Happy Halloween all!

(and yes, you can interpret that however you wish -- either as support for Obama or an attempt to frighten!)

Memo to Sarah Palin...

You keep mentioning all of these different "Joes". Okay, it's a bit annoying, but I get what you're trying to do.

One thing I'd like to remind you though. You're leaving out one particular Joe. I think you may even be deliberately ignoring him. But after next Tuesday, there will be no denying him.

Yeah, I'm talking about Joe the vice president. And he didn't vote for you.

I heart Dr. Seuss...

and even his imitators -- or, at least this one.

Until I have the chance to embed the video, click through the link to watch this.  It's great!

UPDATE: here's the video

Following E. Spat's example...

And because I don't have the energy to come up with something terribly original. This isn't a meme, not exactly. Just laziness in action (is that an oxymoron?).

Things I'm Thinking About:
* Getting another job. Now or (hopefully) in the new administration.
* Canvassing for Obama. SM is doing that in VA as I type. I couldn't go because I need to get some stuff done today, but we will definitely do that both days next weekend.
* What I'm going to eat for lunch.
* Concern that I may need dental work. Also concern at my recent realization that I haven't been to the dentist for a few years.
* The election. 'Cuz you just can't avoid it.
* Plans for the upcoming year generally.
* Money. Or rather, budgeting our money.

Things I'm Not Thinking About:
* My weight.
* The fact that I will have to get on the scale at an upcoming doctor's appointment.
* That upcoming doctor's appointment and the underlying condition that necessitated it.
* Elisabeth Hasselback... because she's just freakin' annoying and so stridently uninformed and hypocritical.
* Ditto Sarah Palin.

Things I'm Reading:
* Supposed to be reading Three Cups of Tea, but haven't started it yet. D'oh.
* Recipe books for ideas of things to make in my new slow cooker.
* blogs and Facebook.

Things I'm Watching:
* MSNBC right now.
* Generally on TV? Mostly reality TV, I have to admit. Nothing of real substance.

Already making plans for my birthday...

Just got reservations for tickets for the Jon Stewart show on my birthday.

We're off to New York for that weekend. Fun!

IF Obama were to win on the 4th, what would his cabinet look like?

My own little guessing game, based on mere conjecture combined with some wishful thinking... Your thoughts?

State -- Dick Lugar
Treasury -- Timothy F. Geithner?
Defense -- Richard Danzig? Keep Robert Gates?
Attorney General -- Eric Holder
Interior -- Tom Vilsack? Tony Knowles?
Agriculture -- Charlie Stenholm?
Commerce -- a CEO
Labor -- Dick Gephardt or David Bonior
Health and Human Services --
Housing and Urban Development --
Transportation -- (Tim Kaine later in the administration)
Energy --
Education -- Joel Klein, Kathleen Sebelius (after her term is up)
Veterans Affairs -- Tammy Duckworth (or Max Cleland)
Homeland Security -- Jane Harman

Environmental Protection Agency --
Office of Management and Budget --
National Drug Control Policy --
United States Trade Representative -- Gary Locke (this the wishful thinking part)
National Security Advisor -- Susan Rice
Chief of Staff -- Tom Daschle!

 

UPDATE (10/31/08): There are lots of folks making their own lists.  Check out The Huffington Post for their thoughts...

And from our stringer out in Iowa...

Early voting in Iowa.

Remember SM’s aunt out in Iowa who gave us the “on the ground” report from the Democratic caucus?

Well, she’s back. This time with updates from the early voting out there.

Reporting from Iowa, SM’s aunt:

October 21
I started working yesterday at the early voting place at our branch library.  You can not believe how many people came out to vote early.  It was fantastic!  I worked for 7 hours and the people were constant and at times lined up waiting.  I worked on the November election last time and I bet we didn't have as many people as we had yesterday - or maybe it would be a close tie.  I also worked the two weeks before last election and we had at the most 30 people on our best day.  I'll find out today, but I bet we had 300 or more people yesterday.  We have 5 more days this week and 6 days next week for early voting.  I wonder how many people we will get all together.  And this is only one of the early voting places in this area.

Then there will be November 4th when I work the poll.  That will be a long day because we start at 7 am to 9 pm and longer because we have to be there early and stay late

Anyway, no matter who you vote for, it is an exciting time and I'm just giving an update of this area.

And this just in...

October 24
I was wrong in my estimated number of early voters on Monday. Our total numbers at the location that I'm working are:

Monday -- 445
Tuesday -- over 400 - I'm not sure how many he said
Wednesday -- 315 (the day they asked me to be chair since the other person quit - must have been overloaded)
Thursday -- 295

This is just one of the many locations to vote early in [XYZ] County Iowa.

They are predicting that today and Saturday will have higher numbers. Then we have a day off on Sunday and then back to work for six days. Then I'll have Sunday and Monday off and then the actual election day! I'm getting in lots of practice so it should be fun.

The Auditor told me on Wednesday (before the 315 people came) that early voters in [XYZ] County already exceeded the total number who voted on the 2004 presidential election. In 2004 we did have an incumbent president running and this time we have two new people. Well, actually, I counted about seven (7) names of people running for president listed on the ballet. I never even heard of some of them. Besides the 2 main people, I had only heard of Nader - the others were completely unknown to me.

Interesting stuff. Well, at least to me it is.

SNL Alasaka Rap...

This was too funny.

My Sunday schedule

* bake lasagne (for lunches for the week)
* make chili (ditto above, for some variety)
* organizing Christmas presents for SM's family to take up to NH with us when we go in a few weeks (so we won't have to lug them all when we fly up on Christmas DAY)
* job applications
* list more stuff on ebay to sell
* take a shower?

SM's list of stuff to do today:
* watch football
* watch the Red Sox/Rays game

(okay, to be fair, he's already taken out the garbage/recycling, walked the dog, watched the political shows and emptied the dishwasher... and he'll probably try to do some ironing during the games that will basically occupy his attention from now through bedtime)

Gidget's schedule:
* hang out
* whine at us for attention
* eat when fed
* sleep
* go for another walk
* bark at various things outside

Hmmm, who's got the better plan for the day? I'm thinking it's a toss-up between SM and Gidget.

Hope is still alive...

So you know what SM is going to be doing tonight.

(Go Sox!)

Obama-Biden yard sign

It's no secret that SM and I support the Democratic candidates. We have the t-shirts, the stickers, the magnets and now the yard signs.

We had been meaning to get a few yard signs for some time, and SM finally got around to it when our also progressive neighbors (who have a sign up) implored us to get some because we were outnumbered on our street.

So last Monday, SM went down to the Democratic HQ for our county (which is conveniently about 2 miles away) and made a contribution to pick up three Obama-Biden yard signs. We live on a corner lot, so we wanted to get several to point in all directions.

Originally, he had put two on the strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk (which is still our property) on the side of the house with the more heavily-trafficked (both car and foot) street and one in front. I figured that those two signs on the side would probably get "lost" quickly because people would think they were on public property and feel no compunction about coming on our lawn and taking them. So I moved one to our lawn, still on the heavily-trafficked side, but closer to the house and on "our" side of the sidewalk so it was clearly on our property. And I moved the other one to the front of our house, so that you could see a sign from pretty much any angle.

That was Monday.

By Thursday morning when SM walked Gidget in the morning, the sign on the side was gone.

Less than three days and gone. That's gotta be a record.

And who does that? Some punk kid who just wanted to be some punk kid? A McCain supporter with an agenda? Or an Obama supporter who figured that we had three signs so we could spare one (and didn't know that we actually had to make a contribution to get them)? I dunno, but I'm trying to convince myself it's the third option because that one makes me the least angry.

And, yesterday we got a third yard sign. So there.

I didn't know this; maybe you did...

So, I was watching part of a CNN piece called "Sarah Palin Revealed" last night. Ya' know, her all-American humble roots in Alaska. Her dad was a science teacher (!what does he think about her "dinosaurs co-existing with humans" theory?) and track coach (good thing he didn't coach volleyball), and it was her mom that got her into the born-again church, where Sarah was indeed born again at 12. And yes, the rumors are fact that Sarah went to at least four colleges before she finally earned her degree in journalism. (I'll spare the snarks about the combined intellectual candlepower demonstrated by the McCain-Palin ticket...)

Anyway, interesting tidbits, as far as I watched. I admit that I didn't watch it all the way through, but I did tivo it for later.

But I did catch this... Sarah and Todd Palin's marriage is often portrayed as two high school sweethearts that eloped because they couldn't afford a wedding and knew they wanted to share the rest of their lives together.

Okay, that may be true. But CNN also revealed this little factoid, which I hadn't heard before... Sarah and Todd eloped and almost eight months later, their first child was born.

I'm sure we can all do that math. Girl just heard she was preggers, so they got hitched. Huh. So, Bristol is just following in her mother's shoes, just a few years earlier.

How to lose your readership (sparse that it already is) in 10 days...

Just don't blog.  I guess I'm going through the blahs of not being motivated to blog at all.  I can't even bring myself to post all of the political articles I've been aghast at.

Blah.
Blah.
Blah.

Sorry folks.  Maybe I'll get my mojo back this week. 

I'm alive.

It just doesn't feel like it sometimes.  I woke up with a tremendous headache this morning, and it's still pounding away despite my attempts to drown it with coffee.

Let's hope the rest of the day is less painful.

And I hope soon to do better than my really lame posts of late.  I hope.