Journal

New TV

My friend Joel gave me his old 36″ TV because he upgraded.
New TV
It’s funny, I’ve never actually bought a TV myself. My very first TV was a 13″ color set given to me by a college roommate. My second TV was a really old 19″ color TV that wasn’t cable ready and didn’t have a remote. I picked it out of the trash near my apartment building on Delaware street, and it worked great. So I hooked up a cable adaptor and changed the channels with my VCR remote. I had that TV in my bedroom until a couple years ago. After that, my dad gave me a new 19″ TV for Christmas, which I used in the living room. Then my friend Brad upgraded his TV, and gave me his old 29″ set a few years ago. So I shifted everything around and the TV from the trash went to Goodwill, the 19″ went upstairs, and the 29″ went in the living room. Now everything is shifting again, and the 19″ will go to my mom.

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Four Things Meme

Four Jobs I’ve Had

  1. Public Library Page
  2. Assembly Worker of Industrial Gas Shut-off Valves
  3. Chicken Restaurant Cooking Staff
  4. Website Designer

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over

  1. Auntie Mame
  2. The Wizard of Oz
  3. Southpark: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
  4. Much Ado About Nothing

Four Places I’ve Lived

  1. Ankeny, Iowa
  2. Canton, Ohio
  3. Muncie, Indiana
  4. Indianapolis, Indiana

Four TV Shows I Love

  1. Veronica Mars
  2. Lost
  3. Gilmore Girls
  4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Four Places I’ve Been On Holiday

  1. Munster, Germany
  2. Luray Caverns, Virginia
  3. Chicago, Illinois
  4. New York City

Four of My Favorite Dishes

  1. Lasagna
  2. Pizza
  3. Fried Chicken

Four Sites I Visit Daily

  1. Flickr

Four Places I Would Rather Be Now

  1. At home in bed
  2. New York
  3. In the car on a roadtrip
  4. London

Four Bloggers I Am Tagging

  1. Stephanie
  2. Anyone else
Continue ReadingFour Things Meme

Painting the Kitchen

We’ve spent our three-day weekend painting the kitchen, so I’ve been away from the internets. There’s still a lot of touch-up work to do, but the bulk of the work is finished. My kitchen was pretty fugly before, so the new paint is a serious improvement. The cabinets had been painted a dark green color, and the walls and ceiling and trim were a dingy off-white that always looked dirty even after everything was scrubbed and clean.

Kitchen Painting

Now the cabinets and ceiling and trim work are bright white, and the walls are “spring squash” which is a bright yellow-orange color that looks really sunny and happy. I’m really pleased with how it’s come out; the room looks much bigger and cleaner. There are still some other improvements I’d like to do; I want to mount a light under the cabinets so I can see my food while I’m preparing it. (As Lisa did in her kitchen) and I want to replace the overhead light with the clean, simple, unobtrusive ceiling fan I bought ages ago. I also want to replace the backsplash behind the stove with a clean aluminum panel. The ones that want to get the best paint can have a peek here to get a great finish.

Kitchen Painting

Also, my friend Kathy came over and cut out the extra pipes that ran up the wall in the corner to the now non-existent kitchen that used to be upstairs. I’ll still have to repair the drywall in the corner, but that’s a future project.

The kitchen really needs to be completely ripped out and done over. The floor is bad, there’s very little cabinet or counter space, and the sink is in a really poor spot. The drywall in the whole room needs a makeover. But none of that is realistic right now, so the simple improvements will at least make a grungy room tolerable and cheery.

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Stephanie has a blog

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Last night we set up a blog for Stephanie. I’ll let her tell you where it is in the comments for this post, in case she wants to keep it secret or something.
We also set up a News feed reader for her, to make it easier to keep track of her favorite blogs, and we set up google ads for her, too. She’s also been working on getting her CDs ripped to mp3, and we found a site that lets you transfer files so she can get all her favorite mp3s from her old computer to her laptop.
This morning, I updated my post “All the blogs I read” an added a link to it into the right column of my site, so it’s easily accessible and Stephanie can pick and chose from some of my favorites to add to her feed reader.

Continue ReadingStephanie has a blog

New Year’s Resolutions – 2006

Star Burst

I promise in 2006 not to start an unnecessary war based on a lie with insufficient troops to whom after three years of fighting I still haven’t given enough body armor or a plan for victory.

Just kidding. I’m totally going to do that.

Here are my real resolutions:

1. MORE GAY SEX IN 2006. As I mentioned before, the religious right has started a campaign against gay sex. So I’m pledging a counter campaign — more (safe, responsible) gay sex in 2006. It’s the right thing to do.

2. Don’t buy books, except for book club where necessary. I have tons of books I need to read on my shelves, and I plan to get through as many of them as possible.

3. Scale down my possessions so Stephanie and I can live together.

4. Get on the elliptical more, eat better, and use the new heart I got last year to get in good physical shape.

5. Cook more. I really started gaining weight when I started eating crap out of a can. If I go back to fixing meals, I hope that will help me eat better.

How about you?

2005 Recap:
Well, there was the heart surgery. And Stephanie’s lumpectomy, too. But we did get to do some traveling toward the end of the year. We visited Louisville twice, and Chicago twice, and New York once. Plus we got to help out a little with the Indianapolis Human Rights Ordinance at the end of the year, which was great.

Plans for next year:
Stephanie is skating in the Gay Games in Chicago in July! That’s the major event that we’re planning. We also want to do a “Big Things” road trip in the spring, and we’re going to my cousin Sarah’s wedding on April 22nd.

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My 2005 Christmas Loot

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Everyone’s blogging about how wonderful it was to spend time with their friends and family. I could do that, but I talk about how great they are all the time. Instead, here’s a list of the cool stuff they got me, because they are awesome. (I still have to exchange presents with my friends Dan and Doug and Kathy).

  1. Wicked: The Grimmerie, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical book
  2. Fireplace Mantel
  3. Fireplace Iron Grate
  4. Chicken Decoration
  5. Jaarsma Bakery Dutch Letters
  6. Brown Bobby Triangle Donuts
  7. 1933 Collectors Edition of King Kong (with Son of Kong and Mighty Joe Young) DVD
  8. Island of the Skull King Kong Prequel Book
  9. a “rain” showerhead for my shower
  10. Bath & Body Works Lemon Verbena Salt Scrub
  11. Bath & Body Works Lemon Verbena home spray
  12. Bath & Body Works Ginger Verbena body lotion
  13. massager
  14. Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs — 5 mls of Annabel Lee, Bearded Lady, Jester
  15. Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs — Imps of Lightning, Fallen and Hurricane
  16. Nancy Drew retro DVD
  17. Wind-up Emergency Radio
  18. Dinosaur Pinata (I totally begged for this, because it’s great!!)
  19. Curious George Hallmark Ornament (#2 in series)
  20. Curious George Band Aids
  21. Curious George Uno Game
  22. Doggie Calendar
  23. monkey stickers (in stocking)
  24. doggie magnetic poetry (in stocking)
  25. The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do book
  26. Dr. Doolittle DVD
  27. Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines DVD
  28. 2 Barnes and Noble Gift Cards
  29. iTunes Gift Card
  30. 2 Different kinds of Laser Levels
  31. A large flashlight
  32. A disposable emergency flashlight
  33. Can of Windshield De-Icer
  34. Coffee
  35. Harry & David candies
  36. 2 Journals
  37. Greenpeace Calendar
  38. Monopoly Hand Towel
  39. Curious George Altoid Mints
  40. Chex Mix
  41. Stocking loot, including Hindu finger puppets
  42. Godiva Chocolates
  43. Chicken tablecloth
  44. Chicken t-shirt
  45. Avon Candle
  46. this years State Quarters
  47. A Sudoku Book
  48. a Candle Holder
  49. 2 Pomegranate scented candles
  50. monkey earrings
  51. handmade candy cane ornament

Stuff I bought for myself

  1. Motorola Razr Phone
  2. King Kong xBox Game
  3. Mah-Jongg PC Game
  4. A Feast For Crows book
  5. Jesus Is Not a Republican: The Religious Right’s War on America book
  6. Best Lesbian Erotica 2006 book
  7. Gourmet Amiguri “Little Monkey Me” (as a companion to a gift I got for Stephanie of a little Monkey version of her.)
Continue ReadingMy 2005 Christmas Loot

Motorola RAZR Phone

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I got a Motorola RAZR phone last night. Stephanie and I upgraded our phones together on a family plan with Cingular, so we could call each other for free any time. She’s had the same phone for over four years, and she really needed to upgrade, so we did it together to save money.
So anyways, We’ve both got cool new camera phones. I got the RAZR, and she got a Sony Ericsson, something or other.
And I’m figuring out if I can sync up my contact info from my laptop to the phone right now. I’m realizing that I don’t have a lot of people’s phone numbers; only their e-mail addresses. How big a web dork am I? So if you want to be in my cell phone directory e-mail me and let me know. 🙂

Continue ReadingMotorola RAZR Phone

Movies I Need to See (or see again)

Movies that I’ve never seen, or need to see again because it’s been a long time.

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • “The 400 Blows” (1959) Francois Truffaut
  • “8 1/2” (1963) Federico Fellini
  • A Bout de Souffle
  • A Room With a View
  • A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
  • Aguirre: The Wrath of God
  • Around the World in 80 Days
  • Batman Begins
  • “The Battleship Potemkin” (1925) Sergei Eisenstein
  • Better Off Dead
  • The Blues Brothers
  • Bread and Chocolate
  • Brief Encounter
  • Chinatown (1974)
  • D.E.B.S.
  • Dr. Strangelove
  • Fanny and Alexander
  • Finding Nemo
  • Flight Plan
  • Foreign Correspondent
  • The French Connection
  • From Here to Eternity (1953)
  • Full Metal Jacket
  • The Godfather (all 3 parts)
  • Good Night, and Good Luck
  • Ice Storm
  • Inherit the Wind
  • Inside Man
  • It Happened One Night (1934)
  • Junebug
  • Koyaanisqatsi
  • Lagaan: Once Upon A Time in India
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Lion King
  • Lost Horizon
  • Me and You and Everyone We Know
  • Meet Me In St. Louis
  • Monsters, Inc.
  • Mulan
  • On the Waterfront (1954)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Pretty in Pink
  • Pride & Prejudice
  • Raging Bull
  • Reservoir Dogs
  • Schindler’s List (1993)
  • State Fair (1945)
  • The Deer Hunter
  • The French Connection
  • The Graduate (1967)
  • The Seventh Seal
  • Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
  • Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
  • Walk the Line
Continue ReadingMovies I Need to See (or see again)