13 posts from October 2008

And the Chinese Horoscope (which I don't tend to follow, but it's equally in the same frame of mind today):

This will be a good day if you're in the food business. An especially strong creative muse will revive artists as ideas could come from every direction. Your creative senses are heightened in every aspect of your life, so take advantage of this by going to a play or museum.

Creatively speaking, I was working on my outline for my NaNoWriMo novel last night and had some MAJOR revelations about my characters. I am eager for this, and it does seem like my creative muse has been revived.

Maybe this means I'll finish this year?

I have voted!

Oct 23, 2008
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Well, my absentee ballot arrived today and I have voted, sealed it, addressed it, stamped it, and will personally drive it to the mailbox tomorrow right after I take my daughter to school.

If you have to ask who I voted for, you haven’t been paying attention. ;-)

Seriously, though, this is my ‘first election.’ I have never voted before, and maybe I should be ashamed to say that, but I am more proud to say that I have done so now, for this election, when so much seems to be at stake. The United States is at a crossroads of great importance and the next president will be the one to lead us through this intersection. Where we go from here, as a nation, depends on whom elect.

So yes, I am very proud and excited to say that I have voted.

Winners aren't winners?

Oct 22, 2008
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A woman runs a marathon in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 11 seconds, crossing the finish line first, but 'does not win' because she wasn't a member of a special "elite group" which had been given a twenty minute head start.

The fastest runner on the elite team ran it in 3 hours, 6 minutes.

I call it cheating on Nike's part, as the sponsors of the race. They give a group of runners a twenty minute head start and then, when someone NOT in that group wins... she's NOT the winner? In essence, they hand picked whom they wanted to win and punished anyone not in that group.

Nike has, according to the article linked, since decided that next year, there won't be an elite category and that everyone will be starting together. Hurray for them, I say sarcastically.

I can think of a few reasons where a twenty minute head start might be warranted. Age, disability, etc. It's not the practice of having such a group that needs changing. It's the ethics which allowed them to tell Arien O'Connell that she was not the winner, despite her tremendous effort in coming in first. Those same ethics which prompt them to think about it, change their mind as say, "okay, you can be 'a winner too.' Because they'd already given the prize O'Connell won fair and square to the next runner up. Whom they still maintain is the actual winner.

The losers? Not the thousands who came in after O'Connell, but Nike themselves.

Edited to add; an earlier article in which Nike accuses the woman of 'messing with the seeding' by not being in the elite group.

I continue to be appalled.

Counting chickens before they hatch

Oct 18, 2008
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Talked to my husband on the phone today (he's deployed Over There, for those wondering) and he made the comment about the election that "it's no contest, 'your boy' is going to win."

By 'my boy' he means Obama, of course. (Making a note that 'my boy' or 'your boy' is how Steve and I refer to people we support or don't support, or actors we like or whatever. It's not in any way a racial commentary on Obama. He's just… my boy… because I like him and support him and that's how Steve and I talk, without naming names.)

I told him that it's too soon say that for sure because anything can happen between now and election day.

We went on to discuss what could happen, fears I have of what could happen.

Such as… someone assassinating Obama before we get a chance to vote for him. (This is a huge one because of all the hate mongering lately, but I've been fearing it since the primaries when Hillary wouldn't shut up about either of the Kennedy assassinations and it felt too much like she was drawing a parallel in peoples minds between Obama and those horrible acts.)

Or the specter of the Great Depression, during which time FDR was allowed an unprecedented 3rd term as president. I fear the economy collapsing in the next month to the point where someone in Washington will try to give Bush a third term… and succeed.

We need four more years of him like we need a hole in the head or another World War.

These are just my fears, but I'm sure other people out there must share them. While I hope with all my heart that Steve's right and 'my boy' will be the next president, I live with held breathe until the polls are closed.