here's something to celebrate

2009 homicide totals plummet in the district

so it's not the end of the decade

my friend rightly pointed out that the end of the decade actually comes next december 31st and that we're all really bad at math. however, i rightly pointed out that we're not bad at math - we're just giving ourselves a mulligan in case we get it wrong this year.

george clooney, ben bernanke and the $2500 movie ticket

as usual, we spent our new year's eve with our friends and, as usual, it ended far before the strike of twelve. it's nice really because i'm able to be home in my warm house and blog in the new year. while all of that it interesting, i'm really writing to tell you this ...

we went to see "up in the air" with george clooney. i'm not sure what i was expecting, but i certainly wasn't expecting it to end the way that it did. although, i guess it would have been safe to assume that any story almost completely focused on people losing their jobs couldn't really be all that uplifting.

so here we are in a movie about the failing economy, the increasing number of people losing their jobs and the burgeoning market for layoff specialists and in an incredibly ironic twist - ben bernanke was sitting a few rows in front of us. we all speculated how he must have been feeling given the fact that many people blame him for at least part of the problem - the real-life, super-huge problem, not the "conflict" part of the movie plot. i'm smart enough to know that bernanke is not the issue, but i still wonder what was going through his head.

he shouldn't have been that depressed though because he was doing his part to contribute to the economy. not only did he purchase a movie ticket, he was accompanied by no fewer than 4 secret service agents. his desire to see a movie on new year's eve certainly put some extra cash in those pockets - and probably cost the tax payers a pretty penny.

the decade that was

it's almost unbelievable that the first 10 years of the 2000s are nearly over. it seems like just yesterday i was a closeted grad student hanging out in nyc with my friend waiting for the ball to drop. and man did the ball ever drop! in this past decade, i -

• graduated from grad school
• began my career in public policy
• came out
• met the love of my life
• moved to the district of columbia
• adopted two peculiar cats
• joined a church
  
• did time as a temporary doorman, temporary proofreader, temporary receptionist, and tutor
• survived a year of workplace hell only to come out better than ever
• bought a house
• became the flipflop fed
• realized that life is too good to be missed

here's to another decade of fantastic fantasticism!

the good in corporate america

i've been defriended

how can this be?! i don't update my status obsessively. i don't send notices about games that you should play - hell i don't even play the games. i sometimes go weeks without ever logging on and yet someone found it necessary to strike me from their ranks? i'm truly offended which i find interesting in itself because i hadn't spoken to this "friend" since 1994 before i friended them earlier this year!! BUT I AM!

there are assholes and then there are f*cktards

(i'll get to the post title in a moment).

remember last year when we thought hubert was having a stroke? (no? read here.) well, tonight was a real emergency. hubert decided to eat a mint candy (we think because it looked like a cat treat?!) and then began to have difficulty breathing. we rushed him to the animal hospital where they immediately did an ultrasound on his neck. then they informed us that they would be putting him in an oxygen tent. yep ... an oxygen tent (see below) -

they finally decided that the mint probably irritated his throat and that he'll be just fine.

then we came home. that's where we found that some person had taken our parking spot - the same spot that we spent about an hour shoveling out this morning. not only did the big-ass-yes-i-bought-this-because-i-question-my-manhood pickup truck take up our spot it also took up our neighbor's spot in front of ours. and that, dear friend, is what will elevate you from mere asshole to gigantic f*cktard!

around town after the snow or how i got a $250 parking ticket

we're finally dug out and thought it would be fun to take a ride down to the whitehouse to see the sights. here's a photo journal of the day ...

show me where it says "snow emergency route no parking!" i'm so fighting the $250 prechristmas gift doled out today by my lovely city.

this is my absolute favorite statue in our city of simulacrum. clearly before they cared about gays in the military.

snoward ho!

the white whitehouse

kristin's got quite an eye

trees in the park

the requisite cute squirrel picture to end

the BEST words to say to a fed - flipflop or otherwise

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS CLOSED!!!

(come to think of it, i bet this brings more joy to a lot of non-federal workers!)

i survived snomageddon '09 and i got was this lousy ...

the snow has fallen (about 16" in dc proper) and the clean up begins. it's almost 1:00 in the afternoon and they have yet to plow my side street. we did have a plow drive down the street - i'm sure that counts for something. here's some final parting shots and hoping that the federal government finds it in its heart to close tomorrow ...

mpd, a guy from maryland and the chinese food delivery man are driving in a snow storm ...

doesn't that sound like the beginning of a REALLY funny joke? well it's not a joke, but it was kind of funny. guess no one should be out driving in weather like this. (by the way, it took the aid of two fantastic women to get all of these men unstuck - go us!)

snopocalypse '09 or what happened when obama pissed off the snow gods

back at the beginning of february obama called us out because we panicked at the mere mention of snow and damn if he didn't piss off the snow gods. now about a year later we're socked in and going nowhere. the buses aren't running, metro's only running trains below ground and 2 of the 3 area airports are completely closed (dulles is operating one runway). all that and they have yet to plow my street. 15.5" on the ground and still snowing ... here's the progression of snomageddon from last night at 11:00 to this evening around 5:00 -

is it really coming??!!

it's definitely snowing, but will we end up with the 16" they're predicting? i'm willing to wait and see and i'm actually feeling quite optimistic. why? because the meteorologists are making definitive statements. check out this description from our local nbc station of what we should expect ...

forget the milk and toilet paper. the winter storm predicted ... may deserve an all out canned beans and creamed corn type panic. stock up now because rationing will begin soon.

okay, so it's a little over the top, but i'm LOVING it!!

the prediction that will not come true

a 50-50 shot at 6 inches of snow this weekend. uh huh, i'll believe it when i shovel it ...

and i said this too

i've told you before about unfortunate things that have come from my mouth so you should not be surprised by what emerged from my lips this evening.

we were eating dinner at good stuff eatery and struck up a conversation with the family next to us. they were in town because their son was a "make a wish" kid. we were talking about all of the fun things to do in dc and they asked about our zoo. they asked if it was fun to which i replied -

i guess, but all of the animals keep dying.

nothing says merry christmas ...

... like your cat pissing on your christmas tree

hey lady

okay so say you go into a public bathroom but you're wishing to have some private time - if you know what i mean.

upon entering you encounter a woman - a woman not from your floor to add insult to injury - at the sink who is readying herself for an evening on the town.

you slink into the stall and wait ... and wait ... and wait ...

the woman continues with her beauty routine - teeth and hair brushing, make up and the like

and you wait ... and wait ... and wait until you realize that there will be no private time in the public bathroom so you flush ...

she smiles and you can think of nothing but shoving the eyebrow pencil up her nose

dawn of a new day

i've never been so proud to be a resident of
the district of columbia

you get more money if you prescribe a pill

the ny times published an interesting article by duff wilson today on a study that found that poor children with mental illness or emotional concerns and on medicaid are more likely to be prescribed an antipsychotic medication than their peers with private insurance. why? because doctors are reimbursed more for the prescribing these medications (ones with documented long-term serious side effects) than they would be for therapy.

and yet another reason we need health care reform NOW!

why i loooovvveee the 90 bus

i've talked about my love of the metro bus before so you can imagine my joy when today i read this "overheard" on dcist -

On the 92 bus:

Getting on the bus, a young man is hitting on a woman:
Man: "Well how can I get at you, girl?"
Woman: "I dunno, hit me up on MySpace or Facebook or my email."
Man: "Girl, do I look like I'm made of money? How you think I'm gonna get on the internet? Where do YOU got internet?"
Woman: "I got internet at my job! But for you - shit, I dunno, go to the library or something."
Conversation continues for some minutes, then the man gets off the bus.

Older, homeless man who had been sitting near them the whole time, turns to the girl and asks incredulously: "How that young [man] gonna holler at you when he ain't got no internet?!"

a peace prize for a war president

$857/square foot

that's right - a manhattan couple recently paid $150,000 for a 175 sq. foot apartment on the upper west side. the "apartment" was originally a maid's bedroom in a full service pre-war and it's now home to two humans, two cats, one tv and one queen sized bed. what more do you really need?

i can think of one thing - a little more space ...

giving new meaning to "teachers of romance languages"

i love a story about people who have no common sense and love it even more when it involves young lesbian teachers in lust.

snow in the bay area?

check this out - it snowed just east of san francisco today. nope ... definitely not experiencing climate change ...

venice the series - shameless promotion

generally, i wouldn't post a video that didn't look just perfect in my layout, but this is a special circumstance. best birthday present ever!

"bloodletting??" is this guy for real?

i was given a pretty cool present at the beginning of my birthday week - the district of columbia city council voted 11-2 to move forward the gay marriage bill (a final vote will come soon). and then wouldn't you know that some assholes had to rain on my parade.

bishop harry jackson, a presumably straight beltsville, md pastor who is particularly interested in the dictating the lives of gay people in the district, declared that he and people like him were going to ramp up their anti-gay efforts. specifically, he said that we're all going to "see a bloodletting that is going to mark a new style of engagement for people who are against same sex marriage." "bloodletting??" for real? and who's blood will be let. bloodletting is performed to get rid of a disease that a person may have, but the quote seems to suggest that jackson and his followers will let their own blood as a new style of engagement. regardless, i'm confused as to how this strategy will really impact the debate; other than one side will be without blood.

which leads me to this - the blood is already being shed. recent crime statistics show that hate crimes against lgbt people are common in the district (particularly in wards 7 and 8 which is interesting because marion barry declared some time ago that ward 8 really doesn't have "but a handful of gay people").

enough with the pro-violence, anti-anyone rhetoric! we're talking about the lives of real people who may love jesus just as much as you, mr. jackson.

i'm that lesbian that you know

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

it's almost december 4th!

getting a little excited - birthday and ...

welcome to the ranks

so proud to be ... 4h

i entered a baking contest at work and pulled out all of the stops -

a ruth reichl recipe
a homemade butter crust
$40 worth of fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries
a beautiful, ceramic deep dish

and was beat by some weird cracker thing, a so so pie with a store-bought crust and BLONDIES!!!!

nope, not bitter at all

inconsistent reasoning at best

archbishop donald wuerl is on a pr campaign to try and make people understand that he was never trying to blackmail the council of the district of columbia into trashing a bill that would legalize marriage between two people of the same gender. the latest effort is a bit in the washington post's "on faith" column. in it, archbishop wuerl restates that the archdiocese was never trying to influence the process and also mentions that he is asking only for the same language that the aclu is recommending including in the final bill.

but, here's where it all falls apart for me ...

each year 68,000 people in the district rely on catholic charities for (fill in the social service here). this assistance is offered regardless of race, religion ... sexual orientation ...

let me get this straight? it's okay to provide social services to and recognize relationships of down-and-out gay people, but not okay to provide equal benefits to lgbt employees or allow lgbt people to adopt? guess it's all about charity and not justice - which, last time i checked, is not necessarily in line with catholic social teaching.

yeah, try again don.

no one's going to force anyone to get gay married

there seems to be confusion as to the underlying intent of personal freedom laws regulating such things as an individual person's individual right to terminate a pregnancy for whatever personal reason that individual person has or an individual person's individual right to marry another individual person of their individual personal choosing - regardless of their sexual orientation.

you see a bunch of leaders from the orthodox, catholic and evangelical ilks have signed a document called the "manhattan declaration" calling on christians to practice civil disobedience when it comes to implementing laws that directly oppose their beliefs. interesting - last time i checked no one was required to get an abortion or even to marry people of the same sex. but, bring on the sit ins and boycotts i say because people should take steps to defend their beliefs. i just hope that the people in these groups remember to practice civil disobedience when it comes to the treatment of the poor and children or even against those who insist on cutting their hair and eating pork!

december 4, 2009

i've had some pretty good birthdays in my life - trips to ny to see ellen degeneres before she was famous, a blow-out 21st bash at the tombs, fondue with friends - but i just found out that this year is going to ROCK!

i've posted before about venice the series and my overwhelming joy that crystal chappell is playing a lesbian. didn't think it could get much better than that until i saw this ...

Venice The Series - Season One - Teaser from Venice The Series on Vimeo.

this is the one year i won't mind if you don't call!

news from around the world

we had a friend over for dinner last night and she was giving a run down of the day's stories from the bbc. some of them were just too funny not to share here -

from somalia - the story of a 112 year old man and his 17 year old wife. take a look at this girl's face. think she's pissed at her parents?

from senegal - the story of a new statue that is sure to draw millions of visitors and dollars each year. the president says that he will receive 35% of all of the ticket sales because it was his brilliant idea.

from italy - gaddafi's in town and he's recruiting super models for allah.

walking to help the homeless

each year i walk with my youth group kids (i know ... it's difficult to believe that I am a church youth group leader!) in the fannie mae help the homeless walkathon. we walk on behalf of "hope and a home" a district nonprofit that provides transitional housing.

as i'm sure you've guessed, this post is nothing but a shameless plea for sponsors!

click here

if you'd like to support the flipflop fed as i walk this saturday at half past dark in the freezing cold.

overheard at work

here's the back story - a man with polio and a pregnant woman have been living under the overpass on the side of my building since the spring. they've got quite the set up - a queen size mattress, a guest mattress, coolers, tables and chairs, even a laundry basket. we've been watching them out the window since march and know their every move - one colleague has become an expert. she can tell you when they eat, what they eat, when they wake, where they've gone if they're away ... you get the picture. with winter coming, a group of us decided to pitch in and get them a tent and some sleeping bags. (gave the stuff to them and introduced ourselves a few weeks ago.)

okay then - here's the recent conversation:

colleague one (the tone was - can you believe how good she has it!): i went down there yesterday to give them some food and she was WEARING PERFUME!!! so she's got two pairs of shoes, two purses AND she wears perfume!

colleague two: but she IS living in a tent under a bridge ...

the district is not the nation's practice field

as often is the case, another national group is attempting to influence local district of columbia politics. the nra does it all the time - most recently getting an amendment attached to a version of the dc voting rights act that would repeal all of the district's gun control laws. and now it's the catholic church.

you see, the dc council is this close to approving a law that would allow same sex couples to marry (including the flipflop fed!). and this does not make the catholic archdiocese of washington happy. in fact, they're so unhappy that they're threatening to stop playing with the city and take all of their social services and go home.

my issue is not that a group would assert its principles and declare that it could no longer participate in an activity that may cause it to compromise deeply held beliefs. my issue is that the catholic church would never pull this shit anywhere else. consider canceling all social service contracts with the state of massachusetts? HELL NO. (although they did decide to stop providing adoption services lest, god forbid, lgbt people be allowed to adopt. the irony in it all? over the years, catholic charities in massachusetts has placed several children with gay adoptive families - oops!)

i would expect archbishop wuerl to "play christian," but at this point i'll settle for "playing nice."

my favorite color is fluorescent beige

the significance of the title of this post? it's one of the few lines in the movie "precious: based on the novel push by sapphire" that elicited a laugh that was neither nervous nor uncomfortable. precious is a heavy film and one that i highly recommend.

the entire cast is phenomenal and the story compelling. interestingly, i read one review that characterized the film as a piece of crap filled with dangerous stereotypes only meant to play to "white man's guilt." i completely disagree. the sad truth is that the story of precious, while fictional, is all too real with aspects crossing every race, every socio economic strata, every gender, every language group, and every area of the world.

and that's the distressing truth. though difficult to watch, precious gives you hope that it's all going to work out if each one of us goes that extra mile to make a connection with someone in need. i'm not talking about a handout or enabling or even the perpetuation of the dangerous notion that groups of us are better than others; rather i'm talking about meeting someone where they're at, taking in all that's there, and building on the strength, resilience and good that already exists.

THAT will make the world a better place.

straight up gangsta

looked at myself in the mirror and realized that i'm wearing an under armour pull over, under armour socks and under armour slides. now that's HOT!

loving jane lynch

it's official - jane lynch is number one on the list. loved her in all of the christopher guest movies. loved her even more in the l word. and now i can't get enough of her in glee as sue sylvester. haven't seen it? click on the link below and watch tonight's episode -

glee

(you want to watch episode 9 - wheels)

unveiling the bias

i had wanted to stay away from the fort hood shootings because it's a loaded subject (every pun intended) - no matter what side you take. but, i'm feeling like the coverage becomes more and more biased as the days wear on because there's no new news to report. could it be that this was really just a case of a man with ptsd who was facing deployment into a war zone and just snapped? it's seems like the most rationale explanation, but not one that's getting much coverage. instead, the print, online and television media, and some elected officials, are determined to unearth the terrorism angle - truth be damned. cases in point -

showing hasan in his prayer clothes laughing just hours before the shooting. the simple story is that he was coming from morning prayers and was interacting with a man he had interacted with on a daily basis for some time. news flash - even people who are down, depressed, pensive and dare i say considering suicide or homocide find moments of levity. i just wonder if this video would have gone viral if he hadn't been wearing his prayer clothes?

focusing on the fact that he had attended the same mosque attended by some of the 9/11 hijackers. the reality is that there's only one documented account of hasan attending the virginia mosque visited by two of the alleged bombers - neither of the visits being at the same time. it was for his mother's funeral. the truth is that hasan worshiped at a mosque in silver spring, md. but, that doesn't link him to some nefarious plot, does it?

a congressman troubled that the intelligence community has yet to confirm his connections to the terrorism community. could it be that there's nothing to find because he really was just a man who acted alone after spending extended periods of time listening to his peers describe the horrors of war?

i just worry we're going down the "oh shit! they've purchased aluminum tubes!!" or "he's a fat, strange man with a unnatural interest in helping the victims of the olympic park bombing" path that will only stop when even more lives are destroyed.

washington (?) redskins

i decided to watch the redskins game tonight since the washington post suggested this morning that no one else would. they were showing all of these amazing shots of the monuments at the beginning of the broadcast. it was quite idyllic ... and oh so totally false. although, after seeing these pictures of landover, md (where the skins actually play), i can see why espn decided to use the scenes that they did.

another nobel prize for obama?

this morning on "wait wait don't tell me" they asked the panelists what would be the headline that would replace all of the focus on the balloon boy hoax. one of the panelists offered the following -

president obama will captivate the media when he blows up a balloon for malia and subsequently wins the nobel prize for physics

you can't pray away the gay

click here to see scenes from last weeks absolutely brilliant episode of "grey's anatomy."

(the person who posts these edits won't let me embed :( )

better late than never

looks like committing a crime against an individual because of her or his gender identity or sexual orientation will finally be a federal offense. too late for nana boo, but just in time for the rest of us.

second new favorite picture

and they wonder why there's tension

yesterday i was getting lunch at my normal spot - the korean owned and operated deli across the street from my office. the owner and her daughter were cracking up behind the counter. i gave them the "what the fuck is going on" look and the daughter immediately responded - "not you. laughing at the black people." didn't leave much room for interpretation did she?

now, here goes the old lady UPDATE

just got a strike now that she's playing with the controller upside down and in the wrong hand.

now, here goes the old lady

mom and i are playing wii bowling. i'll tell you her last five sentences and you tell me if it's going well for her ...

f***
stupid ass
please jesus, let this be over
ah, you f***
son of a pup

now THIS is a business

driving home today i saw this advertisement on the back of a car -

sassy cultures
hats, gift baskets, jewelry, notary, funeral and flower arrangements, shoes and pets

hmmm ... i wonder how this works and how one person could be so versatile! i might order something just to find out.

a case of rip van winkle-itis?

having just roused from what must have been a 50 year nap, this jack ass justice of the peace is making pathetic attempts trying to convince us that he's not racist. of course he proclaims the ubiquitous - "but i have TONS of black friends - but then uses the original - "and i let them use my bathroom."

back to sleep for you, please!

new favorite picture

no longer big in the uae

i'm slipping. in the past month, the flipflop fed has had 17.37% fewer visitors than in months past! check it out ...

okay, so you can't see it that well, but this is a screen shot of the splash page from my google analytics set up. what is going on?!?@!?@?!? could it be that the flip is flopping? that the fed is is fading or , god for bid, finished?

stick with me people! i promise to keep it interesting.

what do they wear when they visit orphans and lepers?

people magazine posted the photo above under the headline -

angelina and brad visit refugees in syria

that must be one fancy camp!