the things we think but do not say

farm hands

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

This happened so long ago now, I completely forgot to talk about it. Or maybe I was just too embarrassed.

This photo was taken about two years ago. It was from fantastic Thanksgiving weekend spent in southern Illinois at a good friend’s parent’s farm. There was so much good food and warm hearts that I have very fond memories from it.

This particular photo is of me, and the boyfriend of my mate’s sister. Antonio I believe was his name. Big guy. And we were both wrapped up in all sorts of sturdy work wear borrowed from the farm. We were helping run a log splitter in 10F weather.

Anyway… I hadn’t looked at this photo in ages, until one day I saw that on Flickr someone had made it a favourite. Tommer56 it appeared really liked this photograph of me and big burly Antonio. Now, when someone makes one of my photos a favourite, I’m usually thrilled to pieces. And usually out of curiosity I take a look at the photos from the person that bestowed their favoritism on me.

And this is when the story goes strangely askew.

The photos on Tommer56’s Flickr page were kinda similar to the one of me and Antonio. Well, similar in that the men on his pages were wearing work wear too. The major differences start to appear near the crotch area. In my photo, my hand doesn’t look like they’re heading anywhere near Antonio’s balls… but in some of the gentlemen in Tommer’s photos, they were (NSFW. Trust me).

While I can understand that a photo of me is something to cherish, I don’t really understand in this case, why someone who clearly digs dudes in work duds, would get a kick out of this photo. Where is the blisteringly white hot, gay tension? Is the deep hunger for each other just so obvious? Do I give it away in my eyes?

I mean come on, Tommer56. How did you find this photo, amongst the 400 million other photos on Flickr? Was it my urgently provocative title and description? Or my, oh so naughty tags like, ‘johndeere’, ‘tractor’, or ‘heartwarming’?

I may never know.

Through this experience I learned that on Flickr I can’t ‘unfavourite’ a photo unless I delete it. Just because I might not like a photo, can’t stop anyone else from loving it.

samsung blackjack

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

I’ve been quite the lucky bastard of late. I’ve gotten myself a whole slew of goodies in my possession recently.

I’ve had my new Samsung Blackjack phone for the last two months now and I’d like to let you all know that it’s pretty damn good. At least until the iPhone comes out and then it’ll be a total piece of crap. But for the next few months at least, it’s pretty sweet.

This will be my third smartphone in 18 months and I’m rather embarrassed at the rapidity of electronics renewal. Let me explain.

My first was a HTC/Cingular 2125 candy bar phone. It was great and a huge upgrade from my dumb, Samsung flip when I was on the ghetto fabulous Sprint PCS network. The 2125 was good and functional until tragedy struck in the form of a rain storm. I’m not kidding. A torrential downpour came down one night and I was dropping something off at a mate’s house. I left my car, went to put away my phone, and I think it just slipped out of my pocket. I didn’t even know I’d lost the phone until I got home!

The candy bar smart phone was replaced, at some considerable expense to me with a lovely new HTC/Cingular 3125, aka, the Star Trek phone. A super slim, very usable flip phone. It was a very excellent telephone device first, smart phone second. Oh to have a flip again! And I was perfectly happy, one handedly T9 texting my way through Chicago.

But it seems that nothing every sits still for very long. You see, my work over the last couple of years have created more and more of an urgent need for me to be available to my clients. And while I don’t have Meg Whitman calling me directly, I did have clients relying on me to respond to calls, emails and text messages as quickly as they were being sent. And all of this on my poor little smart flip phone?

Well no more. IDEO was kind enough to step in and provide me with a business account and a new phone, hence the introduction of my shiny new phone (actually it’s mostly soft touch so it’s very matte). I was thankfully also able to keep my current number, yeah! I expect it’ll have to go on my business cards now.

So, here I am. I am the proud new owner of a smart phone and alos shamefully responsible for massive amounts of consumer consumption. I think that when I was being transfered over to the business account I could just not upgraded to a new phone. But when faced with the chance to own something new… I fell for it.

And it looks as though I was not the only one. if there was any doubt in my mind as to how crazy delicious the Blackjack is right now, I have two data points.

One: I saw at least twenty shiny/matte Blackjacks dotted around the San Francisco office the other week. There are so many of them knocking around, people are dangling huge, gaudy, Asian cell phone charms to tell them apart.

Two: I was eating a rushed, rather sad, lonely dinner at El Pollo Loco in Logan Square the other night and the greasy fingered lard ass next to me was thumb scrolling his way through a game of Texas Hold ‘Em on his Blackjack. Probably while being on high speed EDGE network too.

One last tip, if you do succumb to getting the Blackjack (in the last few months before the iPhone drops it like it’s hot), then I’d recommend using the supplied larger battery back. Not only does the phone get through two days of normal use the phone, but it’s a lot more comfortable in your hand. The fascination with thin electronics can lead to soreness in the palm.

Oh and if there’s anyone out there that would like a gently used, perfectly capable, Windows Flip Smartphone, then let me know. Mines just sitting in a box.

The space where my old SIM card used to be is now vacant.