Friday, April 25, 2008

American Family Association SPAM

Sorry for the blogging silence lately. Work and personal life have been pretty hectic, and, in all honesty, I just haven't been too motivated lately to do much, let alone write. I'm trying to shake that feeling, so hopefully it will soon be a thing of the past.

Anyway, I got a very interesting email from the American Family Association today. What was it? Well, as you might have guessed from the title of this email, it was unsolicited spam. Unlike some of my fellow bloggers, I don't subscribe to the newsletters of far right organizations. I think they'd make me slowly lose my mind. Apparently, the AFA is going to make sure they get me an email whether or not I want it, though. So, I got the email without asking for it. Oddly enough, there's no "opt-out" email address or instructions. Doesn't that violate some sort of law?

On to the email itself. Notice the scare tactic of bringing up how our kids are in jeopardy. Who doesn't want to save our kids? Well, I guess at least they didn't tell me I had won some sort of international lottery.

Here's the text of the email:

I hope you will consider joining AFA ActionAlert...

What kind of society are we leaving our children?

Millions of mothers and fathers across the country are concerned about the kind of society we are leaving our children. Violence, vulgarity, profanity, sexual exploitation. The list is long. Have you felt helpless? Would you like to do something to stem the tide? You can.

American Family Association's AFA ActionAlert gives you the opportunity to actually do something for our children and their future. AFA ActionAlert is the largest pro-family, pro-traditional values website in America. Nearly 3,000,000 people just like you have joined hands to make their voices heard.

Please consider joining with others who care. Join the AFA ActionAlert team. Our children need us.

Here is the link you will need to sign up:

https://secure.afa.net/afa/activism/subscribers/signup.aspx?rid=0

Thanks!

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Coming Out

An email from a friend of mine:

"My weekend wasn't so great. I told my parents. My dad just sat there and mumbled to himself. My mom ran into her room and started screaming NOO for like 15 minutes like an animal. Then she caming running after me screaming, "get out of my house you f***ing fa**ot." My dad tackled her before she got to me and I ran out of the house in my socks."

Man, and I thought my coming out was rough. This is honestly the worst coming out story I've heard from someone I know personally. The good news is that his dad met him later that day to tell him he didn't understand, but that'd he'd support him and wanted to keep the family together. However, he also told him that he was pretty sure his mom was no longer coming to his graduation.

Pretty unbelievable stuff. That's the unique thing about being gay and coming out. It's one of the only things I can think of where people actually have to consider that their "loving" families might turn on them and never look back. Hopefully his parents come around because if not, this one conversation possibly just changed his life forever.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Going to New Orleans

Edit: April Fools, guys ;-)

If you haven't noticed, New Orleans is J's and my (how do you say that with correct grammar?) favorite city. We probably visit 3 or 4 times a year, and we're already making our 3rd visit in 2008 this year.

A friend of mine at work is going with some friends for her fiance's 30th birthday, and J and I decided to tag along. It's been a while since we've been to the city when it wasn't a holiday weekend, so we jumped at the opportunity.

We haven't really mentioned this to any of our friends or family yet, but we have an alternate motive behind going to NOLA this time too. We've been talking about how much we'd love to live in New Orleans for a while, so this time we're going to take advantage of the long weekend to look at some properties we might be able to buy. We've got a Realtor lined up and everything, and we'll be spending Saturday visiting a few open houses and looking at some places that are on the market. Hopefully it works out.

A large hotel chain called me back after I submitted my resume a few weeks ago, and they offered to fly me down for an interview next week too, so the only thing that's been holding us back so far (lack of employment opportunities) may be taken care of as well. So, fingers crossed. I'm so excited, and I'll keep you guys updated. I hope I don't become an alcoholic or something once we move. Yikes!