I want to know...

...is it normal for a 33 year old man (me) to spend many moments in the day contemplating the fate of Harry Potter?  I know the final book was released in 2007, however I recently came across a super Harry Potter fan who analyzed the prophecy a different way, and now I want to re-read the books.

via HPWombat:

*************************

"I am a huge Harry Potter fan. And while I love the series...

...I thought the ending would be a lot different. This is my version of how it should have ended.

There was a part of the prophecy that could have gone a different way:

either must die at the hand of the other
for neither can live while the other survives

In the book it means that, in the end, one of them will have to kill the other. What if it meant something else, instead?  What if it meant that the only way either of them could die, would be at the hand of the other?

either must die at the hand of the other

Meaning the one who didn't die had no other means of achieving death. This means that by killing Voldemort, Harry sacrifices his death.  It's made clear to us that death is the only way he'll ever be with his loved ones.  Dying isn't such a bad sacrifice to make.  But sacrificing his own death and living forever would be the ultimate sacrifice for Harry.  By killing Voldemort, Harry would become immortal, never seeing his family or friends in death.

Harry Potter would, forever, be The Boy Who Lived."

*************************

QOTD

Begin each day with a grateful heart.

Explore All Options, Always

In our neighborhood there is a house that was built in 1994, and it has been for sale for months.  I spotted the house, because as the price keeps dropping it's actually at the next rung on our property ladder.  We have spent the past five (plus) years getting our current house into shape; one budgeted project at a time.  And while, I have an endless list of projects, our house is now an extension of us: it's light, bright, interesting, and it's always ready to entertain our friends! But, our current house won't hold the future babies and nannies with room left over for mothers and fathers.

My husband and I went to look at the 1994 house.  It had potential.  We're sitting at 2,800 square feet in our current house, and the 1994 house was at 4,500 square feet, which seems to level plenty of room left over!

However, the 1994 house is well...stuck in 1994:

The house needs a complete and total reboot: new paint, new flooring, new fixtures, new countertops.  New everything, really.  The house is also only a three bedroom house, and we already own a three bedroom house.  After we consider the cost of reworking the 1994 house (excluding the fact that the floor plan doesn't work) owning the 1994 house isn't going to happen.

One thing I really appreciate about my husband is his willingness to explore all options.  He never says no, immediately.  He is always willing to explore any idea I propose, and then together we run through an analysis to establish pros, cons, and overall priorities.  I think it's a healthy way to live.  The key takeaway: Explore all options, always!

Grammys

Did you see Taylor Swift's performance on the Grammys?  It was spectacular.  As I've said before, Red is brilliant.  I'm a fully grown man, and I cannot get enough of Taylor Swift's Red album.  If you didn't see her performance, then you should be watching the Grammys, annually.  It's a music festival that happens to give away a few awards, and something big always happens...

The biggest moment of the night was the on-air wedding of 33 couples — gay, straight, old, young, of many races and many colors. The ceremony was part of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s performance of their song “Same Love,” which became a marriage-equality anthem last year.  After Queen Latifah married the couples Madonna appeared on stage and sang "Open Your Heart" and weaved her song back into the end of "Same Love."  I saw many tears in the audience as Madonna and Mary Lambert sang the end of the song "...not crying on Sundays....not crying on Sundays...not crying on Sundays." I started snapping a few photos of my TV:

I love the Grammys!

Beautiful

I've flipped through the pages of this month's House Beautiful no less than six times already.  It's a keeper.  You must pick up a copy the next time you're standing in the check-out line...

I snapped a few photos with my iPhone to give you a little flavor.  As you know I'm a fan of all things blue and bright.  Color makes me happy.  Beautiful design makes me happy.  Both color and beauty are overflowing in this month's House Beautiful, which is why I'm telling you to pick up a copy!  I'm spreading happiness.

Rules Are Rules

I've known my husband for over a decade now, and in those ten years I've followed his firm rule:  "You cannot have more dogs than people in a household."  We have two people in our household.  We have two dogs in our household.

This weekend I surprised my husband when I mentioned that after we have children, I plan to get another French bulldog.

He claims that his rule is not to encourage an equal number of people and dogs in a household.  His rule is to ensure you don't have a pack of dogs in the household.  My terrified husband is now trying to clarify his rule: we only need two dogs in the house!

No, no, no...you cannot change the rules ten years into the game.  I promise to not have more dogs than people, which means if we have five children, then we can have seven dogs!  After all, rules are rules.

Sunday Kind of Love

I enjoy slow Sundays.  My husband and I stayed at home all day- not counting yoga.  We walked.  We read.  We just chilled out.  We cooked breakfast tacos in the morning, and we dined on crawfish tamales, cilantro lime rice, and tomatoes and avocados in the evening.

I'm rested and ready to take on the week.

Six

The one who turned me into an uncle, Presley, turned six years old last week.  I still remember holding her when she was only a few minutes old.  It was mesmerizing to hold such a new and tiny being.  Presley's personality has revealed itself over these past six years.  She's intelligent.  She's caring. She likes to play games and joke.  She is in love with her daddy and mommy, but she clearly adores my mother (her SuSu) most of all.  Perhaps it's because they both love to read books?

Happy Birthday Presley.  Your uncles love you so very much!

I want to know...

...why a stomach virus is my kryptonite?  I consider myself mentally healthy.  In every-day life I have more mental fortitude than the average man.  However, give me one night throwing up, and I'm done...I mean DONE:

I've had a nice life.

My husband will get life insurance.

He'll find new love.

We have to die of something, right?

I just don't want to throw up again!

And then in the "morning after" I always wonder why I'm so mentally weak?  I wonder how mothers survive morning sickness?  And I realize that my husband couldn't find better love.  Ha.

Yes, I missed the last three days of work because I've been healing from one night with a stomach virus, and now I have a weeks worth of work to accomplish in one Friday.  Let's do this!  I can do this.

Oklahoma!

Did you see that a federal judge ruled that Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional?!  I never would have guessed Oklahoma (which feels like the most conservative state in the union) would have achieved marriage equality before Texas.

I know this ruling still needs to work its way through the system, but at least Oklahoma is headed in the direction of equality.  I spent most of 2012 working in the oil fields of western Oklahoma, and I found the individuals I met to be extremely nice, and kind, and caring.  I found Oklahoma to be full of really good people.  Hopefully those good people will see the importance of marriage equality for all.

QOTD

WHY GAY MEN MAKE THE BEST BOSSES

AMERICA’S MOST DESIRABLE MANAGERS ALL HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON: HOMOSEXUALITY.

- Danielle Sacks via Details

As it Should Be

Road trip!  We loaded up the dogs and dropped them off at my husband's parents house on our way to a fast trip down and back to Austin.  We were celebrating the wedding of my husband's college/post college roommate.  She is Indian-American and her husband is Polish-American, and the wedding was the most delightful combination of the two cultures.  The groom's mother (along with all the other women in the wedding party) wore a sari.  The bride, as a tribute to her mother, wore her mother's wedding sari down the aisle, and then the bride changed into a heavily beaded sari for the reception.  I really enjoyed the bright colors and beautiful flowers at the wedding and reception.  The wedding buffet included both Indian and American and Mexican dishes.

We are living in a new age.  Just as my husband and I, two men, got married, an Indian-American who's Muslim can marry a Polish-American who's Christian.  It was a joyous event.

I'm a big fan of adding food trucks to wedding events- it's starting to be a new trend.  This bride had a small wedding cake, and then at around 10:00 PM a cupcake food truck arrived outside the reception hall.  It was a fat kid's dream (my dream) when a cupcake truck shows up with unlimited FREE cupcakes.

One story I never heard previously:  Both my husband and the bride were part of the Ultimate Frisbee community in college, and my husband wasn't out to everyone in college; therefore, when my husband and the bride moved in as roommates many of the straight ultimate guys assumed my husband and the bride were dating.  The bride couldn't figure out why her love life slowed down! Several months later when my husband showed up to an Ultimate party event with a boyfriend everyone finally figured it out.  I heard several stories of guys wanting to date the bride, but they couldn't figure out if she was available because of the living situation with my husband.  Remember, my husband has been called "the straightest gay guy" before.  This story made me laugh.

Mario Buatta

For Christmas, my brother and his family gave me Mario Buatta's new book.  It's a big book of the legendary designers work from over 50 years, and it's fascinating.  Not all of his designs are timeless, which is equally enjoyable as the timeless designs in the book.  It's a fantasy book, because Mario seems to decorate for families without budgets.  No matter how successful we become (even if we won the lottery) there is no way my husband will ever allow me to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on interior design.    I guess in this life I won't get to work with Mario Buatta.  That's okay, I'm having fun learning from his book.

Of course, when I added the two new koi tapers to balance out the twisted koi candelabra my parents gave us after our legal wedding in the fall my husband was not having fun.  My husband does not appreciate my expression of interior design; he thinks buying "stuff" is a waste of money.

Burrchica

It's cold.

It's really, really cold.

That is all.

A "D" or an "R"

My doorbell rang, twice.  The dogs were certain the house was under attack since the doorbell rang twice.  They were creating a barking commotion in an attempt to defend their home front.  I answered the door (only to prevent a third and fourth ring of the doorbell) and simultaneously held back the killer 18-pound French bulldog and the very, very loud mutt.

The little old man ("LOM") on our front porch looked at me and acted like we were friends...

LOM: "Mr. [my husband's last name]!"

Me: "No, I'm Mr. [my last name]."

LOM: "Do you live here?"

Me: "Yes."

LOM: "Oh, I guess Mr. [my husband's last name] moved away?

Me: "No, he lives here too."

LOM: "Oh."

[silence - not counting the dogs.]

LOM: "Are you a "D" or an "R"?  (I don't really like boiling things down to a single word to describe any part of me, and I especially don't like using a single letter to describe myself, but I wanted this conversation to end and I didn't want to find common ground with the unprepared Little Old Man that rang my doorbell twice....)

Me: "I'm a "D".

LOM: "Oh, well I can't help you.

[more silence]

LOM: But can you give this to Mr. [my husband's last name]? I have him listed as a Republican.

Me: "Yes."  I closed the door as the Little Old Man was telling me that he's campaigning for the man on the flier.  Did he think I was stupid?

I couldn't wait to tell me husband that the GOP has his name!  Neither one of us are registered with any party, and in Texas to make sure your vote counts often times you have to vote in the Republican primaries, which is how my husband must have ended up on the GOP's list.  Of course, the fourth bullet point on Don Huffines for Texas Senate flier is "Protect traditional family values," which is code for "Gay citizens do not deserve equal rights."

So, this guy is not getting my vote.

Lucy, We Love You Still

I've enjoyed my lazy Saturday morning.   I'm solo again this weekend- my husband is away at school. It's a bit chilly outside, but it's warm in the house.  I'm drinking coffee.  I made some divine oatmeal.  Life is good.  While I was being lazy I began to clean up the DVR, and I watched the I Love Lucy Christmas Special I recorded before Christmas.  It was nice to see the old friend on the television again.  In middle school I watched I Love Lucy every night.

I was curious how well the show did for CBS some six decades after if first aired; I was surprised that 8.7 million people tuned in to watch.  Think about that for one moment; the original television run of that show was 1951 to 1957, and in December of 2013 over 8 million people are tuning in.  It's spectacular that Lucille Ball has stood the test of time with I Love Lucy, and she was 40 years old when the show first aired.

It's interesting that even though Lucille Ball was in her last decade of life when I arrived on earth, of course we never met, and she was gone before I started really watching the show I still think of her as a friend.  Is that strange?  I would have liked to hung out with Lucy of the 1950's.  I think that's the appeal of the show.  She's so likable.

QOTD

"Nothing is ever certain. And even when it's all but certain it's still not easy. But I see little way to look at the last week and not conclude that gay marriage will be the law of the land in every state in the country in the near future. Probably during the Obama presidency and maybe sooner still."

- Josh Marshall via TPM.

Happy New Year

Last night we gathered with a few friends to celebrate the coming of a new year.  We were in a Dallas high-rise that was overlooking the midnight fireworks from Victory Plaza.  Today the new year is here.  Happy 2014!  I have to say that 2013 was pretty spectacular, and I am excited about what good things 2014 will bring.

One of my favorite parts about the journey through life is that you never know what's around the curve.  Life is dynamic!  Something magical and unexpected is always possible.  I love it.

I hope you love it too.  Happy New Year!