Big Fat Hairy Living

I just spent the last seven hours preparing Mark’s new apartment for painting, then applying the first coat.

The previous tenants didn’t do a good job of painting. They painted over all the terazzo window ledges, choosing absolutely atrocious colours. They didn’t bother to mask off any of the hardware or doorknobs, leaving goopy paint on all the doorknobs and handles. And how hard is it to remove faceplates before painting? Am I the only renter who does that?

That said, after plastering, sanding off knobbly bits of paint drippings, and applying the first coat of Benjamin Moore’s “Moonlight” , the place already looks better. It’s amazing what nothing more than a fresh coat of paint will do to a room.

Why do so many people do such half-assed jobs in their home just because it’s a rental? So what if they don’t own it. Don’t they want the place they live in to look beautiful?

Remember how Microsoft changed its stance on a gay rights bill in Washington state, supposedly after some blowhard christian minister complained? Apparently that’s not the end of it: Microsoft has been paying the consulting company of Ralph Reed, the ultrahomophobic former leader of the Christian Coalition, $20,000 a month. John Aravosis of Americablog writes:

Despite Reed’s prominent role as a leader of the homophobic right wing, Microsoft claims they never used him to consult on “social policy issues”

Aravosis, quoting the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray said the company has hired Reed on several occasions to provide advice on “trade and competition issues.” He said Reed’s relationship as a consultant with the software company extends back “several years.”

In a leaked all-employees memo on the flip-flop, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer apparently wrote, “What message does the company taking a position send to its employees who have strongly-held beliefs on the opposite side of the issue? … I don’t want the company to be in the position of appearing to dismiss the deeply-held beliefs of any employee, by picking sides on social policy issues.” Duh, Steve — maybe the message it would send is that bigotry and discrimination are unacceptable? Tell me, what message would the company taking a position to oppose racial discrimination send to its employees who may have strongly-held beliefs on the opposite side of that issue?

Who are they kidding? Why are they lying to the media? Why is Microsoft pandering to fag-bashers?

Seen on Church Street this morning:

My Sansevieria trifasciata is flowering. For those of you not in the know, that’s a rare event.

Those droplets are actually sticky droplets of plant nectar. Sweet, stickly droplets dripping from my plant’s long, engorged sexual organs.

Phear my mad plant skillz, bitchez.

The Chinese technician with the Jamaican accent thinks that Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion is a member of the House of Commons. He votes.

From The London Times:

The Vatican denunciation [of Spain's same-sex marriage Bill] was made by Cardinal Alfonso Lopes Trujillo … Asked about the Spanish [same-sex marriage] Bill, he said: “We cannot impose the iniquitous on people. On the contrary, precisely because they are iniquitous the Church makes an urgent call for freedom of conscience and the duty to oppose. A law as profoundly iniquitous as this one is not an obligation, it cannot be an obligation. One cannot say that a law is right simply because it is law. [Municipal officials] should exercise the same conscientious objection asked of doctors and nurses against a crime such as abortion. This is not a matter of choice: all Christians… must be prepared to pay the highest price, including the loss of a job.”

Too bad Trujillo wasn’t around to make that speech to his new pope Ratzinger back when Ratzinger was part of the Hitler youth and later the German army, deserting only days before the surrender of Germany when everyone else was also doing it. Defying laws and paying “the highest price” is “not a matter of choice”, except if you were a pope wannabe in Nazi Germany.

On a lighter note, I did see execucock again last afternoon.

If only the company’s finances were as nice as the CFO’s cock. Everyone here is whining about how low the company’s stock is. I’m laughing on the inside, as I sold all my stock more than thirteen dollars ago. Suckers.

Words cannot describe how upset I am right now or how badly I wish I were somewhere, anywhere but here at work.

I had my sister do my taxes this year with her income tax program. She told me that I was getting a refund of more than $500. That made me happy, because $500 would be almost enough to pay for a new CPAP machine to replace the one that broke.

Yesterday I got my notice of assessment from the federal government. I’m not getting $500 back; I owe $500. So now I’m going to have to pony up more than $1100 in the next week.

Does Microsoft no longer support the gay and lesbian community the way it used to? John Aravosis of Americablog writes:

Microsoft Corporation pulled its support for a gay rights bill in Washington state last month after complaints from a single radical right anti-gay leader, according to an article just published in the Seattle paper, The Stranger (the article is on the news stands already, online Thursday). My sources in Washington state tell me that the vote on the bill, expected in two days (Friday), is SO CLOSE that Microsoft’s actions may be pivotal in KILLING THE PRO-GAY LEGISLATION.

Emphasis is in the original.

Microsoft is officially now “neutral” on the passage of legislation in Washington state banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.