Friday fragments

Last night we went to see the most recent Batman installment "The Dark Knight".
We liked it, but I must admit that I found a few things annoying. A number of times the 'background' music as too loud and prevented me from hearing the dialog. I also found the frequent camera angle changes to be distracting. And why does Batman's voice sound like he just had his adnoids removed? But all in all we liked it.

I took my car in to have the front end aligned and new tires put on. I'd noticed the front tires were badly and unevenly worn.
I also felt a vibration in the steering wheel when driving 25-40 mph. These 2 things told me the front end needed aligning. I was happy to learn that the mechanic agreed with me and took care of it. The alignment was $65. and the tires were $90. each. My car drives like a brand new car now! Its amazing what a difference the alignment and new tires make!

Spouse & I stopped in at our favorite local discount store Value City. They were having a crazy, end-of-summer, blow-out sale. All men's short-sleeve shirts were $3.99. I didn't buy any because I have more clothes than I can wear. Once or twice a year I edit my closet and donate the clothes I don't want anymore. But we find some fabulous deals on other stuff we needed. We got a set of cushions for our wicker porch furniture for $14.99, which includes a settee cushion and 2 chair cushions. For $14.99!

We also got 2 small tables with metal legs and ceramic tile tops for $4.99 each. I got a pack of 3 briefs originally priced at $12.00 for $1.00. Now, I ask you, where you can get 3 pairs of underwear for a buck? Spouse also picked up 2 nicely scented jar candles for $5. each. We've seen them at many places for $10.-$15. each. The trunk of my car was stuffed and we'd only spent $36. Man, I love days like that!

Today I had a "party lunch". A "party lunch" is when you discover you have no bread with which to make a sandwich, and you're really not in the mood for a bowl of cereal or soup for lunch, so you eat items you'd likely serve at a party!
Today's "party lunch" consisted of hummus and goat cheese with rosemary crackers, kalamata olives, and fresh figs. It was quite tasty, and when I was finished eating I felt like I'd just been to a swanky party! The fresh figs came from my neighbor Claudia's fig tree. After retiring from the military, Claudia returned to the house in which she grew up. Her father planted a fig tree a hundred years ago (not literally) and it produces the sweetest, most delicious figs I've ever tasted. Since the tree is big and produces so much, Claudia gives me figs at least once a week.

Its 3:30 and I am officially off work for the rest of the day. My company closes early on the Fri before a holiday weekend, which I believe is a nice thing to do for employees. Spouse & I were supposed to have company for the long, Labor Day weekend but they had to cancel, so this will be our 1st Labor Day weekend in 6 or 7 years without company!
We're fine with that though, as we'll be able to relax a little more than usual. We'll start the long weekend off with dinner tonight with 'the usual suspects' and a cook-out at our friends George & Steve's on Sun. Our buddies Doug & Jim will be in town this weekend so we'll likely hook up with them at some point, too. Hopefully this overcast weather will go away so we can spend some time at the beach.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend.

Crush du Jour: Victor Vales

Funny Coco and funny Olympic moments

Last night's Coco Peru show at the Blue Moon did not disappoint!

Coco explained the title 'Ugly Coco', which delighted me to no end since I'd been wondering about it. As it turns out, Coco was watching an episode of 'Ugly Betty' (God only knows why) and found that a childhood experience of hers which used to be in her show somehow found its way into the script of that 'Ugly Betty' episode. This, of course, turned Coco into Ugly Coco, and for good reason.

Coco's all-new material was thought-provoking at times, tender at times, but HILARIOUS all the time! I particularly loved the parts about having sushi for lunch with Bea Arthur, and spending the weekend in Atlantic City with Liza Minnelli. I laughed so hard I had laryngitis when I got home. It was a fantastic show and I highly recommend going out of your way to see her live show.

Also, get "Trick", "Girls Will Be Girls", "Boy Meets Boy", and Logo's "Wisecrack", all available from Netflix.

What? Don't have Netflix? Can't wait for the films to arrive? Then go to YouTube and check out some of Coco's funny clips. You'll be glad you did.

And speaking of funny stuff, my friend Wayne sent me these funny 'Olympic moments' photos.
Who knew Jesus was a wrestler? Hmm, looks like he's sporting some wood!

Is he checking to make sure its still there?

From the look on his face I'd guess he's got a cramp.

Who knew fisting was an Olympic sport? My, how times change!

Looks like both of these guys have their hands on their balls.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'd like to find out.

My friend Ron sent me this funny photo of Olympic gold medalist and world record breaker Michael Phelps. This cracked me up!
But I have to tell you, I am not happy at all with those new 'shark suits'. In addition to the fact that they allow the wearer to swim faster than swimmers in traditional Speedos (making Phelps record breaking a little less exciting), they just cover too much. I like my swimmers in Speedos so that they are truly breaking records without the help of technologically advanced suits, and so I can better appreciate their bodies. There - I said it.

And speaking of appreciation, how about the look on these two Olympic athletes' faces? It seems they 'appreciate' each others achievements!
On the left is German gymnast Fabien Hambuechen and on the right is American gymnast Jonathan Horton. Doesn't it look as if they are about to share a really passionate kiss? This is not a doctored photo! They won bronze and silver medals, respectively, but in my mind they won each others hearts.

Okay, enough silliness.

As you were.

Crush du Jour: Alexandre Despatie

Crazy Coco

I am crazy-excited to see Miss Coco Peru tonight, live and in person! She's performing her 1-woman show 'Ugly Coco' at the Blue Moon in Rehoboth Beach. I saw her there last year, too, and she was fabulous!

And as if seeing Coco tonight in this lovely, intimate venue wasn't enough, today is her birthday! Happy birthday, Girl!!!
So I will bring her a bouquet of flowers and a small balloon that reads 'Happy Birthday', and hope to give it to her if/when she mentions her birthday. If she doesn't mention it, I'll wait until the end of the show and give the flowers and balloon to her as she thanks everyone, blows kisses into the air, and bows.

If you've not been living under a rock then you've seen Coco in "Trick",
"Girls Will be Girls",
"Boy Meets Boy",

or her Wisecrack comedy special on Logo and you'll know why I think Coco is so hysterically funny.
And beautiful, which makes me wonder about the title of her act 'Ugly Coco'.
But there are 2 things of which I am SURE: I will have a fabulous time at the show tonight, and you are jealous of me right now.

Crush du Jour: Alex Esternol

Family time

I took last Fri off work in order to spend some family time with some of my relatives. My cousins Jeni and Hilleary were coming, and I had not seen them in 2 years.

The day started with housecleaning - for 4 hours! We definitely aren't your typical queens whose house always looks like a model home. We live in our house and normally vacuum and dust once a week. Since we have company so often on the weekends, we usually clean on Thurs evening and Fri before our peeps arrive.

But I guess we kind of 'let things go' the last few weekends since we didn't have any company. The house was seriously overdue for a good cleaning, so that's what I gave it on Fri.

About 2:30 my cousin Jeni arrived with her son Tristin and her recent boyfriend Dave, whom I'd never met before. Jeni and Tristan used to be Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) so they were not allowed to associate with me for almost 15 years, until they too decided to leave the religion. Jeni also left her husband in the process, but that was long overdue. Jeni and Dave met during a charity bicycle ride. They now live on a small farm outside Columbia, MD, complete with chickens. They brought me some fresh eggs and a gift basket with wine, cheese, crackers, and chocolate.

We talked until 4:00 when Hilleary (Jeni's older brother) arrived with his sons Ollie who is 19, Ben who is 16, and Theo who is 9. Hilleary was raised as a JW but decided in his late teens that it was not the spiritual path for him. A few years later he moved to Mendocino, CA where he has lived since. His wife Mindy is a musician and travels a lot so she did not accompany him and the boys on their east coast trip.

Since this was everyone's 1st time here they wanted to see our house. While giving 'tours' of our home always makes me feel a little uneasy (as if our house were a museum), doing such does give me an opportunity to tell little stories that arise when people comment on some of our unusual furnishings. My favorite story is about the small, 1960s, Dick Van Dyke-style sectional sofa that was left behind in a rental unit our friend was moving into. It definitely wasn't his style so he was going to place it on the curb. We offered to take it off his hands for him, and it is a great conversation piece.

Spouse came home from work shortly after the tour so I introduced him to everyone. He'd not met any of them before, but quickly got along with everyone as I knew he would. We talked for a few hours about the present and the past. I was impressed with the way Ollie, Ben, Tristin, and Theo stayed engaged in the conversation with us old folks. It felt really good to be with my family.

At nearly 7:00 we decided to walk to Striper Bites for dinner. Everyone enjoyed looking at the historic homes and churches along the way. Amazingly, the only table that could seat 9 people in the small restaurant was available, so we had no wait! Everyone seemed to enjoy their food and I was relieved, since Jeni's boyfriend Dave is a chef. I got blackened tuna over pasta in a fennel cream sauce, and Dave got asiago scallops. We traded bites.

Two hours later we walked back to the house, chatted for a few minutes more, and everyone began saying their goodbyes. They drove back to MD that night.

After they left I sat for a few minutes and reflected on the day. My heart was full of joy and appreciation, for this has not always been my life.

For many years I had no contact with these family members, nor did I have any reason to believe I would in the future. Hence, the joy. The appreciation came from the fact that Hilleary would take a day of his vacation at the beach, and Jeni would drive 6 hours round trip to spend the day with me. I couldn't think of a better way to have spent the day.

It was a wonderful, wonderful day.

Crush du Jour: Casper Van Dien

Ricky Martin is a dad

You've probably heard or read by now that Ricky Martin is a dad.

According to a statement released by his press rep, twin boys were delivered via a surrogate mother about a month ago.
"Ricky Martin's a dad!


The Latin superstar, 36, welcomed twin boys via a surrogate mother a few weeks ago, his rep tells Usmagazine.com in a statement.


"The children, delivered via gestational surrogacy, are healthy and already under Ricky's full-time care," the statement read.


"Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children."

No further details were released. The Associated Press first reported the news.

Over the years, Martin has refused to confirm or deny rumors that he's gay.


"I think that sexuality is something that each individual should deal with in their own way," he told Barbara Walters in 2005. "And that's all I have to say about that."


Now, I'm not saying he's gay, but if someone asked ME if I were straight, I wouldn't say that 'I think that sexuality is something that each individual should deal with in their own way'. I'd say 'No, not that there's anything wrong with it'.

My point is, no straight guy answers the 'are you gay' question by NOT answering the question definitively. I'm just sayin'. This photo has undoubtedly fueled some of the gay rumors, but others claim the guy on the right is Ricky's half-brother, not a boyfriend.

Honestly, I don't care. I just find it interesting when a hot-looking, healthy man won't confirm or deny his sexuality and then fathers children via surrogacy. I just find that... interesting.

Crush du Jour: Ricky Martin

Delicious day

Yesterday at the beach was nothing short of idyllic.

I arrived at 11:30 and stayed until almost 4:00. They sky was a gorgeous blue, the temperature was around 80 degrees, and the humidity was very low. There was a delicious and constant, cool breeze coming off the water. On a scale of 1-10, it was an 11.

I brought a couple magazines to read, but only flipped through 1 of them briefly. Most of the time I listened to Spouse's mp3 player and tried not to audibly sing along.

I also brought an insulated cooler bag with a bottle of ice water, an apple, a cup of pudding, a cup of strawberry applesauce, and a cup of mango-peach applesauce, left over from when I had a tooth extracted. Those kept the hunger pangs away and were very easily portable. By the way, the 5 lbs I lost within a week of having my oral surgery actually turned into 8 lbs, and I've kept them off now that I've returned to eating solid food.
Being fair complected, I was sure to apply my Coppertone sunscreen multiple times. I love the smell of Coppertone. It doesn't smell like coconut or pineapple like a lot of sunscreens do. I really don't know what it smells like, but I love it. It reminds me of family vacations at the beach as a kid. I always used Coppertone.

I went for a walk shortly after arriving, then sat in my chair enjoying the perfect day.

I'm back to work today, but will be off again tomorrow. My cousin Hilleary and 3 of his sons who live in CA are on the east coast on vacation. They will be meeting Hilleary's sister Jeni, 1 of her sons Tristan, and her boyfriend Dave at our house tomorrow around noon. I am excited to see them and am eager to hear what's going on in their lives. This will be their first time meeting Spouse, too. I imagine we'll sit and talk in the afternoon, then likely go somewhere for dinner.

But before they arrive tomorrow I've got to clean the house! I'd hate for my relatives to be attacked by dust elephants.

Crush du Jour: Kim Rossi Stuart

Gay Marriage humor

It started a couple years ago with legal gay marriage in MA. Then CA legalized gay marriage, and now NY is recognizing gay marriages performed in other states.

With the rising numbers of gay couples getting married, it shouldn't have surprised me that someone would come up with Gay Wedding Etiquette. Enjoy!
10 Unbreakable Rules of Gay Wedding Etiquette:

1. On the day of the wedding, it's bad luck for the two grooms to see each other at the gym.

2. Superstition suggests that for good luck, the couple should have: something bold, something flirty, something trashy, something dirty.

3. It's customary at gay & lesbian nuptials for the parents to have an open bar during the entire ceremony.

4. Gay wedding tradition dictates that both grooms refrain from eating any of the wedding cake, given the high content of carbs and sugar.

5. It's considered bad luck for either of the grooms to have slept with the priest.

6. During the first dance, it's considered unlucky to use glow sticks, flags, whistles and hand-held lasers.

7. For good luck at the union of a drag queen, the bouquet is always thrown in the face of a hated rival.

8. The reception hall must have a disco ball and at least one pair of matching go-go dancers.

9. The wedding singer is NOT allowed to play or sing: "Let's Hear it for the Boy", "It's Rainin' Men", or "I Will Survive."

10. The parents of the bottom has to pay for everything.

This cartoon made me laugh because its funny, but also because its true.
Since we're not taking a week-long vacation (again) this year, I have more vacation days than I have things to do with them. Since my company does not allow us to carry over unused vacation days from one year to another, I decided to take today off. I didn't have any client appointments and the weather forecast is for bright, sunny skies, very low humidity, and a high temperature of 82 degrees. So after walking Jordan the dog, I spent about 30 minutes pulling some weeds from the beds, sat on the porch and enjoyed a light breeze with my Mississippi Mud flavored coffee, and now I'm headed to the beach!

Happy hump day everyone!

Crush du Jour: Matthew Mitchum

Bad parent

You might be a bad parent if...

...you believe children should begin expressing themselves at an early age.

...you encourage your child to explore his curiosities, and your thong.

...you buy AND allow your daughter to wear this t-shirt.

...you believe its never too early in the day or in life to enjoy a cold brewsky!

...your idea of a cheap babysitter involves duct tape.

...you've ever said or thought "I love children... especially on a whole wheat roll!"

Crush du Jour: Rene Fris

Night out on the town

Sat was another beautiful day. Spouse & I took my car to the car wash, then went to a car show in Georgetown DE, about 1/2 an hour away. It was held at a Chevrolet dealership and was sponsored by a local Corvette Car Club. Not surprisingly, more than 1/2 the cars in the show were Corvettes.

Rick & Nick were there, too. Rick had shined up his '93 Competition yellow Corvette so it looked like glass.
Nick had waxed his '94 black Viper Hennessey Venom 4 times!
They proudly displayed their super cars to the adoring fans. It really wasn't my kind of car show, since I am a big fan of big fins.

But since it wasn't far from home and we hadn't anything else planned, we went and did enjoy it. We were only there for about 45 minutes.

Sat afternoon included a big dose of relaxing, internet surfing, napping, and TV watching. Then Spouse & I headed over to our friends' Doug & Jim's place and the 4 of us went into Rehoboth Beach for our big 'night out on the town'.

Our 1st stop was at Aqua for pre-dinner cocktails.

It was a gorgeous evening and Aqua has a large outdoor bar area. Next we had dinner at my new favorite outdoor restaurant Shag. It was our 3rd time there and we had the same waiter all 3 times. We enjoyed tasty food and funky tunes as we continued catching up with our friends.

Then we walked to Cloud 9 for their Madonna's 50th Birthday Bash.

No, Madonna was not scheduled to appear there, but like most other dance clubs, Cloud 9 was hosting an 'all Madonna, all night' tribute. The DJ played a lot of heavily remixed songs; some were so remixed they were unrecognizable until the lyrics began. But it was fun to watch people dance, and when we'd had a few cocktails ourselves, we joined the dancing devotees. We got home at 2:00am and remarked that it was the latest we'd been out in a long, long time.

Spouse is not one to hang out in a bar so we only do it on rare occasions with friends. But Spouse always has a great time when we do it. His idea of an exciting Sat night is when there's a really great 'Today's Special Value' on HSN. Hey, its all about compromise.

Sun we met Rick & Nick at the beach, which is our traditional Sun afternoon activity. Strangely, there was a great breeze blowing in the parking lot, but not much on the beach, so it felt warmer than usual. But it was a gorgeous day so we enjoyed it anyway.

After returning home we showered, fed and walked the dog, and then picked up some fried chicken from Kick'n Chicken and ate it in the car while parked at Lewes Beach. The sun was setting and the sky was a brilliant smear of oranges, pinks, and grey-blue.It was indescribably beautiful, and reminded me yet again why we moved here.

So there you have it: another weekend in our Lewes Life, complete with a night out on the town!

Crush du Jour: Nick Beyeler

More bumper stickers

Although we have none on our vehicles due to me respecting Spouse's wishes, I do love seeing political bumper stickers. Especially those that highlight the @sshole-ness of our current president and his administration.


I've shared some of my favorites in this post. Here's a photo I found on some guy's MySpace page. He claims this is his truck so I'm crediting him. Click the photo to enlarge it.I think these are great! The more these truths are exposed, the better the chance we won't elect another @sshole.

If you have photos of such 'truths', feel free to email them to me at SingJaz@aol.com. Or, if you find websites I can link to, feel free to share them in the comments or via email.

Crush du Jour: Chris Salvatore

Billboard campaign highlights gay families

I think this concept is cool. GLBT citizens of WI were not content to rest defeated by the 2006 state constitutional amendment defining marriage as 'between a man and a woman', so they created a billboard campaign to educate their straight neighbors that gay families exist, whether or not their parents are legally married.

Major kudos to the Joseph R. Pabst LGBT Infrastructure Fund for a grant, and Clear Channel for donating a large number of billboards!

Billboard campaign highlights gay families
By Jennifer Vanasco

(Milwaukee, Wis.) A Milwaukee group aims to show that gay and lesbian families are everywhere with an aggressive billboard and bus shelter ad campaign.

"The “Gay Neighbor” campaign will feature LGBT families drawn from the Milwaukee area and was unveiled this week at a news conference. It begins Monday.
The ads, from the Cream City Foundation, all bear the slogan "Family. It’s all about LOVE!" and direct people to a Web site that offers more information on the issues facing same-sex couples and their children.

In 2006, Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. Since then LGBT activist groups have been focusing on efforts to get bills granting recognition of domestic partnerships passed in the legislature.

Marketing expert Denise Crawley said the photos used in the campaign were selected following intensive focus groups.

“We tried single people, we tried couples by themselves. None of those sorts of images worked as well as presenting people in the sense of family,” Crawley told Milwaukee Public Radio.

The ads feature with young children and teens pictured with their gay and lesbian parents, and LGBT kids with their mothers and fathers.

“We also heard from people that they thought that gay people don’t have families, certainly thought they don’t have children. Don’t even think to ask about a significant other, about their mother, about their sister,” Crawley said.

Several of the families represented in the campaign were present at the news conference, but were identified only by their first names.

One of the couples, Kristie and Karen, said that it was difficult to decide whether to expose their children in the ads.

“The last thing a parent wants to do is to put their child in harms way and, while I don’t feel like we’re necessarily doing that, it’s a little nerve-wracking. And there were days I did feel sick to my stomach about it and we talked about that a lot. But, we felt like the cause was worthwhile and we need to do it,” Karen said. “My true feeling was, I came back to the code, you have to be a part of the change you want to see in the world and there was no other way to do it. And I think our families and our kids know, that it’s a worthwhile cause.”
Crawley said that in addition to educating the straight population, she hopes the ads encourage more gay people to come out.

“The fact that there are still hate crimes and there are still unfair laws, there are so many people who are still closeted,” she said.

“There are plenty of people who still have people come into their homes and have dinner parties and people don’t know that they’re gay. And we’re not going to be able to make inroads into more fair laws and opportunities if more people don’t realize how many gay neighbors they have.”

The foundation did not say how much it cost to produce the ads, but noted that it received funding from the Joseph R. Pabst LGBT Infrastructure Fund and that Clear Channel had donated a large number of billboards.

Crush du Jour: Antoine Vaillant