Gay Pride in San Francisco!

Above: Me, Zach and Paul enjoying Pride 2007.

Gay Pride was this weekend in San Francisco and as I have heard it’s the biggest gay pride in the country. I have only been to Boston Gay Pride and it is pretty low-key and the weather most the times hinders the turnout. Last year it poured in Boston for pride and the year before that it was extremely humid. I am also not a huge gay pride person; I could take it or leave it. I understand the importance of it and all but I am not into waving a rainbow flag around or waving prancing down the street in a parade. Not my thing.

Above: (left to right) Will, Kurt, Paul in back, Scott(center) Aaron in back and Terry far right
at Kevin's house party. Tons of fun!

On Saturday, Paul and I went to a few house parties in the city, two of our softball teammates were having house parties and we had a good time at both of those parties. We hung out with other teammates, drank and enjoyed a lot of laughs. When we decided to leave the second house party to go get some dinner, the streets of the Castro were bustling and it turned terribly cold by nightfall. So we all scurried to this Chinese restaurant as all ten of us were starving. This was probably one of the worst Chinese restaurant any of us have been to..the service was beyond slow, one of our buds Jeff had a beer spilled on him and we waited for our food for a good hour. We all had fun though, laughing our asses off. We then decided to go to the block party that was covering most of the Castro, there were wall to wall people and the crowd seemed very sketchy, many lesbians in the crowd and of course we saw many fighting, what a shock! You know I will never understand why lesbians are always fighting or arguing about something, it blows my mind. So we all decided to skip the block party and we all chilled at one of our friends place. It was a very low key Saturday but fun.

Above: Roofdeck party at Mark and Joe's. that's Terry to the far right.
It was packed, I barely saw the hosts!

Above: The crew once again!

Sunday was the day of the big pride parade and we wanted to take Zachary with us. Zachary was looking forward to the parade when we picked him up. He doesn’t seem to like big crowds or loud music so we were not expecting to stay long. Zach was pretty overwhelmed by the entire spectacle; so much to look at and there was a lot to see! He had a great time, one of the things that he found most interesting was this little dog dressed in a pink tutu, he was laughing and wondering why he dog had clothes on. So the man gave Zach a pink lollipop and said, “here you go young man.” So the rest of the day Zach was referring to himself as a young man. It was very cute and funny to see Zach calling himself a young man, almost proud and happy that he was called a young man and not a kid or a baby. I tell ya, that boy wants to grow up too fast!

Above: Paul and Zach headed to the center of the chaos!

Above: The dog in the pink tutu and the man who called Zach a "young man."

Above: Paul and Zach watching the Pride Parade.

So the next day Zach went to school and his teacher took the below photo of him. You take the kid to one gay pride parade and look what happens!!!

Above: Zach in semi-drag! HA!

Below are many more pictures from gay Pride 2007! Check 'em out!

Above: Balloon Boys!

Above: A couple is walking around almost bare ass in the train station.

Above: I love this picture, a band playing while going up the escalator.

Above: Half man half Reindeer...

Above: Cool Mohawk!

Above: Sigh. I will let you try to guess what this picture is...
it's a man dressed as a golden shower. Leave it to the gays!

Above: Hot Mess of the Week: Look very closely! Oye Vey!

Above: Loungin!

Above: And we will end it with the "end."

Greek Theatre

I was a little sick this past week, just a cold and cough but enough to slow me down, and Paul had bought tickets a while back to go see the Goo Goo Dolls and Lifehouse in Berkeley CA. I was worried I was not going to be able to go but we went this past Friday even though I still was not feeling that well. The weather was so perfect as we walked through the Cal campus; it was rather warm for what we are used to now in SF.



Paul is a big Goo Goo Dolls and I like them as well and we both enjoy Lifehouse and this was going to be the first concert we have been to since living out in CA. The bands played at this place called The Greek Theatre, really cool place looked like a Greek Coliseum. There were no seats just slabs of concrete to sit on so it was not overly comfortable but it was very cool to lounge out like we did.

The opening act for he groups was a young girl named Colbie Caillat. She sounds just like Natasha Beddingfield and she is going to have a hit single for sure. Her first single is called “Bubbly” and it’s already on the top 100 on iTunes. She has a nice voice but no stage presence at all. I’d gave her an overall 2 stars out of 5.

After Callat performed, Lifehouse took the stage. I thought Paul was going to rush the stage when he saw the lead singer, a cute spiky hair blond guy. Very good looking lead singer. Lifehouse was really good, they played a bunch of songs, but the four biggest hits of theirs were my fave, “Hanging by a Moment,” “Spin,” “You and Me” and their new single “The First Time.” They sounded great and had high energy. 4 out of 5 stars

Above: Lifehouse takes the stage.

Now, while we were watching the show we met two really nice ladies, Suzette and Jamie. They were hilarious and we had a great time with them. They are huge Goo Goo Dolls fans and they had binoculars that we all shared.

Above: Me, Paul, Suzette and Jamie enjoy a few laughs at the concert.

As the night rolled in, the weather was so perfect it was like 65 degrees no wind and a clear sky. Perfect night for an outdoor concert. The Goo Goo Dolls came on and the crowd went wild. The crowd was mostly young college students, rich college students, and they were all drinking and having a blast. It was fun watching the young kids just be carefree and have fun. I almost wanted to tell them enjoy it as much as you can!

Above: A fun bunch of kids enjoying the concert!

The Goo Goo Dolls were pretty good; they sang all their hits like, “Name,” “Black Balloon,” “Slide” and “Better Days.” But when it came time to sing their biggest hit “Iris” they had the crowd sing almost the entire song. I was a little upset about that. I really wanted o hear them sing it not a crowd. All in all it was great but I’d give the Goo Goo Dolls 3 out of 5 stars.

Above: Goo Goo Dolls have a great lightshow on stage.

As we were leaving the show a bit early to try to beat the crowd, I asked Paul if he had everything and sure enough Paul had forgotten his Blackberry, so he ran back to see if he could find it. Luckily, he found it, those things are pricey. So we hoped in a cab to the train station and as we were getting out of the cab I asked Paul again if he had everything, guess what…yup...his blackberry fell out of his coat and was left in the cab. Paul had to chase down the cab to get his blackberry back. Now, I am smiling while all this is going on because I get scolded a lot for forgetting things here and there but this took the cake. Losing your phone twice all in the matter of 10 minutes. Priceless! Sorry Paul, I had to write about this, it was funny as shit!

Above: Is that Paul looking for his Blackberry?

Happy Birthday Little Brother!

Above: My brother, Noah, at age eleven in 1992.

Tomorrow is my youngest brother’s 26th birthday. My youngest brother Noah was born in 1981 and was originally named “Benjamin.” After a few days in the hospital, the nurses were calling him “Benji” and my mother changed his name to Noah Benjamin. Although being the oldest of three boys, I gave my brother a nickname and it stuck for many years: Goya Bean. Goya O' Boya was the slogan for Goya Beans at the time and I thought he looked like a little "goya bean" :-) Older brother's are big pain's in the asses!

I am eight years older than Noah and I vividly recall him as a tiny newborn. I remember how tiny he was and how I would help my mother bathe, feed and dress him. He was a little doll in some ways and I like to think I was a huge part of his upbringing. Noah was the quiet one of the family but he had a short temper. He had a full head of curls and was by far the cutest of the three children in the family growing up.

Above: My brother Nathan (far left) and me holding my "new-born" brother, Noah in 1981.Check out the orange chair and the matching dutch boy haircuts!! I love it!

Although I am not that close with my youngest brother, probably because I left home at 16 years old and he was only 8 years old at the time, I still think of him and have fond memories of a very colorful childhood together and me being the bossy and protective older brother.

Noah, I hope you have a wonderful 26th birthday.

See you when I come back home to Massachusetts!

Love, your brother…
Neil

Happy Birthday Ruthie!!!

I have a ton of respect for you and your courage to raise five children as a single mother. Paul is an amazing person and you're a huge part of the great person he is today.

Hope this is many more birthday's to come!

See ya soon!

Love Neil

Yo Ho Ho & A Bottle of Rum!

Above: Zach struting his stuff on his way to the Pirate Festival!

This past weekend in Northern California they were having a large Pirates event where everyone got dressed up and enjoyed pirate festivities. Zach is a huge fan of pirates so Paul and I thought it would be fun to take Zach to this event and be with other kids that liked pirates. We gathered up Zach’s pirate costume, which consists of a really cool velvet jacket with skull and crossbones and matching hat and a nifty eye patch.

Above: Zach struggles with the wind as he unfolds his handmade Pirate Map!

After riding in the car for an hour to our destination, Zachary asked if we were there yet and to his surprise, we were. The event took place on the water and it was very windy. We were shocked to see just how many people turned out for this event and how many of them were adults dressed in full pirate garb. It was very impressive.




Zach was all excited and marched with confidence in his pirate costume. Most everyone that saw Zach commented on how adorable he was and doted on his costume. The sea of pirates swarmed along the oceanfront. As soon as we arrived a pirate who looked exactly like Captain jack from “Pirates of the Caribbean” was giving a show and we watched the humorous pirate skit.




Zach had a blast and he even got a new wooden pirate sword. It was a great time and its a great age for Zach he is discovering new things he likes all the time. His favorite things, besides pirates are firemen, cars, Spiderman and Superman. A typical healthy 3 ½ year old boy.

Above: Zach has too much rum!

F U

Above: A great hitter, first base player and teammate, Jen Mac leaves the Pups.

I wasn't going to write a post about this, but I got a few emails and even a comment about it in the Father's Day Post below AND I heard a lot of comments about it last night at the bar from fellow teammates and from the opposing team.

Sunday, Father's Day, was a beautiful day in San Francisco and Paul and I both had softball games to play, but at different times. Paul dropped me off at my 10:15am game and most of the players were there which was very cool. Two of our players are leaving, Jen -moving to Columbia CA and Johnathan - going to Spain for a while, but still playing for the Pups. They are both great people and players and I will miss them even though I have only known them a short time.

Above: Although Johnathan is not leaving the Pups,
he will be travelling the world for the rest of the softball season.

Our team, the Pups, played his team called "Treat." I really like the color of their uniforms because they are the baby blue color of my former Boston team, The Brushbacks. So far since I have been playing in California I have "toned down" my competitive nature that I was well-known for in Boston. I have been very low-key rooting my fellow teammates on and truly enjoying the game and impressed with my own improvement in playing this year.

Right when I started playing against the Treat I knew they were going to be an obnoxious team, they had annoying chants and they didn't come off to friendly. This is all fine and good but when your playing against a team that gives off this vibe it makes you want to beat them even more. The game started off well with both teams playing well, hitting great and scoring runs. By the last inning we were up seven runs and looked like we had the game in the bag. Like I have learned in softball and professional sports, it's not over till it's over and the Treat had started racking up runs and the score was now 13-12. Although we were still winning, there was only one out and they had enough runners on base to win the game.


The tying run of the game was running towards home plate, I am the catcher on the team so I whipped off my mask, got in front of the plate and attempted to catch the ball. I have played this position for 3 years now and I know not to stand on the plate or get in the way, I have learned this. As the runner was coming in and the ball was coming towards me I reached for the ball and tried to tag the runner at the same time but he came in safe. End of play.... or it should have been. After the other team scored the tying run you would think the team would be excited, which they were and you would think the coach would be even more excited about this. Nah! The coach decided to start playing the umpire and start telling me what I already know about the game and yelling his head off. At this point I had already had enough with this lame coach, earlier in the game he called his OWN team members idiots, which I found way off base for a coach. So as he was yelling at me I stood up took a few steps toward him and told him to FUCK OFF!!! I turned back to the game and started to play. No big deal he deserved it.

After I did that I didn't think anything of it because, frankly, it was not the first time nor will it be the last time I tell someone off on the ball field. My old teammates in Boston would have rolled their eyes and thought nothing off and in this case, would have patted me on the ass and said, he deserved it. My current teammates were pretty impressed that I stuck up and told the guy off and I didn’t realize how impressed and shocked they were until that night after softball when we all had drinks and I heard so many remarks about it. Good remarks as in the guy deserved it and it's about time someone told him where to go. I did also hear that the coach on Treat aplogized for mouthing off and I appreciate the apology. It was a blast playing your team and I hope that were are granted with a rematch. I also hope you will learn to enoy the game more.

Above: Some of the Pups at the Pilsner Inn, the Pups sponsor.

All in all my teammates are getting to know me a bit better and I am getting recognized not only for my bubble ass in my tight softball pants but for my "Don't Fuck with me fellas" attitude. The Pups are a great team and I am really getting to know a lot of he players. Here's to many more softball games and "Fuck you's!"

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad in the world!!

Love Zach & Neil

All Grown-Up

Above: Zach testing out his new bed.

Zachary (Zeebs) has been sleeping in a crib for roughly three years now. He seems to have outgrown the crib so Paul and I bought him a really cool Spiderman Bed! We re-decorated his room this week and when he came over to see his room and new bed he was overjoyed and wanted to go to bed right away! Sounds like a good deal to me, new bed new bedtime! Yahoo!

Above: The many faces of Zeebs, overly excited here!

We will see how Zeebs does on his first night in a “big-boy-bed” The first thing Zach said was “Yeah, now I can get out of bed at night!! We might be putting together that crib real soon!

Above: Let's hope it goes this smoothly when it's time for beddy-by!

Patio Makeover

Above: Patio before...

Above: ...more before...

One of the best features about our apartment in San Francisco is the large patio. Off of our living room are sliding glass doors and a very large roof deck. The first five months living out here the deck has been used as a storage and workspace area and really not being utilized, as it should be.

Above: In the process of remodeling.

Last month, Paul and I bought a brand new patio set, outdoor fireplace and a gas grill and we redecorated the patio. Check it out. It’s a great place to hang out at night, light a fire, drink some wine and look at the stars!

Above: New and improved!