Factors in the Democrat's favor this year: a disastrous economy, an unpopular war, an incumbent president with a 30% approval rating, far more money and better organization than the other side, a candidate who is charismatic, smart, accomplished and eloquent, an opponent who is old, out of touch, disliked by a large portion of his own party and a Washington insider when people want change.
Factors in the Republican's favor this year: the Democratic candidate is black.
Result: the race is dead-even.
No matter who wins, you can learn a lot about America just by looking at where the race stands today.
My second long weekend of the summer (the third coming in August) found me and the family in a wonderful situation. We took advantage of the non-weekend days off and ventured into the country for the famous Hood River "Fruit Loop." The day, Thursday, began with a hastily eaten Burgerville mean en auto and then a stop at Multnomah Falls. Boo was awestruck by the torrents and I was, as well, although the tourists left me with a let's-get-out-of-here mentality after 45 minutes. The short drive to Hood River was uneventful and we proceeded up highway 35 to purchase van cherries, fresh ears of corn (three for $1), cucumbers, strawberry milkshakes, snickerdoodle cookies, and cherry cider which lasted me three swallows before being left for whomever wanted it next. One of our stops had some farm animals and feed which, for a couple of bucks, could be used to inspire said animals to near-domesticity. Boo (and I and the Mrs.) loved the goats, particularly a tiny kid goat whose method for eating was all tongue and no teeth, and found the pigs fascinating, although less than pet-worthy. We then stopped at a lavendar farm where the copious honeybees prevented much more than a cursory exploration. Lastly, dinner at the Full Sail Brewery where the cask-strength IPA made the already excellent IPA even better. I wanted to set up a pipeline from the Session tank to my apartment, but it was all for nought. Friday was mellower, or so I thought, until the Mrs. surprised me with two tickets to Ray Davies at the Crystal Ballroom. We spent the afternoon tooling around, running errands, and stopped at Gartner's Meat Market for steaks, bacon, and encased meats. Amy Ruppel babysat while the Mrs. and I had cocktails at Clyde Common and enjoyed a "special acoustic performance" by the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame member. The show was comperable to the "X-Ray" acoustic gig I saw at the Aladdin back in '01, minus the sky-is-falling feelings of the one month post-9/11 scene. He began the first encoure at the Crystal by singing a lovely a cappella "Days," which won me over fully to the evening. Saturday was more errands, but closer to home, and two frankfurters/two Italian brats from Gartner's for dinner. After we put Boo to bed we watched There Will Be Blood and I wanted a milkshake (fresh raspberry from Burgerville) by the end of it. Today (Sunday) was even more mellow although I was dismayed to learn that the going away present from a former colleague was, in fact, a re-gift from circa 2006-7 and, thus, unexchangable. We had a late breakfast of the butcher's pepper bacon, scrambled eggs, fresh cherries and orange. Dinner was two lovely porterhouse steaks, lightly marinated in a sauce from West Texas, and dusted with sel gris, baked potatoes, green salad with avocado and the aforementioned cucumber, and sauteed Walla Walla onions. After giving Boo a bath, we all watched the Concert for Bangla Desh and lamented how Badfinger truly got the shaft at that toniest of events. I will be a bachelor from this coming Saturday through the 9th, so the four-day weekend was a blessing in many ways.
An amazing photo set depicting Latino immigrants as the superheroes. Be sure to read the artists statement.
Happy Quatro de Julio.
"[It's like] watching bubbles in the primeval ooze... you don't miss your brain because you don't need it. Your heart and liver and lungs continue to function normally. Apart from that, all is peace and quiet. You are in the poor man's nirvana."
--Raymond Chandler, on the then-new medium of television.
and I know you, my devoted reader (or two), are eager to hear what I've been doing with myself. To put it mildly, turning the world upside-down. Since we last spoke at length I have jumped the ship (if not the shark) and am now working in the office of Alumni and Parent Programs at the institution of higher education from whence I came and for whom I've been working these past two point five years. My job title actually has the word "director" in it. Granted, it's superseded by the word "assistant," but that's way better than my previous "assistant" job which designated sweet F.A. in its title and role.
Working at a college means most things are cyclical, so I have high hopes for this time next year.
So wish me luck, kind reader; I may be in for it.
See you in a few weeks.
ps--what Brian de Palma movie references the "Odessa steps" sequence from the Battleship Potemkin?
[edited to remove really specific work-related things which might not be "professional" considering the likelihood of my peers of finding this weblog]
Sorry, I'm both too busy and too lazy to do much more than this.
Still...strange things are afoot in Brazil's Xingu River.
