DNC, McCain, and some chick from Alaska

First off, I'm biased as hell. I cannot understand how people who are not rich, white, and sit on the board of large corporations can be republican. I like Barak Obama. He seems like a normal guy who you could have a good conversation over beers with. Yes some said that about Bush II, but without the good conversation part. When he speaks, he is describing a bright future where there are loads of shiny happy people. It may not be perfect, but its a significant change and better change from the 8 long dark years we've had.

Freaking McCain though. Jay-sus. The 'oh I'm gonna ride the Hilary wave and get me a woman' mentality is disgusting. Sarah Palin has NO political experience. She was the mayor of a town of 9000. There are 3 times more people than that at the University of Oregon. Now she is the governor of Alaska for LESS THAN 2 years. The population of AK is 684,000ish. The city of Austin Texas has more, 743,000ish. Crap, Portland Oregon, has 568,000ish. I'd say those mayors have at least as much or probably more experience than she does.

The other thing that pisses me off, is that she was tapped because she is a woman. Not because she has a good leadership record (or any for that matter). Its the oh gee we need to find someone who isnt white and or male. Its degrading to all women who have worked for what and where they are today. She was chosen because she has a v-jay jay.

While it may seem awesome that a woman could be vice president, its terrifying that THIS woman could be president. I mean come on, McCain is just about the same age as my grandparents. In 4 more years he'll be almost 80. Its entirely possible that he could have some serious health issues in that time. And if he does who gets to be in charge? Oh yea, Sarah "I have no experience" Palin. And if the republicans are touting their own horn that they would be the one with a woman on the ticket, I just want to remind everybody that the democrats did it first, 20 years ago...can anybody say Geraldine Ferraro?

And finally, in true republican fashion, she is currently being investigated. Yep, she's been in office for less than 2 years and is already being investigated. Why? Because it looks like she dismissed the Public Safety Commissioner when he refused to fire her ex-brother in law (who is a state trooper). Ah yes, this "reformer" whistle blower type is just the same as it ever was.

PS McCain has met her only once prior to his (I mean his handlers) choosing her for the VP position.

Perils of Urgent Care

So on Sunday I took a magnificent dive off my mtn bike at about 25 mph into very large gravel due to a ginormous blackberry bush that was in my way. Well it was either blackberry bush or median of large loose gravel. Either way I knew I was going to eat it. And I did. Brilliantly. So I banged my knee and whacked my handle bars in my stomach (yes I have a round bruise right of my belly button), and I really abraded the hell out of my left elbow. I clean it up, I put neosporin goo on it. I've had road rash before, I know how this goes.

Fast foward to Tuesday night, my arm is swollen and a bit red, and definitely warmer than it should be. Crap. So I try a little ice, and I prop my arm up on the back of the sofa for most of the evening to see if I can get it to drain. No dice. All that I get from that is lost feeling in my hand and a cold elbow. Crap.

So today I go to urgent care...and by urgent they mean if you are not spurting blood everywhere, then you are probably ok and going to sit there for hours. And by hours I mean minimum of 3. Do not go to urgent care if you are not obviously seriously injured. So I'm there I check in. Lesson number one dawns pretty quick: do not act chipper or upbeat or have a pain number less than 5. Yes my minor infection is a 10. It is totally the worst pain I've ever had. Evar.

Lesson number 2: Hospitals do not care about blood born pathogens - do not touch ANYTHING. So some dude who'd been there for 2 hours, bleeding (see he wasnt at the 3 hour mark, so they couldnt help him yet) from a very large laceration on his palm. He went to the bathroom to put more paper towels on it and when he came out, there was blood dripping down his elbow, all over his shoes, jeans and the floor. He didnt notice until I pointed it out. They didnt bandage his hand up for about 5-10 minutes. It took about 15 minutes for them to get out the antimicrobial spray and wipe down the floors. And the nurse did it w/o gloves.

Lesson number 3: Your wait will be 12x as long as your actual visit with any medical professional. I sat for 3 hours. I saw the dr for about 5 minutes, the nurse for about 10. Fifteen minutes. She cleaned my elbow (by pouring what looked like water on it), slathering some polysporin on it (whats the difference between poly and neo?) and then wrapping it in gauze (because I'm allergic to adhesives so I dont to medical tape well). And fax a script for antibiotics to the pharmacy. At least the dr and nurse wore gloves.

The Never Ending Quest

What will Pim (the LWC - large white cat) eat next? It was about this time last year that we discovered he not just eats, but begs and voratiously devours corn on the cob. Since then its become a personal goal of mine to find the foods he wont eat.

Last year's corn noming...

So this week he ate:
Oatmeal
Blueberries
Melon
More corn (der)
Beans and Rice

Now he and his sister are laying around looking like they are going to melt due to the heat.

Uber Geekiness!

The LHC is a Large Hadron Collider. It is being built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies under the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC will become the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is funded and built in collaboration with over two thousand physicists from thirty-four countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories. From Wikipdia. More here. And here.