Are pregnant women smug?

Funny clip I just caught on Salon making fun of preggos for being smug. I gotta say I can't really relate, while I always imagined that being pregnant would mean walking on air and wearing a happy, knowing glow for nine months, I can honestly say that I have never been more miserable and uncomfortable in my entire life, not to mention my self-image is hanging about as low as a pair of bra-less, granny boobs right about now, and I can't wait to pop this baby out so I can drink a bottle Zin and throw down some sushi again. Smug I am not.

The real reason I watch TV?

New study suggests TV makes you feel less lonely. While I can't say the reason I watch television is for the company, I will admit that when at home I almost always have the TV on and like a pair of fuzzy slippers or a nice bowl of mac and cheese, it does bring me a great level of comfort. That said, I don't watch Survivor because I think Jeff Probst is my new best friend, I tune in because it's entertaining to watch disheveled grown-ups squabble like a bunch of second graders at recess.

Ready For Seconds?

So excited for TrueBlood season 2! Can you spot the double image in the just released poster?

The reason I did not want to move East of the 405.

Last Friday at work we made a big office move from our cozy eclectic digs above Renee's Bar in Santa Monica, to a new, but somewhat similar space in Westwood. Initially I was against the move simply for the fact that everyone in my office, myself included, resides in Santa Monica and so logically it just makes sense to stay put where we can all reach the office in a five minute drive. After being in our new space a week, I have to admit that I do like the new location, our office is nicer overall, I have more room and most importantly the food options in this neighborhood are astronomically better than around our old office. The only downside to the move is why I feared it to begin with: the commute. 

Now I realize I may have gotten a little spoiled in the last few years, but trust me I have had my fair share of lengthy commutes all my life and I counted myself lucky when my husband and I moved to Santa Monica a few years ago where we both worked and were so close to our jobs that we only needed one car. So not only did this office move require at least a 20 minute commute each way, but we also had to buy a second car. 

All this week I had been trying out different routes to get to work in the morning, suddenly obsessed with my drive time and hoping to shave off a minute here or a minute there. After one attempt on the freeway I decided I don't need that kind of stress in my life and the streets, which ended up being about the same amount of time, would be better for my mental health. However, on Wednesday I had a dentist appointment at 4pm in Westchester, so I figured if I left the office at 3pm and hopped on the 405 I would be there in 20 or 3o minutes tops. After all, how much traffic could there be at 3 in the afternoon on Wednesday? Oh, how wrong I was. I sat in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour. It was crawling so slowly I was even able to pull out my iPhone and snap the above picture without getting in a wreck, simply because I had nothing better to do. Sigh.

A long hiatus and a new adventure

It's been over two months since my last post and a lot has happened since. My lack of blogging was not for loss of interest but rather because I simply have not had the energy for it the past few weeks. The good news is that I realized one of my three goals for 2009 and am happy to announce that I am pregnant and my husband and I will be having a baby in September. For a good six or seven weeks I was extremely tired and had severe morning sickness (whoever coined the phrase morning sickness must have been a man because anybody who has had it knows it goes on all day and night) and so I pretty much wanted to do nothing all day besides sleep. I am finally feeling better, however, having reached the "fun" part of pregnancy otherwise known as the 2nd trimester, my energy is up, I dream of all things chocolate and I am ready to blog once more. 

I don't want this to turn into a "pregnancy" blog, god knows the blogosphere is already filled with those, but I imagine it will be a major subject in the coming months as my belly gets bigger and my life becomes a baby, baby, baby world. I can't be sure of the frequency of my posting, because although I feel better I imagine life will get more and more hectic as the big day approaches, but I have missed blogging and am happy to be back to it.

In Mourning

It was with a big sigh that I read the final words of "Breaking Dawn", the fourth and last book of the Twilight series. It's hard to believe it was just a couple short months ago that I first started down the path of the Bella and Edward saga and now it's over. I always feel sad after finishing a good book, especially a series, which I have invested so much time in that I actually feel I am losing a friend when it ends. I also for some reason find it difficult to go back to "serious reading", so to speak, after being so entrenched in what I consider a guilty pleasure... perhaps I will have to feed my vampire thirst with the Sookie Stackhouse series next.

As to the controversy surrounding the fourth book itself, I can't say I agree, I thought it was a fitting end, not at all what I expected (I figured it would be a disappointment with all the hubbub), but I enjoyed it. To those who claim it wraps up too neatly I can only guess you are either not a true fan or you are lying, because I can't imagine anyone making it through this entire series and not wishing Bella a truly happy ending.

Say Cheese!

I'm happy to see that not everything old and seemingly without purpose has to fall by the wayside. Polaroid will no longer be going the way of the dodo thanks to one Australian artist/patron saint of instant exposure.

Dear 80s, I miss you

Was discussing the 80s with my co-worker this morning and I realized how nostalgic I have become for that era. It used to be that I believed the 80s were just down right awful, awful music, awful movies, awful hair, awful clothes, but now every time I come across an 80s movie on cable or a song on the radio I can't help but eat it up.

This morning my dear pal Brooke reminded me of one of my absolute favorite products of the 80s and so I thought I would share it here for your viewing pleasure:

Lost is back, let the crazy begin!

I'm not even sure where to begin in deciphering all that went down in this week's two hour season premiere, but as usual Doc Jensen finds a way to make sense of the lunacy. Of course as usual the episode left me with more questions than answers: Is John Locke really dead? Why did Alpert disappear in the time flashes? What's the deal with the Dharma dude? Why is Hurley seeing dead people? Will Sawyer ever find himself a shirt? Man I love this show.

Enough Already!

I'm not really surprised GW is demanding 15 more minutes of infamy, he has held more televised press conferences than any President in history, but enough is enough.

"Americans cannot do without sex."

Porn industry seeks federal bailout. Now we know we're in real trouble.

Is there a more annoying person on the planet?

I almost vomited when I came in the house this morning from my early morning walk and found Anne Coulter's face on my television. The woman (I shudder to call her that because it reminds me that we are the same species) is insane, I mean I really think someone ought to lock her up and throw away the key for her own safety and for the safety of others. The woman is a verifiable nutjob... oh, and also an enormous douchebag. Bless you Matt Lauer for keeping yourself so composed when you really just wanted to smack the crap out of her. 

Does anybody actually take this woman (shudder) seriously?! I'd like to meet just one person who has bought and read one of her books and ask them for the love of god, why? Can't you see right through her ridiculously transparent Oh-look-at-me-I'm-so-controversial schtick to see what she really is, a narcissistic psychopath who just wants to shill books with her way-too-old-for-a-miniskirt wearing, too-much eyeliner face on the cover.

I may be small and have no muscles to speak of but if I ever see you on the street Anne Coulter I would seriously think about running the other way if I were you.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

We've been watching a lot of movies over the holiday break thanks to Blockbuster-by-mail, some good, some great, some downright terrible. Here's my thoughts on a few:

Wallstreet-  Great film, and also very timely considering everything that's going on right now with the economy. I am becoming more and more impressed with Oliver Stone lately.

Stepbrothers-  Surprisingly funny, granted I was hungover on New Years Day watching this, but I really enjoyed it, especially compared to the piece of crap Talladega Nights. Definitely worth a watch, I guarantee at least a few laughs.

Hancock-  Crap. Pure crap. I really can't believe how bad this was. I really didn't think Will Smith could do a bad movie till now.

X-Files: I Want To Believe-  Made Hancock look like Citizen Cane. I just don't know why they bothered. It was terrible, it was like one of those weird X-Files episodes that had nothing to do with the greater mystery, an irrelevant one-off and a bad one at that.

Wall-E-  I saved the best for last. This is a truly beautiful film that everyone should see. I think I will have to bump Dark Knight down a notch on my favorites of 08 list, for Wall-E. 

We've also been rewatching Band of Brothers since the Bluray just came out. I am not typically a fan of war stuff, but this is a must-see and well-worth buying.

New Year, New "Rules"

I have never been big on New Year's resolutions, they never stick, I don't even like the word "resolution" it sounds so dire, so serious, like a rule more than a hope for change. However, as 2008 winds down, I can't help but feel a need to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the coming one.  I had quite a lot of goals for myself last year, the most important of which I did not accomplish, so my hope is that this year will be different. 

I did start a blog this year, something I was initially against, but now can't imagine not doing. Every so often I like to read through old posts just to see what I was thinking and writing about and to see how my writing has progressed. This time next year, I will be looking back and reading this post and I hope that by then I will have accomplished three big goals: get healthy/in shape (I'm not talking about a major transformation here, I just want to feel healthier and better about myself), finish a novel (any novel), get pregnant.

This is sure to be a year of great change for the world at large, some bad and some good, but I have hope, for the first time in a long time, about the future of our country. Things look bleak now, but as they say, it is always the darkest before dawn. Wishing my readers (all two of you), friends, family and strangers a happy, healthy and hopeful New Year.

My favorite _________ of 2008.

A few of my favorite things from '08:

-New TV series: True Blood

-Sports moment: winning my office March Madness bracket

-New Food: Panera egg, bacon and cheese breakfast sandwich

-Album: this one is a threeway tie between Coldplay "Viva La Vida"; TV On The Radio "Dear Science" and Kings of Leon "Because of the Times"

-Family Guy episode: "Surfin Bird"... have you heard?

-Specialty coffee drink: Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Twist

-Pop Culture Moment: the Election results

-Guilty pleasure: the Twilight Books series

- Read: "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer (I realized this was published a few years back, but this is the year I read it and it's my list so I can do what I want)

-Concert: Coldplay at the Forum

-Movie: this one is tough because I actually haven't seen a lot of new films this year, but I am going to have to go with The Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder is a close second

-New Gadget: another tie between my iPhone and Kindle

-Personal Moment: Bringing Charlie home from the shelter

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a warm and happy holiday!

Books, books, books

It’s been a weekend of books in Newton, Kansas where we are visiting the in-laws for an early Christmas celebration. We don’t have wi-fi here so I am typing all my blog posts in Word to be posted online when we get back home and I suddenly feel kind of like Doogie Howser. Polished off Twilight last night with a big sigh, wishing it didn’t have to end, but before I had a chance to start mourning I hopped on the Kindle Store and had New Moon downloaded onto the Kindle (man I frickin love this thing) faster than you can say “vampires and werewolves, oh my”. I am now half way through New Moon and anxiously awaiting what I hope is the inevitable return of Edward.

Yesterday we trekked out to Wallyworld, otherwise known as Walmart to the uninitiated, to do some last minute shopping. I was hoping to pick up a few paperbacks to stuff under the tree for my mother-in-law but was shocked and appalled to find that their book selection consisted of half of one aisle filled with Inspirational Religious fiction, Harlequin Romances and a handful of Nora Roberts titles. It’s no wonder Steve Jobs said no one reads in America anymore, how could they with a selection like that in a store that is nearly two football fields wide.

I was ready to give up on the literary future of the heartland when we stumbled onto Pages Books located on Main Street in Newton. A warm little shop tucked in between a close cousin of the former Wild Oats and a cute home furnishings store. There wasn’t an exact rhyme or reason to the book selection and it was small, only one copy of almost all the titles they carried, but oh the titles. It might as well have been a bookcase from my office, from Franz Kafka to Haruki Murakami and everything in between. I picked out two titles for my mother-in-law and felt reassured that there was hope yet.

House

We are usually subjected to about ten hours of various Food Network programming, peppered with the occasional Weather Channel report while visiting the in-laws, but tonight we broke away from Paula Deen’s drawl long enough to watch a rerun of "House" and I was surprised to find that it’s really not a bad show. I also get why it's so popular, its the perfect marriage of the procedural and emergency room dramas, two of the most successful genres on television. That combined with surprisingly decent acting, it's no wonder it's a hit. I may have to add it to my now almost barren DVR list.

Are You There God, It’s Me Sher and I’m Ready For Takeoff

I’m not a religious person. Period. I was baptized as a baby, but I haven’t set foot in a church, except as a tourist and on my wedding day, in at least ten years. I understand and appreciate that religion and God are an important part of a lot of people’s lives, but organized religion is not something I personally find any use for. I do believe in a higher being of sorts, although with each passing year I can’t help but question what that even means.

And yet there are occasions that, for whatever reason, I feel the need to pray to God. I was reminded of this as I sat on an airplane today, taxing towards the runway and was compelled to repeat a ritualized mantra asking God for safe passage through the skies. I have done this every time I’ve gotten on an airplane for as long as I can remember. My father is a pilot, I have grown up around airplanes and been flying probably since before I could even walk so I don’t fear planes or travel and yet every time I board one I go against everything I believe in and say a little prayer.

Why do I do this, when I otherwise find no place for religion in my life? What compels me to mumble incoherently under my breath as I watch the runway disappear and shrink beneath us? If not out of fear and not out of true belief, then what? Perhaps I just find comfort in the ritual, or maybe I'm more of a believer than I think.

W.

I watched W. yesterday (yay for screeners) and was shocked and appalled that the film left me kind of feeling sorry for old Junior. The film was a decent Oliver Stone version of a biopic, brilliant acting by Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Banks, a few questionable performances (the woman playing Condi was ridiculously charicatured) and some weird dream sequences. Of course it's hard to know how much that goes on in the film is imagined versus based in fact (considering it's Stone, more likely the former), and yet I couldn't help but sympathize with the character of GW just a little bit.

Then to add insult to injury, this morning I turned on the tube to find GW being pummeled by flying shoes and I just flat out felt sorry for the guy. I can't explain it, ordinarily I think I might have had some smug satisfaction in seeing him insulted and embarrassed, I mean I still hate him, but suddenly I find it hard not to pity him too.

Bail Out ...the Writers?

A witty piece in this weekend's NY Times arguing for a government bailout of writers.

Vampire Madness

After much curiosity and some pestering from friends that are avid fans I finally broke down and picked up a copy of Twilight (or rather I clicked a button and had it zapped to my Kindle, man I love this thing, but more on that later).

I am only one chapter in but already I'm hooked. It has every element that attracted me to this kind of book when I was of the age appropriate for reading it: lonely, new-to-town protagonist; small, coastal town location, mysterious hot boy. What more could a fourteen year old girl want out of a good read? Just as with Harry Potter, had this book been around when I was a wee lass, man would it have been good and dog-eared by now.

I can't help but wonder though, what it is about vampires that makes them so irresistibly fascinating even though this is the thousandth incarnation of the bloodsuckers to cross my path in my lifetime, let alone the second this year. I can't even begin to fully list all of the vampire lore I've obsessed over, most recently True Blood, then there was The Historian, (which if you haven't read and are even remotely a fan of vampires you should drop everything and pickup a copy right now) and of course who could forget Anne Rice's epic series. What is it about these night-walking, bloodsucking undead we find so fascinating that they continue to permeate every facet of media year after year?

My Kindle is beckoning me, but more on this when I finish.

Recession= Return of the Bush

No not that one. This one.

When is a drunken breast grope just a drunken breast grope?

Obama's speechwriter caught groping Hillary's cardboard "breast."

Yes maybe the guy should show a little better judgement now that he is under the scrutiny of such a public position, but isn't it ever okay to just file this under what it really is: a stupid drunken moment and not have to analyze each square inch of this photo-op for the sexist symbolism contained within.

Besides this is probably the most action Hillary --cardboard or otherwise-- has seen in years.

15 years without sex is 15 years too long.

Came across this piece on Salon by a woman who has not had sex in a decade and a half and found it quite sad. Not so much for the fact that she literally has not had sex in a decade and a half (which is just plain depressing) but more so because she seems to justify her choice with the comfort of such ridiculous cliches as  never having the toilet seat left up or remote relinquished. 

It would be one thing if she simply had no want of male companionship, some women don't, but clearly as her therapist points out, the yearning is there. She tries so hard to separate sex from intimacy but as Broadsheet points out in response to this piece, "sex isn't just the ends, it's also the means." I'm not saying single women should go out and sleep with every man with a penis in hopes feeling a semblance of intimacy, but to cut yourself off entirely from the possibility of sex simply for fear of feeling vulnerable is just plain sad.

Hello, my name is Sher and I am a cyberchondriac.

Cyberchondriac n. --Someone who needlessly fears the worst after using the Internet to self-diagnose an ailment.  usage: "Health information online is breeding a generation of cyberchondriacs."

It's bad and getting worse, my addiction to WebMD that is. Thinking about starting C.A.: cyberchondriacs anonymous. I used to think it was great to have so much information at the click of a button, but when I end up spending more time online "researching" than say, I dunno, working, then I've got a problem. At first it was just a useful tool to look to when I got the occasional cough or pain in my knee, but since my husband and I set off on the bumpy road called trying to conceive it's become a lot more than that.

The fact is, as a relatively educated person, I realize that online medical information must be taken with a HUGE grain of salt and that the majority of it is just plain wrong or better yet, too vague to actually tell me anything, but for some reason I can't stop myself from reading every message board in hopes of finding answers and explanations to every ridiculous question and symptom that crosses my mind. I guess regardless of whether or not the information is helpful, I find some level of comfort in knowing that the information is out there because I am not the only one going through this and while I may not be able to properly diagnose anything, I can at least self-medicate through the shared experience.

Blogging from the couch

We got a brand new MacBook Pro this week, but today is the first day I've had a chance to really mess with it and so far I love it. I use an older model MacBook at work but at home we have been a desktop family since my neon orange clam shell Mac crashed several years ago. I am loving the freedom of being able to surf the net from anywhere in the house, although now our office is seeming more and more like a storage space/dumping ground.

On a separate note, I watched Tropic Thunder last night which I thought was great. Although I can see why they had a hard time marketing it. I would basically categorize it as an intelligent spoof. The premise was great, but what really made it were the fantastic performances from all involved, the standouts being Robert Downey Jr. and of course Tom Cruise. Speaking of which, I just watched Risky Business for the first time last week, not what I expected but also a great film. Tom maybe a little nutty (okay a lot nutty) but between those two flicks the guy has got some sweet dance moves.

Stay the hell out of my womb W

Just when I was getting comfortable with the lame duck status of George W, his administration rolls out plans to enact a "right of conscience" rule which could significantly affect women's access not only to birth control and abortion but also to sperm donation and artificial insemination. Why the hell won't he just go quietly into the night like everybody wants?

What makes a book young adult?

After a lively debate at the office this morning about what makes a book fall into the category of Young Adult, I Googled the topic and found this interesting NY Times article which I had actually read before. The question posed in our debate, however, was, beyond the marketing choices of the publisher, what criteria specifically makes a book more suited towards kids than adults? My boss suggested that it was the simplicity of the prose that made a book Y.A., but there are many youth-geared books that are written in a more sophisticated style. I argued that it simply required a youth protagonist and to have been written specifically for a youth audience, style not being a criteria. However, there are a lot of titles that fall into a grey area of being universally read by both youth and adults. Harry Potter, for the most obvious example is marketed as Y.A. but more adults I know than kids have read and loved it. And then there is the even more undefinable coming-of-age fiction, which often times portrays youth but is geared towards adults (think Catcher in the Rye). So what really makes a book Y.A.? I'm not sure there is an answer beyond being shelved in the kids section at Barnes and Noble.

The Big Reunion

This past weekend was the big 10 year high school reunion. I'm not sure what I had expected really, but it wasn't quite as I imagined. I had been to my husband's a few years ago, in his small hometown in Kansas where they had taken polls on things like who had traveled the furthest to be there (us) who had the oldest kids (an 11-year old at a 10 year reunion), who had the most tattoos (the only two single girls attending). They played music of the era and everyone kind of mingled evenly throughout the evening. Mine on the other hand was a little more casual, no fun polls and nostalgic tunes and as the evening progressed I couldn't help but notice that the old high school cliques had reformed as if we had just graduated yesterday. It was stunning really to see that nothing much had changed in that sense. I made a point of saying hello to a girl who I knew in school, but had always seemed to dislike me for some reason, and was pretty much given the brush off. I guess I expected a little more maturity. Maybe in another 10 years.

There were some plusses however, I reconnected with one of my best friends that I hadn't seen in, well, 10 years, as we had grown apart towards the end, and am hoping we will now stay in closer contact. There were a handful of people it was nice to catch up with but, all in all, it was a surreal experience just being in a room full of so many familiar faces yet feeling as if I had nothing to say to them beyond "and what do you do?"

Nano Update

Once again Nanowrimo has come to a close and once again I have failed to reach the 50,000 word count. Not even close. And no I didn't manage my lesser goal of 30,000 either, I didn't even manage to beat last years best count, barely squeaking out 7,000 words. Sigh. I was really hoping this year would be the year, mostly because this means I will now have to attempt it again next year. I do, however, like what I started so I have made a new goal of finishing a first draft by the end of the year. Fingers are crossed.

Vampire Weekend

I'm not talking about the band, although they are awesome. And no I'm not talking about Twilight either, but rather the less-discussed vampire fare of the weekend: the season finale of True Blood. From the opening credits to the last scream (of which there were many) I thought it was a fantastic end to a so far great new series. HBO has finally got some fresh blood in their line up --pun intended. I loved the way the season's mystery was tied up and the loose ends that were left hanging have me excited for the new season, which much to my surprise is less than a year away, shocking considering how few and far between HBO's seasons tend to be. I am grappling with the thought of diving in and reading the first Sookie Stackhouse book while I wait, my only fear is that it will either be better than the series --or worse-- or that it may reveal things that have not yet happened  on the show. If you haven't checked out this great series I highly recommend catching up when the DVD is released, well-worth the watch.

What "type" of blog am I?

Interesting site that analyzes your personality based on inputing your blog address. The result is almost instantaneous so I'm not sure exactly how it works, but here was my result:

"The Performers:

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don't like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions."

It then goes on to show a brain activity chart that indicates that I am a "Feeler" versus a "Thinker".

All in all I wouldn't say the analysis is very accurate, I mean the second paragraph is pretty on the nose but the first bit about living in the present moment couldn't be further from the truth. I wonder though if this means my blog does not reflect my true personality or if this blog analyzer is just a load crap. Most likely the latter, but I can't help but wonder what my blog says about the kind of person I am.

Being Realistic

So I'm officially done with the false hope that I will make it to 50,000 words on my Nano novel. Barring a miracle or at the very least the next two weeks off of work coupled with about 100 gallons of coffee I just don't see how it will be possible to make it from my puny word count (so small I am embarrassed to even admit it) to the finish line by the 30th. This damn cold I got back on Election Day has really been the bane of my existence all month and made it nearly impossible to focus on anything productive. I refuse to give up entirely, however, and instead have decided to go for a more attainable goal of 30,000 words by the 30th. I figure it will still be my personal best so far and I can always try again next year and it's better than giving up entirely which I am feeling pretty close to doing at this rate. Blogging will be at a minimum till the 30th as I must use every spare minute adding to the word tally.

No communion for you!

Procrastinating for a moment online and just saw this story:

"A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him 'constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.'"

Really? REALLY?!

This is why religion scares the crap out of me.

Nano Update

Off to an incredibly slow start on my Nanowrimo novel, and I mean slooooow. I should be at about 20,000 on Saturday, but at this point I'm closer to 20,000 minus a zero. Started off the month on the wrong foot with a bad cold, which I still can't seem to entirely shake, and which really threw me off, pretty much didn't write a single word the entire first week. I have just about two weeks left to write about 47,000 words, but I'm not giving up hope yet. Last year I was off to a tremendous start the first week and then petered out, only managing 11,000 words for the month, so I am hoping this year will be the opposite, slow start, fast finish. We shall see. Before I waste my daily word ration on this blog I better get back to it.

I would prefer National Bacon and Sex Day

According to Broadsheet yesterday was National Men Make Dinner Day. Lucky for me, that's pretty much everyday in my house. I would've suggested taking the chef duties for the evening had I known, but we ordered takeout anyway so I figure that covers it.

A sad State of affairs

While I continue to feel overjoyed and proud over Obama's victory, I am saddened and quite frankly disgusted by what looks to be a victory on Prop 8 (although apparently Gloria Allred is getting ready to file suit citing the prop as unconstitutional, my fingers are crossed) not to mention the similar propositions in Arizona and Arkansas. 

To those of you intolerant, self-righteous assholes who voted yes on 8, all I can say is you should be ashamed of your completely unChristian actions. You claim the moral high road, yet I don't think you even know what true morals are. You act in the name of religion and yet your actions reflect a complete and total misunderstanding of the fundamentals your religions are based on. When you finally reach those pearly gates you seem to think you have won entry through, you'd better hope Peter doesn't ask you if you ever passed judgement on your fellow man. I wish you all bitter divorces.

Watching history unfold

I can't stop smiling.

I was glued to the TV starting around 6pm last night, listening to the soothing sounds of Brian Williams' voice (somebody give this guy an award, he really is the best anchor on TV) and watching anxiously as the gray states turned blue and red. Despite my cold, I was ready to stay up all night waiting for the results and things were looking good when around 8pm they cut away to the local news feed. A few minutes later they cut back to the national feed and there on the screen was Obama's picture next to the words Barack Obama elected 44th President of the United States. I took me a whole minute to register what I was looking at, and once I understood I wholeheartedly believed the graphic was a mistake. In a panicked flashback to 2000 I thought they called it too early. What were they thinking?! But then they cut to the massive crowds in Chicago, zeroing in on the smiling, crying faces of so many proud Americans and as Brian Williams' comforting voice confirmed that it was in fact real, I knew it was okay to smile and I haven't stopped.

Now only one question remains, can he deliver? I think he can.

I Voted

I'm home sick today with a nasty cold so I was lucky enough to vote late this morning, avoiding the hour-long line my husband was in this morning for a less annoying twenty minute wait at 10am. I also avoided the working-world voter crowd and instead ended up in line with the much more entertaining unemployed/stay-at-home-mom/retiree/nutball crowd. Also couldn't help but be amused by the pollworkers scrambling around, yelling commands and wielding authority as if they were manning a naval tanker instead of volunteering at a preschool auditorium.

Now it's back to the couch for much needed rest and a catch-up session on All My Children until the election results start rolling in. If I could actually breathe, I'd be holding my breath in anticipation.