Monthly Archives: June 2008

Up too late for a school night

But, you could argue that it’s work related. I work in a rather globally focused workaday world. So, staying up late to watch Babel makes sense, right? You dig, we all be globally inter-related and everyone is kind of the same.

I got to see that up close and personal in Uganda. Happily, unlike in the moving pictures, no one was shot or even dehydrated.

Meanwhile, speaking of my toil — Conceivably, the only reason I got my job at all was because I mentioned in the interview that I own a Mac. (Remember I did interview at this somewhat reputable, somewhat high-class gig at the same time as the ultimate in international marketing presence, the L’Occitane store at the mall. I mean, hell, they’re from Provence. That’s in France.)

Anyway, I got this job instead. The person under whom I toil, loves herself a Mac. Only problem is the MacBook Pro is hella heavy. That’s why I myself picked up the $400 wonder that is the Asus EEE PC.
Two pounds, tiny and snug, and the puppy works. I even pimped it out with Windows XP, so I could hook up to the work force. You really don’t want to sling a MacBook Pro over your shoulder if you’re logging any one of the seven continents on a pretty regular basis.

The answer, of course, if you’re a Mac fanatic of means would be the MacBook Air.
Buynowstrip Air20080115

As any Mac freak as myself would tell you, you don’t go buying the latest in the Apple world the week of their World-Wide Developers’ conference until AFTER Steve gives his keynote. Your thing could be the now cliched “one more thing.”

So, tomorrow, among my other stresses and tasks and things they make me do for the ability to pay my bills, I have to keep an eye on the web reports. Poor me. Hard work that.

Now instead of being surreptitious about my web ways at work, I have to report back in about web surfing. (Amusingly related, some one half asked at a real meeting in SF if I might want to do some consulting on web stuff, spreading info through weblogs particularly. Something might come of it. Who knows.)

While I’m checking in on the keynote, I, of course, will be wondering on the big rumor of Apple rumors of du jour, the new generation iPhone. I wonder what I might be dialing later this month, if I was to call you. After all, that fucktard GWB gave me a couple of bucks to stimulate the economy. It’s chilling unglamorously and unspent in my savings account earning interest. But, I gather that’s un-American or something. I think I’m supposed to be buying gas.

By the way, I heard on the radio the rest of the country is now averaging over $4/gallon. Wimps, California has been rocking that level for a while.

Provided by GasBuddy.com
Click here to add this map to your website.

Strategery or hating?

Even though a certain someone hadn’t “made a decision,” on Monday I figured it was safe to wear my designer-y, artist-y, subtle-y Obama shirt from this place’s closing in my neighborhood sale.

DSC04638

I do realize that deep down I’m a dark-souled, bitter racist, but for a little while, I’m going to feel a little glimmer of light in my evilness and hope that the Dems don’t fuck it all up completely by November.

There’s a lot of common wisdom, and maybe I’m using that word loosely, that Hill had the power position with her win at any cost Clinton heart. (And again, using “heart” loosely. I figure she has a mechanical device rather than something fleshy and well, human.) And, again, common thought has been maybe American ain’t ready to punch a chad, touch a screen or pull a lever for a real-live African American. You know, a “black man.” Ooooh.

I’m a sister in the feminist wars who dreamt of the ERA passing as a girl and got weepy over that abortive legislation. It would have been cool to vote for a woman. But, Jesus fucking lawd almighty, she didn’t exactly make a sister proud.

I admit, though, this primary season a huge part of my beef is with her husband, a fact that makes me feel a little bit better and a lot a bit worse. If Bill could have shut the fuck up, and not acted the provocateur, I think it would have gone a long way to making her seem, I dunno, ah, presidential or something.

Mostly, I’ve been worrying, though, was she the strategic candidate? The one with enough known about her to be able to fend off grinding GOP politics. The one with the “experience” and grit to fight a political cage match. That’s the worry, right? That all of those “hardworking Americans, hardworking WHITE Americans” Hillary courted could vote for her a white woman over any black man. She’d take a beating but stay in the ring long enough to slug it out.

In discussing this kind of party politics with M. over dinner, he did force an interesting point. Is fear of losing a good enough reason for a minority to sit it out? Does change ever fucking happen if you stay on that path?

If I forget about prevailing wisdom, if I let go the fact that most Americans can’t wrap their heads around words like “madrassa” and “Hussein” without confusing the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Mid East with the much larger non-Arabic chunk of the Islamic world, maybe I can roll with the notion Obama might win. I guess I’ll have to wait and see, just like everybody else.

By the way, I think the Kennedy comparisons are a bit over the top. But, one funny thing I’ve noticed by going to places that have Muslims, and have for longer than U.S. history, is that there are plenty of folks who are born all Islamic and shit who don’t let it bother them too much. Like the Kennedy brothers back in the day, who raised eyebrows in case they couldn’t balance government work with the demands of the papacy, there’s a lot of dumb, uninformed shit about the other god going around.

As the web and conspiracy nuts freak about Obama’s Kenyan dad or Indonesian step dad and their religion, you got to remember Joe and Rose Kennedy. Sure, Rose like a lot of novenas and rosaries in her day, but her husband’s religion was money, power and getting things done. Obama’s mom didn’t even stay married to the scary religion.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Make way for ducklings

This morning, I electric scootered to work and came upon mom and the kid ducks strolling down the sidewalk. Watching them stop traffic on a fairly busy street to cross gave me a smile and some weird sense of hope.

No doubt, the Democrats will fuck up that sense of well-being fairly soon.

IMG_0164.JPG

IMG_0165.JPG

IMG_0166.JPG

IMG_0167.JPG

The DNC makes me sad

I honestly don’t know what to think about yesterday’s decision over Florida and Michigan, and/or what my opinion is on counting or not counting the votes. All I do know is that it seems as though my political party is bound and determined to completely, utterly fuck up the 2008 election.

If I’m sitting here in January 2009 watching the inauguration of John McCain to our nation’s highest office I will have a razor blade in one hand and a bottle of tequila in the other.

Whatever you think about Hillary or Barack, this whole episode can’t be good. I hope, pray even, that between this Tuesday when the final primary voters have voted, yesterday’s decision has been tallied and the great not state of Puerto Rico factored in, the Democrats try to get their collective shit together. You know, like keep their eye on the whole fucking point of this fiasco, electing a leader from our party.

Hillary mentioned RFK. For anyone alive and voting back then, was that primary as fucked up as this one in the few months before Bobby was shot? For anyone I know who’s a Hillary supporter, and back on Super Tuesday, I knew quite a few, I’d love to hear some encouragement that this is the lunatic fringe and a small portion of her voters.

What happens now? Do we all remember the point of the primaries and throw our collective weight behind keeping McCain from moving into the Whitehouse? I sure as hell hope so.