Peter's Place

Folks, I know I've been absent from cyberspaces throughout the realms but I would be remiss were I not to make every effort to bring forth this warning about some very strange and dangerous goings-on as a result of the COVID-19 virus and how governments worldwide are dealing with this pandemic.  I have it on the most excellent authority that people are, once again, going bonkers from being all couped up in quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But this time, folks are going nutters in thoroughly difficult and inexplicably peculiar ways. After conferencing in the microwave and toaster oven while sipping a cuppa from the  KEURIG® over Zoom from my Sealy™ Posturepedic® , we all agreed that things are getting really bad out there. It was at this point that we received an urgent request from the KitchenAid® to join the conference, who provided some invaluable intelligence on just how mixed up things have become. Particularly, the toaster oven expressed grave consternation abou...

These creatures were once as common as blue skies a mere century ago but nearly wiped out in the USA. Over the past two decades they've been making a comeback, in a big way. But they're not the sort of creature most folks will be happy to see return to society: bed bugs! Dispelling the myths and presenting the facts in a manner designed to prevent hysteria, knowledge is the greatest weapon in the fight to eradicate our society of these pesky pests. Bed Bugs are indiscriminate feeders who feast on animal blood. They are not a sign of uncleanliness or disease. Bed bugs are easily spread and are found in all walks of life, from multi-million dollar mansions to dirt-poor nations. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane , most commonly known as that outlawed pesticide DDT, nearly wiped out the bed bug population in the USA after its introduction and widespread use in the 1940s. However, concerns about its health hazards and environmental impact led to a ban in the USA , with few exce...

Huffington Post's Healthy Living editor Lindsay Holmes recently published an article advocating unfriending seven types of people from one's social media circles. The premise of the article is that getting rid of the seven types of people she describes will create a healthier life. I disagree. First and foremost, unfriending someone is, in most cases a hostile act. Hostile acts such as unfriending someone require negative energy. This is the exact opposite effect Ms. Holmes purports to achieve in her suggestion of unfriending the types of people she suggests. There are less hostile and non-hostile ways of disengaging with individuals one may consider to be irritating. As I set forth below, I believe that the vast majority of "types of friends" Ms. Holmes suggests unfriending are those one may very well wish to keep in their circles, as such friendships -- whether "in real life" or "through social media" have real value in our lives. 1. T...

In honor of National Coming Out Day , I'm going to re-tell my own, personal coming out story. But before I do so, there are a few things we must address. First, coming out is not an event. Rather, it is a process. It is something that anyone who is part of the LGBTQQIAA2S ( please don't ask me what that means ) spectrum goes through every moment of our lives, once the process has started. For some, the process never goes very far; they live their entire lives in the closet. But that's another issue for another day. It is a process that must be repeated every time an LGBTQQIAA2S (oh screw it, I'll just use the universal "gay" to refer to this spectrum—that acronym is just too damned difficult to type) person meets someone. It is repeated every time we approach a new situation, a new person, a new location, a new job, a new...well, you get the idea. For some, the process may get easier over time. For others, it may become more difficult. For still othe...

Oh, the trials and tribulations of living on Social Security Disability Income with Medicare health insurance! The Rising Cost of Healthcare in the USA The problem of rising healthcare costs in the USA could not be more insane than what I'm currently being subjected to. I received a notice (so they say) from my Medicare Part D insurance provider (that's the insurance coverage that pays for all of my medications) that my premium was being reduced this year. One might think, this is a good thing, right? Well, as it turns out, it is exactly the opposite! I went to CVS today to refill five of my prescriptions that I must take in order to maintain my current health. These prescriptions are all required for me to function at close to a level of normalcy. The cost of the coinsurance for these five prescriptions is going to be $193.52! Last year, I paid all of approximately $40 for these very same prescriptions! This is complete insanity. I may be saving $40 on my...

I just e-mailed the following letter to Pastor Hamlin, at pastor@greenbeltucc.org, with a cc: to the Miss Greenbelt Pageant organizers, at natasha@missgreenbelt.com, christine@missgreenbelt.com (they list no other contact information on their web site, at  http://www.missgreenbelt.com/  ) * * * Dear Pastor Hamlin: I write to you because you are listed as a supporter of the Miss Greenbelt Pageants . As a church and religious organization with clear pro-marriage equality stances , I would like to know why you are supporting this clearly anti-LGBT organization and one of its start spokespersons, Little Miss Greenbelt, Sarah Crank. A few days ago, 14-year old Little Miss Greenbelt, Sarah Crank, who is home-schooled by her very anti-LGBTQ Concerned Women for America lobbyist mother,  told the Maryland state legislature , and I quote, " It would be the best birthday present ever if you would vote no on gay marriage ." and " People have the choice to be gay, but...

Yesterday, I had my first real experience on the journey into old age, and it wasn't fun. I've not been feeling well for a while now; at the beginning of the month I was having "stomach issues" and I've just generally been feeling pretty run down. Around 7pm yesterday evening, I began experiencing a great amount of pain in my chest, which made it difficult for me to breathe. I wasn't doing anything physical, and hadn't done anything physical in a while. In fact, I was sitting on my bed, as usual, on my laptop computer. I called a few friends to see if I they had any idea of what might be happening, and was able only to get hold of one. She suggested that I go to the emergency room ("ER") right away, as chest pains might be related to the heart. At first, I postponed such action as it didn't feel like my heart, per se. But as the minutes ticked by, the pain became worse, and it became increasingly difficult to breathe. The pain spread ...

{EAV_BLOG_VER:50d9bce121877b1b} [EDIT 4 June 2011: Please ignore the first line of this post; I'm having to do some technical stuff with which you need not be concerned...] I just faxed the following letter to the management company of the apartment building I've been living in for almost six months now: I write to advise you of an incident that just occurred at my apartment door. Approximately 15 minutes ago at around 2:45 a.m., a woman began banging on my door almost to the point of knocking it down. She complained that I was making too much noise. For the first time since I moved into my apartment XX at XXX, a friend came over to help me unpack. As you are aware, I previously have been unable to unpack because the movers stacked everything from my previous apartment to the point where I was physically unable to move anything, due to my physical handicaps. The woman complained that she’s sick and tired of me sliding things around back and forth and moving things aro...