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It Hurts (Poem)

  I’ve been thinking a lot about my mom lately; she passed away in November, 2010.  This is for her.   when I was five and life was a song of excitement and innocence the world was full of mystery and I had never felt the pain of hurt or loss of any kind    and then one day a playmate pushed me right off the swing you picked me up   brushed me off    told me not to cry ‘mommy,’ I said, ‘it hurts’ when I was sixteen and in love for the  first time to a young Cuban girl I felt like     an adult doing adult things dates and kissing and groping and late-night phone calls with the cord stretched and twisted through the house  and under my door    and then one day she left me for another teenage crush and I felt world-ending anguish  burning, hot, consuming as only a teenager can feel them you held me close    told me I’d be ok ‘but mom,’ said I, ‘it hurts.’ when I was thirty-five at the end of my marriage holding on to it with desperate and futile hands trying to be a good father to my sons who put me on a pedestal high enough  to rival the gods I fought depression  […]

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Be Brave - Pittsburgh 2014 Gay Pride Parade

10 Things I Saw at the 2014 Pittsburgh Gay Pride Parade

Today marks my second week as a permanent resident of Pittsburgh.  I have thrown myself right into the mix of life up here in the ‘Burgh.  Last week I ran in the Run or Dye 5k.  This week I participated in the 2014 Pittsburgh Gay Pride parade.  I’m off to a great start in my new […]

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pittsburgh-pennsylvania

The Binary Biker is Moving to Pittsburgh

The time has come for me to join my wife in Pittsburgh.  A year ago, I blogged that my wife was moving to Pittsburgh because she got a job with Google.  We made the difficult decision that I would stay in Florida for two reasons: My job was pretty awesome and I wanted to take […]

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Taking my son to the gun range

Parents Should Teach Their Children Gun Safety

There’s a lot of media coverage this past week about children and guns.  It’s to be expected, it’s the media theme of the month.  There is not an increase in gun-related deaths, only an increase in the reporting of them.    There is a lot of talk and rhetoric about gun control and changes necessary […]

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Pittsburgh

My Google Gal is Moving to Pittsburgh

Yep;  the Binary Biker is moving to Pittsburgh.  Actually, it’s the Binary Princess that is moving.  My lovely wife is now employed by Google and is relocating to work in their Pittsburgh office on the Google Shopping product. It all started about six months ago when my wife’s company, for which she has been working […]

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Gave Ashlee an "eye pad" for Christmas last year

I have a daughter and her name is Ashlee Sparks

She didn’t want me in her life. Not at first, anyway.  I was mommy’s new boyfriend and I was a nuisance because I kept getting in the way of how things were supposed to be.  Sure, she liked me.  I was funny, considerate, and I actually talked to her and was interested in who she was.  But […]

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Ronald C Sparks

Rest in Peace, Grandpa

Ronald C. Sparks was my grandfather. He passed away last Thursday.  Born in Portsmouth, Ohio on October 14, 1925, he was 86-years-old.  These are the words I wrote, and spoke, today at his funeral service.  I worked on this with my brother and sister, and I am honored to have given his eulogy.  My sister […]

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Main Street, retro-style

Daytona Biketoberfest 2011

The weekend is over and the results are in: Biketoberfest 2011 was a success.  4 our of 5 drunk bikers agree.  I rode to Daytona on Saturday with my lovely wife, Carey, and my very, very good friend John.  On Sunday I rode by myself and met up with another good friend, Jaime, and his […]

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Do not suffer a witch to live...

Suffer not a witch…

I grew up in a staunchly religious family; a Southern Baptist family to be exact.  When I was about ten-years-old I was told that Satan was working through rock and roll bands and that rock and roll was filled with subliminal messaging.   Subliminal messaging would turn our nation’s youth into devil-worshiping hooligans and imperil the very […]

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1896_telephone

You Don’t Need My Phone Number for a Purchase

My wife and I were at a Payless shoe store near downtown Orlando yesterday.  Carey complains she never has enough shoes and wanted to buy some cute little loafers that she could beat up and wear during the warm summer months.  I know better than to argue when she says she doesn’t have enough shoes, even […]

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