RO and I are back from Palm Springs. It was wonderful. Sunny and 80's every day. Andy was a great host.

We ate wonderfully, drank heavily, and saw the sights and sounds.

C2 was over last night. He spend the day looking for property on the Hood Canal. He has a lot of money saved up from three years of working in Iraq and he wants to invest it in real estate.

Tomorrow RO and I are heading to Palm Springs for a week of vacation. We are spending it at Andy's. I am very much looking forward to it.

There was another late night car crash Friday night, next door. RO heard it all-- the screeching breaks and the smash into the trees. I only woke up after the big crunch.

When RO went outside he said he saw two people run away. A few minutes later a truck drove by asking if we saw anyone. Then the truck drove off.

The cops showed up a few minutes later.

The car was very smashed up and had flipped around 180. Yet the surroundings looked barely disturbed.

C2 is visiting from Iraq. He's only in Seattle for four days. After that he's off to Chicago. Then a few days in Germany. Ahhh...the life of an international jet setter.

All is going well with him.

Friday night we had dinner with C2 at Siam's.

Matt and Sandy's had a large aquarium upstairs. Overnight it leaked through the ceiling and into the dinning room. From the photos Sandy sent us, it appears that there is a lot of water damage.

Clem came over for dinner last night. It was impromptu. He had to pick up his jacket which he left at our house last week. Our dinner was ready so we invited him in.

I'm back at work today. I'm still stiff but feeling much better. At one point I leaned back in my chair and streteched. My back let out a very loud crack. For a few minutest the pain went away.

My back is almost better. I'm still having problems looking down.

I have hurt my back again. I did it in the most stupid way. While I was brushing my teeth, I bent over to rinse my mouth and spit. Pop! Now my back hurts.

Last night we had our neighbors, Bates & Clem over for dinner. Clem just got back from a two month, half way around the world, cruise.

Clem had some good stories to tell... There was a small, rich, gay contingent on one leg of the cruise. One of the couples got into an argument whereupon the daddy in the relationship cut the boy off of his allowance. The boy complained "If so and so can have a boy friend, then I don't see why I can't!" Clem estimated that the daddy was in his 60's and the boy was in his 40's.

Dinner was fun. Of course RO and Clem got to horsing around. RO also came on to Bates-- cuddling him in the hot tub. RO knows that Bates and I had sex (with RO's permission!) while both RO and Clem were out of town. I hope things don't slowly and gradually get weird between us. I enjoy their company very much.

Although, I really can't blame anyone but myself.

RO had a bad nightmare last night. Looking back, it was funny. At the time it was scary.

I wolk up in the middle of the night when RO started screaming at the top of his lungs. I jumped out of bed. It took me a few seconds to find the light switch. RO was shouting the whole time.

After I turned the light on, RO calmed down. He pointed to a sweater hanging in the window.

He told me I was talking to him, perhaps I was talking in my sleep, when he opened his eyes he assumed the sweater was me. But, my voice was coming from somewhere else. That freaked him out so he started screaming.

He was shaking for a good fifteen minutes afterwards. We slept wit the light on for the rest of the night.

Since my brother never returns my calls, my mother and I co-ordinate things so that I could talk directly to him. Basically, when he got home, my monter called me and passed the phone to him.

My brother promised me that he would ship the rug the next day, last Monday, and if he couldn't, he would make sure mom could do it for him.

Well, he got up and left at 4am the next morning. Mom han't seen him since.

My brother has conned me out of $1000.00. I'm pissed off at him, and amused. I don't think he intentionally took the $1000.00-- I gave him the money for something else. I am sure he intended to do the right thing, but somewhere along the line, bills and alcohol got in the way.

The full story.

About a year and a half ago My brother asked me if I wanted a bear skin rug. He was hunting and had killed a bear. If I would pay for the tanning, $500 down, $500 at pickup, then I could get the rug.

I said yes and sent my brother the first $500.00.

Last fall, about a year later, I asked my brother where my rug was. He said he called the tanner and it was ready to pick up. All I had to do was send him another $500.00. I sent him that and asked him to courier the rug to me.

The rug never arrived. I asked my mom to look into it. Mom visited me last week and is now spending a week with my brother his wife and and their kids.

Mom called me this morning. She said my brother didn't have the rug. She is not even certain that the bear ever made it to the tanner.

I am vdissapointed, but I'm not suprized or angry. I'm trying to figure out who to out-think my brother. The possibility of revenge, or justice, kind of amuses me.

Oh yeah. This slipped my mind.

RO and I had a threesome last night.

When I got home, I half jokingly suggested that RO and I have a threesome with the neighbor, Bates. I really just wanted to invite Bates over for dinner, but I let my mouth rattle on too long.

Bates wasn't available, but RO found a guy on Bear411, a guy he'd been chatting with for a while.

The guy came over and we did it. It was fun, but unemotional.

We cuddled. We kissed. It felt a little dirty, but not in a good way. I don't think RO was overjoyed with the way it turned out as well.

"You are not being proactive with your health."
"It's not my fault that I'm not being proactive. It's the doctor's"

RO's arm still is not healthy. He broke it last December. It was in a cast for weeks, but he never went easy on it-- frequently lifting and moving furniture at the store.

His arm was still in pain so he went to the doctor yesterday. One of the bones has not yet healed. He is annoyed that the doctor didn't give him more detailed instructions on what he could and could not do with his arm.

I know that after four weeks the doctor clearly told RO that RO shouldn't even be wiggling his fingers. That didn't stop RO from lifting furniture.

It irriates me that RO doesn't take his health more seriously. Too many things are more important than his arm.

I talked to RedBricks on Sunday. I like him. I wish I could spend more time with him.

Mom is gone. She has left to spend a week with my brother in Alberta. I enjoyed her visit very much, but I'm glad to get my routine back to normal.

RO fawned over my mom the whole time. I almost felt like I was a neglectful son.

RO, Mom and I saw "Late Nite Catechism." Basically a very smart nun talks with, educates and insults her audience. It's very funny.

I've been learning a bit about our family history. Mom was born in the Netherlands during World War Two. She left when she was five, so she doesn't remember much.

I've often wondered about my family's war stories. Very little is said about it. No one fought during the war, which is a good thing since the Netherlands was one of the first countries to fall to the Nazis and we would have fought for Germany.

Rather than join the Nazis, my grandfather hid. Mom said he spent his time in the attic, knitting or spinning wool. One time, one of my uncles fell into a dike and was drowning. My grandfather ran from the attic and rescued him. It was one of the few times he came out from hiding.

Nazi sympathizers frequently ran into bad luck. Their barns or homes would catch on fire and no one would be around to help.

After the war many sympathizers were quietly forgiven. For example, a neighboring family, had half a dozen sons all old enough to fight. This family couldn't possibly hide all their children from the Nazis since the alternative was to starve to death. Of course some of them had to fight. That family was forgiven since their burdon was larger. Such is Dutch practicality.

Two of my uncles managed to kill a pig without making the pig squeal. They butchered the pig and salted the meat then hid the meat under the potatoes. My uncles both would have been under twelve years old.

One of my uncles was too underweight. For a period the Germans sent him to a children's camp in Denmark where the food was better.

I love Coconut Lemon Grass Soup. It tastes better the next day.

My mother is in town for a week. She had a long flight out-- bad weather delayed her takeoff by a day.

But, all is well now. RO loves fawning over her. RO spent hours setting up her bedroom. Make sure the bed was made just so, with linen spray in the right spots, feature mattress topper plumped just so, new floral and polished artwork.

Yesterday I took mom shopping. She is Canadian and the Canadian dollar is strong now, so everything is a bargin.

I also cooked a good meal for her. She eats very plain-- meat, potatoes and boiled veggies every day-- so I worry a little when I cook fancy for her. I made coconut and lemon grass soup with chicken and mushrooms. Fortunatly she liked it. I think her plain diet is mostly because of my dad and that she would eat more adventurusly if it weren't for him.

Yeserday was the store's anniversary sale. It was a great success. In fact, we sold more yesterday than we did in all of January.

How did we manage that? Mass mailings, expensive signs and steep discounts. So from a profit standpoint yesterday was probably a wash. Still, it gives us a good chuck of cash that we can use to ride out the quiet winter months. It also gives the store a sense of drama. People will yak and yak about the great sale at the beautiful store, where they served wine, and people waited in line for an hour to buy things at 40% off.

We had one bad customer. She was very admiment about not paying the sales tax. Her reason was that she was shipping the gift to another state. We charged her the sales tax anways-- this took much arguing. About an hour later she called us up and accused her of ripping her off. This resulted in a long windy arguement over the phone. We still won't refund her the tax.

I'm not sure the story won't end there.

An old FB left his business card on our front porch. I saw it first and pointed it out to RO who picked it up. On the back was written "Drink?" as the FB was as much a drinking buddy as anything.

It took me a few moments to remember who it was. And I think RO is a bit suspicious. I'm not sure what's going to happen here. Maybe I'll call him up and introduce him to RO. He's a nice guy and RO and I could use more friends.

Yesterday the managers at my day job did the mid year reviews-- we call it a calibration. We try to compare all the employees at a level with each other to see who is the strongest, the weakest, who deserves a promotion, and who diserves the boot.

It's very stressfull. I can't help but feeling that I am also beeing judged.

"Why isn't so-and-so shining? They have so many opportunities and a green field. Yet they are just doing a bit above average." That's a hard question to respond to.

It is competative. We all can't be above average. There are only so many dollars to go around and everytime you give one employee a bonus, you are taking away from another.

Should we give a few employees big bonuses and everyone else one nothing? This would show the star performers that we really value their work. It would also send out the message that we only value star performers and that if you want a little more, you should leave our team.

Should we give a little bit to everyone? Then what's the point of working hard? The stars are less interested, but on a team of sixty people, we all can't be stars.

Of course the answer is a balance between the two, a balance achieved through hours of debate.

I talked to my Toronot friends. They are so mid-30's and married.

One couple is about to have twins

Another's fifth child is on the way.

MD's mother in law is moving in. They bought a new house to make sure everyone has enough room.

C2 sent us "I am Legend" It's a half decent movie. Essentially a virus takes over the world, killing everyone except a handfull of immune people.

The pacing of the move is excellent. There are plot holes, but the story develops fast enough that you don't have time to think about them.

Why would a virus turn everyone into identical pasty white super fast and super strong zombies? Where are the kids? The obese? The short?

Somehow a kid and a slight woman can haul a bleeding and injured Will Smith into the safe house, at night, without the zombies noticing. A day later, the zombies find the safe house by smelling the left over blood.

All the bridges to Manhatten were blown up. How did the kid and the woman get onto, and off of, the island in that big SUV?

The store had a very bad day-- two huge refunds. RO felt very bad.

In some ways the refunds are good for our relationship. He understands that our sex my not be as hot as vacation sex with strangers, but, when things go bad, I'm still there.

Of course it would come back to haunt us. Mark had such a good time playing around in Vegas that he told me there is no passion in our relatinship. He thinks I'm only with him because I'm trapped-- I'm the major invester in the store, and if he leaves, if the store tanks, then I'm the one that gets screwed.

Yes, the store does affect our relationship, but not in the way fears. It's just more stress and more responsibility in my life. I now understand why mixing business with relationships is bad. I can't look at RO without somepart of the business popping into my mind.

"Any thing you can do, you and a bean counter can do more profitably!"

This is a silly milestone, but I feel like noting it anyways. For the first time in my life, I am writing a document, a manul & specification that the public will see and use, that has subheadings seven levels deep.

You know, sections as in.
Section 1. Introduction
Section 1.1 Overview
Section 1.1.1 External Assumptions

I keep imagining some pour soul actually trying to read and discuss this document.

"Hey, take a look at section 2.2.2.1.1.2.1.2. I'll admit I was a little bored after reading section 2.2.2.1.1.1.1.3, but section 2.2.2.1.1.2.1.2 really livened things up! "

I feel as if I have no soul. I don't care at all about this document or the people who read it. If it gives readers as much pain reading it as I feel writing it, then that's fine by me.

Contractual obligation writing at its finest.

RO is back from Vegas. He joked. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except for the cigarette smoke." About a year ago Washington State banned smoking in bars and restaurants. I'm suprized how spoiled it has made us. RO and Boone complained that everything in Las Vegas smells like an ashtray.

Now, RO did play around in Vegas. He told me about it when he got back. He met a couple of guys there on vacation and they had a threesome.

I hope this is out of our system. I do not want to be one of those couples that's always out and looking for sex. It's so tiring and such a waste of time. I've got more importand things to do. And it feels shallow as well.

We'll see.

Oh yeah. Bates is about 50yo. gray hair and fit, about 5'10'' and one the thin side.

I am eating peanut butter on angel food cake. It is amazingly good. It also points to how frivolusly I am spending my time while RO is away.

Bates came over last night. We had a good dinner together. RO called half way through and we chatted for a while. RO gave Bates permission to have sex with me.

Bates and I did have sex. Not immediatly. At first we talked about how my relationship was important to me, and his relationship was important to him, and how sex could not affect our friendship. Then we had sex.

It was nice but not grand.

After Bates left, I called RO and told him. RO was very relieved. Now he believes I am open enough to tell him when I play around. He also believes my judgement is good enough that won't go to bathhouses or truck stops.

I'm not going to capitalize on this new found openness. I suspect RO will have his own little fling. But, after that everything can quiet down.

Anyways, it's time for some more peanut butter on angle food cake. RO gets back tomorrow. So I have to become the good and hard working husband again.

Since RO has been away, I have been amazingly lazy. I almost feel bad about. I'm not even cooking. If it wasn't for leftovers and cold cereal, my belly would be empty.

Tonight I am having a neighbour, Bates, over for dinner. His partner is away on a two month cruise (long story) So we are going to keep each other company.

RO is speculating that Bates and I will have sex. He thinks my type-- handsome, older & mature. RO isn't too far off the mark, but it's more complicated than that. I can't think sexually about Bates without thinking "What will RO say?" or "How would Bates's partner react?" or "Will this affect our friendship?"

On top of that, RO and I don't really have an open relationship. We have an understanding that it's OK if something happens while the other is away, provided we are open and honest about it. We haven't used that option yet and it's a big can of worms that I don't want to open.

RO is away in Las Vegas. He's shopping for the store at the Las Vegas World Market.

I never travel with him on these trip. I don't enjoy shopping for the store.

RO has to keep his cast on for at least two more weeks. His break hasn't healed at all. RO has been lifthing things with his broken arm. Now RO's doctor has has said that RO shouldn't even be wiggling his fingers.

RO keeps taking a dremel to his cast. When the cast itches too much, he takes a sliver off the lower part and little off the fingers.

I hope this doesn't slow down the heeling. His arm is now much more mobile.

I had lunch with Steven.

Steven has found a new job at his company. A promotion in fact. Steven is happy with that.

We talked about our boy friends, our friends, trust and friendshp and how hard those are to maintain.

Steven had me witness signing his divorce papers. It made me melancholy. I hoped Steven and Vic would reconcile. But, that is not to be. Their house has sold. The divorce papers are signed. Soon Vic will move on to the list of people I once knew-- people I'd like to keep in touch with, but never do, because time and distance keep us apart.

Saturday night, we had dinner at Matt and Sandy's. It was nice to see them. Though, to some extent, I am feeling a bit distant from them.

One thing that has occured to me over the past few months, is that I desire friends that are more upwardly mobile.

"Upwardly Mobile." That sounds too yuppie. What I mean is that I want friends who have long term goals. People who want to do more than earn money that they can spend goofing off, shopping, vacationing or entertaining themselves.

It's hard to find those people.

So, it's back to the grind for me. I'll admit, Sunday evening, after three weeks of vacation, that I didn't want to go back to my day job.

This week has been ok. I have enough work to keep me busy. Plus, a re-org is underway so no one is cracking the whip to make sure deadlines are being met. The higher ups have more important things to worry about.

Saturday night was QueenJ's birthday. C4 got his friends together and we all had dinner at a restaurant. Many of the A-list bears where there.

Many months ago RO confessed to me that a guy cruised him at our store. He met up with the guy in a parking lot and had a hand job. RO told me the guy was married and that he never saw him again.

The married guy was at QueenJ's birthday. RO pointed him out to me. I know him. He's not really married, but he is partnered.

I think RO is proud that guys cruise him. For me "guy plays around behind his partner's back" is a tired story. I think, one evening when RO and I go out, I'll flirt with the men-- just to let RO know he's not the only sexy man in Seattle.

At Two AM in the morning, RO and I woke to the sounds of a car engine revving, wheels spinning and smashing-- over and over again. We got up and saw a car stuck in the bushes below us. The driver freed it but then smashed into some trees. It veered down the hill and hit a parked car before it came to its final resting spot in some mud next to the ravine.

The neighbors were all out to watch the commotion. The police, ambulance and firemen showed up with in minutes.

The police said it was an older man in a diabetic shock. I'd still like to know more. This neighborhood is off the beaten path. It's weird to have a stranger show up and smash into half a dozen different things.

The nice part of the new years. Last night, the trio up the hill had a New Years Eve party. It was nice to see them. I had a fun evening, though RO cut lose a bit too much.

When we are announcing our New Years resolutions, RO said that his was to have sex with one of the guests-- a handsome barber. I told RO that that may be considered rude. RO then asked the barber "Would it be rude if it was my resolution to do you?"

The barber said "No"

RO turned me to me and said "It's OK, the barber doesn't think I'm rude."

I said "I consider that resolution to be rude."

When RO realized what he got himself into, he apologized profusely.

I'm still on vacation and trying to enjoy it. I have a bit of year end paper work to do at the store, but other than that I'm tring to organize and fix the house, relax and have some fun.

RO's arm is getting better. Sometimes it itches badly and he'll bang his cast or shove a coat hanger down it. But, mostly he's doing fine.

Christmas Day is over. The store is busy. RO and I are planning for the future. We want to get a great sign for the store, but those cost as much as a good new car. On the flip side, it may just be the thing we need to attract more business. Customers have told us that we don't look open.

Christmas Day its self was good. We had dinner with RO's extended family. For me, a day with RO's family is never relaxing. They love arguing and fighting.

The family has a gift grab where you bring a gift and place it under the tree. Then names are drawn. When your name comes up you have the choice of picking a gift from under the tree or stealing a gift from someone else.

Or, at least that's the way it's supposed to work. In reality the gift grab involves a half an hour of arguing over the rules-- how often and under what circumstances gifts can be stolen, how long the game goes on, stuff like that. The game starts when everyone is tired of arguing over the rules. Notice I said "tired of arguing over the rules" and not "agrees on the rules." The gift grab then proceeds until someone figures out how to game the system. All hell breaks loose. Gifts are given out, taken back. Turns are undone. The rules are corrected. This proceeds for hours until all the gifts are gone and everyone is through arguing.

After RO's family, RO and I went over to our neighbors for drinks. It was good to see them. They live a much more calm life.

On Thursday, RO broke his arm in three places. He is doing well. His ego was hurt more than his body.

Thursday, morning we had breakfast at Andrea's. Then I took RO snowboarding for his first time.

I feel a little responsible for his accident. When I teach someone how to snowboard, I usually spend an hour with them on the bunny hill, so they can learn important but frustrating things like how to fall.

RO didn't want to spend time on the bunny hill. He felt the shallow decent and the slow speeds would frustrate him and that he would learn faster on a real hill. I made him promise that he wouldn't stick out his arms when he fell.

The first few times down the bigger hill went well. He fell often, but that is to be expected for a beginner. By the fourth time down, he only fell once.

We had dinner and beer. Then we hit the hill again. RO decided to go fast. Half way down he faltered and instinctively stuck out his arm. He said that the moment he stuck out his arm, he knew it was the wrong thing to do. Before he could pull his arm in, he hit the snow. He heard his arm crack.

At first he hoped it was just a sprain. So we went home and he tried to sleep it off. His arm throbbed all night and he slept poorly.

The next morning he went to his doctor who confirmed his arm was broken. Fortunately, the bones were properly set.

RO's arm is now in a cast. We are still going to the store. I think he's having fun telling customers how he broke it.

RO has regained contact with one of his kids.

Many years ago, RO went through a very bad divorce. I'm not sure of the details, but he lost everything including permission to see his children.

Months ago he ran across his eldest daughter on MySpace. He emailed her. Last week she responded. They are exchanging emails.

She is a bit confused and doesn't understand why RO never kept in touch. From what I understand RO's ex-wife was very well connected to various judges in the Family Court Circut. Every time RO had custody of the kids, his wife would haul him back into court and accuse him of violating some detail of their divorce agreement. Eventually RO ran out money and could no longer defend himself.

I am about to take off for three weeks of vacation. I am looking forward to this. I haven't taken enough time off this year. I will still help around the store, but I won't need to attend to my day job.

The cards did arrive, but two days late. Yes, we used the internet mailing service, but I think we submitted the order too late. It's hard to judge how long mail will take to be delivered. In this case we tried to time it so that the cards would arrive on a Friday, but we misjudged.

The rain has subsided here. Don't get me wrong, it's still raining, after all this is Seattle. But we are back to the regular drizzle, not the four-inches-in-one-day down pour.

On December 3rd, Bremerton, a city accross the sound from Seattle, received between seven and ten inches of rain.

We had a stressful/bad weekend at the store. We brought two jewelry designers in and we spend a few thousand dollars sending out a mailer to promote the event.

The postcards didn't get to our customers.

We feel so stupid. Sales were ok, but they should have been spectacular.

We got a In-This-Year-Of-My-Life Christmas letter from our neighbor, Bates.

One of the low-lightes---

Bates is a train engineer. This year his train rain over two people, making a career total of eight. He's said that suicide by train is not uncommon. It's easy and it can be carried out by fence-sitters. I'm not commiting suicide. I'm walking down a train track with my tunes cranked up.

One case was more tragic. Two sets of train tracks were next to each other. A lady put pennies on the right most tracks. She then walked back to the left most tracks to watch the train squash the pennies.

The train was actually on the left set of tracks tracks.

Steven's company is being restructured and has layed off much of his devision. The severance package sounds generous. But, loosing your job still brings stress.

I just got a text message from Steve

"Hi buddy. Things a little hectic. Job going to be changing soon. Fired team on Friday and interviewing for other jobs myself now. How you? Wanna have lunch at 11?"

The rain here is starting to get lots of attention. Some of the low areas are flooded-- roads washed out, buildings under two or three feet of water.

Some coworkers have no way home because the needed roads are closed.

We've had heavy rains here in Seattle. About two inches of rain in just over a day. I'm OK-- home is high up a hill. Some people have flooded houses. Others can't make it home because of road closures.

I had diversity training today. The class was very small. Only six people showed up. I actually enjoyed the course and got something out of it.

I have a Zune. (Pause for for laughter) I've had it for about a year. One of the new things that Zunes do is keep track of all the songs you listen to. It can post your most-played artists and songs to a web page so that you can find other people who listen to the same kind of music as you.

One day, I accidentally left my Zune on while it was playing a Julio Iglesias album that I downloaded for RO. It played the album hundreds of times before I stopped it.

Now, when you go to Julio Iglesias on Zune, I am one of his top listeners.

Thanksgiving has been very good for the store.

In two days, we've sold more than we usually sell in two weeks.

In one day, we've sold more than all three days of Thanksgiving 2006.

This is a big comfort. Sales were flat in September and October and I was worried that we would have another year of barely earning enough to get by. Maybe it was the so called credit crunch. Maybe it was the old staff that quit and the new staff we hired. Maybe it was the mailer and hype. Maybe it's the wine and mimosa's that we offer our customers at our store. Whatever it is, people are now shopping in droves.

Happy Turkey Day everyone.

Thursday RO and I spend that afternoon with his family and then the evening with Matt and Sandy. Much food was consumed.

Friday is Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year. We started it off as we usually do-- with confusion and misunderstandings.

I had to run some errands before the store opened so I left in the truck and let RO take the van so that he could open the store.

While I'm half way through my errand, I get a call from Co whom I haven't talked to in years. He relays a message "RO left his keys and cell phone in the truck. He's stuck at home and needs you to return ASAP!"

I quickly returned home and picked RO up. He said that when he realized where he'd left his keys and phone he knocked on all our neighbors doors, but no one answered. Then he signed onto Bear411 and frantically started messaging everyone he knew.

RO was angry at himself for leaving his keys in the truck. I secretly felt smug. Sometimes RO has this habit of letting others pick up after him. If he gets angry at himself, hopefully he'll learn to watch after himself a bit more.

The rest of the day was very busy. The store had one of it's best days ever. I like that because rent and sales tax are due tomorrow.

Christmas is uppon RO and I. The store is decked with seven huge Christmas Trees and thousands or orniments. Every week till the 25th, RO and I have holiday parties.

It feels a bit strange.

Last night RO and I went to a Thanks giving party hosted by one of his closets friends. About twenty people where there. At one point we went around the room and said what we were thankful for.

Three guys broke out in tears when they said their part. What's that about? I can't imagine welling up from talking about the good things in my life.

My neighborhood is going through some kind of near-gentrification. But, instead of transitioning from run-down to high-class, it's topping about half way at "Box Store"

On the down the hill from my place, there used to be great views of Lake Washington. Now, a huge athletic center is going in. The center is prestigious, it's the trainging facility for the Seattle Seahawksb But it must really piss off the neighbors. The area used to be a quiet water front community.

Just down the street we have new Lowe's, Fry's and Target stores. It's more difficult for me to be irritated by them. They land they are on was formerly Boeing parking lot.

The thing I regret is that this area could become a world class waterfront district. Instead it's all about shopping. Yes there is a nice park on the lake, but you wouldn't know it's there from the Target parking lot.

Last night RO and I mailed out 5000 post cards.

We found this great website (CardStore.com) that lets us easily do all sorts of bulk mailings. It has made one of store's the biggest chores easy.

The only advertising we know works is direct mailings to our customers of about 5,000 people. Unfortunatly few bulk mailers will touch bulk orders for less than 10,000 addresses. Mailing out 5,000 post cards by hand is big pain in the ass

First you need to find a printing shop who can do a mail-merge-- take your address list and print the addresses on each post card. I'm suprised how difficult that is. The last company that did it for us, wrecked so many post cards when they went through the 2nd printing pass that the told us they would never do a mail merge again. At another print-shop only one guy know how to do the mail-merge. When he went he left, we were SOL.

After you have 5,000 addressed post cards, you have to buy 5,000 stamps and affix them to said postcards. This is tedious. It takes four of us hours to complete the job.

Post office people look at you funny when you ask for 5,000 stamps.

Then we stumbled upon CardStore. Now all we have to do is upload our mailing list and a couple of images, enter a credit card number and voila-- instant junk mail. In less than an hour we can do what used to take two days and four car trips.

One day this internet thing is going to catch on.

I've been on a leadership trainging course for the past fews of days. It was very intense, 8am in the morning to 9pm at night, plus homework. Plus Homwork! at 9pm on Thursday evening I was told that I had to give a 20 minute presentation at 8am the next morning.

I think half the point of the program was to place me under stress, and ensure I delt with it professionally as opposed to blowing up. To paraphrase the instructor, everyone knows how to speak clearly, to validate, to give and ask for freedback and to deal with agressive people. But, unless you actually practice, you won't do it well.

It's Hallowe'en! Many kids and parents come tricker treating through our halls.

It's funny how international my job is. Many of the trick-or-treaters-- the kids, don't speak English. So far I've heard French, Chinese and Spanish.

In a weird quirk, two of my old university friends, JM & GS, were in town. JM was here visiting family, GS is here for a conference.

Saturday night we had dinner together. JM's wife, JM's brother and I all work for the same company. GS's is here for a conference hosted by that company. The end result was a lot of shop talk that RO couldn't participate in.

I enjoyed the shop talk. RO's friends are far more artsie than my old friends. Sometimes I miss that.

Sunday GS and I tourned around Seattle. We went to the Pike Street marked. I really enjoy that area and would love to live there. Too bad the commute makes it prohibitive.

This past weekend I flew to Toronto for my youngest brother's wedding.


It was a Medieval Wedding. My brother wore a suit of armour. The bride was a princess. The whole wedding party dressed up in period costume. It ended up being lots of fun. I'm trying to find a great picture of the wedding, but none of turned up yet. I'll post one as soon as I can.

The night before the wedding, we groom's men took my youngest brother out to the Zanzibar, a strip club on Younge Street.

One of the women in the wedding party also came a long. At first we thought nothing of it. It turned out she was bi.

One of the guys bought her a lap dance. She gladly accepted it. She and the stripper were all over each other! Kissing! Licking! Pinching! Pulling! Our jaws dropped and we couldn't stop staring.

My middle brother was at the wedding as well. That one is still an idiot. At one point he needed to borrow a car. My dad loaned him his car. It was low on gas so dad gave my middle brother his credit card and told him to fill it up. Well, not only did my middle brother fill the car up, but he used dad's credit card to buy himself a new tattoo.

He's thirty five years old and he's steeling from his father to get new tattoos. Then he told dad, point blank, "Oh by the way, I also used your card to get a new tattoo." as if nothing was wrong!

My blog and what it's for....

At no point did I ever set set out to be a famous blogger, or create a popular blog. I started it for three prosaic reasons: to move my journal on line, to have a place to vent and rant and to keep me writing something fun and non-technical.

I've always kept a journal. They are very useful for jogging your memory. It's amazing the number of things that I've wanted to remember, but didn't-- my brain is only so big. Do you remember what movies you saw five years ago? Or great restaurants you ate at? Or fun places that you discovered?

Seven years ago I kept my journal on a computer. The computer died. It was the height of the dot com bubble and I ran into this little website called "Blogger." This was before Google bought them out. In a fit of whimsy I moved my journal online and made it public.

And now you know.

Last night RO and I watched Air Force One. We were very disappointed. For all the big names attached to it, it's never anything more than a luke warm action flick.

There is so much over acting and it was very predictable After the bad guys were introduced, I guessed the number and types of fights that the movie would need to dispatch each baddie. At the end of the movie, my guess was right. No suprizes. No twists. How boring is that?

My blog is 7 years old. Happy birthday blog!

Reading over it is somewhat humbling. Much of my life revolves around entertaining myself. Little of it involves doing anything important.

Our store manager has quit. I have mixed feelings about this. Part of me is glad she has quit. At times she was difficult to work with. She didn't like working with our best sales woman. She also didn't like hiring sales people. She prefered to hire teenage girls who helped, but mostly had to refer to her.

She didn't give us any notice. So, we are a bit short handed right now. Things will work out fine though. We can easily spread the load around. Some of our employees want to work more.

RO and I have moved our bedroom. I am suprized what a great idea this was.

We live in a log cabin with a daylight basement. The basement has a very modern look-- white walls with an orange peel texture. The upstairs, of course, is a rust log cabin.

For the past four years I put the master bedroom in the large room in the basement. And I enjoyed it very much. it was quiet and cool, a perfect place to sleep.

When our last roommate moved out, RO said he wanted a change, he wanted to live upstairs. I was a bit wary-- the rooms are a bit smaller and it wouldn't be as quiet. We moved up anywas. And it's turning out great.

First off, it's like we've moved into a whole new house. The log cabin bedrooms have a very different feel than the down stairs.

The upstairs is also better designed. A stretch of the downstairs hall is too short for me so I always had to walked hunched over. Upstairs has proper halls. Also, the bathroom is right next door so I don't even have to use a hall.

We are also using the opportunity to clean up and throw out all the clothes and crap that we never use. We move things up from the old bedroom as we need. What's left should be garbage such as old shirts that are still wareable, even though I haven't worn them in years. I want to throw all that out.

Between the flea treatments and our moving, our cat is getting angry at us. It has shown us its disappoval the only way it knows how-- it shits on the carpet.

But, I like the changes, so the cat will just have to get used to it.

The flea problem may be bigger than we thought. Our cat was flea free for about a day, then he started scratching him self again.

Tonight while RO and I were watching TV, RO saw a flea on his arm. Tomorrow we are going to spray everything again.

Our cat had fleas. For weeks now he's been scratching him self like crazy and developing lots of little welts. We tought it came from being outside and fighting with other cats. Two nights ago, RO looked at the cat's belly and saw fleas.

We gave him a flea bath and put a flea coller on him. The cat stopped scratching him self.

The cat usually sleep on our bed. Now, RO and I are looking over each other for fleas. The very sight of the cat causes us scratch.

Even though I changed the bedding last night, I'm going to change it again tonight. I've also got out cat a proper cat bed, and put it at the foot of the bed, so he can sleep near us, but not with us.

HR Violation #2.

Last night, after hours, RO went to our warehouse to pick up some tools. RO stumbled upon our warehouse guy have sex with someone. The warehouse guy was very, very embarrased.

We are unsure how to handle this. We could fire the warehouse guy. But, he works hard. He is one of the mature employees-- someone we can trust to do his job without supervision.

We are probably not going to fire the guy. But we need to be more strick with him. RO and I understand the impulse to have sex in different places. Hell, RO is kind of jealouse that someone else had sex at the warehouse before we have. But, at the same time, we can't permit that behavior. It could get us into too much trouble.

It's been an odd week for the store. We had two HR issues.

HR Issues #1...

At the martini party last week we all wore stick on "Hello my name is ..." badges. A female part time sales clerks put her badge on her breast-- unintentionally. A male designer seeing the badge, and without asking permission, pulled the badge of her breast and stuck it higher on her shoulder. The female was very uncomfortable about being touched without her permission on her breast by a man.

This particular male designer can come on strong and the clerk is on the shy and private side, so I can how this could escalate to innocent-but-handled-all-wrong.

We got the designer to apologize to the clerk. We are trying to schedule things to keep the designer and the clerk apart. We also told the clerk that we are open to any suggestions from her on how to make the store a better place.

It's been raining all weekend. Such is fall in Seattle.



The big maple in our back yard is dieing. There is a soil fungus going around. Most maples in the area are infected. There is not much we can do but cut the sick trees down and plant something else. Which is too bad. I like the maple. In the summer it provided excellet shade from the sun.

Unintentionally, I have started using the phrase "Its all grand like" I use it mean "Relax.. everything is ok."

More specifically, RO and I got Halo 3. When I play, RO loves coaching me and chearing me on. He can be very intense. Sometimes I think he wants to rip the controller out of my hands and take over. When he is very worked up I say. "Calm down. It's all grand like."

On Sunday RO and I worked on the yard. We are installing a brickwork border around the front lawn. I think I'm going to like it. RO really wanted slate, but slate would have cost us thousands of dollars. Instead, RO is combing craigslist for free and cheap bricks. It is hard work to haul the bricks around and to install them. But I think it will be worth the effort.

Saturday night we had a martini party at the store. It was the birthday of two of our employees and we wanted to celebrate.

The party went well, though too much alcohol was consumed. RO's brother in law got sick and RO himself was hunger over the next day.

I was fine. A long time ago I promised myself that I would never get sick from drinking again. And, for the most part, I have stuck to the promise. Occasionally I will have a headache from drinking too much wine. But I never need to vomit and my headaches are nothing that can't be cured with a cup of coffee and a couple of asprin.

My secret? Alternate between drinks and water. For every drink I have, I drink a glass of water. It fills my stomach up and flushes my system out. It also allows for time for the last drink to take effect. So I can feel how much I've drank, rather than having it hit me all at once.

On C2's blog I read about a tactic that Iraqis insurgents are using. It's smart and scary.

During the night the insurgents set up a mortar with the trigger held back by a block of ice. Then they leave. Sometime later the ice melts and the mortar fires. Of course the insurgents are long gone.

Vic and Steven have split up. RO is angry at them. He's considers them a model of a long term gay relationship and wishes they would have tried harder.

I think I understand why they split. I am sadened by it. I want both of them to be happy.

Steven lives in Seattle. Vic lives hours away in Victoria. Then spent most every weekend together, but it's tough. They got married in Canada, but Steven's career is taking off in the U.S. If he moved to Canada, he'd loose much of what he has worked so hard for.

Vic of course can't move to the U.S.

RO wishes that Vic had moved to the U.S., even if he worked under the table. That's so risky. Vic's children are in Victoria and not being able to visit them regularly would be hard on him. RO also wished that Steven gave up his career and moved to Canada. If you really love someone, you'll do what it takes to be with them.

I don't see things the same way. If you really love someone, it doesn't mean that you give up on your self.

Of course the truth is somewhere in between.

For seven years every week Steven has commuted four hours to Victoria to spend the weekend with Vic and then four hours back for the work week. It's taken a toll on him.

I wish both of them the best.

There are many hidden rules with interior design. No one can ever explain them to me other than "It looks better that way."

The latest rule I've learnt is that groupings and displays must contain odd numbers of items-- one, three, five, seven. Never an even number. I found that out when I put two candles next to each other.

After RO told me the rule, I said "I'm going to build a whole new philosophy of art based on even numbers."

One of the designers drying responded "That new philosophy will have nothing to do with interior design."

Everything I need to be happy.


I started writing another eassy about how much stress is in my and RO's life and how it's affecting us. But it was too depressing, so I filed it. Instead I wanted to write something more upbeat.


So, this is my fantasy. If I had to start over with minimal possessions, what do I think I need to keep happy and healthy


I say "what do I think" because all too often what I think makes me happy, will only make me happy in moderation. I need variety as much as I need a consistent set of things I love.


Housing... I don't need much. My bedroom would have to be quiet and cool. I'd need a place to cook, a place to eat, enough space to hang out with some friends and enough space to store the rest of my stuff. A two bedroom apartment would be great.


My stuff.


I enjoy cooking and don't want to give that up. But I have too many gadgets that I don't use. I could easily get by with a stove, refrigerator, a small set of pots and pans, a few place settings some decent knives and a work space. I am amazed at all the gizmos and brick-a-brack the kitchen has picked up. I don't need the mini muffin tin. Yes, there are times when only a mini muffin tin will do, but the rest of the time, it just takes up space. Same for the bunt cake pan and the spring form pan and so on.

I enjoy working out at home. I'd need my weights and a bicycle. Recently we got a free treadmill. It could stay, but it's really just an eye sore. I'd be better off running in the streets.

Electronics. I really only need one laptop and a backup computer. I don't need the Media Center and the XBox 360, and the TVs. I'd like to keep my stereo but to be honest I listen to most of my music in the truck or on an MP3 player. A much smaller sounds system would do.

My camera. I am a bit of a photography buff. I would like to keep my camera and lens. It gives me the excuse to do weird and wonderful things.

"Why are you doing that ?!?"

"Because it will make a great picture!"

My camping equipment. I enjoy camping. I would keep my tent and sleeping bag, the air mattress and the rest of the camping equipment.

Besides, it's so easy to combine camping trips with great picture trips.

Would I keep my truck? If I could somehow live and work someplace interesting, then the answer may be no. For the amount I pay in insurance and maintenance, for the amount I lose in depreciation, I could easily rent a car for a weekend or two a month.

Of course that may not be realistic here in Seattle. The city has poor public transit and many great places that require driving to see. But, do I need my truck to be happy and healthy? No. Especially if I had a friend that I could mooch off.

I could easily get rid of most of my clothing. Much of my clothing is warn to the point where it should be thrown out. Much of it I never wear. I could easily get rid of two thirds of my clothing.

What's next? I'm not sure. I am mentally walking through all the rooms at and realize I have so much crap that I could throw out.

I think I'll go to the dump tomorrow.

RO and I spent another wonderful afternoon at Lincoln Park.

We swam in the heated salt water pool. A couple of very good divers were showing off, doing all sorts of flips and twists from the high board.

After that we laid in the sun.

They day wasn't totaly lazy. We also got six hundred bricks We are bricking part of the front lawn and have been scrounging around for free and cheap bricks. The truck drives weird with that much weight in it-- it bounces and fishtails easily.

I saw "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" the odd ball Bond starring George Lazenby as 007. It's actually one of the better James Bond movies.

It is also the Bond movie that Autsin Powers spoofs the most. There is a scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service where James Bond is wearing a cravatte and talking to the bald bad guy-- Telly Savalas. Seeing that was another "Experiencing Culture Backwards" moment. Watching James Bond, I recognized Austin Powers. It's should be the other way-- watching Austin Powers, I'm supposed to recoginize James Bond.

So we laughed at what otherwise was a serious scene.

I've watched "Gone with the Wind" for the first time. I'm kind of mixed on it. Since it has the reputation of being the best movie ever made, my expectections were high. I wasn't thrilled by the movie, but at the same time I was never disappointed or bored. Which is good since the move clocks in at just under four hours.

The cinematography is great.

But, the story was a bit too soapy for my tastes. RO mentioned that this was probably the film that spawned the soap opera. So, in that way it get's points for innovation.

That's the problem with great art of the past. Unless you first experience it when you are young, it comes off as cliched and done. I have to remind my self that this was the film that others redid that created the cliches.

According to C2 there is are internal Military chat rooms. The chat room's have names like "Becky's Pool Party", "Bitches and Bitching" and, most important to C2, "The Rainbow Gang"

This very much pushes the limits of don't ask don't tell.

His impression...

I've spent a few hours each of the last few nights in the chat room and
SURPRISE, it's nothing but boring gossip and bland chat punctuated sporadically
with DRAMA. Sound familiar? Eh, so no real surprise there

What is it about Guitar Hero? I am bad at playing it. I have no ambition to own the game. But I can stare mesmerized at the screen while others play it. I've even dreamt about it.

It's one of the first successful party video games ever. People enjoy standing around watching others play fake guitar listening to old hit songs. It gives us a reason to sit around and listen to music.

We watched the new "Hairspray" It's a fun movie. Very much a musical. It's been a long time since I saw the old Hairspray. I have a feeling that the old Hairspay was more twisted (Since it was a John Waters Movie) But still, in the new movie the mother is John Travolta in drag.

As if on queue, as if Labor Day was the offical end of summer, here in Seattle it has turned cloudy and gray and has started raining.

We had a great weekend though.

Saturday we went to RO's sister's on Mason Lake. We boated, swam, inner tubed and played with their jet ski.

Sunday we went to the Coleman Pool at Lincoln Park. The Coleman Pool is a salt water pool. I had a great time there. The salt water feels much better on your skin then clorine.

Monday was free stuff day. Thanks to Craigslist, we found free brinks nearby and are using them as pavers in our front lawn. We also got a free treadmill and a nordick track. They appear to be high quality. Hopefully we will use them.

Small world story-- On Sunday our neighbors new that we went to Mason Lake. It turns out that RO's sister's ex-brother in-law's daughter is dating our neighbor's son. The ex-brother in law has stayed good friends with RO's sister. He was at her place on Saturday. When he showed the pictures of the day to his daughter, the daughter recognized us as her boyfriend's neighbors.

Last night we had a martini party at the store. I over heard that one of the attendies thought I was always changing my hair style. That confused me a bit and made me laugh, because as far as I know, I never change my hair style.

Then I thought about it. I cut my hair once every three or four months, and then when I do cut it, I get a buzz cut. So, if you only see me once a month, then I will have different hair every time-- sometimes very shot and sometimes very long.

I got a promotion today. It includes a 11% raise and a 12% bonus. Yay me.

Neighborhood gossip.

The couple next door is getting divorced. He met a new girl friend and has moved out.

For a couple of months now, we've noticed that he hasn't been taking as much care of his yard as he used to. His wife noticed as well.

The wife worked days. He worked odd hours and had days off. He would usually take care of their yard-- it was pristine. When the wife noticed that their yard wasn't kept up as usual, she started digging into the situation, to find out what he was doing with his time.

And that's when he moved out.

Last night was Biz Talk night. Once a month RO and I get together with a few friends who are, or want to, run their own business. It's always interesting.

Elle runs a landscaping business. About six weeks ago her appendix burst. Afterwards two hematoma's formed. The result was that she's been in bed for the past month and half. She is better now, but it was scary for her business. She is still getting caught up on the bills.

For the past three days Seattle has been cool and rainy. This morning I put on a sweat shirt. When RO saw it he said in a very acusing tone "Those are falls clothes. Are you giving up on on summer?"

I had a day off yesterday. RO went to a Gift Show to buy for the store. I stayed home to clean, cook, watch TV and run errands.

It was relaxing.

I made a nice dinner for RO and I. But, when he got home, he had already eaten dinner. Oh well.

Today RO and I went to the warehouse to let a cutsomer was pick up a sofa and love seat. The customer turned out to be an old highschool buddy of RO's

ROs old buddies can be a bit odd. They (and RO) did a lot of drugs and alcohol back then. Over time some of them did overdose or burn out. The rest, individually, decided to leave gang, clean up and have a normal lifes.

We've bought a new dishwasher. It won't be installed for a couple of weeks. So we have been cooking more one-dish meals.

We are getting a KitchenAid Architect II diswasher. We almost got a Bosch. The Bosch had better exterior styling and the engineering was simplified-- less to go wrong. But the KitchenAid felt better-- less wiggle in the racks and or more firm, solid and precise feeling to the door. The KitchenAid also has a built in food desposer so it is more forgiving if we don't pre-rinse the dishes.

KitchenAid says the the dishwasher eliminates the need for pre-rinsing. We'll see about that.

Our dishwasher has died. It's seven years old, so it's had a good life. But still, we really didn't need to have another expense right now.

The dishwasher had been leaking for a while. RO and I replaced the seals on Sunday. But, it kept leaking. Then, it conked out completly. We debated fixing, but then we found out that the average dishwasher lasts five to seven years. So, now we are dishwasher shopping.

Yesterday RO and I went to Matt's birthday. It was the first time in months that we've seen Matt and Sandy. Things went well.

The've redone their yard. It looks excellent.

One of the guys at Matt's party was a former rock star. He never made it big. But, hedid play with the Marshall Tucker Band and co-wrote songs with Kris Kristofferson.

He had a good summary of why so many rockers drink and do drugs. For months on end, every day you travel for eight hours and then play the same twelve songs. It slowly drives you crazy. At times he felt he would explode if he had to perform "Can't You See" one more time. Then he would thing about the alternative-- flipping burgers for $2.00 and hour-- and he would carry on.

To pass the time while traveling, he would doodle and draw. Eventually this lead to a job as an illustrator. He's drawn a few "Archie Comics" and much commercial stuff.

My work is starting to get under control. Last night was the first nigt in weeks that I didn't work till late.

The warehouse has moved, but RO has hurt his back. He's not a good patient. I can't get him to stretch regularly or go to the doctor. He is getting better though.

We watched Babel last night. Babel is a good movie, but I didn't enjoy it. Early on I determined that Babel is one of those movies where good people are bady hurt by stupidity and carelessness. I don't enjoy watching that.

It does have a sort-of-happy ending-- no one dies. Instead they characters are left badly injured, in deep emotional pain, or deported.

I just reread my "Harvey Birdman" post. It made me laugh, not because it's funny, but because it slightly pathetic.

What wonderful memories, what deep thoughts, do want to preserve in my blog? How about the cancellation of an obscure, late night, cartoon!

My real life is very stressful right now. The store is switching warehouses and RO has been working dawn to dusk to move the inventory. I have big deadlines at my day job. Deadlines that I can't make. And, the store is just about broke. We are earning enough to pay bills, but that it. We have to pay for Christmas is September. Coming up with the money will be challenge.

Harvey Birdman is Dead. Sigh.

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is a show that I watched, mostly because we share the first name. It's a spoof of those 60's and 70's Hanna Barbera Super Hero cartoons. Harvey Birdman is a B Grade superhero who becomes a B Grade lawyer.

It was on for six years. The last episode was Saturday night. The episodes were 15 minutes long, so even if they were bad, you didn't feel like you waisted much time.

But, usually they were good. They made fun of interesting issues like gay marriage, corrupt courts, sexual harassment, evolution, the law, and of course, the absurdity of cartoons.

One episode spoofed Jonny Quest. Dr. Quest and Race Bannon are 'partners' fighting over the custody of Jonny Quest and Hadji. It was all played very straight as if the Quests really did appear in a serious lawyer drama. But there was soo much gay subtext and innuendo that you had to laugh the whole time.

Anyways. I have one less way to waist my time now. Maybe I will blog more.