Category: Music

Background Noise

/ Paul / Leave a comment

Typical day at work. Nothing special. I even left early and was home by 3:00 today. When I got home I did my usual web surfing and then sat on the couch to read. I checked my pedometer when I got home and I had only walked a little more then 5 miles during the day. Feeling like a slug and feeling guilty for just sitting on the couch reading, I decided I would go downstairs to the treadmill and walk a few more miles. I put on my walking clothes, grabbed my iPod Mini and my book and headed downstairs. Luckily there was no one in the exercise room and I had my choice of the machines. I chose the one with the best view of the door so I could see who was coming and going. I cranked it up to 3.5 miles an hour and began reading. One might be wondering what it is I listen to while walking. Well, I’m not your typical gay man who gets into dance or house music. I’m actually a geek when it comes to background noise while walking. I prefer something without words so I won’t sing along thus tearing me away from the book I’m reading. I usually prefer something very soothing and quiet. Believe it or not, I listen to John Tesh while walking. His music is somewhat monotone without drastic highs or low volume lows. It becomes simply background noise. Something to drowned out the hum of the treadmill but not loud enough to distract me from what I’m reading. It’s typical new age crap but it’s just right for walking on the treadmill while trying to read. I enjoy it. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I listen to John Tesh but what the hell, it works for me. I actually have some Yanni in my iTunes library as well but his music is all over the place and would cloud my attention to the book. So while listening to John Tesh this afternoon I really got into reading my book and wasn’t really paying attention to how far I was walking. When I looked up I had gone 3 miles! I felt good about that and decided to finish the chapter I was reading and stop. After the walk back to my condo I checked my pedometer and found that I had walked a total of 8.43 miles today. That is VERY good for me. I feel very good and proud of myself for doing so well. Now if I could just see a change in my weight. I hate waking up, stepping on the scale and seeing the same 180 everyday. It seems like it takes me forever to loose a pound. I’m really watching what I’m eating and increasing my cardio (obviously) so I should see a change in my weight soon I would think. I’ll stick with it. It took me 3 years to loose 50 pounds. I can wait a little while longer to loose 10 more pounds.

On the topic of music, I downloaded a bunch of songs from iTunes a few days ago. One I downloaded that I’m really hooked on is Jessica Simpson’s With You. With You Click on this iTunes button to take you right to the song at the iTunes music store. I know it’s typical bubble gum top 40 kinda music but I like it. I put it on a CD with others I downloaded and listen to it in the car. I keep hitting the back button to listen to it over and over. I’m weird. I know.

Music and Pictures

/ Paul / Leave a comment

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.

Dinner With David

/ Paul / Leave a comment

I’m sitting here at the reliable iMac on a lazy Sunday afternoon, listening to Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me” (on iTunes) reflecting on my Saturday night. Time to record the happenings no matter how trivial they may seem to others.

Brad and I were meeting my friend David for dinner tonight. We decided to go shopping first. I picked Brad up at 4:00 and we drove the back roads from his house to Landmark Mall. Now, I’ve lived here for 38 of my 39 years and I could not tell you the way Brad directed me to get to Landmark Mall from his house. It’s so strange that I have lived here so long and don’t know the back roads to get to places without having to go on the beltway. Brad is amazing that way. He’s been here half the time I have and knows so many more ways to get places. I guess I should get out more. Anyway, we get to Landmark Mall and begin looking for a store called “As Seen On TV”. I have been looking for this goofy product that puts lotion on your back for you. I can never reach the center of my back and never have anyone around to do it for me. So I end up having an itchy back often. For years I’ve been looking for something to put the lotion on my back for me. My friend David found such a product and sent me the link to it. I thought about ordering it but he told me that there is an ‚”As Seen On TV” store in Landmark Mall. So Brad and I went there looking for the Lotion Applicator. We breeze through the Mall and find the store and I go ahead and buy one, not knowing if it will work or not. I’ll give it a try. We then cruise the rest of the mall looking at other stores and seeing what all they have there. A few things come to mind while walking the halls of Landmark. First, there are very few national chain stores in this mall. It seems like the mall has gone down hill. Most of the stores are junk shops. It’s like all the good stores up and left. Second, Brad and I were two of maybe 10 white people in this mall. I couldn’t get over how many nationalities were represented in the mall. If you have a liking for ethnic men, you would have a field day at this mall. And not only is the mall now filled with foreigners, but the only other white people in the mall had to be transplanted white trash. This is not the mall for people watching. Everyone was ugly or fat or ugly AND fat. Not that I’m a prize or anything but I know good looking people when I see them. These people were not. With our little bit of shopping over, we left the united nations mall and went to the Wal-mart in Kingstowne. Yet another place filled with white trash and foreigners. When I first began going to Wal-mart at Kingstowne a good 6 years ago, there wasn’t anyone there and the traffic and parking were acceptable. Now you have to fight for a spot and wait in long lines at the traffic lights. I can’t believe how much that area has changed. I go there so rarely. Usually my friend David, who lives over there, usually comes by my place or picks me when we do something together. I rarely go to his place. After our adventures in shopping, Brad and I decided to head over to David’s house and pick him up for dinner.

David and Brad waiting to be seated.We got to David’s place a little early but that’s okay because David knows I’m always 10 minutes early. He met Brad and gave us a tour of his house and told of the latest projects he’s been working on. We then decided to go to Macaroni Grill for dinner. We drove over to Macaroni Grill and parked. The lot was packed and it didn’t look good for an easy seating. We checked and sure enough it was going to be a 55 minute wait. I was already hungry and didn’t want to wait. We decided to cross the street and walk over to Uno’s. We got there and there was only a 15 minute wait. I put my name on the list and we sat and talked while waiting. I took a few pictures of Brad and David waiting to be seated. They both hate having their pictures taken. I think Brad hates it more though. In just a few minutes we were seated and ordering. We had a very cute waiter. A very young blond thing that couldn’t have been more then 22 or so. I didn’t comment on the waiter at the time but I am now. Brad and I shared a pizza and David had some salmon. The meal was good and we enjoyed some nice conversation. Brad got to know David and David got to know Brad. Since this was their first meeting, Brad was very nervous to begin with. Approving of a new boyfriend is what good friends are for. They will also tell you if you are making a mistake. Luckily David hasn’t had to tell me too often of my mistakes but I know he’d be honest and tell me if he thought I was making a mistake. After paying the check, we settled on going to Dairy Queen for ice cream (how appropriate for 3 gay guys to go to Dairy Queen, even though we are not queens at all). We drove the short trip to DQ and went inside. Brad and David had blizzards and I just had some chocolate ice cream with caramel topping. We sat and enjoy the ice cream even with the chilly wind blowing outside. Brad asked me to help him finish his and I agreed. Ha Ha Ha. While Brad went to the restroom after we finished, David and I went outside and he informed me that he approved of Brad and thought he was a very nice guy. I knew he’d approve. After the ice cream we went back to David’s house. He showed us some fun things on his computer and all his new gadgets. I also wanted him to show Brad my web page and blog on his computer. Brad still has dial up at home with an older computer and things don’t look as clear or load as fast as they do on other computers. Brad and Paul at dinner.It was getting late, for Brad and I, so we thanked David for getting together with us and for the ice cream and we left. Going home I took the beltway to get back to Brad’s house. The traffic was nothing at that time and I knew the way. Back at Brad’s house I wasn’t going to spend the night because Brad was very tired and really needed a good night’s sleep without me in the bed kicking him or snoring and keeping him awake. But he talked me into staying over. Again, I slept well and Brad didn’t. I told him I felt so bad that he wasn’t sleeping when I stay over. He said it would get better with time. I hope so. I hate I’m keeping him from getting a good night’s sleep. I mean, it’s wonderful holding each other and chatting before falling asleep and then again when we wake up but if he doesn’t sleep in between, he’ll be tired all day. So after dressing and putting a hat on my bed head, I left Brad to attend his long standing breakfast group and to do his taxes. I’ll call him later to check on how his day is going. Brad gives me a good feeling. I like it.