So, I have not been posting lately. More to do with no time, than no interest. I am finally having time, and feel overwhelmed with trying to update this for everything missed. So, I have decided not to. Life is like that sometimes. I will be around the next 2 days, then off to PA for the Annual Labor Day Trip. Life is busy....busy busy busy.

So, tickets to Les Miserables have been purchased for Patrick Kris and I. We will be going on the Tuesday performance at 7:30 in East Lansing. It should be a lot of fun. I think we are in the 13th row. We got fantastic seats! Yay us!

You are worth exactly: $2,014,302.00

Damn...James is worth more than me....must be that Blond hair...

Okay....Too friggin' quiet here today. I have not been able to concentrate all day long. When I was a student, I had to have the TV on, or go to a crowded cafe to study, 'cause I couldn't function in silence. It is apparently still true. We are down to 5 people, and I feel like I am gonna snap at any moment. Look out world, here comes crazy-boy!

Pookie
So, last night, he started feeling sick. I told him he couldn't come to work if he wasn't feeling better. When I got up, he implied that he was about the same. I assumed he was gonna call in. Nope, he went it. Just for his spirit points, and the pots and pans we can get with them at the end of the month. *sigh* We could BUY pots and pans....

Work
7 out of 15. That's what we have in the office today. Our section has 15 people who work in it. 7 of us are in today. Everyone else is off on vacation. It is kind of eerie in here. My entire staff (4) is out of the office. It is quiet....too quiet.

From Patrick:

Jarrod
Your name of Jarrod is a dual influence: at times you can be extremely happy, expressive, full of fun, and good-natured; yet at other times you find congenial association impossible, being controlled by self-pity, moods, and depression. If you could express only the constructive qualities and restrain the negative qualities of your nature, you would always be good company. These contrasting qualities make it difficult for people to understand you and can lead to friction in your personal life. You are deep, philosophical, and refined, but your extremely sensitive nature causes you to become depressed over any real or imagined slight. You feel and sense much more than you can fully understand, and could become psychic if you delved into the occult. The problem then would be controllable thoughts, feelings, and reactions. You find it difficult to be patient, practical, and systematic, preferring to act impulsively as the spirit moves you. Indulgences could result in skin rashes, liver problems, heart trouble, or lung and chest congestion.

What is your Alter-Ego
Personality?

WRAP

As the former president of WRAP, I was invited to a "President's dinner" last night at the Aut bar. All of WRAP's 5 presidents, including our current one were in attendance. It was an interesting meeting. I never served on the board with the first president, but she was the one who recruited me to work with WRAP. (WRAP formed the first successful LGBT community center in Washtenaw County) I served on the board with the others though. Some I haven't seen for years, others, I see regularly. Together, we represent over 8 years of WRAP leadership. It reminded me why I got involved so many years ago. (I have been volunteering, either on the board or in other fashons with WRAP since 1996...) I am now off the board, and just doing committee work. I find myself wanting to get re-involved. I need to not do that. WRAP has caused me serious stress and upheaval in my life for many years. I love it's goal. I love a lot of the people involved with it. I can volunteer at other levels... I need to stay off the board though.

Diet
So, things continue to go well. I have no idea if I am losing weight or not, as I am not weighing myself. (I am measuring success by whether or not I can drop a pant size...) I guess I will consider it a victory as long as I stop gaining in pant sizes!

Sunday continued -

Dinner - Yellow Curry Chicken.

Monday was a good day as well...

Breakfast - 2 Diet Cokes!

Lunch - Soup and Salad and 1 Iced Tea.

Dinner - Chicken Salad Sandwich on Rye and Carrotslaw (Has carrots and raisins in a dressing).

So far, I am proud of myself...I have been successful in reducing food intake, and severely limiting 'bad' food. I have been sticking to chicken for the meat in my diet, it is so much healthier than beef. But, I DO miss steaks. Now, I must focus on 'moving' more. That has always been a trouble spot for me. I know it is cliche, but as a gay man, I DETEST getting sweaty and dirty. I absolutely HATE it. I just don't like the feeling. I guess I don't mind getting the exercise and moving around, but I get bored and sweaty, neither of which do I deal well with. Maybe I wil have to breakdown and join the Washtenaw County Rec. Ctr. again. I used to be a member. But, going alone makes it hard to motivate myself. No one, I am obligated to be the motivation for, except myself. I have never been good at self-motivation except for cleaning things up. *sigh*

Diet
So far so good. It has nearly been a week now, and no slips. Cravings yes, but I am still within my target of eating....moving is harder to accomplish. I will have to ponder this for a solution.

Friday continued:

Dinner - Left over pasta and 2 chicken strips. Also a small movie popcorn with no buttery topping.

Saturday:

Breakfast - 2 pieces of toast & my diet cokes.
Lunch - I didn't really have lunch, as Patrick and I were at a birthday party with lots of snack food. So, to the best of my ability to remember, I had: 4 meatballs, a piece of cheese, a few carrots (mini-ones), a cookie, and a diet coke.
Dinner - I had a chicken breast and 2 ears of corn.
Moving - None really. *sigh*

Sunday (today) 8/11/02 -

Breakfast - None really, I slept in and skipped in in favor of a larger lunch.

Lunch - 2 silver dollar pancakes, 1 egg, 3 sausage patties. (I splurged!)

Dinner - Patrick and I are trying to get my folks to go to dinner with us for Thai food.


Vacation

Patrick and I are getting psyched for our vacation! We can't wait until Labor Day!

You are 22% geek

OK, so maybe you ain't a geek. You do, at least, show a bit of interest in the world around you. Either that, or you have enough of a sense of humor to pick some of the sillier answers on the test. Regardless, you're probably a pretty nifty, well-rounded person who gets along fine with people and can chat with just about anyone without fear of looking stupid or foolish or overly concerned with minutiae. God, I hate you.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

Diet
Dinner Yesterday - Chicken and some potato salad.

Moving - None

Today - 8/9/2002

Breakfast - 3 diet cokes.

Lunch - Garden Burger and Snow Peas.

Note: I am down to 3 Diet cokes in total today.


Home
Patrick has another work thing tonight. An outing to see the Tigers and have dinner in Detroit. I will miss him. I will be alone by myself in the house. Eek! What do I do now?

Next weekend, I have a family reunion in PA. I will leave for PA Friday morning, and return on Sunday. Then, here for a week and a half, and then back to PA for Labor Day weekend. (Thats a lot of driving...)

Roleplaying Games
I am in an RPG again. John's 'A Far and Distant Shore'. It is a lot of fun so far. I am enjoying having playing time again.

Diet
Lunch - Grilled chicken salad and water.

Jobs
I spent the morning talking about jobs with Liz. She had questions about accounting. I answered them and tried to find something here to no avail. *sigh* I wish I could help all of my friends get out of debt.

Pookie
Missing him.

Diet
Finishing up yesterday - 8/7/02

Dinner - Spaghetti and Red Sauce with 2 chicken strips.

Moving - Weedwhacked the yard and trimmed the hedges.

Today - 8/8/02

Breakfast - 3 Diet Cokes.

Another update

The stove now works again.... Of course half the clocks in the house need to be reset....

For the low low low price of $219.98!

So, for those of you following the saga of Patrick and I being without a stove at home....Here is an update...

I just got off the phone. They don't know why nobody showed up on Monday, or called, or called Tuesday. They are "getting a supervisor to call me back". *sigh*

Diet
So, like many of my friends, I have decided the time has come to lose much unwanted weight. This decision arrived at purely by chance as my boyfriend showed me a picture he took of me on Saturday. (I found it rather unflattering, and decided that if I look like that, I HAVE to lose weight.) It is amazing at how easily weight goes on, and how difficult it is to convince it to leave.

So many options of ways to lose weight, and I have friends doing most of them as diets.

Vegetarianism (As a diet plan I have issues with this, as a lifestyle choice, no issues. It doesn't teach healthy regular eating. If you do it forever, you can at least learn to supplement fruits and vegetables with other proteins...)

Atkins (This strikes me as incredibly unhealthy and not a way to teach proper eating.)

Weight Watchers (A good system, but I hate weighing in and talking about being fat...)

So, I have decided to:

Eat less (smaller portions)

Eat smarter (not eating burgers for lunch, but a salad, or bringing a healthy lunch)

Moving more (not really working-out or exercising, but at least not sitting on the same spot on the couch all day...)

I have had success with this method before, but overtime I find myself eating more, moving less, etc. So, here is trying again.

I plan to log what I eat, and where I move in this every day to help me keep track, and see what works. I don't own a scale, and don't want one, but figure I will see results in my clothes fitting better, and my joints feeling better.

So, here goes: (Note, I am also trying to cut down my caffeine consumption...I used to have 6 or so caffeinated beverages a day...)

8/5/2002 - Decided to start a diet on 8/6/2002

Yesterday - 8/6/2002
Breakfast - Nutri Grain Bar and 3 Diet Cokes (Note, I always have 3 diet cokes for breakfast...a boy needs his caffeine)

Lunch - Small bowl of left-over Thai Yellow Curry Chicken & 1 Diet Coke

Dinner - Stuffed chicken breast and corn

Moving - Patrick and I walked around the neighborhood, house watching.


Today - 8/7/2002

Breakfast - 3 Diet Cokes

Lunch - Stuff Chicken Breast and Corn & 1 Diet Coke

Politics
*Sad Sigh* Lynn Rivers lost to Dingell last night. She is one of the only politicians I have ever thought kindly of. As a matter of fact, she is one of the only ones I have ever liked. Most of the politicians I have voted for in my life were due to to them being the lesser of 2 evils. Lynn was someone I could support. Hopefully she will run again.

Les Misérables
I have had a few questions about this, so for everyone interested in going with Patrick and I to see this, please let me know, and I can arrange to buy a block of tickets. I will be buying them the first day they are available for sale.

Les Misérables
October 8th-13th, 2002
Tickets: $25 - $57.50

Tickets go on sale on August 24, 2002. I am not sure of what the various prices represent as far as seating, but I am planning on getting fairly good seats. So, I would guess the price will be about $50 per person, unless you want to sit separately and meet during intermission. Please let me know ASAP if you are interested in going.

Michigan Primary Voting Regulations

Lisamarie and I talked back and forth a few times today about whether one had to be registered with a party in order to vote in the primary. I decided to check with the Secretary of State. Below is their response:

From: Wittman, Bradley S [mailto:WittmanB@Michigan.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2002 1:51 PM
To: Van Kirk, Jarrod
Subject: Response to August 6 Email


Greetings: In response to your email inquiry of August 6, 2002, please be
advised that any and all electors who registered to vote on or before July
8, 2002, are eligible to participate in today's primary; registration by
party is not required in Michigan.

Please do not hesitate to contact this office if we can be of any further
assistance.

Best Regards,
Bradley S. Wittman
Director, Information Services Division
Michigan Department of State
Bureau of Elections
Phone: (517) 373-2540

Voting
So, I voted this morning. I was at the Polls when they opened at 7:00 a.m. There were 2 people ahead of me. DARN! I was hoping to be the first voter. Oh well. Please remember to vote. Remember the rule....You can only bitch about the winner if you choose to exercise your right to vote.

Home

So, Kristen is moving out today. For those of you not in the know, Kristen is Patrick's sister. She has been living with us for the summer, while working as a high-paid temp at Interfirst. She is a student at CMU the rest of the year. We have been charging her $100 per month to cover 1/3 of the utilities, and she has been cleaning the house in lieu of any rent (which has been happening with greater infrequency lately). We had asked her to either pick up milk and things when she runs us out of them, or to contribute $20-25 per month in groceries (she has yet to buy groceries or contribute money). I think this was all EXTREMELY reasonable on our part, since we bought a queen size bed for the room she was using. She is moving in with her cousin for the next 3 weeks until school starts, because she "wants to save money". The whole point of her moving here, and working at Interfirst was to save money. Instead, for the last 3 months, she has gone to numerous concerts, driven up to Central to party on the weekends, and buy new clothes. She says she hasn't saved any money. Next weekend she is planning on going to the Soaring Eagle Casino with her mom and sister for the weekend. HELLO?!?!?!?!

Excuse me while I continue to vent.... Last night, she came into our Den, where Patrick and I were on the computers.... "So, I was wondering if you guys would mind if I only paid you $50 for July (she hasn't paid for July yet), cause you know, I was gone a lot, and didn't even use your computer all month." We told her we would "talk about it." She continued to pester us about it for the next minute or two, during which we both said "We will talk about it." She finally saw she wasn't going to badger an immediate answer out of us, and went to her room. I have still not thought this through, but I know one thing. She can find somewhere else to stay next summer.

*sigh*