at it. I'm not sure how Mat and Sandy know them.

One guy gave up drinking a few weeks ago. He did so because he got drunk, did crystal and then wolk up in a hotel room with people he didn't know. He told his girlfriend about this. She dumped him. He also has to get tested for something in the next few weeks. He didn't say what.

The same guy said his 2002 tax return only had $500.00 in income. Steven told him to be careful or he would be audited. The guys replied that he could prove it-- he had no home and was sleeping on the couch of a friend.

Another guy was exceptionally ignorant. He would make an opinion, and and argue it to death, but would also admit that he had no experience with subject. He just knew that he was right.

Had lunch with Steven yesterday. He's started with a personal trainer and is working out often, including cardio twice a day. He's also on a strict diet-- five meals a day, lots of protein, no carbs. Steven starting to look good. Vic (Who's away on work for the next week or so) will be impressed.

Had dinner with Mat and Sandy. It's Sandy's birthday today. Sandy doesn't want to celebreate, but Mat said that Sandy is a bit bummed about his birthday, so Mat is throwing a BBQ for Sandy.

For Sandy's birthday, I bought him "How to Make Your Man Behave in 21 Days or Less Using the Secrets of Professional Dog Trainers"

I've got an offer on my townhouse. They are paying exactly the price my agent thought we would get. The offer is still subject to inspection. Things should be ok-- the townhouse is fairly new and I haven't renovated it.

Today we finalized the deal on my new house. It closes on June 16th (Same as the townhouse) The chimney needs some work. In exchange for me paying that bill, the current owners will move out by May 31 and let me move in starting June 1.

Oh yeah-- more on the parents that are buying their son my townhouse. It turns out the father is a Vice President of Ford. I wonder if me owning an F-150 had anything to do with their easy offer.

Someone is making an offer on my townhouse. I don't know all the details yet-- my agent just called to tell me the good news. The paper work is being filled out as I write.

I know the people that are buying. Their son is going to school here. Rather than renting him a place, the parents decided to buy. Nice parents.

Had Steven and C2 over for dinner tonight. Things are going good with them. Steven has a job interview. C2 is making progress on his car.

Mathew is in trouble. We are not sure of the extent.

Mat works for a family business. He said that he only takes out what he needs to live and cover his bills. So about five months ago, rather than paying his bills directly, he started giving his bills to his father to pay. And well, his father didn't pay his bills. Last week the creditors reposesd Mat's SUV.

Mat says he's fuming. But he's always steamed about something. He's contemplating declaring bancrupcy. He's also pissed with his father.

The rest of us arn't sure about Mat's story. I can't imagine that the credit cards and car payments can go unpayed for five months with no calls from the creditors. Unfortunatly if Mat is fibbing then he's still in financial trouble. I hope things don't go too wrong for him.

John, Mac and Behr have moved into their new townhouse. The gang dropped in last night. It's a great townhouse-- lots of space. They have a hot tub.

Today is C6's birthday. We celbrated at the Spagheti Factory. Eighteen people showed up. I ate a lot. I'm still stuffed.

Looks like I'm missing an entry... An important one.

Saturday night was Steven and Vic's one year anniversary. Congratualaions guys! About 20 people showed up for their dinner. I wrote a longer entry on Sunday, but lost it when my connection went down.

Also, this is the place I'm buying...

Steven and I went over to Mat and Sandy's. We had dinner, watched American Idol and then Darkness Falls. Darkness Falls is an ok Horror flick. It's about an evil demon woman who can only attack when it's dark. There's a bunch of schtick about the evil demon woman being the tooth fairy, but that really has nothing to do with the story.

Nothing exciting happening. Filing paper work. Arranging for an inspector.

So, I put out a contigent offer on the log house. They've accepted. Now I have to sell my townhouse.

Best part-- the log house comes with a wet bar, keg fridge and a CO2 unit.

I went house hunting today. Now, I'm torn between two houses. Both houses are great. But the house in Lochmoor is a better investmant than the other-- a log house in Newcastle. The log house speaks more to my heart.

The Lochmoor house is $392,000.00 Is 3129 square feet. Has a view of the lake. Freshly painted. Nice hard wood floors. Close to work. Small, low maintenance lot. Detached garage with a studio.

The Newcastle house is $350,000.00, a log house, 2280 square feet plus a 450 sqft shop. It's more quiet, next to a park. Farther from work. Large, but low maintenance lot. New roof was put on last year. Two years ago they refinished the logs.

Both have great spots for hot tubs.

Both houses are really nice. If my agent had only showed me one but not the other, then I would be happy buying that home.

I have to decide fast. The Lochmoor house will go quickly. I'm sure it will be gone If I don't make an offer by Sunday.

Every 2nd Friday, work puts out a spread of beer and munchies. We socialize with each other, team announcements are made, awards are given, stuff like that.

Today infront of 100 people, one of my co-workers proposed to another. She said "Yes."


Funny eye test...
http://home.mn.rr.com/t1camp1/Focus.swf

Steven said "It scared me! I had my sound up really high. Too funny"

Had a sucky lunch today. C2, Steven, Edwin and I tried to have lunch at Dixies BBQ. The lineup was long and very slow. We waited for 40 minutes before we got frustrated and left. Which was too bad. Steven has never "Met the Man" before. I was hoping to see it happen.

"Met the Man"-- Dixies has a hot sauce call "The Man" It's very, very hot. One or two drops can make you sweat and dring gallons of water.

Instead we went to the Three Pigs BBQ.. Not as good as Dixies, but the linup was short. C2 had didn't like his food. His beef ribs had very little meat on them, and weren't done the way he liked.

Not much going on. Tonight I went over to Sandy at Matt's just to chat. Steven was there-- he had dinner with them.

They have a salt water aquarium that they've been having problems with. About half a dozen nice fish just died. They think they've fixed the problem. Unfortunatly salt water fish are expenisve-- $50.00 to $100.00 a piece.

Matt dissed Zesty for keeping his journal on line. Steven and I exchanged knowing looks while Matt ranted about Zesty. Mind you Zesty's site is more out there than mine. Zesty hypes himself. Zesty bears all, shows photos and doesn't change names-- there are pics from when he and Sandy dated (Over a year ago).

At least half a dozen people have been through my house. Not bad for being on the market for 24 hours. We'll see if I get any offers. Right now it's supposed to be a buyers, so I'm not going to get my hopes up.

The agents have been leaving messages at my work number before they show the place. I didn't check my voice mail at work until about 11am. That's when i heard a couple of messages like "Hello. I'm Jane Doe with the real estate company. My client and I are going to be over between 11 and 11:30am to look at your property. If this is a problem please call me at...." I tried to quickly clean up my place and get out of the house, but the first agent arrived too soon. Oh well.

At about 4pm II took a nap. Another agent showed up at 4:15. When I heard the knocking, I jumped out of bed, got dressed and made the bed-- all in less time than it took for them to unlock the door and walk in. It's awkward seeing strangers peek around my house, so I went out for a short walk.

Last night I had dinner with c2 and the Man Bitches. At our company there is a Lesbian group manager who, over the years, has hired a number of gay men whom she keeps under her thumb. These men have started refering to them selves as the Man Btiches.

Had dinner last night with Sandy and Mat. We watched. One Hour Photo. Not bad, not great. Creapy.

I gave Mat and Sandy a gift for taking care of me the weekend I hurt my neck. I gave them a nice wood ceaser salad bowl. This is the first time in my life that I've given someone a spontaneous gift. I've given expected gifts at Christmas or on birthdays. But never because I like someone and wanted to say thank you.

My townhouse is now for sale. I have to keep it perpetually clean since I never know when someone will show up. I just got a call from an agent saying he will look at my house today. This is weird. Strangers in my house.

So dinner with Harry went well. I'm not sure what else to say. The important part isn't that we had dinner. The important part is yet to come-- will he stay in touch.

I also promised Tommyboy that I'd visit him in LA. Tommyboy kind of excites me. I don't know why I had dinner with Harry. Curiosity mostly.

After dinner I drove over to C2's for chat and snacks. I dropped off his refrigerator and bitched about it stinking up my truck. Last week he needed to move a small frige from work to home. His car was too small so we put it in my truck. I left the frige in the truck over night. The freezer water melted. For the past week my truck has smelt of freezer burn.

I also talked on the phone with Andy. I haven't talked with Andy for months. Things are going well with him. He's dumped his crystal-addict boy friend, but still lets him live with him. Their relationship has flip flopped. Before they were going steady, they would sleep together but not have sex. Now that they've split up, they have sex but don't sleep together.

This entry is very practical. This morning I saw two houses with my real estate agent. Here are the notes...

The first house was a log house. huge yard. On the plus side, it's beautiful and private. Great kitchen, very rustic. On the minus side it really only has one bedroom and no garage. I could put bedrooms in the basement, but they wouldn't have a lot of light. The current owners use the open loft as a bedroom, which is ok for kids, but if you want your privacy you are out of luck. The lawn (1 acre) might be a bit much to take care of.

The 2nd house has lots of rooms, a hot tub, a basket ball court, two living rooms, two fireplaces and 4 bedrooms. It's more dated-- late 70's early 80's. It needs several minor renovations. Plus side-- very close to work. Much space, two car garage. There are so many rooms. I'd need much more furniture.

The 2nd house, in the master bath, has a large shower with two heads. The shower is surrounded by glass block. The Agent made a joke that Steven and Vic would love to mess around in the shower.

The 2nd house is more of a party house. I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

My heart wants the log house. My head says the 2nd house is a better investment.

Spring has arrived. The rain drops are now warm and big. Frogs have started singing. Trees are blooming.

Hmmm. I just got off the phone with Harry. We're having dinner on Wednesday. He sounds like he's doing good. I don't think he has a hidden agenda.

C6, DQ, a friend of theirs, Steven, Vic and I spent Saturday evening in Vancouver. We partied our brains out-- drank way too much. You've got a great city Michael!

I'm glad I did it, but won't do it again for months.

We started drinking at about 8pm. From then till 2am, my pint glass was never more than half empty. On top of that I had a number of shots.

We chatted and flirted and chased and danced. I walked around with my shirt off. I danced. I don't remember how long it's been since I did that.

At about 2am, Steven, Vic and I left the rest of the guys. We had went and ate at a little fast food joint called Fritz. What a great place. The music was good (It's a fast food restaurant!) and a couple of the customers were dancing. There poutine was great.

Walking along Grandville St at 2am is an experience. Grandville was hopping. Restaurants were open. People were everywhere. I wish Seattle had something like that.

The next morning we had breakfast at "The Elbow Room" I restaurant the specializes in good food, service, and insulting their customers. Our waiter, a sassy queen, pegged us as gay and insulted us accordingly. "Don't worry girls." he said. "I'll make sure you get out of here before the bathhouse rates go up."

I spend this evening with Steven, Sandy, Mat, John and Mac. We had dinner and watched "Six Feet Under." It's an ok show, but I'm not as into it as Mat or John. Still, I like spending time with the gang.

Last night I had dinner with Mac, John and C2.

Mac works at a health care center. He said the center just received its first case of SARS. Now one of their doctors is showing symptoms of SARS.

Worrysome.

What's the past up to?

Tonight, C2 and I saw The Core with the Movie Bears.. What a horrible movie. Fortunatly it's one of those bad movies that you can laugh at.

Afterwards, we went to the Cuff. I ran into Brian. He's in a good mood, but is up to something. I'm not sure what. He just earned his "Unusual Circumstances" Notary License from the state of Washington and he got his Bail Bond license from the State of Nevada. He's also put a down payment on a house in Los Vegas. He's not moving there, it's just an investment.

Part of me wants to know what he's up to. Part of me says "Stay clear!"

Brian is concerned that too many of my friends are fat. He wants to make sure that I stay thin and attractive and only date thin and attractive men. Anything else would be an insult to him.

So, Brian hasn't changed much.

When I got home I checked my email and found this from Harry...

> Hey Just a note to say hello.. How have you been?
> Are you seeing anyone? Whould you like to go out for
> a beer sometime.. Let me know.. Take care
>

Now, what's Harry up to? He hasn't talked to me since July.

The Apathetic Online Journal Entry Generator

I'm going to sell my townhouse and buy a whole house. I don't know how I arrived at that decision. Many little decisions colluded to make buying a house the right thing thing.

I'm using Steven's real estate agent. I'll probably use his mortgage broker as well.

Hmmm. It just occured to me that I used to say "I'm going to keep the townhouse until I get a steady boyfriend and then buy a house with him."

Saw The Pianist with Steven. It's a good movie, but very dark. It turns out Steven's a big ol' softie at heart. You could see it from his reactions to the Pianist.

Ha. He told me not to put that in the journal. But, I wanted to. It's something good to remember.

Afterwards we had beer and wings at Hooters. It was a quiet night. We chatted with the waitressess, talked about our future plans.

All in all, a good, quiet evening with a good friend.

I'm feeling a lot better today. I still can't turn all the way to the right, but the pain is mostly gone.

The Tease is living up to his nick name. The Tease and I took a road trip today-- to the Dungeness Spit. We hiked out about half way to the end of the spit, then we found some logs and took a nap between them. We started cuddling. And kissing. It was very nice.

Then it started raining, so we got up and headed back for the truck.

During the drive back, off and on, we held hands. Although, in hind site, it was more like me holding his hand when it just happened to be close to mine. We had dinner together when we got back. I invited him back to my place. The Tease said "No." He couldn't tonight.

I know I shouldn't chase the Tease. But part of me says "Why not?" It's not like there is another single, attractive man in my life that I should persue instead. For once I'd like to be persued by someone I find attractive and sane

Back to the road trip. It was a good day. I'd do it again..

I took friday off and slept. The drugs (Vicaden and Flexeril) really make me tired.

Friday night, Mat and Sandy picked me up. We had dinner with C2. Then I slept over at their place. I spend the day with Mat and Sandy.

I stopped taking the drugs on Saturday. But, it wasn't till Saturday afternoon that their effects wore off and I wolk up. Flexeril makes me constipated, so when it wore off I had to run to the bathroom a lot.

Saturday evening we had a white trash dinner party at Matt and Sandy's. We talked about the war and then we watched Sordid Lives. A black comedy about white trash. It was an ok movie.

After the party, the Tease drove me home. I toyed with inviting him in for a beer, but decided against it. Right now I only want to be with someone who wants to be with me. Plus, the Tease is becomming a friend. I don't want to wreck that.

I tore a ligament in my neck. It happened this morning while I was working out and got worse during the day. By late afternoon, I would have spazims that gave me a lot of pain.

I went to see a chiroprator at 4pm. He performed an adjustment, told me to ice it and to rest. This was the first time I went to a chiropractor.

I was supposed to have dinner with Mat and Sandy at 8pm. But, when we got to the restaurant the spazims became frequent and painfull. Mat and Sandy took me to a hospital. The doctor there ran some basic tests and shot me up with some drugs to relax me and help the pain. She said my spine was fine no ruptured disk, probably no pinched nerve. But the tendon was swollen.

I'm at home now. I'm going to rest and hope it gets better quickly.

Last night I had dinner with Steven. He regrets calling me up on the phone and telling me he found out about the journal. He wishes he toyed with me for a while.

We had dinner in old Bellevue, (if there is such a thing. Bellevue was built after 1970) In the 5.5 years I've lived in Seattle, I've never been to that area. There are a lot of cool restaurants there. We had dinner at Chantanee. It's supposed to be a great restaurant and the place was packed. It didn't turn out good for us. The lemon coconut soup was weak. Main course was good.

Steven got sick later on that night. I'm fine. It could just be something that's going around.

I'm done most of the hard work soldering on the pre-amp. I have to do some cleanup. Then test it.

On to what I'm actually doing today.

I'm playing hookey. I'm trying to finish off the pre-amp. It's hard. A big blob of solder accidentally shorted two finely placed wires. When I unsoldered the blob, the heat unsoldered the wires.

Soldering is like using fence posts for chop sticks. Frustrated, I went out and got a posible magnifying glass. The magnifying glass helps. Though, soldering is still like using fence posts for chopsticks, but now I can see!

Hey John. I'm not going to end this, though the tone may change now that people I know are reading. I've gone through a lot of the archives and there isn't a lot of incriminating evidence. Except for that one time Vic gave me a BJ in Steven's house while our friends ran interference.

Just kidding Steve.

Steven and the Sleuth (Vic's friend who first found these pages) have started sending me emails and using the pseudo-names, though they said they won't tell anyone else.

The Sleuth emailed this..

Hi man,
Hope your day goes well in Seattle. I’m the sleuth, who cracked the case of the pb. When I sent a few pages to Vic, he then decoded the identities of the innocent. Here is a copy of the page that triggered the initial CICS activities.I just read your recent entry about being busted. Hope we didn’t scare you too much. Sounds like Steven tormented you a bit about it. Please feel free to email anytime.

Take care eh,


Steven sent me this...

This is Stephen, your buddy you mention in your chronicles. It was only last night that you were busted by my friend we will call Sleuth in Victoria and my boy friend Vic. We were all a little surprised of what we found. We have all agreed that your chronicle is quite cool and we will not be disclosing information about such a place. I would have only loved to have been there when you were listening to me on the phone last night. WHY DIDNT I WAIT TO SEE YOUR FACE IN PERSON?
...

Barry, want to have dinner tonight? I think we should discuss your plan of action of what to do next. Do you pull it? Do you keep it? Lets talk about the consequences of this and if anyone else learns of your idenity!!! For now, I think you are safe. I personally would like to see you continue it. I have never seen you as that vulnerable but this shows you have substance to write down your thoughts and feelins whether anyone reading or your friends will agree is irrevelant. They are your thoughts and your feelings.

Your buddy,

Stephen

To the sleuth's in Victoria. Congratulations!

For the rest of you, I've been busted.

For the past 3 years I've kept this journal secret from my friends. Tonight that changed. Steven called me up and said "I'm laughing really hard and have to tell you something. Vic and his friend were searching the web for "PB" and this web site poped up."

Vic and Steven have read just about everything-- Steven mentioned entries that I wrote years ago. They've pieced together most of the names.

I don't know if I like this. I was sweating bullets while I was on the phone with Steven. Steven says he was impressed that I've been doing this for so long. Part of me wants to yank this off the web-- before someone else finds it.

I need to digest this. I'm going to start rereading most of my entries. Just to see how much dirt there is.

For some reason my hit counter has doubled over the past two weeks. Does it mean that more people are reading this journal? It could also mean that spam spiders, programs that search the web for email addresses to spam, are out in full force.

Tonight I had dinner with Steven. He does remember the longshore-man from Vancouver.

Steven is going through a lot of stress. You can hear it in his tone-of-voice. He's less perky than he usually is.

We talked a bit about the war. I told him that the war hasn't really affected me. Yes people are fighting and dying. But that's always the case-- Rwanda, Columbia, Zimbabwe, Congo, North Korea. The only thing that's different now is that it's on TV. I hope that after the war, people won't think it's over. That once Iraq becomes a free place to live, that this sort of thing will slip from our minds. Two thirds of the world lives under terrible conditions, not in the peacful, easy society we have in the west. Iraq is only the tip of the iceburg.

I went up to Vancouver for Saturday night. I ended up running into a lot of guys from Seattle. Strange. I went to Vancouver to get away from Seattle, but it followed me there. I did meet a nice guy in Vancouver. He used to be a longshore man. He just quit and is going back to school. He said he know Steven. I'll ask Steven and see if he recoginizes the name.

I had dinner and watched the Oscar's with Bruce and C3. C3 was glad Bowling for Columbine won the oscar for Best Documentary. Michael McDonough, the cinematographer for BfC, is a good friend of C3's and owes C3 a few favors. Now C3 is hoping to get some work through him.

Spam...

My main email account has been getting a lot of spam. So I opened up two new accounts to see what would happen. For one account my email address is my first initial and my last name. The other account consists of ten random letters. Today the account that starts with my initials is receiving spam! I haven't used the address at all, and it's getting spam! I knew they were throwing telephone books at hotmail, but I didn't think it was that bad. The account that is made up of ten random letters is still clean.

A co-worker, KC, is very sick and in the hospital. An interesting dilemma has poped up-- should we call his family? KC didn't call his family when he checked in. Also, the emergency contact is not a family member. A friend tried to ask KC, but KC is heavily sedated. KC mumbled "No. It would just worry them."

Do we trust the judgement of someone who is heavily sedated? What would you do?

So last night as the War with Iraq was starting, C2, the PB and I went and saw Ellen Degeneres. The show was sold out. The audience was three quarters lesbian.

Unfortunatly, they taped the show for an HBO special-- that probably made the show less raunchy. I thought the show was ok. C2 said the show stank. They rest of the guys liked it.

C2 ended up spending the night at my place. My truck had to spend the night at a garage for some service. So, C2 drove me around. Rather than drop me off, drive to his place, sleep, drive back to my place and then pick me up, we slept together again. No sex this time.

Weirdness Part Three.

I had lunch with C5 today. C5 is Harry's ex. Today, for the first time in nine months, Harry called C5. C5 said that Harry said "Hi" to me. I told C5 that Harry has been giving me the silent treatment for the past year. C5 said "That's weird. Harry acted like you two were good friends."

C5 speculates that Harry has burned a lot of bridges and is running out of friends.

Weirdness. Part One.

Wells Fargo set me junk mail via overnight courier. When I got home tonight there was a sealed Fed Ex overnight express package at the door. When I opened it up-- junk mail.

Weirdness. Part Two.

Some guy named Al called me up and said "Hey Barry, what are you doing this Saturday? I have tickets to a play..." I have no idea who Al is. I've dug through my email and can't find any from someone named Al. I think I'll call Behr up and ask him if he knows.

Sunday I installed a wireless network at home. This blog entry is beamed from my computer to the web, through a wireless network. It's kind of cool.

Setting up the network was easy. Then I started tinkering. It was amazing how easily slight tweaks would bring things down. Everything is up and healthy now. My computers are talking to each other (TommyBoy and Snookums) But, there was a lot of frustration along the way.

The cool thing about home-wireless is that you can see all the networks near by-- there are two other networks in my neighbourhood. Maybe I should open my network up to the general public. Just to see what happens. Right now I've turned up all the encryption settings, so I should have lots of privacy.

Afterwards, I went out with Behr to the Cuff. We had two pichers of beer. Behr and I drink a lot. We need to cut down. He wanted to go out tonight (St Patricks) but I didn't feel like drinking more beer.

The Cuff is geting quiet. I'm going to start going to other bars.

Yesterday I had one of those great days that you don't plan for. Now that I've reread it, the story is kind of lame. But still, I want to remember it.

Right now the Snoqualmie Falls are very big. The snow is melting in the mountains, swelling the rivers. So Friday I sent around an email to a bunch of Friends saying "Hey, let's hike down to the bottom of the falls. Meet Saturday at 11am at the top."

Saturday at 11am, only the Tease showed up. A bit disappointing but cool. I don't often get a chance to spend time alone with the Tease. At the same time, nothing is going to happen between us, so whatever

When we got the bottom of the falls the view was increadible. Even better, you could hike around the edge and get very close the falls. We were covered in mist.

After a bit we pulled back and started sunned on a rock. That's when Steven and Mat showed up.

We hung around and walked up close to the falls again. Then made our way back up to the top.

That's when Behr caught up to us. I think he wanted to see the falls, but he didn't want to hike down and up. So, he delayed his arrival.

Had lunch in North Bend at Twede's, the place where they filmed part of Twin Peaks. That's where Bruce and C3 caught up to us. (Aren't Cell Phones great)

After that we hiked around Lake Tradition.

After that coffee.

After that a spaghettii dinner at Bruce and C3's

All in all, a great social, outdoors day.

Saturday we had a big group dinner at Picorra's Pizza. About 14 guys showed. It was a good dinner.

Sunday I worked on my amplifier. The soldering is stressfull. There are so many small parts. It's hard to keep them in place.

Monday night I had dinner with Steven. The buyer for his house fell through so he's kind of bumbed about it. After dinner I worked on the amplifier again. I think I'm getting better at soldering. It wasn't as stressfull as Sunday.

Oh yeah. For the first time since I cracked my rib, about six weeks. I'm 99% better. Some exercises still bug the rib, but I'm 99% better. Too bad hockey is almost over.

I'm buying lots of stuff lately. I'm building my own stereo amplifier from spare parts. Through the mail, I received most of the parts on Thursday. So I've been driving around buying the remaining pieces.

Last night over dinner, we noticed that Dan Savage used the phrase "Google their kinks." i.e. Go to Google.Com and use it to search for your kinks. I asked who had done so. Everyone begrudingly admitted they had. We also laughed that Google has become a mainstream word.

After dinner, I ran into Behr and the Tease. We ended up at the Cuff and drank a lot. This weird guy kept cruising and chatting with me. Then he'd take offense at something minor-- if I looked briefly at Behr for example-- and walk away muttering about how I wasn't interested in him. Then a few minutes later, he'd start cruising and chatting with me again.

That cycle happened at least half a dozen times. It's too bad he was so weird because he was kind of cute.

Now C2 has quit the company. He gave his two weeks notice today. He did it for a few reasons. One, the investigation into the software theft. He's hoping if he leaves then the company will forget about it. Two, he wants a real career. His job at the company is very menial with no opportunities for advancement. He wants to take some time off of work, take a few courses and get a real job.

C2 hasn't told anyone but me and his manager. Today we had lunch with the Company Bears and he didn't say a thing.

Tonight I had about 10 guys over for a chili dinner. Again, C2 was here but he didn't mention that he quit. Bruce was also here. He too didn't mention that he was fired.

Dinner was good. Conversation was good. Let me try and remember who was here. Mat & Sandy, John, Bruce & C3, C2, C6 & J, the Tease, Behr, Officer Bob & Faf.

I've never made chili for that many people before. The Tease and Mat helped. They brought other courses, so I only had to worry about the chili.

I just got this from Bruce...

Hey Barry,
A couple of things I have to tell.

First, I got fired from CompanyX yesterday. I knew it was coming but it was so long in coming that it was still a shock in the end. I wasn't really ready for it. I thought it would have been better to get fired than to quit (because of unemployment). However time will tell on this one. You can let everyone else know. I don't have anything to hide and I would rather everyone know the truth.

One thing: I do need a copy of CompanyX software. You said you might have enough in your account to purchase this for me.

What are my plans? Well first I have to get to Canada to apply for UI. Next I have to start applying for work down here. I want to work a further 6 months in the US. C3 and I will be moving to Canada this summer or fall (hopefully and not before), He for work and me to get into the film business.

Second, I don't know about C3 and I showing up on Thursday night. Given what has happened I'm in a bit of a rut but I should probably just get back on the horse and ride through this. Still it's not everyone who gets fired from CompanyX.

Finally, I didn't hear back about working on the prints on your computer / printer. If you have any objections, that's okay but I have to know so I can let the rest of the film crew know.

I'll be around today here at home. Give me a call. Luckily C3 is back to hold me together.

Last night we celebrated John's birthday at Mat and Sandy's. Mat and Sandy went all out with the food. We also saw the season premier of Six Feet Under. It was the first time I saw it. It's an ok show. I didn't really like it, but some of the people at the party were raving about it.

Friday I had lunch with C5. He mentioned a minor tiff he had with his BF. That kind of news always makes me feel good, because I think C5 is hot and want him to leave his BF, and date me.

Yeah, I'm selfish.

Saturday C2, Mac, John and I hiked up Rattle Snake Ledge Most of the photos are of C2. C2 mentioned that I rarely take photos of myself. FYI that's me in Rattle Snake Ridge 003

Saturday evening, C6 showed Pink Flamingos at his place. Pink Flamingos is a really disgusting movie. There is a plot, but the only point of the plot is to let the characters do really sick things. One character has sex with a chicken. Another ties sausages to his dick and flashes women with it.

There is a lot more, but I won't give any more away.

Thursday I went snowboarding with C3. This was the first exercise I've had since I cracked my rib. It felt good to be outdoors and moving.

On the way back, C3 and I talked about Steven's dinner party. C3 said his heart went pitter-patter when he saw Steven. Right now things are a bit rough between Bruce and C3. They'll work it out. But still it was weird to hear C3 admit he has a crush on someone.else.

Just taking it easy. Had dinner with Steven, Mathew and Ryan. Steven, vert tactfully, let it be known that he thought Mathew was, at times, too mean to Ryan.

Went to Beareoke afterwards.

Social weekend. Friday night I had dinner with C2, C3, Bruce and two of C3's friends. C3's friends are moving from Newhampshire to WA. They've had enough of the snow.

Saturday morning, C2, Cor and I had breakfast together. We saw Cor's new house. Cor is really into showing off his art.

C2 and I hung around the rest of the day. We went to Pike Place Market. and then the Seattle Art Museum, Neither of us are really into Art, so we didn't get a lot of it. In fact, the thing I remember the most was a bowl with a lid. The handle of the lid was made of two people, on all 4's, one shoving something up the butt of the other. We wanted to know more about the bowl, but the displayce case didn't give any details.

Saturday night Steven through a big dinner party. Had Fun. When everyone left, C2 came back to my place and we slept together.

C2 I talked about it the next morning. I don't think he's developing feelings for me. Right now he needs someone to hold him.

"Too many people act like they're in a Woody Allen movie" What does that mean? LOL.

I'm having a social week. Tuesday I had dinner at Mathew and Sandy's with Steven and all the pb's. Afterwards we went to Beareoke at Guppy's.

Right now, I have this luke warm relationship with two of the pb-- Behr and the Tease. They keep suggesting we do things. But when push comes to shove, I get the cold shoulder. Basically they never returns my calls. This weekend Behr invited me to Portland. I gave him my number again, so we could co-ordinate. I'm betting he's not going to call though.

Last night I had dinner with Steven. I did some work on his computer. I also told him about C2. He's not sure what to think about that situation either.

C2 is looking for lawyers. He wants me to find out who Brian's lawyers were since they helped him beat an attempted murder charge.

Attempted Murder

Theft in Excess of $50,000.00

Does this happen to normal people? I don't think I go for guys who have a criminal side to them. I think I'm a straight forward white collar man with good friends. Yet C2 is the 2nd friend I've had who has had a major run in with the law.

I've cracked a rib. It happened during hockey. I'm ok, but sore. I have to watch my posture.

I had a very strange weekend. Saturday morning C2 told me he his being investigated by the FBI for the theft of $50,000.00 of software. It's not outright theft. It's complicated white collar crime. He called a few of us and apologized very profusely. We all took it the same way-- we don't care. We vaguely knew what C2 was up to. (Buying not-for-resale software from employees and then reselling it) It's not outright theft because at all stages, money exchanged hands in return for legitimately owned product. The actual crime involves violation of copyright law and licensing agreements.

The FBI has questioned C2, but they won't tell him anything. At most they said that if he one day reads about some people being charged in this case, and his name isn't mentioned, then he's probably free.

So, C2 spent the weekend at my place. He's very depressed. I was a substitute boyfriend for him. We held each other all day Saturday and he slept overnight. Sunday morning we went to C.O.R.E. 4x4 Challenge and then in the afternoon, we held each other again.

Monday morning while I was in the shower. he left without saying goodbye . I'm kind of pissed at him for that. But right now I understand that he's not thinking clearly.

This afternoon at work a few of us from work saw Dare Devil. It's not very original. If you've seen Spiderman, Batman and the Matrix, you've seen 98% of Dare Devil. The kid who witnesess his parents death. The bad guy who terrorizes the city. The bad guy turns out to be the killer of the kids parents. The wire fights.

Even though the movie isn't original, it is well done. The special effects and stunts are good. The acting is ok. The music is good.

Tonight I went to Dan Savage's Pre-Valentines Day Bash. Basically, you bring a memento of a past failed relationship to the bash. You get up on stage and talk with Dan about your relationship and the memento. Finally, you destroy the memento in one of many wonderfull ways. Some were burnt. Some were mixed with meat and fed to dogs. Some were smashed with sledge hammers. One lady's wedding photos were placed in the theater's uninals so that you could pee on them.

I brought some underwear left by my ex, Bob. The underwear was pissed on by a guy that my ex would have found very unattractive. Then the underwear was wrapped around a stuffed rabbit brought by another bitter single. The rabbit-underwear combo was then burnt into one disgusting mass.

I had a great time.

It's still hitting me how clean my place is. Edwin did a very good job. There are nooks and crannies where I never usually look, that are clean. He cleaned the molding. He cleaned the shelf of weird kitchen gadgets that I never use. He cleaned the pantry. Everywhere. Clean.

Steven said he and Edwin were talked about my place. Edwin was suprized that a gay man could live in such a pig stye. Steven told Edwin I was a straight man trapped in a gay man's body.

I put C2's name into Google and found another man with C2's name (Same first and last name) who has lived a life very similar to C2's. They were both in the Navy. They both lived in San Diego. They both now live in Seattle. They both work in the computer industry.

Weird.

Edwin did a good job. My place smells and looks clean.

The Tease is out. Sunday evening I called him and left my number on his machine. He didn't call back. Tonight John and Mac had a dinner party, both the Tease and I went. I flirted with him, but he didn't flirt back.

I was going to call the Tease again on Thursday but, since he didn't flirt back, I'm going to let it go now.

The dinner party was good. Mathew, Sandy, C2, Behr and I went. Good food. Good conversation.

I've got a cleaning guy! His name is Edwin. He's Steven's ex and also cleans Steven's house.

At first I didn't really want a cleaning guy, I thought I'd have better things to do with my money. But, after talking to him today, I'm kind of excited about it. My house will be clean! Weird.

He started today at noon. When I go home tonight, I'll see how well it went.

I just got this spam...

9.40% ANNUALLY RISK FREE

Safe *** Secure *** Insured ***

Why settle for less than 6% when you can earn the highest rate available

You know you're in a recession when even scams promise less than 10% returns.

Played hockey tonght. We won 1-0. I don't think I should have played. My cold is now bugging me, and my chest is sore. I'll rest up and see how I feel in the morning.

I just got back from Vancouver. Mathew, Sandy, Steven and I went. It was a good weekend. Relaxing.

I got laryngitis. Right now I can't speak in a normal voice. But, I can speak in a deep gravelly voice. A number of guys commented on how sex I sound.

Saturday night we ate at "Earl's Up Above" What a great restaurant. There was a delay in getting our main courses out, not long enough that we noticed, but long enough that the manager came out said "We're sorry for the delay. We're going to give you your meal free." When we got our meals, the food was excellent. We only had to pay for our drinks so we left a very big tip.

Steven and I had a lot of private conversations. Steven would be my best friend if he wasn't away so often. He travels for work and his BF lives 3 hours away so I don't get to see Steven that often. We told each other stories that we've never told anyone else.

All in all a good weekend.

The Tease.

I've always liked the Tease but have never asked him out. He's a foot shorter than I and has made it clear that he doesn't want to date tall men. Well, last night the Tease, Behr and I showed up at the Cuff for beer.

Behr told us his is dating woes. Apparently Harry has been jerking him around. So, I told Behr to relax-- Harry is charming, but he's also a jerk. I didn't tell him how I'd beein chasing Harry.

Behr left early. The Tease and I kept talking. We bitched about how hard it was to date men in Seattle. He asked me how I filled my evenings. I asked the same of him. Then I said "Hey, we should have dinner some night."

The Tease said "That's a great idea. Let me give you my number."

Cool. Hopefully this will go somewhere. I don't want to make another good friend although that might be the Tease's intention. We'll see.

I went over to C2's last night. C2, his room mate and I watched Office Space. a good comedy for anyone who has ever worked in a cublical.

Bizarre night. I played hockey tonight...

The bad part-- in the second period I had the wind knocked out of me. I was tripped and got kneed in the solar plexus. For about a minute I couldn't breath and kept making a sound like a wounded moose. It was surreal. I knew what was going on but I had to fight to not panic. After a couple of minutes, I got my wind back. I sat out a couple of shifts and then played the rest of the game. It didn't affect me because...

The good part-- we won 3-2 in sudden death overtime. I scored the winning goal.

I still feel like a puked my guts up. But other than that, I'm fine.

Friday night Mat, Sandy, Bruce, C3 and I had dinner together. Aftewards we had drinks at Mat & Sandy's .

Saturday night Bruce, C3 and I saw Confessions of a Dangerous mind. It's a good movie. C3 said it was one of the most amazing movies he's ever watched. I wouldn't go that far.

I'm wondering about Bruce and C3. C3 is putting more effort into maintaining Bruce & my friendship than we are. I'll take things for what they are. I know that sooner or later Bruce will get busy again, and I won't hear from him for months.

After the movie I went to the Eagle, had a beer and went home.

Things I want to remember...

SPACE CENTER, Houston, Feb. 1 — The space shuttle Columbia broke apart in flames over central Texas on Saturday soon after reentering the atmosphere en route to landing.

Yesterday I had lunch with the work bears. FxBear is doing well. Last fall he had elbow replacement surgery. Afterwards he forwarded me an X-ray of his elbow-- it's mostly metal! It's like he's become the bionic man.

I'm going to build my own Stereo. I was talking to a audiophile co-worker about good stereo's for under $1000. He mentioned I could get something that sounded like a $5000 system for much less if I built my own, . He also pointed me to BottleHead A company that provides do-it-yourself stereo kits. A friend of his has one and likes it very much.

I thought about it for a moment and decided to do it. I want to build my own stereo. I've purchased the Paramour Amp kit and the Foreplay Preamp kit. If I like how they turn out then I'll build my own speekers.

I haven't soldered in years. Fortunatly I work with some engineers who can work me through the rough spots.

I'm back. I loved Puetor Vallarta. Last night i was looking at some of the photos I took and wanted to go back. The city its self isn't that great-- run down, dirty, 3rd world country. But the ocean and the sun make up for it.

I flew down with Mathew, Sandy, Mac and John.

Monday... we flew in. Sat in the sun for a couple of hours. Had dinner at a great restaurant (Pacfica) and hit the sack

Tuesday... We sat in the sun. Swam in the ocean and drank alot. Our bar tab (including food) ran about US$120.00 We met a group that called themselves "The Bitches Of Hamelton." They were from Hot Springs. Arkansas. What an odd crowd. Old, occasional draq queens. Very much into drugs. They had more pot than they could smoke in a week, so they gave Sandy a few joints. They also had a lot of Xanax-- at some pharamcies, you don't need a perscription to buy drugs. Together they were every bad gay stereotype you had ever met. Not a butch bone in their bodies. They gigeled at every lame quip that rolled off their tired lips. Must be all the Xanax.

We tried to keep some distance between them and us. But, we were in the same hotel and on the same schedules.

In the evening we drove to the Poco Hotsprings. The tour was organized by a local gay bar. We spent an hour on the road in a very rickety bus.

The hot springs were good. The dinner was nice. A number of guys got in on and had sex. At one point, an exhibitionist with a boner walked right towards the by me. I joked that I thought my eye was going to be poked out.

Wednesday things went a bit sour. We were on the beach talking about massages. The hotel offered massages. But, a guy on the beach offered erotic massages. We wondered what would you get with an erotic massage? Was a massage and a hand job cheating? That's were things went wrong. John said that a hand job and a massage was just a business transaction and wasn't really cheating. Mac (John's boyfriend) was very uncomfortable with that and said so, For the rest of the day he was very distant from John. They ended up arguing about it on the way to dinner.

Thursday I think things cleared up between Mac and John. At least they were holding hands again. We took a cruise. Saw dolphins, whales. Went snorkeling. Drank a lot. Swam in the ocean. It was a great day.

Thursday evening John got sick. Bleah.

Friday we hung out by the beach. Mathew and I took a walk through more of Vallarta. Very beautiful. Very touristy.

Friday night Mat, Sandy and i had dinner at the Red Cabbage. I thought the food was very good. Mathew on the other hand, got sick. We're not sure if it was the food at the Red Cabbage or something else

Saturday, Mat and Mac rested. John stayed in Vallarta, but Sandy and I went to Poco's Paradise-- a privage gay beach. Very quiet. Very relaxing. It's a nude beach. Sandy and I went nude for a bit, but one of the Bitches of Hamelton kept trying to take our picture. He stoped once we made it very clear to him that we didn't want pictures. But still, just in case, we stayed dressed.

Sunday. Last full day in Puerto Vallarta. We took it easy. Mathew and Mac are still a bit sick. John is stressing out. He doesn't take new situations well and John's being sick has weighed heavilly on him. We hung out at the beach durning the day. Mat and John will only eat American at this point-- Mac Donalds for Lunch. Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Sandy and I are fine.

After the two couples went to bed, I went up the roof top bar and had a few drinks. I chatted with a guy, but he was only interested in Latino's.

Monday we flew back. Sandy took two Xanax to releive his flying anxiety. By the time we got back to Seattle, he was gigly and slightly sluring his words.

Random things I want to remember...

At night the ocean has glowning blue creatures. They're small-- a spec of sand. But they glow a beutiful blue

The waves can be loud. When some of the larger waves crash, my windows rattle

There are very few masculine men in this town. The other guys want to fix me up (I'm the only single guy) but, non-effemantive men are very hard to find. We spotted one, but after talking to him, it turned out he has a boyfriend

Frank from Vancouver is in Seattle. Steven , Vic (Steven's BF), Frank and I met for drinks at the Cuff. Frank and I hung around all evening. Vic and Steve both commented that I should go after Frank. He's a good man with a good job. I said I wanted to but Frank always played it cool-- Frank would be receptive if I touch him, but would never touch me. Frank would let me kiss him, but wouldn't kiss me.

Later on Frank said he was tired and was going back to the hotel. I invited Frank to my place. He agreed. We slept together. Cuddled all night. In the morning I tried to have sex with Frank but he stopped me. He said in December he broke up with a guy from Victoria. The break up was hard on him. So he wasn't in the mood. I left it at that.

Later I found a note on my truck from Steven. It said "Slut! No, i didn't really mean that, I hope you had a nice time."

I had breakfast with Steven and Vic. They gave me atta-boy's for going home with Frank. I told them Frank's story and that we didn't have sex. We analyzied it a bit and figured that Frank is probably still seeing someone.

Oh well.

I'm heading down to Puerto Vallarta on Monday morning. This will be the last post till Jan 28th.

My truck is getting old. It's going through more oil. For the first time in the 5 years that I've owned it, I had to put a quart of oil in the engine inbetween the 5000 mile checkups.

C2 lectured me today. Often when it comes to politics I'd rather not argue about it. I think this comes from my family. My parents would never debate politics. If a disagreement came up, they would change the subject.

C2 has noticed that trait in me as well... avoidance of political argument. But, when the labour camps in North Korea hit the news yesterday, he wanted me to argue about it. He said that some issues were too important to ingore... such as the war on terrorism, Iraq and North Korea. And that I needed to be more comforatble with disagreement between people and to be ready to defend my opinions.

I agreed with him. Just to avoid an arguement.

I had lunch with with the work bears. Bruce showed up. It's the first time he's done so in months.

I tanned again last night. I'm slightly red now, though it's starting to look good. If I take my shirt off you can tell I used a tanning bed. The tane fades very quickly along my sides and is very strong on the parts that were in contact with the bed.

Tonight I had dinner with Steven. He's starting to fill out the paper work he needs to move to Canada. His BF is in Victoria. For other reasons he is going to quit his job this summer. Since it's a natural break from his career, he wants to move closer and build their relationship. I wish him luck.

We had dinner at The Pumphouse. It's a good restaurant. They have 160 different beers on tap.

Unfortunatly, without leaving Seattle, I can't run from Harry. We have many common friends, some of whom are his neighbours.

The Seattle gay scene is very small. Between C6, C2 and I, we know every non-femme gay man in western Washington.

I played hockey last night. We lost 3-1. I actually played a good game. Although, I did get an equal strength roughing penalty.

I'm about to get hurt again. This wound will be self inflicted. I was looking through Yahoo Personals and saw Harry's picture and ad. I sent him an email and asked him out for dinner. No Strings. No Pressure. Part of me wants very badly to date Harry. Another part of me needs to hear him say "No." It would help me move on.

I keep hitting "Send/Receive" in Outlook. Is this the new millennium version of waiting by the phone?

Damn it. I just got another piece of spam. My heart went through a mini-rollarcoster. "I got new email! Oh, it's just spam."

At least I'm heading down to Puerto Vallarta next week. Having a wounded heart on a sunny beach sounds so much better than having a wounded heart in rainy Seattle.

Sunday evening I went and saw Star Trek: Nemesis with two of the pb's. Nemesis is an ok action flick.

I went to the Cuff afterwards. I think the Cuff is dieing off. It's not nearly as popular as it used to be. two or three years ago, the Cuff would be backed for the Sunday night beer bust. Now it's not even a third full.

Interesting trivia that I've been meaning to write down... The Coca Cola Company calls the coke ribbon the "dynamic ribbon device"

I didn't do much on Saturday. I had stomach cramps, so I took it easy. In the evening, I went to a house party at Ryan & Jen's. It was good to see them again.

Sunday morning, I had brunch with Mike, Sandy, Mathew and two of the pb's. We made some of our final plans for Puerto Vallarta. A week from Monday we fly down to Puerto Vallarta. We are staying there for a week.

I hate regret. I wish I didn't have feelings for Harry.

Harry has started seeing one of the pb's. When I heard this, my heart sunk.

Other than that, I went over to Mathew and Sandy's for dinner, a movie (Monsters Inc) and cards.Afterwards, I drove to Mike's and we went to the Cuff. We talked a bit, and I gave him the "Let's just be friends speach"

Had dinner with Steven. It was the first time I've seen him since mid December. Things are going ok with him, though he is stresssed now.

For the past year Steve has been in a long distance relationship with a guy from Victoria. Christmas was good because they got to spend two weeks together. Now that they are apart again, Steve is a bit bummed.

Steve has decided to leave his company. It's merging with another company and they are downsizing the staff. Steve doesn't like the direction the merged company is taking, so he's asked for a package. He's not sure what to do now. Part of him wants to move up to Victora, to be with his BF. But he's not sure how fast he can get a visa. It may take years. It may take days.

Last night, Mike came over for dinner. It was plesant although conversation with him is difficult. There were lots of awkward silences.

We did have sex, though he didn't spend the night. He has a very cute body.

We are supposed to get together again on Saturday evening.

No. I'm not falling for Mike-- bad conversation, plus he lives a very different life then me. I earn a lot more than he does I don't want to be a sugar daddy.

Cor is up to his old tricks. He told me that Mike called and then he fed me a line about how the two of them flirted and how Mike wanted to meet him. I asked Cor when Mike called and Cor laughed. He said mike hadn't really called. He saw Mike's number on a "Cuff" business card and decided to bug me.

C2 has found Norm (See Dec 20th) Norm hasn't been captured by the Brazillian goverment and charged with sedition. Instead he moved to Phoenix. His mother is sick and he's taking care of her. C2 is going to Phoenix to visit Norm. Good vacation and Norm owes him $1400.

Tonight I used a tanning bed for the 1st time. It was just a 10 minute session since I'm prone to burning. I'm going to Peurto Vallarta at the end of January, and I don't want to burn once I get there. I can't say I noticed a colour difference, but it did chap my lips.

Yesterday I had a second date with Mike. We went hiking at Snoqualmie Falls. It was fun. We did have a romp in the bed. He has a hot body. I'm not going to analyze the situation yet. I want to get to know him better before I judge him.

Cor is back. He spent the last 3 weeks touring Asia-- China, Japan, Korea and Tibet. He had a great trip though he's very jet lagged right now.

Played hockey last night. We lost 5-1. It was the first game I played in a few weeks. I missed a game when I traveled. Also, the season suspends over Christmas.

Yesterday I bought a light box Basically it's a very bright light on a stand. You sit next to it for about 30 minutes in the morning.



I've been very groggy this winter.When it's cloudy and rainy during the day, I have problems getting out of bed, I feel tired and have low energy. Once the sun goes down, I wake up.

It has definitely wakes me up in the short term (for a few hours after I use it) We'll see how well it works after in the long term.

Tommy, is it more sunny in LA?

Last night I had dinner with C2, Mathew and Ryan. After dinner, C2 went home. Mat, Ryan and I headed to the Seattle Eagle. It was "Pee Night." Several guys asked us if we were there for the wet party. The Eagle is a very skanky bar. A lot of the patrons don't look healthy.

Had a fun first date on Thursday. We had lunch together. After lunch we went snowboarding. He never snowboarded before, but when I told him I was going, he asked if he could come along. So, I showed him the basics.

He's a cute, nice man. I'm going to get to know him better. We'll see how things go. He words most weekdays during the evenings, so scheduling may keep us apart.

I spent new years eve with Mathew and Sandy. We had dinner at 13 coins. Expensive. Mediocre food.

I also dropped by their new place. They are all unpacked. It looks like a home now.

Weird milestone. My blog has had more than 5000 hits.