It was officially cold as fuck this morning, but I'm alright with it because I had a very "Fall" weekend. It was also the fastest weekend ever. Went to Bay View Bowl on Friday night and we barely broke 100. By the end of the night we got into an intense and drunken conversation about the merits of 90's alternative dudes - Chris Cornell and Layne Staley came out on top and Kurt Cobain lost. Waking up and staying up through a 8:30-3:45 class on Saturday was brutal...class has been generally insane...the minute I finish one project, the next is due. Sunday I woke up and went over to my mom's for one of my favorite things of the year - trick or treat. For the last 10 years or so, I've been going to my mom's house and we put together little treat bags for all the kids. How awesome is it to go to one house and get an entire bag full of candy?! I grew up right next to a school in a very residential area, so we had 125+ kids. My favorite was a tiny boy in a chicken costume who clucked at us. :) Then Russ and I went Halloween shopping and I decided on a costume for this weekend. We came back to my mom's and had dinner with my brother and Carolyn, who is looking mega pregnant. It's exciting. They said their name choice, if they have a girl, is "Ava Amanda", which made me verklempt. Their ultrasoud tech slipped and said "she" a couple times last week so here's hoping we have a little Ava running around soon.

I'm in the market for a laptop. I'm on the fence between a PC and a Mac. Basically I want it for school stuff, iTunes, uploading my photos, and internetting. I haven't bought a computer in more than 5 years, so I just want something that's going to perform well and last a long time. Is the software and stability of a Mac worth the $$$?

Happy Halloween Week! Buy this and carve some pumpkins using these...

This day has been a little blah...I have class for the next two nights so Tuesdays are always kind of a drag. But I just turned on the radio and one of the most beautiful songs in the history of humanity just started. Russ and I sang it at karaoke a couple weeks ago, which was almost blasphemy, but it’s so good you can’t help yourself. It’s one of those songs that I can never listen to just one time - instant multiple replays are always necessary. Any crappy afternoon at work, any average night at the bar, this song always reminds me that anything can be instantly elevated through music…

blink blink blink

For the past two months, it seems like life has been a string of obligations, some good and some not so good. I’m in class for six hours a week on top of working, but beyond the couple classmates who have no business even thinking about teaching, I’m enjoying it. Ed psych is especially interesting, but I keep thinking about how to best put theory into practice. It’ll take time. I have a funeral tonight and then a wedding on Saturday so it’s going to be a weird weekend.

I managed to catch most of the debate last night and it was actually entertaining! McCain looked pissed. The most ridiculous statements of the night dealt with issues I very much care about – special needs, education, and abortion (I think I’m just used to getting raped money-wise so I care more about rights issues). God, when abortion came up and McCain referred to women’s “health” and did the little quotey fingers, I wanted to punch. See the video here. How dismissive and insulting. He also claimed Sarah Palin is now a special needs expert because she has a five month baby with Down Syndrome. At this point, a parent can’t even begin to imagine what a life with an adolescent will be like. This is parallel to the Alaska-Russia argument. He also proposed that people who served in the military shouldn’t have to become certified to teach. This goes against IDEA, and NCLB, and I’m currently spending $15,000 to become a “highly qualified” teacher, which should be a necessity for all of us. Mostly, McCain came off angry and unfocused. I had some sympathy for him before this…I thought he was a decent man who is being handled carefully by his party…but that sympathy is disappearing. He dismissed women. He defended the people at his rallies. He lacked spirit and kindness. But he did say “Senator Government” which was fucking awesome.

Now let's all have some patriotism.

The black!!!
And in other news of soulless people, someone slashed the massive, pumpkin-shaped Halloween store a half mile from my house. They were probably afraid of the black, too:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=806202

Something positive.

I was flipping through channels last night before bed, and through the hateful haze of 24-hour-news stations, I came across Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. I usually hate pundit television, but she’s a breath of fresh air – smiling, funny, and very, very thoughtful. Even when being attacked (by David Frum last night), she still has respect for what others are saying, and gives them smart and real answers, as opposed to just yelling at them. She makes the women on Fox look like dumbed-down Stepford wives. I didn’t even think there was a place for this on cable news anymore. And she’s a Rhodes Scholar. I think I have a crush…

http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/463017.html

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rachel+maddow

Even McCain is disgusted by his crowds....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gx21oan3uc

And insead of spin, we get straight lies...http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/palin-makes-tro.html

You know, I almost understand that campaigning involves bending the facts to benefit your cause, but when you start terrorist fear mongering, it brings out scary things in people. I would hope that it wouldn’t be worth the office to manipulate people into hate. I want to punch this blonde girl and her grating voice right in the mouth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVFWahLTdUo

How do you not say something...

The last few weekends have been fun…we have Russ's little one every other weekend, but the grandparents took him last Friday so we could go out. Went on the Edelweiss booze cruise with Jesse and everyone, which could have been completely obnoxious based on who else was one it, but it was relatively laid back. I felt strangely in my element eating nachos and watching a dude who looked like Bizzy Bone hump a chick to Timbaland. I'm sure the all you can drink beer helped.

The Friday after that we met up with my brother and some friends to see Opeth. I was lucky enough to see them the first time they played in the US, at Metalfest 2000, with Katatonia. It was the worst show I've seen either band play, and I loved every minute of it. Opeth has really improved live and especially with the release of Watershed, seem to be rocking out a lot more. Mikael is always funny and sweet and seems to be having a great time playing. The set was varied and beautiful – Serenity Painted Death, The Night and the Silent Water, and lots of Watershed stuff. Towards the end of the show Mikael picked up a note someone had thrown on stage and read the entire thing – starting with "Dear Opeth, I love the contour of the cock in your pants". In reality was from a girl explaining that her dad's birthday is coming up and asking if Mikael would call him and wish him a happy day. He said "of course I'll call your dad". It was a great show. We went out to the bar afterwards and I saw some high school friends there, so we stayed until bar close. I woke up two hours later and went to my parent's house so we could get on the road by 6:00am to head to the illustrious Retreat Fair. It was all about a "parade" of tractors and classic cars, including a black '70 Mustang restored and driven by my grandpa, an awesome (and massive) $6 chicken dinner, and a tractor pull. Wow. Pictures are here. My cousin Jonpaul came in from Portland that night, so he and I headed out to The Thirsty Turtle, a surprisingly normal bar about 20 feel from my grandparent's house. We had drinks, listened to Marvin Gaye and Al Green and old Michael Jackson, and played a video hunting game. It seemed appropriate. It was a great time to spend with him, and my grandparents, who aren't getting any younger.

I suck at Netflix. I've had La Vie En Rose, The Dividing Bell and the Butterfly, and Lust, Caution at home for a month. I finally watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly last week, which was simultaneously heartbreaking and inspiring. I guess I'm an ideal Netflix customer. But I can't bring myself to send these back because I really want to see them. I guess I've had a little movie ADD lately – I can only watch hour long episodes of Deadwood and Dexter. I WILL watch one more of these movies next week...

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5973452&page=1