New Blog Location

I have moved my blog to its own domain, operated by WordPress. I'm done with Blogger.

Click on my blog name or one of my latest blog posts below:

Goodbye, Blogspot!

UPDATE: Moved blog is at bootedmanblog.com, here.

Blogger (or blogspot), the site on which this blog is posted, has recently changed its "GUI" -- Graphical User Interface and method of operation significantly. I hate it. The old way was working fine. Now there are a whole slew of changes that make it much more difficult to use, not better.

I embrace change when changes are made for a reason. I see no reason for these changes. It took me over an hour to figure out how to post the message about my recent biker conference, and 25 minutes for this one. The new GUI platform that Blogger introduced and forced upon its users is absolutely awful, non-intuitive, and very hard to use. Sheesh...

I guess the kids back in Google-land thought they'd like to play with the minds of us old farts. So easy to do. (LOL!)

I understand that this new GUI is here to stay and that they won't change it back to the more functional GUI that they had. Therefore, I regret that this change forced me to ABANDON BLOGGER and move to Wordpress.

I have installed Wordpress and am now working on configuring my new blog. When it is ready for its debut, I will make one last post here... then it's "goodbye blogger!"

Sorry if this change will inconvenience anyone. Blame it on the mega-Google-monolith. Google is not the monopoly it tries to be.

I really don't want to change platforms, but Google, the owner of Blogger, is forcing me to make that choice -- vote with my boots, and leave Blogger to play games with others. Not me. I don't have time for this b/s.

Life is short: realize that all good things come to an end. Blogger is one of them. Thanks, Google, for nothing but hassles and heartache.

Biker Conference

I attended a biker's leadership conference over the past few days.

I regret that the organization that sponsors the conference thinks that anything mentioning same-sex relationships or "things gay" is contrary to its "family friendly" position, so I cannot say exactly who sponsored it or where it was. Let's just say it was near the same town where my mother-in-law lives. I stayed at her home (saving the cost of a hotel room.)

I did not ride my motorcycle to the location where the conference was held because my partner went with me so he could visit his Mom. He cannot ride as a passenger on my bike due to an ongoing disability that has prevented him from riding with me for the past seven years. Man, I miss him (on the back of my bike)!

Anyway, the conference was interesting, and I learned a thing or two that will help me as I work with my motorcycle club. All good.

I will blog more about various issues that were brought to my mind about being a biker who happens to be gay in future blog posts.

Life is short: be open to learning!

New Blog Header

You may have noticed that I changed the header for this blog. Just making it reflective of my passions. I remain a guy into boots, leather, and Harleys (well, my Harley.)

Life is short: ride safe!

Not Leather Lately

Spring has arrived, and soon it will be summer. Hot, humid, summer.

I like four seasons, especially the warmer time of the year when I can ride my Harley.

Lately, I haven't been riding much. Time devoted to my partner and his ongoing treatments takes up a huge amount of my time. But I continue to have faith; he will be well again. Sometime....

I hear the Harleys roaring down the road, while transporting my partner in my truck to-and-fro, from visiting doctors to ordinary and mundane chores like grocery shopping. The good thing is that he is well enough to conduct some semblance of a normal routine.

Meanwhile, I remain in my work boots. That tile in the kitchen won't lay itself. Over my aching, sore body....

No leather, no Harley, but lots of smiles in seeing accomplishment on the tiling. I want my kitchen back!

Life is short: keep working toward your goals.

Not That Kind of Idiot

No, I'm not that kind of idiot. Really. Who would think an email is legitimate that asks me to adopt an orphan, supposedly from California but the email originated in Malaysia?

What email is legitimate that offers me millions of dollars for serving as a fiduciary conduit in the United States?

Who really believes that I would ever click on a link within an email from an airline confirming tickets I never purchased, or to cancel a huge pizza order I never made?

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Work-Booted Work

This blog post is short because I have been very busy. These Timberland work boots are on my feet while I am laying Italian tile in our kitchen. All 460 square feet of it...

What you see in these photos is what the subfloor looks like after original old linoleum was removed from it. I am laying rectangular tile that has the appearance of wood on the floor, cutting it with a wetsaw as necessary to fit angles and edges.

Man, I'm sore...

But it is looking good!

Life is short: take pride in doing your own work!

Wesco and Chippewa Engineer Boots

My partner had a good day on Wednesday and was able to go to his office for a few hours, which gave me a few unexpected free hours. I decided to make a video during that time. I can't make videos when my partner is at home, as he has a low opinion about YouTube and videos in general.

In response to a request, on my new video, I discussed my opinions (based on experience) about the similarities and differences between Wesco "Boss" engineer boots and Chippewa engineer boots -- both the tall and short versions of each.

For your convenience, the video appears below. Watch, learn, and enjoy!

Legendary Booted

Any guy seriously into boots has been seeing ads and promos in various media about Legendary Boots. Man oh man, what great-looking, high-quality cowboy boots!

Okay, I admit, I had been drooling over images I had seen of their boots. The price, though, was beyond what I was willing to pay. The boots are great quality, hand-made to custom sizing and all that, but even considering all those outstanding aspects, my inner-self kept saying, "really, you want a pair of boots that cost even more than custom Wescos?"

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

My partner understands... really understands me well. He heard me talk about these boots and I showed him some of the photos from their Facebook page from time to time.

Knowing that I've sacrificed a lot of my time and attention for him, working to get him well and past this horrible illness he has been dealing with... my wonderful, caring, thoughtful partner got me a gift.

They arrived the other day. These custom boots are 16 inches (40.6cm) tall, have a full quill black ostrich foot, and dark blue shafts with yellow stitching. Smooth leather soles with a 2.5 inch (6.35cm) cowboy heel complete them.

I haven't taken them off. Well, I have ... when I go to bed ... or when I ride my Harley ... but otherwise, these puppies have been worn and enjoyed, very much.

How lucky I am to be in love with my best friend, who knows my inner "boot soul" so well. More photos of these boots are here on my website.

Life is short: wear boots and be your own legend!

What Do You Do With All That Leather?

Someone sent me an email recently asking what I thought was a legitimate and good question in this context, "since you have said on your blog that you don't go out to leather events like IML or MAL, what do you do with all that leather gear you own? Since you've got the gear, why don't you attend these events? I'd like to hang out with you."

Thanks for the questions. I like to meet new people, too, and based on our email "conversations," you sound like a guy who I would enjoy meeting and speaking with. You respect that I am in a closed monogamous relationship, and I respect that you like to hang out with guys in leather.

Well, first question first.

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Is It Okay to Wear Cowboy Boots to Work?

You think I make this stuff up, but here's proof that even in the cowboy boot-wearing capital of the United States, there remains people who obsess about whether or not they can wear cowboy boots. In Texas of all places! Sheesh!

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Odd Easter Weekend

For the past decade, my partner left on Good Friday to drive to Pittsburgh to visit his mother for Easter, returning on the next Monday. I would have a free "batchelor's weekend" where I would ride my Harley on Saturday and take some elderly friends to church for sunrise service on Sunday, then having some more free time before returning to work on Monday.

Not this year....

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Can A Gay Man Wear Jeans and Boots?

Question entered into a search engine, and wound up on my website: "Can a gay man wear jeans and boots?"

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Passages

There was a book by the title of this blog post that I read many years ago, and decided to re-read this past weekend. I was amazed how relevant its words of wisdom are today as they were on the day I first read this book, though some of the content is a bit dated.

The book's subtitle is "predictable crises of adult life."

While I do not intend to add a "book reviews" column to this blog, I want to relate how I am feeling about the passages that my life, and the life of my beloved partner, have been going through.

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Leather Gear Guide for Bikers

As readers of this blog know, I am a biker -- I ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I've been riding for some 30 years.

I also enjoy wearing leather. The motorcycle was the inspiration for getting a lot of my gear, and as I have aged and settled down, most of my leather these days is worn for protection and style while riding, not for fetish interests.

I have received inquiries about my recommendations about various items of leather gear for bikers. I decided to take my "Guide to (fetish) Leather Gear" and create one specifically for (straight) bikers. I left the fetish stuff out and wrote more about the design and function of leather that bikers may choose to buy and wear.

The full Guide to Biker Leather Gear is here.

I cover topics including:

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While Sipping a Latte, Surfing With My Smartphone

Whiling away the hours here at the local hot-spot coffee destination, sipping a Venti-Trenti Latte (with soy milk, of course), I was surfing on my new smartphone, and what did I see? Such a fantastically stylish find in men's dress footwear!

Aren't these boots from Allen Edmonds cool? Notice the ventilation in the stylish design? Smooth leather sole, lace-up, dress-shoe appearance. Who would know these are boots?

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