I just had to laugh when I burst the stereotype bubble for yet another typical straight dude whose assumptions were blown to smithereens again by interacting with me. Oh well… (giggle.)
Last Saturday,
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Monthly Archives: October 2014
Community Caring
I have mentioned for the past several months that I have been working with my local fire department, of which I am a proud Life Member, on organizing the 21st “Senior Safety Saturday” which turned out this year for a number of reasons to be “Senior Safety Sunday.”
Kinda funny how that happened, but that is another story.
So this past Sunday, I wore my Chippewa Firefighter Boots, tactical pants, and my local FD shirt and joined 12 firefighters, two lieutenants, and 60 more volunteers (friends of yours truly) who…
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Heteronormativity Redux
A good friend of mine and regular reader of this blog has started his own blog. He recently wrote a post about “heteronormativity.” It reminded me that I had posted about this issue and I looked up my old post. Man, back in 2010. Time to update with a new post on the matter, since back then my (then) partner and I were not married, and we are now.
And with same-sex marriage hitting the headlines again due to U.S. Supreme Court inaction, heteronormativity has become a topic of conversation again. What does same-sex marriage and heteronormativity have to do with each other, if anything?
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Taking a Snuggle Day
Today, I was going to lead a motorcycle ride for my club and I was going to post about that.
However, it is pouring rain, so instead…
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Negotiating a Net Gain
My spouse and I live a comfortable life. We have a nice home and the things that make life comfortable. We don’t play “keep up with the Joneses” and don’t give a rat’s patootee if we do not lease the latest yuppie-mobile or have the most recent smartphone (or even a smartphone at all.) We seldom go out to eat, and I pack a lunch each day to bring to work. Sure, we could afford these things, but we’re not interested.
Also, being children of parents who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s means that we grew up in an environment of “waste not, want not” — meaning that we watch what we spend, only spend what we have (that is, no carrying credit card balances), keep a healthy emergency fund, and are generally frugal.
The other day through careful and tedious negotiation, I reduced monthly household expenses by $105. It is hard to do that as expenses and fees for service continue to rise, but it is possible. This is what I did.
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Marriage, Values, and the Ick Factor
Some follow-ups to yesterday’s post about same-sex marriage.
I have a regular dialogue with a friend who is straight and is wrapping his head around the same-sex marriage thing. Here are some points from our dialogue that explain how I feel about “gay marriage.”
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Buck-Passing Causes Celebrations
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from five states that ban same-sex marriage where Federal appeals courts serving those states (Indiana, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Utah), effectively making same-sex marriage legal in these states.
I had a few people, including my boss, ask me if I were celebrating.
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Keeping Relationships Strong
I wrote a post the other day titled Keeping the Marriage Strong, where I provided what I thought were the best tips from other bloggers who comment about married life.
I have additional, personal, actions that I have done since the first days of developing my relationship with my spouse, long before we married, that I thought I would add.
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Steel Toe vs. non-Steel Toe Boots
I received an email from a guy who said that he was new to motorcycling and wanted my opinion on the choices of steel toe or non-steel toe engineer boots to wear when riding.
First-off, congratulations on the wise choice to wear motorcycle boots when riding.
His questions were:
a lot of these type of boots have a steel toe. Is the steel toe necessary? Does the steel toe add to the weight of the boot? Is the steel toe a safety feature? If so, what how comfortable are boots with a steel toe?
My response was…
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Keeping the Marriage Strong
I am an avid reader. I see a number of blogs and articles about maintaining the most important relationship in the world: the relationship with a spouse. This post goes deeper into that relationship, and is written primarily for those who are married (or in permanently committed relationships as I considered the relationship with my man to be before we could legally married.)
Here is a summary of some of the best ideas I have read — and employ — to keep our marriage strong.
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