Tom's Blog

This is the planted garden for 2010.  Radishes, peas, sugar peas, beans, carrots, onions, hot peppers, bell peppers and Roma tomatoes.  There are also some potted herbs planted this year.  Was reading on Mother Earth News about a solar food dehydrator that looks interesting.  Mom used to send dehydrated apples to me at college that I loved snacking on.  That might be a nice alternative to canning some of the produce, assuming anything actually grows.

Last weekend (May 15th) we went to South Dakota for nephew’s high school graduation.  He’s a cool guy and heading for college in the Fall.  His mom is justified in being proud of him.

Got to see two of my three sisters and their kids.  Oddly since I came out of the closet I think I’m more in contact with family than before.  Though from Jeffrey’s point of view I’m still barely on speaking terms.  He talks to various members of his family on a weekly basis at least, while my family sends the occasional email or text message.  We’ve always been pretty loose knit I guess.  I think some of that is because when we grew up long-distance calls were expensive and a call to grandparents was timed and mom was hovering nearby to make sure the conversation moved along.  Sending a letter through the mail was the typical way of spreading news.  Most of Jeffrey’s family live in California and are still there, so he grew up seeing everyone face to face on a regular basis and most probably a local phone call away.

Jeffrey has mandated we are visiting my family at least twice a year.  I know we’ll be going out in August for a niece’s wedding, so that’s the two visits for this year.  :)  Jeffrey loved seeing South Dakota and thought we should think about moving there.  While it is a wonderful place, I don’t think he realizes just how little there is to do.  I tried explaining there is a reason even the smallest town has at least one bar and a town like Madison probably has a dozen bars.  I don’t think he’d be happy very long, but it might be worth a try someday.

I’d like to take him out the Badlands and Black Hills for his birthday this year which I think he’d really enjoy.

This may come as a surprise to some, but Uganda is in the process of making a law that further criminalizes homosexuality there.  Current law has a penalty of 14 years in prison for someone who commits a homosexual act.  Under the new law it would be life in prison or possibly death, plus prison terms for people who harbor gays.  As bad as things are here in the USA it’s paradise compared to many places in the world.  What’s very scary is that 3 Americans were instrumental in helping organize and draft the legislation in Uganda, though they now all claim it was never their intention that it would be that harsh.  Apparently they don’t have any problem with criminalizing homosexuality though.

I don’t think anyone would deny that laws against sexual predators are a bad thing, but in Uganda’s situation they are singling out gays.  What are their laws for sexual predators that prey on the opposite sex?  There are a lot more predators that hunt members of the opposite sex than same sex.  Also in a country like Uganda where corruption is rampant, a law that encourages people to turn in gays and penalizes someone for giving comfort to a gay is ripe for abuse.  Have neighbor you don’t like?  Accuse them of being gay, helping a gay or sexually abusing a kid.

No one can make the people of countries like Uganda like gays and no one is trying really.  I just don’t want them executing someone for being gay.

Jeffrey and I watched the Oscars last night.  I cannot believe they took 4 hours to do that show.  No wonder their ratings are in the tank.  Oh well I’m betting we don’t sit through the whole thing next year.  ;)

On a lighter note we watched ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ with Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving.’  This is a fun movie, a bit different than what I usually watch, ie no explosions.  I’m no clothes horse by any stretch of the imagination, if it’s black and comfortable it’s probably good enough to wear.  But after watching the movie I wonder about black sequins sometimes now and maybe dressing a tad more fabulously, still in black though.  :-)

During one of Jeffrey’s earlier visits we bought a Black and Decker food processor from Target for about $50.  We used it during subsequent visits and within a a couple of weeks of his moving in and starting to use it on a more regular basis it broke.  After going online to find replacement parts I discovered reviews of this particular food processor were poor.  Plastic gears and parts that tended to break when used.  So soon we’re going out to buy a quality food processor that should last until we’re to old to cook.

Generally I know better than to buy based on price.  When I buy something I usually go for quality and pay more because it’s really cheaper that way.  A pair of Red Wing boots for $80 I purchased back in the 1980′s still are in good shape.  I just get them resoled periodically.  That’s how rich people stay rich, they buy shoes that last a lifetime and just resole them every few years.

Jeffrey and I went and saw the movie ‘The Road’ Sunday night.  A very dark rather depressing movie, that probably gave a fairly accurate picture of what people would be like if an apocalyptic event occurred that wiped out most life on Earth.  Whatever the event was that threw a thick cloud of ash into the sky and blocked most of the sun from reaching us is never named and probably if something like a super volcano or major meteor strike occurred most people wouldn’t know what happened.  We’re planning to read the book the movie was based on.  Reviews have been exceptionally good for the book and some say it could be the best book written in the last 25 years.

While the story is about the journey the father and son are making to someplace hopefully warmer, really it the backdrop of a world without life that is important.  No sunlight means no plant-life which means no animal life and eventually no human life.

It would be interesting to jump ahead to when the ash has settled and the sun is shining again and the seeds that are dormant in the ground have started to sprout to see what happens to the Earth then.

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be two weeks since Jeffrey moved in and everything is going very very well.   Jeffrey has had to change insurance company for his car since they don’t service Minnesota and today he went in to get a Minnesota driver’s license.  It was a bit of a shock for him.  When I told him it took me less than 10 minutes to get my tags for the car last time, he didn’t believe me.  So confronting the reality of not having to spend the entire afternoon at the DMV made him a believer.  I think he’s starting to understand some of the differences between living in Los Angeles and Minneapolis and just how much stress California living has.

The kitchen is starting to be a lot more functional, though we really need more shelf space.  It’s very nice having a meal ready when I get home from work.  I think I’ve eaten more vegetables in the last two weeks than in the whole rest of year and I’m in serious danger of destabilizing my body’s internal chemistry.   I’ll enjoy it though while I can.  Once he’s working full-time it’ll probably be back to Grape Nuts for dinner.

There is a lot to do this weekend of course and being back to work full-time has really cut into my free-time for projects.  At least now Jeffrey and I can work together on stuff and get more done than I could alone.  Definitely no regrets here about having someone to share life with.

On the up side Jeffrey has been here a week now.  Took his car in today and got the oil changed and antifreeze put in radiator so it doesn’t freeze this winter.  He has a lot to learn about living in part of country that winter happens.   That said we are unpacking and getting used to each other on a 24/7 basis.  I really think this is going to work out though.  We are doing some reorganizing of the house and shopping for new furniture.  We found a cool place that has a great sofa, but haven’t ordered anything yet.

On the down side I had to go to the ER last Saturday because I though I was having a stroke.  The left side of my face quit working, though fortunately it turned out to Bell’s Palsy and not a stroke, but it was scary though.  I am still symptomatic and probably will be for a few more weeks and I am adjusting.   I can’t blink or completely close my left eye and because there is little muscle tension in the left side of my face chewing is annoying because food tends to accumulate in my cheek.  I guess it can last for several weeks so I’m just being patient.

Tuesday November 3rd I hope to hear good news that voters in those states will not repeal laws passed earlier this year to expand gay rights.  Polls show it to be close though and in an off year vote it’s tough to get people out to vote.  The people that go vote Tuesday will probably be less than half the number that voted in the Presidential election.

It’s going to be very very close and I have my fingers crossed.

Or more specifically, do you believe in the Christian God?  If yes then why?

Most people would probably answer that with ‘I have faith’ or ‘The bible is God’s Word’.  Except for a very small number of people who converted from another religion (Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc) the real answer is that is how you were raised.  If your parents were Christian, you were raised as a Christian and that is what you grow up believing.  There isn’t a universal Truth that draws everyone to a particular god or religion.  When you are a child you believe in anything, Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, The Easter Bunny and God.  As you get older you discover all those things you believed in as a child weren’t real but stories, except for God.  You keep being told God is real.  Anyway this was something that popped into my head while cleaning house.

P.S. – It fascinates me that the oldest organized religions are still going strong after several thousand years, like Hinduism.  Back in the early days of Judaism there was a concerted effort to destroy the god Ba’al by the Yahweh which eventually succeeded since you’d be hard pressed to find anyone today who worships Ba’al.  God doesn’t seem to be as interested today in removing the competition though.  There are some fringe elements in most religious organizations that talk about cleansing the Earth of the false gods, ie any but their own, but most mainstream clergy tend to take a live and let live view of other religions.