A Hawaiian Forecast

The forecast for our week in Hawaii:

86 Degrees and Partly Cloudy

Yep, for the whole week.

Ha ha hahahahahahahahahaha.

Feeling good about 25

As most of you know, I will be turning 25 tomorrow. I'm more excited to be getting a break on car insurance and renting a car than depressed about being a quarter of a century old. Even if I was feeling bad though, today would have picked me up.

I went swimming after work. Since the pool is not the main attration of our gym, I tend to see the same few people often. One of the people I see from time to time is a kid I would estimate to be 16 or 17 years old. As I finished my swim and started streching, he came over to my lane and asked "So, what team do you swim for?"
I said, "Oh, I don't swim competitively."
"Oh, you should!" he said.
Trying to be polite, I asked, "What team do you swim for?"
He answered "The local high school team."
"Oh," I said, "I've been out of high school for a couple years."
Not to be deterred he said "Well, you could always swim for your college then."
I said, "Yeah, I'm a few years out of college." The look on his face was priceless.

New swimsuit: $60
Monthly gym membership: $50
Having someone think you're in high school the day before your 25th birthday: Priceless

Ha!

Father-Daughter Talk
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat and was for distribution of all wealth. She felt deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican which she expressed openly. One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to higher taxes on the rich & the addition of more government welfare programs. Based on the lectures that she had participated in and the occasional chat with a professor she felt that for years her father had obviously harbored an evil, even selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his. The self professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He stopped her and asked her point blank, how she was doing in school. She answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain. That she studied all the time, never had time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend and didn't really have many college friends because of spending all her time studying. That she was taking a more difficult curriculum.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your good friend Mary doing?" She replied, "Mary is barely getting by." She continued, "She barely has a 2.0 GPA," adding, "and all she takes are easy classes and she never studies." “But Mary is so very popular on campus, college for her is a blast, she goes to all the parties all the time and very often doesn't even show up for classes because she is too hung over."

Her father then asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your 4.0 GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0." He continued, "That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter visibly shocked by her father's suggestion angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I worked really hard for mine, I did without and Mary has done little or nothing, she played while I worked real hard!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said,

"Welcome to the Republican Party."


Thanks Dad! Too bad our current Pres doesn't understand Fiscal Responsibility.

Alarmists, all

I'm getting really tired of the alarmist fever sweeping through people recently. Whether it's the lack of flu vaccine (never got one, rarely sick), gay marriage/civil unions (why can't we just let people live their lives?) or the re-election of Dubya (yep ... he's a cowboy, but how much damage can he really do?), people are whipped into a frenzy unlike any I've seen. Do people have nothing better to do with their lives or do they just thrive on the drama of it all? I wish everyone could calm down, take a deep breath, and try to talk to the "other side" (whatever lines are drawn) with civility and respect. If I never hear another shrill argument it'll be too soon.

Is it really that big of a deal?

I know a lot of democrats who are incredibly upset by the fact that Dubya was re-elected last week. I don't understand the hatred of this man. I especially don't understand the extreme reactions, like this guy, who killed himself at Ground Zero today, apparently upset that Bush was re-elected. Is it worth that?

Off to bed ...

Because we have church in the morning. Last week we finally visited a church that we're interested in attending again. It's a non-denominational church about 10 minutes away. We felt immediately at home and were greeted by no fewer than a dozen people. Another big plus, the Pastor's from Illinois. He went to ISU. He and his wife moved from the midwest three years ago and invited us to talk about the "culture shock" of moving to the east coast. I'm looking forward to that conversation. Goodnight all.

Much fun on the horizon

Coming soon to our lives ... lots of fun! Ryan and I have some crazy times for the next couple of months. We leave for Hawaii in less than 7 days (6 days, 7 hours)!! We planned out all the stuff we want to do there, although we're leaving the specifics until we get there. The plan is to spend at least every other day being Hawaiian Beach Bums.

3 days after our return, we're hosting Dad, Laurel and Becky for Thanksgiving. It should be interesting, considering I've never even thought about making a Turkey before. Luckily for me, they have all these fun roasting bags that make it pretty idiot-proof. Really looking forward to some good, midwestern-style fellowship.

And then ... and then ... we're into Christmas Holiday Season! Gasp. Can you believe it's been almost a year that we've been married? Married! I have a husband!! Well, it's a good thing he's cute.

Better luck next time

I really hope that we'll have more moderate candidates in 2008. This country is just not made up of party extremists, and that's what we had this election year. I would love to see a Liebermann/McCain race next time. What a race that would be! I would feel so much better about my choices.

My election day experience

As most of you know, I was one of the rare undecideds until I walked into the voting booth on Tuesday. As I sat there staring at the ancient contraptions on which I was supposed to vote, I pondered.

"I wonder what I should have for dinner tonight?"

Kidding. In all honesty, this vote came down to what I knew and didn't know. What I didn't know is what I would be getting with Kerry. This man showed a remarkable ability to reinvent himself for the audience he addressed. While a neat trick, this was not the person I want running our country. I don't really want Bush running it either, but at least I know what I'm getting with him (even if I don't like it all the time). Kerry was just a wild card for me. And so ... I held my nose (thanks Dad) and switched the lever for Bush/Cheney.

Bush re-elected

While I don't think that I could be happy with the results of this election, regardless of what they were, I am glad that there was not a long, drawn out court battle ala Florida 2000. Kerry showed real concern for the country by conceding the election gracefully. It should be an interesting next 4 years.

A little annoyed

I have been trying to post to this for a coupla days now, and the site has been pretty continuously down. Grrr. So that's why no posts during the very crazy election days.

One day to election

So get out and vote tomorrow!

Halloween fun

Went to the "Haunted Compound" on Ryan's base last night. It was creepy, if not outright scary. I was mostly annoyed by the 12 year old harpies screaming their way through the whole thing. Ahh, fun times.

Bin Laden is back ...

And aside from taking credit for 9/11 he doesn't really say too much new. So which way does this play politically?

I am woman, hear me ...

Went to a Women's Conference today. Aside from the shameless sales pitch at the beginning, it was a fun day. My boss asked me to follow a certain track to get ideas for the Women's Group we're starting at Pathmark. My track was all about wellness and health. Nothing earth-shattering, but gave me some good ideas about how to not turn into a complete marshmellow with my fancy new desk job.

Tomorrow ... back to the stores. I can't believe how quickly the last 9 months have gone. Whoa.

One week out and still undecided

So here I am, one week away from what could arguably be one of the most important elections in my life and I still don't want to vote for either candidate. Why? Mostly because while I know what they say they would do, I don't have confidence in either candidate that they will actually do what they say they will. Is this a policial malady in general that I've missed because of my lack of attention or is it unique to this race? Either way, I'm scared that I'll walk into the voting booth next Tuesday and play eenie meenie miney moe. Uk.

50 Dead Iraqi Solders

Truly one of the sadest things I've heard in a while. Here is proof that the insurgents don't just hate us, they hate everything and every one that threatens their power. 50 unarmed Iraqi solders were killed, execution style. What is going on in this world?

Tim & Jenn's Wedding

Went to Tim & Jenn's wedding yesterday. We had a nice time. I've heard a lot about how the weddings on the East Coast are a lot different than MidWest weddings. I didn't really notice that it was all that different, aside from the completely open bar. We did get to see an interesting custom where the man who catches the gartner has to slide it up the leg of the woman who caught the bouquet with his teeth. Fun in any case, but even better when the guy who caught the garter was 16. Good times!

The electoral college is a joke

Just read another article about how there is a real possibility that we could have a tied vote in the electoral college this year. This is just one more reason that the electoral college system needs to go away.

Others:
* Minority voters (political, not racial) in states that are heavily one sided are ignored.
* Small states are ignored (And I know all the arguments about how it would be worse if we got ride of the college, I just don't buy it. At least if candidates were elected by popular vote voters in Wyoming could come into play because then ....
* Each vote would count. Seriously though. In a race that is likely to be one of the tightest in our Nation's history, a few thousand votes could make a difference.
* It's just dumb that a person can be elected President but not win the popular vote. Dumb Dumb Dumb. While I realize that I'm not making a great argument here, how can we say we live in a democracy (or even a republic) when we can have a President who didn't win the highest number of votes. It is an outrage to my sense of justice that this is the system by which we elect our highest leaders. Dumb!

In conclusion: The Electoral College Blows.

'I don't think Laura Bush ever had a real job.'

What!?! Once again, Teresa Heinz Kerry has opened mouth only to insert foot. Because being an heiress is such a challenge? Just another reason that no one cares.