Break out the confetti! My cousin Tom is getting married!
Wow! What happy news! My cousin Tom is getting married this afternoon to his partner, Robert. They became the proud papas of an adorable son, Mickey, a few years ago, when they were living in New York City. (Mickey had come from a not so great situation, so his life will be much better than it might have otherwise been.) They had moved to Massachusetts a bit ago, and I wondered if they might be thinking of legally married. So, he mentioned it on Facebook. I am sitting in my cubicle, blinking back tears of joy. Tom is a wonderful guy and Robert is a terrific match for him. It is one thing to argue for marriage equality as an abstract principle, but when it is about your own family

I am proud of my friend Erin
My friend Erin mentioned that she wouldn’t be able to make it to folding tonight, since it was the only night that she could get for a hair appointment. I figured that she wanted to be looking spruced up for the holidays, so very much understandable. However, it wasn’t about looking smart or stylish, exactly. She showed up at the end of folding with a much shorter cut and it turns out that she had cut off her long hair to donate to charity. My friend Lori’s elementary school age daughter recently did the same thing with her young friend. Having the wonderful and cheerful volunteers at folding and knowing people who are so thoughtful and selfless makes me feel very l

Back to being semi-tense
Sigh. Now I am slightly confused. When I was at the print shop picking up the newsletter, the person I usually deal with when picking it up ran the pricing through the cash register as if he was ringing it up, and we checked what the cost would be if we were 3, 4 or 5 sheets. The 5 sheet copy when he rang it up was less than what the person who called me this AM said. The 4 sheet cost was actually the smallest of the 3, because it must have triggered the discount. So, being the nervous Nelly that I am, I came home and created a 4 sheet version and uploaded it via the corporate web site, giving it the same number of copies as we used when we were using the register. Eek! The web s

Calming down a bit
Okay, I am not freaking out quite as much as I had been. When I stopped at the print shop to pick up this month’s issue of Erie Gay News, it turns out that the printing cost is not going up nearly as much as I thought. Actually, if we go to doing a 16 page issue, rather than a 20 page issue, our printing would be slightly less than it is now, even at the new rate. (Oddly enough, a 12 page issue would cost more than a 16 page issue, because it probably just barely hits the discount rate.) We will be examining some things and ideas, but I am feeling like things are not quite so dark as I thought. I am touched by tho

Erie Gay News needs help!
I just had a call from our printer. After the issue of Erie Gay News  that I am picking up tonight, our printing costs will go up rather dramatically. This has me feeling pretty scared. We need to find some volunteers and help. Doing the newsletter has been a passion for Deb and myself over the past 17 years. I really feel that this has been something important and believe that it has helped our community. Right now, I am just sort of freaking out. I am hoping that we can bounce some ideas around and make some progress at tomorrow’s folding.