Category: Blog

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Political Non-Pundit

I am no political expert.

In fact, I’m probably furthest from that. However, I do like to keep myself pretty well informed. Especially because Election Day is now less than a week away. And seeing as this was one h*ll of a presidential campaign run, it’s hard not to want to be well-informed.

(Sidenote: It’s times like this, that I reaaallly miss Tim Russert. He just had an excellent way of explaining politics that made it fascinating. Election night coverage will not be the same without him …)

Anyways, I strongly believe in the right to vote. After all, democracy (and, a-hem … not free market) is what this country was founded on. And while I agree that campaigning is needed in order to promote a candidate’s platform, I don’t agree when someone tries to tell you how to vote. That, of course, does not mean that people aren’t allowed to debate with each other about who they support or don’t support a particular candidate.

Anybody notice how McCain & Palin are both in the same size font ...

Let me reiterate that one more time. I don’t agree when someone tries to tell you how to vote.

And why am I bringing this up now? Well of course, it’s because I have a story to tell.

Last Tuesday I dropped my parents off at the airport. They were on their way to Turkey and Greece to participate on a tour based on the travels of St. Paul. (Uh huh … you probably already know where this is going.) Because my car has been acting up, I suggested that we take their car to the airport. That way they could pack the car while waiting for me to drive over to their house.

So the drive to the airport was a smooth ride. So smooth that I considered “borrowing” their car for the two weeks they would be away. Never mind that she had a rosary (and a Franciscan Tau) hanging off her rear view mirror … I would have totally “borrowed” it for a couple weeks. The conversation was light. As we just got back from my cousin’s wedding, we talked about how great it was to be in the same room with everyone again.

It wasn’t until we got to the airport curb where the main part of my story takes place. As we were pulling out their luggage from the trunk, I glanced down at the bumper sticker that she’s had on her bumper forever (“Love a Franciscan: 2B1 Ask 1″) and chuckled like I always did when I spotted it. (As I’ve said in the past, my mom is very strong in her Catholic faith.) But then I glanced to the right of that sticker and saw a “Vote No on Proposal 2” bumper sticker. (More on Prop 2 in a bit.)

After helping them unload their luggage, I turned to give Dad a hug and kiss. And as I lean in to give my mom her hug, she pushes my hair off my shoulder and whispers in my ear, “Don’t forget to vote for McCain. And don’t forget to vote No on 2.” In which I promptly kissed her on her cheek and wished her a safe and fun trip. I briefly shook my head afterwards and thought, “Yup, should have seen that coming.”

For those of you that aren’t familiar, Michigan’s Prop 2 is a proposal to allow for embryonic stem cell research within the state. In the past, my mom and I have had conversations about stem cell research. My mom, of course being a devout Catholic does not support any type of stem cell research (and yes, of course she’s a “Right to Life” person as well).

And myself? Well the truth is, I’m still trying to determine how I feel about it; which is exactly what I told her. And that’s because of my own personal experience with our one and only IVF cycle and the one lone blastocyte that was left for us to freeze (to see what happened to that one embie … click here).

... While Obama is clearly larger (and in a more prominent color) than Biden?
... while Obama is clearly larger (and in a more prominent color) than Biden?

However, after that little bit at the airport … I felt myself fighting off every urge to vote Yes, just to cancel out her vote. But I won’t do that. I will make an informed, unbiased decision before November 4th. And I will make it based on my own opinions.

And I won’t let her (or anyone else, for that matter) know how I voted either.

Because while I support the need to campaign and to rally for whatever (or whomever) you’re voting on (or for) … and while I don’t hold anything against those that openly show how (or who) they’re voting … I personally believe that my vote is confidential.

The important thing is that everyone should go out and vote. For no other reason than BECAUSE YOU CAN.

As for whether or not I decided to “borrow” the car for a couple weeks … well, as you can guess, I decided against it. The icing on the cake was when I had no choice but to head straight to my doctor’s appointment after being stuck in the mid-morning rush hour traffic.

Which doctor and for which appointment, you might ask? Well, of all things … it was my first appointment with my new OB/Gyn.

Uh, so yeah. I hid the car at the back of the lot. I so didn’t feel like getting into it with any person who may be for or against Proposal 2.

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Dedseas

Okay, anybody else gettin’ funky “Word Verification” words on Bl.ogger lately?! I think over the past few days I’ve had “trashed”, “winced”, “feared” and “bloodread.” And just now? I got “dedseas.”

Just found it rather humorous.

Yep … just letting you know that the password remains the same. (Lowercase again. I think I’ll just stick to lower case from now on.) And, as always … if you’re interested in reading or can’t remember what the password is (don’t worry, I won’t bite!), feel free to comment on this post.

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… Of Fresh Air

(Update 11.17.2008: I’ve decided to split up this post into two parts in order to allow for parts of this previously PWP post to be finally visible.

To see the first part of this post, click here.)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So let’s see. What else can I tell you? Uhm … things are looking good on the job front. After several phone conversations back and forth with the Nurse Recruiter at our sister company in another state, I have a formal interview scheduled at their company on Nov. 10th. And the thing is, they were really asking me to come out and interview sooner, but because of scheduling conflicts (big exec presentation this week and Election Day / cousin’s cotillion next week) we couldn’t do it until that date.

And the other thing is, they’ve already sent a benefit package for me to review. And they’ve asked me to fill out some paperwork to start the background check. Uhm … maybe I’m being waaay to optimistic, but something tells me that they reaallly want me to start ASAP if I should get hired! Which means that they’re thinking that I’ll do swimmingly well on this interview.

Which means I may actually be moving out of state … !!

I can’t tell you how even just the thought of moving out of state excites me. As weird as it sounds (okay maybe not that weird), I’m looking forward to the possibility of a new beginning. I’m looking forward to purging out all the old bad “stuff” and starting over. And when I mean “stuff” I do mean all the junk we’ve collected in our house and in our (or rather MY ) heart and mind.

I’m looking forward to finally getting my second chance.

Oh, but I hope I’m not setting myself up for a big disappointment … So if anybody’s got clout with the Big Man upstairs, can I ask you to put a good word in for me?

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(Not so) Serious Rants

Pictures from Football Saturday

Well, I can’t believe the last week of October is already here. It seems like just yesterday that it was Labor Day weekend and Hubby & I were celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary.

And even though the past two months felt like they’ve flown by … when going over the blog posts I’ve written during this time period, it feels as if the end of August was a lifetime away.

Yes, I did not deal with certain events during this interval very well. And to some extent I’m still not doing so hot. But I think I’ve come to the decision that there isn’t much more I can do that would make things any better or any worse for me at this moment. As my Hubby is so fond of saying, “It is what it is.” In other words, accept it and move on.

This coming Saturday will include a family function that … I’ll be honest … I’m a little apprehensive to attend. However, I will do so only for the love of these children and for the love of family. I’m not exactly sure how the rest of the family will treat me, but I will make the effort to be on my best behavior. I have a feeling I will be full of anxiety for the duration we are there, but perhaps the little white magic pill I’ll take before heading out the door will help. Thank G*d for modern chemistry.

In addition, I’m already expecting work to be extremely busy this week. (Okay, so when is it not busy?!) The Process Improvement group I’m part of is presenting it’s results from our first session to the big-wig execs tomorrow, which means that I should find something other than jeans to wear to work. And yes, I am lucky enough to work for a company that sees the value in promoting casual work wear (which includes jeans, in our case). And I think it’s great as a Health Insurance Company, that they did this to help promote exercise, activity and overall healthy living. But crap … I haven’t worn “business-wear” in years. Not since the days of being a “stupor-visor.” Do I even fit into any of it? Somehow methinks not.

Anyway …

This past Saturday, Hubby & I spent the day in Ann Arbor doing a very typical Midwestern-y Fall Activity. Well typical for those that enjoy watching sports. We spent the day watching the annual “Battle for the State” game; the University of Michigan vs. Michigan State football game at the Big House. We were expecting it to be a very cold and wet day, but the weather gods apparently decided to be kind to us instead. Unfortunately the sports gods weren’t too kind to my team, as we lost. It was an exciting game, nonetheless.

Oh, and I just happened to snap a picture of this:


Yep, that’s right some of the University of Michigan students supporting “Oba-den” (uh-huh … I like combining words).

It’s seeing those things that remind me why I enjoyed college life so much. Those were the days where I felt I could make some sort of difference in the world. The days where I felt invincible. Not that I’m not contributing to society and making a difference in this world right now … I think I find myself more invisible these days than invincible. In any case … the picture ROCKS! And I’m so surprised that there weren’t too many “McPalin” supporters at the game; especially because I have this image of the rich, older U of M alumni being more Republican than Democratic.

Anyway (as I continue to babble), on the 40-some minute drive to Ann Arbor (and afterwards, as we were stuck in post-game traffic), Hubby and I were listening to a couple of NPR podcasts we downloaded onto our iPod. One of the podcasts came highly recommended by a co-worker/NPR-listener/friend of mine, as it was an episode of “This American Life” that broke down the current economic crisis in terms that everyday people could understand. And while searching for that episode online, Hubby found another episode aired in May of this year and was actually the predecessor to this October episode.

The Wolverine fan in me is still trying to understand how Sparty is the most favorite mascot ...
The Wolverine fan in me is still trying to understand how Sparty is College Football's most favorite mascot

Now, I can’t claim any prior knowledge (other than what we typically hear in the daily newscasts) on exactly why our country is in such economic turmoil. However, I can tell you this. The more I listened and learned, the more I found myself getting angrier. Seriously. Nothing says “Let’s make more money off the poor so we can get richer” like listening to some of the stories told.

And the fact that none of these financial “schemes” (for lack of better word) have been regulated?! Well … it totally pisses off the RN Case Manager in me that works for a Health Insurance company where … anything and everything (in terms of dollars and cents) is scrutinized by the government. Okay, so I totally understand that regulating health care is a matter of life and death. But really (in my humble opinion), by not regulating our financial market at all … well crap! We’re letting strangers bet on our livelihoods. And when you think about it, that’s what these financial people are doing … gambling with our lives!

Okay, I will get off my high horse for now. But again, I strongly recommend you listening to these podcasts. There’s a 95 cent fee to download the podcast from the website. Or you can always listen to them free directly on the site.

Oh, and while I’m on the whole NPR thing. Here’s a little tidbit I heard on the radio this evening. Apparently there is modern version of the “New Testament” coming out tomorrow that supposedly is very “pop culture”-ish. The little bit I caught talked about having images in it like Co.ca.Co.la and Gandhi. But the best part was hearing this girl say, “Can’t have a bible without Bono!”

And with that crack of lightning (from the heavens above) … I’m “Audi 5000“!