i am not batman

nov 4th was quite an important day for me. deep down inside i had made a decision that if the election had gone the wrong way, i was going to push to get the hell out of here - new zealand seemed like a good place at the time (although there has since been an election there that brought in a conservative government, go figure). anyway there was no way i would have been able to continue to live in a country that clearly had no interest in changing for the better - im still not convinced that we are there yet, but at least i have some hope that change might happen whether people like it or not.

ive always thought that growing up and living in california had been a strong influence on my political views. there is a far more openness and an acceptance of diversity, and people tend to take more of a long term view on things. however on election day this year, california threw another knuckleball which it does from time to time (see the ban on affirmative action in 1997 and the recall of Gray Davis and election of Arnie in 2003). somehow the majority of the voters in california that day decided that it was a good idea to pass Proposition 8, amending the state constitution to take away the already established rights of a class of people to have a legally recognized marriage.

ive thought about this for almost three weeks now, and i still dont get it. why would someone want to deny someone else the legal recognition of their love for someone else? to all of those people in california (and florida and arkansas) that voted for this, i ask you - what the hell does it matter to you? it has nothing to do with you! this is not a statement on your own marriage! i must say that as much as i am proud of the fact that i grew up in california, this one event puts so much of that pride to shame.

as annoying and dramatic as keith olbermann can be, he has summed up many of my thoughts and feelings on this issue quite well. if you are one of those individuals that on nov 4th voted yes for any of the measures on your ballot that limited the rights of gay and lesbians, i ask you to watch this video and really ask yourself, why it is important to you to limit the rights of another person?

-b

blue-eyed pop

been a year ago today and im still feeling the same. Bright Eyes sums it up well.

-b

think im in love

to the amazement of some, and the joy of many, i finally did it. this last saturday evening i proposed to brenda.

to the amazement of none (at least i hope so), she said yes.

in a nutshell, we are happy.

for those interested in the 'how did it happen?' story, im going to save that for an actual conversation. lets just say it involved dj night, but as dorky as it may sound, it went perfectly . . . except for the part where i passed out an hour or so later in celebration.

for those itchin to know, "WHEN??!!" and "WHERE??!!!" i ask that you just hold onto your horses and enjoy this engagement period with us for a while. we want to celebrate this. hell, it only happens once, right? (actually, that doesnt pertain to either of us, but its only going to happen once for both of us together, so let us enjoy that, dammit!) we have some ideas that we have already tossed around a bit, and we will share those once we make a couple of decisions.

for those of you that are just now finding out about this and want to share this with other people, i want to ask a favor.... please dont tell them. instead, forward a link to my blog, so that they can read about it and maybe come back here a little more often....yes, its a shameless attempt at increasing my readership, but honestly, im know longer satisfied with the 5 readers that i have which venture this way once a month or so....

anyway, go forth and be happy. we will be.

-b

good

there appears to be some dissent in the rank and file.....a new posting is being demanded. well, who am i to deny the people? here you go, commoners! this one is for you.

there is a circle of individuals that i am affiliated with (by association only, trust me) that have begun a happy hour league. yes, it is pretty much what it sounds like, and i have to say i was a bit skeptical at first...i mean, come on, havent we all moved on from our mid-20s when we spent every friday night (and some thursdays) in the local bar drinking ourselves into sociable people? (ok, yeah i know, im not one to talk since i just found my drink of choice not 4 years ago, but cut me some slack, i was "socially challenged".) actually, i think the answer to my original question is, no. apparently, there is a younger crowd that i am (again) loosely affiliated with now (of course some are more loose than others..., but i digress).

the basic premise of the league is that every friday, for happy hour they hit another bar....the twist is that they pick the bar by the letter of the alphabet....this week they are on the letter "d," and i believe they will be frequenting delaney's which is somewhere downtown. the joke that brenda has repeated to me a number of times now is that if any members go all the way through the alphabet a - z without missing a letter, they get to start over with/at AA. haha. anyway, they are taking it quite seriously...they even have punch cards, which are only valid if you appear during happy hour (no late arrivals!).

apparently, many of the original members have now taken up position within the league. there is the director of field trips, the director of rules and regulations, and a few others that i cant seem to remember in my current sleep-deprived state. not that the titles really matter...apparently people change their titles weekly.

it even looks like a santa monica chapter has started up! im so excited!!!! daniel, this might be right up your alley....anyway, check it out.


this was one of our close encounters while we were backpacking in glacier national park a few months ago


-b


a few things that move me

1. hitting the 24th straight hour of no sleep
2. pinback (their show at the gothic was great!)
3. fall. i just cant get over this season! too bad its so short here.
4. vacations
5. pegboy - "strong reaction" from their album strong reaction
6. frousins
7. the girl
8. a good bm
   

its my life

the fact is, that im pretty damn lucky.

shes something special.

she knows it, which is a good thing, but i try to make sure that i let her know as often as i can.

shes waiting, and getting impatient. ive known it, even before she let me know, but i knew it....she just needs to be patient enough to wait till it happens....because it will.

-b

pretty mary k

i found this pretty cool website last night called world school photographs where you can search for your old yearbook photos. not only did i find my old pics from highschool, but i was even able to find my moms pics from when she was a kid...kinda scary actually. all the info you need is your school name, the city your school is/was located, the year that you went to school (+/- 3 years), and your name of course.

i really dont know how they have such a library of pics, but its kinda cool. surprised the site hasnt had more attention. enjoy

-b

dearly departed

back from vacation, and damn tired. got about 30 minutes of sleep before i had to head to work last night, and boy am i feeling it now, but i still wanted to get something down here.

quick recap, with more info to follow later....

loooonnnnnggg roadtrip. over 1000 miles to glacier ntl park...most of the drive was pretty boring. the straight way from denver takes you through plains after head-bobbing plains. when we finally got there lots of hiking and three days of backpacking ensued. cool wildlife and i hope we have some decent pics to document them.

then we headed west out of the park and stayed in whitefish, mt. nice little hic-town..and i mean that in a good way. then northwest to the corner of montana that borders with idaho and canada. i just had to see the yaak valley from rick bass's writings (if you havent read anything of his, you need to...start with winter). worth the drive. huge thunderstorms hit us in our tent that night...story to come on that later.

then we took the looooooooooonnnnnngggggeer way home through yellowstone, teton ntl park, flaming gorge rec area, and by dinosaur ntl monument (we definitely got our money's worth when it came to our new annual national parks pass). on the last day we had to take a huge detour through rocky mtn natl park in order to avoid what appeared to be some truly epic traffic heading up interstate 40 by winter park and over berthoud pass. needless to say, it made for a long final day and we didnt get back quite as early as we had hoped. oh well, i still dont really understand why you would want to come back early from your vacation anyway.

-b


a few things i learned on our trip

1. Brenda plays a mean air guitar to van morrison
2. the folks in montana are actually way more friendly than i expected
3. you may think of montana as a mountainous state, but its really about 85 percent boring plains
4. the two highest peaks in wyoming are in the wind river range
5. bozeman, mt is a pretty darn cool town....
6. ....butte, mt isnt