October 2012

Debates.

A couple of weeks ago I was really interested in what was going on with the Presidential race. I wanted to know who stood for what and what money was going to whom and who was going to propose the best ideas for getting this country back on its feet, once they defined what “getting this country back on its feet” meant to them.

I think I ODed on politics.

I couldn’t bring myself to watch the debates last night. I sat down and started to watch the pre-game show on CNN, but with all the technical difficulties they were having, I got frustrated and started sending out Tweets scolding CNN for not having enough tin foil on their Rabbit Ears. But as long as John King can touch a giant iPad to do something that doesn’t really need to be done, all is well with the world, right? By the way, Wolf Blitzer still gives me the creeps and has done so for nearly 30 years. I miss the crossed eyed Bobbie Battista.

Neither candidate really excites me. Of course I’m going to vote for the one that is going to make sure that my marriage remains valid (and any gay man or lesbian that votes for someone that thinks they shouldn’t be married obviously hasn’t experienced the joy of love), but other than the same sex marriage thing, he really is the lesser of two evils. There is something to be said about personal responsibility. While I think that there should always be a safety net, I think people should do everything they can to avoid the safety net. It’s a last resort, not a lifestyle.

So instead of watching the debates last night I ended up just watching the Twitter stream, and to a lesser extent, watching the new ADN (app.net) stream. I’m becoming less of a fan of Twitter and more of a fan of ADN simply because the latter is not ad supported. I can handle $36/year for the service. My withdrawal from my Dunkin’ Donuts habit has already paid for that.

I think the biggest thing about the election for me is that everyone just bashes each other. Spectators are trying to turn it into a reality-show version of reality with everything but brawling at the debates. Candidates have nothing positive to say. They just accentuate the negatives of the opposition. “I don’t know what I’m going to do but look at what that fool did!”

It’s quite disheartening.

I’d probably have to run this by my husband, but the day someone declares my marriage nullified is the day we move out of the country. End of story. Ain’t no debating that.

Halfway.

So I do a silent little happy dance when it turns 12:30 on Wednesday afternoons. This happy dance is in honor of the fact that at 12:30 we are exactly half way through the work week. Half way! That’s right, we are on THIS side of the work week now and the duration between now and the coming weekend is shorter than the duration between now and last weekend. That’s what being over half way means!

This is how my brain operates.

I probably should speak aloud as to what all this means, this tendency to measure my work intervals by how close they are to the the weekend. I mean some things should remain unspoken and this is probably one of those things. I have learned the important politics of being unspoken and I’m finding that sometimes it’s a good way to go.

However, because we are over halfway through the work week, I will share a little “yee haw!” out loud.

Yee haw!

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Lights.

When I ride my bike in the morning before work it’s still rather dark out. I take the usual safety precautions; I have a headlight and a taillight on the bike and I deck my halls with boughs of holly. Add a star and I’d really be lit up like a Christmas tree. People can see me.

Unfortunately, folks appear to not be in the habit of turning on their lights while they’re driving anymore. In a ten minute span during my ride I saw at least four cars driving in the relative darkness without their headlights on. I find this perplexing. Are they confused by the operation of the light switch that’s (usually) integrated with their turn signal? Do they think that the car will perform it’s automatic magic and turn the lights on for them and quite frankly they have no idea how to turn their lights on anymore? Do they just not care? Do they not notice the darkened dash in front of them because they’re too busy texting?

I’m finding this trend alarming. Not only is it dangerous that the driver can’t really see where they’re going, but it’s also dangerous to the rest of us on the road. Personally, I think that cars are becoming too automatic (many turn the lights on for you if you want it to) and therefore people are getting way too lazy. And then the plague of apathy that is gripping this nation is really no help, either.

If it’s dark out, please turn on your headlights. You’d be amazed at what you see when you can see where you’re going.

Autumn.

I’m totally getting into autumn. Earl and Jamie sat down for supper last night and realized that the paper napkins had been replaced by ironed cloth napkins. For that extra special touch, Jamie showed me how to fold a napkin restaurant style.

I’ve been doing more cooking. I made a meatloaf the other night that turned out pretty good (Earl said it was delicious) and I approached it in a healthy way, opting for leaner beef and turkey instead of going with my normal approach.

The dining room now has it’s autumn decorations scattered about. I organized the hutch yesterday so that I can easily get to the holiday tablecloth and the like when the need arises.

The washer put on enough miles to get to LA and back yesterday but things are clean in the house.

And I changed the litter box.

I’m always excited about this time of year and part of the reason is because I start to fall in love with the house again. I don’t know if it’s the weight loss, the exercise or the decision to smile more often, but life is quite good these days.