Satuday I went to Levenworth for Oktoberfest. It was strange and fun. Very crowded. Lots of older drunks. We didn't stay the night because the hotels were all full.

It's very surreal to be in a beer hall surrounded by thousands of people listening to polka music.

On the way back we stopped off at FxBear's. FxBear is sick. Ten years ago he had bone cancer in his elbow. Eventually his elbow gave out. Two years ago he had his elbow replaced. He never really recovered from the surgury. His body didn't fully accept the new elbow. Now he needs another one.

FxBear lives with his partner in a log cabin in the foothills. It's very isolated so they appreciate the company.

Sunday I tended to the house. I cleaned the roof and the gutters.

>"STEREO TYPE! People in LA wear flannel. When you talk about tans your referring to caucasions. Los Angeles is more the whites"

Dollars to donuts John wrote that. ;-)

Yes it's a stereo type, but you have to admit there is a grain of truth to it. Not every one fits, but enough do that you can't deny it. I'd bet that you have a nice tan and usually wear trendy clothing when you go out.

So what does someone from Seattle look like? What does someone from California, especially LA look like? Why is there a difference?

It comes down to the weather. L.A. has warmth and sun. Seattle has cloud and rain. The sun attracts people who want to show their bodies off-- the entertainment industry, models, actors, body builders, the trend set. In Seattle the rain makes you stay indoors. If you go out you dress warm.

So when someone shows up tan and buff, died blonde hair, funky sunglasses and a trendy cotton vest with no undershirt, you know they are from California. After a month of rain the sunglasses will go. The revealing vest will be replaced with a warm flannel shirt, the tan will start to fade and a mild depression will set in until he teaches himself to deal with the gloom, to drink lots of coffee and to to get out and be active.

Saturday afternoon. I worked around the house, mowing, fertalzing, weeding, sweeping.

Saturday evening, Steven, Vic, Stan I went out for dinner. Steven neede to blow off some steam. He didn't have a good day with his brother. Vic and I are worried that the brother is only telling Steven what he wants to hear and that once he's alone he'll be back to his old self.

Sunday I goofed off. I had breakfast with the gang at Endoline Joes. Went to a couple of farmers markets, watched a movie, hot-tubed and then hit the sack.

My mother wants me to go Grande Prairie to spend a weekend with my new niece. Sigh. It's a seven hour flight one way. That's a lot of traveling for a weekend. Maybe I'll visit them over Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Steven is back from LA with his brother and nephew. This morning I helped them unpack. The nephew is very high energy. Definitely ADD. The brother seams like a nice guy though we didn't talk much.

He looked very California. Man-o-man is he in for a supprize. Seattle is sunny today but soon the rain will start and it will be rainy and gray till May.

I hope things go well for them.

Just got this from mom...

From: Barry's mom
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 5:37 AM
To: Barry
Subject:

Hi Barry ,the baby is 100 % , we are counting our blessing,
and Donna is holding her own, so things our starting to look up
love Mom

Lots of bad news.

My sister-inlaw delivered a baby two weeks premature. There were complications and she needed a c-section to remove the baby. The baby came out flatline but is now alive and in an incubator. My sister-inlaw is not doing well. Her kidneys are shutting down and her womb won't shrink back to normal.

Steven is having a worse time. His step-mother died in a car accident. Also, he is in L.A. packing and moving his brother and nephew to Seattle. Last night when I called he started to cry. He said his brother is addicted to crystal meth and has run out of money. They were living in horrible conditions.

Damn it. I wrote a nice long post but Blogger ate it. To recap.

Saturday C2 and I finished the wook work on the deck.

Sunday I went out on the boat with Mac and Joe. We ran out of gas. Mat's parents helped us out.

Steven is moving his brother and nephew from L.A. up to Seattle. His brother can't hold a job, parties too much and is flat broke. Steven is renting them an apartment up here.

Today is the day all my work is due. My whole team is putting our feature's into the product. It's been a scary day.

At about noon I realized that I had made a small fuck up. My heart stopped. I worked fast and furious to clean up the bug before anyone noticed. I was on the verge of a panic attack the whole time.

Fortunatly I fixed the problem before anyone noticed. Well, someone noticed, but I told them that it was "user error" and not a bug. They believed me.

I'm still working a lot. Steven says he doesn't know me any more. I have been taking the odd evening off.

Last night I went to the annual HRC dinner and auction. It was a swanky dress up event. WST brought C2 and I to the dinner. WST is an HRC Federal club member which means he donated over $1200.00. Good for him.

It's a good cause. But, I didn't really enjoy myself. The seating was weird-- they didn't place C2 and I at the same table. Neither of our table mates were that interesting.

Oh well. I went home early, slept and now I'm back at work.

I have been working 12 hour days since Friday. I'm starting to lose it. I have periods where my eyes just wont focus.

I've been working a lot this week. We have a big deadline on Sept 20th and I have to make up for all the goofing off that I've been doing.

I spent the weekend in Victoria. It was fun and relaxing. Victoria is very quaint. It has very mild weather year around, making it a great place for gardens and retirees. It's in the rain shadow, so even though it's very close to Seattle, it gets much more sun.

We (Matt, Sandy, Mac, Joe and I) left Seattle at 5:30 am to make the 8:15 ferry.

We got to Vic and Steven's place at around 10:30am. It's beautiful. It's farily high up on Mill Hill, so they have a great view.

We didn't do much on Saturday, hung around, had dinner, played cards and went to bed.

Sunday we went to Butchart Gardens. They are very beautiful. It must take a small army of gardeners to keep them in shape.

After that, we went to downtown Victoria, watched an Imax Film and walked around the city. Very cute and touristy.

After that was dinner.

Monday, we got up late had breakfast, goofed off, packed and headed back to the ferry. Unfortunatly the ferry ride back was painful. We were delayed by about 45 minutes leaving. Then, when we got to the other end, another ferry was in our slip so we haid to wait another 20 minutes. Then, it took about an hour to get through customs. bleah.

Last night, Steven's passport and wallet were stolen from his jeep.

He was a bit careless, they were in the front seat and he didn't lock the door. At the same time it doesn't feel good knowing that someone is going around late at night trying car doors.

Bleah. Bad weekend. Although it started off good-- I talked to Tommy on Saturday morning. Like him, I'm apprehensive go write about my feelings for him, since I know he'll be reading this.

Saturday afternoon my truck broke down. I'd bet it's the alternator or the governor. While I was driving, the radio died. It would blink on and off, but wouldn't stay on. Then the truck started to loose power and I noticed all the gages were dead. I pulled the truck into a plaza and checked the fuses-- all were ok. So, I had it towed to a service center and rented a car.

After that, I spent a couple hours at R&J's end of summer BBQ.

After that, I drove back to my neigbors, every summer next to the August Full Moon, they hold a big party. It's the biggest gay event in Newcastle, WA. It's the only gay event in Newcastle, WA.

Sunday morning I wolk up feeling a bit hung over. That was a bit odd because I didn't drink that much. I had breakfast with Mac, Joe and Matt, and the food didn't help.

By the time I got home from breakfast, I was full on sick. I threw up a couple of times. It may have been some food poisoning. It also could have been a 24 hour flu.

Bleah.

I dodged a bullet today at work.

My company has a policy where you must always grow and learn. If you stagnate, they put you on an strict improvement plan the usually results in you quiting within 6 months.

Well, for for the past two years, my performance was average for my level. Three average ratings in a row, and the improvment plans starts.

For this past year my performance was rated as above average. So, live returns to normal.

Part of me was hoping to get the average rating. It would give me a reason to change, to leave. I've spent seven years in the same division at the same company and honestly I'm not really into the job. I feel like I'm faking it. But, I'm a nice guy that the leaders like to have around, so I slowly crawl up the ladder with them.

Part of me says that I've not a nice job, good salary and that I work with good people. I should count my blessings. There are about six billion people on the planet who are worse off than I. Part of me, my soul, knows that's not enough.

I had dinner with Mac last night. Nothing special, I bought some software for him (Cause I get a good company discount) so we got together over dinner. Sounds like things are going well with him. We talked about boats. He and Joe already have a 37' boat. They are encouraging me to buy one. It would be fun to hang out with them more-- they are good people. Not frugle, but good.

My company has a snack tracking website. Many lunch meetings are catered but don't eat all their food. So, you can go to this web site and report free left overs. Or if you are hungry, you can search for free food near you. Isn't the internet wonderful?

My parents left this morning. So, back to the grind. It was good to see them.

My parents are in town so I've been showing them around. Yesterday I took them on the Spirit of Washington dinner train. Today we walked though the Snoqualmie tunnel.

I saw Liza Minnelli last night. It was weird. There were a lot of people there who were way too into Liza and knew way too much about her.

For some reason WST had eight tickets for Liza so he invited C2 and I along. It turns out WST is a big fan of Liza. He new here life story, her ex-husbands, all her songs.

During Liza's encore number I called Steven on my cell and let him listen in. He started singing along. At the end he text messaged me "You are now as gay as me. I want no shit about Celine Dione!"

The show was nice, but shot. She was on for a little over an hour-- less a 10 minute costume change. There were a couple of glitches, but they just added to the fun. A couple of times she ran out of breath during her songs her voice started to crack up. Also, her makeup started to run and she bitched out the cosmetic company on stage.

Tonight C2 and I saw Collateral. It' a good thriller. I wonder when the well-directed-well-filimed action/thriller film first appeared. I remember back in the 80's and 90's the whole point of the thriller was to well, thrill you. Direction was basic-- just give the audience a clear view. But now with Collateral, or the Bourne Supremacy, there is more to it. Plot aside, the art of the film is worth watching.

Maybe I'm just getting older.

I had a dinner date tonight. Half way through dinner Matt and sany walked up. Matt reacted with mock horror that he hadn't been invited.

Dinner was nice. No kiss goodnight though.

I had a quiet weekend. At first we were going to take a road trip around the Cascade Mountains, but C2 and Matt had to pull out.

Saturday I goofed off at home.

Sunday, I went boating with Mac and Joe. Sandy was there-- he hurt his back, so he spent most of the time resting.

Mac and Sandy were boating along with the gay yacht club. Two of the guys in the flotilla live close to me. I'll invite them over for a BBQ some evening.

We talked about the percentage of gays in Seattle. We think about 10% of the population is gay. To double check, we counted the gay-boats and the straight boats around us. There were 9 gay boats and 80 straight boats. Now I'm curious how many gay people live around me. I only know of two couples, but there are hundreds houses in my neighborhood. How can I tell?

Matt and Sandy are going through a rough patch in their relationship. For various complicated reasons, Matt's parents' lost their home. Now the parents are staying with Matt and Sandy's until they get a new place. Sandy is uncomfortable with the intrusion and the way they've taken over their home. Mac and I want to sit down with Matt and give him a chat. Matt can be very inflexible with Sandy, but when it comes to his parents, he'll do anything.

Thursday night I had a BBQ at my place. It was Matt's birtday and we wanted to plan the upcomming weekends. It went well. Two of Mac and Joe's friends from the Yatch Club showed up. They are cool guys. Hopefully we'll see more of them.

I saw The Bourne Supremacy last night. It's a good, forgettable action flick.

I've been thinking about renaming or moving this web site. I've noticed that I'm censoring myself because word can get back to my friends. Hmmm.

I had a good weekend. On friday, I had dinner with C2 and some of his friends. One of the guys at dinner gets around a lot (Even more than a usual gay man) He had a husband, a sex slave, plus he regularly went to orgies.

I think, at one time or another, everyone at the table had sex with the guy. When we figured that out, it made for a weird moment.

Saturday, C2 and I worked on the deck.

Saturday evening was Bear Bust at C.C.s-- it was packed. I ran into Behr. He's in financial trouble. He's been unemployed for the past year and now his unemployment insurance has run out. He's not sure what he's going to do. My take on it is that he needs a good swift kick in the ass. He has a long list of things he won't do-- a bad attitude when you really need a job.

Sunday, C2 and I cycled along Lake Washington and watched the Blue Angles and some of the hydrofoil races. Afterwards we biked over to Mac and Joe's boat and hung around with them for a few hours.

Steven, C2 and I send cell phone text messages to each other. Steven and I have no problems typing out short messages on the phone. C2 is struggling. So C2 only sends quick notes--short preprogrammed messages. This makes all conversations kind of random.

"How did the job interview go?"
"I love you. Talk to you later."

"Do you want to have dinner tonight?"
"I love you. Talk to you later."

"Wanna eat my bung hole?"
"I love you. Talk to you later."

I got an email from Liam thanking me for the weekend. He's in Vancouver now.

Liam mentioned how 'alternative' Seattle is. Especially compared to Toronto. Piercings and tatoos are much more common here. The leather crowd isn't the same either. In Toronto people 'dress-up' in leather. In Seattle, people wear scuzzy rough looking leather.

On Sunday I took Liam to see Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square and Alki Beach. Later in the afternoon we swam in Lake Washington. The swim was refresshing, but there was a lot of weedy gunk on the bottom.

We had dinner on the Patio at the River Rock Grill. The weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cool, not too humid, not too dry, not too light, not too dark.

This morning I dropped Liam off at the train station. He's heading up to Vancouver for the rest of the week.

I'm glad he came.

My friend Liam is in from Toronto. I've been showing him around. We've had a blast. Friday we spent the day at Mt Rainier. Saturday, Mac and Joe took us out on their boat. We toured and Lake Washington and Lake Union.

I've helped Tommy clean up his blog a bit. Something weird is still happening with it. But, I'm not sure how to fix it.

Tonight I bought tiki torches for the deck. Steven and I sat out had a drink and enjoyed the night. The evening weather was perfect. Not too hot. Not too cool. The tiki torches helped with the bugs. I haven't bought the fogger yet Tommy, but I'm looking for one. I haven't seen it in a store here.

 

It was warm and sunny this past weekend. Saturday C2 and I worked on the deck. We have one more day of wood work left. Yeah!

Sunday, I hung out with Matt and Sandy and two of their friends in from Pittsburg. We swam, and floated in Lake Geneva.

It's been very hot lately. High's in the 90s. Tommy may be used to those tempuratures, but here in Seattle, its burning us up. Very few homes have air conditioners-- mine included.

I had a BBQ last night, Matt, Sandy, C2 and Steven were over. We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the cooler evening weather. I need to get more tiki tourches or citronella candles. There are many bugs in my back yard.

Harley and I have been writing each other. Harley didn't realize his ex sent me that email and promised to talk to him and calm him down.
 
When I write Harley, I pick my words very carefully. Things will be ok. I don't want another misunderstanding.
 

Steven and Vic were in Vancouver for the weekend to watch one of Vic's kids play in a softball ternament. His son's team won the gold metal!
 
Saturday evening I drove up to Vancouver to join them. We had dinner at the Fountainhead and drinks at Pump Jack. I ran into about half a dozen people that I knew. Which is odd because when I go out in Seattle I run into a similar number of a aquaintences.
 
After Pump Jack, we went to Fritz, a fast food restaurant that only sells gourmet fries. At 1am, fries with cheese and gravy really hits the spot.
 
I slept in Sunday morning, visited relatives, did some shopping and headed home.
 

Sigh. I just got an nasty email from Harley's ex. I talked to C2 about it. We both agree that right now the thing to do is to ignore it. If he contacts me again I have to tell him to bud out. That'd I'd like to stay friends with Harley, but what happened between Harley and I is our private business.
 
Barry,I will get to the point here. I recently spoke to Harley and he was angry over the fact that he had previously made it very clear to you the high standards, expectations, and integrity he is looking for in a friend or future romantic interest. I spent 8 years with Harley and know that he is a VERY honest and sincere person who does not lie. When he previously had mentioned that you two had a mutual interest in each other, I flat out told Harley I knew who you were (RFR trash), and knew that you would be true to form with the rest of the RFR “Bear” crowd who costumes behind flannel shirts and Carhardts pretending to be more than a bunch of queens and   “bottom hoes” that pass STD’s to each other and are looking for the next fresh meat to suck. I know…you all have high integrity and are relationship oriented (yeah right), but in the mean time you have no problem sleeping with anyone and everything and will even prey on “good” people to satisfy your selfish needs until you meet Mr. Right. Well after I heard the story of your rude friends and your ability to use Howard as just another trick, I took it upon myself to make sure you act like a real man (for once in your life). Even though you are obviously an emotionally, mentally, and sexually dysfunctional person, I still expect you to apologize to Harley for your inappropriate (but typical) behavior of leading him on just so he could be your next trick. (Note: He deserves way better than you bud). However you do it, I will expect nothing less in the next few days but you calling Harley and explaining to him that what went on between you two was not just a “booty call”, and was a misunderstanding.  Barry, I will be straight up, if I don’t here from Harley you have made this call you will have to report to me next…..as you can see I am not a nice guy nor do I really give a shit what you think. As you can see by this e-mail, I have a little more aggressive personality than most. If you have a problem with me I would be more than glad to meet you and “step off the curb” to defend Harley . See…I am good to those who are close to me.   I protect and look out for them.  I actually treat others well and do not use others. Something you never learned. As well, if you do not call Harley and I ever see you in public, whether by yourself or at dinner or at the bar with a group of friends, I will not hesitate to call you out and humiliate you for your inappropriate behavior towards Harley . How you conduct your life is your business, but don’t drag good innocent people into your gutter of sexual dysfunction. Save that for xxx, xxx, xxx and xxx….your mentors. I expect a call to Harley

Yesterday the new shower glass arrived. I worked from home while it was installed.

Working from home is always fun. There are so many extra distractions. I did the laundry, watched TV and ate cheese and Cheerios.

I worked extra late to make up for my loafing.

The weather was perfect on Tuesday evening. Steven and I used the deck for the first time. We had drinks and talked-- work stress, how things are going with friends, weekend plans, stuff like that.

Steven is back in town. We had dinner together last night. We talked about going to Vancouver this weekend. C2 wants to go camping, but Steven will be in Vancouver for a softball tournament with Vic's kids. We'll see.

Yay. For the first time in weeks my truck took less than $50.00 for a fill-up.

I didn't do much this past week. For a while I thought I blanked out-- I couldn't remember Tuesday. Then I remembered last week was a four day week. What I thought was Monday was actually Tuesday.

Wednesday night I watched too much TV.

Thursday night-- same thing. Sigh.

I spent Friday night with Harley. I think the point has come when I have to tell him we are not dating. I think he suspects that, but it will be good to clear the air.

Saturday I worked on the deck and the yard. In the evening I had dinner with C2, Matt and Sandy. Sandy is going to Lazy Bear all by himself. That's causing Matt and Sandy to fight. Matt is convinced that Lazy Bear is all about cruising, partying and having sex. Sandy says he's going there to spend time with friends. Matt is invited but doesn't want to go.

The gang sides with Matt. Every one I've known to go to Lazy Bear, went for the cruising, partying and sex.

Before dinner, C2 and I talked about ways we could bring up Lazy Bear, just to make Sandy squirm. We decided that we didn't have to bring up Lazy Bear. Matt would do it for us. We were right. Matt brought it up. Sandy said "I really don't want to talk about this."

Last night I saw Spider Man 2. I ended up being disappointed. Maybe it was all the hype about how good it was. The special effects were great, but I didn't care about the villain or if Peter Parker and Mary Jane got together. The villain was too simple. He becomes evil because he has to be evil; otherwise there wouldn't be a movie. And just when it looks like Spider Man will fail and the world will be destroyed, the villain becomes good and saves the day.

Bleah.

I had a good relaxing weekend.

Friday evening was dinner at Siam's with C2, Matt, Sandy, Muligan and G.

Saturday morning C2, his lesbo's and I hiked the Hyak Tunnel. The Hyak Tunnel is an abandoned two mile long train tunnel. It's an easy walk but eerie and claustrophobic. For most of the way you walk in pitch black. Even the lesbo's dogs were slightly scared.

Saturday evening I joined Mac and Joe on their boat. They were part of a flotilla with a local gay yacht club. The yacht club members seem to be good people.

Later in the evening, I met the Doctor. He's a real doctor; a good man. I ended up spending the night with him. We tried to be discreet, but there is very little privacy in a flotilla. I left his boat at 6am, hoping to get back to Mac and Joe's before anyone noticed. But, when you walk across a calm boat, it rocks. End result-- everyone one figured out where I spent the night.

I took a lot of ribbing for that. Several times other yachters said "Morning?" to Mac and Joe while motining to me. The didn't mean "Good Morning?" They meant "Was he the guy who walked accross my boat this morning?" Mac would nodd back "Morning."

Mac and Joe went out of their way fill in the rest of the gang. When Matt and Sandy arrived, before I had a chance to say "Hello" to them, Matt asked "How was your visit to the Doctor? Did he ask you to cough?"

Sunday evening we watched the fireworks on Lake Union.

Monday morning we had breakfast. Afterwords C2 and I left.

Sunday evening, called me and asked me to pick him up at the airport. He and Vic spent the weekend in L.A. Shortly after I met him at the arrivals level, he asked "How was the Doctor?"

Bastard. I hate plumbing.

I went back to Home Depot to get the drain pipe for the new garbage disposer. I browsed around the plastic pipe area with out much hope. The bend I need was too tight for the pipes they make. I found something that I thought might work, so I picked it up and went over to the disposer area to try and find the magic disposer-unjamming wrench I heard about.

Well, I found the wrench. It's the same wrench I used with the old disposer to tighten and loosen sink connection.

I bought the pipe and went home. Sure enough, the pipe didn't bend right. So, I tried the old unjamming wrench on the old jammed disposer.

It cleared the jam up in 10 seconds flat.

Bleah. I still don't have a working garbage disposer. I bought a new disposer. Even though I bought the same make and model, the drain for the new disposer is a different attachment type than the old.

Now I'm going back. I'm going to buy the wrench that unjams disposers. (Thanks to whoever mentioned it) I'm also going to buy the right tubing to hook the new disposer up. We'll see what's easiest.

I think my garbage disposer is dead. I broke a glass. Some shards went down the disposer intake. I didn't clean the glass out, I just turned the disposer on and hoped it would clear the glass.

It didn't. It got jammed. Very jammed. I've taken the disposer off the drain and tried to clean it out. That didn't work. Right now I either have to take the disposer apart to try and figure out the jam or I have to buy a new disposer. A new disposer is $150.00. Fixing the old disposer will take hours. I don't have that much free time and there is no guaranteed that I can fix the problem and properly put the disposer back together. On top of that, the dishwasher drains through the disposer. So I can't use the dishwasher until the disposer is hooked up.

Sigh. I guess I buy the new disposer.

Last night my neighbor, P, and I bicycled around Mercer Island. We were so proud of our exercising that we stopped off at the Roanoke Inn for some beer and munchies.

Sunday was Seattle's Gay Pride Day.

As usual the parade was overly long and boring. I arrived at least an hour into the parade. It still went on for another two hours.

After the parade, Behr the Tease and I met up with Mac and Joe at Volunteer Park for some more Pride Events. We listened too the bands and toured the booths. It's amazing how mainstream the Pride Events are. Aside from the usual left wing causes, there was a garage door company, a window company, an auto dealership and a yacht club.

Today at work is annual review day! Yeah!

Many people are walking the halls, sarcastically saying "I like doing reviews." Most of us are conviced that our rank, salary and bonus have already been decided. Our review will only be used to justify management's decision.

Hmmm. I was going over today's Web Bug log. I noticed that someone got hear by searching for a defunct catering business that I was a partner in. I also know that C2 and I talked about said business yesterday. I really hope that C2 didin't stumble on this page.

I gotta leave the links and proper nouns out. I just removed the busines's name from this blog. Hopefully it will fall out of the search engines soon.

I've been working late. Steven got back last night. We had dinner together at Melrose Grill and then played mini-golf.

I looked the Melrose Grill up on the web. It won second place for The Seattle Weekly's "Best Place to Eat in Renton" First place was "I WOULDN'T EAT IN RENTON/I'D RATHER DIE"

Yes, my city, Renton, is not a coveted suburb. It's not a high crime area. It's just that most of it is old and poorly maintained. Much of the new is strip-mall. On the plus side, in the past couple of years the city planners have fixed that. Renton is starting to be interesting.

I took it easy on Sunday. Did nothing in the morning. Went cycling in the afternoon.

Late afternoon I met up with C2 at the Cuff. We ran into George. He just quit work. He works for the same company I do. He doesn't have a job now. He's going to take a year off to do what he wants.

After the Cuff we went to C2's place for a BBQ with C2's room mate. We watched Six Feet Under, and Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman. What a horrible movie. we fast forwarded over the talkie parts and wanted the lame special effects segments. It's a good bad movie, but you really have to like bad movies.

Yesterday I pulled blackberry bushes out of my back yard. My forearms now have many little scrapes. The yard looks much better though. I also found that I've got a patch of wild strawberries.

Yesterday evening, C2, Matt and I had dinner together. We had dinner at the Machiavelli and dessert at the 611 Supreme. Good food. It's been a long time since I have had dinner and dessert at great restaurants.

C2 left after that. Matt and I had a drink at the Manray. Matt reaffirmed his hate of bars and his commitment to Sandy.

I was home by 10:30. I chatted with Steven, emailed Harley, soaked in the tub and then hit the sack.

The next day I go this from Harley...

"Amazing. Your nights sound very similar to mine. But I can't help it wonder what one of Seattle's most eligable bachelors is doing at home on Friday and Saturday night, when the weather is so nice. I would think you'd be out baiting your hook to see what you could catch to put in the new hot tub. Not that I want to put such ideas in your head, but you are wasting your best and most sellable years at home. You should fish before your bait goes stale. I, on the other hand, am at least making money on my weekend nights. I'm beyond my prime and more interested in building up my retirement instead.
"

I spent the past two nights assembling an Ikea Wardrobe. Sigh. It's not that hard, it just has many screws and needs a lot of nails. Nails! This is Ikea furniture that needs more than an Alan wrench. I've used a drill, a hammer and 3 kinds of screwdrivers.

It looks nice though and should be very functional.

At some point I know I'll stop buying Ikea furniture. It always looks nice in the beginning, but, it doesn't age well. They use too much particle board which always ends up splintering. But, Ikea has found the sweet spot for affordable, functional and attractive stuff. It may not age well, but it works and it's not that expensive.

Weird Trivia. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea has overtaken Bill Gates as the worlds richest man.

A while back, I added a web bug to this web page. The web bug tells me a few simple things about the people who read this journal-- the reader's IP address, time zone, and how they got to this page.

When I started the web bug, I only wanted to see the IP address and the time zone. I wanted to prove that some friends were reading this page (I know you are T&C!)

The referral page turned out to be much more interesting. I discovered how most people find this web site-- searching for porn. Especially misspelled porn. Things like "mastrabation", "big brests" or "afica nude". To be fair, some people get here searching for properly spelled porn-- "porn garage dump", "i got laid by two guys" or "jail house gay twinks."

I broke the glass in my shower door. I took the doors out while I was seeling a leak. I was a bit too rough putting the glass back and one door shattered in my hands. I got off lucky-- a few small cuts and a bruised ego.

Steven helped me clean things up. it took over an hour of vacuuming and sweeping.

Thanks Steven.

So I've told Officer Peter, thanks but no thanks. It would have been nice to see him again, but I'd rather put my efforts into finding someone here in Seattle. On top of that, I'm still seeing Harley. I'm don't think we are dating. We haven't had that talk yet. We just spend some time together.

Speaking of Harley, He's comming over tonight. We are having dinner with C2 and some of his friends.

Vic is in town as well.

I'm finally feeling better. My carbuncle is drying up. I don't feel sick any more.

Last night I went to see Jaded52. My friend Ryan now plays guitar in the band. It was his first time on stage. Jaded 52 is a solid alt-punk-rock band. Even though I'm not a big punk fan, I enjoyed the show.

Over lunch we noticed that if you took a company slogan and put it on underwear, you often end up with something funny and kinky.

Imagine "Where do you want to go today?" on a pair of boxers.
"Think Different"
"Drivers Wanted"
"We Try Harder"
"I'm Lovin' It"
"Like Nothing Else"
"Obey Your Thirst"

It's becomming an annual event. Officer Peter is from Portland. I met him in the summer of 2002. We tried to keep in touch, but it ended.

Out of the blue, in June 2003, I got an email from Peter asking "Say, would you like to spend a weekend together?" We did. I had a great time. We tried to keep in touch. it ended.

Guess who just emailed and wants to spend a weekend together?

I had a fairly quiet weekend. I'm a little sick, so I took it easy. The doctor put me on an antibiotic and a pain killer.

Saturday night I had dinner with C2, Matt and Sandy. We had a good time. After dinner we had coffee at Starbucks. A social group for deaf people was also at the Starbucks. There were at least a hundred people there furiously signing to each other.

Or maybe they weren't 'furiously' signing, just regular signing. I can't tell. It was surreal to see that many people waving their hands in the air.

Harley was over last night. We had dinner and coitus :)~

This week Harley is driving all over the place visiting remote branches for his company. Today he was in Port Townsend which is at least two hours away from Seattle.

Harley is a very nice guy. He's also a pushover. Unfortunatly I'm not falling in love with him. I'm going to let things go a little while longer. He'll be a good friend.

I spent Friday night with Harley. It was fun. I'm going to put effort into getting to know him.

He's very handsome with a great body. On the down side, we lead very different lives. He doesn't have many friends. He doesn't read newspapers or watch TV. He doesn't use the Internet. It's hard for me to have a deep conversation with him. But, he is a very nice guy.

On Sunday and Monday C2 and I wired up the hot tub. Yes, it took two days to do the wiring. The hot tub is 50 feet away from the house. We had to lay a lot of conduit and dig trenches for the wire.

C2 is a great friend. I don't know why he helps me so much with my house. I know it's not love. I know he doesn't want to move in. I owe him big time. Any one have a suggestion for a gift?

This morning the tub was finally ready to use. Steven and I jumped in and enjoyed.

The hot tub came this morning. It fits nicely with the deck. The electrical isn't in yet so it will be a few days before we can use it.

It wasn't too much work to get the tub to the pad. My contractor thought they'd need to use a crane. Instead I mowed a 4 foot wide path through the blackberries to my neighbor's. We then brought the tub in from my neighbor's driveway.

As an added bonus, I got to meet my neighbors when I asked for permission to go on their land. We don't see each other very often. I'm at the top of a hill. They are at the bottom. Their drive way goes down the hill along my land.

New look. I did it accidentally. I like all the new features blogger has. Unfortunatly in the proces I lost all my old comments.

Over lunch with T, C2 said he was tentativly offered the job-- after the background check passed. We both new what the really meant. Last year C2 left the company while he was being investigated for theft. He never stole anything. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Charges were never filed.

About an hour later C2 called me. The background check was good. He got the job! I think the fact the he was re-hired is proof the company believes he's clean.

Yesterday C2 had an interview with my company. If he gets the job, then he'll be working at a building near me. He said the interview went well

C2 and I had dinner with Matt and Sandy. It looks like C2 and Sandy have resolved their differences.

Bees

Last night Mac came over to help me with some electrical stuff. While we were working at the breaker box, we noticed that bees kept hitting the window. We thought it was weird, but paid it no more attention.

I went outside to work on the wiring. That when I noticed that above the window bees were building a nest! The bees were agitated by my presense. Dozens of them were flying around. I went back in and pointed the nest out to Mac. We looked at it for a few minutes. Mac said it gave him the creaps.

I went and bought some bee and wasp killer. We opened a crack in the window and spraid the nest from inside.

I felt a bit bad killing the bees. But, I don't see how I could have moved the nest. Oh well.

I had another birthday dinner on Friday. There is a split in the gang-- Sandy didn't keep everyone in the loop while he was was arranging my Thursday birthday dinner. Steven and C2 thought Sandy was too busy to arrange my dinner, so they arranged another. Sandy felt slighted and that C2 and Steven were trying to take over. Harsh words were exchanged. Blah. blah blah. Boring gay drama.

Saturday, Matt, C2 and I worked on the deck. Later on Matt and I shopped at Ikea (He needed to borrow my truck) and then dinner at Matt and Sandy's.

After that I went to the Cuff and Eagle. I met Charlie at the Eagle and tricked with him. He's in town visting family for about a week. Charlie is handsome, but weird. The next day he told me that he spends most of his free time cruising for sex-- hanging around porno-video stores. Bleah.

Sunday, Had breakfast with Mac and Joe. Worked on the Yard a bit, then kayaked at Seward Park and met up with Mac and Joe on their boat. It was beautiful and Sunny. A great day to be on the water.

Charlie just called. He wants to meet for drinks on Thursday. Hmmm.

It's 6am. I'm already at work. I have a presentation to give at 1pm and I'm trying to finish it.

I'm also goofing off-- writing in my blog.

I'm not interested in my project at all. That leads to these last minute cruches where I work hard to cover my ass.

I had two birthday dinners last night. One earlier on with Ryan and Jen. Things are going well with them. I talked with Ryan about working for him.

The 2nd birthday dinner was with Matt, Sandy, Behr and the Tease. More good food and company.

The Tease has a date with someone he's met on the internet. They've been chatting for a while and really like each other. They are meeting in person this weekend. I'm betting he'll be disappointed. 99% of all internet dates don't work out. But, the Tease has high hopes. He's looking for a book on gay astrology. He wants to do their charts to see how things will work.

Thursday is my birthday-- 34th. This year I didn't tell people. Part of me was hoping for a quiet birthday. Part of me was curious to see who would remember.

Everyone remembered. Damn, I have great friends.

They are trying to plan a party. C2 called to vent about the discussions-- they are arguing about where and when. Some want it on Thursday cause they can't make it on Friday. Some want it on Friday cause they can't make it on Thursday. Some want it at Siam's. Some at Z'Tejas. Some at Chia's.

I told C2 that I would pick a time and place and email everyone. C2 said "No! That will make Sandy feel bad, like he failed to organize your party."

Yesterday I had another date with Harley. We last had dinner was in November. About a week ago Harley mailed me and asked me out again.

We met at my place. Steven saw him, made a couple rude/sexy remarks (Skip dinner and just hit the sack!) and stuck his tounge out while ogling Harley's ass.

Harley and Ihad dinner at Claim Jumpers. He has a wheat alergy. After dinner, we walked through Dash Point Park.

We drove back to my place and kissed for a couple hours. No sex. Harley moves very slowly. He said that even though he's 45, he has only had one one-night stand.

This morning, Steven wolk me up and asked about my date. Steven said Harley was very hot. Steven actually said "I wanted to get naked and stick my butt in the air!"

Harley is very attractive. It will take time to get to know him better. He has odd work hours, so we can only see each other once a week or once every 2nd week.

I had lunch with Steven. He spend last weekend in Montreal with Vic. We talked about that for a while.

We also talked about me quitting my job. He told I'm spoiled. I forget what it's like to not have money. I've got it good where I am.

I know that's true, but it's not enough. I've got alot out of my current job-- my green card, enough cash to pay my bills and mortage for five years, a good education on building world class software. All that's left is to collect my salary and climb the corporate ladder. I'm too young to be stuck in a rut. I want a new chapter, a new advecture.

I talked to Steven about quitting. When I told him I was going to quit before I had a new job, he loudly said "No!" He felt it would hurt my marketability if I did so.

I see Tommy agrees with him

They are probably right. But, at the same time I would love to have this summer off.

I'm going to quit work. Probably towards the end of summer. I need to finish off some repair work on the house and the deck before I leave my job.

Why am I quitting? Well. I can't see my self doing this job for the rest of my life. I got a lot out of my job, but I'm bored now. the only thing that's keeping me is the money.

Part of me wants to quit, take a few months off and then find a new job. Part of me says I should find a new job first. I haven't decided which I'm going to do.

Friday night C2 and I helped Matt and Sandy *not* move a hot tub.

Matt and Sandy bought a used hot tub. It was a good deal. But, they needed help to move it. So, they rented a U-Haul.

The tub wasn too heavy, but it was very awkward. When we finlly got it to the U-Haul, the truck was too small. bleah.

We left it in the yard.

Saturday morning, C2 and I worked on the deck.

Saturday evening, I went over to Reed's. We talked and drank. Reed also did some drugs-- cocaine. I think Reed is depresed. He told me he was bad man. He said he never planned that. It just happened.

C2 and I watched the final of Frasier. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. Too many shows try to end with a bang. But, they just end up cramming in a lot of random stuff that's more distracting than interesting.

It was very predictable too.

C2 and I talked about moving away from Seattle. I was trying to figure out if he'd move away with me. I don't think he clued into that. Then again, he may be happy in Seattle.

Last night C2 and I saw Super Size Me a documentary about a man who eats nothing but McDonalds meals three times a day for a month. In the month he gains 30lbs, has his cholestorol spike by 65 points and makes his liver sick. It's a good documentary.

Afterwards we went to the Cuff. While C2, Aryik and I were talking, two different men walked up to me and told me how handsome I was. It felt good for my ego. C2 and Aryik made jokes about how they were being ignored. C2 said "What am I? Chopped liver?"

It cost me $50.00 to fill up my truck. Sigh.

Lately I've been watching Adult Swim. I like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2021. Basically these are very cheaply animated cartoons full of rude humor. The characters puke on each other, do drugs, have sex, beat each other up and have crude adventures with shrink&grow ray guns and robots with brains-- very juvenile.

"The penalty for a robot harming a human will be one thousand years frozen in carbonite!"
"A thousand years frozen in carbonite? It'll be so cold!"
"My nipples are hard just thinking about it."

I think this is the future of TV. These shows can be made on a shoe string budget and, juvenile humor aside, are fairly well written. Within 15 years, teenagers with inexpensive computers and video cameras will change the way TV and films are made, just like the way teenagers with inexpensive amplifiers and guitars changed the way music was made.

Quiet weekend. I had a sort of date on Friday night. It's not going to go anywhere.

Saturday C2 and I worked on the Deck.

Saturday evening, C2, Dav and I went out. We hung around the Madison Pub. C2 got a bit drunk. He was chatting up many people. Flirting. Insulting. Chatting.

Dav and I started a ruse to stir up the pot. Dav and I pretended we were a couple. C2 was our 'straight' friend. We said C2 was a millionare with a bitch of a wife who would take all his money if they divorced. So C2 had to sneak around with us to get his fill of man meat.

It worked. Many twinks flocked to C2. He was very annoyed. He doesn't like twinks.

Sunday night was the final Survivor Potluck. We had it at Matt and Sandy's. Good food. The Survivor final was overly dramatic.

I'm going to be an uncle. My brother's girlfriend is due in late October.

This is the first baby in my family. I'm sure my other brother is relieved-- no more pressure on him to have at least one kid in the family

Joe is employed again. You can tell he's very excited from the email he sent out. I think money was tight between Mac and Joe-- they have a very big boat. The new job will take that stress of their shoulders.

Their room mate, Behr, is still unemployed. Lazy-ass.

Yesterday I helped Mac and Joe move a BBQ and buy a new screen door-- they needed a truck and I had one.

I dreamt about Harry last night. We were together in Mexico. We were Happy. I don't know where that dream came from. It's been about a year since I've seen Harry-- since he dumped me.

On Sunday I went boating with Mac, Joe, Sandy and the Tease. It was a good day. Mostly we drank and layed in the sun.

C2 and I worked on the deck today. We had a weird non-crisis. We couldn't find the skil saw or the drill. We searched high and low. Was it theft? That didn't make sense-- there were more valuable things laying around.

Did the contractors accidentally take the tools? I called them. They looked around and said "No."

C2 was very annoyed. I was concerned that I could loose something that valuable.

Then I remember. I asked C2. "Hey. didn't you borrow the drill last week because you had to work on your fence?"

C2 thought about it for a minute and then said "Yes"

Then I asked him "did you borrow the skil saw as well?"

He tought about it some more and then sheepishly said "Yes." again.

I was relieved. C2 was annoyed with himself for forgetting something so important.

After C2 left, I worked on digging out the front flower bed. It has to go down by a foot because its dirt is touching the wood of the house. I'm annoyed with the previous owners for building it up so high.

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.