SwimFinsSF

Couple of Quotes

In replying to a post over here I went digging for a quote that I’ve always loved and found two. I like them enough I had to share:

“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny
individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”
– Ayn Rand

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
– Pastor Niemoller

Kind of Odd

On the way to work Scott and I noticed that there were Fire Trucks on or near EVERY bridge over highway. 280 from Sand Hill Road all the way to DeAnza where we got off.. They weren’t doing anything – they were just hanging out… Almost like they were waiting for something to happen…

Can’t find any explanation on the news sites..

Hmmmm….

The Weekend

Was Great… Beautiful.. Sunny… After being away from 12 days its nice to come back and have a weekend that reminds me why I love it here..

Friday night we went to the Beach Chalet for dinner with Kevin’s friend Marishka (who is in town from Baltimore), Matt, Brian, and Britton.. Place is great to go with out of town people cuz its RIGHT on the beach at the end of Golden Gate Park and isn’t tackey touristy like so many places… Good food.. Good beer… GREAT view… We watched the sun go down and then had dinner and Desert.. So nice… Then Matt and I went out to the Power House for a few drinks.

Saturday Kevin and Marishka went around the city and did touristy stuff and I, being the schmuck I am, begged out and went to the gym and In and Out burger (to negate any benefit I got at the gym)… That night Kevin, Marishka, and I went to Sugar to dance some.. Fun..

Sunday was the AIDS walk and, as usual, it was AMAZING. Every year i’ve been amazed at the diverse collection of people that are out there supporting the cause and this year didn’t disappoint. There were mothers with their babies, there were high school kids, there were guys that looked like gang bangers, there were gay men, there were grandparents, there was every ethnic group under the sun… you name it they were out.. and the weather was wonderful…

Last year they raised $3.5 million… Wonder what the results will be for this year..

After the walk we were ZAPPED so we just kind of hung out.. (wouldn’t think 6 miles of walking would be that bad but we were tired.. maybe just 6 miles and sunshine that is the killer)… Last night we went to Piccaro in the Mission for dinner.. (GREAT tapas)..

Guess that was it… VERY nice… and didn’t even log in to work until this morning … So proud of myself! 😉

UPDATE: According to this article more than 20,000 people walked the AIDS walk raising $3.1 million. I would have guessed there were many more than that but its still fantastic…

AIDS Walk San Francisco

So its that time of year again. Sunday is the San Francisco AIDS Walk and Kevin and I will be walking again this year with his group at Gensler. For those of you who haven’t participated before it is an AMAZING experience. Thousands of people walking in Golden Gate Park on a beautiful day for a really good cause. It may be hard to get up for the walk but the minute you show up you forget all that… There are SO MANY people there and everyone is in a great mood and having fun. All along the walk there are things going on.. interesting people. entertainment. popsicles… And people cheering you on… So if anyone is in the area and wants to join We would LOVE to have people along for the ride.

But, whether you can join us or not, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE become a sponsor – even if all you can spare is a few bucks – thats better than nothing. The cause is every bit as important now as it has ever been. Everyone has their own reasons for sponsoring but here are a few of mine:

– HIV / AIDS Effects us all. Try and go through in your head the people you know in your life who are HIV+. I guarantee you’ll miss some..

– HIV / AIDS is NOT over. We have it under control and people are living with it but it is a LOT of work and we still haven’t found a cure or a vaccine.

– HIV / AIDS is NOT limited to the Gay Community. Some of the fastest growing population segments these days are women, people of color, and others.

– HIV / AIDS drug therapy is limited in scope – you can cycle through the various treatment options but once you’ve developed immunity to one you have to move to another and many people are running out of options.

– There is still work to do even within the Gay community. Far too many people are still seroconverting (becoming HIV+) every day.

So if you can spare anything please try and help… If you would like to sponsor kevin go here. Or you can sponsor someone else… Young Bradford is walking – you can sponsor him here… Or you can just go here and give directly. It doesn’t matter where the money goes – so long as someone who needs it gets it…

Hope to see you all sunday – and regardless I hope everyone can help out in whatever way they can… This effects us all…

😉

He Returns

Ok… So first… A HUGE apology to the Alternative Sides Guys… I had really wanted to meet up with them but my trip turned into a whirl wind and the times when we were supposed to hook up I wound up on fire island… I’m SO SORRY..

But MAN… I had a FANTASTIC time in NYC while I was there… My friends Clayton and Christopher were SO wonderful and let me crash at their place while I was in town. I got in Friday night the 4th at like 9pm so I got to see the fire works all around new york as I landed… When i got in the fireworks were just starting over the east river so I got to watch them as the cab took me to their place…

When I got in Christopher and I went out to meet my friend Scott at a place called 1984. Bar was totally fun and played 80s music. Also got to meet Scott’s friends Ellis and Danny and two Lesbians whose names I’m not remembering.. After that Chris and I went over to Splash Bar which was packed and pretty fun.. Splash bar, for those who haven’t heard of it, is kind of a NYC gay mainstay… little cheesey (ok.. A LOT cheesey)… but hunkey bartenders half naked and good cocktails… The funny part of it is they decided to re-brand the place… its now SBNY (Splash Bar New York).. How goofey is that? At any rate – we had fun..

Saturday I walked around Battery Park City where C&C live and then went out with scott and Possy that night and had fun… Went to XL first and saw this funkey stage show with Amanda Lepore which was kind of a trip and then went to the Roxy.. Stayed out WAY too late but thats OK..

Sunday was Lazy. Spent the afternoon on the Pier with Scott and Jason and then went to see T3 which I didn’t hate as much as Ray did – but they could have used a few less quips on “I’ll be back”…

Monday was my Birthday and my other friend Scott (my carpool buddy) turned up in NYC for a buisiness trip… So we hung out (so the Scotts could meet) and then we went out to dinner and out on the town.. Was a fantastic birthday…

The rest of the week was spent buzzing around the city trying to track down friends, see things I hadn’t in the city, and other random nonsense… In retrospect it seems like I didn’t do much but I was running all over the place..

However…

My favorite…

part..

of the trip…

Was my Weekend on Fire Island. My friend Craig from San Francisco has rented a house on Fire Island for the summer and was sweet enough to invite me to spend the weekend out there with him… Not only THAT but he gave up his room for me… Doesn’t get sweeter than that.. So I hopped on the subway and trains and ferries to get out to Fire Island Pines Friday morning and Stayed until Monday noonish..

Turned out his friends Eric and Jessica were out there too so we all had a great lazy weekend.. Was SO NICE… flipped between hanging out at the beach and their pool…

The funniest thing is there is a whole ritual on the island that the boys seem to follow (did I mention that Fire Island Pines is a section of the island that is pretty much all HOT gay boys and their friends and family)… In the early evening (6pm or so) everyone migrates from the beach over to low tea and sit outside and have cocktails and chat and dance.. Then at 8pm the music shuts off there and everyone migrates down to the next building for High Tea and more of the same.. After that, around 10pm, folks migrate back to their houses and have house dinners. We had two WONDEFUL meals – first night with Eric, Jessica, Craig, and I – and the second David (a friend of Craig’s), David’s mom, and Scott (yeats) joined.. was SO NICE… Hung out – chatted – ate – Craig even had a B-Day cake for me… Then, round midnight or so, people migrate over to the ‘Sip and Twirl’ which is the local cocktail bar and then on to the dance club downstairs… After that I’ll let your imaginations run wild!

I had SUCH a great time while I was there.. Both with Clayton and Chris, and on Fire Island with Craig and the folks…. I’m SERIOUSLY thinking about arranging something for next summer… The only really crappy part of the whole thing was that Kevin couldn’t join me… :(:(:(

So here are the pictures I took:

New York City

Fire Island

Search Results

Ok… So this is pretty damn funny… In poking through my logs to see who is hitting the blog and from where I stumbled into the section that described what search terms people were using to wind up here.. The results are pretty damn funny… Some I expected but the one on the 28th of June is pretty damn funny… And what the hell is up with the one on June 19th?

Anyway.. Made me chuckle… Read below for details…
› Continue reading