Goin' rogue

I love the part where they say, "She can have a dozen babies, she can lay a thousand eggs!" and show all her kids...

But what I like more is how Jon comments on the fact that she's not doing anything but talking but everyone's so mad because all she was supposed to do was show up and shut up and how this says sort of a lot about Sarah Palin. Again, she and I are not politically aligned but I think she has moxie and I like her.

So, I have something else to say and, since it's the same day, I'm just going to tack it on the end:

35.5 miles per gallon

Created by The Car Connection

The Candy Man

For some reason, I can't get this song out of my head:

Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew
Cover it with choc'late and a miracle or two
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh
Soak it in the sun and make a groovy lemon pie
The Candy Man, the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious
Now you talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat the dishes

Oh, who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream
Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious
Talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat the dishes

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream
Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Candy Man, the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
Yes, the Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man

I'm sort of concerned about my sanity because things at work are sort of going badly and all I can do is walk sort of happily around singing this ridiculous song to myself, occasionally breaking into actual audible whistling or humming. Now that I see the lyrics, I really like the song. Especially the final verse about "tomorrow." I think it's an amalgamation of my worry about the future and Halloweeen candy, manifesting itself in a strangely happy, if annoying, habit.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

I love this interview. Colin Powell is one of the greatest people alive, in my opinion. I absolutely love the way that he is able to talk about his previous positions and the things that he has said historically. I haven't always aligned with General Powell's politics but I have always respected him and his point of view.

Let me just make sure that those of you who haven't been following have heard the response of Rush Limbaugh, and then other people, to this endorsement:





I included this Larry King thing because that's where I heard Rush's soundbite and Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer are so charming, being pals and buddies. I have high hopes for our country. Very high hopes.

Crocheting question...

I have taught myself to crochet...which is fine, as long as you don't have any questions that aren't covered in the book... I have completed two of the 20 octagons I'm supposed to make for this afghan (let's not even talk about the squares). I like the colors and I'm having a reasonably good time. I've gotten so that I can follow the pattern and that's nice, but the central cluster is hard. Here's my question: Sometimes, I'm supposed to insert the hook into a space, instead of a stitch. My understanding is that the stitch is the 'V' part, the back of which is just a single piece of yarn. So, what's the space? Anybody?

Crap, I've just looked online to find that I've been picking up too much stitch. I have been picking up the entire V, instead of just one half...well, my octagons look like they're supposed to so...

The central clusters are really the problem. That link is a hexagon but my octagon is the same idea. The thing is, though, that for this hexagon, the person has started with a 6ch, which makes sense. Mine starts with a 5-stitch chain and is supposed to be an octagon. So, I'm having to make clusters in stitches, which is straightforward, but also 'spaces,' which confuses me...

Joe the plumber

Here are the things I'd like to say:

#1. If this man's not paying his taxes or planning on changing his vote, how did he think he should get so much time to talk to Sen. Obama. I want to talk to Sen. Obama for 6 minutes. Although, I guess I don't want to talk about his tax plan. Now I'm going to spend the day deciding what I'd say if I got 6 minutes with Obama...I think I might pass out or just giggle and tell him that I love him.

#2. My husband said that this "spread the wealth around" business is as bad as if Obama had said "screw the troops, this war is a bust." First, I pointed out to him that I am an Obama voter and I heard the entire conversation between Joe and Barack and I am not as turned off as if he had said "screw the troops, this war is a bust." Second, I asked him if the people who are so upset about the "spread the wealth around" quote listened to the entire conversation. Because he was responding to the idea of a flat tax. And he points out that, if we were to go to a flat tax, we would need to charge 40% sales tax. Is this what the opponents want? 40% sales tax? Even 25% would be too high.

#3. Joe says that Obama "tap-danced around the issue." What, do you think, would have been the straight answer that Joe was looking for? How could Obama have been straightforward enough for Joe? He brought up, and admitted, their fundamental disagreement, which is that Obama believes that "spread[ing] the wealth around" is "better for everybody." Joe and McCain think that Joe should be allowed to spread his wealth around himself. The way that Haliburton and big oil have been spreading the wealth around during the past eight years. Obama said something that is politically dangerous in answer to Joe's question. What did Joe want? He wanted Obama to lie down on the ground, do a couple of spasms, and die? Change his mind about his politics? Become a libertarian? Poof. and transform into Ron Paul?

Whooo! Turn it up!

That debate last night...I was going to only watch half and it started out the same as all the others and THEN [fanfare] things finally got ugly. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/15/video.transcript/

OK, so the thing I wanted to know more about is this John Lewis business. I have high regard for John Lewis and, frankly, knowing what he said about the McCain/Palin rallies frightens me. However, according the the new york times article that I cited above,

"In response, the Obama campaign said in a statement, “Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies.” But the campaign added that Mr. Lewis was right to condemn some of the “hateful rhetoric” at Mr. McCain’s rallies."

So, I watched the "perception analyzer" results and I feel confident that things have not changed but a lot of people on TV thought that McCain really handed Obama his hat in this debate. I didn't think so. It was a good fight, though. Much more interesting than the first two.

Graduate school Barbie

I have nothing to say again so I'm going to (again) post one of the email forwards I received that I think is super funny:

GET GRADUATE SCHOOL BARBIE (TM)

Graduate School Barbie comes in two forms: Delusional Master's Barbie (tm) and Ph.D. Masochist Barbie (tm).

Every Graduate School Barbie comes with these fun filled features guaranteed to delight and entertain for hours: Grad School Barbie comes out of the box with a big grin on her face that turns into afrown after 2 weeks or after her first advisor meeting (whichever comes first). She also has adorable black circles under her delightfully bloodshot eyes.

Comes with two outfits: a grubby pair of blue jeans and 5 year old gap T-shirt, and a floppy pair of gray sweatpants with a matching "Go S***w Yourself" T-shirt. Grad School Barbie talks! Just press the button on her left hand and hear her say such upbeat grad school phrases like, "Yes, Professor, It'll be done by tomorrow", "I'd love to rewrite" and finally: "Why didn't I just get a job, I could have been making $40,000 a year by now if I had just started working with a Bachelor's. I wish somebody would drop a bomb on the school so that I'd have an excuse to stop working on my degree that's sucking every last drop of life force out of my withered and degraded excuse for a soul..." (9V lithium batteries sold separately)

Grad School Barbie is anatomically correct to teach kids about the exciting changes that come with pursuing a higher education. Removable panels on Barbie's head and torso allow you to watch as her cerebellum fries to a crispy brown, her heart race 150 beats per minute, and her stomach lining gradually dissolve into nothing. Deluxe Barbie comes with specially designed eye ducts. Just add a little water, and watch
Grad School Barbie burst into tears at random intervals. Fun for the whole family!

Other accessories include:

Grad School Barbie's Fun Fridge (tm) Well stocked with microwave popcorn, Coca-Cola, Healthy Choice Bologna (99% fat free!),and several small bottle of Mattel Brand Rum (tm).

Grad School Barbie's Medicine Cabinet comes in Fabulous (pepto-bismal) pink and contains Barbie sized bottles of Advil, St. Johns Wort, Zantac, and your choice of three fun anti-anxiety drugs! (Barbie Medicine Cabinet not available without a prescription).

And Grad School Barbie is not alone! Order now and you'll get two of Barbie's great friends! GRADUATE ADVISOR KEN, Barbie's mentor and advisor in her quest for knowledge, higher education and decreased self esteem.

Grad Advisor Ken (tm) comes with a supply of red pens and a permanent frown. Press the button to hear Grad Advisor Ken deliver such wisdom to Barbie as "I need an update on your progress," "I don't think you're ready to defend yet", and "This is no where near ready for publication" and "what's your big rush.....!"

Buy 3 or more dolls, and you can have Barbie's Thesis Committee! (Palm Pilot and tenure sold separately.)

REAL JOB SKIPPER, When Barbie needs to talk, she knows that she can always count on her good friend Real Job Skipper (tm), who got a job after getting her bachelor degree. Press the button to hear Real Job Skipper say, "Sometimes I wish I went for my masters degree" and "Work is so hard! I had to work a half an hour of overtime!" Real Job Skipper's Work Wardrobe, Savings Account, Medical Plan, Reliable Car, Comfortable House, and Happy Life, sold separately.

WARNING: Do not place Grad Student Barbie and Real Job Skipper too close to each other, as there have been several cases of children leaving the room and coming back to find Barbie's hands mysteriously fused to Skipper's throat.

Conservative feminism again.

I keep thinking about Sarah Palin and conservative feminism. Also, about these "soccer moms" who love Sarah Palin and the fact that the other people keep talking about how dumb she is. My husband calls her "George Bush in a skirt" and I think that may be an apt comparison because he is also considered dumb by the popular culture. Yet, both people have made giant strides in terms of their personal success in this country. So, what does all of this imply?

Oh, I have one more thing in my little grab bag of topics that I haven't totally synthesized yet: Women's history and the lack of women in regular history (including the completely lost stories of women, not just "women's history" that includes Annie Oakley, Florence Nightengale, Susan B. Anthony, Betsy Ross, and Amelia Earhart).

Now, I started discussing beauty-queen-intellegence with my lab mate a minute ago and she referenced an Alabama beauty queen she knows who used her pageant proceeds to fund her engineering education. I think this is related to embracing the feminine while not dictating the behavior of women, one way or the other. Also, I am pro-choice because I believe that there are a lot of hard decisions and difficult connundrums that need to be considered in abortion legislation and that pregnancy is full of pitfalls and scary near-misses and border-line situations. That said, I love that part of Sarah Palin's speech that they keep putting on TV where she tells someone to let that baby keep crying. She loves that sound. I totally support the idea that babies and families and lifestyles that are conducive to babies and families are being neglected in this country at this time. I heard this guy on the radio talking about fundamentalist Christians and their values and I felt super pissed off that he thought that he and I are so different that I can't understand him. On the other hand, Bill Maher was on the Daily Show this, or last, week:



This man makes me want to become a conservative and support Sarah Palin... Maybe in a few days I'll decide what I want to say about all of these issues.

I'm going to try this for my defense.

I'm looking forward to giving a little wink to the surly members of my committee (wink, wink, pose).

Friday, sweaty friday

Blogs are a tricky issue. You can't talk about people who don't know you're talking about them, nor can you talk about people you don't like, at all. Also, you should probably keep from jinxing yourself on things by committing them to print. So, as a result, I find that I can not blog about one of the best and most tumultuous days I've ever had. It was this past Friday. Turns out that extremes in emotion make me sweat. That's the reason for the title of the blog. The high on Friday was 78 degrees. I was dressed appropriately. I ended the day needing to actually change my clothes before I could go to my celebratory dinner at the neighborhood pub. Gross, right? Emotional sweating. Not a cool characteristic. It's good that I'm not a spy or a professional poker player.

OK, so, here's what I will say about Friday. I want to reference Chocolat and that wind that makes the lady move around. I feel that this week was just like that. At some point between last week and this week, I decided to relax and just let things happen. Suddenly, the wind began to blow, temperatures dropped, my sister got her power knocked out by a wind storm, etc. Then, on Friday, I was given permission to [omitted in order to avoid tempting the fates]. Rhymes with bledule my blefense. Also, there is a toxic relationship, which developed this past semester between myself and an unnamed individual. A horrible confrontation occurred (details to anyone who contacts me in a non-public setting), the end result of which was the end of the relationship (joyful, joyful).

In addition to these two issues, I had been working on a small experiment for a second-author paper, which had stalled. There is one person who could have helped me figure out the problem. She doesn't work at GT, but, due to my window of unbelievable fortune, she showed up in my office, un-beckoned by me, and fixed my problem. Let's see...there was something else. OH! I don't mean to make you all think I'm crazy, but, on the way home, I got stuck behind a tow truck which had, printed on it's rear windshield, "God makes all things possible." I got all choked up before I reminded myself about how hard I have worked for all of these things...still. I like to indulge in a little beliefe in the other-worldly influence every now and then.

(I just noticed, on the TV, that, after the debate last week, about 50% of people think that Sarah Palin is qualified to be president. People are constantly surprising me.)

Lemme hear ya say "Hell yeah!"

My husband sent me a link to some recent polling data. It's too bad, for the republicans, that square footage doesn't play any role in elections. Now I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that Palin says something dumber than whatever Biden says in the vice-presidential debates. They're a couple of ticking timebombs, really!