In what has become a sort of tradition for me, I took some photos of the fireplace/mantle with holiday cards, and the dogs hanging out.

Off to visit friends later this evening, and maybe dance a bit.

I went to a very nice Pagan social thing last night. There were quite a few folks there. When I walked in, I saw that there was an ornament/decoration hanging from the ceiling fan near the buffet table:

Yes. It is what appears to be an Absolut Vodka redone as a disco ball. How gay is that? I can't tell if that is a wizard or Santa wearing lavender.

Well, apparently, not as gay as one of the toys that the children had:

That appears to be a Disney light saber in Rainbow Pride colors. If Christian Fundamentalist Dark Lords of the Sith ever start harassing us during Gay Day at Disney World, it is very good to know that we are prepared.

My friend Jeremy was introducing his new beau, Eric, to everyone. At one point, Eric was describing that a landmark near where we lived is a VERY large cross made out of aluminum that sounds particularly tacky and unaesthetic. Apparently, it is something like 70 feet tall. I suggested it might have been used as a background for the monster/religious flick Moth Ra versus Jesus, Son of Godzilla.

I had a fairly good time at the Men's Greet 'N Chat on Thursday. One of the guys there was a lawyer. We were talking about the person one is in a relationship, and the lawyer said that he tended to use the term "lover." The issue he ran into was that when he brought the man he was seeing to functions, if he introduced him as his partner, people immediately asked if he had expanded his law firm. Apparently, the lawyer had introduced his other half to a Supreme Court Justice who didn't get that their connection was personal, rather than professional. So, "lover" seemed to be the less-easily confused term in his case. (I flippantly said that he could have clarified matters by saying, "Look we're guys and we have sex together. Get it now??")

His other half jokingly suggested "co-sodomite", which I thought was pretty funny.

Oy. I am still being a major obsessive-compulsive and scanned in (as PDF's) all of the issues of PRIDE News (about 12 issues - it existed from 2000 through 2001.

I also started working on posting articles from the Erie Gay News PDF's I have already scanned. This is likely to be fairly time consuming. I am very glad to have the mega recap of 1992 that Deb wrote that was part of our very first issue in January of 1993.

How I spent my winter vacation: I scanned in as PDF's the first 7 year run of Erie Gay News (1/93-12/99). I figure that is 84 issues and somewhere between 1600 and 2000 pages. Ouch.

I also made some modifications to the code for the pages to handle different publications. (We might scan in the pre-1993 edition that was done by someone else, and I might scan in PRIDE News, which existed in 2000/2001.)

Now, all I need to do is to put all of the component articles on the web site. That might be quite laborious or not too bad, depending on how good the OCR was.

I also realized that the issue that will be cover dated for May, 2008 will be the 150th issue that we have done.

Wow. Is it even possible to be more solidly in the "You're missing the point!" category than this?! Priests from rival sects of Christianity brawling like hooligans. At a church. Where Jesus was supposedly born. Jesus is frequently referred to as the Prince of Peace. I am just imagining him rolling His eyes and sighing, "This is SO not what I meant!"

B

ETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) -- Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests attacked each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning on Thursday.

A general view from the Church of the Nativity compound in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

The basilica, built over the grotto in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, is administered jointly by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities.

Any perceived encroachment on one group's turf can touch off vicious feuds.

On Thursday, dozens of priests and cleaners were scrubbing the church ahead of the Armenian and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in early January. Thousands of tourists visited the church this week for Christmas celebrations.

But the clean-up turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped inside the Armenian church's section, touching off a scuffle between about 50 Greek Orthodox and 30 Armenians.

Palestinian police, armed with batons and shields, quickly formed a human cordon to separate the two sides so the cleaning could continue, then ordered an Associated Press photographer out of the church.

Four people, some with blood running from their faces, were slightly wounded.

Priests brawl at Jesus' birthplace - CNN.com

I have always thought of myself as a relatively sound sleeper. I basically got confirmation of that today. I had been up for a bit this morning, and then went back to sleep. Heracles generally sleeps to my right and Hecate sleeps on my left. Henry decided to brave the dogs and sleep in the bed.

When I woke up, I was lying on my side. Henry was comfortably sitting on my hip. Apparently, I must not thrash around that much while sleeping.

Clearly, if one is a campy old movie queen and a  philatelist, this is pretty much nirvana.

A further thought: this is apparently a fixed rate stamp (41 cents) and looks like Bette Davis as Margo Channing in "All About Eve." If the rates go up, the stamp that makes up the cost difference (and which should eventually try to supplant the Bette Davis stamp) really needs to be Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington.

Bette Davis stars in 2008 postage stamps

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 27, 9:29 AM ET

WASHINGTON - A face that will tease you, and please you and perhaps unease you is coming to the post office next year, it's those Bette Davis eyes.

On the 100th anniversary of her birth the great actress will be honored on a commemorative stamp, the 14th in the Legends of Hollywood Series.

A 10-time Academy Award nominee, Davis won twice, for her roles in "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938).

Bette Davis stars in 2008 postage stamps - Yahoo! News

I went to Selkie and Dylan's tonight. A covener who had moved away was back in town with his boyfriend of 8 months. It was great seeing Taliesin again, and the boyfriend was very nice. Taliesin is vegetarian, so we tried to have that kind of food available.

I am still scanning old issues of Erie Gay News like a mad demon. I pretty much have most of 1993 through the end of 1996 done, with 3 issues missing. I figured that given 7 years of issues at 12 issues per year times at least 20 pages per issue, I am going to have easily scanned in well over 1600 pages by the time that this is all over. That doesn't include the copying and pasting of text to create the articles as HTML pages after I get done with all of the PDF's. I am clearly insane.

Since we have had 2 incarnations, I added a field/table for publication. This should help with some other stuff. Erie Gay News is basically a weird home grown content management system. Since I am the only one administering it, I can pretty much do what I want.

It was a very nice day. I picked up my Grandma and her husband, Mac, and took them over to Mom's for Christmas dinner. Mom had made Cornish game hens, which were yummy. My stepfather Carl had just redone an upstairs bedroom to be a sewing room for my Mom, so she was showing it off to Grandma, who is also into sewing. Mom was jokingly lamenting that she had space for only 8 of her sewing machines. She had a few downstairs

Mom also had a smocking machine that had a line of 47 needles. Grandma seemed impressed. I am clueless.

Carl hung out with my step-grandfather, Mac.

It was a nice day, My brother and I geeked around briefly on the computer and helped get dinner out.

After going to help my friend Jan, I went out to the Zone last night. I danced a smidgen and chatted with folks. I noticed that some folks were wearing these felt Christmas hats with pointed trim around the brim, but the pointy bits were hanging down, so the effect was rather that of depressed elves. I sort of imagined Santa's workshops with disconsolate elves lamenting, "Look, the kids don't really care about these gifts, and they are just going to find out what a fraud Santa is, setting themselves up for a lifetime of failed expectations. We all die alone anyway."

I had a very nice chat with Season, who wondered if maybe they wouldn't have been fired from the Sylvia Plath Employment Agency to make Christmas Bell Jars.

However, a friend was also noting the slightly phallic imagery when the point of the hat was straight up, so we concluded that it was sort of an Eros versus Thanatos ink blot sort of test.

This afternoon, I went out to dine with Deb and Mike and talk about newsletter stuff. I haven't had much of a chance to scan more back issues, but I am hoping that I will have more,

Okay, these are totally unrelated:

I added to the history section at Erie Gay News (sort of an end of the year thing; I look back through all of the articles for the past year and create entries for those that seem significant.

I was having some weirdness with one of the USB hubs on my PC. That seems to be okay now. I haven't been able to sync my PDA at home, but I just synced it at work. Hopefully, that reset something.

My friend Jan was having some problems with her scanner, so I went out and checked some stuff and set her up with an easier to use program. She just emailed some photos, so it looks like we are cool.

And, apropos of nothing in particular, I found the following meme.

100% Free Dating at JustSayHi.com

I am trying to use my time off to catch up on stuff that I have been meaning to do, but have put off.

My friend Deb and I had planned to go visit Dok, a friend at who was in the hospital recovering from knee surgery replacement. My friend Paula mentioned that she was going to be at Papa Joe's with another friend before heading off to belly dance class, so Deb and I arranged to meet there, before heading on to the hospital. It was a very nice dinner.

Dok was glad to see us, and we had a nice time visiting as well. We stayed for a while, and then I dropped Deb home.

Today was geek-tacular: I spent a few hours setting up a web site  with Drupal for a friend who is running for office. There is still a fair amount to do, but the basic framework is there.

One of the reasons that I wanted to take a long vacation was to work on scanning in issues of the first run of Erie Gay News to add to the web site. I have pretty much been doing that all day. It is a pretty daunting task, as there are 7 years worth of issues, and I will have to create separate HTML versions of the article when I am all done scanning. However, I am really looking forward to having a more complete history online.

My brother-in-law, who runs the site for Toledo Santa (and who sometimes bears a curious resemblance to Santa ;) ) emailed me about a story that the local news did about Santa himself visiting the Maumee cub scouts.

Local sports radio interviewed Santa, and then his agent, my brother-in-law Tom.

Happy holidays!

Toledo's Santa Claus

By Arielle Berlin
Posted: Monday, December 17, 2007 at 10:33 p.m.

TOLEDO, OH -- Some Cub Scouts in Maumee got a visit from a very special guest on Monday night.  Santa Claus!

Santa came all the way from the North Pole to make sure the scouts got what they wanted for Christmas.  And if you wanted him to, Santa could make an appearance at your holiday gathering.

Santa has a website, where you can get in contact with him.  Santa says, "that way if people are looking for me, they can find me locally, they can go to a workshop and get information, that way they don't have to make a long distance call to the North Pole."

Check out the link below to contact Santa.

Related Links

• Contact Santa Claus

Toledo's Santa Claus : News : NBC24

Paula sent me a link to the video by Straight No Chaser, a male a capella group from Indiana. Very impressive and fun. (And very clever how they morph several Christmas carols together)

Also the group stopped at a Hardee's in Kentucky and performed Stand By Me. I firmly believe that life should be more like a musical with folks bursting into song and dance.

Getting the 12 Days video reminded me of a silly filk that we came up with in the coven years ago. So cutting to the chase:

On the thirteenth day of Solstice, the Goddess gave to me:
13 in the coven
12 drummers drumming
11 spells a'casting
10 sephiroth
9 muses dancing
8 major sabbats
7 fiery swans
6 Pagans chanting
5 fold kiss!
4 quarter calls
Maiden, mother, crone
Oak and holly kings
And a black handled athame!

What fun! I saw this linked. It's a great compilation and it is embarrassing how many of the component clips I recognize or have seen.

JR (AKA Otter) scored as an Otter. Gasp in surprise! So, I thought I would take the animal meme thing.

Your Score: The Wolf

You scored 46% domestic, 54% gregarious, 25% trickster, and 50% intellect!

Wild, Gregarious, Serious and Emotional: you are the Wolf! Wolf people tend to revere individualism, but retain a predominant sense of family. Wolf represents all aspects of sociability, and the need for variety (in internal and external affairs) to remain healthy. Wolf is a strong symbol of loyalty and patience. Wolf medicine is deeply rooted in the importance of learning through teaching, new ideas, freedom of mind and body, and responsibility for self and others.

This test categorized you based on four different axes of personality, which were then associated with a different animal. The four axes, as well as all possible results are explained below.

Wild/Domestic: This first axis categorizes you based on how much you are drawn to the outdoors, versus how much you are drawn to civilized situations. Domesticity has many shapes and forms, and varies from the joy of dolphins leaping next to a ship to the steadfast loyalty of a family dog.

Gregarious/Solitary: This axis measures how solitary you are. If you scored high, it means that you enjoy the company of other people, while a low score indicates that you prefer a more solitary lifestyle.

Trickster/Serious: This axis measures how well you line up with conventional trickster archetypes. People who fall into this archetype have a sense of humor and an excitable, highly chaotic streak. Scoring low doesn't mean that you don't have a sense of humor; it just means that you probably don't think dynamite is very funny.

Intellectual/Emotional: This last axis determines whether you are more emotional -- acting based on feelings and instinct, or rational and intellectual -- acting more on thought than on your gut feelings.

Wild	Gregarious	Trickster	Intellectual	The Hyena
Wild	Gregarious	Trickster	Emotional	The Otter
Wild	Gregarious	Serious	Intellectual	The Antelope
Wild	Gregarious	Serious	Emotional	The Wolf
Wild	Solitary	Trickster	Intellectual	The Weasel
Wild	Solitary	Trickster	Emotional	The Coyote
Wild	Solitary	Serious	Intellectual	The Raven
Wild	Solitary	Serious	Emotional	The Frog
Domestic	Gregarious	Trickster	Intellectual	The Fox
Domestic	Gregarious	Trickster	Emotional	The Dolphin
Domestic	Gregarious	Serious	Intellectual	The Horse
Domestic	Gregarious	Serious	Emotional	The Dog
Domestic	Solitary	Trickster	Intellectual	The Rat
Domestic	Solitary	Trickster	Emotional	The Ferret
Domestic	Solitary	Serious	Intellectual	The Cat
Domestic	Solitary	Serious	Emotional	The Squirrel

The Erie County Witches' Meetup had a very nice Yule today at Trance Night Club. We had a few folks who were new, and some folks who were old friends. At one point before we began, Selkie called me over and asked me to back her up in signing The King, which is an old Christmas Carol that was recorded by Loreena McKennitt. So, we made fools of ourselves and had a grand old time singing.

Years ago, we had a circle here, and Sharon, Selkie and I sort of spontaneously started singing it in harmony. (Well, it was easy for me, since the guy's voice takes the melody.) The funny thing is that I never gotten into karaoke while out at bars, as the kinds of music I like are generally not exactly top 40 (well, in the past few hundred years, anyway.)

But it was cool that I actually got to sing something I genuinely liked at a location that I thought I would not have been likely to sing it at.

The circle went fairly well. There are several other Yule observances happening in the next week or so. We mentioned those as well at the end.

While writing this, I was listening to "Mon Coeur Se Recommande 'A Vous - Anonymous" by The New World Renaissance Band

I zipped over to the Second Harvest Food Bank on NW PA after lunch to drop off what we had collected from the Erie Bloggers at our get together this past Tuesday. I didn't think of doing a food drive until late, so we had only a small number of folks bringing stuff. The final total was 9 pounds of food and $20. But what the heck, every little bit helps!

Not sure when we will collect food again, but here is the next event:

Here, via Jenson. Not sure how accurate this is.

You Have A Type B+ Personality

You're a pro at going with the flow You love to kick back and take in everything life has to offer A total joy to be around, people crave your stability. While you're totally laid back, you can have bouts of hyperactivity. Get into a project you love, and you won't stop until it's done You're passionate - just selective about your passions

David Strand Designs ™

Paula called me with the link to this. Yes, they are glass Christmas tree ornaments in the form of the Village People. Paula thought that the Construction Worker worked looked like a skinny Larry the Cable Guy. Hmm. He does look kind of femme. Actually, the Construction Worker was the hottest of the Village People, in my opinion.

The ornaments are under the free-blown category at the web site. Well, of course they are! ;)

I am also trying to resist the innumerable bad jokes that doubtless could be used ("It came upon a Midnight Queer" There, I was unable to resist.)

They don't seem to have the Leather Guy. Yet.

This is incredibly wrong, but check out the photo at this blog entry.

We had a slightly small get together for the Erie Bloggers, but it was delightful as always. Ever thoughtful and kind Kitten gave me a ride to Romolo's. It wasn't that far, but walking with the boxes in the rain would not have been fun. It was sort of abbreviated because the placed closed at 8 PM.

We collected for the Erie Food Bank. I hadn't gotten the idea until late, so some folks hadn't gotten the word or had forgotten. (Memo to self: I need to start earlier the next time we do this.)

A few new folks from LEAD, the progressive political group I belong to showed up, as well as Mike Waltner, who is running for Congress. I hope that they had a good time. I try to be mindful that everyone should get some attention and interaction.

We're going to be going to Patrick's on Buffalo Rd on January 8 for the next one. I am trying to recall if that is where my brother works. (It might be another restaurant.) I just checked and they are open until 9:30, so we can be a bit more leisurely next time.

Afterwards, I chatted online with my friend Dave, who is thinking of moving back to the area from out west.

Oh well, must scurry and walk the dogs.

How delightfully bizarre! I have no idea what to make of this. It's sort of a "Learn English while doing vague aerobics to an 80's music video sort of thing. About dealing with a robbery." And what the heck the heck is the English speaking robber wearing on his head? Is that a brassiere? It almost looks like a yarmulke. Does Japan have a rash of transvestite robbers victimizing women who only want to lose pounds while working out to  bad pop synth? It's kind of creepy that the women look so gosh-darned perky while saying those sorts of phrases.

Utterly, mind-numbingly weird!

Um, is there anyone who didn't pretty much have this figured out before? Heck, I recall that Bill Maher referred to the photo of Elian Gonzalez hiding in the bedroom closet when the federal agents came in as "the second most famous Hispanic male in the closet" (or something like that.)

Anyhow, it never fails to surprise me how some gay guys think that folks are missing the obvious, although some straight folks can be blind. I actually saw a post on YouTube in the comment section for Karma Chameleon from a woman who claimed that Boy George (who has been out for years!) was not gay and just simply had very colorful taste in fashion. Jeebus!

Ricky Martin 'outed' by pal

By WENN world entertainment news - Monday, December 10 10:05 am

Latin heartthrob Ricky Martin is facing fresh speculation over his sexuality after his good friend and skin care specialist Ole Henriksen 'outed' the star in a recent magazine interview.

Henriksen was being interviewed by gay Swedish magazine Salonk when he made the comment about Livin' La Vida Loca's sexual preference.

He's quoted as saying, "He (Martin) is a bit more open about it (his homosexuality) these days than he used to be... I don't know if he has a boyfriend."

And when asked who he'd choose to spend a romantic holiday with, Henriksen replied, "I'd go for Stig Tofting (ex Danish soccer player), but since he's straight, I'd say my client Ricky Martin."

Ricky Martin 'outed' by pal - Yahoo! News UK

I was walking back to the restroom, when I walked past some of the women from data entry, who were on lunch break. One of them said,

And then she rode the wiener mobile.

which sounded amusingly odd. The woman was using a pleasant tone of voice. I commented that it was a very odd conversational fragment to overhear, and we all laughed. I am guessing that they were referring to something like driving the Oscar Meyer hot dog shaped car.

If it had been said in a snarky tone of voice, it would have sounded like some kind of a slam "And then she rode the wiener mobile. That absolute hussy!", but we really would have need a chorus of women in the background singing the "Pick a little, talk a little" chorus from The Music Man. "Chaucer! Rabelais! Balzac!" (And yes, I did slip into musical theatre queen mode just then. No surprise.)

I get a call from my friend Paula. I got the house from her and her husband, John, in 1996. John, for some reason couldn't recall about the cold air vent that is in the hallway by the closet/stairs.

So, Paula, here it is, just for you!

Sigh. It's getting where I almost hate the weekend. I was working on finishing the holiday newsletter and had to go out for something. On my way back, I thought that the car sounded a tad odd/loud. Then it got even louder, so I think that something is up with the muffler.

So much for going out last night. I ended up being up WAY too late playing around with themes for Gary for the Drenched Fur site. I had some real problems with some, and currently we are using Beale Street from Roopletheme.

I was also hoping to go to some friends holiday party, but I am now thinking I will try to drive as little as possible until I get the car looked at. {Crosses fingers for tomorrow.}

On the plus side, the holiday cards are now all signed and ready to mail.

Between the newsletter and all the folks that I know, I tend to send out a LOT of holiday cards. I probably don't get to everyone I should, and I am not sure how many folks notice them, but it is sort of an annual tradition.

This year, I thought I would throw together a holiday newsletter, since I don't correspond as much as I would like with some folks I send cards to. I also wanted to play around a bit with InDesign. My artistic/layout skills are fairly crappy, but fortunately there were some templates, so I tweaked it ever so slightly and threw some copy into there. Hopefully, the whole thing isn't too unbearably pretentious and self-involved.

Michael's DItherings - Holiday Newsletter 2007

Fond memories, indeed! I remember that this was the first computer we ever had. I seem to recall that we got it for something like $100 from a toy store in the mall around 1982/1983. They toy store stood where the Blair Outlet now stands, by OfficeMax.

Yup, I remember using cassette tapes for storage. A few times, I got confused about which tapes had music and which had computer stuff. Unpleasant to listen to! I did play around with keying songs from books I had for learning piano into the music program. Gad, what a geek!

Mom kept it for quite a while after I moved out. For a while, she was running Geos, which was a sort of GUI interface for the C64. (Think Windows 2.X or so, but for a C64.) I think that my uncle Paul had a Vic 20, which was the predecessor.

Like a first love or a first car, a first computer can hold a special place in people's hearts. For millions of kids who grew up in the 1980s, that first computer was the Commodore 64. Twenty-five years later, that first brush with computer addiction is as strong as ever.

Millions of Commodore 64s were sold in the 1980s.

more photos »

"There was something magical about the C64," says Andreas Wallstrom of Stockholm, Sweden.

He remembers the day he first laid eyes on his machine back in 1984.

"My father brought it home together with a tape deck, a disk drive, a printer, and a couple of games...I used to sneak home during lunch to play [on it] with my friends." Learn about the components of the C64 system »

Wallstrom is the webmaster and designer for C64.com, a Web site dedicated to preserving the games, demos, pictures, magazines and memories of the Commodore 64.

Commodore 64 still loved after all these years - CNN.com

Okay, this is admittedly probably just my rather warped mind working here, but I was driving back from lunch and I saw a bus with I {Heart} Erie.

It sort of looked like this, except that I didn't see the letter I before the heart, and the lettering was black on white, rather than the other way around. It was on a blue bus.

At first glance, I parsed it as the leather pride flag.

Again, probably just me being weird, and the confluence of red heart + black and blue near white.

Hmm. I got a an email in my Junk email folder with a subject of "FW: New bachelors for you." I was guessing that it was possibly some gay social networking/hookup site. That is, bachelors of the confirmed (possibly rather pointedly so) variety.

I looked in the message body and it was talking about fast track degree programs, that is, bachelors of the baccalaureate variety. So, no gay spam for me. ;)