That may seem a bit harsh, but I hope you agree by the end of this post. You see, life can very easily become one mundane blur of beige. The problem with beige is people generally don’t hate it, so it ends up painting more than just the walls of living rooms. It ends up in our wardrobes (figuratively and literally), diets (hopefully only figuratively), jobs, relationships; it ends up permeating everything.

How do beige and NYC relate? Unfortunately there is a lot of beige in NYC. Go to any tourist area and you’ll see it all around. People travel around the world to visit and where do they end up? In bigger versions of the same places they frequent at home. Safety. Familiarity. Did you really expect to find wonder at Gap and TGI Friday’s?

But NYC has a lot that is vibrant, too.

One afternoon, three years ago, I was on a business trip in NY and decided to get lost in the city. I hopped on Yelp, looked up the best places in NY to get cupcakes, plotted a course that took me to three of them, and set out. Several hours later I had the sugary evidence to prove that I’d explored the city: a quarter-sized dollop of chocolate buttercream proudly displayed on my (literally) beige jacket. At the third bakery a rather handsome twenty-something took the opportunity to flirt with me while pointing out that I was a wreck. A year later my friends were asking why I disgustingly hadn’t washed the stain out, but I left it as a reminder to not get stuck in a rut.

So while I could recount my journey in diary form, I’ll save you the boredom. You’ll learn nothing from my stories of magic in bars, walking through Central Park until I had blisters on my heels, running into Zachary Quinto, or deliciously stumbling upon some of the tastiest Asian food I’ve ever had. If there is one thing I wish to share with you from a week in NY, it is purple gingham.

In other words: don’t live beige. When life is an adventure, you’ll always have a response when you are asked “what have you been up to lately?”

A little over a year ago, I left the relatively safe and comfortable confines of Google’s Chicago office after working there for three years. I left to do something different. I left to change healthcare so it would be better. I’m proud to say that the team of people I work with every day has done a fantastic job of having an impact in that area, but there’s a barrier to making it big: how do we educate people about something that they don’t want to talk about?

April is STD Awareness Month. Join me in breaking down the barriers that prevent people from being healthy. Be safe, and encourage others to do the same. Safe sex means using protection, being educated about what’s out there, and knowing your status. Remember, the worst thing that can happen is not that you get an STD, it’s that you get an STD and don’t do anything about it. Many can be cured, and none of them mean the end of the world if cured.

So go out there and have a “ball” (or two), and for fuck’s sake, get tested. And if you want to try our new approach to STD testing, use the link below to get $50 a complete sexual health checkup.

Sure, this may not come as a surprise to many of us. As my good friend Cara said – there has been speculation about this for years. There are even the very revealing paparazzi photos of him in his skimpies on the beach with one heck of an attractive man. Perhaps this is a convenient time to come out, when he isn’t at the height of his career, when public acceptance of homosexuality is common and growing, and when it is seemingly trendy for celebs to come out. There’s a lot of sarcasm flying around about the topic, and even some bitterness; why?

It’s been a decade since I was outed to my family, but I still remember all too clearly the burden of keeping mum about being gay. It’s certainly not something that is fun to do. In a way, being mad at someone for remaining in the closet is similar to disliking them for being gay. Society makes it quite a hassle to be gay, it would be easier to just be straight, and similarly being in the closet is a horrible experience, and it would be much more liberating to live life unhidden. People remain closeted for a reason, and it’s important not to lose touch with that fact.

I’m not much of a celebrity follower. I love the art that musicians, actors, writers, and performers create for us to consume. I don’t need to and in many ways don’t want to know who they are dating or what they look like fetching the paper. The exception is when a celebrity comes out. Celebrities have a fantastic power to change the opinions of a large number of people. When someone of that status comes out, their fans and followers notice. Some fans will become former fans, and some formerly ignorant fans will become enlightened. We should commend artists that take the risk and lovingly encourage others to follow.

I ask my friends and readers to respond to this news not with vitriol but with compassion and appreciation.

I thank Ricky Martin for his bravery, and I wish the best for him and his family.

Thank you for posing for this picture.

1. ME! If it weren’t for Thanksgiving, I wouldn’t be here. Seriously. I know some of you are thinking “if Thanksgiving didn’t exist, you would have been born on another day.” You are wrong! If Thanksgiving didn’t exist, I would be lost in oblivion. My Mom would have been pregnant one day, and the next she would have been back to her original size, without child. It’s like that time David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. Except way less rad.
2. Not getting salmonella poisoning. Oh yes, that turkey you are about to eat is just crawling with bacteria. I’m very thankful every time I eat a turkey and don’t have raging diarrhea and voluminous vomit immediately thereafter.
3. Shampoo commercials. That’s where I got the idea to use “voluminous” in a sentence. It was a challenge. Jordan: I challenge you to use the word voluminous in a sentence and have it not be all Hairography and such.
4. Glee! True Gleeks will understand the connection between #3 and #4. If you don’t, boo at you!
5. Parmesan cheese and brown sugar (not together). There’s not a thing on this planet that can’t be made better with the addition of one of these two magical food groups. You can try to defy me, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
6. Having a job. I have a job so I am thankful for this. If you don’t have a job I recommend that you be thankful for something else. Like free time to paint, or being able to get drunk at 1pm on a Tuesday without getting fired.
7. The internet. What would you do without it!?
8. Stuffing. It’s the best part of Thanksgiving that isn’t me. Love it with your tongue long time.

But most of all, be thankful for your friends and family. The people who every day of the year share in your happiness, deal with your issues, support and love you, grow with you, and other sappy things as well. They’re the reason Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!