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A Sweet Year to All

Happy New Year to all of my readers who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah! I won't give you the recipe for the apple cake I made, because it was lousy (yes, Martha Stewart, your recipe stunk); I should have gone with this tried and true cake. But I did also make my chocolate-chip cookie bars, which are always a hit. (Lauren made all the real food.)

My cold has come back with a vengeance, so I am turning in early tonight. Tomorrow I'm off to Charlestown to close the books on September.

[Update 5/4/13: And for some reason this post is attracting lotsa spambots, so I'm turning off comments.]

Election-Related Stuff I've Been Tweeting Today

1. Maybe you thought I was reading a little too much into John McCain's body language during the debate the other night? I hereby present Roger Ebert's take on it.

2. Here's a delicious quote from McCain:

“I was a little disappointed the media called it a tie but I think that means, when they call it a tie, that means we win.”

3. In case you're getting bored watching those Katie Couric/Sarah Palin interview clips (no? not yet?), don't worry: There's more of that train wreck to come. And then the VP debate! Biden just has to show up to win that one. The McCain/Palin camp has held some mock interviews for her, and unnamed aides say they've been "disastrous."

4. And, finally, a great slideshow of Obama photos from the debate. I love to look at him and Michelle together.

Celebration of Life

I've been lucky enough to have lived for 46 years without ever knowing anyone who lost a child. I certainly knew of such families, but there were always two or more degrees of separation between us. But not anymore.

I met Dave when I first went away to camp in 1973. He was a year or two younger than me, but everyone knew each other in those days—and his dad was the director of the whole camp, so everyone really knew him. We were friendly over the years, although just during the summertime—we were never the kind of friends who stayed in touch during the winter. Then, when we all finally grew up and stopped going to camp (for me, that was in 1982), we pretty much lost touch, although I do remember meeting him for drinks one night in Harvard Square many years ago, and I think we were both at one or two of the many camp reunion parties.

Two years ago at one of these parties, I learned from one of his cousins that Dave's younger daughter, Sammy (then 7), had been diagnosed with bone cancer and was going to lose a leg. It was shocking news, as you can imagine. The next thing I heard, maybe a year or so later, was that Sammy was doing well and had even been invited by Heather Mills to go to Hollywood to see "Dancing with the Stars."

This past summer, when Andy and I took Steph up to camp, someone behind me said, "Karen?" and there was Dave! We chatted for a minute, and then I got to meet his wife and both daughters, who were also going to be coming to camp! Sammy came tearing around the corner on her crutches, and I also met her best friend, who'd come to see her off. What I didn't know was that Sammy was sick again, and that this was really going to be something of a "last chance" for her to go to camp—something she'd always wanted. Her big sister was in Steph's group.

In her weakening state, and with all the going back and forth to the hospital for radiation and chemo, Sammy got to stay at camp only 2 weeks, but she made the most of those 2 weeks (despite all the rain!). Around that time I discovered that her mom had been keeping a blog ever since the initial diagnosis in 2006, as a way to keep far-flung friends and family members apprised of her condition.

There were only a few more blog posts in September before Sammy finally lost her battle with osteosarcoma. A private funeral was held, but yesterday I went up to Concord, NH, for a Celebration of Life event that was unlike anything I've ever been privileged enough to be a part of. It was held at the Capitol Center for the Arts, which is a concert venue, and Sammy's name was on the marquee in lights. By all accounts, she was a truly starstruck little girl and wanted nothing more than to be a diva strutting down the red carpet. In fact, she had requested before she died that if there was ever going to be such a celebration in her honor, she wanted everyone to get all decked out—and they did! All the little girls were wearing fancy-shmancy dresses and high heels and tons of bling, all for their dear friend Sammy.

The auditorium was huge, and we nearly filled it. I was told that the capacity was 1300, and it was well more than halfway filled. I would estimate that there were something like 800 people there.

The program started off with a performance by her friends from dance class, followed by a positively heart-rending video of Sammy performing while wearing her prosthetic leg—grinning from ear to ear the whole time. Then came the speeches, each of which was more moving than the last. We heard from the family's rabbi; the school principal; New Hampshire Governor John Lynch and his wife, who had a special relationship with Sammy; Sammy's grandfather; and finally, from Dave himself. I will never cease to wonder at how people can find the strength to give a eulogy for a loved one, and these were much more than eulogies. Dave got up there and gave the most remarkable tribute to his daughter. He had us laughing—loudly—at stories of Sammy's antics (aparently she was quite a prankster) and also dabbing our eyes at some of the more sentimental memories. (For instance: Upon waking up after her amputation surgery, Sammy looked down at where her leg had been and said simply, "I can deal with this." She was 7.) He really made us feel that we were indeed celebrating her life together. All of the speakers, in fact, managed to achieve what I would have thought was impossible: To help us put aside the unimaginable horror of losing such a young life and instead to focus on the gift of that young life. They all agreed that Sammy was the most joyous, fun-loving, in-the-moment person they'd ever met—even before she got sick. She lived every minute to the fullest; several of the speakers assured us that she had lived a full life, just compressed into 9 years. They all suggested that we could learn a thing or two about life from this little girl.

Sammy's sister and best friend also gave readings, which was more moving than I can even describe. All in all, although I wept pretty much nonstop for the entire couple of hours that we were there—and the slideshow at the end nearly did me in—I did come away from it with a feeling that somehow Sammy was the one comforting us and wanting us to move on with our lives, keeping her irrepressible spirit alive within us all.

Rest in peace, Sammy.

Pre-Post

This is going to be the lamest post ever, but I need to collect my thoughts before I can write about the Celebration of Life ceremony I attended today for an old friend who lost his 9-year-old to cancer last week. It was truly an extraordinary event, but I am drained and unable to put my thoughts into words just yet.

And my own 9-year-old? Just lost a tooth. Life goes on.

Please Join Me

Dear Sarah Palin,

You are not our candidate.

You are not our candidate because you required women in Wasilla to pay for their own medical examinations after being raped.

You are not our candidate because you do not support a woman's right to choose, even in the case of rape or incest.

You are not our candidate because you've cut funding for teen moms, and for comprehensive sex education.

You are not our candidate because as vice president -- a heartbeat away from the presidency -- you would jeopardize health care for women everywhere.

We are teachers, doctors, athletes, programmers, artists, lawyers, secretaries, CEOs, students, designers, nurses, factory workers, mothers, and fathers. We are conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans, country and city people. We are women and men. We are voters. We are the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

We believe in a woman's right to choose and the right of every person to have access to complete reproductive health care. We are hundreds of thousands strong, and we are doing everything we can to make sure you are not elected.

You are not our candidate. Signed by:
Karen

Please add your signature to this open letter.

Debate Club

I usually don't watch presidential debates because they give me severe nausea, depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and all-around agita. But I watched last night anyhow. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Here's the quick encapsulated post-mortem: If you woke up yesterday prepared to vote for John McCain, you will still vote for John McCain after seeing the debate. If you woke up yesterday prepared to vote for Barack Obama, you will still vote for Barack Obama after seeing the debate. They both know their stuff—it just depends whose stuff you agree with.

But what about the Undecideds? Hmm. The polls this morning showed a bump for Obama. According to my new daily fix, poll aggregator/analyst extraordinaire FiveThirtyEight.com, debate-watchers thought that Obama “seemed to be the stronger leader” by a 49-43 margin. In one poll, Obama went from a +18 on "understanding your needs and problems" before the debate to a +56 afterward! And he went from a -9 on "prepared to be president" to a +21. In other words, "Obama is opening up a gap on connectedness, while closing a gap on readiness." So that all sounds good to me.

Here's what I noticed, and I'm really, really trying to be objective:

First off, McCain looked like hell. He looked old. I never noticed his atrocious comb-over until last night—peh! He had on a striped tie that made me woozy. His dentures were squeaking and he was blinking nonstop for the whole 90 minutes. (I had some fun this morning imagining a YouTube mashup consisting of audio of Palin's insistence on "I won't blink" and video of McCain doing the blinky-blinky thing.) He looked not only uncomfortable but downright pissed off. He was even caught muttering, "Horseshit!" twice! [Update 9/28/08: Some are suggesting that it wasn't "Horseshit!" he was muttering, but "Course not!" or "Course you can!" What do you think?] Whenever he reminded himself to smile, it came out as a gruesome smirk, and more than once he did that goofy Dubya laugh. More importantly, he never once looked at Obama—I mean it, not once! Someone on Twitter said that Obama should have taken a minute to clinch the whole thing with, "Why can't you even look me in the eye, John?" Even the moderator, Jim Lehrer, urged, "Talk to each other!" (Another Twitterer said something along the lines of "You know what they say about a dog who won't make eye contact, don't you?") Was he afraid to meet Obama's eye? I don't think so. I read it as a blatant, rude snub. 

Content-wise, McCain obviously knows what he's talking about—I don't doubt that. I disagree with his position on pretty much everything, but I don't think he's stupid. I think he made a big mistake talking about things that no one cares about, particularly earmarks. The first time he said, "Senator Obama just doesn't understand [something or other]," it was a very effective jab. But then he did it again. And again. Over and over. It became very easy for Obama to rebut with, "John, I do understand very well, but I disagree because..." and to explain himself.

McCain also took every possible opportunity to brag about all the places in the world he's visited and all the world leaders he's met, which would be a very shrewd tactic indeed if he hadn't chosen a running-mate who has been nowhere and met no one. Either it's important or it's not—you can't have it both ways. I wish someone would put that question to him directly.

How about Obama? He started off somewhat stiff, but then loosened up. He stammered on his answers more than once, though, which I'd never heard before. But for the most part, he appeared cool, calm, and collected—even more so because of how agitated McCain looked. I worry that he needs to dumb down his speech a little, though. Man, is he ever smart—but I'm afraid that might be off-putting to some. One thing that made me crazy was that he kept saying, over and over, "You're right, John, but..." and in fact, someone said that McCain already had an ad out this morning that featured Obama repeating, "You're right, John." I was shouting at Obama on the TV, "Stop it! You can be polite and respectful without actually uttering those words!" When McCain kept talking about how we're winning the war in Iraq, I wanted Obama to blast back with, "Against whom? Who exactly is losing the war?" He did nail McCain good when he reminded him that the war didn't begin with the surge in 2007; it began in 2003, when McCain assured everyone that it would be quick and decisive, we knew where the WMD were, etc. But I thought he could have pushed harder.

I liked many of the points Obama made, including mentioning the importance of restoring our reputation around the world and blaming McCain for being very much a part of the last 8 years of atrocious policy-making. He talked a lot about helping the middle class, which McCain forgot to do.

Well, I guess that wasn't so very objective, was it?

I Tweeted away throughout the debate, all the while keeping my eye on Twitter's new election-only feed. There were supporters on both sides making good points and silly points, but there was also a frightening amount of rabid, blatant racism. Why else would someone say they hate Obama? Disagree with him vehemently, I get that, but hate? I don't hate McCain, or even Sarah Palin, for that matter. (I'm pretty sure I do hate Karl Rove, but so does everyone.)

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. The Boy in the Bubble - Paul Simon
2. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me - Harry Connick, Jr.
3. Wondering - Elvis Costello & The Attractions 
4. Motel Matches (live) - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5. Miss You - The Rolling Stones
6. I Know You Know - Lyle Lovett
7. Life During Wartime (live) - Talking Heads 
8. Red Staggerwing (live) - Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
9. That Hospital - Loudon Wainwright III
10. Baseball - Sam Baker

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Julie's 7th birthday, Andy's [big-number-just-shy-of-REALLY-big number]th birthday, and our 20th wedding anniversary are some of the things I'm most looking forward to in October.

2. Sometimes I think of something to blog about while I'm in the car, or about to fall asleep, or in the middle of something else, and I promise myself I'll remember it, but then I invariably forget it.

3. I'm starting to understand a little more about bookkeeping every day, and that's why there is a saying, "never say never"!

4. When I'm down, I try to get back up as soon as possible.

5. Hunched over my MacBookPro is where you'll find me most often.

6. A rainy day is good for assessing the ever-worsening seepage situation in our basement.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to relaxing with Andy (we haven't had a single evening together all week!), tomorrow my plans include bemoaning the fact that our Block Party was canceled due to rain, and Sunday, I want to do anything but what I have to do: go to a memorial service for a 9-year-old girl.

I Have Finally Bitten the Wax Tadpole

Back in January, I received a package from James in honor of Buy A Friend A Book week (and, don't look now, but another one is coming next Wednesday!). Inside was a book I'd recently added to my Amazon Wish List, Elizabeth Little's Biting the Wax Tadpole. Subtitled "Confessions of a Language Fanatic," it's right up my alley: A brief, humorous, thoughtful look at all the "intricacies and oddities" of the world's many languages. I recall that I had to regretfully set it aside while I finished something else or got some work done or some other boring reason, but I dug right in as soon as I could in March. And then, the unthinkable: The book was defective! It contained two sets of pp. 97–128 but was missing pp. 129–160 entirely! I marched it right back to Amazon, and they promised to send another one out the next day.

The next day I got an email saying that there would be a delay of a few weeks. I figured that the entire print run was defective, although I couldn't find any information about that, and no one at Amazon could account for the delay. After those few weeks had passed, I got another email saying that the book was "delayed indefinitely" or something to that effect, and did I want to keep waiting for it? Yes, I did. I waited. Got another email. Waited again. This went on and on. And on some more.

Finally, the book arrived just the other day! I was still unable to find out what the problem was, but I'm glad it's here—and I've already finished reading it.

What a delight! Little has a sharp, self-deprecating sense of humor that is very endearing, particularly when she's discussing some very complex linguistic construct. With its examples taken from pop culture, funny sidebar notes, and clever descriptions of tricky grammatical structures in obscure languages, I couldn't put this one down. Well, except for those 6 months when I was waiting for the last chapter to arrive.

A belated thanks to James for this terrifically fun and fascinating read! I heartily recommend it to all lovers of language.

Today's Spam

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 700 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to [email protected] so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

(Via Heartless and Brainless, discovered in the comments over at FiveThirtyEight, the most awesome poll aggregator on the planet.)

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

Whee, I got a word:

Used colloquially as a noun or adjective, highbrow is synonymous with intellectual; as an adjective, it also means elite, and generally carries a connotation of high culture. The word draws its metonymy from the pseudoscience of phrenology, and was originally simply a physical descriptor. "Highbrow" can be applied to music, implying most of the classical music tradition and much of post-bebop jazz; to literature, i.e. literary fiction; to films in the arthouse line; and to comedy that requires significant understanding of analogies or references to appreciate. As the former buzzword has lost some currency and sounds slightly passé, its use now gives an impression of mild irony.

The first usage in print of highbrow was recorded in 1884. The opposite of highbrow is lowbrow, and between them is middlebrow, describing culture that is neither high nor low; as a usage, middlebrow can be derogatory, as in Virginia Woolf's unsent letter to the New Statesman, written in the 1930s and published in The Death of the Moth and Other Essays (1942). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word middlebrow first appeared in print in 1925, in Punch.

This is sort of apropos, with all the mud-slinging about how Obama is such an elitist because he's black and owns just one house and car, whereas McCain is white and richer than God.... Oh wait, that doesn't make sense, does it?

That's a Lot of Gas

Remember a few weeks ago, when John McCain was trying to recall how many houses he owns? (Answer: seven) That was shortly after John Edwards went public about cheating on his wife, and I couldn't help noticing that no one seemed to want to mention that McCain's wife Cindy was at one point his mistress Cindy. Those two news items would seem to shoot bullet holes through both the "Mr. Anti-Elitist Average Guy on the Street" and "Mr. Family Values" personas they've been trying to get us to believe about McCain. Someone over at Twitter posted a clever bumper-sticker slogan: "Obama: One House, One Spouse." Well, you can add to that "One Car," because Newsweek reveals that the Obamas share a Ford hybrid (purchased last year to replace the gas-guzzler they used to own). The McCains, on the other hand, share, um, THIRTEEN cars! God forbid one of the garages in one of their houses should be empty, eh? Oh, and despite McCain's assertion, "I've bought American literally all my life," he's also got a VW and a Honda.

Sleepless in Boston

I confessed on Twitter last night that I am quite literally losing sleep about the upcoming election—and several others chimed in with "Me, too!" I really and truly lie awake at night trying to figure out what the hell is happening to the people of this country. I'm worried sick.

Those of you who have been reading my blog since '04 will recall that I was downright despondent after that horror show of an election. I had been certain that we would be redeemed after the debacle of '00. And now? In my mind, there's even more at stake in this election than before. For one thing, our economy is in the toilet, and we're this close to the final flush. For another, our reputation around the world has to be at an all-time low. We've gone from being respected and admired by nearly everyone to being reviled and scorned. This endless, pointless war is a disgrace—and one that costs American (and Iraqi) lives daily. (But that doesn't make for pretty news headlines, does it? Do you know how many Americans have died over there? As of today, 4170 have died—3385 of them in combat—and of course that number rises every day.) The planet itself is in grave danger, as every scientist on the planet will attest, and we are by far the worst offenders. I'm fearing for my children's future—will they be allowed to make decisions about their private lives, or will the government tell them whether or not it's OK (depending on whether God wants it that way)? Will this be the kind of world they will want to live in?

Sarah Palin scares the crap out of me. She is the kind of Christian who gives Christians a bad name—intolerant, inflexible, self-righteous, unrealistic, and mean-spirited. Turn the other cheek? Not so fast. And you just watch what happens to the separation of church and state if she gets near the White House. Our children can forget about any kind of reproductive freedom if she's in power, Constitution be damned. (And we've seen in her own family how succesful her beloved abstinence-only sex education plan works.) By all accounts, she has made many more enemies in Alaska than allies, and that's not the kind of politician we can afford these days. (Read Sam Harris's wonderful op-ed in Newsweek—and the ensuing comments, if you have sufficient antacids and antidepressants handy.)

I'll tell you this: Both McCain and Obama could handle the job of President. I happen to disagree with most of what McCain says he stands for now (I phrase it that way because I don't know what he really stands for anymore, now that he's busy capitulating to the far-right evangelicals), but he's certainly competent. But, as much as I hate to say it, we have to keep in mind that elderly people with a history of cancer have been known to have a relapse, just as charismatic black leaders have been known to get shot, and that's why the VP race is so crucial this time around. Joe Biden has tons of experience and could easily hit the ground running in the White House. Sarah Palin just today took her very first trip to New York, and never even had a passport until last year. Her supporters brag that she is an "average mom," as if that's supposed to be a good thing. I want a Vice President (and thus potential President) to be a lot more than average. I'm an average mom—and, I dare say, considerably smarter, better educated, and more worldly than Sarah Palin—and there's no way in hell I'm qualified to be Vice President. Being mayor of a tiny town and then governor for a year in freaking Alaska does not make one ready for the White House. The bobble-heads blather on and on about how great it is to have an "outsider," but I'd prefer someone who knows the ins and outs of Congress, has traveled abroad and met with world leaders, understands how all the branches of government work together in Washington, and has actually been involved with federal legislation. Having 5 kids while working full-time is an impressive accomplishment, but it's not exactly the resume I'm looking for in a candidate.

As far as I can tell, these are the only people who ought to vote for McCain/Palin:
1. Racists
2. Christian fundamentalists
3. The filthy, oily rich
4. Those who profit from the war in Iraq (e.g., defense contractors)

Everyone else just has to vote for Obama/Biden, no? Women who want to make their own decisions about their bodies—and raise their daughters to do the same. Jews. (You can read everything you need to know about Obama's position on Israel and on other Jewish values and issues at the National Jewish Democratic Council site, at the Jewish Council for Education and Research site, or at JewsVote.) All nonwhites, who are tired of not having a voice in this country. Gays. (I've never understand the whole gay Republican thing anyhow, but now it's absolutely confounding: "I think I'll vote for people who seek to restrict my civil rights.") People who can easily keep track of how many houses they own because it's either 0 or 1. People who want to protect what's left of our precious natural resources. People who know we have to get out of Iraq as soon as possible. People who think it's high time big business paid something back to the government and the working classes instead of enjoying tax cuts and bonuses. People who are terrified at what the Supreme Court might look like under Palin/McCain (as she referred to the ticket the other day). You know, everybody else.

Are you with me? What am I missing? Are all those Sarah-Supporters kidding themselves, or me? What the heck planet did I wake up on (when I finally fell asleep, that is)?

The Reich Stuff

Robert Reich has some suggested conditions for Wall Street before we agree to bail them out:

1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company shoves onto the public. So when and if Wall Street shares rise, taxpayers are rewarded for accepting so much risk.

2. Wall Street executives and directors of Wall Street firms relinquish their current stock options and this year’s other forms of compensation, and agree to future compensation linked to a rolling five-year average of firm profitability. Why should taxpayers feather their already amply-feathered nests?

3. All Wall Street executives immediately cease making campaign contributions to any candidate for public office in this election cycle or next, all Wall Street PACs be closed, and Wall Street lobbyists curtail their activities unless specifically asked for information by policymakers. Why should taxpayers finance Wall Street’s outsized political power – especially when that power is being exercised to get favorable terms from taxpayers?

4. Wall Street firms agree to comply with new regulations over disclosure, capital requirements, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. The regulations will emerge in ninety days from a bi-partisan working group, to be convened immediately. After all, inadequate regulation and lack of oversight got us into this mess.

5. Wall Street agrees to give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify the terms of primary mortgages, so homeowners have a fighting chance to keep their homes. Why should distressed homeowners lose their homes when Wall Streeters receive taxpayer money that helps them keep their fancy ones?

Whattaya think? Me like. (via Aces Full of Links)

Another Lousy Film Adaptation of a Great Novel

The main reason we haven't been zipping through our Netflix queue (currently at 383 and growing daily) as fast as we used to is that Steph stays up later now, and most of the movies we want to see aren't appropriate for her tender eyes and ears. Andy goes to bed earlier than I do, so unless we want to watch a movie in two or three nightly installments (generally not a great idea), we end up watching nothing.

As much as I love to watch movies with him, I recently came to the momentous decision that if he wants go to bed, I can still stay up and watch a movie (preferably ones he doesn't necessarily want to see anyhow). I prefer to watch with him so we can discuss it later, but clearly that's not happening these days.

So last night I watched "Love in the Time of Cholera," which I knew was going to be a disappointment—I just didn't realize how big. My low expectations were due not only to the fact that it got universally lousy reviews (Salon called it a "stink-burger"), but also that it's one of my favorite books of all time and thus a tall order to recreate on film, although there have been notable exceptions to that rule.

For one thing, I can't stand when they use that fake-looking plasticky make-up to try to make actors appear to have aged. it doesn't work! It was only slightly more successful on Javier Bardem than on Giovanna Mezzogiorno, who looked like a mannequin. But, more importantly, what made the book so luscious and moving was Marquez's writing (even in translation), which is obviously absent in a movie. The humor seemed silly on screen, the sad scenes came out maudlin, and it just dragged and limped along for 139 dreary minutes. I made myself watch all the way to the end just because I like the story, but it wasn't worth it.

Spot Shot Hotshot

Mom Central asked if I wanted to test out a new carpet-stain remover that is non-toxic, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly (that is, it contains no phosphates and no VOCs, or volatile organic compounds). Of course I said yes—I mean, what sane person with three kids, two cats, and lots of carpeting would refuse?

Yesterday my free stain-removal kit arrived. Inside was a full-size bottle of Spot Shot (made by the WD-40 people), along with a swatch of carpet and two bottles of "mess"—one contained chocolate and one contained ammonia:

I followed the instructions and "painted" some chocolate goo onto the carpet with the enclosed brush:
 
Then I blotted up the excess with the white cloth:

and sprayed on some Spot Shot:

(The photo's blurry because I was spraying righty and photographing lefty—not the best idea I ever had.)

Then I wiped up the rest with a clean area of the cloth:
Here's how it looked after very little wiping:

Pretty impressive, eh? You'll have to take my word for it that the rest of the brownishness went away after another wipe; the final "after" photo didn't come out!

I started to repeat the experiment with the ammonia sample, which came with explicit warnings about not inhaling the stuff, but it was indeed too strong-smelling, so I didn't do that part of the experiment.

The enclosed brochure said that Spot Shot is also effective on old spots, so I headed to the basement, where the cats and kids do some of their best work. This unidentified series of spots has been there for years:

And here it is after one spritz of Spot Shot:

Whee! I really went to town down there, scrubbing away until my elbow gave out.

I'm really impressed with this product—it works and it's non-toxic! I've often found that the toxic stuff doesn't even do the trick, and I don't like to use it anyhow because of the little ones (both two-legged and four-legged) running around here.

The information they sent me said that there's also a Spot Shot Pet version, which I think will be my next purchase as soon as this bottle is empty.

Karen and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Beans

Last night we had an all-InSeason dinner: locally raised chicken (roasted in the oven with just olive oil, seasoned salt, and paprika), native corn, and Royal Burgundy heirloom beans. Huh, what was that last one? I didn't know either, so I was delighted to open the bag and find a few handfuls of dark purple beans:

After washing and trimming them, I discovered that inside, they're just as green as their more-familiar cousins:

But wait! When I lifted the lid to take a peek while they were steaming, here's what I saw:

It's magic! And, indeed, by the time they landed on my plate (with a little butter and salt added), they looked exactly like regular ol' green beans:

Oh, and they were yummy.

You've Got Mail!

The Onion imagines what Obama's email inbox might look like. Every pixel of this thing is funny. (via Aces Full of Links)

Shabbaton

I just dropped off Steph at the temple, where she'll board a bus with about 80 other sixth and seventh graders and head out for her first Shabbaton. It's a weekend-long retreat at a camp/retreat center in Western Massachusetts, where they'll explore the meaning of Shabbat (the Sabbath), do community-building activities, and have fun. Most of the sixth graders seemed to be nervous or even dreading it, but the seventh graders who went last year were all gung-ho, so that's a good sign. They'll come back Sunday.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Drown - Son Volt    
2. What Do You Want the Girl to Do - Lowell George
3. Lazy River - Harry Connick, Jr.
4. Baby Took a Limo to Memphis (live) - Guy Clark
5. Last Fair Deal Gone Down - Crooked Still 
6. Psycho - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
7. Hunkie Tunkie Blues - Paul Rishell & Annie Raines
8. Walking Man (live) - James Taylor 
9. Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show
10. Blood's Too Rich - Luke Doucet 

The Evil McPalins

Coming soon, to a theatre near you! (via the Uncyclopedia)

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

I got a poem this time:

The Last Rose of Summer is a poem by Irish poet Thomas Moore, who was a friend of Byron and Shelley. Moore wrote it in 1805 while at Jenkinstown Park in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Sir John Stevenson set the poem to its widely-known melody, and this was published in a collection of Moore's work called Irish Melodies (1807-34).

Friedrich von Flotow uses the song in his opera "Martha," premiered in 1847 in Vienna. It is a favorite air ("Letzte Rose") of the character Lady Harriet. The interpolation works, and indeed the song helped popularize the opera. (According to the 1954 Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the opera grew from an 1844 ballet-pantomime, "Lady Henriette," for which Flotow wrote the music to Act One. Burgmuller and Deldevez wrote the rest of the music; "Lady Henriette" was produced in Paris.)

Sarah Brightman recorded the song for her album The Trees They Grow So High. It is sung in the musical group Celtic Woman by Méav Ní Mhaolchatha and Hayley Westenra, and was made popular in the twenty-first century in a recording by Charlotte Church and the Irish Tenors.

Poem
'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter,
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
From Love's shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit,
This bleak world alone?

I don't think I know this song, do I?

I Think I'm Being Underwritten

Today the UPS guy scared the crap out of me because I was sitting near a front window and didn't expect to see a giant tattooed arm right next to my head at that moment. But fear turned to delight when I saw that he had a big box for me, and I couldn't recall having ordered anything.

Turns out that Ken George over at WBUR, my local NPR affiliate, sent me a treasure chest full of swag. To wit:

• a big Car Talk mug, featuring much of the hilarious text of the show's credits (such as "Our child transportation specialist is Minnie Van Driver" and "Our staff cooks are Al Dente and Sal Monella")
• 2 WBUR car window stickers
• 3 stuffed cows talking on cell phones, courtesy of Utterz (Hey, I just realized: I've been reswagged!), which the kids fell in love with:

• a box of David Sipress cartoon notecards from the New Yorker, all featuring Red Sox–related humor (such as the one showing a man explaining to his son, "Daddy doesn't hate the Yankees. Daddy has issues with the Yankees.")
• a WBUR totebag
• and the pièce de résistance, a way-cool WBUR fleece-lined jacket:

(Please continue to not look at my hair. I'm trying to grow it out, but in the meantime it seems to be growing up.)

My editorial work for Ken is truly a labor of love—as I've said before, I wish I had the admin password to every blog out there so I could sneak in and fix typos—but I never say No to cool, free stuff. Many thanks, Ken!

Add Racism to the List...

And now a few words from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:

Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies."

It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list.

I have nothing to add to this.

Oh wait, that's not true. HELLO, PEOPLE?! How is it possible that this sort of thing doesn't make it into the mainstream media? Something tells me it would be all over the news if Obama made a similar speech. Where are the journalists? Where is the integrity? More importantly, what the hell is wrong with people? It's unlikely that Palin wrote her own speech, and thus it's possible that she doesn't know who Pegler is (I certainly didn't), but shouldn't a candidate for elected office want to know exactly whom she's quoting before she goes and quotes him? How would she answer this question from a reporter today: "Do you know who Westbrook Pegler is?" If she does, she knowingly quoted an avowed racist and hate-monger; if she doesn't, she blindly recited whatever came up on the TelePrompter. Which is worse? I don't know, but either is bad enough that she must be stopped before getting anywhere near Washington.

My heart goes out to Bobby Jr., who must be in considerably more pain than I am about this.

Sunday Funnies

1. Here's a wonderful cartoon for those of us who wince whenever language is misused and abused within earshot.

2. I haven't watched "Saturday Night Live" in close to 20 years, but through the wonders of YouTube NPR, I got to see last night's very funny opening scene with Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) and Hilary Clinton (Amy Poehler). UPDATE: I guess the clip was removed from YouTube because of copyright laws, but it's still up over at NPR, so I changed my link.

3. Speaking of Palin, her assertion that she already has a jump-start on foreign policy because one can see Russia from parts of Alaska (OHMYGOD) caused someone to quip recently, "Well, I can see the moon from my house, so maybe I should be in charge of the space program!" I can't recall where I saw that, but it's very clever.

Baseball Rollercoaster

Bad news: Andy's parents had 5 tickets to a Red Sox/Blue Jays game in August that got rained out.

Good news: It was rescheduled to an afternoon game today!

Bad news: They couldn't go.

Good news: They gave the tickets to us!

Bad news: I started coming down with a sore throat and cold last night. (I don't suppose the stress about work and subsequent insomnia wore me down at all, do you?)

Good news: I've never been to a day game, so I decided to tough it out.

Bad news: Julie wasn't sure she wanted to go, because she isn't all that interested in baseball. At Pete's Little League games, she just plays on the playground.

Good news: We convinced her that it would be fun anyhow, and she agreed.

Bad news: Throughout the game, she kept saying that she had "no clue" what was going on, despite our explanations. She asked if there was a playground.

Good news: We got her a lemon Italian ice, and that made her very happy.

Bad news: The Sox positively stunk today, and we lost 8-1.

Good news: There are many worse ways to spend a beautiful afternoon than a losing game at Fenway.

McCain Inserts Foot into Own Mouth

OK, while I'm on my YouTube roll, check out this 30-second doozy:

What exactly is John McCain trying to tell us here that will make us feel more confident about his choice of Sarah Palin as his running-mate? D'oh!

"If You Don't Vote, You're a Moron"

Craig Ferguson almost makes me want to reconsider my anti-TV habit. I'd never heard of the guy until I saw a link to his monologue from last night on Twitter. For those of you who are sick of all the partisan rhetoric, this is not one of those shticks. He's just talking about how everyone should (1) get informed and then (2) vote. Plus he's very funny.

Feeling particularly devil-may-care today, I'm going to embed an unprecedented second YouTube video here:
 
This guy is like Mr. Democracy! Vote for Craig Ferguson! Oh wait, that's not what he meant.

The Real McCain

Hey, it turns out Ricky's not dead after all! But man is he ever pissed off! He just turned me on to TheRealMcCain.com, and I now insist you go watch this video of Grampa Simpson John McCain. I dare you to come back and tell me you still think he's fit to lead this country. Go ahead, do it. Yes, you too, even though you believe you already have all the information you need to make an informed decision in November. Too busy, you say? OK, I will break longstanding verbatim practice and embed a YouTube video right here:

Friday Fill-Ins

1. I enjoy crisp, fall weather (even though I know what it leads to).

2. How people can claim to really believe in the McCain/Palin ticket is something I wonder about often lately.

3. In your heart, you knew Sarah Palin* would never answer Charlie Gibson's questions straight, didn't you?

4. Take all the usual back-to-school meetings and responsibilities, add a little extra work (both editing and bookkeeping), and you end up with insomnia. Well, I do anyhow.

5. Life has gifted me with a wonderful family—as well as many other better word choices than "gifted" as a transitive verb.

6. Twitter* is an instant vacation.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting a good night's sleep, tomorrow my plans include going to an afternoon Red Sox game with the whole family, and Sunday, I want to get a lot of work done.

*Speaking of Sarah Palin and Twitter, I hope all of you are following FakeSarahPalin on Twitter. (And if you're still not on Twitter, you can just go take a peek without joining.) It's a riot! Here's an example:
 

Memoir of a Stroke

One of the nice things (in truth, probably the only nice thing) about my weekly-or-so commute into Charlestown is that I get two good, solid chunks of time to catch up on all the NPR podcasts I'm forever downloading. (In case you're wondering why I don't just listen to NPR while I drive, it's because in the morning, the BBC Newshour is on, which I don't much care for. In the afternoon, it's Talk of the Nation—I'll usually listen for a minute to see what the subject is, but I most often end up switching on my iPod.)

Lately I've been going through a backlog of Fresh Air programs from the summertime. I've recently listened to a fascinating interview with Scott McClelland, a great remembrance of George Carlin, and an interesting look at why food allergies have reached epidemic proportions in this country.

The other day I listened to one of the most moving interviews I've ever heard. Terry Gross talked to Jill Bolte Taylor, a world-famous neuroscientist who suffered a stroke at the age of 36. Because she knew so much about how the brain functions, she was able to document exactly what was going on both at the time of the stroke and during her 8 years of recovery.

Taylor's stroke was caused by a hemorrhage to the left side of the brain—which governs details and linear reasoning—so she was left with only right brain activity for the few weeks until she had surgery. Because the right brain is all about intution and emotion and the present, she was in a state of pure euphoria during that time, something akin to the "mindfulness" that meditators seek. Although she has regained just about all of her left-brain functioning (minus most of her memories), she is still able to "switch off" her left brain whenever she's feeling stressed out, and go back to that in-the-moment sense of well-being. I like to imagine that Grandma Sophie was in such a state during the 2 weeks after her stroke—Taylor says that we shouldn't assume that stroke victims are necessarily suffering. (I don't know which part of Grandma's brain was hit—and I don't intend to find out.)

I don't think I'll read Taylor's memoir, My Stroke of Insight; the excerpt at NPR isn't nearly as compelling as the interview was. I really encourage you to listen to this one.

Now That's Gross!

If I really loved Pete, I would have bought this shower-gel dispenser instead of that other boring one (which, for the record, all three kids think is way cool). Then I'd have to buy green shower gel too.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

I barely dare post this for fear it will put me in spam city, but here goes:

A cupless bra is a brassiere design composed of a frame with no support cups, or a bra which exposes the nipples with notched or contoured support cups. Usually worn as erotic lingerie, a cupless bra can cause the shape of the nipples to be prominently visible on an outer garment.

The most common variant is a shelf bra, which is essentially a rigid band (underwired) along the inframammary line, that pushes up without actually covering any, or only a thin strip of the breast.

A brassiere with partial cups that don't cover the nipples is called an open cup bra.

My favorite part was the bit about the "inframammary line." Now that's hot.

So Obvious, So Well Said

Just read a terrific essay from Andrew Sullivan. I'm tempted to paste the entire thing here, but I'll instead pick out some of my favorite passages:

On core moral issues, where this man [McCain] knew what the right thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil.

In the end, his final concern is not national security. No one who cares about national security would pick as vice-president someone who knows nothing about it as his replacement. No one who cares about this country's safety would gamble the security of the world on a total unknown because she polled well with the Christianist base.

McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not have the character to be president of the United States.

Sullivan gets bonus points for employing the phrase "mindless Rovianism" and for using the word enormity properly. (Hint: It doesn't mean large size—that's enormousness.)

As usual, I encourage you to go read the whole thing yourself.

From the Farm to My Door

As promised, here's my report on my first In Season delivery. Last night, I left a big cooler on the front steps, with a couple of ice packs inside. When I got up this morning, inside the cooler was another (better) ice pack, along with a still-frozen whole chicken from Butterbrook Farm in Acton, MA. According to In Season, "Guy McKay's chickens are not certified organic but they are raised organically on a certified organic farm. He calls them All-Natural Birds." Also in the cooler was a pound of bacon from Windham Butcher Shop in Windham, ME: "Dana Mills owns and runs the small processing center and sources his meat from small farms in Maine. He ages the meat for two weeks before butchering and then vacuum packs and flash freezes the cuts to maximize freshness."

Next to the cooler was a big blue plastic box containing 6 ears of corn and a pint of gorgeous pesticide-free blackberries (just in time for today's lunchbox-packing!), both from Old Nourse Farm in Westborough, MA. I also got this massive IPM heirloom tomato from Kimball Fruit Farm in Peperell, MA:

Yes, that's a regular-sized quarter.

Happy customer? Yeah, you could say that.

All About Julie

1. Friday night we coated Julie's scalp in olive oil (no, not the good stuff) at bedtime. I have found no nits or lice since then. Please continue to keep all available appendages crossed for me.

2. Julie is not interested in baseball, but she likes to try to name all the Red Sox players. This morning she said, "Kevin Youkilis, Josh Beckett, J. D. Drew, Big Papi (you know, David Ortiz), Zach Efron, Coco Crisp..." Huh? Who was that one in there before Crisp? She said she was just joking.

3. Julie watched "The Wizard of Oz" while the Nitpicker was here the other day. Interesting enough, she isn't afraid of the witch or the flying monkeys or the talking trees or any of that; she's afraid of the tornado. The first time she watched the movie, she kept asking me for days whether a tornado could come here. I told her it was really unlikely, and she persisted with questions about what other disasters could destroy our house. So now when she watches, I skip the DVD right to beginning of the color part, after the house has landed. I've explained to the kids a million times how it was a big deal when that movie came out, because most movies were all in black and white. I remember eagerly awaiting the "second half in living color!" only to be sorely disappointed, since we had only a black and white TV. Anyhow, the other day Julie asked, "Was real life in color when you were little, or was everything black and white?"

4. I forget what we were doing the other day, but when we were done, Julie said, "Aaaaand ... that's a wrap!"

5. I can't believe she's going to be 7 in just a few weeks.

The Ultimate in Hypocrisy

As usual, Anna Quindlen comes through with a smart, well-wrought op-ed on how the GOP's outrage over so-called sexist comments about Sarah Palin is itself sexist. Here are a few passages I particularly liked:

Conservative Republicans have suddenly embraced the assertion that women can do it all, even those conservative Republicans who have made careers out of trashing that notion. James Dobson of Focus on the Family once had staffers on his hot line saying, "Dr. Dobson recommends that mothers of young children stay at home as much as possible." He now applauds a woman who was back at work three days after her son, who has Down syndrome, was born.

To try to suggest Sarah Palin might garner the Hillary Clinton vote, that one woman is just the same as another, that biology trumps ideology, is the ultimate evidence of true sexism, and I hope Senator Clinton will travel the country and say so.

When Democrat James Carville said he found the choice of Palin perplexing on the merits, Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said she found that "offensive to American women." I found her offense offensive to American women, since at its core was the notion that Governor Palin should not and could not be judged by the same standards as her male counterparts.

Go read the whole thing. (via Tonya)

In Season

You know that I'm a big Whole Foods shopper—I take very seriously the food I buy, and I trust the WF folks to do the legwork for me. They do the research to determine which suppliers are doing things the right way so that I can trust the products I buy there. They also do the best they can to buy from local producers, but that's not always possible because they need to buy in bulk. This is especially true for non-produce (meat, dairy products, etc.) and non-summer produce (potatoes, winter squash, etc.).

Last spring I heard about Boston Organics, a company that delivers organic produce to people's homes. It turns out that they deliver to many cities, but to only some parts of my city. I contacted the owner, who told me that he wasn't planning to add my ZIP code to his roster—even if I could find a bunch of friends who would sign up too. Harumph!

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I learned of In Season, which delivers not only local, organic produce, but also locally raised meat, dairy products, fresh pasta, and more. I didn't see my city listed at all, so I contacted owner Chris Crandall, who got back to me right away and said he'd be happy to add me to his roster. That's what I'm talking about!

There's no commitment; each week I can just decide by Friday at midnight whether I want a delivery the following Tuesday morning. And I mean morning: Deliveries are made before 7am! (Read Chris's great blog post here about one such late-night ride.) He's busily converting his old truck to run on vegetable oil; for now he utilizes the people-powered New Amsterdam Project tricycles-with-storage for deliveries.

The prices are comparable to those at Whole Foods—plus the delivery fee—but you can't even get some of this stuff at Whole Foods at all, like flash-frozen locally raised chickens. The offerings include everything from heirloom tomatoes to rib-eye steaks to milk in glass bottles to homemade ravioli, and it's all local! I placed my first order this past Friday and will report back on Tuesday to tell you all about it. (In case you're wondering why I'm bothering to blog about this today instead of waiting until Tuesday, it's because In Season is featured in a Boston Globe article today.)

They Have a Word for It

I learned a great word the other day, albeit in French:

ressentiment

PRONUNCIATION:

(ruh-san-tee-MAH)

[the final syllable is nasal]

MEANING:

noun: A feeling of resentment and hostility accompanied by the lack of means to express or act upon it.

The last time I found such a useful foreign word was when I learned schadenfreude years ago. Hopefully this year's election will call for more schadenfreude than ressentiment.

Tell It, Jon!

If you missed this piece on The Daily Show, you're in for a treat now. God, but I do love Jon Stewart. Here he shows certain lovable sorts (you know, like Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, and "lying sack of shit" Dick Morris) in pairs of clips in which they totally contradict themselves. For instance, you get Rove saying a while back that Tim Kaine (who was rumored to be on Obama's VP shortlist) was inexperienced because he was the mayor of Richmond, only the 105th largest city in the U.S., thus a "not very big" city (population 200,000); now of course he brags that Sarah Palin was the mayor of the "second largest city in Alaska!" (population estimated at about 4% of Richmond's). (And, not for nothing, but Kaine is now the governor of Virginia, population about 7 million; Palin is the governor of Alaska, with less than 1/10 that.) Ooh, this one's a hoot—go watch!

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Daughters - Greg Brown
2. Walking Down the Line - Eilen Jewell
3. Don't Make Promises - Peter Keane
4. The Finer Things - Steve Winwood
5. Prepared - Lambchop
6. The Littlest Birds - The Be Good Tanyas
7. Still Think About You - Martin Sexton
8. Funny How Love Is - Fine Young Cannibals
9. The Lily of the West - Mark Knopfler & The Chieftans
10. Unhappy Anniversary (live) - Loudon Wainwright III

TGIF

Oy, I had a terrible night last night. I was so frazzled by the whole lice thing, plus worrying about finishing up this cookbook project (and the French project that I haven't even looked at yet) that I couldn't fall asleep. I finally did, and then Pete woke up me up to say that Gracie was bothering him, so I let him get in bed with us. This is always a mistake, because he fidgets nonstop. All I can say is, good luck to his future wife (or husband! Not that there's anything wrong with it!). I also had a terrible upset stomach because I had been too keyed up to eat much dinner (although I did have two good-sized glasses of vodka). Finally I made him leave, but then Andy was making so much noise I couldn't stand it, so I crawled off to sleep on my office floor. (I didn't dare go near the couch just in case one last louse had taken up residence there.)

Julie woke up not itchy at all (thankyouthankyouthankyou) and didn't get teary-eyed when I said goodbye at her classroom door. Bonus! Then I headed off to Charlestown to catch up on the bookkeeping there. The former bookkeeper had been checking in on my work via computer and found a bunch of things I had neglected to do or had done wrong, so I had my work cut out for me. (Here's an example of the counterintuitive nature of bookkeeping that I alluded to earlier: Once a month I'm supposed to transfer funds from one bank account to another. I can't seem to get it through my head that in the general ledger, the sum is credited to the account that the money comes out of and debited from the account that the money goes into. Huh? It is the exact opposite of what makes logical sense to me.) The high point of the morning was that I took a gamble on Memorial Drive instead of my usual Storrow Drive, and I found that much easier. (I still went home via Storrow, though, because I was afraid I'd get lost doing it in reverse and be late to school for pickup.)

The kids all had good days at school. And I just spent 45 minutes checking Julie's head with the special LiceMeister comb I purchased from the Nitpicker yesterday; I found no bugs at all and only one tiny nit (which might not have even been a nit at all; it was so small that it was hard to tell). I'm feeling great about that, but I still intend to douse her in olive oil at bedtime tonight. Ick ick ick.

I've decided that Maytag is behind the whole lice thing. My poor washer and dryer haven't stopped in days. I've also decided that I'd rather have all three kids throwing up in my bed than a single one of them with lice.

First Day of School!

The first day of school always causes some anxiety, but this year's was weirder than ever. On Tuesday evening, Julie announced that her head was itchy. Oh God, the last thing a parent wants to hear 36 hours before school starts is "My head is itchy." I looked and, sure enough, found a few nits. I placed a frantic call to the Nit-Picker who said that she was unable to come on Wednesday! There was no way on the planet that I was going to let Julie miss the first day of first grade, so I knew I had to do the unthinkable: Despite what I said the last time, I bought more poison shampoo. I doused Julie with it and then spent a few hours picking nits. And a few actual lice. (Ewwww!) I found that I was pretty good at it, especially when we moved outside to the natural light.

I was torn about sending her to school today. On the one hand, I did the shampoo and could find no nits at all this morning; on the other hand, well, would I want one of my kids in the same classroom with a kid with a known case of lice only a day old? I decided to send her to school. She was not itchy, and her head looked clear to me, the new expert.

In the meantime, I brought Steph to the bus for middle school! I was unprepared for all the Big Kids at the bus stop; I'd forgotten that she was no longer the Big Kid at her school. She and her best pal got on together, and away went the bus! My heart was pounding.

Then Andy and I walked Pete and Julie to school. I had been so concerned about Julie's head that I forgot about her separation anxiety issues. Sure enough, she started crying as we said our goodbyes at her classroom door. Her wonderful teacher (same one Pete had for first grade, who hugged me at the open house yesterday and said, "I've been waiting years to get Julie!") scooped her up and got her involved in an activity. We brought Pete to his room—he's with only two of his friends, but they're two of his best friends—and went back to peek at Julie. She was drawing a picture and chatting happily with a friend, and her teacher gave me the thumbs-up, so I skedaddled out of there.

After school, the Nit-Picker came, and I was surprised that she found so many more nits and lice. I guess I am not as good at it as I thought. She also checked Steph and Pete, who were pronounced clean, despite the fact that up in New Hampshire last weekend, the kids swapped beds every night. (They were taking turns sleeping alone versus sleeping together.)

The Nit-Picker wants us to do the dreaded olive oil treatment this weekend and keep checking every day for two weeks. Will do.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: All three kids had a great first day of school. Mom, however, was a wreck and is only now relaxing with a big glass o' vodka.

Psst: Your Mic Is Still On!

I admire liberal Democrats who have the stomach to watch the RNC—I sure don't. I probably should watch it for all the right reasons (to stay informed, blahblahblah), but frankly it's all just a lot of sizzle and not much steak (also true of the DNC, but at least I prefer the flavor of that sizzle).

But here's a yummy moment I missed, when some Republican pundits on MSNBC had what they thought was an off-the-record conversation—but which was in fact broadcast to the whole world:

Mike Murphy: ...You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys—this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it's not gonna work. And—

Pegy Noonan: It's over.

MM: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

Chuck Todd: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.

PN: Saw Kay this morning.

CT: Yeah, she's never looked comfortable about this—

MM: They're all bummed out.

CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this—excuse me—political bullshit about narratives—

CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.

MM: I totally agree.

PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it.

MM: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.

CT: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.

MM: Yeah.

Audio/video here.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

This is timely:

Election Systems & Software (ES&S) is an American company that provides voting services. It was founded in 1979 as American Information Systems Inc. (AIS), it merged with Business Records Corp. the following year and changed its name to ES&S.

ES&S is a subsidiary of McCarthy Group Inc., which is jointly held by the holding firm and the Omaha World-Herald Co., the publisher of Nebraska's largest newspaper. As of 2007 it was the largest manufacturer of voting machines in the United States, claiming customers in 1,700 localities. As of 2007 it had approximately 350 employees; 2005 revenues were $117 million.

Election issues and problems

1996

Chuck Hagel was CEO of the company until shortly before his election in November 1996 to the United States Senate from Nebraska. The election was conducted almost exclusively on equipment provided by his former company.

2004

ES&S was one of the top four providers of voting companies used in the November 2004 election; the other three were Diebold Election Systems (now Premier Election Solutions), Sequoia Voting Systems and Hart InterCivic.

2006

The U.S. primary elections of March 2006 revealed an overextension of ES&S's resources when multiple counties across the nation found poor quality control (faulty memory cards), reported poor service, and problems with election preparation. Following harsh criticism of Diebold, ES&S has become the second major electronic voting vendor (after Diebold) to see lawsuits and criminal charges rising out of their failure to provide adequate service under their contracts.

After the November 2006 elections, Indiana launched an inquiry into poor service by the company, settling when it agreed to pay $750,000. West Virginia filed a formal complaint against the company with federal officials. Arkansas put together a panel to investigate. The company denied any major trouble with its machines, attributing problems to errors made by poll workers. 

2007

On August 3, 2007, California Secretary of state Debra Bowen withdrew approval of the ES&S InkaVote Plus optical scan voting system after a "top-to-bottom review" of the voting machines certified for use in California in March 2007.

I don't think I could live through another fraud-riddled election day.

How I Wish This Were About Michael Palin

I was up in New Hampshire when the (Sarah) Palin news broke—and then on my way home when the subsequent (Bristol) Palin story came out—so I've spent much of last night and this morning trying to catch up. Wowee.

This was an extremely puzzling choice for McCain, and one that I think underscores his unpredictability—and I mean that in the bad way (loose cannon) rather than the good way (maverick). His inner circle of advisors didn't even know of his decision right up until the last minute. (Although, as I learned via an NPR story, someone did know, because Palin's Wikipedia entry was prettied up a bit right before McCain's announcement.)

McCain's best ace-in-the-hole argument against Obama has always been that he is too young and too inexperienced to lead the country. I of course beg to differ—and Bill Clinton's wonderful, amazing, eloquent, spine-tingling speech at the DNC last week reminded me that the same criticisms were lobbed at him back in '92, and we ended up with 8 years of unprecedented peace and prosperity in this country. Obama is young and relatively new at the game, and although this doesn't worry me, I can see why it might give others pause. And of course that's why he chose Joe Biden as his running mate, to balance the ticket with someone with tons of experience, particularly in foreign policy. But now McCain has to jettison that entire attack approach because Obama is in fact slightly older and considerably more experienced than McCain's own choice of second in command. If he doesn't think that Obama can do it—Obama who at least knows how things work in Washington and has had more than a year to formulate his position on every major issue—how on earth can Palin be expected to do it, with less than 2 years' experience governing a state with more reindeer than people?

Some have suggested that McCain is after the all-important women's vote, that he is trying to woo the Hillary supporters who felt disenfranchised by the selection of Obama, but I just don't see it. Anyone who supports Hillary is likely to be some or all of the following: pro-choice, pro-environment, anti-war, anti-gun, etc., and these are the exact opposite positions that Palin holds. Indeed, I can't really imagine a person who supported Hillary in the primary and would vote for McCain now. (Yes, I know there was a TV ad about a supposed Hillary-turned-McCain voter, but I don't believe it for a second.) Anyone who supported Hillary and doesn't vote for Obama could not have really cared very passionately about the issues Hillary supports. Indeed, the only reason I can imagine a Hillary supporter voting for McCain would be if s/he is a racist. And, unfortunately, there are still loads of those around.

McCain has turned away from his own personal commitments and capitulated to the evangelicals. He is in his heart pro-choice, but he has chosen a running mate who is stridently anti-abortion. (Although, as many of my Twitter friends have suggested, doesn't Bristol Palin's "decision" to keep her child suggest that she weighed the options and made a "choice"? The anti-abortion camp would have people believe that pro-choice advocates are "pro-abortion," but in fact, no one is in favor of abortion; everyone wishes we lived in a world in which all pregnancies were wanted. But in the real world, choices must be made available to all women.) McCain is also against drilling for oil off of Alaska, which Palin is very much in favor of. (See this article from the London Times back in May.) McCain agrees with every scientist on the planet that global warming was caused by and continues to be exacerbated by human pollution; Palin thinks that's a load of hooey. McCain used to be known for sticking to his convictions—and, really, I admired that about him even when I disagreed with him—but now he's just kowtowing to the religious right. And that puzzles me, too, because there's no way on earth that they would vote for Obama. I don't even think they'd sit out the election in protest, because they'd be so afraid Obama would win. It seems to me that McCain could have stuck to his guns and still kept the GOP "base."

Palin herself gives me the willies. What kind of "average mom" would accept a job like this at a time when her family so desperately needs to hunker down and ride out some rough times? I can't believe that a woman who gave birth only 4 months ago would be willing to embark on a career that would take her away from her baby (or force her baby to hit the campaign trail with her). Add to that the fact that the baby has Down Syndrome and thus, by definition, requires more care than even the typical high-maintenance newborn—and will continue to need more medical care and special services as he ages. Huh? And now, on top of it all, the oldest of the five children is an unmarried, pregnant teen. Putting aside briefly Palin's support of abstinence-only education (cough cough, which has never been shown to have any effect on teenage pregnancy, cough cough), wouldn't you think that Bristol might kind of need her mom around at this tough time in her young life? Would anyone have faulted Palin for saying to McCain, "I'm honored to have been asked, but right now my family needs me here at home"? And did she really need to tell the entire world about her family's woes? Poor Bristol, thrown to the media wolves! In truth, I fear that a month or so from now, Palin will indeed withdraw graciously and McCain will do what he should have done, which is choose a running mate who knows what s/he's doing. The way it stands now, it seems as though McCain's desperate effort to light a fire under his own campaign has backfired and fizzled.

No one likes to say it, but with murmurings of possible assassination attempts against Obama and fears that McCain will drop dead of cancer or old age, the vice presidential picks have never been more important. That old "a heartbeat away from the presidency" expression feels very real right now. Could anyone, in their heart of hearts, claim that Palin would make a better president than Biden? No, of course not. Steve Benen has a great piece over at CBS.com, which says, in part:

McCain was asked a while back about what he'd look for in a running mate. He said the "key" is to find the person "most prepared to take my place" in the event of a crisis. McCain spent the ensuing months with a motto: "Country first." I don't doubt for a moment that Sarah Palin is a nice person and probably a competent Alaskan governor. But she also has the thinnest background of any candidate for national office since 1908. Is McCain willing, with a straight face, to argue that Palin is the single "most prepared" person in the entire United States to assume the presidency should tragedy strike? Is anyone, anywhere, prepared to argue that McCain has put "country first"? Of course not; these ideas are literally laughable.

I fear for a country under the leadership of yet another president who cannot seem to make a sensible, thoughtful appointment. (Harriet Miers, anyone?)

This & That

We're back home, and Steph is already out again, at Fenway with her grandparents. Gorgeous night for a game.

I just closed out the month of August for Andy's companies, and I'm still feeling very much in over my head with this bookkeeping stuff. Sigh.

I can't wait to dig in tomorrow on the cookbook manuscript that finally came back from the author. Then I have to get to work on that French project that came in before the long weekend too....

School starts on Thursday; last night I dreamed that I missed the bus to middle school on the first day.

Does anything help mosquito bites more than After Bite or hydrocortisone cream? The kids and I are dying of itch here. (Andy seems to be immune.) Those New Hampshire mosquitoes really mean business.

I promise to do a post tomorrow on all the exciting news coming from the John McCain camp these days. Yow. If you're not following anyone on Twitter these days, you're missing a laugh a minute.