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Friday, January 20, 2006
New iTunes Feed Posted
I got into the iTunes directory with my new podcast feed. This was a lot faster than I expected. Click on the button below to subscribe to my podcast in ITunes. If you want to hear my previous seven podcasts go here.
Krebs Cast #8
Comments on my first home, iLife '06 mini review, on returning home, why I think American Idol is crap, and pondering a quote.
NOTE: My podcast feed has changed. I am now at http://thekrebscycle.libsyn.com/rss and the podcast site is now http://thekrebscycle.libsyn.com. I will still post links to my podcast here on my blog. I am also working on getting a new iTunes feed and as soon as I have that I will let y'all know. Email me with questions.
Join the Frappr! map everyone!
LISTEN to me in stereo sound.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
I'm a homeowner now.
Well it's official. We closed on our house yesterday and its ours. It didn't go quite so smoothly though. The assistant to the loan officer we used totally screwed up our loan when she faxed us the docs before the close. Brad called her and tore her a new asshole as did our kick ass agent. She fixed the problem and gave us a lower interest rate by the time our closing came along.
While Brad was dealing with incompetent mortgage assistants I was leaving heated messages to the real estate agents who represented a new construction property that we were going to buy but we backed out of. In December we withdrew our offer and until this afternoon had still not received our $2500 escrow money back. I left a withering message on the realtors voice mail telling him that I was going to call him every day until we got our money, that I was contacting my lawyer to investigate legal action, and that I would file a formal complaint with the better business bureau regarding their real estate agency. Anyway he called me back and said he had the title agency cut the check and it was ready to be picked up. He apologized and I accepted his apology and then he proceeded on this long story about how the people who needed to sign to release the money were out of town....blah blah blah. By the end of it I said, "Yeah well that was never MY problem." It all turned out OK. Once again our agent, whom I worship, was a beacon of shining hope and picked up the check for us so we didn't have to worry about it.
The lawyer at the title company where we closed was terrific and he had everything organized so well and explained the documents perfectly. All the shit from earlier in the day was washed away when the title company presented us with a bottle of champagne to congratulate us on our new home. I thought that was a nice touch. So we're home owners now. I'll have some pictures to share once we get moved in and paint etc. so forth and so on.
In spite of the fact that we are a wealthy well-fed nation, homelessness and poverty are remarkably present in our nation. I'd like to express how fortunate I am that I have Brad in my life and that we are able to have a house together. As a youth I used to feed homeless at soup kitchens and one time I helped build a home for habitat for humanity. I feel reinvigorated to pursue that kind of volunteer work again. At a minimum everyone deserves a place to call home. I'm not religious, nor do I believe in god, but I truly feel blessed.
While Brad was dealing with incompetent mortgage assistants I was leaving heated messages to the real estate agents who represented a new construction property that we were going to buy but we backed out of. In December we withdrew our offer and until this afternoon had still not received our $2500 escrow money back. I left a withering message on the realtors voice mail telling him that I was going to call him every day until we got our money, that I was contacting my lawyer to investigate legal action, and that I would file a formal complaint with the better business bureau regarding their real estate agency. Anyway he called me back and said he had the title agency cut the check and it was ready to be picked up. He apologized and I accepted his apology and then he proceeded on this long story about how the people who needed to sign to release the money were out of town....blah blah blah. By the end of it I said, "Yeah well that was never MY problem." It all turned out OK. Once again our agent, whom I worship, was a beacon of shining hope and picked up the check for us so we didn't have to worry about it.
The lawyer at the title company where we closed was terrific and he had everything organized so well and explained the documents perfectly. All the shit from earlier in the day was washed away when the title company presented us with a bottle of champagne to congratulate us on our new home. I thought that was a nice touch. So we're home owners now. I'll have some pictures to share once we get moved in and paint etc. so forth and so on.
In spite of the fact that we are a wealthy well-fed nation, homelessness and poverty are remarkably present in our nation. I'd like to express how fortunate I am that I have Brad in my life and that we are able to have a house together. As a youth I used to feed homeless at soup kitchens and one time I helped build a home for habitat for humanity. I feel reinvigorated to pursue that kind of volunteer work again. At a minimum everyone deserves a place to call home. I'm not religious, nor do I believe in god, but I truly feel blessed.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
DanKrebs Cast
My first "joint" podcast with Dan from Turning 40. We talk on a range of topics from previous posts in eachothers blogs.
Click on the Frappr! button on the sidebar and join everyone! Add a picture too.
LISTEN to us in stereo sound.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Sex as Protest?
I will admit that I subscribe to Out magazine. Yes its trite and insipid but I like to masturbate mentally with all media types: audio, visual, and print. In this month's issue there is an article by Stephanie Fairyington that addresses the mounting pressure to couple within the queer community, whether it be for a night or for the long haul. As usual for Out the article brings some interesting points to the table but doesn't quite follow through enough to really make a dent in your head. So naturally I took it upon myself to expound on something that was quoted in the article.
Testimonials for raging against the pressure to couple are given halfway through the article. Typical blurbs from men confessing that they hooked up for the sake of feeling attractive, needed, or wanted. This is all familiar to us and was not any kind of new insight. In fact many of these stories could have just as easily been ripped from an E! True Hollywood Story about a famous female porn star. However, when it came time for Fairyington to give pro-promoscuity views on the subject she quoted the noted David Halperin, an English/queer studies professor at the University of Michigan.
Halperin says "heterosexual culture in the West has produced a culture of erotic impoverishment, in which sex is supposed to be rare, and then has turned rarity into a virtue. Gay male culture has the sense to challenge that destructive notion."
GIve. Me. A. Fucking. Break!
By and large, but not in every case, I think queer studies is bullshit. Most of the time, as demonstrated by Halperin, its just intellectual dribble from the mouths of english professors turned metaphysicians rationalizing being a slut. I'm not advocating promiscuity or monogamy, live your life the way you want as long as you're not hurting others around you. I could care less. But to say that gay male culture is consciously (he said "Gay male culture has THE SENSE to challenge...") tearing down the oppressive heterosexual moires via promiscuity is utterly absurd.
Biologically males have one purpose. Deliver the sperm to as many eggs as possible. Females are genetically programmed to be selective about who's sperm they will accept. The number of eggs a female can produce is finite and they are therefore precious and not to be wasted. As a result females are selective so as not to propagate undesirable genetic traits to future generations with the few opportunities that they have to reproduce. Therefore, females should want to test the males and see which one is willing to endure her selective process before allowing him to couple with her. That means playing hard to get, which should not be confused with "erotic impoverishment." The consequence of two males getting together is no more than a loss of sperm which is produced throughout the entire course of the male's life. Biologically males have no hang-ups about sex because they can afford, and are programmed, to have as much of it as possible. One could argue that the advent of birth control has made this argument moot and invalid; that straight people are at liberty to be sluts without having to worry about making frankenbabies. My answer to that is that condoms and birth control pills do not alter our genetic code and are incidental blips in the grand context of nature.
Additionally what is so wrong with a little bit of restraint when it comes to sex? I find that its the anticipation of the sex, the chase, that is the true allure of the act itself. Nothing is more off putting, to me anyway, than seeing profiles on gay.com that feature a photo of a splayed ass with a caption that says "My door is unlocked, come use me now." I prefer my sex to be more dimensional than a basic bodily function.
In conclusion, Halperin needs to come out of the closet as a slut and stop trying to rationalize his overactive libido. If you're a slut then you're a slut. We've all been there, some of us are still there and there is nothing wrong with that. But please, please don't tell me that the reason why you like five or six dicks clambering to get into your mouth at one time is because you want to tear down oppressive heterosexual moires. When gay men go out on a saturday night and take a waft from their little amber vial before entering a sea of sweaty shirtless men the last thing on their minds is making a social statement. Its far more primal than that. They want to cum.
If you want to read something that gives insight into how gays and gay culture shape and direct our society check out Herbert Muschamp's article from the New York Times last week, Architecture; The Secret History.
Testimonials for raging against the pressure to couple are given halfway through the article. Typical blurbs from men confessing that they hooked up for the sake of feeling attractive, needed, or wanted. This is all familiar to us and was not any kind of new insight. In fact many of these stories could have just as easily been ripped from an E! True Hollywood Story about a famous female porn star. However, when it came time for Fairyington to give pro-promoscuity views on the subject she quoted the noted David Halperin, an English/queer studies professor at the University of Michigan.
Halperin says "heterosexual culture in the West has produced a culture of erotic impoverishment, in which sex is supposed to be rare, and then has turned rarity into a virtue. Gay male culture has the sense to challenge that destructive notion."
GIve. Me. A. Fucking. Break!
By and large, but not in every case, I think queer studies is bullshit. Most of the time, as demonstrated by Halperin, its just intellectual dribble from the mouths of english professors turned metaphysicians rationalizing being a slut. I'm not advocating promiscuity or monogamy, live your life the way you want as long as you're not hurting others around you. I could care less. But to say that gay male culture is consciously (he said "Gay male culture has THE SENSE to challenge...") tearing down the oppressive heterosexual moires via promiscuity is utterly absurd.
Biologically males have one purpose. Deliver the sperm to as many eggs as possible. Females are genetically programmed to be selective about who's sperm they will accept. The number of eggs a female can produce is finite and they are therefore precious and not to be wasted. As a result females are selective so as not to propagate undesirable genetic traits to future generations with the few opportunities that they have to reproduce. Therefore, females should want to test the males and see which one is willing to endure her selective process before allowing him to couple with her. That means playing hard to get, which should not be confused with "erotic impoverishment." The consequence of two males getting together is no more than a loss of sperm which is produced throughout the entire course of the male's life. Biologically males have no hang-ups about sex because they can afford, and are programmed, to have as much of it as possible. One could argue that the advent of birth control has made this argument moot and invalid; that straight people are at liberty to be sluts without having to worry about making frankenbabies. My answer to that is that condoms and birth control pills do not alter our genetic code and are incidental blips in the grand context of nature.
Additionally what is so wrong with a little bit of restraint when it comes to sex? I find that its the anticipation of the sex, the chase, that is the true allure of the act itself. Nothing is more off putting, to me anyway, than seeing profiles on gay.com that feature a photo of a splayed ass with a caption that says "My door is unlocked, come use me now." I prefer my sex to be more dimensional than a basic bodily function.
In conclusion, Halperin needs to come out of the closet as a slut and stop trying to rationalize his overactive libido. If you're a slut then you're a slut. We've all been there, some of us are still there and there is nothing wrong with that. But please, please don't tell me that the reason why you like five or six dicks clambering to get into your mouth at one time is because you want to tear down oppressive heterosexual moires. When gay men go out on a saturday night and take a waft from their little amber vial before entering a sea of sweaty shirtless men the last thing on their minds is making a social statement. Its far more primal than that. They want to cum.
If you want to read something that gives insight into how gays and gay culture shape and direct our society check out Herbert Muschamp's article from the New York Times last week, Architecture; The Secret History.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Congratulations Chile!
Congratulations Chile! You've demonstrated to the world, peacefully, that democracy is a beautiful thing.
Keep in mind that Chile is 70% Catholic and their new president, Michelle Bachelet, is divorced and agnostic but her political message was still heard above all that. Even with machismo deeply entrenched in latin culture Chile elected a female as a president. It is sad but true that if in this country a divorced agnostic woman ran for president she would have never even been taken seriously as a viable candidate, her politics would have fallen on deaf ears. Even if a male candidate in America were any of those other things, let alone all of them together, he wouldn't make it. Sad, but true. I think that its pathetic that the United States trapses around the world "spreading democracy" when countless other nations are light years ahead of us in actually executing it in their own nations.
Indira Gandhi: Prime Minister of India 1966- 1977 and 1980-1984
Golda Meir: Prime Minister of Israel 1969-1974
Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister of Great Britian 1979-1990 (Ronald Reagan's Brain but still a woman)
Vigdis Finnbogadottir: Prime Minister of Iceland 1980-1996
Benazir Bhutto: Prime Minister of Pakistan 1988-1990 and 1993-1996
Gro Harlem Brundtland: Prime Minister of Norway 1986-1989 and 1990-1996
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro: Presiden of Nicaragua 1990-1997
Mary Robinson: President of Ireland 1990-1997
Mary McAleese: President of Ireland 1997-Present
Helen Clark: Prime Minister of New Zealand 1999-Present
Michelle Bachelet: Prime Minister of Chile 2006-Present
I'm sure there are more but thats enough to make a point I think.
Thanks to Brad from Willing Warrior for reporting the elections. I really enjoyed his last two video blogs on the subject especially how the votes are counted in Chile.
In America
The land of the free they said,
and of opportunity,
in a just and truthful way.
But when the president
is never black, female, or gay,
and until that day,
you've got nothing to say to me
to help me believe.
-From "America is Not The World" by Morrissey on the album "You Are The Quarry"
I say this not out of hate for this country but out of a profound and deep love of it; because I am able to, because this is America and I don't want to lose it.
Keep in mind that Chile is 70% Catholic and their new president, Michelle Bachelet, is divorced and agnostic but her political message was still heard above all that. Even with machismo deeply entrenched in latin culture Chile elected a female as a president. It is sad but true that if in this country a divorced agnostic woman ran for president she would have never even been taken seriously as a viable candidate, her politics would have fallen on deaf ears. Even if a male candidate in America were any of those other things, let alone all of them together, he wouldn't make it. Sad, but true. I think that its pathetic that the United States trapses around the world "spreading democracy" when countless other nations are light years ahead of us in actually executing it in their own nations.
Indira Gandhi: Prime Minister of India 1966- 1977 and 1980-1984
Golda Meir: Prime Minister of Israel 1969-1974
Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister of Great Britian 1979-1990 (Ronald Reagan's Brain but still a woman)
Vigdis Finnbogadottir: Prime Minister of Iceland 1980-1996
Benazir Bhutto: Prime Minister of Pakistan 1988-1990 and 1993-1996
Gro Harlem Brundtland: Prime Minister of Norway 1986-1989 and 1990-1996
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro: Presiden of Nicaragua 1990-1997
Mary Robinson: President of Ireland 1990-1997
Mary McAleese: President of Ireland 1997-Present
Helen Clark: Prime Minister of New Zealand 1999-Present
Michelle Bachelet: Prime Minister of Chile 2006-Present
I'm sure there are more but thats enough to make a point I think.
Thanks to Brad from Willing Warrior for reporting the elections. I really enjoyed his last two video blogs on the subject especially how the votes are counted in Chile.
In America
The land of the free they said,
and of opportunity,
in a just and truthful way.
But when the president
is never black, female, or gay,
and until that day,
you've got nothing to say to me
to help me believe.
-From "America is Not The World" by Morrissey on the album "You Are The Quarry"
I say this not out of hate for this country but out of a profound and deep love of it; because I am able to, because this is America and I don't want to lose it.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Only in Dallas
So as part of my effort to be more social this year I went out after work last night and didn't get home till around midnight. Now for some this is common practice but I am a creature of habit, perhaps too habitual. Usually on a Friday after work I make a beeline for the gym, head home after working out, cook, watch TV, internet, read some and then sleep. I think if I continue on this course I will be in danger of becoming the main character of a Lifetime movie.
The evening began at happy hour at Avanti in the Fountain Place tower in downtown Dallas. This bar is exactly the kind of place that I like to go to. Its corporate and reeks of anonymity. Think of the bar where Glenn Close and Michael Douglas have a drink for the first time in Fatal Attraction. Its the kind of place where illicit affairs begin, born out of the constraints of corporate protocol. That combined with three dollar Bloody Marys and I was in love.
The highlight of my evening was when we went to Adair's Saloon in the Deep Ellum district of Dallas. Its a honky tonk that has survived in spite of Dallas' efforts to be the cosmopolitan epicenter of planet Texas. The quirkiest aspect about this place was that they didn't sell bottles of beer but instead sold cans. I don't think I've ever been to a bar that has done that and I actually kind of liked it. I was completely bowled over when I saw a sign over the bar "$2 Pabst Blue Ribbon." At that moment I had to give in to my surrounds and go with the flow. I solicited my friends for some bills and approached the bar to get my trashy-ass can o' beer. I returned to my group, propped myself against the Golden Tee machine, opened my first place beer and observed the quintessential Texan crowd. Its not really my scene but it's nice to know that there are places in the city where you can get cheap trashy beer.
I'm glad I went out.
The evening began at happy hour at Avanti in the Fountain Place tower in downtown Dallas. This bar is exactly the kind of place that I like to go to. Its corporate and reeks of anonymity. Think of the bar where Glenn Close and Michael Douglas have a drink for the first time in Fatal Attraction. Its the kind of place where illicit affairs begin, born out of the constraints of corporate protocol. That combined with three dollar Bloody Marys and I was in love.
The highlight of my evening was when we went to Adair's Saloon in the Deep Ellum district of Dallas. Its a honky tonk that has survived in spite of Dallas' efforts to be the cosmopolitan epicenter of planet Texas. The quirkiest aspect about this place was that they didn't sell bottles of beer but instead sold cans. I don't think I've ever been to a bar that has done that and I actually kind of liked it. I was completely bowled over when I saw a sign over the bar "$2 Pabst Blue Ribbon." At that moment I had to give in to my surrounds and go with the flow. I solicited my friends for some bills and approached the bar to get my trashy-ass can o' beer. I returned to my group, propped myself against the Golden Tee machine, opened my first place beer and observed the quintessential Texan crowd. Its not really my scene but it's nice to know that there are places in the city where you can get cheap trashy beer.
I'm glad I went out.
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