Stress bunny

All this week (and this weekend) I've been working on a demo that will be given (by someone else) to Bill Gates this Monday afternoon. We're coming up against the deadline and I seem to have accelerating heartburn. But, it'll be over soon and I get an extra hour to recover sleep tonight (fall back).

As you can see I still have a good deal of unpacking to do, not to mention putting my art back on the walls.

Here's my new office in its sparse glory. The foliage is nice but it makes it darker in here. You probably can't tell because I have the overhead "sun" light on, but 'tis true.

Tonight I am being moved to another office downstairs in the same building. Goodbye current office!

The New Yorker on Bush's presidency and why you should vote for Kerry

This is a thorough and well-written account of the first Bush campaign, the presidency and the choice currently in frotn of us. It is well worth a read. Full article. The New Yorker's endorsement of a presidential candidate is apparently big news because it's the first time they've endorsed a presidential candidate in 80 years. You can also read the full story on that.

This is it, the last big push before the Election. I know you are probably all as sick of this election as I am and it’s hard to believe there are undecided voters left in this country, but there is still some critical work to be done to be sure that Democrats turn out to the polls and vote. Let’s not fail in the final stretch. Volunteers are needed for various tasks this weekend through Election Day. Please consider giving up some of your weekend and/or taking Monday or Tuesday off work to help. We need to get that putz out of the white house and make sure that Democrats are elected in some critical WA races such as Governor, Attorney General, Senator, and more. I don’t feel like giving up my weekend either, but if Bush wins I am going to have 4 years to regret not doing everything I could to help Kerry win. Please sign up to volunteer by calling (866) ELECTJK or go to http://www.wa-democrats.org/site/action.php.

Last night we went to Piper's annual costume birthday party. We went dressed as Kerry and Bush (with horns); unfortunately I forgot to have anyone take our picture with my camera. I'll eventually get a photo from Pipey though.

Yesterday was Ariel's baby shower. We did a "blessing way" and all the more typical baby shower activities (eating, gifts). Now we all have ribbons around around wrists that we will leave on until the baby is born, or more specifically each person takes theirs off when they meet the baby. I can't believe it is coming up so soon.

I miss Dean!

I'm watching a documentary on HBO called Diary of a Political Tourist where a documentary filmmaker followed around all of the Democratic presidential candidates on the campaign trail. Watching this literally makes me cry - I miss Dean so much. He's always smiling, he is so nice, he is so focused on empowering the people and changing America. Wouldn't it have been nice to have a Democratic nominee who had lived a life vaguely similar to that of the American populace instead of a man born into a wealthy family who lived amongst politicians his entire life? I cry for the loss of the candidate who I could really belief in. I miss you Dean!!!

Seattle Mandates Recycling

I knew about this before, but there was a blurb about it in this month's utility bill. I'm so proud of Seattle for requiring businesses and residents to recycle. I'm not for being overly authoritarian but I hate people's laziness in throwing away recycleable items just because it's too much trouble to put them in a seperate container. Anyway, you can read about the ordinance in this Waste Age article.

Friday was the finale of Six Feet Under night. We had a lot of people turn out and Steph made delicious tacos. I want to make some myself soon so that I can eat them again!

Benjamin is carpooling with us sometimes now that he works in Redmond. :-)

The sky was really beautiful as we drove home one night last week.

Eight out of 10 countries favour Kerry for president

An article in today's Guardian (U.K.) discusses a poll of residents of 10 countries worldwide and their opinions on America and Bush. An excerpt:

Sixty per cent of British voters say they don't like Bush, rising to a startling 77% among those under 25. The rejection of Mr Bush is strongest in France where 72% say they would back Mr Kerry but it is also very strong in traditionally pro-American South Korea, where fears of a pre-emptive US strike against North Korea have translated into 68% support for Mr Kerry. In Britain the growth in anti-Americanism is not so marked as in France, Japan, Canada , South Korea or Spain where more than 60% say their view of the United States has deteriorated since September 11. But a sizeable and emerging minority — 45% — of British voters say their image of the US has got worse in the past three years and only 15% say it has improved.

Read the full article

Benjamin donated blood for the first time!

Benjamin and I both signed up to be marrow donors.

Someday if I have extra money I might do some cool landscaping like this to replace our silly staircase, walkway, staircase situation.

I donated blood again yesterday. :)

RNC funding company that destroyed voter registrations of Democrats

Apparently a company registering voters over the last few months did not submit and destroyed the registration forms of Democrats who signed up through them. Worse, this company is apparently funded in large part by the RNC. Read the article.

Hello let's you automatically post a picture of your screen or the current window. Iiinteresting.

Tee he he.

This afternoon we had a joint birthday celebration for Benjamin and TJ's 30th birthdays. This is definately not the best picture from the event, but I like it because my Dad is smiling. More photos.

Flash me!

Flash, flash, flash. All I see is Flash. Aaaaaahhhhh.

A quick way to volunteer from home

FYI, here’s something quick and easy we can do to help out in swing states for the election.

 

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Hi there,

I've been trying to figure out the most important thing I can do for this election cycle and decided that taking action is swing states is the most important. 

Oregon and Washington are more likely to vote Kerry than Pennsylvania or Iowa, so I would like to concentrate on these really iffy states.  The John Kerry team made that easy by setting up a website where I can recruit people to volunteer there.  They have databases of people who contributed money to the campaign and said they were interested in volunteering.  Many of these people don't know who to call or what they can do. 

On the website, I can get a script (pretty much the same script for all the calls) and a list of five phone numbers for potential volunteers in swing states.  I call them and mark off on a web form whether they will volunteer and for what or if I left a message.  Only one of the ~70 people I called was upset that I called.  I only get about 1 person per hour to volunteer for the particular thing I'm asking about, but I get them thinking about volunteering and often volunteering for other things. 

I wasn't sure how effective the phone corp is, but a recent email from the Kerry campaign said that over 60% of the volunteers coming out for canvasses and phone banks in some states said they were there because of a phone call from the phone corps.

If you have a few spare weekend minutes on your cell phone or a cheap long distance plan, it's something you can do to really mobilize a grass roots effort to swing this election.

Go to http://calls.johnkerry.com and start going.

-Heather

My mom made me a new purple cotton scarf. :-)

My friend Ariel is pregnant for the second time, due in November, and Meghan and I are arranging a baby shower for her. This is one of the the invitations I just bought. I love Squibnocket cards! Too bad they're so expensive!

Silly Democrat Humor

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties. Now and then -- to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?" One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job." This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking ..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!" "But honey, surely it's not that serious." "It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!" "That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Powe r was looking out for me that night. As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking. Since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me. Today, I registered to vote as a Republican .

My camera phone isn't capable of capturing this morning's beautiful sunrise over Bellevue, so this looks more like the Apocalypse. It's a little depressing that I am on 520 in time to see the sunrise now (7:13 this morning), but it was quite spectacular. This was taken closer to 7:40, but give it a few weeks and I'll see the sunrise proper.

We went to Davonna's today for a belated family celebration of Benjamin's 30th birthday. This is a photo of the boys being cute. More photos on my new Gallery photo site.

This is the little neighbor cat who has adopted us (for periodic visits). He is a little sweetie. Well, I think it's a he but we not on that close of terms yet...

The good side of it the seasons changing: fall colors.

mini-eruption of mt. st. helens

A couple of hours ago Mt. St. Helens had a little mini eruption. Not nearly as impressive as the one in 1980 (b&w photo), but of course it's still big news around here.

"The" Debate

I watched (and recorded) the first Presidential candidate debate on MSNBC last night. I was pleased with Kerry's performance; he exceeded my expectations, though I admit I was fearful he would fail horribly. I thought Kerry did a much better job than usual at being clear and making his points. I also thought he made some really cojent arguments against Bush that were new to me and seemed very effective. For example, he said that in George H.W. Bush's book he said that he didn't invade Iraq, not because it wasn't a danger, but because there was no viable exit strategy. I love that he used his father's own words against him. Bush held his own and neither one got terribly flustered. The format of the debate was such that there wasn't much chance it was going to get out of hand no matter what. The format also allowed them both to sell themselves with minimal impact on the other's position. They could, and did, criticise one another, but they could not actually question one another directly or in any way push the other to answer the question asked. Given the constraints of the format I am pleased with the outcome. On KUOW this morning they said that each candidate is now trying to claim he was the winner, but I don't think there are going to be clear winners in any of these debates because of the format they chose.

MoveOn PAC art fundraiser last night

I didn't make it to the fundraiser last night, but my photographs did. :) I'm not in the group picture but my name is listed with the other artists on their web site and they are supposedly going to post more event photos soon. One of my pieces was a big hit. The other one, not so much.