We all have our things that keep us going... You know, the things that people either love or hate about us. Those things that get us through those rough days at work, or if you're like me, get us through those boring days at work. I've got a few... And there are links for each item here found on the links page.
Now, just because I'm gay and live in California has no bearing on me being a vegeterian. Actually, I don't know how it happened; it just did. See, I liked listening to Dr. McDougall on a local radio station on Sunday nights, when they suddenly replaced him. Well, he seemed to know what he was talking about, and I have always had a thing for medical stuff (remember I spent six and a half years working in a pharmacy) so I decided to pick up his book. I read it, and became intrigued. It's interesting to find that humans are the only animal that gets high blood pressure, has bad cholesterol, and basically kill themselves for what they eat. (And I did not like the statistic that the average human dies with a couple of pounds of undigested beef in their stomach). Well, I woke up one morning and just stopped eating meat. Patrick and I went out to dinner, and I ordered pasta or something. I actually don't remember when it actually was. It was sometime in June 1996. Patrick has been a trooper in putting up with me. If he wants something with meat in it, he cooks the meat on the side, serves me, and then adds meat to it. What a sweetie, eh?
Another thing that I want to do on these web pages is setup an area for "Bay Area Vegetarians". A place to find restaurants, know what to eat, what to avoid, etc.
As you may have read on my bio page, I'm the leader of the Duchovniks which is an online fanclub that is dedicated to following the career of David Duchovny. We're quite a prolific bunch, with a couple of hundred members all over the world. There is a ton of email to keep up on, and of course the server and software to constantly monitor and upgrade when necessary. My new project, based solely on the fact that I'm so into being a "listmaster" running so many lists from my home machine, is to research and write a piece of software for mailing lists. No, I'm sorry, I can't be more specific than that. Suffice to say, it's a really cool idea, and I know that it can be done, and more importantly, has not been done yet. Drop me a line if you're a venture capitalist with deep pockets, and I will divulge the secret and let you put me into the software business. The couple of close friends I have asked about it have basically said it's a wonderful idea, and are willing to help out getting it ready. Maybe I should keep a journal here on the web of my progress...
I love to get away from it all, though it may not be the way most people think. Yes, vacations can be very nice. Belieze was wonderful, and when I sent myself to London for a birthday present to myself, I had a ball. But Patrick and I will often do a daytrip out to the gold country, weekends up at our cabin. It's up at Cobb Mountain, which is about 25miles NorthEast of Calistoga, up in the mountains. We found it a couple of years ago and got it at a steal. Now that Patrick's working in town again, we'll get up there very other week again!.
Of course we both love the Pacific Northwest, with Seattle and Vancouver. We've talked about moving up there, but for now, we'll just visit. Often. :)
Last trip we took was a cruise on the MS Holiday. It was Patrick's gift to me for my birthday. We were on Carnival Cruiselines and did a weekend cruise to Mexico. We loved it! We'll plan on doing another one soon.
Yes, I know that some people think that it's boring... And I know that retirement for Patrick and I is thirty years off. But I also know that I can't trust our government to help us when we're eighty, and I'm trying to convince Patrick to keep his dentures out for a few minutes, if you get my drift. ;-> I'm stashing away money as I can each month, buying individual stocks, putting money into DRiPs (Divident Re-Investment Plans, where you buy one share of a companies stock via a broker or other means, then the company lets you buy shares directly from them without going through a broker PLUS reinvest all of your dividends), and stashing money into an IRA, a mutual fund, and my companies 401(k) plan. Think about it... Would you rather be able to retire early with plenty of money to last you through your retirement and someone's inheritance, or do you, at age 70, want to be asking people, "Do you want fries with that?"
Of course, you can't stash all of your money away. You really have to give some of yourself to charity, to help those in need. Currently, I favor giving money to The GMHC (Gay Mens Health Crisis), the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, The American Indian College Fund, and other good organizations. On my links page, you'll find a reference to Guidestar, which is a charity ranking service. Don't give your money to places that use only 10% (and sometimes LESS) for charitable services, while using the other 90% to line their own pockets. Check out your favourite charity in Guidestar!
It's not my fault, really! Blame it on the rampant American consumerism! I bought a new car in 1997. I am now the proud owner of a 1997 Suzuki Sidekick Sport JS. It is a beautiful car, and I absolutely adore it. I wasn't going to buy a new car, or if I was, it was going to be one of the lower models. However, after test driving the top of the line, I had to have it. You can click here to see a picture of my car though this is from Suzuki's homepage. And what do you consider dangerous? The new Grand Vitara is beautiful; I want one!!!
Well, as you can probably tell, I spent a hell of a lot of time with computers. As a matter of fact, I own eight computers. My primary system is a Linux server that is on the net 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I learned UNIX before I learned Windows, DOS, or OS/2, and prefer it to any other OS out there. When I am not using Linux, I'm on my OS/2 box. OS/2 you say? Yes, OS/2. Why? Because I don't do Windows. My first Intel based computer hated Windows, and I started looking at OS/2 with version 2.1, and have been a loyal user since. Now I can dictate letters to my computer and have it type them up for me, all without touching the keyboard or mouse. OS/2 is the only stable, true 32bit operating system that I would ever use besides UNIX. There is no stability in any Windows application or operating system, in my humble opinion.
Recently, I have ventured out into the realm of Macintosh. Talk about using the underdog operating systems! It has it's little quirks that I am getting used to (It really doesn't like to have an ethernet connection and an Internet connection at the same time) but I'm starting to like it. It's excellent for multimedia applications.
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