Occupy Wall Street - the video

I especially got a kick out of the Chinese dissident who asked me to take his picture.

Occupy Wall Street, the sideshow - I mean slideshow

There was more than a little of the carnival atmosphere to the place. While I agree with the underlying grievances, let's face it: a lot of these folks are self-indulgent circus barkers. And that's okay.

Happy Halloween

That crazy October snowstorm

This is one we'll remember for years to come. There hasn't been a significant, winter-like snowstorm in October since the Civil War, and this is one for the records.

We had no idea how severe it was going to be, so off we went to the Jersey house on Saturday morning. As we were driving not far from the house, the passenger-side windshield wiper broke - not just the wiper, but the apparatus - and started slamming against the windshield. Had it been the driver's side we would have had to pull over and call AAA.

We made it to the house and decided to eat whatever little there was there for dinner and stay inside. Then in the late afternoon the power went out, as it did for 600,000 other New Jerseyites. There's nothing quite as boring as sitting in a darkening house with candles. So finally we decided to brave the drive to the Giant in New Hope and at least get groceries. Their power had gone out in the afternoon and it appeared they'd be losing all their dairy and meat, and were running lights on a generator.

We did some shopping and found one restaurant open, the Stockton Inn in Stockton, on the way home. We went there and were eating dinner with maybe a half dozen other couples. Frank was still upset about the whole thing and I said, "Just let it go. We're powerless." And as if on cue, the instant I said we were powerless, the lights went out! We ended up having a lovely meal by candlelight, but the whole thing was very strange and more than a little unsettling.

Sunday morning the power was still out. The water wasn't running, it was freezing in the house, so we just packed it up and came home. What an experience.

October snowstorm in New Jersey

New Jersey snowstorm (photo two)

October snowstorm in New Jersey (photo 1)

Birthday dinner at Rolf's restaurant

I wanted to go to Rolf's for old-time's sake, so that's where we had my birthday dinner. It's just two blocks from the apartment. It's a very festive place, and they do it up with hundreds of thousands of lights every winter. The bar's hopping, but the restaurant wasn't all that full. Who knows why. It's German/Bavarian food. I noticed on their website, such as it is, they have some kind of postcard photo from Bavaria (or someplace). Strange, but the whole place is a little off.

53 is a prime number

Cross-posted from lgbtSr.com

Today is my 53rd birthday. I don't usually make much of them, other than with a few friends and my partner, but this one feels significant. As for turning them into events, I'd reserved those for the decades: a party at 40, a cruise at 50. On the other hand, I consider myself a Halloween baby, so there's always been something special and frighteningly magical to coincide with being another year older.

But maybe the fact I feel as if I'm running out of birthdays has this one seeming more important, more reflective. I'm at so many cross-roads: wanting to leave a job I'm no longer interested in (I had a great 10 year run with wonderful people, all of whom were swept out in a putsch); starting a website for over-50 LGBT people (lgbtSr.com) that has given me passions and interests that only serve to remind me how dreadful sitting in a cubicle can be; starting on a mystery novel - my very first - and wanting so much to reclaim those halcyon days of beginning each morning at a keyboard, opening my mind and letting my imagination out - or in, as the case may be; and, not least, the impending 20 year anniversary of my partner Jim's death. He died November 6, 1991, and the last two decades, to use that old and tired phrase, have flown by.

I'm not one for feeling old or wondering where the time went, but its passing feels more pronounced this year. My parents are dead (except my birth mother, who's now in a nursing home in Mississippi). I'm about to celebrate five years with my husband, although I'm not sure if we'll be making that legal or not - but we will certainly be together until one of us is gazing at the corpse of the other. (That's not really a morbid thing to say when you consider that we have both held the curiously heavy boxes of ashes of our dead partners.)

It just feels so . . . now or never. Even with the best of health and luck I am entering the last third of my life, and what I want to do with it, and how I want to spend it, is weighing heavily on me. I would sooner shoot myself in the head than to say I'm "fifty-three years young!" (oh, the ways we avoid the language of age), but I also think it's prime-time, time to stake a claim to life if ever there was, time to stop wasting time. Happy birthday to me, and here's hoping the next one arrives just a little bit more slowly.

Rick Perry's wife blames Christianity for husband's flameout, says Obama cost son his job

What's with the blame-Christianity-first crowd? Not only does Anita Perry, wife of rodeo clown Rick Perry, say people hate her husband because of his faith, but she says her son had to quit his job because of those pesky SEC regulations Obama personally shoved down the gilded throats of the financial industry. Apparently the 28 year old has no other skills and does not believe in the personal responsibility mantra of his own political party.

From the Huffington Post:

Anita Perry, the wife of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, said she sympathized with the unemployed Friday because her son resigned from his job at Deutsche Bank to campaign for his father, reports CNN.

"He resigned his job two weeks ago because he can't go out and campaign with his father because of SEC regulations," she said at a Pendleton, S.C. diner, in response to a middle-aged voter who lost his six-figure job and now works as a handyman. "My son lost his job because of this administration," she added. CNN reports that the SEC recently adopted stricter rules for investment advisers undertaking political activity.

SNIP]

Anita Perry has been campaigning for her husband in South Carolina this week. She spoke Thursday about how opponents had "brutalized" the campaign. "We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party," she said. "So much of that is, I think they look at him, because of his faith," she added, possibly referring to questions in recent days over Rev. Robert Jeffress, who endorsed Perry and has called Mormonism "a cult." She also compared his decision to run for president to Biblical stories of Moses and Gideon.

Occupy Portland defines down twinkles for world media

And I thought it was something like an otter bottom . . .

A day in Olde New Castle, Delaware – repost

I’m re-posting the travel pieces I have that I managed to preserve on PhotoBucket and YouTube.

Last May we took a tour of the old homes in New Castle, DE, they offer annually. The first house we went into was owned by a lovely African-American man who showed us around and also told us he was the only African-American opening his home for the event. In part this is because his home has a rich history, dating back to a freed-slave ancestor who lived there, was taken hostage, apparently for re-sale back in a slave state, and aided by the townspeople.

The town participates, complete with festivities and people in costumes. It makes for a very nice half-day trip (not including getting there and back) and I’d do it again.

Self portrait #12

More self-portraits at MadeMarkPhoto.

Happiness is Halloween at Rainbow Mountain

While one ought not cry over spilt milk, the only two things I really miss from those 2700 posts I deleted here several months ago are the travel pieces and the restaurant reviews. And while the reviews are lost forever, many of the travel pieces survive on PhotoBucket and YouTube. So . . . . I’ll be slowly reposting what I can. For posterity, and because my life with Frank is the best thing about it. Awww, gee.

Last year we went to Rainbow Mountain for Halloween, my favorite local getaway. We’ve done so much travelling this year that I hope in 2012 we can slow that down, hit a few places we really want to visit, and head back a couple times to this magical place in the Poconos.

You can see a video of our first visit here.

Bachmann declares Herman Cain the Antichrist

Jesus wrestles with Herman Cain over soul of the Republican Party

In last night’s GOP debate, Herman Cain spoke about his “999 plan”, to which Michele Bachmann responded that if you turn it upside down, “The Devil is in the details.” She is referring of course to the number 666, a bit of biblical branding that has fueled many a horror movie. And I thought Obama was the Antichrist.

Hawaii's Cunning Lingle joins US Senate race on National Coming Out Day

Linda Lingle strategically placed in front of some sort of Mexican rainbows

Such impeccable timing. Anti-marriage equality and ex-governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii has announced her Senate bid.

From the Star Advertiser:

Former Gov. Linda Lingle announced today that she will enter the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Lingle, the first woman and the first Republican elected governor in four decades, will stress her chief executive experience in her campaign.

She described governors as "very practical people because we had to get things done as governors."

Lingle also said she would be an independent voice for Hawaii. "I want to be real clear on this point: I don't work for (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell, and for that matter I don't work for President Obama. I work for the people of Hawaii," she said on the Perry & Price radio show.

"And if there is a law being proposed, whether it's from the president or from Mitch McConnell, if it's good for Hawaii I'm for it. If it's not good for us, I'm against it regardless of who introduces it."

Just back from Natchez

We got back last night from our second trip together to Natchez, MS, to visit my birth family. My mother is the only parent I have left alive (Mom and Dad are both dead, and I never met my birth father).

I really enjoy going there. We stopped in New Orleans for a day and night along the way (you can read about that at lgbtSr.com), which added to the fun of it for me. It touches me very much that we’re made to feel so welcome. Frank is part of the family, and I have to say I find Mississippi much more interesting than Indiana. Maybe it’s because I hated growing up in northern Indiana, but that’s the way it is. I will likely never go back to Indiana, but I can see myself visiting Mississippi with some regularity. They feel like family now to me more than ever, and when all is said and done, it's added a richness to my life I wouldn't trade for anything.

My brother's house in Natchez, MS

Best Western, French Quarter - NOLA

I don't do much posting at MadeMark these days, all the more reason I regret deleting 2700 posts in some sort of mental purge or cleansing. I lost a lot of reviews, travel posts, videoblogs and whatnot. I just keep imagining it all as a sand painting that gets wiped away with the wave of a hand: the nature of life.

I'm also very involved with lgbtSr.com, which keeps growing steadily. I've added a podcast, and we may be partnering with GetEQUAL to engage the over-50s in activism.

Meanwhile, Frank and I are in New Orleans and heading to Natchez this morning to see my birth family. Having a wonderful time so far.

Sign of the day: Jesus the socialist

Bad Lip Reading: Michele Bachmann

The awful truth about Eggies

I fell for it - it looked so easy. Frank asked me if I thought we should try these and I said sure. People who make these commercials are very good at not showing you what they don't want you to see. They include lines like, "You'll be peeling eggs all night," which is just ridiculous enough to believe.

What they don't tell you is that you have to grease each eggie with cooking spray. They also don't show you the time it takes to put these things together (each eggie is made of four parts), take them apart, and wash them. It would be MUCH faster to just boil eggs and peel them. But now that we own these nearly-useless things, I'll be damned if I'm not going to use them.

Also, the cooked eggs look deformed, since you've cracked the eggs and poured them into an egg-shaped container. The tops are flat. If you want boiled eggs that look like boiled eggs, stick to the centuries' old method.

I'd rather be on Wall Street . . .

The last week has reminded how much I'd rather be out there reporting. The day is coming when I'll just have to take the leap and do it.

Frenchtown Cafe, Frenchtown NJ - four country breakfast yums

We had to go to Frenchtown to dry our laundry - the dryer's on the fritz again, after working fine for a year and a half. Machines are mysterious.

So while we waited for the clothes to dry we walked up the street to the Frenchtown Cafe on Bridge Street. Surprisingly, we hadn't been there before, but what a treat! It was decorated for the fall/Halloween season, and packed to the ceiling fans - for good reason. Everything was extra tasty, from the coffee to the omelets. I had a Greek omelet, which in most places includes tomatoes but not here: spinach, olives and feta cheese, made to perfection. Frank had something called a 'Gay Paree' with brie cheese and mushrooms. Gooey and delectable.

While it's not common for cafe/diner type restaurants to get four yums, this places earns it for outstanding food, friendly service and a very comfortable atmosphere. It should be on anyone's go-again list.

*Reviews are based on a one-to-five yum rating, with one being don't even think about it, and five being you're not likely to find any better.

It must be Halloween time

The Halloween decorations are out at the house.

Frank - portrait #17

From MadeMarkPhoto.net