Already behind!

It's fitting that I missed yesterday since I feel so scattered and behind in real life right now. It's gotten to a busy time of the semester (only five more weeks!) and I have taken over the class I'm team-teaching. Plus there's more grading right now, I've gotten four manuscript review requests in the last few weeks, AND we had a campaign rally here in Small College Town which took up most of my day yesterday. We got in line around 11:00 and didn't get home until after 3:00- I didn't sit down for the whole four hours and was just wiped out last night. I did work on a lecture late last night, which I finished up today. I started laundry last night, went grocery shopping this morning, cleaned my bathroom... I like to be busy, but really hate being in putting-out-fires mode since I never feel caught up or ahead. I'm also obsessed/preoccupied with the election right now.  So much scary stuff at stake that shouldn't be.

I'll write another more substantive post for today's "official" post and this will just have to count for yesterday.

Crickets.

Wow. I can't believe that my last post spawned ZERO comments. Either nobody is reading this blog any more or, well, I can't think of another reason. I didn't explicitly mention it, but I feel like a lot of the mistrust of President Obama is based on racism- whether people know it or admit it. I've had so many conservations with H (who is Black) about this and we both come to the same conclusion.

Anyway, it seems that a LOT of bloggers- particularly the science bloggers- have been shutting down their blogs lately. I wanted to let you know (if there is anyone still reading), that I have no such plans. I don't feel obligated to blog over here (so it's not a source of stress), I'm not worried about being outed (I am tenured, after all), and I still love this outlet for writing longer pieces than I can on FB and the fact that it does still give some tiny bit of anonymity compared to FB (as in my relatives don't read this- not to mention about half the people I went to high school with!) I do miss the culture of bloggers from a few years back, but I actually interact with a lot of bloggers on FB now, anyway. If nothing else, I love this space as a personal journal. I sometimes look back through my archives to see what I was worried about or doing during the last few years. That aspect of it makes me want to blog more often, actually. I started a professional blog under my real name (link is on my FB profile), but I only blog there about once a month- and I am VERY careful, since my students and colleagues may read it. I don't blog about ANYTHING personal there at all, but I like it for what it is.

Anyway, maybe people don't feel like talking about politics and that's fine. I just get too much flak over on FB if I post anything about politics, since I have former students and relatives who are conservative- my own mother watches Glenn Beck for pete's sake. I just wonder how many others see this racism creeping into attitudes toward our president...

Another work at home Thursday

It's another work-at-home Thursday and I have a list of service tasks to get through today (reviewing promotion and tenure files, reading a thesis from another U, writing a letter of recommendation), plus some minor class prep, and hopefully a little research time. D had school on time today (they had a 2-hour delay on Tuesday), so I have my whole day this time. I have a few random things I want to write about, so I guess I better whip out the bullets:

• I am so frustrated with hearing how people "don't trust" President Obama. What has he lied about that makes people draw the conclusion that he can't be trusted? I am not blindly in favor of everything he does or says (especially his comment last night about building more nuclear power plants), but I don't get this whole lack-of-trust thing. I am just tired of people shooting down every idea he has and everything he says just because he's the one who said it- I really didn't hear anything that controversial in last night's speech. I don't see how anyone can deny that he inherited a real mess and it will take time to make changes and for the economy to improve- he's only been in office for one year.
• The situation in Haiti is so horrible and depressing. It's only been 16 days since the earthquake and it's practically fallen out of the news already. It will take years for the country and people to recover and rebuild and I hope that all this generosity doesn't drop off too soon. And this is another issue I've been hearing criticized by some people- comments to the effect of "why should we help those people"? Because they are people? And they were already living in desperate poverty BEFORE the earthquake? Are they less important because they aren't Americans? If you want to help people here in the U.S., by all means, do so! But why criticize helping people in other parts of the world?
• In more local news, I have been trying to make my big non-majors intro class more interactive this semester. I think it's been going pretty well, but now I have the issue of annoying people being in class (since they do in-class work they can't skip as easily). Yesterday, I had to tell some giggling, talking girls to be quiet and another guy to stop texting. I'm feeling more comfortable calling people out in class and almost feel like I would feel OK kicking someone out if they are being disruptive (which I've never done). We'll see how they are tomorrow.
• I don't think I blogged about this, but when we were in Warm State over Xmas, I had a bad experience with a pet-sitting service. My cat's water bowl was bone dry when we got home and they had been there that morning. They also didn't stay as long as they promised (a neighbor told me) and didn't refill the cat litter to the level that we keep it. I wrote a letter with my payment and asked for the key back. They finally sent it back on Tuesday with a letter saying that I'm the first person to ever complain and explaining how I was wrong and they were right. What kind of customer service is that? No real apology. No admission of wrong-doing. Wow. I was livid, but didn't write back since I don't want to deal with them any more.

So that's what's been going on around here. D has been having her frequent stomach aches again, so we are going to take her to a specialist in early March. She's on a healthy part of the cycle right now, so I hope it lasts. I hate when she doesn't feel well. OK- off to work (but maybe some sudoku first!)

Time is moving in slow motion

I just turned on MSNBC to start watching election coverage, even though none of the polls will close for more than two more hours. I have already teared up several times today- whenever I hear an interview with an African American voter, saying that they thought they would never see this day. (me neither!) Maybe it feels even more personal because of my own family- that someone with the same ethnic background as my daughter could become president. That my husband just voted in his first U.S. election. I am hopeful, but terrified at the same time. I anticipate more tears tonight- hopefully tears of joy.

Going where I probably shouldn't...

I don't usually say much about politics here, but I'm feeling stifled by Anastasia's disabling of comments on this post (go read it), so I am going to say something. I have been an Obama supporter for the last few months, but it's been anything but a "religious conversion". First, let me say that I am very liberal and even the Democratic party as a whole is too conservative for me (except for maybe Dennis Kucinich). I am completely opposed to guns. I am an atheist and don't think that religion should play any role in politics or government whatsoever. I am opposed to capital punishment. I am in favor of same-sex marriage. I am pro-choice.  And the list goes on. I know my views are way outside of the American mainstream. I realize that no Democrat (or Green or whoever) could ever win public office in this country with those views (except in a few liberal havens), so I have no illusions that we'll ever have a president that I am completely aligned with. That said, I am more concerned with having someone other than a Republican in the White House next year, so I am not willing to vote for Ralph Nader while I am living in a swing state (even though I generally agree with him, too).

I guess what I wanted to say is that I am not bothered by Obama's religious rhetoric because I know that any politician with aspirations for being president has to go down that road. It bothers me to no end that this is the case, but I realize that this country is predominantly Christian and people want their president to share their religious views. I'm not saying that I am right or I have the answers, but just that it seems to me that a lot of things have gone wrong during Bush's two terms and anyone who can take us in another direction in terms of foreign policy, domestic spending, etc. would be a huge improvement. I turned away from Hillary Clinton when it seemed like her campaign went in a negative direction. I'm sure she would have been a good president, but I like that Obama has not been in Washington as long as she as. 

That's my two cents. I'm just one vote. I know plenty of people disagree with me and that's fine. Can't we all just get along???

ETA: Here's another take on Obama's candidacy.

I'm no political blogger, but...

this makes me laugh:

Maybe this is why Hillary Clinton's campaign hasn't said anything about Obama's connections with Reverend Wright.

I can't believe I am 18% with Mike Huckabee. Ew.

Dennis Kucinich rules, however.

94% Dennis Kucinich
93% Mike Gravel
83% John Edwards
78% Barack Obama
77% Hillary Clinton
75% Chris Dodd
73% Joe Biden
71% Bill Richardson
36% Rudy Giuliani
24% John McCain
21% Ron Paul
19% Mitt Romney
18% Mike Huckabee
16% Tom Tancredo
7% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

I always knew I was outside of the mainstream..

MommyProf  had a link to this political compass for the U.S. presidential candidates. As usual I am out in left field. I'm still actually torn between Obama & Clinton. Of course, by the time my state's primary happens, there may not be much left to decide (we're AFTER Super Tuesday).