Politics, Schmolitics

The picture above has nothing to do with my post, but it's a good way to break up all the text on the page and it's also a flower from my flower garden. The bloom lasts for 2 days and this one even struggled to look this good due to the intense sun/heat and crappy soil. Oh, I miss Cache Valley soil.

OK, back to why I am here.

I have been pretty uninterested in politics most of my life. Like so many other people my age, the combination of being more "grown-up", our frustration with the current state of things, and history being made before our eyes has actually inspired me into paying attention to what is going on in the presidential election. I have by no means become a junkie about it, but I really want to make a vote I can stand by this November.

If I had to declare my political affiliation, I think I would have to say I was Libertarian - but that's only if I had to label. I don't believe in being on one side or the other, but that's what our 2 party system has forced our country into. There are aspects of both the Republican and Democratic Party that represent me.

Initially, I was leaning toward McCain, but now I am leaning toward Obama. Part of what has turned me off on McCain is how he is campaigning. It's all anti-Obama. While this is commonplace in elections, Obama didn't start doing it until recently (at least on the stations I watch). After a certain point, I guess you can't blame him. I saw a clip of Obama where someone asked him about all of McCain's attacks. His reply was something to the effect that he is sure spending more time criticizing me than trying to promote himself. I thought that was a really good response. Imagine how much more we would learn about a canidate if they spent more time talking about themselves and less about their opponent?

Another thing that I have been surprised by is the lack of attention to McCain's first wife. Evidently, McCain was quite the ladies' man back in the day. When he finally settled down pre-Vietnam, he married a swimsuit model. Looks were very important to him and he was known for being vain. While he has in Vietnam, the first wife was in a horrible car accident. They had to remove portions of both of her legs. When he came home, she was inches shorter and had gained a fair amount of weight. McCain tried to deal with it, but eventually started stepping out on her. The first wife knew, but couldn't blame him because she felt so bad about her own appearances. He started seeing Cindy McCain long before he was divorced. I am pretty sure he married Cindy WEEKS after his divorce was finalized. Ross Perot was a good friend of the McCains at the time and even he was cold to John over this. The first wife is still alive and to this day has not uttered a negative word about McCain. You can google for this to find more info on it. In light of the whole John Edwards affair, I really am surprised that this hasn't popped up in the news. Especially since so many people think the media leans to the left. It may have been in the past, but even Bush's DUI from college made it into the news.

This may seem silly to some that something like this would have an effect on my vote, but call me old-fashioned. I guess I want a president I can respect. I do find it a bit ironic, however, that the once handsome and vain McCain is running against someone much youngerand more handsome. With that in mind, I can see how Obama's "celebrity" status is irritating to McCain. During the last presidential election, McCain was the media's favorite. He's now been replaced with a new and improved model. Almost seems like a bit of karma there.

Now with the whole nomination of the governor of Alaska for VP. I heard her acceptance speech and I was impressed with her ideals, but this is clearly a move to take all of Hillary's supporters that don't want to vote for Obama. While it may be a good move according to the voter numbers, but what does it say about McCain. He made this deicision totally unexpectedly and so uncoincidentally the day after Obama's inspiring acceptance speech. It's clearly a move to win by number of votes, not what he really believes in. This woman was only elected governor 2 years ago and her only other political experience was mayor of her hometown of 9000 people. What has been McCain biggest beef about Obama? Inexperience! McCain's camp said as governor, she has been in charge of the Alaska National Guard for 2 years so that gives her "experience". In addition to all of that, this woman has a 4 month old baby with Down's Syndrome. Call me old-fashioned again, but I don't think that running for VP she be her top priority right now.

And another thing that has annoyed me was how Obama was criticized in the media for choosing Biden because his selction of someone strong in foreign policy only confirms he is weak in it himself. No duh. If he picked someone weak in foreign policy, wouldn't he be criticized for just being even weaker? Seriously.

You would think I am anti-McCain by now and all fired up, which I am really not. This just serves as good conversation when you are in the company of people you can actually talk politics to and not get into an argument. I don't believe in being anti-anything really. While I have never been Bush's biggest fan, one of the best things about leaving USU was leaving the liberal Bush-bashing environment I was in. It's much better to be for something than against. More things can be achieved when you are working for something as opposed to against something.

Now I just need to figure out who I really am for.

Update - Just found this in the news: http://snipurl.com/3l3kf

Between her inexperience and potential for impeachment, McCain may have screwed up big time. He had to have known about this. It would be too bad to see him lose over what seems to be a hasty decision, yet if he can have such poor judgment concerning his choice in VP - what else would he have poor judgment with?

I love Mondays

I never thought I would ever say that. I know it helps that I don't have a M-F job. Mondays just means the start of a new week. Mondays are a chance to make up for being lazy over the weekend. Mondays don't care about all of the things you didn't accomplish last week. Mondays are like a blank slate allowing me to start anew and fresh.

Seems like a good time to remind myself what I am thankful for...
- I am thankful for Piper's strong immune system. Despite her parents both being sick, she only ran a temp of 102 for an afternoon and has had more boogers than normal. I am finally done with my lingering cold. Mike got the cold and a fever which were exacerbated by his 4000 foot nearly vertical hike at work last week. He finally had to go to the doctor and the doctor told him to stay at low elevations until it clears up. While I am sorry he's not feeling totally well, I am happy the doctor told him that because he was going to be leaving for his 4th week in a row to work somewhere above 10,000 feet. I am tired of being a single parent on the weekdays.
- I am thankful that September is almost here. I always thought that summer was my favorite season, but not it is fall and spring. I love the change and transition these seasons bring. I love a bit of a nip in the air. I love the smell in the air during the fall. As my sister once said, it makes you a bit nostalgic for some reason. I'll try to embrace this feeling as we approach 99 degrees today...
- This is a big one - I am thankful for Piper sleeping in until nearly 7am for 3 days in a row. She's been on the 5:30am wake-up for months now. Her napping schedule is up in the air as she figures her new schedule out, but that's OK if I can sleep in until a more decent hour.
- I am thankful for the internet and how it helps me feel connected to people at a time in my life when I don't have many meaningful connections in my 3D world.
- I love that I started reading a novel for the first time in over 2 years (gasp!). I am embarrassed to admit it, but it's true. I finally told myself I couldn't buy another book until I did read something. That plan didn't exactly work, but I guess I have plenty to choose from to read now. I think I just found too many other ways to waste my time (can you say too much internet?). I started reading Eat, Pray, Love and I am finding it a very timely read for me.
- I love remembering how social of a person I am, even in just casual situations. I think that was why I was so suited for being a waitress for so many years. I just like interacting with people. I think a lot of my low points this summer have been due to lack of social interaction. I got a Pip-free afternoon to run errands because my was home sick. I was surprised at how satisfying my friendly interactions with the deli clerk, pharmacist, and cashier and Walmart were. Seems silly, but it was nice to be friendly to them and I am sure they appreciated it because they probably put up with a lot of crap working at Walmart. I stopped in to see if anyone I knew was working where I kinda sorta still work. They just remodeled the restaurant and bar there and I hadn't been in since it was finished. I think it may be the nicest place in Bozeman now. Anyhow, none of my friends were there so I ended up sitting and having a couple of drinks with the regulars because I wasn't ready to go home yet. I really don't know these men well, but it was so nice to laugh and joke with someone other than my husband for a change, even if they were men in their 50s and 60s. It was just nice to have some people contact again. It's funny that this self-professed homebody needs the social interaction. Guess that's why the Myers-Briggs test told be back in the day that I was an introverted-extrovert.
- I am thankful for my bargain-hunting, money-saving nature. The increase in the price of just about everything is almost like a personal challenge for me to be even better at getting a deal.
- I am thankful my supportive, tolerant, patient, and loving husband. Our 11th anniversary is this coming Friday and he has been with me through 2 identity crises. I am certainly not the person he married, but I love that he has allowed me to become who I am today.
- I am thankful for Piper needing my attention right now because I have been online for too long this morning.

Update on the water situation

Friday after lunch, Piper started to feel really hot and started looking not like herself. I eventually took her temperature and it was 102. She hadn't had diarrhea so I wasn't super worried, but it was pretty coincidental for her to get sick considering the late notice on the water restrictions. I had a cold this week, but no fever or anything. I ended up calling the doctor just to check in at least put my doctor on notice that she had a fever. The doctor's office told me there was a virus going around so it may just be that, but to keep an eye on her. I gave her some Tylenol and she went down for a nap. She woke up later feeling much cooler, but I wasn't going to hold my breath yet.

That evening on the 5:30 news, the water test results were revealed and it turned out the water was safe. I got an automated call about an hour later from the health department telling me the same thing. Why didn't I receive an automated call telling me the water was contaminated in the first place is what I would like to know. The article in yesterday's paper mentioned there were a lot of people that were seriously irritated about the late notification. The city has yet to comment on the delay.

I know Belgrade is small, but we do have over 10,000 people. You would think they would have some sort of plan for notifying residents whenever something like this occurs or any other emergency. I guess I have to remember that I do live in Montana and we're a little behind the times here. Belgrade has also more than doubled in size in the last 10 years. Belgrade became the place for those that refused to pay Bozeman's outrageous housing prices. The infrastructure is continually playing catch-up pretty much throughout the valley.

Piper's fever never came back. I guess she had the 4-hour bug. I have been so lucky with her. This is only the third fever she has ever ran and the other 2 were after vaccinations. I have had 2 colds in the last year that she hasn't caught. I am also not a germaphobe. She probably gets exposed to much more than she needs to ;-) but maybe that's the secret. I have had a pretty good immune system all of my life. 2 colds in a year is actually a lot for me. I hope she continues to be like me that way.

Looking past the crap in my water

Last night we received water restrictions because some idiot forgot to turn our city water back online after a software update which may have resulted in not only fecal coliform bacteria, but also an unknown cocktail of chemicals going into our water supply. Basically, wastewater might have back-siphoned into the storage tank. The chemicals mean that boiling is not sufficient and may only concentrate the chemicals as water boils off. They are not certain that the water is contaminated as they are still waiting for results, but you still don't want to take the chance. If contamination did occur, it may take a week before we can drink the water again.

This happened Tuesday night, yet the only reason I even found out was because the person I freecycled some baby stuff to yesterday emailed me the announcement from the health department. Fortunately, Mike got home a day early and was able to go to the store to buy some bottled water. Piper had already gone to bed so I would have had to drag her out. By the time he went to the store, he watched the last water taken off the shelf at IGA and someone in the parking lot told him Albertson's was already cleaned out. He was able to purchase the last 6 liters from a gas station on the far side of town.

It finally made the news last night, but why so late? Normally, this wouldn't annoy me that much, but now that I have little Pip I have much more to be concerned about. I have also never experienced water restrictions that boiling couldn't solve. That just presents a whole new level of challenges. Instead of continuing with my rant, I want to take some time to express some positive aspects to help me from focusing on the problem at hand. Maybe it will turn out that the contamination never occurred after all.

- I am thankful that I have always lived where water tasted good right out of the tap. This says a lot for me because I am a bit of a water snob. I don't even like most bottled waters, but a lot are just filtered tap water anyway.
- I am thankful I live in a country where we have running water that (normally) won't make you sick.
- I love that our water tastes better than Bozeman water just 10 miles away. I can actually smell the chlorine in Bozeman water if it's not chilled. I will say Bozeman water is better than buying a ton as Mike is filling up 2 5-gallon jugs today at his office.
- I love bleach. Clorox for hard surfaces and a little bit of bleach at the end of the dishwasher cycle should do the trick in the kitchen.
- I am thankful that Piper and I have not experienced any symptoms despite drinking water all day Wednesday and Thursday. It is interesting that my cold set in late Tuesday night, but I don't think that's from the water.
- I am glad that this inconvenience is only temporary.