Menu of the Day & My Thanksgiving Thanks

Menu of the Day:

In my glass: Fresca & cranberry juice (but earlier it was a glass of cabernet)

iTunes: Needtobreathe's "Outsiders" (I really love these guys! I think eque that you first turned me on to them.)

Book: I put the Follett book down for a bit and have torn through two survival books and i am now on my third.

A couple of weeks ago i couldn't sleep and came across the History channel's show on the Andes Mountain survivors. I had read the story back in the 1970's. But the History show was so compelling i stayed up watching until 3:00 am and decided i wanted to read the book again. So i bought Alive and then went back and bought the book written by the Nando hero, Miracle in the Andes. (Nando is the one who led the long trek to get them rescued off those mountains.) After i read those two books, i went back to Barnes and Noble a third time and bought the Shackleton's Endurance book which was written in the 1950's about the Antarctica ship trapped in the ice from the early 1900's. The books are all about leadership and are amazing stories. And today I read the Vanity Fair story in the current Cher issue by the Seabiscuit author about WW2 survivors in the Pacific in a life raft. It is also a riveting read, much like what i've been reading. These books affect me much like Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild and Into Thin Air. I LOVE survival stories. (Maybe because never doing anything that seems dangerous. )

Stupid Commercial: OMG, have y'all seen the Snuggies commercial with the whole family wearing these stupid blankets with armholes? The family is around the piano singing. The teen girl is wearing one with peace signs on it. I tried to find the YouTube but i think it's too new to put up. I'll look later. It looks like an SNL parody.

Best Commercial: The little baby in the walker tearing down the roads at 60 miles per hour and alongside the train. What is that commercial? It's hysterical but i forget what it advertises. I've only seen it twice.


What i'm thinking about: The North/South Korea happenings and what might happen in the future. Scary.


On that note, let's get on with with the Thanksgivings.

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1. I am thankful that i never had children. I think there is no way to do the job well of parenting and i hate not doing a job well. I would not have been a good parent and i am thankful that i knew that ahead of time.

2. I am thankful that my siblings had children. I love those connections i have with Kylee (and at times her sister Ashley) and my nephew Brian. I learn from them as much as i hope they learn from me.

3. I am thankful for my husband. He is my Nando. I read that book Alive and thought, this is how Brian would behave in a catastrophic event. He would know what to do. And i love that i am married to a man who makes me feel safe.

4. I am thankful for my job. A year ago i thought i needed to quit. Instead i tried to find ways to help change what seemed wrong and that helped. And some things just happened because of some good people who are working with me now. I feel very lucky to be working where i am in such a good job with good benefits. If i ever complain again i want someone to slap me.

5. I am thankful for my health. I know i complain about getting old and the truth is this is the first year i have been reminded i would get old. I feel more tired than i used to at night. I can't read print as well, and driving at night is more difficult, i have terrible night sweats and high blood pressure and have to take pills, but yet i am pretty fit and can still run four miles without stopping and i don't have any aches or pains, even in my knees. And i feel great. I never want to take it for granted.

6. I am thankful for iTunes and all the good music out there for me to explore!

7. I am thankful that i never seem to be out of books to read.

8. I am thankful for snow days! It was great to be off today. I took a two hour nap. Watched a couple of episodes of DVRd Glee and Parenthood, packed for our trip and can't really remember what else. But i was never bored.

9. I am thankful for a warm home and power during this record breaking temperatures which are supposed to be in single digits tonight! It's not even Thanksgiving and we already have three snow days to make up. There is no school tomorrow either!

10. I am thankful for many people. But right now I am most appreciative and in awe of my brother Troy, and his son Brian, and my niece Kylee, who have been working hard to get through some very tough times. My brother with the loss of his son Josh and Kylee with her lupus and being the first in our family to get a bacherlor's degree in between her flares that have put her in the hospital. I don't believe i would have as much grace and perseverance and the same kind of positive forward thinking to keep doing what they are doing to work through it.

So what are y'all thankful for?

And if anyone finds that horrible Snuggies commercial, let me know. I will put it up here.

I Must Be Drunk ...Because...

I must be drunk....because....

1. I must be drunk because....I am listening to Christmas music on my iTunes as i type. And i like it!

2. I must be drunk because i bought a Christmas cd on iTunes just now. I bought Dustin Kensrue's. It almost doesn't sound like a Christmas album, sort of how Bruce Cockburn's doesn't or Ottmar Liebert. You could almost listen to it all year.

3. I must be drunk ....cause i watched George W.'s interview with Matt Lauer the other day and i didn't feel the need to throw anything at the tv while watching it. I didn't even feel my blood pressure rising as i watched.

4. I must be drunk.... because i already bought a Christmas present today. (for my parents)

5. I must be drunk...because i called my mom today too.

6. I must be drunk... because i do not take Sarah Palin seriously when she says she is going to run for President.

7. I must be drunk ... because I was at an all day union meeting for the next 'flavor of the month' on the new union vision and i signed up for one committee and ALMOST signed up for a second one. In the end i backed out, knowing i can only be committed so much. But that i even considered it... makes me feel like i must be drunk.

8. I must be drunk...because i bought 6 books this month alone. I am so worried that i won't have something to read at our beach vacation on Thanksgiving that i keep buying books.

9. I must be drunk...because i keep posting odd contrasty photos of myself. (This photo i posted today is me holding either a bottle of wine and i thought, but then again, it could be a bottle of olive oil. Extra virgin of course. )Just like me! )

10. I must be drunk...because i spent $45 on shampoo and conditioner today.

11. I must be drunk because i have cooked three nights in a row.

12. I must be drunk because i am.

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What things have you done lately that make you want to blame it on being drunk? (I'm thinking louie, this is right up YOUR alley! LOL.)

Things that Shouldn't Be....

Menu of the Day:

on iTunes: 75 and Sunny by Ryan Montbleau

In my glass: Nothing yet, but i'm having dinner at Primo Grill with Julie, so it will soon be something red!

What I'm reading: I loved Pillars of the Earth so much that i am now reading the second Follett book: World Without End, I like it too.

What I am procrastinating about: NOTHING. I'm caught up. I'm working on that will thing too.

What I'm looking forward to: Tomorrow.

On with the list with things that shouldn't be.
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1. I was watching the Seahawks game last weekend, something i don't normally do, but during the commentary they cut to a shot of a beautiful facility where the Seahawks practice. We care more about the buildings where pro athletes get to practice and play more than we do about the buildings where our children go to school.

2. Do i need to even mention that teachers/educators should make the salaries of pro athletes and vice versa? Why should athletes be paid millions for a talent that comes so easily?...No i don't think i need to mention it... but i do it anyway.

3. Christine O'Donnell should never have been given the time of day. How can people in this country take her seriously? And of course, it goes without saying about Sarah Palin.

4. Kim Kardashian should not be registering on any radar either. What's her claim to fame? Her Dad was an OJ supporter?

5. The prescription you take for your medical ills should not have more side effects than your original affliction.

6. People who vote a rabidly anti-tax ballot should not be able to send their kids to public schools and they should be prohibited from ever calling the fire department or police in the event of a disaster. Nor should they visit a park. (In fact, they should even had children at all! ) and while we're at it, they should not be driving over bridges and on the freeways either. They should just stay home!

7. VHI should not be allowed to re-run Saturday Night Live. I got very excited when on our DVR was a re-run of a 2001 episode with Ryan Adams as the musical guest. VHI cut about an hour of it to make way for their bazillion commercials and cut the music out all together and most of Weekend Update too.

8. Nobody should remake a Janis Joplin song really. I don't care who you are. It can't be done.

9. Democrats should quit being namby pamby. If Obama folds on the Bush tax cuts i will be very disappointed. I do NOT respect pandering. We didn't lose the House because of our ideology so much as we lost it because we are a bunch of lazy fuckers who believe everyone in our party has a good idea that needs to be heard. Plus we're cheap too.

10. My new favorite show Parenthood may get cancelled, but yet Kim Kardashian still remains a household name.

11. OOps, i will have to come back to this because it's almost time for me to get picked up! I have more.

Come and tell me some of yours!

Post Election Random Rants...

Menu of the Day:
Music: "There is So Much More" by Brett Dennen

The best thing: My House Democrat legislators, the ones whose campaigns i had been working on, keep gaining! (They are still too close to call, but i think our guys won!)

The thing i keep procrastinating about: Except for the will, i have actually fulfilled all of my previous procrastinations.

Book: I am reading "Saving Max". It's about a kid with Aspberger's who may or may not have committed a murder. I think i have already figured out the ending.

What i am looking forward to: I have Veteran's Day off and then the next day off because i am meeting a financial planner. I look forward to getting money stuff more organized. Then we will do that will.

OK, on with it.
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1. I love Election Night and when we get home, directly after work, we make popcorn and channel surf between the news and watch the results. For me, it's like the SuperBowl (only without the cool commercials).

2. Then after having about three glasses of wine i call up my friends from work who are politicos and we talk about how mad we are or how happy we are.

3. What was MOST disheartening to me was the loss of Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. This guy is so solid and principled. When they get a raise, he writes a check for that amount and sends it back to the US Treasury. He refused to engage in negative campaigning and that may be part of why he lost (besides being too liberal and not riding that fence). He voted against the Patriot Act. He crossed party lines to write the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act back in the day, (Which we we sorely need right now. BTW, thank the conservative side of our Supreme Court if you are pissed about all the campaign literature you received this year.)

Talk about a REAL maverick. Feingold was that man, NOT McCain. I used to write about wanting him to run for President. And somebody once said to me that this country would never elect a man with the name Feingold. But look, we elected a man with the name Obama and who would have though that could happen? (the fact that their names and background holding them back is a whole 'nother issue to rant about.)

4. And while i'm on the subject. Negative Ads. Yeah, they piss me off too. But the truth is they do work because people are lazy and they like to vote on a quick sentence with a huge font and provocative shocking message. So if i were to say on this blog right now Jocucina from here on out is going to vote Rebublican you would probably see that and quit reading the rest. Because like Jon Stewart says, people are busy. So yeah, bitch all you want about them, but they are effective. And when someone runs a negative ad against you, you better be ready to fight back.

5. Swift Boat Veterans. Good example.

6. Speaking of Jon Stewart. I watched his rally and loved it and replaced Obama's inauguration speech on my work blackboard with [arts of Jon's Sanity Rally speech, including: "We can have animus without becoming enemies."

7. I wish that were true. But i am not sure it is. And i will play nice ONLY as long as the other side does. I am actually, to tell the truth, rather tired of the namby-pambiness of the Democrats sometimes. Not to mention the laziness and disorganization.

8. BTW, did you see the story where Jon Stewart is the late night leader in TV now, beating both Letterman and Leno. So cool!

9 Democrat campaigns need more people like me helping, but until they get more people like me i can only help so much before i want to tear off someone's face.

10. Like i said, i really want to shoot at something. And i think i would be a good shot too. I might ask for lessons for Christmas. Then when i get really good i might ask for a gun for my birthday.

11. See, i was never THAT liberal on the gun issue.

12. So some folks better watch out. Like anyone, especially a young person, tells me they they don't vote and never will. Cause i will shoot them in the foot just to make them wish they still had health care when the Republicans get it repealed.

13. Anyway, yeah, i am happy that my candidates are doing well finally Patty Murray isre-elected to the U.S. Senate after a close call with Dino Rossi.(The same Dino Rossi who had a recount with our Democratic Governor!) But i am NOT happy that Michelle Bachman is in there. How can this happen that a man like Feingold is out and she is in. How can Feingold be out and McCain still be in? What is up with that? How can a Tea Party dude like Rand Paul win in Kentucky? Thank god i don't live there.

14. I have to say that i am always pretty much proud of our state in spite of how they voted on some of the initiatives. In fact i just interrupted this blog to call my dad to thank him for moving us here.

15. What really makes me mad is all the young voters not voting. There was a story in the news today. About half who voted in the General Election voted this time. I think it's partly because the pollsters and the folks we call when we are doing the GOTV are ignoring them. I keep saying to the political leaders where i work that we need to expand our attention to them.

16. i think read somewhere that Bill Maher said it was an easy message to young voters: (i'm paraphrasing) "Tell them to vote for the party who got them health care until they were 26 years old. Vote for the party who got the troops out of Iraq, a war we never should have been in in the first place!" .... and i think he also said, "Vote for the party who is trying to legalize weed." (But i might have that one wrong! But i actually don't think so, consider it's Bill Maher. LOL.)

What are YOUR random rants and thoughts on Election 2010. (I might come back with more myself, but i realize that these are longer than i meant them to be for one new post.)


Edited to add a photo of this Sunday's starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks because i wrote about him in the comments. This is Charlie Whitehurst and i think i posted about him before because i think he is so cute!