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2007 was the year for debates and multitudes and yet even more multitudes of political maneuvers via the internet and YouTube to get your vote. Candidates where everywhere in 2007, here is the just released video of the highlights on YouTube for 2007.
Christmas 2007 has come and went, all the gifts are unwrapped, holiday treats all eaten and out of view and stress levels slowly coming back to manageable. Billy and I spent the better part of last week getting out last minute gifts, standing in lines, making personal appearances and trying to share as much holiday cheer with friends and family as possible. The rest of this week was the holiday hangover cringing at the thought of going in one more department store.
I decided to break down and get myself a big gift this year and bought a 2007 Saturn Vue SUV. I haven't bought a vehicle for myself in over 10 years and my 1986 BMW while fun to drive still, doesn't offer the creature comforts I desire while navigating traffic. I went for bust and picked a fully loaded black SUV with leather interior, On Star and the larger V-6 engine. With the larger engine I still get around 20 miles per gallon in the city and not sure about the highway but GM claims it gets 22 mpg on the open road. If anyone wants to buy a nice 22 year old red BMW with new paint drop me an email.
My partner and I decided for 2008 we are going to scale down and reorganize our lives. What does that mean for us? It means scaling back to a smaller house with half the mortgage and almost half the utilities. I say almost because while the new house is a one story we now have a pool in the back yard to care for year around. Pictures coming this summer of us and our friends pool side! Lowe's of all places has a really good web site for pool care and general maintenance to easily save money by doing stuff yourself.
We also are getting one credit card to pay all of our monthly household expenses. At the end of the month we divide everything and pay our amount out of separate accounts and hopefully find a card with airline miles or some type of compensation for our monthly utilities and expenses. Working on detangling ten years worth of intertwined finances have left us both wondering who is paying what monthly and where some of our money goes. We both have savings plans and have already found more to invest but that's not enough when you work with and run a business with a spouse/significant other regardless of the particular situation. So we are now tracking everything personal with Quicken Home and Business with each of us responsible for our own bank accounts and budgeting on our own computers.
As for the blog in 08' it's getting streamlined too. Soon you will be seeing some changes reflecting content on my site and a new more content rich layout. A new color scheme will also be decided on probably with my readers input. Both gay and current news event stories will be posted somewhere on a larger side bar. It will be stories I would love to comment about but don't have the time for the research and writing. I also plan on offering some video soon. I have been researching some video publishing tools and am open to suggestions for some cheap tools for video podcast or internet players that play well with Typepad.
While I love each and every site I have listed in my blog roll over the last couple of years it has gotten a bit too long. So reluctantly I will be only listing blogs that are willing to do a link swap or has been cool enough to link to me already and non-profit organizations for the LGBT community. If you're a blogger and want to be in my blog roll and don't have a link to me set one up and I will happily link back regardless of political content as some conservative bloggers and I have already demonstrated.
I now have three months worth of hospital visits and surgeries behind me, our natural disaster is being cleaned up and very soon the house move and everything it entails will be done. I can soon get back to some kind of normal, simpler, and cheaper lifestyle. I still have some physical therapy coming up soon to get my abs and cardio back to where things where before this medical ordeal started. However with a pool to hang out by now I have extra incentive to work hard with rehab.
For me chaos is not conducive to my creativity, it merely hinders its flow. I know many creative people who thrive on chaos or thrive regardless of any of the stresses of modern day life. However I suppose I am not wired that way. My site has kind of shown that these last few months but it could not really be avoided. I suppose for a New Year's resolution to add to the one shared with my partner it would be once this more desirable lifestyle gets rolling not to waste it.
2008 looks like it's going to be a fun ride with the Presidential election coming up, a Congress everyone hates, Pakistan coming unglued after Benazir Bhutto got herself killed. All the while George W. Bush and Condi Rice are manning the helm …alone, heading straight towards the sun. The truth will always be stranger than fiction and blogs will be here to tell about it.
Straight from the files of T Town Tommy's Strange But True, you can now turn your dearly departed into some bling. A US company called LifeGem is using modern technology to turn your departed's ashes into a man made diamond.
Oh but the fun doesn't stop there LifeGem is also offering to turn your pets ashes into a diamond and even celebrity diamonds. The company claims to have turned hair from Ludwig van Beethoven into three diamonds. The Beethoven diamonds where sold on e-Bay for over $200,000.00.
YouTube Video of the Year "The Free Hugs Campaign"
Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, a man who's sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal. As this symbol of human hope spread across the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.
Welcome to Camp Thomas coming to you via generator power and some odd miracle that our internet came back on Thursday. For those of you who don't watch the news Oklahomans were directly hit with what was basically an ice bomb. The three big cities in the state where covered in up to 1.5" of clear ice last weekend and massive power outages occurred as trees some almost a century old split and came crashing down under the added weight of thousands of pounds of ice. Homes, cars, power lines, all were smashed under a solid day of falling trees and high voltage lines.
We have been without power going on day six in Tulsa. After the initial blast of the ice storm and resulting devastation I walked around my home shortly after midnight and surprisingly it was eerily still and quiet no dogs barking, no traffic noise, just the sound of crashing limbs ever so often accompanied by a light show and the sound of maniacal Tesla coils as the high voltage lines and transformers had their guts pulled out or smashed. A misty frozen still air added to the Tim Burton dream like landscape of a smashed, dark and crystal covered city with wild shaped snapped and mangled trees silhouetted in all directions. Our city landscape will be changed for the next 20 years as a result of the devastation and deforestation. On the up side fire wood is going to be dirt cheap when the cleanup is over and lots of generators are going to be found in garage sales next summer.
Of course I had to plan for all of this to happen right after a five day stay at a local hospital completing the last step in my recovery from diverticulitis and possible colon cancer. This last visit wraps up a twenty one day total stay in the hospital over the past three months with recovery time between each visit. I am pleased to say that no cancer was found and after leaving the hospital, 8" of my lower intestine lighter, I am on the path to a full recovery. I will make some alterations to my diet and my exercise regiment with more swimming and cardio instead of just strength training and working around the shop. It will be several weeks before I am cleared in lift over 10 lbs although due to the ice crisis and setting up Camp Thomas for what can possibly be another 48-72 hours of no power I have been lifting 5 gallon gas cans feeding the lifeline keeping our place warm and lit.
After six days of solid work by AEP and rural electrical companies I can report that fewer than 100,000 Tulsa homes are still without power. Over 6,000 workers came from several states to get the power restored and limbs cleared out just for the Tulsa area alone. Brad Henry, our governor will be asking President Bush for another federal disaster declaration for this latest massive hit to Oklahoma, if approved our state will have the honor of the most disaster declarations in a year for any state in US history. Unfortunately the electrical workers and tree trimmers will have to contend with a second wave of winter hitting now. We are having freezing rain and will have anywhere from 1-4" of snow by Sunday. I like many people am having cabin fever bad and despite my condition have been getting out as much as possible during the day. Although none will be conceived at my place, I know that a lot of babies are going to be born around September in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Bundle up and stay warm however you can readers.
Hey everyone, hope you have been enjoying the posts and was able to get active somehow in World AIDS Day events last weekend. Just as the disease effects millions overseas it also impacts our own neighborhoods and our very own personal lives.
On my own personal health home front tomorrow I go in for the third and final round of my treatment for diverticulitis. I will be going under the knife tomorrow early afternoon and having 8" of my lower intestine removed. I am dreading the liquid and transitional diet I will be on more than the surgery itself. The only thing worse than airline food ... is hospital food.
Chef Gordon Ramsey would pass out then wake up cursing if he saw the shit I was served during my last two week long stays in the hospital. I don't expect anything different from the hospital "cooks" this go around. So while you are chomping down on that wonderful juicy dinner tomorrow night think of me with my Jell-o and broth diet watching commercials for food on television.
Peace out my readers and fellow bloggers I will be back to normal blogging once my mind clears from the pain medications and the keys stop jumping around the keyboard. Until then keep the faith!
As a little girl climbed onto Santa's lap, Santa asked the usual, "And what would you like for Christmas?"
The child stared at him open mouthed and horrified for a minute, then gasped: "Didn't you get my E-mail?"
Reading about today being World AIDS Day I found these very controversial public awareness photos. I believe all of these came from ACT UP Paris and Mtv and are pretty out of the box.
The Spider and the Scorpion
The "no penis/no vagina=no sex=no aids" campaign
MTV HIV/AIDS Awareness
Hat Tip to Nate - Progressive Christian Gay Guy
Change is good
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