Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Proverbial Bedpost Noches....



We all know Krugman is addicted to the k+b.... he starts his day with the NYT , then Doonesbury, then the front page of the WSJ, then the k+b. " What did Kyle have for dinner, THEN I'll fix the worlds economy.....", works his elfish brain.

We find out today that Mr. Flat Earth himself, Mr. Thomas Friedman is a fan! He took some writing that I did on September 6th, " Beyond this place there be dragons..." and ran with it!

"Our leaders, even the president, can no longer utter the word “we” with a straight face. There is no more “we” in American politics at a time when “we” have these huge problems — the deficit, the recession, health care, climate change and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — that “we” can only manage, let alone fix, if there is a collective “we” at work." [ Please, read the entire article here ]

So, I am working my way through the Old Gray Lady..... Next up : Rich or Dowd?.. like there is really a choice....

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

butter -n- beef.....

Poor Neil eats nothing but grilled chicken, so post a big Wegman's trip, he got a big fat roast beef dinner!..... all manly man for the National Parks...

Dinner in front of the tv...

Eye of Round Roast. I did not cook it how I thought I would have. I figured you just seasoned and stuck in a hot oven. NOPE.
Called Freta to find out , you sort of simi braise this cut... So, I seared it, then into a LOW oven with some onions, garlic and COCA COLA!
It was Yummy... very roast beefy...

Butter laden mashed potatoes and lemony-garlicy swiss chard..

Falling into Fall



Wegman's Pumpkins... not a bumper crop this year, and I am all about the local home grown pumpkins
Revolutionary era grave yard on the way home....( boo..)
Another roadside pumpkin stand....

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Ego and the Id



Or sometimes a great big ugly divan is not just a great big ugly divan.....

Looks like Don Draper is not such a master of the universe , after all. I can not remember a television show written about so much the next day....People on tv doing very unexpected things... just like people in real life.

Sex, drugs.... no rock and roll.




BUT, really.... wouldn't SOMEONE have noticed that Miss Peggy was doing a walk of shame with that outfit? If we are going to not make it home after work, learn to pack a little sleeze bag!

can't go on, everything I have is gone......

Stormy day in Mendon.





Sing Out, Laura.....

Good Logo, Bad Logo, a continuing series....





The NYT is reporting the President Obama will be joining The First Lady and The Queen herself, OPRAH! in Copenhagen for the announcement of the host city of the 2016 Olympic games.
"President Obama will travel to Copenhagen later this week to support Chicago’s bid to play host to the 2016 Summer Games, the White House and the Chicago organizers announced on Monday. It will be the first time an American president attended an International Olympic Committee vote and lobbied in person for an American city to become host of the Games." ( the rest...)

Maybe its because I lived through this in 1990-1996 but I am just fascinated by the choosing of the Olympics. I LOVE this first logo.. get it?, its the skyline and it's reflection in Lake Michigan AND it's the Olympic torch! a really good logo! You can even tell it is Chicago from the used to be Sears Tower... A++. BUT, they have shifted to this lame totally generic logo! FAIL. It also looks very Winter games to me for some reason, too. Come on Chicago Organizing Committee.. google What-iz-it, if you have too....


This is Atlanta's bid logo, and for late 80's design was pretty darn good. Restrained, colorful, to the point. I had all sorts of tshirts and things with this logo.. I need to look for some of them!
Here are the other cities hoping to hear their named called :

Only Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo are left....
This really should be Chicago's bid to lose, since the games have not been in the U.S. since 96 and 20 years is a long time. And really Madrid, I don't think flipping the bird to the world is the way to go.. I'm not even sure what some of these cities are. From some fast reading I guess RIO is the closest competition that Chicago has. The Olympics have never been in South America.




This was one of the most fun days of my life, all those years ago, So, best of luck Chicago...



I was a big ole wimp and did not want to go downtown so very early that day, so I was in our apt on Monroe Drive ( when it was still the 'hood! ), but we went down later in the day. I don't think anyone in Atlanta went to work. It was just a day long party, and the start of a fantastic few years for my hometown.

Cool Picture Watch


( And a total steal from fellow bear blogger Joe Jervis. )

So, the pesky Dubains are building the by far tallest building in the world. The Burj Dubai will be 1000 feet taller than the gold standard Empire State Building. 1000 feet? What does that mean?

This is the view from the Empire State Building
This would be the view from the Empire State Building if it were as tall as this new building. I have no idea how this was done, but it's pretty darn cool, and if you are me, pretty darn scary.

Read more about this HERE. ( very cool site.. enjoy )





with a bullet!


Going with the USA Today poll .. because we are four points higher than in the AP, the top nine are the exact same....
1 Florida (58) 4-0
2 Texas (1) 4-0
3 Alabama 4-0
4 LSU 4-0
5 Boise State 4-0
6 Virginia Tech 3-1
7 USC 3-1
8 Oklahoma 2-1
9 Ohio State 3-1
10 TCU 3-0
11 Cincinnati 4-0
12 Oklahoma State 3-1
13 Penn State 3-1
14 Georgia 3-1
15 Houston 3-0
16 Kansas 4-0
17 Iowa 4-0
18 Mississippi 2-1
19 California 3-1
20 Michigan 4-0

Wow the voters were just brutal to Ole Miss and Cal.
This coming weekend is as close to make or break for UGA as we are going to get ( you know, until JAX...) playing #4 LSU. It's going to be sad to knock a brother SEC team out of the top 10....

And St. Tim is back in Gainsville, and seems to be doing just fine...

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Koda Pays A Bereavement Call







A sad time over at the Gandell's as they had to put down their beloved dog , Apollo. Very sad, but it was his time and he had a very good dog life.

Now their other dog Toebie has been sad, so Koda went over to cheer him up. Dahn is working through her grief by feeding us





Some darn good grilled pork loin, homemade mac-n-cheese, savory roasted sweet potatoes, green beans.

Friday, September 25, 2009

I personally have been assigned the un-flooded parts of western Cobb County to round up



The 8 Craziest Census Conspiracies Being Spread By The Far Right


You know, I actually AM a member of ACORN. Steve and I had to join in 1993 or 1994 in order to be a part of the class action law suit against then Nations Bank,( now, I think Bank of America.. or visa versa, who can keep up). They were being sued for redlining people looking to get loans to buy houses in places that were not 100% white, which at the time we were. ACORN was the reason that we got a crazy low interest rate. So, yes, proud card carrying member of the ACORN.
Go figure.

It's ok to be......ok



The glaciers melted and left the Great Lakes.
Krakatoa blew its top and sent Europe into a little ice age
Barbra recorded " Color Me Barbra".....

The universe changes, sometimes as slow as melting glaciers, sometimes as fast as a few million kiloton explosion, you have to pay attention, either way.

This Sunday's NYT Magazine has a cover story about gay kids in 2008 : (errrrr, 2009.. time moves slower up here...)




Within my lifetime, middle aged as it may be, the universe has changed. Krakatoa has exploded again. Language can not even keep up with these changes. These young people are not " coming out" which is a term shrouded in shame and " something to hide" ( you were hiding your true self in the closet). I think the basic point of this article is that the whole hiding thing is not something that these kids even think about. They are what they are, it's not coming out, its growing up...

The long term effect of this will be something most interesting to see. Happy healthy grown up gay people, with out the HORRIBLE yoke that years of lying and hiding burdened us with in the past.

Ya'll all know that I am all about sharing my most private feelings with just about anyone. I am all about openness and sharing... my life as an open book, talk about me at will......But this concept of " happiness" as a young kid is foreign . AS I am guessing - maybe wrongly - it is for most ( a lot ??.... some ?? ) 30+ gays and lesbians. NOT that I was unhappy... CLUELESS yes, but full blown unhappiness ... I'm not sure. BUT, there was the whole square peg in round hole aspect of life. Things just did not fit. The numeric life was not an option for me, 1, 2, 3, 4, .... fall in love, get married, have kids, white picket fence 2.3 toe headed darlings that I can post fabulous videos of them eating spaghetti on you-tube, because only MY kid could be this funny.....

Things were cloudier. Now I know that all these things are VERY possible for any and everyone gay, straight , what ever, but not at all THEN. Was there a date that things changed? One month in 2002 when we just turned that page. Everyone realized that , " well gosh darn it, Elton John sounds just as good as he ever did".. hmmmm.. maybe the whole gay thing is just not that big of a deal???

Growing up for me, there was no such thing as gay. The absolute only concept of not being the only guy on the planet feeling the way I did was a tiny, postage stamp sized add in every Sunday Atlanta paper for some nasty, I am sure, all male movie house somewhere in Atlanta. I have no idea where it was or what it was called, but that was it. My old pal Mark and I used to talk about this. He was born and raised in nowhere Oklahoma - and he finds this story to be odd. He used to claim that he knew all about being gay and what that was and all.... not me. Think back.. late 70's. " Gays" were some silly actor in a dress, but it was never talked about as being gay. There is a famous Marcus Welbey show where some guy comes to the Dr. to be fixed for being " that way.." That was the extent of it. Billy Crystal in a dress on the t.v. show SOAP - who later became magically straight, or the oh-so-cute, first Stephen on Dynasty - who later magically became straight, or the sick guy looking to be fixed. ( yeah, I watched a LOT of tv as a kid...)

I did not , in any way, mean for this to be some woe is me, us old gay folk had it so bad, had- to -walk- five- miles- to- school- in- the- snow-uphill, both ways, sort of thing. Not at all, just pointing out how much and fast things changed.

Young folk today have the VERY gay kid wining the football game WITH choreography! ( don't get me started on mohawk guy..) Sure, it is as silly as all get out ... ( a HUGE delay of game.... ) BUT , just on face value. Here is a gay kid, doing things that gay kids do AND being the High School football hero. KRAKATOA




Thank all that is good that this change happened, Yeah, there is still a long way to go, and the powers that do not like change are strong. But if they know it or not, they have already lost...... push back on those glaciers , right wing nut jobs, see how far you get.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

It's the most wonderful time of the year!


My friend over at the farm stand is in full pumpkin mode!
The above picture is the side of their barn , that she painted free hand with cans of spray paint. Mendon has a wealth of real talent!

This color is just amazing!
These are little pumpkins
The last of the Sunflowers






She told me this afternoon that people are bringing their kids over to pose with the pumpkins for their Halloween cards! It really is a lovely sight. I will keep yall posted if it changes...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

the party formally knows as the worlds largest....


( outdoor cocktail party, that is )

IS SAFE.

Georgia - Florida will be in Jax through at least 2016

OUR take
Their take

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Impromptu supper with the Bedells

Grilled thick pork chops, chicken rice, broccoli, stewed squash, hour old corn


A Smile



On a day when a lot of folks can use one

Sherman Two.....



For the k+b readers that know Atlanta, this is the Carter Center exit off of the downtown connector, for those that don't know Atlanta that well.... this shuts down all of the southeast. Things are horrible in the metro Atlanta area. Let's all send out good thoughts for the folks under water.

THAT said, there are stories all over AJC of morons driving thought police barricades and having to be rescued. Paul Spencer said it best : Darwin at work....

B.Day has posted lots of pics over on the BUBBLE, some of the houses in her neighborhood are destroyed. Look at them, some are just jaw dropping.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency




But he did not walk out...... the AS good as Always PRG MAD MEN re-cap.

N.P.H. fever grips the nation!





"Straight from MAD MEN there's Joan,
the curves she has shown -
it would make a blind man say damn,
She could turn a gay straight -
oh wait, never mind, there's Jon Hamm....."

He is just wonderful, did a fantastic job hosting the Tony's earlier this year, and now this..... could Oscar be far behind! ( and come on, we are the only people that watch these shows anymore )

I'll have something to say about the fashion later, but for the most part the entire night, at least most everything I saw was JUST HORRIBLE, NOTHING new , nothing exciting and is Heidi STILL pregnant or pregnant AGAIN ?? Here are some previews:

Red Carpet from the NYT , let me know if there is anything you readers like...

MAD MEN

It sort of all needs to soak in... yes, that was a HORRIBLE pun.....

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Fly like an Eagle



As all of Atlanta is gathering their animals two by two, a 100 or so brave folks gathered in front of City Hall in that pouring rain, to protest the Atlanta Police's raid on the levi/leather bar ( just wanted to give some of yall something to google...) The Eagle.

I am not sure who this guy is but I more than love him a little bit for making my floor-of-the-Eagle joke again....

Atlanta is a HUGE gay magnet. Every gay man in America knows some guy who has moved to Atlanta, so this is a big national blog story . ( but all the really cool kids move away from Atlanta to really small upstate New York hamlets...) Andy Towle is really leading the way READ MORE HERE.

I will keep the k+b readers abreast of this story as it develops, this one is NOT going away.


Dinner


Curried Lentils with Chicken.... sort of save money, pantry dinner and it was GOOD!

p-e-r-f-e-c-t



The weather this weekend has just been well, perfect.

Cool early fall mornings with tons-of-sun days warming up to the high 70's , no humidity and cloudless blue skies. That's why the light blogging. Koda and I took long walks and Pookie and I were just out enjoying it.

Here is a little early fall color from the garden...












Cain't a brother get some love?



After last nights shooting match, where the final score was I believe 97 - 88 the Bulldogs soared in the polls to # 21 and #17 ! The world is full of haters, and I am sure there are dark forces at work . ( like the ones keeping me out of the Memories of Winder ! )

It was a fun game to watch, I got a little confused with all the passing and thought that some odd Pac 10 game had broken out, but like I say, it was a good game to watch. We gathered over at the Gandell's where Dahn whipped up some yummy chili and even made deviled quail eggs, which I did not eat.. but I don't eat deviled chicken eggs, I just make them. These night time ESPN games seem to take a LONG time to play, and with that freakishly late 7:45 kick off, all sorts of things were off.

There is some good news from the polls :
  • THREE of the TOP FIVE teams are SEC with LSU rounding out the top 10

1 Florida (55) 3-0
2 Texas (2) 3-0
3 Alabama 3-0
4 Mississippi 2-0
5 Penn State 3-0
6 California 3-0
7 LSU 3-0
8 Boise State 3-0
9 Miami (FL) 2-0
10 Oklahoma 2-0
  • Overrated USC fell way down after their little stunner in Washington
  • Saint Tim and his reptiles did not look so Goliath like yesterday with Lane's warriors keeping up with them all day long, so I was wrong in my facebook rants on how he was just going to eat them alive. The hatedgators have a cupcake of a schedule this season, with really, LSU or possibly US , maybe FSU being the only possible flies in their repeat soup, but that could hurt them in the bcs.. I mean come on , Florida International late in November??



Friday, September 18, 2009

A little Friday Fashion......

Academy Award winning actress Cate Blanchett, who is usually a red carpet main stay, proudly wears your grandmother's sofa....




Your thoughts?

From the RRG boys.. which if you did not know is THE place to go for MAD MEN recaps and analysis