6 posts from November 2008

Well, it's the day after Thanksgiving and I have so much to say and so much to be thankful for.

On Tuesday, November 25th,  my husband returned home from an overseas deployment in Some Places Where There is War.  We got to meet him in the airport terminal and Brenna & Mickey hugged on him and would not let go.  We have special spaghetti dinner with garlic bread and home made coffee cake.  

Wednesday, we packed up the car to drive home to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving.  During the nine hour drive from Norfolk to the farm, I polished off the last 2,700+ words to get over 50,000 words on my NaNowriMo novel.  This is the first year in all years I have done NaNoWriMo, that I have actually won. 

Nano_08_winner_large

My family keeps asking me "what did you win?" and I think they expected the prize to something substantial like money or having novel published when it was finished.  They seem really disappointed when I tell them "nothing"  or  "the satisfaction of knowing I did it."

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I got to meet my brother's new woman, Robin.  I am not sure how I really feel about her.  It seems weird to have a strange woman calling my parents 'mom' and 'dad' (and she seriously sucks up to  my dad, so that is even more weird).  

Tonight, Steve and I are leaving the kids with Mom and Dad so we can have an "adult night" all to ourselves.  We almost ever do anything like this, but I think that after this past 11 months, we more than deserve one.  We are going out to dinner and maybe a movie and then spending the night in a hotel.  

Hope every one had a great Thanksgiving!

When I was a little girl, my mother used to sing me this song and I never knew where it came from, but I taught it to my daughter too. 

Today, very randomly, she asked me where I got it from and when I told her, from my mom, she said, "let's call gramma and find to where she got it from."  So we called mom and she said Gramma Gee sang it to her when she was a kid, and then added that it was a popular song from the 1940's.

So, I went to Google, and found this.

I just read this article and have been thinking about it. 

In the past, in our nation's history, before there were telephones, internet or emails, didn't presidents used to still write the people they knew, and even people they did not know so well (like heads of state from other countries)?  Aren't the annals of history filled with thick journals and long letters of correspondence, which not only discuss political but personal and global matters? 

I realize that email is insecure (but so are those long ago hand written letters, to be sure),but it is the world's fastest and most widely used form of communication and I am not sure if being isolated from it is the way to go. 

The article says that Dubbya chose to isolate himself from the instant correspondence of email rather than subject whatever wrote to the people who would use those words against him, to embarrass him.  But he did an even better job of embarrassing himself (and the US right along with him) by saying things that mad him look even more of a fool than anything he could written in an email... and further by doing things that showed a distinctive separation from the reality the rest of us face every day.  Hurricane Katrina, anyone? 

Could it be that when Bush isolated himself from email he also isolated himself from his people?  That perhaps a few emails back and forth from people who might actually say 'George, what were you thinking?  Go back and fix that!' candidly to him in an email might have humanized him more to the world rather than demonized him?

I'm not a Bush supporter and I'm ore than glad he'll be gone soon, but I am beginning to wonder. 

I hope Barack does not choose total isolation, because his strengths lie in his ability to understand and reach the people, and walk among them, not above them. 

I've been using my Twitter more than anything else right now.  It's easier than stopping to make a whole post, and while I am busy with NaNoWriMo, that is a good thing.

http://twitter.com/debc

Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.
            -- Clement Atlee

I find myself quite anxious for tomorrow to be here, even though I have already cast my ballot.  Today feels like the deep breath before a storm and I am ready for the end, so we can see where the storm washed away the debris or wreaked havoc and destruction. 

And totally randomly and not related... had dream about Matt & Mohinder the other night... it involved exercise equipment and lots of bare skin.  And to think I have not watched Heroes in about 2 weeks.