Category: Uncategorized

Sucko. My guts have been in fast forward _all day long_. And I’m staying under blankets, as the only way to keep feeling at a comfortable temperature. (fever anyone?) Bleh! I was cutting my self-evaluation for my upcoming performance review awfully close. They need it by Thursday. But something is telling me that maybe I oughta not be going in tomorrow…

I’m a 30 year old male. I work downtown for a government agency. I’m looking for compatible roommates, but I’m in no hurry. I want people I will get along with, people I could make friends with, and I realize that that takes time. Fortunately, my current housing situation isn’t terrible, and I have a month to month lease.

A brief overview, before I get into the details.

I prefer living with other people for social, not just financial reasons. I tend to get along reasonably well with others. I’m adaptable to various circumstances, though I tend towards the low key and prefer roommates who do likewise. I like quiet conversations in the living room, and a fair amount of time to myself in my room. Now, I’ll get into specifics.

Hours & Travel:

My job basically runs 8-5, downtown, and I’ll probably be getting up around 7 am with the attendant 11pm bedtime, depending upon whether I get my gym habit back in gear, I may get up earlier. I’ll have occasional travel, but will probably be home most evenings.

Cleanliness:

I like public spaces to be presentable and usable, not just a museum piece. So, an occasional sweatshirt, or empty glass in the living room isn’t a problem for me. Things that are smelly or mildewy, or a huge collection of clutter in the living room is problematic for me. I typically rinse off my dishes immediately, but sometimes take a day or two to clean them. I do better with dishwashers.

Noise/Roommate Disturbances:

The TV should only be on if someone is watching it right then. I don’t watch much TV, I prefer to use the internet for entertainment. As far as I’m concerned, having the TV on makes whatever room it’s in only suitable for watching TV. I will likely putter around in the kitchen for a bit and briefly (less than 5 seconds) use the blender in the morning for protein shakes. I do like to have people over occasionally, anywhere from once every two months to a couple of times a month. Typically for board game nights, or a potluck style dinner party.

Miscellaneous:

I’m geeky and gay, and neither of these are changing any time soon. I’ve lived with gay, straight, bi, male, and female roommates, and they’ve all made good roommates. I’ve lived with geeks and non-geeks, I’m okay with pretty much anything. I don’t smoke and have no desire to live in a place where people smoke. I’m vegetarian, but won’t protest you eating raw beef in front of me. I’ve voted Democratic in every major presidential election starting in 2000, but my political views are complex. I don’t own pets, and, because my mother is allergic, would prefer a place without. But mom won’t be visiting often (if ever), so that’s not a big deal.

It’s interesting that I first went vegan in chicago (I had been veganish up til then) while living in rogers park. And I was thinking it was soooo easy to be vegan in chicago. Having just come from pittsburgh.

And I reverted to veganish in chicago, after 5.5 years of veganism, while living in rogers park. Because it’s so hard being vegan in chicago. Having just come from minneapolis, and berkeley.

So, I’ve been dog-sitting for and . I swear I’m not actively terrorizing Norton (unlike Ashley & Rex. I swear it was for their own good, chewing wires bad.) But the poor guy seems pretty terrorized. He keeps trying to run out of the apartment. He jumped back like 3 feet and yelped when I tried to pet him at one point. Maybe this is normal. Maybe he just misses Nathaniel and Krista. I dunno. But they’ll be back soon, little guy.

So, I noticed before christmas that the Now & Zen website (makers of the unturkey) had been taken over by a domain seller (hate those guys). It appears they sold their business to a company which then went under. Very, very sad. There are many vegans & vegetarians mourning their passing on the net (just google for [now and zen unturkey] and you’ll see what I mean).

So, someone posted the recipe on the web: http://www.unturkey.org/ Neat.

I could be working out. Or I could be playing my final fantasy dressup hero, or WoW. Or cooking a healthy dinner. Instead, I’m puttering around on my laptop. I need someone around for motivational purposes. Hrm.

So, I saw Eragon on Sunday with . And, despite its utter lack of originality, I kinda liked it. The plot is star wars, the setting is lord of the rings, and the dragon came straight from pern (but lost the teleportation along the way). I thought the acting was pretty decent, and the special effects well done. Or maybe the company just put me in a good mood. If you go in expecting to be disappointed, you may be pleasantly surprised.

We like to think our opinions are the product of reason. But all too often we use reason to support opinions that did not spring from reason. In my teens, I feel my attitude toward the supernatural reeked of this. These days, my beliefs about vegetarianism, my choice to do without a car, and similar ‘green living’ topics probably fall into this category.

So here is my rhetorical question for the evening: What opinions do you hold because reason led you to them, and what reasons do you hold because opinion led you to them?

[ETA: if you want to share, feel free to do so, even though I said the question was rhetorical.]

So, there are three interesting environmental conferences I’ve spotted, where admission isn’t outrageous.

One is in pittsburgh, and starts the monday before carnival. It sounds like a mostly technical conference, but that’s not such a terrible thing. Lodging and transportation I can probably handle without much pain. I think hitting both it and carnival would leave one extra day I’d take off, but not much to do there.

The second is in Sherbrooke quebec in late june. Transportation would definitely be an issue, lodging, at $30 (canadian) per night wouldn’t be a big deal (for a university dorm room, $20, if I found someone to split the cost with).

The third is in Toronto in september, but without the details, I’m not sure if it’d really be up my alley. Again, transportation, and maybe lodging would be an issue.

There was a 4th one in glasgow on urban development issues, but the 400 pound registration fee on top of a flight out there seemed a bit much for me, considering this is all on my own time and on my own dime.