lessons in bureaucracy

I love my work. Well, I love my workplace anyway and I enjoy a good percentage of my clients. However, the job itself is full of a lot of paperwork and subject to the whims of state transmittals on Friday afternoons, dictating how procedures have changed in an almost random and senseless fashion. It's a lot different from Goodwill; not the random and senselessness, but the fact that I enjoy the place but not always the job. I just feel so removed from direct work. In a way, it's very easy but in another way, it's very bureaucratic.

Today, we had a training on a new computer system the state has been rolling out. Normally, my eyes would just gloss over during these trainings and I would wait for the summation to be emailed out by my awesome supervisor. But this time, I got it. I understood what was being done and exactly what was wrong with it. I called it out during the training and was immediately backed up by my directors cuz they're awesome too. And it turns out that the trainer is someone that was in my MSW program with me.  While I don't do the work I was envisioning when I graduated, at least I am not in her position. It seemed like she was comfortable doing it but it's so far removed from direct work that I couldn't imagine being happy with it. By comparison, my job is on-the-ground, in-the-field work and I'm happy with that.

The training was new but I also got to meet a provider for one of my customers (which is the term we use instead of clients). It's nice knowing that she's working with one of my guys and I make that possible by facilitating that relationship so I guess that's close enough to direct work for me.

skunk drink

 

Three years and three days ago, Andrew and I play our first game of cribbage. Since then, we've played countless games and come up with new ways to make it interesting. As of right now, we have 6 different ways to earn drinks in the game, one way to earn a meal, and two ways to earn a paid trip to the coast (which nobody has done yet). Additionally, we have recently stipulated that earned drinks should be collected at local venues as a way to force ourselves to try each and every local place. Today, it was my turn to collect a drink and I chose NWIPA as the venue.

It has a few beers on tap and a great selection of bottled beers, mostly (if not all) local. I tried a good cider with quince and some other things in it. Andrew had a riot cider which is made by a friend of a friend. We'll definitely be headed back there when we just need some good quality beers (and possibly even when it's not owed thanks to skunking our opponent at cribbage).

What else?

I just finished the last book in the Magicians series by Lev Grossman. I loved it. It was about a guy who never really outgrows his obsessions with fantasy novels, relying mostly on using the Narnia series for inspiration (followed closely by the Harry Potter series). I could definitely relate to it and the author had a great voice for each individual narrator. I'm going to miss it though but I'm ready to move on. I have a long list of books I want to read in 2015 and I can't wait to get started.

house husband auditions

 

 When I was a kid, I used to get upset at the idea of cleaning for company coming to visit. I would insist that it was unnecessary because they knew that our house typically wasn't spotlessly clean. However, my mom insisted. Around 7th grade, I remember visiting a friend's house & being appalled by his carpet. They had at least one white cat &, when I dropped a piece of popcorn on the ground, it came back covered on hair. I think I complained less about cleaning after that.

Fast-forward 24 years and I love cleaning day on the weekends. Admittedly, I was not the cleanest housemate in Long Haus or Muffin HQ but I stepped up to the challenge when Andrew & I moved in together. We split some of the responsibilities but I chose vacuuming.

When we moved from the Burnside house to our current one (which I call Ebeo), we gave up a lot of storage space so we also gave up a lot of unnecessary items. We deemed the vacuum cleaner (which I fought with constantly anyway) to be one of those items. I thought it made sense since we didn't have any carpet and I could shake out the rugs. It turns out that an off-white dog, a gray cat, and striped rug don't mix well and I couldn't keep up so today, I bought a Shark.

The Shark Pet Perfect is a lil purple off-brand dirt devil, specifically designed for pet hair. I got it almost 50% off with sales & coupons and it was purple so I had to get it. I'm one step closer to becoming Marie from Breaking Bad.

Anyway, like the good house husband I am aspiring to be, I clipped my coupons to buy a cute purple vacuum cleaner. And now, I don't have to fear when my popcorn lands on the carpet...not that I'd get a chance to grab it before Ava did anyway.

let the year begin

I look at today as the first day of my new year since I was still caught up in celebration of the holidays with family until today. Now, I can start those resolutions.

One resolution was to get at least 30 minutes (preferably more though) of exercise a day. I started out the day by walking Ava to Stark Street Station and back via Mt Tabor and its wonderful dog park. She was exhausted by the time we got home and so were my legs. After nearly a week of physical inactivity (I don't think I even left my parents' house even just to step outside on Sunday) and two hours of sitting on the plane BEFORE the 4+ hour flight even began, I was not prepared for a significant walk but I feel great for doing it. And Ava will get used to it.

My new thing today though was taking Ava to Dove Lewis to get her type to see if she would be a good blood donor  It turns out that Huskies are typically universal (there are 13 dog blood types!). There are good benefits for Ava for doing it (free blood work, etc. and a free toy every time) but we were really just doing it to help out since she's young and in excellent health. Plus, as gay men, we can't donate. It's a crap policy and I did a paper on it's ineffectiveness and prejudice my first year of grad school but maybe it will change soon.

Anyway, I'll find out soon if she can donate. In the meantime, we had a great day together and I missed her so much. We went shopping for a new harness since her pretty purple one broke just minutes after this photo and then I had to by a new collar since her old collar clashed with the new harness. It's a new year so she should have a new look anyway.

2015: the Future is here

In Back to the Future 2, Marty goes to the year 2015. We haven't got hover boards yet (there's still time) but I feel like we're a lot further along than I realized. I'm on my way back to Nebraska and have a short layover in MPS so I decided to eat & charge my laptop. I saw Volante which has outlets at each of their tables (which is a lot better than anything Denver's airport has) and I sat down for a taste of the future. A waitress directed me to a table which has an iPad like every seat does. On this iPad, I ordered my drink, food, & paid. Now I'm using it to update my blog. 

This is all so weird. I don't think of myself as a Luddite but I feel like a caveman with a lighter. While I think I may miss the personal touch of a waitress, I do like the iPad. This caveman may be looking to upgrade to a torch this next year. Welcome to 2015.

a different green

What's up? It's been a while.

I've felt the pull lately to be doing this again so I'm going to listen to that feeling and go with it. It would've been nice to let things be back at Christmas of 2012 when I left off but I want to keep doing new things and I need a way to check myself. I need to put it out there so I know that I'm doing it and not cheating myself out of new experiences.

First, we should catch up cuz a lot has happened since I last posted.

In January 2013, my brother and sister-in-law had a little baby! My first (human) nephew which was awesome! I took a trip back to NE to see them and to hang out with my high school friends. Good times.

In March 2013, Andrew and I moved into a house on Burnside and 62nd. It was great but on a busy street and didn't really have a yard.

In May 2013, I graduated from PSU with an MSW. The last year was relatively easy. I stressed out about it here and there but I realized towards the last quarter that I really had it in the bag. The teacher was cool and liked my writing style and gave me unreasonably good grades. The internship was hard to leave but it felt great to lighten my load for a bit. Also, my sister had another child, another nephew! I love being an uncle and I love babies!

In August 2013, I took my first trip to San Francisco. It was a graduation present and the best thing ever. I loved the city and he had such a great insider perspective on it. I made him do a lot of touristy things but he knew all of the best lesser known places to go. One of the highlights was seeing a production of Hedwig.

In October 2013, my parents came up to visit and they participated in the Cascade AIDS Walk with me and my team from Goodwill. It was wonderful to have them here and to have them meet Andrew. We played a lot of cribbage but unfortunately, I didn't have any vacation time so I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I wanted.

In December 2013, I got a new job! I was hired at a brokerage office as a personal agent for people with developmental disabilities. It's a small non-profit run by two awesome guys who are the closest to being my peers as any boss I've ever had. I loved putting my notice in at Goodwill. Before doing so, I had tried to make my job work, even writing a new job description for a position that was needed. In the end, they didn't really want to keep me and I didn't want to stay so I left. I took a long weekend vacation with Andrew, Dean, Sophia and her partner Tim (formerly known as X-box) to Manzanita. We had a lot of fun and I want to do it again sometime. After that, I flew back to NE to spend the holidays with my family. I started at the new job on December 30th (which made my taxes easier to do).

On to 2014! In January, I had to buy a car for my new job. I wish I didn't have to own a car but the job is worth it.

In February 2014, Andrew and I decided to take a last minute trip for our birthdays to Astoria and stayed in a motel. It was an easy lazy time but not long enough.

In March 2014, we spent the weekend at the Ester Lee motel in Lincoln City. Again, nice but not long enough.

In April 2014, we decided to do it right a went away for several days to a cabin in Blue River, OR. It was beautiful and I don't think Dean had been more excited and energetic in years. He loved it so much!

In May 2014, my little niece Hayleigh graduated high school! I went back to NE and drove to Kansas with my brother and his family. It was nice to vacation with the whole fam.

On June 11, 2014, Dean passed away. His health had been failing off and on for the previous month or so and it was time. We did a home euthanasia with a very caring technician. Sophia and Andrew were there with me. I never knew I could be so emotionally distraught. It don't think I really knew grief until then. I did receive a lot of comfort from Andrew. While I had over a decade with Dean before we met Andrew, he still had bonded with Dean and took the loss hard as well. And I found comfort in the fact that Dean had a great 13+ years. He passed away two days before our 13 year anniversary together.

In July 2014, after I got back from Country Fair (which was a lot better than last year as it was my first year working security), we got another dog. We went to the humane society a time or two before finding a good match. We set out to get a 6 yr old  male Bernese Mountain Dog and came back with a 2 yr old female Huskie/German Shepherd mix that we named Ava. It's been different, going from a old man dog to a young energetic thing. She's a little too clever, very talkative, and seemed to fit just right with us.

In August 2014, I got a Dean memorial tattoo. I never thought I'd get a color tattoo but I really liked the concept and it's my favorite photograph ever so I did it and I am very happy with it.

In September 2014, we closed on a house. I think Andrew wanted to provide a yard for Ava. He had been toying with the idea of buying a house here and there but after we got her, he got more serious. It's a nice house with a great yard on a quiet street. When I first got to Portland, I couldn't imagine living this far out but it's not that inconceivable anymore. Most of my friends live out this far and it's a great neighborhood now. Plus my friend Tim moved just down the street from us and his friend Aaron lives between us so we got a lil gayborhood going on. Also this month, my bike broke. I still haven't got it replaced but I've just been riding my old bike. Supposedly, the frame is covered under a lifetime warranty but the break was in a odd spot and Corey's not sure Jamis will replace it. I don't plan to get a new one until the new year.

In November 2014, we took Ava to the Gearhart beach house and she loved it. This dog loves to run and was built for the beach. I can't wait to get her back there.

In December 2014, I took my first train ride state-side (I took a train in Germany from Munich to Dachau) up to Seattle. It was a lot more about the journey than the destination and I loved it. I want to take more train rides. It's silly but riding a train has been on my list of things to do for over a decade and it took this long to do it. And that's part of the inspiration for this reboot. There's not a lot of change going on in my life right now and I can see myself getting comfortable with where I am. I'm in a stable job, stable housing, a stable relationship, and I have a young healthy dog (knocking on wood through that whole statement) and that's great. However, this was where I was at when I started this blog and I could see myself working into a comfortable rut. So, once again, in order to shake things up, I'm going to document my new things. I'm planning on mostly using a twitter account located here. If I want to write more, I'll post to the blog but the blog updates the twitter account automatically and it's a lot easier. I don't always have a lot to write but it's important to me to be documenting it and I can easily tweet out something. So there it is. Follow if you want.

how it ends

So...I'm done.

If you've been hoping that I would start updating this blog more regularly, I've been sorely disappointing you. I could say that school has been getting in the way but it hasn't been the only reason for my laxidasical posting as of late. Life has just been too much of a good thing lately and I've found more relevant and quicker ways to get out what I want to say. So rather than have this blog turn into more of a burden to regularly update, I figured I'd just put it to rest.

I've enjoyed blogging a lot. It's allowed me to have a venue to put ideas, stories and/or pictures out there that I really want to release. However, it's just not important enough to me to worry about maintaining. I'll miss it and I'm sure there are times to come soon where I will think, "I can't wait to blog about this."

I may start another blog at some other point but I feel like this one is done. If I decide to do another, I'll post a link to this page. I'm going to continue to do new things daily. Just because I haven't been posting them doesn't mean they haven't been happening. Recently, I've been house-hunting for Andrew and me. We're going to move in together which is a huge deal for me. It will involve all sorts of firsts. Also, I only have another two quarters of school to go before I'm done. I may also look at quitting my job when I'm done if things go sour. That will open up even more firsts for me.

This past weekend was wonderful for me. For the first time, I spent the Christmas holiday with just my boyfriend and dog. We took a beach trip back to Gearhart and stayed at the same house that I rented for our birthdays. It was wonderful. Tonight, we went out for Chinese food and drank Absinthe at the Rainbow Room which was served by a lovely bartender in fabulous drag. So, I'm really really happy right now.

Maybe that's why I haven't been posting more. Maybe this whole blog spawned from a gaping hole in my heart which is slowly being repaired...or maybe I've just gotten more lazy. Whatever it is, I feel like this is the right thing to do at this time. I've gone through longer stretches without updating and I just don't feel the need to pick it back up. This story has been told. Let's move on. It's been fun.

to the top of tabor

Not much to write other than I loved this walk and this day and my dog and my man. It was a great day to hike up a volcano. Fortunately, it's also the closest nature walk to me. Dean loved it although he's hurting now. Poor old guy.

What else?
For my new thing, I tried new drinks at Sapphire Lounge and had a new special at J&M today for brunch.

Yesterday, my new thing was hitting a new bar/restaurant while Andrew and I waited for the doors to open for the new Bond film. Daniel Craig is great but it was a very formulaic Bond movie. The villain would have been better without blonde hair.

getting ethical

I  consider myself a good person but I have to admit that my views may not always be the most professionally ethical. Today, I took a course on ethics as part of my internship. I signed up for it only to easily answer one of the points of learning in my internship guidelines. However, I actually learned a lot and it's made me think.

With my job, there are things that I do that may not violate policy but may be under scrutiny when looking at the ethical considerations. I think I'm gonna be better about it. I can justify what I do in a number of ways but when it boils down to it, it makes me less of an ethical worker. I could be all 'radical' and think, "Well, screw the man," or I can just keep my nose clean and do the right thing. Huh, and I thought I knew everything. :)

thank the gods

I don't believe that Obama is the savior and I don't agree with a good amount of his policies. Yes, it sucks to have to side with the lesser of two evils but that's what I felt I had to during this election.

I'm not as glad that Obama win as I am that Romney lost. As a feminist gay man, the ideas that he & his party were pushing made me nervous. Facebook hasn't eased my concerns, hearing friends & mostly family that supported Romney. It made me nervous.

Tonight, I rejoiced with Andrew & his friends & a good bunch of Portlanders at the Bagdad Theater. I'm also celebrating for Washington State for supporting gay marriage & Wisconsin for electing the first openly gay senator.

Yeah, the political parties suck and so do a whole lot if government policies. However, starting slightly ahead instead of 50 years back is definite progress & I'm happy for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll work towards real change.

saga

Nothing extraordinary today but I started a new comic series, Saga. It's written by Brian K Vaughan who did Y the Last Man which is my favorite so I'm giving it a chance. I saw the first volume when I was at Powell's yesterday but didn't buy it. Today I was meeting Andrew at happy hour directly after work but wanted to read while I waited for him so I went into my work's store and found the first issue for 99 cents! Score! I liked it. I'm hoping it will grow on me more.

looking forward

I've been in a rut for a bit. That's part of my excuse for not updating my blog. The rut mainly consists of school and work and the rainy weather. However, we had a semi-dry weekend, I'm skipping school this week to watch the election coverage and I got caught up on my work last Thursday so here's a blog update.

Today, I had a great day, working out in the morning, getting a latte around noon at Powells while I read the latest Walking Dead comic, walking around the hood with Arturo and eating vegan milkshakes at Dick's. I also booked the Gearharts beach house for Christmas with Andrew since I'm not going back to Nebraska until my new nephew's born in January. The beach house is what I'm going to be the light at the end of this school quarter's tunnel.

What else?
I thought about going back to update October but for the most part, my new things consisted of new foods or new experiences at my internship. Here are the exceptions and/or the things that stood out.

On Saturday, October 6th, I went to the last night of the PLGFF in which they showed Cloudburst, a lesbian road trip movie with Olympia Dukakis. I can't recommend it enough. Afterwards, Andrew and I went to the afterparty at Crush which was fun but I liked the kickoff party better.

On Sunday the 7th, I watched the Timbers game at Long Haus on a projector in the back porch which has been nicely redone. Also, I joined Bastard and MLE at Ship's Ahoy afterwards for birthday drinks and good conversation.

On Wednesday the 10th, I woke up to the sound of scratching in the drywall behind my bed.

On Thursday the 11th, I met a new guy, the exterminator named Jason.

On Friday the 12th, Xbox and I had a great conversation about the house. Also, I went to see Margaret Cho who awesome as were her opening acts. So so so funny. I also went to Bare Bones bar with Jen, Ashes and Victory and later Justin and MLE. While we were there, we saw Chris Chandler from OCF. When I stopped him to tell him how much V and I enjoyed his library show at the last fair, he sat down with us and chatted for a while.

On Saturday the 13th, Andrew and I went to Brews for New Avenues. My old internship is really good at fundraising and they almost always incorporate booze into it. :)

On Sunday the 14th, I went to the Walking Dead season premiere at the Academy with Jen. It's a series that's really meant to be seen in the theater! Andrew and I also gave Dean a bath!

On Monday the 15th, I downloaded LibreOffice, a freeware version of Micro-shaft. I like it a lot more and I won't go back.

On Saturday the 20th, I took the day to work on my first paper for the term. I finished it in good time. Sophia made vegan chili so we ate that all day and, after I finished my paper, we played a new game which ended up being a D&D game. Yes, I have crossed that threshold.

On Sunday the 21st, Andrew and I went to see Blood Simple, the Cohen Bros first movie. It was great! We also went to Pastrygirl, the bakery/coffeeshop for the first time.

On Thursday the 25th, I biked to Clackamas for work for the first time since my accident (where the top pic comes from).

On Saturday the 27th, I DJ'ed Ashes' 33rd bday party. Since it was his 33rd, it was a Jesus/religious theme. I went as Lot's Wife (a salt shaker). I was one of only four or five people in costume but I still had fun.

On Sunday the 28th, Andrew and I went bar-hopping up Belmont during the afternoon, lightly drinking and snacking while playing cards. We ended up at Hob Nob Grille for the first time where I taught Andrew how to play Backgammon...and he beat me two times. It was also the 10th anniversary of my coming out. 10 years ago, my friend Joe directly asked me if I was gay and he was the first person I said yes to.

On Halloween, I didn't do a thing except go out to eat with Andrew. I really feel that I failed Halloween this year.

On Friday the 2nd, Ashes and I walked to a client's home on NW 23rd as part of my internship. I love working in the same building with him and getting to do breaks together. It was a lovely day for a walk too!

On Saturday the 3rd, Andrew and I went to the Republic downtown where I ordered a new dish. He's never been there and I haven't been there for years. We also went to Seven Psychopaths which sucked so hard.

And that's it. I'll try to update more often and to take more pictures.

pec-upuncture

Ashes and I tried the gym this week. I was determined to do something since I was feeling well enough to ride my bike. I tried bench pressing, moving my weight down to 135lbs but I was only able to do two reps of 7 before my pec starting hurting. It's the same injury that I had earlier this year which stopped me from working out for a while. I don't want to wait that long to be well again so I went to get acupuncture today.

I saw Matt, a new-to-me acupuncturist at the Brooklyn Acupuncture Clinic who did the acupuncture a little different than I have ever had it done before which proved to me to be more effective. He also gave me some good after-care ideas. I believe that acupuncture works but I've never really felt that it worked for me before today.

What else?
Andrew's been sick this week so we haven't gone back to the film fest. Today, they were showing Men to Kiss, a German film that I thought looked funny so I went to check that out by myself. Before the movie, they were showing a documentary on rape in the military called the Invisible War. I knew it would be a hard documentary to watch but I thought it was important to see and it was. I'm glad I stayed for Men to Kiss though because I needed a good distraction after such a heavy topic.

an internship in three parts

Second week at my internship and I'm still loving it.

Since I'm going by bike again, I was able to bike in to the first time (pictured above). They have two bike rooms on the first floor of the building and more bike parking in the basement parking garage as well as several sets of racks out front. The commute was pretty much a straight shot from my house although I don't like biking over the Morrison Bridge that much due to the incline(s).

At my internship, I had three distinctly different contacts with three different clients of my supervisors. One lives in a nursing home and has been diagnosed with "Failure to Thrive." She's 90, unresponsive and only weighs 82lbs. It's jarring to hear the nursing home staff talk about her impending death.

The second person that we saw was a young woman with profound DD that lives in a group home. We were there mostly to check in on the group home and talk to the manager. We looked at the facilities and I realized that I knew one of the other residents there from my real job.

The third person was a client in her 60s who lived independently. She has some mental health issues so we bring her medication to her to take. I guess that will be one of my responsibilities soon which is cool by me.

It really interesting seeing all the variety that this job encompasses. I have to admit that I was out of my element with the nursing home situation but I think I can learn to be okay with it. It'll just take some more time and experience.