All we know is, Craig’s opening line from today’s news conference at which he -- again, and repeatedly -- denied that he’s gay will surely make the late-night comedy rounds. Craig’s opener: “Thank you for coming out today.” (source)

Ironic. Perhaps we should stop talking about it. I mean, Senator Craig has been “not gay” since 1967 so yeah, I guess I believe Senator Craig. I’m not sure about this “naughty boy” comment on Bill Clinton though. It kind of creeps me out to tell you the truth...

And in between his 1982 denial (click here to watch archive ABC News video of it) and last year’s, he called President Bill Clinton a “naughty boy” and talked of giving the president a little spanking for his Oval Office tryst and denial of it.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” at the height of the impeachment trial against Clinton, on January 24, 1999, Craig told Tim Russert that a censure resolution would be “a slap on the wrist.”

“Its a, ‘Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You’re a naughty boy,’” Craig said. “The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy. I’m going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy.” (source)

So if having sex with a woman where a cigar was allegedly involved (don’t ask), makes you a “naughty boy” (which is what he said of Bill Clinton), what does having gay straight sex with men in a public bathroom (who knows how many times over the years), make you? A really REALLY naughty boy?

In normal circumstances, I wouldn’t honestly care what Mr. Craig did in his private life. The problem is, Senator Craig is not a private citizen. He’s a state senator who has made it his mission in his political life to preach the moral high ground (and vote on bills accordingly) on just about every issue, while his true moral convictions were really in the toilet, quite literally.

But in all fairness to the GOP and Senator Craig, I would just like to say, there are many more in the GOP just like him - vote and talk one way for their public image - and live a completely different reality in their private lives, which would explain why all of his GOP friends are suddenly no where to be found. Perhaps we are being too hard on Senator Craig. Perhaps it’s the GOP we should be taking a closer look at. Or for that matter, politicians in general.

I have an idea. How about placing two, four-year term limits on all Senators and Representatives (state and federal), just like we do the President? That would have the effect of occasionally clearing out the garbage while introducing new minds and new ideas to the mix.

Related Article
August 28, 2007 - If it walks like a duck...

My boss told me this morning that he read my blog and found it to be “very boring”, and “why would anyone read it?”. Now I’m wondering if he’s right. Maybe it is boring. Maybe I’m a boring person. Maybe I should just delete it and stick to my Flickr photos and forget the blog.

And on the cemetery plots....
It looks like we are a go as far as buying the plots. They don’t really look at people as couples. They just want the money for the plots. I suppose a problem could occur when we go to put down the marker stone, depending on what it said. I'm not going to volunteer any more information than I have too. The guy who will be showing us the plots is like 80 years old anyway. He just wouldn't understand.

Aside from that though, if this works out, we would be in the same cemetery as Nathan Hale (oddly enough called the Nathan Hale Cemetery). How cool is that?

Sen. Larry Craig, who in May told the Idaho Statesman he had never engaged in homosexual acts, was arrested less than a month later by an undercover police officer who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him in an airport men’s room.

The arrest at a Minnesota airport prompted Craig to plead guilty to disorderly conduct earlier this month. His June 11 encounter with the officer was similar to an incident in a men’s room in a Washington, D.C., rail station described by a Washington-area man to the Idaho Statesman. In that case, the man said he and Craig had sexual contact. [...]

Craig, 62, was elected to Congress in 1980. Should he win re-election in 2008 and complete his term, he would be the longest-serving Idahoan ever in Congress. His record includes a series of votes against gay rights and his support of a 2006 amendment to the Idaho Constitution that bars gay marriage and civil unions. (source)

I’ve been avoiding writing about anything political for the last few months, opting instead to focus on my family life, photography, trips, and the like. I’ve come to the realization that your life is what you make it. You decide just how happy you are going to be and what you want your life to be.

That being said, I’m not going to get sucked into talking about things (politics) that I can’t control and that will effect my life in a negative way in the long run. BUT... I just have to say a few things about the issue surrounding Idaho Senator Larry Craig, in general terms.

A Point of View About the "Gay Anonymous Sex" Phenomenon
Everyone seems to think that most gay men have anonymous sex in parks, public bathrooms, and the like. There’s currently a big brouhaha going on in Fort Lauderdale about public sex. Why do people think this phenomenon exists? It doesn’t exist for straight folks. Here’s why...

Try to imagine for a moment if you are straight, that you live in a world that is gay-oriented, and that straight sex or having feelings for someone of the opposite sex is something to be ashamed of. You want to feel like you are part of human society, but everywhere you look, there are references to the life you could have, if you were only gay; references to sexuality in movies, magazines, public displays of affection, etc.

What do you do? You go underground. If people are honest, everyone needs affection, and part of that most likely involves sex. You also know that society not only thinks you are disgusting, but the very thought of you having a relationship with someone of the opposite sex is revolting. You want to feel connected to the rest of the human race. So, you go to places where you feel that no one will know you and that you won’t be seen. Not surprisingly, most of these places are unsafe, unclean, and in places where most people would never dream of going for a sexual encounter, which is whole point of going there for sex in the first place, if you want to hide it.

What to do about this issue
It shouldn’t be surprising that there are people who will go to any lengths to avoid the stigmatization of being labeled queer, especially those in public office. And just to make sure that everyone thinks that you are in the right category, if you are a politician, you vote against the queers every chance you get. Which brings us to Senator Craig.

What Senator Craig wants in his life is companionship. In his narrow view of the world, he is trying to achieve that companionship in the only available way open to him. I didn’t say it was the best way to find companionship, but it is the only way in his world.

Ironically, he is part of the machine that is out to destroy what would make it possible for him to have that companionship, and to be part of the fabric of society. If there were more committed gay couples, there would be less gay anonymous sex by people who are ashamed of themselves. And many of these “gay men” having this sex go right back home to their wives who have no clue what they are up too. But at least, they are living the straight lifestyle.

The way for gay people to commit to each other is for society to stop treating the concept of gay couple-hood as something bad and to be avoided. In other words, get rid of the stigma of being gay. You don’t do that by passing amendments against gay marriage or passing laws that single out gay citizens. Senator Craig is guilty of doing this.

Senator Craig basically got caught. He has done everything in his power to kill any hope for gay couples in Idaho of ever having any legal recognition or legal protections for a very long time to come. He deserves everything he gets. He’s earned it.

I used to be more understanding of people such as Senator Craig, who can’t seem to come to terms with their reality. But now that we know what he’s about, all the while fueling the fires of hatred against gay people in the Idaho Senate, it just pisses me off.

Kind of cool really...

I just got an email from Schmap telling me that one of my photos has been included in their Copenhagen Guide for tourists visiting the city. The license I give my photos on Flickr give them the authorization to copy the photo as long as they give me attribution. It’s nice to get some recognition every once in awhile. It always puzzles me a bit though. There are thousands of people taking photos all the time that are better than I am. I don’t know why they would pick a photo of mine. The same thing has happened with my Grand Canyon collection. Some of the photos have been included into the Grand Canyon guide by the Park Service.

The link below takes you to their photo page. If you double-click the photo on the right when it appears, it will take you to my Copenhagen photo collection.

:: Schmap Copenhagen Third Edition: Photo Inclusion

Hi Bill,

A quick note to let you know that we’ve just released the third edition of our Schmap Copenhagen Guide, which by popular demand can now be browsed online (as well as downloaded for use offline).

One of your photos has been included in this third edition:

Tivoli Gardens

This was the photo included:

A few years ago, Kent and I visited our town clerk, Ms. Cyr, in an attempt to get a marriage license. We were refused. This was before the Civil Union law went into effect. So now, we are asking for cemetery plots next to each other.

Before you go jumping to conclusions, we are both in perfect health. It’s just that, I don’t want to put this off and have to make these decisions when I am in not-such-good health, and able to deal with these issues. So, I want to get it out of the way. After this is done, we finally have to update our will to reflect this, or to give a funeral home authorization to act according to our wishes.

I urge other partners to do this as well. Do not assume that your wishes will be carried out. In looking at the readings of the so called marriage laws in our state, even though the state now allows Civil Unions, the statutes go out of their way to state that the State will not in any way shape or form, “condone homosexuality”. Does buying plots next to each other and stating that we were spouses do that? I would say so.

So, I sent this letter to the Town Clerk of Coventry.

Dear Ms. Cyr:

A few years ago, my partner and I came to your office to apply for a marriage license, if you remember. Being of the same sex, we were refused the license. Well, now we would like to buy a cemetery plot together and be buried next to each other. Perhaps in death, we can be at least be treated with the dignity that we are spouses (and please spare me any talk of “civil unions” - they aren’t equal to marriage, and I think we both know that). I’m assumed that there are no laws that state that we can’t be buried next to each other. But then I read the marriage statutes on the Coventry website.

After reading the marriage statutes (for a man and a woman only) posted on your site, that end with an elaborate declaration that homosexuality isn’t to be condoned in any way shape or form, it is prudent for me to ask the question; can we buy plots next to each other? In addition, are there state laws that prohibit us from stating on our plot markers that we were spouses? After all, wouldn’t that be “condoning homosexuality”? The State declaration reads in part:

“Nothing in sections ...... shall be deemed or construed (1) to mean the State of Connecticut condones homosexuality or bisexuality or any equivalent lifestyle, (2) to authorize the promotion of homosexuality or bisexuality in educational institutions or require the teaching in educational institutions of homosexuality or bisexuality as an acceptable lifestyle, (3) to authorize or permit the use of numerical goals or quotas, or other types of affirmative action programs, with respect to homosexuality or bisexuality in the administration or enforcement of the provisions of sections ..... , (4) to authorize the recognition of or the right of marriage between persons of the same sex, or (5) to establish sexual orientation as a specific or separate cultural classification in society.”

Yes I know, that is stated at the end of the marriage license section (more specifically, on the Coventry website, you term the link as “MARRIAGE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT”), but it speaks for the entire State of Connecticut, without regards to marriage. What on earth do educational institutions have to do with marriage? The wording is broad, so my questions are valid.

Assuming there are no laws that state that two people of the same sex, who are spiritually married, being buried next to each other doesn’t in some way “condone homosexuality”, we would like to purchase a plot for the two of us. We are interested in the cemetery on Grant Road. I don’t know the name of the cemetery, but we are hoping that you can help us with that and, if you aren’t the person we should be talking to, who that person would be.

Please let me know.

Our next step is to talk to a funeral director to make the arrangements and, since we will not degrade our relationship with a “civil union”, hopefully, he/she will be able to make our wishes in this come true, without of course, “condoning homosexuality.”

Sincerely,

Bill Cannon

I’ll let you know what she says.

I’ve been wanting to go to Gillette Castle for some time. Last month, the Connecticut Flickr Meetup Group went to Gillette Castle for a photo meet up. They pick a different place each month for their gathering. Kent and I have joined them. Last time we went to Milford Point. But, they went to Gillette Castle just before we joined, so we missed out on that outing.

So, last weekend, we went to Gillette Castle for the first time. These are a few of the photos we took. I have to admit, it wasn’t quite as plush as I expected. The rooms were small and unremarkable in terms of luxury, but perhaps that is a sign of the times. In their day, perhaps it was considered to be extraordinary.

One interesting tidbit about Mr. Gillette; he was a cat person. It was said that the castle served as the home of up to seventeen cats and throughout the castle are bits of art and objects with cat themes.

View entire set

View entire set

A few photos to share with you. Don’t judge them too harshly. They were taken with my small portable camera which is “ok”, but not great. It’ a pocket camera when I’m on the go.

I drove home tonight, only to find wild turkeys in my front yard. It’s a mother and her five small ones (that aren’t so small anymore). They've been roaming around our neighborhood for the last few weeks. They just love my bird seed.

This is a new friend of ours. She comes around about daily now. I think she has a home because she's so well taken care of. Of course, she doesn’t want me to know that. She always is right there for a hand-out, as though she's starving. And I’m a sucker for it. She’s got me figured out.

Humidity anyone? This was from a few weeks ago I believe. This was one of our more humid days. This was taken early morning as I was leaving for work.

So it was refreshing to hear that The Advocate, a national gay and lesbian newsmagazine founded in 1967, has decided to offer its readers the choice of receiving the magazine without its traditional plastic wrapper, or “privacy wrap” as the magazine termed it. The Advocate had been delivered in an opaque wrapper that shielded its front and back covers, as if it were pornography. According to the magazine’s publisher, the majority of subscribers voiced their preference for getting rid of the wrapper in an April poll. Up until now, The Advocate’s editors said, they were justified in wrapping the magazine because that’s how the majority of readers wanted it delivered. (source)

This reminded me of how things were for us after we left Idaho and moved to San Mateo, California. The year would have been 1978. We live at 3014 Los Prados in San Mateo. How on earth I remember that, I have no idea. Looking out of our apartment window across the street, there was a market where we did most of our grocery shopping. In front of that market were a series of news stands. There was one for the San Francisco Examiner, the San Francisco Chronicle, and, among others, The Advocate. In those days, The Advocate was only sold in tacky news stands. And instead of the nice glossy magazine it is today, it was more of a tabloid-style newspaper.

I would casually pass by it while buying groceries, carefully glancing at it when I was sure no one else was watching. I did this to see if a new edition had come out. If a new edition had come out, I would make note of it. I would not buy one in plain view.

Then, I would get up in the middle of the night around 3:00 a.m., go to the window in our little office where we had a clear view of the stand in front of the market, and make sure that there was no one around, AT ALL. I would then get dressed, walk across the street, quickly put in my money, grab a copy, put it underneath my jacket, and scramble back to the apartment before anyone spotted me. I was certain that if I had been spotted with a copy of The Advocate, I would probably be killed. That was my fear, and it was real. In those days, even the police had very little good to say about gay people.

So this article about The Advocate giving readers the option to not have the magazine in opaque plastic is kind of a breakthrough, I suppose. I get mine every other week in my mailbox, and it is kind of nice to know that my nosy postal delivery person doesn’t know that I am gay. But who am I fooling? They have to know. We get many mailings with both our names on it, such as our mortgage, bank card statements, etc.

So I suppose it’s time I tell The Advocate that I am doing my part to save our planet by telling them to deliver their magazine to me in plain view without the plastic wrapping. Looking back on it, I think it’s a real tragedy that some in our society (like myself back in 1978) live in such fear of what could happen. And many still don’t feel safe. There are about seven states that I feel safe going to in America.

And yet, in this country, we call ourselves “free”. I guess there are degrees of freedom.

I’m trying to simplify one aspect of digital photography. When you upload photos to Flickr, it’s actually quite a process for me. I have to....

examine each photo to see if it passes my standards
if it passes, convert the RAW image (what the camera captures) into a JPEG file for Flickr
place it into a Flickr album (usually a new album)
label each photo and add appropriate tagging
set the viewing permissions
place where they are on the map (geotagging)
add them to a collection

It’s that part in bold red that I’m concentrating on. When I take photos, I kind of have an idea where I took them. I can come up with a pretty good guess on where to put them on the map. Of course, this is only a guess and is not accurate in terms of the real location of that photo.

For example, when we were in Olympic National Park, we took many hikes to view different things. Along the way, I would take a photo of a flower or some other subject. When I finally uploaded the photos to Flickr, I would never know where each photo was taken. All I knew was that the photo was taken on a certain hike. The result was that a group of photos for that hike would be lumped together on the map, usually at the ending destination. And even then, since trails are not marked on a map of the park in Flickr, it was a very rough guess on where they were placed. It would look like this.

In reality, there were photos all over the place. So, what to do about this? Well, this weekend, we bought a GPS unit that should help in this endeavor. It’s a bit complicated, but I’ll simplify it a bit.

When you place images on the map in Flickr, all you are really doing it changing the photo information to record the longitude and latitude of the photo. The GPS unit can much more accurately record that information than I can. The trick is to get it to talk to the camera. As the photo is being taken, the GPS unit will update the photo information with the coordinates. This information will be included with the photo when it is downloaded and converted to a JPEG file in preparation for uploading to Flickr. With the location data loaded, the photo should show up on the map at more or less (within a meter or two) where that photo was taken.

The end result will show a scattering of photos along the trail, instead of all grouped together. In theory, if someone wanted to get back to that exact subject that I took, they could. This is what is required.

The DVD lesson guide was unbelievable. I learned so much from it. If you have a Nikon and are trying to learn all the things your camera can do, I highly recommend getting your hands on a Magic Lantern video. It’s well worth the money.

At the top right, you will see the MC-35 GPS Cord. This connects to the Nikon camera and provides a nine pin serial connector. This provides a connection for the “PC interface cable” on the lower right. That cable connects to the GPS unit. Once the connection is established, my camera should acknowledge that a GPS unit is connected. The “GPS” display will blink briefly, then go solid in the camera view finder. This means that any photo taken will have the GPS coordinates recorded. And then of course, we need the GPS unit itself (bottom left).

After a lot of research, we found that the Garmin units were the best, and the one with the best reception for isolated areas was the 60CSx, with it’s large and powerful antenna.

Oh, and the other cable (shutter release cable) was a throw-in cable for me. It connects to the camera (or the port on the MC-35 GPS cable) and will release the shutter without touching the camera, which is absolutely necessary when taking macro photography, or for photos taken in low light conditions where a long shutter speed is necessary.

So that’s it. I haven’t actually done this yet. We have the GPS unit. What is on order are all the cables to make this happen. Will it all work? It should. People are doing it, using these cables.

I can’t wait for them to get here!

THEN
I haven’t posted recently because my life has been changing a great deal over the last six weeks. Some good, some bad. That’s the way life is.

First, the bad, because I don’t want to end this update on a sour note... I had a complete change in staff at work. All in all, not a bad thing. For those of you who don’t know what I do, I run an IT department for a mid-size company in Connecticut. It’s not that I’m bitter about people leaving. People leave companies all the time. So yes, I do understand that. And, people leave for better opportunities all the time -- nothing wrong with that, and I understand that.

I try to take care of the guys who work for me to every extent that I can. I don’t watch the clock to see when they are at work. If they are late, never once have I questioned it. I trust them to do their jobs. I don’t baby sit the staff in my department. If someone needs a lot of attention, I’m probably not the manager to work for. In short, I give them all the space they need to grow. And eventually, I know they will leave.

It’s not that they left that has left a bitter taste in my mouth. It’s the way it all happened. Pretty much, within a three week period, they were gone, each after spending years in my department. Now, much of that is timing. It was not a conspiracy to exit all at once. It just happened that way. So why do I feel sour about this?

I’ve thought a lot about it. One person who left said that he would call me within a couple of weeks to have lunch. Do you think he called? Nope. I know... this is my baggage. I thought of him like a brother. The bottom line is, I suppose I should start thinking of people who work for me as other managers do; a commodity and nothing more. Don’t think of them as people because most likely, in the end, the favor won’t be returned. It’s extraordinary that the movie Ordinary People came out in 1980, and of all the lines in the movie, one sticks out vividly. The father is a stock broker. His wife just left him and he’s sitting outside in their back yard. His son, who was going through a lot of mental anguish from his past, tries to comfort his father. His father turns to his son and says, “Well, don’t put too much stock in people. They’ll disappoint you.” I thought at the time how much he was hurting, and full of disappointment. Well, that’s how I feel now.

So, I’ve withdrawn from blogging so I can form a brand new department. But I look at people who work for me a bit differently now. And, I look at people in general differently. You see, I am a very giving person. I care for people, obviously to a fault. People tell me I have a big heart. It’s true, I do. But where has it gotten me? I’ve come to realize that people are the most self serving animals on the face of this planet. And I’m not actually sure anymore that it’s possible to even have a “friend” at work.

So, I’ve been working on average about 14 hours a day and forcing myself to take weekends off. But on the weekends, I find myself tired, withdrawn, and depressed half the time. So all of that is the bad news, I suppose.

NOW
The good news is, I am getting to a point that I have a functional department again, so I am able to put in fewer hours. And next weekend, I’m seriously thinking of going to the Newport, RI area for a photo outing. I’m not sure where I’ll end up, but it will be the first long weekend that I’ve had in a very long time.

NEW TOYS!
Today, I’m going to go for a hike with Kent and spend some time together. It’s beautiful out and we need time together.

When my Nikon D200 was in the shop, I purchased a DVD on it that was highly rated. I thought I knew my camera well, but this DVD showed me things that just blew me away. More on that later, along with the new toys that I purchased yesterday. No, not those kind of toys. Get your head out of the gutter!

Kent and I went to our first ever Connecticut Flickr Meet up yesterday. It consists of a group of fellow photographers in Connecticut that meet monthly in a different place in Connecticut, and share the photos we've taken of a certain place. It was fun to meet with a great group of people. I'm looking forward to the next meet up next month.

Here are a few of our photos from yesterday's meet up.

View entire set

View entire set

Yes, I still talk to Sasha just about every day, right along with Brennan.

As long as I breathe, I’ll never forget you two.

From two years ago

hello again. i just thoght that anyone from my famly can search on the web for my Email and read this post and i would fall in trouble like zach,so please Bill/kent could u erase the part in my post that talks about me needing help and my email/country. Thank you :)

That was a comment left for me by a young Muslim man a few hours ago concerning a comment he left back in April, 2007 on an entry on this site. He was concerned for his personal safety and was worried that his parents would do a search for his email address on the web, and it would link back to the entry on Zach.

I’ve removed his email address completely, per his wishes. But, it saddens me that this young man is in such desperation that he is so filled with fear for his personal safety, all because his parents may find out he’s gay. It’s true. Being Muslim, depending on where he lives, he could be killed for such a thing. I wish him the best.

If you are reading this my friend, know that I have removed all traces of your email address and identity from this blog.

Yeah I know... I’ve been absent for awhile. Work has been consuming me somewhat, but I’m on the road to re-focusing my life a bit. I’ve covered what has happened at work, so I’m not going to re-visit it. Suffice to say, if you let work control your life, it will.

So for the sake of not letting that happen, I’ve completely taken this weekend off to do very little. We did go to the mall yesterday however. When I take photos, I eventually upload some of them to Flickr. That’s all well and good. The only issue I have is the geo-tagging of the photos. I like to place them on the map in Flickr so that people can kind of see where the photo was taken. It’s an approximation of course. And sometimes, as was the case with Olympic National Park, where you are on an undocumented trail (as far as Flickr is concerned), it’s difficult to actually place the photo. What you end up doing is to place the entire set ... somewhere on the map. In reality, each photo has it’s own unique location as many were taken while on the way to see something else. It would be nice to actually be able to see, within a few meters, where the photo was taken.

So, I’ve been doing some research on how to do that. Some GPS units will connect to a Nikon D200, if you have the right cables. Supposedly, the camera will be aware of the GPS being connected and will tell me this by a solid “GPS” indicator on the camera. Then, when I take a photo, the location will supposedly be recorded in the EXIF data within the photo, which also is sent to Flickr when I upload a photo. That SHOULD do it for me.

The complicated part is finding the right cables, and GPS units that are compatible with my camera. I’ll let you know what I find out. It would be totally cool to have a map of each photo along a hiking trail, similar to bread crumbs of where the photos were taken.

And speaking of my D200, it’s still in the shop.

Other news...

We went to a nice restaurant Friday night. It’s called Chikurin, located in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Actually, a former co-worker took me there awhile ago, and I liked it. Then, last Friday night, Kent was on his way home from Salt Lake City. He stopped by work around 5:30, and I decided to take him there for dinner to see how he liked it. The food was good. I love their curry’s. The only downside was that some guy kept glaring at us like he wanted to do us physical damage. Kent mentioned it after we left. I didn’t notice it, but it made him uncomfortable.

If anyone has experience with hooking up a GPS to a Nikon camera, I would love to hear your suggestions. Oh, and finally, I’ve joined the Connecticut Flickr Meet Up Group (thanks to James for suggesting it!). It’s a group of photographers in Connecticut who meet monthly at a different place for photography. It should be fun. I have a birthday party to go to next Saturday, but I hope to make it for my first meet up with them.

Have a nice day everyone!