29. September 2008 by admin.

Great week ends with great weekend.

I promised Ed I would get home at a reasonable hour today, and I did–kind of.  Friday was devoted to deliveries.  I was very impressed with Out’s newsstand sales at Border’s Books and Music.  For those that do not know, Out is available in their regional stores.  If you have a favorite bookstore or establishment that you would like to see the newspaper, call me or have the business call me to add them to our outlets.

Friday evening was very peaceful at home.  Something I desired and needed after a very busy week. 

Saturdays are all about football in our house.  Sundays, too!   We support Christopher even though he is out for the season with an injury.  We got to the game late because we had to stop at the Mall at Robinson to exchange some sweatpants for Chris.  Sweats are the only the pants that fit over his leg brace. 

We enjoyed the afternoon at the Moon campus.  How could you not?  Don’t you just love college campuses!

Deciding to head over to the new Tanger Outlet by the Meadows, we hit a terrible rain storm.  I don’t know how Ed kept the SUV on the road.  At this point, I noticed that our newer vehicle was leaking water above the doors.  Very disappointing.

The new outlet was a pleasant surprise and very busy.  Our friend Sharon was coming to our house for dining later that evening, so we really did not have enough time to visit every shop.  I quickly noticed that there were not any Abercrombie or Hollister stores.  Very disappointing II.  Just visiting those two stores get my heart beating…

Chinese food and good conversation dominated the rest of Saturday evening.  You see guys, you don’t have to be dancing, drinking and bull-shitting to have a great Saturday night.  You can do all three at home.

Ed woke me at 7am Sunday morning.  After downing a cup of freshly brewed coffee, I was out the door and on my way.   The younger boys needed to be at church for Sunday school at 9am.  Yes, I said church.  You got a problem with that? 

Before you blow a gasket, let me add that I did not support Bush and I am a self labeled recovering catholic.  I believe in a higher power, but I question everything.  And, like many of you reading this, I too have been turned off by the Bush administration and it’s religious right wing controlled policies. 

The environment at our church is very warm and welcoming.  It is no secret that we are a gay, same-sex couple with three kids.  Ed and I have been open about who we and have found most of the members to be supportive. 

Our Sunday continued with a trip to Pittsburgh Mills.  I love this mall and the stores around it!  We had a decent lunch at Chili’s and then headed over to Ross Department store.  It was my hope that Ross would be similar to Home Goods, a store we visit often in Chicago.  Unfortunately, it was more like Marshall’s.  I did, however find some bargains.  My gaydar was in fine tune as I noticed three gay guys shopping.  You guys are so BUSTED!  Don’t worry, I promise not to name names.  Can you say slumming?

Speaking of slumming, we headed over to a very busy Walmart.  After visiting these two discount stores, it became obvious that the economy must be struggling. 

In all seriousness, I must admit that Ed and I made a few “discounted” purchases.   At the risk of being discovered, we paid for our purchases and quietly exited “those” establishments and headed back to our manicured suburb home.  Jeez.  What is this world coming to?

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26. September 2008 by admin.

The newspaper is now available everywhere including Border’s Books and Music.

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25. September 2008 by admin.

^ Those are fitting and very comforting words for a newspaper publisher.  ^

Here we go.  The October issue of Out is now on the newsstand and I could not be happier.  We faced a lot of adversity this issue.  

It started with the death of my friend, employee and Editor in Chief, Jeff Howells.  Then, our planned training of the staff for a new computer program hit a bump.  A delay that probably was a good thing considering we were still (and continue to be) in shock about Jeff. 

My oldest son hurt his knee and part of his leg during a football game. He will need surgery and will not play the rest of the season.

Moving on, we had to change printing locations because our October issue was too big and colorful.  By doing so, we had to rebuild the entire newspaper in a computer program that we were unfamiliar with. 

Creating more headache was Hurricane Ike.  Yes, if you live in Pittsburgh, you know exactly what I am saying.  The winds were so intense that power lines, transmitters and trees were destroyed all the Pittsburgh region.  One casualty was Out’s offices on the South Side.   We lost electricity for several days.  It is very difficult to put a newspaper together without computers and in dark and hot offices.

But, we did it!  I am very proud of my staff at Out for pulling together for Jeff and creating one hell of an issue.  We did it because we love this newspaper and the city it calls home.  We did it for you, our valued readers and for the institution Out has proudly become.

We all worked very hard over the past few weeks to make the changes necessary.  Our hearts and souls are throughout this issue.   Next issue will go much smoother.  Tony note: We are hiring an editorial assistant and proof reader.  Interested parties should call 412.381.3350, or e-mail tony@outpub.com.

We dedicate the October issue of Out to Jeff Howells.

A special thank you for the hard work from David Doorley, Laura Annibalini, Doe Swank, Gene Humberston, Mara Rago, John Columbo and the fantastic writers in Out. 

Last, but not least, my ED.  ED as my favorite person in the world.  Not the late night advertisements about E.D. that you people watch and purchase.  LOL.   Thank you for putting up with my long hours, change of schedules and keeping things rolling along at home.  You are an incredible person and deserve the best in life…like me.  LOL.    I kid you.  Please know, you are spectacular and I love you with all my heart!

Peace,

Tony
tony@outpub.com

Tony Molnar-Strejcek

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19. September 2008 by admin.

It has been a busy week at the Out offices.  Definitely a good thing.  A few steps forward for us, and lots of planning.  The new issue comes out next Thursday.  You will notice some differences with even more exciting changes to come.

Once the issue comes out, I will have a few days to get other things caught. 

Did you catch our new show on OTV www.outonline.com? I think it went well. 

I promise to write more soon and get back to my almost daily entries.

Tony

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16. September 2008 by admin.

A few days ago, David and I shot the latest OUTtakes show on location at the studio located in Out’s  South Side offices.  It is now available online on OTV  www.outonline.com. 

I think it is pretty interesting.  Let me know what you think?

Lights out!  We were one of the unfortunate 200,000 in the Pittsburgh area that lost power Sunday from the remnants of Hurricane Ike.    The power was finally restored at 11am Tuesday.   Advice from Tony…buy a generator before you lose power.  You can not run a business without electricity! 

I couldn’t find any for sale or rent in the Pittsburgh region.  They were sold out everywhere. 

By luck, I found one at PT Rentals in Harrison City.  Thank you guys!  Once arriving at the office, I discovered good, old Duquesne Light got the power back up in this section and the generator was no longer needed.  Damn.

Tony

Tony

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15. September 2008 by admin.

OK…I am happy.  Wait a minute.  I am usually always happy.  I think… 

The Steelers kicked butt yesterday.  Well, maybe not kicked butt, but they won their tenth in a row against Cleveland.  Pittsburgh has won 23 out of the last 26 games against them.  Unbelievable! 

I know, there are much more important things in life to get excited about, but I love most sports.  Its in my blood…horse racing, football, and hockey.  Hockey has the best looking guys with Pitt football a close second, next comes the horses and finally the NFL.  OK, maybe I was a little unfair to the horses.  Sorry guys.

Speaking of meat…   Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to pick some up. 

Now, you may be asking yourself…what about Eddy?  

Believe it or not, he was fine about it and encouraged me to order some, but only if I share.  Share?  Yes, share.  I am not a stingy guy and really enjoy sharing my meat.  My favorite is fresh and young meat.  You know what they say.  Fresh meat is good meat. 

Usually, I will not drive that far for meat, especially in 88 degrees and high humidity.  Ever see what heat does to meat?   I endured the trip and the several hours it took.  Boy was it worth it!  I guess I will drive anywhere for good and fresh meat.  The corn fed ones are the best. 

After some packing and cleaning up, I caught some of the Jets game while Ed ran some errands. 

About 7pm, I decided to share my meat with Ed.  We sat down and enjoyed the meat together.   Wow,  Ruth Chris quality.  The best streaks I have eaten in a while!

The meat is from a cow.   A 900 pound, black Angus cow to be exact.

You Perverts! 

With a full belly, and a Steelers win, I headed upstairs to bed.  The winds were not going to keep me up tonight.  After all, I was pretty satisfied and very beat from the events earlier in the day. 

Over all, it was a nice weekend.

Bye for now friends.  Thanks for reading.

Tony
tony@outpub.com

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13. September 2008 by admin.

Hi Everyone.

Correction from my last post.  OUTtakes will not be uploaded to OTV on www.outonline.com until Monday. 

Hope your weekend is going well.

Tony

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11. September 2008 by admin.

I am still trying to get control of things around the office.  Monday is the display ad deadline and things should remain busy all week.  I am not complaining.   It is a pretty good indication that your business is doing OK.

David and I taped the latest episode of OUTtakes today.  It is the first one shot inside the Out offices.  I think the quality and sound is better.   On the show, we discussed the September issue of Out and several interesting subjects.  David should have the show edited and on OTV www.outonline.com early Saturday.  Let me know what you think?  We are open to your suggestions. tony@outpub.com.   The entire site www.outonline.com and Pittsburgh’s Out newspaper are by the glbt community for the lgbt community.  

The newspaper is 36 years old and is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) regional glbt newspaper in the country! This is your newspaper.  It’s not about status, popularity or money.  It’s about producing a quality newspaper for the city we love, and a tri-state that defines us as caring, hardworking and reinventing.  www.visitpittsburgh.com.

Really not much on the agenda for tonight.  Thank God!  I believe Ed is making pork chops for dinner.  We have been trying to eat at home more often.  It is much healthier for you.   

Peace!
Tony tony@outpub.com

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10. September 2008 by admin.

Where did the term “hump day” come from?  Do you even care?  I do, and this is my blog.  Read on…

What I do know is Wednesday is the day between Tuesday and Thursday.  It is also the fourth day of the week and the middle of the work week. 

When I hear the word “hump”, my male and female Westies come to mind or that e-mail that seems to reappear every NFL football season starring a horny Pittsburgh Steeler dog and a stuffed animal with a Cleveland Browns logo conveniently attached to its side. 

In this example, hump is not a pretty site… unless you are Steeler fan.  I can think of other examples of the word, and hot visuals, but this is a “family” site.  Maybe not that kind of “family”, but I still should not go there.  Unless you want me too.  Hold on.  Let me remind you that this is my blog.  I’ll call Ed and get his opinion.  Better yet, I will ask him in person tonight. 

OK…let’s get that mind out of the gutter so I can get to my pointless point that doesn’t stimulate in that way. 

We all need a midway point to recharge, adjust and to plan for the end.   The end can be the start of a new beginning with the entire process starting again.   Today, I feel recharged and ready to take on the world and make my life better.  Death always help you put things into perspective.  Some believe that in death, there is life.   A new beginning?  Or just a Wednesday.

I believe that in life we should learn, love and strive to make the world a better place.  We need to take care of each other (yuck, that sounds like Jerry Springer), and do the right thing every day of the week. 

It seems like my entire day consists of catching up work, until I think of something else that I can do in advance.  My attention turns to that project trying to get ahead for the next issue of the newspaper.  I get the job done and go back to the work I am trying to catch up.  Get it? 

TACKY PROMOTION.  Want something free?  Go to www.outonline.com and click on classifieds.  It is free to view and place ads.  There is a personal section too!  Ten years later, you will thank or hate me.  Even if you are a Pittsburgh Steeler on the DL.  DL does not mean Disabled List here.

Celebrate life everyday, meet someone special from my classifieds www.outonline.com and don’t watch Jerry Springer.  

Happy HUMP DAY folks.  Only two days to the weekend or five days to the start of the new work week.

Best,

Tony  tony@outpub.com

I almost forgot.  GO STEELERS!  KICK THE BROWNIES BUTTS.  I know some of you Steelers are loyal readers of Tony’s TimeOUT.  This is a special message just for you. :-)

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9. September 2008 by admin.

It’s Tuesday and I am both happy and sad.  Happy to get back to business, but sad that a friend has passed.  It is hard to balance those two feelings.

I started the morning off chatting with Doe (my office manager and mother-in-law).  She, too has had a difficult time lately.  I am very pleased and proud of her persistence to make sure the right things are done or at the least, to help me address Jeff’s wishes.

As you can imagine, I have added a lot more work to my schedule.  It is fortunate that I have a staff that is willing to pick up extra work while we add to our staff.   

Ed has been wonderful.   Ed is always wonderful!   He has kept things at home calm and peaceful.   After all, he was struggling with the loss too.   I put in a lot of hours last week helping Jeff’s family and friends.   I never got home until 10 or 11pm some nights.  Admittedly, it was helpful to me to have the opportunity to talk with Jeff’s friends and family.   I needed to get through a tough time and they needed to make sense. 

Although it was a busy day, I was able to escape for an hour and walk the SS trail.  It was raining, (yes, raining).  Forgotten what that was like, did ya?  I was getting use to the dried up look, sunny skies and no rain for days thing that had taken over the ‘burgh.    I find a fast paced walk very soothing and very healthy.  The scenery is beautiful and trail is well maintained.

Once 7pm rolled around, I was out of the office and headed to Giant Eagle in Monroeville.  I picked up an order of groceries, headed home, sat down to a delicious meatloaf dinner, checked the boy’s homework and watched a movie with Ed.   Nice.  Very Nice… 

I love the comforts that only your family and home offer.  A safe place where you will not be judged, everyone loves you and where there are things (and people) that always appreciate your attention.  A place, you know–kinda heavenlike. 

Did you find yours yet?

www.outonline.com   FREE CLASSIFIEDS!  NO KIDDING.  Not Craigslist…yet.
I love our live feed videos on www.outonline.com which airs 24/7.  Check it Out!
We are currently shooting the follow new shows: Tony’sTimeOut video blog, Outakes, Outcasts, Cranky Gay Guys and more.  Local focus, programming and talent.

Be safe,
Tony
tony@outpub.com

GO STEELERS!

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