Car broken into again... sigh...

OK so this isn't fun anymore.

Last month, my car was stolen from the block in front of my apartment; it showed up the next day with $200 of parking tickets and a giant hole in the dashboard where my stereo used to be. I had just moved to a place without a garage and wasn't accustomed to pulling the faceplate off my stereo, so hey lesson learned right? Right.

So last weekend, Sparky and I finally got the new kick-ass stereo installed, which I totally love. I've also gotten in the habit of removing the faceplate every time, taking it with me (not leaving it in the glove box, for example), and using The Club so they can't drive off with my car.

Thus, this morning, I find my car with the passenger window smashed and the glove box contents on the floor. So what's the lesson here?

1. Yes, it's a good idea to take the faceplate, since if I hadn't my new stereo would be gone again.
2. Should I just leave the doors unlocked and still use the club? At least that way they won't break the windows when they rifle through my car? I'm not sure if I want bums sleeping in my car though.
3. I could afford a fuckload of taxis and rental cars (and a sweet bike) for the amount it's costing me to park on the street.
   

Coraline - go see it!

Saw "Coraline" last night with Sparky. It's the first of these newfangled 3D movies I've seen in a theater. And I have to say, I think it was the best animated movie I have ever seen, period. Totally fantastic!

While the animation was completely breathtaking (especially the glass/window effects, the awesome kitty, and the Russian mouse circus), what made it so great was the fantastic dreamworld writing. It's based on a Neil Gaiman novel, and the story was simply engrossing -- a huge departure from the Disney drivel with the heavy-handed family morals every single time. I still cringe when people tell me they liked The Incredibles -- families everywhere are going to be scarred forever from that movie, just you wait.

Anyway, go catch Coraline if you get a chance! It's fantastic.

Van Ness BRT

StreetsBlog has posted a story about the Van Ness bus project we've been working on. The article is moderately interesting, or you can just skip to the fun part and watch our simulation/info video below! I added the music all by myself. :-)

I'm just not that into you

A quick roundup of the weekend's events --

Friday night, Sparky and I went to "5th Floor" a very swanky restaurant downtown. I think we were there for almost four hours, since we got the chef's tasting menu which meant course after course of fancy food paired with wines. It was easily the best meal I've had in ages, and certainly one of the best I've ever had. Pretty fantastic. This was our big night out instead of going out on overhyped V-D.

Saturday I got my new car stereo all plugged in -- remember my car got stolen about a month ago? Well the new stereo connects wirelessly to my BlackBerry, which means I can now say "Call Suzan" and it will just dial her up through my phone and it comes through the speakers. It is beyond awesome. OK actually Sparky did most of the work wiring it up and connecting everything together, but in my defense I cooked him an awesome dinner for a private little V-D at home that night. I think he's starting to like the Turkish food. :-)

Sunday it was pouring rain like mad all day long, so other than a quick jaunt to the gym and one coffee with friends in the afternoon, it was a great Wii day at home. I really meant to go out into the nightlife at least one night this weekend, but the "horrible" weather kept me home. No complaints!

Monday was Divorce Day. My ex came by and we spent almost three hours going over our joint taxes and all the forms we need to fill out to make our divorce legal. Ah yes, all you gay-marriage proponents -- don't be surprised when lawyers want $2500 to file this form, this form, this form, this form, this form, this form, this form, this form, this form, this form, and this form for you to make the breakup legit. Heading over to City Hall at lunch today to drop off the paperwork.

I guess "I'm just not that into you" isn't enough any more...

The Billy Stimulus Plan!

YAY -- I just sent out two job offer letters for new staff at work. It's great to be able to hire two people now, in the middle of so many layoffs amongst my friends and peers. I now know at least six people personally who have been laid off this winter, and I fear more are coming. So, while I can't give everybody out there a job, it's still great to know that my agency is able to fill some empty positions right now. One of my hires is also a person who might have a lot of trouble getting hired in less open environments, so it's a particularly good feeling.

Now let's hope they both get lots of work done and make my life easier this spring!

Sick kitty

Sparky's cat was seriously sick all weekend, sorry for the lack of Billy updates. We still don't know what exactly happened; all I know is that Friday night after hanging out with Paul and Michael, we got back to Sparky's pad and the cat was screaming bloody murder, couldn't walk or stand up straight, and was clearly hallucinating. I spent most of Saturday in the kitty emergency room, and then had to help Sparky all weekend with with sub-cutaneous saline injections for dehydration, and carrying the cat from the couch to the kitty box. That cat sure got a lot of attention this weekend.

Sparky was a bit worked up over the whole incident but I think he'll pull through, too. :-) I think if it had been my cat I would have been a wreck. The whole thing did remind me of Mom telling Suzan, when her kitty was racking up veterinary bills, "Oh, just get another one."

Cooking Blog

I know I promised not to blog about cooking, but.....

...last night I made the best brussels sprouts I've ever created. This time they were cut in half, blanched, and then quick-sautéed with strips of pancetta, and just a touch of parmesan on top. I only wish I had taken a picture to show you!

This more than made up for yesterday's arrival of the California Secretary of State's rejection of my domestic partnership termination papers. I was hoping I'd actually be able to sneak through the process without a lawyer, but no luck there. So.... I'm going to have to lawyer up and do it right. Oh well, I guess that's why they call it divorce. The good news is, it's taking less and less time and emotional energy to deal with the divorce chores, which leaves a lot more time and energy for fun stuff like cooking!

Never Blog Angry

It turns out that even if you (or I) delete a post within moments of publishing it, Google Reader and other aggregation sites will pick it up and broadcast it. So the golden rule of blogging, which I learned well before I even started blogging, applies even more strongly than I realized. Never blog angry! Enough said.

This weekend was amazing. I didn't get to see as much of Charlie and Jim from Seattle as I would have liked, but we did manage to have a lot of fun at Spork in the Mission. Spork is a remodeled Kentucky Fried Chicken that is now the latest, hippest addition to the funky Mission restaurant scene. It was a bit over the top, but a great time. Saturday, Sparky helped me get my new Lutron dimmer switches installed in my apartment — one step closer to fully moved in!! — and then a rockin' game night with Zabe, Tom, and Darren. I was utterly humiliated in our game of Bang! since I misread my cards and thought I was trying to save the Sheriff when, in fact, I was playing the outlaw. Oops. Every time we play that damn game, somebody screws it up and this time it was me! How embarrassing... ;-)

Superbowl Sunday was loads of fun at Michael's, like every year. I ate and drank way too much but it was nice to have all my peeps meet Sparky and just hang out like normal people. That may not sound like much, but it was really appreciated. OK gotta finish this Van Ness Avenue bus service memo! More soon.

Lots to look forward to.

I'm having a busy weekend again — and I hope everyone out there is, too. My friend Charlie is in town from Seattle (yay!) plus games night tomorrow, plus Michael's annual superbowl party on Sunday. And, Zabe needs help computer shopping on Sunday (yay!)

I wrote up a big long blog entry yesterday, which was posted for about 1 minute and then I deleted it. I briefly forgot that I want to feed the sweet cuddly loving dog, not the barking hyper eats-pillows dog, since I only have enough food to feed one dog. Don't know if anybody caught it, but if you did please delete it from your memory banks!

Have a great one, everyone! xoxo

25 things about me

This virus has been going around Facebook for a while, and I had to write this up to satisfy my sister. But since you're not all watching me there, I figured I'd paste it in here too. These are 25 random things about me and/or my view of the world. Hope you enjoy.
--------------------------

1. Carl Sagan has been my hero ever since elementary school.
2. I have an unnatural fear of being handed scissors.
3. While I’m still frustrated and disappointed that my marriage is over, the truth is I’m much better off without him. As Suzan said so well, “I used to think he was hot; now I just think he’s sweaty.”
4. I like my farts, they smell awesome!
5. Not only do I own a soldering iron, I actually use it.
6. My sisters and I used to sit around wondering why we never met guys that wanted to have sex as frequently as we did. The Charlton Curse. And some things don’t ever change!
7. I love what I do for work, and feel like I’m really changing San Francisco in significant, tangible, positive ways – nothing small about it. It’s a great feeling, even if the day-to-day office work (especially here) can be incredibly grueling.
8. Speaking of work, I really hate the phrase “good enough for government work.” I’ve never worked harder, or with better people, than right now at this agency.
9. Atari > *
10. I’ve never slept with a woman. In fact, I’ve never really seen girly bits up close.
11. While a lot of guys fetishize uncut dicks, I think they’re kinda creepy. Doing my best to learn, though!
12. “Would you like some watermelon?” is my favorite phrase to speak in Turkish. Discovering that I could communicate with strangers in a foreign tongue, albeit poorly, was a sublime moment in life. Karpuz istiyor musun?
13. If I could reinstall a different version of Linux on my computer every day, I would finally be truly happy.
14. For a long time, I forgot how nice it was to hold hands in public. But now I remember!
15. I think every American should live overseas during their twenties. Living in Israel for two years made me finally grow up, and I would never give that experience up. Glad to be home though.
16. If I have a next life, I want to come back as a Black woman with attitude and fabulous hair – which I can change every three days.
17. But, I don’t really believe in a next life, or any sort of fantasy sugarcandy heaven in the clouds, which is why I have to make this life as great as possible. We’re all stuck in this together, let’s enjoy it.
18. I never thought I’d be dating at the age of 39, but here I am doing it and it’s not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact it’s pretty fun, so far.
19. Downhill skiing is quite possibly the worst vacation activity ever. Hurling toward large trees on an icy slope in blizzard conditions? I feel that way at work already! Why would I want more stress on vacation?
20. I remember laughing at a sign I saw at the No on Prop 8 Rally – “The only relationship Gay Marriage will ruin is my own.” I had no idea the prophecy that sign bore!
21. No matter where you are, it’s only as good as the people you’re with. Don’t move for work. Don’t move for money. Go where your friends or family love you.
22. I think the gold crown on my back molar looks like a little shark tooth ready to bite ya. I love it!
23. I think that 25 things is really a lot of things to have to write about yourself. I thought psycho-therapy was bad; this is navel-gazing to the extreme!
24. I am truly thankful that for every dinged pot, there’s a lid that fits.
25. I believe that what goes around comes around, and that the universe has a funny way of evening out the playing field. While nice guys do seem to finish last, I’ve found that the view from the back of the pack is pretty awesome if you catch the light just right.

Sparky...

...sent me roses today! Awwww!!!! :-)

Actually he tried to send them yesterday, since I was having a really crappy day at work. But true to the day's awfulness, the security "cops" in the lobby wouldn't let the delivery guy up since the front desk didn't answer the phone. They wouldn't let the dude deliver flowers. So they arrived today!

If you ask me, that makes this rose smell even sweeter.

Turkish Food!

I absolutely cannot wait for tonight -- my first dinner party at the new pad! We're having my trademark yogurt & mint soup and Hünkar Begendi, which is a lamb and eggplant dish which translates as "The Sultan Approved". Should be yummy, you should be jealous! :-)

It's so nice to be home again after all that travel. Finally I can cook again, have friends over, get back to the gym, go out every night if I want, and just enjoy everything this fine city has to offer. What's funny is that I just got an invitation to be on an expert review panel in Abu Dhabi of all places. They want to pay me absolutely insane amounts of money to fly there just for Valentine's weekend — I mean really, the money is exorbitant. But I'm going to say no; I'd just rather stay home right now. Even if it is rainy and dark out today, it's home.

Wake-up Call

Yesterday was finally the day for my wake-up call at work.

The Executive Director came by my desk in the afternoon, which is a rarity and always portends trouble. Apparently he got a call from the Mayor's Office, where they are very concerned that some of our travel model results are behind schedule and they've had trouble communicating with the team. And yes, if it's a travel model problem, it's Billy's Problem.

Now, granted they should have called me directly instead of going to my boss, but the truth is that I have let work take a back seat for weeks and weeks now as I've been focusing on pretty much everything else except work: my move to the new apartment, the TRB conference, vacation in San Diego, Facebook, boys, more boys... you get the idea. While everyone here in the office was willing to pick up a little bit of slack because of the big boo-hoo breakup, the time has long-since past that that's okay, especially for somebody with my level of responsibilities.

So, yesterday was the last day of that. I cleared out my email, moved all the piles off my desk and into a "to be processed" pile, finally listened to 27 saved voicemail messages, and got off my ass. And the big surprise? Things aren't really in bad shape at all; it just took a teeny tiny bit of effort.

It doesn't take much, but it does take something. Lesson learned.

Beach weather and Obamatini time!

2009 just keeps getting better. Obama Day has finally arrived and not a moment too soon; last night Sparky and I had our Obama Tomorrow Tinis to celebrate Bush's Last Day, and I think it may have been the best excuse for a martini ever.

This past weekend was filled with fun, actually. I got to see Corkle-san and Eliot's new pad, which is fantastic — they have a private rooftop garden and deck with an enormous view of the city. I'm so glad they're here and can't wait to do more with them. The rental furniture's got to go, though! Soon the crate from Japan will arrive, we hope.

On a deeper note though, things in my head seem much clearer since my return from Washington. That trip finally did for me what the roadtrip two weeks ago started: I think I'm just about done feeling sorry for myself about the big breakup. I'm sure I'll still have days when I'm thinking about things too much, but for the most part I'm pretty O.K. with where I've ended up and it sure seems like things happen for a reason and always work out for the best. At least for me!

But back to more shallow things! Yesterday was also a great beach day. Sorry you east-coasters reading this, but while you were in the snow out there, I managed to spend the entire day on the beach eating cheese sandwiches and sea salt potato chips with Sparky.

But I swear I'm not rubbing it in, promise! :-) We'll pay for it when we're having a severe drought later this summer.

65 ain't 80

But it ain't 20 either. Back in San Francisco, and it's sunny and mild, just like it's supposed to be. I guess last week's heatwave was bookended by my flights to and from D.C., so I'll have to wait a bit for beach day. Oh well — it's still better than being in 15-20 degree weather and wind.

Last night I got my AV system 100% all put together, so I can finally race my sisters and nieces on Wii Mario Kart over the internet. For some reason I'm in a state of euphoria today, too — I have no idea if it's just being back home after two long trips away, or the good conversation I had w/my Ex a few days ago sinking in, or just all the possibilities for this year now before me.

Or maybe it was just a really fun night at my own pad last night, and lots more to come!

Uncle Mus

(pronounced "Moose" for you non-Turks out there)

Warning, schmaltzy post ahead.

My uncle Mustafa moved to the USA when I was probably five years old. The circumstances under which he came here were never quite clear to me, and my family prizes its secrets like crown jewels so I'll probably never know, but it definitely had something to do with avoiding military service in Turkey. The early 1970s were not a good time to be in the Turkish military, with a few military coups and the Greek/Cyprus war right around the corner.

Musy stayed in the attic room of our house for what seemed like years and he was always around when I was growing up. As I got older, he moved out but was still in the area; he was the guy who was in our driveway, changing his oil or adjusting the spark plugs in his little Datsun and later a teeny Nissan sports car. He got pretty good with fixing our toilets and scraping barnacles off Dad's boat, too. He taught me to drive stick in that Nissan; I guess you could call him a guy's guy.

Mus was never lucky with the ladies, though. His first wife ran off with a plumber after just a few months; his second wife... hmmm I guess more secrets because I don't know exactly what drove them apart but they divorced too. He pretty much laid off women for a few decades after that, and told me when I was seventeen (in the driveway, while changing his oil — really) that I should stay away from women forever because they would steal everything I cared about and ruin my life. Of course at that point I already knew I was gay even if he didn't, so I figured this was pretty good advice and that Uncle Mus had all the answers.

But you just never know where love is going to turn up, and about five years ago, at sixty, Mus finally found his true love. Mus and Kaslyn adopted a baby girl who is now four. Right now I'm at their house amongst idyllic horse stables in the distant Virginia ex-urbs of Washington, D.C. and it's so great to see them here living out their dreams. Mus has had lots of health issues the past year or two so it feels extra special to be able to spend my last night here with them before I head back to San Francisco tomorrow morning.

Uncle Mus taught me a lot about what being a strong, stable guy in the face of adversity is all about. I wish him and Kas the best, of course, and their story gives me lots of hope for my own future too. I'll always love Uncle Mus.

The best part of the TRB conference

is hooking up with long lost friends. It's only Monday night and I've already managed to have drinks with Charlie, Maren, Jay, Jeff, and Susie. I haven't seen Susie in years! Yay!!!

Washington, D.C.

As I do every year, I am at the "TRB" Transportation Research Board conference in Washington for a week in January. I have been coming to this conference since 1991, back when I had just graduated from Cornell. At this point I know so many people here it's just ridiculous. TRB is always fun but last year I sorta overdid it with too many presentations, so this time I'm pulling back and just listening in on the sessions and hooking up with old friends.

Also, since family still live around D.C., I was treated to an insanely fun black-tie Casino Night last night. I lost all my chips but had a great time trying to keep up with the high rollers. Poor Dad was the first to lose everything at the Blackjack tables, which has added irony if you've ever seen his personally-written "Better Blackjack" pamphlet on how to win big at the game.

So, I'll be here through Thursday, and after this trip I don't think there is any more travel in my near future. I was a bit worn out from my last trip just a week ago, so by the time this one's over I'm really going to be looking forward to just staying home and enjoying my awesome apartment and friends in San Francisco. I hear the weather finally improved the moment I left, too -- sheesh!

I like Sparky

Sparky can fix your Mach 5 in the middle of a race. He can fix your wireless router too, and set up HDMI cabling for your flatscreen, all while drinking Irish Carbombs!

Sparky would probably let you puke in the backseat of his car, if you really needed to. (Well, if he had his own car.)

Everyone needs a Sparky.

Yet another week in the life...

This week: (1) my Ex told me he's now dating the one guy that... oh, never mind it's just too complicated to explain; suffice it to say I'm more and more glad he's gone. (2) My car was stolen from right in front of my house; (3) the car came back, stereo ripped out of the dashboard; (4) I signed the California Termination of Domestic Partnership papers with the Ex.

Not sure what next week is going to bring while I'm in D.C. but I bet it won't be half as exciting as this week has been! Good lord.

Oh, and go see Slumdog Millionaire if you haven't caught it yet. Saw it with Sparky and Corkle-san last night and it was awesome!