Boys with glasses…

…get passes.

Yep, folks. I’m blind as a bat. I usually wear contacts, but they started bothering me yesterday after I left the lake. So today, I suppose I’ll be wearing these:

I believe I got my first pair of glasses when I was twelve. My prescription at the time was -1.25 in one eye, and -1.75 in the other. As I’ve grown older, my prescription has progressively grown stronger. Now I’m -3.25 in both eyes. All of this means that I can’t see a damned thing without some sort of eyewear. As a matter of fact, I see so poorly it kind of makes me a bit nauseous when I can’t see.

I am fortunate to be able to wear contacts, that’s for sure.

And there you have the requested picture. I also changed my profile pic yesterday with one that Linda took of Elvis and I.

Go out and seize the day.

A Saturday pictorial

I really like my new camera, so I’ve been snapping a few photos. Today, Linda and I went to pick up her new, custom built computer. This is what the “Black Beast” looks like:

It’s an awesome computer that should give Linda many, many years of service. Whenever I’m in the need for another CPU, I’m going to have one of these beauties made for me. The price wasn’t too expensive, just a little over $600.

So, after I helped Linda set this bad boy up, we decided to feed the ducks over at Chickasaw Gardens. This is the tony “old money” subdivision that is adjacent to mine. In the center of the subdivision is a large lake that I’ve been visiting since I was a wee pup.

Linda, feeding the “Aflac” duck.

This is a really large, mid-city lake. There’s nothing else like it in Memphis.

Linda, surrounded by the ducks. Why? Because she has the food!

There’s a name for this kind of duck, but it escapes me at the moment. They have very vibrant colors, but they’re really bumpy all around the face.

Just some ducks and pretty flowers. Can you tell I like birds?!

This is a typical home, adjacent to the lake in Chickasaw Gardens. My guess is that I won’t be living in this subdivision any time soon!

The fountain in the lake.

The “awwww” moment. If you know anything about cats, you know they love boxes. This is a picture of “Boyd”, the gray and “Jasper”, the orange. These are two of Linda’s cats, after they discovered the box the computer was shipped in.

I’ve been trying to relax a little today, but for some reason, I’m still tired. I think my job is getting to me. I think I’m a bit depressed, as well. (Perhaps this is job related? I swear, I’m a fucking rocket surgeon.)

I hope you’re having a great weekend!

Create your own nasty letter

Do you have a dysfunctional family member, friend or co-worker that you’ve been meaning to write a letter to, but you just can’t sort out your feelings? Try this link: http://www.drchinese.com/letter.html. It makes it all so simple and easy!

Um, this is nothing more than a joke, folks. If you truly do have some unresolved feelings toward a particular person, you might try talking to them. If that doesn’t work, you might send the letter as a last resort!

Plans change

Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious

You’re an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends.People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support.You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone.You have a great eye for design – and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

What’s” Your Blogging Personality?

I found this at Spider’s blog. This description of my blogging style sounds decidedly feminine, don’t you think? I’m practically a girl!

In other news:
I spoke with Spider on the telephone last night, I really liked him a lot. Were I to live in Orlando, I’m sure we’d be great friends. I had to tell him last night that Justin and I wouldn’t be able to come to the unofficial blogging “convention” in August. We had been planning to go down to visit and I had even cleared my schedule to be able to go. Turns out, Justin is the one with the scheduling conflict. Here we were worried about my being able to take the time off, and The Noble Krewe of Hathor’s (big extravaganza) thingy is planned for that weekend. As Justin is on the Board of Directors, he really must be there.

Disappointed? Sure. But it’s like I told Spider last night, there will be another opportunity, and we’ll make it happen.

A birthday gift for a friend

July 27

“You cannot get it by taking thought;
You cannot seek it by not taking thought.
-Zenrin poem

We are transported into unfamilliar worlds in this program by ideas that sometimes confound our mind. In the spiritual realms we learn things that we didn’t learn anywhere else, and gradually they bring us peace. We can decide with our will to follow a spiritual direction, to turn our life and will over to the care of God. We cannot control what God will do with them. When we learn that part of our problem was trying too hard, being too self-sufficient, or being too controlling, our old ways tell us to try hard to control that. But then we are only doing more of the same old thing. We learn that after making our decision, our Higher Power takes over. Now it is possible to be released from our own trying, to move beyond our own efforts by falling into the hands of God.

I must give this program first priority in my life, remembering any spiritual progress comes as a gift, not as an achievement.”

Today is Flip’s birthday. What you’ve just read is the July 27th installment of “Touchstones”, a book that was given to me by Flip a while back. Today’s meditation seems so appropriate considering his current spiritual journey.

Flip, we chatted a few weeks ago about synchronicity and how things tend to come full circle in ways that are more than coincidental. I got that feeling when I read today’s meditation. Why I’m fascinated by your spiritual journey, I’m not sure, but perhaps it’s because while I’m still seeking, you’re busy connecting…

A grave political endorsement

Here in Memphis, we’re going to the polls to vote on August 3rd. We have our primaries for U.S. Congress, some statewide elections and local elections. As you might imagine, there are campaign posters and advertisements everywhere.

While driving to work this morning, I heard a radio ad for a local candidate that’s running for a seat on the city charter commission. One of the endorsements on the ad was this: “Hey, this is Elvis, from the grave, and I say vote for Candidate X.”

Huh?

I didn’t know whether to be offended or amused.

You know, something as strange as this couldn’t be fabricated.

Christmas in July

Justin belongs to a charitable group called The Noble Krewe of Hathor that picks a charity each year and donates all of their fund raising to that group over the course of that year. This year’s charity is The Dream Factory of Memphis.

Sunday, The Krewe held a silent auction at Sessions. It certainly is odd to listen to Christmas carols while dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and sipping an ice cold beer! But it was a beautiful theme, with all of the colors.

I apologize for the darkness of some of the photographs, but the lighting was not optimal for photography.

These are pictures of some of the items for auction.

The photo at the top is of Eric and Trey. Eric is the person that took my profile picture that you see here on the blog every day. Eric and Trey started dating about a month ago. They still have that “new love cuteness” thing going on don’t they? The person in the lower image is Wade. He’s the Treasurer for The Krewe and just a really nice guy. He humors my computer, digital photography and general gadget questions.

Top photo: “Music” is his name and trivia is his game. Truly a force to be reckoned with.
Bottom photo: “Pat MacCooter” is a relatively new performer. But goodness, when she puts on her garb, the first thing that comes to mind is an old time Baptist church tent revival.

Top photo: Once again, the fabulous “Pat MacCooter”.
Bottom photo: A legend in Memphis, this is the lovely and talented, “Ms. Sophonda Peters”. If you don’t know her, you don’t know drag.

Top photo: Justin, running the spotlight for the show. Ain’t he cute?
Bottom photo: Steve, a friend of ours (and a reader of the blog) standing in front of his new Scion tC. If I were buying a new car, this one would be it.

So that’s it folks. Our Sunday in a nutshell. Or a part of it, anyway.

Joke off Monday 13

A man walked into a cowboy bar and ordered a beer just as President Bush appeared on the television. After a few sips, he looked up at the television and mumbled, “Now, there’s the biggest horse’s ass I’ve ever seen.” A customer at the end of the bar quickly stood up, walked over to him, and decked him.

A few minutes later, as the man was finishing his beer, Mrs. Bush appeared on the television. “She’s a horse’s ass too,” said the man. This time, a customer at the other end of the bar quickly stood up, walked over to him, and knocked him off his stool.

“Damn it!” the man said, climbing back up to the bar. “This must be Bush country!”

“Nope,” the bartender replied. “This is horse country!”

I’ve got some great pictures to show you tomorrow of a benefit that Justin and I attended Sunday. Until then, I hope you all have a great week!

(Photo courtesy of flickr, by Mestina)

Mucho grande televisiono

A friend of ours had a television that she didn’t want (to move) so she sold it to Justin for fifty bucks. It’s one of those huge projection televisions. Keep in mind that our house is about 1000 sq.ft. So, we now have a lot of TV and a little bit of home.

Oh, it’s got great sound, and the picture is about as good as one can expect from a projection TV, it’s just so big!

Anyway, here’s a picture:

In other news, we were finally able to inspect the truck that the gentleman wanted to trade for my Pontiac, plus some cash. No dice. The truck, unfortunately, was a real dog. He would have had to pay me to take it off his hands. But, he still wants my Pontiac and is willing to pay cash. He asked me to give him a few days to get it together and he’ll come by and pick up the car. I promised Justin I’d have the a/c fixed in the Ranger with part of the money.

So between the TV and the blessed a/c in the truck, Justin should be a very happy boy real soon.

I hope your weekend is orgasmic.

(Post edited after dinner)

Pokey posted a photo of a dish he created earlier this week. It sounded awfully tasty, so I decided to give it a try. My version includes avocado, red onion, shrimp, baby bella mushrooms, romaine lettuce, zucchini and vinegarette dressing.

Here’s a picture:

Pokey’s looked more appealing in his photograph, but my dish did taste good, though.

Oh, this is a picture of the TV after Justin fru-frued(?) it up.

I’ve been bitten by a "Spider"…

Spider tagged me for a meme Wednesday. The idea is that he picks a letter for me, in this case, an “R”, and I come up with ten words that describe myself that begin with that letter. Initially, I was not getting very far with this. I haven’t been sleeping well and work has been, well… work. So I just couldn’t come up with anything but maybe three words. Then, I explained the meme and how I had been tagged, and my friend Linda was eager to help. And boy, did she!

Reasonable: Sure, I’m a reasonable guy. In most cases, I have good judgment and make sound decisions.

Reliable: If I say I’m going to do something for you, you better believe I will. You can count on me.

Realist: I’ve been known to shoot down grand ideas, my thought processes are typically grounded in reality.

Romantic: Now, I am not the most romantic person in the world, I usually show love by my deeds and actions. But, occasionally I do plan a special night for Justin. Dinner, some wine, and kisses. See? That’s romantic.

Rectitude: I strive to take the moral high ground. (Or at least morality as I see it.)

Resilient: If you only knew. I’ve been through so many difficult and trying times, even when I was a kid. By gosh, I’ve always bounced back, even when I didn’t think it would be possible.

Rebel: I do things my way. You could ask anyone that knows me. I don’t mean this in a punk kid kind of way, (Although I was a punk kid!) but as a philosophy of life. What’s the point of conforming to rules that have no meaning? With my career, I’ve always done things differently, outside of the norm, skirting the rules that made no sense. So far, it has always worked for me.

Resourceful: I can devise the ways and means to make it happen.

Ruthless: Brad is ruthless? You bet. I’m generally a really nice guy, but if someone does something flagrantly wrong to me, my family or friends, punishment can be swift and terrible.

Restless: Justin is a always trying to get me to relax, but when I’m not working, I want to be doing something. He can sit, relax and watch a movie. Me, I’m thinking about the 143 different things I need to be doing.

There you have it, ten things about me that begin with the letter “R”. Thank you Spider, for including me on your list of tagees. Oh, and additional thanks for not giving me the letter “X”!

I’ll just tag three for this meme, I know they’ll do a great job with this meme and will have really introspective answers:

Mobius Flip: L
You Can’t Handle the Truthiness: G
Into the Frey: S

Tag! You’re it, fellows!

And finally, I have not abandoned Feedback Friday. I like it, and it feels like a way of thanking the regular readers of my blog. The problem is, Feedback Friday is time intensive and with time being a precious commodity for me of late, I haven’t been able to put together a decent FF for you.

I’m hoping next week I can get my act together and bring the feature back. I hope you understand.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!