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Keith Olbermann Nails It: The Sequel

November 11th, 2008. Published under General. 1 Comment.

Once again, Keith Olbermann echos my opinion about the Prop 8 issue.

Transcript here if you don’t want to watch.

It’s something I’ve said and have heard others say for a while now: Replace “gay” with “black” and then tell me how it can possibly be right to discriminate at this level? In 2008, the color of someone’s skin, religion or sexual preference shouldn’t matter. It’s love, not a anarchist movement. The world isn’t going to explode. The sky won’t fall. Nobody’s marriage would be made less valid nor less worthwhile if George and Brad or Ellen and Portia can get married - it just proves that they love one another and want to spend the rest of their lives together. It saddens me that something I’m free to do, something that isn’t illegal nor hurtful to anyone, is illegal for someone else to do just because they love someone of the same gender. It’s just not right.

I hope Gov. Schwarzenegger can overturn this as he’s quite opposed to it.

I Wish I Could Sew

November 10th, 2008. Published under General. 1 Comment.

I’ve been on the hunt for new curtains for the kitchen since we got new orange rugs from Ikea to replace our old, worn out rugs. They’re bathroom rugs, but they look pretty cool in the kitchen.

The problem is finding curtains that have the same vibrant orange in them that don’t look stupid.

Looking on Ikea’s website, they have this fabric that I *think* may work:

I like it, but I’m not sure about the birds. The colors would definitely work with my kitchen though. I see a trip to Ikea in my future to see the fabric in person. I could see if my sister could sew up a pair of simple curtains for me, because lord knows I can’t sew.

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Now that the election is over, I’m going to make the effort to lift my self-inflicted insulation that I put up to avoid any big fights among friends of mine that didn’t share the same viewpoint as I did. Rather than fight about things I read/heard, I completely backed off. Perhaps not the best tactic, but it was the only way I could think of to preserve any semblance of friendship with my conservative friends. With the election over, I don’t see the point in fighting about things - one person won, one person lost and all the arguing in the world won’t change it.

I do fear for continued negativity/bashing and I’m not sure how I would handle that. Another friend of mine is having problems with just such an issue and I’m not sure if I can open myself up for the same. But my friends have been there for me during some tough times, so I can’t just arbitrarily shut them out. Need to find some time to do it, though.

Happy Monday.

Maya Angelou on President-elect Obama

November 6th, 2008. Published under General. No Comments.

I’ve always respected Maya Angelou and have found her poetry to be quite powerful. However, she recites the first and last verse of one of her well-known poems “Still I Rise.” In the context of the interview, the emotion it stirred in me was giving me goosebumps. Very powerful stuff.

Here’s the full poem

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

I’m still so happy with the historical significance of Obama’s election and what it means for the future of our great country.

Yes We Did!

November 5th, 2008. Published under General. No Comments.

I just sat on my couch dumbstruck when I heard Brian Williams on NBC call the election for Obama just shortly after the polls closed on the West Coast. I sat there wondering if that was true and waiting for the other shoe to drop. For something to go wrong again, something to snatch the hope away from me again. Once again to be crushed.

I had hope and excitement earlier in the night when Pennsylvania went for Obama and when Kay Hagan beat Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina and opening the door for Obama to win NC (which he did). When NPR said that Indiana was “too close to call” I had a jump in my heart rate. Indiana? Too close? I was amazed. However, every time someone “called” a state for Obama, I had this inner cringe reminiscent of 2000 and Florida. But the status of those states never changed.

Ohio.
Florida.
Indiana.
North Carolina.
Pennsylvania.
Iowa.
New Mexico.

The states just kept coming and not changing. Then the call from Williams that Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States. I was blown away. I didn’t know what to do or how to react. I was in shock. Then McCain gave his concession speech where we finally saw a glimpse of the good man he was and that I liked from 2000. Then Obama spoke to the country, no, the world. I sat there with hands clasped watching the world change before my eyes. This quote really struck home to me (bold my emphasis):

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let’s remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

Like Tim said to me, “I’m a cynical bastard and even I have hope with Obama.”

My friend Jen called me in tears because she was so happy. I just felt disbelief. Was it really over? Did we really win? Really?

Today, I sit here thankful and so very happy with the change that will be coming to the White House in January.

So, after all that seriousness, some funny:

Hee!

Illustrating My Mood Today

November 3rd, 2008. Published under General. 1 Comment.

In this illustration, Carolyn = the dummy

KILLLLLL.

* * * * *

Not sure why I’m so damn crabby this morning. But first thing this morning, BEFORE COFFEE, I’m already having to deal with major idiots at work. I’m not happy about it. What would’ve made me happy was to stay in bed. Oh well.

I Vote For Joe Six Pack!

October 31st, 2008. Published under General. 1 Comment.

Thomas Hayden Church is one of my favorites:

The butt crack and the PBR….authentic and priceless.

Maybe It’s Time To Stop

October 27th, 2008. Published under General. No Comments.

With the economy in the toilet, lots of companies are experiencing layoffs and downsizing. Even big entertainment networks (in the podcasting realm of things) like Revision3 are having problems and needing to downsize:

We’ve had a number of great successes here at Revision3, including Diggnation, Tekzilla and The Totally Rad Show. But not everything pans out. Just as in the past, when we ended shows that just weren’t building audiences or driving revenue, we had to make changes. As you may have heard, today we had to make some tough staffing decisions as we ended the run of a few of our shows.

Reading on the Revision3 forums about it, people are calling the death of Revision3 and asking when they’re going to change their name to RevisionG4.

But if a large, successful and well-funded podcast company is having trouble keeping things going, how in the hell is a tiny independent studio supposed to do any better? I’m burned out on podcasting and with doing anything with the studio. Hell, once Tim’s done with school, Pink Ninja Studios may just evolve into the entity we first envisioned it to be: a joint design company. Podcasting, especially audio-only podcasting, is dead. The shows that are left are done because they’re fun and with nobody looking to do anything new at the moment, things are going to eventually slow down to the point where there’s nothing new going out. And honestly, I’m not too upset over it.

Our lives have gotten too damn busy to keep things up to the level they had been and things have seemed to have run their course. Not saying things will be done tomorrow, just that my priorities have drastically changed.

Your Daily Moment of Zen

October 25th, 2008. Published under General. 1 Comment.

This is what one needs to do on the weekend:

You know…with my little, cheap point-and-shoot camera and iPhoto…I don’t do too bad in the picture-taking department!

* * * * *

I’m feeling better today - my immune system seems to be more hardy than Tim’s when it comes to this cold.

Tomorrow: Hell’s Kitchen with Jen! Woot!

Interesting.

October 23rd, 2008. Published under General. 1 Comment.

Here’s how much of a tax cut I would receive under the respective parties tax plans:

Calculate your own figure here.

Sure, you may say, it has to be skewed towards the Obama tax plan - but when I plugged in $250,000+ of income, I got this message: “You will probably not get a tax cut under the Obama-Biden plan.”

Duh. Isn’t that what they’ve been saying all this time?

Funny enough, when I chose $200,000-250,000 of income, I still wouldn’t get a tax cut. However, when I switched my marital status from “single” to “married”, I would get $725 back. The way I look at it, a cut is a cut.

* * * * *

I’m still stumped as to what I should be for Halloween. My brother invited Tim and I to a costume party at his house and I’m still awaiting my co-worker J to bring in her stash of costumes so we can pick something out. I hate leaving things to the last minute. I’ll probably be a ghoul or something traditional, per usual. I saw some bitchin’ Halloween false eyelashes at Cub Foods of all places last night…they were stunning. I may have to go that route.

* * * * *

I’m hoping I don’t catch the scurvy death cold flu that Tim’s suffering through right now. He even volunteered to sleep on the couch last night to help my avoiding catching the sickness. What a sweetie.

* * * * *

This weekend, I’m working at Ye Olde Part Tyme Jobbe, then I’m going to hit this consignment shop that the gal at the liquor store told me about.

I know, it sounds weird that the gal at the liquor shop would share such information. But, one Friday evening I stopped there after work to pick up some beer for the weekend and I happened to be wearing my cute denim skirt, a fun sweater, my puffy vest and my most favorite brown boots ever:

(With those socks too!)

Anyway, when I walked (having a good hair day on top of it) in this gal said “OH MY GOD you look so CUUUUUUTE!” I was quite taken aback as this NEVER happens to me. Then we got into a long conversation about my outfit and where I bought my boots. Apparently I made an impact on her, because last night I went there after I was done at the gym in sweaty gym clothes, a ratty sweatshirt and my hair looking, well, crappy. She said “oh! I found some boots like yours!” and then she told me about this consignment shop in Maple Grove. I’ve been wanting to find one - especially since the one shop I knew about is not open anymore. So I’m stoked to find some good bargains and round out my wardrobe a bit more. All my dress pants, I’ve had since 2004. Nothing new (pants-wise) since!

Hopefully it’ll work out.

Also - is it Friday yet? What a long week

Ain’t Funny

October 22nd, 2008. Published under General. No Comments.

Yes, another political post. Skip it if you want.

* * * * *

The Jewish Alliance for Change sponsored a series of ads made with a bunch of old-school comedy actors and actresses. Carl Reiner and Gerry Marshall are two of my favorites.

Ain’t Funny - This is a serious election. Vote for Obama-Biden. from Alma Har'el on Vimeo.

“I got the chance to vote for Roosevelt and I’m still talking about it!” - Reiner

More (shorter) videos are at AintFunny.org.