Um, it's a bit cold...

The current windchill reading is -18 degrees right now.

D:

Fun Times at Work

I'm sure this will loose a little in the retelling of it, but what happened today at work had me giggling for hours this afternoon.

My boss, SM, had filled a little bowl on her desk with cinnimon and sugar covered mixed nuts. I walked by, looked, and said, "Ew, where's the chocolate?", as that is what she usually has in the bowl. Another person standing by complained about the nuts as well, and we stood there just talking for a few minutes.

SM's desk is right in front of our president's office. SH, the president, apparently loves the cinnimon and sugar mixed nuts. As we were standing there talking, SH goes walking by, and my boss, SM, yells out to him, "SH! Everyone's making fun of your nuts!"

*cue complete silence in the office*

Shortly after waking up this morning, I got a migraine. I slept for 20 hours today. What a waste of a Saturday!

Prop 8 Commentary

Ok, I've got an Issue. Just a small one, but still...

I recognize the historical significance of Barack Obama's upcoming presidency. Really. I get the fact that he will be our first black president. Michelle Obama will be the first black first-lady. Got it.

Will we have to hear about every single first that happens during his presidency?

I can just hear the journalist, "Well, Anderson, today President Obama took his first crap in the bathroom where former President Clinton got a blowjob from Monica Lewinski."

That may have crossed a line, but really, I'm to lazy to censor myself.

OMG YAY!

I may or may not have just started crying. Just sayin'.

This is a whole new experience for me. I've never voted in a presidential election where my candidate won.

1998: first year of voting eligibility
2000: First Presidential Election - ended with Gore vs. Shrub, decided in Shrub's favor
2004: Shrub won over Kerry
2008: Finally, Barack Obama wins the Electoral College, and as of this moment, has a substantial lead (last check was over 3 million) in the popular vote!

GO VOTE!

Take a look at this sign that is at the end of my road. As I'm sure you can guess, the area I live in is highly Republican.

BTW, God I love CNN! They just 'beamed in' a reporter in Chicago to their studio by hologram. What a nerdy little channel!

And the Countdown is on...

Stop the Calls Already!

I came home from work today to find not 1, not 2, but 4 calls from the Ohio Republican Party on my answering machine. This is in addition to the 2-3 calls per week I've been getting for the last month, and the 1 call on my machine and the 2 calls I answered after I got home yesterday.

Jesus, I wouldn't vote for your candidate simply because you're annoying the shit out of me!

By the way, the Democrats haven't called me once this election cycle. How nice!

Chocolate News: Oh, Hell No!

Holy Crap, what have I done?

Late last month, I had CNN on, and they mentioned that some farmer had created a corn maze in the shape of Sarah Palin. It was called Sarah America! I had turned on the TV in the middle of the report so I didn't hear where it was at, but figured it had to have been in one of those middle-of-the-country Red states, like Iowa or Nebraska.

Well, I was wrong. Tonight, I found out exactly where it's located. Whitehouse, Ohio, at The Butterfly House. It is one of 5 corn mazes on the farm, and it costs $8 to get in. Luckily, we had 3 kids under 8 with us, and they were to tired to do more then 3 of the mazes (we didn't do Palin, thankfully). I still can't believe that thing is only 10 miles away from where I live.

Scary

This video is from a McCain rally yesterday in Wisconson (or possibly Minnisota, can't remember which). Go to roughly the 1:20 mark. McCain and a support have the following exchange:

Supporter: I gotta ask you a question. I do not believe in, I can't trust Obama.
McCain: I get that.
Supporter: I have read about him, and he's not, he's not...he's an Arab!
*crowd starts to laugh in the background*
McCain: No.
Supporter: He's not?
McCain: No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about. He's not.

While I respect the fact that he did correct this woman, and quickly took away the microphone so she couldn't spew more ignorance, I find a few things interesting about this exchange:

1) Throughout this whole election cycle, the McCain campaign has repeatedly used Barack's middle name, Hussain, to prove that he isn't like you (the general corn-fed John Smiths of the country). He has even let his VP pick, Palin, all but call him a terrorist. Now, he's going to take issue with one of his supporters when they have listened to and believed all the messages his campaign has given them? Sorry McCain, you can't be the good cop and the bad cop at the same time!

2) What I gather from this exchange is that if you are an Arab, then you can't be a decent family man or even a decent citizen. I realize this wasn't a scripted event, that he had to think on his toes and immediately respond to this woman with the first thing that came to mind. Couldn't he have at least said that even if Barack was an Arab, that doesn't mean he's a terrorist? I mean, just because you're an Arab doesn't mean you're a terrorist, and just because you're a terrorist doesn't mean you're and Arab.

I think we can thank George Bush for supplying this lady with the following equation: Arab=Terrorist, Terrorist=Arab. Thanks, Shrub!

Hey Sarah Palin

Co-worker: Oh look, the squirrel is looking for a place to bury his nuts!
Me: Oh, really. :|

This is long, but oh-so-good!

I Know You, by Henry Rollins

I know you
you were too short
you had bad skin
you couldn't talk to them very well
words didn't seem to work
they lied when they came out of your mouth
you tried so hard to understand them
you wanted to be part of what was happening
you saw them having fun
and it seemed like such a mystery
almost magic
made you think that there was something wrong with you
you'd look in the mirror trying to find it
you thought that you were ugly
and that everyone was looking at you
so you learned to be invisible
to look down
to avoid conversation
the hours
days
weekends
ah the weekend nights, alone
where were you
in the basement?
in the attic?
in your room?
working some job?
just to have something to do
just to have a place to put yourself
just to have a way to get away from them
a chance to get away from the ones that made you feel so strange and ill-at-ease inside yourself
did you ever get invited to one of their parties
you sat and wondered if you would go or not
for hours you imagined the scenarios that might transpire
they would laugh at you
if you would know what to do
if you would have the right things on
if they would notice that you came from a different planet
did you get all brave in your thoughts
like you were going to be able to go in there and deal with it
and have a great time
did you think that you might be "the life of the party"
that all these people were gonna talk to you
and you would find out that you were wrong
that you had a lot of friends
and you weren't so strange after all?
did you end up going
did they mess with you
did they single you out
did you find out that you were invited
because they thought you were so weird
yeah, I think I know you
you spent a lot of time full of hate
a hate that was pure as sunshine
a hate that saw for miles
a hate that kept you up at night
a hate that filled your every waking moment
a hate that carried you for a long time
yes I think I know you
you couldn't figure out what they saw and the way they lived
home was not home
your room was home
a corner was home
the place they weren't- that was home
I know you
you're sensitive
and you hide it, because you fear getting stepped on one more time
it seems that when you show a part of yourself that is the least bit vulnerable
someone takes advantage of you
one of them steps on you
they mistake kindness for weakness
but you know the difference
you've been the brunt of their weakness for years
and strength is something you know a bit about
because you had to be strong to keep yourself alive
you know yourself very well now
and you don't trust people
you know them too well
you try to find that "special person"
someone you can be with
someone you can touch
someone you can talk to
someone you won't feel so strange around
and you found that they don't really exist
you feel closer to people on movie screens
yeah, I think I know you
you spend a lot of time daydreaming
and people have made comment to that effect
telling you that you're "self-involved" and "self-centered"
but they don't know, do they
about the long nightshifts alone
about the years of keeping yourself company
all the nights you wrapped your arms around yourself
so you could imagine someone holding you
the hours of indecision
self-doubt
the intense depression
the blinding hate
the rage that made you stagger
the devastation of rejection
well
maybe they do know
but if they do
they sure do a good job of hiding it
it astounds you how they can be so smooth
how they seem to pass through life as if life itself was some divine gift
and it infuriates you to watch yourself with your apparent skill,
and finding every way possible to screw it up
for you, life is a long trip
terrifying and wonderful
birds sing to you at night
the rain and the sun
the changing seasons
are true friends
solitude is a hard won ally
faithful and patient
yeah, I think I know you

Well that Pisses me off!

Along with slowly making my way to 10,000 steps a day, I've recently started riding my bike again. Now, it's nothing fancy or new, just my mountain bike that I've had since I was at least in junior high, so it's approximately 14-15 years old. It's still in good, shiny shape though, and it does the job.

The back of my apartment building has a little covered porch (basically big enough for the door, and a person to smoke in outside of the rain. When not in use, I've had my bike parked on this little porch. Before I started using my bike (in fact, before I ever even brought my bike to my apartment building from my parents), a kid who lived in another apartment had his bike in the same place for the last year, until his family moved out a month ago. Neither of us ever locked our bikes, not that there was anything to lock them too.

At some point today, my bike was stolen. Went to work around 7:40am, came home around 9:00pm, and it was gone. A police report was filed, although I doubt anything will come of that. Reason #6535 why I hate people. Bah, shit!

I love it!

Hello Blog

It's about 1:45 in the morning right now. We had some storms earlier, but they're gone now. I just went to reopen my windows, and noticed a girl sitting in her running car in the parking lot. There isn't a phone in her hands, so maybe she has it on speaker phone, or perhaps she's practicing what she's going to say in an upcoming confrontation. She's just going at it. Empassioned yelling, hands waving and flailing, crying, the whole nine yards.

I felt like a voyeur, but I couldn't look away.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm an emotionless zombie going through life, and this girl just seemed to be emoting so much in a conversation by herself in her car.

Today is a good day!

Sept 23-Oct 6, 2006 - Two week trip to Eastern Europe (Germany, Poland, Chech. Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria)

March 18, 2008 - Made final credit card payment for the trip!

(I opened a card with an 18 month interest-free period, and only used it to pay for this trip.)