Category: charities

Kiss It, Make It Better

I have a rather long winded post coming to clarify my rather confusing rant yesterday.

Until then, I thought I’d cover less exciting news. I somehow managed to twist my knee this week. I don’t know if it’s from too many squats at the gym or what. I don’t remember doing any injury to it which has me perplexed. Doesn’t appear to be serious just annoying at the moment.

The second BCC contest last night had a great turn out. The contests are much more streamlined this year which makes for getting home at a decent hour. We’ve had some really good contestants so far. If this keeps up, the finals are gonna be intense. I’m hoping for another stellar year of raising money. You can check out pics from last week if ya like.

The move is edging closer and closer. I’m anxious to get it over with. The movers called me today and are arriving on Monday at daylight thirty. (9:30am) That means I have to get my lazy ass out of bed early…blech.

On a really sad note, had a muni vs pedestrian today at work. Needless to say, the ped lost. People were down in the muni tunnel walking the tracks. I’d never wish this sort of tragedy on anyone but you gotta wonder what made them do such a stupid thing in the first place.

www….

I woke up today to a frantic email, voicemail, and text message from the committee chair for the BCC.

“The domain is down! Email, the website, everything! HELP!”

Apparently, the domain expired and no one bothered to renew it. Since I’m not the point of contact, I had no direct authority to correct the problem. I’ve bitched about not being in charge of the total domain since the beginning but was content to live w/the limitations.

Actually, I’ve bitched for almost a year now about the committee chair routinely making decisions about the domain w/o consulting me. I’ve also pushed really hard to consolidate a lot of redunancy in the system. Most of my complaints have fallen on deaf ears. After today, I don’t think that will be a problem anymore.

Turns out the domain was still in the name of a person who had left the organization. Luckily, he is still in town and reachable. He provided me w/the necessary information to log-in via the registrar and get the problem resolved. I got to work immediately and had it fixed within a matter of hours. Of course, having a domain expire is mucho bad. It can take days sometimes to get the InterNic index updated. In non-geek terms, there are servers connected to the internet w/the sole purpose of resolving a domain name from words into it’s numeric form. This basically tells the net where to look for the information. It can sometimes take days to get changes into the servers. Luck was again on our side, the domain was back up, albeit sporadically, within just a few more hours.

At the end of the day, everything is back up and running smoothly. I also convinced the chair to purchase the available .com, .net, and .us extensions for the domain as well. That way, in the unlikely event this problem ever happens again, we have other domains to utilize.

Am I good or what?

Folsom Weekend 2005 II

**Warning – this post isn’t exactly work friendly

Sunday was the fair and I spent most of the day managing the BCC booth. Once again, I kept forgetting to take pics. I got to meet Jack Hampster too! He stopped by the booth and introduced himself. I was hoping he’d stop by.

Mr. January 2006 hard at work signing calendars.

The very handsome and sweet Joey.

David & Marty stopped by to say hi. (A testament to my poor picture skills w/crappy lighting)

Didier and I got a kick out of this pic. Here is little Alan diligently signing calendars. Poor thing he can barely see over the table!

Two more of the calendar boys George and Barry shakin’ their groove thang. (they should stick to being pretty I think)

Gratuitous butt shot!

Mostovic came by too. I got such a giggle realizing the sign behind the pic afterwards.

I love seeing guys holding hands so I couldn’t resist this pic.

Sexy Ivan stopped by and said hi. His energy is very infectious along w/his laugh.

Another calendar guy Chris (left) and a hottie who made me swoon. (keep scrolling and you’ll see why!)

The hottie’s butt! Da-YUM!

Hottie #2. I enticed him over for a quick shot. Oy Vey!

All the guys did a great job promoting calendars and helping out. I was very proud to be apart of the charity. The day went off w/o a hitch.

Afterwards, Bobby showed up in his new army pants and we went off to dinner. Then home for a power nap and a goog soak in the jacuzzi.

Today, I had to teach computer training to the new dispatcher class then off to study group. I had a great weekend but I wore myself out. I’m a bit lethargic today. Whew!

Moving On

As often occurs, life goes on. The mood today at work was much better and people were moving beyond their grief to fond memories. Myself included. I’m w/o a trainee today so work was blissfully quiet. I was on Fire side most of the day so very little work. Did some minor maintenance on the BCC site but then got annoyed w/the committee chair over his unilateral decision making. What is the point of having a committee if only one person gets input? I’m probably just agitated from such a draining week. Maybe I’ll see it better next week. Cause right now I’m PISSED!

Not much else to say today really. I have a potential date coming up soon. I’m excited about it, more details later.

Oh – I See Now.

Wired News: They Knew What to Expect

I’m not going to say “I told you so” because I didn’t. However, reading this article, working for an emergency agency, and training to be a medic, makes me feel ashamed of my country. There are not many places I’d rather live but there are times, like now, where I almost wish I did. I find small tidbits of news from friends, family, blogs, etc on a daily basis now that brings me to tears. I’m doing what I can from here but it does nothing to quell the shame. It is not my fault however, I can’t help it. After the crisis is over, there needs to be some accountability. This is not an issue of race, sex, or religion. It’s about politics and neglect of responsibility. And once again, it is the poor and indigent that suffer.

Mark my words, there will be lots of grandstanding, finger-pointing, and shoulda/coulda/woulda’s. After everything is said in done, our government will put a “patch job” on this problem until the “next one”.

If you haven’t contributed cash or can’t afford too, there are plenty of other ways to contribute. Please contact any of the agencies listed here to offer anything you can spare. Cash, clothes, furniture, vehicles, toys, bedding/linen, etc. Thousands have lost everything. You’d be surprised that a lot of your “junk” could really help someone else. I’m not asking you, I’m begging. If you were in the same situation, wouldn’t you want some help?

Red Cross
Montrose Clinic – supports Gays/Lesbians victims.
The Rainbow Fund
Louisiana Homeland Security

If I wasn’t such a hoe, I’d run for office. . .

Work Work Work

Today is my second day on my new shift. I’m dragging a little. I’m used to 8 hours vs 10 and I’m used to taking my sweet time waking up. I have to get up by 10:00 am now. (I know, poor me) My days off are mixed up this week w/the change. Next week they’ll be all together again.

Saturday was very uneventful. I had lunch w/the ex caught up on a few things. I guess his new boyfriend wasn’t too happy to find out we were still “legally” hitched via our domestic partner registration. (I had to leave him on it so he’d have medical coverage) Well with him finally working he doesn’t need it anymore. He went down and had it dissolved. He was kind enough to bring me a copy of the paperwork. My first divorce! I feel so “legite” now. lolol I was a little sad at first but moving on.

I ran into Tyrone from the BCC committee at Starbucks. We hung out and finished the last batch of images for the 2006 men. I just realized I forgot two pages so I’m working on those today. I’ve finished revamping the entire site so my work is mostly over at this point. I’ll still be doing minor updates but the hard stuff is behind me. (whew) Mostovic also dropped by. I hadn’t seen him lately so we also had a chance to catch up. The three of us ended up doing dinner at Blue and then I volunteered to help Mostovic get his wifi up and running. Three hours later we discovered his DSL line was corrupted and had to schedule a repair. @#$%! SBC! I saw a new offer from Comcast on the tele so I’ve decided to bite the bullet and switch. (Bobby will be so pleased)

I had several things I wanted to blog about today but have completely forgotten what they were. Maybe they’ll come to me later.

TGIF II

So it’s Friday. Tomorrow is my last day having a weekend day off for 5 months. I know I gave up weekends for school but, I am not looking forward to the change. Sunday is my first day on the new shift. Blech! Because of the way our shifts change, I get Saturday and then Tuesday/Wednesday off this coming week. The following week of the 22nd I’ll have straight Mon/Tue/Wed’s off thru December.

On a good note, I discovered that I only have to catch one muni bus from my house to the campus. It goes right by my apartment. It couldn’t have worked out better! (see my afore mentioned comments about karma)

No more Eagle on Sunday’s. No more midnight mass. (yeah right, me in church?!) The only time I’m on my knee is during… uh well, “prayer”. And speaking of prayer, Mostovic, who never blogs anymore, finally got settled in his new place. He is having trouble setting up his wifi. I may try to swing by tomorrow and help him. We were supposed to have lunch today but I got up really late. (don’t ask)

It also eats into the time I devote to charities. I won’t be as readily available for fundraisers. I’ve made allowances for the bigger events but I’ll miss a lot of the smaller ones. [insert sigh of the martyr here]. lol

Bobby is driving me nuts to go to Marine World. (I don’t know why they still call it that as they don’t have marine life anymore. It’s just a theme park now.) Anyway, I haven’t really felt like going. I wouldn’t mind going up to the river but I’ve only been once and I don’t remember how to get there. I certainly don’t plan on driving up there spending hours looking for it. *sigh II* Speaking of charity, if you can afford to purchase a calendar for the BCC, I urge you to do so. It’s the best $20.00 you’ll ever spend. You can go online to purchase the calendar and have it mailed to you. They make great gifts too.

I’m very happy to report that my comm. center donated over $1000 to the family of the sheriff deputy we lost earlier this week. The money will go toward a college trust for his 8 year old son. Sometimes, people can do a good thing!

I’m doing overtime tonight so no late night shenanigans for me. *sigh III*

Good Cause

Besides my normal volunteer work for the BCC, I just bought the New York Firefighters 2006 Calendar of Heroes. Proceeds from the sales go toward the NY Fire Fighters non profit foundation. The FDNY Fire Safety Education Fund supports the FDNY to serve the public and save lives through fire safety and other joint projects.

Here’s a snapshot of the 2006 cover. HOT HOT HOT!

2006 FF Calendar

If that’s not enough, here is snapshot from the 2005 calendar as well. If that’s not enough to convince I don’t know what is!

Of course, I want you to buy the BCC calendar first. *g* Then you can zip over and buy one from the New York boys as well.

Pride & Piddleditty

Pride weekend has come and gone. I’m usually in the parade but I didn’t really feel like it this year. Instead, I helped setup the BCC booth. The guys did a great job of selling the calendar and worked well all day together. (pictures later) The day was overcast and hella chilly. I spent as much time trying to keep warm as I did pushing the calendar. (And w/o a shirt on it was pretty damn hard.) I have a crush on one of the guys. He at least helped keep me warm w/a kiss every now and then. I did get quite a few compliments myself and several guys kept asking which month I was on. While I’m happy w/my physique, I don’t see myself as calendar material. Besides, I’ve realized I prefer being behind the scenes doing things that make it look easy for everyone else. Hello! I’m an Aquarian, it’s what we do.

Speaking of kissing, Mostovic made an appearance as well. He brought his cute little dog Huntien (spelling? It’s German). Mostovic was in very good spirits. I think mainly because he recently signed a lease on a new apartment. I’ll probably swing by next weekend to check it out. It’s a tad further out than what he wanted but he really seems to like it. Time will tell I guess. Course, now because of the distance he might need to purchase a scooter.

At present moment, I’m off to Valla-crack, aka Vallejo, to visit Bobby and fix his computer. All I can say is thank God he is pretty. You know he is a friend if I’m willing to travel all the way to freakin Vallejo. Vallejo is an hours’ ride by ferry or road. I don’t think it has any call to fame other than it is right off a freeway. I think it was just a small town that got lucky. Occasionally, I have to talk to their dispatchers and they are rude as hell. No love loss there.

In a testament to technology, I had a wifi connection way out in the middle of nowhere on the water. Albeit, for a brief shining moment and then poof! It was gone. I was hoping the ferries were wired for wifi but no such luck. *sniffle* I will welcome the day when wifi is so prevalent that you can’t walk/ride/fly anywhere and still have a connection. Who am I kidding, I’d stay wired in 24/7 if I could. (If you didn’t think I was a geek before, that just confirmed it.)

Would ya look at the time! An hour has flown by and the ferry is about to dock. Well bitches (and I say that with the deepest love), I’m off for now. More on my tribulations later.