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Question: If you could eliminate one thing from sex, what would it be?

My Answer: Disease. When you begin dating someone, it's an awkward moment when you have to pause and say "you haven't got any diseases, do you?" People lie (otherwise honest people), and some people may not know they've got a disease until they've given it to you. No, I haven't got any diseases, and I'm fairly damn certain I never will, but it's something I really wish I didn't have to worry about. Pregnancy is easy enough to prevent if you've got half a brain. Disease, well, even things that won't get a woman pregnant will transfer a disease.

FWIW, I had intended the question originally to be more about the act of sex itself, with answers like "cuddling" from the guys and "daily blowjobs" from the girls, but oh well. Feel free to use either of those two answers if you wish. 🙂

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

On May 13 the whole thing started. It continued on through June 26. Hopefully, as promised today, within 14 days I will receive a refund check for $158.89 from MCI.

I estimate that I spent ten hours on the phone since May 13 fighting this issue. I've mailed three letters, sent five faxes, and spoken to every department MCI has (including the janitorial and "executive perks"). However, the satisfaction of finally triumphing (in 14 days, anyway - I'm not counting anything before it's hatched [or cashed]) is worth it. Bah, who am I bullshitting? I shouldn't have had to do all of this in the first place.

As I watch the old episodes of West Wing as they play on Bravo, two thoughts strike me. One is that the show is dramatically much improved in recent years. Older episodes focused more on the personal lives of the staff members and not the interpersonal relationships of the staff members. Older episodes, partly due to this and partly due to other factors, are also slower paced. There aren't as many running jokes and there aren't as many parts that force viewers to rewind to catch everything. Perhaps the actors have advanced in skill, or perhaps Aaron Sorkin has, or both, but the quicker pace is quite a good deal more enjoyable. West Wing was never slow, but it used to be slower.

The second thought is how well the series ties together. In the end, this may very well be a massive, epic movie. Zoe was kidnapped at the end of last season, the "man who's not only President, but also a concerned father" has just stepped down as President (temporarily), and so on. President Bartlett told (I believe) Leo that years ago he'd given Zoe a speech about exactly what would happen, and that it'd scared her and she'd cried. That speech did indeed happen in the 1999 episode I just saw, and the foresight was either dumb luck, brilliant planning, or a good grasp back into the archives to pull something new out for a season-ending cliff-hanger. Whichever it was, it worked well, and I'm tempted to say that it may be the middle of those three as Zoe's kidnapping is not the only idea which has taken its time to come to fruition or be fully realized.

The old episodes are certainly interesting. And though I'm making my own DVDs so I can clear the episodes off of my TiVo (I'm drastically far behind, and my 100+ hour TiVo is filling up), I will order the West Wing DVDs the day they are available.

Question: Have you ever injured yourself during sex?

My Answer: No. I did, however, once get a bloody nose when a knee unexpectedly smacked into my face. Not pleasant, and were it not for Celine Dion on the ol' CD player*, a quick way to spoil the evening.

* No, I'm not joking. Unfortunately.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

It seems that, in the end, the Project Greenlight crew may have cranked out a good movie after all. Unfortunately, the darn thing probably won't play in my market, so I'll have to buy the DVD. Project Greenlight - regardless of how unrealistic it may be (they edit the show not to show how things really are, but what makes for good television) - is the best "behind the scenes" look at a movie.

The IMDB boards, incidentally, gave us this insight:

I think Chris Moore looks like Bill Clinton's mongoloid cousin.

Classic. And hey: Erica Beeney is still a cutie. Maybe not as cute as Amy Smart, but, cute nonetheless. I'd read her script, if you know what I mean.*

* Lame attempt at being cute. It failed miserably, but I like to document my failures as well as my successes here on my blog. And hey, when I have a success, I'll let you know. 🙂

I'm considering getting a GPS receiver so that I can do things like track my speed (when kayaking or even travelling on my scooter), determine what course to take to get back to my launch point, and so on. However, very few work with the Mac, so I'm considering MacGPS Pro. It will work with one of the front-running models I'm considering, the Garmin eTrex Vista.

I've never owned a GPS before, and I'm very much trying to apply the KISS principle to the whole kayaking thing, but a GPS is as much a safety tool as a toy. We'll see.

A week after spending five hours on the water and in the Florida sun, my skin is finally starting to blister. I feel like human bubble wrap, with lots of tiny little clear bubble blisters all over me. Woo! My new pickup line is gonna be "Hey baby, wanna pop my bubbles?"

José and I tried the kayak on the ocean today. It took in more water than I'd hope - I may have a small leak (typical for most kayaks, and fixable with some Lexel sealant). I should have checked to see how much water really got inside - it could have just sounded like more than there really was.

José is now looking at a kayak. Either the Perception Sundance or the Wilderness Systems Pungo 100/120. I'm trying very hard not to be pushy, but I can say that it'd be awesome if he got a yak too. We'd get out at least once a week for sure.

I'm just sitting here peeling like an Irishman (potatoes… errr… never mind).

I haven't gotten a bill for my cable modem service in a few months. No surprise, then, to find out that the bill was at $160 and pending a disconnect! Silly me.

Unfortunately, Adelphia chose to alert me to this fact by having a recorded message ("Hi, this is Taylor Johnson from Adelphia. Please call 1-800-###-#### for an exciting message from your cable provider."). Every minute. For thirty minutes now.

I paid the bill after a few minutes when simply hanging up didn't seem to prevent the recording from calling back. I gave 'em $200 because I like round numbers. Taylor kept calling. After a few more calls, I complained and got another $20 credit on my account.

Taylor is still calling me. It seems to be slowing down a little, though. Maybe that's a good thing. The first four people with whom I've spoken have been unable to fix this. Maybe I can get another $20?

Adelphia sucks.

P.S. Taylor is still calling. The last guy at Adelphia said "we can't credit you for your phone bill." The last guy at Adelphia doesn't seem to get it.

P.P.S. Another update: I've stopped answering every call "fuck you Taylor" in case Kate Beckinsale decides to call me. Don't want to make a bad first impression, you know.

P.P.P.S. I called again. It's now been 50 minutes and Taylor is still calling. This time, the supervisor said "Pay your bill on time and this kind of stuff won't happen." That was about the most polite thing he said. His name is Mike and his ID# is 57100. He probably made that up, but if that is indeed his information, well, I expect he hasn't heard the last from me.

Sometimes, when I'm bored or relaxing, I like to read the personals on match.com, Yahoo! Personals, eMode Matchmaking, etc. Occasionally you come across a gem like this:

where do i start...im 18 years old 5'2" 105pds very athletic; brown hair green/hasel eyes. i enjoy pritty much anything surfing,or bodyboarding at the beach, working out, running (as long as im not just sitting at home). im very outgoing, witty, sweet, honest, and sometimes my plans are spotainious. i work and go to collage durring the week, and on weekends im a disk jocky (running my own buiesness). when im not working, im at the gym, shopping, or spending time w/ my freinds and family. when im not djing on weekends...im at the club with my friends dancing my a** off! like i said i enjoy everything as long as im not "cooped" up in my house.

Where do you start? Hmm, maybe in fifth grade English class?

Question: What's the longest stay you've had in a hospital?

My Answer: Overnight, when I had my tonsils removed at age six. My family is typically very healthy. The last stay I had in the hospital was six hours, which is about five hours and forty-five minutes too long to reset a dislocated shoulder. I considered suing.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

A few years ago Aerosmith performed with, I forget, N*Sync or the Backstreet Boys during the Super Bowl. Now they're opening with Britney Spears on the first NFL game of the season or something like that? I just saw the commercial a few days ago.

Hrmph. I didn't know you spelled Aerosmith S-E-L-L-O-U-T-S. Lame. The day R.E.M. or Toad the Wet Sprocket or Live play with a Britney Spears type is the day I stop being a big fan of their work.

Update: Changed "at a football game" to "with a Britney Spears type." I'd originally said football game because every time Aerosmith plays a game, they play it with crappy boy bands and pop princesses.

Today I bought some light tackle to complement the semi-light fishing rod and reels my dad sent down with my mother on her recent visit. You can see it all here:

Lovely, isn't it? The non-lure goodie bag was filled with Berkley Trilene (8 lb and 10 lb test, the 10 in "invisible green"), the pliers/scissors/etc. you see to the right, some swivel clips, and some small split shot.

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Question: How many drinks per hour put you over the edge?

My Answer: I drank a fourth of Jack in half an hour and was still coherent, upright, and really quite well. Alcohol doesn't seem to have much of an effect on me. I drink for taste, which means to say I typically order a Coke, rarely grabbing something like a "toasted almond" or an amaretto and chocolate milk (or an amaretto sour).

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

I'm in favor of free speech. I'm in favor of free speech all the time. Not sometimes; always.

The link above describes the case of a comic book store clerk who was arrested and faces up to two years in prison for being the clerk at the time a cop purchased a comic book containing pictures of women essentially having sex with trees (which, it turns out, are just demons seeking world domination).

Thing is, I don't care what was in the comic book. Someone was expressing themselves, and others may wish to buy those expressions. Furthermore, as many of us know, cartoons and comics have a whole different set of rules in Japan, where these comics originated, and may not even be terribly offensive.

I'm not into comic books at all, but I know who Scott McCloud is, and when he testifies to the value and worth of a comic series, I listen. The thing is nobody should have had to listen to Scott McCloud because this trial - and the arrest - should have never happened. As I see it, no laws were broken.

We can't enforce free speech "when we feel like it" or "when we agree with what the person is saying." Women having sex with trees? Not something of which I wish to partake. Throwing someone in jail for working in or owning a comic book shop which sells someone else's work depicting women having sex with trees (as part of a larger plot)? Sickening.

I am apparently one nasty fuck. And here I would have thought that honor would belong to Roseanne Barr or something…