August politics

No new-Gonzales yet. It looks like my guesses of Ted Olson and Larry Thompson were good ones as potential successors. Larry Silberman and George Terwilliger are in the mix. Though all of this has been somehow overshadowed by the Senator Larry Craig solicitation scandal. The guy is an idiot. Even if he was totally innocent--which I doubt--by pleading guilty he may as well be. The GOP better get its act together if it has any hope in reclaiming Congress next year. And if there is a Supreme Court vacancy (well, for all judicial vacancies), Republicans needs a majority.

And Fred Thompson is finally going to declare, after the longest exploratory committee ever. However, twenty years ago, he'd be getting into the ring at the right time. Two year plus presidential campaigns are absurd.

Other than this, we're all waiting for Labor Day weekend to start and another trip to California...

Good Things - August

Nature Valley maple brown sugar granola bars.

The new Rilo Kiley CD. And A Fine Frenzy.

That Gonzales quit!

My new pink strapless dress.

My new yellow and white skirt. What to wear with it though, as summer comes to an end?

That football season, and office pool time, is almost here.

All of the yummy berries--raspberries, blueberries, strawberries. And fall fruit and vegetables coming up.

Coffee, iced or otherwise.

Frozen yogurt. Strawberry, or raspberry/vanilla.

Good work outs.

Bye-Bye Gonzales

Well, it's about time...Gonzales announced he's resigning effective 9/17. Yes--Constitution Day. Paul Clement will be temporary replacement, though Michael Chertoff is getting the most buzz to replace him.

Clement would be fantastic. Speculation is that Dems would grill Chertoff in hearings on Katrina, though I imagine he'd get confirmed. I haven't heard many other names bandied about, though I guess someone like Larry Thompson, Ted Olson (though VERY unlikely!), and well....I haven't seen much speculation about anyone else. Yet.

Big Government to the Rescue

Great column by Howard Kurtz today re: the housing market. He's writing about the inevitable spate of sob stories of poor people who bought half-million dollars homes on nothing down with interest only mortgages. And these people are shocked, shocked!! to find out that they can't afford their McMansion.

But when the mortgage meltdown pieces are written or broadcast, the lead is inevitably someone who is about to lose his or her house, with not so much as a nod toward the notion that these people might have overreached or bears any responsibility at all for their financial plight.

Perhaps inevitably, Hillary Clinton has now proposed a $1-billion fund to help struggling families catch up on their mortgage payments, and John Edwards also wants to give money to those who can't make their payments. So the taxpayers should bail out folks who took out these loans with their eyes wide open?

NOTHING irks me more than Dems who think the American public is so helpless that they need big government to bail them out of every stupid mistake they make.

thirtysomething musings part 1

I think being 30-something, conservative, and Catholic logically leads you to want to be married. I think there is a logical yearning for that--that you're seen as more of a professional, more of a faithful person, more of a rank-and-filed married/non-single grown up individual rather than someone whose schedule can free up to go to dollar beer night at McFadden's any given night of the week.

At Bill & Jen's wedding, there was a recognition that most people are married. We were at the "single" table with one other dating couple, a couple of friends, and some other unmarried people. The groom's friends, all in their mid-30s, were almost all married with children.

There is a transition to being in your early 30s and unmarried. You're too old for the dollar drinks (who wants miller lite when you can be drinking G&Ts with Bombay Sapphire??), but you aren't in that married crowd. When colleagues younger than you are married, maybe they don't exactly fit either.

Every engagement tears at you a bit, and as a woman, you aren't supposed to be upset. You aren't supposed to whine "When will it be MY turn?" or cover-up any inner jealousy that you might hold. You're supposed to smile and be happy and listen to the details and look wistfully and the betrothed and think, "Gee, how happy does he look!!" And when you get the baby announcements, you aren't supposed to think, "Am I less of a good conservative/Catholic 30-something year old woman b/c I don't have kids, I'm not married, and I don't think it will happen any time soon? And oh yeah, my long-term relationship means nothing. Because colleagues who have been dating for three months can get engaged before me!" Does that make one bitter?

I say sometimes it's OK to be bitter. It's OK to think life isn't fair, I know there are a lot of other people in this world who have things much worse off, but so what. Let me sulk. Let me think it isn't fair. Let me wonder if I'm ever going to be the one who will get the pretty blue and yellow striped Crate plates and the wine glasses for both whites and reds. Let me wonder if I'll be Carrie Bradshaw and will have to register for shoes. Though I guess, maybe, she got her Prince Charming finally? But do you really need to wait that long?

And you wonder if you really waited too long, if it's desperation that keeps you together or if it's love. Or if you just get tired of it all, and know that you're a disappointment, and know that you can't white about it, so complacency is better than nothing. And you stick it out. And keep on sticking it out.

Old Friends, New Friends

I had an opportunity to get together with an old college friend on Saturday before the wedding. Angela and her husband live in Cincinnati, and she's an occupational therapist. He's studying to get a Master's in Special Ed. It was so nice to visit with them, as it was nearly four years since we last got together! Wow, time flies! She hasn't changed much, and I mean that in a good way!. It was so nice to visit, and we discussed getting together for our ten-year reunion next summer. Part of me hoped the reunion would come at another happy occasion, but probably not my happy occasion :)

I'm also planning to see K&A in Wyandotte this weekend. I miss him around the office. I know that old girl scout verse...Make new friends but keep the old...well, that certainly applies. No matter how many different directions you go in or how much time has passed, it is always so nice to see some friends from ten years ago, or one year ago.

Elsewhere on the "new" front, I bought both overly pricey Josh Ritter and Rilo Kiley CDs. I would just get them off of itunes, but I am old school and I like having the CD, just in case. Plus it is so nice to have something physical in hand with music. I hope the Josh Ritter CD is as good as the early reviews.

Rilo Kiley

Myspace is streaming the new Rilo Kiley. I'm really liking this; maybe I'll pick it up to add to my ipod. Silver Lining, the first cut off the CD, is my early favorite. And on a recommendation, I really like Breakin' Up and 15.

I'm still listening to a lot of a Fine Frenzy. Rangers, You Picked Me, Come on Come out, The Minnow & the Trout...well, lots of good picks here. Some of the songs go on a bit long, but she has a beautiful voice, and very lovely nature-infused lyrics.

Reagan Diaries

I finally, finally finished the Reagan Diaries last night. The day after Michael Deaver, part of the troika that so ably contributed to President Reagan's first term success, passed away. First of all, I would love to get the unabridged version once it is published. Douglas Brinkley did an able job editing the volume, but I would still like to comb through the entries he summarized. Can you believe it has been 26+ years since President Reagan was in office? His patriotism, his strongly-held beliefs (anti-communism, free market, pro-life, love for Nancy, his humility, his loyalty, his faith, his empathy) all could be vividly seen in his journaling of his time in office. What a gift it is to read his words again, read his gut reactions to national tragedies (Pan Am flight bombed by Libya, nightclub bombing, Challenger), his impressions of the Soviets (particularly Gorbarchev), his love of film, his celebrity friends of Old Hollywood past, and his love for the ranch. I was tickled at the anecdotes he had of the 1980s and his interactions with kids my age then; I still loved that vignette about getting the friendship pin. Wow, that was 25 years ago already! As candidates today clamor to follow the Reagan, rather than the Dubya legacy, I wonder what the president would have though.

Anyway, now I have to pick my next reading project. Hard to top this.

Weddings, weddings, weddings...

Another wedding over the weekend for our good friends Bill and Jen. Hotel Monaco. Very, very nice. Red snapper and really tasty smoked duck for the main course, and a yummy wedding cake, not to mention the gator.

There are a couple of more weddings we have left. Hotel Monaco was a great DC wedding venue. I've been to Top of the Town, Fort McNair, a couple of hotels...I have lost track. It's always wonderful to celebrate with friends, but it is bittersweet for me as well.

I Wish I Could Cook Like This...

I'm not watching much TV this summer. But I'm really getting in to Top Chef. And I credit that to Jet Blue--watching all of the reruns from last season when I came back from California last June. Daniel Boulud was the guest judge this week. A few years ago, we dined at Daniel for our annual eastern meeting. Very nice. I'd like to see Tre, Dale, CJ, or Casey in the finale.

I wish I had the time, patience, and budget to cook. I love the Giada Everyday Italian show, and I think, I wish I could cook like that! And I really, really wish I had all of those nice cooking utensils, good pots & pans, great knives, fresh herbs at my disposal, equipment like a food processor and a decent blender, beautiful service ware. Every time I go to Crate or Williams Sonoma I make a mental list of what I'd like to own if I ever was lucky enough to have people buy me gifts :) I get SO tired of buying other people cool things!

San Francisco

So I just got back from San Francisco. Stayed at the San Francisco Marriott. Drank a lot of Peet's coffee. So good. Ate at Boudin bakery. Palio was a definite wine/pizza highlight. Ton Kiang was fantastic Chinese. Fringale, one of the ten best French restaurants in San Fran, was some good seafood. As for the wine, Cline was the best winery I have been to. Cool Climate Syah nand Big Break Zin were one two of some fantastic, affordable wines. While Zen of Zin is a good name, I was a bit disappointed with Ravenswood. Though the guy comped our tastings. It was ridiculously hard to find, too.

I could have/should have bought much more a Cline.

Also, San Fran had a Virgin mega Store only a block from the hotel. I picked up some Emerson Hart and Fratellis, though I can't get the last one to input into my ipod. And the free CD was a disappointment. However, Paste arrived while I was gone, and I am liking that music. I also bought a Fine Frenzy; You Picked Me is stuck in my head thanks to itunes.

Doc Returns

After a three month or so hiatus, Doc Jensen has returned to posting his ruminations of Lost on EW. Half the time, I have trouble following his mind's meanderings on what philosophical undertones are behind the show's plot, but this time I could follow pretty quickly. What a great show. I finally went and saw the Orchid video, now conveniently on ABC's webpage. I am sure there will be more teases to come.

Urbana and anniversaries

Not a whole lot to write about today. We went to dinner at Urbana. It was OK. The tw omain courses--chicken and pasta with clams--were very tasty. The openers of shrimp and desserts, particularly the tiramisu, were subpar, and frozen to boot. Overall, I'd give the food about a B. Maybe B- if I was discriminating.

So yesterday was the anniversary of Hiroshima. Nora Gallagher writes in The Washington Post: "Did the use of a weapon designed to ruthlessly annihilate whole cities contribute to where we find ourselves today?" It is amazing at the ignorance of some of the posters. They would approve of the U.S. surrendering to bin laden and al Qaeda if it meant the U.S. had to defend it self and save thousands or even millions of innocent lives. Good lord.

Young and Conservative

I found this article on foxnews.com interesting. I never was into YAF, though I wish I had been involved with more young conservative organizations as an undergrad. It's another complaint I have about SMC--in the days when the internet was scarcely a presence on campus (only a bit senior year), it was SO hard to find out about opportunities like this while I was tucked away in Indiana. Heck, if it wasn't for my time at AU, I never would have heard about the Leadership Institute and may never have landed this particular position.

Two observations I have:
--I do find it a bit disconcerting that students are looking up to Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter. I don't have as much about MM, though Ann Coulter is not the example I'd want young conservatives to emulate. I think it's great college students are still fans of Newt Gingrich; seeing him speak almost a decade ago in Indianapolis was certainly the highlight of my CR experience. While some may blame Newt for launching the era of sharp political divisiveness in Congress, he can't be blamed for the current hapless, hyper-partisan antics of the Dems. Kudos to Newt and Tom Foley for their current efforts to reach some sort of middle ground. While I doubt that Newt would be very successful in a presidential run, he's certainly as qualified, and conservative, as any of the candidates running.
--I don't agree with Lauren Wolfe's assertion that "students and young people are becoming more liberal." I think the left is growing more liberal, and the right is growing more conservative. Everyone else on campus doesn't care. We didn't even have a College Dems chapter at SMC the years I was there. And it was a struggle to recruit folks for CRs. I feel like I'm a bit too far removed from my own college days, now that it's been nearly a decade since I've graduated, but judging by the state of young DC, there are many, many young conservatives coming out. Whether they'll back the Republican Party is a different story. It's been a disappoint seven years, with a couple of exceptions.

In many ways, I'm envious of the opportunities these students have to get involved, make a difference, and start their careers in politics and activism at such an early age. Perhaps if I had gone to Hillsdale, or if I had been in college these last few years, I would have been just as active in these efforts. Would have, could have, should have, huh?

Tears of a Cowboy

I'm watching Michael Irvin's induction speech to the NFL Hall of Fame. He's certainly found God :) Good for him. Well, I admire anyone who can speak like this extemporaneously like this for about thirty minutes.

Ran 4.5 miles this morning. And went to mass afterwards. There were these three boys sitting a few rows in front of me, ranging in age from about 10-12. They had a little brother, a baby maybe 6 months old. They took turns holding him, bouncing him, kissing his little head, pointing out the great architecture of the Cathedral. How neat are little boys. And what a nice family.

7 Miles

I did my first seven mile run today. On the treadmill, but that was progress from where I was a year ago. Maybe 8 by the time I hit the big 32?

I ran to Snow Patrol. It's good running music; I know when I will get to a certain song, when to pump it up. Janet Jackson has been good running music, too.

A CD have been digging a lot lately is Sara Bareilles (thanks, itunes!). I love the song City. A few other songs that I've been listening to a lot lately are Frank and Ave by Suzanne Vega, I Believe by Peter Searcy, Okkervil River's Our Life Is Not a Movie Or Maybe, and Xavier Rudd's Better People. And from last month, Sarah Borges' The Day We met. But I guess the soundtrack of the summer is still Spiderman 3.

First Post

This is an experiment...I used to keep a diary/journal for many years, starting at age 10. I fell out of the habit a few years ago when I started grad school. I graduated over a year ago, so I can't use that excuse anymore. But I've been looking for an outlet to do some writing. I realize I am a bit late to join the blogging bandwagon, but I'm hoping that because I've waited, I'll be more apt to keep it up.

So what do I want to write about? I'm thinking politics--as that is what I do for a living--and some fun stuff. Music. Celebrity madness. Fashion a little, style a little. And see how all of this overlaps. And there are other subjects I'll touch on, too. College football. The Tigers and the state of Detroit. All of the weddings I have to go to in the next few months! Exercise, and running. Moving, b/c that is something I need to do soon, too! The upcoming elections, and who I like (Thompson vs. Romney? Neither? Both?!). Catholicism. Living in DC. How friendships and relationships and family changes as you enter your thirties (I'm 31!). Those old questions from high school religion classes: Who Am I? Where Am I Going? And Why?

So indulge me until I figure out some of this stuff. And join the ride.