But I really like to vote...

I am someone who really loves election day and voting. I was terribly excited the first time I was able to participate in the Iowa caucuses because although I love voting and election day, you don't always get to feel like you really make a difference. But the Iowa Caucus actually influences the process.

So I was supremely disappointed when I looked up the date for the South Dakota Primary. It's June 3, 2008. Did you know that the only states who haven't had primaries by June 3 are South Dakota and Montana? I will be one of the LAST people in the country to get to vote in the primary. That sucks!

The Midwestern News

I always laugh when I have to watch the 10:00 news at my parents' house. There's inevitably a feel-good story, usually welcoming someone home from doing something like feeding children in Africa or fighting in Iraq, a story about an old person in a small town (probably just for being old in a small town), and maybe a story about a local athlete choosing a college. Oh, and if you're lucky there might be a car crash three hours away, and they'll flash a graphic of the county map on the screen and talk to the sheriff via telephone.

I laugh because, well, it's not really news. My parents like to say they show more positive stories; I think they're just looking for stuff to fill the time.

News in Sioux Falls is a little better, but the paper tonight made me laugh out loud. There's a section called "Life: Food and Drink," because food and drink is really what it's all about here. In the section today, the story was about healthful fast food breakfast choices. One of the good choices (with 400 calories and 20 grams of fat!?!?!?) is the McGriddle, and here's what Rick Lesson, owner of 10 McDonald's restaurants in Sioux Falls said:

"I liken them to eating hot cakes and sausages with your hands."

Eeeewwwww. Is that supposed to be appetizing? I think this is something Jon Stewart should hear about. Who needs a pancake/sausage on a stick when you can eat hot cakes and sausages with your hands?

Books

Having this temp. job has been great for reading. I have two 15 minute breaks a day, and 30 minutes for lunch during which I either listen to podcasts or read. I'm almost done with a great Plains book, The Bones of Plenty by Lois Hudson. I read about it first in Kathleen Norris's book Dakota. She argues that it's as good as or better than The Grapes of Wrath. I'm not planning to write a compare/contrast paper on them, but if you like books like Giants in the Earth or My Antonia, I think you'll like the Bones of Plenty.

I think I mentioned it already, but I listened to A Long Way Gone, a memoir of a child soldier. It's an excellent read, especially if you like memoirs. I don't always like memoirs by non-authors because they can drag and be boring, but this one is definitely not.

I also just started a young adult novel called House of the Scorpion. The library didn't have some books I really wanted (the new David Rakoff book, the last in the Lois Lowry trilogy, Anchee Min's latest, or Edwidge Danticat's new biography of her uncle), and this looked interesting. I'm only a little ways in, but it looks like it will be well-worth the time. Already it's started out with a boy named Matt, who we know is a clone. The others treat him poorly and he is hidden in a field until they find out he's a clone of El Patron. We don't know who El Patron is yet, but like I said, it looks promising.

I heard about a free Audible trial subscription while listening to the MacCast, so I downloaded Empress Orchid. It's very intriguing...the whole world of the Forbidden City from the perspective of a concubine.

Living alone affords one lots of time to think. That's probably why when I see people I often start a conversation with "So, I've been thinking about something..." And I've had tons of time to think lately, due to my car stereo's demise, and working at a job where I can listen to podcasts all day. Since my days of funny kid stories are gone, at least for now, a list of what I'm thinking about will have to do. (as always, no one is forcing you to read this. :)

• I listened to an audiobook called "A Long Way Home," not to be confused with the Dixie Chicks album "Taking the Long Way Home." The book is the memoir of Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier, one of the "lost boys." As I listened to the story of his recovery from the trauma of being a soldier, and all of the outrage about child soldiers, I couldn't help but wonder how much of a difference age could really make. If we don't want our children to experience war as a soldier, is it really vastly different to ask an adult?
  

• I am sick of hearing about the Iraq war. For about a week, when Petraeus (sp?) was making his speech, all the podcasts were about the war. The part that is so irritating to me is that if everyone really believes that staying in this war is a mistake, why can't something happen?
  

• On a related note, I've been feeling pretty hopeless about elections. I think Barack and Hillary are probably the best options, but still...will they actually do anything?

• One podcast last week, and I can't remember which, had a guest who had written a lot about executive privilege, and how far the Bush administration has gone to guarantee that the office of the president can do anything it wants, and justify it with executive privilege. It's amazing the public hears virtually nothing about this. Except the guy who wrote the book who was on the podcast...can't think of his name.

• I've been thinking a lot about work, not a surprise since I am currently temping. I've been thinking about lots of different aspects of work. Some are still confusing to me, some not so much. I have determined I do not want to be a worker bee. I want to be in charge of something. What I have not determined is exactly what I want to be in charge of. I'm still processing advice from friends and mentors about career ideas. It's amazing what a little encouragement can do.

• It's been very interesting to watch how the department I'm temping in works. It's become quite enjoyable, mostly because the work is mindless and I can listen to my iPod all day. But almost daily I think that if I had to work there for good I'd kill myself. A woman who works near me made a comment about us temps being young and deserving good jobs, which made me think she's not particularly fond of her job either. That being said, and perhaps because the jobs are dull, there are all kinds of incentives and supposed motivators. Friday lunch was catered in. Today sweatshirts with the company logo were handed out. And on an on-going basis you can write thank-you notes to people. If one is written about you, you get a helium-filled mylar balloon taped to your desk. That one always makes me laugh, but it must be motivating because they keep doing it.

• Much less serious than anything else, I've been noticing things about this area that I blocked out when I left. There are weird bugs--there are tons of these ugly beetles with wings that die all over my house. The daylight/dark ratio changes incredibly quickly. Looking at the way people are dressed here will always depress you. Spiral perms live on in the Midwest. You can exchange "don't" for "doesn't," as in "It don't work." There is unrelenting wind that for some reason has always seemed very unfair to me, almost unjust. People decorate crap for the seasons like their desks, porches, and holiday sweaters. Pick-up trucks are not required to use turn signals. The abundance of green during the summer is overwhelming. Recycling is still new here. Honking is considered impolite and should not be done. Service people show up when they say they will and do their work well. And a host of other things I can't think of right now.
  

Except for my friends in Haiti, I bet most of you don't have this happening in your city.

a very quick vent

I hate whoever designed the beeping feature on my microwave. In fact, in all the microwaves I've had in the past 5 years. Not only does it beep to remind me my food is finished and in the microwave, it continues to beep after I take it out and close the door. What, in fact, does it want me to do? Push "Cancel." If you don't do it, it will beep forever and ever. Why? Why does it want to remind me that I have taken my food out and closed the door without pushing cancel? Who cares? In a perfect world Apple would design microwaves and this would all be over.

Het Weekend

Last weekend was the best of times and the worst of times. First, the best of times. Saturday morning we all went to the Buddy Walk, a walk for Down's Syndrome Awareness. It was slightly odd to be walking down main street Sioux Center with about 600 other people, but it was great to support those who have children with Down's, particularly my nephew. It was friggin' cold (around 40ish?) but fun.

Sat. afternoon I got to babysit the other nephew. It was fun! My mom and I gave him a bath after he ran around outside and got dirty. He's a great imitator, and makes this cheesy smile if you do it:
My brother hates it, but I think it's cute.

So that was the good part. Sat. night I stayed at my mom's house because I had planned to go to Covenant for church on Sunday. However, I must have caught some kind of stomach bug, and spent all night vomiting. Ick. Not a pretty sight. It was kind of nice to be sick at my mom's house though. She took good care of me, bringing me juice and making me cereal. (At my mom's house, it counts as "making breakfast" if you assemble cereal and milk and bring it to the person).

And I've been sick ever since...I think I caught a sinus infection at the same time, so I've been curled up on the couch since Sunday. Here are two upsides though: 1) I've finished up to the second part of season six on the Sopranos, and 2) I'll have LOTS of new podcasts to listen to when I go back to work, hopefully tomorrow.

Just for fun, another adorable picture of B-bop (his nickname), hairstyle by yours truly:

Interview

Today's interview went well, I think. It's always hard for me to tell. One thing it definitely was was intimidating. Having only interviewed for teaching jobs before, I was already more nervous than usual. The whole process was more than I expected.

First, I had the actual interview with 7 people. They had a 2-sided piece of paper with questions for me. Although it was nice to have a printed sheet of what they were asking, I wasn't expecting it.

Then, I was given a tour of the place by a receptionist. Before the tour had begun, one of the interviewers informed me I would write a press release after the tour, just to see how I would do. It would be about me being appointed to the position. So we did the tour, and the receptionist dropped me off in the computer lab.

I sad down and cursed the fact I didn't really know the format of a press release...if I had time to prepare I could've at least analyzed a few. So, I did what anyone would do...I googled it. I'm not sure if that was not something I was supposed to do, but they left me totally alone with a computer...I was guessing part of that was to see how I would manage a computer task without any help. So I quickly glanced over a few online, and spit out a press release about my hire. It was weird.

Finally, I met with an HR specialist to discuss benefits and salary. Apparently this would be a union position, something I've never had before. Interesting.

Overall, a very different interview from what I'm used to. Kind of fun, kind of scary. I'm not sure what will come of it.

I have a job interview on Thursday!!! It's for a site manager position at a community college. It's part-time for 35 hours, whatever that means. It's not the top job on my list, but it's an interview. Yea!!!

There's this thing...called winter...

So, you know how sometimes you know in your head that something is inevitable, but it really doesn't seem real? That's how I've been with winter. Actually, the whole move, but I'll try to stay on topic.

This weekend has been cold! It's only about 60 degrees today, which would've been a December or January temp. back in San Jose. The crazy thing is that it's only September. It seems unfair to have such an ominous warning arrive so early, despite the fact that we could still have a heat wave. Not that I didn't know it was coming...

Maybe some fall would help. Some leaves are changing, including in my yard. Each of my 2 Japanese Maple trees has 1 cluster of bright red leaves. The rest have been a muted reddish brown all summer. I always thought the whole tree was supposed to be bright red, but what do I know about plants?

Here's the leaf:
And the promised picture of my cake decorating attempt. (Just FYI--I did earn my cake decorating badge in Calvinettes)And just for fun, some more kitty goodness:

(Cow hanging out in the nearly empty because I haven't had winter forever sweater organizer)

Princess appreciates my feather pillow as much as I do.

The Updates

I'm still working at what I think is called Ops 3. Actually, I think the building itself may be "Operations," and each section has a different name. When I was little and we would go on trips, I used to look around and determine whether or not I could figure out where I was from just looking at signs and what was around. When we flew to my grandparents' house near Philadelphia my dad would take the "dangerous" route home, and I would be staring out the window at Broad Street and try to find signs that would be clues about my location. Somehow I thought this would be a very useful skill in case of kidnapping, and also in those dreams where you are in a location you've never seen before.

All that to say that I've used my skills to figure out how "Ops" works. The section next to mine is "Special Ops," according to a sign on a cube near the entrance. There is also "Ops 2" somewhere in another section of the building, announced by a bulletin board in the hallway with their "news."

The work is still boring. Almost daily I look around and think I would kill myself if I had to do that job day in and day out. Most of the women wear Harley t-shirts and/or sweatshirts and scrunchies. Yes, scrunchies. It reminds me of that Sex and the City episode where Carrie and Burger fight over a scrunchy.

Working at Ops 3 does afford LOTS of time to listen to my iPod. Today I finished a book on CD called "A Long Way Gone," a memoir of a former child soldier from Sierra Leone. It was good. Then it was on to Podcasts...an old Splendid Table, The Story, Dave Ramsey, Talk of the Nation, and one listen to Over the Rhine's new album "The Trumpet Child." Since I bought it I've listened to it at least once a day and I love it.

My mom was here over the Labor Day weekend, which was fun. We mostly just hung out and did stuff around the house. She's great that way, because she loves the jobs I hate and vice versa. So she helped me change door hardware and deal with all the sticks on the driveway. We also went to Hobby Lobby and made a silk flower arrangement for the front of my house. Seriously. I thought I would just buy an arrangement because it didn't sound like something I'd be good at, but the ready made ones were ugly. So I purchased some flowers, a glue gun, and my mom and I set to work. Pictures to come.

The cats are good. They're actually starting to sort of get along. I decided to leave my bedroom door open at night, and they will sleep a few feet apart on my bed. There's still some hissing from Princess, but not too much. Cow has a wire chewing tendency I just discovered. I came home last night and she had chewed all the way through the cord from the battery charger for my cordless drill. It wasn't plugged in, but it kind of freaks me out. I had visions of coming home to a fried cat. Ick. So I'm researching options for deterrence.

I also got creative and baked a cake for my brother's birthday last week. The plan was to make it look pro, but yeah, that didn't quite work out. Despite the cake decorating book I picked up, the cake was the sort of thing that you'd love because your 5 year old made it. Oh well, it tasted good.

That's about it right now! Oh, btw, if you have any great podcasts you listen to, let me know. I'd like to pick up a few more.