Snotty and Sniffling

Yep, I'm sick again. As is quite typical on my trips to Paris, I usually get sick a day or two after I get back. And while I usually blame the walking & talking viral factory that is my niece, I actually think it was my Mom this time. So I've been trying to lay low for the past week or so to try to recuperate.

Christmas in Paris was good. Ish. Five adults and two children does cause some interesting family dynamics. But I think it went better than I thought. And while the weather was pretty cold, atleast it didn't rain much. So we did managed to get out of the flat every day for little adventures or the daily chores.

Let's see, Christmas highlight? I have to say that it's my niece listening to my iPod and singing along to Pink's "So What" at the top of her lungs!

"So so what?
I'm still a rock star
I got my rock moves
And I don't need you"

Just too funny and too cute.

And the trip back rocked! I got bumped to business class (thank you United!) and the flight got in an hour early!

I stayed in on NYE. Museum Man and I watched a movie and had some kirs. Nothing too wild. Though we did have an exceptional brunch at Fahrenheit at the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown with the Glamazon on New Years Day. We had several cosmos and we were feeling pretty toasty by the time we left about 3 plus hours later. Definitely a good time.

Started the new gym routine yesterday. It's been three months since I started at my self esteem crushing gym and I need to mix up my routine to see some new improvements. And like any gay man, I normally ignore my lower body. Well, with the cardio I do, my lower body is fine. But I finally decided to add some legs to my routine. Plus I'm mixing up my other workouts. I want to lose 15 pounds by the cruise in March. So that's the goal!

Home for a (working) Holiday!

It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't even supposed to go home for the holidays. I had gone to visit my sister in Paris, and I was just going to spend a quiet Christmas in DC, curled up in bed hibernating till the new year. But my sister guilted me to going home for the holidays. "It will be the first time in 42 years that Mom and Dad will be alone," she said. And I'm a good son. Or try to be. So I bought an exhorbitant plane ticket to CO.

Yes, CO. Not Denver, but the flight on Friday was hellish. Only a mere 5 hour delay in Chicago. But I'm not going to bitch. I was lucky. Really lucky. I ran into so many people who had been trying to get somewhere for 2 days. The wait list to COS was over a hundred people long. Just so sad. So while my flight wasn't good, I got home.

And promptly went to work. The big chore was to get rid of the behemoth TV they have in the den. It was hard for Dad and I to get it out and into the Big Wheel (his truck). I can't imagine if he had tried to do it on his own. It would not have been pretty. Then we got the new LCD TV up and installed. It's sweet. I can't wait till I get one. Then it was time for tech support. I cleaned up Mom's PC: de-frag, virus check, spyware check, ad-aware check. Updated her IE. I'm working on Dad's also. He's got an ancient PC that runs Windows 98 SE. I keep telling him that he needs to update, but he won't listen.

It's quiet here. I miss my neice and nephew and my sister of course. But they are all asleep now in Paris. We'll talk with them tomorrow. So that will be good.

Here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very peaceful holiday.

The Gift Gap . . . .

. . . . or also known as the Dating Dilemna. It usually only happens a couple of timesd a year, usually around holidays, but it's enough to strike fear in the heart of anyone who is in a relationship. Say you meet someone in October. You start dating and like a ticking time bomb, the holidays start to approach. So you're seeing each other, but you haven't had the official talk. The are we really boyfriends, or just friends, discussion. And of course, being the emotional coward that you are, you don't really want to bring it up. You want to revel in the dream that you are boyfriends so why let something like reality bring you a lump of coal for Christmas?

Now living my normally monastic life, I've managed to avoid the Dating Dilemna. But not this year. This year I find myself seeing someone I like a lot, but don't want to blow it when it comes to the Dating Dilemna. I wish there was some sort of rule or thumb to address this situation. Something like:

Dating less than 1 month: Bottle of Wine.
Dating 2-3 months: A small personal gift.
Dating 4-6 months: A larger personal gift (especially if you are seeing each other exclusively).
And after 6 months? Then you really need help. If you can't figure out what to get your boyfriend, then you really need to rethink the relationship.

So, wading into unfamiliar waters and wary of a potential rip tide or whirlpools (what if I get something that's obviously too expensive, or too cheap, i.e. the Gift Gap?), I decided to go with Sporn: the combination of Sports and Porn, where straight male athletes strike gay porn poses. Yes, I know, sporn? But seriously, the s Dieux du Stade is the highest quality of Sporn. Ahem, need I say more?
Okay, so nothing says I really like you like a calendar of half naked HOT rugby players. But still.

And what did I get in return. A gift certificate for a massage. I think I lost this round. His gift is much better than mine, and probably more expensive. Crap! Now I'll have to figure out a way to make it up to him!