Author Archives: Tony New (TxCowboyDancer)
Justice Arrives Like a Thunderbolt!
I’m Proud to be an American
Do you have any idea how long it has been since I’ve been able to say those words? Too long.
Too long because I am a gay man who has been told for all of his 52 years by the country where I am a citizen that I am not worthy of the same rights that my fellow citizens enjoy.
Too long because under the law I had not been worthy of equality.
Well today I am.
The President says it beautifully:
I am proud that this man is our President. He is the kind of leader that all of our government officials should strive to emulate, demonstrating time after time unwavering resolve to work for all the citizens he represents and doing so with style, elegance, eloquence and dignity.
I wish we did not have a constitutional term limit on Presidents. I am proud that I voted for this man four times: in both presidential primaries and in both national elections and I would vote for him again.
Tears of joy, happiness, and relief
Listening to President Obama speak, I broke down into tears. Literally. I had to pause the video because the image was going all blurry.
Even as I type this I feel them welling up again in my eyes. Tears of joy. Tears of happiness. Tears of relief.
Unless you’ve been a part of a minority and denied your rights you may be able to empathize but you’ll never be able to fully understand what today’s decision means to LGBT people.
Tears of joy are a rare thing. I’ve only done it once before, when I and my dance partner won the World Championship in Couples Country Western Dance. Today marks occasion number two.
But joy it is.
Dear Canada, I won’t be applying for political asylum
Seriously. If the Supreme Court had not upheld gay marriage, I would have tried to move to Canada.
Although I realize it would not have been practical nor would it have likely happened, the thought of moving to Canada and becoming a Canadian Citizen more than once has crossed my mind.
Why would I want to stay in a country where the government says “You are not entitled to the same rights that other citizens get?”
Today’s decision on Gay Marriage and yesterday’s decision on the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act makes me proud to be an American again.
Just for the record… I am 100% open to a Cute Canadian Fella sweeping me off my feet and asking me to marry him! I’d move with you back up north! Woo Hoo!
I am single ya know! 😉 Hint. Hint. Hint. Spread the word. Click those share buttons my loyal readers! Help a brother out! 😉
Now What?
From a practical stand point, nothing changes for me, not immediately, and not in my daily life.
However, dozens of my friends though are now free to be married. Dozens more who already are married now are married in all 50 states.
But most of all, from an emotional and psychological and social stand point, EVERYTHING is now different. Because now my country says that I am entitled to the same rights as every other citizen. That is a world changing thing. Yes indeed
“…justice arrives like a thunderbolt”
Amen Mr. President. Amen.
And… should I meet “Mr. Right” I can now get married to him. Wow. I guess I’d better start looking! Woot! Uh-huh!
Hmmm why do I feel like that cartoon character in Roger Rabbit that screeches “A Maaaaaannnnn!!!!”?
So, everyone is officially invited to join the “Find Tony a Husband Squad” — It will be cool. We’ll get t-shirts made up and everything. 😉
Sadly, the grumbling has already started. There is already, and there will be more ranting and raving about this, from people who feel threatened.
Some of them (like the Governor of Texas – SHAME ON YOU!) should know better. Check out his disgusting display in this press release: http://gov.texas.gov/news/press-release/21131 I’ve already called and emailed his office to voice my opinion. If you are a Texas resident I invite you to do the same. Here are the contact info: https://gov.texas.gov/contact/
For those with legitimate well meaning questions and/or concerns about “How does this affect me?” well I point you to this factual, if tongue in cheek, post:
A 30-Second Guide to How the Gay Marriage Ruling Affects You (Note on 6-28-2015 — there was a typo in the URL. I fixed it. T he link should work now)
which sums things up quite nicely.
Life is good. Today is an amazing day. I feel transcendent.
See ya on the dance floor
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My Top Ten “Make Money Online” sites
The back story…
I live on a pension. A very small pension. A pension I get for 20+ years of service working in city governments as a Public Librarian. I had to “retire early” during the Great Recession because after loosing my job, I went through all my savings, my 401k, my 429 plan and pretty much sold everything I had of any value. After those accounts went down to zero, retiring early was the only option left to have money coming in on a regular basis.
So, I get a little over $800 a month from the Texas Municipal Retirement System. And while that amount keeps me from standing on a street corner holding a cardboard sign, it isn’t really enough to cover all my monthly expenses. So, I pick up the odd temp job here and there, and I do online surveys to pull in a few extra dollars.
Doing online surveys will not buy you a Yacht nor will it provide Instant Gratification
But if you do it regularly, it will make you enough to pay the occasional monthly bill or buy a pizza or two each month. And for me it makes the difference between making ends meet and not making ends meet. Full disclosure, given the amount of time it takes, it doesn’t add up to minimum wage.
But for me, it has meant the difference many times between having money for food at the end of the month or not having money for food. Between being able to pay that $10 copay for my prescription or not having the $10 to buy the meds.
So… if you have a few minutes to spare, and there’s nothing else you want to do at that moment, then you can turn that “down time” into real money.
This is the “quick & dirty” Top Ten List
I’ve started reviewing Read the rest of this entry
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I have Type 2 Diabetes…
Narrowing the subject…
Perhaps it is just me or perhaps it is a trait common to all people who do a lot of writing but sometimes the ideas, images and words in my head are swirling around in such a huge mess that if viewed from outer space it would resemble a hemisphere spanning cyclone.
Now how’s THAT for an image? 😉
This is about the third or fourth time that I’ve started this particular post and every time I’m like Dug, the dog from “Up”:
“Squirrel!”
I kept bouncing around from topic to topic. So I’m going to do the unthinkable…
I’m going to keep this post short and only talk about one topic. OMG! Aliens have stolen Tony and replaced him with a POD-person!
I have Type 2 Diabetes
I confess that it kinda freaked me out when Read the rest of this entry
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Tony’s Take on: Mintvine.com – an update
MintVine is still my #1 pick
Mintvine is head and shoulders above the rest. And they are growing. It is my hope that they will make it through their growing pains with the things that make them awesome completely intact.
And, because they are growing, that means they are changing some things around. So I thought that an update to my original review which you can read here: “Tony’s Take on: MintVine”
You can keep reading if you want but things will make a lot more sense if you read “Tony’s Take on: MintVine” first then come back here and read the “update”
Tony’s Cowboy Star Rating for MintVine:
Only two things keep them from getting a 5 star rating from lil ole me: Read the rest of this entry
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THREE Good Articles I had to share…
This is a quick follow up to this mornings post where I was talking about finding good data on which to set fitness goals: Once More Dear Friends
I did some more searching and found two articles written by the same guy on the same website. I’ve visited his site before and even emailed him once with a question which he graciously answered. So, I believe that the information on his site to be very reliable. Here are the two recommended articles for your further reading enjoyment:
Ideal Body Fat Percentage Chart: How Lean Should You Be?
http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/
and
Body Fat Percentage Pictures Of Men & Women
http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/
and… brace yourself because here is the ABSOLUTE BEST ANSWER I’ve found to the question “How much should I weigh?”
Step 1 — decide what body fat percentage you want to be:
I want to be between 10-12%
Step 2 — go weigh yourself
I weigh 320 lbs as of this morning (down from my heaviest of 332 but still very large)
Step 3 — figure out your current body fat percentage.
I have a body fat of 40.65% as of this morning (down from my fattest at 43% but still way too much body fat) FYI 40.65% is .4065 in decimal notation. If you are not good at math then google “How to convert percentages to decimal” but basically the short way to convert from a percentage to a decimal is by removing the percentage sign and moving the decimal point 2 places to the left thus 40.65% = .4065
Step 4 — Calculate your Lean Body Mass (LBM): Total Weight x (100-Body Fat percentage) = LBM
Using my numbers >>> 320 x (1 – .4065) = 189.92 >> round up to 190 lbs
Step 5 — Use the following formula to get your goal weight: Lean Body Mass/(1 – Desired Body Fat Percentage) = Goal/Ideal weight
Using my numbers >>> 190 / (1 – .10) = 211 on the low end
Using my numbers >>> 190 / (1 -.12) = 216 on the high end
So… [drum roll please] My goal weight is 211-216 lbs. Which is bullpoop! Based on my personal experience when I was that fit in the past, my goal weight should be 185-195. So… I’m guessing that the body fat percentage given to me by my scale is off.
I guess I’ll have to get a professional BF evaluation done! Stay tuned for future updates.
But the good news is that at least my numbers in my spread sheet match what the numbers that a pro fitness guru dude says they should be! For the full article from which I got this formula check out:
Ideal Body Weight Formula: How to Calculate Your Ideal Weight
http://www.builtlean.com/2010/05/04/ideal-body-weight-formula-how-to-calculate-your-ideal-weight/
Enjoy!
See ya on the dance floor!
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 