One of only 18,000 gender-neutral, Constitutionally equally protected, legally recognized marriages.

“It best could be compared with a barbed-wire fence — it protects the property but doesn’t obstruct the view.”

One week from tonight, we will have begun our journey out of California … for the third, and hopefully last, time.
We’ll be on our way to Nashville, Tennessee, to take up a new, and hopefully less stressful way of life. Frank starts a new job with Vanderbilt University on 15 Dec. I will start the [...]

Pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the weather this week. It actually got hotter after I took this picture; it was 114 degrees later in the afternoon.

Gavin Newsom, the man who presided over our first civil union ceremony when he was still a San Francisco supervisor, wants to get a jump on gay marriages «the evening of 16 June», instead of waiting for the next morning:

‘San Francisco officials have asked the state for permission to begin marrying same-sex couples a little [...]

«Daryl Cagle, MSNBC»
Every once in awhile, every great once in awhile, I … sort of like the «state of California»:

‘The California Supreme Court struck a historic but possibly short-lived blow for gay rights Thursday, overturning a state law that allowed only opposite-sex couples to marry. In a 4-3 ruling that elicited passionate responses on both [...]

As the sun sets on what was a truly nasty year for us, we wish you a much more wonderful 2008!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

What was originally described on local radio as a spill amounting to just “140 gallons of bunker oil” following the ramming of the Bay Bridge by a container ship last week rapidly turned into 58,000 gallons of oil spilled into San Francisco Bay, which will have «long-lasting effects»:

‘A major oil spill is making San Francisco [...]

Just felt my … fourth (? yeah, fourth) … California earthquake. «A 5.6 which was reportedly on the Calaveras Fault five miles from Alum Rock, near San Jose» (Link no longer active. —Ed.).
Frank and I were sitting on the couch with Fergus, who was … well, cleaning himself in a delicate spot, shall we say [...]

I accepted a job today in a district a couple of cities away. It came out of the blue, all of a sudden. Starting 21-Aug, I’ll be a sixth grade math and science teacher at a junior high school a couple of cities over. It’s an interesting, unique, and potentially very beneficial opportunity, and I’m grateful to have a chance at it.

Since we moved to Brentwood just last 24-Jul (was it just 10 short months ago?!), the following has happened, in no particular chronological order:
•My dog has been poisoned and died;
•My partner has been viciously attacked by a police dog while standing lawfully in the middle of our living room (eight stitches, by the way; more [...]

There comes, in pretty much every town I’ve lived in, an extended moment, usually early on, where I truly detest the people in the town.
I’m currently in the midst of one of those moments with Brentwood.
I’ll get over it. Maybe.

While soaking my weary joints in the hot tub tonight, there was a beautiful, round full moon directly overhead. As I lay steeping in the 103-degree heat, clouds of steam swirled up into the sky and the last leaves on the tree in the front yard fingered out the light from the streetlamp; it was [...]