Date Night

The furor over the Presidents "date night" just is not affecting me. Honestly, I could care less! I don't ever watch the news, but am still annoyed that it is all over the internet news as well. I guess for some it is news, since they hate him so much, but for me....I have to admit that if it were John and I in the White House and I had the ability to do so...I most certainly would!!

No matter who you are and what your job might be there are just times when you need to go out and have some time with the person you are with. You spend a little more than you would like, but the rewards to your relationship are unmeasurable! I know that the taxpayers and Repubs are raising hell over the Obama's trip to New York, but I could care less. More power to them I say! If he promised, he promised. Good for him for the follow through. I wish I had the money, or John had the ability, to follow through on all of his.our promised activities.

The media needs to concentrate on things that are far more news worthy.

Moving in the Right Direction

President Obama is moving in the right direction with these two moves. First, he is going to rescind a Bush policy that protects pharmacists and medical people who refuse to perform abortions based upon their personal feelings. If these medical professionals feel that strongly about the issue then maybe they need to be in a different profession or another area in the medical field. No matter what you think privately once you enter in to a job where you must service society you had better check your attitude at the door.

The second is the DEA is going to halt the raids for medical marijuana and leave it up to the individual states what to do about it. Currently there are 13 states that allow for medical marijuana. In my opinion in should be in all 50. There is nothing sadder than watching someone who is severely ill, or dying, and smoking pot is the only way that person is able to even eat any food or feel any relief from their disease.

"“My attitude is if the science and the doctors suggest that the best palliative care and the way to relieve pain and suffering is medical marijuana, then that’s something I’m open to,” Obama said in November 2007 at a campaign stop in Audubon, Iowa. “There’s no difference between that and morphine when it comes to just giving people relief from pain.”

I could not agree with the President more!

I'll Be Watching

The President will be speaking on prime time tonight and I will be watching. Like I said before, I had taken a sabbatical from all news of the economy etc., but not tonight. I am anxious to hear what he has to say.

I want to hear how he is going to present the state of the economy, the wars and everything else that I am sure that he is going to touch upon. Time magazine has a list of five things that we should look for in tonight's speech.

I hope that I am not disappointed.

Election Night Hi-Jinx & Ringing the Bell

I have not ever seen an election year that was this unusual. Living in a college town you tend to see many things, but I even remarked to many people, who also noticed this same situation, that I had never seen things like this. All day long it was like a Mardi Gras. People were out and about at all hours and there was an air of celebration and excitement.

We were terribly busy at the coffee mega giant, due to the free coffee for voters, and so I had to wait and vote after work around four. I did not mind because this was the first presidential election for Max to vote and I wanted us to be able to go together. A very exciting moment in both of our lives! We were so busy at work, great to see SO many people who had voted. Thousands came through! For eight solid hours all I did all day was make drinks! I had nearly lost my voice from calling out drinks. Here it is Thursday and I am still hoarse.

Max and I walked to our polling place and did not have more than a five minute wait. He was excited to get his "I Voted" sticker and promptly placed it on the exterior of his mylar Kool-Aid wallet as a memento/reminder.

Then it was time to go to the Election Night party with my friends. We were all so excited to begin watching the returns around eight we finally turned on the TV. Good food and wine were, as always, the accompaniment. Some delicious Fontinella cheese and red zinfandel as well as various Cajun crab dips, spreads, breads and veggies.

As I drove through town, on my way to the party, there were people everywhere! Walking the streets, hanging out on the corner with a Obama cut-out with a tee shirt on it that said,"Vote Obama". I had never seen so many people out on a Tuesday night, let alone an election night, just hanging out. There really was an excitement in the air that you could feel!

We ate and drank and watched many differing channels trying to find one that had the local issues as well as national. Cheering loudly as Ohio was called for Obama!

My friend lives in a very old church. It is in a very, very small little community and sits on a large plot of land complete with parking lot. The owner had put in fake walls and a drop ceiling to make it have rooms. My friend actually has one of the original pews in his office which is in the front area of the old church. Well, the bell in the tower still rings and he will usually ring it on New Years Eve. Well, as soon as McCain gave his concession speech we all got goose bumps and then after Obama was announced and accepted we rang the bell. All of us gathered in the hallway as he pulled the rope and we listened to the bell toll out a new beginning and hopefully better times ahead for our country as well as our place in the world.

DNC or Wing Night?

Hmmmmm, watch the DNC or 25 cent wing night out with the girls? Wing night, PRICELESS!! I decided to go this little neighborhood place, in a nearby city, that has the best wings I have ever come across. I would even gladly pay more! Not only are they the biggest I have ever seen, at this price, but crispy and not dripping in sauce. The big chain places do not even hold a candle to them! Those places think that if they have a thousand flavors and their wings are swimming in it that they rule. I could care less about the hype & sauce. For me it is all about the size and meat on the wing. This place, The Boulevard, has got it down 100%!!

It is one of those small, out-of-the-way, neighborhood places. You have to get there early to get a table or you will have to sit at the bar. You can not take any leftovers with you, but if you do not order enough, they get SO busy that you might wait a long time for another plate. I got 18 this time and barely ate 10. That is how big they are. They even have a decent wine list and a nice glass of red ( Shiraz) only cost me $4.00.

Quality time spent with the girls.......priceless!! Oh, the DNC.....I'll get the high and lowlights later. I can pick and choose what I want to see. As far as I am concerned it has been over for a long time and I'll just wait until it's the end of October and see where I stand.

Elections happen every four years while good times with friends need to be more frequent.

Economics 101

I do not know about you, but I have been more interested in the real "meat and potatoes" of the campaign between Obama & Clinton, than the television ads and the debates. The debates are just too short too cover and real material. They just hit the tip of many icebergs. One of the things that I am very concerned about, as I am sure most of us are right now with the prices of things continually going up and the entire health care mess, I wanted to know what their economic stances were. Also, maybe like you, I want all my information in one nice, neat package. I hate to go back and forth between web pages to read and compare and contrast. So, lucky for me that Mother Jones had an excellent tutorial. An economic policy primer with the stances of both candidates spelled out all nice and the like. It was a good way for me to get the key info, that I desired, with each candidate back to back.

If you have questions about the areas of subprime bailouts, health care and social security, to name a few, then you might want to check this out.