2007, October 14

First…all links are at the bottom of this blog if you would like to read more on the article in question.

Ok so here is the story…..

So get this picture in you’re head….I went to Michigan just north of Grand Rapids (Croton Camping Park) to help my mother close the family trailer.  On the second day, Saturday, we really go busy with packing it up …. So much so we could do nothing else but go to the local bar and hang out with our good friend Mary.  After many beers we go back to the trailer and I take up the local paper (The Grand Rapids Press) to read a little before I go to bed.  So, I’m reading the paper, which I don’t normally do because most times it’s full of bad news, I come across a big title on page C7 titled “National Coming Out Day is not just for gays”.  Now that was pretty cool but the strange thing was it was in the Religion section of the Saturday, October 13, 2007 edition.  Hmmmm?  What could this be about?

/begin rant

Well it seems that Rev. Weldon Frederick Wooden decided that National Coming Out Day was not just for gays!   He states, “It is not for gay people to come out and be openly gay among straights.  It is for straight people to be openly straight among gays and lesbians and transgender folks.”  Are you F-ing kidding me with this?!?!?!  What is this guy’s idea about coming out?!?  

Since when did this guy or his so called “straight and white” people have a problem with holding hands, kissing, and hugging in public and feared getting the crap beat out of them as people near and dear to me have.   It’s like church and state had been oppressing, what he termed, “straight and whites” and so they now need to come out to everyone else.  As if they have to struggle to be themselves versus social norms:

1.          sexuality or acceptable sexual practice

2.         been not accepted at their church

3.         Lost their entire family due to ignorance or stupidity

4.         been beaten for being “straight and white”

5.         and so on and so on and so on

For Pete’s sake I had to leave the USA to get married!  Not only that but I can remember our photographer Dan telling us that when he does a certain movement he wants us to kiss.  I was like….err in public?  I had to tell him…Sorry Dan, this is a little strange for us we can’t normally do this in public in the States.  There is the Fear I was talking about.  For the people that could not before…can you now imagine what it must be like to live in that kind of fear everyday or not be able to freely express your love to your husband or wife when ever you wanted to in public?!?

The last time I checked it was not the “straight and white” people that he speaks of that started this day.  It was the GAY, LESBIANS, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER people in 1987.  So, I guess I would have to say, “Too little Too late buddy … it has been done and you can not just jump on our coat tails now!  Organize and create your own damn day.”

/end rant

Now, I am not nor have I ever stood on a box and yelled, “I’m gay hear me roar” but I am right now!  The hardest thing that I have ever done is Come Out to my family and long time friends.  Without their support, love and understanding I have no idea what my life would be like right now.  I know I would not have met the love of my life, Matt, if I did not have their support…that’s for damn sure!

Here comes the positive spin:  Educate yourself if you are confronted with a friend, family member, co-worker or who ever might be Coming Out.  There are tons of resources, groups or other people you can ask.  God knows that I have never turned someone down that wanted to ask me a question about being Gay and never will.

Any who, that's my story and I'm sticking too it!

Here is a link to the newspaper article…you might have to cut and paste it:

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1192257364271070.xml&coll=6

Here is a link to Human Rights Campaign

www.hrc.org

Here is a link to email them with if you want too:

customerservice@grpress.com

or

http://www.mlive.com/contactus/

2007, September 18

Ok so here is the story….

 Dear Kelly,

 I loved your BLOG on surfing the internet at a job!  Have you ever met someone via the internet?  You know like a date or friend?  What’s the best way to do this?

Digitally Signed,

Cautious

Hello Cautious!

I am so glad that you asked this question.  As you may or may not know I have been on this great big internet a long time so I have a little story to go along with this.

/BEGIN STORY

Many, many moons ago when the internet was very young and I had my perky 33MHZ computer (that’s right not even Pentium class and that sucker cost me a bundle) I explored the different areas that were available for chat.  If anyone knows anything about me I love to talk to people and find out their stories.  I met this one guy, George, on one of the various bulletin boards that I like to haunt at the time.  One of the biggest rules I had for myself and helped keep the nuts away is, “Make sure they know that I am not here to cyber or meet for sex”.  This worked well for me … that way I actually got people that wanted to have a conversation.  Any who…George and I talked a lot every day; we would talk about others on the bulletin board or in the chat room or about different things in our life or what ever.  It was mucho fun!  One day George told me that he had something to discuss with me.  I told him not to worry about it and I counted him as a friend even though we had not met in “Real World” or that I have never seen him (way before pictures on the net) or ever talked to him on the phone.  He told me that he wanted to give me his number so that I could call him and tell him if I was on line as he had work hour changes.  I said that would be ok.  It was then he told me that it was a special number….I seemed that he could not hear and I had to call a TTDY system to have an operator type in my message to him.  How cool was that?  I had no idea…oh and I didn’t care if he could not hear.

After about a year of this off and on he decided he was going to ask me if we could meet…I told him that it would be hard as he was on the east coast and I was in mid Florida.  He told me that he did not care he was going to fly down because he really wanted to meet me.  I was very clear on the fact that it would be a friend meeting friend deal.   I was still not looking for a hook up but would enjoy meeting him in person and show him the area.

Long story cut short….we had a great time!  The best thing I remember about it was that he could read lips!  I could talk about things with out using words at all!  It was the strangest thing – hardest thing and yet the coolest thing for me to figure out how to communicate with him and not have a keyboard or that I did not know sign language.  It all worked out!

/END STORY

I said all this “Cautious” to say, be very specific on what you say or what you communicate when you are online.  If you are looking for hook ups there is no shortage (as you might know), if you are looking for friends then be specific to weed out things you don’t want, if you are looking for a lover then it can happen … just be specific and make sure your really clear about what you want or what you are looking for.  And of course if you are going to meet someone for the first time then do so in a very public place….there are way to make wacko’s in the world!

So have I dated or found friends on the net?  YES, YES to both item.  In fact, Matt and I have met 2 spectacular people via the net lately.  Nick and Kevin are 2 people that I count as friends in my life.  We were very specific that we were looking for friends.  Not friends with benefits if you catch my meaning.  

By the way, being very specific and clear works GREAT in “Real World” as well.  I did not want another relationship with another person that did not know me fully.  When Matt and I met I think I might have driven him a little crazy telling him and then making sure he understood how I was as a person.  Nothing worse in my book then to have a conversation about some then go…remember we talked about this before we really go serious?  Didn’t I tell you I was this way?  Did you not believe me?

 Any who, that's my story and I'm sticking too it!

 OT QUESTIONS THEN POST A COMMENT (MYSPACE) OR EMAIL ME AT mailto:raistmore@yahoo.com

2007, September 16

Ok so here is the story….

Why can’t people get their own lives and keep from destroying others … even if they so choose not to have a life?!?!?  Oh yes my friend!  It’s a choice!  I choose to be the best person that I can be and the most functional /best at whatever I do.  In doing so, I have a great core group of friends and an awesome job that I love because I make it that way.  And if you don’t put in the effort to make your life the best in all aspects then you get what you put into it.  Ever heard the expression, “You made your bed now you have to lay in it”?  Ring Ring…who is it?  The TRUTH!

 /begin rant

 Just the other day a good friend of mine gave me the heads up on some hater that literally made up more unbelievable statements about me then I could have ever imagined by myself.  Apparently, I am a job hog (working all the hours that are imposable to do) and that I claim to be a massage therapist.  This coming from someone that called off sick 2 days they were supposed to work then called off the other 3 days because her “Real Job” had over time.  She works at a temp agency and can not hold down a job doing that!!!!  WTF!  Not that there is anything wrong with working as a temp….some places will not hire you permanently if you don’t come that way.  The problem is that she had several different jobs and one that I know is great because my Aunt works there and she makes kick ass money.  Your going to love this part…she was at a job interview when she said it!  Stupid.

 /end rant

 So this event got me to thinking about all the other times that this has happened and have come up with 2 things:

1. Lifeless, lazy pieces of shits hate because they hate themselves.  Am I little mad about it?  Sure because they destroy my creditability and the creditability of all hard working people of the world.
2. Jealousy is an emotion that can be controlled.  There is no reason for it in my 2 cents.  If you are crazy over someone’s or a group’s success then check the yellow pages and look up a professional that can help you get over it.  Seriously!  I want you to get the help….we all need it sometimes.  God knows I have had to do the same thing for different reasons.  But I did it and you should too.

Ok, Ok I get it enough of the angry not happy Kelly…it’s not pretty J 

 I saw this phrase/sentence some where the other day and I want to end this on a positive spin so think really hard about how it applies to you.

 LIFE ISN’T ABOUT FINDING YOURSELF……LIFE IS ABOUT CREATING YOURSELF.

 You already know who you are now….do you want to be more or different then you are?  Then create yourself!

 Any who, that's my story and I'm sticking too it!

2007, September 05

RE:  Dear Kelly...Dear Abby?

So here is the story...

 I have had more then a few phone calls from different people and clients asking me different questions regarding computers and so on.  So, I wanted to address one that keeps coming up over and over and over and over for years now…..

Dear Kelly,

        Can a business track my movements on the net or my email?

Best regards,

Surfing on Company Time (not a real letter)

 YES! YES! YES!  I don't know how many times I can say this to people.  Don't think that the company has not started already; I have advised 8 companies this year alone to watch employees or install tracking software.  Why?  Because they paid me to find out how they could be more cost effective.  I can not think of a larger company expense then payroll so the biggest thing I recommend is employee efficiency.  If you see an employee spending a lot of time checking email or surfing the net  then you need to look at that employees work load and see if they are actually getting all that they can get done or are they just wasting money!  Myspace and instant messengers are currently the biggest problems right now.

Depending on the company you might even get yourself fired for doing it.  How does this happen? 

1. People waste so much time they fall behind and then become "indifferent" regarding how much they get done a day or that they do their job well at all.   indifferent adj. Having no particular interest or concern; apathetic: indifferent to the sufferings of others. 

2. They use email (company or personal) to communicate with others about their displeasure in their job, displeasure with other people on the job, or bash the company they work for.  Now, I listed company or personal email because you're using their computers and internet service and now you have given them access to all of your email.  You don't know if your email is being copied by the server thus sending a copy of it to your boss!

Now I don't want you to go away all mad and such…I'm a nice guy.  If you worked for me then I let you do what you want most times.  So long as you're a kick ass employees!  I had people say or see or whatever me surf or chatting but I kick ass at what I do that that's that.  If you have something to say about it or my employer does then they will … but not like they will to another that does not kick ass.  They might say, "Kelly what ya doing there?  Well, do you have your work done?"  My answer would be laughter then … You know I have it done for the week and then some…otherwise I would not be doing it. /smiles If you stay on top of your work then no one will say boo to you in my business or the businesses that I am involved in.  In fact, I would defend a person that was kick ass and tell the manger/owner that this is like a reward…that person did a great job a did way more then they were supposed to and there statistics are where they are supposed to be for the week and or month.

I did a simple search on the internet and found this great article http://careerplanning.about.com/cs/bosscoworkers/a/net_at_work.htm

Ok that was a lot but I think I might have answered your question MR/MRS/MS Surfing on Company Time.

Any who, that's my story and I'm sticking too it! 

2007, July 1

So here is the story....

Some may know and some do not but I have been going through some life changing events of late.  Between the lost of 2 pets, the re-sectioning of my colon, the lay off from my job and now the dislocation of a disk in my lower back… I jumped off the deep end.  I have been lucky on one important aspect and that is to have a caring loving husband.  With out his support….just being here for me every day…I have no idea where I would be or what I would be doing right now. 

With that said I am also on the road to recover on all issues.  I now have a job, I am taking steps to recover from the loss of pets, my colon is getting better every day and I have a fantastic Chiropractor working on my back.

I really wanted to address the fact that I have had lots of time to explore different areas of creativity.  Any one the really knows me knows that I have this real stable part of me that I get from my dad and then this really crazy creative side from my maternal mother; the later does not get expressed enough.  Photography (getting that perfect photo), writing, blogging, assisting others in the computer technical area and working on launch my own business (I am searching for a business name if any on has suggestions). 

It has been said last week by a professional that I should take up public speaking of some sort (just speaking or more importantly inspirational), which has an odd and real appeal to me.  There is nothing more blood pumping to be in front of a large crowd and talking about things that maybe important to them.  Or that one example story that sends waves through one person in the crowd and changes their lives. You know when it happens…You see the light go on in their eyes.

This came up from the time I was at my 15^th high school reunion and 2 different people came to me and said….Kelly if it was not for you I would have never made it through that hell (referring to High School).  But, being the slow mo that I am it took 5 more years to realize that there was some that I could do about my life goal.  Help just one person and they in turn help one other or maybe they don’t help anyone but the survive life with a new look that life does not always have to be a nightmare.  It just takes one friend, family member, love one or just a stranger on the street to say, “Hey!  It’s going to be alright… how can I help you”.  Sometimes it’s just listening (this is not done enough), telling a similar story so they are not alone, or telling really crazy joke to get them to stop thinking about it (I find something about myself that is crazy and tell them that as I am not a big fan of jokes).

Wow!  I really got going there….I really had a point too all this…..I am exploring a creative idea right now that I hope to launch soon.  It’s kind of crazy but it’s crazy enough to be fun for all and of course I am hoping that it will impact that one or more to help them out because in turn it will help me knowing that I help another.  Sorry about the teaser but I have to work a few things out to make sure that it will happen.

Any who, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

2007, May 27

Subject:  Time, holiday, t-shirts and beer

So here is the story....

I was having a discussion with Momma D in Yahoo today and ….

It has come to my attention that I might have some time on my hands or more time then others.  It is not that I do not have some work to do on this Memorial Day Weekend.  On the contrary, I have a computer to fix, and couple of websites to do/update and maybe some cleaning I could do around the apartment.  However, consider this, "All Work and No Play Makes Kelly a Big Hot Mess!"

While taking a break I did run across some things of interest:

BEER ME PLEASE!  Some bartenders have heard me say this before…it's catchy and different.  They then know who I am and what I want based off of this simple saying.  Interesting enough I would not have to say this at home if I had one of these babies: BEER! !  I got to have it!

OH!  That's how they do it!  Ancient Chinese Secret eh?  Well maybe not Chinese but a good phrase never the less.  Often, I have spent time, a lot of it, trying to figure out how to best fold my t-shirts.  Now I used to not give a crap about them thus I did the best and then closed the dresser.  It seems of late (last 2 years or so) that I have been playing closer attention to making sure they fit in the dresser and look good when they come out.  What's the secret that I have missing?!?  Here it is: T-SHIRTS

Sure, after viewing it you my have thought, "OMG!  Kelly has too much time on his hands!" and you may be right.   However, you must get a laugh out of the beer launcher or figure out how brilliant the shirt folding technique is then it was all worth it.  Let me tell you how much crap I had to go through to find these too……I bet I SAVED you a lot of time :) .

 Any who, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

2007, April 27 So here is the story.... Amazon has a really cool service that lets me download movies into my TIVO!  How cool is that!??!!? Any who, I just finished watching the movie Bent yesterday.  It was recommend by Amazon based on my purchasing habits.  I don't think that I would have known about it otherwise. This was a story about gay men in Germany and (too me) the origination of the pink triangle in the time when the Nazi's were running amuck.  After watching it twice in the same day (once by myself and once with Matt) I can’t say anything else but the fact that I love it.

2007, April 20

Ok so here is the story.....

I have been thinking of late about the state in which people live. Not just the physical state but the mental state as well.

What prompt this?
 

Ok so here is the story.....

I have been thinking of late about the state in which people live.  Not just the physical state but the mental state as well.  What prompt this? 

A few things really; I think what started me thinking of these things was local story done in a news paper here.  It had to do with bad business or someone that agreed to something they should not have because they had disagreements with it or did not fully understand what they were agreeing too.  So if the later is true then is it really bad business?

Any who, that's my story and I'm sticking to it

2007, April 4

Ok of late I have been fishing around on the net and discovered something........

There are waaaaaaaaaaaay to many people posting videos of them telling us what is cool or not....what tips and tricks there are or whatever.  Now, I guess I can see the entertainment value of such things if they were entertaining me but they are not.  I mean there is so much out there and not one so far as made me want to stop back by or subscribe to it or whatever.

Now, it's not like I didn't try to find something; I really did.  In fact, it consumed more then 4 hours of my time today before I decided I could not take one more "Joe" (man), "Joette" (screaming queen) or just a female talking about nothing that was funny or informative or just plan interesting.  I am down for some funny stuff or something campy I just need to know where it is and who it is. 

Beside, to quote Momma D, most of these people are just one big "Hot Mess" and they are.  No like for real!

I will strive to find something then share it with you but if you have something then send me a comment so we all will know.

Any who, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

2007, March 28

It's been a while since I posted a Rant and Rave item so here it goes.  What's the deal with finding a job?!?!  Not like it's not hard enough with being laid of but "Hello!!!" hard worker here looking for work!  I had a thought about this too...I might just start going into businesses and promoting myself as a contract office organizer.  I spoke with my chiropractor today about his office (his staff was there too).  It went over well.  They know it needs be done but no one seems to have the time or the motivation or just the person to push to have it done.  Thus, I am headed to his office a week from Thursday to help out.  Funny thing about that...I find it fun to do!  Wooo Hooo   Well, that's it for now...I got to get my address all typed in a data base for the Class Reunion that I'm helping with. 

2007, March 1

I have been working on a project for my mom.  This project is to copy all the slides that she has then print them so that she can look at them when ever she wants ... instead of not looking at them at all.  I got this done late last night and there were a lot of pictures of my dad.  There were a couple of where he is standing by a boat and I was looking at them going, "OMG, I stand like him too".  Just a note about that.

2007, February 28

I get the fact that the web is a big, big place.  I sometimes don't understand why it take so long for a search engine to do it's job.  I just found out that my page has not been scanned since Nov 2006 ... WTF

2007, February 27th

Wow that took a lot more time then I thought.  I just finished the More Junk About Me page.

2007, February 26th Part II

2007, February 26th

So, after a long, long, long time I have decided to give my site and over haul.  I have worked on so many others but never seemed to make the time for my own.  The last one was so out dated I didn't even know where to start so I did the right thing ... backed up my old one then start from scratch.  I actually am starting to like it.  Needs a lot of work but now it's almost 1 am in the morning and thus I must go to bed.

I have no idea how old this pictures is...about 6 years?  Goatee and Beardless.