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RIP Geocities

That was where I first started my blog....where my online self lived as I was first meeting many of my close friends online....many of whom migrated here to LJ before I finally made the plunge. I remember when it was a separate entity before yahoo bought it. I remember hating evil yahoo and vowing not to use their search engine. I remember hand coding my blog pages. I remember when I loved Netscape Navigator and swore off using IE. Thankfully I now have firefox and again swear off IE for the most part. I remember learning a lesson about the perils of the internet when nasty right wingers landed upon something I said in my blog and tried to use it to harm my Catholic ministry group. I remember all the good times I had coding pages and bonding with folks over this shared world we had created, back before social networking opened up the net to every EMO teen and simpleton on the planet....not that access is a bad thing, but it was nice for a while to feel just a bit elite and just a bit special on account of web skills. I guess I am a web fogey to some extent....recalling the days before the web really existed and BBS was a mysterious thing my older friends did but I could not do since we had no modem...LOL! But yeah, good times.

RIP Geocities

Is there any way to preserve avocado once it has been sliced open? Or is this a case of just having to cook or eat it right away? There must be something, otherwise guacamole would turn brownish, I assume.

On another note in the midst of all the big items on the political stage:

I just came across the fact that the Democrats have a majority in the Ohio House of Representatives for the first time since probably I was very young. Who knows what the full effect will be, but I hope it means positive things in the upcoming budget cycle for certain economic development programs and for the atmosphere for LGBT folks here too.... The Ohio Senate is still Republican, but every little bit helps.

Well, one thing I am pleased about, that is not dependent on who won, is that Ohio is not the poster child for electoral dysfunction this year. It was gettign very old these last 8 years to be looked at askance with regard to our voting problems. Little things like this give me great hope for my state even.

Another thought is that I feel like I am empowered, if there is something that President Obama does or supports that I think is just stupid, to speak up and have my voice heard and affect the outcome. I don't want to feel like my voice is likely to be ignored in the political process. This feels much better.

And I still have the greatest respect for John McCain....I think that he would have done a good job too. I was despairing of recent that I had to choose between two candidates both of whom I disagree with about many issues. But in actuality I got to choose between two candidates, both of whom seem to me to be upstanding capable leaders and both of whom I share a certain number of agreements with. I'm feeling very glass-half-full finally for some reason. :)

So, I finally started my ballot reviewing last night. I always go through a few days before an election and fuss through the various and obscure items to make sure I'm at least moderately informed on everything.

We actually have 8 choices for President/VP on our ballot. This is the first year since before I could vote that I can recall there not being any big angsting out there regarding third party candidates... Ralph Nader is on there, but he's not the Green candidate this time. The Socialists, Libertarians, and Constitution party are all represented. I'm 99.9% sure of who I'm voting for....as usual I've been displeased about my choices, but I'll probably never find a President that I'm 100% happy with. I hope that whoever is elected surprises me with their performance as President (and even moreso I hope the VP surprises me, whichever that is....)

We have the usual 5 million judges to vote for. I'm doing my due diligence on them, as best I can anyhow.

It's also a County election year. I think I'm voting for Peter Lawson Jones for Commissioner. He's my favorite of the 3 current ones, so it's too bad that Debbie Sutherland is running against him, as she'd quite possibly get my vote if she ran against Hagan and certainly against Dimora. One thing I appreciate about Lawson-Jones is that he seems to genuinely listen and take into account the feedback people give. He came to a town hall panel thing about the Ameritrust Tower (an ugly but significant piece of architecture here in Cleveland...the only existing skyscraper designed by noted brutalist architect Marcel Breuer.) He really seemed to be interested in the opinions of people about whether or not to demolish it. The fact that he was interested in hearing from people especially the planning community and that he was willign to consider that feedback in his decisions is very important to me.

Jim Rokakis, the County Treasurer is running unopposed, but I just wanted to say that I also have a high opinion of him due to his study and advocacy for issues surrounding the foreclosure crisis locally. My impression is that he's a very thoughtful and good elected official.

We have 6 state constitutional amendments on the ballot. I urge people to vote yes on Issue 2. That renews the Clean Ohio Fund, which has been one of the great statewide success stories. It issues bonds that are used to fund brownfield remediation and open-space and farmland preservation. It has had very measurable economic impacts and has good effect in both urban and rural areas.

I'd also encourage a yes vote on Issue 5, which caps interest rates for "Payday Lending" institutions at 28%. Currently these places are able to charge something like 300% interest, and have had a very harmful debt effect on people who are desperate and economically vulnerable.

I'll be voting no on Issue 6, the casino thing....I'm sorry, but I just have no desire to see casinos here in Ohio.

Then finally we have a bunch of amendments to the Cleveland City Charter....mostly basic stuff, although one would reduce the number of City Council members (it would apportion one seat per 25,000 people to be revised after each census.) This would reduce the council from 21 to 17 in the short term, as population has been falling for some time in the city. This is probably a good thing, so I'll be voting in favor.

Oh, and people in California especially, and Florida and Arizona also, I think. Please do not amend your constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Make sure to vote and make sure you vote the correct way on those measures. I am hopeful that more states will grant marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples in the coming years, and constitutional amendments would be a huge setback to that.

That's my election thoughts...I hope that everyone gets out there to vote this Tuesday!

Quick update in bullets:

• Autumn is here....I'm liking the weather.
  
• Since last Friday, the water main on my street broke three times. This is one of the problems of living in an old city....the infrastructure is often 50 or 100 years old in places, and things like this just happen sometimes. My understanding is that when it breaks in one place, they fix that but it weakens a nearby area. This is a serious problem for many cities, that the sewer and water infrastructure needs replacing, but the cost would be in the trillions nationwide. But it's been fine for several days, so I'm hoping that's the last of miniature rivers I'll see flowing down my street edge this year.
  
• I need to go out apple picking. I hope that somehow next weekend I have time to do that with my family. I've read that the apple crop is the best in years, and was only slightly beaten up by the post-Ike storms that rolled through.
  
• Patrick and I went with a friend to the Orchestra last night. It was their return weekend from their summer residency in Salzburg and tour of Europe. They did the US Premier of a new commission by George Benjamin, and performed Bruckner's 7th Symphony. I think that's one of the favorite symphonies that I've seen/heard. The Benjamin piece was very different and quite modern, but totally captivating for me.
  
• I had some major stress this week with school. It was mostly me feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about things. I am trying to get through some things this weekend to allow me to keep up and not be so stressed in the coming week.
  

I'm sure other things happened, but those are some highlights.

I forgot to mention that I won Settlers of Catan last week at Taco Night. I am also ashamed to admit that I did not have sufficient faith that I would get the cards I needed, so I bought crack (aka a development card) and won with a victory point card. *hangs head in shame* I would not feel so bad except that I got the resource cards I would have needed to win during my final roll to begin my turn....LOL!

This article I read from CNN/Wall Street Journal does a reasonable job of explaining some of what's been going on in terms of markets, government reactions, and other factors. They do compare it to the 1930s, but say that at least we have some mitigating institutions this time around....

I just spent the last 45 minutes chasing what I believed to be the moon....I could not catch it however, which was quite frustrating. I wish I had the keys to a tall building so I could look for it easier because I swear it was hiding from me.

I know it sounds insane, but it's true....all I wanted was a good picture of the supposed moon because it was an unearthly orange glowing object in the sky whose beauty and hauntingness I cannot really express.

I saw it through the skyscrapers of downtown Cleveland while I was travelling over the Main Avenue bridge. When I got to a place I could stop, however, I could not sight it, so I wound my way through the streets of the east side looking for a view to no avail, it was like it evaporated. I started wonderign if I had had a vision or saw an illusion or a UFO. I tried to find it from the top of a CSU parking garage and then from the rapid platform down the streeet frommy apartment eventually. No luck. Then as I was going down my street to park my car I saw a faint glow in the sky to the east. I think what happened was that the cloud cover was shifting from medium to heavy and back and it was causing both the beauty of the object and also the dissappearance of the moon most of the time. I only wish I had been able to stop onthe bridge and snap a pic of what I was seeing right then.

Well folks, these are busy days as usual! The Chorus is in final preparation for our upcoming Pride concert. The show is called Tunes from Tales and is based upon the Tales of the City novels by Armistead Maupin. Mister Maupin is a well known gay author who also wrote The Night Whisperer which was made into a movie with Robin Williams and Toni Colette.

We will be joined for the shows by Armistead Maupin himself who will narrate specific parts of his novels between the music. The show was conceived by the Seattle Men's Chorus and tells the story of Michael Tolliver, a gay man who moves to San Francisco and lives there through the tumultuous 70s and 80s. The music is a mix of original pieces and arrangements of popular music.

Overall, the show is both hilarious and often very deeply touching. The Chorus already sounds great, an it is so exciting to perform with a literary legend and gay icon like Mr. Maupin. As always, I encourage that any of you in the area get some tickets and attend the show. Drop me a line if you have any questions about the show, and as always, you can order tickets at the North Coast Men's Chorus Website