5 More Weeks

I really don't have any good blogging material, I just wanted to say, "5 More Weeks." Five more weeks and the phones calls stop. The TV ads will stop. The bickering will stop. Ok, so not everything will stop. But I predict we'll all so so thankful the election is over that regardless of who wins, the stockmarket will feel our good mood and soar to new heights. Yep, that's my prediction. Remind me about that on November 5, please.

Also, my election day is only 2 1/2 weeks away because we have early voting in Nevada and I intend to be at my mall with ballot in hand on October 18 when the doors open. I might even be like the lady in the Mervyn's commercial, standing outside at 5 in the morning reciting, "open, open open." I'm going to vote the moment I can and then I'm going to laugh when anyone tries to discuss the election and put my fingers in my ears and say "la la la la la la, I can't hear you and it doesn't matter anyway because I already voted. So there."

Book The Vote

This weekend, I sat outside my local library with voter registration forms. I did not approach people and ask them to register. I had a small sign with the words "Register To Vote" on it. It also had an "Obama '08" statement at the bottom. On Saturday, a very nice woman who was being paid by the Republican Party chatted with me while we greeted the people who came by. I registered 4 people and she registered none. Sunday, a very talkative man, being paid by the Republican Party, chatted at me for 2 hours straight as we greeted people. In the 2 hours I was there, I registered 4 people and he registered 1.

Both of the Republican workers were very nice and both were surprised I wasn't being paid. I just wanted to make sure people registered. If the registration stats from my very small, unofficial sample, are correct, Obama will win in a landslide. But then again, maybe Republicans are just so committed, they've all already registered. We'll find out soon!

The most poignant moment for me was when a very distinguished looking African-American man stopped and asked me for a form. He sat down and filled out the paperwork while my Republican buddy and I chatted (or while R chatted and I listened). When the registeree handed me the completed form, he said, "I am almost 80 years old and this will be my first time voting." I replied, "Congratulations," as I shook his hand. Then he said, "I still have the hole in my head where the police hit me the first time I tried to register." I felt like crying but I retained my composure as I shook his hand again and he continued into the library.

It wasn't that long ago when a young black man could be beaten for trying to vote. Today the son of an African man can run for president. I want to say we've come a long way. Instead, I'm haunted by the vision of American police beating American citizens who wanted to vote.

Caught!

Hey big, long, hard to pronounce string of digits, you can run but you can't hide. Your buddy tried it but those UCLA wiz kids finally tracked him down.
So enjoy your freedom, but just remember, your days are numbered. MWAHA HAHAHA

Comments

When I went into the blogger editor today, there was a comment waiting for my approval which was very strange because I didn't think I set moderation on. I freed the comment from limbo and then realized I didn't know what post it went with. It said something like, "what about the homeowners?"

I went to the settings for blogger and saw that I had clicked the option to moderate comments that arrive 14 or more days after a post is published. I started to browse my older posts and, while I never did find the moderated comment I was looking for, I did see several comments on older posts. I will browse the help manual this weekend but if you already know how to know when new comments arrive on blogger, let me know. I typically only glance back a couple days to see if I have new comments.

UPDATED: I found the late arriving comment. It was on my bailout whine that was posted over a month ago. By my BFF anonymous.

Grampa McCain

via johnnyb



I think he wants to be present, excuse me I mean be president, not be president,er be present.

42 More Days

I usually listen to NPR on my way to and from work. These days, all that is on during my commute time is election news or financial crisis news and I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE! Yesterday I stopped at the library and got Fool Me Once on tape and started listening to it this morning on the way to work. The ride is typically 20-25 minutes and the CD is about 10 hours long so I figure it will take about 2 weeks (working days) to get through. If I listen on the weekends too, it might only last me a week and a half. With six weeks until election day I figure I'll get through 4 books at least. Any suggestions?

Tomato Bread

I made a new batch of bread this weekend and it is nice and wheatie. I used about 1/3 whole wheat flour. Following zoebakes' advice I bought some wheat gluten to help the rise. I added about 1 T of wheat gluten, and reduced the white flour by the same amount. The bread is wonderful and crusty and chewy.

I've mentioned before I use my toaster oven to make the bread because I don't make much at a time and I don't want to heat up the kitchen too much. Here is a picture of my oven before I add the bread. I don't have a small baking stone so I use my stoneware pie plate. The rack is on the lowest level and I've used the oven pan and rack to put the stoneware on. I add the water to the baking pan and the little oven works just like the grown up one.

Here are the pictures of the Cherry Tomato breads I made; the roll was a little thicker and softer. I used grape tomatoes and when I halved them, I squeezed out the seeds. My breads might not look quite a nice as Zoe's but they tasted great. Next time: More tomatoes!

Wheat! Bread! Yay!

I'm very happy Zoebakes has joined Twitter. I saw her following* me last night and quickly tweeted her to tell her how much I'm loving having Artisan Bread sitting in my frig, ready to bake when I get home at night. My last batch was the light wheat - delicious. I told her I want it to be wheatier and she told me to get some wheat gluten. She also told me to try Cherry Tomato Baguette with it. How did she know I LOVE cherry tomatoes? And I love my balsamic vinaigrette I reduced to yummy syrup consistency; it has a faint taste of chocolate now.

This weekend I'll use the toaster oven for my creations but it is getting cooler and soon I'll be able to make bigger batches in the regular oven.

*following is not stalking, it just means she signed up to see messages posted by me. You can follow me too but be aware I don't tweet very often.

47 More Days

I am so tired I could write a song about being so tired...but that's been done.

I'm tired, tired, tired of election coverage. And I'm tired of both sides; it all sounds the same to me now. This is what it sounds like:

You're going to raise taxes.
Am not!
Are to!
You're a liberal wacko!
I know you are but what am I.
You're a facist neocon!
Am not!
Are to!
Am not!
You're a poop head!
You're a booger!
I am rubber you are glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.

And that, my friends, is what election propaganda sounds like to me.

Does not!
Does to!

Did You Know?

I had a whole post and then Blogger went crazy and it disappeared so I'm going to try and recreate it.

I was cleaning out old bookmarks and rediscovered the Internet Public Library. While looking through the stacks I found the section on the Presidents of the United States. Did you know only 15 presidents, out of the 43 we've had, have served more than 4 years? 14 of them served 8 or more. Coolidge became president after Harding's death, was then elected and served 6 years but refused to run for another term which would have allowed him to serve 10 years. He thought the longer term wouldn't be good for him, his family, or the country. FDR ignored Coolidge's advice and was elected to a 3rd term and then 4th term* but didn't live to talk about it. 8 of our presidents died in office, 4 of those were assassinated. Lot's of interesting facts. I may just do some more studying, starting with Washington and working my way forward.

And speaking of presidencies, if you think campaigning is rough these days, you should read about how vicious campaigning was in the olden days.

*updated to reflect the comment. Bad editor, bad editor.

Burn After Reading

BNFC and I went to the movies today and, after paying the exorbitant amount of $7.50 for the matinee, saw Burn After Reading. The 7.50 was a shocker but the movie was worth it. It was typical Coen brothers and well done; good acting, crazy plot, several surprises and pure entertainment. Just what we need in these crazy times. Don't try to figure it out, suspend disbelief and go along for the ride.

Always Meerkats, Never Badgers

Via verbatim. Absolutely great monologue by Craig Ferguson.


Vote 08!

Top 5 Coen Brother Movies

Something fun and definitely not politics. Name your top 5 Coen Brother movies. Mine are:

1. Fargo
2. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
3. The Big Lebowski
4. Blood Simple or Raising Arizona
5. Raising Arizona or Blood Simple

Have to confess: I haven't seen No Country for Old Men yet because I'm scared. But I'll see it someday.

Frannie and Freddie

This came to me on the way to work while I listened to NPR talk about the take over.

Fannie and Freddie were bankers
Lordy, how they could lend
Swore to be true to investors
Yeah, make sure we all could spend
They were our banks, wouldn't do us no wrong

Don't have the rest of it, and knowing me I won't get back to it soon. So you just get the snippet.

Not Politics

Today I'm all about food.

Last week, BNFC and I went to Gilcrease Orchard and picked us some zucchini and pears. The trip made me wonder why this has not been part of my life for the past 27 years here. Sorry Deb.

I don't have to think about what to do with pears yet because they are not ripe but I did need to find something for zucchini. Don't get me wrong, I love zucchini but I have enough of it now that I needed more ideas. And then verbatim sent me to this link. The cake looked yummy but what really interested me was the fried zucchini.

I grated up most of a largest zucchini and threw it in the pan that I'd sprayed with olive oil. I cooked it until it was pretty dry and then added one beaten egg and a little salt. Then I topped it with grated Parmesan. It was delicious. I didn't add the Italian seasoning mentioned in the article, but I'm sure that would be good too. You can add as much egg as you want; it just depends on how omeletty you want it to be. I went with less egg and was happy. It isn't the prettiest dish I've ever seen but it sure was good.

The Over Under

When I arrived in Las Vegas 27 years ago I had no idea what an over/under is. For those of you who may not know, the over/under is the a game total you can bet against. So if the total on a football game is 38 you can bet whether you think the total points scored will be above or below that number. When I came to Las Vegas I was working for handicappers who bet on the over/under and I programmed their secret formula into the computer so they could more quickly 'predict' the outcome of the game.
I digress. Today CNN had this poll on their website.

Which party's convention made the stronger case for why its candidate should be elected to the White House?

Democrats 58%
Republicans 33%
Neither 9%

Let's call these the over/under numbers. Are you taking the Dems over or under 58% of the popular vote? Repubs over or under 33%?

I think most of you are taking the under on the Donkeys and the over on the Elephants so I will adjust the numbers by 1/2 of the 9% 'Neither' block giving the Rs the benefit of the doubt. That makes it:

Democrats 53.5%
Republicans 37.5%

Now where do you stand?

Still 62 Days

But I just couldn't help myself. If Dooce's readers are any indication, Obama will win in a landslide. Of course, you might push back and tell me Dooce's audience is a bunch of liberal, leftist whack jobs. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. 62 more days.

UPDATED: Again, can't help myself. Do some people just not remember what they've said in the past? You know they have ways of digging those things up for you before you make the next speech.

62 More Days

It's hard to find a lot to blog about when everywhere you turn you see Tina Fey* Sarah Palin on the news. I've decided not to pick on Sarah because the media is doing such a good job. I do have to say to my friends, the Republicans, it's going bad when you have to blame the media for all your problems. Hillary tried it and it didn't get her anywhere either.

In other news, some would question my use of blog as a verb. They tell me I post on a blog. But posting just doesn't sound right to me. So I will blog; I'm such a rebel.

In still other news, I'm switching back to hot coffee. My seasons are determined by personal signs, not the traditional chill in the air, birds on the wing, or leaves jumping off trees. You know that summer is over when I switch out my coffee drink. No more iced quad espressos.

And in more news than you'd ever want, I used italics in the place of quotes in the paragraph above because I didn't want to end up here.

*I'm allowed to use that joke because I noticed the similarity before Jon Stewart put it on TV."

64 More Days*

This article in the Sun points out how political strategists "have used the sensational to misdirect voters from real issues as a way to get their candidates elected." My brother's post today is of a similar vein - but funny. I googled the psychologist mentioned in the Sun article and found this Washington Post article from last week.

"We are continuing to navigate through the modern world with a Stone Age mind," Davis said"

And so, it seems, I might as well stop hoping for the media to focus on the issues. I'll just start marking the days to the election.

* Edited from 63 to 64 because, as Brian pointed out, I'm really waiting for Nov 5.