SwimFinsSF

Happy PRIDE! ;)

If ya live in San Francisco and believe in God then you’ve GOT to know he’s smilin on us.. Cuz, once again this year, the weather for Gay Pride weekend is AMAZING…. We went to a birthday party for my friend Andy last night then came home and went for a walk through the Castro with Stephen and Troy… It was a warm WONDERFUL evening in the city… Warm enough to walk around in shorts… And EVERYONE was out and about … The city is full of folks from around the country/world right now for gay pride and they were all out last night… There were people all over the place and lines for EVERYTHING… It was nuts – and great…

Today is no different… Bright.. warm.. sunny… and people are all over the place… I got up kinda early to get ready for the electricians who are working on the house… Then, while kevin was at the gym, I walked down to Peets to get my morning fix… Then wandered around t he ‘stro and went to brunch at Luna with Kevin…. Now we’re chilling at home (he’s walking that painter guy on TV … and antiques road show)… Gonna hit the Gym with Matt to get ready for our evening..

Later tonight we’re going over to Bill and Matt’s for Matt’s Birthday… Then on to ReUNION to… The castro will be teeming with people for Pink saturday but I’ve done that before… Tomorrow we’ll probably go to to the festival and then kevin is whispering about wanting to go to Fresh..

Anyway – just checkin in before we get in too much trouble! :):)

Happy PRIDE! :):)

Cause for Pride…

Over the past year I’ve struggled to find cause to be proud of our country and our actions. Don’t get me wrong – I still feel very lucky to live where I do and have the freedoms I have. But I’ve also been far less than proud of the behavior of our elected officials and our attitudes toward the rest of the world. Lately I’ve seen a trend toward infringing personal liberties and rights, both at home and abroad..

Well today I’m feeling thrilled and proud again:

Supreme Court strikes down Texas sodomy law

In a 6 to 3 vote today the supreme court has found that we have the same right to personal privacy and freedom as everyone else.. For me this case is HUGE and the overwhelming nature of the vote is even more monmumental. The supreme court of our country has found homosexuals have the same right to privacy guaranteed in the US Constitution as every other American. Its as simple as that.

The 3 usual suspects (Scalia, Rehnquist, and Thomas) with Scalia at the helm dissented but that was to be expected. The fact that the other 6 took a stand to protect individual liberties has me dancing in the halls:

The men “are entitled to respect for their private lives,” Kennedy wrote.

“The state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime,” he said.

(from Yahoo!)

This decision reminds me of the decision years ago overturning Colorado’s Amendment 2 and reminds that our system of checks and balances, while maddening sometimes, overall is a strong and very positive thing. The last lines of the Majority opinion delivered by Justice Kennedy on Amendment 2 were amazing:

We must conclude that Amendment 2 classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws. Amendment 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause, and the judgment of the Supreme Court of Colorado is affirmed.

Sometimes…. not always… but some times (and probably most of the time) our system works… and makes me VERY proud to be American – and Pride week in San Francisco couldn’t have been a better week for this to come down… You’d better believe there will be celebration in the streets!

Interesting

Got this from her:

Your Brain Usage Profile

Auditory : 52%
Visual : 47%
Left : 55%
Right : 44%

Accurate? Read the description below then ask Kevin or Matt…
› Continue reading

Calm before the Storm

Man… ANOTHER Amazing weekend in San Francisco.. I LOVE living here some times… Deep blue skys… Warm Sunshine… People wandering around shopping in the Castro.. Ya GOTTA love it..

Goin for a mellow weekend this weekend since pride is next weekend and I’m guessin we won’t be completely mellow then… ( Actually I’m sure of it! 😉 )… This weekend there isn’t much on the calendar… Got Electricians downstairs right now re-wiring the place to bring it up to code ( and break the house up onto more than one circuit breakder! 🙂 Gotta LOVE old houses… )..

Aside from that not much on the agenda… We’re going to a BBQ this afternoon in Dolores park for my friend Scott’s Birthday… There was someting about playing ‘slosh ball’ in the evite… involves a keg and a kickball from what I hear – sounds like some strange thing from a frat house… Love that park though so it sounds like fun to me! :):)

Outside of that? who knows… Mellow mellow mellow…

Next weekend on the other hand??? :):):)

San Francisco Gay Pride
GLTB Film Festival
ReUNION
Mass
Sanctuary
Pride City Hall Fair

Mind you i’m not doing ALL of this – no idea what we’re doing – just a tour guide of whats goin on… I’ll know what I’m doing when I show up!

The Closet

Arguably I’ve led a charmed life when it comes to being ‘out’. My family has all been amazing when I came out to them – it didn’t seem to phase them at all.. The only change in their attitudes I could see was that my mom switched from trying to set me up with girls to trying to set up up with boys ( ask me about our Hawaii trip some time! 😉 ). My friends were equally cool too for the most part.. I had one friend of mine from college that seemed wierd about it but thats it.. The rest were wonderful (and even he is fine – just cautious)… And same at work – telling co-workers at Apple has NEVER been a problem and the same with my management. Had many managers ask me if I was married and when I told them I had a partner they didn’t skip a beat..

So thats why I’m always surprised when i run into people in the bay area that aren’t out. I was out for beers friday night with some friends and ran into another group of friends… As we were sayin hi one of ’em started actin freakey and turned his back. I tapped him on the shoulder and said hi to which he said hi then darted into the crowd.. One of my other buddies used to be the HR manager at the company the other worked at (he just left the HR job but the other guy didn’t know that yet)… Turns out the guy who darted into the crowd wasn’t out at work and didn’t want people from work to see him at a gay bar.. They ended up talking later and it was all OK but still struck me curious. I’d think that it wouldn’t be an issue if they were BOTH at the bar..

Too wierd..

I know everyone comes out in their own time and I don’t believe in anyone coming out before they’re ready to deal. But even so, I’m always curious what kind of things makes it hard for people in the San Francisco area to come out.. Its a pretty gay cool place.. Not many work places would have a problem with it (and in most discrimination is a firable offense). Not many people in the area are phobic… If someone lived in Stillwater Oklahoma or was a teamster I’d understand.. But living in SF and working in Technology isn’t the same…

Is it family? Is it religion? Is it friends? Is it historical? Is it Politics? Or is it just cuz it shouldn’t be anyone’s business under certain circumstances?

Mind you i’m not judging or scorning in ANY WAY… Coming out is a VERY personal thing and I respect everyone’s own reasons for coming out or not and their own timing… I’ve known people that came out at age 7 and i’ve known people who have come out at age 45 and everything in between. I didn’t comeout myself until age 23 (which seems like a lot of wasted time in retrospect! 😉 ) I’m just always curious what makes people tick and why some people choose to keep this part of their life to themselves and others seem to want EVERYONE to know…

Guess I should add this to the things I ‘wonder about’! 🙂

Oh my LORD

Workout KICKED my ASS today and I don’t think it was just the routine we did… Matt and I are trying a new routine that we stole from one of Kevin’s books and it seems really good so far – all about compound super sets which seems to be a good thing.. But part of the deal is going straight from one set of one muscle group to a set of another, 90 seconds rest – then back.. So, for example, 12-15 One Arm Rows then 12-15 incline dumbell presses, 90 seconds rest and repeat – 3 sets of this… Then on to the next.. Seems to be a good thing but a switch from our more liesurely routine we were doing before and today it zapped me…

I think part of the problem too is that I’m trying to work on my diet a little too (summer swimsuit weather after all! ;)) so I probably didn’t have enough fuel! 🙂 Gotta remember to make sure there is something in my stomach before I work out..

Anyway.. Suppose i should get my act together… Just thought I’d share… 😉