Shortly after returning from my visit to St. Louis I saw Kate Hudson and Jason Biggs right on the street here in Boston while I was walking home from work the other day, right near the salon. They are apparently filming a movie here. (Not a great photo, but here it is anyway)

I also am involved with the AIDS Action Committee helping them on an event in December 2nd at Club Cafe. www.aac.org/danceathon, take a look. I am soliciting donations now for the raffle and the costume contest at the Dance-A-Thon.
We attended the last dance at club Avalon, which is literally two blocks from our place in the Fenway. They will be tearing down the club to build a multi-use theater and dance bar, so eventually I suppose the Gay Saturdays and Sundays will return. They are moving the nights over to some other clubs that are down in the theater district.

I took an opportunity to drive down to NY City for the first time (since living here) last week. Jay was there for work all week so I had a place to stay for free. The drive was only 4 hours, so I thought it would be fun to just go hang out and see the city again. My first time driving in Manhattan, and it was not that bad, just have to pay attention and be aggressive as you do in Boston. Jay and I had a nice dinner near Times Square and then we walked west a bit to a cute place called Therapy were they had open mic night, which was actually a nice change from the same ole gay bar experience. The next day I got up and ventured out, not having much of a plan. I just wanted to be in the city. Not having a lot of money made it very hard to not want all the beautiful things I saw. I walked all over really. I wanted to check out the basic area Bowie lived in SoHo, and then went over to Rebel Rebel, the music store in Greenwich Village. I had to stop over at Manhattan Portage in the East Village and then of course you cant go to NY without stopping off at Century 21, the huge discount clothing store right near ground zero. I met up with an old friend in Hells Kitchen for a latte and then took off for Boston around 7pm.
--My terrible times sq. phone photo.

We finally got our Murphy Bed installed, but the front is not what I ordered. He is coming back to put the shaker style front back on it, but overall it is nice to finally be in an actual bed.

Work is still a bit slow, but that is because I am impatient and loved being busy like I was in St. Louis, which I am returning again on the 8th of November to do more hair. The building that Pure Hair Design is in has decided to have its brick tuck pointed and the trim and windows replaced, so they have assembled huge scaffolding on the entire front which blocks the front of our sign and obstructs the view a bit. We have had even regulars say they had a hard time finding us. We put out a sandwich board, but I think we need to put some kind of banner up. Eventually things will pick up, I already am having return clients and that makes me feel better about my future.
Today is a bit chilly and I wonder if it is the REAL beginning of the cold coming. Well more work today on the Dance-A-Thon and we need to get more flyers out in the neighborhood about the salon, also I set up my Dad with a blog of his own, lets see if he can start posting some of his writings up on the web.

The first signs of winter are on their way to Boston. Yesterday I had forgotten to carry a jacket with me to work and on my walk back it was a bit windy and a bit chilly. Jay returned from another week in NY City and we watched the first game of the Red Sox’s American League Championship game on TV and most of it we watched muted. We could hear the crowd roar before it appeared on the TV. Thanks to Janet Jackson’s breast we now have a three second delay, which is great for predicting ground balls and strike outs. We didn’t watch the whole thing, but we were very aware of when it was over.
I cannot believe we leave for Disney World on Thursday. It has not really been in my thoughts and I have mixed feelings about the trip, but I am sure it will be fun. The mixed feelings stem from being stressed out, a bit depressed, and simply not a huge fan of the “Disney” way of life. The rides should be exciting, the resort on Disney’s property should be pampering. I just need to “put on a happy face”. Even though I am not really busy at work and would feel that is why I would need a break; I need a break regardless. When we return from the trip, our good friend Darin will be arriving from St. Louis and spending 4 or 5 days here. It is always fun showing our friends around Boston. We just have to make sure it is on a budget.

We returned from our recent Disney vacation to celebrate Jay’s sister turning 40, his Mom turning 60 and, well, Jay turning 37. We all met in Orlando including Brett, Jay’s brother-in-law. Shelly, his sister, and he both had birthday buttons on for most of the four days just as a reminder to all the “Cast Members” that they are required to say Happy Birthday to anyone wearing one. Cast Members is the term for Disney employees: from cleaning people to attraction operators. I had a wonderful time and was quite amazed at the mega-size and operation Disney has in Orlando. Since Shelly & Brett take their kids to Disney about three or four times a year, I kept asking them questions about the employees and how the park operates. I even found myself googling Disney information while waiting for one of the many buses that transported us around the expansive park system. I discovered the 53,800 employees work at Disney in Orlando and that includes all the resorts on property. I found that the hospitality was actually a bit lacking, and I attribute that to an article I was reading about how Disney is on a big part time hiring spree. So, needless to say, the staff was just a bit more friendly then something you would find at any local six flags or some major retailer, but sometimes there was an occasional diamond in the rough that seem to care a bit more about the image of Disney. Oh…but stay away from the food. I think the only OK meal we had was on Pleasure Island at Wolfgang Pucks and even that evening I had to send my chicken back because it was over cooked. Do not think you are getting anything authentic at the World Showcase in Epcot either.

I noticed on my second day that everything is just in the “middle”. I do not mean middle as in “bad,” but as in “just right.” Say for example, the sound at one of the several 3D shows was just loud enough, but not over powering. The tricks and technology they used to make this world seem real were just enough to be believable to small children. The shows would often spray you with water, blow hot or cold air on you and even release aromatic odors. They all seemed to be just long enough, just funny enough, and not too wild or too strong. I got a real sense that the whole operation was this way, from sound and lighting, water temperature in the pool, and possibly piped-in owl hooting at the resort that I suspected kept critters away.

Obviously being such a huge conglomerate takes money - a lot of it - and it certainly does feel like a lot of money is going in and out of this park every day. Nevertheless, I find a good number of rides and attractions have run their course or are just about at their end, like Ellen’s Energy Adventure at Epcot’s Universe of Energy. With antiquated dinosaur animatronics to fuzzy projection screens, the only thing that kept this ride going was the camp humor and celebrity of Ellen Degeneres. Most of the rides had someone famous guiding you through the staging areas: Gary Sinise in Mission Space, Phylicia Rashad (Mrs. Huxtable) in Stitch’s Great Escape, Patrick Warburton (Puddy from Seinfeld). They dug up old Rod Serling clips from the original Twilight Zone to help with the Tower of Terror and even a cameo from Jamie Lee Curtis and Alex Trebek in the Ellen’s Energy Adventure.

So here is whirlwind breakdown

Day 1: We arrived in the evening and the Disney Magical Express takes us from the airport to the resort of Saratoga Springs. Nothing Express about it, but it is a nice gesture that they get your bags for you. Wolfgang Pucks Dinner at Pleasure Island and then off to the Adventurers’ Club and then we went to Mannequins Night Club which features a rotating dance floor and Gay Thursdays.

Day 2: Magic Kingdom which includes Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and the People Mover. The highlight here was Space Mountain, the rollercoaster enclosed inside and totally in the dark. Shelly introduces us to the “Fast Pass” which is where you go to a popular ride and get passes for a faster line and return hours later. So this made seeing everything much easier and manageable. Dinner in Epcot at Morocco and the beginning of many discussions about how the Disney Dining Plan works

Day 3: Animal Kingdom which includes theExpedition Everest rollercoaster,the Tree of Life (View image)which is the icon of the park. It is a huge man made tree of concrete with carved animal sculptures and house beneath is a theater which shows a fun 3D show called “A Bugs Life”. You can hop on board an amp’d-up Jeep and ride a quasi-realistic Safari through Africa. That Evening: Magic Kingdom dinner so we could see the daily fireworks and light parade and, with the extended “Magic Hours,” we rode the ever-so-silly humorous Jungle Cruise. And then we finished, just the two of us at Mannequins on Pleasure Island.

Day 4: Epcot(view image)
was Soarin’,a great glided adventure through southern California. The Test Track which simulated a vehicle test facility from minimal road tests to a hardly jarring crash test. Mission Space mimicked a space lift off. Apparently they spin you around very fast to give you the “G Force” feeling of a lift off. I ended up opting out of the spinning version and went with the calmer, tilting and turning capsule, which I later regretted. I could have done it. That afternoon we walked around the world of Epcot and got to do a little pool time before heading to MGM for the evening where we twice rode the Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster. The Tower of Terror was pretty fun, with its 20-passenger elevator taking you to the top of a 13-story building and then dropping you. We capped off the evening with an old standard at the mock Chinese Theater-The Great Movie Ride. Don’t let the peeling paint from Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver’s character in Alien) face bother you.

That concludes our time at Disney.

Boston celebrates another Red Sox championship.http://www.boston.com/news It certainly has been exciting around this whole city and especially my neighborhood (Fenway) with the Red Sox winning the World Series on Sunday evening. Darin was here visiting from St. Louis and got to experience all the excitement. We both agreed that we thought St. Louis was a baseball town, but they are absolutely crazy here about the Sox.

On Sunday (the last day Darin was here) we decided to sit and watch the game from a local Fenway gay bar only two blocks from our house and a block from the ball park. We attempted to try to go to Fritz; the gay sports bar, but the line was out the door. After about the 7th inning, I decided it would be a good idea to get Darin a cab so he could get back to his hotel before the game ended. Now usually you can catch a cab right outside the front door, but this evening they were closing down Boylston Street, I guess because of all the fans that would end up hoarding around the stadium. I ended up walking him up to Mass. Ave (1/2 mile). The police presence was quite amazing as they really had quite allot of the streets barricaded off. There were tons of motorcycle cops driving around, many police on horses and of course masses of them walking in large groups. It was like a war zone and the tension could be felt, it reminded me of something you see in a movie or on TV when a riot breaks out. Right on our street (Park Drive) was the staging area for the State police (The Staties) They had blocked off all of “Outer” Park Drive and also a section in the Back Bay Fens park, they had their large mobile police RV as well as about 75 police cars along with dozens of foot police that filled half the football field adjacent to the basketball courts. After walking back to the bar I was refused entry back onto Boylston Street from a police officer with a club. I suppose even If I lived there I would be denied access, and they were very serious. I had said that I had just left that building and he replied back “ I told you once, you are not going past here.” I got the point so I summoned Jay via text and he quickly joined me for the quick walk home to catch the last minutes of the game; Remember they were playing in Colorado at the time.

Well as you know they won and then all hell broke loose in our neighborhood. We watched it live on TV when a group of fans/people/mob turned over a yellow truck on a portion of Park Drive not far from our building. Someone had set fire to a motorcycle in the Back Bay and the mob started throwing rocks, and that is when the police began to push them back up the street. I later found out 37 people had been arrested. Funny that so much craziness happens when a team WINS don’t you think?
The Parade was on October 30th. I walked up from the South End (work) to Copley Square and got a pretty good view from behind 5 or 6 deep of people. Thousands were there and that was just at Copley. I later watched the parade replay on TV and saw the hoards of people all along the parade route. I took several photos of players that were waving from the famous Duck Boats. I actually knew the name of a few of them from watching the last several games. I think living in Fenway, being so close to the park, and the recent win has made me a fan to the shock of many friends.