Vacation pics, late as usual

So without much comment here are pics from my trip to Colorado in August. I had an amazing time; it was great seeing both my mother and aunt, and I had fun in everything we did. We hiked, ate, shopped, ate, wandered around, ate, and just relaxed (and ate). I've been going to my aunt's place in Vail since I was about 10, but hadn't been there in about 15 years. It was nice to go back and see the place again. It has changed in a lot of ways, but hasn't changed in a lot of other ways. The only thing that didn't work out like we had hoped was the hike up the mountain my mother and I attempted. It was 4.5 miles with a 2500 foot climb in elevation. Seeing as we were starting at 8300 feet, it was a little too ambitious. We made it a little ways up and decided it would take us all day to make it to the top, if we did make it to the top. Beyond that it was a great trip and I'm very glad I decided to go. It made a nice birthday gift to myself.

Happy birthday to me

Well, another year has gone by, and I've reached the ripe old age of 41. It's been an interesting year with some good stuff and some bad stuff. So, in general, a normal year. I was going to take today off work but then ended up with last minute travel plans, so I'm taking all of next week off instead.

I was talking to my mother and aunt about their trip to Vail next week and they kept saying they wanted me to go, and I realized that I really wanted to go. So, I am. I leave tomorrow afternoon and come back the following Saturday. I used to spend a week in Vail with my aunt almost every summer when I was younger. It's been years since I've been there and I'm excited to be going. Plus, this is the first time I'll have spent any time alone together with my mother and aunt as an adult, and that should be interesting. We've always gotten along well and I think it will be nice finally spending time together as adults. I don't know what's planned, if anything, but I'm really looking forward to the trip.

I don't know what's planned for tonight. Maybe dinner out, maybe some gifts. No matter what, I'm sure it'll be enjoyable.

Since so many other people seem to post what happened in history on their birthday, I'll do the same

• 1806 - The Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis I abdicated.
• 1911 - Lucille Ball was born.
• 1914 - Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.
• 1945 - Hiroshima is bombed, killing 66,000 people instantly.
• 1968 - I was born.
  

Not a real auspicious day. An empire collapses, World War I begins, the first atomic bomb dropped on a city... At least Lucille Ball is in there to break up the bad stuff.

Only a week late: pics of Portland

I was behind with everything last week, including posting pics of our day trip last weekend. So, here they are:



By the time we futzed around and stopped for breakfast and then for coffee and then for gas and then for coffee again and then for every rest stop and then again for coffee, it was almost 3:00 when we got to Portland. Anthony had wanted to see the Pittock Mansion, but the inside closed at 4:00. We found the Portland Chinese Garden which turned out to be a great place. It was a little busy, but it was a really nice spot. After that I suggested that we go up to the Pittock Mansion anyway since the grounds are open until dark. It turned out to be a good choice. We got to wander around the outside of the house and still enjoy the view and the park.

After such a strenuous day we found one of the McMenamins pubs in the city and had some beers and dinner. Anthony and I played a round of pool, which only served to reinforce how bad we each are at it. We didn't care since we were having a good time.

That was our entire day in Portland. We didn't leave ourselves much time to do much, but the day trip was a good one and it was enjoyable to be out of the house.

Mr Fish

For my birthday in August Jayson and Anthony gave me a betta fish and a small but proper tank to keep him in. I never came up with a proper name for him, but over time he simply became Mr Fish. I set up the tank at work and with a plant in one corner he was very happy. He liked to sit in the plant and watch the movement on my computer screen. After I moved to my new desk he had lots of natural light and more activity to observe.

Every morning when I got to work Mr Fish was at the side of the tank to greet me. He did the same thing when I would leave my desk for any length of time during the day and return. He could obviously distinguish between me and others in my office since he seemed to react only to my presence and no one else. It was really nice to have him excited to see me. He turned out to be a good companion to have at work each day.

Over the holidays I brought him home in his tank since I was planning to be away from work a lot. I was also planning to change the gravel and get his tank cleaned out well while he was at home. Sometime over the last few days I noticed that he had started to get weak. He wasn't swimming as actively as he used to so Jayson and I quickly changed the water and got his tank cleaned out. After that he seemed to rally and be doing better.

Sadly, Mr Fish died this morning. When I checked on him first thing he was lying on his side alive but unable to move. That was really the end and by a short time later he was dead. I know he's "just a fish" and I'm surprised how attached to him I was in just a short amount of time, but he was a companion for me at work and I will miss him.. I'm really sad that he's gone and that I won't have him to greet me at work anymore first thing in the morning.

50 is the new 36?

While I respect the woman for what she's accomplished, I'm not a huge Madonna fan. I don't dislike her music, but I don't love it either. That fact notwithstanding, tomorrow is her 50th birthday (talk about it is all over the internets), but Kabbalah priests have somehow determined that her spiritual age is actually only 36. I'm not sure if that's good news or bad for her. Her body is still 50 years old, no matter what the priests say. I've always thought that having an "old soul" was a good thing. So does the fact that Madonna's spiritual age is less than her body's age mean that she's really just immature?

Maybe I've underestimated the value of religion all these years. If it can make Madonna 36, maybe it could make me 26 again. Then again, I'm guessing that my spiritual age would come out to be something like 82 so maybe I don't want to know. I wonder if Oil of Olay clears up spiritual crows-feet...?

On a slightly related note, why would anyone with such control over her image like Madonna allow a picture this bad to be published?

The Western Star, and other fun

Back from San Francisco, and been at work almost two days now. It was a really good weekend. The first surprise was the hotel. Jayson had booked us at the Mandarin Oriental, one of the 5-star hotels in the city. The hotel is billed as the highest rooms in the city and that's not joke. We were on the 45th floor with only three floors above us. Plus the place was just downright nice. For some reason our room was upgraded two levels from what we booked, so we ended up with a 180 degree view from the Presidio to the Embarcadero, including the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, and the waterfront. Jayson had arranged a nice room service table to be in the room when we arrived so we entered the room to find shrimp cocktail, cheese and fruit, and margaritas. Not a bad way to start a trip.

Saturday morning we were headed off to breakfast and I knew there was something up, but wasn't sure what. Sure enough, when we get to the restaurant there is my wonderful friend Rick from San Diego waiting inside the place, along with my friend Wes who lives in San Francisco. Rick was the rest of the surprise for the birthday and it was really nice to have him there! After breakfast we all (minus Wes) rented a car and drove to San Jose to see the Winchester House. All of us except for Anthony had been there before but it's a fun trip and an interesting thing to do. We had a terrible tour guide who recited some memorized script from rote and had no enthusiasm about his job. The four us just tuned him out and made our own fun, plus the tour guide gave us something to make fun of later on. Back in the city Jayson and Rick decided to rest in the room while Anthony and I wandered around Chinatown. Upon entering the room and seeing the view Rick's first comment was "Oh. My. God." Saturday night consisted of going to dinner in North Beach and then going to see Beach Blanket Babylon. The show was fun as always, even though I've seen it at least 4 times. It changes so regularly that while some of the bones of the show are the same, it's never the same show twice.

Sunday the only thing we had planned was breakfast with Wes in the Castro, which of course went until after noon. Rick was again able to join us and the rest of the day consisted of wandering around the Castro and then spending a little more time in Chinatown before we had to head for the airport. Anthony bought himself a new harness (in the Castro, not Chinatown) so in effect we all have a new toy to play with. In the end we didn't see/do a whole lot in the city, but that's OK. It was more about just being there and spending time with friends, which we definitely did. I had a great time on the trip, and it was even nice having Rick there for the weekend.

So for the title of this post… On the trip down on Friday night after the sun went down I started telling Anthony (who was sitting in the aisle seat) that you could see this really bright star out the window. Jayson commented that it was the Western Star which is especially bright from the air since there's less pollution and we're above the clouds. The one thing Anthony didn't notice was that even as the plane turned, the star stayed in the exact same position outside the window. He was surprised how bright it was but thought it was pretty cool. It was only after the plane landed and was taxiing to the gate that I pointed out what the Western Star really was. You can see it very clearly in this pic at the immediate tip of the wing by clicking the pic to zoom in.
Yes, he was looking at the light at the tip of the wing. It never occurred to him that the star was still visible when the sky was hidden behind clouds, but we'll just say he was excited about the trip. Anthony was not necessarily pleased at the joke and every time we brought it up over the weekend it was met with a very curt "shut up". I think he really liked the attention though. Gullibility can actually be really cute.

Here's an album with the rest of the pics from the weekend. Enjoy!

SFO, day 2

As requested, here is the view from our room in San Francsico. The view would truly qualify as a million dollar view. The hotel isn't bad either...OK, actually it's spectacular. So far it's been a great trip. More details when we're back home.

SFO bound

In just one short hour we're off for the weekend to San Francisco. It should prove to be a good weekend. We've got a few things scheduled such as driving to San Jose to see the Winchester House, going to see Beach Blanket Babylon on Saturday night, and having brunch with my online friend Wes (link NSFW) on Sunday morning. The rest of the time we're going to play tourists and just relax. Jayson has booked us into a 5-star hotel so that in itself should be really nice. I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures to share once we're back and I'll do my best to upload those as soon as I can.

To recap the birthday on Wednesday, it was a good day. Jayson had indeed arranged a surprise dinner (with help from Anthony) for me with several friends, even though he wasn't good at keeping it a secret! He was determined to give the surprise away, but he kept most of it to himself. I was glad that everyone showed up and it looked like everyone enjoyed themselves. There was a running gag gift theme of the evening that obviously Jayson started. Three different people brought bags of old people gifts (Depends, prune-based Ex Lax, Geritol, etc). Luckily I don't embarrass easily and even less so as I get older. I just liked being the center of attention.

40

Well, as of today I have reached the 40 year mark. I don't have a lot planned for the day, but I am taking the day off work. I think the three of us are going to just hang around home, or maybe go to a movie. I'm thinking that Jayson has something planned for the evening but I don't know what yet. He and Anthony have alluded to something happening, even though they weren't trying to. So, it should be interesting. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we're going to San Francisco this weekend. I'm looking forward to it and it should be a fun weekend. We've got a few things planned for Saturday, and then we're meeting an online friend of mine for brunch on Sunday. I can already tell that the weekend will be short, but that's OK.

I've been thinking about 40 for a couple of days now, and I really don't feel 40. I suppose no one does and I guess that's a good thing. I keep thinking of a comment a friend of mine made a few years ago. To paraphrase: when she was in her 20's she was living for the moment and didn't have time to think about who she was, when she was in her 30's she realized who she wanted to be, and in 40's she became that person. I'm hoping that in my 40's I become the person I know I want to be, and have already started becoming. That sounds really esoteric huh? Well, it's my birthday so I can be esoteric.

I really never thought I'd be 40. I also know a lot of people say that, but for me it was really true. I received my HIV diagnosis when I was 25, 15 years ago now. Back then no one knew what the future would hold for treatment. Because of that I thought that reaching 30 would be a real milestone, and it was. After that, I stopped counting time and 10 years suddenly went by. When I stopped counting, I let the the worry over it fade into the background, while still taking care of myself. I've not been sick a day in my life from the infection, and am confident that the same trend will continue. After I turned 30 I used to tell myself that I was living on borrowed time. Somewhere in the last 10 years that thought has completely vanished. I realized at some point that I'm not living on borrowed time, I'm simply living...this is my life, infection and all. I'm incredibly fortunate in many ways: I've been blessed with very good health, I have good friends, I have two wonderful partners, I have a loving and caring family that I'm close to, and I have everything material in life that I need and then some. I really have enough good stuff to last me two lifetimes, and I don't take a single bit of it for granted. Maybe that's one thing that living with HIV has taught me.

So, enough schmaltzy stuff. I'm going to enjoy my birthday, and our weekend away, and I'm looking forward to my 40's. Getting older, at least at this stage, is highly underrated.

Post-weekend wrap-up

As usual, it was a busy weekend, but it was about fun this time. In honor of Anthony's birthday (he's 37 in case anyone is interested) we took him for a surprise visit to the Olympic Peninsula. Having grown up in western Washington he has seen surprisingly little of the area, but we're changing that. We had told him we were going to go across the Sound for dinner and then come back across on the ferry and spend the night on our boat in Edmonds. It made logical sense as the ferry to Edmonds lands about 1/4 mile from where we keep our boat. Instead we had plans to drive to the north end of the peninsula where we had a waterfront cabin reserved for the weekend. Thanks to darkness and the winding roads leading to the place, he never suspected a thing. When we arrived at the cabin, he still though we were heading to the ferry. How he thought he the ferry would down a small gravel road I don't know, but he was too tired to question it I guess.

The cabin turned out to be even better than we expected. We were truly right at the water's edge and it was nicely secluded. We had a beautiful view out all the windows. Sadly we didn't get to spend much time outside like we had hoped for. It snowed off and on most of the weekend, which is unusual for this part of the state, more unusual at sea level, and even more unusual in late April. I thought the weather was pretty darn cool and loved it. It was a bit of a surprise waking up to 4 inches of snow on Sunday morning but it made for a pretty scene.

To entertain ourselves we ate a lot, did some sightseeing, ate a lot more, and just vegged a good deal of the time. We even had a rousing game of Scrabble on Saturday night. Sunday after we left the cabin we stopped in Port Townsend to play tourists again, then caught the ferry to Whidbey Island. We drove north to Deception Pass and did some light hiking around there before heading down to Clinton to catch the ferry back to the mainland. We covered a lot of ground that day and it sure felt like it. Back in Seattle we ended the weekend with a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant near home.

I was really glad we were able to do something fun and different for Anthony's first birthday with us. He seemed to really enjoy and appreciate it, and that was the most important part. I'll post an album in the next day or two but for now here's a sample pic of where we stayed.