Wouldn't it be something. . .
. . . if the Vatican took a step towards becoming more progressive than the President of the United States? And we're talking about Pope Benedict XVI here. He of the pro-Crusades, "evil and inhuman" Islam ilk.
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November 27, 2006
November 17, 2006
I'm a Sexy Librarian
A U.K. marketing dude is saying that Librarians 'should be sexier'.
While I understand that this suggestion might infuriate some members of the profession, it luckily doesn't affect me. I'm already one sexy bitch, and don't you forget it!
November 08, 2006
Hesitant Optimism
Two years ago today, I was in a grand funk. The day before, I had been filled with an optimism which had been crushed out of me throughout the evening, slowly at first, like a slow leak in a balloon, then more quickly, like someone put the balloon under their armpit and squeezed until it popped. Yes, that's how I felt. Like the armpit of America had burst my bubble and crushed my spirit.
I spent much of the evening crying, and, after a restless night's sleep, I didn't want to speak with anyone at work. Most of my co-workers shared my political leanings and despair, but they wanted to commiserate. I just wanted to close my office door and suffer in silence. As Jon Stewart so perfectly expressed in his election coverage, "This is just like a dream I had. Where I woke up crying."
I wondered honestly who had changed - me or "them". How had I become so far removed from the "mainstream". I wondered if I even belonged anymore. What was this country I was living in.
I was filled with ironic bitterness a few weeks later when polls started showing a slip in Bush's popularity and pundits started talking about "buyer's remorse". Sorry, but there's no return policy or lemon law that could fix this one.
It has been a tough two years since then. I fought the good fight (as I saw it) when I could, but all the bad news weighed heavily on me. There were too many stories to keep up with and I started to let some of them just washed over me. I didn't have the strength to worry about them all or to engage in the battle. In 2004, I called a governmental office many times to express my position on some matter or other. Over the past two years, I don't know that I've done it more than twice (and none in the past year).
I was much more hesitant in my optimism approaching last night than I was two years ago. As Bush would say, "Fool me once, shame on. . . shame on you. But fool me. . . you can't get fooled again." It is with great relief and a little disbelief that I am trying to register last night's election returns. We are still waiting on Virginia to finalize their numbers, but even if it goes to Allen, the Democrats have control of the House and will be a much stronger force in the Senate - I doubt they'll be railroaded as they have been until now. How often can the Republicans pull Cheney in for the tie-breaking vote?
I am not naïve enough to think that my place in the "mainstream" has been restored or that the balance of power in the country doesn't still hang in the balance. This election was a nail-biter because so many of the races are so very close. The people are still very much divided over the path to take on many issues.
I think it is probably true what many pundits are saying - that the Republicans lost the race, the Democrats didn't really win it. Let's face it, the Democrats still haven't been able to find a truly inspiring person to get behind and they have their failings, too. But at least the hemorrhage of democracy, empathy, and conscience in this country finally has a chance to slow down.
I am optimistic that this change in party control can change the course of the future. But I am still hesitant in my optimism and concerned that the Democrats will do something stupid in the next two years, or do nothing at all. I am terrified that they will waste this opportunity and turn the moderates and independents against them by 2008.
Please guys, don’t screw this up.
November 05, 2006
Just His Luck
Steve has some of the worst luck of anyone I've ever known. From the extreme badness at his FPOW to the day a G-D-SUV took off his side-view mirror while he was driving to a meeting with a friend who would win the evening's prize - a PlayStation 2, we often speculate about just who he was and what he did in a past life to make his luck as bad as it is. I, on the other hand, typically have really good luck, so I've balanced his out a little bit. We haven't won yet, but on the few occasions that we buy a Lotto ticket, I always buy it with money from my wallet because we KNOW we won't win if Steve buys it.
One of the nice things about his current POW is the Giving Campaign they do every October wherein people are encouraged to donate their time and money to the charities of their choice. There are events all month long for people to participate in. Right at the end of the month, one of Steve's co-workers (T) arranged the Day of Pink to raise money for breast cancer research. We pulled a pinkish shirt out of Steve's closet (he insists it’s not pink; it’s salmon) and off he went. Some of his co-workers painted their fingernails pink or had their heads shaved as the donations for the day hit certain levels.
Then, at the end of the day came the raffle. Steve almost didn't put his ticket in for the drawing because he didn't really even want the prize, but T insisted. And wouldn't you know it, he WON! Of all the possible things that he could win, what, do you suppose, would be the least useful or desired, the most unsuitable prize for Steve???
He won a ride on a Harley! He showed up to pick me up that evening sporting a leather Harley vest over his pink button-down shirt. I swear he looked like a Macho Man headed straight to the YMCA.
He went on the actual ride a few days later.
November 01, 2006
Walk Like an Egyptian
The final activity planned for our Columbus Day weekend was seeing the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago. Steve is really into archaeology and particularly Egyptian archaeology and he really wanted to see the exhibit. It wasn't coming to San Francisco but, as luck would have it, it was at the Field Museum right when we were in Illinois. Honestly, I held the King Tut exhibit out like a carrot in front of a mule when I was talking Steve into going to my 10-year reunion. We had a great time going to a Machu Picchu exhibit at the Field with my parents 2 Christmas visits ago, so we purchased 4 advanced tickets months ago.
It was a great exhibit with a lot of artifacts. It really was neat seeing the artifacts Howard Carter saw when he first looked into the tomb. What was really amazing was getting the meet the boy king himself! A bit petulant looking, isn't he?
