Enjablog

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I’m running a little behind on blogging… but I had an exciting week of Thanksgivings and have high school reunion stuff lined up for the rest of the weekend. Strangeness all around…

Some good old family fun from Friday’s Thanksgiving:

L&S don’t give Eliana much juice. And when they do, they water it down to cut down on her sugar intake. That, of course, didn’t stop Ian and me from offering her a sip of non-watered-down juice. Surprisingly, she came back for more, grabbing the glass off a table and making sure every last drop was drained…

(Notice the dainty pinky action going on.)

I got Henry back yesterday! Seems to be no internal damage, so he’s running as he had been. He has a new door and everything else that got damaged was salvageable.

I had been hesitant about driving after the accident, but now that I’ve got Henry back, I’m much more attached to him. Like, not at all motivated to look for another car now. We’ll see how things go…

The Before Pictures.

Happy Veterans’ Day!!

And, thank you.

Still experience withdrawal symptoms from dwindling election coverage…

I really liked President-elect Obama’s victory speech. And Senator McCain did a stand up job with his speech too (and hearing similar reactions as with Senator Clinton at the Democratic Convention — if he had given speeches like this during the campaign, this probably would’ve been a much tighter race).

But am I the only one who listened to the victory speech and thought of this scene from the Goonies?

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

And after re-watching that, I can even see corollaries with our current political scene. The parental Republicans see us as childish, naive Democrats. They are faced with a financial crisis. There is one who stands among us ready to lead, to instill hope and confidence to reach for dreams we never thought possible. And if all goes as the Goonies went, by turning our backs on Troy’s bucket, Mikey will save us from financial ruin. Or something.

So, I thought Election Day 2008 ending would leave me with more free time. It probably will… but until everything gets tallied, it looks like I’m just going to keep obsessing. Still watching as results continue to come in for Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Missouri, and Georgia. Keeping a closer eye on the Senate races that still haven’t been called yet (Alaska — you continue to surprise me. And not so much in the good way.). Finding all kind of exit poll stats to pore over. And, of course, keeping up with the ballot measures for each state.

***********

Dear California,

What’s up with you? I thought you were supposed to be the future of this country. I thought you set the example that the rest of us eventually caught up to.

But, really? You’re going to join Arizona and Florida and write discrimination into your constitution? I can understand them doing that. I wasn’t even surprised when they passed overwhelmingly.

I really thought you’d make it ok. And, in a way, you have. Well, you will.

Good job to all my friends out in California and the many, many volunteers who tried to reject Prop. 8. Thanks to the 61% of the youth vote who voted No on picking a new scapegoat.

CNN’s holographic technology brought us ever closer to the future. And as I’ve been saying more and more often recently: The future is awesome. So, just wait. It’ll be the future soon.

Still Disappointed,
Enjanerd

***********

Dear Colorado and South Dakota,

Thank you.

Hugs and sparkles,
Enjanerd

***********

Dear Michigan,

You are such a goofball. I hope marijuana gets legalized soon so we can tax the bejeezus out of it. But until then, just be responsible. The medical profession has enough issues without more people trying to scam drugs out of it.

Best of luck,
Enjanerd

Man, this is nuts! Last night, ninja canvassing was canceled because they had so many volunteers during the day that they finished all the canvassing already.

Ian and I went out this morning to help out with the Get Out the Vote effort. We received a canvassing packet and by the time we got back, all the remaining packets had been done. Another pair of canvassers returned just as we were heading out to another location and they gave us a packet they gave up on. After finishing that, still no packets.

We headed back to the Alexandria office and they were all abuzz there. Nothing to do yet though. Too many volunteers. Who ever heard of such a thing? They should’ve adopted a highway or something with all their extra volunteers.

So now I’m at home completely obsessed with the talking heads offering no new information. I don’t even want to watch, but I can’t pull myself away. And I’m totally pissed that I have class tonight, which starts right when the first polls close.

Go vote!

Despite my hesitance to talk to strangers and unwillingness to wander around unfamiliar neighborhoods, I did both those things a few weekends ago.

I volunteer to do data entry for the Obama campaign most weekends. But this time, they asked me to stop by one of the canvassing meeting locations to pick up the data to be entered. I requested the location in Ian’s neighborhood, so I would at least know the area and get to see him when I passed through.

Ian signed up to canvass at 3 and 5 and invited me to join him for the 3 o’clock canvass before bringing in the packets at 5. Seemed reasonable enough. He told me he could use the help sorting papers and whatnot, assuring me that I wouldn’t have to talk to people. He would do the interacting. (Why did I believe that..?)

We ended up getting the worst route ever — clusters of houses along 9 different streets. The people we talked to were mostly polite though, which did make things more pleasant.

One woman supporting McCain said that we were the 3rd group to stop by her house that day, so with that much support, Obama better win. Another house, the husband came to the door and let us know they were watching the Ohio State game… and they’re voting for McCain anyway. Followed by the wife, who we actually had on our list, yelling from the other room, “I’M not!”

There were a couple Obama volunteers who came outside to chat for a few minutes. A few people who started pointing out houses on their block and telling us who was voting for whom. There were a few people who, jokingly, asked for childcare services so they could go vote.

All in all, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was very pleased to hear how many people had already voted. Many of the people we were looking for weren’t home for school or military reasons, but the person at the door assured us that they had already mailed in their absentee ballots.

JOTD:
What’s red and smells like blue paint?
Red paint!