Marriage Equality, DOMA and Marines in Love!

 Thank God it is Finally Friday, it has been a helluva week and I am ready for some down time.  I do have a couple of things to share before we get to the Music and the Men starting with the surprising results of a new poll in Texas that finds a small plurality of Texas voters supporting Marriage Equality, 47.9 per cent to 47.5 per cent.  Not something I thought I would see in my lifetime, lol.  Along the same vein, former President Bill Clinton who signed DOMA into law is now calling on the Supreme Court to overturn it.  In his Washington Post Editorial he writes (in part): "When I signed the bill, I included a statement with the admonition that “enactment of this legislation should not, despite the fierce and at times divisive rhetoric surrounding it, be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination.” Reading those words today, I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory. It should be overturned."  I could not agree more!  Let's hope the Justices of SCOTUS are reading the WaPo today.  

Then a video surfaced yesterday about 2 adorable Marine twinks who tell the story of how they met and fell in love, the video is as adorable as the two Marines, Russ and Matt.  You can see this video and Russ' 42 other videos at his You Tube Page.  Do check them out, you will be glad you did. 

For your Friday Musical Moment play list I have some more music from Antonio Vivaldi for you, this time featuring some of his Violin Concerti.  The play list (in Italian) includes Concerto RV208 Grosso Mogul in re maggiore per violino, archi e basso continuo, Concerto RV332 in sol minore per violino, archi e basso continuo, Concerto RV234 L'Inquietudine in re maggiore per violino, archi e basso continuo, Concerto RV199 Il Sospetto in do minore per violino, archi e basso continuo, Concerto RV362 La Caccia in si bemolle maggiore per violino, archi e basso continuo and Concerto RV270 Il Risposo in mi maggiore per violino, archi e basso continuo.  The recording is from the CD by Fondazione Academia Montis Regalis Onlus recorded in June 2005 at the Oratory of Santa Croce in Mondovi (CN) - Italy.  The CD features Enrico Onofri on Solo Violin and the Orchestra de Academia is conducted by Allessandro De Marchi from his seat at the Harpsichord.

Finally, as is traditional here at Nichevo on Fridays, we have a sizzling selection of sultry sexiness in this week's edition of Naked or Nearly So.  The men on display run the gamut from callow youth to somewhat older, babes to bikers, kids to cowboys, some punk and some leather and stunningly smooth to completely hirsute with a couple of vintage photographs thrown in for good measure.  All designed of course to get you in that weekend state of mind and fuel your Friday night fantasies.  Thanks for spending some of your Friday here at Nichevo.  Besure to check in over the weekend for this week's photographic review of the Best of the Web This Week.  It should be another stellar week as I already have over 900 photographs to sort through with one more day to collect some more and there will be another marvelous Saturday Soundtrack as well.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Weekend Adventures

I have to apologize to you guys for not getting a post done for yesterday. The day just got away from me. To start off with I was up late on Saturday night with stud (a whole adventure in itself), so please for give me for sleeping late on Sunday, then the phone rang as it is want to do when one least wants it to do so. It was the hotel wanting me to work an earlier shift than I usually do for some unexplained reason just "can you work right now", so I felt I had to say yes(more on the reason for that in a moment). So up I hop and scramble around trying to put myself together presentably when I receive a second phone call delaying my arrival for a couple of hours but still earlier than usual. At any rate it did not leave enough time to return to sleep or create a post so I just did a few phone calls for the moving company to keep that ball rolling before heading to the hotel.

It was a fairly quiet afternoon and evening until around 7 o'clock. then things went a little crazy for a little while. I had a guest who was having some difficulty dialing a local number which for some odd reason was asking for the 1 before the area code which of course the phone system would not allow except for toll free numbers so finally I circumvented the system by dialing the number from the front desk and connecting the guest. Meanwhile Extreme Makeover Home Addition came on. It is nice to have the TV there to alleviate the boring times at the desk. Last night featured a Marine Iraq veteran who was a single father with four kids. Sergeant Daniel Gilyeat had served two tours in Iraq. It was on his second tour while investigating IED's that Daniel was injured, eventually losing his left leg to an IED. His oldest daughter who is only nine made a heart wrenching plea for help so Ty and the gang could not refuse. Maybe I am a softee but I got emotionally involved in the story. My long time readers know I am a veteran and have made many posts on the plight of the shameful way this country (thanks to the lip service of the current administration) treats the injured service members from the Iraq war. Well Sergeant Gilyeat after literally dying twice on the flight out to the hospital did survive the war and eventually ended up in the veteran's hospital in San Antonio, making a miraculous recovery where he was up and walking on his new prosthesis after only 26 days of rehab. He was discharged and return to his home in Kansas City.

One year to the day after his discharge, his wife divorced him and left him with the 4 kids. This is where the story really got to me. Even with a broken heart Daniel continued to be a hero to his kids and to other wounded veterans by visiting them and giving them support and encouragement in their struggle to overcome the physical and mental difficulties presented to them by this war and the horrific injuries that occur there. This story had me on the verge of tears the whole time as the story unfolded. Sergeant Gilyeat truly is a hero in many ways, yet a self effacing hero as many of the great ones are. The Extreme Makeover team, builder Kevin Green, Sergeants Gilyeat's Marine buddies and hundreds of other people combined in the effort to create a new home for Daniel and his kids, one group even paying of the mortgage on the home to ease that burden. So right at the most emotional part of the show where the family arrives back from vacation and reacts to the new home I had to deal with a situation that arose at the front desk.

Now I know my purpose at work is not to watch TV, but still as emotionally involved in the story as I was, it irritated me to have to deal with the problem I was confronted with. Remember the guest who was having a problem with the phone? Well the second party in the same room wanted to make a collect phone call which of course the phone system is not set up to allow. I explained over the phone to the guest that a calling card would be necessary to make the phone call for which I got a cussing over the phone. A couple of minutes later this guest presented themselves at the front desk in an obviously drunken state to accost me about my shortcoming in refusing to comply to his demands, cussing me loudly before going off to the bar in search of a pay phone with which to make a collect call. In his inebriated state he was unable to do so and finally calmed down enough so I could direct him to the store around the corner which sold him a calling card and he was able to make his phone call. Now back to Sergeant Gilyeat.

My heart went out to this Marine who lived for his kids and volunteered his time to help other wounded veterans get started on the road to recovery. This macho Marine was not afraid of showing his emotions going so far as to cry and hug his Marine buddies, Ty, the design team and others involved in the project. The house came out grand as usual with design details specific to Daniel's injury and the kid's personal likes, et cetera. I was sorry to have missed a lot of the reaction time on the show, but I knew that this Marines' life was going to be easier for the experience with Ty and the gang. I salute ABC, Ty Pennington, the Marines, builder Kevin Green and all the others who made this dream possible for Daniel and his kids.

I said I would explain why I felt I had to comply with the request to cork different hours than usual so here goes. As you guys know, I have not had much verbiage to go with the eye candy for the last few days. The reason being a bout of depression caused by none other than my treatment at the hands of the manager who had made the request. Without going in to details, Uncle Gerry was almost homeless and unemployed at the same time before being forced to mortgage my future earnings to pay some past due rent which in our original agreement when I came work there was not supposed to be charged. The manager who hired me at the property where I live is out of the country due to the death of his father and he is also my partner in the moving company. Well the manager at the hotel next door to where I live and where I work (they are owned by the same people) is on a little power trip which is not that unusual for him but he has been generally unreasonable with everyone and has coerced employees into complying with his monetary extortion and has evicted many long time residents of both properties. The real problem with all of this is the city is in the process of taking over the property and closing both hotels to make the property a staging area for highway improvements and redevelopment due to the upcoming loss of the Cowboys to a neighboring city. The city is playing hardball because the manager who is being so unreasonable with everyone has managed to piss off every official involved in one way or the other over the last few years and is under investigation by various and sundry agencies. His coercive efforts are mainly to maximize his cash position as part of the ownership group before jumping ship and leaving for another property in Louisiana when the city closes these two properties. While they are still open and my partner is out of the country, employees and residents are being forced into untenable situations or evicted due to the whims of the scurrilous rat that is in charge. The end result will be Uncle Gerry having to relocate and finding another part time gig while working to make the moving company a profitable and paying proposition. Lots of emotions and hard feelings, and doubts about the immediate future has made Uncle Gerry a none to happy camper and rather than bring negative BS into Nichevo I have opted to just post the eye candy for your enjoyment.
Depression is a problem I have dealt with in many ways over the years and I know I am not the only person who has to deal with this problem. My blog buddy Ryan has written about his fight with depression many times and Ryan Field the staff writer who did my interview at Best Gay Blogs has interviewed him about this subject. The interview should be posted today or tomorrow at the Best Gay Blogs website. So the adventures of Uncle Gerry continue as events swirl around us before we resolve the issues involved and the dust settles. I will keep you posted while trying my best to maintain the positive atmosphere you have come to expect here in my little corner of the world.

So now I will leave you with today's eye candy selections as soon as I make them for your viewing pleasure, there will be a little extra to make up for not posting yesterday. Stay tuned to Nichevo for the continuing adventures of your intrepid host and blog buddy, Uncle Gerry. Until next time as always, Enjoy!