Mongoose or Treat!!

It couldn't have been anything else. If you don't know this story, please take a minute and enjoy the reality. It could possibly be the second best thing you see all day. Yeah, the Mongoose is definitely the best thing, you are correct. I hope to hit the Osh-Kosh Outlet Mall sometime soon! Thanks for reading and feel free to share, like, tweet... whatever your little heart desires!

Wedding Bells!

Hard to believe it is finally here! The Mongoose wedding of the century!!

14 Things About Me For 2014

So I figured I would give you a list of 14 things you may not know about me. 14 things, 2014, you see the concept. Some are pretty plain but others may be a surprise. Enjoy!!

1) I was born in Hawaii. We moved before very long so I have no actual memories of it but I do get to say I was born there.

2) I'm left handed. All the best people are.

3) I have run a half marathon. Doing another this March.

4) I love owls. I have them everywhere.

5) I still read comic books. Don't plan to stop.

6) I play World of Warcraft. I definitely have a life outside the game though.

7) I love craft beer. Breweries and amazing beers have been my thing this year. I can definitely still pound back the Natty Lite, but I really enjoy flavorful beer now. STOUT!!

8) I have a window full of orchids. Have 9, need more. Once you get the hang of them, they are really quite easy to grow.

9) I met Steven King in an elevator. I was in junior high and in Minneapolis for a Final Four game and we were both staying in the same hotel. I read all of his books back then and I was so star struck that I couldn't say anything. He asked me how I was and I told him it was an honor to meet him. My prepubescent self couldn't think of anything else to say. Oh well, still got to talk to him. Pretty sweet!

10) I work for the #1 Greek Yogurt in the nation!

11) I am a white knuckle flier. My rational brain knows that nothing is going to happen, but takeoffs and landings fuck me up. I usually self medicate these days. It makes flying more enjoyable for everyone involved.

12) I had a HUGE obsession with Beanie Babies back when they were first popular. I have tons of them. If I was smart, I would have sold them years ago when there was a demand and at least made a little money. Now I just take up storage closet space with them. I need someone to restart the craze so I can make a quick buck.

13) Public speaking scares me to death. It has never gotten any easier for me.

14) I left my phone at home today and didn't turn around on the way to work. I am a little embarrassed by how disconnected I felt all day. I distinctly remember surviving before smart phones, but now clearly, I can't be without it by my side. Damn you Apple. Damn me too.

Thanks for reading. I will post again soon.

2013, What a Year.

On this 1st day of 2014, I find myself like most people, looking back on the year that was 2013. I scoured my pics and posts and found my favorites and thought why not share them with all of you. So here we go, hope you enjoy.

 Let us begin with forays into the adult beverage category. As my dad pointed out recently, he was pretty certain we had been to every bar in DFW due to my MANY alcohol related pics and posts. This is far from true, but he wasn't wrong about my posts. It was a great year for mostly responsible drinking (the irresponsible drinking involves taxi cabs). Tons of breweries and brunches and beer bars. Big shout outs to BBC, Ginger Man and Strangeways! When in Dallas, I highly recommend them. We dipped our toes into the home brew thing and had a blast doing it. It requires patience. But the end result is beer so it is worth the wait. I think we will save up and get a better kit and better supplies before attempting it again. Then there was Brewvolution, talk about a beer lovers dream. A never ending field of breweries just begging you to taste their wares. The swag is pretty awesome too. The best score of the day was this sweet hat from La Chouffe. I saw people wearing them and since I have a bizarre hat fetish, I had to have one. Sadly, they only gave them out to the VIPS. We talked to this lady who had one and Richard did his best to convince her to give it to me. She declined on TWO separate occasions but as she was leaving she offered it up. I felt very bonded to my craft beer people. I was then approached by a rep from the Beer Drinkers Society and their winner of tickets to Brewvolution. The winner's wife was unable to attend and he had generously given her VIP ticket to a stranger waiting in the non VIP line.  All his wife wanted was one of these amazing hats. They offered to buy it from me, but I felt this was one of those "pay it forward" moments so I gave him the hat. I am pretty sure I got some karma points.

 In an attempt to keep this pic heavy post from lagging your computer I put in a page break so click the read more button just below here for the rest of the story.

Homo say what?

I read a blog on the LA WEEKLY site today called Is L.A. Gay Pride an Outdated, Adolescent Mess? and it really made me stop and think. You can follow the link above to read the story for yourself, go ahead, I will wait. While I am sure there are plenty of people who agree 100% with this post, I want to provide the other side to the story. I am going to break the post down and relay my feelings on the key points that are made about Gay Pride being outdated and a mess.

"Are we coming off passe and immature by still celebrating our gay heritage as if we're a bunch of horny, drunk 19-year-olds who came out of the closet a few weekends ago?"

I would say yes, some of us are coming off as horny, drunk 19 year old guys who just came out of the closet, because that is where they are in life. Didn't we all go through that phase? This however is merely a small percentage of the people at Pride. Head to your local Applebee's on a Friday night and see if you don't see people there acting the same way. When we only look at one portion of a thing, we can find any result or conclusion that we want. You want to see drunk horny fools? Check out Mardi Gras. Notice though that there are plenty of people at all these events drinking responsibly or not drinking at all.

"A number of gay men and those in the larger LGBT community have begun to see L.A. Pride as a sad spectacle, particularly since being gay is much more than wearing trendy clothes, sporting tattoos and muscles, and sleeping with whomever comes your way."

Again, this is not just a gay phenomenon, look all around and you will find plenty of trendy clothes wearing, tattooed muscle jocks hitting on anything that moves. America loved Jersey Shore, I guess straight people get a pass. 

"Yet once again L.A. Pride will bring out the go-go boys and cock rings, will be partly underwritten by liquor companies, and will celebrate stereotypes and outdated notions of what it means to be gay."

Check out any event you go to and see if there isn't a beer, wine or liquor company sponsoring it. I run 5k and half marathons and every time you cross the finish line there is a beer company waiting patiently to serve you there goods. A beer sponsor at NASCAR, why is that any different? Who sponsored the last Mardi Gras or St. Patrick's Day parade you attended? What about the last sporting event you attended, was there a beer sponsor? Why wouldn't a beer or liquor company want to sponsor an event where people drink their products? Sounds like a sound marketing plan to me.

Celebrating stereotypes? What about celebrating the people behind those stereotypes? Yes, people may have strong opinions about things they are not comfortable with, but does that make them something that should be viewed as negative? Maybe you aren't enticed by leather or drag or glittery boy shorts, but that doesn't mean that the people who enjoy these things shouldn't be able to come to Pride and be proud of who they are. If you see something you don't like, move on down the line. If you were at a music festival and the band in front of you was playing jazz and you don't like jazz, wouldn't you just walk to the next stage? Oh look, country music, you like that. Did your day at the music fest just get better? Look all around, I am sure you will find a niche that will fit your comfort levels and lifestyle. Better yet, talk to someone who maybe doesn't fit your "comfort mold", you might be surprised what you could learn about other people and maybe even about yourself.

"And then we'll wonder why certain straight folks don't take us seriously or think we're stuck in some kind of "Peter Pan syndrome" -- and we'll cry bloody murder when we're treated poorly."

Before I came out I used to see news reports of Pride events and wonder why they always showed the people covered in glitter, the drag performers, or the muscle guys in the leather jockstraps, but once I started attending myself, I realized it wasn't because those were the only people there. It was what the news stations wanted to flash on their screens for shock and ratings. Yes there is plenty of shock value at Pride, but if that is all you see, then you aren't even looking.

Peter Pan syndrome, yes it's out there, but think of it like this. Imagine being a gay youth who is in the closet. You spend your adolescent years repressing everything about yourself and when you finally come out, you realize you get to start fully living again. You have some catching up to do, maybe some people got partying, clubbing, trendy fashions or other things out of their systems as they progressed, but you are just getting exposed to these things. Why does age even matter here? Once again, be yourself. Want to wear a beanie at 50? Do it. Want to wear what the younger generation wears? Do it. Want to stay out all night clubbing? Why shouldn't you? Some people may have stuff to say about it, but just let that be their issue, not yours
.
"To simply maintain our right to party and hook up with whomever we wish seems so 1970s, doesn't it? So, ah, adolescent."

Visit any trendy nightclub and you will find plenty of straight people partying and hooking up with whomever they choose as well. Scan the "romance" section of Craigslist or similar sites and you will find plenty of straight people looking for random hookups. Gays didn't invent promiscuity, it is a practice in which both gay and straight men and women partake. 

"Heck, let's get real: Is L.A. Pride about celebrating the special spirit of gay folks or filling the cash registers of West Hollywood nightclubs and bars?"

Why can't it be both? More importantly, why shouldn't it be both? Gay businesses need the support of the community. As gay men and women, shouldn't we want to give our money to those businesses that support us?

Having said all that, the post does have a couple of great ideas and they deserve to be mentioned as well.

"Maybe we should bring L.A. Pride back to its roots and make it once again a political statement. To highlight our contributions to society, and to reach out in meaningful ways to our straight allies, our parents, and extended families."

"Maybe we should highlight a particular battle we're fighting on the front lines of gay rights and make that the centerpiece of the gay pride parade, rather than make a straight celebrity a grand marshal, which then diverts publicity toward him or her and away from the important issues we're facing."


Both of these statements are great ideas. I see nothing wrong with adding more awareness to GLBT causes and important GLBT community members, but there needs to be a nice balance. Pride should always be about being able to be 100% yourself in a place surrounded by people who  love and support you. What more can we do to make Pride a tool for equality? It is a point worth investigating.

This Pride season, get out and have fun, but remember those who came before us and all that they have done to get us where we are today!! Maybe one day when we have 100% TRUE equality around the world, we won't need Pride anymore, but until then, you can find me at Pride!

Do you agree with the original post, with me or somewhere in between? Please leave your comments below and feel free to share this post on all your favorite social media outlets. Thanks again for reading, I appreciate it as always.

In the not-too-distant future --

Robot Roll Call:

Cambot!

Gypsy!

Tom Servo!

Croooow!

Sweet!

Well if you haven't figured it out by now, we got "shot into space" for an amazing night filled with Mystery Science Theater 3000 wonderment. Joel Hodgson, the creator and original host of MST3K came to the Texas Theater for "An Evening with Joel Hodgson". If you have no clue what any of this means, head over to YouTube and you can find out plenty. The night started of with a viewing of The Pod People from Season 3. I have seen plenty of episodes on TV, but nothing compares to the ability to see it on the big screen and having a theater full of fans around enjoying it as well.

I gotta learn to take off my sunglasses.

After the viewing of The Pod People, there was a meet and greet that took place for VIP ticket holders, which we were. Once the lights came up in the theater, you got a sense of the WIDE variety of fans of this show. There were young and old, men and women, gay and straight, slightly nerdy and excessively nerdy, independently mobile and not so independently mobile. The people watcher in me had a nerdgasm. It was an interesting cross section of humanity for sure. I could continue about all the people, but I can't be to mean to other fans of the show. Although if enough of you leave comments asking for it, who knows.

Autograph anyone?

The final part of the evening was a live performance of Riffing Myself, which was basically a historical journey thru Joel's life, his journey and the birth of the show. All the while riffing on himself instead of a B movie. It was a great sort of all access pass to all things Joel and MST3K. <Insert second nerdgasm here.> Once the live performance was over, we were all laughed out and I found myself inspired. Sometimes we find inspiration in the weirdest of places.

What inspires you? Leave your inspirations in the comments below. Don't forget to do all the wonderful social network magic button things you can do to this post. Thanks as always for reading and sharing.

For Those About To Rock!!

Once again my mouth has written a huge check, but this time, it is gonna get cashed! If you are an avid reader of this blog, (psst... you should be) you know that Richard and I have been running and doing races for over a year now. I felt froggy one day in the latter half of last year and made the declaration that I wanted to do a half marathon before I turned 40.  I assume that I felt there was plenty of time to forget what I said and just continue on with life as usual. Fast forward a few months and neither one of us forgot, dang it, and time was running out. Luckily Google is pretty good at finding whatever you are looking for, and I found the Rock 'n' Roll Dallas Half Marathon.  

This bad boy of a race occurs 6 days before my birthday so it fits perfectly into my "before I'm 40" timeline. The only downside to these damn half marathons is they are EXPENSIVE. Well the price and the whole running part. Much to my excitement, the race is offering a discount for 2013 if you register on the 13th of the month. The discount guru in me is pleased!

I will admit that I have bounced back and forth with my enthusiasm over this race, but with the new year and the start of our training schedule, I find myself pumped up about it. Live music all along the race route and just that surge of energy you get from an entire crowd of runners. The medal you receive upon finishing the race is a nice motivator as well. Completing this race will be amazing and I am sure it will feel like such an accomplishment, but there is one thing that stands out above all else. I want that damned "13.1" sticker to put on the back window of the car. Is it a little braggy? YEAH, but I have to think your stick figure family or your "my kid is an honor student" stickers do the same thing, so I'm pretty sure it's fair.

So Sunday March 24th, feel free to swing by and cheer us on. Actually feel free to  just send positive vibes, I can't think of anything worse for a spectator to have to watch than a marathon. You would have to run along side the route to keep up with the action. We will take lots of pictures so you can feel like you were there. They will also have professionals to take lots of fun action shots which we will be sure to share as well. Leave a comment if you are running this race. It is always nice to see familiar faces in the crowd.

Thanks again as always for taking time to read what I have to say. Feel free to "Share" "Like" "Retweet" "+1" etc. Much love to you all!!