The repeal of DADT by the numbers.

I know its small but just give it a click to enlarge it.

I have to say that seeing it laid out like this makes me very proud of my country.  Very proud indeed.

Of course not EVERYBODY shares my pride.

Courtesy of Pink News:

A Catholic woman from Massachusetts says she is so disgusted by gay people that she fears leaving her house.

You know the TRULY sad thing is that this woman, Stacy Trasancos, has quite a lot in common with gay Americans. You see it is fear of running into homophobic people like her that makes many of our homosexual brothers and sisters too afraid to leave the closet.

Love 101 for PUA Men

1. Find someone who can cook and clean.
2. Someone who's funny & honest.
3. Someone who finds you attractive & smart.
4. Make sure the 3 never meet

Love 101 for PUA Men

1. Find someone who can cook and clean.
2. Someone who's funny & honest.
3. Someone who finds you attractive & smart.
4. Make sure the 3 never meet

Is there one day from your childhood that you will simply NEVER forget? You and this young man have something in common.

Bristol Palin puts her son Tripp to work helping to pay the bills. Yeah, why should he not have to pull his own weight?

These were apparently scenes filmed for Bristol's reality series.

 You know I would never suggest that I am an expert on raising children (pretty close though), but don't you think that once a child is old enough to push his own stroller that he no longer needs one?

Tripp is only about four months shy of his third birthday, and he appears rather large for his age, I really think he would benefit from being treated like a young boy, and NOT a baby. And what the hell is with the pacifier?

Besides it does not appear that he is too happy with the whole stroller situation.

That is clearly the face of a very angry young man.

And perhaps part of that reason is because he might be missing somebody...

..who is also REALLY missing him.

(BTW you can count Sadie as somebody who believes that the anonymous poster on the Nick Broomfield post is on the up and up. It was this comment here that convinced her: "Bristol talks about Sadie 24/7. Like...Constantly. It's the worst case of projection I have ever seen. She is so jealous of Sadie, she has taught Tripp to go "ewwww" and wrinkle his nose if Bristol shows him a photo of Sadie."   She said she had been told that before by people who have seen her do it. And people say Mercede is that vindictive one.)

Let's start the day with a smile shall we?

Just for contrast.

Rick Perry with his "baby."

I know it may seem trivial, but something about watching Obama interact with the little ones gives me a comfortable feeling about putting my trust in him.

Considering the number of videos and pictures all of you have sent me, I must assume it does the same for many of you.

"And a little child will lead them."

As a man who digs babies, a political observer, and simply a human being, this comparison speaks volumes to me.

(H/T to O'Toolefan, perhaps the MOST prolific tweeter on the internets.)

Let's step away from the negative and talk about something positive. Like gay marriage in New York!

Just look at this picture.

Seen here are Phyllis Siegel (left) and Connie Kopelov (right) of New York City, the first same-sex couple to get married at the Manhattan City Clerk's office.

Is that not just the sweetest thing you have seen in very a long time?


I cannot imagine ANYBODY telling these wonderful ladies that they could not express their love for each other by legally committing their lives to one another. It just seems cruel upon reflection doesn't it?

This has started my daughter talking about wanting to get married as well, which I am VERY excited about! I have actually given away a lot of brides, but I had given up hope that I would someday do the same for my daughter.

Just another reminder to NEVER give up hope.

You can see more wonderful pictures over at Gawker.

Kink but not the fun, sexy kind.

First kink in my summer fun-on.  The guy who I thought would throw a lot of business my way wants to hire me full time.  The salary is $25,000 less per year than I was making not including the perks I'd lose like writing off my car expenses.  He wants me bad enough not to be real keen on giving my business a boost by sending work my way, he didn't say that of course, I know it intuitively.   I'm flattered that he believes in my work enough to hire me, but I am very disappointed in both the salary offer and the fact he won't be sending work my way.  It's the first real time since I've started this venture I feel gloomy.

My old boss did offer me work but only if I agreed to give him 25% of all my own work.  He felt that because he was giving me a job I owed him a piece of my company.  I said no in the nicest way possible and said I'd be happy to contract with him and he turned me down.  This means no money coming in for my business at all.  Not how I pictured it was going to happen.

I have a great deal of faith in myself, I know I'd do a killer job and I'd save my clients money, but getting the client base is harder than I anticipated, especially with the monkey wrench of a job offer in the way.  Argggghhhh..

It's raining outside which suits my mood.

On the plus side I heard from my wonderful man today, he told me that I'm his sun.  I think that's one of the loveliest things that's ever been said to me.  Life's not bad after all.

Kink but not the fun, sexy kind.

First kink in my summer fun-on.  The guy who I thought would throw a lot of business my way wants to hire me full time.  The salary is $25,000 less per year than I was making not including the perks I'd lose like writing off my car expenses.  He wants me bad enough not to be real keen on giving my business a boost by sending work my way, he didn't say that of course, I know it intuitively.   I'm flattered that he believes in my work enough to hire me, but I am very disappointed in both the salary offer and the fact he won't be sending work my way.  It's the first real time since I've started this venture I feel gloomy.

My old boss did offer me work but only if I agreed to give him 25% of all my own work.  He felt that because he was giving me a job I owed him a piece of my company.  I said no in the nicest way possible and said I'd be happy to contract with him and he turned me down.  This means no money coming in for my business at all.  Not how I pictured it was going to happen.

I have a great deal of faith in myself, I know I'd do a killer job and I'd save my clients money, but getting the client base is harder than I anticipated, especially with the monkey wrench of a job offer in the way.  Argggghhhh..

It's raining outside which suits my mood.

On the plus side I heard from my wonderful man today, he told me that I'm his sun.  I think that's one of the loveliest things that's ever been said to me.  Life's not bad after all.

The Magic of Winnie the Pooh.

Before I begin this post I just want to mention that I used to be a power lifting and martial arts champion.

In other words I lifted really heavy things and punched people in the heads for trophies, and sometimes cash prizes.

Those are very, very manly things, I am sure you will agree.

Did you get that manly part?

Okay then, on to Winnie the Pooh.

In those emotionally overwhelming  moments when I first held my newborn daughter, I made a decision.

Well the first thing I thought was that somebody needed to take her and hose her off a little because she was covered in goo and it was making me gag a little, but the second thing that I thought was that I was going to make sure my daughter was exposed to the best things that life had to offer, which included reading to her from the classics of literature. (I actually wrote about that in an earlier post.)

So the very first book that I bought for us to read together was this one.

 

As you can no doubt tell from the tears in the cover and the weathered overall look, this book has been read, and reread, many, many times.

However I was in such a hurry to start reading the "classics" to my new born daughter that I literally purchased this book, which is NOT the watered down Disney version by the way, just days after her birth.

Though I was completely convinced that my daughter would have the IQ of a genius, it did occur to me that the current level of her comprehension might make this unsuitable for bedtime reading for at LEAST a few more weeks.

So to prepare her for the first step on her long literary adventure I bought this:

I know, isn't that adorable?

However in the baby instruction book that I bought, (because for some reason she did not come with one), it said that my daughter's eyes may not be able to focus on the mobile very well for the first few months, so I decided to buy one of these for her to sleep on:

And, of course, one of these:

Only the original Pooh bear would suffice for my daughter.

(You don't think I overdid it do you?)

So long story short, my daughter was raised around Winnie the Pooh, and Winnie the Pooh paraphernalia, and yes, she grew up LOVING the Winnie the Pooh stories. (So yes parents OCCASIONALLY the things you want your children to do they will actually do. Remember, I said occasionally!)

So let's fast forward about twenty three years into the future, to two days ago.

There I was surfing the net, looking for adventure movies full of action, and violence (and hopefully some tasteful nudity), to watch this upcoming weekend, when I happened to notice that this movie was also playing at the local theater.

Have you ever smelled a smell, or heard a sound, and suddenly found yourself transported to a different time and place? A distant, happy, nearly forgotten place which seems to envelope you in warm, soothing memories that quickly dissipate just as you find yourself reaching out to touch them?

Suddenly all thoughts of superheroes, giant transforming robots, and immature scatological comedies completely left my mind and all I wanted was to watch this movie.  This animated, G rated, Saturday matinee friendly movie.

Did I mention I used to be a bouncer at a strip club?  Well I was!

But you know I didn't REALLY want to see this move.........alone.

In fact there was only one way I would actually go through with it and humiliate myself by sitting in a sticky theater with a bunch of over caffeinated preschoolers. And let's face it there was NO WAY my too busy to even text her father back, adult daughter was going to want to watch this movie!

Right?

But I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask, so I did.

"So Honey, I happened to see that there was this new, probably completely screwed up, Winnie the Pooh movie out.  And I was wond..."

"Oh yeah, I was going to ask YOU if you wanted to go to that! I think it looks really good!  Do you remember all of that Winnie the Pooh stuff you bought me?  I kept it and still have all of it in storage! (You do?) So can we go tomorrow?"

"Sure.....I mean....if that is what YOU want? I guess I could find the time."

So it looked like we were going after all.

The only potential obstacle to our plan was that the movie started at 10:15 in the morning, which was the only time I could make it due to work commitments, and my daughter is NOT an early riser. (That kids, is what is known as a HUGE understatement!)

So the next day I decided to start waking my impossible to rouse daughter a whole hour before the movie was supposed to start. (Imagine ripping a giant tree trunk out of the ground, only then imagine that when you turn your back it replants itself and makes you start all over, and you will have SOME idea of what it is like to get my daughter out of bed before noon.)

However right when I had a couple of pots and pans to bang together in my hands, and was walking up to her bedroom door, I noticed that she was already in the bathroom getting ready. (Yeah I admit I had an "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" moment there.)

Before I knew it she was ready to go and we were on our way. On our way to see Winnie the Pooh.  The matinee showing.  My twenty four year old daughter and I. Why was I doing this again?

On the way we managed to catch up on all of the things that we are both too busy to discuss while living in the same house and sleeping only TWO DOORS AWAY FROM EACH OTHER! (Did I mention that she  texts me from inside her room when she wants to tell me something, rather than open the damn door and say "Hey Dad, I have something to tell you?" Well I am mentioning it now.)

When we got to the theater I told her she could get anything to eat she wanted, my treat.

So she did.

Thirty five dollars later (When did theaters start serving Filet Mignon?), we were ready to find our seats.

As anticipated the smallish theater was full of sticky little ankle biters that had apparently just broken out of the cotton candy factory, and were so hopped up on sugar I swear I saw their eyeballs vibrating.  But once the movie started they settled down to only intermittent screams of "Stop touching me!" and the occasional maniacal giggle.

The movie was okay, nothing special.  To be honest I liked the old Disney version a little better, but it was relatively entertaining. You know, for a cartoon.

But just as I was about to lean over and whisper my disappointment into my daughter's ear, I heard her laugh.

It swear it sounded different than her usual laugh, yet also...familiar.

So I glanced over.

It was just for a moment.  One bittersweet, precious, magical moment.

But it was enough.

I am off camping right now, but I thought I would share some pictures and memories with you this Monday morning.

I am away from my computer and can only hope that this posted correctly in my absence.

I do have my I-Phone with me so, if I am still getting service, I can moderate messages and retrieve a stubborn post that might get stuck in the weeds over at Blogger.

The other day my daughter brought me some pictures that I had not seen in years which she had squirreled away in various picture albums. While looking through them I was amazed at how quickly the memories came flowing back.

Not yet three months old but already occupying the center of an entire family's universe.

She knew she was not supposed to go up those stairs, hence that mischievous look.

I blame my daughter for interrupting my early writing career. It is kind of hard to write the next great American novel when SOMEBODY keeps fooling with the typewriter.

It did not make any difference where we were going, she was always excited about riding in the car. "Let's go to outer space Daddy!' "Your wish is my command" I would reply, and off we would go to whatever magical place our imaginations could take us.

We had nothing in those days.  I worked a low paying job, and was constantly struggling to make ends meet, but in my memory they were the very BEST of times.

Sometimes it was just she and I together, playing in the park, watching "Mary Poppins" for the hundredth time, playing dress up while drinking imaginary tea, or simply bike riding around Anchorage together looking for trouble. 

After her mother and I split up, I had a couple of short lived romantic flings. But the only relationship that I ever really put all of my energy into was the one with this gorgeous little girl.

I guess I always knew the others were going to be temporary, but that being Daddy was going to last forever.  And so it has.

If babies had the right to vote, the winner of our next Presidential election would be a foregone conclusion.

After I posted the "Oh Baby" video and the post referring to President Obama as the "Baby Whisperer" I found myself inundated with pictures of our president with babies. Apparently there are dozens and dozens of them.

Now I tend to resist the urge to revisit a topic after I have posted about it once, but I have to admit that after looking through these pictures there appears to be something almost magical in how Barack Obama interacts with our youngest Americans.

Take a look for yourself, and tell me if you agree.

And it isn't just the babies who are charmed by our President. Their older brothers and sisters seem to gravitate toward him as well.

You know if I were on Obama's reelection committee, I would simply run an political ad of nothing but President Obama interacting with children. The man gives an amazing speech, but his effortless rapport with children is an open window to his soul.

Take it from a guy who has worked with kids his entire life, and also enjoys a certain amount of automatic trust from them, you can learn a great deal about a person's humanity by how they interact with children.

Barack Obama, the "baby whisperer," strikes again. Updated with a new picture.

It is part of every child's survival instinct to know who they can trust enough to let their guard down.

I wish EVERY American understood what this child naturally understands.

You can see more pictures of President Obama's visit to Iowa by visiting the Obama Diary.

Oh hell, let me leave you with just one more.

Something about the emotion on that woman's face touches me.

Update: Okay so since so many of you requested it, here is the picture of Sarah Palin demonstrating her child comforting abilities.

By the way, who in the hell autographs babies?

The New York State Senate JUST passed their same sex marriage bill!

Courtesy of Bay Windows:

The New York Senate voted to legalize same-sex marriage in the state Friday, June 24 with a vote of 33 to 29.

The measure needed just one more supporter in the Republican-controlled Senate. Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) called the body back into session after it expired Monday, June 20 to continue debating the issue. The governor expressed his support for legalized same-sex marriage, and spent the past few weeks personally lobbying senators on the matter.

The bill, which had been passed by the State Assembly, includes measures that would exempt religious groups who don’t support legalized marriage equality from having to officiate or otherwise participate in same-sex unions.

Now that is a pretty great way to wrtap up my blogging this Friday evening!

Love

I'm sure your readers would be really interested to hear about how he ended up capturing your heart so strongly - you're a sharp, attractive, Game-aware woman, so it'd be rather intriguing to hear your insights on what worked and what didn't. I especially like how you pointed out the mix of alpha and beta qualities, and would like to hear more about how that impacts you.


Great questions, thanks Veskrashens journey.  For those of you haven't read my blog before here's a quick synopsis.  Was involved in a serious ltr for many years and met the man when I was 20.  After it ended I took time off from relationships to get better this was a lengthy process.  I've been dating and have had several relationships over the last three years.  No one serious.  Some have been serious about me and would have married me.  Others I could see I would have gotten serious for but they ended it prior to the Love word being shared.  Till now...


When we (current relationship) first met it was physical attraction/chemistry for me.  I don't know what it was but I wanted to keep touching him.  We had wine in a restaurant and he sat beside me in a booth. Ordinarily this would weird me out on a first date but I wanted him near me.  We did not sleep together this night. I don't have 'rules' per se, but I've never been a first nighter chick. Just gotta say I wanted to.  I went home, he went to a friends because he lives out of town.  The next day I asked him if he wanted to do a day trip to the mountains (about 3 hours away).  He answered if it meant more time with me, then great.  He was easy to be with and the chemistry was just as strong as the previous night.  I drove my jeep and he touched me frequently - soft yet knowing touches.  I was turned on.  He started teasing me about an impending storm (there wasn't one) and how it be unsafe to drive home the same day. I knew he wanted to stay overnight.  I went with the joke and said it would be terribly dangerous to drive, needless to say we booked a hotel.  I won't go into detail but honestly best sex ever.  Sexually we are well matched - impossibly high drives combined with open mindedness.  


When I say he's a mix of alpha and beta qualities I mean this.  Alpha - has looks, good job, experience both in life and sexually and could attract women (and has) of any age.  He's also quiet, which makes him a bit of an enigma.  He's distant without being cold/cool about it.  He knows what he wants and would't tolerate drama or bitchyness and yet says this in a way that's not demanding or controlling - just is.  Beta - seeks shared values, tender, looks beyond the physical, expects monogamy on both sides, desires to be passionately in love with the whole person, not just the package.  Allows himself to be vulnerable by being honest about his challenges.  


I wasn't sure at first if this guy was a player.  He seemed too fantasticly matched for me to be real, and reading at Roissy doesn't help honestly.  You get somewhat biased in regards to men's playboy desires and forget that men and women desire love and connection for realz.  Yet I think I've learned a lot from Roissy's blog about what men want.  I've learned not to shit test and to give men their space.  I've learned that my feminine nature is desired and that being good natured is not a bad thing.  I work harder at not over analyzing what's going on in his head and have learned that being patient has won his heart faster than any demands I could have made.  Even in a recent episode where I thought he wasn't interested I didn't go bat shit crazy.  Long story short he was dealing with some pretty crazy life crap unrelated to me and I've learned he withdraws to his man cave to deal with it rather than seek support. Once we were able to talk I told him I understood and I wouldn't pressure him to reveal anymore than he wanted to.  This true support has allowed him to relax and he says his shoulder were able to drop in relief knowing he could share if he chose.  


Today he said one of things he loves about me is I always laugh, even at the annoying things others bitch about.  This is true.  I am a very positive person and see the glass half full pretty much always.  I think this may be a personality trait and one I'm fortunate to have.  That said I've had men in my life who haven't enjoyed that at all.  I think they might have believed I was too easy to please and they wanted more chase than they had to do for me.  Chasing a woman means they have higher value because they've been able to capture the 'prey'.  I don't make men I'm interested in chase me.  I have been choosy, but when I'm interested I have no desire in playing hard to get.  I am the kind of girl who loves to be devoted and am rather service oriented to her man.  Believe it or not men don't always like that. 


I'm a woman newly in love and feeling like shouting it from the mountain tops.  This relationship is only six months strong but he's darn convincing that it will go the distance.  Moving in will be a big step, but for whatever reason I feel it's the right decision.  I've waited a long time to meet the guy who makes me feel this way and I feel I've got enough discernment to judge character and intent.  I'm feeling very fortunate.  It's been worth the journey.  


Side Note:


He knows I write a blog.  He has no interest in reading it, in fact dealt with the news like "ah, cute, she's got a hobby."  I find this attractive too.  He's into me but not soooo into me he needs to know everything about me nor is he jealous others know about me.  He's not on Facebook and has seen mine with barely any attention paid to it. He doesn't care how many friends I have or if past boyfriends are on it.  He's a confident man who trusts in his ability to capture my attention.  He has it. 

Love

I'm sure your readers would be really interested to hear about how he ended up capturing your heart so strongly - you're a sharp, attractive, Game-aware woman, so it'd be rather intriguing to hear your insights on what worked and what didn't. I especially like how you pointed out the mix of alpha and beta qualities, and would like to hear more about how that impacts you.


Great questions, thanks Veskrashens journey.  For those of you haven't read my blog before here's a quick synopsis.  Was involved in a serious ltr for many years and met the man when I was 20.  After it ended I took time off from relationships to get better this was a lengthy process.  I've been dating and have had several relationships over the last three years.  No one serious.  Some have been serious about me and would have married me.  Others I could see I would have gotten serious for but they ended it prior to the Love word being shared.  Till now...


When we (current relationship) first met it was physical attraction/chemistry for me.  I don't know what it was but I wanted to keep touching him.  We had wine in a restaurant and he sat beside me in a booth. Ordinarily this would weird me out on a first date but I wanted him near me.  We did not sleep together this night. I don't have 'rules' per se, but I've never been a first nighter chick. Just gotta say I wanted to.  I went home, he went to a friends because he lives out of town.  The next day I asked him if he wanted to do a day trip to the mountains (about 3 hours away).  He answered if it meant more time with me, then great.  He was easy to be with and the chemistry was just as strong as the previous night.  I drove my jeep and he touched me frequently - soft yet knowing touches.  I was turned on.  He started teasing me about an impending storm (there wasn't one) and how it be unsafe to drive home the same day. I knew he wanted to stay overnight.  I went with the joke and said it would be terribly dangerous to drive, needless to say we booked a hotel.  I won't go into detail but honestly best sex ever.  Sexually we are well matched - impossibly high drives combined with open mindedness.  


When I say he's a mix of alpha and beta qualities I mean this.  Alpha - has looks, good job, experience both in life and sexually and could attract women (and has) of any age.  He's also quiet, which makes him a bit of an enigma.  He's distant without being cold/cool about it.  He knows what he wants and would't tolerate drama or bitchyness and yet says this in a way that's not demanding or controlling - just is.  Beta - seeks shared values, tender, looks beyond the physical, expects monogamy on both sides, desires to be passionately in love with the whole person, not just the package.  Allows himself to be vulnerable by being honest about his challenges.  


I wasn't sure at first if this guy was a player.  He seemed too fantasticly matched for me to be real, and reading at Roissy doesn't help honestly.  You get somewhat biased in regards to men's playboy desires and forget that men and women desire love and connection for realz.  Yet I think I've learned a lot from Roissy's blog about what men want.  I've learned not to shit test and to give men their space.  I've learned that my feminine nature is desired and that being good natured is not a bad thing.  I work harder at not over analyzing what's going on in his head and have learned that being patient has won his heart faster than any demands I could have made.  Even in a recent episode where I thought he wasn't interested I didn't go bat shit crazy.  Long story short he was dealing with some pretty crazy life crap unrelated to me and I've learned he withdraws to his man cave to deal with it rather than seek support. Once we were able to talk I told him I understood and I wouldn't pressure him to reveal anymore than he wanted to.  This true support has allowed him to relax and he says his shoulder were able to drop in relief knowing he could share if he chose.  


Today he said one of things he loves about me is I always laugh, even at the annoying things others bitch about.  This is true.  I am a very positive person and see the glass half full pretty much always.  I think this may be a personality trait and one I'm fortunate to have.  That said I've had men in my life who haven't enjoyed that at all.  I think they might have believed I was too easy to please and they wanted more chase than they had to do for me.  Chasing a woman means they have higher value because they've been able to capture the 'prey'.  I don't make men I'm interested in chase me.  I have been choosy, but when I'm interested I have no desire in playing hard to get.  I am the kind of girl who loves to be devoted and am rather service oriented to her man.  Believe it or not men don't always like that. 


I'm a woman newly in love and feeling like shouting it from the mountain tops.  This relationship is only six months strong but he's darn convincing that it will go the distance.  Moving in will be a big step, but for whatever reason I feel it's the right decision.  I've waited a long time to meet the guy who makes me feel this way and I feel I've got enough discernment to judge character and intent.  I'm feeling very fortunate.  It's been worth the journey.  


Side Note:


He knows I write a blog.  He has no interest in reading it, in fact dealt with the news like "ah, cute, she's got a hobby."  I find this attractive too.  He's into me but not soooo into me he needs to know everything about me nor is he jealous others know about me.  He's not on Facebook and has seen mine with barely any attention paid to it. He doesn't care how many friends I have or if past boyfriends are on it.  He's a confident man who trusts in his ability to capture my attention.  He has it.