Sulu is Family

Of all the people in the world who I thought were homosexual I have to admit that the name George Takei never, ever, ever ever ever came to mind. Yes my friends, the venerable Hikaru Sulu, or at least the actor who plays Sulu, is gay.

Now I've thought for a while that Justin Timberlake might be. I've surmised that Orlando Bloom could be. The thought had crossed my mind that Brad Pitt may or may not have had an experience in his past. I never thought of George Takei. All I have to say is congratulations George.

You see Mr. Takei comes from a very different time. He lived in an interment camp (the US Japanese internment camps) from when he was four to when he was eight. He lived in shame of both his heritage and his sexuality. Things that I hope no one has to go through. That made it very hard for him to accept who he was. It made it even harder for him to tell other people. To have done it at all is commendable.

Now I know what your thinking. What will the Trekkies say? What words will they have for Sulu? How will the women who one day hoped to be Mrs. Hikaru Sulu cope with the reality that such a dream will never come to be? I think ambivalence best describes it. You see Trekkies, or Trekkers as they prefer to be called, are a pretty understanding bunch. They have been ridiculed since the 1960's. They are used to being called names, put down upon, and ridiculed. Much like the gays. I think there is a commonality there that will make George's coming out a non-issue with them.

And how about those blushing Mrs. Sulu's. They may take a few years to get over the news. Mending a broken heart is not easy.

How will the rest of the world react? In the usual way. Hatemongers will suddenly refuse to watch Star Trek. I don't see how they watched it in the first place. If Star Trek teaches anything it's tolerance and understanding. Those are concepts that are completely foreign to them. Include in this group your super religious types who swear that being gay is a choice.

Back from the Edge

Hello faithful reader. If you've been watching this blog for updates and wondering where the hell I've been, wonder no longer. I'm back. For now anyway.

The past few weeks and months have been really hectic for me. New relationship, new projects at work and most notably an entirely new job. Let's talk about that.

For starters it's for a major consulting firm in the area. So there will be that "Oh, I know that company" factor whenever I talk about my job. It's still doing development work. I'll be reworking a Java application and bring it into the new millenium. The benefits are about the same but the pay is a good deal more.

More interesting work (I hope) better pay and no compromise in benefits. Sounds like a winner to me.

My relationship is in it's second month officially. Which makes it the first longest relationship I've had since the start of my rennaisance (no I'm not really sure what I mean by that). It's been great. The biggest fight we've had so far has been what to make for dinner. He says it's because of my concilliatory nature but I don't really feel like I'm conceding all that much. I'm sure that the eventual fight will happen. I don't know what it'll be about but I'm sure that we will be able to work through it.

Just last Sunday I introduced him to my mother and her fiancee. My mother had invited both of us to dinner that night and I happily obliged. Grilled salmon was on the menu and so was good conversation. Seth was a little quiet at first but that didn't last very long. We ended up talking long after dinner was finished. I think mom likes him. I know I do.

It's been a while

Been a long time since I upated this site. I've been busy with work and other pet projects. I've been so busy in fact that I had to stop participating in the local rugby team here in DC. If any of my fellow ruggers aer reading this I'm sorry that you had to find out this way. I'm just way too busy with everything in my life right now to be playing rugby. Heck, I barely have time for the stuff that's left. I wish the Renegades all the best.

Right now I'm getting ready to attend my grandmother's funeral. It's in Union, Missouri. Union is a little town about 50 miles west of St. Louis. It's in what is affectionally known as the bible belt. Last night driving up, I saw the biggest cross I'd ever seen. It was like the washington monument with two arms. It's that big. We spent all day yesterday driving up and got into Union late last night. Today we are meeing my aunt and uncle for lunch and tomorrow we are going to the funeral.

It's a bit wierd for me because I don't remember alot about my grandmother. We were in another country for most of my early years and half a country away for the rest of those years. I never got to know my grandmother. I'm doing this as much to pay my respects as I'm doing it to support my mother. I know she needs my support even if it's not always apparent. Plus the time off doesn't hurt either.

I hope to make another post about the trip in a couple of days. This room has free wifi so I shouldn't have a problem. All the best. Cheers.

nano update or "nano, nano"

I know this is going to sound stupid but I'm going to come out and say it. Pardon if there are a few tears. I bought TWO.

Why, dare you ask? Did he find the thought of not having one in each color unfathomable? Did he suddenly decide to part with his money in strange ways, ala Brewster's Millions? Is he completely fricking insane.

Not really. I broke down and bought the 2 giger on Sunday because I couldn't find the 4 gig nano anywhere. A day later I decided that 2 gigs really wasn't enough for what I wanted to do with it and I didn't really like the black as much as I thought I would have (it's grown on me a little). I'm going to return the 2 gig nano as soon as my 4 gig nano arrives in the mail from apple. Sorry best buy. Your buy wasn't the best this time.

Do you want to know what I've discovered about the nano. It's almost too small, if that's possible. It's easy to see the thing getting lost in a purse or other medium size bag. It really doesn't skip. I ran with the thing on my arm for about an hour and nothing, nada, zip.

I realize that since the nano has no moving parts to speak of it's really impossible to make skip. I still had to try it for myself to be sure I wasn't being fooled. I wasn't. I'll bet the think skips great across the pond though. Just have to work on the wrist action, that's all.

Banner Ads and Lowered Expectations

I just saw the greatest banner ad for the Army National Guard. Three, count em, three song downloads from iTunes. Now the banner ad isn't terribly specific on what conditions you have to meet in order to get the three free songs. Do you have to listen to a pitch, sign up for selective service, enlist?

If you have to enlist then I don't see this as a great deal. Extra-value meals cost more than three iTunes songs. I remember a time when you could get school paid for on the Mongomery GI Bill. What do you mean that you can still get the bill? Oh, okay, that's cool I guess.

But that still means that I still have to listen to someone pitch to me about the military and how great it is to fight the Global Struggle against Extremism, or whatever it is they're calling it this week. I'm not sure that 3 songs is good enough recompense for my time. Ten songs certainly, seven maybe, you're pushing it with five but I'll bite, certainly not 3.

They also come at you with intangibles like" duty, honor, and commitment. Which sound really great when they say it, not so great during basic pushup drills. I don't think I can withstand that kind of salesmanship. I tend to cave under pressure. Cave like a balloon at the bottom of the ocean.

But you may have more of a will than I. If you readers feel that you can take the challenge and find three songs worth your time, could you get the recruiters to answer the following questions.

1. Can you promise me I won't go to Iraq?
2. Really?
3. What do you mean "you need me." We just met.
4. Can wear a dress like Clinger on MASH?
5. What if it's a dress uniform?
6. What do you mean it's not a dress? That's stupid.
7. What if I got the sex change?
8. What do you mean "don't ask, don't tell?" I already told.
9. Can I have that pen?
10. Would you like to go out sometime? (works better with people of the same sex) You can usually follow this by repeating question 7.

These questions may or may not prevent your conscription. Tread wisely, young grasshopper. You have been forwarned/

No nano for Rob

I haven't been able to update the blog in a while so excuse me if this post seems a little bit behind the times. I would like to chat for a second about the iPod nano.

Isn't it freaking cool.

I didn't think apple would be able to make something that was cooler and smaller than the iPod mini. They are definitely flirting with the extremes of usefulness here. How long will it be before the iPod comes in pill or supository form?

They seem to have another winner on their hands with the nano. Besting the mini in every category except for song count and battery life. Both of which were shaved to make the device as small as possible.

But is Rob going to get a nano? Of course. But I thought it would be fun to come up with reasons why I shouldn't. Here's the list so far.

1. Fat fingers can't control the clickwheel.
2. Old iPod 3G might get jealous. Don't worry 3G, I still love you. Even if you are scratched up and last no longer than 30 minutes without being plugged in. Hmm, how much room do I have on my credit card.
3. Annoying people with my pictures, bloodbath ensues.
4. Worried that I might try an swallow the nano, even more worried that I'll succeed this time.
5. Afraid that people might snicker at little Rob's (the nano has a name already) diminutive size.
6. Forgetting the lockout code
7. Spend all day telling people what time it is in Tokyo. Spend day after that telling people why they should care.
8. Might fall asleep with repeat on. Never be able to get "I wanna know what love is" by Forgeiner out of my head.
9. Nano might come with subilminal advertising telling me to buy everything that apple makes. Ha, that jokes on them, I already do that.
10. nano might start declare itself a state unto it's own and start a war of attrition that ends with the brutal extermination of mp3 players at the local Best Buy

I'm not saying that any of this would or even that it could happen. What I'm trying to say is that I need to think of as many crazy reasons not to buy one so that I don't buy one. At least not until Apple releases a video ipod.

A Note to the Federal Disaster Planners

When you have a Category 5 hurricane barreling down the Gulf of Mexico heading directly for a major coastal city you mobilize the troops before, not almost a week after the catastrophe. We live in the age of digital doppler radar, so take your eyes of the farmers alminac for once and live in the right now.

The federal response to this disaster has been atroucious. Not enough people in not enough time. There are looters on the streets, people are starving, there is no clean water. There isn't even anywhere to go to the bathroom. You can throw all the facts and figures that you want. We know that people aren't getting the things that they need at the time that they need them most. We have the news. Not Fox News, the real kind. It tells us that things are really bad down there. It tells us that you are failing us.

Here's my forcast for what's going to happen in the next few days. Feel free to ignore it just like you did the weather channel. Your spinmeisters are going to go into overdrive to minimize the negative press.

Fox News is going to do everything it can to avoid pinning this on the administration. Even if that means eating a certian Republican governor of Louisiana for dinner.

Conservative pundits are going to say things like "Why don't we hear about the good news from New Orleans." They may even try to organize a "truth rally".

Our glorious leader will go on national television and proclaim that everything is fine and that we are doing everything in our power. Even though everything in our power would include the manpower currently unavailable to us because it's in Iraq.

You are going to continue failing the people in New Orleans. Disaster. Anarchy. Etc. will reign.

My prayers go out to the people who suffer on your watch.

Sincerely,

ME

The Week of Moving

This has been an exausting time for Rob this week. I'm getting ready for a move. Most of you, if not all of you, should know what this entails. Lots and lots of sorting and cleaning. It's fantastic.

I used to not be this way. I would put off packing til the night before. Then I would expect the stuff to magically move to the new apartment while I cleaned the old one. Suffice it to say that it doesn't work this way.

I really pissed off my friends a couple of years ago when I put off moving until the very last second. I spent two whole days packing things into boxes while my friends did the bulk of the moving. Needless to say they weren't pleased with me. They vowed never to help me move again. I vowed never to let that happen again.

All it really required me to do was put some forthought into the move. Get some boxes beforehand and prepare. These are not things that come naturally to me. Chaos and disorder yes, but not planning and preparedness.

However, my desire to make moving as painless a process as possible overrides my tendency to put things off until the last minute. I just know that the last minute is about a week too late. I'm glad that I do it this way. My friends are glad that I do it this way. Everyone is glad. Glad, glad, glad, glad, glad.

I can't wait until the move is over.