Let’s see, Thursday was like a Friday for me since our office was closed on Friday for the 4th of July. Randy had tentatively notified me that he was going to see if some friends wanted to come over for dinner and games after work. Nothing was official (I never heard back about who, specifically, was coming).

Well, I got home from work and multi-tasked by the TV and computer until about 7:30PM when the doorbell rang. It was our friends, Mark and Kana (and their baby, Kai). I’d begun to think that nobody was coming over since Randy never called, yet now people were arriving. I checked my cell phone and the screen said “SIM card error.” This has happened before so I turned it off and restarted. Nothing. I removed the battery and replaced it. Nothing. I removed the SIM card and replaced it. Nothing.

I was assuming Randy must have been texting or calling and he’d be pissed that I was responding. But then everybody showed up and I was presented with the new iPhone (the 3G S one that has 32g of memory and a video camera). This was my reward for scanning all of Randy’s old family photos. YAY ME!

On Friday, I proposed we go up to Middleton for some Mini-Golf and ice cream at Richardson’s. Afterwards, we went back to the farm (they make their own ice cream with their own milk) and befriended the cows.

On Saturday, Chris, Randy, and I headed up to Crane Beach. Since I never sit out in the sun (I always hide under my big green umbrella) I didn’t put any sunblock on. Apparently, the umbrella doesn’t block all sunlight because I did end up getting a bit of a burn on my face and chest. I think this is the first real burn I’ve had in years. Still, it was nice to finally enjoy a non-dreary day.

Sunday was a completely and fabulously (and I don’t use the f-word lightly) lazy day where I simply recuperating from all of the social activities and excessive sun of the previous few days.

And so I returned to my office this morning and was reminded that I’m moving to a new office in two days after I opened the door to find all of my boxes and crates packed up and ready to go. I’m rather sad about this move. My current office is quite large, has a large deck overlooking Cambridge Common (and a church), and is rather secluded despite being in a main campus building. I also love that it’s contected to almost the entire law school campus by an underground tunnel (meaning no coats needed in the winter and no umbrellas when it rains). I’ve loved this office and have always realized how lucky I am to have it.

My new office is nicer and newer (more freshly painted, new furniture) but it’s not connected by tunnels. And there’s no roof deck with expansive sky views. But what really pisses me off is that the facilities folks were giving a walking tour to the new occupant and after showing him the roof deck and space, the guy complained that he’d “rather have an office overlooking the yard.” WAIT! So I’m giving up my primo office to a guy that doesn’t even want it? Hell, if that’s the case, let me stay!

Anyway, this is the same feeling I’ve always gotten days before renting a new apartment or buying a new condo. That feeling of regret (did I make the right decision)? In this case, I’m wondering if I didn’t protest enough to stay. Sigh. I’m sure the new space will be great. In fact, the desk will be much more comfortable. I will no longer have to stradle my legs around a file cabinet to work on my computer (my current desk is so old it pre-dates computers).

On Friday night we attended a cocktail social and, to be honest, it sucked. We arrived fashionably late to find only about 15 people in a large room. There was a DJ blasting rap and R&B music that was so loud you couldn’t talk to people…severely limiting any ability to reunite at this reunion. Oh, and it was hotter than hell.

Worse, Randy only recognized a handful of people (probably less than five).

We left the reunion (ears ringing, shirts saturated with sweat) and Randy even debated whether he wanted to go to the main event (the prom) the next night.

In fact, he was so reluctant to go that he made us even more fashionably late for this event. But that was a mistake because we arrived only to find everybody else already there, seated, and eating! We squeezed into a table just as the awards portion of the event  was taking place. Randy managed to win an award for being the person who traveled the second farthest (winning a $50 Visa gift card).

After dinner, he finally had the chance to socialize and was able to reunite with quite a few classmates.

All in all, it was fun. Though, Randy doesn’t seem at all interested in attending the next one. Out of a class of over 400 people only 95 people attended the reunion (since some were spouses that meant only about 60-70 classmates attended). And of those 95 people, Randy only knew about 10. The people he was closest to back then didn’t go.

But in 3+ weeks he’ll be attending my reunion, which (so far) has 122 people attending (60-something being classmates).

The rest of the weekend was quite relaxing. Unlike the Boston area, Virginia has had an abundance of sunshine (and heat) so we spent most of our time by the pool (the water was 88 degrees). His family, as always, was incredibly hospitable and sweet and made me feel right at home. Unfortunately, his 90+ grandmother is gravely ill and this will likely have been the last time he saw her alive. It was heartbreaking to see them say their goodbyes. I was even choking up as she was telling him that she loved him (and me!) and that she was sorry we had to see her this way.

Of course, this brought his mom to tears, then his aunt, and so in the end it was a house full of sorrow. But it was “good” sorrow since it was all about love.

We have Iran ignoring the fact that its citizens believe there was vote tampering in the most recent election. Well, they’re not ignoring it as much as denying it and incorporating violence into citizen protests.

Then there’s North Korea threatening to wipe the US off the face of the earth (charming).

But even here at home there’s chaos. Nationally, we have the governor of South Caroloina disappearing for a number of days without notifying anybody of his whereabouts. The reason for this trip? An affair with a woman in Argentina. Now I could give a shit about the fact that he’s having an affair. That has nothing to do with his ability (inability?) to govern. Whether republican or democrat (Bill Clinton comes to mind), cheating on a spouse is not grounds for losing a job, whether president of a country, CEO of a company, or order-taker at McDonalds.

However, leaving the country without notifying staff about the details of your trip is irresponsible in the highest degree. If there was an emergency of any sort (riot, explosion, death of lieutenant governor, etc…) he needs to be reachable. For that, he should be fired.

And even locally, despite having ALL forms of Massachusetts government controlled by democrats, there are still control issues with how things are done. Most recently, legislative leaders “compromised” on an ethics bill that the governor has been pushing for. I repeat…compromised. Being ethical is being ethical…there’s no compromise about it.

Now, I don’t hate or love Deval Patrick. I’m not a flag waving fan, nor am I a vocal opponent. But the poor guy can’t get a break with the legislature. Everything he’s proposing (most of which I agree with) is being fought by the rest of the government: tax reform (I’m against sales tax increases, though I am for gas tax increases), I’m for complete ethics reform, I’m for complete pension reform), I’m for complete transportation reform. But every step of the way the legislature is watering down his proposals.

I mean, come on, Patrick’s ethics bill would have banned gifts to lawmakers, but legislators changed it to only “most” gifts are banned), and they also changed wording so lobbyists can still make or solicit campaign donations. They also altered the “open meeting” laws so that they aren’t included. How convenient.

Ethics? I give up.

WTF is up with this weather? The constant drizzle and clouds are driving me insane. Seriously, I think I’m sun deprived. I feel bleah all the time and after being back from Europe for three and a half weeks, I don’t think I can blame it on jetlag anymore.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear that tomorrow will be at least partly sunny (still a 50% chance or rain), but I’m flying down to Virginia in the afternoon so won’t even be able to enjoy it.

If I recall, the news reported that we’ve had only 30% of the possible sunshine for the month of June (and it almost all fell in three days early in the month). I’m sick of potentially breaking records - I just want day light. We’ve already missed the days of the year with the longest light because of this weather, at least let us enjoy a few sunny days. Hell, it’s nearly July and I’m still commuting to work each day in a leather jacket and gloves (it gets chilly and damp going 30MPH while exposed to the elements).

OK - I’m done. No more whining about the weather. How about those North Koreans?

Then we just spread out on the sofa and caught up with the series, True Blood…our latest addiction.

On Saturday, we did a bit of shopping before going for a bike ride (one of our first chances this spring with all of the rain and gloom we’ve been having). That night, we got together with our friends, Chris and Zach, to play board games.

We first played a game Deano got me for my birthday that I can best describe as being a combination of Scrabble and Monopoly. We followed that up with an old 1970’s-era game that Randy played in his childhood and brought back up after one of his visits with family.

It’s called “Gambler” and is for ages 10 and up. But considering the whole game is based on poker, horse racing, and betting, this game would never get made today. Oh, and it’s even got a fabulously ghetto lottery component where you buy lottery tickets. If somebody lands on the lottery square on the board, a maracas shaped dice container gets shaken and if two of your numbers come up, you win the lottery! If you run out of money, you can even take out an IOU from the casino!

Speaking of lotteries, my parents got me a seasons ticket for my birthday and within a week I won $10 (the lottery commision mailed me a check). WOO HOO!

Finally, on Saturday we went to the gym and saw “The Hangover” at the Somerville Theatre. A nice was to close off a good weekend.

First, Randy and I were have problems with our wireless router at home (or so we thought). My laptop kept disconnecting from the internet and we couldn’t get it to connect again. We replaced the router and it kept happening. Then Randy took the BIG step and re-installed the entire operating system on my computer (upgrading me to Vista while he was at it…not so sure I like). Anyway, I’ve continued to have the problems…and now so has he.

Ruling out that it’s not my computer or the router, he called our provider (RCN) last night. Unfortunately, he got stuck in a 25 minute phone queue before hanging up, but the recording did say that residents of Massachusetts were experiencing router connection problems and that they were working on it.

Super, so Randy spent two days ‘fixing’ my computer and we spent $40 on a router only to find that the issue is with the provider. Worst, I spent more nearly 48 hours without home internet access!

And now I’m going to have to do without something even more important to me: sweets. I got the bloodwork results back from the doctor yesterday and noticed a disturbing trend. Back in 2006 (just before meeting Randy) all of my blood work was in the “normal” column. At my last physical 1.5 years ago, most items were still in the normal column, but two things (cholesterol and bad cholesterol) were in the abnormal column (good cholesterol was in the good zone, but borderline).

Well, flash forward to June 2009. I now have only two items in the normal category (blood  glucose/sugar and kidney). EVERYTHING else has done from normal or borderline to abnormal.

My doctor is not happy.

I’m not happy.

I pulled up the reports from previous years and could see all of those things gradually getting worse with each physical exam. Once we’re done emptying the house of sweets*, it’s time to change my habits. I’ll stop eating beef again. I’ll stop eating cookies and, gasp, gummies. I’ll decrease portions. I’ll eat dinner earlier in the evening. I might go back to oatmeal (versus cereal) for breakfast.

Basically, I’ll be miserable. But at least I’ll live a long time as a miserable person.

*I know I could start now and just toss the junk food we currently have in the house, but we’re flying to Virginia a week from today and Randy’s mother doesn’t cook any items without lard, sugar, or fat as a key ingredient. There’s no point in starting for 6 days and then blowing it down there.

I used to love the floats in the 90’s that were so elaborate. I believe it was Avalon that created a “Priscilla: Queen of the Desert” floats with elaborately dressed queens on a flatbed (with no railings, I might add) with an enormous high-heeled shoe with people on it. Or the year of the flatbed truck (again, with no railings) with two lesbians simulating sex. This year, I didn’t see a single woman with tiny pieces of electrical tape covering her ninnies. None a single one! In years past, you’d see groups of them.

Anyway, I suppose it’s a cool thing that churches and nearly all Massachusetts politicans are so welcoming. Hell, even our mayor and governor participate nowadays to support the gays (and lesbians, bisexual, and transgender).

And speaking of all of that diversity, the one thing I always forget throughout the year but am reminded of at every parade, is how diverse this group is. On a typical New England day, I’ll see white gay men and the occasional lesbian. But on Pride day, there are people of so many other racial backgrounds it’s just wonderful. Asian people, middle-eastern people, latino people, African American people….and LBGT of all different types (femme, butch, bear, leather, twink, activist, teen, elderly, slave, master, drag, coupled, singled, flaming, conservative, jock).

And best of all, they’re all getting along.

So, yeah, the parade itself is boring as hell. And City Hall Plaza can’t compare to the Boston Common (I hope it returns someday). But the inclusiveness you feel on that day, just one day, is something you never see in Boston on a daily basis. And I’m not talking for gay people, I mean all people.

Where do all of these people go the rest of the year? Are they just spread throughout the region? Are they closeted?

THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND!

I remember a few years ago when a garage spot sold for just over $200,000 and it made headlines. At least that spot was in a garage. This is an outside parking space, accessed by an alley. That means for $300,000 the person (or his help) will have to shovel snow and scrape off the car. It’s not garaged so it’ll be freezing to enter in the winter and miserably hot to enter in the summer.

Now, I don’t know this person’s circumstances, but he might have opted to spend $400/month to rent in a garage until something better came along. Just my two cents.

It’s just been so long since I’ve read insane real estate news. But just think we have this parking space story and the story of our governor selling his $1.9 million home in Milton (which he purchased in 1989 for under $600,000, yet his mortgage is double that…go figure).

Also in the news after not being talked about for a while is news that the Swine Flu is being classified as Level 6 (pandemic) by the World Health Organization. Apparently, despite it dropped from the front pages nearly a month ago, the flu has been spreading and spreading to pandemic levels.

I guess the media picks and chooses what’s sexy to print,and the swine flu got tired. Fortunately, there are people willing to spend $300,000 on parking space to change the topic.

Well, after a wonderfully lazy Saturday, I suggested we head into the city for dinner. So, off to the North End we went (oh how I miss living there). After walking around a bit we settled on a tiny place at the quieter end of Hanover Street (I forget the name, but I’ve been there once before with my friend, Jen).

The food was quite good (I had leftovers for lunch yesterday) and then we walked around a bit more, taking pictures along the Greenway and of the Customs House Tower before deciding to pop into the Alley (a bar in an alley…how appropriate).

All in all, it was a great night and a great weekend. Though, why we decided on Italian food for dinner after having just spent 6 days in Italy is beyond me.

And, FINALLY, I’ve finished sorting through the photos of our trip. Randy ended up taking well over a thousand photos. We narrowed it down to about half of that, and I’ve posted only 80 or so of the best pictures in my photo gallery (see the link on the right for “Karl’s International Travel Photos” if you’re interested).

And now it looks like we’ll have some spectacular weather this weekend. I think Crane Beach is calling me.