Category: My Life

Running with Scissors: A Memoir

Ok, so this was the third in a series of books Constantine and I were to read together. As we all know…

Running with Scissors, a messed up name, for a messed up book! An EXCELLENT messed up book! I was utterly horrified at what this guy went through in his childhood, but could not stop laughing at all the insanity that followed.

A Spot Of BotherThe book is about Augusten from the ages of 13-16. His mother, who seems to have bi-polar and one wacked out therapist who should probably have been put in a mental hospital long ago. His mother begins spending days at a time with Dr. Finch and Augusten gets very upset at his home situation. The author goes form a sterile and clean home where everything has to be his mother’s way to a pink house where the Christmas tree stays all year long; there is dust and mayhem, pets, broken furniture, and a bunch of really intense characters. Augusten goes form worrying about his hair being perfect and his clothes immaculate to living with the shrink and his family, drinking and smoking and not going to school.

For three years the reader gets a glimpse into the life and evolution of Augusten, his trials and tribulations, the rocky family situation as his mother starts dating again and his father not accepting his collect calls, the weird pink house as his safe heaven except where everything gets too crazy and he has to go back to his moms house to relax and recoup. His intense first relationship with a much older man who is fragile and intense at the same time and the funny hair analogies that Augusten would sneak in for some comic relief.

This is another book I would HIGHLY suggest reading!

I got the movie in the mail the other day from netflix, but sadly it was unplayable! :'( Hopefully I will get the replacement on Saturday so I can let you know how that is.

UPDATE:// So I just watched the movie running with scissors and I was very let down. They compressed a few LARGE parts of the book into a single 15 minute section of the movie, they changed some of the most mundane things. IE: “Give me a shoe horn” whereas the book says “Give me a spatula”. Just stuff like that which was very annoying. And the whole kitchen ceiling thing. Hello! They tore down the ENTIRE ceiling, not just a little hole! Ugh!

It’s a GOOD movie, don’t get me wrong, but it’s of course does not live up to the book.

RIP Kenny Black

Grandpa Black and Me

Kenneth James Black was born June 26, 1926, on the family farm one-fourth mile south of Lenox to Edgar and Etta (Recknor) Black. He left this life on May 12, 2008, to rejoin departed family and friends after a long illness with lung disease. Kenny grew up on the farm, enjoyed riding horses and attended country school. He was a life-long member of the Lenox Methodist Church beginning as a member of the Cradle Roll.

He graduated from Lenox High School in 1944, went on to serve in the United States Army as Corporal in Company B of the 328th Engineering Combat Battalion during the Korean conflict as a chauffeur to Army Generals and foreign dignitaries in Washington, D. C. Upon his honorable discharge he served 10 years in the Army Reserve and travelled annually to Camp McCoy for training. He later joined the American Legion Post 250 and served as Commander and recently received his 60 year certificate of service.

In his youth, Kenny could be found running the projector at the Lenox movie theater on weekends. After high school and upon returning from the service he drove a truck for Miller and Roy Trucking. In 1950 he became a salesman for Dixon Motor Company. He won numerous Ford Motor Company 300-500 Club sales awards over the course of his 34 years with Ford. Later Kenny and Bud Carey purchased Dixon Motor and operated it until closing in 1984.

Kenny found his life partner, Clytha Spring and they married July 12, 1952. They welcomed three children into their family: Janell, Kenneth James Jr (Jim), and Sheila. They were blessed with three grandchildren Chris, Andy, and Rebecca and one great granddaughter Keira.

Kenny served his community in several different capacities. He served as a volunteer on the Lenox Fire Department for over 21 years, multiple terms on the Lenox City Council, Taylor County Sheriff’s Posse, and was Civil Defense Director of Taylor County for many years. Kenny was an original member of the Taylor County Historical Society and served on the Board of Directors. He was instrumental in procuring land for the museum, getting the Round Barn moved to the Bedford site, and was one of the grounds keepers.

In 1955 he passed through the Degrees of the Tremont Masonic Operative Lodge No. 343 and also became a member of the Salome Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star serving as officers in both. He later served as Rainbow Dad for Janell and Sheila.

He had many hobbies and activities to occupy his time. He spent time mowing Wilson’s Lake and watered the trees twice a week when the park first started. Kenny and Clytha started the Country Goose craft business in 1980 and created crafts until his health failed and he was no longer able to run the saw and do the sanding.

As an amateur photographer he enjoyed taking pictures of his family, civic events, and sites around town. He was creative and innovative as shown when he designed and built the “Stars for Illinois Street” annual Christmas display.

During his years as a member of the Sheriff’s Posse he helped with the Pony Express ride and spent countless hours parking cars for community events and was a trained weather spotter. He spent time qualifying at the target range and taught his son and grandchildren valuable safety and target lessons.

Through the years he always gardened. He made this a family event involving the kids and later the grandchildren. Kenny grew a record turnip that measured 23 inches around and weighed nearly 6 pounds. He loved to share the bounties of the garden with friends and neighbors. He loved spending time with his grandchildren passing on his knowledge to them and enjoying reading stories to his great-granddaughter Keira.

Preceding him in death were his mother Etta and father Edgar, brother Raymond and father-in-law Clyde Spring. Left to cherish his memory are his wife Clytha of 55 years, daughters Janell Black, Jim (Peggy) Black, Sheila (Dwaine) Mansfield. Three grandchildren Rebecca Weaver-Armes (Neil Hauser) of West Des Moines, Iowa; Chris Black of Redondo Beach, California; and Andy Black of Polk City, Iowa. He is also survived by one great granddaughter Keira Hauser, his mother-in-law Winnie Spring of Lenox and Raymond’s daughter Deb Black-Ralston (Jim Ralston) of Fontana, California. Surviving siblings are sister Betty (Dean) Weller of Sharpsburg and his brother Don of Lenox. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

Weekend Recap…

Ok, So I am on the plane now and thought I would take some time to write about the weekend.

Lets see, I really didn’t do to much during the week. I went to the gym with Dustin one day and no gym the rest of the week. Iw as pretty lazy. Friday I went out with Sirin and Christian to this place in downtown LA called Seven Grand. It’s a whiskey bar that Guerrilla Gay bar was hosting at. Tons and tons of fun! We hung out and talked and played pool and what not. Matt was there and I tried buying him a drink, but he declined. How sad! 🙁 OH well.

Drove back to my place after that and the three of us drank the bottle of wine that Constantine and I brought back from Austria. It was not very good. Christian spent the night and Saturday morning I drove him home and then was getting my car washed when I got the first of many bad news phone calls during the weekend. I had planned to hang out with a bunch of people and go to a gallery opening that night, but I cancelled all those plans and just ended up sitting at home all day reading and doing random computer stuff and debating about what I should do.

Sunday I got up and went rock climbing. It was just me and Jerry setting up so that was fun. We talked a lot and he taught me some interesting stuff. Jenny and Megan showed up and some other guy. We all did some rock climbing on three different climbs. I made it to the top of two of them and then failed on the last one. The last one is called Birdshit crack and I have yet to make it up that one. There’s this weird move you are doing because you’re coming out of this crack and have to turn and get yourself up somehow. Anyways, it’s hard to explian, but I just can’t keep my footing on it. Very annoying.

Had a great time rock climbing, but I got two calls during that with more bad news. After climbing we went up and had a picnic up on this mountian thing and just chatted and stuff. Lots of fun!

Drove home after that, called Constantine on my way home and of course he didn’t answer. I was debating about what to do and ended up just calling my boss and he said to go home and work from there. So I bought the tickets and then freaked out because my flight left at 5am Monday morning and this was 5pm Sunday night. So I had to arrange someone to take care of the cats and drive me to the airport and I had to pack everything. What a mess. I was freaking out.

My friend Rob came over and we hung out for like 45 minutes and watched some TV and caught up. It was relaxing to have him chill with me. He’s very laid back and cool.

Called Constantine again and left another message about me being in Houston on Monday for 3 hours and seeing if he wanted to have coffee or something.

He called back a little later and we talked. I was very angry with him and with everything else that’s going on and called him an asshole. As soon as it came out I felt so horrible. I wish I could have taken it back, rewind the tape…I didn’t know what to do. We talked about a lot of random things. Sounds like he’s having a great time in Houston, sounds like he’s moving on and forgetting about me and all the great times we had together. When I got back from Lone Pine….(stop me if I wrote about this already??) anyways, I noticed that someone from houston opera house and Halliburton had both spent a LARGE amount of time reading EVERY entry about Constantine and I all the way back to when we first met. I find this very very strange, why are they reading about all this a month after it happened. Why are they spending so much time going back and reading about everything that’s happened… I don’t get it. He said he knew they had done it. Sirin has her theory, but I am guessing that’s not the case.

Anyways… Being in Houston, being so close and yet so far away from him. In the short month I feel like we’ve already grown so far apart. I’m moving on very well, but with all this shit going on, I just want him back. I want to hear his voice and have him comfort me. After readin “Call me by your name”. I keep hoping that he’ll show up in Iowa, we’ll see each other from across the room, run into each other’s arms and kiss and swing each other around and be so happy (ala the wedding scene). I kept hoping while I was waiting in Houston that he would show up at the gate and say. “I’m comging with you”. I know that he won’t, but I need support right now, I could really use someone to lean on. To cry on his shoulder, to hold him and have it feel like everything will be ok. I wish he could be there in Iowa, to sit in the hot tub, watch the sky and talk about my grandpa with me.

My crying has been so random lately. I just can’t stop it. It’s very annoying.

On a funny note. There is this spanish couple in the seat infront of me on this flight, they have lunch on this flight (amazing!) anyways, they don’t speak ANY English, the flight attendant was aksing everyone if they knew how to say “Turkey” or “Ham” in spanish. No one knew. She had chicken, beef and fish on her little translation card, but no Turkey or beef. Anyways she started making farm sounds. It was really funny. Then they answered by mimicing the sounds. Very entertaining. lol. On the flight from LAX to Houston, I had the whole exit row to myself. That was very nice. 🙂

Open Source Madness!

Well, ever since I got dumped. I’ve had a lot more time to do some fun projects… Contributing to the Open Source Community!

So today, I am happy to announce 2 BRAND new WordPress plugins, 1 proof of concept plugin, 1 updated plugin, some code contributions to the Zen Cart community and a new web service for the VTiger community!

How exciting!

1) First is a wordpress plugin which allows you to use HTTP or HTTPS with your pages. If a page is accessed via HTTPS then all the elements contained within the page will also be HTTPS. It is required that you have used proper coding practices by using wpurl and url respectively. You can download HTTPS for WordPress here

2) Second is a wordpress plugin which allows you to track users who are logged in. This only tracks the UserID, the PageURL and the Date the page was viewed for users who are logged in. This is in very early development stages so at this time there is only data collection and no reporting features are available in this first release. userTracker is available here.

3) I have made some pretty big changes to the Private Post plugin which has been around for a while now. The new changes allow anyone who is logged in to view all private posts and pages. Upcoming features will support integration with Role Manager so that you can assign roles to specific posts. Check your WP2.5 Plugins page to update this plugin or you can download it from here.

4) This is a proof of concept plugin which will base protected content viewing ability on an outside system. In this case we have an internal software which contains a list of our WP users and the type of Support contract they have purchased. This plugin does a web service call to our software to get a list of the contracts for that user and then sets the users role automatically based on that list. So each time the user visits the site, the list and thus the roles are updated. Since this is dependent on our outside system, the plugin cannot be downloaded, but if you are interested in seeing how to handle this, please email me.

5) Is some contributions to the Zen Cart community. These contributions tie Zen cart’s users into the wordpress users. This way you can use the built in Zen cart registration, login and logoff functions to also register, login and logoff of wordpress users. Currently the only issue here is that when Zen cart does an auto logout, people will stay logged into wordpress. You can download this here

6) This is new web service for VTiger. This new web service provides three functions

  • 1) a better way to create accounts and contacts then the built in webservice. You build an array of the needed information, pass it to the webservice and it will create the account and contact. It will return an array with the contact and account id’s.
  • 2) Find contact based on email. You pass the email address and it will return an array with the contact and account id’s
  • 3) Create sales order. This will create a new sales order with the users Shipping and Billing information filled in. It will return the sales order id. You can also add products, tax, shipping rate, discounts, etc to the sales order.

Upcoming on this web service will be creating an invoice from the sales order then emailing that invoice to a specified user. You can download the advanced webservices here. (As soon as I figure out this retarded system)