Author: Paul

Doctor Appointment

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Did you ever read (or see the movie) Bridget Jones’ Diary? I love that book (and the movie). She started each entry with how much she weighed, ate, smoked, etc. Well, I’ve decided to start each entry with my weight and how many miles I walked today.

(Gross part of the entry begins here, ignore if you are squeamish.)

I took the day off today to go to the doctor. About a month ago I started to notice a little bump forming right below my lower lip. At first I thought it was a zit so I did the typical thing and picked at it, etc. It never went away. As a matter of fact, it kept getting bigger. It was very annoying. When I would talk to people I would see their eyes dart down to my lip and then back up again. As if I didn’t know it wasn’t there! I would pick at it and then leave it alone for days. Nothing worked. So I made an appointment and went to the doctor today. I was all nervous because I feared the worst. Cancer maybe? The doctor took one look and said, with a little laughter, “That’s a wart.” While I was glad it wasn’t cancer, I wondered how I could get a wart. I’ve never had one before. He told me it’s very common and not a big deal at all. He went and got some liquid nitrogen. He used a small q-tip and began freezing it. He did this for a good five minutes until I couldn’t take the stinging. He said it would eventually turn black and fall off. Maybe two weeks. He said if it doesn’t go away in two weeks to come back for another treatment. Now that I know what it is and that it will eventually go away, I can relax. I can put up with the way people look at me for the next few weeks knowing that it will go away. I know this is kinda gross to talk about but hey, it’s a blog, it’s my life, shit happens. 🙂

(Gross part of the entry ends here.)

So my doctors appointment was at 8:00 am so I had the rest of the day to run errands and have lunch with Sweet Brad. I picked Brad up at his office at 1:00 and we went to a local place for their pizza buffet. It was really good. Lots of pasta and pizza and all that stuff bad for you. I completely stuffed myself. I ate way too much. The best part of course was spending a few hours with Sweet Brad. I hadn’t seen him since the weekend. He was all dressed up in a suit for work. Damn, he looked HOT! Too bad I didn’t have my camera! As usual we had some great conversation and caught up on things going on this week. We made tentative plans for the weekend as well. I always enjoy spending time with Sweet Brad. On the way home from lunch with Sweet Brad I stopped and got some new ink cartridges for my printer. When I got home I printed some photos. I was feeling miserable from eating so much so I got into my walking clothes, strapped on the iPod Mini, grabbed my book, and went down to the treadmill. I was determined to walk off my lunch. I stayed on the treadmill for an hour and a half. I walked close to 5 miles. I even inclined the treadmill to level 4. It was like climbing a small hill. I would have kept walking but a women came in close to the time I was done so I decided to give up the treadmill and let her use it. While walking I read almost a third of my book. I’m really enjoying this story. I’m sure I’ll finish it soon. Now I plan on relaxing the rest of the evening and in bed by 9:00. My life is pretty trivial, huh? But hey, that’s what I like about writing this blog. No matter how trivial it seems, I can write about and feel good about it. Cool.

Happy St. Patricks Day

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope everyone reading this had a great day. I’m not a big drinker so I won’t be going out tonight enjoying any green beer. I am sure there will be many other drunk gay men out partying tonight. They can drink a few for me. Not that I don’t drink, I just don’t drink that often. I did, however, wear green today. I picked out a nice subtle green button down shirt. If I was smart I would have used my camera with it’s self timer to take a picture, but I didn’t. I hate pictures of myself so you’ll just have to imagine me in a nice green shirt. I thought I looked pretty nice.

I had a busy but good day. I got many things done and feel very successful. I’m taking off tomorrow so I prepared at work today to be off tomorrow. I got everything done I needed to get done so that I won’t have to worry about not being at work tomorrow. I also feel good about my exercise plan. When I got home from work today, I changed into my walking clothes and went downstairs to the exercise room and walked an additional 2 miles on the treadmill. According to my pedometer I have walked 7.87 miles today. That is very good for me. I usually average between 5 to 6 miles a day. I’d like to walk an additional 2 miles every day. I have to stick to it if I want to loose 10 pounds before my 40th birthday in May (I know I keep saying that, so ignore it if you are tired of reading it). Of course I plugged my new iPod Mini into my ears and listened to some soothing music while walking. It’s such motivation. I think my choice of music wouldn’t impress anyone. It actually might repell some so I won’t tell you want I was listening to. Just know it did the trick for me and I was able to get through 2 miles with no problem at all. I barely broke a sweat. All this exercise is good for me. I went on the Deathclock.com website today and found out, after putting in a few statistics, that I’ll die on Monday, April 10, 2045. That means I’ll be 81. I’m not sure I want to live that long, but it’s nice to know I might. I think 75 is a good age to die. It’s long enough to enjoy retirement but not too old to start falling apart completely. We’ll see if the deathclock is right or not. Thanks to roblog for the link to the deathclock.

While walking on the treadmill I was able to read two more chapters in the book I’m reading. The story is basically about two guys who are ex-lovers who were together for 6 months but haven’t seen each other in more then a year. They are thrown together and spend a day together and talk about everything under the sun, it seems. One section of one of the chapters talked about how they were together for 6 months and the one guy broke up with the other guy on the phone and what a shit he was for doing it that way. That little part reminded me of my last relationship. He and I were together for only 6 months and he broke it off on the phone. I wouldn’t categorize him as a shit but tacky none the less.

While I’m off tomorrow I’m planning on meeting Sweet Brad for lunch. What a treat! First of all, I never take off work. I have 10 months of leave saved up. So it’s rare that I’m not at work. I’m sure I’ll get up at my regular time and do my regular things but it will be nice not to think that I have to rush off to work. Second of all I never get to go out to lunch. It will be such fun to meet Sweet Brad for lunch. He goes out to lunch all the time and it won’t be a big deal for him but for me it will be. And third, I’ll get to see Sweet Brad. I haven’t seen him since the weekend. It seems like forever! I’m sure we’ll chat the entire time we are together catching up on the week and what’s going on with us. I’m excited! I can’t wait! (I’m a dweeb, I know)

iPod Mini Arrives!

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It arrived today! I got my new iPod Mini! I kept checking the Fed Ex site and saw about 11:00 am this morning that it arrived at my place at 10:28. Yeah! So when I got home I picked it up and ripped open the box. I plugged it in and right away iTunes opened up and copied my song library onto the iPod Mini. Only took a few minutes. Then I opened iSync and transferred all my calendars and contacts to the iPod Mini. Now I have all my music and information stored on the iPod Mini. It’s great! Then I plugged the headphones in and started listening to some of my favorite songs while doing things on the computer. Of course I could have listened to my songs on iTunes but it’s more fun to use the new iPod Mini. It’s a cool blue color and I had it engraved on the back with my name. Apple is so cool! I promised in an earlier post that I would walk an extra two miles a day to justify it’s purchase. Well, starting tomorrow I will come home, change clothes and get on the tread mill and DO my two extra miles a day. I promise! Now for a suggestion for future upgrades to the iPod line for Apple. I suggest they build Bluetooth into the iPod and into the earbuds. That would be so cool. You could just stick these little earbuds into your ears and clip the iPod onto your belt and no wires would get in your way. Sometimes when I’m walking my hands catch the cords and I yank them out of the socket. Just a suggestion Apple.

On another note. Why does my web site and blog look so bad on Internet Explorer and the AOL browser? I was surfing around and wondered what they looked like on those programs and I checked them out. They totally render my pages and blog terribly! They use the wrong font, put boxes around things. I just hate the way it looks. I use Apple’s Safari and everything looks perfect. Every thing’s in the right place, the fonts are right, and the colors show up correctly. Why is there such a difference in browsers? What can I do to make them all look the same? Why can’t everyone use Apple products? They are far more superior!

Music and Pictures

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I get in my car this morning and realize I’m tired of hearing the music I’ve had in the CD player for over a month. I decide to listen to the radio. I have a few favorite stations but I was in the mood for something different. I don’t keep any other CDs in my car so I had to scan the radio stations. I don’t think I’ve listened to the radio in my car for any length of time since I bought the car. Since it had a 6 CD changer built in, I haven’t really had a need to listen to the radio. I just burn CDs with songs I like and listen to them over and over again. I have no idea what stations are available these days. I hit scan and couldn’t pick one I liked. I only have about a 10 minute commute to work so by the time I got to work, I had not chosen a station. On the way home this afternoon I listened to one of the tired CDs I already had in the changer. This evening I decided to pick out some new CDs to listen to. I picked Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits and The River. I also chose Shania Twian’s UP. Then I also burned 2 CDs with various titles from my iTunes library. So on my short trip to and from work tomorrow, I’ll have something new to listen to. Oh the joy!

I was also fooling with my camera this evening and decided to see if it would take night shots. I quickly snaped off a shot and it came out shaky (hence, the first picture). Then I read the book a little and figured out the settings and took another picture (hence, the second picture). The photos are of the skyline of Tysons Corner off my balcony. Doesn’t look too bad. I actually like the artistic look of the first shaky picture. And with the basic lens the camera came with, I couldn’t get too close to the subject. Maybe it’s time to get a telephoto lens or zoom lens. I’ll have to check to see how much they are for my camera. I shouldn’t be spending any more money but it would be nice to have either one of those lens to get closer to subjects I want to photograph. I’ll have to experiment more with night shots. I would love to go into the city some night and take some amazing shots of different buildings. That would cool. I’ll have to talk Brad into going downtown with me sometime to do that. It would be fun.

What Are Sundays For?

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I don’t know about you, but Sundays are great days. Lots of people spend their Sundays relaxing, reading the paper, getting up late, enjoying the day. I see Sundays as days to catch up on all the things I couldn’t get to during the week. I get so much done on Sundays. In the past few years my sleep patterns have changed and I just can’t sleep late anymore. I’m usually up before 7:00 am. Since Brad and I didn’t sleep together last night I was actually able to get a good nights sleep. I got up at 6:00 am this morning. I didn’t set an alarm or anything, I just woke up. So I did my lazy things. Read a little of the paper, ate breakfast, surfed the web reading my favorite blogs and web sites, checking mail. Then I put a load of laundry in and got started. I changed the sheets on my bed, took a shower, and went to run errands. I got all that done before 9:00 am! For some people that’s a whole days work.

Then I went to my mother’s house to meet with a real estate agent. She’s ready to sell her house and get a condo. She’s lived in the place for 39 years. When she and my father bought the place in 1965 they paid $16,500 for it. The real estate agent told her he could list it for $370,000. She was shocked. I’m glad it will go for that much. That way she can buy a condo out right and not have a mortgage. That will make her happy.

After meeting with the agent, I came home and finished my laundry, balanced my checkbook, paid a few bills, updated a few pages on my web site, read a few chapters in the book I’m reading and watched some TV. Then I got a surprise phone call! Brad called and asked if I wanted to go run some errands with him and get some ice cream. Of course I said yes. Any chance I get to spend time with Brad, I’ll do it. So he picked me up and we ran his errands and then we went to Creamy Stone ice cream shop (a new one just opened up in Vienna and there’s one in Fair Oaks). The place was pretty busy for a rather chilly Sunday afternoon. We waited in line and made our selections. After awhile we got our ice cream. We went outside and sat on the patio to enjoy it. It was very good. The portions were rather large so I had to help Brad finish his. It was delicious. Of course I’ll have to walk an extra 30 miles this week to work it off! Hahaha. Then Brad brought me home, kissed me, and was off on his way.

When I got home I checked my e-mail and I had a message from Apple saying my iPod Mini had shipped! I clicked on the tracking number and went to the Fed Ex site and it said it was in SHANGHAI China! Of course it’s tomorrow there already. It’s got tomorrows date as the day it left China. I hope it gets here by Wednesday. I didn’t really need an iPod Mini but I wanted one and I’m justifying it’s purchase by saying I will walk an additional two miles a day, each day to increase my cardio and increase my weight loss. Another 10 pounds would be nice. Brad thinks I look fine and doesn’t think I need to loose any more. I told him I’m loosing it for me, not for anyone else. I want to be 165 by my 40th birthday (I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before).

So that was my Sunday. I consider it to be very productive as well as relaxing. The rest of the evening I will watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition (but it’s a rerun so I probably won’t pay attention to it) and the Sopranos and then I’ll read a few more chapters in my book before bed. I love reading and this book is holding my interest. I hope you enjoyed your Sunday!