Where did the time go?

I know I'm not exactly twink-age, but I could have sworn that Alzheimer's was a "later-in-life" disease! I kept thinking I posted a week ago and needed to catch-up, but it's February 10th now! What happened?

Actually, I have been working looooooong hours of late and come home too exhausted to think. I was recently given the opportunity to work in a local field office (I currently work at a Teleservice Center), but, being a supervisor, I have LOTS of things to close out before I can head over there. Granted, I will be returning in four months, and someone else will take over in my absence, but I don't like leaving loose ends! I am trying to write all of my mid-term appraisals (even though they aren't technically due until mid-March) and give them before I go! Nothing like trying to find synonyms for "You should not ACT like a government employee" to get the adrenaline flowing! Go figure!

Anyways, I still intend to do something insightful and magical, but I have to find the time! Since I haven't had comments, I am not sure if folks are reading or not, but I like to think that I can catch a chuckle every now and then!

I really need to keep up with this blog!

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted and lots has been going on! Christmas has passed, I took down the tree and the outside lights (granted, the living room is still full of stuff that actually needs to be put away or stored), had New Year's (nothing exciting...sad, but true), had a week off of work, and shaved three of the cats (well...the groomers shaved them, not me!). It's been quite a ride!


Today, the Seahawks play the Packers in the playoffs. I am one of those gays that actually can watch sports and understand what's going on, but I don't do it frequently. However, I will be watching the game today because EVERYONE will be talking about it at work, and I like to be part of the conversation! We shall see how this plays out!


I have some interesting thoughts on family that I will be bringing up in a later post, but I will leave it for now as I need to think about how to put it without making T's blood family seem like a twisted, dysfunctional mess (they are MUCH worse than the average family's twisted, dysfunctional mess). Stay tuned!


Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Resolutions...that's another story and one that I will wait to talk about as well!

The Countdown Begins!

I know you want to hate me. You really do! I am one of the people that has all of their holiday shopping done MONTHS in advance, has all their parties planned, cards mailed, and festive holiday fare throughout the completely decorated house! Martha would be proud (or green with envy...granted, it would be a shade that complemented her skin tone nicely). Yes, I am one of the people that brag to everyone and try to offer hints at how to be more like me when it comes to being ready! Yes...wait a minute...that's not me at all!!

Yes, I am still rushing around trying to get my Christmas shopping done. Granted, the house is decorated, but only because we had a party and people would come over and see if I wasn't. Thanks, T! However, I am in a conundrum as to what to get my partner that will a) not cost an arm and a leg, b) bring him joy, and c) possibly get me laid. You see, once you've been with someone for almost seven years, you take the opportunities that you can...contrived, yes. Necessary, definitely!

Oh, well! We do what we must to survive! It gets cold around here!

PS: I found a great blog by Puntabulous. You should go check him out and vote for him in the gay Bloggies!! This is a little late, but everything helps!

Is it Christmas yet?

I finally got around to starting my Christmas shopping. I was waiting to find out if my cousin was coming up or not. She and her new husband have three kids between them, but I do not ship! If the kiddies want presents, they must get them in person! I always reimburse them for gas, but I do not get joy out of shopping, wrapping, finding appropriate shipping boxes and then standing in line at the post office. Getting old allows one to be cranky that way!

The house is decorated (for the most part) for our Christmas party on Saturday night. I always send invitations and get responses, but they never match up when the event actually takes place. Fortunately, I work where everyone is looking for free food, so any of the HUGE amount of leftovers I always have will be put to good use. I know some of my employees really can use the help of extra food, not only at Christmas. You don't have to work retail or fast food to be working poor. sigh

G-Dubya also just granted us Feds the 24th as a holiday this year. I had already planned on working, so this was a nice bonus. Doesn't change my feelings about his incompetence as a leader, but you take the little things that you can!

Have a wonderful holiday season (regardless of how you do or do not celebrate!), and may your days be merry and bright!

Black Friday and Beyond!

With Turkey Day safely nestled in the recesses of the mind, it's time to turn towards my favorite holiday of all...a week off of work! Oh, and Christmas, of course. The day after Thanksgiving, I did my annual "roof squat" and put up the lights! I use multi-color icicle lights...I think white icicle lights are kind of akin to lighting up a parking lot. T decided to put lights on our maple tree out front as well, and ruined a perfectly good ladder falling off of it. He was a little peeved when I did not offer my deepest sympathies to him, but he was only three feet off of the ground and I watched the whole thing unfold in front of me...he was not hurt in the least! Besides, I told him that he shouldn't try as the ground around the tree is not exactly flat and easy to place a ladder on. I'm mean apparently!

I have this week off and was thinking about doing some Christmas shopping. Thankfully, my list is incredibly short as both of our families are opting out of receiving presents. Most everyone is strapped for cash this year, and we are all over 30...not exactly waiting for Santa Claus to stop by! Unfortunately, my washing machine decided to not stop running and somewhat flooded our laundry and powder rooms. The repairman cannot make it until Friday (of course) and although I think I know what the problem is and could possibly fix it, I learned long ago that some things are better left to professionals. I can imagine a bigger flood should I try.

So, I went to a laundromat today for the first time in about 16 years. I now know why I haven't returned! Although this one was clean and the few people in it were friendly and benign, the fact that I had to lug three bags of wet towels (from sopping up the flood) across a parking lot and pray that there was nothing funny in any of the machines that would dye my towels or make me itch! Fun, fun! Turns out everything was uneventful and I brought the goodies home to dry! One shopping day now in the dust.

I will be going into work tomorrow because one of my employees is giving a training session and I want to be there to support her. Then I get to have my oil changed (in the car...my oil is fine as far as I know!). I may get some shopping done, but it appears that my total loathing of traffic will mean that Wednesday will be my first venture into retail land.

Wish me luck!

Halloween is just around the corner!

What's a fella to do? We are not having a Halloween party this year and it appears none of our friends are either! What are a couple of middle-aged gay men to do in suburbia?

Decorate the house!

OK, this is T's thing, not mine. I'm the Christmas guy in the neighborhood. However, I got to go on the roof and put up the Halloween lights. Who has Halloween lights anyway? Us and the crazy old couple that has a hundred blow-ups in their yard every holiday!! They do look nice...a pre-cursor to the Christmas energy-use extravaganza! However, it seems in these troubled times, a respite from reality is still a nice diversion!



Hope everyone enjoys themselves and has a devil of a time!

How YOU doing?

Next week I get to start giving my annual performance appraisals to my 18 employees. As much as I love the thought of making them sweat, this is actually not that much fun for me. I do like getting with folks and having a nice chat, but I have discovered that most government employees aren't going to change a thing about what they do unless some adverse action is at play. Good employees will continue to perform well; bad employees will use all of their leave and complain about why they aren't getting promoted.

This will be my sixth go at this event. I think I'm prepared and that my points will all be valid. I talk with folks all the time throughout the year, so nothing should be a surprise. Yet, it inevitably happens that someone will think they are much better than I gave them credit for, and the discussion gets ugly. We have a new appraisal system where folks must get outstanding in at least 2 of the 4 elements in order to be eligible for an award. Before, you just had to be in the top 20-30% of a unit in order to get an award (and that criteria was VERY subjective). This should be interesting as I only have 3 folks who will be considered based on the new system.

We shall soon see how this goes over!