The W Word

Several months ago M and I checked with a local restaurant about hosting our rehearsal dinner. They quoted us a nice, reasonable number for 30-40 people. I breathed a sigh of relief. However, a few weeks ago, M called to confirm the number and hash out the details. All of a sudden the dinner would be SIX times more expensive than the original quote! Why so much? I think it was because M used the "wedding" word to describe the event.

The restaurant claims that they have to charge so much because it's a Friday night, and their restaurant would be full without our party. However, I've done the math, and this place would need to turn over these tables at least five times in one evening to make anywhere near as much as they would like to charge us. Given that their dinner service starts at 5:00 and ends at 9:00, that would be quite an impressive feat. The old adage about never using the word "wedding" with vendors really is true. It causes them to get dollar signs for eyes. We will be taking our large party elsewhere.

Unusual Genetic Traits

A health teacher at our school was doing a short unit on genetics with her students. Part of the unit was a survey of the more obvious physical traits that are inherited. This survey asked students to go around the room and look for peers who had certain traits, and then ask them if their mother, father, or grandparents had the traits as well. A grid was provided for students to record the collected information. Some of the traits included dimples, curly hair, blue eyes, a cleft chin, and the "Hitchhikers' Thumb."

Another trait that teacher meant to mention was the "Vulcan Signal" from Star Trek. You know this one, it's the "live long and prosper" hand sign. However, the teacher must have been in a big hurry because when she typed up the paper she made a slight error. She swapped a second v for the c in the word "Vulcan" to create the heretofore unknown "Vulvan Signal" from Star Trek. This may help to explain why Captain Kirk was always so distracted by all those alien ladies! Luckily, this was a 6th grade class, so not that many students noticed. However, if any 8th-graders happen to get hold of that paper...

Businesses of the Future

Last week my class was studying economics. We always have fun discussing the who, where, and why of money, goods, and services. One of the projects we tried out for this year was the build-a-business plan. Kids were asked to fill out a business proposal, present it to their peers, and then try to solicit "investments" in the form of votes. Here are a few of the more amusing/creative ideas:

---Jewelry that changes color according to your outfit

---A flavored French fry restaurant where the food has no fat or calories

---Sunglasses that play music

---A chore-doing service for kids (can you tell we're in an affluent area? Ugh!)

---Hovercars that run on "organic" fuel

but the best one by far:

---A genetic mutation company in which you can order plants, animals, or even people with special genetic mutations. Paris Hilton is the spokes model because she loves her new wings.

Registry Madness

As I mentioned before, M and I found the process of registering for wedding gifts to be quite unnerving. First of all, it's not like we are a pair of poverty-stricken teenagers who've never had to think about housekeeping before. Let's just say we own one or two pots already, and we're not so sure about asking or friends to get us more.

However, several friends tell me that if you don't register people still buy you gifts, only they have to guess about your taste. I do not want to get any gigantic commemorative Disney clocks like some poor people I know. And so we gritted our teeth and went. Making all those choices should be fun, but after a while it gets kind of overwhelming. Nevertheless, we created two registries, and we were most happy to be able to check that task off our list. Then came the email.

It seems that one of our choices, Linens n' Things (I should have known not to trust a company with such bad punctuation), is feeling the effects of tough economic times. In fact, they've filed for chapter eleven, but, the email assured us, it's "just for restructuring purposes. Your registry is perfectly safe with us!" they claimed confidently. Ha! One friend just brought me a copy of our wish list, and about half the items are either "unavailable" or "out of stock." It seems we must make a new registry once more.

Therefore, we are now registered at Macy's and Amazon.com. I am VERY much hoping that we can now be done with this whole gift list thing, but I guess you never know. Macy's could suddenly start carrying commemorative Disney clocks.

Status Report

The brief run-down of my tiny life in no particular order:

1. M --- Great! He's still the nicest one around.

2. Health --- Good! No complaints here.

3. Wedding --- All in hand as far as I can tell. Still some things to take care of, but I think we're on track. See item #1 :)

4. House --- Not exactly perfect, but nothing to terrible pressing in on me.

5. Friends --- Lovely! Did I mention that my fabulous friend C took me to Vegas this weekend? (more on that another time)

6. Family --- All well and happy as near as I can tell.

7. 1000 other nice things --- All good.

8. Work --- Still bumpy. Kids are great, but some days the co-workers are pretty tough going.

The purpose of this little exercise is to remind me about all the wonderful/satisfying/exciting things going on. That last item is really only one small part of the whole, so I really should try to keep it all in perspective. Maybe this will help me to quit whining so much (ha! ha! I promise to try). Besides, only 16 more days, only 16 more days.

Getting Through

Life at work is quite an interesting thing lately. Ever since the big blow-up, I've been struggling to find a mind set that will allow me to get through. Previously I just worked as hard as I could, tried to keep things on my team running smoothly, and tried to keep my leadership position on track. However, since the bad thing occurred, I'm less inclined to get involved with projects and concerns outside my classroom.

In fact, since others complain that I am "bossy" I've decided not to do a single thing for/with my team that is not specifically spelled out in my duties (is this immature? I don't know, but I don't feel that I have a choice). This means that all those little details that I used to take care of (just because they needed doing) such as booking rooms for meetings, organizing subs, creating agendas, distributing materials, are not my problem any more. I won't steer the conversation back to the task at hand. I won't double-check that the speaker is booked for the correct day and time. Well, what do you know, the fall-out from my stepping back has already begun.

One day per year, each team is allowed to have subs for the day, so the entire group can get together and work on curriculum. That means you have 7.5 hours (not counting half an hour for lunch or the two .5 hour blocks before and after school) per year to get everything done (otherwise it has to take place in .5 hour chunks). Needless to say it's kind of important to use that time wisely. This is why I have always created an agenda using the items of importance I solicited from the team. This is also why I always tried very hard to keep everyone on task during the actual meeting. Not this year.

This year's meeting was roughly divided into four segments. Part 1 lasted for about an hour, and consisted of the group discussing what things we might want to tackle for the day. Part 2 lasted for about 1.5 hours and consisted of one teacher passing out "getting to know you" activities. The main activity was a page on which were written the names of each team member. Every person was supposed to go down the list and write a paragraph of positive traits for each individual. Then we read our paragraphs aloud to each other. Lots of really really fun and meaningful personal stories were shared. I won't even bother to explain the next part where we had to tell each other what personality type we thought they were.

By the time we finished part 2, it was time to go to lunch. Again, in an attempt to not be bossy, I did not comment on lunch plans. It was assumed that everyone would go, and that one person should choose because "he likes food." We ended up going to Japanese. I hate Japanese, and so does one other member of the crew. Lunch lasted nearly 2 hours. This was part 3.

Part 4 of our day, which began just before 1pm, was the actual work. The bell rang just after 2:00pm. We got through two, count them, two work items. Nevertheless, the day was considered a big success by some because "it was such a fun time with everyone." I just keep repeating in my head "only X more days! only X more days!" I'm viewing the whole thing as an exercise in self-control. Granted, I nearly lost my composure during the long story about body surfing with an angel, but I didn't, and that's what will get me through without bloodshed.

Cake Tops

Okay, I must confess that I like cake toppers. You know those horrible fake brides and grooms and stare out from the tops of wedding cakes with fixed smiles on their little plastic faces? Something about the cheesiness appeals to me, so after we ordered our cake, I started hunting for one that would suit. My first attempt was too cheesy even for me. The little people were so poorly painted that their faces appeared sort of deranged (perhaps that was intentional because brides and grooms often do look that way?), and the bride had a fountain of real netting glued to the top of her head. Not good.

That is why I was so happy with the second attempt. The next bride and groom arrived just a few days ago, and they are so much the opposite of the previous pair. First of all, they are made of porcelain, not resin, and the paint job on them is excellent. They have nice serene smiles on their faces (as if they are actually happy to be married!), the clothing is in a timeless style, and the bride is even carrying a bunch of tiny, perfect, porcelain roses. They are, dare I say it, even kind of elegant. I'm looking forward to keeping them as a memento, and I don't even think I have to be embarrassed of them. Now our only trick will be to paint the grooms head blond without ruining his good looks.

Invitations

We finally got our acts together and managed to send out the invitations. It was very much a group effort with several kind people helping out. Some stuffed, some stamped, many addressed, and eventually we were done. Fingers crossed that we didn't mortally offend anyone by misspelling their name or leaving off their S.O. The actual invitation card is quite lovely if I do say so myself. M took them all to be posted. Now I have the fun of going to the mailbox each day to see who else has sent back a reply. It feels so good to get each thing checked off the list!

Dress Success

A few weeks ago, my mom, my two nieces, and I all took a trip to the bridal salon. My mom was in the market for a mother-of-the-bride gown, I wanted something to wear to the rehearsal, and Big Niece was in need of a junior bride’s maid gown. Yes, you read that correctly; Big Niece has agreed to wear a dress.

Now I was all set to have Big Niece wear pants and a nice blouse because I am well aware of her life-long hatred for dresses. However, a few subtle comments from her seemed to imply that she might want to wear a dress, but not want to admit to that desire. I posed the question to my brother over the phone one night. He promised to speak to her about things, and only a few minutes later he called back. "She wants to tell you herself" he said. Big Niece came on the line, and without any greeting she said "don't expect me to wear it EVER again and NO pink or sparkles or bows." I agreed that these seemed like quite doable requests.

When we got to the store, she tried quickly identified the dresses that were unacceptable. Some were too frilly or fluffy, others came in the unmentionable color, and a few she found too revealing (shocking cuts for kids I have to agree with her!). This left us with three choices. She tried on all three, chose two she liked, and finally selected one after receiving reassurance that Grandma could remove the one objectionable bow/sparkle from the strap. What she doesn't know is that I got her a Lord of the Rings leaf pin to replace the unfortunate bow. I think we've come to an excellent agreement. Now we just have to deal with shoes.

By the way, the rest of us were successful in our searches too, but that hardly seems worth mentioning after the triumph of getting Big Niece into her gown.

Longfellow

I'm still on my poetry kick. Here's one of my absolute favorites from Longfellow:

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream! ?
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,--act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Poem for the Day

I've been sifting through a lot of poems lately because we're working on a Poetry Slam in each of my classes. This is a competitive form of poetry reading, and the kids have really gotten interested. Originally I'd only planned to have the slam in my highly capable block. I made a competition bracket for them and posted it on the board so they would know when their turn was coming.

Then, my small, TLC block saw the bracket and begged to be allowed to do their own! I found myself saying "I don't know kids; you'll have to read a lot of poems..." This only made them beg harder, so I finally "relented" and they are having their own little competition. All the kids come prepared with poems, and then they compete in pairs. After the second reader is finished, the audience votes to decide who will go through to the next round.

I created a blog so they would have a "safe" source of poems from which to choose (lots of sites on the web include some really, ahem, mature material). The nice part is that I can see which poems they're looking at, and which ones they ultimately choose. Of course not everyone uses the site, and I've had to nix one poem about boobs and another about toilets. It's a weird thing to be the censor, but there you are.

The great part about all this is watching the kids discover poems for the first time. One boy ran up to me in a panic before class one day and said "Miss X I think I picked a dumb poem! Have you ever even heard of a poet called Emily Dickenson?!" I reassured him that "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" is not a "dumb" poem by any means. I swear I'm not making this stuff up.

Another boy chose the poem "War is Kind" by Stephen Crane. He has always been an angry and difficult child who often refused to do the simplest tasks. For a while, none of his peers would sit next to him because he was so unpleasant. However, when he read this tragic piece about the horrors of war, all the kids were transfixed. His hands were shaking as he went up, but he did such a beautiful job that no one said a word when he was done. Who knows what that moment might have done for him, but it certainly made an impression on everyone else.

Here's the poem he read, and don't worry, we spent quite bit of time discussing the use of irony. We also talked about how the ultimate message of the poem was very much an anti-war sentiment.

War is Kind

by Stephen Crane

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die
The unexplained glory flies above them
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom--
A field where a thousand corpses lie.
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Swift, blazing flag of the regiment
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die
Point for them the virtue of slaughter
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind

Band Class

Recently, I did one period of emergency subbing in Band class. Now I've subbed in the orchestra room several times, but this was my first exposure to Band. There is no question that band and orchestra kids are not the same kinds of people. Don't get me wrong, both groups of kids are quite wonderful, but there is something very different in the feel of the class and the attitudes of the students.

Having both kinds of kids in class, I've been noticing over the years the differences in these two groups. Orchestra kids are confident, sophisticated, and very well-spoken for their age. They are the kind of people who are always on time, always willing to help, but perhaps with a slight tendency to be humorless.

Bad kids, on the other hand, are cool. They may not always remember their homework, they may be late sometimes, but they have a certain sense of creativity. They often seem wise beyond their years, and they definitely have more street smarts than some of their peers. All this seems doubly true of kids in jazz band.

Am I over-generalizing? Of course. Nevertheless it is kind of fun to notice the different cultures that exist within a given group of people. There is nothing so reassuring (especially to a young person) as feeling that your personal quirks and oddities are simply proof that you belong to your own special club. Young adult literature is full of stories about this effect because it is so enticing to kids of all ages.

A Moderate Vegetarian

What a great article on Slate about being a vegetarian. If I had more time and better writing skills, I could have written this almost word for word since my opinions match with his almost perfectly. I need to print out a copy, keep it in my pocket, and use it to explain myself when I can't come up with the correct response. Just two days ago I had one of those "oh you're one of those" moments while waiting in the lunch line with a bunch of co-workers. The crowd really does go quiet as everyone listens for the story on why you're such a freak. Bravo Taylor Clark.

Election

Okay, I am officially sick and tired of it all. There needs to be choice made. This whole thing is taking away from the momentum of the Democratic party. The primary portion of things should be over by now, and we should be deeply immersed in the actual election. I think there need to be systematic changes to the way we hold primary elections. For example, it might be worth moving all primaries to the same day so that everyone's vote counts equally. I know this causes problems for the candidates (how should they divide their time and money etc.), but I think it might be worth doing to end this kind of endless campaigning. I do not want to see another debate between these two, or listen to another round of primary results. Enough already!

Iron Man

M and I saw this last weekend, and I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone. I must confess that I've liked Robert Downey Jr. since his stint on Ally McBeal (embarrassing guilty pleasure I know), and I was very disappointed when his drug arrest led to the downfall of the show. Now that he's back in form, it's nice to see him doing something that's this much fun.

The comic book feel of Iron Man is preserved, but it's not too cheesy. I don't like it when they turn a fun comic into a dark and brooding story (Spiderman), so I was pleased to see that the fun was still intact. There is a fair amount of corny humor, but it never goes too far. What really makes the movie are some great flying/fighting scenes. Of course, there's always a little "hmm how exactly does that work" kind of doubting, but if you just let that go, it's quite a fun ride. The NYT even has a feature right now about the conceptualization of the robot that builds his suit. It turns out most people like some good stupid fun every once in a while. Go see this movie!

DJ Yes Planner Maybe Not

On Friday evening M and I headed downtown to meet up with a young couple who work as wedding DJ's. There was some confusion as we played the "which of these five Starbucks do you think she meant" game. However, without too much wasted time, we found the correct place. Bamboo Beats is a husband and wife team who DJ for weddings and other kinds of parties like proms and sweet sixteens. They seemed very nice, very knowledgeable, and good at helping us figure out what exactly we were looking for. We are reviewing the contract, but I think we will sign with them. Now the only part left to this is to figure out which songs should go where.

On Saturday, we met with a wedding planner. She seemed very young, and her portfolio of events was quite limited. The only reason we were even considering a planner was to help get all the decorations put up, and to ensure that everything and everyone is accounted for. As it turns out, she won't do a major portion of the decorations we wanted. Therefore, I think the odds of us hiring her are quite slim. It may be more of a trick to get in all together, but the things she was willing to do were just not worth the price. Hers was the least expensive of all the quotes we got from planners, and by my estimate, she was still earning about $125. Under no circumstances should 22 year old wedding planners with no education earn that kind of money. Go figure.

Hallelujah!

Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster and pass me a cup of tea because this is a great day indeed!

You know how it often happens that most parts of your life are going fine, and then one of them just has to fall spectacularly apart? Lately a certain portion of my life has been quite unhappy. This has been especially hard because I'm just not used to being unhappy. Of course, everyone has their moments, but usually they are just that, moments. With most things I can just mentally put it aside when there's nothing I can do to change it. This one, however, was such a problem that it kind of followed me around. Lucky I had M, and my family and friends, to keep me balanced or it would have been really tough.

Good news on the subject arrived this morning. The problem is not 100% cleared up, but the central issue has been resolved. I expect that most lingering effects will sort themselves out as time passes. The thorn in my side has resigned, er, been removed, and now we should be able to get back to business in a more constructive mode. Hooray! hooray! hooray!

Ring!

Yesterday I finally made it to the jewelers to pick up my wedding ring. It was there to be re-sized (jeweler oops) and I was anxious to see if the engraving would survive the process. When I actually got to see it again, I was delighted to discover that it looks nearly perfect. It's just so pretty! Trying it on was a surprisingly surreal experience.

As we go through the wedding planning process, I have this feeling that it's all for some distant event. Every once in a while, though, it all comes sharply into focus and I realize "we're actually getting married soon!" I can't hardly wait.

Kids "Learn" About the Progressive Era

Hey it's a lighter post for once!

Last week, kids read the chapter of their WA state history book about the progressive era. They also took part in skits, debates, and other activities designed to help them get a sense of the issues. At the end of the week, you guessed it; they had to take a quiz about this information. Many did a fantastic job and made me very proud. Others struggled a bit, and some were clearly not paying attention at all. Here are some of the funnier answers:

Question #1: The _________________ movement was a push to make life better for many kinds of people. (Remember, this was the title of the chapter)
Funny answer: Prostitution (knowing this girl, she was NOT trying to be racy or funny)

Question #2: Prohibition was an attempt to outlaw the sale of ________________________
Funny answer: Flappers

Question #4: Part of the initiative system allowed voters to ________________ politicians who were unpopular.
Funny answer: hit

Question #5: The suffrage movement wanted to give women the right to _______________.
Funny answer: bare arms (sort of correct I guess)

Question #8: The _________________ World War was found in Europe.
Funny answer: really bad

Question #9: The government passed the ______________ Act which made it illegal to speak against the war.
Funny answer: Sedation

Question #14: Rivers helped to provide ____________ for the region by creating hydropower.
Funny answer: rivers

Question #15: The ______________ Dam in eastern WA was the largest hydropower project.
Funny answer: God (I think this kid WAS trying to be funny, but still they got no credit)

Don’t worry too much about the youth of America. Several kids even got perfect scores, so they can be the next generation of leaders. Or perhaps the kid who wrote “God” will one day be president.

Sort of Relief

Not everything is resolved, but at least I feel a bit better about things.

Yesterday, I went to see the VP. I didn't go because I thought she could do something that the principal wouldn't, but I just thought it might help to hear from another perspective (I did get his permission before talking to her). I laid out the situation for her (yay! I can talk to someone about it and have them understand the personalities involved) and asked for her interpretation and advice in moving forward. When I did this exact same thing for the principal, all I got was very neutral language and nothing that felt like support.

What the VP did was not anything all that special. She heard my concerns, repeated key points back to me, gave her impression of the situation, and suggested a few things I could do to improve my position in the future. She then reassured me that I was doing a good job, that she valued my contributions, and that I did not have any fundamental personality flaws (how sad is that? I SHOULD have enough self-worth to know that without being told!). She said "You have high standards for yourself and your team, and I expect nothing less from you." In my head I was doing a little dance.

She also assured me that the principal feels the same way about me, but just cannot express himself worth beans. Like I said, not exactly rocket science, but it made the proverbial world of difference to me. Why the difference in approach between her and the Principal? Is it a woman thing? Is it because she is closer to my age? More recently in the classroom? Who knows?

Okay, so at this point I was feeling MUCH better about life. Sure, not everything was resolved, but at least I felt like I could cope with the situation. Little did I know that there was more to come.

The next part was where the VP told me that the problems with Lazy Man and Evil Woman are both known issues. She feels that there is not so much you can do about Lazy Man, but that Evil Woman is the one doing the real harm to our team. She (the VP) has been trying to get Evil Woman removed as leader for some time. Given this fresh set of problems, she is doing everything she can to have Evil Woman relieved of all leadership positions. Of course, the principal has the final say, but given this latest situation, she feels confident that she will finally get her way. Halleluiah! I absolutely will not smirk when the news comes down.

Suspended Animation

Sorry folks, my job is still a soap opera, nothing has been resolved, and so you are all forced to read yet another post about it all.

When things really blew up last week, I went to my boss in search of some help. He ordered everyone involved to stop talking to one another. This was a good thing because one "enemy" had been going around to the rest of the team bad-mouthing me and demanding validation for her terrible behavior.

I accepted his solution because he said that we would eventually all sit down and he would help us "hash out" the disagreements. I didn't like to leave things hanging, but I could see his logic, so I honored his request. Now he tells me that he doesn't plan to have the one-on-one meetings at all because "he doesn't know if it would help." Instead, he plans to attend our team meeting to help everything "run smoothly."

In my view this means that both of the people who treated me so badly will get off scott free (as the saying goes). Not only that, but the lack of consequences will certainly (I know these two) validate their behavior and encourage them to act this way again. My boss' cavalier attitude makes the situation all that much worse. Now I really don't know what to do.

Art Immitates Life

I absolutely could not believe my eyes when I opened the Sunday comics yesterday. It seems that my dilemma is well-known in the business world too.

I don't know if this will make sense since I haven't been able to explain the whole situation, but here goes.

Today was refreshingly quiet with not one single haranguing session from one of my fun co-workers. However, that is only because my boss ordered them to stop talking to anyone (there was a small gossip problem, and it WASN'T me doing the talking) about the issue until he can be there to mediate. I am still not looking forward to the resolution at all.

However, on the whole, I am feeling better than I was last week. First of all, the excellent friends and family rallied round and reassured me that I was not, in fact, a worthless scumbag. Also, on Sunday I had a chance meeting with another co-worker at the gym.

This woman is not on my team, not part of this whole big mess, and supposedly in total ignorance of the situation. She walked up to me, put her arm around my shoulders, and said "It's her not you. She's crazy and everyone knows it." I was so surprised I didn't know what to say. Needless to say, it made quite a difference to my frame of mind.

The Fun Continues

Day three of the patented "trying not to care" program. Not caring seems to be going well as long as I don't talk to anyone. Unfortunately, I got cornered by an enemy agent, and given the third degree. The caring rushed back in full force. I've now violated rule #1 of being a woman in the workforce: Never cry in front of your boss. Pretty much have no professional self-worth left. On the bright side, this should aid in furthering the "not caring" protocol.

Fun at Work

Hello and welcome to my personal pity party. Work sucks, can't say why (no kids are involved), and I'm feeling more than a little sorry for myself.

I have discovered the secret to professional success! First, you have to reach down deep inside yourself and find the place that cares. Some of you may remember this, it's the part that wants to work hard, make progress, be a force for positive change, and achieve professional satisfaction. You must find this part (however small and helpless it may have become) --- and beat it to death. This way you can put your head down, do the bare minimum (or a little less), and watch the years role by with the anonymous comfort of complete apathy.

Spring For the Moment

What an absolutely glorious day! Sunshine, shorts temperatures, and lots of blooming flowers are enough to convince me. Sure, I know it might snow/rain/sleet tomorrow, but that doesn't matter right now. M and I did yard work, and then we were actually inspired to do some spring cleaning too. This afternoon I read my book in an actual patch of sunlight. Needless to say, the cats are also beside themselves with joy.

The Next Caucus

Last weekend T volunteered to attend the next level of caucusing with me. Therefore, early on a Saturday morning, we headed down to a local high school (an hour early to be sure and get parking) to attend my district caucus. We were not the only people to arrive early, and by about quarter to the hour, there was a huge crowd outside the glass doors. We happened to be standing near the front, so when a caucus official stuck her head out to grab a volunteer, she happened to pick us.

We spent the next several hours signing people in who wanted to run for the delegation to the state caucus. This in turn gave us the chance to chat with a Clinton staffer who's spent the last several months driving around the country working for the campaign. I was very impressed with her intelligence and dedication (she gets almost nothing for the work but room, board, and gas money), but more on her later.

After our volunteering job ended, we joined the crowds of waiting people listening to speeches. The speeches were really there to make you not mind the waiting so much. It seems it takes a loooong time to figure out how many delegates are there, how many alternates are there, and how many alternates need to be credentialed to become delegates. This process took literally about five hours.

The one thing that really disturbed me about the experience was the behavior of the Obama supporters. I did not hear one Clinton person say a nasty thing about "the other side" but the Obama people would actually walk up to you and be rude. They booed speakers, carried on, and generally behaved like rabble. As T said "the main thing to remember that we have nothing in common with McCain." Obama may say he wants to bring people together, but his supporters REALLY haven't gotten the message.

Finally, we were called into our respective voting areas, and the voting for state level delegates began. More than 50 people put their names in the proverbial hat, but only 12 could move on to state. We all gave ultra-short speeches about why we should go, and then we marked our 12 choices on a ballot. By this time it was 4pm, we'd had no lunch break, and T and I both had somewhere we needed to be that evening. We left without hearing the final result (I didn't make it :( no surprise there).

All in all, I'm glad to have had the experience. I still have the county caucus coming up, and then my participation in the nomination process will be over. The saddest part of the whole thing was being unable to accept the invitation from that Clinton staffer to attend an after party for volunteers. The main guest at the party? Sean Astin otherwise known as Samwise Gamgee. How cool is that? I wonder if Frodo is for Hillary too?

Future President

Recently, I asked my class to pretend that they'd just been elected president. Their assignment was to write a letter to the nation explaining one or more important changes they would make. Surprisingly, they took it much more seriously than usual. Many were concerned about the war in Iraq and another large portion were worried about the environment. On the whole, I was very impressed. However, there are always the goffballs and those just not paying attention. The following are some of the most memorable (usually because they're bad, but not always) lines from their work.

“A recent studied showed that when kids in France were asked to draw a picture of an American, many of them drew Ronald Mcdonald. This is not what I want people to think of our wonderful country.”

“As president of the USA I propos to band all types of non-purpos car racing.”

“Our biggest Concern is Zombie attack”

“Thank you for supporting me through a long fought battle of the Poles.”

“We need to pull troops out of Iraq and use the money to fund electric cars and also ban smoking.”

“Wasn’t the war supposed to end when Sudan Hoosane was killed?”

“Making peace is a good choice because we would get new items and have everlasting friendship”

“This could influence the choices when eating out in a negative way”

“Piece is so much better than war.”

“So no taxes at all in the U.S.A.”

“Taxes are a hand foll to deal with”

“..but peace is effortless…”

“Being prez doesn’t mean just laying around in the Whitehouse all day.”

“Did you know many Homeless kids cannot Apford happiness”

“Something must be done and I will make it happen.”

“My fellow Americans thank you from the bottom of my intestines for choosing me and ordinary man w/ extraordinary vision as your President of the United States.”

“…along with vice president Schwnizerger…”

“War is another issue. We fight so many wars that the Simpon’s talk about it.”

“We are America home of the brave, so don’t be afraid of change.”

“Again, I want to thank you all for electing me your president. Sorry for the convenience.”

“To increase learning, all school days will be shorter.”

“We need to go over and take what we need but, if they so “no” Then we just let it go for awhile and then to back and ask again.”

“Our government has come up with the latest technology called the fake wall… If some of the immigrants don’t fall for it and run right through it we have border patrol waiting for them.”

“Even after Sadam Husseins death a year ago, Sheight militans are still threating.”

“I am proposing to shut down all cigarette factories in the U.S… If you some how keep getting cigarettes, we could care less.”

“What kind of country sells their military jobs to other countries?”

“Our country is filled with the fattest of the fats”

“We can’t have a strong economy if every American job is being shipped to China! What if we, God forbid were to go to war with them? All of their supplies would be paid for with the money that came from the jobs we gave them.”

“Also, since I am president I am going to make chocolate milk the state drink.”

And It Snowed

It really, really snowed. It was quite a surprise how quickly it came down and how much actually accumulated. I watched it snow all evening on Saturday, and I even went out into the backyard for a bit to enjoy scene. However, the next morning brought a sad surprise. The heavy, wet snow weighed down all the trees and bushes in the neighborhood. Some, like the cedars and firs, are "built" for snow and had no trouble shedding the accumulation.

The ethereal little flowering cherry trees all over our community were not so lucky. All those beautiful masses of pink blossoms served to hold on to the snow and overburden the branches. When I got up Sunday morning and looked out the window to admire the snow, I saw our tree all bent and broken. We were actually relatively lucky, some trees keeled over altogether, while others will probably have to be cut down due to damage.

Cutting out the cracked branches and disposing of them in the yard waste bin was no picnic, but the worst part was just how sad it all was. The driveway was covered in pink petals by the time we were finished, and I couldn't help thinking "If only I'd gone out, even once, to shake off the snow, it might have been okay." I know, I know, it's just a tree, but I hate to have my precious signs of spring damaged. Proof once again that our climate is doing something strange.

Earth Hour

Years ago, when I was a nanny, I knew a little boy who thought that candles were romantic. Somewhere along the way, he'd come up with the notion that candlelight equaled romance. He wasn't sure exactly what romance was, but he was confident that it was a good thing. He was constantly asking to have "a romantic dinner" or "a romantic bath" or even "can we light the romantic candles while I play with my trucks?" Coming from a three year old, it was often hard not to laugh at these requests. However, I think he was perhaps a budding environmentalist.

Tonight, we are all supposed to turn out the lights (and light romantic candles?) from 8 to 9pm in support of Earth Hour. This is an international event created by the World Wildlife Fund to help remind people about the power (ha ha) of energy conservation. By turning off the lights (and maybe even appliances and electrical heating?) at 8pm in your time zone, this even creates a voluntary rolling blackout around the globe. If lots of people do it, it will save an impressive amount of energy (you can read about the specifics on their website) but more importantly it will raise awareness (sorry, but it is the best term here) about the impact made by individuals.

Of course many people will argue that there's no point to an event like this. "A single steel plant uses as much power as 27 million households! What's the point if we don't get the steel plants on board?!" (that's not a real quote and I'm making up the numbers) These are the same people who argue that there’s no point in fuel efficient cars because the space shuttle is so polluting. I refuse to give in to this type of logic. There is nothing I can do about steel plants or the space shuttle, but there is something I can do about my house tonight. Wouldn't it be a good thing if we all did this every week, or even, dare I say it, every night?

Therefore, I urge you to light a romantic candle, turn off the lights, and cuddle up to your sweetie/kitty/comfy chair tonight. You'll save a little energy, feel slightly better about yourself, and perhaps even sleep better than usual.

Spring Snow

The first day of spring was more than a week ago. The last day to legally have studs on your car is March 31st. The weather, however, has not yet gotten the news that winter is supposed to be over. The temperature right now is 33 degrees F. The snow is falling thick and fast, and the children are beyond excited. Since it's Friday, there's no snow day/snow delay to get them worked up. Nevertheless, they are thrilled by the novelty. I love the snow too, but I really hope M will not have trouble coming home from SF. I also hope it doesn't kill my poor daffodils who are just now attempting to bloom.

Baby Naming

A little while ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to a baby naming ceremony for our youngest friend, C. Her parents are members of a synagogue in Seattle, and it is part of their tradition for new baby girls to be welcomed and have their names announced for the congregation (I'm sure that's not the right work, but...). Lucky for the rest of us, friends as well as family are welcome to attend the Sabbath service which includes the naming.

The invitation to this event included some general hints on attire, but I wanted to make certain that I didn't make a mistake. I checked with some Jewish friends from work about the dress code. The two of them were guessing about what type of synagogue it might be, but they both agreed that generally conservative clothing would be appropriate. One suggested that I should just "wear what you normally wear to church" which left me to explain that I was just as much a stranger to churches as synagogues. Finally, they told me to avoid anything sleeveless or above the knee, and to wear a hat if I wanted to be really safe. Hat in hand, I set off for the synagogue on a Saturday morning.

I was most impressed by the welcome we received at the door. Not only was there a greeter there, but he handed us off to two people who welcomed us again and patiently explained what would happen and which books we would need. I've been to other religious gatherings where the feeling of being the stranger is very pronounced. In some places you get questioning glances and even cold looks from people who recognize you as an outsider. Here, however, people went out of their way to be kind.

We (the friends) all sat together and tried to keep up with the service. It took me a moment to remember that the books are read in the reverse order from ours, so turning to the correct page took a little time. Luckily, there were people around us who let us know when to stand, when to sit, and when to read-this-section-until-you-finish-and-then-sit. Wanting to not mess up meant paying close attention to the proceedings, but not one time did I feel that people were craning around to get a look at the outsiders.

The part where P, A, and their kids went up on the Bema (Bima?) was my favorite. They all looked so happy and proud to be there (was that an act to cover the nerves? I would have been very nervous). Baby C was perfectly behaved, never cried even once, and looked absolutely adorable in her little pink outfit. After the service there was a lunch where more people came over to chat with us, welcome us, and generally be friendly. All in all, it was a great experience, and I was very happy to be a part of such an important day. I'm still not a religious person myself, but it is very heartening to know that there are places where religion creates real community and encourages people to be their best.

Water Safety

Water, water everywhere (in WA anyway), but is there a drop that's safe to drink? Everywhere you turn it seems like there is a news story about a new way that your water might try to kill you. Dioxins, Bisphenol A, and a wide array of pharmaceuticals have recently entered a field of possible dangers that already included such a wide variety of old standbys. It's enough to make a sane person want to run screaming from the tap/Britta pitcher/Nalgene/BPA-and-led-free hip-n-cool metal drinking canister.

A big part of this dilemma is that I'm just not sure who to believe. I do not have a reliable source for clear and trustworthy water safety information. In fact, when you go looking for this kind info on the internet, you end up buried under such a huge pile of often conflicting information that you feel worse off than before. Should we or should we not be drinking out of plastic bottles? If we do drink out of plastic, are the hard Nalgene-type plastics better or worse for us? Will we grow weird bacteria by re-using either of these types of bottles? Will we drink dangerous levels of pharmaceuticals if we drink tap water? Should we care at all about any of this, or is it all a bunch of hype?

Okay science people, this is your chance to be the expert. Should the average person:
A. Hide under the bed until death by thirst?
B. Drink only filtered or bottled water from glass or metal containers?
C. Trust that the tap water is safe and use it in our Nalgenes?
D. Ignore the whole business and do whatever seems easiest?

Easter 2008

Happy Easter! Let us all worship the Great Bunny who brings us chocolate and spring and happiness. This year I'm limiting the candy to only classic jelly beans and Cadbury chocolate eggs. Even though there aren't any kids around, I still couldn't resist coloring a few real eggs as well. M is making his famous carrot cake, and we will toast the Great Bunny as we try to avoid going into diabetic shock.

Airborne Equals Quackery?

There has been much debate over the years about the benefits of a product called Airborne. This "vitamin immune booster" is supposed to protect you from illness in situations like airline travel, and it also claims to ease the effects of colds and flues after you get them. All sorts of people have endorsed the product, and the creator was even invited to the Oprah Show to tout its amazing powers. Many who might otherwise be skeptical of these claims were mollified by the "rigorous double-blind" testing done by a "recognized and accredited" institution.

Now it turns out that the testing never took place, the "institution" is really a sham, and the supplement itself may contain dangerously high levels of vitamin A. Once again, fake "science" has been used to fool people into buying something they would not otherwise trust. Why, oh why, is the vitamin and supplement industry not regulated like food, drugs, and just about everything else we put into our bodies? One day we may regret this on a large scale.

Goodbye K

Today is the day when my friend K and her family are flying away to their new home on the East Coast. I know this is an exciting new opportunity for them, but I can't help being very, very sorry to see them go. As Stargirl would say, there are no pebbles in my happy wagon today. K and her family never seem to stay in one place for more than a few years, so I guess I should have known that this day would come. Our turn to have K around is over now, and somebody else is about to get a great good thing. I just hope they know how lucky they are.

The Skillful Florist

Warning! Boring wedding planning entry ahead! Proceed with caution!

Wedding planning has been, among other things, an interesting look into a service industry. Some of these people just assume that you have no clue what you want, and they proceed to tell you exactly which one to pick, how many you will need, and what color is hot this season. The idea that you might not need or want their chosen item never seems to enter their heads.

On the opposite end of things are the people who don't want to be too pushy (or don't want to be blamed for bad choices) so they just refuse to offer any help/support/opinion at all. "Tell me exactly what you want and I will get it for you" is their motto, but sometimes it's not very helpful because you actually DO need a professional opinion. This is why meeting our chosen florist was such a treat.

Fena Florist was recommended by a co-worker at school whose daughter used them for her wedding. I made an appointment for a weekend morning, brought along my mom and Big Niece, and held my breath about what kind of service I might get. I had a pretty good idea in my head of what I wanted, but I had not been able to find many good pictures from magazines or the internet.

Our florist started out by looking at the pictures I did have and listening to my feeble descriptions. Then she had us look at books of flowers to find things that had the right colors or textures. Finally, she brought out a huge range of flowers in roughly the right colors, and we went through deciding which would be included. She had great advice about color, texture, and design. In the end, I felt like the choices were still mine, but I was much more confident that it would all turn out well. Best of all, the prices did not put me over budget.

All in all, I was very satisfied with this experience. If only the cake guy, the jewelry lady, and the dress ladies could have been so helpful yet not pushy. I can't wait to see how these flowers will turn out. One more thing checked off the list!

Observed in a Bridal Salon

I've been meaning to post this one for some time because it was such a striking experience. In case you didn't know already, I am a bad, unkind, judgmental person. I just can’t seem to help it.

When I went for my first bridal gown fitting, I shared the alterations dressing room with a tiny little girl in a long and flowing gown with a full train. She was there to have a dress cut down to fit her for her THIRD birthday party. Now lots of little girls are quite excited about trying on pretty dresses and being the center of attention. In fact, when we took little S to get her flower girl dress, she was ecstatic about the whole process. This little girl, however, was not having a fun time.

At not-quite-three she did not seem to understand what was happening, and she did NOT want to stand still while a strange lady pushed pins into her clothes. She just kept saying "I wanna put my paaaants on!" accompanied by much wailing. Mom explained that she was missing her nap, and perhaps that was all that was wrong. However, as we all stood there putting up with the pin ladies, Mom told the story of the planned birthday party, and my judgmental nature just popped out all over.

First, it's important to mention that Mom herself was very young (maybe 20?), had long talon-like nails, lots of makeup, and a tight and somewhat revealing sense of fashion. Does this make her a bad person? No of course not. What makes her a bad person was the plan for the actual party.

Mom explained that the poor little girl was going to have a "celebrity birthday party." The kids were all going to be dressed in "fashions" and there would be many parents to be the "photographers." Kids would get goody bags with "bling" and a stretch hummer would pick them up and take them out to Appleby's. A kind person could imagine the kid who would love this kind of thing, but this child wailed and cried at every mention of the party. I was so disgusted that I didn't trust myself to comment on the plan. The only safe thing was to tell the little girl how pretty she looked in her gown.

Whatever happened to birthday parties with cake and balloons? Pin The Tail on the Donkey was the big news at most toddler birthdays in my day. Maybe if the parents had gotten really over the top, there might be a piñata. I understand that times have changed. Nevertheless, it's one thing to go over the top to make your kids happy. It's quite another thing to make your kid do something just so you can have some sort of weird vicarious moment. Maybe this mom should buy herself a gown, rent herself a limo, and take her own friends to Appleby's. That way the little girl could celebrate by staying home, eating some yummy cake, and putting her pants back on.

Big Kids Little Kids Everywhere Kids

The sunshine pouring in at the window is making me nostalgic for the mid-winter break we had last month. It was sunny that whole week, and I had the two nieces almost the entire time. We did all sorts of fun things, and one day we even asked two of my little friends to join us. That made FOUR kids all running around together.

Rather than being a difficult time, all the kids were on their best behavior. I was deeply impressed by the effect that the little kids (2 and 4) had on the big kids (7 and 9). As soon as the younger kids arrived, the nieces stopped any hint of arguing and went into role-model mode. They were polite, helpful, and quite touchingly concerned about the well-being and happiness of the smaller fry. When we went to the park, everyone had a buddy, and I kept having to remind Small Niece that she did not actually have to carry her buddy around. Later, when we enjoyed a little time with sidewalk chalk, both bigger girls went out of their way to share colors and keep an eye out for cars.

I don't know if this experience was just a fluke or not. If you have lots of kids do they just naturally shift into a more responsible mode? I do vaguely remember noticing this effect years ago when I was a nanny, so it isn't just this one group of kids. Perhaps we are hardwired to enjoy being in a group? Somewhere, deep down inside, maybe we know that if we don't get along we might end up getting left behind as lion fodder. What ever the reason, I love the effect it has on kid behavior.

Registering

I guess I've always had the vague notion that registering for wedding presents would be fun. However, it is quite a different experience from anything I had envisioned. Usually when you go shopping, you have only one or two objects in mind. You make comparisons, look at prices, and then choose the items that seem right for you.

When doing a registry, on the other hand, you have to make dozens of choices one right after the other. We did do some research before we set out, but it was still much more of a mental workout than I'd guessed. By the time we had about forty things on our list, we were both completely exhausted and just wanted to head home. Now I understand why wedding registries sometimes include items that do not seem to fit with the personality of the couple. After a few hours with that little scanner a marble cheese board with brass cat handles and a silver mouse slicer probably seems like a great idea.

Dream Restaurant

A friend's blog recently invited readers to come up with a dream restaurant/lounge/cafe. What a fun exercise! I thouroughly enjoyed dreaming up my tea room. However, knowing how hard restaurant owners work, I have no desire to go into the restaurant business for real. That said, here's my fantasy. Now if only someone else would open this place, and I could just enjoying going there as a patron.

My "restaurant" would be a tea shop called "Lady Gray's Tea Room." It would have hardwood floors, rich drapes, comfortable booths, and also smaller tables in cozy nooks. The primary colors would be white and cranberry with accent pieces in silver. We would have elegant white china with a silver pattern, and there would be lots of silver serving trays and three tier cake stands. During the day we would serve high tea (with all the attendant goodies), light lunches, and even a few coffee beverages. Then, after 5pm, we would switch over to cocktails and light dinner items.

Our signature drinks would be the Sour Cherry Sidecar, Sage G & T, and the Peach Passion. The dinner menu would consist entirely of small plates, and one person might try three or four different things. Examples include: superb seasonal soups, creative salads, cheese trays, quiches, marinated veggie trays, small sandwich assortments, and a selection of light pasta dishes. The rent would have to be fairly low since we would want people to linger over our selection of decadent desserts. These would include the superlative lemon bar, seasonal fruit pies, molten chocolate cake, toffee almond bread pudding, and candied orange brownies.

2 Tiny Dresses and 1 Big Gown

During last week's mid-winter break, my friend K and I screwed up our courage and took FOUR little kids to a bridal salon. There was nothing for it, we had to choose flower girl dresses, and there was no easy way to do this without taking the flower girls and their siblings. Fortunately, these are four exceptional children, and the whole outing was a big success. There was much admiring of tulle, satin ribbons, sequins, and lace, and Small Niece was especially enamored of the available fashion choices. I did have to step in and assert some control over the process when it looked like she might ask for an all-white rose and sequin encrusted dress with spaghetti straps. Fortunately, she was quite willing to be swayed. We now have two absolutely adorable little pink and white dresses for two absolutely adorable little pink flower girls.

In addition to flower girls, we were also able to have K try on the bride's maid gown. Unfortunately, she had to try it on in brilliant Barbie pink which is really not a color I would associate with any of the maids. However, the fit of the gown looked absolutely beautiful on her. All three ladies have such nice figures that I may have to put pass out burlap sacks at the rehearsal dinner (just kidding!). Now that all three have ordered the gown, there is another thing I can tick off the "to-do" list. I can't wait to see the three of them all dressed up and ready to go.

At the same time, I was able to pick up my own gown from the alterations department. K bravely held on to all four children while I went back to try on the gown, and the reception I received upon coming out from behind the curtain was quite satisfying. I must say, even I (the self-critical one) thought I looked pretty darn nice. It was such a lucky thing that K was there because someone had to learn how to bustle and un-bustle me for the transition from ceremony to reception. I still need a few bits and pieces (shoes, hair decorations, did I mention shoes?), but it feels great to have the finished, fitted dress hanging in the closet at home. We are coming closer and closer to the point where I feel we have the essentials for the wedding. After that, anything else is just gravy.

Bicycle Birthday

On a regular Monday, I get to work just before 7am, teach two classes in the morning, prepare for the next day during my prep, teach three classes during the afternoon, and usually attend at least one meeting. Generally the students and I are a bit slow and sleepy from our weekend, but we get through and the week is off and running. Mondays are not usually my favorite days, but they are not terrible or depressing either. However, this Monday, was quite a bit different from normal. Thank goodness for Presidents.

Small Niece turned seven (seven!) about a week ago, and she decided to have a bike riding birthday to celebrate. Now many seventh birthday parties probably involve bikes, but that usually means a few turns around the local park. This was a SERIOUS bicycle birthday, and we estimate that about twenty miles were ridden. It was a wonderful sunny day, and we had a marvelous time.

We started out at my brother's house and spent some time arranging everyone on their bikes. There were two tandems, one bike with half bike on the back, and one mini-bike for the mini-grandma to ride. All in all, we made quite a picture going down the road. Our first stop was Gasworks Park where we met up with a few friends (and some people also took the opportunity to run up and down the hills). The next trip took us to a cupcake shop in Wallingford. We each got to choose our own flavors and a special topper for each little cake. M got a really horrifying bride and groom with badly mis-painted faces.

The last leg of our journey took us through the Olympic Sculpture Park. Now I am not a huge fan of the sculpture choices they made for that park (I think I am an art Luddite), but it does have two fantastic features (aside from the eraser of course). Any park that takes you along the water and gives you such an incredible view of the mountains has to be good. Finally, we made our way to The Old Spaghetti Factory. This was the perfect dinner destination for a huge group of hungry bike riders. We wolfed our food before heading back out to do the last bike stretch home. It was a wonderful day, but my posterior has still not returned to normal. Hats off to my brother and to my friends C and R who have the guts to do this kind of thing on a daily basis. Also, happy birthday once more to Small Niece!

Inappropriate Humor

Sometimes people find my blog through the most unlikely search queries. For example, this week someone searched for "monkey butt heart valentine" and ended up with me. It seems that, unable to find a complete match, Google pointed to an archived post in which I referred to our fair president as "a monkey's butt." I'm sure that's not quite what the searcher had in mind. Coincidently enough, I recently ran across a great example of "monkey butt heart valentine" on LOL cats. I thought it was both amazing and funny, but then again 7th graders have completely robbed me of any remaining shreds of decency or decorum.

Happy Valentine's Day 2008

How about a little Dickenson on a day like today:

It's all I have to bring today
By Emily Dickenson

It's all I have to bring today –

This, and my heart beside –

This, and my heart, and all the fields

–And all the meadows wide

–Be sure you count

– should I forget

Some one the sum could tell

–This, and my heart, and all the Bees

Which in the Clover dwell.

Caucus Excitement

This is a very busy day, so I'll have to make this quick. Perhaps I will have the chance to write a longer entry later.

I certainly must say "thank you" to my friend T who got me started on a very exciting adventure. It was T who invited me to attend a caucus training session with her, and it was the training session that made me volunteer to run our local precinct caucus when the regular officer was called away. It was serving as the PCO at the actual caucus that gave me the courage to "run" for a delegate seat, and it was who-knows-what that got me elected! That's right, I get to be a delegate to the local and county conventions! As you might expect, I am quite excited to see how this whole things works. I am one delegate for Clinton!

No End In Sight

Super Tuesday has come and gone. In years past this event sealed the primary season, and the de facto winners could switch over to bashing each other instead of members of their own party. However, we seem to have come to a new era in American politics where nothing is clear or simple. Once again we've had a contest where the results were too close to make any kind of significant change to the situation.

Super Tuesday may be over, but the election still has yet to be decided in the later date states. Now this is great if you happen to live in a frequently ignored place (Washington), but it is still frustrating to have the population/party so very divided. It would be nice (yeah yeah wishes/horses I know) if we could have one stellar candidate who wows most people and wins an easy primary victory. I suppose there is a small measure of satisfaction to be found in the fact that the other side is having the very same problem.

I find myself wondering why we are such a divided country, (on both left and right) and what made us so much more decisive in previous times. Perhaps there is less willingness to simply vote for a party pick. Perhaps people have become more decidedly one-issue voters (whatever the issue may be). Perhaps more diverse segments of society are voting than ever before, and they have vastly different agendas. Or perhaps it's the effect of reality television. I say this only partly in jest. Maybe so many people are now programmed to love the underdog they actually switch their vote when they see one candidate or the other coming out on top. I really, really hope it isn't that last one. Nevertheless, record numbers of voters ARE coming out to the polls, and that has to be a good thing for the democratic process. Now if we could just make up our collective minds (he he) then the real election process could start in earnest.

First Grade Homework

Small Niece is now half way through first grade at a very good school in Seattle. She loves her school, loves her teacher, and even claims to love homework. There is much debate about the value of homework in the younger grades, but those who do assign it claim that it prepares kids for later. I can completely understand this logic, but I was still amused to read Small Niece's great big weekend homework assignment:

1. Reading: Read or have someone read to you for at least 30 minutes (this one was the most serious, and I have to commend her teacher for requiring it)

2. Math: Mrs. Smith buys an orange for 60 cents. Think of two ways she could pay for it using different coins

.60 =

.60 =

(Here Small Niece had written ".60 = 167 corters" and ".60 = 57 dollrs." I asked her how she'd come to these answers, and she said her older sister had been helping her. After threatening smirking Big Niece within dire consequences, Small Niece and I worked out some better answers.)

3. Science: Tell an adult one thing you learned about Australia last week (At this point she turned to me and said "I learned that aborabinginamals were the first people in Australia.")

4. Writing: Keep a journal, and write at least two sentences each day. (This one was no problem, and in just a moment she had written "I lick candy. I want candy." She was confused when I asked her to add more)

Admittedly, none of this homework was a huge challenge for Small Niece. Part of that is due to her extreme brilliance, and another part is that desire by the teacher to keep things really manageable for everyone. I'm just happy that she actually looks forward to Monday mornings. May that stay with her as long as possible.

New Addition

Happy birthday to our smallest new friend, baby C.A.! Baby C. was born just a few days ago, and we are very much looking forward to meeting her. Congratulations also to her parents and her newly promoted Big Brother. Well done P!

Kids Have a Dream

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, my class did a special assignment a few days ago. First, I showed them a copy of the "I have a dream" speech, and we discussed his meaning and perspective. Next, I asked kids to think about the issues that face people today (are they the same or different than in 1967?). Finally, I asked them to write their own speech discussing the issues that concern them the most. As usual, there were some great ones, lots of so-so examples, and a few stinkers. On the whole, however, I thought they did better than average on the assignment, and I was impressed by the depth of their thinking about these issues. Some things 7th graders are concerned about:

-Race
-Hunger
-Global Warming (this was the most discussed issue)
-Terrorists
-Wars
-Gas Prices (this is a big deal here in SUV land)
-Inflation (they didn't use the term, but that was the main idea)
-Good Vs. Evil (will evil just overcome good?)
-Weapons/gun violence (guns are bad was the idea in all of these)
-International Co-operation (again, they didn't know the term, but they knew what they meant)
-AIDS
-Poverty
-Domestic Violence
-Cancer

Proof once again that not all kids are as shallow as some people would make them out to be. Granted, their proposed solutions to these issues were sometimes quite goofy (the government should just give everyone money and then no on would be poor) but at least they are thinking about things that need change.

Snow Day!

There was nothing on the ground when we went to bed last night, but when I woke up at 2am the snow was already falling. By 5am there was a nice frosty blanket on the yard and the driveway. I checked the school news website, and sure enough, we were closed for the day. The call came just a few minutes later. I was surprised to see that it was not just us closed, but also several other surrounding districts. I rolled over in my cozy blankets and went back to sleep.

After waking at a leisurely 8am, I spent my day in the following pursuits: baking bread, going for a walk, reading my book, tidying the house, and playing video games. Oh what a life! Tonight there is supposed to be another round of snow, so I may get that day off too. Of course we will have to "pay back" these days in June, but right now I don't really care. Snow! Snow! Snow!

Fitting

A few days ago I went for the first fitting on my wedding dress. There I was, standing on the little dais, with pins under my arms, pins at my bust, pins around the waist, pins on my bum, and pins at my ankles. It was wonderful to see how it will look once it's finished, and it was fun to chat with the seamstress, my mom, and my friend C who were kind enough to keep me company. Nevertheless, it was also a painful experience. First, because I kept forgetting about the pins, moving around, and scratching myself. Second, and much more painfully, because of the price at the end.

It is true that I got a great deal on that dress, but the cost of alterations has brought be nearly back to the original MSR. My mom has pointed out on several occasions that a significantly customized dress for that price is quite something, but I can't help smarting at least a little. Nevertheless (again) it really is going to be beautiful when it's finished. I want very much to describe the original dress and the alterations for the fashion/sewing inclined reader, but of course M would then have details he shouldn't. Suffice it to say that it is a classic type of dress, and soon it will suit just me in a dozen different ways. Also, the green polka dots and orange lace really compliment my complexion ;)

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

At school we have a lunchtime girls group led by our fair councilors. It is a safe place for girls to come together and discuss the issues that can make life so tough in middle school. The councilor leads the discussion, but the topic is allowed to migrate as the girls choose. Recent topics have included body image, social pressures to look, think, act in a certain way, the joy and suffering of friendships, etc. At a recent meeting, the group discussed societal expectations of women, and someone brought up the idea of "sugar and spice and everything nice." One particularly wise girl observed "that's what cookies are made of!" The discussion that followed was nothing short of wonderful. It warmed my feminist heart, and it reminded me that not all kids are caught up in being vapid and silly. There is hope for the future.

Coincidence

A few weeks ago, M and I met with a wedding officiant I found on the internet. I wasn't too sure about going with someone who did not come with a reference, but I was having trouble finding someone available on our date. We met with him at a Starbucks, answered many questions about ourselves and our wedding, and then agreed that we would send him a deposit if we decided to go with him.

M was really not sure. We both liked the guy, but we had no way of knowing if he was good or not. M wanted to interview a few more to make sure we chose the right person. He started asking friends of ours for recommendations, and one of them actually had a suggestion. She'd been to a family wedding the summer before, and remembered the ceremony as being particularly good. She consulted with the bride, and sent us a name. It was the same guy we'd met with the week before. We've decide to go with him because now we have a recommendation, and besides, it was obviously meant to be ;)

Resolution Follow Up

Now that we are more than two weeks into the new year, I think it is time for a resolution follow-up. One of the reasons so many people fail to keep their resolutions is because they simply forget about them. I have a copy on the refrigerator, and I'm keeping track here. Let's hope something works:

1. Get married--- I can't say I've actually done this yet, but we are making good progress

2. Exercise for at least 30 minutes--- I've been keeping up with the three times a week, but I haven't yet managed to go for five. Most gym visits are an hour long.

3. Say something friendly to someone who is not already a friend--- I've been doing this regularly.

4. Try a new recipe--- I did try a new recipe last week (a new kind of lentil soup) but I haven't done it since. I've been doing very well on making lunch instead of eating frozen.

5. Read a non-fiction book on a new topic--- Three down and three to go.

6. Take dance lessons--- We have not yet done this, but I did get info from our friend M.

7. Tackle "thorny" (i.e. organize closets, sort papers, ironing) house chores--- I'm, urm, still working on this one :P

8. Think carefully before responding at work (seconds in conversation, a few hours via email) --- So far so good.

9. Rest on laurels less at work. One-on-one with each kid in Basic Block--- Done

10. At work, if it doesn't NEED saying, don't say it--- I've been doing very well with this one, but then, I haven't really been tested yet.

Slip Sliding Away

The drive to work yesterday, even with a delayed start, was nothing short of exciting. The snow that fell over night turned to ice, and all the cars on the road were moving as gingerly as possible. Well, all the sane people were being careful, but there are always a few yahoos who think the laws of physics do not apply to them.

As I slowly crawled my way down one hill, an Explorer-type vehicle decided to test out this theory. The driver was at a stop coming from a side road, and decided just to punch it when he saw an opportunity in the line of cars. He made it across the first lane, but when he went to turn, the car hit ice, fishtailed wildly, hopped the curb, and came to rest on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, everyone else tried not to skid behind him. Eventually, the slow crawl of traffic continued leaving Mr. Bozo to sort himself out.

This was the first test of my new snow tires. How anyone who had ever driven studs could say that snow tires are just as good is completely beyond me. Studs are orders of magnitude better on both ice and snow. This is not to say that I'm disappointed with my snow tires. They are much better than three season, or (god forbid) summer slicks. On snow they are really quite reasonable as long as you remember that conditions are not normal and drive accordingly. On ice, though, they are a crutch and nothing more. Why don't I have studs? Because they tear up the road and are, therefore, not socially responsible. That doesn't stop me from missing them on days like this.

New Hampshire 2008

Okay, so I am a little late on this one. It's been a busy week. Nevertheless, the results from the New Hampshire presidential primary were both interesting and exciting. Analysts had actually started calling for Hillary Clinton's advisors to start looking for new jobs. Polls implied that Barack Obama would carry the state just like he did Iowa, but somehow this was not the case at all when it actually came time to vote. There has been much speculation about the reason or reasons for this upset. Everything from the power of Clinton's "machine" to her teary-eyed confession that campaigning is tough to the froggy condition of Obama's voice have been put forward as a cause for the change. In the end, it's impossible to say for sure.

I find that I am finally starting to lean towards one candidate instead of the other. I'm still deeply concerned about the electibility of both, but given that they are our choices, I have to make up my mind somehow. Here is my thinking so far. Everybody keeps going on about the Democratic contest being one of experience versus change. That seems accurate to me since she is a true D.C. insider while he is not even a one term senator. He looks good, he speaks very well, and I have no doubt that he is quite intelligent. However, he has very little government experience on the federal level. Now some people see this as a great asset, but I am not so sure.

It seems to me that we are currently in rather a large mess. I know many people would say that this is eternally the case, but I really do thing that we're even more in the drink than usual. I would like to elect someone who is capable of cleaning up successfully (please no jokes here about how women are good at cleaning). In this case, experience is a good thing. I want someone who will recover our international reputation, pay real attention to environmental concerns, and KILL KILL KILL the No Child Left Behind Act. Having watched or read several of the debates, I feel far more confident about Hillary Clinton's ability to deliver on these and many other issues. Besides, think of who her main advisor is likely to be! I like Obama, and I think he may make a great candidate, but he's just not there yet. Vote Clinton in 2008.

Snowdrops!

Snowdrops are blooming next to our front door! This is proof positive that spring is out there somewhere. First come the snowdrops, then the crocus and primroses, then daffodils, tulips, irises, and finally all the more sensitive flowers begin to return. This makes me especially happy because I just finished cutting the last late roses off as I pruned the rosebush. Even in this northerly place, a person doesn't have to go more than a few weeks without at least a few flowers.

Seattle Wedding Show P.S.

Forgot to mention that, through a quirk of scheduling, the nieces went with us to the wedding show. They were only there for a little while, but it was quite amusing to watch them take it all in. I really thought that Small Niece would love it (miles of lace and fancy things! Yay!) but that Big niece might be quite horrified (miles of lace and fancy things! Ugh!). What I did not anticipate was the effect of cake.

It seemed like there were cake booths every ten feet. If you are a cute little girl who knows how to smile sweetly, it turns out that lots of people will offer you samples of said cake. I think they got to try four or five different samples in about ten minutes. Unfortunately, they were absolutely worthless as cake testers. Every time I asked what they thought they just smiled their cakey smiles, and exclaimed over how yummy it all was. It's a good thing Dad arrived before they'd gotten any farther, or they might have eaten themselves sick. One of the great joys in life is in getting your sibling's kid all hyped up on sugar and then handing them back.

Banned Books

When I was very young, I can vividly remember the Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax, being banned from my school library. Why would Seuss be such a problem? Because I lived in rural Oregon in the early 1980s when the logging industry was in the process of going under. Many logging families (probably half my class) believed they were losing their jobs due to bleeding heart liberal policies about forests (um hello, who was president then?). Thus the challenge, and eventual ban, on the scandalous ecological message of The Lorax.

Time and place have such a huge impact over what is deemed "immoral" and what is not. The part that amazes me is the perceived need for the ban. The logic seems to be "I don't approve of this book, but rather than just keep my kid from reading it, I need to keep it from ALL kids!" Great, then we have a culture based on the lowest common denominator. I'll just get out my Dick and Jane readers then shall I? That's sure to swell hearts and inspire minds.

As a teacher, I do try to avoid using classroom materials that might be considered offensive (it's not easy, and I don't always succeed), but to take books out of libraries just because a few parents don't like them?! It makes me cringe. Take a look at the top 100 most challenged books (arranged by the number of official challenges) of the 21st century, and you'll cringe too:

1 Harry Potter J.K. Rowling
2 Alice series Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3 The Chocolate War Robert Cormier
4 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
5 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou
6 Scary Stories Alvin Schwartz
7 Fallen Angels Walter Dean Myers
8 It’s Perfectly Normal Robie Harris
9 And Tango Makes Three Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
10 Captain Underpants Dav Pilkey
11 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
12 The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison
13 Forever Judy Blume
14 The Color Purple Alice Walker
15 The Perks of Being A Wallflower Stephen Chbosky
16 Killing Mr. Griffin Lois Duncan
17 Go Ask Alice Anonymous
18 King and King Linda de Haan
19 Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
20 Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson
21 The Giver Lois Lowry
22 We All Fall Down Robert Cormier
23 To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee`
24 Beloved Toni Morrison
25 The Face on the Milk Carton Caroline Cooney
26 Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson
27 My Brother Sam Is Dead James Lincoln Collier
28 In the Night Kitchen Maurice Sendak
29 His Dark Materials series Philip Pullman
30 Gossip Girl series Cecily von Ziegesar
31 What My Mother Doesn’t Know Sonya Sones
32 Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging Louise Rennison
33 It’s So Amazing Robie Harris
34 Arming America Michael Bellasiles
35 Kaffir Boy Mark Mathabane
36 Blubber Judy Blume
37 Brave New World Aldous Huxley
38 Athletic Shorts Chris Crutcher
39 Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya
40 Life is Funny E.R. Frank
41 Daughters of Eve Lois Duncan
42 Crazy Lady Jane Leslie Conly
43 The Great Gilly Hopkins Katherine Paterson
44 You Hear Me Betsy Franco
45 Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut
46 Whale Talk Chris Crutcher
47 The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby Dav Pilkey
48 The Facts Speak for Themselves Brock Cole
49 The Terrorist Caroline Cooney
50 Mick Harte Was Here Barbara Park
51 Summer of My German Soldier Bette Green
52 The Upstairs Room Johanna Reiss
53 When Dad Killed Mom Julius Lester
54 Blood and Chocolate Annette Curtis Klause
55 The Fighting Ground Avi
56 The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien
57 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred Taylor
58 Fat Kid Rules the World K.L. Going
59 The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things Carolyn Mackler
60 A Time To Kill John Grisham
61 Rainbow Boys Alex Sanchez
62 Olive’s Ocean Kevin Henkes
63 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey
64 A Day No Pigs Would Die Robert Newton Peck
65 Speak Laurie Halse Anderson
66 Always Running Luis Rodriguez
67 Black Boy Richard Wright
68 Julie of the Wolves Jean Craighead George
69 Deal With It! Esther Drill
70 Detour for Emmy Marilyn Reynolds
71 Draw Me A Star Eric Carle
72 Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
73 Harris and Me Gary Paulsen
74 Junie B. Jones series Barbara Park
75 So Far From the Bamboo Grove Yoko Watkins
76 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison
77 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Chris Crutcher
78 What’s Happening to My Body Book Lynda Madaras
79 The Boy Who Lost His Face Louis Sachar
80 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
81 Anastasia Again! Lois Lowry
82 Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret Judy Blume
83 Bumps In the Night Harry Allard
84 Goosebumps series R.L. Stine
85 Shade’s Children Garth Nix
86 Cut Patricia McCormick
87 Grendel John Gardner
88 The House of Spirits Isabel Allende
89 I Saw Esau Iona Opte
90 Ironman Chris Crutcher
91 The Stupids series Harry Allard
92 Taming the Star Runner S.E. Hinton
93 Then Again, Maybe I Won’t Judy Blume
94 Tiger Eyes Judy Blume
95 Like Water for Chocolate Laura Esquivel
96 Nathan’s Run John Gilstrap
97 Pinkerton, Behave! Steven Kellog
98 Freaky Friday Mary Rodgers
99 Halloween ABC Eve Merriam
100 Heather Has Two Mommies Leslea Newman

Seattle Wedding Show

In the words of an old musical: oh what a vision, oh what a show. People really have gone to town for weddings. When we arrived on Saturday morning, the convention center was already packed with avid wedding fanatics. There were booths for any and every wedding need you can imagine plus all sorts of services you probably never even considered. Each of these booths is there with the sole purpose of convincing you that you MUST HAVE what they offer. Examples include chair sashes, flower preservation services, rental fish (yes, live fish to make your tables look nice), and even a fully equipped party RV.

Mostly we just goggled at all the silliness and dodged the crowds. However, there were one or two areas where we made some progress. First, I think perhaps we may have found a florist. While I do not see the need for decorative fish or chair sashes, I am excited about having lots of flowers at both the ceremony and reception (I'm sort of a flower fanatic in real life too). The one booth caught my eye because of the unusual use of green blackberries in a green and white bouquet. The reasonable prices the lady quoted didn't hurt either, so I think we may talk to her about doing our flowers.

We spoke to several photographers as we wandered around. One common practice that surprised and horrified us was that of the photographer keeping the copyright to all photos. This means that they keep all the pics, and you get to choose a certain number to be made into prints. If you want more of your photos than the fixed number, you have to pay extra. With some of these people you cannot even make copies of your own photos! Add to that albums that cost $1500-$2000 for a single book! We were not impressed. Fortunately, there are a few photographers out there who differentiate themselves by avoiding these tactics. All we want is a talented person to come and take digital photos, and then hand us the CD. Is that so much to ask? Hopefully not.

The biggest coup of the day came in the ring department. We have looked at approximately eight thousand men's and women's wedding rings. M had seen several he liked but didn't love, and I had even less luck. At the show we happened across one lucky booth. They had the perfect ring for him. I cannot explain what made it perfect, but it just seemed to suit him. I put down a deposit, and we even got a discount for buying it at the show. Then, while we were waiting for them to fill out the paper work, my mom encouraged me to keep trying women's rings. I wasn't too optimistic because I hadn't seen anything promising while glancing through the case. The old saying "listen to your mother" has to be true because I did end up finding a very good prospect for my wedding ring. Both of our rings are quite simple even to the point of being plain, but I think they suit our personalities very well. I got more than a little thrill seeing M try on his.

As we left the show I felt torn. On the one hand, this was a perfect example of consumerism gone completely bonkers. People were there to shell out thousands of dollars for things they don't really need and from which they will derive no real benefit. On the other hand, I couldn't help but enjoy myself. There is something very satisfying about being there with M and my mom inspecting cakes and flowers. Who knows why. Nevertheless, I still do not feel any need to pay for rental fish.

Car Buying for M Part 1: Luxury Cars Disappoint

Not long ago, M decided that it was time for a new car. His old one has done good service lo' these many years, but it needed expensive repairs, so he decided it was time for something new. Well, not new exactly, but new to us. I'm delighted that M concurs with my belief that a brand new car is rarely worth the premium price. By some estimates, a brand new car loses 20% of its value by driving off the lot. In short, that "new car smell" comes at quite a price. But I digress.

M decided to get a new car, but he wanted one that still had the practicality and AWD of his old Subaru. The question was, should he just buy another Subaru, or would it be more interesting to trade to something different? SUV's were right out from the beginning (need I explain?). Audi, Toyota, Volvo, Volkswagen, Infiniti, Saab, and several others have cars that met his criteria, but when we did a Consumer Reports search, some of these makes went out the proverbial window too. It seems that many cars aiming for the luxury AWD market do not fair so well on reliability ratings. With the options somewhat narrowed down, we moved on to my favorite part: the test drive.

The Subaru Impreza STI came first. Heading out, this is the car I thought M would probably buy, but he surprised me. The car is fast and sporty, it corners well, and it has AWD, but it had a turbo lag that wasn't much fun, and it had the curse of all Subaru’s: very poor leg room both front and back (there's also the clutch issue in my mind, but M doesn't seem bothered by that). Thus we walked away from the STI without buying.

Next came the Infiniti G30. Do you remember those Infiniti commercials with Jonathan Price? You know, the ones that are supposed to make you think of Infiniti's as suave and elegant and the epitome of controlled power? Yeah, not so much as it turns out. I really expected something special given the price and the hype, but the best thing I can say for this car is that it sounds really cool when you first turn it on (with a silly push button instead of a key). That throaty purr is not enough to make up for the fact that driving this car is no fun at all. Smooth and powerful sure, but also strangely heavy and unresponsive. I've also come to the conclusion that a tiptronic (at least the ones we drove) is just a fancy/smart automatic, and it takes all the fun out of acceleration. I'll stick with a real manual (at least in cars that are meant to be sporty) thank you.

We declined to drive the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 (which was stupid because it would have been fun to try once) because who wants to look that silly, and it didn't meet M's criteria. We did not drive the BMW's, Volvos, Mercedes, Lexus, the RX-8 (sob!), the canary yellow Thunderbird or many of the other impractical or unreliable cars they had on that lot (I think maybe gas prices and the economy are helping people shed some of their sillier cars?) In fact, by the end of that day, the only real contender on the list was a Subaru Forester XT in a most unlovely shade of brown. We went home without a new car.

On another weekend, we set out again, and this time we headed over to an Audi dealer. I expected this dealership to be a funny place due to the level of snoots often put on by fancy car dealers. However, a very nice, low-pressure sales staff brought out an A4 for us to try. The Audi was certainly better than the Infiniti, but both cars lack the feedback that both M and I enjoy. The designers of these cars seem so focused on giving you a luxurious ride that they remove all "car" (feedback?) from the driving experience. I felt as though I could have been in an armchair watching a movie about driving. No thank you. I was all prepared to talk M down from buying such an expensive car, but I found it entirely unnecessary. Once again, we went home without a new car.

To be continued...

Iowa Primary Shake-Up

Well that was quite a night! M and I watched with great interest as the caucus results came in, and things did not end as anyone (I heard from) expected. Of course this is still very early days, but it was still pretty momentous. The fact that Barack Obama (whose name, liberal tendencies, and race would have counted him out in any previous era) was able to take the democratic nomination is amazing. Equally surprising was the fact that Hillary Clinton did not even make second. By one percentage point, she actually came in third BEHIND John Edwards. Just a few weeks ago, I heard one strategist count him out if this election, and call Hillary the sure thing for the Democratic nomination. Go figure.

On the Republican side of things there was also a major switch. Mitt Romney spent the most money and the most time in the state, but he lost by nine percentage points to former Arkansas governor, Mike (isn't my dimple endearing) Huckabee. I find this switch to be the most disturbing. While Mitt Romney is no picnic politically, at least his cards appear to be on the proverbial table. Huckabee, on the other hand, has convinced the national media that he is "a good guy" when, in fact, he is a slithering snake (or worse yet, a centipede with legs in every pie). All sorts of people from Arkansas are writing about how ridiculous it is to be painting Huckabee as a moral paragon. It seems that anyone and everyone in the state has a Huckabee horror story. Add his views on abortion, education, church and state, and gay marriage, and you have one very scary candidate indeed.

I just keep reminding myself that things can change very quickly. Look at Howard Dean in the last election. There are all sorts of places along the campaign route where the course can be altered. We couldn't possibly elect ANOTHER frightening conservative could we? Please no! Please no! Please no!

Happy New Year 2008!

I hope the new year found each and every one of you warm and happy. Once again I trotted out the paper and pencil to make a list of new year's resolutions. Did I do last year's? Some of them. Do I have any more hope for this year? Who knows. However, I do think the process of reflecting on change is a good one. Also, this year I have decided to take a page from work and do more quantifiable goals. I'm hoping this will keep me a bit more honest. For good or ill, here's the list:

1. Get married--- once (hooray!)

2. Exercise for at least 30 minutes--- 3 times per week (or 5 would be great)

3. Say something friendly to someone who is not already a friend--- once per day

4. Try a new recipe--- once per week, and cook my own lunch (vs. frozen, canned, or otherwise prepared)--- twice per week

5. Read a non-fiction book on a new topic--- six times (or better yet, twelve) per year

6. Take dance lessons--- four to six per year

7. Tackle "thorny" (i.e. organize closets, sort papers, ironing) house chores--- once per week

8. Think carefully before responding at work (seconds in conversation, a few hours via email)

9. Rest on laurels less at work. One-on-one with each kid in Basic Block--- once per week

10. At work, if it doesn't NEED saying, don't say it--- always (this may be a good one for home too :P)