I've been feeling a tingling in my throat all week and it's not the kind of tingling I like…if you know what I mean. My sinus' have been acting up all week. Yesterday they started draining and running down my throat (gross, I know) and tickling my throat making me cough. Today it hit me full force. I woke up with my head all clogged up and I could barely breath. All day I've had that tickling cough that's driving me crazy. I couldn't sleep last night because the cough kept waking me up. I hate that. Tonight I'm taking some drugs. Tomorrow I'm going to get some cold medicine so my head will feel better. I hate getting sick. However, this isn't the kind of sick where I stay in bed and not do anything. I'm feel fine except for the sinus' and my throat. But it sucks that I have to get this crap on a three day weekend. I was hoping I'd get lucky this weekend but that won't be happening now. I'm going to bed now. I hope I feel better in the morning.
Eyeing The iMac
Tonight my friend David stopped by my place on his way home. He was picking up my old iMac and I wanted to show him the new iMac. I’m hoping that lending him the old iMac will help sway him in the Apple direction. I doubt it will but it’s a good try. While he was playing with the new iMac, I got the camera out and took a few pictures of him. He said it was okay that I posted them. Of course I was playing with the self-timer and lamp lighting to take these pictures. I think lamp/natural lighting is so much better then using a flash. You can click on the pictures to see the larger versions. Anyway, David hung around until the debate began and then he was off with the old iMac. He said he’ll let me know what he thinks of the OS X software.
Photo Galleries
I need to figure out a new design for my photo galleries. Most sites I see have some kind of index and thumbnails and some kind of code that controls how they see the photographs. I've been fiddling with a program that Patrick introduced me to. I really like how the program will export photo galleries right from iPhoto. I also like one of the templates that works with the program but I need to tweak it to use my colors. I'm just not CSS or HTML savvy enough to know what to do with it. I need to do some more research. If anyone has any suggestions for some good photo gallery software that is easy to use and easy to tweak, let me know.
I'm very happy with all the photographs I take and want to share them but I don't like the way I present them on my web page. I know there are better ways to do it but I'm just not techie enough to do it. I'm frustrated right now. Argh! I also don't really have the time it takes to fiddle with this whole thing. Maybe I'll just keep them the way they are for now and when I have time I'll play with it all again. We'll see.
Since this was originally posted, I’ve changed the galleries. Click on “Male Nudes to see naked men.
Book Time
Last night I finished reading Belmondo Style by Adam Berlin. I really enjoyed this book. It was a story of a pickpocket father and his gay son and their very close relationship. The story takes place in New York City. The story is told through the eyes of a 16 year old boy. It tells of the father’s restless search for women and pockets to pick. The son is a runner at school who realizes he’s gay. The story takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions, crime, being on the run, sex, and love. There is one very disturbing violent scene that I didn’t enjoy but it was crucial to the story. Usually I don’t like the ending of the books I read but I have to say the ending of this book was pleasant. It tied up the loose ends and brought the story to a close. I would recommend this book. It’s not necessarily a gay book but because of the story line of the son realizing he’s gay and his first experience with love, it fits into my genre of gay novels. I think you’ll enjoy this book.
Next up is So Hard To Say by Alex Sanchez. I’ve read two books by this author so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this one. He writes mostly high school experiences with being gay and in love.
From Barnes and Noble.com:
Thirteen-year-old Xio, a Mexican American girl, and Frederick, who has just moved to California from Wisconsin, quickly become close friends, but when Xio starts thinking of Frederick as her boyfriend, he must confront his feelings of confusion and face the fear that he might be gay.
Most of the gay novels I read are full of white, middle class gay men so this might be a change. Of course I’ll write about it once I finish it…which shouldn’t be long. Shancez’s books tend to be easy reads and I think they are written with the high school teenager in mind.
On another book note, Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs was released today. I ordered it through my book club. I have been waiting a long time for his next book. I totally fell in love with him as an author when I read Running With Scissors and Dry last summer. Since that time I’ve been waiting for his next book. If this book is anything like his other two, I will fall in love again. Of course, another reason his books mean a lot to me is because HE and I were reading them at the same time last summer and had great conversations about the books. We both enjoyed them and admire Burroughs as an author. Reading this book will bring back memories but good memories. I wonder if HE knows about the release of Burroughs new book and if he will be reading it.
Crisp Air
I mentioned yesterday how fall is upon us and how things are changing. I noticed even more today. Some of you know that I walk a lot. During breaks at work I walk around the building. It's my form of exercise without going to a gym. I'm not gym material. Anyway, I try to walk at least 5 miles a day. Today I walked 5.71 miles. It was a good day. I have lots of breaks on Tuesdays it seems. It was a beautiful day so I decided to walk outside. The chilly air was crisp with a hint of what's to come. There was a slight breeze. I actually wore a coat to work today for the first time. While walking around and around the building I noticed more signs of change in the air.
On one lap I noticed one of those little caterpillars that is supposed to predict the weather. It's black on both ends and has a brown section in the middle. I don't know what they are called but this one had a pretty significant brown section in the middle. This is supposed to predict how long our winter will be. If it's true, we are in for a long winter.
On another lap I noticed how many squirrels were running around with nuts in their mouths (no jokes, please). They were running around looking for places to store their nuts for the winter. I don't know how they do it but they will burry their nuts in all kinds of places and then during the winter they will remember where they stored them. I find that amazing. Again, if the amount of storage taking place is any indication of the winter to come, we had better start doing some storing of our own.
On one of my final laps around the building I noticed a flock of geese taking off and flying away. We have a big open field and they love to land on our field and eat the grass. I guess they are taking a break from their trip south. I thought it's a bit early for them to begin flying south for the winter. I don't know anything about geese but it just seemed early.