Blog spam

I've finally succumbed and added word verification when commenting on my blog.  I still allow anonymous comments; but, I guess that will have to be the next to go if the word verification doesn't put a dent in the blog spamming.

What I don't understand is the weirdness of some of the blog spam.  I can understand those that contain links trying to sell or promote something.  But, some of these blog spam comments are just odd - for example, a few that I have rejected:

I think my DVR hates me

• It is very interesting for me to read the article.  Thank you for it.  I like such themes and everything connect to them.  I would like to read a bit more soon

Jumping to conclusions or valid concerns

• I want not agree on it.  I over nice post.  Specifically the appellation attracted me to be familiar with the intact story.

Self fulfilling prophecy

• Good brief and this mail helped me alot in my college assignment.  Thank you seeking your information
• Opulently I assent to but I dream the collection should acquire more info than it has.

I used to have a mission statement generator on my Palm Pilot years ago that generated a mission statement using random quotes - resulting in something that sounded surprisingly similar to some real mission statements I've seen.  Anyway, these comments have that same kind of feel - like they are computer generated comments.

If I'm right then what I don't understand is "why".  What purpose would somebody have to scan blogs and submit random generated anonymous comments?  And surely they could have done a better job at making them grammatically correct.

But, if I'm wrong - then there are people out there with some serious grammar problems adding nonsensical comments. 

I don't know which is worse, or scarier.

Is it just me?  Or are other people seeing this on their blogs?  What are your thoughts?

Help! I have a song stuck in my head and I can't get it out

I watched Lazytown on the Nick Jr. channel with my granddaughter earlier this month while my daughter was visiting with her two children - although my granddaughter calls the show "pink hair" after the lead character..

Now I have this stupid song stuck in my head and it won't go away. Seriously, they've been gone over a week - and I still can't get this inane song out of my head.

Dippity dee
It's only me
Boopity boo
I scared you
Flick on the light there's nothing there
Everything vanished in the air

Somebody, please help me . . .





btw, is it weird that I think the puppet "Stingy" is kind of cute?

Or maybe it's Jodi Eichelberger, the puppeteer and voice of Stingy.

Why do I even know this?

An invitation

I received the following email earlier today:

celine has asked to be your friend at BoreMe.

celine sent this message:
I am Interested In You, Hello Dear, My name is celine, 23 years old girl and I am average in height and fair in complexion, I am a loving, romantic and caring angel. I read your profile truly is quiet interesting to me then I decide to contact you. I really want to have a good relationship with you. Moreover I love what I see in your profile so you can reach me through my email (xxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com ) so that I will send my beautiful pictures to you and also tell you more about my self. I know age will not be a bearer to our relationship, what I need is just your love and caring.and I will give you my best, have a nice day and stay blessed. With Love,celine ...

I've never even heard of BoreMe prior to receiving this email - I most certainly never created a profile there

Methinks celine wants to send me naughty pictures - no doubt to entice me to spend $$$ on more feminine naughtiness.

Ewwwwwww!!!

Sorry celine, but your supple breasts and other womanly parts have no effect on me.

Bwaaa ha ha . . . I have foiled your evil plot!

P.S.  Perhaps you might have more success if you learned proper grammar.

Signs that should have told me that I'm gay . . .

I don't know what brought this up, but I was thinking about this yesterday and thought I'd share it.

When my two oldest children were just toddlers, I was called to be the Young Men's president in my ward.  As such, I felt I should go to Boy Scout leadership training as I really didn't know much about the program - having only made it to 2nd class scout myself as a boy.

I don't know how they do it now, but at the time it was a 6 week course meeting once per week.  The adults were organized into patrols, just like the boys are in a troop, and we worked together as a patrol throughout the training culminating in an overnight campout.  I was a member of the Frog patrol and we we would greet each other by saying "ribbet" whenever we met.

One thing they did (for what purpose I do not know) was bring an old shovel to the training that had a crack in the blade; and, each week they'd gave it to a different patrol who was to bring it back the following week "improved" in some way.  Now, I suspect those leading the training were thinking that someone might repair it by welding the crack.  When it was my patrol's turn, I volunteered to take it home.  With my wife's help, I painted a woman's face on the blade of the shovel with big red lips drawn around the crack in the blade and yarn for hair.

Towards the end of the training, each patrol prepared for the campout which included cooking dinner together.  I convinced my patrol that we should something different than the traditional scout fare; so, as the other patrols were eating their foil dinners, we laid out a table cloth, complete with cloth napkins, candle sticks, and a small vase with flowers as we dined on deli sandwiches and drank sparkling cider from plastic wine glasses - we made sure to have a bottle of Grey Poupon prominently displayed..

Thinking back at the ease at which I talked my patrol into this, methinks I wasn't the only orientationally challenged person in the frog patrol.

9½ inches

No, get your minds out of the gutter.  That's how much snow we got on Thursday - setting an all time record for the amount of snow in a single day.  It continued snowing after midnight for a total of 12½ inches - setting yet another all time record for the amount of snow during a 24 hour period.  This picture is what I was greeted with from my front porch.

Now, for those of you who live in snow country - that might not seem like a lot.  But, you have to remember that we are not setup for this kind of weather.  I don't own a snow shovel - and I'm not sure I could even purchase one locally if I wanted to.  Our cities do not have adequate equipment to keep streets clear.  All of the area schools shut down on Friday.  Many businesses either shut down completely or ran on skeleton crews.  Over 200,000 homes were without power from downed power lines caused by broken tree branches weighted down by the snow.  I have a large 9 inch diameter tree branch that broke off of an old Oak tree in our back yard - luckily it missed the house when it fell.  But, I haven't quite decided what to do about it yet because it is too big and heavy for me to pull it out to the street for road crews to take - but I don't have the tools to chop it into smaller pieces.

Fortunately, since Friday morning, it's been above freezing; so, the snow has been melting a bit.  Yesterday I got out with a garden rake, shovel, and hoe to move some of the snow off of the driveway so that we could get our car out.  Today the roads are relatively clear; but, there is still several inches of snow all over the ground.

And I find myself feeling angry about it.  On Thursday evening I was planning on going to a photography seminar on composition sponsored by the Fort Worth camera club that I joined last month - and on Friday I was planning on getting together for lunch with a fellow MoHo who found my blog a few weeks ago.  Both of which had to be canceled.  I really don't get out much; if everything was going to get shut down for two days - why did it have to be those two days?  The two days before or after would have been just fine.  Oh well, I guess I should just resign myself to be a hermit.

The Homosexuals

The Advocate has an article about a 1967 CBS News Special Report titled "The Homosexuals"

There is a growing concern about homosexuals in society; about their increasing visibility. In preparing this broadcast, CBS News commissioned a survey by The Opinion Research Corporation in the public attitudes towards homosexuality. We discovered that Americans consider homosexuality more harmful to society than adultury, abortion or prostitution

Homosexuality is, in fact, a mental illness.

The average homosexual, if there is such, is promiscuous.  He is not interested in or capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage.

The aim of a homosexual act, paradoxically enough, is to seek masculinity.

The church has a great deal of sympathy for those who are handicapped in this way.

[Being a homosexual] automatically rules out that [the man in question] will remain happy.

Hmmm, sounds like stuff I might hear at church - I'm starting to wonder how much progress we've actually made in the last 43 years.

My first crush - February theme

Note: This is something I posted some time ago in my private blog. Truthfully, I'm a bit anxious about posting it here as I am somewhat more open and explicit about my inner thoughts and feelings than I usually am on this public blog.

I met Kevin while I was a Freshman in high school. Kevin was the first person who made me feel really good just being around him. I didn't know why. He was good looking; but, it was more than that. I’d been around other good looking boys; but, they never made me feel the way I did when I was around him. I realize now that he was my first crush, my first true love. How I longed to be around him as much as possible.

I remember once when I was walking alone down a path at school and Kevin came running up to walk with me. Kevin was a very outgoing guy and had many friends (some of whom didn’t particularly like me). Of all the people he could have chosen to walk with, he chose me. I still remember the thrill it gave me as I felt so special ... and undeserving.

Kevin was a beautiful boy. He had short dark hair and was very fit and trim. He was everything I wanted to be; and, best of all, he was my friend. I would have done anything for Kevin - or to Kevin - if he had asked me. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending upon your perspective) he didn't swing that way as he was very straight and quite the ladies man.

I never had many friends growing up. Somehow, I think I never felt worthy to have friends. So, it was a thrill to have someone like Kevin as a friend. We met at the school backpacking club of which we were both members.  We had weekend backpacking trips just about every month.  The backpacking club was coed and the teacher who sponsored it was very liberal; so, it wasn't uncommon to see a boy/girl couple go off to a more secluded area to setup camp.

I recall one particular camping trip; we were resting from our hike near a mountain lake; and, Kevin took off his back pack and then stripped down to go skinny dipping in the lake. I was totally amazed that he would strip down stark naked in front of the girls; I could never imagine myself doing that. I was also thrilled to behold his naked body - he was even more beautiful with his perfectly formed slender body and a dark bush above his manhood. After that I would often dream of his naked body by the lake. Even into adulthood - sometimes, when having a homoerotic dream, I would be transported back in time to high school - and Kevin.

I wasn’t the only one who had a crush on Kevin - although possibly the only boy. When we were together, he often talked of girls he wanted to have sex with. On our backpacking trips, sometimes, he and a girl would go off to a secluded area just outside the camping area where everyone else was staying to pitch his tent and they would spend the night together (he always carried condoms in his backpack). I remember being jealous those nights because he wasn’t sleeping near me. I just liked being around Kevin. I felt really good when he was near me.

On one backpacking trip, as we were driving back home, I was sitting in the back seat next to Kevin and we all fell asleep. I recall waking up to find Kevin leaning on me with his head on my shoulder. I didn’t move. I just stayed there as long as I could, trying to remain as motionless as possible so as to not wake him.

During this same timeperiod, I had acquired my first Book of Mormon and was reading it one time on the school bus. I remember Kevin coming to sit by me; and, after seeing what I was reading, told me that he was a jack Mormon. The irony - my first crush was for a Mormon boy (albeit, an inactive one).

I lost track of Kevin after my sophomore year when my family moved to another town and I switched high schools; although, in college, there was a boy who lived down the hall from me in the dorm that looked a lot like Kevin. The first time I saw him, I ran up and excitedly said “Hi Kevin” - but it wasn’t Kevin; and, I felt really stupid after that. But, afterwards, every time I saw him I thought of Kevin.

When I first created my Facebook account, being curious, I looked to see if anybody else from that highschool class was on Facebook - and lo and behold, there was Kevin. I sent him a message via Facebook and we exchanged a few messages back and forth. I don't think he really remembered me - it was more exchanging names of other people we both knew. I don't know why, but I never invited him to be my Facebook friend (nor did he invite me). Anyway, that brief exchange brought me closure. I don't think of him as often as I once did. But, I did write a poem about him once in my personal journal.

Unrequited Love by Abelard Enigma
His face illuminated me
His touch excited me
His presence assured me
But, alas, these feelings were not mutual
He liked me well enough
But, I was just friend, one of many
A friend from a previous era
A friend long forgotten
But I haven’t forgotten
He was my first true love
Can we ever forget our first love?
Even a love unrequited?

I often wonder, with experiences like this growing up - why did it take me so long to accept my true sexuality?

February theme:  How about you?  Who was your first crush?  Was it for a boy or a girl?  Was it mutual or unrequited?  How did it end?  Where were you in accepting your sexuality at the time?