Friday's grab bag of topics

When we go to the beach I normally wear my ratty old flip flops from the car to the entrance of the beach, because the asphalt parking lot can be quite hot. Once at the entrance of the beach I usually kick off my flip flops and leave them off to the side, so as not to flip sand up the back of my legs as I walk in the sand. I've been doing this longer than I can remember. But last Sun someone stole my ratty old flip flops! I couldn't believe anyone would want them. They were 100 years old, and not a fancy name brand. So I replaced them with a pair of navy Crocs knock-offs that cost $6.
Our friends Greg & Gerry are arriving this evening from VA for a visit. We met them about 10 years ago, standing in line at the Reel Affirmations GLBT film festival in DC. They were nice and we chatted until it was time to go in and take our seats. Then about a month later we saw them at a gay couples social event, got reacquainted, became friends, and have been friends since. We don't have a lot planned during their visit, but they want to join us and 'the usual suspects' for our regular Fri Night Dinner, which will be fun. I know they want to go to the beach on Sat so that should be fun, too. Greg likes to sing karaoke, as do I, so maybe we'll invite a few other friends and go to the Purple Parrot for karaoke and cocktails Sat night. That will really be fun!
Estelle Geddy died on Tues at the age of 84. Probably best known for her TV role as Sophia on 'Golden Girls', but did you also remember she played the department store owner in the film 'Mannequin'? She would have been 85 today. "Picture it: Heaven, 2008..."
You've got to check out this video from Jay Smooth! I love his quote: "When we find ourselves believing that killing a man makes us more of a man, but loving a man makes us less of a man, it's probably time to re-examine our criteria for manhood." I couldn't agree more. Check his blog for other good stuff. I think he's sexy.
Phyllis Diller celebrated her 91st birthday on Mon. You GO, girl! I remember watching Phyllis Diller on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson when I was a kid. I still think she's among the top funniest comedians. Despite her age she still remains current, as the link to the article above shows. She said "I went to a gay wedding and I caught the jockstrap. In San Francisco, a mixed marriage is a man and woman!"
I read a really sad story about a 53 year old woman who faxed a suicide note to her mortgage company just hours before the auction of her foreclosed home. She also left a note for her husband, who was unaware of the foreclosure, instructing him to use her life insurance money to pay off the house. Obviously there is more to this story than the sub-prime mortgage debacle. This woman apparently had some mental health issues which may have been aggravated by the foreclosure. Be happy if you have your mental health. Others are not so lucky.

Everyone is aware of rainwater collection from gutters. Since our home is a Victorian reproduction it has no gutters. So I recently began to harvest water from our home's air conditioning system. Every a/c system removes humidity from the air and produces water. Some systems vent the water to a drain. Ours vents the water through a pipe to the outside of our home. I decided to put a plastic bowl under the pipe and see how much water was harvested. I was amazed that the 10-cup bowl was overflowing in just a couple hours! I used the bowl of water to water our roses and shrubs. On Wed it was around 90 degrees, which meant the a/c was running more, which meant more water was produced, which allowed me to water the plants 4 times that day. I much prefer this method of watering than dragging out the hose.
Remember this story about the SC "so gay" tourism campaign that got pulled? The State has refused to pay the ad agency for the campaign because the State's Dept of Parks, Rec, and Tourism claimed the campaign had been approved by a 'low-level employee'. This only occurred after Gov Sanford and other politicians began making a big noise about the gay-orientated tourism campaign. As I suspected, that wasn't true. The campaign had been approved at a high level. Perhaps the State regrets its decision to approve the campaign. But in my opinion it shouldn't lie about the approval, and should still pay the bill for services rendered.
Lynda Carter celebrated her 57th birthday yesterday and still looks fantastic. As a young gay boy I loved her tv show 'Wonder Woman'. My friend Billy waited on her as she and her son shopped in the boys dept at Nordstrom years ago. She paid by credit card and he kept a carbon copy of the receipt with her signature (read: autograph) on it.

Crush du Jour: Omar Germenos