Thursday night personal

Bad news. E. had his meeting tonight with the Condo Board and he didn't get his apartment. So it's back to Square One in the apartment hunt. I felt terrible (as did he). Meanwhile he still plans on moving out of the BF's place this weekend. (But not here.)

Wednesday night personal

Busy night. Back at the gym after a nap with Lucas, who was on his best behavior throughout. I'd been excluding him from my naps lately because of his (loud) obsession with being let onto the terrace to pursue the green anole. (I lock the cat door before I take a nap, in case Lucas should fall off the terrace while I'm asleep.)

Been going in to work later to use my "flex time" from working on Sunday. Thus, staying up a little later.

Tomorrow is E.'s interview with the Condo Board at the building where he found the apartment he'd like to move into at the end of the month, and for which he has already paid a security deposit, a fee ($100) for a background check, and a fee to use the service elevator for moving his stuff in. Then there was the snag with the background check, regarding E.'s "youthful indiscretions."

Greek Vote Approves a Despised Property Tax

No property taxes there, huh? Must be nice. From what I've read, they also cheat a lot when it comes to paying other taxes. From today's New York Times here.

The Greek Parliament voted late Tuesday in Athens to back a hugely unpopular property tax, one of a series of new austerity measures. The vote could clear the way for a crucial injection of international financing meant to at least temporarily stave off a default on government debt.

The property tax, the first of its type in Greece, would raise 2 billion euros, or $2.7 billion, this year alone, according to government calculations. The question is whether enough Greek people can or will pay the tax to meet those forecasts. . . .

The tax, which will apply to 5.5 million homeowners — or about 80 percent of Greek households — will cost the average family 800 to 1,500 euros (about $1,045 to $2,041) a year, depending on the location and size of their property. With unemployment at 16 percent, and average income only about 26,000 euros, it is unclear how many households will be willing or able to pay. . . .

[Emphasis added.]

From this article:

The cheating is often quite bold. When tax authorities recently surveyed the returns of 150 doctors with offices in the trendy Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki, where Prada and Chanel stores can be found, more than half had claimed an income of less than $40,000. Thirty-four of them claimed less than $13,300, a figure that exempted them from paying any taxes at all.

Such incomes defy belief, said Ilias Plaskovitis, the general secretary of the Finance Ministry, who has been in charge of revamping the country’s tax laws. “You need more than that to pay your rent in that neighborhood,” he said. . . .

Various studies have concluded that Greece’s shadow economy represented 20 to 30 percent of its gross domestic product. Friedrich Schneider, the chairman of the economics department at Johannes Kepler University of Linz, studies Europe’s shadow economies; he said that Greece’s was at 25 percent last year and estimated that it would rise to 25.2 percent in 2010. For comparison, the United States’ was put at 7.8 percent. . . .

[Click on the photos to enlarge them]

Class war profiteering: London trader rejoices at recession, 'dreams of another'

From Daily Kos here. This is so immoral. Here's the whole post:

It's rare to see the masks come off the predator and scavenger classes, but John Aravosis at Americablog has found a doozy of an example, in a clip of a London trader salivating at the thought of money to be made as people's economic lives crumble around them:

BBC: Can you pin down exactly what would keep investors happy, make them feel more confident?

TRADER: That's a tough one.  Personally, it doesn't matter. I'm a trader.  I don't care about that stuff... We don't really care how they're gonna fix the economy, how they're gonna fix the situation.  Our job is to make money from it.  And personally, I've been dreaming of this moment for three years.  I have a confession, which is, I go to bed every night, I dream of another recession, I dream of another moment like this.

BBC: Why?

TRADER: Because, people don't seem to maybe remember, the 30s Depression, the Depression in the 30s, wasn't just about a market crash.  There were some people who were prepared to make money from that crash.  And I think anybody can do that.  It isn't just for some people in the elite.  Anybody can make money, it's an opportunity.

BBC: If you could see the people around me, jaws have collectively dropped at what you just said.

Jaws may have been dropping in the BBC studios, but make no mistake, this is a not a rare sentiment. And it's telling that this trader trusts enough in the acceptance of the current climate of predation that he can safely express glee at economic destruction of millions of lives.

This is bare bones class war. And with no regulation of financial markets, with no investigation or accountability, it will continue until the bones of the working and middle classes are picked clean.

Welcome to the world of no-shame class war profiteering.

Tuesday night personal

A/C iced up again. Not pretty. I noticed it was a little warm in here when I got home from work, but I hadn't left the A/C on very cold when I left this a.m. (I probably should have.) So I turned it back up to cold, and the place wasn't cooling down. (You can see the blow-dryer jammed inside, and the old towels I put on top of the water heater to catch the water from the melting ice.)

Meanwhile, after deploying the blow-dryer, I put more insulation (bunched-up Glad Wrap and clear packing tape) around a leaky window in this room (not far from the A/C) to keep the humidity out. I was going to use plastic Publix (or other) bags but didn't want to have anything obviously visible from the pool deck, one story below. (Publix bags are brown.)

In the time I've been writing this, all the ice has melted and the A/C is back up and running (and cooling).

This wasn't nearly as bad as the last time this happened, a few weeks ago, before I got the cat-door panel for the slider (it's only happened twice now). Last time, it took me two hours to melt the ice - there was so much of it.

I had to go to the store right after I discovered the ice, so I turned the A/C off, of course, and left. By the time I got back, a lot of it had already melted in the heat of the apartment. (All of those copper tubes sticking out the front of it had been coated with ice.) But it's more difficult melting the ice covering the metal fins inside, which is what the blow-dryer is for.

*   *   *

Lucas watching "Madagascar" (he's seen it before)

I called E. at his place of work today to find out the latest on the apartment. His interview (with the condo board, I presume) is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, so he's taking the night off from work.

Monday nite personal

Remember I repotted the dracaena a few weeks ago? I've been taking very good care of it (i.e., watering it). (I also fertilized it when I repotted it.) Well, it is now sending out a new shoot. [Click to enlarge.]

*   *   *

I've been clamming up lately for a reason, which will be revealed. I've been extremely worried about something (or someone).

OK, it's been about E. getting into his new apartment and away from the bad-boy BF. I've been extremely supportive of E. in this. Then he hit a snag when they did a background check on him (which he paid $100 for) and found a couple of things (like a DUI many years ago). This put everything on hold re: his getting into the apartment (which is supposed to happen at the end of this month, which of course is rapidly approaching).

Last week he frantically asked me to write a letter for him to sign, dated a few days earlier, in which he acknowledged his past mistakes (his youthful indiscretions) and stressed his changed ways - his maturation into a responsible adult, as demonstrated, e.g., by his 11 years of steady employment at his current place of business. So I whipped up the letter here on the computer (he doesn't even have a computer - yet*) and read it to him over the phone. Then I printed out a few copies and walked them over to E. at the restaurant.

So now, I was involved in his getting this apartment. And after that, there was no word for days, though the people he talked to said his prospects were good. But that, of course, wasn't assurance enough, and he's almost desperate to get in there and out of his current situation.

Today, some good news. He was told that the only thing left to do now was to go to an interview, which will happen very soon (maybe tomorrow or the next day, I'd assume). I think he'll do well at that and will win them over and erase any doubts they might have about him, despite his youthful indiscretions.

So I hope what I did for him helped. He told me today (his day off) he couldn't even sleep last night worrying about the situation and the prospect of starting over trying to find someplace else. He really likes this place, and for him the location is ideal. (I also didn't sleep well last night over this.)

______________
*I've already ordered him a laptop for his housewarming gift.

Thursday night personal

Called in sick at work yesterday. (I have accumulated the PTO (paid time off).) I was exhausted and slept a lot. I think I've been stretching myself too thin lately, with all the cooking at night after work (with my new food processor) and then taking the photos and formatting them, and then blogging into the night.

For me, calling in sick when I feel crappy is more salubrious than taking a pre-planned day off as vacation, but there's a stigma attached to calling in sick. (So I don't do it a lot.) But PTO is PTO. I think smart managers should be aware of individuals' different styles of stress-management and self-rejuvenation. Everybody's different. (And if a department is not staffed so as to be able to deal with more than one person calling in sick or otherwise being absent - which is basically the case nowadays - then that's a management problem re: staffing.) (But as I said, I don't call in sick often.)

This morning I felt remarkably refreshed and ready for work. Day went well. Didn't get a very good snooze on the bus on my way home, however - the bus's horn developed a short and was going full blast for a mile or so before the bus driver stopped (at 79th Street) and had us all get off to catch another bus while she called the transit agency. (This is not the first time I've been on a bus that developed a horn problem and had to get off it.)

Called in sick at work

I'm exhausted. Haven't called in sick in a while.

I think an occasional, totally unplanned, unstructured day off is salubrious, better than vacation even. (And I have the PTO to take.)

There's still quite a bit of pressure at work, since we're still understaffed by one person. (The supervisor is taking up the slack, and she can be at the breaking point at times and doesn't show.) Things could go very badly if two people are out, which is certainly not an unlikely scenario. (If three people were out, it could be a disaster.) But I'm told there's now a hiring freeze in place.

Meanwhile, the supervisor deals with the stress by buying ice cream, candy bars, chips, dips, etc. and bringing them into the department. (She's pretty overweight and diabetic.) I can't resist the ice cream, etc., but I refuse to get fat. (I'm already pushing it with my smoking.) And yesterday, God bless her, she bought me a ginormous slice of pizza.

Today I'm fasting.

[Later] Just ordered E. a refurbished Samsung laptop from Best Buy. Silver. Hope he likes it. ($400.)

Tuesday night personal

(No, that's not a new intrauterine device. Read on.)

Had a good day. At least it was busier at work. Yesterday was dead (doesn't happen often), which makes me antsy.

Napped on the bus home and almost missed the stop for Home Depot, where I got some more weatherstripping for the cat-door panel and a Korky toilet "flapper" for the guest bath. (The old one was leaking.) I don't think I've had to replace it since I've been living here. (They last a long time.) And the cat-door panel is now fully sealed.

Lucas was in and out of the cat door tonight. After a while, he stops using it and just wants to sit on my lap or lie on a throw rug beside me. He likes his new freedom, but, in the end, he likes me more. (And I have freedom from his meowing at the slider.) Getting the cat-door panel was a good idea, and it's very easy to move in and out of place. (It stands just outside the slider when I'm not here, but I'd have to bring it inside before a hurricane.)

Polished off the vegetable beef soup tonight with Publix frozen soup-mix vegetables and some regular Publix frozen mixed vegetables. (I did use the fresh, shredded cabbage.) Then added more dill, some thyme, a little hot sauce, and some freshly grated Locatelli Pecorino Romano cheese (made from sheep's milk). Mmmmm. Soup is now delicious! Taking some of that to work tomorrow, along with some of the sautéed cabbage baked in sour cream. Mmmmm.

(This vegetable beef soup is as good as if not better than the more elaborate one I used to make with stew beef and a bunch of fresh vegetables, including a leek, a turnip, a parsnip, a big carrot, etc. If I ever make that recipe again, it'll be a whole lot easier to do with the new food processor - but still a lot more time-consuming. So if the quicker recipe tastes the same if not better, why bother. Good-quality frozen vegetables are fine for soup.)

Had a nursing appointment first thing this morning to have blood drawn for tests. Have a doctor's appointment in two weeks to go over the results. Hope I'm OK.

P.S. The chicken salad turned out great, actually. (It's always better after spending the night in the fridge.) Took it to work today and shared with co-workers. They raved about it. (It was my breakfast after I got back from the nursing appointment.) 

Monday night personal

Watching a new "Alphas" now. Done cooking for the night. This show is loaded with ads, but that's OK. I've been messing around in the kitchen.

Now watching a rerun of Anthony Bourdain in Berlin (from 2007). Don't think I've ever seen this one before. Interesting. I visited Berlin a couple of times and was fascinated with it.

Monday night cooking

Sautéed cabbage

Chicken salad

Sautéed cabbage baked in the oven with sour cream

Sautéed the cabbage I'd shredded yesterday in the new food processor. Meanwhile, as the cabbage was getting tender (with the lid on the pan), made chicken salad, also using the new machine. (Sliced the celery, minced the onion, and chopped the chicken.) Next time I'll pulse the chicken a little less (I'm still learning) - it's not mushy, but I like it chunkier. Had some of the chicken salad for dinner on Melba toast, along with some of the sautéed cabbage baked with sour cream. Sublime.

The new machine is a big time-saver and cleans up nicely (in the dishwasher even). I love it. (The emptied dishwasher is now almost full after tonight.)

Right now I'm making vegetable beef soup with a leftover sirloin tip roast and the rest of the shredded cabbage from yesterday. Probably won't finish that recipe off tonight.

Sotheby's sells the Upper East Side

How about a penthouse triplex? $42,000,000. Right on 5th Avenue.

Stunning Candela penthouse triplex, 12, 13,14th floors. Special features include extraordinary Park views, a private elevator to all floors, 4 exposures, dramatic irrigated terrace, magnificent paneling, 5 fireplaces with beautiful carved mantels, single pane windows and hand carved moldings. There is on the reception floor a magnificent entrance foyer with inset marble floor and carved double doors to the living room and dining room both with 11’ ceilings. A spacious chef’s kitchen and staff Room completes this floor. A staircase leads to the 13th floor library also with a magnificent fireplace and spectacular Park views. A butler’s pantry and powder room plus 3 master’s suites comprise this floor.

The 14th floor hosts the master suite, with large walk-in closets and a separate sitting room with a fireplace. Both rooms have single pane windows and sliding glass doors to a magnificent terrace with dazzling Central Park views.

You couldn't get me to live in an aerie - I'm afraid of heights (although I love riding in airplanes).

So for me, a townhouse would be ideal. How about this one ("Spectacular Limestone Mansion")? $50,000,000.

This grand and elegant neo-Italian Renaissance mansion is exceptionally wide (45’) and one of the largest and most important townhouses in New York. Commissioned in 1922 by Julius Forstmann, a prominent German merchant, the house was designed by C.P.H. Gilbert, the renowned architect who created majestic mansions for the leading families of the city. Behind a stately and distinguished limestone façade are five floors with an additional garden level and a full sub-basement comprising a total of approximately 21,000 +/- sq ft. The dramatic entrance foyer leads to a magnificent reception hall and grand-scaled rooms which feature many superb original details, including a spectacular sweeping marble staircase, an enormous skylight, marble fireplace surrounds, hand-carved moldings, and soaring high ceilings. This extraordinary townhouse offers the rare opportunity to own a Manhattan landmark with the versatility of luxury residential or trophy commercial use.

Wow, a double-wide! Love the history, too.

Later personal

Just got back from the store. The cabbage dish is not going to get made tonight. Too late. I have other chores to do.

I'd given E. a coupon earlier for a $10 Publix gift card with the purchase of $50 in groceries. (Someone at work was sending around the link to the coupon, and I printed out a few.) I tried to use the coupon tonight, and it didn't work. The checkout lady said it had to be an "original" (and said it says so on the coupon). (I hadn't even read it.) So I wanted to let E. know.

Also, we'd been talking earlier about where he and BF live now, and I looked the property up on the Property Appraiser website before I called E. Just now, I read some of the data on it to E. It's a 1,160 sq. ft. condo built in 1971. (I assume it's 2 bedrooms / 2 baths, though the web page doesn't say, and E. said it's two stories.) The BF bought it for $115,000 in 2006, and it's now appraised at $40,920. I was shocked when E. just told me that the BF has stopped making the $600-something mortgage payment (including taxes, I assume) and will stay there till they kick him out. I said, how stupid. E. agreed and said that for $600-something a month, the BF's not going to be able to find anything as nice. So E. actually has to leave (and getting away from "that mess" has another dynamic I didn't know about). It sounds like the guy is just pissed that the value has dropped, and he probably owes a lot more on the place than it's now worth. But still. E.'s right.

Not much on TV tonight. Now I'm now watching a 2002 documentary on the Travel Channel about a ship that serves as a "residential community owned by its residents" - MS The World. This is from the Wikipedia article:

As of 2010, a 328 sq ft (30.5 m2) studio (Ocean Studio 661) has a list price of USD $600,000. Ocean Residence 1006 (2 bedroom, 2.5 bath) list price USD $2,950,000. The World Suite 1108/1110 list price USD $13,500,000.

Monthly homeowner dues range from $20,000 per month (for the smaller units) and up, and cover fuel, crew, maintenance and a meal allowance for the owner.

[Emphasis added.] I'd heard about it before. Now that's an expensive condo.

Sunday night personal

Cabbage has been shredded and is ready for sautéing and thereafter baking in sour cream. I can't use all of this. The recipe calls for a small head of cabbage, and I used a medium-sized one. That's OK. It won't go to waste.

Had a nice dinner earlier over at E.'s restaurant: beef brisket platter with grilled asparagus and broccoli, after a bowl of cream of chicken and potato soup, and before a fresh fruit tart. (Their brisket is very lean.) E.'s really looking forward to his move at the end of the month and getting away from "that mess." He needs a TV and a computer, however. The BF won't let him have one of the two flat-screen TVs, even though E. helped pay for it. (The BF controls.)

One of E.'s customers, a doctor, asked E. out on a date to a new gay bar down the Boulevard, but E. declined. E. said it's "too soon" and he's concentrating on getting situated in his new place. He then said he and I would go down there after his settling-in. He has it all planned. He said we'll take the bus down, and a taxi back. He said we would meet at my place and walk to the bus stop from here. (It's right across the street.) Looking forward to that. I don't have much of a social life these days.

I'm going to the store at 8:30, after the nearby Costco's has closed and the traffic has thinned out.

Sunday afternoon personal

Sliced up 2 1/3 lbs. of squash and some red onion in the new food processor and steamed/sautéed it. First time I'd used the slicing disk. How quick and easy was that. Made 3 1/3 cups. Later I'm going to make sautéed cabbage which is then baked in the oven with sour cream. (Joy of Cooking recipe.) Delicious.

Rick Perry in a nutshell

From Daily Kos here.

The Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land explains the key differences between George W. Bush and Rick Perry - basically, Perry is Bush without the education, compassion, intellect, or fancy East Coast-upbringing.

Republicans Call Obama’s Tax Plan ‘Class Warfare’

That's the headline for The New York Times story here. Actually it was George W. Bush who started the "class warfare" with his tax cuts for the most wealthy, which then busted the budget. Of course Bush's wars and ill-conceived drug benefit for Medicare also helped.

“It adds further instability to our system, more uncertainty, and it punishes job creation,” Mr. Ryan said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Class warfare may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics.”

What "job creation"?

Mr. Durbin said that taxes should be raised on “those who are wealthy and comfortable and wouldn’t even notice it.” . . .

The millionaires’ rate would apply to fewer than 450,000 taxpayers, they said; 144 million returns were filed for 2010. . . .

Missing Colorado cat found in Manhattan after 5 years

Willow

New York Times story here.

A calico cat named Willow, who disappeared from a home near the Rocky Mountains five years ago, was found on Wednesday on a Manhattan street and will soon be returned to her family, where two of the three children and one of the two dogs may remember her. . . .

[T]hanks to a microchip that was implanted when she was a kitten, Willow will be reunited in Boulder, Colo., with her owners, the Squireses, who had long ago given up hope.

“There are tons of coyotes around here, and owls,” Jamie Squires said. “We put out the ‘lost cat’ posters and the Craigslist thing, but we actually thought she’d been eaten by coyotes.” . . .

Ms. Squires said Willow escaped in late 2006 or early 2007 when contractors left a door open during a home renovation.

Ms. Bank said Willow was healthy and well-mannered, and probably had not spent her life on the streets of Manhattan.

Animal Care and the Squireses were trying to arrange for transportation back to Colorado. In the interim, Willow may stay with a foster family in New York.

“The kids can’t wait to see her,” Ms. Squires said. “And we still have her little Christmas stocking.”

The perfect camouflage for NYC, it turns out

(Lucas has a microchip also.)

[The second photo is most likely a Photoshop job. The top photo, however, is from a reliable source. I first saw the story late last week on the NBC Nightly News.]

Drugs No. 1 Cause of Preventable Deaths

From the Los Angeles Times via The Daily Beast here.

Deaths resulting from drugs are now greater than traffic fatalities in the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. In 2009, drugs were responsible for the deaths of more than 37,485 people—which equals one person killed every 14 minutes. Many of the deaths are related to prescription pain and anxiety medications, which are readily accessible and often misused, and these types of drugs now cause more deaths than cocaine and heroin combined. Overdose victims' ages range from teenagers to the elderly, and the reason for taking the prescription medication can range from a desire to get high, underestimating the risk of the drugs, to simply getting addicted after a serious accident. Drug-induced deaths are mostly considered accidental, but they also include suicides and fatal diseases caused by drugs.

[Emphasis added.]

Worlds apart – the neighbourhoods that sum up a divided America

'The contrasting fortunes of New York's South Bronx and Upper East Side highlight a growing gap between rich and poor' (from The Guardian (UK) here)

[Click on image]

They are barely a mile apart, separated by a few gritty streets and a thin muddy stretch of water known as the Harlem river. They are in the same city and have experienced the same recession.

But New Yorkers living in the city's 14th and 16th congressional districts – electoral districts with populations of around 600,000 each – often occupy completely different worlds. Their lives provide a shocking example of growing inequality in America, where the rich are leaving a growing mass of the poor completely behind.

The numbers are stark enough. Last week a census report revealed that 46 million Americans live in poverty, the highest number ever recorded. At the same time, the richest 20% of Americans control 84% of the country's wealth. Indeed, just 400 families have the same net worth as the total of the bottom 50%. America's Gini coefficient – which measures inequality of income distribution – now nears that of Rwanda.

The Gini figure is just a number – but to walk the streets of the 14th and 16th districts is to see that story of growing inequality in terms of people living almost next to each other but separated by education, job prospects, health, race and class.

The 14th occupies a chunk of Manhattan and Queens. Not all of it is wealthy, but at its heart lies the Upper East Side, by Central Park, a neighbourhood that is home to New York's moneyed classes. It is here that the titans of finance, whose recklessness brought on the near collapse of the American economy, live and play. They raise their families in gigantic apartments, send their children to the best private schools and patronise the pricey bistros that dot the street corners. Old money New York has long considered the Upper East Side its natural home, viewing Central Park as its backyard and Manhattan as a private playground. . . .

[I]f you hop on the number 6 subway line and travel a few stops south to the Upper East Side, food stamps are not an issue. The streets are crowded, luxury shops sell the latest fashions and French restaurants are doing a roaring trade. There is anger at the recession here, too. Certainly Sam Durant is furious. He runs a high-end jewellery store on Madison Avenue and his trade is down as Wall Street bankers are now often paid bonuses in stocks not cash.

Durant knows where the blame lies. "People are not spending," he said "That asshole in the White House has taken away their bonuses. He doesn't want them to have what he doesn't have," he said. His disapproval of Barack Obama is fierce. "He's the most hated president in history, did you know that?" he said.

Politics inspires worry in the South Bronx, too. But in a different way. In St Ann's church, the Rev Martha Overall watched last week's Republican debate in dismay, especially the attacks on government. She fears the impact that enormous government cuts are already having, let alone the sort that any Republican president might bring in. "It's social Darwinism. It's people being pitted against people. I also believe it is un-American. I don't believe this country was founded on a sense of every man for himself. It was founded on community," Overall said.

Rather than fretting over Wall Street bonuses, Overall is scared about reports that the local post office, a major employer in the area, might shut "It is also kind of a social centre here," she said. . . .

Eric Cantor: world's worst hypocrite

(Link via Daily Kos here)

Saturday night personal

Just got back from KFC. Had the 2-piece breast & wing dinner. Wasn't going to pay an extra $1.79 for a second wing. (See here.) Delicious. The pieces hadn't been sitting around long and were still juicy. Green beans and cole slaw on the side.

Obama's on a roll

New York Times: "Obama Tax Plan Would Ask More of Millionaires"

Mr. Obama, in a bit of political salesmanship, will call his proposal the “Buffett Rule,” in a reference to Warren E. Buffett, the billionaire investor who has complained repeatedly that the richest Americans generally pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than do middle-income workers, because investment gains are taxed at a lower rate than wages. . . .

Later in the p.m.

Just got a coffee refill at Starbucks.

Did a little vacuuming in here and some mopping. Most of the housework around here is necessitated by the cats - whether it's their hair, their throw-up, Boozy's dirty behind, or the cat litter that gets tracked everywhere and ground to dust. (It's really not that bad, actually, just superficial. I used to have a cat that once or twice peed on my bed. Now that's bad.) (Boozy peed on my bed once, but that's because I had the bedroom door closed and he couldn't get out to go pee. My fault.) (Luckily I have a water-proof mattress cover, so nothing got into the mattress.)

So Meg, the winner of the recent "Design Star," already has a new show ("Mo-ditional Makeover"). Watching now. She's very watchable.

Good show.

Saturday afternoon personal

Looking for the green anole

Stayed up late and got up late today. Luxuries of the weekend. I used to stay out late; now staying up late will have to do. (The place I used to stay out late at is no more, alas.)

Before I woke up, I was having a dream about Anderson Cooper. He was staying at a little place on South Beach (?) and was having a casual party that spilled out onto his patio. I ended up falling asleep on the couch. When I woke up, he was sitting at the other end, by my legs, and everyone else was gone. We were kind of intertwined or at least touching.

We were talking away - about what, I can't remember - but he was very loquacious. And then he started to rub or nudge me (with his bare foot?) as we talked. Maybe he was just being affectionate, or was even unaware of what he was doing (or maybe he was very much aware), but in any case it was getting a little intense - and then I brought up the topic of his boyfriend in NYC. End of dream.

Another hot one today. I just walked over to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee. I don't know how people can even enjoy sitting outside there in this heat, but there they were.

Lucas is using the cat door today. He's been in and out a few times already and has also spent some time on my lap.

Well, the coffee is working. I've already washed a bathroom floor and emptied, reloaded and started up the dishwasher.

TGIF at last!

Up late, watching re-runs of SyFy shows ("Alphas," "Haven" and now "Being Human" [my favorite tonight of the three]) after a new "Four Weddings," which was good. The sourpuss bride (Connie) who was so critical of the other weddings came in second. I thought she should've come in last. I loved the winner (Rita), but my favorite was Douirin's Assyrian Catholic wedding, with the beautiful blue-and-purple orchids everywhere (including in her hair) and the great band and silent-screen style video at the reception. I thought the orange wedding with the thousand Origami cranes should have come in third.

Was at the gym earlier, after a nap.

Also read a long NYT article from 2000 by Andrew Sullivan about testosterone here. He's been HIV+ for a long time and was put on testosterone therapy way back when (self-injecting it - before the gels came out). He linked to the article from his recent post here. I'd never read the 2000 article.

Andrew Sullivan is a smart gay guy from England who recently got his green card (after they lifted the ban on preventing HIV-infected foreigners from becoming permanent residents). I don't know that he's done much good for our country by coming here, however. He's a self-described "conservative," and look where that movement has gone. But even Andrew writes here of the Republican presidential candidates: "He's [Huntsman] so easily the most electable and most qualified of all the candidates it's almost painful to see how his party has moved beyond him into the twilight zone." [My emphasis.]

I was struck by this line in the 2000 article:

And as our economy becomes less physical and more cerebral, as women slowly supplant men in many industries, as income inequalities grow and more highly testosteroned blue-collar men find themselves shunted to one side, we will have to find new ways of channeling what nature has bequeathed us.

[Emphasis added.]

Maybe being a gay conservative in England can get you somewhere (or maybe not, since Andrew came here). But here, I think a gay person is a fool to align himself with a movement that is not only hostile to gays but also hostile to ordinary people and the welfare of the country as a whole. Income inequality is definitely not a good thing, but Andrew seems to embrace it. And why did he come here? To become "more equal" than the rest of us?

(From George Orwell's Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.")

Almost TGIF!

Patti, the "Millionaire Matchmaker"

Good night's sleep and good day at work. One more day...

Roasting a 5.13-lb. (2.33-kg) chicken. A new "Millionaire Matchmaker" comes on at 9:00 (two gay millionaires and the show's first all-gay mixer!). (Lots of photos and videos at the link.)

Have to clean cat boxes. I'll wait till after Lawrence O'Donnell's show starts.

"MM" on now. Good so far. Chicken out of oven and pieces packed up for tomorrow's lunch.

One of the guys, Madison (at left), sells high-end real estate (mostly in Malibu) and was on another Bravo show this year - about three guys selling high-end real estate in LA (two of whom were gay, including Madison). Patti's other guy tonight (Eric) has a TV production company. Patti and Madison have been friends "for years." He was cute. Eric not so much (or "not my type").

The mixer was more intimate than usual: only 8 potential dates (vs. 15-20), 4 for Madison and 4 for Eric. (No two "mini-dates" at the mixer to help zero in on the date.)

Patti held the auditions at the Thompson Hotel (near "BoysTown" in West Hollywood). She had all the candidates take off their shirts (they were outside by the pool). All these guys go to the gym, of course.
 
Madison chose a cute guy for his date; Eric chose someone not so cute (so a good match, I guess). Madison took his date, Charlie, to Catalina Island for some kind of water sport that entails standing up on a board with some kind of paddle for locomotion (don't know what it's called). (Looks pretty easy.) Then they had lunch. Eric took his date, Christopher, horseback riding on the beach in Malibu (Eric had never even been on a horse) and then they also had a nice lunch at the beach. Beautiful view.

Both couples had a good time, and Eric and Christopher even kissed at the table. Alas, Madison, whom Patti had classified as a "lazy lion," has talked with Charlie on the phone several times but hasn't asked him out on another date; Eric and Christopher have gone out several times.

"The broken heart is the heart that lets the light in," said Dr. Niki, whom Patti recruited to work with Eric on his relationship "issues."

(I'm re-watching the show to find out what that water sport is called.) (It's called "stand-up paddleboarding.") (Never heard of it, but they probably do it here also.)

Charlie

Madison

From Eric's website. (That's Liz Taylor in the wheelchair.)

Generic photo of stand-up paddleboarding

"Down-to-Earth" Charlie

Back to gym tonite

After a week off. Took a nap when I got home, then walked there.

Good day at work today. Felt good. (Good night's sleep - no cat interruptions.) Good pace. Day went by quickly. Brought the old food processor to give to my supervisor. She was very happy. Found an eBay store where she can get the slicing/shredding disk that I never had. These 1970s machines are still in circulation and sell for about $20, even higher (plus shipping). (Click on image below to enlarge it.)

This one goes for $17.99, but the shipping is $12.77. I searched for a manual but was unsuccessful.

Today I made arrangements to take another week off, Nov. 7 through 11, the 11th being a free day off for us anyway (Veterans Day). But I work on Sunday, the 13th, from 1 till 5. That's fine. That's Checkers chili dog day.

Tonight on TV:  After my new "Restaurant: Impossible" and a couple of "House Hunters," some new animal hoarding. Lucas likes it. (Sorry about the flash.)

Monday night personal

Great day back at work, busy as it was. Day went by quickly. Got to snooze nicely on the bus home. I'd made the mistake of letting Lucas have access to the bedroom last night before I went to bed - he woke me up meowing, fifteen minutes before the alarm was to go off. Pisser. I then shut him out of the room and managed to sleep a little longer. So it's back to going bed with the bedroom door closed (and the cats out).

Tonight I whipped up another salmon loaf in the new food processor. (No mess this time. I added the liquids last, through the "feed tube," with the machine running.) It's in the oven now. I think I'll take part of that to work tomorrow to share. Tonight I finished off the other loaf for dinner.

[I've now used up the canned salmon I bought a couple of months ago. Plus the limes that were about to go bad. Cats love drinking the salmon juice drained from the can.]

No more new Anthony Bourdains (lots of repeats tonight). Watching one now, then the finale of "Design Star." At 10:00, a new "Intervention."

[Later] I wanted the guy to win on "Design Star." Darn. But I guess they chose Meg for her entertainment value ("design crimes" and all). (The prize is getting your own TV show on HGTV.) The guy was more cerebral (and more talented). My personal favorite (Mark) got kicked off last week. [Click on Mark.]

[Click on images to enlarge them]

Lucas watching "Intervention" (unretouched below)

Later

Almost all chores done. Laundry; sliced off some roast to take to work; filled pill boxes; applied medicine; charged phone and set alarm; shaved. One more thing to do - a trip to the car for the rest of the groceries. Almost time to chill.

All done. Even got the mail.

Lucas loves curling up on the fresh, warm laundry.

[Even later] Been watching some old Anthony Bourdain shows and now an Andrew Zimmern show where he's gone back to New York City to work in restaurants. (So he's not eating creepy crawlies live.) (I normally never watch his show.) Enjoying this one, however.

[Click on the cat to enlarge it.]

Sunday evening personal

Got back from grocery store and immediately put a roast in the oven. Then put $20 on my laundry card and started washing a load of clothes. Was going to make another salmon loaf, but I have enough to do tonight, including going to bed earlier, since tomorrow its' back to work.

Lots of 9/11 stuff on TV tonight. Not watching it.

Bought a head of cabbage and a package of yellow squash at the store tonight. Will make sautéed cabbage which is then baked in sour cream (a Joy of Cooking recipe). The squash I'll also sauté, with some onion. I'll use the new food processor to shred the cabbage and slice the squash. I bought 2 1/3 lbs. (over 1 kg) of squash ($1.99/lb.), but it shrinks (as does shredded cabbage).