Lucky

Thanks for the email. I did check out Craigslist, as well as flatfinders and rioapartmeentrentals.com and also VRBO. It's a frustrating process trying to find the suitable apartment which is not only affordable but also available at the time I need it. In my frustration I put up a CL ad of my own, specifying exactly what I wanted. I got 3 replies, none of them remotely close to what I had asked for. Flatfinders also responded with an apartment which was not close to what I had asked for. (How does Copacabana translate to Ipanema?) The apartment we liked at rioapartmentrentals was not available, so an alternative was suggested that was not pleasing. I asked for another option and received no reply. So you see why a hotel might be the better choice. I don't have all day to look through the multitude of listings only to find the one I like is unavailable. As you know, many of the apartments that are available leave a lot to be desired.

I read the linked article, part of a blog at sfgate.com called The Mommy Files. There can be no doubt that we are all opposed to gay bullying, but I hope that the campaign has been more publicized among high school students. I certainly would not know that you were wearing purple to protest gay bullying if I had not seen EXPAT's post...and I appreciate him informing us of this. My hope is that high school kids will see the raft of purple at their school as a huge statement in support of those being bullied.

Brazil's stunning rise in the value of its currency, the real, was in part propelled by its "towering" interest rates. But yesterday the government cut rates again for the second time in two months, "doubling down on its bet that a slowing economy is more troubling than high inflation." wsj.com The inflation rate, as well as the increase in the value of the real, has made it much harder for tourists to enjoy Brazil. Brazil's slowing economy has given the dollar a rise of some 6 percent this year, small comfort against a currency that has risen 40% over the past 3 years. And, if the gains in the dollar are eaten up by even higher inflation, well, tough titties for us tourists. I canceled a trip to Brazil in August after I discovered how expensive it had become. Since then the dollar had risen, and hotel prices which once seemed very high became just high, so I rebooked the trip. In August the real was at 1.59 to the dollar, and is today at 1.77. Sadly though, the hotel I had in mind at $160 a night just a couple of weeks ago is now $187 a night. At this rate even if I can afford to get to Brazil, inflation may make it hard to enjoy the trip if I have to watch every penny. I don't like acai beverages, but the bf sure does. Our days of daily sauna boys may become rare. The dollar may rise with this latest interest rate cut, so I had better lock in a hotel room price quickly.

I see. Well, I agree with you that the offending email should not have been sent.

Although I do not understand the attraction of having sex in a public bathroom, many men do. A park in Westchester County New York was the scene of a recent sting operation. 16 men were arrested for unlawful sexual activity, and their names and photos were published in the Westchester Journal News. Oops. Many of the men had plead guilty on condition that their cases would be sealed. All but one had plead to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct. But the public safety commissioner took the liberty of releasing their photos as sex offenders. Needless to say, many of the men are appalled at seeing their mugs in the news. The cases were not supposed to go public if they were sealed, and if they did not plead to a sex offense, why be publicly outed as sex offenders? Here is the offending article: http://www.lohud.com/article/20111015/NEWS02/110150339?odyssey=obinsite But now the Journal news is saying "don't blame us!" Today's article: WHITE PLAINS — The unhappy faces of 16 men netted in a police sex sting at Saxon Woods Park stared out from newspapers and media websites. Except that 11 of them weren't supposed to be there. Westchester County police acknowledged Wednesday that they released the names and photographs of 11 defendants whose cases had been sealed in White Plains City Court. The puzzling question: Whose fault was it that their identities were revealed? The answer lies in a legal tangle that has police and court officials pointing fingers at each other. Before releasing the names Friday — as a "deterrent" — of 16 men charged with public lewdness and forcible touching as part of an undercover operation at Saxon Woods, police said they called the City Court. In a statement released Wednesday, county police spokesman Kieran O'Leary said the department "was told that those cases were not sealed" and released the men's names. O'Leary also noted that state law required the court to notify the Police Department that the cases had been sealed. Then it gets complicated. Read on: http://www.lohud.com/article/20111020/NEWS01/110200391/Sealed-names-were-released-Saxon-Woods-Park-sex-sting-arrests?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage The sting operation was called Operation Overexposed. It sure was. More in today's NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/nyregion/names-released-in-sealed-cases-in-westchester-park-known-for-sex.html?ref=nyregion The offending bathroom:

Well, I don't support anyone stalking, but you do give out such contradictory information about yourself that it easily could lead someone to wonder what the truth is. I specifically remember you saying that you do not hire escorts, then another time you talked about hiring. You gave as your reason for leaving Daddy's that you were getting married. Somehow that stopped you from posting there, but not here. I don't recall you ever being accused of stalking escorts, and I have never heard that you did. I have never heard that you were kicked out of daddys for stalking escorts. So I don't see how a long-term member of daddy's could have sent this information out to an escort. It's confusing because if you don't hire escorts, or even if you stopped and started again, how would this person know which escort to tell this to? I know I wouldn't, and I have been around a long time too.

Gay men now have to decide what to wear to their wedding, and I hope they have better ideas than this one: The NY Times Style section takes a look at some ideas, and shows some photos of outfits different guys have chosen: Wedding Wear

At the Barnes & Noble site, there is a long list of supportive blurbs for this novel by respected authors. Some of the reader responses were anti-gay, but not so many. But, Oz, I appreciate that you take my word over the Times! eeyore, I had you in mind when I wrote the review. I know it's not about Thailand, but it is good.

I don't really understand this post since you have said before that you do not hire escorts.

I took the book back to the library today in the hopes that someone else will enjoy it as much as me. The reviews are not only great, they are splendid. I am pleased to be a part of this phenomenal book.

If you are truly interested, the NY Times review is so much better than mine: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/books/review/the-art-of-fielding-by-chad-harbach-book-review.html

The gay novel has taken it on the chin as gay people have increasingly become part of the mainstream. The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach, is not a gay novel, but what it is is a sign of how far we have come, for it has a strong gay subplot of young love, and no one seems to find that controversial. Well, maybe they do. Once I knew I was going to read the novel, I didn't read anything about it. I knew it was doing well on the charts, I knew it focused on a skilled young baseball player, Henry Skrimshander. Henry's relationship with the team's captain and catcher is rather homoerotic in itself, but no more so than many straight guys who play sports together in a close knit team. Henry's roommate is Owen Dunne, the openly gay and scholarly teammate on the baseball team,known as the Buddha for reasons you will discover if you read the book. The cast, as it were, is rounded out for the main roles by the young girl Pella, 23, who has come to live with her father, Guert Affenlight, who is the president of this midwestern college where most of the story takes place. College novels are red meat for authors, because they can make a lot take place in a known, finite time. Once college is over, those folks who just could not do without each other tend to move on. There is an ending to their relationship as their lives will change, and no matter how much they say they will keep in touch, we know that this is likely the highlight of their time together. The love interest for Owen is, at first, a studly young jock. But his affection for the president began when he was 14 and read a book that Affenlight had written. Then Affenlight got him the scholarship to attend the college, oddly named Westish. So it is not a surprise when it turns out that they might have affections for each other too. Could a 60 year old man truly be loved by a young college guy? You sure think so in this novel, and that fact alone makes it a good read for many of the guys here. Over the 4 year span of the novel, romance happens, victory then defeat then victory as the team comes together, crisis, more romance, and it all leads, in its 500+ pages to a very satisfying story, one that you will be sorry to see end. Now I can go and read the reviews, see what folks are saying about the gay subplot, and then return here to see if I motivated any of you to read this fine novel.

At the end, in the credits, they spell "captain" as "captian." I wonder if anyone will "temm" them that! Welcome back, 4a. OMG NSFW Lucky

From the NY Times: If you type a wrong password into the Web site of The Wall Street Journal, it turns out that your e-mail address quietly slips out to seven unrelated Web sites. Sign on to NBC and, likewise, seven other companies can capture your e-mail address. Click on an ad on HomeDepot.com and your first name and user ID are instantly revealed to 13 other companies. These findings, released by the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, are among the leaks found on 185 top Web sites. They serve to buttress what privacy advocates have long warned of: Your online travel — your clickstream, as it’s poetically known — is not always anonymous. It can often be traced right back to rather precise parts of you, including your name and e-mail address. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/stanford-researcher-finds-lots-of-leaky-web-sites/?scp=1&sq=%22leaks%20found%22&st=Search

I guess I would vote for Quinn. He has that Darren Criss look. But did the city really make this an official holiday? Kind of like G-string appreciation Day?

I am glad that Lookin brought up the camera issue, as I didn't. It is scary, but I think only for us older folks who grew up with certain beliefs in the right of privacy. Think about young'uns today. They have no privacy, and they don't seem to mind. Their entire lives are revealed on Facebook, their cell phone tracks their every movement, their computer follows them around the internet, revealing every site they visit to strangers who have the right bots. They even go on camera to jack off for the whole world to see! What's another camera on the street mean to them? Now of course we use the computer and cell phone too, but we are smart enough to block all of those privacy invasions, aren't we? At least the ones we know about? Which is about, oh, five? All of which is to say that street cameras are here to stay, or so it seems. (And a thanks to MsGuy and Lookin for joining me in the Politics section today. Would be no fun to be here alone. Of course, there are all of those unseen lurkers watching...)

"That said, some might also argue that the following quote makes a prima facie case that Lucky misses the bare knuckle brawls of the other board:" Ah, MsGuy. After all these years do we not understand each other? I do not come here to play the wounded kitten role. I am here for honest give and take, discussion of hot issues, amusement at life's foibles, and a general sense of gay male camaraderie. I admit to creating posts with an intent to provoke. For me, the last thing one should want here is the boredom of general agreement. As you know, my background is as a trial lawyer. Day after day I would go into court and argue. Yes, argue. Not like in the US Senate, where you call the enemy "your esteemed colleague" before you rip him a new asshole. The courtroom allowed for argument on important matters that still left the opposing parties the liberty to leave the building and share a drink together. A badge of honor was the reputation of being fair, yet persuasive. We don't have the more formal rules of the courtroom here, and the consequence is that some feathers get ruffled that we didn't intend to ruffle. But that's one reason I like provoking Epigonos- he can take it and then some. If an opposing lawyer in a courtroom responded to something I said with the comment, "Oh, Lucky, you are so sweet," we would both have been laughed out of court. I am not here to be sweet, but, hopefully, fair, yet persuasive. Not always right, but always interesting. (If someone wants to think I am sweet, that's great(ness), just don't tell anyone!)

It's a tough time to be a New York police officer, as the department has been taking it on the chin in several instances lately. The Occupy Wall Street protests have gained the most attention, as white-shirted police bosses have pepper-sprayed protesters, punched one, and ran over another's leg with a police scooter. The police seem stymied in how to deal with the protest movement, and have, if anything, drawn even more attention to it. But that's not the worst of it. Some 500 officers came under investigation in a ticket fixing scandal. But worst of all are revelations this week that some officers actually made a custom of planting narcotics on innocent people to make their arrest quotas. For me, that's actually the scariest thing coming out of the news this week in New York. With such a huge department, there is no doubt that many bad apples will be in the bunch. Innocent, law-abiding police officers must suffer the hurt to their families and their reputation as these scofflaw officers take priority in the publicity mill. Yet the blue wall of silence keeps them from speaking out against officers who commit crimes, to their won detriment. It's hard to be the finest if you cannot even police your own department.

Gay men have been given a rare opportunity to support the family, as a New York couple look for new ways to make a living in these tough economic times: A couple struggling to make ends meet to support their 20-month-old daughter have found a new way to supplement a meager income - amateur porn. Berkley, 21, and Tyler, 25, have no previous experience in the X-rated industry, nor any long-term dreams to become porn stars - but for now, hey, it's a job, they say. A job that rakes in $1,000 a week, according to ABC's Nightline. That beats the tips Berkley took home while working part-time as a cocktail waitress at a nightclub - and the sub-$350 a week Tyler was pulling in doing odd jobs. "That first night, within 30 minutes we had made $300," Tyler said. "I was like, 'I'm done with a normal 40-hour work week.'" "We just want to be normal. That's what our goal is to be - as normal as possible." Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/10/15/2011-10-15_couple_turns_to_amateur_porn_gig_to_support_toddler_im_done_with_a_normal_40hour.html#ixzz1arD6oivt

I do 20 minutes on the treadmill several times a week. It has been too hot here for a walk,except at 5:30 am when the dogs go out. Earlier this year I developed Runners Knees (chondramalaycia sp?)after years of jogging as a younger man. It hurts like hell until you get the artificial cartilage stuff injected. It can make a man downright grouchy.

Justin Bieber was in BA this week and met a warm welcome, so I imagine Axiom will have the same.

Epigonos and I enjoy teasing each other about our political beliefs. The smiley was placed to let others in on the joke. I am sure that he abhors the idea that some right wing republicans would use our very gains politically against us, but I can't help teasing him that he is their fellow traveler, thus the use of the old cliche "avowed.". I had a little fun with bishop Finn too, and I hope he understands that his indictment is a source of amusement to many of us. Yesterday a 78-year old monsignor in New York tried to molest two underage boys in the same day, and it had nothing to do with Bishop Finn, so I wanted to point that out in his defense. (dailynews.com) (P.S.- Conservatives in Britain have learned that you do NOT bring your boyfriend into government meetings!)

PS: A certain fellow poster has appropriately chastised me for my comment here. I agree that Townsend has every right to be pleased that he had the opportunity to go out with some fine and handsome young men. I overreacted in saying that his interest was only in the size of their dicks. It is only natural for us gay men to enjoy the company of charming young fellows, and it doesn't hurt to imagine what tools they carry behind their red hot zippers. I was having a bad morning, so I apologize.

SFGate.com reports: With more than half of Americans in a recent poll accepting same-sex marriage, gays and lesbians need no judicial protection from laws passed by Congress, House Republicans argued Friday in a San Francisco court in defense of a law denying federal benefits to same-sex spouses. "Homosexuals have a great deal of political power" and are not entitled to the safeguards that courts have established for laws that discriminate against racial minorities or women, attorney Paul Clement said in a filing supporting the Defense of Marriage Act... ...House Speaker John Boehner chose Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general, to take over the defense in a series of pending Defense of Marriage Act cases after President Obama announced in February that he considered the law unconstitutional and would no longer defend it. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/14/BANT1LI0F4.DTL#ixzz1ap1nQO3d Our fellow poster Epigonos is an avowed Republican who opposes the Obama administration. Does he support this horrendous claim?

From dailynews.com: Call it "To Catch a Cheater" instead. Chris Hansen, host of NBC's hit pervert-nabbing show "To Catch a Predator" has been caught cheating on his wife, again, reports the National Enquirer. This time around, his mistress is stripper Kathleen Collins, whom Hansen met in a Las Vegas Club early this year. The two lovebirds enjoyed a six-month tryst before news broke of Hansen's other extramarital indescretions. In late June, Hansen was caught on tape having a date with 30-year-old TV news reporter Kristyn Cadell at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Palm Beach, Fla., before heading to the young reporter's apartment later that night. For Collins, the news came as a shock, says the Enquirer. The stripper said she was "floored" when she heard about Hansen's other fling. "I know this sounds crazy, but Kathleen really thought she was the only one," a close friend told the magazine. Hansen has two sons with his wife, Mary, 53. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/08/04/2011-08-04_to_catch_a_predator_host_chris_hansen_caught_cheating_again_this_time_with_strip.html#ixzz1aosikoQu