Today is a day to put aside party politics and just party!
First, we have the Habitat for Humanity house dedication--the one that Ken has been working on with his company--at noon. That probably won't take very long, and we'll head home for a little while. (Probably watch a little football.) Later in the afternoon, we'll head over to my sister Diana's house to celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday! Her birthday isn't until the 15th, but this works out better for everyone to get together.
I would guess the odds of politics coming up at our party are about 50-50, though! This will be just my immediate family, so we're all more comfortable with each other, and based on the past week, I'd say it's very possible that someone will bring up the subject. Not me! Although I may have to continue the fine tradition of my political impersonations (I killed a few years ago with my Ross Perot) and try out my Sarah Palin...!
Last night I had a really neat dream. I was sitting at a desk in a lab, although it wasn't a lab that I ever worked in. There was an open window by my desk (which never happens in a lab, but this was a dream) with a hummingbird feeder hanging there. A hummingbird flew up, then flew in the window and hovered just a few inches in front of my face. Then I held out my finger, and he landed on it! He eventually flew away, but kept coming back, and would land on my finger anytime I held it out. It was so cool!
Then my dream took a dark turn. It morphed into our deck, and I was sitting outside. Sheeba was lounging on a table in front of me. I was holding my finger up, trying to get a hummingbird to come up to me, and I looked up into the sky. A small hawk was flying over, and I could see him look down at us. Then he dived towards us, and I thought, "He's trying to get Sheeba!" and before I could move, the hawk had grabbed Sheeba by the ear and dragged him over by the wall of the house. I was unable to move for a moment, stunned and scared. Luckily, the hawk was small and Sheeba was too big for him to carry off, but the hawk was standing over him trying to keep me away. I finally swatted at the hawk with a magazine and was able to shoo him away. Sheeba ran, and was really scared when I found him. I picked him up and was comforting him, and the poor little guy was trembling for a while.
So what's it all about, Alfie? Any guesses? I'm stumped on this one. I'm glad it had a happy ending, though, and I was able to save Sheeba. I think it was just my brain cleaning house, because I was thinking about our hummingbirds being gone and that I need to take down the feeder; I saw a hawk on the way back from the store yesterday; and Cousin Shane's incident with his cat Boris was a scary one. Put 'em all together and you get my dream. There doesn't always have to be a deeper meaning! More later!
I'm seeing reports tonight that John McCain finally spoke up at a rally and tried to quiet the angry rhetoric.
When a woman said to him that she doesn't trust Obama, McCain nodded, but when the woman went on to say, "He's an Arab," McCain said, "No, ma'am, he's a decent, family man and citizen." After hearing other angry shouts about Obama, McCain said that there is no reason to fear Obama if he is President. (!!!) The initial reaction from the crowd was boos, which shows that even McCain is having a hard time reining in the crowd.
I give Sen. McCain credit for attempting to "dial it down," but I also haven't forgotten that it is his campaign that has allowed it to be "dialed up" to such a point that the hatred became truly frightening for most of us to watch. I suspect that the campaign has taken a look at the reaction to such invective and realized that this is not what America wants to hear. We want to hear about the economy, for Pete's sake!
From Jonathan Martin at Politico.com:
John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.
"People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Senator McCain," Weaver said. "And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive."
"Senator Obama is a classic liberal with an outdated economic agenda. We should take that agenda on in a robust manner. As a party we should not and must not stand by as the small amount of haters in our society question whether he is as American as the rest of us. Shame on them and shame on us if we allow this to take hold." I think that was very well said. By all means, address the issues, confront Sen. Obama on them. Let's see if McCain will continue to put the brakes on, not just at his rallies...but will he also put the brakes on his running mate? They need to put a stop to this unbridled hatred. Immediately.
Just a quick note about my Finetune music player over in the sidebar. I updated it to include more the of music I listen to these days, so it's got a little bit of a harder edge. Also, it's free to set up your own player, and it's fun to pick out different songs--they have a great selection! What I love about it is that it doesn't play automatically--you can check it out and play it if you want, even pop it out and play it on your desktop.
HOLY CRAP!
Breaking news! The investigative committee in Alaska has found that Sarah Palin abused her power as Governor in the Troopergate deal. Oh wow, I'm posting this and off to read other news!
Before we get down to business, just a couple of things to clear up. (I'm in Office mode, so bear with me.) Our friend Kim left a comment wondering about deleted comments, and wow, they must be pretty bad for me to have to delete them! No, nothing so juicy. I've noticed that Blogger can be a little wonky at times when it comes to comments, and there have been a few duplicates. If that happens, I'll delete the duplicate. I actually delete very few comments, and if it's a troll, I'm more likely to have a little fun with it than delete it! Kim also mentioned in an email that my music player was neat because it has a feature where you can pop it out and put it on your desktop, which she had done. That is a nifty little feature, and if you choose to listen to more than a couple of minutes of a song, you can do so. Now, on to today's agenda. I think "The Office" is the funniest thing on TV right now, although that could change when "30 Rock" comes back on at the end of the month! Then, it's a tossup!
My laugh-so-hard-I-snort moment last night came when Holly had to do an ethics training seminar, and her and Michael came in wearing headbands and singing, "Let's get ethical, ethical, I wanna get ethical!" to the tune of "Let's Get Physical." Oh man, I just died.
I think what's so funny about that show to me is that most of us have had a boss like Michael Scott, or have been subjected to such lame morale-boosters. Seeing some of Michael's behavior reminds me so much of that. This morning I got to thinking about when a manager I used to have decided that talking about day shift, evening shift, and night shift was divisive and held a prejudicial connotation, so he started calling us robins, nighthawks, and owls.
I kid you not.
We laughed about that for years after he got the boot, and for any of my former coworkers reading this, I hope it gave you a chuckle! He would actually use those terms in meetings, and we'd all just look at each other and roll our eyes. Oh, those meetings...those horrid, endless meetings...if one of the lab assistants came in and said, "I have a stat," we'd all try to be the first to jump up and say, "I'll get it." I remember one time, my friend Jay stayed back and was taking care of stats or something, and he poked his head into the meeting and handed me a phone message. He'd written "Your lawyer, Mr. Icehouse, called and needs you to contact him right away." Icehouse as in the beer, doncha know. So I had to sit there and try to keep a straight face. He handed someone else a phone message, too, but I can't remember what theirs said. Just little ways of trying to stay sane in what seemed to be an insane atmosphere at times!
How about you? Do you have a favorite office or boss story, one that makes you laugh, cringe, or want to vomit? Do share! In the meantime, here's a 2-minute recap of last night's show.
Whew, what a relief to get that done. I had some problems with Ken's, but turns out his password was case sensitive. Once I fixed that little problem, all went well. I had one hitch, where it created his new blog, but there were no entries there. That could have been my fault, though, for "refreshing" before everything was complete. Anyhoo, it's done! If I hadn't been able to do it, I don't suppose I would have curled up and died, but it would have been a shame to lose all of it. Even just seeing the names of some of my entries made me go, "Hey, I remember that!" I had titled one "He hit it an' quit it," and that was for when James Brown died. It made me sad.
It also made me sad to make what will probably be my last entry over at my AOL Journal. It was merely a repeat of the entry I wrote about the song "Closing Time," and it seemed very fitting. I'll admit that I got kind of choked up when I put it up there, and listened to the song again. I'll leave it up for a while, but I'll probably delete the journal myself. Hey, I think I'll delete it at the stroke of midnight, when October 30th turns to the 31st. Halloween! Yes, I think that's what I'll do. Maybe it's a little silly to get so verklempt over a journal, but I think you all understand. Just the fun I had with it, practicing my writing, but more importantly, all the wonderful friends I made there...I'm just so happy that most are making the move! I love you guys! I am NOT going to burst into tears, so just cut it out!! Ha ha! Just remember, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
I even managed to get a few things done today. WOW, I am so proud of myself! (It really has been pathetic.) Finished some laundry, took care of the garbage, and got a pot of chili going. I've had a hankering for chili for a while now, so this should taste good. I've been in the mood for all kinds of soup lately. I've got a recipe that combines tortilla soup with red beans and rice, and I think that sounds delicious. I've also got a package of black beans, so I'll try some black bean soup one of these days, then there's vegetable soup, and maybe some potato soup, and some beef stew...aaaaagh! Yum, it's just that time of year!
The latest feel-good news from the campaign trail comes from a McCain-Palin rally at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. McCain was talking about Obama's tax plan, and someone in the crowd yelled "Off with his head!"
Are you freakin' kidding me? What is this? France in 1789? Maybe a better analogy would be Alice in Wonderland and we've followed the White Rabbit down the hole and through the Looking Glass. I'm going to start looking for a hookah-smoking caterpillar in the audience at these rallies! There is no excuse for this, and with every day that goes by that McCain allows these violent and hate-filled outbursts to continue, his silence is complicit endorsement of violence against a fellow human being. Palin seems to whip the crowds into an even more violent frenzy. How can we condone this kind of behavior? I may be passionate about politics, but there is NO EXCUSE for allowing such attitudes to continue, and anyone who truly cares about their fellow human beings and about our society in general would stand up and say, "Stop this. It isn't right, and this is unacceptable behavior." I cannot begin to tell you how disgusted I am with the sight of fellow Americans shouting such murderous invective, and I'm even more disgusted that no one is putting a stop to it.
See you on the other side of the Looking Glass.
White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane
One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small And the ones that mother gives you Don't do anything at all Go ask Alice When she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits And you know you're going to fall Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar Has given you the call Call Alice When she was just small
When men on the chessboard Get up and tell you where to go And you've just had some kind of mushroom And your mind is moving low Go ask Alice I think she'll know
When logic and proportion Have fallen sloppy dead And the White Knight is talking backwards And the Red Queen's "off with her head!" Remember what the dormouse said: "Feed your head Feed your head Feed your head"
For your listening pleasure, I have included my Finetune playlist over on my sidebar. It should give you an idea of some of the music I like. It doesn't play automatically. You have to play it if you want to hear it. Just press that big honkin' green arrow. Ha ha!
Since some of you are new to my blog, I feel like I should give you a little insight into how my brain operates. (Stand back...this could get ugly.) And for those of you who have been reading for a while, there's nothing wrong with a little clarification and explanation.
I dig politics. I'm fascinated by it all, I am really into it, and I'm really excited about it. That means I write about it a lot, and you'll see more as the weeks go by. I can't help who I am or what I'm fascinated by, and I love the process, and the fact that we are free to vote for whom we want. It's something I don't take lightly, especially at such a crucial time in our country's history.
I also have an opinion about things, and I have no qualms about voicing them. These blogs are our own forums, and we can certainly state our own opinions. There will be some that don't agree, and here's the important part: THAT IS OKAY. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, and in fact, it's not fun when people do! If there is someone that just can't stomach my opinions, that's okay, too. I won't be hurt if you don't want to read any longer. There are some things that I read that I don't agree with, but I don't feel it's my duty to argue or change someone's mind--I respect their opinion and respect their right to voice it. I just move along to the next topic. When I write about such things here, it's just my opinion, although any poll numbers are actual numbers. I'm not out to convince anyone, or persuade anyone to my opinion, I'm just fascinated by all of this, and sometimes just reporting on what I have read. People who know me understand that I have no ulterior motives or hidden agendas. As the sweet potato said, "I yam what I yam." In short (because I'm that, too!), I totally respect your opinion, especially your right to have it.
I also promise you that while I may have a preference for a certain candidate, and have a differing opinion about another, I won't be overly nasty with my remarks here. That's just not my style, or I guess I could say, "That's not the way I roll." (That one was for you, Jamie!) I won't lie to you...I do get angry about some things, and I do get disturbed by some things. I may bring it up, but I don't like ugliness and I'll do my best to not get ugly here.
So this isn't going to go away, and we've got a month to go. Let's just all hunker down together and hang on. You don't have to read my opinions, and I won't be hurt if you don't. My whole thing, whether in life or in politics, is that while we might not always agree, we should always respect each other's opinions, and be able to have a reasonable dialogue without ridicule and nastiness.
Today is a day to put aside party politics and just party!
