Category: My News

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My News

Right As Rain

Who wants to be right as rain
It’s better when something is wrong
You get excitement in your bones
And everything you do’s a game
When night comes And your on your own
You can say I chose to be alone
Who wants to be right as rain
It’s harder when your on top

That’s from “Right As Rain” by Adele.  If you haven’t heard her, you should definitely check her out, just search for her on YouTube.  “Chasing Pavements” and “Right As Rain” would be a couple of good places to start.

She makes a good point, chaos is definitely exciting.  I’ve had lots of chaos and lots of stability crammed into the last four years of my life since I moved to Colorado.  1 year of chaos, 2 years of stability, and 1 more year of chaos.  I’m here at what feels like the tail end of a year of chaos, at least I can hope.

  • Year 1: Move to Fort Collins, Colorado, struggle to find a decent job, struggle to make friends in a new place.  Move to Denver in chaotic relationship. Relationship ends, move back to Fort Collins, CO.  Relationship resumes, move back to Denver. Relationship ends, boot ex out of his own apartment for treating me like a Yo-Yo.
  • Year 2: Get into stable relationship.  Get engaged.
  • Year 3: Great job, great relationship, great social circle.
  • Year 4: Engagement ends, great job ends, social circle disappears.  Get into nightmare rebound relationship.  Take crappy job, rebound relationship ends.
  • Year 5 (so far): Get back into school.  Quit crappy job to work on Barack Obama’s campaign, life changing.  Go broke.  Get offer from great nonprofit organization.  Looking forward to interview with second great nonprofit organization.  Wondering what the future holds.

All in all, I can’t complain.  I’m healthy and I have a roof over my head, though we’ll see if the roof is still there come the first of next month! 😉

I am content.  I have the normal concerns of life, but I am content.  I feel good about where we’re headed as a nation and as a globe.  I believe my potential to do the things I long to do and to help others is as bright as it ever was, even if it was cloudy for a while.  The clouds have come and gone, and as one of my dearest friends has always reminded me in some of my darker days, the sun will shine tomorrow.

Categories
Civil Rights Colorado Politics LGBTQ Issues My News Photos Politics

Protesting H8, Denver Style

This past Saturday, November 15th, people from across the nation nation came together at over 300 rallies to protest Proposition 8 in California, Florida’s Amendment 2, a similar ballot initiative in Arizona and the anti adoption amendment in Arkansas.

I was one of the Marshals for the event and it was an amazing time.  The Marshals arrived about an hour and a half before the rally and people started showing up not long after we did.  There were over 1,500 in attendance at the rally and about 1,200 of them marched with us down 16th street mall.

As a Marshal my responsibilities were primarily crowd control.  As the crowd grew at the rally, we ran out of space and people were starting to move into the street in front of the Denver City & County Building.  The street was still open to traffic, so we had to do out part to avoid accidents.

Once we started marching, we kept the group as together as we could.  The line was too long to be seen in its entirety, much to my surprise and excitement.  The Marshals would leapfrog and hold the traffic at the different intersections.  Understandably, there were a few pissed off commuters, but we had a permit to be there and I personally find my rights being denied to me a bit more inconvenient then being stuck at an intersection for a few minutes.

As Marshals, we also kept the crowd chanting.  I would walk up and down as much of the march as I could and lead them in chants.  I started losing my voice about halfway through and recruit fellow marchers to help me out:

“What do we want?”  “Equal rights!” “When do we want them?”  “Now!”

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“Gay, straight, black, white – marriage is a civil right!”

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“Love, Not Hate! Love, Not Hate! Love, Not Hate!“

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About three fourths of the way through the march, people were getting tired and my voice was all but gone, but we pushed forward and I reminded the marchers that as tired as we were, the opposition was far from tired of denying us our rights.

Most encouraging to me were the straight couples with their children who came out to support us.  They were scattered all over our rally and just as passionate about equality as the gay community.  I was also encouraged by the employees and customers of the different stores along 16th Street Mall that came out on to the sidewalk to cheer us on, some even joining us in our march.

We finally made it back to Civic Center Park, but the group did not disperse as I had expected.  People picked up and led their own chants, others just smiled with tear filled eyes amazed at the spectacle they were witnessing.  I finally climbed to the top of the nearby stairs and thanked everyone for coming, implored them not to let their passion and their work end here, to contact their elected officials and hold them accountable, vote in the future and stay involved in the movement.  A cheer went up, a group of High School students resumed their cheers, and we Marshals were surrounded by grateful marchers who hugged and thanked us for our work.

It was an inspirational experience that I don’t anticipate matching anytime soon.  After 4 months on the Obama campaign I was apprehensive and very slow to sign up to work this event, but I am thrilled that I ultimately did.

Equality will come, that much I know.

~~

 

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My News

We Elected A President

Four days later it is still sinking in.  We elected a President.  Not in the collective sense of we as Americans elected a President, as we do every 4 years, but we, as in the people I know and worked with on a daily basis.

I am in a bit of a daze, to be completely honest.  As I said in my previous post my grades suffered and I am not prepared for an exam I have coming up this Monday and wasn’t in class to get the study guide.  I also missed an exam last week which I am unsure of whether I will be able to makeup or not.  I am hoping this lack of focus will diminish now that the campaign is over.

I am considering a few part time job options, but I feel so far behind in life.  I wish I could hit Fast Forward and finish school and get on with the real work.  Oh well, c’est la vie.
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My News Politics

5 Days and Counting

It is 2AM on October 30th and staying true to quantifying my life in terms of how close Election day is, it is 5 days away.  I have sacrificed my bank accounts and standard of living by not working when I could have been and I have let my my grades suffer by working on this campaign since August.  The thought that in 5 days it could all be a waste is a little frightening.   I just cashed out my 401k to make it through and I’m stressed to say the least.

I decided to get back into school after 6 years and my performance this semester has been less than stellar.  I hope I have time to pull it out of the gutter once the campaign is over.  I hope.

I do this because it is a cause greater than myself and my hope for the future overpowers my concerns for my present.  That is why I do this.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXAiyAf7HgA[/youtube]

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My News Politics

Life & Layouts

Well, I’ve decided to try a new layout here.  I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, so let me know what you think.

My life has become pretty hectic as of late and it’s taking all I have to keep up the pace.  I have dropped two of my five courses this semester which I am less than pleased about.  I didn’t have much choice because I just couldn’t put the effort, time and focus on them that I needed to.  I will retake one of them next semester and the other one I am happy to let sail off into the sunset.

My work with Barack Obama’s campaign is keeping me busy when I am not in school.  I am in shock that we are down to 12 days now.  We have a countdown going on our wall in the field office with numbers about 2½ tall.  We first got those numbers when we were in the 80’s, and to now almost be in the single digits is absolutely terrifying.  I’m concerned, I’m nervous, but most of all I am excited.  I am excited at the opportunity we have to make such tremendous and world-shaping change.  I know my friends around the world are cheering us on and hoping that we make the right decisions on November 4th.

In other interesting and somewhat unnerving news, I am currently using Ancestry.com to try and figure out if my ancestors were ever slave owners.  As I’ve been sitting through an early American History course hearing about the days of the slave trade I can’t help but wonder.  I just need to know one way or the other.  My Mother’s side of the family are sugar cane farmers.  I grew up surrounded by sugar cane.  My Grandfather, his brother, one of his sons, etc. were all sugar cane farmers.  I don’t know how far back it goes, but I’m hoping to be able to rule it out fairly soon.

We’ll see, wish me luck.

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My News Politics

A Leap of Faith (or Two)

Now that my boss knows about it I guess it’s safe to publish on here.  I have decided to quit my job and return to school full time.  My first class is today at 1:00 PM.  I am attending Metropolitan State College of Denver where I will be majoring in Sociology with a minor in Political Science.  Eventually ending up with my Masters in Social Work and a career in Youth Suicide Prevention.  I’ll get more into my political aspirations in a future post.

The major leap of faith here is that I am looking at a significant cut in my income and standard of living.  I will be leaving my full time job as a retail Store Manager and going to school while working a part time job somewhere.  All the years I’ve spent out of school, I’ve continued to climb the ladder at my jobs and have now achieved a level of income that is not typical of a college student.  Along with that is an expensive car note, expensive rent, and various other expenses that I must now begin trimming away.

The other possible leap of faith is that I may not work a part time job at all until November 5th.  I am so extremely dedicated to the Barack Obama campaign here in Colorado and especially the work we are all doing in Arapahoe County that I have seriously considered going to school and spending the rest of my time working on the campaign.

Doing this would require me to live off of student loans for a few months, and so I have requested a slightly larger than normal private student loan to help cover me for the next couple of months.  The large majority of this loan will just be subsidizing my part time income as I go back to school.

My plan was pretty much set until I mentioned to a vendor that I work with indirectly that I was leaving my job.  She immediately implored me to apply for a part time position at her company for 25 hours week and essentially the same money I make now working 52 hours a week.  I have submitted my resume and seem to have a very good shot.

I’m very torn over my options now.  I had completely fallen in love with the idea of working full force for the campaign, and even scheduled my classes in such a way that I will only be in class Monday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon and Thursday evening.  The rest of my time would go to the Obama campaign.  This new job possibility would have me working Thursday evening, Friday evening and all day on Saturday and Sunday when I am most needed by the campaign.

The option of working a job with those kind of hours is outstanding and too good to pass up and so I’ve thrown my hat into the ring and will see how it all turns out.  If I get the job, I must take it and accept a reduced role in the campaign.

Currently I am one of my neighborhood leaders and a strong support to my local Field Organizer.  Losing me on weekends will be a very large blow to the organization that we are just now pulling together, but I really don’t see an alternative.  I mentioned this to her tonight and she was very sad to hear the news, but happy for my opportunities.  She’s passionate and intelligent and it’s a thrill working with her on something we both so strongly believe in

I’m very conflicted, but ultimately I have decided what I will do in either scenario.  If I am offered the job I will take it.  If I am not offered the job I will not pursue a job until November 5th, the day after we secure victory for Barack Obama and the values so many of us hold so dear.

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Colorado Politics My News Photos Politics

Arapahoe County: Fired Up, Ready To Go!

This past Thursday evening I attended the Grand Opening of Barack Obama‘s Campaign for Change Campaign Office here in Arapahoe County.  There were well over 200 people in attendance, around 250 I would guess.  The crowd was as diverse a crowd as I’ve ever seen, and there was electricity in the air.  I met most of the staff, officially changed my registration to Democrat, and signed up to volunteer my time.

Saturday I attended a Volunteer Leaders conference which also had several hundred people in attendance.  We spent a little over 5 hours together training and organizing neighborhood teams with our campaign staff Field Organizers.  We will be meeting regularly to conduct voter registration drives, as well as phone banking.  I will probably end up as the Canvassing Coordinator or the Phone Banking Coordinator.  I have experience with both, so we’ll see.

These pictures are from the campaign office opening.  It was a fantastic evening!  Fired Up,  Ready To Go!

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My News Random Technology Things I Love Videos

Nokia N95-3

So I have a new phone, a Nokia N95-3.  It’s absolutely amazing.

nokia-n95-red

One service I’ve been loving is Qik.com.  Live, interactive streaming video from my phone to the net.  People can write in questions or comments which then immediately show up on my phone.

You can view my random videos at http://www.qik.com/beaupedia.

 
In less happy technological news, my beautiful 22″ LCD monitor burned up last week, hence the lack of blog updates.  I am currently working on a 15″ widescreen Acer I bought tonight at Wal-Mart, it’s so tiny!
 
On a related note, is it terribly unethical to “rent” monitors and then return them once your real monitor is repaired, even if you despise the company?  I’m tempted to do this, especially considering how snotty the Manager was with me when I asked her if I’d have any problems if the monitor was damaged, considering one corner of the box was crushed pretty badly. 
 
They had offered me a 2 year service plan on my monitor which I declined, when did Wal-Mart start offering those anyway?  I haven’t shopped there in a couple years.  When I asked about the crushed corner of the box for some sort of reassurance that they’d take it back if it was damaged, she said “Well, that’s why those service plans are a good idea.” in a very condescending tone.
 
As though I need a service plan to take care of damage that happened before I purchased the product.  Either way it wasn’t damaged and I have 15 days(or 30…or 45…she wasn’t sure, have I mentioned I hate Wal-Mart?) to return it.
 
I think I’ll be alright.  My monitor may still be under warranty, if not, I believe they can have it sent off for repair.  We shall see.
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My News Random

New Job

Well, I survived my second day at my new job as a Store Manager.  It was no ordinary second day however.  Today had we had to conduct a full store inventory.  Thankfully my team(myself and 3 people), a District Manager, and 4 other Managers conducted the inventory.  Even with 9 people I still didn’t get out until 1AM.  I am salary, so no OT for me.  The good news is that even though the previous Store Manager apparently didn’t do a very good job we actually ended up in the positive in our inventory.  No net losses!  Woohoo!

Well, that’s the update on my life.  Oh, and I’m listening to Cher.  YAY stereotypes!

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My News

Beaupedia

Alright, so the obvious.  For a long time I’ve wanted some witty name for my blog, screen names, etc.  Back in August my coworkers gave me a Birthday card, and one of them jokingly said in the card something like “For the answer to anything, use Beaupedia.”  I am the king of random, useless facts at work, and I mention Wikipedia at least twice a day.  So, Beaupedia has been stewing in my mind for a while.  I’ve now registered Beaupedia.com and Beaupedia.org because I am a huge geek.

Now that that’s all taken care of you can get to this blog any number of exciting, fantastic ways:

www.beaupedia.com
www.beaupedia.org
www.beauhebert.net
beaupedia.wordpress.com

I’m not actually that exciting, but everyone should have their namesake domains registered.  And who knows, when I run for public office someday the beauhebert.net domain will probably come in handy.