Stepping away for a bit...

I have just finished one of the better books that I've read in a great while. It's called TWILIGHT by Stephanie Meyer. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's what Todd would call "urban fantasy"...it's about a vampire, after all. I don't know how or why I got so engrossed in it, but I did. Finished a 500 page novel in about 4 days. It has been a l-o-n-g time since I've read a book that I was practically addicted to...I read that thing every chance I got. Yeah yeah yeah...it's *technically* and teeny-bop novel, but I'd never read a vampire story before and the few vampire movies I've seen have been so-so at best (frankly, I could have done without ever seeing INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE...kind of a suck-fest)...so there was something intriguing about this book. I told Todd today after finishing the book that I'm kind of dying to read the next one...there are four in the series. He thought that was "cute"...

Honestly, it's just been nice to have something to focus my energies on OTHER than politics. The election season is starting to get to me, what with all the commercials, blogs, emails, debates, magazines blah blah blah. I'm ready for November 5th. Very ready. I'm not starting to get apathetic about the political situation of the country, but I am becoming a little desenstized to how dumb Sarah Palin can be. It's exhausting and she supplies the comedians with so much material, it's not enjoyable anymore. Nothing is ever really enjoyable when you don't have to try very hard.

So I'm ignoring it for a little while. Just a day or two. Focusing my energies elsewhere (like school, for instance...and fitness) for a bit while I let myself unravel from all the political craziness. While I whole-heartedly believe that emotions should not get mixed in with politics, this season, it's a bit hard...I feel very passionately about a lot of things that are going on right now and tend to get very upset when people don't/can't/refuse to listen to another point of view or even hear me out without scoffing...like I've somehow not educated myself rather thoroughly on the situation and the people and that my statements are the mere ramblings of a liberal young lady. Sigh.

Tonight Todd and I are finally doing a date night we've been wanting to do for months...literally. We're having wings and beer at Buffalo Wild Wings and singing karaoke...I kind of love karaoke dates with Todd...I kind of love Todd....nah...I definitely love Todd.

Also, our first anniversary is in t-minus 16 days...could NOT be more excited!!!

Another day, another weakening dollar

Driving to work today, I was considering this nearing recession of ours. Well, really the recession is upon us with a depression nearing, if we're not careful. I just looked around at all the people on the highway, all of us in our cars heading to work. I wondered how many of them were doing the very same thing I was doing. We're all going on our merry way, just trying to get through whatever kind of day we were about to have. How many people got laid off today? I don't know.

I also got to thinking, all these bank closings and sellings and what not (Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG), they seem to affect the people at the top right now. All these big wigs that thought they were being so sneaky and screwing the life out of homebuyers with "predatory loans" are now getting screwed right back. Seems karmic in a way.

But all this will trickle down eventually, don't you worry. I'm sure of it. I wish there was a good fix. There's just not. The federal bail out is a temporary fix at best...and by printing $750B more dollars, we're just weakening the economy more than it already is. But if they don't bail out AIG and the like, what will that end result be. I wish it were as easy as just saying, "Well you're the ones that made the bad decisions that got you here...deal with it." A guy came into our office today and was doing the hi-hello greetings and saw the sign on my cube wall that says, "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." and he was like, "Hmm....how true it is" and then delved into a brief discussion about the economy. It's kind of true though. Why are we paying for the sins of others?

This is just such a bizarre time for the country right now. I look around a just tsk-tsk and shake my head most days.

Well, bite my butt and call me an apple!

WASHINGTON — In another unnerving day for Wall Street, investors suffered their worst losses since the terrorist attacks of 2001, and government officials raced to prevent the financial crisis from spreading.

Lehman Brothers tanked on Sunday night with employees scrambling throughout the building to gather their belongings in fear that, come Monday, the doors would be shut. They were.

Merrill Lynch was purchased by Bank of America at pennies on the dollar (approx $50bil which, if you know Merrill Lynch, was an act of desperation at best).

Yesterday, AIGs stock dropped nearly 60%. AIG is one of the largest investment firms in the United States. Rather, it WAS. Unless they can come up wtih $75BILLION IN BAIL OUT MONEY BY TOMORROW. And the White House is saying "thanks but no thanks" to a federal bail out. The government is broke. Aaaahhhh...weapons of mass destruction. I'm so glad we found them.

This recession brought to you by Conservative Ideology...and the letter "W".

I have never in my life been so glad to have a job. It makes me work harder, more efficiently and frankly, with a great deal more fear.

Colorado is a swing state this year. First time in many many elections that has been the case. We have traditionally been RED. And God, I hope we go BLUE this year. I think we stand a fair chance at that, but it's going to take some good hard work on the part of Obama/Biden supporters. It's going to take more-than-adequate research from all of us to be able to back up Obama and refute McCain (and that jokester, Palin).

So far, it's incredibly difficult though. I'm trying my hardest to convince a couple specific people to re-consider their McCain support. I'm just asking for people to look simply at the facts. What's hard is that people's emotions get invovled...and I really don't know why. FEELING like something is right almost never actually MAKES it right. You have got to remove emotions from the equation.

What I'm really getting tired of is people playing the Experience Card. You just can't do that with this election. You really can't. Because if you look at it that way, Biden is the only person really EXPERIENCED enough to run the country. And with that not being an option (because he's not "a heartbeat away from the presidency"), you have to remove that card from the deck.

But just for kicks, let's look at the various credentials surrounding our candidates:

BARACK OBAMA: Graduated from Columbia University (after transferring from Occidental College) with a degree in political science (emphasis in international relations). After working in Chicago as a community organizer, he studied law at Harvard University where he was the first black man (or man of color for that matter) to be president of the Harvard Law Review. He then taught constitutional law at University of Chicago Law for twelve years while working at a law firm specializing in civil rights. From 1997 to 2004, Obama was a member of the Illinois State Senate. In 2004, he was elected to the US Senate.

JOE BIDEN - Graduated from University of Delaware with a double major in history and political science. Continued to Syracuse Law School and graduated in 1969. Biden has been a US Senator since 1973 and has consistenly been named one of the least wealthy members of the Senate.

JOHN McCAIN - Graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1958 and went on to serve in the Vietnam War. First elected to the US Senate in January 1987. McCain was later on a list of potential running mates for Bush, Sr. in 1988.

SARAH PALIN - Enrolledat Hawaii Pacific College in 1982 (for one semester). Transferred to North Idaho College in 1983, then to University of Idaho, then to Matanuska-Sustina College (for one semester), then back to University of Idaho to complete her degree in communications-journalism in 1987. Won the Miss Wasilla pageant in 1984 and was 3rd place in Miss Alaska pageant where she won a college scholarship. In 1988, Palin was a sports reporter in Alaska. She was elected to Wasilla city council in 1992 and 1995. Was mayor of Wasilla from 1996-2002 and was elected Governor of AK in 2006.

Notice that neither of the Republican candidates every studied law or political science (something that, in my estimation, is crucial learning for a role in national politics).

Again, all I really ask is that you really weigh what is important to you in this election. Is it abortion rights? Gun control policies? Foreign affairs? Education? Equal pay for equal work? Raising minimum wage? The war in Iraq? Terrorism in general? Taxes? Universal health care? Immigration (legal or otherwise)?

Consider what you hold important to you. Consider which candidate falls in line the BEST with what you believe will be the best choices for the country.

But please....don't just blindly choose a candidate for the reason of "BECAUSE" or "I've ALWAYS been with this party!" Consider that maybe, this time around, the unexpected might be just what we need. Consider the possibility of NOT having another old white guy in the Oval Office. Consider that maybe, just MAYBE, the country can be better, be more, than what we've come to expect.

Simply, consider.

Fantasy Religion

Our Bible study has begun again. This time 'round, we're studying the Corinthian letters and so far, it's proving interesting.

I think the big lesson from last night was summed up in one word: RESPECT.

With the election coming up quickly, it's funny to watch how people often try to tie both politics and religion together when, to me, they're mutually exclusive (for more on this, ask Todd about his thoughts regarding a country that is a democracy vs. one that is a theocracy).

Gabe brought up an interesting comparison after we briefly discussed the validity of religions worldwide and even the varying sects of Christianity itself. In all of us, we have the desire, nay, compulsion, to believe in something, anything. And when we find that something, we hold it very dear to ourselves and it becomes part of who we are, part of our very fiber. But I wonder if maybe there aren't some laurels that we hold too tightly to sometimes?

The best example I can think of, for myself, is that of creation. Genesis 1 uses the terms "day and night" to separate out what was created and when. Some people interpret that to mean "7 literal days" while others think it means "7 time periods".

Then there are those, like myself, who simply don't care. I believe that God created the universe, but I don't know how (though science is ready and willing to try to figure it out), I don't know when and I don't know how long it took. It's a big place, the universe. To steal a line from a movie, "Begging your pardon, sir, but that's a big ass sky."

It's true. It's huge. But I really just don't care how long it took. I don't. It's not something I care to discuss and it's not a hill I'm going to die on. Because at the end of the day, that one talking point is not something that I call up as part of my spiritual fiber.

I just think that sometimes, all these varying sects of Christianity get so caught up in the insignificant details that we forget what the point is. I think one of my new favorite verses is 1 Corinthians 1:10-12.

10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."

Paul goes on to say, essentially, "When did Christ divide??" meaning, why all the divisions? Why all the separations?

All that to get you up to speed before I talk about Gabe's analogy.

After discussion all of the above for a while, Gabe laughed to himself and said "I just had a really bad thought." to which we all immediately said "What?! Let's hear it!"

So he said the following:

Okay, so all of us here like football. We all have our favorite teams. The team we root for, pull for, yell for regardless of if they're winning or losing. Hell, some people even get in fights (or worse) for their teams. But we also have our favorite players who may or may not be on our favorite football team. We follow the players and their stats and are interested in what they are doing. My point is, I wish we could have fantasy religion.

Here's what I took from that. I love love love the Broncos. I'm a Denver native and have always been a Broncos fan. I was born into that. It's almost default. But I also really like Peyton and Eli Manning. Sometimes I like Tom Brady (mostly just when he's on SNL though) and I most assuredly will keep up with John Lynch (sadly, no longer a Bronco). Everything that those four guys do impacts my team in some way, at some point.

I'm a Christian. Always have been. I was born into that. It's almost default. Don't get me wrong...I made that very important decision many many years ago, but it was also how I was raised. But in the recent past (maybe the last 6 or 7 years), I'm coming to realize that religions the world over are valuable and important. I wish I could be as peaceful and centered as the Buddhists. I wish that I had the dedication and fervor of the Muslims. I wish that more families held true the family values of the Mormons. I wish that I could commune with God the ways the Hindus can. I love and admire the longevity of the Jewish faith (it is where mine spawned from, after all).

All of these things are valuable. All these things are important.

And so I choose to learn about them. Not so that I can BECOME one of any of the multitudinous religions worldwide, but so that I can learn to respect them more.

There's a sign on my campus that says "If we all spoke another language, the world would be less divided."

I say, if we all understood and respected other religions and faiths, the world would be more peaceful, more constructive, more....shalom....

Uh-oh...here I go again...

I've gotten the urge to travel again. Ergh. I have to wait until next March at the earliest to go somewhere uber-exotic.
So to quench my thirst for travel, I'm making a list of all the places that I want to go...again.

United States
Alaska (we'll be heading there next August)
California
San Diego
San Fransisco
Colorado (yes I know I live here)
Vail
Telluride
back to the western slope
Flordia
Orlando (Disney)
Miami & the Keys
Hawaii
Illinois
Chicago
Kentucky
for the derby (Todd says we'll go some year for my bday since it's around that time)
Maine
Montana
isn't that where Yellowstone is?
New Mexico for some skiing
New York
North & South Carolina
Hilton Head, specifically
Oregon
Seaside
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh to see grandma
Philadelphia
Texas
I've heard Austin is pretty nuts
Vermont for the skiing
Washington
Seattle
D.C.

Elsewhere in the world
Vancouver
Toronto
Banff/Lake Louise
Montreal
Cancun
Much of South America
England
France
Space
Italy
Germany
Ireland
Scotland
Switzerland
China
Japan (woot!)
Thailand
Singapore
Australia / New Zealand
Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls)
India
Morocco
Egypt
Russia

I need a freaking 12-step program.

The price of coffee in Colombia....

I'm trying really hard to understand the RNC right now.

I'm watching all the speeches with as much fervor as I did the DNC. In order to make educated, informed decisions, I feel it's more than necessary that I do.

But all the speeches have been about McCain's military trauma and I'm trying to understand why they're only telling me about THAT and not about any of his policies or ideas.

I also would love to know why there's such grand and glorious hypocrisy regarding Bristol Palin's pregnancy. Isn't it funny that Bill O'Reilly took Jamie Lynn Spears and ran her through the ringer, tearing her (and her family) up one side and down the other, and yet with Bristol Palin (equally as young and irresponsible) is "off limits"? Why?

And then there's the whole "we never did this to Chelsea Clinton" line, which is a load of crap.

Frankly, I'm with Obama on this one (and on many other things)....let's go ahead and leave the kids out of this whole politics thing. It's not fair. They're easy targets. And really...name me one family that doesn't have something really jacked up going on...

Let's focus instead on the real issues....policies, procedures and political history....Sarah Palin's is one to be reconned with. And not in the best ways.

Eureka! Again! I have a new vacuum!

Oh man.
I bought a new vacuum at lunch today and it. is. a. ma. zing.
It's *almost* as good as the Dyson that I really want, but was only $75 rather than $400. I'll take it!

I got it home, put it together and used the crap out of it! Gross as it may be, you'd be SHOCKED at how much dog hair and miscellaneous nasty that sucker...sucked. It's the greatest vacuum I've ever had.

I mostly hate, abhor and loathe housework (which should be shocking to none and disappointing to Todd haha)*, but having this wonderful new vacuum makes me want to clean clean clean! If only I had more carpet in the house!!

I also managed to pack up one entire set of dishes, two-thirds of our glasses and most of our service-ware this evening and it was glorious! I think the Suk-ster was a little confused when I was packing up the kitchen...she kept pacing about around me and looking at me like I was totally nuts. Poor puppy! Oh well...at least I can rest assured that she will love her new house a whole bunch!...as soon as we can get her up 3 flights of stairs. She hates stairs...but she loves TREATS! This is going to be so easy. She's a smart one, but man is she a sucker for treats.

Anyway, I love my new vacuum.

Now back to watching the RNC.




*The truth is, if I had more time in my day, I'd clean like a crazy-head.