no more yankie my wankie. the donger need food

happy sunday! my list favorite day of the week, but i am trying to be productive, including finally putting pictures up of the beautiful victorian houses in my neighborhood here in columbus. i live in the short north district of columbus, which apparently is the gay district (or closest thing you can get to a gay district in middle america) so there are a lot of rainbow flags and obama bumper stickers. i finally (almost?) fit in.

in my effort to be productive, i made a list of things to do today. first thing: get to the grocery store before it gets busy. i HATE shopping when there are tons of people there. i took a bit of time getting out of bed, which i shouldn't have. by the time i took off, on foot, for the grocery store a few blocks away, i realize why i should've gotten up sooner: the columbus marathon. and it happens to go right by my house. all the way to the grocery store. visions of living in boston during marathon monday flash through my head and give me a headache. i wasn't sure what was going on at first because there were just a bunch of cops and orange cones. i asked a traffic cop when the runners were gonna get there and he said that the lead guy was on mile 23 and we were at mile 25. in the time that it took me to walk a little less than a mile to the grocery store, the lead person ran past me. he was a skinny black man, so i'm guessing a kenyan. they sure like to run. i dont know why. anyway, i stopped and cheered him and the 2nd place guy on, but the rest of the crowd was far behind so i kept going. it was awe inspiring and i almost teared up. i truly believe marathon runners should be / could be certified crazy, but i also realize what a feat it is to run 26.2 miles and i'm happy for them. even if they are a bit delusional.

on my way to the grocery store, i took some pictures* of the nice houses along the way. i tried this the other night, but since it was nearing dark, the houses look a bit ominous. so i am putting up all the pictures i've taken - the other night and today. so, while i go make a salad, enjoy these lovely photos..










*i noticed. and i'm not happy. someone took the plastic protector off my camera screen and now it might get scratched. i WILL find out who you are and punish you.

left in the wrong world part 14

overheard at work:

"Liberals cannot accept that in an optimal society there will be losers. You can’t protect everybody."

i mentioned this to cake boss in boston and he said, "you're only as good as your weakest player." which i think is the same for society.

left in the wrong world part 14

i don't know if i can stress just how much this guy at work went off yesterday - he was shouting and raising his voice and i seriously thought that if i brought up some counterpoints to all of the stupid things he says, he would've hit me or something. or maybe shot me. a different woman at work has lots of guns, and i'm all for gun ownership, but its still scary. anyway, this is not about that. this is about a hostile work environment and crazy things people say. here are a few more quotations for your enjoyment:

regarding senator o. snowe who voted for the finance committee health bill:

“She’s going to fuck up America.”

here is a made up statistic on the health reform bill that must be from fox news, which rachel maddow did an interesting piece on how inaccurate their reporting is and people are misquoting figures because of it:

"70% of Americans against it."

and then this one:

"They’ve voted to ban the bills from being put online so people can’t read them."

left in the wrong world part 13

it quickly became clear today that DC was doing something important when one of my co-workers started ranting for - what seemed like - hours all day about "fucking liberals." sure enough, there is a lot of news going on with the healthcare debate. for the record, most of the upcoming "left in the wrong worlds" are from today... here is the first gem for you:

"Obama is a slick guy trying to divert attention away from everything else."

dream apartment - 2

in august, i decided to start a recurring series on things i want in my perfect apartment. (or house, but can anyone really picture me owning property unless its in paris??) i haven't found a ton of things that i thought would be must-haves, but i haven't really been looking. and then today:

oh my gosh. i can hardly believe how cool this thing is. check out this picture of a trap door for wine. i don't know how you get into it, but i don't care i want one!

what do you think?

left in the wrong world part 13

i woke up this morning and read the news before going to work. “Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.” My first thought was “for what?” but I didn’t dwell on this issue – clearly there are people far smarter than I who decide these things. My next thought was a sigh of relief, “yes! There is nothing bad my coworkers at work can say about this. clearly winning an award is a good thing for whatever reason.” Am I naïve?

Said directly to me as she takes out her phone and we get in the elevator:
“my husband and I rag on Obama all the time. We love it.”
[Calling husband]
Overheard her talking on the phone:
“Honey, guess what a broker sent me today? He said that Obama was awarded the Cy Young award for throwing the first pitch at a game.” [Hysterical laughter follows]Also overheard at work:

“Being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because he’s a liberal.”

And

[trying to discredit the nobel peace prize] “they gave it to Yasser Arafat. A KNOWN terrorist. Come on.”

exciting, albeit funny, news! i've just had an editorial published!! here is the link to the fargo forum's newspaper and their online website, in-forum. from past experience reading their website, i know that articles are soon archived, so here is a pasted text version of the site:

Published October 08 2009

Rural Americans need reform bill

I am disappointed that when rural people have been shown in the health care reform debate, when they’ve been shown at all, it’s mostly been screaming and shouting against reform.

By: DLE, Fargo

I am disappointed that when rural people have been shown in the health care reform debate, when they’ve been shown at all, it’s mostly been screaming and shouting against reform. The truth is the silent majority of rural Americans want and need health care reform that is inclusive, affordable and includes a strong public option.

Rural Americans are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured and have fewer choices of private insurance and health care providers while having more health care needs. While all Americans stand to gain from health care reform, arguably rural Americans have the most to gain. Please make sure this side of the story is heard.

Tags: health care reform, public insurance option, rural americans, opinion, letters

as stoked and proud as i am about this, i find it a bit ironic... see, i've been meaning to write my own editorial for a long time. i was going to, and still hope to, write to senator conrad about my experiences being denied healthcare coverage (can you believe that??!!), but since i am a well-known procrastinator, i have not gotten around to it just yet. in the meantime, i got an email from brave new world foundation talking about health care in rural america (i think from brave new world, but i viewed it from work, so i can't find the direct link for you right now). you watched a very poignant video on health care affecting rural america. then, you have the option to put in your zip code, so i put in 58102, and up pops a listing of local newspapers (the forum in fargo). it gave you a sample text you could use to write an editorial to the paper. i didn't have a lot of time, so i clicked send and off went my pre-written editorial. i just thought i should come out clean with all the details. don't get me wrong, i believe in the everything the editorial says. and i'm happy to put my name by it. but if you see the same words somewhere else, that is why.

and guess how i even found out about this. my friend, kj's husband emailed her to show her that i was in the paper and then she emailed me. my own family didn't even notice! :) but now i'm published and that's cool. and i believe in healthcare reform and i hope to one day write an even better editorial that is a bit more personal.

left in the wrong world part 12

i tried reading this story today on cracked.com about 6 Beloved TV Shows (That Traumatized Cast Members For Life). when i went to the cracked.com website link here, i received this warning on my computer:

[Company] Internet use policy restricts access to this web page.
Reason: This Websense category is filtered: Tasteless.

this may or may not be the first time i've been called tasteless.

left in the wrong world part 11

overheard at work today (unfortunately i missed half the conversation, but this part was funny):

“he doesn’t know what a lefty is. I think he’s one of those lefties that wants to sit around and smoke pot all day.”

highlights

i've had some interesting days, but it will take me a minute to go over them. until then, enjoy this video