Flying poo?!?

So about a year and half or so ago I gave up sodas and caffeine for the most part. I would drink a glass of sweet tea when I was at my grandmothers, but for the most part just water and the occasional adult beverage. I found even that when I would occasionally crave a soda after about two sips I just wasn't all that interested. Well this weekend I had at least one soda every day probably more than one a day. So since Tuesday I have been coming back down off the caffeine high I was on. What this means is that I a tired a lot. At first I just thought I hadn't gotten enough sleep this weekend. But when today rolled around and I still was having a hard time keeping my eyes open in the middle of the day I realized that it had to be something else. (Okay really I realized it last night when I was driving my friend Lee home, but that doesn't make as good a story now does it?) So anyway I'm hoping that the dts stop soon. I feel like the prisoner who was coming down off heroine last night on OZ, the HBO show I'm watching with my gays. Okay coming down off heroine is probably more difficult than coming down off sodas, but for me it is the same.
Speaking of Oz, I was remember last night the sixth grade. I don't know if any of you had this experience, but when I was in the sixth grade it was the height of the Reagan era which meant it was the height of the Nancy Reagan era. And what that means is "Just Say No." Nancy Reagan on Different Strokes telling us to just say no. Well in my county we had a police officer come to our school fairly regularly to tell us to just say no. Now I don't really remember much about his visits. I remember a case that I think had different drugs for us to look at. But what I most remember is the end of year visit to the county jail. Ever since I have been incredibly afraid of prisons. The boys toured the mens wing and the girls toured the women's wing. Before we went on the tour we were told stories of how we should stay very close to the wall because the prisoners might reach through the bars and grad us or even worst throw feces on us. Yes we were told that!!! Well anyway as we were touring the prison we came to this narrow hallway, wall on one side prison cells on the other. And someond had I'm guessing a razor plugged into a wall socket and the cord stretched across in to the cell. This mean that we had to step over the cord and it was pretty high up for our little sixth grade legs. I was terrified that I was going to be grabbed or even worse have poo thrown on me. How f#*@d up is that? Seriously I think that borders on child abuse. Although, I haven't done drugs or committed some other crime, so maybe it did work. But still come on. I mean come on!!!!
Well the only other thing i wanted to share today is a fruit I just discovered last night. Okay, well I didn't personally discover a new fruit. Although, that would be exciting. My friend Clark exposed me to a fruit I had never had before--the pluot. The pluot is a combination of a plum and an apricot. It was delicious. i bought some today. If you can find them in season where you are you must buy them. Also in season right now, black mission figs. Yummmmmy!!!
Until tomorrow just say no.

A monument full of water

Located on the national mall, what Washington DC landmark holds almost 7 million gallons of water and gets one thorough cleaning a year? That was the question with probably the funniest answer on the Cash Cab tonight. The woman answered "The Washington Monument." The Washington Monument? 7 million gallons of water in the Washington Monument? I am still laughing. On the first episode tonight saw a couple miss the first three questions, the easiest questions. The answers were the No Call List, (something else I can't remember now but equally easy) , and an exit poll. They were put out on the street after 3 questions, they had only gone about 3 blocks. But seriously I am still laughing at trying to fill the Washington Monument with 7 million gallons of water. I love the Cash Cab. I so want to go to New York City and just ride cabs until I get picked up for the Cash Cab. (For those of you who don't know. The Cash Cab is one of the best shows on television. It is a trivia game show that takes place in a New York City cab. You answer questions on the way to your destination. If you get three wrong he puts you out on the street whereever you are. I love it!!!)

I know that I watch too much television. I come by it naturally. If the television was not on when my Dad came home from work he turned it on. Even if he was just passing through the living room. And the television stayed on until the last person went to bed. We ate dinner in front of the television. When we were young I remember my Dad trading in a set of mattresses for a television set. Now I don't know if that memory is all that accurate. Because I think, what did they sleep on? But I wouldn't be surprised if it is true because my Dad was always trading something. Usually it was a car but he traded other things as well.

Alright that is enough of my personal ramblings for the day.

I break for the IPhone

Happy Birthday to the IPhone!
As I promised yesterday today's topic is why I love a Mac. My gateway drug was the IPod. I got a Christmas bonus a few years ago and decided with it I would buy an ipod. I loved having all my music on one device that I could take with me anywhere.
It wasn't as if this was my first forray into all things Macdome. I used a Mac some when I worked in the registrars office in graduate school. And of course my friend Copey is a total Mac geek. But until the IPod I had never bought anything Apple related. Instead I was a PC man. But once I had the IPod in my precious little hands I couldn't get enough. I would walk by the Apple store in the mall and dream of the day I might own a Mac all for myself. So last summer the camp I was directing at the time needed a computer to do end of week camp video projects. And we used a borrowed Mac in previous years so it was never a question what sort of computer we would use. I bought a Macbook. I set up the computer. It was beautiful. I knew that the PC I had been using at home would never satisfy me again. And sure enough I began to look at my PC with total and utter disdain. I know for many of you the PC is the one and only. But for me once I went Mac I never went back.
Now there is this annual event held in San Francisco called MacWorld. (I call it geekworld.) My friend Copey is a regular attender. (He is a big ol' geek.) So this year I attented with him, including the keynote presented by Steve Jobs. This was the keynote where he first introduced the IPhone. Seriously that was all it took. That was it. I was hooked. I drank the Kool Aid. I was a total and complete Mac addict. I wanted to have my picture taken with the IPhone. I had only a few weeks earlier gotten a smart phone of my own, but after that keynote my brand new phone was crap!!! It had buttons for God's sake. Buttons!!!
A few weeks later I owned a Macbook and the church bought a new IMac. And it is fantastic. I can videochat. I can make IMovies. (Now I know all of you PC users can do those things too. But it is not the same.) It is so easy to use.
Now I won't be waiting in line for an IPhone and I won't even be buying an IPhone anytime soon. This is because of two things (a) it costs too much and (2) I still have about a year and a half on my current contract. (I know I said for (a) and for (2). Shout out to MS and Mel) But let's just be clear I will have one. I may not need one, but I will have one. It is beautiful.
I know I probably need some help.

Over and Apple My Peeps

Aunt Mary is not a witch

A day of nothing. Alright well I did a little but not much. I did some laundry. Some grocery shopping. But I didn't find my cereal of choice, Kashi Go Lean Crunch. Instead, I bought what looks like a new type of Go Lean Crunch with honey and flax. I'm assuming it will be good. I mean how can you go wrong with honey?
I also went to a baking store where I bought edible flowers. Not flowers that grow from the ground and are edible, but instead flowers that are hand made with fondant, basically moldable sugar. I'm baking a cake for a friend's birthday on Thursday and I'm going to use them as decoration. I'm giving a chocolate cake recipe one more try. My friend Robin swears by this recipe but the last time I baked it I thought it was kind of dry. So if it doesn't turn out this time the recipe is dead to me.
Then I took a beautiful nap. Watched some television. And got an ice cream cone at Mitchells. Mitchells is a San Francisco ice cream shop that is fantastic. If you visit I'll take you there.
Speaking of dead to me, my grandmother's sister, Mary died Friday night. Aunt Mary was always unhappy. Or at least she seemed to be. I was always a little afraid of her to be honest. She didn't really say very much. When she would come visit she would just sit at the kitchen table or in a recliner in the living room. I don't know that I ever really saw her walk. I'm sure she did because how else could she have gotten to the table? Unless she was a witch and she just apparated. (A Harry Potter word for pop from here to there.) But I don't think she was a witch. I do remember that when I would leave the house to go somewhere she would say, "be paticular babeh." Translation, "be particular baby." Now I don't have any idea what that means. But I would always just say, "okay." Seemed like the best response. What this really means though is that my grandmother and her sister are the only ones left of an entire genergation, which feels weird to me. Their picture is at the top of this post. And while Aunt Mary sort of made them crazy too, she was their sister and they are grieving today. They'll miss her.

Be paticula babies!

The longest day of the year

Well my fans have spoken, clamouring if you will, "Please, oh please continue to write everyday. How will we ever get through our day with out your musings?" Okay, well it didn't sound exactly like that and it was only three people but hey, a girl can dream.

As I mentioned yesterday, I saw Spiderman III today. And as I expected it sucked. Not sucked like I wanted to ask for my money back (Granted, I didn't actually pay since I went with my friend Sean who is a fire fighter in the town close to where the theater is and fire fighters get in free.) but sucked none the less. Here are few of the problems. (1) Too long--coming in at about two hours. (2) Some black goo from outer space covers Spiderman and turns him into this arrogant, charismatic, inconsiderate ladies man. There was no way Tobey Macguire was going to pull that one off. It was laughable. It also included a whole dance scene. (To be honest I enjoyed the dance number.) Also, one of my favorite part of this whole machismo makeover was that he would just pull his bangs down. Who knew that a hair style had so much power? (3) Too many villains. (4) Sentimentality. (5) Too long. I know I mentioned that already, but seriously it was too long.

The best part of the movie was the Harry Potter trailer. I gasped when I saw it. I was so excited I nearly wet myself. I cannot wait to see it. Speaking of Harry Potter, I'm on the last chapter of the sixth book. And I'm convinced that (a) Snape is not a bad guy and (b) Dumbledore is not fully dead.

Oh and I have a piece of Pride trivia: Today is Ellen Johnson's birthday. She is not a lesbian. But I am proud to know her.

Today is the longest day of the year. Eleven years ago today I was in England spreading the ashes of my friend Barbara. It was one of the greatest trips of my life. But we in the United States do not even know what the longest day of the year feels like. In Northern England, where were staying, it would get dark about midnight and the sun would come up about four or five hours later. (Now this might not be completely accurate because it was after all eleven years ago, but it got dark really, really late and the sun did come up really early.) Thank goodness for black out shades.

Alright, I'm off to meet my friend Lee for the Gay Men's Chorus concert. I'm sure I'll have something to say about it tomorrow.

Peace

I'm Nicknamable

I'm completely nicknamable. I always have been. Well at least since High School. That's how I got the name for this blog. It is my current nickname. It was given to me by my friend Ranger, who is actually named Melissa Range. We have another friend named Chris Copeland who we call Copey. And mine, of course, comes from my name Brian Dixon. I kind of like it. It is playful which I am. It is a little bit southern, which I am. (But not in the racist way that Dixie often describes.) And it is a little girly, which I am.

When I was in High School, my nickname was Yang. You might think it came from some interest in all things balanced, you know the yin and yang of it all. But no, nothing that centered or even groovy. Instead it is kind of sad and nerdy. I was on the yearbook staff from my 10th grade year on. (I was the editor my senior year and the president of the National Honor Society. Yep I was that guy. Big ol' geek. I would like to think I've gotten beyond that, but I'm blogging so my guess is that I haven't) So anyway my first year on the staff, before computers were as common as they are, all of our copy had to be typed on a typewriter. And according to our advisor, Ms. Crabtree, all of it had to be error free. Well I hadn't taken a typing class so my typing skills were poor, the hunt and peck variety, and since the paper we were typing on was carbon paper that meant I had to start over a lot. I was lucky if I had just begun typing. More often than not, I got almost to the end. So you might be asking yourself what does any of this have to do with your nickname. Well, I was also a good Christian boy who had not yet discovered the full and beautiful range of profanity. So on one of those days when I was almost finished typing my yearbook copy, I made a mistake, and as I ripped the paper out of the typewriter, I exclaimed in sheer exasperation, "Oh Yang!" And well it stuck. I had it engraved on my class ring, imprinted on my yearbooks, printed on t-shirts. And I liked it.

I think some people are just nicknamable. And I guess I'm one of them. Maybe in my next blog I'll tell you about some other nicknames or the nicknames I have given to people.