The miraculous case of the Lazerus phone

So a while back I managed to find a killer deal on my favorite phone EVER. I got on Craigslisp and managed to find an xv6700 (it's an older, but still cool, smartphone that has the slideout keyboard, wi-fi, etc) for $60!! So, for the last couple months I've been in total tech-love with it, and have been slowly pimping it out with apps and stuff to make it even more badass...

...and then I, through a total act of dumbassery, dropped it in the toilet (the one bright spot is that the toilet had at least been flushed first). As one would expect with a high-end phone, it was instantly gone. The screen turned black, and it wouldn't respond to anything. It was deader than Hillary's presidential hopes. I even tried taking it apart, letting it dry in the 110 degree Phoenix sun, and putting it back together. Nothing.

This happened at work, so for an entire day I was without any means of communicating with most of the outside world. Being the text-whore that I am, I went through major withdrawals for the first few hours. After that I started to actually enjoy being off of the grid for a bit. I'm so used to being super connected all the time, that it was almost a relief not to be...almost. Then it occurred to me that all of the numbers I'd saved since my last sync (which had been a LONG time ago) were also gone. That was the part that bothered me. I could switch back to my old phone, but not having that stuff kinda sucked.

Then, when I got home from work that night, I pulled the phone out of my backpack, and one of the lights was blinking green! Amazingly enough, the phone was working again! Mostly. The backlight for the screen is still not working, but I get the feeling that's fixable.

Best...concert...EVER!

Ok, so I know that by gushing about this I'm in serious danger of losing butch points, but whatever...George Micheal RULES.

John, a few friends, and I went to see George Micheal in concert on Sunday night. Now, I'll preface this by saying that I bought tickets for John and I because John's fan-dom of Mr. Micheal verges on restraining order fodder. He totally adores the guy...more because of his singing talent than his 5 O' clock shadow, but still.

I, honestly, wasn't expecting that much...a singing of some classics, and some new stuff...and a fag-tastic audience to be amused by. Things weren't looking good when we had to get our seats re-assigned because the concert didn't sell out. Because of that, the concert started a good 45 minutes after it was supposed to...which left most of the audience grumpy and whiny.

Until he came out on stage, and what a stage it was...



Can you imagine playing Wii on that thing? Holy crap! The swirls of images and colors they put on the screen were matched perfectly to the songs...and that screen just kicks ass anyway...

And then there was the singing...which was pretty much flawless. Seriously.

And then there was just George himself, whipping all of the homos and housewives into a frenzy with his energy and excitement.

If this concert comes anywhere near you...go...see...it. You won't be sorry. (Unless you totally hate him, then just go listen to your Janis Ian records and paint a watercolor or something)

Modern art?

Na, just an awful reminder of clumsiness. That's what my laptop's screen now looks like after I dropped it. That's what I get for carrying it like an algebra book

Why I'm scared about the upcoming election

As seems to be the case lately, I'm writing as I fly home from somewhere. This time it was the south. Well, not TRULY the south, but a small town in northern coastal Florida called Titusville. (it's not like I was in Alabama or anything). If there's anything I've come to learn about small towns (southern or otherwise) it's that they're usually filled with sweet, genuine people who would give you the shirt off their backs. Those same people, however, are often deathly afraid of change...not to mention the unfamiliar. Now, before anyone who's from a small town starts firing off hate mail, I know that what I've said is a generalization that isn't necessarily true of everyone in said bergs.

But one startling example of this was brought to the fore when I made the mistake of talking politics with someone I thought was somewhat progressive in his world view. After all, he's more than ok with gay folks, and seems to have a live-and-let-live attitude for the most part.

Anyway, I started out by asking him what he thought about the upcoming election. He mentioned favoring McCain, which made me ask what would make him a good candidate. He wasn't really able to come up with any true positives...and then paused to ask me

"Well, you're not gonna vote for that ni**er, are you?"

After I'd collected my jaw off the floor, I explained that, yes, I was going to vote for the most viable and intelligent candidate...which in my opinion is Obama. He went on to spew rediculous vitriol about how "they" were gonna be blasting rap music in the white house and trying to take everything from the wealthy white folks and give it to the black folks. (Can you tell he's a republican?)

I found myself raising my voice and getting angry when he started blaming the democratic congress for our current economic quagmire. I explained that if his buddies in the white house, and the previous republican congress, hadn't de-regulated the banking industry then we wouldn't have had the sub-prime loan quagmire that led us here.

It only got worse from there, especially when his girlfriend joined in with even less informed wild ideas about a black president...who she still thinks is muslim. I tapered off the conversation, and made a mental note to NEVER discuss politics with said individuals again. EVER.

More than anything, all this showed me that those of us who consider ourselves progressives, and want to see Obama elected, have a VERY uphill battle to fight to het him there. I had hoped that most of our country might be ready to move on and put someone of color in the white house, but I'm still a bit unsure of that.

Time vs. money

Being an airline employee, I have the truly great benefit of being able to fly pretty much anywhere I want to. Which, given the current state of gas prices, (combined with my extreme cheapness), means I'm willing to fly from Phoenix to Tucson and back.

That I even have this option is fantastic...but it does have it's drawbacks. As I wrote this I was sitting in a broken airplane on the tarmac in Tucson, waiting to find out if the "fault code" that our #2 engine was giving the pilots was something that could be more or less ignored until we got to Phoenix. Yeah, that idea scares me as much as it would any of you, believe me. But, given that I was flying as a guest on another airline, I don't feel like I have the right to bitch.

Well, it turned out that the broken engine on the plane was more of an issue than was originally thought. Moments after I wrote the last paragraph, all of the passengers on said aircraft were uncerimoniously herded back out into the main terminal, where our fate would be determined by one of the customer service folk...who were suddenly inundated with an angry mob who had places to be.

And it's here that I started to contemplate the true nature of my situation. To save money, I had decided to fly to Tucson and back...but it wound up costing me far more in time. So I began to wonder...which, ultimately, is more important? Time or money?

In flying, I saved a good $40 in gas...but spent a good 4 or 5 hours round trip more than I otherwise might have. Now, it was my day off...and I didn't have a lot on my plate...but would the extra few hours spent with my family and friends have been worth that $40? Not to mention the saved frustration of dealing with airplane delays? After all, if time is money, then what's money worth?

Or, more to the point, what are those extra hours and frustration in dealing with the usual hassles of flying (security, etc) worth in a monetary value? So I guess my question is this...would you have flown (provided it was free, but possibly riddled with hassles) or driven (and spent the $40)?

Don't call it a comeback...

..but here I am trying to get back into the swing of blogging again. You would think with all that's been going on in my life lately, that blogging would be easy to do. Lots to talk about, and all that. But it always seems when I have the most interesting things going on in my life is usually the same time that I end up not having enough time to write any of it down.

So now here I am trying to get back into it, and asking myself, do I bother playing catch up on all the stuff that's happened since my last entry? (yeah, I know, it was before gas went over $3 a gallon) Or do I just start clean, telling all the stuff that's new and now? So I guess I will attempt to do a little bit of both.

When I have fun new stuff to talk about, I'll blog about that...if I don't, then I'll go all retro and talk about anything that's happened in the ages since last I posted.

Movin on up...

...to the west side...of Phoenix.

Well, since the last time I updated a few things have happened. So it's time to play catch up. And I figure since I don't want my usual instinct to blather on for several paragraphs about the mundane details of it all to take over, I'll sum it up neatly with bullets!

So, since last I wrote:

-I transferred with the job up to Phoenix (and noticed that I have decidedly more hot co-workers up here than Tucson).

-I moved in with my best buddy Perry (while I'm looking for a good place up here to dwell).

-I attended PHX pride with my friend Sean (and discovered he has a hidden talent for dying someone's hair into the rainbow flag...no not mine)

-I've started learning my way around the city (and have come to realize the advantages of having a functioning freeway system...ahem...I'm talking to you, Tucson urban planners)

-I've been fighting with my laptop to get it to connect wirelessly to secured networks (and have just about gotten on a first name basis with the staff at the Apple store)

-I've taken to using parentheses (more than I probably should)

So that's the latest on my end. Now that I have my wireless working again, I'll do my best to keep up a little more. (And use parentheses a little less)

So that's the latest as of right now.

Uh-oh...I think I'm a convert.

No, no...I'm not thinking of jumping the sexuality fence and starting to ogle boobies...nor am I thinking of getting religion. (Sounds like getting typhoid or something, doesn't it?)

No, today I think I've been converted from a non-nap person to a snoozer. I usually abhor naps because they seem like a colossal waste of time from which I always wake groggy and disoriented.

But I took one today...and it was fantastic. I think this may be the beginning of a trend...

At what point does technolust...

...become something for which you need a techno-restraining-order for?

Ok, ok...so I'm exaggerating just a little, but take a good look at the Xperia phone and tell me you wouldn't do dirty, awful things to get your hands on it.



It's a Windows mobile 6 phone with a bad-ass touchscreen user interface AND slide out qwerty keyboard. And...well...it's just purdy.

My one major problem with it is that it's made by Greedy...er, Sony(/Erickson)...whose DRM and proprietary software meddling usually hobbles every great device they make.

It's just as well, I suppose...otherwise I'd be dropping a paycheck to get my grubby paws on it.

Reason # 4,568 that I'm an Athiest...

...is that religious people just don't seem to know when NOT to try a sales pitch.

This morning I had cause to set foot inside a church for probably the first time in nearly 4 or so years. And I'm not a religious bigot, I swear I'm not...but every time I'm in the presence of devoutly religious people I seem to grow less and less tolerant of some of their behavioral traits.

I was in said church for a wake. For the first half of it, it was a very pleasant remembrance of my wonderful grandmother who passed last month. Some very moving words were said about her by her son (my dad) and a few others....and memories were shared.

Then the priest stepped in for his portion, and it somehow turned from a fond farewell to Nancy...to the Catholic version of Amway. Yes, he said his kind words about her and her family...but then started to meander into unwelcome territory.

He managed to fit in a few delightful messages about how the best way to serve god was to get married and have kids....and how the Jews have the wrong idea when it comes to having closeness to god.

There's nothing like a little subtle heterosexism and antisemitism to dress up a funeral.

Oh well, at least the corned beef and cabbage lunch we had after was nice...though I promised myself that for the sake of those around me I will NEVER have cabbage again. Just ask anyone who was near me at the gym today why.

Hee hee...

Smut that'll make you giggle

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Do I still get to keep my card?

I have to admit to being a really bad homo last night. No, not the kind of bad that requires a prescription for penicillin and/or a bail bond. No, I'm talking about the kind of offense that would actually GET a gasp from the average gay guy...and a possible de-listing from their "top 8" on MySpace. Yes, that's right...I'll admit it...I totally didn't watch the Oscars last night. Not only did I not watch them, but I honestly didn't even care that I missed them.

Now, before anyone out there rounds up a posse (complete with pink pitchforks and sparkly torches...hee hee) I have to say that I WAS doing something utterly gay...working out at the gay-est LA fitness in all of Arizona.

And, in my defense, I read something about this being the least watched Oscars EVER.

I guess not everyone heard that the writer's strike was off, eh? Though, given the caliber of groaners they usually write for that thing, maybe that's WHY no-one watched.

Holy cookfest, batman!

In the interest of trying to save money and eat just a little healthier, I've been trying lately to get into the habit of making meals for the week. It's really quite handy to be able to just pop something in the microwave and grub it down instead of either heading out to score some greasy, over-salted take-out, or (god forbid) actually making something.

The other thing that's really good about it is that it helps keep me on track in terms of my caloric intake. Those of you that know me, know that I do a slight bit o tossing of the iron at the gym (when I'm not tossing overweight luggage at work). All that tossing (yes there's a joke there somewhere, but I'll let you make your own) tends to mean that if I want to be a growin boy, I needs to eat...alot.

So, last night I made lots of chicken. Chicken stir-fry, Parmesan chicken, roasted chicken, etc. All of which means I'll be seriously craving some beef about mid-way through the week (heh...I'll let you make your own joke there too).

My only dislike about all this? I'm a messy cook. When I make that many meals, the kitchen usually looks like an F5 food tornado hit it...hard. Which means the cleanup takes 3 times as long as the cooking. *sigh* Anyone wanna volunteer to clean up for me next time? Theres a piece of Parmesan chicken in it for you. :)

Yeah...I'm lazy...

Well, it's really about time I got back into the full swing of this. I've used many an excuse, but the reality is that I've gotten lazy.

It's funny how much easier it is to peruse BMB than to do something that actually requires active involvement from my brain. *sigh* But I suppose the internet can be a bit like television in a way. One can choose to watch Spike TV in all of its CRASH!BANG!SMACK! guilty-pleasure-glory...or one can watch Discovery and try to learn a few things.

Though I usually try to opt for the former, at the end of a long day (or week) at work sometimes I just feel like a little entertainment.

Seriously?!?

So my gym finally put some money into re-decorating the place. But, unfortunately, this is the color they decided on for the weight room. Squished smurf, anyone?

Life without a computer sucks.

Ok, so I know it's been a REALLY long time since my last update, but I promise I totally have a good excuse to give to those of you who still bother to look at my poor little blog thingy. You see, it's pretty hard to blog without the use of a computer or internet connection. Why, in this day and age would someone be without such accouterments, you ask?

Well, I'm glad you asked...(ok, so you didn't, but I'm telling you anyway)...

...a while back, I took a trip to go visit family and friends in Phoenix. The trip was nice, at least until I got into a rather irritating and unfortunate argument over the phone on the way home. I tell you that to preface my mindset heading into the events yet to come.

So, flustered and aggravated, I finally reached home and couldn't wait to go inside to unwind and unpack. I set my bag and a few other random things I was carrying with me down on the porch, and slid the key into the lock, unlocked it, and went to turn the knob...which was locked. I should now include the detail that the knob is never something we lock, or even carry a key for. My first thought was that I'd been an idiot and, while leaving the house prior, had locked the knob on my way out. So my mind started to race to think of how I was going to get in.

Locksmith? It'd take too long, and I don't know that they'll even open a front door if you can't prove you live there (my license still has my old address on it)

Pry a window? A possibility...I started around the side of the house to see what might be best option for that idea, not really thinking of the fact that the overhead light was on, which I had turned off...and saw that the blinds in our office were splayed open...and a pair of paintings that we STILL haven't hung up were propped against the hallway.

John was out of town this whole time, so my first thought was that he'd surprised me by coming home early...and was maybe doing some cleaning or something. When I came around to the back door of the office, I saw that it was wide open. Oddly, my computer, and a few odds and ends were sitting next to the door...like they were...about...to...walk.......out........

Call me dense, or maybe it was because my mind was a little clouded from the argument that I'd just finished having over the phone, but it took me this long to finally realize what was going on. Finally realizing it, however, I ran into the house and started yelling in the most butch voice I could muster..."GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE...NOW!" over and over again as I ran from room to room trying to make sure none of the thieves were still inside. I swear I must have looked like Mel Gibson's character in "Signs" when trying to chase off what he thought were pranksters.

When my blood pressure finally came back to normal human levels, I called the police, and started to take inventory of what was gone.

Among the many things those worthless bastards made off with was our wireless router and the other computer. They'd have actually gotten away with the my computer (and countless other things), had I not come home right in the middle of their theft-fest.

So, needless to say, without the router I've been without internet for some time now. So I have to make guest appearances on other people's wireless networks for now to do my blogging, etc.

Despite this, I'm going to do my best to keep up with things again, and restore my life to normalcy of some kind. So thanks again to those of you still checking in on me from time to time, I promise not to fall of the face of the Earth as much anymore.