Plat du jour--guest submission

A friend found this one.

The alphabet meme: H

is for hometown: Cleveland Heights, Ohio. I escaped over 40 years ago. It was a pretty good place to grow up in, at least back then. But I wanted to get away from being treated like a child, which my parents pretty much did, at least until my senior year of high school. And Cleveland was a rather dull city in the 60's.

My brother now owns the house we grew up in. He bought it from my mother's estate. My mother inherited it from her father, who bought it in 1945.

My week in review

Sunday: My wife and I watched the first episode of Inspector Lewis from Masterpiece Mystery! Detective Sergeant Lewis from Inspector Morse gets a promotion and his own series in this spin-off. Pretty good, though as a character Lewis is not nearly as deep as Morse was, at least so far.

Tuesday: I started at Mayor Bloomberg's Pride Celebration at Gracie Mansion, the NYC mayor's official residence. (Bloomberg doesn't actually live in the mansion though. He prefers his own townhouse--it's nice being a multi-billionaire.) I got there late, and by the time I got through security (when I set off the metal detector I just said I was wearing a corset, and they allowed me in), Bloomberg had already finished his speech. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was making her remarks. Then the mayor introduced a short talk by designer Isaac Mizrahi, who said a psychic had told him the love of his life was named Eric--so he would go into gay bars and call out "Eric!" to see who turned around. Finally they played a little "Match Game" take-off with three members of the audience. It was pretty stupid.

After the program I just mingled and had a couple small cups of wine and lots of the salads provided, avoiding the make-up destroying hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken. (A fork is a crossdresser's best friend at mealtime.) There were probably 15 or 20 people there I knew and said hello to.

After that I went downtown (via bus and subway) to another Yetta Kurland for City Council fundraiser. I got some good aerobic exercise climbing the stairs to Tom Shevlin's fifth floor apartment. But it was lots of fun--each one of these Kurland fundraisers is more fun than the previous. This campaign is attracting a lot of interesting people.

Thursday: My friend Cleopatra Queen of Denile and I started with an off-off-Broadway musical, written and performed by the daughter of Mariette Pathy Allen, who has photographed two books of transgender people. Julia Steele Allen's "A Boy Called Noise" is about the murder of a gay teenager. This was originally(?) produced in the 2006 San Fransisco Fringe Festival. Allen is a very good actress, but I found her writing to be a bit lacking.

We the went down to the Village for some dinner, and Sweetie's show at the Stonewall. However, the show was cancelled (the Stonewall manager told us Sweetie's father had died). So we went up to the Zipper Theater for "Don't Quit Your Night Job." It was the second anniversary of the Broadway-oriented comedy/improvisational show, though it was my first time. (It starts at 11:30, so the Broadway performers can be there.) It was a lot of fun. They get some big name Broadway performers as guests: I got to see Kelli O'Hara from South Pacific and Mary Poppins herself: Ashley Brown. They used O'Hara (whom I had heard in "Light in the Piazza") in the spot where a great voiced Broadway star sings some very mundane lyrics--O'Hara lent her beautiful soprano to subway announcements, prescription medicine instructions, and a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. Later it was Brown's turn. However, prior to her entrance the show host fielded audience suggestions to questions like: "Give me a verb," "Give me a liquid," "Give me a familiar place." These were inserted into Brown's lyric. So we got to hear her sing "A spoonful of semen helps the medicine go down," etc. I'm looking forward to seeing this show again, when it resumes in the fall.

Saturday: My wife and I watched the Metropolitan Opera production of Donizetti's "La Fille du Régiment" which we had DVR'd. It was a wonderful performance. Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez were marveleous--Flórez makes such a handsome leading man, aside from being an extraordinary singer (what high C's!). Dessay can also sing beautifully--while simultaneously being a great comic actress. The only slightly detracting aspect was the slightly muddled production. It seemed to be set in the 1930's, judging by the costumes and (altered) dialogue. But I can't say I remember France invading Switzerland in that time period.

The alphabet meme: G

is for favorite game: On my computer I usually just play good, old Pinball for Windows, the one that came with XP. On my cellphone I play Chuzzle, despite the fact that the phone version has a couple of bugs in it. I also play Klondike solitaire, especially when I want to keep my phone silent.

Plat du jour

= 1.

Someone (I think the governor) already has the "1" plate, so this kind of thing has to suffice, if you want the number 1 plate. I guess 2MINUS1 would be too straightforward.

(No, I don't really remember my trigonometry after all these decades. But Google is not just a search engine, it's also a calculator. Just type the formula to be solved in the search box.)

The alphabet meme: F

is for your favorite television show:
(Why is this "F" and not "T"?)
Masterpiece, which is what PBS recently renamed Masterpiece Theatre, after merging its "Mystery!" series into it. I've been watching it since the start, 37 years ago--The First Churchills got me hooked (No, it wasn't Upstairs, Downstairs, which was originally a stand-alone series. Its success was a big reason Masterpiece Theatre was created, though. It was repeated later as a part of Masterpiece Theatre.)

The alphabet meme: E

is for an essential item you use each day: Oxygen. I'd just die without it.

(What? You thought all my answers would be serious?)

Plat du jour

I don't.

The alphabet meme: D

is for dog's name: I've never had a dog. When I was a toddler we had a boxer named Lady. I'm told she would carry me around by the seat of my pants, while I was complaining, "Stop that, Yady!" I think my parents later told me she had been stolen, but I suspect the truth was she had been run over by a car.

The alphabet meme: C

is for the car that you drive: Whatever they give me at the rental place.

I haven't owned a car since 1987. It's an unnecessary pain in the neck living and working in Manhattan. My wife had one for a few years, when she was teaching in New Jersey. (It was a Chevy Cavalier. She bought it from a neighbor who was moving out of town. I hated it. Its brakes were horrible and it had more rattles than Toys R Us.) During the school year her schedule made it possible to find parking on the street with only a small amount of difficulty. In the summer she parked it in a garage up in Harlem, right around the corner from the subway--it would cost $500+ a month around where we live.

What I do have, though, is a non-owner's automobile liability insurance policy. It's only $194 a year to cover both of us up to $500,000. I recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a car but rents or borrows.

More trouble for the Republicans

Frank Powers, designated by the Republicans to run for disgraced Congressman Vito Fossella's seat, died yesterday. Now they'll have scrape down even deeper to find someone to run.

The alphabet meme: B

is for your burger of choice: I don't eat many burgers any more. Occasionally we go up the street to Jackson Hole, where I have a turkey cheeseburger, with grilled mushrooms and onions. Once in a while I'll eat some place where I can get a bisonburger. I'm not sure when the last time I had a burger made of beef was. Perhaps it was when we were up in the Berkshires on vacation last July.

My week in review

Sunday: was a rare weekend day out as Caprice, as my wife wanted to do something I was totally uninterested in. First, Clover Honey (recovering in male mode from emceeing the Brooklyn Pride Festival the previous day) and I saw a pair of transgender documentaries at Newfest, the NYC LGBT film festival. One was Envisioning Justice: The Journey of a Transgendered Woman. This was about Pauline Park, a New York trans activist with whom I've worked on the GENDA Coalition steering committee. It was quite good, and I learned a lot about her life. I knew she was a Korean adoptee, but I hadn't known she has a twin brother. The second film was Simply Love (Gewoon Liefde). This was a sequel to the 1993 documentary A Change of View, which told the story a Dutch transwoman's transition. The sequel tells of her reuniting with a girfiend of her youth, after 40 years. It was a boring soap opera--the only interesting parts were the excerpts from the original film that were inserted.

After the films there was a Q&A with Pauline and her film-biographer, Larry Tung. Then some of us went over to the HK Lounge for a bit of a reception. My friend Cleopatra Queen of Denile joined us, dressed for a party as always. Then she and I adjourned next door to HK's restaurant for some dinner (my entree was about half the size it should have been, but CQoD was quite satisfied with hers).

Following that we went to XES, where we watched the Tony Awards. I filled up on a hot dog and popcorn they provided, while getting semi-inebriated (I sure wish bars wouldn't get Absolut Apeach confused with Absolut Pear, though). It's fun watching the Tony's in a gay bar, with people cheering on their favorites. The guy sitting next to me knew every song that was performed.

Tuesday: I went to the ACLU's LGBT & AIDS Project's 10th Annual Pride Reception for attorneys and summer associates. I was on the host committee. It was held at the fabulous offices of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, located on the 50th floor of the Citigroup Center. The views were fantastic. I was looking down on the famous "lipstick building." I met a few people I knew, and had a nice time talking to them and filling up on wonderful hors d'oeuvres and gin and tonics. Things were winding down about 9:30, and I called it an early night.

The rest of the week: I stayed home, helping my wife with some things she wanted done around the apartment. Friday and Saturday evenings we watched the last two episodes of John Adams.

The alphabet meme: A

Since I seem to need some motivation to blog these days, I'll use something I found on Sandy's Noted and blogged. I'll do one a day. So this should get me going for 26 days.

is for your age: I'm 59. Honest. People tend not to believe you when you say you're something-9, but I'm really 59, and I'll be there for a few months more. Then I'll be 60! It's kind of scary. But at least there's one chain of movie theaters around here that considers you a senior at that age.

Unbelievable

I was quite surprised when the (non-cash) contents of the wallet I lost to a Barcelona pickpocket showed up in the mail a few months later, forwarded from the U.S. consulate there. But I'm flabbergasted that my wife's wallet (minus its cash), which she lost to a pickpocket in Granada a few days after I lost mine, has now also been returned, courtesy of the embassy in Madrid. Our visit to Spain was in May of 2006!

Channel Thirteen blames the computer

I recently got a membership expiration notice from Channel Thirteen, the main NYC public television station. I thought I had renewed recently, so I checked my records. I had renewed in February. I sent them a message and they replied that my February payment had been applied as an an "additional contribution" because their computer didn't recognize it as a renewal--it was too soon. My membership didn't expire until May.

This ticked me off for 2 reasons.

• First, I can't imagine that I would have sent them anything in February if I hadn't gotten a membership renewal notice then. Are they deliberately sending these things out too soon, in the hope that some people will pay quickly, and then not remember that they had already paid when their membership really expires? I think this might be the case, because I checked my records for several years, and found that I have renewed my membership eight times since October 2002.


• Second, I thought we had gotten past blaming things on computers a long time ago. People used to act as if computers were some independent, uncontrollable entity that they could not be responsible for. But I don't remember hearing that excuse for at least a decade. People now know that a computer only does what its owner programs it to do (or what the software its owner installs is programmed to do). It may be programmed incorrectly, but that is fault of the programmer or the people writing the specifications for the programmer--not the computer itself.

Semi-random thoughts

I really haven't felt like blogging much lately. I don't know why. And I haven't seen any good license plates in a while either.

● When my zillion year old electric drill started showing serious signs of wear (the teeth on the chuck were getting flat and it was slipping when I tried to tighten it) I bought a nice new Black and Decker cordless one. But it's really become semi-useless because of the battery. There's no way to tell how charged it is, and if you overcharge it, as I did with the original, it dies. But the charge doesn't last forever. Since I only use it occasionally, it's sometimes dead when I need it.

● WQXR gets its newscasts from the New York Times, which owns the station. During the daytime they used to have someone in the Times newsroom do a brief report at the top of the hour, just reading a few sentences on a handful of the top stories. Recently, though, they have added audio clips from Times reporters, and once I heard them include a sentence or two of a speech by the President. It's a nice addition (well, maybe not having to hear Bush).

● I really wish the Clinton for President die-hards would get over their loss. I don't expect them to love Obama, but at least they could stop saying bad things about him.

Why am I not surprised?

John McCain graduated 894th in his class at the Naval Academy--out of 899.

Thanks to Paul Soglin's blog for this tidbit.

Living with coyotes XI

Rabies Warning Issued in Westchester after Coyote Attacks 2 Dogs

My week in review

Tuesday: attended a fundraiser for the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund at the Ritz Bar.

Thursday: went to the New York Philharmonic's performance of Tosca in concert--excellent. This was preceded by a very nice (though noisy) dinner at Bar Boulud.

Friday: saw Sex and the City (great clothes, tolerable plot), followed by a nice Mexican dinner at Maz Mezcal.

Saturday: saw Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull--fun.

Plat du jour

Not in this weather.

Me for President!

There will always be an England

Britain's Prince Charles pays 17th-century debt

Facebookism of the day

Dean Spade and Dean Jackson are now friends. Dean found Dean using the Email Friend Finder.

Facebook has its own way with language, such as its ubiquitous use of the singular "they"--"Caprice updated their home page," for example. But sometimes its computers do something really silly like this. Or like when it refers to State Senator Liz Krueger by her first name, which to Facebook is "State."

Plat du jour

Blog modification

I haven't been posting every time I modify my glob's layout, because most of the recent changes have been pretty minor. But today I did add a significant feature. Blogger now can give the time of the most recent update for each of the blogs I link to. It also sorts them, so the most recently updated ones appear first on the list.

Blogger uses RSS feeds to do this, so there is a little bit of a delay. Nevertheless, it seems fairly current. It couldn't find a feed for a couple of the blogs I list, and they get put at the bottom.

Plat du jour

Yes, it does.

Spam of the day

Become a psychologist online

I don't get much spam any more, but this one just rang a bell with me--it reminded me of that old joke about the book: "Brain Surgery Self-Taught."

My record is smashed

The record of 61 visitors to my glob in a single day lasted all of 8 days. Yesterday there were 70.

Again, the main reason was all the people searching for information on Mary Carillo's sexuality. Yesterday was the final match in men's singles at Roland Garros, so lots of people saw her commentating.

My week in review

Sunday: watched the final episode of this year's series of the Tudors (spoiler: Anne Boleyn loses her head).

Monday: went to the Maestrocities show at the Zipper Theater with my friends Rita and Cleopatra Queen of Denile. It was lots of fun, and afterwards I got to talk with two or three of the band members at the bar.

Tuesday: watched the GENDA debate and vote. I didn't even have to view it via the internet--the NY State Legislature has its own cable TV channel on my system.

Thursday: saw LOVE! That 4-Letter Word with Rita and CQoD. The show was pretty good, though the crossdressing character bore little resemblance to reality. The performances were much better than I expected for an off-off Broadway musical. My friend Johanna Weller-Fahy managed to get through her part despite being rather sick. She was singing at clearly reduced power. Afterwards Cleopatra and I went up to the O.W. Bar to hear Bianca Leigh sing.

Friday: got my hair cut, then I went down to the Film Forum to see The President's Analyst--a really fun movie from my college days.

Saturday: caught the end of the women's final of the French Open at Roland Garros, then I watched Hillary Clinton's concession speech--excellent. In the evening, I had a mediocre dinner at Amber on Columbus Ave (memo to all restaurants: I don't care if your menu is "Pan-Asian," if you're serving a western style dish that is not cut into bite-sized pieces, it should be accompanied by western style eating implements--chopsticks don't make it, and the customers shouldn't have to ask). Then we went to hear the New York Philharmonic play Mahler's Ninth Symphony. The orchestra played extremely well, though I thought Music Director Loren Maazel could have speeded things up a bit here and there.

Plat du jour

Another golfer's plate.

Question(s) of the day

The NHL finally finished its season yesterday. Why were they still playing ice hockey in June? And come to think of it, if the league has teams in both the U.S. and Canada, what nation does the National Hockey League really belong to?

GENDA passes the Assembly

I was pessimistic about the chances of the New York State Assembly passing the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act this year. I thought Speaker Silver's previous objection, that it would be a one-house bill that could be used against Democrats in marginal districts, would continue. But I guess he changed his mind. It passed by a vote of 102-33 late this afternoon.

Perhaps it was the fact that the Pride Agenda's Equality and Justice Day attracted 25% more people this year than it did in 2007. That was before the Assembly had passed the Marriage Equality bill. But the even higher turnout (1300 people) demonstrated that the LGBT community was just as serious about GENDA, the only one of the three bills the Pride Agenda was pushing that hadn't passed.

Now GENDA will go before the State Senate, where, like Marriage Equality, it will go absolutely nowhere, since it doesn't have a Republican sponsor. Hopefully the Democrats will take control of the Senate in November (they only need to pick up two seats). Then, GENDA has a chance of becoming law next year, and my work on the GENDA Coalition will truly be rewarded.

The biggest day ever for my glob

Yesterday was the biggest day ever from my glob. 61 visitors. I've gone over 50 two or three times before--I think the previous record was 53. This was a major leap.

It came after seven consecutive days over 35 visitors (one over 40). To what do I owe this sudden interest? The French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros. How could that be--since I didn't post a single word about it? The reason: the broadcasts feature commentator Mary Carillo--I've gotten dozens of people searching to find out something about her. Most want to know if she's lesbian.

So they do their websearches and reach my post from last fall.

I'm still don't think there's enough evidence to judge her sexuality. Besides, it's none of my business--or any business of any other television viewer. I like her as a sports commentator, and I really don't care who she sleeps with--I don't think it has affected her commentary in any way.

My week in review

An out-of-town friend of mine complained about my change in blogging habits. It wasn't the decrease in my posting frequency, or the lack of my reviews of the various entertainment events I see. Rather, she just missed reading about my life--what I was doing with my time. So I am now going to start a weekly post just to cover the highlights. Maybe I'll throw in a comment or two.

Sunday: Watched the Indy 500, rooting for Danica Patrick. Later my wife and I watched the Tudors.

Tuesday: Went to the Empire State Pride Agenda offices, to call people to ask them to call their State Assembly members to get them to vote for the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA). I made 34 calls, talked to 16 answering machines and about a dozen actual, live people. (Later in the week we found out GENDA is on the Assembly calendar and will probably be voted on next Tuesday.)

After that, I went to dinner at Lips Restaurant with someone I had met there a couple of times over the years, who was up from Alabama for a visit.

Wednesday: Went with my wife to a concert of a choral group one of her friends is in.

Saturday: Went with my wife to hear the New York Philharmonic--an excellent concert with Emanuel Ax performing Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, the "Emperor." He favored us with an encore. Prior to that we attended a "Friends' Night," an opportunity for donors to the orchestra to meet some of the orchestra members for a half-hour or so. I think this was the third year we have gone to one of these. This year we spoke with the English horn player Thomas Stacey, who told us about the orchestra's recent trip to North Korea, and violinist Fiona Simon, who talked a bit about some of the various personal relationships between orchestra members--she joined the orchestra after marrying a Philharmonic member. We also spoke briefly with orchestra pianist Harriet Wingreen.

Semi-random thoughts

● They certainly are targeting ads on the internet. For a while now I've noticed that a lot of the ads I see seem to be aimed directly at me. I get a lot for a couple of companies I do buy from: Newport News and Staples. But what really brought this home was when I was looking at an article on The Times of London site, and there was an ad for American car insurance that even knew I live in New York.

● My wife and I were e-mailing were each other last night, forwarding e-mails back and forth about things we might want to do this weekend. This was despite the fact that we were sitting twelve feet apart--she in her office, I in mine. It's rather silly. After all, we do have an intercom.

● Gee, I sure wonder who at the New York State Assembly Googled me a little while ago.

Living with bears XXXIX

I haven't done one of these in a while.

Alaska: Polar bear killed near village in Interior

Tennessee: Bear-ly loving it: Bear takes officers on two-city chase

Washington: Puyallup WA park to remain closed in search for bear, Black bear remains on the loose, Unable to find young bear, officials give the all clear to reopen park, Black bear caught in Puyallup

Massachusetts: Police charge man in Granby bear shooting, Man Claims Self-Defense In Bear Shooting

Canada: Polar Bear in Trinity Bay

Switzerland: Problem bear killed by authorities, Shooting of wayward bear sparks criticism

New Jersey: Bear that broke into Vernon home target of search

Plat du jour

NYP plates are reserved for members of the media (the P comes from the days when the press was the predominant medium). I guess this car is owned by a former media person.

Headline of the day

J.R. Simplot, potato and computer chip king, dies
He was really into chips. And really in the chips.

Plat du jour

One what?

Weird websearch of the day

how do you compare the word caprice in a women situation?
Huh?

The most girlish font ever

http://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/Fiolex_Girls.htm

I'm on Facebook

I got a Facebook account now, so you can be my friend there as well as on Myspace.

Plat du jour

So where are the A Mini and the B Mini?
(Could this have been a car from The Italian Job remake?)

Fossella reads the handwriting on the wall

Fossella Will Not Seek Re-election
Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY) has finally awakened to reality and decided not to run for re-election. His being arrested for drunk driving may be forgiven by his relatively conservative constituents, but not his having a child with a longtime DC-area girlfriend--while his wife and other children were living back here in NY.

Bush is an idiot (which is nothing new, of course)

Bush says he won't back bill that bails out lenders
Bush only wants to help "creditworthy people stay in their homes," not speculators or lenders. He seems to have overlooked the fact that the subprime borrowers who are now unable to pay their mortgages weren't really creditworthy in the first place. That's why they needed subprime loans.

The underlying cause of this whole mess was the ridiculous notion that it didn't matter how many subprime borrowers actually paid back their loans because ever-rising home prices would protect the lenders. The only people who didn't believe this idiocy were the people who were the real lenders, the buyers of the mortgage-backed securities that were created by bundling up the subprime loans. So the various banks and brokerages guaranteed the securities, in exchange for some (all?) of the extra interest the subprime borrowers were charged for not being creditworthy.

(Then most of these banks and brokerages made this risk magically disappear off their books. Through some accounting legerdemain it was not carried as a liability, presumably because they thought there was no risk, as the ever-rising home prices would cover everything. When many of the subprime mortgages did go into default, and it turned out the homes were no longer worth what was borrowed on them (if they ever were), the banks and brokerages had to write off billions to cover the payments owed to the mortgage-backed security owners. But that's a whole different problem.)

What we now have is a bunch of people in homes they couldn't really afford when they they bought them, and mostly still can't afford now, even at their current, reduced value. The creditworthy people in trouble now are primarily people who had regular mortgages, but have lost their jobs in Bush's recession. It's fine to help these people, I suppose, but no one should be under the illusion that this is going to help very many of the lower-income people who took out the subprime mortgages. And paying for it with money from a fund designed to help poor people get homes just transfers the taxpayers' money to the middle class.

There's an awful lot of blame to go around here. Practically everyone involved in the subprime mortgage fiasco (except the securities buyers) was stupid and/or ignorant, if not an outright crook. If the government wants to reverse some of the damage that was done, it's going to end up helping some blame-worthy people, and Bush should wake up to this fact.

Plat du jour

Semi-random thoughts

● One of the nice things about listening to WQXR over the internet is that I don't have to listen to most of the commercials. Even the ones that aren't obnoxious in the first place get pretty boring by the 50th hearing. There is a downside--they play these little snippets of music or WQXR.com promotions that are also repetitive, and the engineers occasionally forget to flip the switch at the end, leaving the internet listeners with dead air (is that a proper term for an internet transmission?).

● Sometime last week my glob had its 30,000th visitor. Thanks.

● GENDA (the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act for NY State) is on the agenda of the State Assembly Codes Committee's Tuesday meeting. This is further than it got last year, so I'm a bit hopeful.

● I'm wondering if the Connecticut Supreme Court will shortly make that state the third to have marriage equality for same-sex couples. The speculation has been that they have delayed announcing their decision until California's court ruled because they didn't want to be the second.

● Vista is still rather slow, but at least it's working now. Since the last update or two that Microsoft has sent down Explorer has rarely crashed, and the keyboard and mouse haven't locked up once.

● That jerk Vito Fossella has resisted all calls (even from his own party leaders) to resign. He apparently wants to run for re-election. More good news for the Democrats.

Plat du jour

Even his computer disrespects him

From Overheard in New York

Guy: So I tried to set my password to "Penis".
Girl: [...]
Guy: It said my password wasn't long enough.

Plat du jour

I was surprised to see this one, as I know New York has a rule against any plates that promote drinking. Perhaps it got by because it has a 1 instead of an I.

Living with coyotes X

Scientists probe recent coyote attacks in California

Websearch of the day

the best lesbian lover i've ever had caprice lists my glob first.

This wasn't my wife. It was someone at the University of Cambridge in the UK. So I guess they weren't really looking for me.

Semi-random thoughts

● A couple of years ago I posted about how Tab Energy had become my favored morning drink. Sadly, some months ago CocaCola discontinued it, at least here in the U.S. I hoarded my last few cans, saving them for days when I really need to get myself going when I wake up. But now I'm down to my last one.

● I got some new hand towels and washcloths to replace my worn out ones. I washed them before I used them, but the towels are still leaving a lot of little fibers--with the red ones I can't tell if I nicked myself shaving or it's just the towel. Grrrr.

● The only kind of "boutique"-boxed tissues the supermarket had was Kleenex's Anti-Viral type, so my wife bought that. The anti-viral claim puts the product under the Food and Drug Administration rules, I guess, so they are required to print various bits of information on the box. My favorite part:

It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling. Use only as a facial tissue.

So if I use a tissue on any other part of my body do I risk a visit from the FBI?

Fossella in more trouble

Earlier this week I posted about New York Republican Congressman Vito Fossella being arrested for drunken driving. Now he has admitted that he was on his way to see his child that he had with a woman he's being having an affair with for years. His wife and three other children were back in New York.

It looks more and more like New York City will be rid of its only Republican congressman by next year.

Plat du jour

A former highway patrol officer?

Sen. Grassley, back to Economics 101 for you

From the Associated Press:

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, one of the Senate's two working farmers and a longtime ethanol booster, said he finds it hard to believe that ethanol could be "clobbered the way it's being clobbered right now" over the issue of food costs. What does the cost of corn have to do with the price of wheat or rice, he is telling people.

It's called the Law of Supply and Demand, Senator. Ethanol production has increased the demand for corn, causing its price to rise. This will have two effects:

• Corn consumers will switch to wheat or rice, causing price rises for those grains.
• Farmers will, if they can, switch from producing other crops to producing corn. This decreases the supplies of these other crops, also causing price rises.

It's really sad when a United States senator displays such ignorance of basic economics.

Another Republican in trouble

NYC congressman charged with DWI outside DC

It's not for corruption, or even attempted sex in a public restroom, but I doubt this is going to win Vito J. Fossella any votes. The Democrats have already painted a big target on his back for the upcoming election. This might help.

Posted without comment

Plat du jour

I'm off to Albany

Later today I'll be getting on a train and going up to Albany for the Empire State Pride Agenda's Equality and Justice Day. They are expecting 1,000 to 1,200 LGBT people and allies to gather to press for three pieces of legislation for New York State: Marriage Equality, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) and the Dignity for All Students Act. We are hoping that 10% are transgender (last year we had about 80).

E&J Day is actually tomorrow, but I like to go up the day before. It takes me so long to get ready, I'd have to start at about midnight to make a 6:00am bus.

This year I've been appointed a Meeting Facilitator. That means I get to coordinate a group of people meeting with their legislators. I've been assigned to meetings with Brooklyn representatives. It should be interesting.

Spring has sprung

...at least in my neighborhood.

Plat du jour

Yummy! But, sadly, it's not on my diet.

Semi-random thoughts

● I was a little surprised to read that there have only been 110 U.S. Supreme Court justices since we adopted the Constitution--over 220 years now. I realize that the court didn't always have nine members (I think it started with five--I've always found it curious that the Constitution does not specify the size), but it has been at its present size for quite a while. I would have guessed there have been more.

● It somehow escaped my notice that among the stockholdings I inherited from my mother were three shares of Collective Brands. So now when I buy shoes at Payless I'm actually buying them from myself.

● It's great to see the judge threw the book at film star Wesley Snipes, at least as far as the law would let him. These "tax protesters," who believe that there is no requirement in the law that most U.S. citizens have to pay income taxes, are just a bunch of selfish fools. It's too bad that Snipes was acquitted on the most serious charges, but at least he's getting three years in jail for his misdemeanors. So, Judge William Terrell Hodges, I salute you.

I'm back blogging. Sort of. Kinda. Somewhat.

For the last year plus I've been having computer problems. My old machine, running Windows XP, was crashing more and more frequently. It never worked right after Service Pack Two. Also, my Internet response time was slower than it should have been. The result was that it took several hours just to read my e-mail every day.

I hoped the answer to my problems was to get a new, more powerful computer running Microsoft's brand new operating system, Vista. I should have known better.

The new computer still crashed sometimes, though not as frequently as the old one. In addition, the keyboard and mouse stopped working at random intervals. And Internet response was still slow--it took 13 days to download all of my files from Carbonite, the web-based back-up service I use, when it should have taken only a few hours.

To make a long story short, I had problems with the computer hardware (specifically the hard drive), the Vista operating system, and my cable service. But it took a long time to figure it all out. Dell replaced my hard drive in early August. That solved the crashing problem. But as time went on, the keyboard/mouse problem got more and more frequent.

Dell tried a couple of times to fix it. I was on the phone with their support people (one guy mostly) for hours. They tried all sorts of things--mostly removing stuff they thought might be incompatible with Vista. Maybe it helped a little, or maybe we just hit a random good period (it could be 30 seconds, or 3 days, between these failures). But the problem kept coming back.

I was afraid I would have to do what Dell was recommending: reformat the hard drive and start from scratch, with a clean copy of the operating system. I went out and got an external hard drive, so I could back up everything locally and avoid another 13 day download. But the back-up software that came with it didn't work right. It refused to back up to the external drive. It would only do its back-up to the same internal drive it was copying the the data from. I could then manually copy that onto the external drive. But I really wasn't happy with the situation.

And then the keyboard/mouse failures stopped. A couple of months ago, I think, I noticed it wasn't happening any more. I think it must have been one of the periodic Windows Updates Microsoft sends.

But my Internet was still slow. I kept putting off calling Time Warner, because I didn't want to have to clean out my office even enough to give them access to the outlet under the table next to my desk, which was blocked by a file cabinet, which I couldn't move without cleaning up two piles of junk and at least one stack of boxes. (I also really didn't want to even think about having to run a new cable on the exterior of my walls from the cable distribution box down a long hallway to my office--though I realize now that it probably would have been easier to have an electrician run a power line into the closet where the box is, and put my modem and router/wi-fi transmitter there).

But last week the Internet speed was so slow I had to bite the bullet--it was taking 5, 10 even 15 minutes to see one e-mail, and I had a couple hundred piled up. So I called the cable company. In fact, I killed two birds with one stone, because the hard drive in one of our DVRs had just died. I told them about that one first, as I figured it was the easy one. We scheduled an appointment to fix that (the CSR said it was possible that the hard drive could be fixed, but I had my doubts--I was 99% sure they would want to replace to whole DVR). Then I said I also was having slow Internet problems. I expected to be transferred to someone else, as that is a separate choice on their voice-prompt menu.

But the same CSR said she could handle it. After the usual rebooting which they always try, she sent some sort of signal, and it looked to her that everything was fine. But my response time was still horrible. So she put me on hold and had someone in their tech department run a more sophisticated test. She got back on to me and said that the modem needed to be replaced. She said I'd have to schedule a separate appointment--or I could just take the modem down to their office at 23rd St and get a new one. And I could also swap the DVR also, if I didn't care about them trying to fix the old one. That sounded great to me.

So Friday afternoon I went down to 23rd St, making sure I made it there before the after-work rush. I only had to wait about 10 minutes, and I walked out with a new modem, and a different DVR. It obviously wasn't new, but presumably it worked. It did come with a brand new remote control, with more buttons, which were all back-lit. Very nice.

After a some more shopping, lugging the DVR and modem (most of the weight was the former), I eventually got home. I connected up the easy one first--the DVR. The first two attempts to boot it failed, but I gave it one more shot and that worked.

Then I connected up the modem. It was a completely different manufacturer than the old one. It took a couple minutes or so for it to identify itself to the server and do all its handshaking or whatever it needed to do, but eventually the lights on it lit up, and I tried reading an e-mail. Boom. It appeared in a couple seconds. I tried another. It came up quickly. I found a You-Tube video, clicked and it started in seconds--AND PLAYED WITHOUT STOPPING! I haven't been able to this in over a year! I was in heaven.

It's taken me a while to get all caught up on my e-mail--not to mention a whole bunch of videos from You-Tube and elsewhere that I really wanted to see. But now I'm basically current. I had a nice 80-minute workout on my exercise machine this afternoon--the longest I can remember having had in months. This was after single-handedly putting away our weekly grocery order from FreshDirect, as my wife was out.

So now I have more time to blog than I have had in over a year--though I really don't know if I'm going to go back to the level I did when I first started, at least for a while. I still want the get my office cleaned up, and I want to get my audio-video system working the way it's supposed to. We don't use the VCRs much any more, but the last time I tried them there was no sound from the VHS one, and the Betamax (yeah, I still have one in my system) wasn't working at all. And the unified remote control has never worked right. But I do think I'll be posting more than I have been, more long posts, especially.

Headline of the day

Police on Pope Patrol Rescue Beaver from East River
I know it's very early, but I have a hard time imagining anything can top this one.

Neologism of the day

Quippie: a queer hippie.

I guess this one has been around for a while, but I hadn't heard it until today (Jennifer Finney Boylan describing herself--though she said she was more the hippie part).

A strange websearch

Someone in Japan found my glob Googling my name. Why would anyone in Japan be interested in me? I know no one there, and I don't remember having any contact with anyone there.

The only thing that makes this slightly understandable is that the ISP belongs to Temple University's branch there. So it was probably an American in Japan who did this search.

Wearable art museum

I have blogged how a museum (NYC's Metropolitan) can be art as well as contain art. And it's nothing new that clothes can also be art (at least women's clothes--men's stuff tends to stay away from this category). Now you can combine the two ideas. You can now wear a small piece of an art museum.












Just a few blocks up Fifth Avenue from the Metropolitan, the Guggenheim Museum is restoring its signature, Frank Lloyd Wright-designed, exterior. They have figured out a way to make some money out of this expense. They're selling the old, curved, walls.

But they're not just selling chunks of concrete, or whatever it was made of. They are embedding little bits of it in pieces of jewelry. Called "Restoration Rocks," they are priced from $175 for sterling silver hoop earrings to $4,350 for a 14k gold large cuff bracelet.

Even men can get in on the act. They have a set of gold cufflinks for $1,500.

If you really want to wear a bit of an art museum (I don't--I think you'd need rocks in your head to wear these rocks on your head), here's a tip: join the Guggenheim first. Members get 10% off.

Another interesting websearch

This morning someone at the Wal-Mart headquarters found my glob by Googling ga walmart shooting. Damage control time, I guess, though it does seem rather late.

Living with wild turkeys IV

Wisconsin: Postal Workers Attacked by Wild Turkeys

My old college town!

An interesting websearch

Well, I assume it was a websearch (which wasn't recorded on my log). Someone using the Information Systems, U.S. House of Representatives ISP visited my recent post on Rep. Weiner.

Maybe Weiner isn't that bad

Last month I posted that probably would not be voting for Rep. Anthony Weiner for NYC mayor next year, because of his comments about the Roger Clemens-baseball-steroids controversy. Last night, at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force New York Leadership Awards Dinner, I was reminded that Weiner was one of the seven Congressmembers who refused to vote for ENDA last fall because protections for transpeople had been removed from it.

This certainly raises Weiner way up in my appreciation--ENDA is far more important than steroids in baseball. But NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn is still my personal frontrunner. I hope she isn't hurt by the ficticious group appropriation mess.

Semi-random thoughts

● There is something wrong when a benefit for the Harvey Milk High School in New York City contains material that "May be inappropriate for people under the age of 18."

● It's good to see Andy Roddick finally beating Roger Federer after 11 straight losses to him. It reminds me of when Vitas Gerulaitis won a match from Jimmy Connors back in 1979, after years of losses. Afterwards Gerulaitis quipped, "Nobody beats me 17 straight."

● I hope the delay in the adoption of the New York State budget doesn't interfere with Gov. Paterson's appearance at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Leadership Awards Dinner on Monday, that I'm going to.

Being a fashionista can be hereditary

And stay out of malls

Man Fatally Stabbed in Ariz. Mall
It's not just individual chain stores and restaurants that are dangerous.

Plat du jour

Another Republican leaves under a cloud

HUD Chief Resigns Amid Criminal Probe
Now it's one of Bush's cabinet members exiting. There is just so much corruption among the Repugnants, oops, Republicans.

I'm quoted again on the ISTHMUS

My post on the Wisconsin Badgers' men's hockey team's loss in the Midwest Regional Finals was quoted in the Madison Miscellany column on the Daily Page of the ISTHMUS. This was second time my glob was quoted there. I love when that happens.

Semi-random thoughts

● I wonder if my post last August had anything to do with Dell's change of marketing strategy. I noted that I would not buy another printer from them, because I could buy ink cartridges only directly from them. Now I can buy them at Staples (along with other Dell products).

● Someone from Bahrain Googled something and found my blog. I did the search also, and noticed they would translate my site into Arabic. I wondered what that would look like, so I clicked on it. What was interesting was they couldn't translate any form of the words "crossdress," or "transgender." And they had nothing for "misogynistic." Why am I not surprised.

● My brother saw my little post about the recent disappearance of spam e-mails. He has noticed the same thing. But he said he kind of missed them. He called them "sort of an electronic Walmart for the perverse."

Now it's all the Badgers

If college hockey games were the same length as college basketball games, the Wisconsin men's team would be making their travel plans to Denver to play in the Frozen Four. But their 2-0 lead at the end of 40 minutes did not hold up. North Dakota scored twice early in the third period, and eventually scored their winning third goal in overtime.

The Badgers were totally superior in energy and effort during the first two periods. Only the excellent goaltending by the Fighting Sioux's Jean-Philippe Lamoureux kept the game from being a rout. It took a perfect pass from Kyle Turris to Jamie McBain to get the first Wisconsin score, just after a power play ended, and the second was a fluke when a shot that went wide caromed off the boards, and bounced off the back of Lamoureux's leg into the goal.

But North Dakota was a completely different team after the second intermission. Not only were they the more energetic, their coach adjusted their lines a bit. Wisconsin could not handle the change.

So now all of the big winter sport Badger teams are through for the season.

Well, not all the Badgers

Meanwhile, back in Madison, the Wisconsin men's hockey team won its first game in the NCAA tournament, 6-2 over Denver. The Badgers were a team that didn't even have a winning record, but were picked for the national tournament on the basis of its record against top 25 teams and its computer ranking. It was even seeded third of the four teams in the region. I suspect the fact they would be playing at home might have had something to do with it.

Next up for Wisconsin is North Dakota, who beat Princeton. The winner goes to Denver next week for the "Frozen Four."

That's it for the Badgers

The Wisconsin men's basketball team got bounced out of the NCAA tournament by the red-hot Davidson squad. Their season is over. But it was fun while it lasted.

Weird websearch of the day

pat paulsen for president blogspot "password ="

And what about the time you played hookey, Governor?

First the new New York State governor, David Paterson, revealed he and his wife had had extra-marital affairs. There was nothing illegal about this (unlike his predecessor's paying for sex), but I'm sure he wanted to make sure no one could blackmail him about it.

Now he's admitting to having used illegal drugs 30 years ago or so. Presumably this is to prevent any blackmail on this subject also--though it's something he already admitted to when he was running for lieutenant governor in 2006. But no one took any notice back then.

Now I'm waiting for his admission that he stole a candy bar when he was 8.

Semi-random thoughts

● Honduran cantaloupes have been identified as the source of an outbreak of salmonella poisoning. So it's very nice that the FreshDirect customer service could immediately assure me that the cantaloupes we got from them yesterday were from Costa Rica.

● Where has all the spam gone? The last couple days I've only been getting a handful of spam e-mails. Usually it's dozens. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

● Wisconsin is quietly making its way through the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Already it has surpassed the number 2 seed in its region, which has been eliminated. The selection committee's making the Badgers number three was clearly wrong. Next up, Davidson on Friday. (I notice that all three teams that beat Wisconsin this year are already out of the tournament.)

Living with bears XXXVIII

Canada: Residents riled after police shoot black bear in northwestern Ont, Polar bears in your yard? Call the Polar Bear Hotline

Nevada: Bear biologist will be added to basin

Switzerland: Problem bear wakes from winter slumber

Number three for Wal-Mart

Pepper Spray Discharged at Long Island Wal-Mart
So now, instead of getting shot at Wal-Mart, they'll just pepper-spray you. I guess that's an improvement.

Plat du jour

Weird websearch of the day

Yesterday, actually. Someone in Spain found my blog searching for ear birth john coghlan. Perhaps they meant "year" instead of "ear." That would make more sense. But it still wouldn't help that there are a zillion John Coghlans.

Plat du jour

French for "My Blue"--on a very blue Audi.

Books on Transgender

Someone reached my blog doing a search for read any good crossdressing books lately. By coincidence, my friend Helen Boyd has just posted a list of her top 10 books on transgender on her blog. I will certainly bow to her expertise--she has been teaching college courses on transgender since last fall, and she is far better-read on the subject than I am. Her list:

• Butch Is A Noun - S. Bear Bergman
  
  
• Gender Outlaw - Kate Bornstein
  
  
• Crossdressing, Sex and Gender - Bullough & Bullough
  
  
• Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism - Patrick Califia
  
  
• Head Over Heels: Wives Who Stay with Crossdressers and Transsexuals - Virginia Erhardt
  
  
• Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman - Leslie Feinberg
  
  
• Becoming a Visible Man - Jamison Green
  
  
• Mom, I Need to Be a Girl - Just Evelyn
  
  
• Whipping Girl - Julia Serano
  
  
• Transition & Beyond - Reid Vanderbergh
  

She is too modest to include either of her own books, but I can't imagine a top ten list by an objective observer that didn't include My Husband Betty.

Her blog post also lists some additional books that she recommends.

Don't tease me!

I got this e-mail advertisement from Bluefly.com for this gorgeous purse. Now I'm sure it sells for far more than I'm willing to pay for a handbag, and it doesn't have the shoulder strap I usually want on a purse, and I don't even know how big it is--but I'd like to at least fantasize about owning one. So I went to the Bluefly site, but it's not there! Maybe they've sold out already. But I can't seem to find it anywhere on the web. Does it really exist?

They shouldn't tease me like this.

I'm quoted on the ISTHMUS!

My post on the Michigan game was quoted in the ISTHMUS Daily Page Madison Miscellany column. Wow!

A very easy one for the Badgers

The Wisconsin men's basketball team added the Big Ten Tournament title to its regular season championship, with an easy 61-48 victory over underdog Illinois. The clock stuck 12 for the Cinderella team of the tournament, as the Badgers' had no trouble beating the Illini for the third time this season.

But the double Wisconsin championships, and its 29-4 season record, even its #8 national ranking, failed to impress the NCAA tournament selection committee, as the Badgers were only seeded #3 in their region. The team sat silent, stunned at the announcement. I think it was their squeaker over Michigan State yesterday that determined the decision. Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan didn't even get his hoped-for extra day off: they will play Cal State-Fullerton in the first round on Thursday.

One very good sign: Trevon Hughes was able to play, and play pretty well, on his injured ankle. Only once or twice did it look like it affected him very much.

Plat du jour

A hard one for the Badgers

One day after an easy win over Michigan, the Wisconsin men's basketball team had to perform their biggest comeback of the year against Michigan State. Down 12 at one point in the second half of the Big Ten tournament semi-final, the Badgers rallied for a 65-63 victory. Probably the biggest factor was MSU's foul troubles--they had four players foul out, including almost all of their big men. They had to go with a four guard line-up towards the end of the game.

On paper, Wisconsin should have an easier time tomorrow against Illinois--whom they beat twice already this year. But the Badgers are only playing for the tournament championship (and maybe a #2 seed in the NCAAs). The Illini are also playing just to get into the NCAAs--without the automatic berth that goes the conference tournament champion, their 16-19 record (assuming a loss tomorrow) will certainly not get them an at-large spot. But they are on a hot streak, having managed three upsets already in the tournament--they were seeded #10 coming in.

Another reason for concern about the Badgers in the final is the health of starting guard Trevon Hughes. He injured an ankle in the Michigan State game, and it looked bad enough to me that he is certainly questionable to play again just a day later.

Stereotypes galore!

Customer: I'll take this sushi and the spicy chicken with brown rice.
Girl at counter: Do you want dark meat or sub with all natural chicken breast?
Customer: I don't know -- it's not for me, it's for a coworker.
Girl at counter: Is it a guy or a girl?
Customer: A guy.
Girl at counter: Just get the dark chicken. He'll never tell the difference.
Customer: He's gay.
Girl at counter: Oh. Then get the white meat.

1303 South Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas
Overheard by: Pracca

via Overheard in the Office, Mar 14, 2008

An easy one for the Badgers

Wisconsin won its first game in the Big Ten tournament with a 51-34 win over Michigan. They scored the first 10 points, and never trailed--which means they've been ahead about the last 150 minutes they've played. It didn't matter that their top scorer, Brian Butch, got in foul trouble early, and ended up with only one point.

Fortunately, Michigan wasn't able to take advantage of that, or of some rather sloppy ball-handling and poor shooting by the Badgers. The Wisconsin defense was up to the task--Michigan's 34 points was by far the lowest by any team ever in the decade-or-so old Big Ten tournament. Michael Flowers got some pay-back against Wolverine star Manny Harris, who had burned him for 26? points in a game earlier in the season, and perhaps preventing Flowers from being named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Flowers guarded him super-close, and Harris managed just 4 points this time.

It was good to see Tanner Bronson, who worked his way up from team manager, get into the game in the last minute and end up on the scorecard with a free-throw. I wonder if Butch will get any ribbing for only being able to equal the point output of a bench-warmer.

Next up for Wisconsin, the winner of the Michigan State-Ohio State game, tomorrow afternoon.

Republican corruption knows no bounds

Over the last few years we've seen Republican after Republican get bounced out of office (and frequently thrown into jail) for bribery and other misdeeds, usually betraying the public trust (not that there haven't been a few Democrats in the same boat, the latest and biggest example being Gov. Spitzer). But now we have Chris Ward, a Republican who is alleged to have stolen huge sums from his own party. They gave this guy sole control over $400 million dollars over the last 5 years, and it is alleged that some of this money found its way into his personal and business accounts.

What really gets me is that if he's 39 years old now, then he was 35 when he became treasurer of this organization. Yet they said he had handled their finances for many years previously. Did he start when he was in college? High school?

I think this, and all the other corrupt Republicans that have been exposed in the last few years, shows that the Republicans are totally incapable of judging someone's character.

I also just love that this money won't be available to help Republican candidates get elected.