A new meaning for "Senate Race"

So as the New York State Senate Democrats rushed to complete their Governor-ordered special session in a little time as possible, they were held up by Sen. Craig Johnson's request for a moment of silence. The Dems finished in 3 minutes, 19 seconds. The Republicans got out in just 2 minutes, 28 seconds. For this 2 or 3 minute workday, the Senators will receive wages of $160. Which translates north of $6000 an hour.

The curious thing, though, is the moment of silence. It was intended to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, whom Johnson called "one of the greatest spiritual leaders of the past century." Yet to that Rabbi's most devoted followers such a tribute is blasphemy: They believe their leader's not dead. (Daily News article)

Tax to Fund U.S. Healthcare May Kill U.S. Healthcare

The purpose of not taxing employer-sponsored health coverage is to encourage employers to give their employees health insurance. This is a good thing. It makes healthcare more accessible to Americans. This system is the reason so many Americans have health insurance.

The Baucus plan circulating in the Senate disincentivizes employer-sponsorship by taxing it. In response, employers will not spend as much on health insurance. Costs will inevitably shift onto the individual. In addition, the nonsense of "gold-plated better than members of Congress have" plans being excessive - if nobody has any incentive to offer a better plan, insurance companies cease trying to offer them. Competition is reduced. Cost go up acros the board.

Do you know anybody who has complained their health care coverage is too generous?

Individual coverage carries higher rates than company plans and is taxable, all of which increases the burden of health insurance on the individual (and we are all "the individual").

Ultimately most people can't afford this, but fear not: the government will subsidize insurance for "those who cannot afford it".

So in one of the most roundabout ways imaginable, the plan shifts costs from voluntary, tax incentivized, employer-sponsored coverage to direct government sponsorship of more expensive, less effective plans for fewer people. (see Bloomberg article)

Comedians and Gay Gyms

I bought "I'm Telling You For the Last Time" by Jerry Seinfeld and "200 M.P.H." by Bill Cosby. Both very funny. Something by Dane Cook, too. What's more funny is sitting on the subway or working out at the gym with headphones on, laughing my head off for no apparent reason.

I tried out one of the super gay gyms in the middle of the city's (world's?) gayest neighborhoods. It was just like any other normal gym, so for all you who live out in the 'burbs or sticks and feel like you're missing something - don't feel bad. (Maybe I just came at a less "busy" time?)

You know how it is when you spend a week preparing for a meeting, and then you have about 20 minutes to make your entire presentation? You deliver a 25 page document and wonder if anyone is ever going to read it? Yeah. That's when I tell myself I'm on salary and it really doesn't matter if the work is a dead end. Then I go back to my desk and change the message: Now, it is important once again to contribute to the success of the business!

Anyone coming to Pride?

Anonymous, if you're reading this - you need to find a way we can talk without your snooping beloved eavesdropping.

Songs.

"You sit there in your heartache
waiting on some beautiful boy to
save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now ... here he comes!

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young"

When You Were Young - The Killers

Intriguing Quote

"So why am I not out of the closet? I was never in the closet. I am not trapped behind 3 walls and a door just because people don't know my sexual orientation. I am free." -Anonymous@PicturePerfect

She was kinda cute, too

One of the cutest moments from the weekend was when I was in the pool, and a family comes in, one of those nuclear families with a father and mother and little girl and boy like in a family icon:

So the mom comes in and starts saying something, asks how I got in if the pool was locked (Gee, I was thinking the same thing - maybe we both have keys? Lol.) I start swimming over to grab my bathing suit from the side of the pool where I had left it, and she notices I'm not wearing it and flushes and turns away. One of the kids turns to her and says, "See, I told you it was a boy."

I've had a crush on this guy at the gym for some time. For months we never spoke to each other, but recently he gave me a ride and we hit it off great. Now we've been chatting it up, talking about workout routines and eating habits, where to find local basketball courts (it turns out people around here play tennis just because they can't find a decent basketball court!) and how to build a six pack. Standard gym talk. But it's really great to talk to him. He's a great guy. I'm not sure whether to tell him I'm into him, but for now at least it's nice to be friends.

So I took a vacation and what and why

So I got in the car and drove. Traffic. Traffic. Then it cleared up a little. Stopped off, did some shopping. Drove. Traffic. Music. Finally got there. Stripped and jumped in the pool. Ahhh. Then opened the house, warmed up, relaxed. Cooked dinner. I made a simple meal, fried some burgers, had some leftover roast, pesto sauce with toasted whole wheat pitas, chopped liver. Somehow it was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Then I flipped through some channels on TV. There was nothing on. And if there was, I flipped that channel during a commercial break. Seriously, I don't know how people watch broadcast TV. So I popped in a DVD and watched Sunset Boulevard, or Rocky. (I watched both over the weekend, just don't remember which one fits into this point in the story.) And it was all so amazing, I had such a good time.

After the movie, I went out on the porch, and took a giant lungful of sweet country air; it was after midnight and everything was silent. I looked up at the starry sky and looked all around, the trees, the lawn. Beauty everywhere. And then I cried a little because I was all alone, there was no one to share this great night with. But then I cheered up, that's a small thing to kill the mood over. I went out and sat on the swings, climbed on the monkey bars, and jogged a little. Then went to sleep ever so peacefully.

When I awoke, I made a pot of steaming cocoa. Read Frank O'Hara's Ave Maria and Edna St. Vincent Millay's What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why. Reread Prufrock, and Ginsburg's America. Then swam a few laps, came in and made breakfast. I found nothing on the telly, so I went for a walk. Made popcorn and watched another movie. Got out the basket ball and shot some hoops. Took a long bath, so relaxing I half fell asleep in the tub.

The only thing missing was the people, but to paraphrase Sartre, people are hell anyway. I got back to the city just in time to be fashionably late to the ball. Okay, well more late than was fashionable to be honest. But I heard they ran out of food early on and had to order more. The organizer called the caterer frantic, "Send me anything you've got, we're on empty here!" So I must have gotten there right after the food was replenished, which was cool because I hadn't eaten much all day. I made the rounds of hellos and how are yous and good to see yous and congratulationses and thanks yous and then dug in.

Confessions Blog Link

Great series of posts from a former NYC go-go boy describes how
dancing almost destroyed his life - and how much he still misses it.

So true. It's such a rush. So much fun. But it becomes an addiction and
like any addiction pulls you deeper into its own world, and out of the
real one. He talks about needing more and more and the fear of losing
his fix. I'm not ready to write my own confession yet ;) but I
identify with what he writes, and am thankful I never fell in that deep, though it beckons temptingly.

President Obama says Bigotry in Military OK

"They're only soldiers, what can we expect from them? These are the low-lifes of society, the white trash. We can't expect enlightened behavior from this low class of people. The macho fools who join the army can't be expected to respect homosexuals as equals, so we shouldn't bother asking them to."

Perhaps this is how the Obama administration feels about the military. Is this why he insists "don't ask don't tell" can't be overturned? Has he forgotten Brown v. Board of Education - where it was decided that stereotypes can be overcome only through interaction with the other group? (Supreme Court grants an Obama administration request to maintain "don't ask, don't tell")

Another Weekend Passed

Went out the other night. Boring time overall, but one guy I keep thinking about. A go-go boy I've met several times before. Once he even gave me his number (or a number, anyway - he never responded when I tried it - so in response to anonymous and Sven - whether it's all the gays or just the ones I meet, I guess it is fairly common.) and called me "mi amor" (yeah, he's latin). He's so beautiful! and the way he felt me up ahhhh! Yeah, it's usually the other way around with go-gos - patrons feeling them up, so I have hope he's interested. LOL.

Over the weekend, stopped at the highly promoted party that nobody went to because it's in the wrong neighborhood. Just used the bathroom, then left. Brief stop at another one that nobody went to because it's in a place with the wrong reputation. Left right quick that as well. Then went to the place where my friends were going for a friend's birthday. That place is usually way too crowded, but was actually fun this time. Not as terribly packed as it has been, and I knew a bunch of people. Then left to meet LA boy uptown. We were going to talk, and we did, but it didn't stop at talking. Which is fine. Whatever.

Now it's back to work. Wondering how/if I'm going to find the one who's going to make me happy.

Oh for those who are wondering about the May Challenge. It went great! Very inspiring. I feel like I'm in the best shape I was all year.

Thank You Ms. Stavisky For Your Support

Write your Senator today!

I'm Liking:

Blueberries
Watching the sun set over the lake
Growing bank accounts
Interacting with friends (or, what passes for friends in my lonely world :)
Being active, exercising

Anyway, so in texts-from-last-night, the guy who last week said he wanted to ride me hard and fast and see if I could last until I make him cum decided, after several days of non-responding to messages, that he doesn't want to lead me on and just wants to be friends. Ah, relationships. So difficult to understand!

LA guy's coming back this week.

I keep thinking about taking a vacation, but there seems to be no point if I have no one to go with.

Well yeah, so that was Memorial Day

Memorial Day Weekend. Thursday night went over to a friend to watch a
movie and enjoy each other's company :) Friday drove back to New York
via Brooklyn, where my brother and I spent several hours shopping for
glasses, ties, pants, trinkets, and whatnot.

When you shop for eyeglasses, usually the salesperson (tell me if
you've had the same experience) will ask you a few questions, show you
some frames, you pick something out - and then you get The Spiel: OK
those frames are $___. I can show you something a little cheaper
(picks up something horrible), but I think those (points to the ones
you picked out) look really good on you. That's what they're buying
these days. And I can give you 15% off that price. You'll want to go
with a scratch-resistant coating for just $45 extra, but I can do it
for you for $25. And we'll put on the special new glare-free coating,
you're lenses will look much nicer and you won't notice a glare, it's
only $65 more. And with your prescription, I can offer you a higher
index lens, it will be much thinner and lighter, if you want that, for
an extra $100.

Then we came to this little hole in the wall shop, and the prices are
really as marked! Pick something out, and the storekeeper says here's
the price. I can deliver it next Tuesday. And we can't believe it.
"But next door they wanted $650?! How could you sell it for $225?" "I
want to see what they were selling for $650. It doesn't make sense."

"Ok, great. So can you give me the scratch-resistant?"
"Let me find out. [makes phone call] Yup, they're scratch resistant.
It's included."
"And do I want the glare coating?"
"Also included."
"But they told me they had a new super duper glare coating that's
baked, not fried. You give me that?"
[Makes another phone call] "Okay, so there are 2 brands of glare
coating they use. They're both the same except they charge $100 more
for the other one. I'm giving you the same thing I have in my own
glasses [points to own gorgeous glasses]."

And you know what? The 5 stores that tried to earn an extra few bucks
lost the sale altogether and got nothing. But I assume they're doing
alright. 300% markups can make up for a lot of missed opportunities.

Anyway, so Saturday night house party in Manhattan Beach, Sunday gym,
spa with C, and then to a club. Monday, slept, read, walked through
the park with barbecues and then came home and ate pizza.

Rant About Google

I usually like Google's new features, but this latest design change is an exception. Google says it wants its new features to feel like they were there all along. They believe this will make the feature more comfortable to use, but in fact the opposite is true. It generates this eerie feeling of something being not right. Humans are optimized to adapt to change while preserving a sense of history. When things just appear and pretend they were always there, it's unnerving. But more importantly, the new "search options" feature is just plain bad. It's unhelpful because it makes you push more buttons to do what you want to do, whereas before it was better at predicting which option you might want. And that Wonder Wheel: It's a wonder Google would release anything so absurd and useless.

Not too late to kick-start your health and reach for your fitness goals

Omg been ich mechaven gevuren ([Expletive] my god I co-conceived of the idea? Some things just don't translate well.) The President's Council is running a similar program to my Every Day in May Challenge.

"The National President's Challenge is a nationwide call to action for a healthier America. It's fun and it's free! All you have to do is be active five days a week for six out of eight weeks, and log your activity." (link) So get involved!

Challenge Days 7-11

I'm happy to report that we're on track. Been logging 2 to 4 miles a day and some weights, which is a good start, good foundation to build on. Details to come. Maybe.

Challenge: Day 7

So I had to work late yesterday, and didn't have time for the gym. But Every Day in May doesn't stop just because I missed one day. Here's hoping today's workout will be even better because of yesterday's rest!

Hot Pic

Challenge: Day 6

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The Every Day In May Challenge

Let's try to exercise every day this month. Today is the 5th, so far so good: At least 30 minutes a day so far each day this month. Lots of treadmill, some weights. Maybe I'll try to get the log up here. Be great if someone tries to outdo me - I love competition!

Justice Souter announced plans to retire

Souter retiring, Obama choosing new nominee. I wish I could freeze-frame this and spend a semester delving into this.

Barack Obama's pretty cool. Even though I disagree with many of the things he's been doing, he seems to have things reasoned out pretty well. He might come to the wrong conclusions, but at least he thought it through. It would be great to  spend some time with him.