Long story short, a second bug just socked the life out of me this past weekend; unlike my usual respiratory infections, this one hit deep inside of me, causing enough head pain to make me nauseous and cause vertigo. I had to cancel all of my classes for this week, and I've just barely been able to do anything more than sit in bed and wait out whatever this is.
Anyway, it's Halloween, and for me, of course, this means the anniversary of Harry Houdini's death, for reasons that either I don't need to get into, or you don't want to know. Maybe both. Let's get the friday5.org out of the way so I can go have another lay-down.
1. Among people you know, who has the greenest thumb?
Back before Dad started his own business, Mom was quite a gardener, but even if she still had an interest or capacity in it, our yard went to pot long, long ago. One of my former students has a boyfriend who grows pot, so I'll go with him, even though I've never met or even seen him.
2. Among people you know, who has the bluest blood?
My British brother-in-law, Mark. Even after all these years in America, we can't take the Briton out of him.
3. Among people you know, who has the yellowest belly?
I'm not going to call anyone I know cowardly on here. That being said, I certainly have my share of fears.
4. Among people you know, who has the blackest heart?
He knows who he is. That's all I'm going to say about that.
5. Among people you know, who is the most silver-tongued?
My sister, given how frequently she promises to me that she's going to do things and never does them, yet I keep believing her.
Labels: fridayfive
It was on this day in 1260 that the cathedral in Chartres, France was dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX. If I ever go to France, that's the one place I want to go to more than any other, just to see if I can get out of the cathedral the same things Joseph Campbell did. Now for the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. Where’s your favorite beach?
I am not a beach person. I don't like to tan, and swimming seemed to lose its appeal to me when I turned 16 or so. Then again, with Lake Erie as polluted as it is, it's not like we have that many good beachscapes around here.
2. Where’s your favorite place to spend money?
I don't think Amazon.com counts as a place, so I'll say Barnes and Noble here. I've been buying so many books lately it's not funny, especially given how little time I have to read them.
3. Where’s a good place to watch people?
People-watching is scary to me. At the same time, it's also the best way for me to find inspiration for characters for my stories, so I do a lot of it while I teach.
4. Where’s a good place to be totally alone?
My room. If I'm looking for the next-best thing, I'll either head to Wildwood or the Toledo Botanical Garden, or the less-busy coffeeshops around town.
5. Where’s a place outside of work (or school) where you’re likely to run into people from work (or school)?
I don't know, because I keep my work and personal life separate. That being said, I do have a small network of ex-students I keep in touch with electronically, and I am grateful for that; I may even meet a couple of them for dinner here in the next couple of weeks, probably after the election and all of its craziness.
Labels: fridayfive
Fall colours and deer at Wildwood
These shots were taken earlier today as I gave myself a bit of a break before two weeks of real hell here with teaching and the election nd all of that. As always, feedback on the photos would be most appreciated. (Because my old image-editing no longer works on Vista, I'm now using Paint Shop Pro, which I think has resulted in sharper images. Your mileage may vary, though.)
Labels: photography, siteupdate
Back before the financial crisis exploded into the national conscience, I did an electoral projection based on how I saw the states breaking at that time. Going off of the 2004 electoral map, I gave Barack Obama all of John Kerry's states as well as Iowa, New Mexico (the two states that flipped red in 2004), and Colorado, and didn't think John McCain could turn another state in his favour. If the election broke down that way, Obama would win the electoral vote 273-267, and thus the presidency. You can imagine my surprise, then, when late last night word broke that the McCain campaign was giving up on all of those states. This would be election suicide, were it not for the fact that apparently McCain is figuring on being able to give up on those votes by stealing Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes. However, not only does Obama have a double-digit lead in Pennsylvania in most polls, but even if McCain sees something in Pennsylvania that no one else is seeing and he takes the state, he would still have to hold on to all of the Bush 2004 states, and he's trailing right now in Nevada, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, and in many of those states by significant margins. I just don't see how that could possibly happen, barring an October or November Surprise of epic proportions.
The only thing that troubles me about the Obama campaign's approach right now is that instead of shoring up their leads in those states, they're expanding their reach into states like West Virginia and Kentucky. I don't want to discount the possibility of Obama taking any of those states, but his positions in some of those states is not ironclad; some polls have McCain well within the margin of error now in Florida and Ohio. There are a lot of factors that we just can't take into account right now -- undercounting of youth voters in polls, the Bradley effect, the tendency of young voters to not show up in the numbers that they appear they'll show up in before the election -- but Obama can't afford to take any state for granted at this point, and it feels like that's what his campaign is doing by concentrating ad buys in states where he's still down more than five points with just two weeks to go until the election.
I'm still curious as to how the Senate race will go. Assuming the Democratic candidates win in Alaska, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Oregon -- where they're leading, albeit by small margins -- and get the four that they're pretty much assured of having, they'd only need to steal one more seat to get a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, which would really facilitate getting legislation passed in the next congress. There are three seats where the Democratic candidates are in striking distance -- Kentucky, Georgia, and Mississippi (Roger Wicker's seat) -- and if McCain's fortunes continue to diminish, I have to believe that the presidential candidates might turn attention to those states, and possibly Minnesota if it remains close, to try to influence the Senate election. I'd imagine that the Democratic party leaders are probably even more interested in retaking the old Max Cleland seat than the old Paul Wellstone seat, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that the Democrats and Obama might be putting more resources into Georgia for the next two weeks.
Labels: politics
Happy 39th birthday to him today. Also, to him and all other Canadians, congratulations on preserving your national igloo. (Seriously Rick, it's been over seven years now since 09.11. We need you back across the border highlighting our ignorance.) Time for the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. Who frightens you?
I can't go with people I personally know here for obvious reasons, so I'll go with Alaska Senator Ted Stevens for an answer here.
2. Who regularly surprises you?
I can't really think of an answer for this one, because so little these days surprises me.
3. Who calms you down?
When I can have a good-length conversation with Mom, she gives me the best advice I can think of. I have some friends in the area who can do the same thing, but I don't get to talk with them that much any more.
4. Who inspires you?
These days I try to focus more on inspiring myself than looking to others for inspiration. This is not as wise of a strategy as you'd think it would be.
5. Who admires you perhaps more than he or she should?
People admire me? That's news.
(Hey, I'm still sick, so I'm not in the mood for long, drawn-out answers, okay?)
Labels: fridayfive
In addition to being sick, and just plain busy with a hundred things, it's been hard for me to come here to write because most of my spare time has been spent following the election, and I just don't have that much to say about the election. I've got the worst case of election burnout I can ever remember having, and instead of doing the smart thing and taking a break, I'm just going to tough it out for the next nineteen days. It's not that long, and even though there's a growing perception that the presidential election is over and done with (I agree that McCain's chances of victory are diminishing but it's not over until the fourth of next month), the growing possibility of the Democrats gaining a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate is providing a bit of intrigue. As much as I have mixed feelings about Al Franken, I'm really pulling for him to win that Senate seat in Minnesota because it's the old Paul Wellstone seat and I really don't want that in Republican hands any longer.
I guess I got a bit of a break these past few days when I got to watch the Canadian elections. The difference in campaign commercials (I'm glad Hockey Night in Canada is back on, although the new format and new song do nothing for me) was refreshing, and watching CBC's approach to the returns was refreshing from the usual political coverage I'm used to here in America. Of course, I still found plenty to get ticked off about because the Green Party got shafted up there as well, although at least the media and party leaders up there take the Greens a lot more seriously than they do here. I wasn't that happy about the Conservatives gaining seats, but even with as little as I follow Canadian politics I knew that Stephane Dion was not about to lead the Liberals to retake government. Perhaps the unhappiest part is that because Canadian elections only run for five weeks, it didn't provide that much material for Rick Mercer, especially since he was off for the first couple of weeks after Parliament was dissolved.
Of course, all of this Joe the Plumber business now has Toledo back in the spotlight for another completely insignificant episode. I know Holland well because that's where the family lived after the fire while the house was being rebuilt; in the eighties a big strip mall called Spring Meadows was built down there, at the intersection between I-475 and the main road that leads out to Toledo Express Airport. Out hotel was on the other side of I-475. I still go down there sometimes -- the smaller of our two Best Buys moved into Spring Meadows lately (the bigger is in a nasty part of town I try to avoid), and there's also a Target there -- but the mall as a whole is dying because of the office park a couple of miles south of there, and then further south are our two lifestyle malls, the Shops at Fallen Timbers and Levis Commons. I'm surprised that Obama spent so much time in the Toledo area this week, given that the votes he needs to get are in the southern, more conservative part of the state, but the economic crisis is probably enough to shift enough cultural conservatives over to Obama's column to let him carry the state easily. Again, though, this isn't Election Day, and a lot can change in the next nineteen days, so I don't feel comfortable making any solid predictions. (Except that Nader won't win, I know, but I'm voting for him anyway dammit.)
Labels: canada, greenparty, politics, toledo
The former probably caused the latter to a great extent; this has not been a good week for me. Anyway, on this day in 1969 King Crimson released In the Court of the Crimson King, which I'm sure makes Don and I feel really old even though it was before either of us were born. Now for the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. "My hands are tied" is an English-language cliché that means "I’d like to do something about this unfortunate situation, but I don’t have the ability or authority." In what current situation do you feel your hands are tied?
Must ... resist ... literal ... interpretation. There's a lot of stuff I wish I could take care of around the house for Mom, but between all the work I've got on my plate right now and this cold, I can't really do much.
2. Railroad ties are the evenly-spaced slats that lie perpendicular to train tracks and whose function is to hold the tracks in place and to distribute the weight of the train. Who are the railroad ties in your life?
My family. They're pretty much the only source of stability I have now.
3. What are your feelings about Thai food?
I've never had it; my palate is much more suited towards Western foods than Eastern.
4. Whose thighs do you admire?
I really don't pay attention to things like this in the first place, and particularly right now I'm not looking for anyone in that particular market.
5. A red tide is a proliferation (in ideal circumstances) of oceanic algae that often seem to discolor seawater and threaten other sealife. If the ocean is your life and the algae the harmful attitudes, thoughts, or moods that crowd out the good stuff, under what conditions in your life is red tide most likely to become a problem?
When I'm overstressed and depressed, which has been most of the time lately.
Labels: fridayfive
On this date fifty-one years ago, Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" was ruled not obscene after obscenity charges were brought up against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and owner of the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, for importing copies of the poem from London. The judge in the case, Clayton Horn, ruled that the poem was of "redeeming social importance," and if you've ever read "Howl" then you know why I say amen to that. Time for the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. Under what conditions are you most likely to cause injury to yourself?
Playing DDR/ITG doubles, because I always fear I'm going to trip over my own feet moving from pad to pad and fall and break something. (I broke my arm, back in kindergarten, in the same garage I'm playing dance games in now.)
2. What named mountain is nearest where you are right now?
I have no clue. Toledo's kind of famous for being flatter than month-old soda.
3. When did you last eat something with coconut in it?
03.21, what would have been Dad's birthday, when I had German chocolate cake, which Mom always made for him every birthday. (I just got a couple of slices from Kroger, though.) I don't like coconut, but I felt it appropriate to have that cake then.
4. Who’s getting on your nerves?
Politicians and the media for the most part. I can't wait for this election cycle to get over.
5. Somewhere, somebody is asking him- or herself whatever happened to you. Who is it?
Given how easy I am to find online, I'd hope that people would just look me up. That being said, I'd hope it would be one of my old crushes, as opposed to, say, the people who only knew me from my pre-.org Internet career and all the dumb things I did back then.
Labels: fridayfive
I've had a hard time figuring out just how I should write about the current national/global financial situation, which has, for good reason, been the main topic of most of the news shows I catch. It's hard for me to avoid a guttural, personal reaction to this, not just because my bank is one of the ones that's been reported as being the next to go, but because I've had to take on so many new financial responsibilities since Dad's death. I know that our family financial situation is secure and unlikely to be affected much by all of this stuff that's going on, but with Michigan's economy faltering ever since I started teaching up there, I've seen the effects of bad economic policy in my students for over a year now, and I know that things aren't likely to get better for them any time soon, especially since Michigan's economic infrastructure is so vulnerable to globalization.
I do think that the sense of panic that's been pervading the talk of politicians on both sides is overblown, but at the same time it's hard to deny that the current economic situation is one of the biggest challenges to face this country since 09.11. Something needs to be done about this, and soon, but none of the proposals that have been officially pushed out there, from the administration's first $800 billion blank cheque to the bill that goes before the House tomorrow, strike me as helping people like my students. Every bill so far has been geared towards saving companies first when it's the American people who need saving now more than ever. I know a lot of people are saying to wait a few months when the Democrats should have control of the executive and legislative branches, and then hope that they will "fix" what's wrong with the current bill, but I've heard that since Bill Clinton gutted welfare and I'm just not that confident that it'll happen.
I do think that the election has, barring a complete game-changer like another terrorist attack or something of that nature, swung to Barack Obama for good. A couple of weeks ago I finally did my own projection for the election, which had Obama winning 273-265. There's no doubt he'll win Iowa, and I felt that he had New Mexico and Colorado in the bank as well. After this past week, though, John McCain is clearly stuck, rightly or wrongly, shouldering the blame people are placing on Republican economic policy. I don't know if states like Virginia and North Carolina will go blue, because I think for lots of voters there the "culture wars" will still trump any other concern, and McCain may still get enough of those conservative Christians to eke out victories in Ohio and Florida, but he will have to spread his resources pretty thin just to hold onto those states. Obama's campaign has twice the money McCain's campaign has, and even if McCain somehow holds all those states (and Nevada), he still loses 273-265. Even in a best-case scenario where he snatches New Hampshire back, that only gets him to 269-269, and the next House would almost certainly elect Obama in that case. There could still be an October surprise or a colossal slip-up from the Obama campaign -- these are Democrats we're talking about, after all -- but I think Obama has the election in the bag now.
Labels: politics