I'm not quite getting it - a cuddle party?

A cuddle party is is an event for adults to get together and explore affectionate touch and communication without it becoming sexualized. At these events, we create the safe space to talk about and explore what our needs are as adults when it comes to affection, intimacy and welcomed touch. In other words, CUDDLING!" It just seems very New York meets Santa Cruz to me.

According to the cuddle partiers Most of us don't pick up somebody at the bar for a one-night cuddle. I beg to differ - just check out what this guy was up to... though he does fall of the cuddle boat a day later...

Redone lobby....

They spent all summer renovating the basement levels of the Bobst library. Some thought they it was just a way to avoid any copycat bobst-boys. But much to the my delight they reopened the very swanky redesigned lounge having made substantial, rather than cosmetic improvements. The flourescent lighting is less ghastly, they softened the interiors up with wood furnishings, put in a bunch of comfortable tables and chairs including the one pictured above. I was intially more impressed with the Aerons Chairs, but today I wandered back to the "leisure reading area" and discovered these amazing chairs made by Brayton International. I don't want to read sitting in anything else any more! Unfortunately, Brayton International only deals with institutional buyers (I think), so no new reading chair for me. But hey, the lounge is open 24 hours a day, so I could always head downtown for a comfortable sit... did I really just write that? Go NYU spending! In an article that I found about NYU having spent most of the 2 billion dollars that it raised since the late 1970s to turn itself from a commuter school to a nationally recognized intstitution, I found this sentence: "Hansmann and his allies argue that administrators are wrongly making a fetish of the size of their universities' endowments. NYU has no size fetish.

Fun - Pac the Man 2

Pac the Man 2

Go Hustler magazine

Thanks to an interesting post by bjland I was led to this article about allegations of hypocrisy leveled at a conservative politician (gee). Anyhow, the article notes: "After RAW STORY ran an article suggesting that Congressman David Dreier, R-CA, might be gay, Hustler Magazine revealed that they planned a major expose exploring the conflict between the congressman’s sexuality and his positions on gay rights." In another related BlueLemer article: Dreier’s former challenger, Democrat Janice Nelson, has said that she was aware Dreier was living with his chief of staff, but chose not to make an issue of it during her 2000 campaign... Nelson said she decided to come forward after she read on RAW STORY that Hustler was set to report that the local papers in Dreier’s district had deliberately kept reporters from asking the congressman about his sexuality and his positions on gay rights. Smith’s high salary has also raised eyebrows. During the last reporting period, Smith made $156,600, just $400 shy of the highest paid White House staff member, Assistant to the President Karl Rove, who made $157,000. It is also $400 less than President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew Card, who receives an annual salary of $157,000. By comparison, the chief of staff to Bill Young, who chairs the even more prominent House Appropriations Committee, makes $151,956, more than $4,600 less than Smith. The chief of staff to Republican James Sensenbrenner, Jr., who chairs the House Committee on the Judiciary, made $126,000. The chief of staff to the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, made $100,696.

Why I refuse to fly discount airlines....

Sure, I'll shop at Daffy's and Century 21 to get the deals. But the discounts just aren't worth it when it comes to air travel (plus most major airlines will match the price that discount airlines are running between the same airports for the most part). Just hearing the horror stories of how people are treated on discount airlines makes me glad that I've been a longstanding customer of one of the major airlines (AA) - I don't even remember the last time I did not fly AA or one of its affiliates when travelling by air. There have been multiple times that I missed connections, or dozed off during their repeated broadcasts for Passenger Chang (I blame 20 hours of non-stop travelling for that) - but each time a snafu occured, I was always treated with respect and the problem was solved with minimal discomfort or delay caused to me. Suffice it to say my heart goes out to my friend who is stuck in Chicago (due to a Southwest fuckup). He's going to end up missing the second wedding that he's flown back to California for!

Yet another quiz....

Panic Room....

After sending off a paper ten minutes before the deadline, I thought I'd reward myself with some blog reading. WatercolourBoy has a post about Nicole Kidman responding to Lauren Bacall when Bacall pooh-poohed the idea that Kidman was a legend. This led me to discover that Jodie Foster replaced Nicole Kidman in Panic Room when Nicole hurt herself in a stunt for Moulin Rouge! My what a different movie that would have been - especially if Adam Goldberg had also starred in the film as well (he was replaced by Jared Leto due to scheduling conflicts). Some movie stills from this alternate universe....

I was at this action a week ago...

Unsurprisingly it didn't get enough coverage. It didn't even make it into tho print version of the New York Times.

Back to the grind

School has started - and it went from zero to sixty in no time. I left town this past weekend to have a final "get-away" before I became inundated with work. The consequence of my mini-vacation is that I'm inundated with work. What was I thinking, going to California during the first week of school... suffice it to say, I'm back. And now that school has started, hopefully it'll mean a few more reading breaks where I'll have the inclination to update this blog.

One reason why someone might typing one handed

I've been a loopy guy

Trying to finish up some projects before school begins next tuesday... I went and purchased on craigslist two dressers. When I went to go and see them, they looked pretty light and the seller assured me that they were easily moved with two people. How mislead I was. Each dresser was easily 250 pounds each and were incredibly cumbersome - plus the guy I bought them from lived on the 4th floor of a walkup and the stairs were some of the narrowest I've seen. I managed to get a friend of mine who was a mover in a former life of his (in NYC) and he agreed that they were some of the narrowest stairs that he had seen as well. All told, it took over 4 hours to move the dressers back to my apartment. I ache all over.

What was Dubya doing?

Yesterday midafternoon? Apparently he was at a matinee of "Hairspray." A friend of mine got comp tickets through a friend of hers. When she arrived it turns out that the theater had been giving out complimentary tickets so that the theater would be full for the presidential guest. Hmmm. The highlight of the show? When an actress got to deliver this line as part of her performance: "Manipulating the judicial system to win a contest? That's un-American!" Once realization dawned upon the audience about what they had just heard - the crowd went wild!

LexisNexis

This popped up in my inbox today. I had contacted LexisNexis earlier this month about an article that oddly enough never made it into their archives....

Upon checking with our product development people, this is what they have to
say:

I found out that we are not able to secure this article.

I am sorry we are unable to help you.