It’s been sort of surreal today - thinking about how tomorrow evening, we will be electing our new President and that there is a very good chance that it’ll be the very first African American elected to the highest office in the land. Over the last few weeks I’ve read a lot of different opinions about a lot of different topics…I am thankful every day that we live in a country where we have the freedom to be able to share those opinions…

Today, John said to me, “You know, if Obama wins the election, we’ll be an ‘Obamanation’” - then he couldn’t stop laughing at himself for the funny joke he’d made. I admit, I laughed too. I think I was laughing at him though, rather than at the joke.

Something totally unexpected and kind of Twilight Zone’ish happened today - a friend at work, whom I respect a lot, said to me, “You didn’t accept my friend request on Facebook!” - now, to really know how ironic this is, you’d have to know this friend. He’s about as Anti-Social Networking as they come…to say that I was stunned at his statement would be, well, and understatement. For the record, I did friend him this afternoon - for some reason, I didn’t get the notification from Facebook regarding the request…(In fact, I didn’t get any notifications regarding any of the things that took place last night/today - very strange).

In other news - John made some brownies just now. I can’t wait to eat them

I had to stop writing for a minute (Ok, actually like 10 minutes) while I prepared our Voter Registration Packets so that we don’t have any problems tomorrow when we show up to vote. Our licenses have our old address, even though the States system has our new one…so we’ve gotta take 2 other forms of ID to ensure we’re who we say we are.

I am getting pretty stoked…I can’t wait till tomorrow

Man has this campaign been crazy. Lots of crazy accusations and lots of mudslinging. It’s funny, however, because for me personally, I don’t really watch or listen to that kind of crap - it’s tantamount to allowing someone to tell me how to vote - instead, like any other important decision, I review and study the facts as they relate to issues important to me. I do so by attempting to study factual studies, actual voting records and historical data. What I have found odd is that there are tons of places out there promoting their ‘fair and balanced’ opinions as fact.

The owner of a blog that I read daily from back home wrote the other day that 58% of a pool of 608 Texans planned to vote for John McCain while (and really, I have no idea why this is even important) 23% of those who were polled believed that Barack Obama was a Muslim. I’m sorry, but aside from that being untrue, it sure seems kind of silly, right?

In another venue, which I frequent, I’ve read messages where people are being warned about potential civil unrest in the days following the election.

It’s sad to me, as an American, to see our political elections turn this way. There are hundreds of countries all over the world where simple elections for office turn into bloodbaths. How sad that there is real fear, here in our own country, of this happening on November 4th?

For a number of reasons, I have changed my methodology of thinking this election - I have split from ‘party ticket voting’ and investigated the issues which are important to me and while there are a few things that I agree with the Republicans on - there are far more issues that are important to me that land me squarely on the Democratic side of the ballot.

Also, I’ve said it before and I will say it again, having lived under the ‘rule’ of both of these Senators in their respective districts, I find that Obama, more often than not, does what he says he’ll do - and when he does it (and even if he doesn’t do it) I find that his decisions are more in line with my thoughts and ideas than those of John McCain.

My decision to vote for Obama this Tuesday has landed me square in the cross hairs of some family and friends but that’s ok. I can’t pretend to know what issues are important to them, at their core. For me, my experience as a Military wife, a middle-class family and woman lead me in a different direction - but I’d like to think, when it’s all said and done, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office - we’ll come together in the spirit of country and do the best we can with whatever leadership is in place.

You can’t please all the people all the time, but you can please some of the people some of the time - I’m a Democrat. I’m voting for Obama - please stop sending me the hate mongering, racist propaganda - there, I said it

I haven’t been following the debates. I’ve done my own research and having done said research, I’ve already decided which candidate I will be voting for. I have, however, been watching SNL - given the current state of affairs in the world, I need to laugh…not watch a debate in which the vast majority of the time is spent asking the moderator to repeat the question and/or not answer the asked question at all. For me, I learned everything I needed to know by looking at voting record stats, researching the big supporters and researching and learning more about the big issues important to me.

Of course, as with every election, neither of the candidates is a perfect fit. In the end, I agree more with Obama on certain mainline issues, whereas McCain and I are about as far apart as two people can get with regards to most issues…of course, I’ve said before, I have the benefit of having lived in the same areas as both candidates while they were Senators. I’ve been exposed to their actual ‘work’…and I think that allows me to draw on that experience when it comes time to cast my ballot. Which reminds me, I registered in my new house but I haven’t gotten a registration card yet. I need to call about that tomorrow (Can someone please remind me?)

Something else that’s on the ballot here in Arizona this year is “Proposition 102″ - the “Save Marriage” proposition, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman. It’s a pretty interesting situation, because a very similar proposition was on the ballot several years ago and it failed..so they rewrote it and put it up again. I’m not sure how I feel about the proposition being back on the ballot in November. I know how I’ll vote, of course - but I wonder if we’ll keep beating this dead horse at every election…?

There are a lot of measures/propositions on the ballot in November - If you’re in Arizona, I encourage you to check out the AZ Ballot Measures Website and read up on all of the ballot items, so that you’re fully informed and educated about each issue when casting your vote. If you’re not in Arizona, then Google your own state + November ballot issues and see what you’ll be casting your vote for this year.

If you’re not registered to Vote - please take a minute to register. It’s really important that we all remember that voting is a privilege - you have the ability (well, as much as the Electoral Collage allows) to chose the politicians who run our country (city, state, county…etc).

Ok, thats all from me, for now.

I made Manicotti for dinner, it was awesome.

I am eating Almonds right now, they rock (and they were totally on sale, score!).

I also got some awesome Orange Juice on sale - love it!

So - to recap. Go vote. Not registered? Go register. My Manicotti = awesome. Almonds = great snack food. OJ Rulz - not the murder, the orange liquid. Google the measures on the ballot in your state in November - study them, learn them, vote on them. This isn’t that high school fill in the bubble test - it’s not cool just to make neat designs by filing in random bubbles (I know I’m not the only one to do that…admit it).

Gnite!

Well, at least the temperature over the next few days will be consistent. I was looking at my Google home page and saw that for the next four days, it will be 108/84. That seems odd for four days in a row.

I have noted (and I am real ticked off about it) that Firefox 3 stops ’spell checking’ after the title of the blog is entered in the WYSIWYG of Wordpress. That irritates me because spelling isn’t exactly my strong suit and I need all the help I can get without introducing Microsoft Evil Characters by typing in Word and bringing it over. Thankfully, I haven’t downloaded FF3 on this PC - it’s only on my laptop.

I wanted to sleep till Noon today, but the phone rang at 6:15. It’s always so much fun when you have friends/relatives that live in different timezones and they can never figure out/calculate the time difference so that they don’t call you at midnight/four AM.

On the list of things I posted about last night that I needed to do this weekend, two of them are done. The kitchen is clean and laundry is in process. I think I’ll take a nap in a bit and do the other couple of things this afternoon.

In regards to politics - I haven’t really been giving it a lot of attention, because I figure whoever the candidates want to be their veepee will be chosen and there isn’t much/anything I can do about that. I also don’t vote along party lines, but rather, research the issues important to me and vote for the candidate who has similar opinions regarding said issues.

I voted for Ross Perot when he ran, then stopped, then ran, then stopped, then ran…I’m ashamed to admit that.

I admit to being bothered by McCain’s lack of knowledge regarding his assets, his blatant disregard for truth regarding matters that he’s flaunted (and lied about) to the media (namely, that ‘unspoken topic’) and his age. For those reasons alone, McCain isn’t on my short list. It makes things much easier…I don’t need to research him to find out his stance on certain matters…besides, based on what I know already, it may or may not be true.

I admit to being uneasy about Obama’s lack of experience. I lived in the Chicagoland area when he was running for his current office. There was lots of talk then about him being fast tracked for the presidency and how he was a super star etc. To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed with a number of decisions he made with regards to children’s issues and education while I lived there. Namely, foster kids.

I don’t know. This is going to be a hard election. It just doesn’t seem like either one really belongs in the White House - of course, that’s just my opinion. I’d much rather see someone who is in their ‘prime’ and has a bit more experience, just not quite as much experience as McCain has - but it is what it is.

(That was WAY longer than I intended!)

All political discussion aside, I think this year will prove to be very interesting. I know I have some pretty interesting plans for the future

Seriously, I try not to get involved in politics - I mean, I’m not one to say “Go Democrat!” or “Go Republican” or whatever. I have my own personal convictions and it’s not *my* job to sway someone one way or another…that’s up to the politicians, and I am not one.

However, I could not let this opportunity pass. It was just to good.

Separated at birth? Son and Mother? Is there something we should know Hillary?

You see it, don’t you?