One word - FABULOUS

Dale and I went to see Sex and the City movie. It was great. I loved it. I know it is a chick flick, but us gays loved the show too. Well, worth the $7.50!

I will not give any spoilers, but I will say it is it was fun, fabulous and held true to the TV series.

Harvey Korman Died

Very sad. I loved him on the Carol Burnett Show and movies like Blazing Saddles and High Anxiety. He was a comedic God.

More info.

Guess Who...

...purchased tickets today to see Madonna's new tour in November. Yes, Dale and I. She is coming to Denver and we will be there. I know. This blog has turned into one great big stereotype as of late. Oh well. Who cares? I am going to see Madonna.

Real Gay

Does it sound real gay if I say I am excited for the Sex and The City Movie this Friday? I kind of think it does, huh?

Busy 3-Day Weekend

For those of you wondering, my Memorial Day weekend was good. Dale and I did not go anywhere but rather focused on home projects and a little bit of relaxing too. Here is a recap in no particular order:

95% of the flower beds in the front yard are now featuring fresh mulch. One more to go!

Dale cleaned the garage.

I cleaned the house and even rearranged the bedroom a bit for something different.

Dale tackled our mountain of laundry and won.

We found some time for two dinners out. We still had a bunch of gift cards from Christmas to use so went to Bonefish and Olive Garden.

We had a nice dinner at our neighbors the Krouts.

We watched two mediocre DVDs - Mad Money and Over Her Dead Body. Neither were great, but not horrible.

I made spaghetti with clam sauce.

Dale got a contract on his Dad's house, which was bitter sweet. He knows it is a good thing since his Dad passed 7 months ago, but it is hard to see your family home of 45 years go to someone else. Dale grew up in the house.

We got haircuts.

And the high point for Dale - a homemade rhubarb pie from Becki Dilworth's Mom. He has been in dessert heaven for days.

So an overcast rainy morning to kick off the start of the work week, which somehow seems a fitting way to end the weekend. The morning after a 3-day weekend are always ahrd, so why not add some rain.

However, it is a few more days until June and the start of my birthday month, so that is great news.

Ugh!

The first morning after a three day weekend always sucks. This one is no different. I am tired and do not want to get out of bed. Can't it be Monday again?

Indiana Jones 4: Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind

Sorry, I am a bit behind in my blogging, so I figured I would try catching up.

This past Thursday Dale, myself and about 30 of my fellow Indigians headed out of work a little early to check out the latest Indiana Jones film. Overall, Dale and I were one of the few that enjoyed the film.

• Were the previous Indy films better? Yes
• Did it have an unusual alien sci-fi theme? Yes.
• Could you tell most of the film was done in a movie warehouse? Yes.
• Was it easily to tell that the sidekick in the movie would be Indy's kid? Yes.
• Was it fun action? Yes.
• Is Harrison Ford old? Yes.
• Was it a two hour mindless distraction? Yes.
• Was it worth the two hours? Yes.

So was it the best film? No, not by any means. But was it a fun, two-hour action flick where you are given great chase scenes, bugs that attack and evil Russians. Yes.
So check it out. Don't expect too much. Sit back. Suspend belief for a few hours and just enjoy because Indy still is fun to watch and aliens do exist.

Love this song

Great tune!

I really like this picture

I love the idea of a little chick inside an egg marking off the days like he was in prison. Would be a great visual for the start of a Pixar movie showing the chick with a flashlight and marker.

Lindsay Lohan 10 Years Later

I am feeling a bit off this afternoon. Not sick, but just not like myself...almost like I am coming down with something. So I am taking it easy and resting on the couch. Not much on TV so I am watching Parent Trap which was Lindsay Lohan's first movie from 1998, which launched her career.

She is cute and adorable. Her world was all ahead of her when she did this movie. She was come so far...down hill. So sad. You go from Disney's superstar to someone in rehab flashing your crotch all over Hollywood. So much chaos in 10 years.

Gas for $2.35 per gallon!!!

No, I am not thinking back to 2003. Dale and I actually purchased fuel today for $2.35 per gallon. I know you are thinking - where?

Well, with the new truck came an extra incentive - flex fuel. Our truck can use regular gasoline, currently selling at $3.65 per gallon or use ethanol (E85) fuel, which is basically 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline and is selling for $2.35 per gallon.

There is a location 4 miles from our house that sells E85 and we put 13 gallons today topping off the truck, so we saved $17.00. At regular fuel consumption that could be almost $75 per month, so it is worth the short trip.

Now I know there is a lot of controversy around ethanol as a fuel. It is made from corn and that has caused corn prices to go up. This creates potential issues with people starving in the world and their potential food going to fuel cars. Also it is very inefficient from what I have read to turn corn into fuel and the production is very bad for the environment.

So it is a tough thing. We are saving money and using an "alternate fuel" which seems green and happy, but in reality it may be worse environmentally and causing more world starvation. Things are never black and while. So many damn greys.

Pissy College Boys

Today has been a great, but unusual day - it even featured pissy college boys.


I got up around 6 AM and did some finished some re-working of my client, Denver Botanic Gardens' homepage of their Web site that my co-worker and I started on Friday. We are experimenting with a new feature on their homepage that promotes the top 5 activities at the Gardens everyone is buzzing about. We think it is a nice way to showcase a few classes, events and activities. Check out the homepage and let me know what you think.

Next, Dale and I had 8 AM visitors as two college guys from College Works Painters came to the house to bid on painting our house this Summer. Now, Dale and I were both very honest with them when they stopped by the house on Tuesday night and again when they called yesterday. We planned on getting multiple bids. So imagine our surprise when they seemed pissed when we would not accept their bid and give a deposit. They did not want to leave us with the bid they prepared and said, "Why bother. We will have all our slots filled for the entire summer today." It left us with a very poor feeling about College Works Painting. I do not think any one's selling approach should be take it now or leave it. If you feel you are priced right and have good value, you should encourage multiple bids. I was especially discouraged because we told them twice before today we were seeking multiple bids over the next two weeks. Very disappointing!

After the pissy boys of College Works Painters headed out we started mulching two of our flower beds in the front yard. When I say we, it was really 80% Dale and 20% me. Yard work is not my thing, but I did help a bit. The mulch came courtesy of Becki and Brent Dilworth. They had extra after mulching their yard, so they offered it to us. We took them to dinner last night as a thank you. So two of our flower beds are looking wonderful, thanks to the Dilworths and Dale.


Next Dale and I had a little lunch and then headed to the movies to see What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. It was recommended to us by my boss, Tim Higgins, so we figured we would check it out. It was very funny and Cameron and Ashton had a great chemistry. It is worth checking out. Iron Man is still my favorite of the summer, but this was a nice movie that required no thinking and some good laughs.

So what's up next? Feeding the pups and maybe ourselves. I hope everyone else got to enjoy the day.

The Perfect Cleaning Service

Well, maybe just my ideal.

A Loss for Tom

This past week I suffered a loss. One of my closest companions suffered a fatal injury. Who you ask?

Blueberry.

Who is Blueberry? Well, he is my Blackberry who I fondly referred to as Blueberry since he is blue rather than black. He was a very faithful and a loyal friend. However, Thursday night his display went dark for the final time. It was sad.

The worse part was that Dale was happy. I always suspected he was jealous of Blueberry and how I fondled him so often. He felt that Blueberry was over-used and that was the reason for his demise.

However, Dale quickly realized I was grieving and opted to use Friday morning to replace Blueberry with Blueberry Jr. So again, I have a loyal friend and all is balanced with the Universe.

Graffiti-Style Street Art 2.0

I came across this video on a former co-workers blog. It is amazing and truly takes graffiti-style street art to a whole new level. If we say the Web is now Web 2.0, then this would be Graffiti 2.0 as it really takes it to a new artform.

It is worth watching and reminded me of the beautiful spray-painted panels currently on display at the Denver Botanic Gardens as part of their Urban Nature exhibit, which is also worth checking out.

The Count Censored

This is hilarious. Thanks Dave Herrold.

Google's Doodles

Personally I find when Google changes its' logo on the homepage for holidays amusing. It is a fun little surprise. Google opened it up to kids in K-12 to send designs for a new doodle and had over 16,000 designs submitted.

You can vote for your favorite Google Doodle for the 40 finalists. There is even an interview with the original Doodler, which is interesting.

And then there were two.

Oops. Wrong season.

Last year this was the final 3 and Dale was cheering on Melinda. He said she was "golden" and guess what? She was voted out.

I was hoping for the same upset tonight and David Archuleta going home, but sadly it was Syesha.

Syesha was not an early favorite for me, but she really grew on me. She is fun, smart, sexy, classy and has a great voice. Truly a star who will be huge on Broadway.

Good luck Syesha!

And You Think Your Feet Hurt After A Long Day

My friend Heather Sharp sent me this. Wow! These are photos of the feet of a former Geisha. Can you imagine?

So ladies (well and those men of you who wear high heels too) think twice before you think these shoes are so great.

Only 172 More Days...

...until Halloween.

I have been thinking about Halloween the past few weeks. Not sure why.

As most of you know, Halloween is a big deal for me and fortunately Dale gives in and for the most part embraces my obsession.

We have already decided that there will be NO huge Halloween party for 2008. Since Dale and going on a cruise in November, we decided that a large party at the end of October would not make sense. We usually send save the date cards for our large party to everyone in June, so don't spend too much time waiting by the mailbox, as they will never come.

However, we are planning a Halloween-themed dinner for our nearest and dearest and perhaps even a night with friends at a Haunted House, so stay tuned.

However, I did stumble across this tonight and I need Dale to build this for me to put along our back gate. It will freak out the trick-or-treaters for sure.

What Have I Been Humming All Day?

I am embarrassed to say that I have been humming this song to myself all day. I could not remember what song it was or the lyrics. Finally I remembered "Won't my mommy be so proud of me." so I Googled it. Low and behold I have been humming the Bumble Bee song to myself for over 8 hours. How the hell do I get this stuff in my head? I scare myself sometimes.

Baby Bumblebee

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,

(Cup hands together as if holding bee)

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Ouch! It stung me!
(Shake hands as if just stung)

I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,
('Squish' bee between palms of hands)

I'm squishing up a baby bumblebee,
Ooh! It's yucky!
(Open up hands to look at 'mess')

I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,
(Wipe hands off on shirt)

I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Now my mommy won't be mad at me!
(Hold hands up to show they are clean)

To man it up I have decided to convince myself that it could be Bumblebee from Transformers.

Happy Mother's Day. You Are Missed & Loved!

Although my Mom has passed, I still remember and love her. Days like today are tough, but she will always be with me in my heart.

Happy Mother's Day. You are missed & loved!

It Really Is!

All Things Plants

The past few days have been heavily focused on plants. Yes, plants.

On Thursday evening Dale, myself, Heather Sharp and Erin Quinn attended the VIP Preview Plant Sale at the Denver Botanic Gardens. It was a great opportunity to purchase our plants before the crowds on Friday/Saturday. The Gardens featured over 85,000 plants from herbs, vegetables, annuals, perennials, hanging baskets and water plants. I included a photo Erin took at the event of Dale and I browsing.

As I always expect, Dale and I spent more than we expected, but left Thursday night will over $300 in plants, including some amazing hanging baskets and unique water plants for our pond. The evening was nice and it was fun to tour the Gardens with a alcoholic beverage in hand looking at plants to buy. My thanks to Doris Boardman and Robin Doerr at the Denver Botanic Gardens for extending us an invitation to the special event.

On Friday, Dale, Becki Dilworth and I skipped out of work a little early and headed over to the Plant Sale. We met Becki's husband Brent and her daughter Lily for some more Plant Sale shopping. The event was packed and it was amazing to see how much stock was already sold. Dale and I were controlled and did not purchase anything, mostly because Dale said, "No!"

After Becki and Brent made their purchases, we all headed to a pizza place in Westminster for dinner. It was a nice evening and a great chance to hang out with the Dilworths.

On Saturday, Dale and I were up bright and early and at the Denver Botanic Gardens again by 8 AM, but this time to volunteer at the Plant Sale. We were cashier assistants and unloaded customers carts with plants. It was a blast and the 4 hours flew by. It was nice to volunteer and give back to the Gardens. We both enjoyed it and even got to grab lunch with Robin Doerr from the Gardens. Everyone was wonderful - staff, volunteers, members and customers alike.

So the plant fun will continue this AM as Dale and I have some plants to get in the ground that we purchased Thursday.

If you missed the Spring Plant Sale at the Gardens, look for the Fall Bulb Sale on September 20th.

David Archuleta Voted Off American Idol!!

Can you believe it? Did you see American Idol? Little David Archuleta was voted out and sent packing. It was a complete shock. He started to cry. I was actually hard to watch.



Okay, just kidding. It was a dream of mine. I wanted to see America go crazy over their 12 year year old getting the boot, but sadly it is not true. He was the first one sent to the "safety" of the couch.

In reality Jason Castro was FINALLY sent packing. I am sorry but if you forget your lyrics in the final four, you deserve to get sent home. I mean, stop the pot and you may be able to remember a few new words. So farewell Jason. There are many a coffee shop that needs your services.

Lovin' The Rain

It is overcast and raining today in Denver, but I am lovin' it! Yes, you heard me right.

We rarely get these types of day in Colorado. We get a ton of sunshine, which believe me is great. We do have the occasional afternoon thundershower, especially when it gets warmer in the Summer, but rarely do we get a gray, overcast rainy day. It is nice. It makes me happy for some reason. I am actually hoping it rains like this all day because I do not mind warm days when it rains. It is the cold, snowy rain that frustrates me.

So put on your rubbers, get out there and enjoy it!

Iron Man - Worth the $7.50

This afternoon Dale and I went to see Iron Man. Overall, I thought the movie was good. They made the storyline very current and in many ways it seemed like Iron Man could exist. However, there were several plot elements that were a bit over the top, but I guess you have to expect that in any superhero/action film, right?

It was surprising we saw Iron Man. We had not planned on going to the movies and I asked Dale this AM if he wanted to see Made of Honor, the romantic comedy with Patrick Dempsy. He loves those types of movies, so I was shocked when he said he wanted to see Iron Man.

Anyhow, it is worth seeing. Robert Downey Jr. was great and Gweneth Paltrow was surprising in a very different role.

Hello, Nice to Meet You.

Our friend Erin Quinn took this photo of Dale and I yesterday at the MS Walk and was kind enough to send me a copy.

Is Democracy Hurting the Democrats?

If you asked me 1 year ago if a Republican could win the White House in the next election I never would have believed it. I would have laughed. Bush's ratings are so low, he would have to be on the CW if he was a reality show. I figured the Democrats had it locked. Clinton was so far ahead, she seemed unstoppable.

Ask me today and I am not so sure. It is amazing, but I think democracy may have hurt the Democratic Party. Let me explain my thoughts.

The Republican Party quickly found a nominee in McCain. All his competition dropped out early and McCain quickly and quietly, leaving little squabbling and chaos within his party. Not great for democracy and having several candidates to select from, but great for presenting a solid, organized Republican Party.

The Democrats are in turmoil. You have two candidates attacking each other now in Clinton and Obama, which I think is only strengthening the Republican Party. Now having two great candidates is good for democracy and shows other countries that democracy can exist without bloodshed. The people deserve to have hard choices in picking a great leader. However, the fighting within the Democratic Party is making both Clinton and Obama look bad. It is hurting both candidates and making people think McCain is the right choice.

So could it be that democracy is hurting the Democrats or is it the lack of democracy that is helping the Republicans? Either way, I am concerned, we may end up with four more years of Republican conservatism, War and economic recession coming from the White House.

Cho Larger Than Life

Yesterday was a busy day. After the MS Walk, dog photos and a new truck purchase, we came home ate dinner and quickly changed to head out to see comedian, Margaret Cho at the Paramount downtown.

Let me say that Margaret Cho is filthy, dirty, crass, shameless and rude...this is why I love her so much. She speaks the truth and leaves you laughing in the aisles. Last night was no different. She was brilliant and even Dale, who prefers more PG-rated humor loved the show. She was amazing and larger than life.

I have been a huge Cho fan for years now. This is the 3rd time I have seen her in concert and I am even a fan of her blog. She has a reality show coming out in August onVH1, so I am excited for that.

Car Shopping: How it can mean two completely different things.

So after our dog photo shoot yesterday, we realized we had to leave our dogs at day-care to play. They will not accept just stopping by the doggie-daycare without a few hours of play, so we left them there and headed out for some car shopping.

When I think of car shopping, I think of let's go buy a new car. Dale thinks of it as browsing. You can see how this can lead to tension.

Anyhow, our pickup truck was up on its' lease in July, so it was a good time to start "looking" or as I see it a good time to go out and come home with a new truck. We had not decided if we wanted to buy or lease again. Last time we got such a great deal on a lease it was hard to pass up - $2,000 down and $230 per month for 27 months & 27,000 miles or $8,210. Now on a $35,000 truck, you pretty much cannot beat that and after 2 1/2 years you will not likely not get $27,000 for a truck if you had bought it.

So we headed to Dodge again to look at the Dakota's (smaller version of what we have) and the RAM 1500 (what we already had). After 30 minutes of looking and test driving, we could have picked either so it came down to price. The salesman came back with $4,000 down and $400 per month & 23,625 miles on the Dodge RAM 1500 and even more on the Dakota. The RAM 1500 was more expensive, but had so many for incentives from Chrysler (mostly due to full-size pickup sales being down).

We were not interested, so they asked what it would take to get us to drive home with something today. I told them matching the same deal I had last time of $2,000 down and $230 per month. So after a few times back and forth, we settled on $2,000 down, $250 per month & 27,000 miles. I was happy with only a slight increase in my lease payment and even happier they came down from $14,800 to lease the truck to $8,750.

So we traded in our tan, 2006 Dodge RAM 1500 for a black, 2008 Dodge RAM 1500. And although Dale just wanted to "look" he did okay and excepted we leased a new truck. It is almost exactly the same as our 2006, just different tail lights and color, but we love it.

Picture Day

After the MS Walk yesterday we headed home quickly ate lunch and then headed out with our dogs to Canine Campus, our doggie-daycare for picture day. Yesterday, they had a dog photographer available to take portraits of your dog.

Now, I know you are thinking, Tom and Dale are those people. The ones who turn their dogs into their kids. Yeah, so. Get your own life.

Anyhow, it was very interesting. Ever try to get two dogs to sit and post together? It is excruciating, but we ended up with 1 amazing photo. Most people had a few shots to pick from, but I was thrilled we got one.

We learned Millie and Zoe do not like to pose. We learned Zoe is a genius and once she realized looking at the photographer meant a flash bulb going off, she decided to never look at her or the camera.

We will get the photo in a few weeks and I will share it online here, so stay tuned. It is a pretty amazing show.

I just hope Zoe and Millie find their photos tasteful and do not go all "Miley" on us and claim they were mis-treated and exploited in the photo shoot. I think you may be able to see one of Zoe's nipples in the shoot, so I asked the photographer to airbrush it out. Please don't tell Disney.

MS Walk

On Saturday Dale and I got up at the butt crack of dawn to head down to City Park in Denver for the MS Walk.

Indigio had a team of about 20 walkers and Dale and I volunteered to man the tent along with my co-worker, Becki Dilworth's husband, Brent.

Okay, I hate waking up early on the weekend and I hate being out in the cold and it was cold Saturday morning...however, I like to help and wanted to be there to support my fellow Indigians, so we were at City Park by 6:30 AM.

Dale had a plan to transform the Indigio tent into a circus like tent. There is a prize for best Team tent and were about 25 - 30 tents.

Now, we did not put a lot of planning into the tent and in reality Dale threw together the plan the day before and put 1/2 of the circus part together night before and did the rest at 7 AM at the event. So it is amazing and through Dale's vision that it turned out so wonderful. It is amazing and Dale created it all with simple things from the Dollar Store. Even more amazing.

But wouldn't you know it...Indigio won Best Team Tent. Yeah, kudos to Dale and to everyone who helped him create a great looking tent that really made Indigio shine.

Dale and I had a great time at the event and the Indigio Team raised over $6,000, which is wonderful. It was a great morning!

I Know

Great Family Guy Episode

I love this episode. I'm a kitty cat!

Ah Colorado

It is May 1st and there is a blizzard outside.

So funny!