Sure it looks cool, but what a pain to get around in. So glad I decided to take the day off work. Saw "Milk" which was great. Am now warming up with a spicy curry and glass of wine. Ciao, 2008.

Whoda thunk it...

Despite the very name of our humble little blog, we inexplicably have a family-friendly rating.
Rating courtesy of oneplusyou.

Christmas update

I have to share with you how much I love this gift. This Keurig coffee maker is the best thing ever! And BKDM is the best gift-giver ever for getting it for me. I just used its K-cup magic to make a coffee in the style of my Irish brethren. Slainte!

Some special visitors to the manger

Looks like there's more than just shepherds and wise men up in here.

Merry Christmas, everyone. We opened the gifts and are now preparing for Christmas brunch.

I think some of our readers may never have seen snow like this.

It's here. The snow storm has begun. Looks like it snowed more than an inch in the last 45 minutes.

Here it comes

The first big storm of the season.
School was preemptively canceled and there is a snow emergency for tomorrow morning even though a flake has yet to fall.
I'm just glad I can walk home from work.

Jym and Acy having a few beers in Boston. It's so good to have a friend in town.

Holiday Greatest Hits Contenders

I love Christmas Wrapping, by the Waitresses. This song is fabulous (I swear I'm not gay), and now it's combined with something semi-techno! (Unlike SisterDisco I won't force you to listen to this song by auto-loading it when you hit the page)



The waitresses were an experimental new wave band and their hit Christmas Wrapping was originally available on the Ze Records original collection ''A Christmas Record'', and has been covered by Save Ferris, The Donnas, Kate Nash, A Minute Away From Snowing, and the Spice Girls.

Sorry this version sounds like it was recorded in somebody's bathroom but the video I posted from last year was revoked by a third party copyright claim. lame.


Also in the running, are the Jingle Cats - wasn't there an entire album of this in the 80's?



Of course, I can't mention the Jingle Cats without a tip of the cap to Dogs Singing Christmas




Finally, worth notable mention only because it makes us wonder: is there such a thing as mariah-carey-boarding?

This is the street outside our apartment. The water is so deep that it's completely covering the sidewalk. Weather like this makes me glad I don't live at 1325 anymore.

Boston during the first snow

We took Jym's parents into Boston yesterday and poked around. We saw the Christmas tree, a gift from the people of Nova Scotia, on the Commons. I had to scoot through a police barricade to get so close.


Then we went to Boston's truly amazing public library where Jym received inspiration from the three muses.
This library has some remarkable murals painted by artists like Puvis de Chavannes and John Singer Sargent. There is even a gallery on the main floor that is currently showing a retrospective of George Bellows's work.


Then, to end the day in the best possible way, we had a lobster boil at home, courtesy of Jim and his dad.
Yummy good times.

Our traditional Christmas

It may be early and you may judge us, but I love Christmas and I'm trying to teach Jym to love it too.
We spent all day cleaning, putting up the tree and wrapping gifts.
We may have even watched a little Snoopy Come Home on the Disney Channel.
Here are the fruits of our labor.
Yay Christmas!

California Days

This may be a rather long blog post, but don't worry, it's a picture essay (heavy on the pictures) chronicling my adventures in San Francisco (well, the PG ones, anyway!). I'm a little behind, so I won't blog about the conference until tomorrow when I have some better pictures.






After walking through Chinatown and across Lombard Street (pictured right, the so-called "crookedest street in San Francisco" - this is not the super-crookedy part) ....





...I made my way to Fisherman's Wharf. The first thing I did there was visit the Aquarium. A very interesting place indeed, with the mission to "Save the Bay" from pollution, overfishing, etc. They have many kinds of sharks here, three of which don't even need to actively swim to breathe - a very rare shark trait indeed. I also petted a ray.


The aquarium was beautiful, and I had worked up an appetite, so I went for lunch on the pier. Lunch consisted of a dozen raw oysters and a bloody mary that would make a gay man cry. Clearly, I enjoyed it, and also topped it off with a final oyster shooter.































After that spectacular meal, I rented a bicycle, with the mission to bike across the Golden Gate.

On the way, I stopped at the old fort which is stationed below the bridge. This was a serious military outpost in its older days.









After crossing the bridge, I coasted down into Saucilito (which is where I think protected witnesses must be hiding out). I got a sandwich at a deli and had a picnic on the beach. 82 degrees.






It was so hard to leave, but luckily, I didn't bring my heart. It is still in Medfuh with my girl. GOODBYE, San Francisco!



That bicycle ride really wore me out. It took about four hours and I took a ferry back across the bay. Waiting at the train station and waiting on the train was a combined four hours of hell I could have done without.


Thankfully, the Sheraton is a fabulous hotel. Lots of bath goodies, nice big room with a long desk for blogging, amazing room service, and yes, a heavy terry cloth robe in the closet.












This is the antipasto sampler and a bottle of VOSS sparkling water. Hey, I am in California, right?

Full moon over san francisco

I made it to s.f. In one piece. My observations so far:
1. The moon off the water next to the bay bridge coming on the airplane was spectacular.
2. Even clear across the country they have my delicious harpoon winter warmer on tap.
3. Crime rate here must be low - none of these people are scary or even cause alarm. Maybe im just not finding the right hood.
4. S.f. Is kind of small!
5. I can get a caesar salad delivered to my room until 3am.
6. I am in a t shirt and still hot.

Enjoy the pic - it was taken from the roof of the hotel (i might not supposed to have been up there). If it is sideways I will right it from blogger when I return to the hotel (i might be checking out the night life right now).

I promise a stunning set of real digital camera pics tomorrow. I will wake up, go for a run, take a whirlwind tour of s.f., and head to mountain view for the convergence08 unconference.

I volunteered for this?

You bet your sweet ass! This country needs to lower the bar for allowing people to get involved in politics. By helping at the polls from 6:30 to 8:30 at least I am doing a little something extra.

Do it!

Vote like your life depends on it, because it does.

Goodbye Salem

Things are back to normal and I'm headed to work on the train. What a great weekend!

Autumn in New England

... and BKDM is up to his usual shenanigans.

Halloween in Salem - everything it's cracked up to be

O-M-G. What a f***ing awesome time. Truly Amazing. I love Salem and want to move here (then why don't you marry it?). They close down the streets and the whole town goes crazy. Below is a picture essay presenting a few of the many horrors and wonders of the time from the witch museum to the after hours debauchery.

El Dubb and I browsed more witch stores than you can shake a (broom)stick at. However, we were disappointed with the witch "museum", which was more like a Here-is-why-you-should-love-witches cultural center.

We made friends with several fab gay boys including the moustached Marie Antoinette (who's husband was a giant piece of cake that said "let them eat me.") We talked to this Marie Antoinette, and he told us without the moustache, he'd just be another queen in a dress. We agree.

Not many pictures of this, but we had a very romantic stroll along the wharf and a healthy, romantic dinner together.
If you ever wonder - "who is the BloodKillerDeathMan....."

A "Hay Maze?" Awesome - I wish I had a child!



A Giant 1100 and 24 lbs pumpkin!!









my beautiful bride, Anne Boleyn. I don't know where that "other" Boleyn girl was, but this one just came back from the guillotine.





Some of my favorite costumes from the night! Oh how I LOVE to celebrate the dead.






































And what better way to end the night than with that age old traditon, bobbing for apples, at an after-hours party.

Bloodkillerdeathman personified. Happy Halloween!

Presenting the lovely anne boleyn

Wait, wasn't she beheaded?

Tis the season for Socialism

We're in Salem, home of witch trials and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
I feel like there may be more than just candy for the trick-or-treating tonight.

I got a gift of 4 (!) dozen roses today from Jym. They are so lovely and have caused quite the scuttlebut in the office. And yes. I am using a recycling bin as a vase. Klassee.

The Stranger does it again

BKDM gave a shout out to The Slog some time ago and I have to say that Dan Savage et al have done it again with this post.
This photo just made me laugh out loud.
When you get a chance, pop on over to The Slog and have a look around. You won't be sorry.

Hail to the bus driver indeed

It's 7:00 on a Monday morning and there is a school bus waiting outside Kappy's. It defies the imagination as to why.

An autumn stroll on revere beach

Alice Deejay - Do You Think You're Better Off Alone?

I don't, but a beautiful song with beautiful imagery is hard to resist.

Head of the charles

The Head of the Charles is a crew and rowing competition held yearly on the Charles river that separates Boston from Cambridge. People come from all over the world to compete and many wait on the list to compete for years and years. Hundreds of thousands come out to watch, and we were just two of them!

For rita jean

Yay Democracy!

Maker's celebrates the election. The wax is red, white and blue and there's a donkey on one side and an elephant on the other. We're drinking with the donkey right now. Ain't America grand?