Well I can tell my ex-roommate lives somewhere near here... it seems like 1 out of every 3 girls walking by has herpes... 

 Dear LJ,

Regrets that I cannot presently share the story of my day due to exhaustion!  Here is one IOU, redeemable tomorrow.

Love,
Bill

 Ugh.

So work wants me to implement a content management system for our website, so that they can easily neglect to update their site.  Does anyone have any experience with these, and possibly any suggestions?

Is there anyone out there who is really crafty who would help me with something?

I want to make a heart shaped pinata for Valentine's Day... What can I say, Chelsey loves breaking shit and we both think Valentines Day is lame, so it's actually kinda brilliant.

Anyone out there able to help me make this dream a reality? 

Massachusetts voters, long know to be ardent supporters of the Democratic Party, voted in a Republican today to make the US Senate "filibusterable"... While I'm saddened that it wasn't a Libertarian, I am happy to see that my theory on the American electorate is being validated...

Namely, I believe that we are a country of moderates.  I think there is a strong majority of those who are fiscally conservative and socially liberal, but the Democrat/Republican dichotomy has tricked them into playing into polemics.  Whenever one of the parties gets a stranglehold on the government, there is always a strong backlash.  The midterm elections this next year are going to be brutal for the Democratic party, unless there is some national disaster for Obama to unite the nation around, ala Bush and 9/11.

The problem with passing health reform right now is two-fold.  First, there wasn't strong enough support in the Senate to pull it off with playing "let's make a deal", and that pissed off every single voter who doesn't live in Louisiana or Nebraska.  Second, we all know that the government is spending money like it was just invented, and that history shows that the government is not about to SAVE money by adding entitlements.

That's not to defend our present mess of a system.  It needs change in some degree or another (my argument tends towards deregulation, but that's a battle for another day), but look at Medicare and Social Security.  2 large entitlement programs which are chronically underfunded and knowingly unsustainable, and the American electorate is just savvy enough to see another albatross to be placed around their necks.

As an interesting aside, when Clinton claimed to have "balanced the budget" (during a period of record economic growth), it was just a shell game.  Social Security has to collect more in the present than it's spending to be sustainable, and the only way the budget was actually balanced was by adding in that social security income and using that excess on the books to counter spending.  

The reason our politicians, both Republican and Democrat alike, keep spending more than they pull in is because they have no long-term incentive to do otherwise.  Their power is only an election away from disappearing, so they have a built-in incentive to spend now at the expense of tomorrow.  The American government just has a larger line of credit, but it will eventually come due.

I fear the only way we can truly hope to see this change is by passing a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.  This is the one thing that will prevent the government from playing shell games and covering up just how draconian our tax and debt burden truly is.  I fear for our tomorrow if we don't take action today.

I'm starting to get back into the swing of things with the running.  I've always been afraid of winter running, and I guess it's completely irrational because except for my fingers, there's no part of me that gets cold.

I've been doing fairly short distances, in the range of 2-3 miles at a time, but I'm building up.  It's not so much an endurance thing as it is a body thing... In 2008 when I was really getting into the running, I developed a shitty case of plantar fasciitis, and it took me well over half a year to recover.  I'm hoping that I can really make a consistent thing out of it this time around, rather than being so stop-and-go about it.

I signed up for a MiniCourse in Woodworking at the Memorial Union today, which will be fun.  6:30-9:30pm on Mondays for a month starting early February.  Plus, I get to use the craftshop during that time to work on my cabinets for the house!

In other news, I've been really productive lately.  I finished up the wiring project at the new house, got some work done regarding fixing some minor things that came up on the inspection report, did a lot of my "winter accounting" for Gorham Street Productions, and have just generally been doing things in stride, rather than letting them build up.  

This weekend, I'm helping a friend build a garage and workshop.  He's been touring with 311 as their massage therapist for over a decade, and he works privately as a massage therapist here in town in between tours.  He's building a 2 car garage, and adding a massage studio above the garage so that he has a place to work and doesn't have to lug his table everywhere.  For helping him build the garage, he'll be willing to work on my back and also give me a hand with some of my projects at the new house, so it's a win-win!

Finally, in a week and a half I take off for Colorado for some skiing!  I'm looking forward to it, this winter I've kept so busy that I haven't even touched my skis yet!  

 Since alternagirl  has been on a whine-a-thon lately about people not recounting their Saturday night adventures, I decided to humor her in this medium :P

Last night was fucking epic.  Chelsey and I started the night off with a trip to Woof's.  Our theory was that our first destination of the evening was going to be the 80's vs. 90's - Madonna Edition party at the Majestic, but we wanted to get started before 10pm.  At Woof's, we found out that my long-lost roommate from 07-08 (Luis) is a bar-back there!  Seeing Luis was great, but the drinks got pricey, and it was a little early to whip out the flask, so we went a couple blocks over to The Bayou.

Now if you've never been to the Bayou, make it a point to do it... soon.  Awesome food, reasonably priced drinks, great New Orleans style decor.  We ran into P-Flo, who's moving to Minneapolis, so it was nice to run into him one last time.  It was finally time to get our Madonna on, so we walk over to the Majestic and completely rock-star past the block-long line and join up with Rachel and her sister Meghan. creamy_filling was up in the house running sound, and pee_wee  joined up with us.  The music was decent, but not quite what we were craving, so the freshly-intoxicated always-beautiful Chelsey and I took off for The Inferno.

I don't even know what to say about the Inferno... it was a slower Saturday night, which was pretty awesome.  It was easy to socialize, and there was room on the dance floor.  not_eurotic  and dubnobasswithme  were ROCKING the old waxtrax lineup, and I believe I may have even heard some James Brown is Dead get mixed up into some Lords of Acid!  The music reminded me so much of having just turned 21 and spending what little money I had drinking long islands up in that place.  Great memories!

The bonus was all the fantastic people out last night.  judaslives, knotoknow, madstfu, mz_jai, shadykatie1982, tricstmr, noise_chick , Bao, Amy, Sierra, Chris, Ami, who the hell else am I forgetting?  Drinks, dancing, joking, groping - it all happened!

A bunch of us ended up at the Pine Cone afterwards, where the flask turned orange juice into screwdrivers and we turned copious amounts of gravy into bodily waste.  Chelsey's world was spinning, I got my truck-stop brownie on, and we all went home for our various mixtures of sleep and extracurricular activities!  

And alternagirl  wasn't invited.    Life is good :)

Last week involved electrical work. Long story short, the electrical service is somewhat inadequate there, and definitely distributed poorly. It has a 100amp service, which should be sufficient, but means that I won't necessarily be able to wash clothes, run the dishwasher, cook dinner and watch TV, etc etc all at once. I'm OK with this, and really if you're using more than 100amps at a time, you're probably living a very wasteful life.

But the way the house is wired is WEIRD. The labeling in the breaker box didn't reflect things very well, so I had to spend some time just re-analyzing what breakers turned what off. From there, I realized that there is one circuit powering all the overhead lights/ceiling fans, plus 2 outlets in the living room, and all the outlets in the 2 smaller bedrooms.

Knowing that at the least, the two bedrooms ought to have their own circuit, I went to work starting to wire it. The first step was to take out the old wiring running to the two bedrooms. There was conduit running from the breaker box to a junction box which contained that circuit, and it's then that I did something unbelievably dumb.

I just started cutting wires in the junction box, taking it on faith that it was the only circuit running through there. It wasn't. I didn't get shocked, but I did cut another crazy circuit which powers the kitchen and a couple outlets in the basement. FUCK. So I had to repair the cuts I made, which was difficult given that this is old aluminium wire... you can't splice it with copper. Plus, I had to track down which of the cut wires were part of the circuit I wanted to keep, and which were being replaced.... major pain in the ass, and it's all because I was being lazy about it. Lesson learned.

Bao and I repaired my stupidity, and then got the new circuit wired up, and everything is great. But the more I look at the situation, the more I realize I definitely must update a good deal of the wiring in the house. It's just insufficient and old. Fun times!

I'm going to try to keep a log here of repairs/upgrades at the new house - if anyone is truly annoyed at these, I'll gladly create a filter to block these posts from the uninterested :)

That being said, if anyone wants to know more about the stuff I'm doing (it's almost all DIY), I'll be glad to answer questions!

This week was a good start! A work crew of Andy, Fuzzy and Tim showed up Wednesday morning and we insulated the attic! The existing insulation consisted of an inch of vermiculite (an interesting subject in and of itself), and 6 inches of loose fill, with an R value altogether of about r14. We added batts of r38 fiberglass throughout the attic, bringing it up to r52! That's awesome!!!

I also repaired the PVC drain line on the water softener, filled it with salt, and fired it up. It appears to be running fine, and now the house has soft water - w00t!

Next week, I've got a full slate of tasks. Anchor the toilet down better, caulk the bathroom, repair a cracked basement window, replace a plastic dryer vent with metal, and do a full assessment of the electrical service. I'm going to update 2 prong outlets to 3, and there's some kitchen/bathroom outlets that need to become GFI's.

Awesome sauce!

- now a day late and a dollar short!

2009... oh magical 2009, what a year of wonder and beauty!

This is the year I've been waiting for. The year where I don't have anything to bitch complain or whine about. The year where I got my shit together and truly lived the life I wanted to live, be the man I want to be, and do it all without draining anyone else.

The decade... wow. It flew by. I understand that as we get old and look back on the years, our 20's are supposed to be that magical time where so much happened, the formative years where we get all the bullshit out of our systems and learn to become responsible adults. In some slow roundabout manner, I think I achieved that.

Most of the last decade was spent in a dysfunctional relationship where I drove myself to the limits of sanity, and became in some ways an absolute terror to those that were close to me. There exists only so much time for regret, and as I shared with a dear friend last night, we must move past mourning and learn to cherish that which has been formative for us.

I'm still learning how to be the best person I possibly can be, and 2009 provided me ample rewards for the efforts. I have a wonderful and fulfilling relationship with an amazingly beautiful, intelligent and caring woman. I have great friendships, both old and new, which provide me with the support of like-minded individuals. I have a budding career which is both financially and emotionally rewarding, and I have the flexibility to work on my terms. I took several vacations, including an epic road trip out West with my lover and one of my closest friends. I went skiing in the Rockies twice.

I gained new skills, and had the opportunity to work on a beautiful farm with Chelsey's family throughout the summer. They took me in like family, and have treated me like a valued part of that family. And to top it all off, I managed to buy a house, an actual honest to god house, where I can set my roots and grow outward.

I look back on the last decade and see so much happiness, so much pain, so many adventures and a great deal of adversity, and I want to scream out with joy and sorrow simultaneously. There are so many people I wish I could embrace and apologize to, and yet I hope that somehow the best apology I could offer is to live well and treat others with limitless kindness.

I still strive to seek balance, and am forever indebted to those of you who've helped to show me this. Limitless love.

-Bill

On Tuesday, I'll be a home owner :)

You know what's really weird?

Tonight I'm feeling kinda reclusive and wanting to be left alone. But there's nothing wrong, I'm not sad, there's no drama, etc. I'm just wanting some private time to myself.

Most people feel this way somewhat regularly, but I never really do. I actually take it as a very positive sign in my personal growth. I think I used to seek out people somewhat neurotically, because if I was home by myself with nothing to do, I sat thinking about all the problems I didn't have solutions for.

Life sure has changed. And so now, Chelsey is going to bed and I'm having some time to myself. And it's great :)

On National Coming-Out Day, I have a point I want to make...

Why is Obama so focused on gaining rights for homosexual couples that are currently enjoyed by straights? Why should the government provide an incentive to anybody, regardless of sexual orientation, to declare a lifelong commitment? This should be between two people (or more if that's their thing) and their god(s) (if that's their thing).

Government is the source of inequality, and is the enemy.

My god, since I quit working at the radio station, my LJ output has gone WAY down... 6 weeks since I last posted huh?

A *lot* has happened, much of it noteworthy, nearly all of it awesome. Having regular work is still kind of weird, and it's taking a lot of getting used to. But being able to work regularly, but have as much time off as needed to work gigs means I'm more financially secure than I've ever been. Which is rockin!

Things between Chelsey and I continue to grow, and it's a positively empowering experience. Every day, a new dimension to our relationship reveals itself. I've spent a lot of time with her family recently, and they've really taken me in. I'm getting a sense of what "family" actually is, since I've never had much in the way of family...

Reflecting on this last summer, it's been probably the most peaceful, fulfilling, healthy, and fun summer of my life. I've reunited with some old friends, built some of my newer friendships, almost completely dodged any form of dramatics, and have done a lot of amazing things!

That all being said, I can't wait until winter really hits so that I have spare time to sit and read and write...

The saving grace of today is that I'm free-balling.

 Knowing how many of "my" kind of people play Tennis, I had an awesome idea.

I want to start a goth tennis league, called Vampires Serve in the Shade.

LOLZ

 

TO "PHISH" PEOPLE AT ALPINE VALLEY THIS WEEKENED (EAST TROY)

---

Reply to: comm-mkrbh-1233300670@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}
Date: 2009-06-22, 1:31AM CDT

I HAVE LIVED OFF OF COUNTY HWY D NEAR ALPINE VALLEY FOR THE PAST 24 YEARS AND OFTEN FEEL THE RESIDUAL NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THE CONCERTS. NEVER HAVE I HAD AN INCIDENT SUCH AS THE ONE THAT OCCURRED ON SATURDY NIGHT (JUN. 20) FOLLOWING A "PHISH" MUSICAL. OUR DOG WOKE US AT 1:30 AM MAKING A RUCKUS. WE HAVE A SMALL WARMING HOUSE NEAR THE EDGE OF THE HIGHWAY THAT I BUILT FOR OUR DAUGHTERS (NOW GROWN) TO WAIT FOR THE SCHOOLBUSES IN. THE LIGHT IN IT WAS ON AND SOMEONE WAS INSIDE. I PUT ON CLOTHES AND APPROACHED AND FOUND HIM DEFECATING ON THE FLOOR. HAD HAIR LOOKED LIKE A DOORMAT. EYES WERE BUGGY LIKE I REMEMBER ON MEN IN VIETNAM. I HAD A SHOTGUN AND TOLD HIM HE WAS GOING TO CLEAN UP THE DEFECATE. BUT I AM OLD (71 NOW) AND MADE A MISTAKE, RETURNING TO THE HOUSE TO GET A HOSE AND BUCKET. HE RAN IN THE DIRECTION OF THE INTERSTATE AND I DIDNOT FOLLOW. 

MY MESSAGE IS THIS: GET YOUR PEOPLE IN ORDER "PHISH". AND NEVER COME TO ALPINE VALLEY AGAIN. SHAME ON YOU. I AM POSTING ON CRAIGLIST BECAUSE I HAVE USED IT TO SELL TRUCK PARTS AND LAWN FURNTITURE AND DOUBT AN EDITOR'S LETTER IN THE JOURNAL/SENTINEL WILL REACH "PHISH" PEOPLE, WHO MY NEIGHBOR SAYS ARE MOSTLY FROM ILLINOIS OR EASTCOAST. I AM ALSO LOOKING FOR AN APOLOGY FROM THE MAN WHO COMMITTED THIS ACT. HE LEFT BEHIND A WHITE HAT WITH AN ALIEN ON IT. ALSO A GLASS THING. I AM GOING TO THROW THEM AWAY. 

• Location: EAST TROY
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1233300670

 So at the barn dance last night, someone had an iPod touch that had a really cool app on it, but I didn't catch the name of it... it allowed him to subscribe to internet radio stations, and play them back later, even when he didn't have an internet connection.  We were listening to a really tight dj mixed dance set for hours by virtue of thius.  Anyone have a clue what it might have been?

 Damn.

You know why gun crime is a problem here?  Because the people that don't give a shit about breaking the law are not going to be stopped by gun laws.  It's time to do what 48 states have done and legalize controlled concealed carry, so that dumbshits will think twice before pulling a gat.  As it stands, they know they're the only ones out there armed.

Word.

 I'm 95% happy and 5% sad... I mean, life is going well and I have this awesome night where I'm sitting on my porch watching a beautiful sunset, blogging on my new awesome laptop, drinking fine beer and awaiting the most amazing woman ever who will come grace me with her presence and love tonight....

...but sitting on the porch isn't the same without Chad here.  I'm going to miss him this summer.  I never realized just how much he encapsulates the essence of summer for me down here on Gorham Street.  

I'll pour one for my absent homie.