Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Injury update

Yes, this used to be the tailbone update, but I keep injuring myself in new and creative ways....

Tailbone much improved, except for when I sit at the computer too long.

New injury: I was helping to take xrays on a dog the other day, and he struggled. A lot. In the struggle he cracked me in the nose with either a leg or his head, I'm not sure which. And I literally mean "cracked" - I heard it! I managed to not get a black eye, but it's a little swollen, and it hurts there when I chew.

I'm like an accident just waiting to happen.....

How to Vote: My Dilemma

Obviously midterm elections are nearing with an alarming rapidity. Since we just moved, KarateMonkey and I keep saying we will vote early, rather than try to get to a polling place that's now rather inconvenient to home, but I'm not at all sure that we actually will. So likely I will be voting on Tuesday, with everyone else.

In our illustrious state of Illinois, we are voting for governor. We also have to vote for Congresscritter, with the incumbent being Melissa Bean. I suspect there will be a school bond issue, and lord knows what else.

My dilemma is this - who to vote for? Or rather, how to vote? Do I vote as the idealist I enjoy being, or as the pragmatist I often feel that I should be? For example: Melissa Bean. Not the most liberal of Democrats. I was irritated when she voted for the bankruptcy bill, but enraged when she didn't vote against the torture bill! How can I vote for her now???? But her opponent, and sadly I don't even know who it is, has been running ads complaining that she didn't try to keep "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Which makes me want to vote for her, or at least not for her opponent. (There have been many other ads blasting her for positions I support, but that's the one that always pushes my buttons....)

So part of me says, maybe just skip that one. But then, how important is a Democratic majority in the House? Should I hold my nose and vote for someone who is okay with torture, in the hopes that we'll knock the Republicans out of power?

Governor is much the same issue for me. I don't like Topinka, the Republican challenger, but frankly I think Blagojevitch is a corrupt doofus. But in this race there's a Green candidate, who is actually talking about things like universal health care, less tax cuts for the wealthy, and guest worker programs. I want to vote for that, to believe in it. But I also know that there is no way in hell that the Green guy will win. And if I DO vote for him, does that make me the equivalent of the people I railed against so much in 2000, who voted for Nader and made the election close enough for Bush to steal? Argh!!!!!


Anybody else having this issue?

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

We're ba-ack....

Finally finished moving. Well, not really. There's some stuff yet in the apartment, and it needs cleaned, but the major stuff is done. Which is why I have a few minutes to pound out a long overdue blog entry....

Firstly, I love our house. It has its flaws, and there's more than a few of them -- for instance, washing your hands after flushing the toilet is difficult because the water pressure is virtually nonexistent -- but I love it anyway. It's ours, and it's big, and the critters have settled in quite nicely.

Secondly, I hate moving. KarateMonkey and I almost had a fight while moving, which tells you how stressed out we were. (Usually he's too laid back to fight, and it's no fun when you're the only one getting pissed off...)

Thirdly, we have nice neighbors. One of whom has a lovely Irish accent, so hopefully he comes over to chat a lot. I bet he also has good taste in beer.

That is all.