Clip O' The Week - Get Yer Sci Fi On

Good Sci Fi can be tough to come by these days.

The Archiver from Artfx on Vimeo.

With Friends Like These...

It doesn't matter that you can't understand what they're saying. This is funny in any language.

Enjoy!

Suhweet New Music Sunday- No Sleep Til Brooklyn

All star cast for this one and these Boys haven't missed a beat since the 1980's.

Get Some!

New York State of Mind

Way to go New York. Congratulations!

Mid Week Music

You Just Might Find...

Last summer The Admiral and I were living in a beautiful 2 bedroom townhome style condo that was just minutes away from just about everything we wanted to do in life. We were renting it and the price, although a little more than some of the other places we'd looked at, was well worth it.

More importantly it was the perfect size for us. Unlike the 900 some odd square foot place we'd lived in the 5 years previous, this place was large enough that it didn't feel like we were standing on top of each other everytime we sneezed. In the end we had to move but it served as a model for what we would be looking for if we ever wanted something more permanent.

The chain of events that caused us to move from the condo grated and irritated enough for us to come up with a plan that involved renting a space with a dear friend in the hopes of saving enough money to not have to move again for a while. The plan, while requiring some sacrifice was a good one, and like Leroy Jenkins we were all in and ready to "do this".

A month ago we started taking the browsing process a little more seriously than just perusing ads in the paper or on-line. Because of our experiences over the last few years we had a pretty good idea of what was on our shopping list.

• Minimum of 2 bed rooms



• A place for some storage (garage)



• A short commute to work and family for The Admiral



• Fireplace



• A nice kitchen for The Admiral



• A more modern look for both the place and the community



• And most importantly IT HAS TO BE AFFORDABLE

This last bullet was essential, because if we couldn't afford the monthly payments then quite frankly what was the point?

So off we went on our search. In all we saw about 2 and a half dozen different properties. Most of them were condos/townhomes. Neither of us are fond of doing yard work. Our first discovery was that it was going to be hard to find something that fit all of our criteria. This isn't unique in this process but it's the sort of thing you have to come to grips with in a hurry.

A half dozen of the places we looked at were in the same complex as the condo we'd lived in a year ago. This was great, because it meant we new what to expect by way of size and ammenities. We knew we'd be comfortable there which made things easy. All of the available units were Short Sales so the pricing wasn't set in stone. This presented some challenges because you couldn't really know how much you'd truly have to pay. Tack on the HOA dues and it was beginning to seem unaffordable.

2 of the places we instantly fell in love with were more than just nicely refurbished. They were also priced well and in the same complex as The Admiral's uncle. It seemed almost too good to be true. Close to family - check. Short commute - check. Gorgeous kitchen - check. Fireplace - check. Enough square footage, including storage - check. Affordable - che...wait what's this crap about $350 a month for HOA?

I ran the numbers and realized that it would mean an extra $20,000 over 30 years just for that extra $60 bucks. Yikes!!! A couple of weeks into the process and I was ready to call it quits. I felt financially inadequate, and the entire venture just seemed to be too much to handle. I'd calculated how much we could afford on a month to month basis and we were striking out at every turn.

"Were we going to be able to find a place that looked the way we wanted?

"Was there even a chance that we could afford it?

How does anyone ever get what they want in this type of an economy?

Last weekend after touring another half dozen places with our Agent we decided to put the top down on the Cruiser and drive around looking at places in areas outside of the geographical area we'd been concentrating on. It was a Beautiful Balmy Seattle Day and it felt nice to just drive around and play "what if".

We mostly saw some stuff we couldn't afford. Truth. But towards the end of the day we pulled into Dunhill Terraceon a whim. We left realizing that if there was any possibility of the pricing working out the way we hoped, we would be living there. An enthusiastic text to our Agent secured us a return visit later in the week.

I began coordinating with our Loan Originator on pricing and loan approval immediately. The four of us strategized on the best approach and came up with a game plan.

The true difficulty for us was that the home wasn't built yet. To say that our negotiating strength was low would be a huge understatement. So in our final budget planning we assumed that we'd be paying full price and eating all of the closing costs.

But we'd decided that to have a brand new home that noone else had lived in yet would make that sacrifice seem more than just small. It would be miniscule.

>

So ladles and germs there you have it. Today The Admiral and I signed the paperwork for our very first home and were pronounced Homeowners. I cried a little behind my sun glasses once we got in the car.

We paid a little more than we wanted. And the house is a little further away from family and work than we wanted as well. But it's new and it's ours.

It's true what they say. You really can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes...

The Contenders -- Ooooo Pretty

Technically Sarah Palin isn't actually running for President (yet). I like to think of this bus tour of hers as an over amped exploratory committee. She's gauging the countries reactions.

There are lots of cheers and applause at her events. People seem to genuinely love her and respect her. The rest of us have stopped staring at her tits long enough to actually listen to what she's saying.

Me personally? I'm a big fan. I hope she never leaves the lime lite, because then I'd be forced to write about actual news.

Most recently she spent a day in Boston getting a tour of Freedom Trail. When asked to comment she had this to say.

He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed.

The "He" that the former Vice Presidential candidate is referring to is Paul Revere. And this was her historical recollection of the famous "the Red Coats are coming" ride through town. I remember 5 grade vaguely but even I can recount the "2 if by land, 1 if by sea" story.

He used lanterns to warn the Colonist because that was the plan they'd worked out in advance. If they come by boat I'll carry 1 lantern. If they come through the hills I'll carry 2. I'm sure the guns and bells thing would have worked out just fine, but that's just not how the story worked out.

Thank you Sarah. You are the gift that keeps on giving.

How Did I Not Know About This? - We're Here. We're Queer...Well Most Of Us Anyway

Every once in a while I come across a story that makes me scratch my head wondering how I didn't already know about this. Well this certainly qualifies.

As for the picture. C'mon! Who's he kidding?

Gay softball league limit on straight players OK'd
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) - A gay softball organization that runs an annual tournament called the Gay Softball World Series can keep its rule limiting the number of heterosexual players on each team, a federal judge has ruled.

The decision came in a lawsuit filed by three men who say they were disqualified from the annual tournament because they weren't gay enough. They said in the suit filed last year that their team's second-place finish in the 2008 tournament in Washington state was nullified because they are bisexual, not gay, and thus their team exceeded the limit of two non-gay players.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour said Tuesday that their suit can proceed to trial. But he also ruled that the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, which also oversees gay softball leagues in dozens of U.S. cities, has a First Amendment right to limit the number of heterosexual players, much as the Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to exclude gays.

"It would be difficult for NAGAAA to effectively emphasize a vision of the gay lifestyle rooted in athleticism, competition and sportsmanship if it were prohibited from maintaining a gay identity," the judge wrote.

However, Coughenour said questions remain about the way the softball association applied its rule, including whether the questions asked about the men's sexuality at a protest hearing were unnecessarily intrusive. Therefore, the case can proceed toward a trial set for Aug. 1, he said.

The San Francisco-based team the men played on, D2, was disqualified after others at the tournament questioned their sexuality and filed a protest. Under questioning, the men, Stephen Apilado, Laron Charles and John Russ, were evasive or declined to discuss their sexuality, according to the organization.

For example, minutes of the hearing say that Charles claimed to be gay but acknowledged being married to a woman, and Apilado initially said he was both gay and straight but then acknowledged being more attracted to women.

The minutes say rumors had persisted for years about whether D2 was stacking its team with straight ringers. In addition to the three plaintiffs, the team had two designated straight players. The organization says it has always considered bisexuals to meet the definition of "gay" for roster purposes, but the minutes also note that one official involved in the decision to disqualify D2 commented that "this is not a bisexual world series. This is a gay world series."

"Plaintiff's allegations about defendant's treatment of bisexuality remain of central importance to this case," the judge said. "Defendant could still be liable for its actions."

Chris Stoll, a spokesman for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, which is representing the three men, said Friday its lawyers were reviewing the opinion and legal options.

"We think that the law is clear; NAGAAA doesn't have a First Amendment right to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation," he said.