All posts by Dona

Confessions in a primary year

Politics, , , ,

I’m not really very interested in politics – not even during election years. Oh, I usually have mild opinions about who I want for president, but not usually until the primaries are over. I don’t always vote in the primaries – especially if I know little about the folks running. And the past election? The one where George Junior won — again? I didn’t know much about John Kerry except that he was running against Bush and I wanted Bush the hell out of office so of course I voted for Kerry.

This year probably won’t be much different, however I do have a somewhat strong opinion about the primaries. I’d like for Hillary Clinton to win. I’ve liked her since the beginning (and I like Bill, too) and she only fell out of favor with me after I saw Primary Colors because it portrayed her as being power-hungry, but I got over it within 6 months.

Hearing one of her town-hall meetings from New Hampshire today made me even more positive about voting for her. Besides the fact that I agreed with every answer she gave, she also correctly pronounced nearly every word and self-corrected the ones she didn’t pronounce right the first time.

I have to admit that I know little about the others running for the democratic nomination. I meant to read Obama’s books, but never got around to it. I’d subscribed to Edward’s podcasts for a while after the last election – mostly to find out how his wife was doing, but have not followed him at all in the past year or so.

Of course I will support whomever wins the democratic nomination, but I’m hoping, right now, that it is Hillary. My mom (an Obama supporter) chastised me for my support of Clinton, asking pointedly, “Is it because you really like her or is it because she’s a woman?”

I calmly said, “I support her. Besides, I’m not ready for a president younger than I am*.”

So, there you have it. It all boils down to vanity. And ageism.

*When my mom and I spoke, I didn’t even know that Edwards was in the running.

The Lives of Others

Blogging, People, Technology

So yesterday I happened upon two blogs belonging to people I’ve known who, through divorce, were removed from my life. The first one belongs to the ex-wife of a friend of Dean’s. I was spacing out and reading some woman related Washington Post blogs when I found a guest post by this woman. The content of the blog as well as her name made me realize it was probably her and I followed a link to her personal blog where she discusses topics ranging from her new marriage to martinis. I always wished we were better friends – and not just friends when our husbands got together. Perhaps it was the fact that she is more than a decade my junior is the reason we never became friends. I was sad when she and her husband divorced, but not in the least surprised.

The second blog was found by clicking on the “links” link under a video I uploaded to YouTube about a year ago. It lead me to a blog by a 60-something man who used to live in Elgin but now lives in Northern Wisconsin. The names in the sidebar calendar led me to deduce that he is the ex-husband of one of my mother’s best friends. In fact this man was at my wedding. I called my mom and she confirmed that he moved to Wisconsin.

So, in some ways, this Internet, this huge time sucker and distraction maker can make the world a smaller place.

Of course I’ve known that for years.

Home is where the big green arrow is

Accomplishments, Technology, , ,

It’s a small thing among all the other annoyances in life, but ever since I’ve been using mapping software the marker for my address is about 7 houses away from where we really live. I’ve always wanted to grab that darn pointer and put it where it belonged. Mr. Monk would have been proud of my desire.

I even bought a GPS device that accepted corrections so it drove me exactly to my home, safe and sound. (Can I help it if I get lonely in the car sometimes and like listening to various voices from the British Isles?)

So, imagine my delight when I noticed a new feature on Google Maps tonight — the word “edit” next to the green marker. Further playing around and suddenly, my house was where it belonged and all was right with the world.

Their promo video is pretty good too.