Well, I tried

I tried not to talk about politics again -- but what the heck!

First off, on Good Morning America this morning they were talking about how the candidates have to eat corn dogs in New Hampshire.  Honestly, there is so much going on in this world, why can't they come up with something better than that?  CORN DOGS?  I've maybe had one bite of those nasty things in my life.  They are not all-about-New Hampshire -- and where ever some poor candidate had to choke one down, I am thinking they didn't like him/her!  (Of course, they are excellent tools to shut a person up.  Take a bite of one of those babies and until it meanders its way down your throat, you are mute!)

Well, look.  How many words does it take to say how pathetic it is that the media is discussing corn dogs?  A PARAGRAPH?  ::::::::Heavy sigh::::::::

I am one of them, that's what you're thinking, isn't it?  I talk about stupid things and don't have the good sense to shut up!

It's their fault.  It's like a bee in my bonnet!  (You'd think I could come up with something better than that old saw.)   I couldn't watch any more -- especially when they brought up the silliness of Hillary crying "on the trail."  Tears on the trail or whatever alliteration they could dream up.  I didn't vote for Hillary, but it wasn't because her hoarse voice broke a little and she kind of deflated for a moment.  In fact, if I had been as tired as she is when I went to vote this morning, I might have voted for her because she took a deep breath when she was asked about crying and basically said that when she takes a deep breath it makes the news.

She's right about that, and for a moment I wished that she was more than who she is.  That being a politician through and through.  I don't think that politicians have souls because they've had to sell them.  Sad.

Speaking of souls though, Obama was talking about energy and stating that everyone would have to make certain changes (like changing lightbulbs, nothing life altering) and that flamed the spark of hope within.  We DO need to make changes.  I've begun, though I am not sure any of them mean anything everytime I climb into my SUV -- but I hope they do.  But wouldn't that be something, if instead of bombing the hell out of the middle east to solve our energy problems we actually instituted changes within our own country that would be meaningful?

When I was in Europe and became aware of all the energy-saving practices they adhere to, I wished fervently that we did that here.  Do you realize that FORTY percent of the energy (electricity) that it takes to say run a coffee pot is still used up even when that appliance is off?  That includes all appliances, TV's, computers, etc.  They call it vampire energy -- it is being sucked out without you knowing it!   You can get these things called Smart Strips that will stop this from happening, or just unplug things.  That is my next purchase.  

Well, I gotta go eat a corn dog now.

MOOOOOO!

Weather Watch

Today it was freakishly warm out.  Hot even.  Peter and I skied and it was brutal -- pushing around heavy snow and sweating.   The air felt like summer.  The sun felt like summer.  And the conditions were classic spring -- melting, brown spots, bare spots, the feeling that skiing will soon be a thing of the past.

And yet ... it is January.  Winter has a long way to go.  I decided to check out winter's past to get an idea of what type of weather we've weathered in January.   The information is certainly not scientific -- and you can make your own deductions.  Mine is that January is just a screwed up month!

January, 2003

By Jan. 9 of this year I had skied 10 times.  This was a big snow year -- we received over a foot on Christmas day.  Hallie was on Mountain Classroom this year.

January, 2004

On Jan. 8 there were freezing temperatures, like 14 below.  I had skied 7 times by this date.  On Dec. 28th it was in the high 40's.  Most of January was frigid, and on Feb. 2 it was back into the high 40's.

January, 2005

I had skied 7 times by the 8th and it snowed a couple of inches that day.  On Jan. 4 there were spring conditions, on Jan. 6 there was no school due to lots of snow.

January, 2006

I had skied 7 times by the 8th, but there was not much snow.  Grace and I hiked Mt. Kearsarge on the 11th (there was no snow).  According to my notes, it was awesome!  There was no cold spell at all (during Jan.) this year.

January, 2007

I skied once by the 8th, and on that actual date skiing (race team) was cancelled due to the fact it was raining cats and dogs.  By the 16th there were "cold temps at last!"  No snow though.

Which brings us to 2008.

Thus far it has been really cold, we've had tons of snow and on the 8th it was nearly 60 degrees.

So what are your deductions?  January has been kind of wacky for the past five years, either being crazy cold or no snow or tons of snow.  There are no patterns other than there is no pattern.  But I still can't get the picture of the polar bear swimming and swimming and swimming because the polar ice caps are melting.  

Today just felt wrong.  But I had to mention it!

Primarily Politics

It's only a day away until New Hampshire votes for the next potential president of the United States.    I remember when I worked in Manchester and you couldn't walk down the street without being accosted by someone with a microphone and a camera asking you who you were going to vote for.  Satellite trucks were parked up and down Main St., and it was kind of cool.

But like all things that were generally out of hand to begin with, this particular N.H. tradition has gone bonkers.

Today on Good Morning America Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos were broadcasting out of a small WMUR studio overlooking City Hall in downtown Manchester.  I know how large the square is, and there were perhaps 50 people, tops, standing around with their signs screaming.  Diane went out to stand amongst "the mob" as she was implying, holding her fingers to her ears in a mock show of "oh this is so loud I can't stand it."

It was ridiculous.  Clearly they were being told to scream as loud as they could and shake their signs.  Some director was running about trying to create something that wasn't.

In N.H. most people don't say who they are going to vote for just because ... that's how we are.  We're certainly not going to give it up to some person carrying a microphone and we may not even tell friends.  Politics can be a very personal issue -- much like religion -- it can be divisive, it can be volatile, it can make you look at someone differently.  You don't usually see a ton of political signs in front of people's houses either.  I've gone by someone's house, seen their sign,  and thought "really?  And I thought they were normal."  It can be a sign of who they are behind closed doors!   I think when someone actually puts a sign out, they are making an enormous statement.  They believe in this candidate enough to expose themselves!

We have to remember that politics is 99.9 percent theater.  These people go out and act and say what they have been told to say and how to act.  They hire campaign directors, but they no longer run the show -- now it's about marketing and polls.  And morning news shows pretending that there are mobs of rabid would-be-voters trying to get on camera for a few brief seconds to promote Hilary or Obama.  I wonder if any of those people were even from New Hampshire!

Seriously!

Then George and Diane chatted about their breakfast at the "diner."  Do you know that Diane actually even had some "diner french fries" at the diner?  They discussed how you can run into just about anyone at the "diner."  For crying out loud, it's not a diner, it's a restaurant.  Some hole-in-the-wall restaurant that for some reason the media has focused on as their "down home diner."  I hate how they (media) are always trying to portray things as they just so ARE NOT.   If they cheat on the minor details, what are they doing with the major ones?  They can't be trusted!

I know it's a small thing, but there was no mob and the Merrimack Restaurant is not a diner where locals hang out.  It's a restaurant where the media has decided to keep returning to because they have no creativity!  

And just like the media intends, I am getting bogged down in minutia!  

So now I will tell you about something else that occurred this morning while I was steaming at Diane and George.  I felt a stirring ... of excitement!  I genuinely CARE about who wins tomorrow.  I am anxious to see what happens, I am not filled with any traces of apathy ... I really care!  And even a year from now (or 397 days according to my Out of Office countdown of GWB) I am excited that the United States of America might actually return to a true democracy, where the Constitution is actually adhered to instead of ignored and twisted to fit the agenda of a true fanatic

Yes!  I believe George Bush is a fanatic.  Whatever his agenda is -- and I believe it is oil -- he has undermined this country time and again, forcing us into a war and then demanding we support the troops.    And so on.  For an incredibly great article on this (and he says it with more eloquence than I) go to Why I Believe Bush Must Go,  by George McGovern.  

But here's the beauty of our downtrodden Constitution -- there is no allowance for true dictators because they all must go after two terms (even if they didn't win the second term, but fine, we won't go there.)  At least ... GWB hasn't done away with that ... yet!

What shall we talk about?

It's Sunday evening and I have spent the entire day either standing on the side of a ski slope watching racers whiz by or in a lodge sitting on my butt.

I am exhausted.

I have pored through the news in the hopes of something that will tweak my creative juices a bit but I have come up somewhat dry.  But ... I said I would do this daily, so darn it, I am not going to fail on day six!

Today was Charlie's first race of the season and Maddie's first time ever watching a race instead of being a racer.  She didn't like it.  No, it's not much fun taking huge blocks of HOURS and whiling them away in order to see your child go by in hopefully as few seconds as possible. 

 The best time today was 40 seconds.  Charlie had a 46 and a 47 -- he didn't do very well -- but I tried to explain to him that he doesn't practice much and wants it to just come easily to him.  The best part about having a middle of the pack racer is that you don't have to stay around for awards.  That is just an additional two hours or so.  There are pros and cons to everything!

I know, not very exciting, but seriously, my day just wasn't.  We were going to take the tree down tonight, but we're all too tired!  Why doing nothing saps you of the will to live, I'll never understand.  But it does.  We did have to hike up to the bottom of the race course, but it wasn't really major.

I am laughing, thinking how boring this must be.  Okay, okay.  I don't want to watch TV tonight because it will just be political ads.  They are STORMING the airwaves, one right after another, and even in their ads the candidates look exhausted.  I just can't imagine how horrific it must be to spend month after month combing the country in a big old bus or airplane going from one small town to big city to convention center to someone's home saying the same old thing over and over and smiling and shaking hands and all the while thinking THIS SUCKS.

I mean, how could it not?  Small talk, being upbeat, pretending you like everyone you see, having babies shoved into your arms, and you know, you just KNOW these poor candidates get stuck with that one person in town you spend your life avoiding:  the person who never shuts up, who just rambles on and on ad nauseum while you scan for an escape route.

Nope, you couldn't pay me to run for office -- any office.  I think we all know I couldn't ever run for anything because I don't have the temperament -- but still.  It's hard for me to imagine the type of person that has it in them to run.  For the power?  The glory?  To live in the White House?  Those are about the only perks for the rest of it is having the weight of the free world on your shoulders and your enemies digging up dirt and your friends looking for favors and the late night pundits attacking your every move.

Nope.  Not for me.  (But you'd all vote for me, right?  I'd owe you ...)

Following is a photo I took this evening for my other project -- the 366 daily photos.  

I had to run inside, rip off all my clothes and jump into the hot tub before the sun 

was completely gone.  Maddie made the little snowman for me.   I just thought I would share.  Now I'm going to bed!!!

Here's one for the OMG category

In Louisiana a 265-pound man was upset that a restaurant overcharged him for his trips to the all-you-can-eat buffet and was told by the waittress "Y'all fat, and y'all eat too much."

This disabled offshore worker is apparently a regular at the Manchuria Restaurant, eating there as often as three times a week.  He also eats with his cousin, a svelte 277 pounder, who both claim they have been discriminated for their size.

Well, let's boil this down.  These two (obviously hearty eaters) go to this restaurant regularly, and their choice of fare is the more expensive items in the buffet, namely the crab legs and the frog legs.  (Yummy).  This has (and with good reason) upset the restaurant and so they decided to charge the duo for their ummm, excessive consumption.

It makes sense to me.

The police needed to be called, but apparently the restaurant owner decided to just comp the guys their bill and asked them to never return.

There are a few things wrong -- the first being that this made the news at all!

But since it did, let's side with the restaurant first:  Any restaurant that serves an all-you-can-eat buffet is hoping that the big eaters are balanced out by the little eaters.  It's safe to say that they are screwed every time  500 pounds of people walks through the door and starts eating.  And eating.  And eating.  I mean, can't you just hear the conversations behind the kitchen doors?  "Those two are back, they've filled their plates with ALL of the frogs legs (more power to them, those are disgusting) and crab ... we're not bringing any more out."

"Oh shoot, a lovely family with small stomachs is approaching the buffet, they deserve frogs legs.  Hey you, waittress, go tell those fatties that they are too fat and not to come back."

And the big guys?  They think they're beating the system.  "It says all you can eat, and boy can we eat!"  They're not wrong.  The restaurant needs to qualify it somehow.  Though I can't think of how.  

All you can eat as long as you don't eat like a pig?  Nah, that probably wouldn't work.

All you can eat as long as you're not these two -- and put up their photos -- ... these two can only eat off the regular menu!

I don't know.  I just thought it was funny.  But it is clearly a dilemma for this poor restaurant!  I remember we used to go to this all-you-can-eat buffet at this pizza place, and the guy who owned the place served each slice.  You had to go up to the table of pizza's and choose which ones you wanted, and then HE would put it on your plate.  It was not a free-for-all.  He made it quite clear that you weren't to take any more than one or two pieces, and if you did go back, he made you feel quite guilty.  So, he had it figured out.  But man, talk about a control freak!  He was the total Pizza Nazi.

At least I didn't blog about Brittney Spears!  And I never will.  Well, I might.  

Nah.

I won! I won!

Really, I won!  Well, so what if it is Guitar Hero.   Does the fact that it is a video game negate the fact that I am amazing?  (And humble too, yeah yeah.)

I think not.

I've always loved video games -- from the day I played my first game of pong.  That tiny odd-shaped white blob that trailed white as it had such a poor refresh rate, back and forth across the screen, BOING, BOING, BOING.  I loved the sound.  I loved anything that was a game on a screen.  Ms. Pac Man, Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, Starship Galactica ... all of those games and I have spent countless numbers of hours together.  (And countless other games, but whose counting.)  My lethal combination of competitiveness and addictiveness (the two deadly ness's) have always resulted in a need to conquer whatever game I am currently obsessed with.

And today I reached 100 percent on the song I was playing.  And I ran through the house with my arms over my head screaming "I did it, I did it!"  As you can well imagine, Peter was VERY proud of me, and the things he muttered under his breath I am sure were heartfelt congratulations.  Maddie said that while she's never gotten 100 percent, she's also graduated from Easy.  Yeah, well, I don't care.  One hundred percent is one hundred percent.

I have fond memories of Hallie and I playing Mario Brothers, and then I would get cheats from people at work and then we'd snuggle up on the couch and I'd surprise her with my newfound knowledge (when she was five!)  And then she started getting her own cheats from friends and wouldn't share!  Oh, the fun we had.  "Too bad mom, if you can't remember, then that's your problem."   She was a little competitive wench herself.   The first game she was better at than me was Donkey Kong.  I really had to make peace with that.

Maddie and Charlie are better at me at most (more recent) games because I haven't really played them in years.  They have each other, there are two controllers, I am odd man out.  But Maddie has been home with her bad knee and we've been bonding big time.  First we watched Gilmore Girls, the complete seventh season.  But that is a whole other post in itself.  And then I became obsessed with Guitar Hero, and she and I have been rocking baby.

Peter has made several comments along the lines of "is this what you do all day," and "do you sit at the computer all the time," but I don't really answer him.  What I do with my life is better left a mystery to him (where it doesn't involve him!)  The fact that his idea of relaxation is destruction and construction and mine is reaching obtuse goals is just the way it is.

ROCK ON BABY!

Her hands are blue

And they really were!  I guess her gloves bled or something.   This was from our trip to NYC the week before Christmas.