Plat du jour

Woof, woof!

The alphabet meme: Z

is for zodiac sign: Scorpio, at least according to the astrologers. But it's total hogwash. The stars don't determine our fates.

Plat du jour

Homophobic, I think.

The alphabet meme: Y

is for yummy food you ate today: Steak au poivre (though the sauce had only a tiny bit of pepper) and fries. Dessert was mixed berries with crème fraiche.

Happy anniversary--to us!

Today is our 20th wedding anniversary. Yay us!

The alphabet meme: X

is for x-rays you have had: (They sure had to work hard to come up with something for X.)

• I get a chest x-ray every year.


• My teeth get x-rayed every year.


• When I was about 12 I ran down a hill into a tree and hit my arm, so they x-rayed that. I did crack a bone slightly, so they put a cast on it.


• The doctor probably x-rayed my feet when he wrote a letter to my draft board saying why I'd have difficulty being in the army. (The draft board doctor agreed.)


• Back in the 50's, before they realized this was dangerous, they had x-ray machines in shoe stores, so they could see if there was enough room for the toes.

That's all I can remember.

The alphabet meme: W

is for your worst habit: Procrastination.

The alphabet meme: V

is for favorite vegetable: Potatoes. I love starches. Unfortunately, I can't eat them very often. We never have them at home. What I do get to eat sometimes is asparagus, which I think is my second favorite.

Living with bears XLI

Canada: Bear spotted in East Vancouver captured, Bear tranquilized in Winnipeg neighbourhood, Bear shot, killed near Salem school, Bear gives Brentwood Bay a scare, then strolls off, It’s bear season once again, Bear sighting in Pickering, Bear’s wild ride in Pickering over

Massachusetts: Awe, damage mark trail of bear sightings

Nevada: Calif., Nev. pool resources to combat bear problems at Tahoe

Pennsylvania: Bear keeps Perkasie police hopping, Black bear city’s least-wanted tourist, Montgomery County Black Bear Tagged, Released

Rhode Island: Black bear roams South County

The alphabet meme: U

is for what you consider unique: I am going to assume that this is asking what I consider unique about myself.

If you go back to the original meaning of the word, "one of a kind," then I don't think there's anything particularly interesting that's unique about me.

Unfortunately, the definition of "unique" has expanded. It now just means "unusual"--hence the term "more unique" is no longer non-sensical, as it once was. (In my opinion this change of definition has made the word "unique" worthless: one can just as easily use "unusual." We now have to say "one of a kind" or something similar when that's what we mean. So I no longer use "unique" for anything.)

So, what do I consider unusual (it still begins with "U") about myself? Well, being a politically active crossdresser is a rather unusual. I can only think of one other in New York City: Clover Honey. (But she moved to New Jersey, so does she really count for the City?) There's also Juli Owens out on Long Island. There are also a handful that participate occasionally.

Of course, being a crossdresser is, itself, unusual.

My week in review

Sunday: Following a lunch in the cafeteria, we saw the J. M. W. Turner exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Actually, we only saw part of it--it's so big that we'll have to go back again to finish.

Monday: First, I volunteered as a lawyer at the West Village TransLegal Clinic Name Change Project. After helping 5 people prepare their petitions to take to court, I jumped in a cab and went to the Maestrocities show at the Zipper Theater with my friend Cleopatra Queen of Denile and her roommate. As usual it was lots of fun. Unfortunately there won't be another show until October--allegedly they're going to band camp.

Wednesday: I had my quarterly check-up at my doctor's (it's so often because of a couple rather powerful medications I'm on). It included my annual electrocardiogram. Everything was fine, though we haven't gotten the lab results yet.

Thursday: First, I went to another Yetta Kurland for City Council fundraiser. This one was at the home of Margaret Ratner Kunstler, the widow of the self-described "radical lawyer" and civil rights activist William Kunstler. Their Greenwich Village townhouse was described by Kurland supporter Tom Shanahan, Deputy Commissioner of the NY State Division of Human rights and former civil rights attorney, as "hallowed ground."

Then I walked over a few blocks to Lips Restaurant. I said hello (again) to CDI member Abby and her sister, whom I had seen at the CDI apartment earlier when I was getting dressed. I got a drink from Frankie Cocktail at the bar, and waited for my friend Cleopatra Queen of Denile to show up. She soon arrived. We ordered a guacamole and waited for the show to start. Eventually it did--Thursdays at Lips is "Dinner with the Divas," where the waitresses actually impersonate the singers they are lipsyncing. First was show hostess Jesse Volt as Joan Rivers--no lipsyncing, just a bit of comedy, asking who in the audience was celebrating something, etc. Then Frankie did her usual Dolly Parton, Morgan impersonated Mary J. Blige, Ginger did Bette Middler, and Jesse returned, this time as Cher.

We stayed a bit after the show, then went off to see our friend Clover Honey in another show at another bar. But that turned out to be a mistake--she wasn't performing there that night. Fortunately we were only a block away from another show we were thinking of seeing: Starshine Burlesque at The Fortune Cookie Cabaret. I wanted to see Dirty Martini perform especially. But all the performers were good.

Saturday: We watched the last episode of Inspector Lewis, which we had recorded.

The alphabet meme: T

is for time you woke up today: About 9:15, which is actually a little earlier than usual (It's great being retired). That's because I went to bed a little earlier than usual last night--before 2:00.

Plat du jour

The alphabet meme: S

is for status: Well that's certainly an open-ended one. At the moment my Facebook status is: "Caprice Bellefleur is regretting something she ate or drank last night." But that's a little obsolete. I've been feeling better the last half-hour or so, and actually ate something for the first time today.

So I guess it's time to change my status. Now it's: "Caprice Bellefleur is catching up on the internets."

Support trans rights AND Obama

We have now passed our second goal of 75 donors to the Obama campaign through the trans page on ActBlue, and we're really uping the ante: Now we're aiming for 150.

I posted our original solicitation here. Even if you can only donate $5 or $10, please give. The number of supporters donating through this page is important to show the Obama campaign, and all politicians, that the transgender community is involved in politics and can't be ignored.

Click on: http://www.actblue.com/page/trans

Thanks.

The alphabet meme: R

is for regrets: I think there are two kinds of regrets. One is regrets in hindsight--what you'd do differently if you knew how things would turn out. I'm sure most people have lots of them. I do. I think they're usually the less interesting ones, though.

More interesting are regrets about decisions you made that were wrong, and that you knew at the time were wrong, at least somewhat. I have two of them. I regret staying at my first computer programming job too long. I should have left after a couple of years, because we weren't keeping up with advances in the industry. I sort of knew this, but it was a nice place to work (a university facility)--the people were all nice, the work wasn't too demanding, we had flexible hours and no dress code (something of a rarity in the early 80's). The programmers were left alone to do our work. The pay wasn't too bad, at least after the first couple years. I was satisfied, though I knew I could do better.

Then, after I was there for about 4.5 years, there was a reorganization, and a change of management. Things were very different. We, the programmers, were no longer given carte blanche. The new management did not like our independence, though a certain amount was tolerated because they knew they couldn't do without us--they hated the flexible hours, because they couldn't keep an eye on everyone all the time. We were misled about management's intentions, even outright lied to--I was told I would be getting a raise as of a certain date, when it hadn't been approved. And my boss knew it wouldn't be approved at least a month before its supposed start date, but he didn't tell me.

I wanted to get out, but there was a big problem--I didn't have the skills that were then in demand. I managed to find something after nearly a year of looking. (I learned a lot about headhunters in the process--especially ones who would send you out on interviews for jobs you really weren't qualified for--a real waste of time.) It was working for a marketing consultant, who had a contract with a big mail order company. The guy knew nothing about programming, but wanted to make all the decisions. He didn't really lie to me about what my job would entail, but he certainly lied to the headhunter, saying it was new position, when in fact he had fired my predecessor--and then refused to give him his last paycheck. He hired two of us at the same time. I couldn't figure it out, because there really wasn't enough work for two people. He soon fired the other one, and I realized he never had any intention of keeping both of us. (He then boasted about making sure that he did this after only 29 days, because that way he wouldn't have to pay the headhunter his commission!)

He was abusive to the two other employees (one especially), though at first he let me alone. Then, a couple weeks after he fired the other guy, I made a mistake, and he let me have it. So I walked out. Literally. My old place had said I could come back, and as bad as it was, it was better than the new one. But I learned a valuable lesson: Never work for an entrepreneur--they think they know everything about their business better than anyone, even experts in the field, and they view every dime of expenses as taking food off their plates.

It took me two more years to find another new job. For the rest of my career I was well behind the curve technology-wise--though right at the end this turned out to be an advantage. By the late 90's they had stopped teaching the old technologies in computer schools, but there were still some places that used it--and we old dinosaurs found we were a bit in demand, especially during the run up to Y2K.

Oh, yes, this was about regrets. My second regret was semi-wasting my first dozen years in New York, because I was too shy and scared to take advantage of many of its attractions--rock clubs, etc. I sat at home for a lot of my mid-20's to mid-30's.

Plat du jour

Of what?

The alphabet meme: Q

is for what you do in quiet times: Quiet times. What's that?

Life is different when you're retired. In some respects most of my life is quiet. Someone asked me recently if I make it a point to get out of the apartment every day. No, I don't. There are plenty of days when my longest excursion is to take the garbage out to the compactor chute down the hall. Sometimes this happens two or even three days in a row. It doesn't bother me a bit. I have a comfortable apartment, my wife and I each have an office (and we each have a bathroom), so we get enough "space."

I spend a lot of time at the computer. I'm a semi-retired moderator on the myHusbandBetty message boards, and I at least skim everything that's posted there. I read my e-mail, and some news websites, some blogs. I play pinball on the computer a little--the one that came with XP. I watch surprisingly little television, and read relatively few books. It's a nice, quiet life.

My record is super-smashed

As during the French Open, my glob received record numbers of visitors during Wimbledon, mostly people wanting to know about Mary Carillo. The first week ranged from the upper 30's to mid 50's hits per day, reaching a high of 67, nearly equaling the record 70. The second week returned to a pretty constant low 50's rate until Thursday's women's semis, when it hit 68. Then, on the 4th, when it was the men's turn, I smashed the record with 86.

I was pretty sure that it would be even higher on Saturday, when the women's final was played. I didn't check it until mid-afternoon, when I figured it might even be in triple figures. But I was shocked when I saw the count was 223! It kept going up, though at a slower rate, throughout the rest of the day, and at midnight the final total was 278--more than three times the record set the previous day. Amazing!

I had no idea what would happen on Sunday. I suspected it would be lower, because a lot of the people interested in Carillo had already done their searches. And it turned out I was right. It was only (ha-ha) 148.

This week it has gone back down, though it's still above normal--people are continuing to search for "Mary Carillo lesbian" and "Mary Carillo gay," hitting my old post.

I wonder what's going to happen during the U.S. Open.

The alphabet meme: P

is for people you were with today: I'm a day late on this one, but I think I have a good excuse. If I had done it yesterday before I went out, then the only person would be my wife. But I didn't get home until after midnight, and I was too tired to do it then anyway.

So now I have some time to really do it. Except it's really for yesterday, not today:

• My wife, as I said.


• Alma Gomez, another volunteer lawyer at the West Village TransLegal Clinic Name Change Project.


• 5 clients at the Name Change Project.


• My friend Cleopatra Queen of Denile and her roommate, at a performance by the Maestrocities.


• Jenny Lee Mitchell (Deirdre of the Maestrocities), and her friends from Europe that I went out with last Thursday.


• Andy Sapora (Chauncy of the Maestrocities).
  

Semi-random thoughts

● Since George Bush the (much) Lesser entered office, the largest United States export to Iran has been cigarettes--at least $158 million dollars worth. I guess someone thought the best way to oppose the Iranian regime was to kill them off with lung cancer.

UPDATE: I understand (from a MoveOn e-mail) that McCain has been making a similar joke. Well, I think I was first, so maybe he got it from me. Probably not. Anyhow, there's a big difference between a private person like me putting it in her blog, and a candidate for the president of the United States saying it. It's another example of how questionable McCain's judgment is.

● I must admit I was wrong about what happens when the Williams sisters play each other. They have managed to put aside their sisterly love and play well against each other--though Venus was a little better than Serena at it. (It also turns out they played a very competitive match in a minor tournament in March also, that I didn't know about.)

● Again this year a couple of pigeons have built a nest on the windowsill under the air conditioner of our TV room. Grrr. As much as I dislike looking at all the the pigeon-poop dripping down the wall underneath (quite visbile from the livingroom), I really don't want to destroy the nest now that they've set it up. I assume there are eggs underneath the bird sitting there.

My week in review

Sunday: We watched another episode of Inspector Lewis.

Thursday: Cleopatra Queen of Denile and I went down to the Here Theater in SoHo to see Arias with a Twist. That's Joey Arias, the drag performer and Basil Twist the puppeteer, who have joined forces to create a bizarre, wonderful, song-filled show. It's been extended until August 31.

Joining us was Jenny Lee Mitchell (Deirdre of the Maestrocities). She has known Joey Arias since she was a teenager, when they worked together at Fiorucci's. We got to talk to Arias briefly after the show. Then Cleopatra, Jenny and I, along with a couple of Jenny's friends who were also at the show, went out to dinner at a nice Spring St. Italian restaurant.

Saturday: My wife and I saw "Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne)."(UK website) It was simply one of the best thrillers I've ever seen. It ranks up there with "The Third Man." It's the classic innocent man being framed, on the run from the police and a sinister gang of bad guys--including a woman so evil that she makes Cate Blanchett in Indiana Jones look like a cuddly pussy cat.

Afterwards we had an adequate dinner at Serafina.

The alphabet meme: O

is for overnight hospital stays: Zero. I guess that's not quite true--I'm sure I was in the hospital a few days when I was born. Back then they didn't rush people out of the hospital as fast as possible, the way they do today. And I was quite small--a couple ounces lighter and they'd have put me in an incubator.

But I've been very lucky health-wise. Another zero: number of stitches I've had in my body.

The alphabet meme: N

is for number of piercings you have: Zero. I'd love to get my ears pierced, but it would totally freak-out my wife.

Plat du jour

I really don't think I want him operating on me.

The alphabet meme: M

is for your favorite muppet: I'm so old, I did not grow up with Sesame Street--I was already in college when it debuted. I remember, if only vaguely, seeing Rowlf the Dog on the Jimmy Dean show when I was in high school. I never watched The Muppet Show very much.

So the amount of my contact with the Muppets is way, way under average. But from the little I've seen, I think I like Kermit the best. I'll always remember his little shudder when someone mentioned eating frogs' legs.

Williams v Williams in the Wimbledon final--UGH!

I've said it before, when Venus and Serena Williams play each other it's a lousy match. As with sibling against sibling in general, they don't play their best--it's hard to go all out against someone you love.

The alphabet meme: L

is for last restaurant you dined at:
(Shouldn't this be "R"?)
Trattoria Spaghetto in Greenwich Village. This was the suggestion of my friend, Cleopatra Queen of Denile, when we went out last Thursday. The food is decent, and reasonably priced. The service is fair, at least if you sit inside.

TG for Obama

In just 2 days we have already surpassed our initial goal of 50 Obama contributors on the transpeople and allies page. Now we're aiming for 75. Even if you can only donate $5 or $10, please give. The number of supporters donating through this page is important to show the Obama campaign, and all politicians, that the transgender community is involved in politics and can't be ignored.

Click on: http://www.actblue.com/page/trans

Thanks.

The alphabet meme: K

is for what you'd like to kick: "Kick" has two very different meanings--the original, "to strike with one's foot," and the more modern, "to give up," especially a bad habit or addiction. Since I don't have any habits or addictions that I'd like to give up, I guess I'll have go with the first definition. Except I can't think of anything I'd like to strike with my foot. So I'm going cheat a little and use a verb phrase.

I'd like to kick the Republicans out of power.

Plat du jour

The alphabet meme: J

is for favorite juice: None. Not worth the calories.

Living with bears XL

New Jersey: Bear Tranquilized After Causing Disruption Near Paramus High School

Canada: Birdseed-loving black bear goes pine high for a feast, Fur flies over Whistler bear birth control

Pennsylvania: Home cooking lures bear to trap in Fayette, Woman recovering from bear attack

Michigan: Bear captured in Fruitport Twp.

New York: Bad news: bear had a record

Romania: Bear and her cub climb stairs of block of flats in search for food

Wyoming: Officials trap bear on Casper Mountain

India: Five schoolgirls mauled by bear

North Carolina: Official says shooting of bear was justifiable

Support Obama AND transgender rights

Dear Fellow Transgender Advocate,

This year we have an opportunity to elect a President who will be the most transgender-supportive in history.

But electing a candidate isn't enough just by itself. Unless we're visibly and vocally involved with campaigns and giving our time, energy, money, and ideas we will miss out on an opportunity to create a relationship with a President who has already said he's willing to stand with us. That is why we are asking you to join with us in supporting Barack Obama.

We've set up a specific page to track donations from the transgender community and our allies to Sen. Obama's campaign. You can donate by clicking here:

http://www.actblue.com/page/trans

In both the United States and Illinois Senate, Barack Obama has a long commitment to supporting the LGBT community—and specifically the transgender community. Most recently, here is what he said when issuing his statement on Pride month:

"It's time to live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. Let's enact federal civil rights legislation to outlaw hate crimes and protect workers against discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. . .

"We are ready to accomplish these goals because of the courage and persistence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who have been working every day to achieve equal rights. The gay couple who demand equal treatment in our family laws as they raise their children; the lesbian soldier who wants nothing more than to serve her country openly and honestly; the transgender workers who ask for the simple dignity of being judged by the quality of their work. Generations of LGBT Americans, at once ordinary and extraordinary, have made possible this moment in our history. With leadership and hard work, we can fulfill the promise of equality for all."

--Sen. Barack Obama
June 6, 2008

Fully inclusive hate crime protections, fully inclusive employment non-discrimination, and a fully inclusive vision of the American family; these are the values we can have in our next President.

But he can't win—and our community won't advance—without your support.

We're encouraging you to give today to Barack Obama for President at a special fundraising page that will track the impact of the transgender community and our allies on the election.

http://www.actblue.com/page/trans

This page, launched in conjunction with Stonewall Democrats, will track donations to the Obama campaign from the transgender community and our allies. The money raised on the page will go directly to Sen. Obama's campaign.

We've set a very modest starting goal of 50 donors. Can you be one of those 50? [Update: we've gotten 50, and are going for 75.] Can you promote this page on your blog? Can you help spread the word and email your friends and family?

http://www.actblue.com/page/trans


This election is too important to sit on the sidelines. Let's elect a pro-equality Democrat and help build power for our community.

Sincerely,

Marti Abernathy
Karen Bachman
Pam Barres
Caprice Bellefleur
Dana Beyer
Laura Calvo
Carrie Davis
D'Angelo Johnson
Julie Johnson
Eden Lane
Lisa Mottet
Rev. Elijah C. Nealy
Donna Rose
Diego Sanchez
Lisa Scheps
Amanda Simpson
Barbra "Babs" Casbar Siperstein
Melissa Sklarz
Lynn Walker
Jill Weiss
Jaan Williams

UPDATE: We've achieved our initial goal of 50 donors. Now we're aiming for 75. Please help. Even a $5 or $10 gift will add to the cause.

The alphabet meme: I

is for instruments played: None. I have no musical talent whatsoever. I tried the drum when I was in elementary school, and had a few piano lessons when I was in high school, but basically I'm hopeless.

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