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While on my work trip I got to see Scissor Sisters at the House of Blues in Boston, MA on Sunday, August 29, 2010. It was a great concert where they played their new stuff and material from their last album as well.

Their performance was really tight and it was a great show, but I continue to be surprised at the low attendance at their U.S. shows. I guess we don’t get it here in the Land of the Free.

More stuff about what I do: these are bark chips taken from a tree infested with the Asian longhorned beetle. Those marks you see are where an adult beetle has laid eggs on the bark. The eggs hatch and the larvae scar the bark before they bore deeper into the wood.

When you know what to look for, signs of infestation are pretty easy to spot. Here an adult beetle emerged from the tree. As you can see with the hole, the pest riddles the heartwood with burrows about the diameter of a pencil:

Eventually infestation will kill the tree. Why is this bad for you? If this critter spreads it could affect the maple syrup and lumber industries, as well as the urban treescape. Planting, care, and removal of trees can be costly to the city and to you if you include maintenance, labor, and how much you value shade and aesthetics.

Good times. I fly back home to DC tomorrow, thankfully before Hurricane Earl graces us with his presence. And it’s gonna be hot in town again before that. Weren’t you people supposed to take care of that before I got back?

Greetings from Boston! I landed here last weekend after a week in Provincetown, then going right to work in Boston. Going from late-night carousing on Commercial Street to early-morning frenzied incident response was quite a shocker. But I slept in this morning and caught up on some rest.

I haven’t really been able to go out much in Boston due to long days and being tired by the end of it. And technically I’m out in the suburbs of Boston working on response to the detection of an invasive (exotic) beetle that was discovered here, and the mass transit options are scarce this far out. But since only about 6 infested trees have been found in this area, and much of the work has been done to respond to it already, it hasn’t been as hectic as I expected.

Yesterday I went to Worcester, MA to an area heavily affected by this insect. The guy shown below is holding a sample bark chip from a tree limb. If you look closely you can see a hole in the bark where an adult Asian longhorned beetle has emerged from the tree. The tree was being destroyed after it was discovered it was infested with this insect. Infestation can kill a tree in under a decade. The property owner will be offered a new tree, one that is not a favored host tree species that this insect enjoys.

It’s also been discovered in New York and New Jersey. It seems to be entering the U.S. in the wood used for packing and shipping material. Mass infestation can radically alter the urban treescape, and threatens the lumber and maple syrup industry.

I’ve learned of an interesting municipal entity called a ‘Tree Warden,’ unique to this region. It’s sort of like a cross between a ranger and arborist, and gives credit to the ranger/warden classes in D&D! The position dates back to the Revolutionary War where people were assigned to guard large trees where American rebel groups would plot against the British (from what I gather – I could be off on a few points here).

The people of Boston have been interesting. Thick local accents are difficult to understand at first, and a friend described its populace as being “beige” in demeanor. On certain online resources where one can meet local gays, they regularly seek “masc jocks” or “regular guys.” This is somewhat similar to the fixation on the “masc/musc/mil” set by the gays in DC.

And they ain’t kidding about this region being thickly Irish. I like the look, but Irishness is thrown in your face wherever you go. I mean, what if my people were all up in your face about being Scandinavian all the time?

Oh, right. Velkommen, everyone!

I managed to snag a couple of tickets to the Scissor Sisters concert in Boston tonight, which is apparently followed by a big gay party, according to the tree technician gelfling lesbian I have befriended on this trip. I have tomorrow off and may try to get back into the city to see some sights. I work Monday then return to DC on Tuesday. Thankfully, I am missing the protests and gatherings by the ridiculous Beckerheads & Palindrones this weekend. It will be good to return home to a quieter and cooler DC.

Some of the artsy-ish photos were taken with the PhotoFX application on my Droid if you were wondering. The iPhone equivalent of it is the Hipstamatic app:

Greetings from Provincetown! It sure is pretty out here:

I met Darth Ewok, the newest Sith:

He was pretty happy for a Sith. I went on another fun boat cruise that took us out to open ocean for a lovely sunset:

Here is my lovely host (for one night) and producer of “Bear City,” coming to a theatre near you!

Here’s the woofy DJ Mark Louque, who hosts an off-the-hook venue called Fag Bash on Wednesdays held in the basement of the Governor Bradford, and a ’90s throwback party at Vixen on Fridays. Both were loads of fun.

Here’s my housemates for most of the week – Ron, Michael and Patrick:

More bad boys from the boat cruise:

You could find these gurls at The Boatslip on any given afternoon:

There was much sadness and cooing on the ferry ride back to Boston:

The Waltha T. Daniel DC public library at Rhode Island and 7th is finally finished, and it’s pretty nice inside. I got my library card the other day and checked out two books for my beach reading in Provincetown:

I leave on Saturday and will be there for a week. I’m looking forward to it and getting out of this fucking hot stuffy flaky dirty city. Can you tell I’m ready for a vacation?

2010 can officially suck my dick. OK, Snowpocalypse was kind of fun but it just went downhill from there as far as I’m concerned. The downward spiral began somewhere in Minneapolis in June at the big gay rugby tournament where I got shot won FOUR TIMES IN A ROW. Drunk, horny, gay rugby players – not interested. Really? Then I get back to DC, and with four as the magic number yet again I’ve been stood up four times – by four different people. It tends to go something like this:

Me: Yeah, we should meet up sometime. How’s next Wednesday sound?
Him: Yeah, I’m free that day, let’s meet up for a beer or dinner.

Days pass, crickets chirping…I try to touch base with cell, text, e-mail, whatever, no response, no confirmation. Either their profile was fake or they’re just flaky. I don’t know what to do at this point.

Good thing I’m leaving to a place where your neighbors in DC will actually speak to you – but only when you’re in Provincetown. Seriously, that’s actually happened. The last time I was in Provincetown, neighbors from my same block who couldn’t give me the time of day when they passed by while walking their dogs and barely register a grunt in my neighborhood were all chatty there. I don’t get it. Relax people: when I’m talking to you I’m not going to ask for your hand in marriage, I’m just being neighborly.

Anyway, I decided 2010 officially sucks with our latest heat wave. How many have we had so far, like four? I’m over being sweaty and stinky. And it’s been all I can do to keep my plants alive out on the deck, but they’ve survived only through my attentiveness probably because I have all this time to water them due to not dating or getting laid:

Check out the solar-powered psychedelic Lady Gaga star on a stick (above). I got it at Target before the boycott, so don’t get on my case. Anyway, it glows different colors at night and I love it. You can get solar powered lights on a string that glow at night too.

The dwarf sunflowers were cute but something has been eating my tomato plant leaves leaving them withered and drained of life, much like how trying to date in DC has left my soul. Spray seems to keep the mealybugs at bay, but I’d rather not use insecticides. However, the datura plants are doing well and have been producing fabulous blossoms at night.

But I’m looking forward to a break in the watering and constant care. Fortunately I’ve had friends looking after them and the goldfish while I’ve been away. Thanks Kara and Sean O!

Oh, on that note, immediately following my week in Provincetown I’ll be in Boston for work, possibly until September. I might be away from the blog as well, depending on how much spare time I’ll have.

Great photos if not a slightly jaded hipster review of Monday’s Kelis and Robyn concert at the 9:30 Club.

If you’re a bored gay in DC, you’re not researching enough to fill your social calendar. There’s plenty of sports teams and several rival hipster scenes to check out. If anything, there’s plenty of music to choose from:

• Friday, Aug. 6: Homo/Sonic: August! at Liv, corner of 11th and U, upstairs above Bohemian Caverns featuring the talents of Dj Natty Boom (Anthology of Booty) and DJs Zack and Michael from The New Gay. 18+. $7. Doors at 10.
• Saturday, Aug. 7: No Scrubs: ’90s Dance Party with DJs Will Eastman & Brian Billion. I bought tickets for this.
• Friday, Aug. 13: Mr. Charlie Rod’s Blue Discotheque / DJ Rich Morel at 10pm. Rich is 1/2 of the famous Blowoff party.
  Transformer, DC’s only 60s, 70s, 80s queer dance party is back This Saturday, 8/14 at 930 Club Back Bar, 815 V street. Also, the TILDA SWINTON film “Orlando” will be screening at the E Street Cinemas for a week starting on the 13th.
• Sept. 14-21: I’ll be in Provincetown, MA for supergay Carnival Week.
• Monday, Sept. 23: Scissor Sisters at D.A.R. Constitution Hall.
• Sunday, Sept. 29: Donna Summer at Wolf Trap. I’ll be there.
• Saturday, Sept. 11: The return of Blowoff at the 9:30 Club! I’ll be there.
• Saturday, Sept. 18: Mark yer calendars for the TWO YEAR MIXTAPE ANNIVERSARY PARTY at the Rock & Roll Hotel in NE Washington DC.

Like I’ve said before, DC’s music and gay scenes are often understated. There’s plenty of fun to be had here, thus plenty of opportunities to be a jaded hipster and pretend you didn’t have any fun, which is apparently half the fun if you’re a jaded hipster.

I’ve been busy! Or lazy. Anyway, I went to see Robyn and Kelis in concert at the 9:30 Club last night and they were both lots of fun, but man I can’t do that shit on a Monday night until Midnight anymore.

Meanwhile, I think you should examine your testicles:

Please don’t be embarrassed!

Sorry for the absence…I picked up a summer cold or flu or something halfway through my work trip last week, and just didn’t feel like posting for a while. But the training was good and I got to see some parts of the city and even a little tour here and there thanks to the lovely host Chad.

Seeing this sign above the people mover in the Louisville airport was a good omen.

Signs help maintain order, tell people what to do in uncertain situations, and gets them the hell out of my way. If you like order and good mass transit etiquette, join the common interest self-help group Walk Left, Stand Right on Facebook.

I managed to visit the the Louisville Glassworks and the arms museum, but didn’t have enough time to visit any of the bourbon or whiskey distilleries, nor the horse tracks. I wished I had some friends who liked horses, because there were dozens of opportunities to buy a pastel airbrush horse tee-shirt. I did manage to find the creepy waxwork of Colonel Sanders though:

Louisville is definitely a convention destination with lots of grand old buildings. I stayed in The Brown Hotel, which was great, and I dined in the restaurant there but I think the five-star service was wasted on me. I ate a Derby Pie and a Hot Brown. The latter was kind of gross – it’s basically chicken with cheese on top. I wasn’t a fan.

There were a few paddleboats shored up along the Ohio River:

I was there for some crisis communication training. As in how not to act like a BP executive on camera, and how to get your important messages to the press during delicate or unfortunate situations. It complemented a lot of my graduate studies courses and it made me realize I’ve been through several organizational or natural crises, including the Mississippi River flood of 1993 as a park ranger on the river, the evacuation and temporary closing of National Airport on 9/11, and a mercury spill at my former job. Anyway, we even got some time in front of the camera to conduct a fake press conference:

I was told by the instructor that I’m very serious in front of the camera, and my demeanor is best suited for dire circumstances unless I learn to relax and be chipper in lighter situations. I’ll try to channel my perkiness learned from high school show choir next time.

Here’s a great deco building near my hotel:

Many of the buildings on that strip were empty, and multiple wig shops are never a good indicator of a robust economy:

If it wasn’t for the extremely happy singing house finches that have been singing right outside my window every morning at 5am, I might have missed the rare 3.6 earthquake we had this morning. I was half-awake when it happened, and at first I thought it was just an extremely large truck driving by on Florida Avenue, or my housemate having thunderous sex at an odd hour. By the time I realized it might be an earthquake, I was already falling back asleep. Click here for images of the devastation in our area. It may have only registered as a tickle for those of you on the west coast, but it was extremely exciting for those of us in the DC area.

For weeks I was wondering why I was waking up at 5am until I realized it was the finches. Normally I like birds but these two are waaay too happy and singing loudly way too close to my window next to my bed. It might explain some of my cranky caprine behavior of late. Earplugs.

I am leaving for Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday for a work trip. The work part only goes Tuesday through Thursday, but I like to check out new cities when I travel and have never been to Louisville. I may try to check out the Maker’s Mark distillery and the Louisville Glassworks with Chad.

I may not be able to blog much, so to keep you busy here’s a nice collection of current woofy/geeky links to keep you busy.

• Coming soon on SyFy is ‘Sharktopus‘, directed by Roger Corman, starring Eric Roberts.
• Micky Dolenz of Monkees fame will join Debbie Gibson and Tiffany in “Mega Python vs. Gatoroid,” which guarantees to be great fun.
• Samantha Fox proves that naughty girls need rabies vaccinations too, after getting too close to feral cats.
• Speaking of feral, here’s more pictures of the achingly hot True Blood star Joe Manganiello, who plays the werewolf Alcide.
• And here’s the most recent look at achingly hot Ryan Reynolds in his ‘Green Lantern’ costume.
• Finally, I wouldn’t kick this mace-wielding nerd conventioneer from my D&D group.

BREAKING: if you looked at any of the links shown above, or are attending a comic book, fantasy, or sci-fi convention, you’re going to hell because the Westboro Baptist Church has officially announced God Hates Nerds.

Thursday night at the Green Lantern…

Me: Really?!
Drunk Steroid Guy: Huh, what?
Me: When you bump into a guy and spill his drink, you say “Excuse me…”

He bumps me. Maybe it’s his attempt at a hit. I turn and continue to talk to mah friend. Then he hits me again in the shoulder. I know it won’t bruise, I’ve taken harder hits before.

Me: Really?!

He hits me again. I barely move, and continue to chat with mah friend. He slinks into the crowd.

No bruises. Rugby has been good to me.

Back inna early 90’s, the big push to legitimize gays was the spin that we have all this expendable income and are therefore valuable in U.S. society. The pitfalls with that philosophy was that it wasn’t necessarily true across the board amongst all the gays, and I always wondered “So what? If I don’t have that expendable income, am I less of a person in U.S. society? Do I have to be a rich gay to be a more valued citizen?”

Similarly, today the push for gay legitimization is that we now marry just like everyone else and we can have and/or adopt babies too! My conern is about those unlucky folks who are single, or people who don’t want or can’t have kids. Are these people lesser citizens because they don’t have kids or aren’t married? Just because some gays don’t want to mirror heterosexual fecundity, they aren’t as good as married and/or babied gays?

And the media is eating up (or fabricating) this “trend”. It kind of annoys me, as I don’t feel this generalization applies to me. Frankly, I don’t want kids. I am content that my brother has passed on the family DNA and has produced young creatures somewhat similar to me. I think I’d be a great parent, but at this time I’m enjoying caring for myself and I really value my Jimbo Time. I’d like a partner but that’s not as easy as it sounds or is for some people. And I believe I have witnessed some gays rush into relationships or domesticity at some level to be or feel more legitimate in society. They can’t handle being single, so they rush into relationships whether they’re good for them or not. (See: serial monogamists)

I think the nice part about being gay is that we don’t have to act like a run-of-the-mill breeder. We don’t have to rush to marry after high school, get a divorce, be crushed for a couple of years, and then get married again, wash, rise, repeat. We have different models we can follow. Sure, some of these models or ways of living haven’t been to our benefit (sexually compulsive 70s cruising culture), but some models do work. Like whoring around for a few years before you get hitched, for instance. Playing the field is wise and teaches you who the turkeys are. I also appreciate the lack of pressure to marry that is normally reserved for heterosexuals. There are some benefits to being gay, and lack of expectation for domesticity is one perk among many.

Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think we should push for our rights just because we want to marry, have kids, have extra money, or this or that trait. We should be pushing for equality and rights just because we are gay, not because of what kind of gay we are. Does that make any sense?