Sorry, still nothing thrilling to report from Good Old Houston.
Tonight: Veg out, watch a movie, do nothing (yeah!).
Tomorrow: Mow lawn, go on a tour of "Haunted Galveston."
Sunday: Sleep-in, give candy to cute kids in costumes, go to G&J's Halloween party.
My observation of the day: Everything is better with chocolate chips in it, especially banana bread. Though I think Sarah should consider the benefits of adding chocolate chips to her owl cookies.
2004's Scariest Halloween Costumes )(warning: this contains some possibly inappropriate and definitely disturbing humor)
Either Apache and Bennet are remarkably unperceptive or dogs don't really get all disturbed and possibly howl during a lunar eclipse. Or both.
Last night I had a lovely dinner at Mely's (mmmm, Mely's), went grocery shopping, and watched the lunar eclipse. Well, we didn't actually leave dinner until it was approaching totality. But then I spent a lot of time in the backyard watching the moon change color. And playing fetch. The last full lunar eclipse I saw was from the back patio on Savage Dr. I took a coin and made a bunch of moons, and filled them in every ten minutes to show how much it was covered. And then I sent it to Odyssey magazine as part of a contest.
Well, enough for a trip down memory lane. I'm playing hooky from class today. Well, not totally, because we're just doing review stuff. But its nice having my Thursday free. I was planning to go swimming, but I left my swimsuit on the ironing board at home.
I had my blood drawn (3 vials! Monsters!) this morning and I'm feeling a little hazy. I think one of Sarah's famous owl cookies is going to help clear that up.
Today is Safety and Total Health Day. Meaning we're not supposed to do anything at work except think about safety. The problem is that Gavin, and Rich, and George are all doing real work. So, now I'm feeling guilty that I'm not busy enough to have enough pressing work to make me want to "squeeze" some in on a day of stand-down. Actually, I'm not that busy at all any day recently.
I'm working out my problems with Rice. Hopefully I get to take a really cool class on robots next semester. Keep your fingers crossed on professors being willing to reschedule classes just for me.
My A/C is broken again. Stupid A/C. Actually it was probably never un-broken, there was just so much wrong with it they did fix everything yesterday.
I am looking forward to an excrutiatingliy boring morning of doing nothing around the house while waiting on the arrival of the A/C repair person. When it comes to repair people, I think we have a very Swiss mentality (you know, an entire country with grocery stores that are open only n the middle of the day). There is a fundamental assumption that I can sit at home all day waiting for a call just to schedule me to sit home all day a second time. I mean, what else would I have to do? Work is SO last year. This holds true for house repairs, deliveries, cable and phone installations.
A/C Update: Its fixed. It took 20 minutes to fix the bad motor. It took another 2 hours to clean out all the oil and goop that was in the system running up my electrical bills since they last fixed the A/C. The good news is that yet again my home warranty paid off. $300 warranty for $500 in repairs. Last year it was $1500 in repairs paid for by the warranty. Life without A/C sucks. I don't know how the southern half of the U.S. could stay populated with these temperatures and no A/C.
Where oh where did my weekend go?
Friday night I watched 50 First Dates and had pizza. I have to say the end of that movie disturbed me. The whole premise is that this girl (played by Drew Barrymore) has no long term memory, every morning, she wakes up and thinks its the day after she had a big accident. Anyway, Adam Sandler falls in love with her anyway. Well, I kept expecting for her to miraculously recover from her memory loss. (SPOILER HERE, as if you are actually going to see this movie if you haven't already) Instead, she stays the way she is, and still has a kid with him. Bizarre. Can you imagine waking up with a 4 year old and not remembering the previous 4 years? I don't think so!
That was longer than I planned on talking about that.
Saturday I slept in, then observed the Soyuz landing. It was interesting. That's really all there is to say about that.
Yesterday I went to 6 Flags with some free tickets Jen got for us. It was fun. I love roller coasters even though they scare the living sh*t out of me! So, we rode the roller coasters all day - stopping only for my favorite junk foods, slushees, french fries, roasted corn, and FUNNEL CAKE. Mmmm Funnel Cake...
Also this weekend, I caught up on reading the discussion groups of my favorite space blogs. Specifically the writings on the upcoming presidential elections. There's the ever famous NASA Watch. Then Space Politics and Kerry Space. Its kind of entertaining. You see, for most space junkies, there's no question, because they lean pretty conservative anyway, and President Bush has a clear vision (if not the funding) for the future of space exploration. But, man, are the Sen Kerry supporters up in a tizzy. They can't help but wish NASA would get off their hands and go to the moon and Mars. But they don't like Pres Bush - and they are looking to discredit him even in the space arena. So there were some pretty vicious discussions and accusations. I like seeing space people all worked up about something (usually things get so luke warm and intellectual when you talk about space policy).
What I wish I saw on those blogs is a discussion, from both sides, about how to get the public more engaged in setting the agenda for the space program. Make it a voting issue. Make it something the public wants to know about how their candidate stands. Then, the debate would get interesting. The only space policy debates between the parties are going on between low-level advisors that probably don't even have the ear of the candidates.
The bottom line is that the general voting public doesn't really care about either party's plans for the space program, so neither of them really have a plan. I mean, Pres Bush announced a "vision", but he hasn't mentioned it since, pretty much not even in a single speech, certainly not in the State of the Union that followed his vision announcement, not even in a campaign rally last week while sitting NEXT TO Buzz Aldrin. Though, one speach is all it took for NASA to be off and running - even without the funding to support it. Meanwhile, Sen Kerry is equally wishy washy about space, saying he thinks the moon and Mars is cool and all, but he doesn't know how much it should be a priority.
Anyway, enough political ranting. Maybe in a few years I'll make a second career of this. But not now. Off to real engineering now.
You're in touch with the world, and you have a very
strong opinion on things like politics and war.
Even if you do end up changing your image in
the future, most of us will still like you.
What band from the 80s are you?
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Makes me want to go work for an international relief agency. Or maybe just not spend $3 on Starbucks (oh, wait, Nick bought me Starbucks this morning).
I'm not so grumpy today. Yeah!
Sad Astros lost. Happy I can cheer for the Red Sox now!
This weekend: Tonight - NADA. Tomorrow - Work (Soyuz landing). Sunday - Astroworld (Jen got free tickets from a co-worker).
Yeah for the girl that shaved off her hair to protest stupid French laws. Boo for the French that allow chaplains in schools but not "Islamic veil (head scarf, bandanna, beret), a Jewish skullcap, a large Christian cross and a Sikh turban." I think this law just exposes some deeply rooted prejudices in Western Europe against non-Christians. At Cari's urging, I am also adding this comment: in addition to allowing chaplains to remain in the public schools, the French are also allowing students to wear small crosses - just not large ones. The chaplains are required to take off their frock, though, because that also is conspicuous religious attire. Someone I think the chaplains are more dangerous to a secular state that someone dressed as a priest.
I think I must be grumpy today. I haven't really noticed myself doing anything grumpier than usual today, but the people around me are all snappy. And when its just one or two people, I assume its them. But when its everyone, then I wonder if maybe its me.
University of Vermont, where my brother Nick goes to school, had a riot to celebrate the Red Sox win. Sarah reminded me that people burned couches (couches!) for the Braves back in '96. I don't really understand this behavior. According to the e-mail I was forwarded about UVM: According to early reports, more than 1,000 students participated in the riot, in which a service van was tipped on its side, close to 20 campus light poles were snapped off and several windows were broken... Police officers, following well established response protocols, deployed pepper-ball launchers to disperse the uncontrolled mob and restore order. The launchers deliver paint-ball-like balls filled with Oleoresin Capsicum, an industrial form of the capsicums that make chili peppers hot and spicy. I mean, really, can't college students just get drunk and have sex to celebrate?
Last night I had a really interesting conversation about the future of the space program. I'll post my thoughts later. Now, I try to squeeze some work in before heading to class in 45 minutes.
I am so tired.
My A/C at home is barely working. Meaning it works for a few days, and then stops. My room stayed cool last night, but Cari and Nick opened their windows, and their rooms turned really hot and humid. The home warranty people are sending someone out someday to take a look at it. I wonder if a broken A/C is an annual thing in the nightmarish swamp of Texas - last year it was the coil. What will it be this year?
Where oh where is the fall weather that can be so beautiful here? Or, even better, why oh why can't I move back to the north and have a real fall? Right now, even Atlanta would be "north" for me!
Woe is me. My first ever thoughtful gift to my father was destroyed days after he received it without even a "thank you for thinking of me while you were in the southern hemisphere." Good thing it was just thoughtful and not expensive. Its another lovely item to add to my novel-in-progress about my crazy family.
My mom says my "woe is me" about flying is getting almost unbearable. I'm working on it, really. Soon, I will be in the skies again, I promise -- watch out birds, planes and superman!
Tonight West Wing finally premiers. Hip hip horray! And we're having a house guest and making fajitas. MMMM Fajitas. Anyone else want to come over?
I feel the need to comment on the ironies in Cari's blog about t.v. usage. Nick (my roommate) just got a plasma t.v. for his bedroom. Cari is priding herself in not having a t.v. in her bedroom. Of course, in almost the same breath, she makes fun of the t.v. I have in the living room. Which I got for free. From Aunt Mary. I gave my old 13" t.v. from college to Nick (my brother) to take with him to school, so the 27" one from Aunt Mary was an upgrade. Everyone makes fun of it because its so small -- that is, until they see the t.v. in my bedroom, which I got when I was 8 years old (I think for a good report card or selling the most candy in a class fundraiser, I can't remember) and used to be connected to a TI-computer (yes, seriously). That t.v. still has knobs and dials. Anyway, despite being holier-than-thou about not having a tv in her room, she wants me to replace the archaic one in the living room. I want a trip to Hawaii and some flying lessons. Someone tell me where to spend my money! :)
My stupid alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. That's when I realized, for the last 7 weekdays in a row, I've woken up before 7 a.m. I was so groggy, I turned it off and forgot to reset it to a later time. Next thing I new it was 8. Cari's excuse for oversleeping was that her dog got into a fight with the alarm at 5:30, which is funny too. So, I didn't really get into work until just before 9. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but I have to leave early for class this afternoon.
Why? I'm now part of an Honor Code investigation. No, I didn't cheat. But someone in my class did, and I'm the only person that has "pristine" homework to share with the investigating committee. You got to give it to the student body at Rice for taking the Honor Code seriously, but, one more inconvenience for me.
Gavin's blog entry about selecting a domain name made me laugh today, even if he was making fun of me:
After discussing welovespace.net and ravenslake.net we ended up compromising by selecting v-infinity.net. If you go there right now, it doesn't look very promising. Jen does not yet have her laptop, after all. And if you're not familiar with astrodynamic terms, the term V-infinity describes the velocity a vehicle has as it departs the gravity sphere of influence of Earth and embarks alone around the Sun. Pretty neat when you think about it.
Upon hearing the name, Becca called us nerdy. Which is terribly funny considering she attended Star Trek conventions. In costume.
I love airplanes. I love old airplanes. I love new airplanes. I love biplanes. I even like Waco biplanes even with insane wing walkers that are unnecessarily loud with their jet assist. Though I prefer the sound of a rotary engine. I love the C-130. I love gasping the height of a C-5. I still think A-10's deserve the name Warthog because they are freakin' ugly. I love enormous helicopters named after Indian tribes. I love precision flying and I love the Air Force Thunderbirds nearly as much as the Navy Blue Angels. I love smoke and demonstrating bombing runs. I love when the airplane races the jet powered fire enginer (which I didn't actually witness this weekend). I love when an Extra flies strait up until it can't fly any more and hangs in the air for just a split second before tumbling back down. I love seeing a twin engine prop plane fly upside down and look like its ready to fall out of the sky but then recover perfectly.
Ah, I love airshows. And it was just one more reminder as to why I'm going to start risking my financial solvency by going back to flying.
On Saturday I actually worked. But it was fun work, because we got to drive a rover underwater in Key Largo from the control center here in Houston. That rocked. This morning was awesome too, because the father of modern cardiovascular surgery visited us. I got to be the communication goddess, which was fun, and it has made me feel that being a capcom is my calling. Unfortunately, that whole not being an astronaut thing might get in the way. Anyway, its lots of fun. Its nice to have a week or two of fun at work for a change.
Today, I am wishing I still was registered to vote in a place that matters. Today, Sen. Kerry is in West Palm Beach and Pres. Bush is in Boca Raton. The two candidates within 30 minutes of each other, now's the time for an all out slug fest. On a related note, today's probably a bad day to fly to South Florida.
I am sadly leaving Santorini tomorrow morning. I don't know why I choose to live in a place like Houston, when I could live in this island paradise. Black beaches (actually kind of salt and pepper colored), tall cliffs, beautiful weather. Oh, and the food! Yeah.
After a long ride tomorrow, we intend on ending up in central Greece to go to Meteora, where the monks live on top of cliffs.
Do I have to go back to Houston?
You are Rerun!
Which Peanuts Character are You?
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Whew. What a busy week. Almost over. I would go home now, but I must wait around a two more hours for some more information. In the meantime, I'm at my desk, and they are doing construction in the hallway outside my office, and the grinding noise of the drill is giving me the shivers.
Nick got a new bird last night. His name is Oliver. I didn't even realize there was a bird in the house when he came home last night and when I got in this morning. I can't wait to meet him.
Nick also got me a t-shirt that says "I'll Mess With Texas." It cracks me up. The same company sells a t-shirt that says "Yeehaw is not a foreign policy." Maybe I can get that one on a bumper sticker to replace the one that said "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup" that was on my old car. Though, I was leaning toward "Well-behaved women rarely make history." Maybe I'll use yeehaw until the election and then cover it up with well-behaved women. Though some people think I should just buy another dragon sticker.
In only took me three years of car ownership to decide what bumper sticker went on my old car - hopefully this will come sooner. Why don't I put both on, you ask? Well, I am not actually a big bumper sticker fan. I think a school logo and a parking decal should be sufficient. Though when I was an active pilot, I would have my AOPA sticker on too. (Note, soon to be an active pilot again now that there's a positive balance in my savings account). Anyway, I'm not a big fan of bumper stickers with a "message." Ok, enough babble.
Another busy weekend coming up. Tomorrow I may have to work. On Sunday, I may have to work (probably not though). And then I'm going to the airshow and I'm volunteering to staff a NASA trailer there.
Tonight, Houston fans are forced to choose between the Astros game and the debates. At stake: Leadership of the free world or the NL championship and spot in the World Series. Personally, I think the baseball post-season is too long. How can you spend time caring about divisision then league and then "world" champs? Hm. Just get it over with. But, I'm not a baseball fan. Some of my officemates would like it if baseball lasted all year.
I need continuous reminding that today is Wednesday, not Tuesday. Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday! I forgot that the Soyuz launch was tonight (thought it was tomorrow). I went to the ExPOC at the wrong time this morning (3 hours early). Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday! This is what a 4 day week does to my internal time.
Last night, tragedy struck on Vantage Point Ci. Nick's very sweet bird, Zoe, died accidently. She and Nick were very attached (Nick took her everywhere). He was pretty broken up about it. Hell, I'm upset, and its not even my pet. Anyway, it was hard sleeping last night.
I just dropped Grandma and Caroline off at the airport for the end of their exhausting/fun visit. I'm home now (I worked 7 hours today even though I left at 1 p.m., you do the math and I am NOT a morning person).
NEEMO 7 has begun in earnest now, complete with malfuncitoning communication equipment, happy astronaut-scuba divers, really cool experiments. Today was one of those days where you iron out the bugs. Hopefully, tomorrow will be smoother.
Well, that's that. I'm going to take a nap now.
This entry dedicated to Uncle Dean, who says he's only reading my blog to catch up with Caroline's visit to Houston.
Tonight, we had an excellent Thanksgiving (Canadian thing) dinner, and were feeling a little punchy. So, after Grandma went to sleep, Caroline and I went out for a night on the town.
Our first stop was the tattoo parlor. She wanted something special, so she had "DADDY" tattooed on her arm in a big heart. We headed to a nearby casino, where we gambled away all the money Caroline came with. So, if you're reading this, please wire some ASAP. Then, we decided my car wasn't a nice enough ride. So, we traded it for two motorcycles. I know Caroline doesn't know how to drive, and she's a bit young, but she's doing pretty well so far. Except when she ran into the tree. It really just jumped right out at her. Good thing she was wearing my old bicycle helmut, so the bump on her head isn't too big. We wanted a snack while we were waiting for the doctor to sew up her arm. So we made jello. With vodka in it. Caroline said it was yummy jello and ate the whole thing. She got kind of weird after that. Then we found a cute 17 year old boy with long hair and a tongue ring. His name is Bruno and he also has a motorcycle. He and Caroline are on their way to Mexico right now. She promised to be back next week.
Shh, don't tell Grandma!
Grandma and Caroline arrived safely. I'm looking forward to a weekend of playing tourist in Houston with them. I'm at work this morning, then we're going to lunch at my favorite mediterranean place, and then they're going to Space Center Houston, and then I'm taking them on a insider's tour of NASA.
The test went well. I did it SO fast, I was scribbling like crazy. I didn't even really check my work, so I hope it went ok.
I finally, finally purchased a domain name. www.pilesofrock.com (That's "piles of rock" not "pile so frock"! I already plan a page devoted to explaining it). This is thanks to Sarah noticing that her host (www.dreamhost.com) was having a sale of domain name registration + 800 mb of server space at 77 cents per month (for a total of less than $10 for the first year!). Anyway, I jumped on that. And Sarah is pleased because she gets about 6 times that in a referral bonus. Ok, anyway, yeah for a new domain name. Now, I just need to, you know, redesign my web page. Yet again, here's to hoping Sarah-master-designer will help me out with that.
Last night I went swimming, did some studying but not nearly enough, meaning I'll have to blow some work off today to do more studying. That always makes me feel guilty. I don't know why. I frequently blow work off to read the news on the Internet or update my blog, and I feel like studying is a better use of my time than that, right? Right? Ok, see there I am trying to justify it to myself and not really doing a good job. Actually, I was *supposed* to have a sim today, and usually during sims I've got several hours of down time. I figured that would be ideal for studying. But it was canceled because of the hurricanes in Florida last month. Don't ask. Butterfly flapping its wings and all.
The thing is, next week will be crazy! I have a NEEMO shift every day, plus a Landing Support sim one day, and the Soyuz launch. Crazy! I wish I could borrow some hours from next week to use this week when all I'm really doing is puttering around and trying to avoid starting anything that I won't be able to work on all next week.
Grandma and Caroline come tonight! Yeah for visitors. My house isn't as pristine as I would've liked for their visit, but c'est la vie. My life is chaos, I beat back some it just for them, but there's only so many hours in a day (especially now that I'm bizarrely Karen-like in my requirement of 8 hours of sleep per night).
On Monday night, I heard a song on the radio during that late night hour when they play random new stuff. This is rare for me, because I'm not exactly the music buff of the century, I just listen to whatever gets played a lot. Anyway, I totally missed the name of the band and the song. I did here "The bands next scheduled performance is in their hometown of Boca Raton at the University Center." Bizarre. Boca is not exactly the live music capital of the century. And FAU isn't exactly my idea of the venue of the century. And, Boca Raton is known more for its "qtips" (old, bad drivers) than it is for having a young, hip population (with the exception of the brats who got boats for their birthday gifts and didn't go to public school with me). I mean, I was hip for Boca. What does that say? (This is the signal to cue up e-mails from Georgy and Maayan telling me that I was, in fact, never hip.)
To make an already long story shorter, I found the band. (The Internet is a beautiful thing). Its Dashboard Confessional, and the song is "Vindicated." The lead singer is VERY hot (from his full page magazine spread in some teen magazine I found when I googled him) and he is in fact from Boca Raton. The band's last performance was in Austin (which is the live music capital...) Then, I went to get it on trusty iTunes, and it turns out to be on the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. This means that I couldn't purchase just the song, I had to purchase the entire soundtrack. Sigh. But I'm listening to it now, and it was totally worth it.
As Sarah points out: For the record, Dashboard Confessional and "Vindicated" isn't random or new. It's actually been a popular song all summer, it was on the Spiderman 2 soundtrack, which you discovered. I could have given you just that song. Hee hee. Again, I repeat, I don't exactly pay attention to these things unless I get hit over the head with the song playing over and over again.
Tonight, swimming and mad studying for a test tomorrow and cleaning for Grandma's and Caroline's visit.
I have been so tired lately. Each night, I try to go to bed earlier and earlier, but I still wake up exhausted. I dreamt a lot about skiing last night. My mind must know that ski season is almost upon us. Strange to get so excited so far ahead of time about something I only get to do 5 or 6 days a year (if I'm lucky).
I have no class tonight. That makes it an awesome Tuesday. Unfortunately, I have another exam on Thursday, so I'm going to try to get some studying in tonight. We'll see if a ritual procrastinator like myself can manage to work that far ahead of time.
We had takeout Mely's for dinner. Maybe they put some sort of chemical in the salsa that makes me crave it regularly.
We also watched last week's Apprentice -- man, this show drags out the worst in women. Its frustrating watching the women just sink their teeth into each other like that with the complete inability to work together. This is an unfortunate trait I've sometimes observed in even the most intelligent women (more often in college than now, where the women I work with all have bonded and become friends) - they enjoy working with the men, but become catty, possessive, backstabbing and jealous when forced to include other women. When the men have to fire someone, they just shake hands, say that's the way its going to be, and head into the board room. The women conive, talk behind each other's back, use gossip against their "enemies", and make the whole thing personal. Last year's Apprentice did the same, but it didn't happen until a bit further in the season, since the girls didn't start going after each other until they started losing. Cari declared last night that the show was making her embarrassed to be a professional woman.
On the subject of another woman - I finally finished Reading Lolita in Tehran. It was a beautiful book. I know it took two weeks, which is way longer than it usually takes me. I admit, I did read about 3 books in between the start and finish. But each sentence in the book was so perfect, I felt like I had to savor it. Ok, so go out, buy it, read it. Also, read Sex Lives of Cannibals, it was HILLARIOUS.
If you like random (and annoying) computer animation, check these out:
Badger badger badger (Ok, this is really stupid, but after Carter did his impression of the song while we were hiking at Longs Peak, it cracks me up every time).
English football badger
And a joke.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip, set up their tent, and fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes his faithful friend.
"Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Watson replies, "I see millions of stars."
"What does that tell you?"
Watson ponders for a minute. "Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Timewise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"
Holmes is silent for a moment, then speaks. "Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent."
[Sounds of thunderous applause] I just watched Space Ship One win the X-Prize. Its an entirely privately financed vehicle that made it into space (defined by an altitude of 100 km) twice in two weeks. Today is also the anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, which was the start of the "space age." I even have an autograph from the pilot who flew Space Ship One today (ironically, it says "come back in August", which was the team had originally planned on making their attempt at the X-Prize). Hopefully this is just a step toward awesome things to come for manned space flight -- privately financed orbital vehicles, cheaper manned access to low earth orbit, regular suborbital trips for cargo and tourists, N*ASA getting out of the business of doing something it knows how to do and moving onto exploring and pushing back new frontiers.
I'm feeling really optimistic about the future of manned space flight right now. I'm feeling not so chipper about N*ASA's prospects, as the space shuttle's return to flight has just been delayed again - now, its no earlier than May 14.
Since I'm waxing philosophical about space exploration anyway, I should probably also comment on my obsessive watching of "From the Earth to the Moon." The entire mini-series was on (repeatedly) on TNT this weekend. Its amazing to me every time I am reminded of the scope and technological achievement of the Apollo program. The dramatized young engineers in the program could've been me (well, if women's lib had come a couple decades earlier) - and right now, I can't even imagine being given leave to make decisions and work on projects like that. Hell, its taking two years to get an existing, tested spacecraft that's flown 100 times back into shape to fly again -- all the while, engineers are sitting on the ground deciding if risks are worth taking. In TEN YEARS, we went from not even knowing if manned space travel was possible to landing on the moon. The moon! How much longer until we go back? How about pushing onto Mars?
ha ha ha, good on the google home page today for commemorating space ship one:
The test went as expected. I spit the notes back out. I had some memory lapses in one of the derivations (the second order conditions to minimize unconstrained functions of more than three variables, if you must know). But otherwise, all went well.
I've been so tired the last few days. Its a real effort dragging myself out of bed. I looked for last minute tickets to LA to see Space Ship One win the X-Prize (or go down in flames) on Monday, but nothing less than $500. Oh well, I need to get stuff done around the house this weekend anyway.
I did manage to stay awake for the debates. I don't think either candidate really knocked my socks off. You could have played a drinking game using expressions like "resolute and steadfast", "win the peace", "America is a safer place." I am amused that Sen. Kerry basically goaded Pres. Bush into saying nuclear a few times so we could hear his serious pronunciation problems. Giggle.
I kept wishing that every time that Pres. Bush said that we must remain "steadfast" in Iraq and it was a diservice to the troops to waiver in our "resolve" that Sen. Kerry would call the Pres. a stubborn ass. Ok, maybe that would be asking too much. But would it have been uncalled for just to use the word "stubborn" once? I don't like the people who compare Iraq to Vietnam. I think they are two extremely different situations (most notably since we are using an all-volunteer army in Iraq). But it makes you wonder if there is a single former hippy on Bush's staff that would think that some of his expressions are scarily Lyndon Johnson-like! There's nothing wrong with fixing mistakes made during military conflict to make your position more effective - it certainly doesn't show weakness. But the President thinks that if we waiver at all from the course we're on, it will be the same as defeat. And Sen Kerry never really called him on that one.
On the reverse side, I did like that the President seemed actually really engaged in the debate -- thinking on his feet more than I would've expected, practically jumping to respond to some of the accusations leveled against him. Cari got annoyed by that (she said the interuptions were rude). But I liked it when he asked to be able to respond, or jumped right in when his time started. He appeared really engaged to me. A little less presidential than he should probably appear, but a little more like a person that really likes to think about the issues and talk about them - a trait that I generally don't associate with his usual befuddled cowboy demeanor. I also wish Pres. Bush had poked a little fun at Sen. Kerry's solution to problems in Iraq. Sen Kerry would start everything with "We should have a summit... my idea of a summit..." Ok, yes, a summit would be good. And we should have one. But Sen. Kerry clung to that point and, man, does that sound weak for a potential future leader of the free world.
Anyway, my vote is still going to Kerry (as if there was any question about that). And my vote still won't count thanks to the electoral college - should've maintained my residence in Palm Beach like I had during the last Presidential election. I don't think the debates had any chance of changing my mind, or the minds of most Americans.
