Two years ago today I posted my first blog entry, “In the Beginning,” and with that the Lee Word Side came into being. From that first post up to this current one there have been 218 entries. That averages out to be a little over nine entries posted each month. Not a lot if you compare The Lee Word Side with other blogs, but that’s okay, I never intended it to be a Towleroad, or a Queerty. What I have been able to post I’m very proud of. Each entry stands on its own, and with very few exceptions one entry may have nothing to do with its predecessor or with its successor. It’s all random, kind of like my life. I have written about things that have impacted my life, and about things that perplex and perturb me. Some of what I’ve written about is very personal and not easy to say. I guess that the blog is nothing more than me sharing my pictures and my stories. It’s always been a blog about things that interest me.
The look of the blog has changed over the years and I will admit that the time that I’ve spent making these changes; tweaking the color palate, trying a new font, or moving this column there, might have been better spent on writing entries, but I see it all as being different parts of Blogging. And I enjoy doing those kind of things as much as I do writing. Speaking of changes, the biggest one that happened this year was the addition of the Lee Word Side Podcast. Even though the blog and the Podcast share a common name and a common website I try to keep them as independent and separate as possible. What I write about on the blog I try not to talk about on the Podcast. This isn’t always possible, but I do make an effort. It probably would have been wiser to give the Podcast its own domain and website, and that may still happen, but for now they both will remain together, like roommates. When I started the Podcast my intentions were to produce a weekly show, but because of other obligations (work) it quickly fell from a Weekly Podcast to a Whenever-I-can Podcast. Hopefully that will soon change and I can get back to doing a weekly show. I do enjoy podcasting.
While I may not have a large readership, I’ve been very fortunate in that those that I do have are very loyal and for that I thank you. Some of you have been very vocal in your support and your criticism, while others have preferred to remain silent and anonymous. There is no rule that says that you have to comment or acknowledge your presence, but I have to say that I do like hearing from you.
Year number three starts with the next post and it promises to be an exciting year, so stick around, you don’t want to miss it.
I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to keep up with the Australian Open Tennis Tournament which ended today. Twenty year old Serbian Novak Djokovic won the Mens Title. This was his first Grand Slam Title. He beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to claim the $1.2 million dollar prize. I didn’t get to see the match, but I heard that it was good. The one match that I was able to catch the highlights of was the Mens Doubles Final in which two other first time Grand Slam winners Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich from Israel defeated the French duo of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-5, 7-6. The victory marks Ram and Erlich’s first ever Grand Slam championship and the first time an all-Israeli doubles pair has taken home the crown.”We’re so happy to be the first Israelis. We made history today,” Ram said. “I’m very happy for both of us. We believed we could win the Grand Slam title. We really believed in this.” If my Bryan Brothers couldn’t win the Mens Doubles Title then I’m happy that two Israelis won. I’m sure that Bob and Mike Bryan will be back on the court real soon. They’re still ranked No. 1. Next up is the French Open. It begins on May 25. Spaniard Rafael Nadal will be defending his three year winning streak. Can he make it four? I don’t want to miss this one.
Last night I got a phone call from my friend Hugh from London. I haven’t heard from him in several weeks so it was nice to hear from him again. Like me, he’s been very busy at work and he’s looking to take a holiday for a few days. I told him that he is always welcome here, but the weather isn’t exactly holiday-friendly. In fact it’s been quite miserable here and honestly I wouldn’t come to Baltimore in January for a holiday. Hugh wasn’t thinking of coming to Baltimore, the reason he called was to try and convince me to join him for a week in Italy. “Italy,” I said, “I wish I could.” It would be wonderful to spend a week in Italy, but I doubt I could get the time off from work, and my savings account is dangerously close to having a zero balance. Hugh said that we wouldn’t have to pay for lodging because a friend of his is letting him use his house, so all I would have to pay for is the airfare. The house is available the week of February third so we would have to decide very soon. I told Hugh that it didn’t look too good, but I’d take a look at things and get back with him soon.
All day today I’ve been trying to figure out a way to go on this trip, but it just isn’t going to happen. I feel very disappointed because I really could use a week someplace where it’s warm. It’s sad because offers like this one aren’t likely to come around again any time soon. So, here I am, in Baltimore, freezing my ass off, thinking about Italy and all the fun I could have had. My life sucks!
I’m very fortunate that the company I work for is very GLBT friendly. Being out at work has never been a problem. Of the sixty-two employees that we have, fourteen of us are gay. I’ve never felt that we have been treated any differently than our straight coworkers, especially when promotions and awards are handed out. Human Resources has put together a video presentation on GLBT and Diversity issues that they show to all new hires. It does a wonderful job of educating and sensitizing people who might not have been exposed to gay people. However, no matter how much you educate and expose people to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered people, there is always that one person who just doesn’t get it. Meet Carol, not her real name (her real name is Paula). Carol must have been living under a rock for the last year that she’s work for us because today she quit her job. Her reason for quitting, and I quote, is because “I didn’t know that there were gay people working here and my pastor says that I have to quit because gay people are sinners and evil.” Didn’t know that there were gay people working here? HELLO!
Well Carol, guess what? There has always been, and there will always be gay people. Your ignorance isn’t going to eradicate us. So if you think that you can isolate yourself from gay people you are sorely mistaken. I wish you well in your quest to be gay free. Might I suggest that you lock your doors and bolt the windows to your home. Not because gay people are out to get you, but because the evil your pastor’s talking about isn’t about gay people, it’s about him. Run while you can Carol, if it’s not too late.
Tomorrow is Tax Day. The day that I’ve decided to file both my Federal and State income tax forms. In the past I’ve had them prepared professionally, but what they’ve been charging for their services the last few years has become absurd. My refund barely covers what I pay them. So this year I’ve decided that I’ll save a few hundred dollars and do it myself. I don’t have a good history with filling out tax forms, I get frustrated and impatient, and what should take a couple of hours becomes an all day affair. Thus the reason why I let the professionals do it. But I willing to give it a go again and see what’s what. Several friends recommended that I try “TurboTax” because, according to them, it’s idiot proof. Hopefully I won’t prove them wrong. In the back of my head I’m thinking that if it becomes too difficult I’ll gather everything up, jump into the car, head to the accountant’s office, drop everything off, then make my way to the closest bar where I’ll spend the two dollars I’ll get from my refund check.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow; Yippee!
According to the fashion runways in Milan, this, see picture to the left. is what the Well Dressed Man should be wearing. I’ll be the first to admit that my fashion sense leaves something to be desired, I didn’t get that part of the gay gene, but I ask you, would you wear this? It’s odd because esthetically the picture is very dramatic, and it does a wonderful job of framing and highlighting the beauty of the model’s face, but from a fashion point of view the big fur hat and the bright red shag scarf send me over the edge. I understand that fashion shows don’t always present actual cloths that you would be able to find at Macy’s. What they present is art and concepts, visions into the designers psyche. Which evidently can be a very scary place.
It will not come as a surprise to anyone who has kept up with this blog that I’m a Mac Geek. Today on a chilly San Francisco morning Steve Jobs held court at the MacWorld Conference and blessed us all with several new and upgraded Apple products. I won’t list or discuss them all because I’m sure that unless you too are a Mac Geek you’ve most likely reached your patience quota on Apple news. The big news comes in the shape of a very thin new laptop called the MacBook Air. It’s a beautiful piece of technology. I’m sure it will do very well. The price tag is a bit hefty, but with Apple the quality is included at no additional cost. If I was in the market for a new laptop I would be all over the MacBook Air.
Additionally, Apple TV was given a major upgrade and movies will be available to rent online through iTunes. The iphone will get an update with new applications, but to a lot of people’s surprise there was no mention of a new 3G iPhone. There are lots of new goodies for everyone to play with.
Podcast number 20 is at last here: I talk about the Presidential elections, as well as a few new DVDs, East Side Story and Outing Riley, that I’ve seen, and so much more that you don’t want to miss it. The closing music is Over My Head, by Christopher Dallman, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. Please leave a comment, send me an email, or call the listener hot line at 206.337.0678 to leave a message. Thank you so much for listening.
Thanks to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) I’m beginning to feel pressure to buy a new television. The television I have now, an eight year old Sony, works fine but the FCC has determined that “On February 17, 2009, federal law requires that all full-power television broadcast stations stop broadcasting in analog format and broadcast only in digital format.” Not wanting to be the last one onboard, I decided to do a little shopping for a HDTV. But before I walk into the store I thought I had better do some research. I don’t want to appear too stupid. What did I learn? Well, buying a digital television isn’t as easy as it seems. First I have to decide if I want a flatscreen, or a CRT (cathode Ray Tube) television. CRT televisions do have their advantages. The are “plug-and-play, the picture quality is superb, they are low cost, they have excellent viewing angles, and most importantly, they are maintenance-free. On the down side they tend to be very bulky and very heavy. A 36” model can weigh over 200 pounds, as compared to a 36” LCD television that weighs only 50 pounds. The image size on CRT televisions are limited. They max out at about 38”. Anything larger and you wouldn’t be able to get it through the door. Probably the biggest drawback to CRT televisions is that they are perceived as “old technology,” they don’t have the cool factor that the newer digital flatscreen televisions do.
If I want a flatscreen television I first have to decide if I want a Plasma screen, or a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen. Each have their own pluses and minuses. Contrast and the level of black that the screen displays differs. Plasma has the advantage. Their blacks are black and not some off gray/black color. Color accuracy; again plasma wins. Each pixel has elements of red, blue and green in it that work to create colors, while LCDs, on the other hand, reproduce colors by manipulating light rays and subtracting colors from white light; a very difficult method for obtaining and maintaining color accuracy. Viewing angles; Plasma screens have a 160 degree viewing angle and LCD screens only have 120 – 130 degree viewing angle. So, once again plasma wins. There are other considerations where LCD wins over plasma like screen image burn-in problems and high altitude (above 6,500 feet) pressure issues. Additionally they consume less power than their plasma brothers do. On issues of cost and resolution it’s a toss-up. A 40” LCD screen will have a 1366 x 768 resolution, while a similar sized plasma will only carry a resolution of 1024 x 768. They’re close enough though that it’s difficult for the untrained eye to see the difference. However, those extra pixels and the production cost on LCD HDTVs will cost more money.
There is a lot to know about buying a digital television, far more than I thought, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the true test of a television is how good is the picture it produces, and how much does it cost to get that picture. The research period is over. Armed with all this information I’m ready to hit the shops. Any bets on what I end up with?
The weekend is quickly coming to and end and I’m faced with the reality that I must go back to work tomorrow, back to the corporate world where the bottom line is what matters, period. As some you may know I work for a nonprofit social services organization that serves a variety of populations. The common thread that runs through all of them is financial instability. The reasons for this varies, but most of our clients have few options so they turn to us for assistance. When I first started working for this agency our focus was on helping people, making sure that they got the services they needed. It’s hard work, but it was very fulfilling. Today that is not the case. Since the Bush Administration TOOK office we have seen a 72% reduction in the funds we receive from the Federal Government. Initially some of this funding was being redirected to religious organizations that offered similar programs to the ones we run, but they came with a very strict moral and religious straight jacket attached. Some of our population (GLBT teens, sex workers, underage pregnancies) could not even get their foot into the door, let alone pass the rigid screening in order to get help from them. More recently the funding to these religious agencies has been cut as well in order to divert the funds to the war in Iraq. All of this has forced us to expend an exorbitant about of time and energy on acquiring funds from other sources instead of doing what we are chartered to do; assist those in need. These secondary sources are being tapped by other agencies as well and because we don’t have a “glamorous cause” that needs championing too often we are turned down for grants and even loans. This means that we are operating on a budget that is only 49% of our 2003 budget. The few of us who have not yet been laid off are struggling to keep the doors open and assist as many people as we can.
So, what was once a very satisfying job has now become a very stressful and a very unstable existence. Upper management keeps telling us that with a change in the Presidential Administration, which, we are told, is just around the corner, we will be able to resume full operations with a full staff. I, on the other hand, don’t think we have enough runway left to make it that far. If we are lucky enough to get a Democrat into the White House it will be several years before we would see any increase in funding. There is still the war in Iraq to pay for and I don’t see that ending anytime soon. At this rate we will soon be in need of the services that we use to offer.
Tomorrow morning I’ll get up, shower, put on my suit, drink my coffee and hopefully I’ll be able to convince myself that I’m happy, and that what I do does matter. Wish me luck!
Two years ago today I posted my first blog entry, “In the Beginning,” and with that the Lee Word Side came into being. From that first post up to this current one there have been 218 entries. That averages out to be a little over nine entries posted each month. Not a lot if you compare The Lee Word Side with other blogs, but that’s okay, I never intended it to be a Towleroad, or a Queerty. What I have been able to post I’m very proud of. Each entry stands on its own, and with very few exceptions one entry may have nothing to do with its predecessor or with its successor. It’s all random, kind of like my life. I have written about things that have impacted my life, and about things that perplex and perturb me. Some of what I’ve written about is very personal and not easy to say. I guess that the blog is nothing more than me sharing my pictures and my stories. It’s always been a blog about things that interest me.
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