Aaaaa Yeeeeeaahhhhh

Okay, I got this new phone (treo 700) which has more bells and whistles than I'll ever use. (Disclaimer - it isn't actually new, a coworker sold his old phone to me.)

As I was trying to figure out how to use the phone, I realized I was sitting in front of my mac which also has a camera, so I embraced my inner geek to take a picture with the mac of me takinging a picture of said mac with the cell:





I know I will be mocked, but true geeks always have been.
:-)

It's summertime....

And we're in our new place!

Of course, last night the low was in the 40s, so I'm pretty sure summer is holding out for a better offer, but what do I care: I have this awesome yard on a quiet street, and we're hooked up again via phones(same as our old phone #s) and internet. So who needs summer??*

We're still working out where our stuff is going to go while simultaneously trying to find that thing that's in that box somewhere that I think I marked as stuff for the bedroom, but it might have said "living room", and Hey Look! I just found this other thing I wasn't looking for but I did want to find eventually and now I'm going to go find a place to put it... well, you know how it is.

But in this moment, I'm sitting at the kitchen table window looking at the golden light of the declining sun on the trees across the valley, listening to some lively jazz, with the ridiculously intoxicating scent of perfectly ripe white nectarines and white peaches a couple feet away.

Enough time in front of the 'puter.


*I'm hoping that by playing hard to get, summer might become a little desperate for attention and come for a visit. But I'm not begging.
Oh no, not me.

Wearing my feisty pants again

Copy of letter I just sent to the editor of the Seattle Times -

Hello. I am writing with a brief comment about a headline I read in your paper moments ago: "Less-violent Iraq raises hopes for early withdrawal."

Early? Early?? Aren't we about 4 years and 8 months past the administration's wildest estimates? And didn't VP Cheney declare that the insurgency was in the "last throes" three years ago on May 31, 2005?

"Early" implies ahead of schedule, and all sane people would agree we moved out of that era a long, long time ago.

I don't know what it is about the late night-to-early morning, but the feisty just comes out.

DNA & Me

I recently got interested in the migratory history that my DNA would reveal after watching an astoundingly fascinating short series called African American Lives 2. This program showed a variety of African Americans what their DNA said about their ancestral origins and unknown heritages. The featured individuals, and no doubt most of the audience, were usually surprised by what they learned, and sometimes surprised to learn how far away their beliefs about their backgrounds were from the reality.

So, Paul and I ended up getting these testing kits from the National Genographic project. We sent in our DNA samples, and are now tracking the progress of our samples online - this is so cool!

Right now our samples are in step 4 of 6 - DNA analysis - and I look forward to seeing what comes of it. Although I expect it to confirm my self-described Euro mutt status, it'll still be neato to learn the details.

Also, Paul's ancestry on his mom's side is almost totally unknown, so this will be a great chance to learn more about his maternal lineage.
Stay tuned for more details!

You may not be surprised, you may disagree, but here's why I'm voting for Obama

I haven't read any of their campaign literature, and I don't get anything out of this. It's born from hearing pablum on a daily basis about electability, voter profiles, and foreign policy. If you agree or disagree, awesome. Just be engaged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Obabma campaign,
Here's why I'm voting for your guy:

1) Foreign Policy - this country has such a ridiculous wealth of natural and political resources that we've been able to squander it for over 7 years and still are only at war with just a few countries. Obama is the only candidate who will be viewed by our long-standing allies and our adversaries as someone who will seek paths other than warfare. Many foreign leaders have already said that he is the only candidate who can restore their faith in American power and ideals. Talking to your adversaries is not immoral - invading and bombing them is. Nearly every major religion - and numerous minor ones - seem to agree on this point.

2) Broad Support - Obama does not polarize the population like Clinton does - he has support from people from many backgrounds and political stripes. He is the electable candidate.

3) Constitution - Clinton voted to improperly turn over war making powers to the executive branch when she voted for the President's Iraq resolution. This is no more or less than a violation of the Constitution's explicit separation of powers, and so I can't see any reason she should be trusted with one whole branch of government. I spent two years teaching citizenship classes, hammering home the idea that only Congress can declare war. Yet, Clinton supported sloughing off this key responsibility to the President. Many would agree with the assessment that it didn't end well.

4) Change - Obama is the only candidate who represents real change. Clinton (and her off-the-leash husband) and McCain are about as establishment as you get. This world is increasingly multifacted and dynamic, and we need a person who is engaged with it on those terms. McCain and Clinton have been too isolated in the world of party politics for too long to have a real sense of the real world the rest of us are living in.

5) That Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi - Obama is smart, well reasoned, impassioned about his work, and surrounds himself with other bright people. Some would say that he's not that politically different from Clinton, since he has many former B. Clinton advisors, but flip that on its head: These former B. Clinton advisors looked at the horses running and chose the one they thought was the best. Clearly, they saw a real difference.

6) Experience - Some would say Obama lacks experience. First, NO President has ever done the job before, we're always hiring rookies. Second, he has sufficient experience with government to know the difference between good governance and bad. Third, he is not tainted with all the negatives in the foreign policy arena that his rivals are, so he will have greater access (read:leverage) with foreign governments than they will upon reaching office. Finally, Hillary wants us to grant her credit for her time married to the President, but how dialed in to key Presidential issues could she have been when she wasn't even aware enough to make sure Bill kept his pants on? And then he got impeached. So, exactly what relevant experience does she get credit for?

7) Energized - This guy and his campaign have got a lot of people energized. Just imagine what can get done when so many people are working for the same goal with such enthusiasm. And I don't mean just lefty goals, but solid conservative objectives like balancing the budget, ensuring government is accountable and transparent, and reducing our overseas entanglements so we can channel resources at home.