Friday, February 1, lunch is at the Red Lantern with Bryan and So Graham Norton has presenter Fern Britton and Stephanie Beacham (Sable on Dynasty and The Colbys) on BBC America, but neither is very interesting.

Saturday, February 2 and we go off for sushi at Mie at 9 pm.  Then, as usual on Saturday nights, we pull up the drawbridge over the moat and watch a little MadTV and Saturday Night Live.

Dan Ackroyd makes one of his unannounced and uncredited appearances as a Mormon missionary during the introduction (check out the Ackroyd link for the script!) and Justin Timberlake supports his girlfriend, Britney Spears, who is both host and musical guest.

Sunday, February 3 and “bathrobe boy” wants to protest the protesters.  Yes, 87 people get arrested just below us in the World Trade Organization protests and Bryan wants to do the anti-protest dance in his bathrobe.  Too bad it’s so cold out!

We watch Queer as Folk.  Unfortunately, it’s getting more and more like a soap opera; in other words, the plot is continually driven by bad things.  It needs more comedy.

Monday, February 4 and Liberace died in 1987, exactly fifteen years ago; as a child, I remember always wanting to watch television’s “man with the candles.”  On Monday evenings, I attend Marketing for Publishing at New York University.

At Siam Lemon Leaf I order the steamed Thai dumplings (stuffed with ground chicken, peanuts, radishes and shallots); four pictures of perfection with a shell almost a translucent shade of white.  Then Yum Ped Yang, a salad made of crispy boneless duck with red onions, lime juice, scallions, ground cashews and chili paste; a cacophony of flavors, hot, sweet, moist and just delicious.  Plus, with a Thai iced tea, the total bill is less than twenty bucks.

Tuesday, February 5 and my Financial Analysis class; I watch Smallville and Judging Amy.  Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, arrives in Boston in 1631.

Other than the fact that it’s the fifth of February and I have always loved this painting, I have no excuse to mention The Figure 5 in Gold (1928) by American artist Charles Demuth.

However, you can see it in person at the Metropolitan Museum of Art right here in New York City; it is inspired by the poet William Carlos Williams.

Wednesday, February 6 and I install a new memory chip.  And it works!  Now, there’s 196 megs of RAM and the computer does seem faster.  (By the way, do not confuse that with Baba Ram Dass.)

On television, the crew of Enterprise find themselves once again at the mercy of the volatile Andorians with perennial guest Jeffrey Combs.

On a new episode of The West Wing, Stanley Keyworth (Adam Arkin reprising his role from the Noel episode) revisits the White House, and this time his patient is the president.  I love Arkin’s characterization, plus there are some other great plotlines in this episode.

Thursday, February 7 and I buy a new Logitech cordless keyboard and optical mouse combination from DataVision.  They have the combo for $90 while Circuit City has it for $110 and J&R Music World has it for $120.  Quite the range!

There’s a new Friends episode, continuing the Joey/Rachel story line.  At 9 pm, it’s a new Will & Grace with guest Matt Damon pretending to be gay to join the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus (although it is the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles that we see).  Everybody says this is Emmy material but I don’t think so at all.

Friday, February 8, and if you have nothing to do and you are stuck at home, Dave Wohlman recommends 3WK Underground Radio: “These guys have an amazing collection, great taste and varied sound.  Enjoy and let me know what you think!”

Saturday, February 9 and an unusually perfect day, sunny and 48 degrees.  [The following is redacted from the Reuters article by Giles Elgood.]

Prayers have been said for Princess Margaret, the royal rebel who died at the age of 71 after a life of glamour and heartbreak.  News of the World said, “On the one hand, she insisted on respect and deference.  On the other, she was rarely far from the seductive world of drink, drugs, sex and nightclubs.”

Margaret put duty before her heart by turning her back on a dashing air force officer when a princess could not marry a divorcee.  Sunday newspapers published pictures of the princess in her youth — a vibrant, sexy woman who enthralled and at times scandalized a nation.  In the end, a diminished Margaret lived in a semi-twilight world, robbed of her film star looks and dogged by ill health.   In one of her last, public appearances she looked a woman destroyed.  [Ed: I think I stole this from somewhere; it does not look like my writing style!]

Sunday, February 10 and we go to the Lunch Box.  The weather is gray outside so instead we do housekeeping, finally going for dinner at Pangea.

I watch Queer as Folk, still somewhat disconcerting in its plot directions.  This photo appears in HX, and shows Hal Sparks, Gale Howard and Randy Harrison at Tower Records.

Monday, February 11 and it’s the one year anniversary of my brother Mario’s fatal car accident and the five-month anniversary of 9/11; this month we feature a page of design ideas for rebuilding the towers.  Then Marketing for Publishing  in the evening.

Tuesday, February 12 and Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  Other than car dealer sales, it doesn’t seem like we have a reason for a holiday other than there’s nothing else in February.  Of course, that discounts Valentine’s Day, just two days away.

Near the end of the afternoon, Bryan calls to say he received his promotion to Assistant Vice-President at HSBC!  He’s been working for them for around seven years now and I’m so very proud of him.

In the evening, I take my Financial Analysis quiz, the first test I’ve had in twenty years; then dinner at Pangea.

Wednesday, February 13 is Ash Wednesday.  Life is a series of challenges and choices; in the end, it’s all about character.  Only you can ask yourself about that; only you know the answer to that.  For me, I have the confidence that I have made the choices that allow me to sleep at night; that’s the most important thing.

Reed and Trip try to stay alive in the freezing cold of Shuttlepod One on a new episode of Enterprise.

Thursday, February 14 is Valentine’s Day and officially our fifth anniversary.  So are we having some big party or did we buy each other dozens of roses.  Well, no.  Not that we’re not romantic, and the card that Bryan gets me is just lovely, but we tend to celebrate every day and a Hallmark holiday is for people that forget what they have the other 364 days of the year.  And we don’t.

Friday, February 15 and we’re up at 6 am for our trip to see Patricia and Napoleon Truckey, Bryan’s grandparents in Oconto, Wisconsin.

Of all the trips we’ve taken, we’ve generally left from either Newark or JFK airports; we never realized how close or convenient LaGuardia is!  We’re so early we even get to have breakfast at Figs before our flight; but like airport food in general, even this top name in food isn’t very special here.  Not that it matters much, as by 11 am we’re in the air on a United flight to Chicago’s O’Hare, where we switch to a United Express to Green Bay.

By 2 pm, we’re picked up by his cousin Tina and on our way to Oconto, where she lives with her husband Terry Pecor and their son Alex, who’s eleven.  They have a very nice, new home just a few blocks from Pat and Nap’s apartment.

Across the street from them is Copper Culture State Park, the site of a burial ground used around 5000 years ago.  These native peoples were the first in North America to forge implements from metal, namely copper from Upper Michigan.

We go to see Pat and Nap for a couple of hours and back to the Pecor’s; Terry and Tina go bowling on Friday nights so Bryan and I offer to play baby-sitter to Alex.  Of course, after our long trip, Alex plays baby-sitter to us as Bryan falls asleep on the couch and me in the spare room!

Saturday, February 16 and I’m up at 9 am to find that Bryan and Alex are already chatting on the couch.  Uncle Paul (the brother of Bryan’s mother) and his girlfriend Cathy stop by for a few minutes and then we’re off to Pat and Nap’s at noon.

Yes, it’s time for lunch at one of Wisconsin’s hot spots, Jenny’s Place, where all of us pig out on huge and fatty breakfasts, all for only two or three dollars each.  I actually have lunch with country-fried steak followed by coconut cream pie.  Bryan and I take a short break, late in the afternoon, to visit the two antique stores in town, with Alex in tow.

Bryan and I take the Pecor’s to dinner at Brothers 3 (106 Superior Avenue, in an old mill on the river), the one bar and restaurant in town.  I must say, they make a mean pizza for me (with Wisconsin mozzarella, of course) and over-stuffed Mexican food for the others.  Oh, and I finally get to try battered cheese curds after years of hearing about them.

After dinner, we drive out to Oconto Falls to see Paul and Cathy’s house, take lots of pictures, and then we’re back home and in bed by midnight.

Sunday, February 17 and for our Episcopal readers, the local church is Saint Mark Episcopal at 408 Park Avenue.  But I only saw a reference to it; we never actually saw the building or any signs.  Mainly Roman Catholics, along with Lutherans and Christian varieties, as well as the First Church of Christ Scientist, at the corner of Main and Chicago Streets. Built in 1886, this small church was the first church ever built for the Christ Scientist denomination.  Sunday services are still held in this historical building.

And now for your historical fact: In 1669 Father Claude Allouez landed on the banks of what would someday be called Oconto (“plentiful with fish”).  He came in December of that year to help the Native Americans who were being harassed by early fur traders.  He established a French Catholic mission which lasted for nearly twenty years and was the first European settlement in Wisconsin.

Bryan and I decide to grab some breakfast and try Wayne’s Family Restaurant, basically a competitor for Jenny’s, before going to his grandparents.

Nap then takes the four of us on a tour of Oconto, up to the edge of the Green Bay.  Yes, Packers fans, there is actually a body of water called the Green Bay and above you can see Bryan with his grandparents in front of it.

Unfortunately, most of the sites which might be interesting to us, such as the Beyer Historic Home, are only open during the summer.  Other than cheese, important local businesses include the Kelly Pickle Company and boat builders Cruisers.

Bryan takes on each of his grandparents, one on one, in games of cribbage for the rest of the afternoon.  (Bryan suggests that “you better put that grandma beat me and I almost ‘skunked’ grandpa.”)  Back at the Pecor’s, Tina has a prepared a combination of pork and beef roasts.  I’ve never had this before; one meat’s fat flavors the other’s heartiness.

Monday, February 18 is Presidents’ Day, and Bryan and I “sweep up” the rest of the relatives.  We start with his Aunt Linda in her new double-wide and a stop at Z Cheese Shoppe for souvenirs (no, I didn’t get a cheese head!).

Then it’s the grandparents at 11 am to see the downtown of Oconto Falls where we stop for lunch.  What we didn’t plan on seeing was a barn burning; yes, just a few minutes after driving past a farm we noticed that there was black smoke coming from the same area.  Turning around, we found that it only takes a few minutes for a raging fire to consume a barn!

We get our tour of family homesteads, including the house in which Nap grew up in the ghost town of Stiles Junction, the turkey farm owned by Ruth and Helmer Johnson (Bryan’s paternal grandparents), the brick structure where Bryan spent his first few months of life, and more.

Finally, we stock up on fresh cheese curds and string cheese from Spring Side Cheese, a real Wisconsin cheese factory with observation window, and Bryan visits the last of his relatives, his Auntie Karen and her daughter Michelle (an actress with the Machickanee Players).

Terry grills steaks for our final meal together and our final pictures.  Tina has a bowling night so the rest of us watch some of the Winter Olympics before crashing.

Tuesday, February 19 and we’re up at 6:30 for our return to New York.  United Express leaves right on time, as does our flight from O’Hare.  Wow, both directions and not five minutes off for any of the four legs; pretty amazing.  By 6 pm I’m at my Financial Analysis class.

Dinner is from Zito’s (chicken parmigiana for me, spaghetti and meat sauce for him).  Also, this is the official release date for the Joey Ramone album Don’t Worry About Me, ten months after his death.

Wednesday, February 20 and exactly one month from the feast day of Saint Sebastian (January 20).  This is a paltry excuse to mention this homoerotic icon, who died in 288.  However, I just found a reference to a film by Petr Weigl, The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, A Mystery Play, with Michael Biehn as Sebastian from 1984.

Music is by Claude Debussy (commissioned to write the music for the stage play in 1911) and performed for the film by the Orchestre National de France conducted by Sir Colin Davis and featuring soloist Anne-Sofie von Otter.  Find out more about Sebastian from the calendar of gay and lesbian saints, the Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XII of 1912, or Catholic Online.

Thursday, February 21 and my dreams are very odd; in one I’m hanging with a bunch of Ivana types and complaining that I don’t want to do lunch at a place like the 21 (“I’m so wearing of having to say hello to the Donald.”) but I know I don’t fit in because I’m wearing white athletic socks under my beautiful suit.  Not that they seem to mind or notice.  Hmmm.

It’s a record temperature day, hitting just over sixty degrees.  Most of my day is spent at the apartment, though, so here is a picture of our building taken from outer space.  I perform my leftover magic on the previous night’s pasta, adding fresh garlic and pesto.  Our side dish is baby spinach reduced in olive oil and garlic, simple but perfect.

Friday, February 22 and the birthday of George Washington.  Chuck Jones, animator of Looney Tunes stars Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote and the Tasmanian Devil, among others, died of heart failure with his wife at his side.  Born on September 21, 1912, Jones grew up in Hollywood.

“The cavemen used to draw on walls.  In the Thirties, we were the Cro-Magnons of animation,” he once quipped.  In addition to his three Oscars, his 1957 Bugs vs Elmer short What’s Opera, Doc was inducted into the National Film Registry.  In 1966, he did the TV cartoon version of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which earned a Peabody Award.

“If you are in that trade of helping others to laugh and to survive by laughter, then you are privileged indeed,” he wrote in his second autobiography, Chuck Amuck.

I personally own a cel with Bugs and Daffy lounging on the beach while the Road Runner is being chased by Wile E. Coyote in the background.  My mother bought it for me after Mr. Jones charmed her at a gallery in Boston one day; it has a personal dedication to me referencing “Friar Duck.”  He told me that it was a scenario that he always wanted for a short, but which was never green-lighted.

Saturday, February 23 and Bryan meets Art and Michelle at Pangea for drinks.  When he comes home around 8 pm, he has brought me a salad and spaghetti bolognese.

I catch Sult, Spirit of the Music, under the musical direction of Irish musician Dónal Lunny; it’s a musical exploration that reaches across idioms and traditions, combining blues and country, acoustic and electric instruments, and Gaelic and English lyrics.  I’d seen this on Ovation a few months ago and never thought I would see it again.

Now, of course, the trick is to find out who the soloist is on my favorite piece, as the special is a compilation of the best moments of a thirteen episode Irish television series. Sult (the Gaelic word for pleasure, fun and amusement) has star turns by Van Morrison, Sinéad O’Connor, Christy Moore, Elvis Costello, Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris.

Sunday, February 24 and a major birthday in the life of Michelle Petersen.  But allowing for a woman’s modesty, we’ll only say that she’s old enough to drink!

Dinner for Bryan and I is at Holy Basil around 8; we both had a glass of delicious verdicchio, allowing myself my one glass of wine per quarter.  Bryan had the lovely vegetarian salad of grapefruit, ground cashews, cucumbers, coconut and cabbage with a lemon dressing, followed by Koong Kratiam (shrimp sauteed with minced garlic and ground black pepper).  I had the duck spring rolls and Moo Pad Preeg Khing (sliced port and string beans sauteed in a sweet red curry with kaffir lime leaves).

Monday, February 25 and school work as I’ve got Marketing for Publishing.

Our album of the day is Jagjit Singh’s Life Story, the Indian music double cd that I bought at the bodega in January.  An interview claims that, “Jagjit’s ghazals bring out the emotional side of ghazal and poetry lovers.  His deep voice holds the key to perhaps every emotion locked within oneself.”

About his popularity with the younger generation, Jagjit Singh says, “I am singing for 35 years and have evolved continuously.  That’s why I have used a wide range of instruments both western and eastern in my renditions.  I experiment in all my albums and make naya prayog (new applications).  You are tolerating me for decades now, so there must be something.”

I’d particularly like to point out track number eleven on the first cd, “Sarakti Jaye Hai” which almost has an Irish jig flavor to it along with a drum solo (tabla, actually) in the middle, a violin and a spoken explanation of the story in the latter part of the song.  Just superb.

Tuesday, February 26 and I decide to dye my hair again but the color I pick has left me with very reddish highlights, much like the old gay men of the past.  On the other hand, Mia Tyler, the “other” daughter of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, tells me she likes the color very much.  For my part, I like her very much; she’s got a beautiful soul.

After Financial Analysis class, I work with my partners in our class project.  Yes, it has been over a month now that I have been pursuing my Master of Science in Publishing at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at New York University ... and I love it!  Dinner is at Zito’s for fried zucchini, chicken parmigiana and spaghetti with garlic and oil.

Wednesday, February 27 and the Starship Enterprise runs across Vulcans who left their homeworld years ago to explore ways to reintegrate emotions into their lives.  Next is a new episode of the West Wing (“Hartsfield Landing”).  The subplot here involves chess games brought back from India.  One of the President’s advisors comments on how Bartlet can change from folksy to “the economics professor from New Hampshire” that he once was.

Our Wednesday night was nothing like the one had by Jeff Marshall and Alli Wong who were in England at dinner at that very moment.  He wrote, via e-mail, and I have edited the post to the most important points:

London was very fun.  While we were there, we also got ENGAGED!  Let me repeat for those in shock – ENGAGED!

Wednesday night is usually “date” night (and our last night in London) so we decided to go to Fiona’s.  The restaurant is a cozy little place, all candle lit, old wooden tables.  We had a fabulous dinner and Bordeaux, followed by a yummy glass of Port.

Along with the dessert came a ring and a proposal.  It wasn’t included on the menu, but a perfect finish to a great dinner and trip.  Did she say yes???  After 15 years, I was hoping she would and DID!!!

Thursday, February 28 and I pass by the New York Comedy Club where I see all the old famous names along with comics I remember from Boston.

On NBC, Must See TV continues the romantic story line of Joey and Rachel on Friends, the series premier of Leap of Faith looks promising (co-star Brad Rowe appears opposite Julia Roberts in her new movie), and Will & Grace not only features Suzanne Pleshette as the barmaid mother of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) but also a cameo by Sandra Bernhard.

Adelante!  Hombres.  Sailors.  Comrades. I know your mind.  I know your heart. I know your answer.

Our fabulous friend Louise Brooks wrote to us, “Fill this out, return it to the friend who sent it to you and forward it to all of your other friends.  You never know what you may learn.”

Well, Louise, Bryan and I decided we would share our answers with all of our readers.  And if any of you would like to send us your answers, we would be glad to pass them along to our Miss Brooks.