March 2008 Archives

I had to retire my favorite rugby mouthguard this weekend. It was just too vile and multicolored to put in my mouth again. I think it was several years old, but it fit well. Here I have readied my new set of mouthguards for the season/year. It's nice to see they also come in cotton candy pink.

To fit a mouthguard, you have to dip them in boiling water for about 20 seconds. Remove from boiling water and dip in cool water for a few seconds. Fish it out and put in mouth, bite down and suck to fit. Repeat if mouthguard doesn't stay affixed to the upper maxillary set of teeth. It has to stick like dentures, especially if you're in a position where you have to issue commands or yell a lot. Otherwise it flies out of your mouth during play.

If your mouthguards are getting dirty or foul, rinse thoroughly in cool water, and soak overnight in a solution of your favorite mouthwash. Then they'll be minty fresh for your next match! You can do that with your toothbrushes too - I learned that from an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, wherein Jai actually had something useful to say for a change.

Anyone else think the I-64 sniper is kinda hot, in a jailbait sorta way? Except for the '74 Gremlin and the tragic birth name 'Slade'. But I guess the name will be well-received in jail.

A Washington Post story about Faith, the two-legged dog. Here's the video and photo gallery of the irresistable bipedal pup.

We had our first match of the season today. Playing with the dirty old boys was a good catalyst for improvement. That's a nice way of saying we lost. The beer was good though, but all that fresh air has me tuckered out, despite playing only 15 minutes or so.

I knew I smelled Kylie in an 90's pop mix Stebbins gave me the other day. The intro song - That's What Love can Do by Boy Krazy - was written in '91 by Stephen O'Brien who wrote several songs for Miss Minogue, Rick Astley, and also collaborated with British music mega producers Stock Aitken Waterman on Dead or Alive's 'Youthquake' album. O'Brien is up there in my book with Cathy Dennis in the pantheon of most awesome pop music writers.

Somewhat recent cover:
S Club 7 - That's What Love can Do

And just for fun: S Club 7 - S Club Party

I know my sugar pop.

Michael at The New Gay is turning over a new leaf in this town:

"I'm adopting a new philosophy. If I recognize your face, from the gym, a bar, wherever, I'm going to smile, nod and say "Hi" to you when I see you on the street. And if I know your name, I'm going to say 'Hi, _name_'."

In the DC gay scene, this is heresy. I've found that an outgoing and purely friendly approach is often met with chilly 'tude in this town. But I still keep doing it with the secret belief that being friendly might also annoy a segment of the New England or east coast population. As for the rest who don't take it as overt cruising or that I want something from them, good for you! I'm from the Midwest where people are friendly. If you meet someone at a ball game, and then see them a year later in line at the grocery store, you can still resume the conversation and be friendly and they won't freak out. Wear a Green Bay Packers tee shirt and carry a fishing pole in National Airport, and you'd be amazed at the number of friendly Wisconsin-born who come up to ask where you are going to go fishing. We're just that way, don't be afraid.

Here's me being friendly, fingering Carl's anus a few weeks ago to get him to make a funny face for the MetroWeekly photographer. Here's OMG DJ TM™ with OMG Timmy. Speaking of OMG DJ TM™, the phoenix has risen as I expected, and he's spinning in the back room at Apex tonight.

More friendliness: earlier this week I was walking down 17th Street and passed THREE friends from my time in Peace Corps Kazakstan in 1996-1997. I took the time to sit down with two of them at Annie's for dinner. Mark reminded me that our service was 11 years ago! That means I've been in DC for ten years. I never intended to live here for that long. I don't regret living here for 10 years, but they went by very fast. I've noticed as you get older time travels forward faster.

Here's me doing some historic reenactment a few weeks ago at the Tucson Presidio, which Homer helped develop:

The perfect gift for any urban homo - the Hello Kitty issue assault rifle:

Maybe I'll get one thanks to a nice tax return this year, but it'll probably go to bills and savings.

Speaking of homos, George Michael is on tour and will perform at the Verizon Center in DC July 7. I hear tell the production is similar to Madonna's Drowned World tour. I'd like to see it if it isn't outrageously expensive.

There's a nice article in the Washington Post about our rugby leage competitors the Quantico Hooligans. Photo gallery here. They're always up for a match and are a good bunch of guys to ruck around with. Due to frequent deployment, their team experiences a high turnover rate with available players, but manage to front good competition.

As I was leaving work this afternoon I spotted two crows near a pine tree. One was perched in a nearby tree while the other was on the ground, looking up into the pine tree. It's unusual behavior for a crow to be looking up as they prefer to watch from above for obvious safety reasons. But the one looking up into the tree looked hungry. Sure enough, my observation was rewarded as a small light blue bird fluttered out of the pine tree right towards me, followed quickly by the crows. I realized it was a budgerigar, commonly sold in pet stores. It zipped right over my head with the crows in hot pursuit, mobbing and swooping at the poor little escaped pet. Witch each divebomb a burst of white and blue feathers exploded from the screeching budgie, which found temporary safety in another nearby tree. The crows continued to zero in on the hapless blue bird, which I'm sure was doomed.

Did anybody lose a light-blue parakeet on Monday?

Bunnies, it must be bunnies! The cast of ‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’ reunited at the 25th Annual William S. Paley Television Festival on March 21st.

When asked if there's a future for the Buffy franchise (aside from the awesome comic book series), writer/creator Joss Whedon says, "I think it would be really cool," and "I would love to take a Buffy to Broadway," but no specific promises for anything soon.

Buffy on Broadway would be my next dream come true, followed by reunions of the bands Ace of Base, Roxette, and Sisters With Voices (SWV).

Fiend Folio Frightfest: Presidential candidates as Dungeons and Dragons characters.

To the right, a behind the scenes shot of openly gay director Carter Smith (seen in the background) with Joe Anderson, another actor from The Ruins, which opens April 5. Trailer here.

I kinda want to see that movie. I haven't seen some good horror in a while.

The last season of Battlestar Galactica premieres on Friday, April 4. What the frak is going on? A hilarious and snarky BSG recap in 10 minutes. Please note the blasphemous Last Supper look of the footer image.

The next door duplex neighbors are moving out. The rent upstairs and over is fairly reasonable, but I'd need to get a roomate. However, as my friends noted the other day, the only suitable roomate for me would be someone with the disposition of Terri Schiavo.

Bleh, I'm runnin' low on thoughtpower from the time change and reverse jet lag from Tucson. Or I might be coming down with my annual spring sinus infection brought on by the schitzo weather changes in DC. The weather refuses to warm up in this town. I think this will be another year where we skip spring entirely and go directly from winter to summer.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. And as we approach the vernal equinox, may my mood grow warmer as the days grow longer:

Headin' back home to DC tomorrow.

Today I took a hike up the King's Canyon and Gould Mine trails in the Saguaro National Park:

I think I got more than enough sun, as I was a little delerious afterwards. After about 3 liters of water I'm feeling better now. Silly fjord-dwelling Scandinavian me, going out in the sunshine like that.

I think this is a Black-Throated Sparrow. I did not see a road runner, but did manage to spot some of those cute Gambell's quail with the cute crest.

Moments after I took this photo, Homer was eaten alive by a pack of hungry ostrich:

I realized after the attack that the birds had eaten the car keys as well.

Today we took another hike out to the Sweetwater sewage treatment area. It is a primary sewate treatment area that uses natural ponds and drainage to purify the water. Waterfowl happen to like it a lot and I see a lot of western species, like the Black Hawk shown below. I remember seeing the yellow-headed blackbird like the one to the left in Wisconsin, but haven't seen them in many years until today. We also saw Eurasian and American widgeon, gadwalls, green-winged teal, and several falcons.

The black hawk I mentioned previously is shown below. It was not far from its nest and was fairly easy to photograph. The yellow-headed blackbirds shown at left were very secretive and a general pain in the ass to try to photograph. I am beginning to get camera and binocular envy of my fellow birdwatchers and naturalists. It may be time to get a big 'ol 7" lens and honkin' binocs so I can carry a big load all over the place and never miss a thing.

Tomorrow Homer and I are taking an overnight trip to see real live blogger Darin and former blogger Chris (of the "BoysQueefs" blog) and his partner Michael. I'm guessing margaritas will be in the equation somewhere in there.


This is probably the best turtle photo I've ever taken in my life:

Later this evening we're going out to dinner with Frank and John to my favorite Tucson establishment, Rosa's Mexican Restaurant.

Go to Homer's blog for more details, Here's a current summary of my vacation in Tucson:

We made colored non-denominational eggs:

We fed horses:

Here I am modeling a rage-inducing lemon meringue pie made by Homer. Certain fake bloggers hate reading about lemon meringue pie, so Homer made some more just to incite rage. I agreed that we should make at least one more lemon meringue pie for the sake of mockery and spite later this week:

It's all fun and games making lemon meringue pie just to incite a rage responce in the multi-personaed, but someone needs to actually eat the pies in the end. It wouldn't do to waste a good rage-inducing pie.

I'm glad to see Homer is prepping for my upcoming visit:

800 Chihuahuas, other dogs taken from Arizona home

I can handle his 3 cats, but 800 Chihuahuas is a bit much.

No Chihuahua, scruffy waterdawg DJ Dingo recommends the CSS Remix of Kylie's WOW at Disco Delicious. Wow, indeed, as you'll get your fix of sugarpop as if you snorted two lines of pixie stix powder.

The week is almost done, topped off tomorrow by our Big Event at work, for which I am prepared. At the tender age of 17 I pulled of organizing high school prom, which was a smash. If you can please your high school classmates, you can organize any event, and that's one to grow on.

More mischief in Shaw, but hasn't made it to the news yet - according to my sources, soft-top Jeeps have been firebombed on R and 5th and at 4th and N, NW DC. There were apparently two other vans that were firebombed in the 'hood as well. EcoTer'rists? I think not, as Jeeps have a good Eco-Rating. More likely punks on a dare or dumb uninformed Eco Ter'rists. I'm glad I don't have a car. My Eco-Rating is rather good until I eat some delicious Stone Cold Creamery ice cream, then it's all downhill from there.

The gays are in a tizzy:

Perhaps best known stateside for her 2001 smash singles “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and “Love At First Sight,” Kylie Minogue is an international pop icon who, over the course of an extraordinary 20-year-career, has released ten studio albums, scored 45 hit singles, received countless gold and platinum discs, earned three Grammy® nominations, and sold out six world tours. She has performed for royalty, as well as for more than 4 billion TV viewers at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, inspired a 2007 costume exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, and had her likeness replicated in wax four times by the world-famous Madame Tussaud’s (only Queen Elizabeth II has had more models created). To top it all off, Minogue has been honored by the Queen with a 2008 OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her services to music.

In November 2007, Minogue released X, her tenth studio album, to a worldwide audience (outside the U.S.) of ecstatic fans eager to hear her first all-new batch of songs since 2003’s Body Language. Hailed by British music bible Q as “a radiant collection of euphoric, occasionally dreamlike electro-pop,” X finds Minogue pairing her breathy, elegant vocals with her trademark stylish electronic beats on such irresistible singles as “2 Hearts,” “Wow,” “In My Arms,” and the first U.S. single “All I See.” Minogue, who shares songwriting credit on seven of the album’s 13 tracks, collaborated with a host of top-notch songwriters and producers, including Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams, Natasha Bedingfield), Cathy Dennis (Britney Spears, Spice Girls), Bloodshy & Avant (Madonna, Britney Spears), and Calvin Harris (Roison Murphy, Sophie-Ellis Bextor). Already certified platinum in the U.K. and Australia, X will be released in the U.S. by Astralwerks/Capitol Records on April 1st, 2008. The U.S. release includes the bonus track “All I See” featuring New York rapper MIMS.

“This album is much more of a celebration than anything I’ve done before, with some room for reflection as well,” Minogue says. “I started work on it a year and a half ago when recording was far off in the future, because no one wanted to pressure me. But I had to get back into the studio just to test myself and get some things off my chest, which I did. To finish was a great relief and an inspiration in that I knew, ‘This is what I do and this is what I love doing.’ It has its challenges, but I’m ready for more.”

X, Billboard says, “is stuffed with pointers as to why Kylie is one of the few pure pop artists to sustain a career into a third decade.” And indeed Minogue has enjoyed remarkable career longevity, having released her first single, a remake of the Little Eva hit “The Locomotion,” in 1987 followed by a series of glossy, cutting-edge pop albums, including the U.K. No. 1’s Kylie (1988), Enjoy Yourself (1989), and Fever (2001), and five Billboard Top Ten dance-chart singles in the U.S.: “I Should Be So Lucky” (1987), “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (2001), “Love At First Sight” (2002), “Slow” (2003), and “I Believe In You” (2004). She also won a Grammy® Award for “Best Dance Recording” for “Come Into My World” in 2003.

In November 2004, Minogue released her second official greatest hits collection, entitled Ultimate Kylie, and launched “Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour” the following spring. Meant to be the most ambitious and extensive of her career, the tour achieved record-setting sell-outs across the U.K. and Europe. But in May 2005, days before “Showgirl” was to open in Australia, Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer and forced to postpone the rest of the tour. After successfully undergoing treatment, she made an emotional return to the stage in Australia in November 2006 with the “Showgirl Homecoming Tour.” “My goal throughout my illness and afterward was to get back on stage,” she says. “I wanted to reassure myself that I could still do what I did before.”

The “Showgirl Homecoming Tour” is also the subject of a brand-new documentary, entitled White Diamond, which Minogue made with her friend and stylist William Baker. Shot between August 2006 and March 2007, the film is a look in at Minogue’s return to the pop world, with intimate backstage footage and interviews with the star discussing her feelings, worries, and aspirations as she and her team take “Showgirl Homecoming Tour” from rehearsals to the stage.

Minogue has shown no signs of slowing down. In 2007, she became a recipient, and first woman ever to receive the Music Industry Trust Award, which recognizes contributions made by influential people in the music industry, followed by her appearance on the Queen’s 2008 New Year’s Honours list. She has also received a Golden Kamera Award for “Best International Female Artist” (Germany’s top show business honor) and a “Special Recognition Tribute Award” at the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes. In addition, she was honored by her hero, John Travolta, at the G’Day USA: Australia Week 2008 Australia.com Black Tie Gala in Los Angeles. In February, Minogue took home a BRIT Award for “Best International Female Solo Artist” and took to the stage to perform “Wow.” In May, she will hit the road for a three-month, 50-date European tour, entitled KYLIEX2008. Tickets for the U.K. leg’s eight shows sold out in just 30 minutes, proving that, at 39 years of age, Kylie Minogue is back and better than ever.

This morning there was a mounted D.C. police officer at the Shaw/Howard MetroRail station. The horse looked like a Clydesdale mix. It has been so long since I've smelled horse or cow shit that I know if there's been a horse in my 'hood even when I can't see them, as I can certainly smell them from blocks away.

The officer was texting someone:

"OMG teh homo is taking my pic!"

I should have invited the officer to have his horse come shit in my treebox. Horse dung is good soil conditioner.

The daffodils and crocuses were up, and Saturday started out warm and balmy. In my excitement for spring I planted two angel's trumpet plants I had received earlier that week. No sooner than I had planted them, the wind started howling and the temperature dropped radically. That night we had a hard freeze, so cold the fish pond froze an inch. The next night was no better, and my plants were frostburned to mush. I always do that with at least one batch of plants early in the season.

Nothin' much else to report, so here's a random assortment of news, starting out with hateful bile spewed from the mouth of Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (sallykern@okhouse.gov) on gays:

"I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam."

That was just a tidbit from her frothing rant, more can be heard here, as someone in her presence had one of those newfangled recording gadgets handy. There's so much wrong with her tirade I won't even start, but it is an informative slice of heartland psyche that has bought into everything that is fed to them, without question. Such thinking is what gets us the wholesome behavior of people like U.S. Senator Larry Craig who get what they need from public restrooms.

"Time to Fix the National Mall," by Marc Fisher of the Washington Post. Personally, I've never noticed all the port-a-potties down there but those goddamn anti-ter'r ugly-ass jersey barriers HAVE GOT TO GO! Bitches, please - no slab of ugly-ass concrete is going to stop a determined ter'rist. Jersey barriers just make unimaginative bureaucrats happy.

Two days after his retirement was announced on March 4, 2008, Brett Favre talked about his decision on at a news conference in Green Bay. His scruff is mighty at this moment:

Photo by Tom Lynn. Complete scruff photo gallery here from the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel Online, 3/6/2008.

Don't cry for me, Brett.

Having made a cameo appearance on the new Dr. Who, Kylie Minogue has now been elevated from Diva to Goddess status. Simply putting the words 'Kylie' and 'Dr. Who' together in the same sentence makes my head explode from overstimulation. According to my sources, VJ Tre will serve up some Kylie X on Saturday, April 5 at Omega for her pixieness' 10th album release.

Gaylaxicon 2008 will celebrate 20 Years of Fun this October 10-13 in DC. It's sponsored by Lambda Sci-Fi. It will be undoubtedly an odd mixture of fabulous and geektastic.

Last night we went to see Step Up 2 the Streets starring cutie pie Robert Hoffman and some girl with boobs. It was a guilty-delicious indulgence of schlock and cheese, and I felt spiritually unclean after seeing it. But it was as fun as a box of stale Peeps, and that's a good thing.

I wasn't aware that there was a previous Step Up film, which featured an even hotter lead, Channing Tatum, who is expected to star in the upcoming G.I. Joe live action feature. Both hotties have very smoove moves.

More cuteness: a shaggy ginger Prince Harry plays rugby in Afghanistan. Strange...he looks nothing like Charles, nor Diana. Whoever daddy was I'm glad for the ginger gene influx into the royal line.

FYI the 2008 World Championship Cheese Contest is in Madison, Wisconsin this year on March 11-13.

On a more serious note, I would like everyone to chill the fuck out. Especially all you hysterical Hillarians and Obamites. Both of you. Seriously, people, get over yourselves and your candidates.

Never before have I felt the need to channel the memory of my mother's protests when I was a child. Us three brothers would get too much sugar in our breakfast cereal and would be bouncing off the walls, and Mom would screech: "SIMMER DOWN!!!" and that would be the end of it.

That's what I feel like telling people this week: simmer the fuck down.

Sad news: Gary Gygax, one of the founders of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing games, passed away at age 69 today, finally failing his saving throw vs. Death.

The dire naked mole rat animal companion of my multiclass ranger/psychic warrior grimlock mourns plaintively:

In other sad departures, Brett Favre announced his retirement from football after 17 seasons.

This weekend Mari called with the 411 on a source of castor bean seeds at Garden District. While I was there I managed to find some packets of sorghum, sold as 'broomcorn' off the shelves. Both are dramatic additions to a garden and drought-resistant, thus save on water bills in the long run.

There is supposed to be an exhibit about maize, the true gold of the New World, at the U.S. Botanic Gardens down on the Mall, but I could not find an official notice to link to on the subject.

Fighting for Life is a new feature documentary portrait of American military medicine. The film includes coverage of students at USU, the “West Point” of military medicine in Bethesda, on their journey toward becoming career military physicians. Our rugby team has played the USUHS Fighting Docs on many occasions, and they manage to balance their studies with good rugby and sportsmanship. There will be a screening at the E Street Cinema on March 14.

A friend pointed out an article from today's Washington Post that predicts a leadership crunch in the nonprofit sector. The article, based on a study of tomorrow's leaders, explains that potential organizational leaders are going elsewhere after feeling pressed for cash.

After living in DC for over ten years I've seen more than enough examples of nonprofits taking advantage of a passionate young workforce. After a few years living in such an expensive town you have to move on to greener pastures, as passion does not fill the stomach. I hope the nonprofit sector can work things out - like perhaps keeping the CEO salaries below the six-digit mark and distributing the paychecks evenly?

That and the predictions of a massive exodus of Baby Boomers just isn't happening. The Generation We're Tired of Hearing About will neither die nor retire. They're working themselves to the grave just as they have for the past 30 years. With advances in health care they now have the lifespan of Imhotep the Mummy, and don't know what else to do with their lives but work.

The day before the Post published a somewhat related article about the sense of entitlement perceived in today's workforce. It's another one of those generational generalizations that tends to steam me up. You know, how the Millennials are A.D.D., my generation is forever disgruntled, but no call is ever made to meet somewhere in the middle. The bar is set at the ever-holy Baby Boomers standard. Today's generation of workers has seen the previous generation work themselves to death with no guarantees from the companies they devoted their lives to. Pensions are withdrawn, health insurance is unreliable, and there is a certain future of eternal debt thanks to eight years of spending sprees. While I'm working to pay off the previous generation's extravagances, I'm taking as much leave time as I can.