Travel

So, Rickie and I have a few trips upcoming that I’m really looking forward to!  In two weeks we head to Bisbee, AZ for Bisbee Pride.  It’s a good time, I swear!  Followed the next weekend by a return trip to Vegas with Erin for the SRHM conference.  We’re hitting up the pool at the Cosmopolitan while she goes to class and the pool party on Sunday at the Luxor.  Just what the Dr. ordered… pool and sun in Vegas.  Should be great. In July we’re going to L.A. to see Dolly at the Hollywood Bowl.  It’s her first time performing at that venue and I can only imagine how epic it will be.  :)  In August we find ourselves in Santa Barbara for my cousin Samantha’s wedding at the zoo.  Should be some great cousin time that weekend.

So yeah, we’re kind of busy but since I’m low on vacation time at work we can’t really go or do anything fantastic until after November.  I’m already thinking about what to do in 2012!  Any suggestions?  Anyone want a visit?

Austin

Over Memorial Day weekend Rickie and I traveled to Austin, TX to visit his brother Stephen. It was going to be a reunion of sorts as Rickie hadn’t seen his brother in about 5 years. The only thing I was nervous about going in was a fight between brothers that would turn the whole weekend awkward. Luckily, that didn’t occur and we had a wonderful time. It was nice not to have to plan anything on a vacation and just go with the flow. Rickie’s brother is really cool and I think he enjoyed our visit as much as we did. I think he definitely needed the distraction at the moment.

You know the saying that everything is bigger in Texas? Well, it must apply to gay bars as well. The two that we visited were crazy big. On Friday we attended a party at the Iron Bear bar which, as the name suggests, normally is a place where the bears hang out. On this night, however, there was a good mix of all types of people since there was a special event going on. The second bar we visited, on Saturday, was Rain. This was a pretty amazing bar as well. Maybe Phoenix just doesn’t know how to do gay bars? Or, maybe since they are new to me they just looked better? In comparison, our bars are ratty and could use some updating (except for maybe Bar1 and Amsterdam). Granted, I haven’t visited all the gay bars in Phoenix (maybe that should be a goal?) but so far, they are not as polished as the few in Austin were. Of course, I didn’t visit all the bars in Austin either and maybe we just got lucky with these two? I’m sure they have their fair share of tragic bars.

Anyway, we had an amazing vacation. We got super tan at the lake and on the river (yay for summer!). It was great to finally meet someone in Rickie’s family besides his parents considering he’s met everyone in mine! I can’t wait for our return visit!

Books

Okay, I’ve fallen far behind in my goal of reading a book a month, but I will be making up for in shortly.  I leave on my vacation which will include a lot of down time that I can spend reading.  I have my Confessions book (look right) that I will finish then I will start the Beekman Memoir (which Rickie bought for me) “The Bucolic Plague”.  I LOVE THESE GUYS.  I really would enjoy being their friend.  :)  If you haven’t seen their show (The Fabulous Beekman Boys) on Planet Green, you have been missing something great.  Check it out when you get a moment!  It’s my new obsession.  You remember how much I loved “Little People Big World”… well, it’s the same thing with this show and these guys!

I’ll update my blog with reviews of both when I get back from vacay.

Oh, and of course, I’ll include some photos from the vacay as well!

Worrier

Okay, so I’ve decided that I’m a worrier.  Not outwardly so, but I tend to internalize my bouts of worry.  I’m sure one day it will give me an ulcer.  What’s really dumb is that I worry about stuff that I can’t really control.  They are important things to me but not things that I can directly impact.  I’m going to try and stop doing this whole worry thing.  I’m not sure how successful I will be at it though.  I do worry about things that I do have control over… but I’m not sure that this is abnormal behavior.

Anyway, I’ve currently worried myself into having no apetite, so good times.  I wanted to write it down though so that maybe I can hold myself accountable.  We’ll see.

Other than that, I’m doing great.  Life is good.  Dogs are good.  Family is good.  Work is good.  Yay!  I can’t really complain (again, then why am I worrying about stuff??).

Hope everyone is doing well.  I leave on vacation in less than 4 days.  I can’t wait.  Alaska here I come!

GoodReads.com

I’m now a member of Goodreads.com. I have a goal setup to read 12 books in 2011. I’m behind but maybe I can make it up in the next couple of months. We shall see.

If you use GoodReads… look me up. :)

Long time…

Hey, so yeah, I know it’s been a long time since I last blogged… well, I’m busy!

Anyway, exciting news… kind of…  My work now provides a monthly discount through T-Mobile  YES!  I’m sooo excited.  Just signed up today and the savings should be seen in about 30 days or so.  Can’t wait.  I love T-Mobile!

 

Taxes, Money and Such

Okay, so I really dread this time of year because I never seem to have all my stuff together for tax time. I’m always looking all over the office or at various websites trying to pull together the data that I need. Now, I don’t really want to share my most intimate financial details on the internet (what!? why not!?) but I will say that every year I get a pretty nice present from Uncle Sam due to my investments in property, etc.

Anyway, on to what this post was about… Money. So I’m looking at my investments that I have and I’m remembering what my tax man said last year… “invest in your IRA more than your ROTH IRA, you’ll get money from the government for doing this.” Well, do you think I did that at all this year? NOPE. All of it went into the Roth. Now, there’s nothing “wrong” with that since I’m actually saving for retirement which is way more than some people these days. But, now that I’ve revisited the idea, I think I’m going to try and do that more this year vs. my Roth. I’ll still shove some cash that way when I can but I’m going to focus on my $5000 limit into my IRA. Now that I have a fee free account (thanks to my company’s recent IPO) at a new brokerage house, I’m going to see about rolling my IRA from where it currently is into this account and start saving that money!

I may do some updates on the progress of this over the next few months. Would any of you find this interesting? My good times and bad times in the crazy financial world?

So, update #1… I know, that was quick…

My initial investment in my company’s IPO has netted me a 31% overall return. Not too shabby!

Google Translate

Google has released a new version of their translate app that now allowes you to communicate with someone in person that doesn’t speak your language. Check out the conversation mode in this new app. It may just help you out in the near future!