Just One Queer Student's Blog

"Bike and Ride" - What a joke!

2009-09-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

For almost two years, I've been doing my commuting from Thornton to Auraria Campus via the Regional Transportation District. Once I figured out to pay no attention to the routes given by the RTD web site, I have been able to make this commute take me less than an hour, much less if I time it right. I either ride my bicycle to the Thornton Park-and-Ride, or I drive there, then I take the 120X (Express) downtown. It stops at both Union Station and Market Street Station, which are both a short walk to campus.

I have a bike locker at the Thornton Park and Ride, and about a year ago, I decided that it would be nice to have a locker at either Union Station or Market Street Station. That way, I could leave one bicycle downtown, actually secured, and take it either to campus or to attractions in the downtown area. Since all of my bicycles are craigslist purchases, they're all a little old, a little worn out, but not a huge financial strain if they are stolen. Nonetheless, having had one bike stolen downtown, I didn't want to leave a bike down there if it was not secured in a locker.

So, Wednesday I received a call from RTD that my bike locker was available. I went down to Market Street Station, filled out my paperwork, and paid my $50 ($20 for their lock, $30 for a 6-month bike locker rental.) The guy behind the window said that my lock would be on my locker within 3 days, but I remembered that the lock was on my Thornton locker within hours. So, stupid me, I counted on the lock being there on Thursday.

Thursday morning, I left the house about an hour earlier than I usually do. I biked to the Thornton Park-and-Ride, and got there at 10:10. Not having planned on biking more than a couple of miles, I had my typical breakfast - two cups of coffee. Mind you, I sweeten my coffee with Splenda, so the total calorie content of this breakfast was whatever you get out of about three tablespoons of half-and-half. Not much, in any case.

I waited at the Thornton Park-and-Ride for 10 minutes, and the 10:20 bus arrived right on time. One problem, though, the bike rack was full. This had happened to me several times before, and was the reason that I decided I wanted a bike locker on either end of my commute. On regional busses, they will allow you to put your bike in one of the under-bus luggage lockers, but the big articulated buses don't have that. The problem I see is that the big articulated buses used on the express routes during the day only have bike racks for two bikes, just like the local buses. If they are full, you're stuck waiting for the next bus. Mind you, I've seen bike racks on buses in other cities that take up about the same space and hold 4 bikes, but putting those on the big buses didn't cross RTD's collective "mind".

The next 120X would be there at 10:50. Assuming that there were no bikes on that bus, I would be able to make it to campus on time. If there were bikes there, though, I would have a really hard time getting to campus when I wanted to. So, I made a decision. I would ride over to Washington St. and take the 7 bus. It eventually makes its way to campus the longest way possible, but I could jump off where it crossed the Platte River, and take the Platte River Trail downtown. Genius.

So, I rode my bike over to Washington, losing my bike chain twice because I accidentally shifted into the highest gear, and the smallest cog on my back wheel is pretty well worn. I'm beginning to see the advantages of buying a new bike or two, but I'm not beginning to see the money, especially if I want to go to London in the spring. Maybe someone will give me a nice, fat gift certificate to Bicycle Village for my graduation present?

Anyway, I got to the bus stop at about 83rd and Washington at 10:28. I called up RTD to find out when the next 7 bus was going to be there. Their automated system didn't recognize the stop number, but I got through to a human, who said "10:30 and 11:00." No problem. It was 10:30 right then. I waited until 10:08, then decided that the bus must have been a few minutes early, and I missed it. Not looking forward to the long ride I was neither dressed nor prepared for, I started peddling down Washington. Just as the next bus stop was coming into site, but not nearly close enough for me to make it, the 7 bus passed me by! My frustration with RTD hit a new level.

So, I ended up peddling down Washington to Ringsby Court, then over on the Platte River Trail to REI, where I stopped in for a new headlight for my bike. I then proceeded on to Union Station. I wanted to check to see if my lock was on my locker. Quick answer? No.

By this time, I was nearly shaking with fatigue. Even if you are, like me, trying to lose weight, you don't just pick up and ride for about 15 miles without any food in your stomach! So, I locked my bike up and jumped on the Mall Shuttle to the food court at Republic Plaza. I had a nice meal of stir-fry fish with curry sauce, then jumped back on the shuttle, and rode back to my bike. While listening to yesterday's Rachel Maddow show on my iPhone, I heard it make the noise it does for a calendar alert. I've got my classes programmed in with alerts 5 minutes before so that I remember to turn the phone to vibrate. I had 5 minutes to get to class, and between getting to my bike, biking to campus, then walking to my class, I had about 15 minutes of commute.

So, I ditched my first class, made my way over to campus, and to my second class. I then attended a guest lecturer, and it was about 8:20 before I made it back to Union Station. My lock was still not on my locker (not their fault, this time, I should not have counted on it), so I had to bike back over to campus in order to secure my bicycle on a rack that's fairly well protected. Then, I walked back to Market Street station, took the bus back to Thornton, and had Mark come and pick me up.

The moral of this long-winded tale? Don't buy RTD's BS about it being "easy" to "bike and ride".

Technical Support Nightmare

2009-09-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

I was going through my email to try to clear up my cluttered inbox, and I came across this email I had sent my partner, Mark, about a month and a half ago. It's a true story, and funny!

____________________________________________

Mark,

So, I went to rip that CD you wanted this morning, and the mouse wasn't working with the iBook. It's a Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse that I bought for $30 on sale just after I got my MacBook. I've not been terribly impressed with the mouse, and have since replaced it with a Logitech I like a lot better. Actually, I think I ended up getting the Logitech after I thought I had lost the Microsoft, then found it later.

Anyway, I called up Microsoft tech support, and ended up dealing with the most annoying phone system ever. To the best of my memory, this is how it went down. Too bad I didn't know in advance to record it...

Computer: "Thank you for calling Microsoft. How can I assist you today?"
Me:             "Warranty service."
Computer: "I'm sorry, that is not a valid option. You may say "customer service, call an employee, or technical support."
Me:            "I never thought I'd miss "press 1 for this, 2 for that."
Computer   "I'm sorry, that is not a valid option. You may say "customer service, call an employee, or technical support."
Me:            "Technical support."
Computer: "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you correctly. You may say "customer service, call an employee, or technical support."
Me: (Remembering having been told that saying "agent" will get you a live person on the line.) "Agent."
Computer: "Okay, call an employee."
Me:             "No."
Computer: "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you correctly. You may say the employee's name or extension number, or say "go back" to go to the main menu.
Me:             "Go back."
Computer: "You are at the main menu. How can I assist you today?"
Me:             "Technical Support."
Computer: "What product are you calling about?" (At which point, I'm shocked that it understood me at all.)
Me:            "Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000."
Computer: "Okay, Microsoft Word 2007. Did the software come with your computer?"
Me:            "No. Go back."
Computer: "What product are you calling about?" (Wow, it understood "go back")...
Me:            "Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000."
Computer: "Okay, Microsoft Excel for Windows 2003. Did the software come with your computer?"
Me:            "Agent."
Computer: "Okay, the software came with your Acer computer. What kind of customer are you?"
Me:            "Agent."
Computer: "Okay, you are a business customer. Do you have a claim number?"
Me:             "Fuck off!"
Computer:   "Okay, I'm sorry I could not help you. Connecting you to an agent now."

So, in other words, the only command the computer really understands is "fuck off!" Don't beleive what they say about saying "agent" to talk to a real person. In Microsoft's case, you have to tell the computer how you really feel!

Once I talked to a human, they walked me through everything, including "have you turned the mouse on?" and found that the mouse was faulty. They are sending a new replacement.

Just remember, if you get stuck with a phone computer that doesn't want to listen, the correct command, apparently, is "fuck off!"

Looking for a new religion.

2009-09-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been over two years since I underwent a conversion from skeptical agnostic to atheist. In that time, I have had a lot of time to reflect on the decision making process that I went through. While still satisfied that there is no god, I've come to a conclusion that there is one severe flaw in my decision not to join any religion.

You see, as a full-time student, I find that there is one very significant difference between the Spring and Fall semesters. That being, in the Spring, we get a week off for Spring Break almost directly half-way through the semester. This is the perfect time for students to get caught up on homework and relax, and come back to campus at least a little more prepared for the rest of the semester. In the fall, however, "Fall Break" always falls on Thanksgiving. For a semester that starts in early August, this is way too late for a mid-semester break. By the time "Fall Break" comes around, most of your papers have already been turned in, midterms are over, and you come back to campus stressed out about upcoming finals. Add this to the need to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with friends and/or family, and we end up with a real mess.

So, I've come up with a solution. The school is not allowed to punish you if you take time off for a religious holiday. You may have to catch up on work you missed, but you can't be counted as absent or have any penalties against you. The problem is, I need to find a religion with a week-long holiday in early to mid-October that requires full-time worship which would not allow me to be on campus.

So, I've been looking. I ruled out Christianity very quickly. Since this is a nation with a strong Christian background, the most important Christian holidays are already school holidays. Also, Christianity does not have any week-long celebrations in early October.

Islam looked promising. Ramadan is a month-long holiday, and the first time I thought about this, it was taking place at the right time. Until I found out, in my Middle East History class, that the reason that Ramadan seems to move around is that the Islamic calendar, a lunar calendar, does not sync up well with our solar calendar. Ramadan is earlier for every Christian/Standard calendar year. Also, Islam does not require its followers to stop working or going to school during Ramadan, only to stop eating and drinking during the day. No thanks.

I considered Judaism. The really nice thing about Judaism is that not even most Jews have all of the holidays memorized. You can find a holiday to match almost any need. And, depending on the exact branch of Judaism one chose, some of them are even open to homosexuality, so I wouldn't even have to pretend to ditch Mark. Two points for Judaism. Then I thought about the Kosher rules. No Bratwurst on a sunny summer day? No bacon with my omelet? I'd have to keep two sets of dishes clean? Mind you, I'm trying to cut back on my meat consumption, but this would be a little drastic.

Scientology seemed interesting, at first. I didn't know if they had any holidays that would fit my needs, but I am a big science fiction buff. I thought, well maybe I could convince myself that we were planted here by aliens easier than by a magic man who lives in the clouds. Actually, that part does not defy reason. However, I remembered that, much as I love Science Fiction, the worst Sci-Fi I've ever read (including most of the worst of the student writings from my Science Fiction writing seminar) was by L. Ron Hubbard. If I had to commit to reading anything else the incompetent hack wrote and actually had to pretend to believe it, I'd go insane.

Pastafarianism, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, seemed much more rational. After all, I think I was touched by his noodly appendage last week. Also, Pastafarians acknowledge global warming as an actual occurrence, and have a rational plan to fight it - dressing like pirates! The graph on the web site is very convincing in showing the direct correlation between the number of pirates in the world and global climate change. I was nearly convinced, and went on Amazon.com to order a copy of the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I was even looking for pirate clothing at the local thrift store. Then I remembered the purpose of my quest. The only official holiday Pastafarians celebrate is International Dress Like a Pirate Day. Since the goal is to spread the word of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, you don't even get to stay home for this holiday. So close - and yet so far.

Buddhism had a brief appeal because of its nontheistic aspects. After all, the Buddha is not really a god in the same since that Jehovah/Jesus/Allah/Holy Ghost is. He's just a man who found enlightenment. Buddhism actually has a lot of appeal for me. I just have a bit of a problem with the whole Buddhist stance on reincarnation. Really, I believe that if there is any part of our mind or soul that survives beyond death, reincarnation actually makes a lot of sense. Recycling is one of nature's favorite tricks, and reincarnation is actually quite rational. The problem comes when you realize that many Buddhists beleive that suffering people in this world deserve their suffering because they were bad people in a past life. That, I just couldn't buy into (to be fair, many Buddhists don't take the idea of karma to this extreme.) Besides, as far as I can tell, no mid-October week-long holiday.

I began to think about polytheistic religions. After all, if there are more gods, there should be more holidays, right? The problem with this is that I sincerely believe that there is no god. Pretending to believe there is one god might be rough, but I'd have a very hard time trying to convince myself that there's a whole slew of them.

So, I'm still looking. I'd like to list some of the qualifications I need in a religion:

A week-long holiday in early to mid October that requires me to take off from school.

Holiday cannot require long periods of fast, sacrifice, or prayer. This is a vacation, after all.

Deity must be kind at all times. No bipolar Jehovah/Jesus type characters.

In addition, there must not be a belief in "hell". Infinite punishment for a finite "sin" is not justice in any form.

Pretending to believe must satisfy requirements for membership.

I cannot do much more than pretend.
I must also be free, within the religion, to state that all of its dogma is a pile of dogma.

Deity is required to have no input in my love life, sex life, academic life, what I read, what I watch, who I vote for, or what substances I ingest.
Regular attendance at a place of worship must not be required.

The reason for me joining this religion is not to network, not to make new religious friends, nor even to find inner peace. The reason is practical. To have a week off in October. I'll pay a reasonable financial tithe for this privilege, but the religion must not expect any more of me.

Religion must not require a certain amount of tithing.

Percentage-based tithing is nothing other than taxation. For a tax-exempt organization, this seems very shady to me.

Religion must not require that I believe the irrational without a rational explanation.

Looking over this list, I think I'm stuck with atheism. Darn, I so wanted that week off!

I'm Back!

2009-08-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hello, all!

After over a year of not even hosting my blog on my site, I started to realize that I had a lot to write, and needed a place to write a lot of it. Whether anyone other than my closest friends ever sees it is something completely different!

So, here it is, the new "Queer Student's Blog". All of the older posts from my blog are still here, but expect a lot of new ones to come soon.

See you around!

M.J.

Thanks, John.

2008-01-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

This morning, as he was kissing me goodbye, my partner mentioned that John Edwards was dropping out of the presidential race. It's still January, Super Tuesday has yet to happen, and now I'm left going to my caucus to support a mediocre candidate. Someone who I respect as a personality, but who I think is too quick to pander to the middle.

I could forgive Bill Richardson, my first choice, dropping out. He was the best qualified candidate to run in years, but he didn't sell out to enough people (read - corporations) to be viable. My second choice, Dennis Kucinich, was a similar situation. Especially after he was unjustly barred from the televised debates, there was no purpose in his staying in.

But, John Edwards? Yes, the media had already written him off. Yes, he probably didn't have a snowball's chance in hell. However, he did have a chance of continuing to bring a more progressive, dare I say it, liberal view to the "progressive" party!

And he blew it. He could have at least stuck in until Super Tuesday and given me a chance to support someone at my caucus that I really believed had a chance of developing universal health care that actually worked. He could have given me the chance to support someone who dared to talk about the "two Americas", someone who began to understand the class divide in this country. He could have given me a chance to support someone who had a chance of diverting some of our nation's vast resources away from the politics and policies of hate-mongering and toward social reform at home.

But he didn't. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually like Barack Obama. I actually beleive he does have a chance of making some change for the good. But I would have liked the chance, just once, to stand behind someone I believed in politically more than just the lesser of two evils.

So, we're left with two candidates who, politically, are more centrist than any centrist could hope for. My only hope is that we stick to our guns enough to vote for the one who's slightly less in the pockets of the corporations.

So, reluctantly (what else is new), I post my personal support for Barack Obama.

It could be worse, though. My partner is a registered member of the other party. There isn't one slime ball in that lot I'd be willing to speak up for.

Kind regards,

M.J. Christensen

Post Script:

It's now August of 2009 as I recover my old blog posts, and I very nearly didn't include this one. However, I still stand by John Edwards' campaign and his ideas. It is certainly not my place to judge his marital fidelity. Now that we know the outcome of the election, items such as this, written in a time before we knew, look odd. But I still stand for what I said at the time, based on the information I had at the time.

Iranian Man Executed for Having Gay Sex

2007-12-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

I'm sure many of you have heard this story, or something like it.

Iran Executes 21 Year Old Accused Of Gay Sex When He Was 13

As a gay man, hell, as a human, I can't help but want to cry when I hear of stuff like this. For all the problems we face in our society, at least we cannot be executed by the state just for having sex.

I really don't know what else to say.

M.J.

Unlawful Search and Siezure

2007-06-01T04:17:00.000-07:00

I am sitting at the gate at the Hartfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. At least I made it to the gate, but I'm really having to try hard not to scream! I am sitting here blogging, having paid $9.95 for three months Wi-Fi access (a steal for something that should be free, but almost never is when you're traveling) primarily so that I can keep at least some of my sanity.

The thing that is driving me nuts is what should frustrate, indeed enrage, every citizen of this country. In order to travel to Atlanta, where I have been for the past four days to protest at the Boy Scouts of America National Meeting, I had to have my Fourth Amendment right to unlawful search and seizure violated. In order to return home to Denver, the same thing happened. This has been going on as long as I remember, but it has gotten more and more extreme since September 11th. In case you don't remember, the Fourth Amendment states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

No warrant was issued. No probable cause existed to search me, supported by Oath or affirmation. Yet I was searched, and twice, I had something seized. In Denver, I had my aerosol container of sunblock siezed (there is a new limit of 3 oz for liquids, gels, and aerosols - don't even ask what this crap is about). In Atlanta, I had a bottle of water seized. Water! It was over 3 oz.

So how is this not considered Unconstitutional? Simple. Contrary to popular belief, it was not a government agent that screened me and took my highly dangerous sunblock and water. It was a private citizen, employed by a government contractor, at least this is the way I understand the relationship. In fact, the TSA (now officially part of the Department of Homeland Security) does not get directly involved with a search until one of the private citizens has probably cause to ask for them to search you. This, though technically a Constitutional arrangement, clearly violates the spirit of the Bill of Rights.

Pocket Blogging

2007-05-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

5/16/07

I am writing this entry on my new (to me) Pocket PC phone. I have had a Palm OS PDA for years now, and although it suited its purpose well, my one big complaint was just how clumbsy entering text into the PDA using the stylus and "graphiti" language really was. This "smart phone" is a lot better in that regard, with its tiny qwerty keyboard. The predictive text seems like it could be quite handy, too - that is if it could ever actually predict a word quicker than I can just enter it myself. Every once in a while it surprises me by doing just that, but most of the time it only gets the word I want when I am one character from completing it.

What remains to be seen is whether this device will become a handy writing tool as I hoped it might, or just another gadget. Writing anything even as long as this blog entry is still quite cumbersome on this machine, and I really do not think that I will be replacing my trusty laptop any time soon. There really does seem to be a limit to how small technology can be made and still be fairly transparent. I think it is clear that I will never forget that I am writing on a cell phone when using tis device.

In any case, have a good one, all!

M.J.

Server problems - yikes!

2007-04-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Every time I run into another computer problem (and there seem to be a lot of them lately), I am thankful (though I know not to whom) that I didn't pursue my original degree and career path. About ten years ago, I had it in my mind that, since I was good at working with computers and seemed to enjoy it, I would go after a career in Information Technology.

I am so glad I didn't do that. If I had, I would be an alcoholic by now, I kid you not! I can handle dealing with the level of computer issues I do in my personal life, our eBay business, and for Scouting for All ... most of the time. But lately, it seems like computer issues have not just rained, they have poured. The latest development is dealing with moving two of our domains AWAY from spiderhosts.net. I had a fairly easy time of moving this domain, gayrockies.net, which in a way is the more important of the two for long-term use. Unfortunately, the more important domain for our eBay business, kiwiman1.com, is still on the spiderhosts.net servers. It appears that three years ago when I registered the domain, I registered it through spiderhosts.net! Now, since they don't respond to emails, it is locked to their servers... until they respond or I find a good way around it.

More later, but let's just say that I am really glad that I don't deal with problems like this on a daily basis. Coffee just would not be enough of a vice after a while!!

As always, please feel free to contact me.

M.J.

Moving Servers, Please Be Patient

2007-04-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hello, all.

I am finally moving servers after over a year of horrid customer service from spiderhosts.net. I really, seriously recommend that no one use this service! They still have not responded to service requests I made in October, and now I can't access the control panel for either domain hosted on their servers!

So, in the mean time, please don't be surprised if this site is not accessible for a few hours during the transfer.

Kind regards,

M.J.

Scouting for All Web Site Now Open

2007-03-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

Hello, all!

I am happy to announce that, after several months of downtime for a complete redesign and rehab, the Scouting for All National Web Site is now up and running! As State Director of Colorado, I would like to invite all of you to check out the beautiful new site and tell us what you think. You can certainly email me any comments, suggestions, or bugs that we haven't found yet.

If you have not yet had a chance to find out more about Scouting for All, please take this opportunity to check out the web site, and be sure to contact me with any questions, concerns, etc.

Have a great day!

M.J.

Spring Fever

2007-03-13T21:46:00.000-07:00

Considering the nature of my last post, this one is a bit trivial. However, our lives are not just about politics or world issues. Sometimes our lives are about, well, our lives!

The past week has left me with a case of Spring Fever that I have not had in a very long time. The early change of the clocks started it, and we finally started getting some springlike weather in Denver. To be honest, I have no desire to be in school this week at all.

And yet, since next week is Spring Break, my instructors seem to be switching into the mid-semester panic mode. They are realizing that they are never going to get everything they wanted to cover done, and they are trying to cram as much at us in the last two weeks before the break that they can. Couple this with the fact that I have been worse than ever about keeping up with my school work this semester, and I am quite near ready to pull my hair out.

I just have to remind myself that there are only two more days left... Come Friday, I won't have any classes for over a week, and I will not only have time to get caught up on some things, but I will also have some time to relax.

I just need to remember not to do too much of either!

As always, please feel free to contact me.

M.J.

Government Support of the Boy Scouts is Unconstitutional

2007-02-27T21:57:00.000-08:00

As many of you are no doubt aware, one of the causes closest to my heart is the issue of discrimination in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). This once moral organization has claimed in recent years that, as a private “religious organization”, it has the right to exclude gays, atheists, and agnostics from its membership, both as youth and adults. The reasons behind this change are many, but mostly the new attitude is caused by the National Council being largely controlled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons).

Although I believe the discrimination on the part of the organization is morally wrong and against the BSA’s own Scout Oath and Scout Law, I had never really thought deeply about the Constitutionality of our government’s continued support of this organization. That is, until this morning.

I just wrote a draft of letter to the National Constitution Center on behalf of Scouting for All in regards to their decision to hold a Boy Scout Day at their museum. Because the organization (NCC) is nonpartisan, I felt it was important to keep the letter within the lines of the constitutionality of Congress’s continued support of the Boy Scouts of America.

The Boy Scouts of America holds a congressional charter granted in the early twentieth century. One could certainly say that this charter does not necessarily constitute current support for the Boy Scouts of America. However, the BSA continues to receive government support in the form of free land, money, and free work on the part of the US Military and National Guard. Every four years (or in the case of the next Jamboree, five years), the BSA holds its National (Boy) Scout Jamboree on a military base – Fort AP Hill in Virginia – which has millions of dollars in infrastructure built by the military specifically for the event.

Congress could certainly revoke the BSA’s charter, and they could certainly end funding for BSA projects and free land use. However, they have decided to go the opposite route, passing a law in 2005 called the Save Our Scouts Act, which, among other things, guarantees equal access to the schools for the Boy Scouts. This in effect forces many local school districts and municipalities to ignore their own non-discrimination laws and endorse a discriminatory organization.

Now remember that the argument the BSA uses in many court cases is that it is a “private religious organization” and as such has the right to choose its own membership standards. However, if it truly has become a religious organization, then it is by definition unconstitutional for the BSA to hold a congressional charter and to continue to get congressional support. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...”

So, in my opinion, while the Boy Scouts of America, as a private organization, should have the right to choose their own membership requirements (even though I think those requirements are amoral), any support of the BSA by the Federal Government is Unconstitutional. And, forcing local governments to ignore their own anti-discrimination laws is just plain wrong!

As always, please feel free to contact me!

M.J.

Finally Coming Together

2007-02-26T13:12:00.000-08:00

After fighting with several software programs over the weekend in an attempt to make this site / blog more aesthetically pleasing, I finally gave up and just tried manually modifying the blogger template. I'm actually quite happy with what I've come up with, though I know I'll be tweaking it for a while. The picture I used to make the banner image, in case any of you are interested, is taken near Angel Fire, New Mexico. It is a beautiful area, and while I certainly could have found other images from the Rocky Mountain region that are prettier, I felt that this one is very representative. You can find views similar to that all over Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. I must admit I don't know Montana well enough to be certain, but I would imagine that a similar picture could be taken in many parts of that state as well.

I think I'm finally ready to take this site seriously, and I hope that the rest of you are as well. Please tell your friends about the new and improved GayRockies.net!

As always, please feel free to contact me! (Oh, guess I need to update that page to fit with the new theme as well! - Another project for after I've caught up on my school work.)

M.J.

A Community Comes Together

2007-02-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Last night I attended a rally in Boulder, Colorado for a young Naropa University student who was attacked this past Wednesday morning in Downtown Boulder - because she identified herself as a lesbian to two young men who were hitting on her.

Boulder Police refuse to officially call this act a hate crime until the suspects are apprehended, but the community has little doubt that the young woman's sexual orientation played a part in her brutal assault.

Thankfully the victim is recovering - physically. I wonder if she will ever recover completely from being attacked just for being who she was. The Boulder community, especially the GLBTQ community has some recovery to do as well. In a way, when you attack one of us, you attack all of us. Living thirty miles from Boulder, I still felt the impact of this brutal assault and felt the need to make the drive to Boulder to be part of the community's response.

I took some pictures of the event, some of which actually did come out okay. I'm including them below, but I don't think I really need to comment on them. The number of people who turned out to this rally - organized in about a day - speaks for itself.

As always, feel free to contact me.

To find out more about this incident, or how to help, please visit the Boulder Pride web site.

M.J.

Disabled? Me?

2007-02-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

For the past two semesters I've been dealing with an embarrassing but nonetheless serious problem. I've always been prone to some level of chronic diarrhea. Since I had my gall bladder removed, this got a little worse, and the medications I take daily for HIV don't make it any better. I've tried more dietary changes than I can count with no result, and just have to control the problem with medication and Calcium supplements. In reality, this is really a fairly minor problem that I've learned to live with - most of the time.

However, when you are parking on a commuter campus, this minor problem can become major. The fact of the matter is that the closest normal parking is over 250 yards - if you are lucky - from the closest restroom. Most parking, especially if you don't get to school at the crack of dawn, is much further away. When you are having a diarrhea attack, this is simply too far.

So, I've ended up missing classes several times because of an embarrassing, but nonetheless valid medical condition. After missing classes for the second time in as many days, I finally went to my Doctor on Tuesday and had him certify me for a disabled parking pass. At first I thought that it was quite silly to ask for such a concession for a condition as minor as chronic bowel problems.

But the more I've thought about it, the more I think I'm justified. It really doesn't matter what the condition is, if you are unable to make it to work, or class, or some other important activity because the available parking is too far for you to be able to walk, then that is why they have disabled parking placards and closer-in spaces.

I've only had the pass for a few days, and already I can tell that my stress level has dropped significantly. My "disability" may not be visible to the outside world, but if being able to park close enough to a restroom to not have to worry has already helped me in less than a week, I think any embarrassment or hassle I went through are worth it.

And, if posting my story online helps someone else to take whatever steps are necessary for them to be able to work or go to school - then any embarrassment, rude comments or nasty emails I may get are worthwhile as well.

As always, please feel free to contact me.

M.J.

Okay, maybe not...

2007-02-20T07:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been nearly a month since my last post, and as I look at it, I realize that I'm really not back in the saddle. I don't know why, but it's been extremely hard for me to get back into the groove of things this semester. While I always have experienced some internal hesitation about getting into a routine, it seems like this semester is worse than it has been since my senior year of high school (oh, so long ago!) I have trouble getting myself to class on time, and when I find spare time, instead of doing any reading or studying, I've been doing none. I open up my laptop to write a bit in my class journal, this blog, or one of the papers I need to be working on ... and somehow the computer automatically starts up a video game. I'm not going to say that I haven't had a talent for procrastination in the past, but this semester it seems that I just can't get my focus where it needs to be.

I guess the wise thing to do would be to quit wondering why I'm being so lazy and unfocused and start working to change it. I'm just not used to having to try so hard.

Anyway, as always, feel free to contact me.

M.J.

Back in the Saddle

2007-01-22T08:42:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Monday of my second week back to school, and I'm just starting to get into the groove of things. Other than the fact that the only textbook I really need this week is also the only textbook I haven't gotten from my Amazon.com order placed over two weeks ago, things are going well. I'm happy to be back to school and to turn my mind up to "high" again. Expect more postings on more diverse topics as the semester goes on! Hopefully I'll also get around to getting the new template made so that this site looks a lot more like the old Gayrockies.net!

As always, please feel free to contact me!

M.J.

I'm My Own Grandma?

2007-01-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, this may seem a little bizarre, but this Saturday Mark and I were out in Brighton for his uncle's wife's birthday -- he refuses to use the term Aunt because this is his uncle's second wife. Anyway, we got to talking about how all the people in the room were related. Somehow the Ray Stevens song "I'm My Own Grandpa" (actually not written by Ray Stevens, but that's the version I remember) came up. If you don't know the song, you can find it here.

I then commented that it's really going to get confusing when the time machine is invented and you can -literally- become your own Grandpa. Well, this stuck with me. I'm a big fan of Science Fiction, especially Sci-Fi with a comedic twist to it. I can remember several plot twists where this or something very similar happened. In Red Dwarf, Lister is actually his own father - he leaves himself (his son) in a cardboard box under a pool table millions of years in the past. In Futurama, Fry is his own grandpa due to a time-traveling love affair. There are many more examples.

This morning I started thinking about it, though. Why is it that these plot lines only exist with male characters? Well, there is the obvious biological reason that for a man to become their own grandpa requires a commitment short enough for a 30 minute television program, while for a woman to become her own grandma requires at least a nine month commitment. I don't think that it would be possible for a woman to contribute genetic material to her own makeup by accident.

However, I think that if a woman were bound and determined to be her own Grandma, she should have the right to do so! She does have a time machine, right? Well, all she has to do go back in time, find her grandfather, play hide the salami, and then she's done for about nine months of personal timeline. She could stay in the past and be her grandfather's first wife, she could go back to the future and do whatever it was she did there before she decided to change her birth identity, or she could just take the whole pregnancy off to travel without anyone knowing she was gone. Then, when the gestation cycle is complete, she would just have to go back to her grandpa, leave the baby in a basket on the porch and bang! Instant own-grandma status.

I think the problem is that it is quite easy, assuming one has a time machine, to really muck up one's personal ancestry, if one is male. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that a woman would have to be very deranged to become her own ancestor. Though I know where I'd go if I had a time machine... I'd go back and prove that there really was an Adam and Steve, and that Eve was just some insane woman from the 28th Century who really wanted to muck up the gene pool for all humanity.

Okay, so maybe it's time for a second cup of coffee before I head off to school.

Kind regards,

M.J.

Geico Cavemen - Why Are They Gay?

2007-01-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've seen them - the Geico commercials with the cavemen who are offended by the slogan "Geico.com - so easy a caveman could do it!". They're cute, they're witty, and they're funny.

But my question is this: Why are they gay? I think there's little doubt in anyone's mind that the cave men are gay. They are certainly cast that way, and there's really nothing wrong with that at all. I actually like the concept that there were homosexuals before there were homosapiens!

However, you have to wonder why Geico, or their ad company, chose to go in this direction. Perhaps they are going with the time tested concept that a sissy - and I use this word deliberately - is funny to the general public. Perhaps making the cave men obvious gay men just makes them all the funnier to the general public.

Or could it be that there's a gay ad exec, a real-life Brian Kinney, who is using this campaign to show - in a funny way - what it's like to be outcast in society. The "news" people certainly treat the cavemen like they are second-class citizens. This is what gay people live with every day. Whether intentionally a comment on society or not, I definitely identify with the cavemen. I tire of hearing teens saying "that's so gay" about something that they think is stupid. I tire of society continuing to vote down gay marriage or civil unions. We are treated as second class citizens, and portraying a group of fictitious second class citizens as queer is appropriate.

The bottom line is that the point of these commercials is to sell Auto Insurance. I'm sure they add to Geico's name recognition and do their job in that respect. But I have to wonder - are the queer cavemen a comment on how minorities of any type are treated in this country, or is it just another case of "fags are funny".

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions, or post your comments.

Kind regards,

M.J.

Finally Recovered

2007-01-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

No matter how good your backups are, a computer crash is maddening. The time it takes to install Windows, then install all of your software, then copy all of your data, is daunting to say the least.

I think I'm finally to the point that my main Windows machine is back to the state I want it. I almost wish that I could make the full transition to Linux, as it is so much more stable. Alas, I have so much software that I use on Windows that I can't yet get to run on Linux, and what's more, though I don't really like Windows, I do know Windows. I've been using it since Windows 3.1, and I know what to do when there is a problem, I know the file system probably better than the back of my hand, et cetera. I don't think I'll be doing the migration to Vista, though. I'm simply not prepared to give Microsoft that much money. I'll just continue - for now - running most of my machines on XP. However, I will still continue running one on Linux, and learning it bit by bit, so that eventually I can migrate toward open-source free software, which fits my budget and my personality much better.

Anyway, this blog really isn't meant to be a technical blog. However, it is intended to be at least partially about what is going on in my life. Believe me, if you don't know, a major computer crash can take over your life until it is resolved.

Have a great day, all!

M.J.

Crash! Bang! Boom!

2007-01-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

Oh, irony of ironies! Just after I posted the first post to this blog, my main Windows computer (the one with about 400 GB of data on it) committed Windows suicide. I've seen some nasty crashes, and to be fair this one could have been worse, but there was no indication whatsoever that there was a problem until suddenly the machine just rebooted. I was able to get Ubuntu Linux installed on the machine, which gave me an indication that my data - if not my operating system - was for the most part intact. I had done a backup fairly recently, but the idea of rebuilding not only the OS but also two weeks of data was starting to drive me mad.

Fortunately, I am able to pull the data off the machine, which is what I'm in the process of doing now. Then I'll just reformat and start from scratch. However, I think this might just be a sign that rebuilding this site in the format it was might not just be worth it. We'll see, but Gayrockies.net might just become a 100% - or at least 90% - blogger written and controlled site.

Anywho, happy New Year again... Now back to pulling my hair out.

Oh, and why is it that a copy of Windows XP - with Service Pack 2 - has no support for SATA hard drives? Why is it I had to find an old-fashioned floppy drive and put it into my computer just to be able to try to run Windows recovery?

What a pain in the ass.

M.J.

Welcome!

2007-01-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hello, all!

Okay, it's been almost a year since I last updated GayRockies.net. One of the reasons behind this is that the way the site was set up before, I had to manually modify and upload any changes every time I wanted to post an update. This was a big pain in the ass, as I routinely use four different computers. I didn't want to have to have the propper software on each computer, and the nightmare of trying to keep the site up to date on each machine just wasn't manageable. So, I've decided to make the core of my site a blog...

There are good reasons that blogs have become so popular, and one of them is the ability to edit it at any time from any computer with an Internet connection. Once I figured out that blogger would allow me to host my own files on my own site and still be part of the blogger community, I thought that this was the ideal way to use GayRockies.net in the way that I have been wanting to for a while.

So, for now, Welcome to the new GayRockies.net! I will be updating the core site to use this blog as the center more and more over the next month or so. Eventually, this will BE the core of the site.

As always, please feel free to contact me!

Kind Regards,

M.J. Christensen