Raves, Rants and Reflections

New job

2008-07-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

I've been working at my new job for almost a month now. I love it so much. I like the people I work with a lot and the work is really fulfilling.

For anyone who doesn't know, I am a caseworker/staff assistant for Senator Tom Harkin. I've always been a big fan of his and this was just such a great opportunity.

Basically what I do is help people with their VA, Medicaid/Medicare, SSA and immigration claims. I also help people with Insurance issues and travel issues. I have a huge case load and sometimes I feel overwhelmed, but all in all, I feel like I'm doing good work.

The girls are well. Searching for daycare is hell. Everything is so expensive and we don't qualify for any sort of day care help, so paying out of pocket is kicking our asses.

Eric just got some great news on the job front. He'll be a camp counselor for Rock Camp's last session starting next week. I'm really proud of him, I've been thinking it was something good for him to get into for awhile now. PLUS- HE GOT HIS LICENSE BACK! WOOT!! I'm super excited about that too. It's fantastic!

Walking

2008-05-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

My baby is walking. *sniffsniff*

She's getting so damned big already. I can't believe she'll be one next month!!!

She walks like she's had about 3 whiskey sours too many. It's adorable!!

We will be having a Wonder Pets themed birthday party, as Linnie, Tuck and Ming Ming are her best friends, after all. She loves the Wonder Pets and, while we hate their songs (they get stuck in our heads), we love the fact that she gets so excited about it.

Aspen is about to finish 1st grade. Speaking of getting big...holy crap. She is almost 7! I can't believe that, either! Time goes so fast. She's reading on a 3rd grade level (at least). I think it's higher. For example, she was reading me something the other day and didn't even stumble over the word "bouquet"! She's an awesome kid, for as bossy and argumentative as she is! lol

God, my girls are getting so big. I'm so lucky!

101 in 1001 Update #2

2008-01-28T23:28:00.000-08:00

I have received A Clockwork Orange. I will be watching that very soon.

I'm on day 2 of my week without candy. I'm making Aspen do it, too. She kinda hates me right now.

On Wednesday I will be applying at 2 restaurants that are hiring servers. Hopefully I'll get #1 crossed off my list!

On and unrelated topic, Aspen lost her 5th tooth today. During breakfast. And woops! She swallowed it! Oh well, the tooth fairy will still visit!

I'm going to get this list done, I promise it!

My progress on my 101 in 1001

2008-01-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I said I wanted to update this blog every week in my 101 in 1001 list. In addition to that, I wanted to say that I moved A Clockwork Orange to the top of my Netflix cue. I'll be able to mark one off the list very soon!

I also put in my resume for a job I'd really like to have, so if I get that one, I'll be able to mark off the number one thing on my list! Yay!

Otherwise, unemployment blows. I hate it. Aspen goes back to school tomorrow after what seemed to be an ungodly long weekend. I had to escape to the mall for a few hours today so I could take a break from the kids. It was much needed, let me tell you.

Here are a few visual updates:

Me and MuAspen "chillaxin"
Eric's New Toy

That's the update for now. Hope things are well in your world.

My 101 in 1001

2008-01-20T00:29:00.000-08:00

So there is this project some of my friends are doing. I thought I'd be a follower.

It's called 101 in 1001. It's 101 things you want to do in the next 1001 days. Here is my list. My start date is 1/20/2008, so my end date is 10/17/2010. I hope to have accomplished all of the following:

Get new job
Get an Ipod
Start walking Aspen home from school when it gets warm
Watch A Clockwork Orange
Plan a wedding
Get married
Get pregnant again
Plan super cool birthday parties for each of the girls
Have an amazing 30^th birthday
Plan a party for Eric’s 35^th birthday
Baby- proof the house
Go back to school
Get Master’s Degree
Take a road trip, just Eric and Me.
Lose 100 pounds ( 0 of 100)
Vote in November
Go a whole week with no candy
Take Aspen and Amelia to Gumbo YaYa
Learn to play bass
Take the girls to the Botanical Center
Have a monthly get together with Michelle and Kelli
Try to form a better relationship with Gail (MIL)
Pierce my nose
Get a tattoo
Plant a vegetable garden
Make fresh salsa with ingredients from my garden
Plant flower garden with Aspen
Visit St. Louis twice (0 of 2)
Get to know Moria
Treat Dean and Kelli to a night at Comedy Sportz
Get a dog
Get a pedicure
Make Christmas cookies with Aspen, Amelia and my mom
Go hiking
Go camping in Wisconsin
Get so drunk I puke (or at least want to)
Donate 4 bags of clothing to Goodwill
Wear make up everyday for a week
Have weekly game night for a month
Teach Amelia to count in English and Spanish
Get a new car
Get life insurance
Get renters insurance
Go to the dentist
Donate to Locks of Love again
Have a Lemonade Stand with Aspen
Send out Christmas cards. All of them.
Max out my Rep on BG’s for a day.
Read 20 non political books (0 of 20)
Buy new pots and pans
Go Vegan for a week
Volunteer at the DeLaCerda House
Have movie night once a week for 2 months with Eric
Paint Aspen’s nails
Take my mom to dinner and out for drinks
Go a week without TV
Join a gym
Actually go to said gym
Go out of the country
Get a passport first
Get new glasses
Make 5 new IRL friends
Buy new bras
Buy a dress and wear it to a nice dinner with Eric
Enroll Aspen in classes or lessons of some sort
Move out of Iowa
Go to 2 national act concerts (0 of 2)
Go on vacation to Oregon
Get into therapy
Have my mom teach me how to make her fudge
Knit something practical
BF Amelia to 18 months
Plan a day with Jessi and Sheridan
Send out 10 greeting cards to 10 different people for no reason (0 of 10)
Get a job on a political campaign
Color my hair a funky color
Get my legs waxed
Make compost pile
Try 10 new restaurants (0 of 10)
Have a game night with Marissa and Scot
Have a game night with Erin and Scot
Get a real Christmas tree
Go a week without eating out
Transition baby into her own room
Pay off 5 old bills (0 of 5)
Convince Eric to tell Leo about Amelia
Go to Waterloo to see Nikki once every 6 months
Go to lunch with Wicked Liz
Go to lunch with Carolyn
Update Photobucket every week
Put flowers on my Grandma’s grave
Take Aspen (and maybe Amelia) to 4 plays or musicals (0 of 4)
Take belly dancing lessons
See a professional sports event
Update my blog once a week
Coach speech
Keep up on the girls’ baby books and journals
Take an art class
Find a home for Butterfly
Mail a postcard to postsecret
Accomplish all the things on my 101 in 1001 list

GHOST!

2007-12-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

My home is very old. I don't know how old because I don't know where to look for that information, but it's old. It is currently split into 2 separate units. We live in the bigger side.

Anyway, I swear we have a ghost. I hear breathing and occasionally what sounds like a really low voice on the baby monitor. I see things out of the corner of my eye. These things happen all. the. time. Sometimes when I'm sitting in the bedroom and it's dark, I see a shadow move in front of my bedroom door.

I don't feel really scared by it or anything, and I almost think it might be my grandpa. I didn't notice it too much until I had a dream about him and then it seemed like it either started happening or I started noticing it, not sure which.

I hope that he's nicer in ghost form than he was in life.

Bligity bligity blog

2007-12-18T01:09:00.000-08:00

So much to say, but it's 3 am and I'm exhausted. I just baked dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies. 3 different kinds and some bars. They are all delish (of course). I found the BEST sugar cookie recipe (I don't even like sugar cookies, but I like these!) and used it. YUM!

Aspen lost another tooth. Thats 2 in a week. She freaks the fuck out when they get to that really loose almost falling out stage. She doesn't like losing teeth, but she likes the tooth fairy (a dollar for each tooth this time).

Amelia started sitting unassisted on Saturday morning. She's also creeping. *sigh* my baby is growing so fast. I can't believe how fast. I'm so in love with my kids. They seriously are my everything.

I have to find another job. Mine ends the day of the caucus. I'm sad because it's such a big change. Where will I work? Will I make the same kind of money? Will I be able to stay in my field or am I going to have to take something in retail or something equally nauseating? What about daycare? On one hand I don't want to put Mu in daycare because kids get sick all. the. time. in most daycares. She hasn't been sick yet (knock on wood) and I would like to keep it that way as long as possible. But she's also super attached to me and doesn't like to be with anybody else for an extended period of time (even her dad). That makes it tough for me to get much of anything done.

I'm so gonna crap my pants over this.

So much more to say, but now I'm going to fall asleep at this computer!

G'night!

my hair

2007-10-02T20:12:00.001-07:00

For the record, I cut off all my hair, yes I did. I also colored it red. RED RED. I love it.

Aspen

2007-10-02T20:11:00.001-07:00

Aspen started 1st grade this year. She loves it, but has had a little bit of a hard time adjusting to being the new kid in school again. She's doing well, though, academically, reading at a 2nd grade level at least.

Amelia Mu

2007-10-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

My little bitty baby is growing up! She smiles and laughs and rolls over now. She is so funny, too. She blows raspberries and drenches her onesie in spit.

She tried cereal for the first time the other day. She wasn't too impressed, but dealt with it. She's been pretty cranky for dad when mom is at work, and generally won't eat, so I thought that introducing her to something new was a good idea so he would have another option to try to get her to eat.

I love this picture of her:

My endorsement

2007-08-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

I work in politics. That is no secret. I've met almost all the presidential candidates. I've heard them speak and given them my honest consideration. I like a couple of them, but there is one that I think is the best person for the job.

My endorsement for President is for the Senior Senator from Delaware: Joe Biden (D). I really respect his decades of service and his ability to speak from the heart with a frankness that no one else can live up to. He is not the one I thought I would endorse. I also very much like Barack Obama. BUT, I think Obama often times is more concerned with what the "right" thing to say is.

The reasons I've endorsed the Senator are many. If you'd like to know more, please ask!

Baby girl

2007-08-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't blogged since before Amelia was born. She was born on 6.16.07 and weighed 8 lbs 6 oz. She is now 9 weeks old and is an amazing baby. She is not colicky, she is very mild tempered and eats like a champ. I forgot how in love you become with a baby. She lights up my already rad life.

Aspen will be starting 1st grade on Thursday. We are all ready for her to go back. She's bored and we are tired of trying to entertain her. She'll be starting fresh with all new kids and a new school. She's very excited and has already picked out her 1st day outfit.

We've also moved. Our 2 bedroom apartment had just gotten too small, so we moved to a 2 bedroom duplex in Davenport.

Life is good, here is a pic of Amelia when we were still in the hospital.

Baby shower

2007-06-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

So my baby shower was last weekend. It was really fun. Some of my family came, some of Eric's family, and a few of our friends. I'd say there was about a dozen of us plus 3 crazy little girls running around. It great to see them all. Most of them I don't get to see very often.

I got lots of great stuff, a few outfits, a boppy, an organizer cart, some diapers, and odds and ends. There was some cash and gift cards that allowed me to buy the bath tub, some wash clothes, shampoo, stuff like that. Our friends went in together and purchased a stroller for us, which is amazingly great of them. We still need a few things, like a play yard, bottles, a sling, more diapers!! But all in all, we are pretty prepared for this baby to come.

The last few days have been absolute hell because of how sick I've been. I've had some sort of sinus/throat/ear infection. It was absolutely awful. I still have lots of mucus and my throat really hurts still, but I'm starting to feel a little better. Hopefully tomorrow will be even better with no coughing. Coughing at 9 months pregnant...not cool.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully I will have a baby next time I post! :)

Baby update

2007-05-21T23:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still pregnant. I'm due in about 23 days, but I'm Ok with going in about 14. I am getting so excited. We've got the bassinet all set up and put together and I've got all the clothes washed. I need to clean out the car and take the car seat to the fire station to get it professionally installed. We need to clean and do some final prep before we bring this baby home.

So this picture is of me at about 24 weeks. I have a more recent pic, but I hate it. I feel very fat and I just like this one better.

I can't wait for my baby shower. That is June 3rd. I can't wait to see all my friends and family. They are such great people that I can't imagine feeling really prepared for this baby until I get lots of advice from all of them! I know a lot about having kids, as I have one already, but I don't know anything about having more than one child! How do I make Aspen feel just as important as she does now? How do I juggle them both and work? And a relationship? OY! I need my friends and family a whole lot.

Thats all for now. I will update again when I have something to say!

Baby blog!

2007-04-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been an update on this pregnancy for awhile, so here it goes.

I am now 32 weeks and 1 day pregnant. We don't what the baby is, but we are pretty sure it's human. It moves vigorously and rolls around a lot. It's a lot like Aspen was in utero. I am getting Braxton Hicks with this baby, and didn't have them last time, so that's new.

Eric and I started birthing classes. He got scared about the whole situation, which is totally understandable, since this is all new to him. It scares me a little too, and I've done this before. He didn't know that there was so much to do at the birth. I think he thought that you pretty much lay in bed, push, and a baby falls out. He didn't know about all the walking, the birth ball, the showers, etc.

I am getting anxious. We haven't set up the bassinet yet or put the car seat together. We did get the bedding all taken care of and we have the car seat and bouncer. That part is done, thank goodness. Hopefully we will get the rest of the things we need at the baby shower (bathtub, play yard, stroller, onesies, sleepers, bottles, pacifiers, etc).

Otherwise, things are good here. It's getting hard for me to move around, get up and down, off the couch... but I'm dealing. Trying not to complain too much, I really do like being pregnant.

Virginia Tech

2007-04-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

First let me say that I can't imagine a more horrific thing to happen on a college campus. Having spent years and years in college, I never once thought about what I would do if a gunman stormed my classroom and opened fire on my professor and my classmates, and I have a tendency to always think of the worst possible scenario in any circumstance. My condolences go out to the families of all of the 33 victims. That includes the shooter.

Speaking of the shooter, let me preface what I am about to say by saying that his actions were inexcusable, immoral, and disgusting. No one can ever justify what he did in anyway. But, I agree with his sentiments. Now, the students he killed, as individuals, had little to do with his message. But we've already been told by the families to completely ignore what he said in his manifesto and simply remember the innocent victims. While I agree that the victims should not be lost in this, I also believe that if we don't listen to what he had to say, things like this will continue to happen. It is the American way, after all, to punish the action and not work to prevent it in the first place.

His sentiments, if I interpret them correctly, are that he had been abused by society his entire life. He was made fun of, put down, ignored, neglected and treated like someone who was less than human. I do believe that he had some sort of underlying psychosis, but I can't imagine that having been shit on for his entire life could have made it any better. I'm not excusing his behavior, but lets use this as a lesson to teach our kids tolerance and embrace diversity. If we continue to spoil the shit out of our kids and keep teaching them that some people; "gooks", immigrants, poor people or people that are developmentally disabled are some how "less than" themselves, we can expect that this kind of action will continue. When parents are so displaced from their kids lives that they don't know the parents of the friends their kids are hanging out with or what their kids are into, or generally KNOWING them at all, this kind of thing will continue to happen. When kids are allowed to bully other kids for ANY reason, this will continue to happen.

Wake up, folks. This kid didn't just snap for no reason. There were many, many reasons for his actions, most of which will be ignored because he's "evil" or he's "bad" or he's "inhuman". Regardless of that, he had a point. The way he chose to express it was deplorable. No argument there. But lets think about how we can prevent it from happening again. Lets hear what he had to say. Where is the harm in that?

Baby Update

2007-01-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

So we are about 17 weeks and 3 days. This is what the baby looks like right about now. This is NOT my baby, this baby belongs to someone in Ohio, and I must also say that this is a male baby, so...just take note of that.
Anyway, we are going to try to find out if the baby is a girl or a boy on January 30th. We have our preference, but we will be happy either way. It may just take a few days to adjust.

I've been feeling the baby move for about a week. The kicks aren't very strong yet, but I do feel the flutters here and there. For the first few days it was just around my belly button, but the last few days they've been more towards my pelvis.

The last appointments have been great. I've lost a few pounds, but everyone knows that's not a bad thing for me!! Other than that, my blood work and urine tests have been just fine. My only frustration has been that my doctor is now sharing his practice with some other doctor and they keep trying to get me in with the other guy. I'm a little irritated about that because I went to Dr. Johnson because I like him, not because I want to be a part of a group of doctors. Oh well, Aspen didn't come on her own, I'm kinda hoping in a very small way that this one doesn't want to either and I have to be induced again, at least then I can chose a day that Dr.Johnson will be delivering.

We have baby names picked out, but continue to throw new ones at each other. The other one almost always says "no" for one reason or another, so we stick with the ones that we had picked out a few months ago. We will share them when we are ready.

Thats the baby update at 17 weeks. Everything is OK so far!!

Deaths

2006-12-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

So in just two days, we've lost two of the most important men in history. First, James Brown died Christmas morning. The godfather of soul laid the foundation for blues, disco and rap and with out his genius, we may have never experienced those genres of music. Whatever you think of disco or rap, they have influenced some of our most beloved performers and some of the songs we will never forget. RIP, the hardest working man in show business.

Then today, we found out the sad news that Gerald Ford has also passed. This may sound surprising coming from some one who wears her blue proudly, but our nation wouldn't have recovered from Nixon and Watergate nearly as quickly without Jerry. I think one of my favorite things about Ford was his absolute lack of coordination. I don't how many clips of Ford you could find on the internet where he is falling down the last three steps of the airplane stairs or tripping over his own feet. I think that endeared him to a lot of people. I may not have agreed with his policies or his views on things, but he was a decent guy from my calculations. RIP, Jerry.

Ok, so who is next? They always die in threes. Here are my predictions of who could be next: Charles Nelson Reilly, Betty White, Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat, yeah, somebodies gonna kill that guy), or Saddam Hussien (hey, I couldn't forget the easy one!).

Did anyone else know that Lily Tomlin was gay!?!? Not that I care, I just had no idea! Wow!

Some of my favorite movies

2006-12-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

I don't remember if I have ever written about my favorite movies on here before or not, so forgive me if this is a repeat of another post. Let me say this first, I don't have a "favorite" movie, I have a lot that I really like. Here are some of them: Comedy

Drop Dead Gorgeous
Kirsten Dunst and Denise Richards are the stars of this late 90's movie about a small town's Miss Sarah Rose Beauty pageant. Kirsty Alley stars as the mom of little miss perfect, Denise Richards. This is probably one of the funniest movies I have ever seen in my life. I've seen it a dozen times and it still makes me laugh. The funniest person is probably Will Sasso from Mad TV. He is just...hilarious.

Drama

The Breakfast Club

The quintessential coming of age film for my generation. Ok, maybe it was for the generation just before me, since I was 5 when it came out, but I saw it when I was little and thought that it was amazing. You probably know who was in it...Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Alley Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, etc. Great film!!

Reality Bites

Now THIS is the quintessential coming of age movie for my generation. This movie stars Winona Rider, Janeane Garofalo, Ben Stiller and Ethan Hawke. I have always loved this movie. If you haven't seen it, you need to.

Very Dramatic Movies

The Life of David Gale

A movie with a message about the evils of the death penalty. Even if you believe in the death penalty, this movie will make you think about it. Stars Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet.

Requiem for a Dream

Crazy, insane movie about drug use. Stars Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly and Ellen Burstyn. Ellen Burstyn plays the mother of drug user Jared Leto. Leto's character steals his own mothers TV to buy drugs. She is lonely and feels unattractive which causes her to fall into her own drug induced spiral. See this movie if you can handle the harsh realities of hard drug use. It is graphic and is by no means a feel good movie, but amazingly well made.

Oh, by the way, to anyone who doesn't know...

2006-12-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

I am pregnant. I will be 13 weeks on Thursday, and I am due on June 14th, 2007. For any of you who are paying attention, that is the first day of one of the biggest music festivals in the Quad Cities, and one of the years biggest money makers for Eric's company, Sturgis on the River. He wants me to go into labor a few days early so he doesn't have to worry about me going into labor during the festival. I want to go a few days late so that I am not home completely alone with the kids for 3 days. I don't think either of us will really have any control over that.

More than anything, we want a healthy baby, but we would both be exceptionally happy if it were a girl. We have a lot of girl stuff already, and we won't have to fight about that whole circumcision thing. Plus, I have to admit, I am a little scared of little boys. In my experience, little boys are dirty, gross, slightly (or overtly) violent, and completely obstanant. I don't know how to deal with boys and it scares me a little that I will have to figure it out!!! Girls are easy! More than anything, though, I just want a healthy baby. I will figure out the boy thing without a lot of problem, I'm sure, with the help of Eric and all my friends who have boys (Lisa, Nikki, my cousins Andee and Theresa).

We got to see it (were calling it Junebug) on an ultrasound a few weeks ago and then I got to hear the heart beat at the doctor's appointment a week later. Everything seems Ok, and the heartbeat was high (which, the old wives tale indicates it's a girl).

How exciting!!

girl boy
<--- --->

See what I mean??????!?!?!?!?!!!!!?!??!

Found a cool new singer

2006-12-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

So I was exploring MySpace and stumbled upon a really cool artist. Her name is Meg Allison and she preforms in both Chicago and Nashville (did you hear that Dad, Nashville). She has kind of a Jewel/Fiona Apple/Sarah Maclaughlin feel to her voice. I find it very enjoyable. If you would like to check her out, here is the address to her myspace page.

www.myspace.com/megallisonmusic

You should check her out, shes pretty good.

Driving

2006-11-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, many people have lots of rants about driving, but mine is not your typical complaint. The issue that I am going to tackle today is that of elderly drivers. I think we can all understand why teenagers and young adults (younger than 25) are poor drivers. They are reckless and have a "bad-ass, I'm invincible" attitude. Most of us had it too, when we were young. But they tend to grow up and grow out of it. They are put on strict restrictions when they first receive their licenses. They are (in many states) forbidden to drive at night, with friends, or if they are not driving to a school sponsored activity. They are also given much higher insurance rates and are put on zero tolerance restrictions. There are measures in place to decrease the amount of youth-caused car crashes.

However, I see nothing being done to prevent people over the age of 65 from taking the road when they shouldn't be. California has implemented some minor restrictions, like not allowing the elderly to drive on the freeway, etc. BUT, that's not enough. The elderly man who crashed his car into a busy open air market a few years ago wasn't driving on a freeway, he was driving in a business district and confused the gas peddle for the brake...for 300 yards...at speeds up to 60 miles an hour. How slow do your reflexes have to be to where you can not comprehend that your foot is on the gas and you are mowing down pedestrian after pedestrian for 300 yards?!?!? He KILLED 10 people, including a 7 month old child. I can not say "oh, well, it was just an accident, here's your slap on the wrist". I'm sorry, he knew that some of his faculties where failing him. He had to have. His family had to have known. It was not only his responsibility, but their responsibility to prevent this kind of tragedy. Independence is one thing, but complete disregard for your safety and the safety of others is something different. There are many organizations that will provide transportation to elderly persons so they can go to doctors appointments and grocery shopping. The "Christian" thing to do would be for other parishioners to offer rides to their elderly friends to church or wherever. The children of this man should have taken responsibility for him, like I'm sure that he did for them when they were children.

Look, I'm sure he is a great guy, this elderly man. I'm sure he was very successful when he was younger and a great father, but the thing is, he exercised bad judgment. And because of his bad judgment, 10 innocent people lost their lives. Mothers lost their children. For that he should be punished, ailing or not. We don't excuse drug dealers for their poor judgment. We don't excuse child molesters for their bad judgment. This really should be no exception.

This rant is complete...Until I talk about drunk drivers, drug dealers and child molesters, but those are subjects for another day.

5 more things you don't know about me

2006-11-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

I posted some things I figured most people didn't know about me about a year ago. It's time to do it again.

1. I have always liked the soggy ice cream cone more than the ice cream, regardless of the flavor of ice cream.

2. I can not sleep without a blanket, and in the summer at least a sheet. I have to be covered.

3. I have about 200 books. I have probably read 5 of them from front to back. Most are political books that I use for refrence. I used to be a huge reader, but I just haven't been much of one as of recently.

4. I have never voted for a republican. Even if I know them or they are the only one on the ballot, I just leave it blank.

5. I'm a rediculous germaphobe. Ok, we aren't talking Howie Mandel or anything, I will shake hands, but I pay close attention to when people wash their hands. I wash my hands so often during a typical day that they become very dry and start to bleed. I try lotion, but I wash so often that it never really has enough time to seep in. Then I worry that the cracks in my hands will be little germ pools, so then I wash more. Its really rediculous. But guess who has never gotten e.coli?!?!? Thats me! Thats me!

The new face of Congress

2006-11-13T21:02:00.000-08:00

Please excuse my lack of postings on this blog. I have been without a computer to do this most of the summer. One of the first things I would like to talk about is what happened last Tuesday. My friends, Bruce Braley and Elesha Gayman came out winners in very hard fought campaigns. Bruce for the House of Representatives seat here in District one of Iowa, and Elesha for a house seat in the Iowa State House, making her the youngest woman to ever be elected to the state house at age 28. Congrats, guys!!!! I am so very proud to know and worked with both of you!!

I also have to say congrats to Chet Culver, Phil Hare, Dave Loebsack (after defeating long time congressman Jim Leach) and all the other Dems that were victorious on Tuesday. Some of my favorites from out of state are Claire McCaskill, Zack Space and John Tester. Congrats to those in blue!!!

Now that we've won, here are some of the issues I am most concerned about; raising the minimum wage, ending the war in Iraq (frankly, I don't care how it ends, it just needs to stop), bringing civil rights back to the United States, and either overhauling No Child Left Behind or abolishing it all together.

I am very concerned about the ethnic cleansing in Darfur. I've been saying for about 3 years that it is rediculous to be fighting 2 wars in Iraq and Afganistan that we will never "win" when people are being systematically murdered in Darfur and we turn a blind eye. I hate to blame it on racism or oil, but can someone explain to me how we can stand by and allow that to happen? The UN expects there to be a nation that steps forward with the commitment of troops and supplies before it sends any clear message on the subject. We are waiting for the UN to send a clear message before we make a commitment. Someone has to make the first step and we can't because our availability to do anything militarily is severly compromised with the shear number of servicemen and women who are currently fighting, just got back or are about to go. I think the thing to do in Iraq is divide up the nation into three distinct nations with different leadership in each with different law making bodies and everything. We need to make sure that each of the triad is compensated equally as if it were still one nation. Help build as many schools and hospitals as possible and complete the withdrawl by Jan 1, 2008. We can not be their babysitters forever. The deployment of troops to Darfur should start as soon as possible. I can not stand by and watch women sobbing over the bodies of their murdered children or men with 2 legs that had to be amputated because of the infection that set in after they were attacked. The Red Cross needs to be sent in to provide medicine and food and the US military needs to keep the peace, and with force if necessary. This should not turn into another Rwanda. If you don't know what happened there, see Hotel Rwanda with Don Cheadle. What an amazing movie.

But for now, I am keeping my eyes out for a better and more fufilling job. I am hoping to get a job working in politics this time. Governor Vilsack has formed an exploritory committee, which means, potentially, a job for me. I could commute to Des Moines a few times a week and work from home on speech writing and platform building projects.

Barak OBama is also thinking about forming an exploritory committee and I think a job with him would catapult me into a really great position. I could also commute to Chicago a few times a week, and hell, if he paid me enough, I'd move there. God knows Eric and I would both do much better in a large market.

Quick Joke

2006-10-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

Joke I heard, don't attribute it to me, I'm not this cool.

Democrats prefer bookmarks
Republicans prefer to bend over the page.

Damn thats funny. Get it? Think about it. Mark Foley...pages...dirty emails...geeze you guys are tough.