I Taste…a Hint of Peach

Above: The best wine of the night!

Last night Paul and I were invited to a small gathering at our friends Troy and Richard. They were hosting a wine tasting event at their home – it was a small group and wine snobs were not allowed! I am not the biggest wine drinker but I thought it would be fun. Richard had the wines hidden in velvet bags with numbers on them and we had to vote as a group which wine tasted better, the make of the wine and the years. It was pretty fun. We started with the red wines – I am not a fan of red wine but I sampled the six red wines. A few of them were pretty tasty but anything would have tasted great after six glasses of wine. Ugh! Wine tasting most always turns into a drunkfest!

Above: Paul inspecting the wines closely!

Above: Johnny and me toasting a tasty glass of wine.

Above: I think Paul tastes a hint of peach in his glass.

Above: Sarah, John and Danny enjoying the wine bar.

As it always happens with any wine tasting, everyone was feeling the grapes of wrath as the night rolled in. I think Richard was feeling it the most since as you can see from a few of the pictures below. Richard, don’t kill me for posting your funny wine buzzed photos!

Above: Oh Richard - one too many glasses!

Above: John, Me and Garrett

Above: Katrina and James

Above: The wine tasting boys.

Above: And this is where the party got messy!

#1 in 27 countries!

After over 25 years of worldwide success, Madonna proves that she has outshined any of her contemporaries, divas in waiting or past divas. Madonna released her 11th studio album, "Hard Candy," last week and it has charted at number one in 27 countries! No other female artist in history can have those bragging rights. Madonna puts to shame wannabe young non-talent hopefuls such as: Ashlee Simpson, white trashster Lindsey Lohan and Miley Cyrus. Congrats Madonna on your continued success and doing it at an age (50 this August) when the media tries to put woman out to pasture. Thanks to Madonna for turning that ridiculous stereotype around.

Sundae

Above: Zach loved making his ice cream sundae!

What a beautiful weekend! This Saturday, Zach and Paul went on a hike near the Golden Gate Bridge while I was at softball practice. A little bird told me Zach was flirting with a bunch of girls while Paul was taking pictures of Zachary on his hike!

Above: Zach on his hike with his dad - very happy!

Above: I'm the king of San Francisco!!!

Last night, our two friends Troy and Richard invited Paul, Zachary and me over to their house for a fun night! We had a really great time. Troy and Richard are in the final stages of adopting a child and we are really hoping the child they adopt is around Zach's age. It would be great to have another couple like Paul and I that has a child - our fingers are crossed!

Above: Richard and Zach play foozball.

Above: Troy, Richard and Zach playing shuffle board.

So once we got to Troy and Richards we went to a cool rec. room that had a basketball court, ping pong table, shuffle board, pool and a rock climbing wall. It was a blast. We played everything except for the rock climbing, which you have to take a class in order to climb it - it was massive! Zach and I were dressed in matching outfits - very 1940s al la Crawford! LOL!

Above: Me and Zach in matching outfits! So corny!

Above: Zach looks like a professional basketball player in this picture!

Above: Paul reliving his basketball days!

Above: Down for the count!

After burning off a ton of energy, we headed back to Troy and Richard's to make some mini pizzas for dinner! Zach loved making his own mini pizza and throwing it in the oven - I think he was thinking ahead and knew that after the pizza we were going to make sundaes! The sundae making was even more fun for all of us - I cannot remember the last time I made a hot fudge sundae. Zach said it was the best sundae he had ever had.

Above: Paul and Richard making their pizzas.

Above: Zach, me and Richard watching chef Zach take over!

Above: Pizza a la Zach!

Above: Zach about to eat his pizza creation.

Above: Zach enjoying his sundae making!

Above: YUMMO!

Above: Zach shoveling it in like it's the last sundae on earth.

Above: Licking his lips over the last bite.

Zach had a blast. He really is the best-behaved kid he is so good and was so polite and well mannered. It's nice to play a part in a child's life that is well behaved, smart, beautiful - I just love this kid to pieces. He impressed both Troy and Richard and seeing them with Zach I know they will make great fathers someday:-) Gay couple make great "dads" and I really challenge all the "nay sayers" that think two men cannot be good role models or good influences on a child. Paul and I both come from homes where we didn't have our fathers present. I think it plays a huge part in our involvement with Zach. I just wish he would stop growing so fast - 4 years old is a great age:-)

Above: This is probably on of the best pictures I have ever taken. Zach and Richard playing Star Wars. I love how this picture came out.

Above: Zach and his Star Wars fleet.

Above: The end of a great day!

Stephanie Jones the alcoholic lesbian from the Joan Crawford -The Best of Everything Website.

Above: Stephanie Jones from the Joan Crawford - The Best of Everything Website.

Public Notice regarding:

Stephanie D. Jones (aka "Curtis Nugent," "Beth Austin," "Amanda Farrow," "augustdane," "heavybreasted@yahoo.com" and "burlesquebaby2@yahoo.com) from the joancrawfordbest.com website of Weehawken, New Jersey);

Do not contact Neil Maciejewski any further online, whether through the Joan Crawford website (www.legendaryjoancrawford.com) or through the blog (www.thestreetsofsanfrancisco.blogspot.com) or through any other venue which includes emails, your blog, outside media outlets such as magazines, publishers, interviewers etc. This includes visiting the named websites above - the visits from Stephanie D. Jones to these websites; www.legendaryjoancrawford.com and www.thestreetsofsanfrancisco.blogspot.com are being tracked and recorded.

This is a public notice pursuant pertaining to a lawsuit filed in the State of New Jersey (the suit has to be filed in the state where the harasser lives) on April 29, 2008, by Neil Maciejewski regarding defamation of character.

Below are several pieces of evidence:

Above: This email was sent to my former employer by Curtis Nugent ("burlesquebaby2@yahoo.com) aka Stephanie Jones. Under that letter, you can see that this "burlesquebaby2@yahoo.com" also tried to get into my Joan Crawford chat group the same exact day.

Above: Co-author Michelle Vogel, Casey LaLonde and I had a book coming out last year. Above are two postings from Stephanie Jones bashing the book ( before it was even published) and again bashing us.

Above: Are two emails from Stephanie admitting she had written the negative comments on Wikipedia and Answers.com. This was my attempt to try to make peace with this person.

Below are a variety of hateful posts from Stephanie Jones' blog. The most recent on being written today:

Above: This post attacking me and my friends on a recent Reno trip we took.

Above: This post attacking me about my parents and my appearance.

Above: Again, attacking my forthcoming book and everyone involved.

Above: Attacking my mother and me again.

Above: Once again, attacking me and a post from my blog.

Above: A recent jealous comment made on IMDB.

Below are comments that have come through to my blog from Stephanie Jones, there are several others, these are just an example. She picks on a four year old kid - shows what a loser she is.

-The boy (Zachary) looks a little retarded. Have you had him tested?

-On behalf of fat guys everywhere, thanks for being with your fat, balding boyfriend!

-Ew. With you for a role model, I feel sorry for your son.

-Pasty, overweight gay guys partying in Vegas…..How trendy!

-Just what Joan needs - another dumb poofy queen making inane comments.

Aftershock

Above: The biggest little city in the world! I think I would rename that to something more appropriate -"Reno is like Vegas without teeth!"

This past Friday, Paul and I headed to Reno with two of our close friends Will and Ryan. Ryan’s 25th birthday was this past Saturday and he wanted to head to Reno for some good ole white trash fun! Paul and I had never been to Reno so we thought while we are still living in California we would check it out. Reno is only a three-hour drive from San Francisco so we all packed into out new car and headed on a fun road trip.

We all skipped out of work early Friday to beat the traffic. We were all pumped to go on a mini birthday bash weekend. We were jamming to the new Madonna CD and looking at the awesome views of snow-capped mountains as we headed to Reno!

Above: A nice scenic drive.

When we got to Reno it was exactly what I pictured it would be – old Vegas style with trashy shops and people that were stuck in a time warp. We were placing bets on how many people we would see carrying oxygen tanks around the casino. We stayed at Harrah’s – one of the few casinos that were in Reno. Our room was small and the shower barely worked and the toilet didn’t flush! We didn’t care it was after all a white trash weekend.

Above: Paul and Will Tourists!

Above: More tourists...Ryan, Me, Will and Davin.

Paul, Will and Ryan made their was down to the casino but I needed to freshen up so I stayed behind. When I went downstairs to join them Will had already hit over $800.00 on a penny slot machine! What a way to start the weekend!! We then discovered a new game called Blackjack Switch. We all were hooked and had a blast playing it. While we were all sitting down playing, I started to feel the whole building move from side to side. It’s was an earthquake! I had never felt one so strong and it lasted quite some time. The swaying movement sent some people running out into the streets but we all sat and looked at each other – not moving. I looked up and noticed there were flat screen TV’s above out heads and started to get up form my seat, but then it stopped. It was a pretty powerful earthquake.

Above: Motley Crue!

Now after we had been playing blackjack for a while an African American guy was sitting near Paul and was trying to bum money off of him and then he started to point fingers at us and say we were gay. It was quite comical but we just ignored it. I had no idea this would be the tone of the Reno trip!

Above: A shirt that appeared in one of the stores....eh umm I think not.

After the quake, we met up with Ryan’s good friend Davin and headed out to one of the few gay bars. Poor Davin actually lives in Reno and showed us the miserable places they had for gay nightlife. Our cab driver was a bit odd and felt the need to tell us that he has dirty dreams about gay men. Oy Vey, the guy reminded me from the puppet on tales From the Crypt. I am not sure what he was expecting five gay guys in a cab to do or what he was thinking but we hightailed it out of the cab fast! The clubs were deserted and filled with mostly lesbians, which is totally fine, a lesbian was hitting on me and telling me I am handsome and I had a cute name. Uh, she was pretty drunk so I'll take that with a grain of salt. After dancing and rang in Ryan’s birthday at midnight, we headed back to the Casino to play more blackjack.

Above: Paul, Ryan and Will enjoying the views....

...this is there view!

Saturday (Happy 25th birthday Ryan) was a lazy day of walking around Reno and enjoying the nice weather. We walked around the little city and heard more derogatory remarks from cars driving by yelling “Fags” and overweight women walking by saying “It’s a queer fest in Reno” It was quite comical because the people in Reno are the true definition of white trash – I thought Texas took the cake but Reno is the grand prize winner. People were driving around in pimped up cars from the early 80s and blaring “Freeze Frame!” The majority of the people looked like they were dragged along the pavement. I don’t think anyone had a full set of teeth! It was really a sad place bit we did have fun.

Above: Ryan bringing in his 25th birthday with his sushi treat!

We found a really nice sushi place and sang happy Birthday to Ryan! It was a great time but we were ready to head back home. We all left with the appreciation of where we live but it also opened my eyes to how ignorant the world is. The majority of this country is STILL backwards – I am just glad we are not living in those areas. This country is a long way from having an African American president, that’s all I’m saying!

As my friend Deb said today, "Reno is like Vegas without teeth!" Amen!

Above: Oh wait - with that title "Reno is like Vegas without teeth" above this photo it appears I am saying Will has no teeth? Nah - he's part of the Vegas crowd! Driving back from Reno - Will lost in the moment of sleep.

To read a really insightful post from my friend Ryan ( the birthday boy) who was on this trip, click the link below.

http://www.TheRyanThomasCollection.com/

The Pilsner Pups 2008!

Here are the new pictures of this years Pilsner Pups!

The best gay softball team in San Francisco!

Above: (first row front/left to right) Scott, Yan, Connie, Jonathan, Michael and Jeff

(second row middle/ left to right) Richard, Me, Jay, Derek, Kurt and Darrel
(second row back/ left to right) Mark, Kyser, Kyle, Will, Jase and James

Kevin and Amy are not in the picture - they were missed!