Today was my last day at Klir Technologies. It was announced yesterday that Klir would be closing its doors. Honestly, I was ready for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I was treated fairly and treated with respect at Klir and I will miss working with some good people. For me, I now have the opportunity to focus on my own business and get some rest and relaxation for the remainder of the summer. I hope to now call the 40 hour work week a thing of the past.
The 40 hour work week is taking its toll on my health.
I’m sure this sounds crazy to someone who works 70-80 hour weeks for Microsoft, but enough is enough. I’ve had tingling in my extremities, dizziness, back pain and tightness in my throat. I went to two different doctors, a naturopathic physician and my chiropractor and the consensus seems to all point to one thing: work-related stress. My job is not particularly demanding, but I am required to be there 40 hours per week (or more), even if there’s no projects to work on. It’s the constant sitting in front of a computer and the idle time that is just wearing on me in the corporate environment. (more…)
Last weekend I made my first trip to Utah to attend the wedding of my friend, Joe. I have to admit I was quite aprehensive about being in Utah because from what I’ve heard it’s one of the most conservative states in the US. I made sure I booked a room at a hotel that “looked” like a gay-friendly hotel and was in close proximity to a gay bar. After meeting up with Joe and his future wife on Friday afternoon, I returned to my hotel in downtown Salt Lake City and made my way to Club Try-Angles. The first thing I had to do was buy a temporary membership card for $4 (a very stupid puritanical Utah liquor law) before I could enter the bar. I met a couple of friendly people inside, but never hit it off with anyone. (more…)
Just as I was leaving the office Friday evening, I saw a bunch of emergency vehicles outside. I went across the street to find one of the local floating homes on fire. Here’s the photo of the fire I captured with my cell phone:
The right-wing evangelical religious founder of the Moral Majority has kicked the bucket, bought the farm, cashed in his winnings, went belly up, bit the big one… yes, Jerry Falwell has croaked. They say he died from heart trouble; more than likely due to lack of a heart. His hatred toward the gay and lesbian community is legendary. I wonder what he was thinking this morning when he got to heaven and discovered that God is a big black lesbian…
It’s like Christmas for gay people: Gay Pride. At any rate, pride season is here, starting the second weekend in June and ending the second weekend in August. Here’s a roundup of all gay pride events in the Pacific Northwest: (more…)
This is a probably a very controversial statement in wake of the tragic events at Virginia Tech this week, but I feel that it must be said. I also feel that it must be said because I just finished watching the movie Bowling For Columbine, which addresses the shooting at Columbine High School in the late 1990’s, and it really asks a very good question: why are there so many gun-related deaths in the United States?
These two tragedies actually have little to do with gun rights or gun control. I have many liberal beliefs, but I do not believe that gun control could have prevented these tragedies. I believe that the following factors may have played a significant role in the lives and attitudes which led these young people to commit such horrific crimes:
Societal Influences: No, this is not about violent movies and video games. What I’m talking about is leading by example. The United States government has long led many military campaigns (including the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). Scenes of war and violent crime are constantly being broadcast on the nightly news and across the Internet. I think people are smart enough to distinguish the fiction of video games and movies from the reality of news media telling people, “If the US government does it, then it must be okay”.
Mental Health Issues: In both tragedies, mental health issues appeared to have played a role. Mental health in the United States is often not given very much attention. In fact, I believe some people in our society are looked down upon and isolated simply because they are suffering from mental illness. As a personal example, when I was not covered by an employer-sponsored healthcare plan, I could not get coverage for mental health. At that time, I was also in need of treatment for depression, but my insurance wouldn’t cover it. I let the depression go untreated for several months before it got to a point where I was no longer able to function at work and had to seek help at my own expense.
Personal Responsibility: While the first two bullet points are indicative of societal conditions, they do not excuse personal responsibility. I feel that all too often Americans do not take personal responsibility and in turn feel that their problems are someone else’s problem. The shooters at Columbine and Virginia Tech are responsible for their own actions. They committed the crime and there are consequences. Their actions cannot be blamed on lack of gun control or violence in the media.
There’s a lot of blame and finger pointing surrounding these tragedies, and I’m not trying to make any one or any group of people wrong about what happened. I’m simply pointing out what I see as the factors which led to the tragedies, and I feel that these are factors that we as Americans need to take a hard look at.
In my commitment to community building in Seattle, I have been organizing a meetup group for sea kayakers in Seattle… now I have started a meetup group for sea kayakers in the gay community. I have not been able to locate a GLBT kayaking club anywhere in the Seattle area, so through starting the meetup I hope to see if there’s interest in the community to forming a GLBT kayaking club here. Portland has it’s own successful sea kayaking club, OutKayaking, so it’s possible that such a club could be successful in Seattle. Anyone interested in joining the Seattle GLBT Sea Kayaking Meetup can sign up for free. I will continue to organize the Seattle Area Sea Kayaking Meetup as well as lead a kayak trip or two through OutVentures.
Spring is just around the corner here in the Emerald City and I have some exciting things happening in my life. I’ve chosen to give up my constant complaining about my social situation in Seattle and start meeting people and building community. Here is what I’m up to:
The Seattle Area Sea Kayaking Meetup: I am the organizer for this group of just over 90 sea kayakers. I’m looking forward to planning trips and meeting new people in the area who share my interest in kayaking.
OutVentures: This is the gay and lesbian outdoor group in Seattle. I joined the group last summer and plan on going on some kayaking, hiking and camping trips with the group. I plan on organizing some kayaking trips with this group as well.
The Landmark Forum In Action seminar: I took the Landmark Forum before I moved to Seattle and decided to take this seminar to help me start creating new possibilities here in Seattle.
