Weekend has been pleasant. All you soccer fans have gotten me paying attention to the World Cup. I had to work a few hours at Music is Art this afternoon, then spent sometime wandering about. I like it much better than Allentown, which is in a cycle of rehashing itself year after year. My only qualm with MIA is that you hear a band you like and it starts to cook and then they leave. The stages are constantly revolving with the next band drum kit setup. It was interesting to hear/see Lisa Loeb in such a intimate setting. Since I work for a sponsor, I got a VIP bag, which consisted of stuff that I spent the week hustling for on behalf of Music is Art. Life is sometimes very circuiious. It's fun to go and people watch, attendees are of all shapes and sizes and persuasions.

I could have sworn I saw E; Metalpeter from a distance, but didn't get a chance to catch his attention.

I had a nice start to the day. My eight year old is mastering nun-chuks and I couldn't take my eyes off him during his class this morning. Something about entering the Tae Kwon Do work out area sucks the happy go lucky out him and he turns all business with those things. The transformation still grabs my eye.

Took his big sister shopping as she has this nasty growning thing going on. Despite her initial mortification of shopping with her dad (ick, eww), proper jeans were secured. Me, I'm listening to the strange noises coming from my car. I want to say break pad, but I also want to say "Uncle!" It's a bill this paycheck to almost paycheck doesn't need. Already scrapped going anywhere for vacation this year.

I accepted an offer to work on event staff during the Bills games this fall. Little committment with some football tossed in. They are still looking for bodies if you're seeking easy money.

Damn I need to get out more....but I'm too tired...sitting here at the pc, my chair just got too comfy.

Thank you for calling the White House switchboard. Our new voice

activated system will help direct you to the proper office."



"If you are calling to complain about the mishandling of the war in

Iraq, press one."



"If you are calling to complain about the abuse of prisoners and the

White House's endorsement of torture, press two, and then say the name

of the torture site that you wish to complain about (and please note for

the sake of the voice mail system that it is pronounced Abu GRABE, not

Abu grahb)."



"If you are calling to complain about illegal spying on American

citizens and the abuse of FISA laws, press 3, but do know that these

calls will be recorded."



"If you are calling to complain about the disastrous mismanagement of

the hurricane Katrina recovery, please press 4, and your call will be

directed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If you wait for

more than 48 hours without anyone picking up the phone, hang-up and send

a letter. We have been assured that all letters will receive a prompt

reply within one year."



"If you are calling regarding the administration's unwillingness to

enforce immigration law, press cinco, por favor, or direct any thanks to

your local chamber of commerce office, which can explain why we like

cheap labor that can't vote and where you may be able to find willing

illegal day laborers in your local area."



"If you are Jack Abramoff or any Saudi prince, please call the private

line * it is always open."



"If you are calling about the Medicare prescription debacle, please

press 6. If you are having a medical emergency, you should proceed

directly to your local emergency room, although please understand that

your health coverage may not pay for the visit and you can no longer get

out from under the bill by declaring bankruptcy."



"If you are calling about the ballooning federal deficit or the recent

hike in the debt ceiling to $3 trillion, pleas e press 7, unless you are

Bill Clinton calling to brag about the surpluses under your

administration, in which case we don't want to hear about it."



"If you are calling to complain about the White House's efforts to block

stem cell research, please press 8, and then say the disease that you

are most concerned about that may ultimately be cured through scientific

research. If you are a scientist calling with new research findings or

important clinical data, please hang up, we don't want to hear from

you."



"If you are calling to express concern about global warming and our

efforts to roll back environmental laws, please press 9, unless you are

a government scientist, in which case you are forbidden to talk without

first clearing it with the oil lobbyist we hired to screen and edit your

research. He can be reached at Exxon 4-2611."



"If you are calling to complain about the President's efforts to

"privatize" social security, please press 1 and then the pound key, and

your call will be redirected to representatives at Merrill Lynch, who

will explain the virtues of putting all your savings in the stock

market."



"If you are calling about the need for more prayer in public schools or

any other faith-based initiatives, please press 10 and Reverend Falwell

will be with you shortly."



"If you are calling to lobby for more Supreme Court Justices who will

block a woman's right to choose, please stay on the line and the

President will be with you immediately."



"If you are calling about all the tax breaks for the wealthy, press *1

if you have ideas for more loopholes and are making more than a million

dollars per year; if you are earning less than a million per year but

have ideas for how you may help the wealthy, press *2; if you are

earning less than a million per year and just want to complain that all

the burden is now falling o n you, please call back in a couple of years.

If you voted for President Bush and are now concerned that over 12% of

the U.S. population now falls below the poverty line while the top 1%

has wildly increased their wealth, please understand that we are not

laughing AT you*"



"Press zero at any time if you would like to hear these options again.

Thank you for calling the White House. It is our pleasure to serve you."

My brother is a source of fascinating adventures. He is autistic, schizophrenic and has a few other ics that have keep life rather interesting. He functions very well and to look at him, you just see a guy. I say this because all of the afflictions have limited his recreational interests.

One of his favorite hang outs is to go the airport and watch planes come and go. There is a spot off Aero Drive where you can also watch the Weather Service launch their balloons each night. Giving my parents a breather, I took him over the other night to hang out for bit. Not a soul heads out there normally. He's hanging by the fence watching the activity, I'm sitting in a beach chair, watching and reading the paper. When my brother brought some binoculars out to watch a cargo jet take off, is when things got interesting.
A police car immediately shows up, marked by with homeland security stickers. I get to my feet and produced ID for both of us. As I'm talking to the first guy, a second car was in route, and apparently two more were at the ready, all positioned to haul off the retarded guy with the binoculars. After explaining all of this and keeping my brother cool, I looked to the first cop who explained he'd call off "the other units." With four cars in pursuit, it kind of made me wonder who was watching the airport.

Strange days indeed, reminds me of when the Lancaster cops arrested my Mom's car out from under me, but that is a journal for another day.

No matter what your age ( and I know I got a few miles on me more than most of you), when you call the rents and start talking with "You're not going to believe this, but..." you can always get that look out of the folks.

My Dad's response: "We're getting too old for this shit."

The Davinci Code - the video game????? What the Fuck???

The book was a lot of pretentious badly written drivel. I associated it as one of those books people bought because other people bought. Now we got a movie. Somewhere, somebody is dreaming up a sequel......

Oy vey, good night peeps

Got the final dinner meeting for awhile -- It might be raining edgefest tickets by the time it's over. If it happens, I'll make proper noise here for the 30 Seconds to Mars fans.

My older sister turns 46 today -- It wasn't until I saw the previews for the new Omen movie that all those years of teasing her as Satan's spawn can really take flight (We are that immature). All the double meanings about D-Day can be shelved for this year.

Happy Birthday, Theresa

The parade was nice. Pride Sunday and all being a nice thing. I go the parade and to support the ex and her endeavors with a children's group of Lesbian and Gay Parents at the Unitarian Church. It is a kick to see my kids on the parade float, in this case the back of a flat bed truck. I took a picture of em by my little guy didn't like the ride this year. His sister informs me he took a tumble and worn a sour expression until he met up with cotton candy in Bidwell Park. That's apparently a great cure all.

I camped out in front of Spot (where else) with two women who've been partners for over 30 years and another friend who busted up rather vigorously out of her last relationship. Good folks all. One of the members of my ex-wife's group walked by and said "Michael, coming to Bidwell to look for boys?" That was her attempt at kidding. I tried to smirk it off. "Maybe I should, since all the women I know are married or gay, to each other," was my weak response. I know she was just fucking around, but it sort of took the sails out of my winds, ya know. I checked in with the chillens who were having a good time at the park with their folks so I took my Sunday paper and retreated to my Delaware Avenue Tower.

It's funny because even though our marriage ended peacefully and with everybody still friends, a peculiar sort of disconnect pops up from time to time. There are people who don't talk to my ex because of the discovery she made about herself and a few who dropped me for well, being there. My friend's lame attempt at humor was a bit of a reminder that there was a club that I'm not really privy too, I know that sound weird. It's has nothing to do with sexual preferences, but more to do with layers of social circles and you can gravitate through some, but not all, least not all the time.

Back at the Spot table, where we inspected all the stuff tossed our way during the parade, one of the partners inquired as to my well-being. I guess I was staring at nothing for a little too long. The other two at the table who were sorting the parade swag. The other "Straight allie" at the table said she hadn't had much use for condoms for sometime. Under normal circumstances, I might have chimed in with a "happy to help" type of comment, but I let it go with a wistful smile.

Probably better off in the long run.

I got a note about my current user sound: It's "The Weight" by The Band with the Staples Singers. It's the version from The Last Waltz, been playing a lot on my mental soundtrack lately.

Gleanings from a Week that had colleagues serenading me with the Batman theme song:

My department was at Chefs yesterday for a lunch with representatives from Playboy television. They were trying to sell us on more Playboy on Demand features when in walked an impressive array of stereotypically dressed Secret Service guys, a large collection of democratic syncophants, and finally Bill and Hillary Clinton. We were sequested off to one side as we were "meeting." The Clintons and their party were given the large room at Chefs with Bill and Hillary opposite each other surrounding by people who have waaaaay too much money to give to the NY Democratic Party.

Regardless of how you feel about each one, it was kind of cool that they circulated through the restaurant and handshakes and kind words were exchanged. Our waitress asked if we wanted a visit. I in a fog of what the fuck, said why not. So, I had my brush with greatness, suggesting the President get the spaghetti parmed. As I left, I got a shout of good recommendation from the head table.

Leaving was a site. I can't recall even seeing quite so many black tahoes parked on Seneca street, matched only by men in bad dark suits with non-matching earpieces. Such a day...

Got an offer from Time Warner today, not for the job I'm doing, but one I can do with one hand tied......so I took it, figuring a merger this big there's bound to be fallout and I may bounce back into place, and it's easier to attract interest if you're not on the dole. The need for benefits makes it easier to suck on your pride. As they were offering me the gig, the attitude was "We know you are better than this..." which made me feel good.

Too bad about the Sabres, but that ends my long days for awhile. Might get out more meet real people at spot instead of being in such a hurry.

I have my bumper sticker in place on my little buzzbox of a car. One of the techs at work saw it and wondered if (e:strip) is something you do before you (e:fuck). I couldn't help but giggle.

Almost to the weekend,

Hang in there, peeps

After a full day, I climbed into bed and tried sleeping. About 3 in the morning, I woke up (sorta of) and heard a rustling sound that sounded like somebody was walking on the roof. I knew that couldn't be right. I woke up and nearly fell off my bed (okay, I did).

A bat had worked its way into the apartment and was circling looking for an exit. I threw open my bedroom windows screen and tumbled out of the room to let my eyes adjust. Stupid animal kept circling the room. I went out into my living room and turned a light on to avoid locating my coffee table with my shin.

What does the bat do? follows me out into the room and starts swirling my room. I go to my kitchen and take up my broom as a method of defense. Me in a pair of shorts and a broom doesn't exactly make a fear inspiring site. I pop open the apartment door, thinking maybe I can gently spank him out. A comical first attempt has me waving my broom like a broken shudder.

He (as only men are that stupid to try it again) comes around and meets my broom's business. He gets the idea and changes course into the stairwell. I close the door and breathe comically heavily.

Suddenly every noise made me jump. Nothing like a rat with wings to heighten awareness.

Stay cool, peeps -- I'm in the adelphia kiosk for the game tonight. Love to report it's a good vantage point but there are far too many polyester clad twerps in red jackets with authority complexes to let you really enjoy

Later on all