stiff and laughing

Yesterday I did what everyone else seemed to be doing - I worked outside on my house and in my yard. It was a perfect day - few bugs, low humidity, nice temp. I needed to have a talk with God about a number of things anyway. So, it worked out for me, the house, and the yard! Best of all, I didn't turn my computer on - not once!

Problem is, I'm so damn stiff today I can't turn my head. Slight return of the headache that plagued me all of last week, I spent the evening on the couch atop a heating pad watching college football because I was afraid this might happen. But, in this this election year I can always count on something to make me laugh at least once a day and here it is....from a friend's email....

this might be fun

I found this while reading the dream life. It comes from another fun blog sunday school rebel. You are encouraged to take it to your own blog!

Song you love: Jaime's Crying by Van Halen

Word you love: complicate

Academic subject you love: folklore or Appalachian studies and creative writing

Hobby you love: tonic: arts and music magazine

Type of baked good you love: pineapple upside down cake

Type of sky you love: the Oklahoma sky at any time

Beverage you love: chai latte with skim milk and 2 packets of Splenda

Vacation you love: Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Badlands, Black Mountains, Deadwood - something like that

Restaurant you love: Azur

Way of getting around that you love: My TC

Person you love: puuuuuulease, there's not just one and I won't choose

Room in your home (or ideal home) you love: sunroom (Ideal home)...but since I don't have an ideal home, I'd say my living room is about as close as I can get

Movie you love: The Sound of Music

Book you love: The Four Noble Truths, The Dalai Lama

City you love: St Louis

Future plan you love: Going to Oklahoma

Form of communication you love: email

Junk food you love: ice cream, any kind

observations

It's been a weird week. A childhood friend's dad was buried today and during last night's visitation I saw many people I haven't seen in years. That got me thinking:

1. Life is entirely too short for everybody
2. I'm probably the most blessed person I know
3. Funeral visitations are the best place to socialize (honestly...where else will you see people you haven't seen in years and actually be in a situation to sit down and talk to them beyond 'How are you'?)
4. The nicest artists are usually the most gifted (and thankful)
5. We're screwed if Sarah Palin...uh, I mean McCain, wins the election
6. Being a liberal stands in stark contrast to my increasingly conservative family
7. I'm so thankful it wasn't my dad in that solid copper coffin
8. Dogs are much easier to deal with than children...on so many levels...and they're cheaper, too
9. Doctor turned DEA agent is weird
10. Cop turned golf pro is even weirder
11. Drummer turned librarian - weirdest of all
12. What are the situations that make us feel old?
13. SEE #11
14. The Dalai Lama is very, very wise
15. Computers are overrated
16. September 11th should be a national holiday

god bless gloria steinem

Read her op-ed piece here

this is snorting funny

Sarah Palin as Deloros Umbridge?

You bet!

who's yer daddy?

The weekend started with a rousing volley at work over McCain's choice of Sarah Palin. Some rediculous thing about shoring up the base. The base of what...Idiots? That's an insult to good Republicans, and yes, there are good Republicans. Not to mention an insult to women. But I digress.

Yesterday I had a dinner party where the rumor was that Palin was covering up a daughter's unwanted pregnancy by claiming the baby as her own - her youngest.

Today, on what was to be the first day of the GOP convention altered because of Hurricane Gustav (conveniently eliminating Dubya's speech), we learned that the rumors aren't true because Palin's 17 year old is currently pregnant. Oops.

So, I figure tomorrow we'll see those Palin nude pix everyone is talking about. What? They're actually her daughter? Oops again. Then what? Oh, that's right, Troopergate.....and, oh shucks I thought the bridge to nowhere was a great idea but changed my mind...give me that gun, dang it, I got me a caribou in the way of my oil drill!....FIRE.....tasty.

And to borrow sentiments from my pal Josh...see the McCain/Pailn Campaign photo below

Priceless!

I want to believe - the unexpected grief

There's something about this picture that really bothers me.

I've been haunted ever since the democratic primary when I cast my vote for Obama. Momentum was on his side and I got caught in the wave like everybody else. It's not that I don't like him - but, as I heard someone say recently, it wasn't his turn. Dammit - it was Hillary's turn - she'd earned it, deserved it, knew exactly what she was doing and was about to fulfill so many things she tried to fulfill before the boy's club pushed her back into the kitchen. Well, I'll be damned if they didn't do it again. Here we go taking a backseat to the boys...again.

That said, there's absolutely no denying that Barack Obama has the ability to rally the troops, as it were. It is a skill that all great presidents have had - Lincoln, Kennedy, Clinton. It is a sign of great leadership, in my opinion. And while Clinton and Obama sounded identical on many levels, he has managed to unify people inside and outside the democratic party as no one else ever has, and doubtless few ever could. He is a smart, confident, competent man and I believe him.

I miss Hillary and I don't think I'll ever get over not voting for her but I trust Barack Obama to do what's right, to be a stand up guy for everyone, to be the man who makes sure my veteran parents are never denied health care, or someone's children are never denied a decent education, or that people are allowed to love who they want without fear of persecution, that women will be paid the same as men and given the same opportunities, that our civil liberties are reinforced without closing our borders, and that we fight only the wars that really have to be fought.

Now, wouldn't it be great if his first act as president would be to strip Dubya and Cheney of all their assets to help repay the money they've flushed down the toilet with Haliburton and the rest of their snake oil debacles....or, better yet, why not use those assets to rebuild New Orleans! And just after seizing the assets, try them both for high treason against the United States and send 'em to Guantanamo....or maybe Anthrax Island. Or maybe just lock 'em in a sound proof cage in the middle of Capital Hill where they'll have to watch the country grow into what it's capable of instead of being reduced to the lowest common denominator they left us.

I'm extra proud of the Democratic party, too. I came away from this convention feeling as if we are the party of the educated, the kind, the tolerant, the compassionate, the understanding, the caretakers and caregivers, the strong. We're a good bunch and we are made up of every facet of American there is. How cool is that?

I still don't like that picture though.