Damn Liberals

Baker City Pictures

Jen posted some of the pictures she took on our Baker City trip on flickr. That's all. Just an update. :) No political talk for this post, at least.

Choice

I am pro-choice to the core - I believe that I should get to make decisions about what happens to my body, and that it is not the role of government to legislate those decisions. I also believe that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. I advocate making adoption easier - and for making the process less secretive.

I like to think I'm not a one-issue voter, but I don't know that I could ever vote for a candidate that wants to overturn Roe v. Wade - it's too critical a freedom to me.

There are those that don't agree with me, that believe that abortion does not honor life - these are usually the same people who are against embryonic stem cell research, because of the use of an embryo for such research (it's life!). But the thing to me is -- many of those embryos are going to be thrown away instead of used. Is the greater good that they should be discarded, or that they should be used to find cures for many of the medical problems that people face, like Parkinson's Disease?

I think that an unplanned pregnancy can be a joy - neither of my children were planned, and they rock my world each and every day. I'm so damn PROUD to be their mother and am so happy that they're here with me. I also think that an unplanned pregnancy can be a terror - when you're not prepared to be a parent, you know it. When you can't afford another child, you know it. When you're in an abusive relationship, you know it, and it's certainly understandable if you don't want to subject anyone else to the source of that relationship. When you've been raped, should you have to add the additional reminder of that action to the burden you're carrying? I am for choice - for doing what you feel you need to do in the particular situation.

I also am interested to know what the anti-abortion folks think should happen to a woman who gets (or even seeks) an abortion, should Roe v. Wade be overturned. Should she be jailed? After all, she broke the law! Should we put the doctor in jail? Should we force medical personnel to report an abortion seeker? It's all very big brother.

Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. It's not going to go away - it'll just go back to the back alley, and women will die. Is that the greater good? I know many people who believe that abortion is immoral, and I think those people shouldn't have abortions. Heck, I think that anyone who doesn't want an abortion shouldn't have one. I also think that they should stay the hell away from my womb.

P.S. Abstinence education doesn't work. We need REAL sex ed.

September 11, 2001

I originally wrote this years ago, when the events of September 11, 2001 were fresh in my head. It's somewhat blurrier now, but every year I re-read what I wrote.

I hope it never happens again.

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On September 11, 2001, I was working as a consultant to the US Senate.

That morning, like most other mornings, I took the MARC train (a commuter train, not the subway) into DC. As the train was pulling into Union Station, my cell phone rang. It was my husband, who was supposed to go into work late that day, telling me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. He didn't have a lot of details, but told me they thought it was a Cessna or some other small plane. (Mr. LT had been taking flying lessons - in the end, it turned out that one of the terrorists had tried - but never succeeded - to take lessons at the airport where Mr. LT had been taking lessons.) I mentioned it to the other people on the train, because I was so shocked, and one of the other people confirmed that they'd heard it on their walkman [ed: walkman! wow].

I got off the train and walked over to the government building where I was working at the time. I asked the security guards in the lobby if they'd heard anything, and they hadn't. Got on the elevator and went to the floor where the Senate's offices are, and when I reached the floor's lobby, I asked the Capitol Police officer who was resposnsible for security if she had heard anything. She told me that a second plane had just crashed into the other tower (I don't know if I've ever heard words that scared me more - one plane = fluke, two planes = attack), and that there was a television in the office around the corner that I could look at if I wanted to. So I walked into the little office and saw some of the footage of the smoke billowing out of the towers, and a replay of the second plane hitting the tower.

Of course, by now I'm very late for my morning meeting, but I really don't care a whit. I must have been as white as a ghost when I walked in, because there was almost a blanket "what's wrong?" look from everyone. I know I had a hard time telling everyone - the meeting had started at 8:30 [ed: one of my co-workers told me years later that he'd been upset at me for being late to the meeting at the time], and nobody had come and told the meeting participants about what had been happening while they were meeting. I stumbled over the words, trying not to cry. We all sat there in shock for several minutes, and talked about what this might mean. It was about 9:10 when I had walked into the room. We then half-heartedly finished the meeting, and several of us had a second meeting at 9:30 that we stayed in the room to conduct.

A little after 9:40am, my cell phone rang. Mr. LT was calling me to tell me that a plane had hit the Pentagon. I relayed the information to the other people in the room, and Mr. LT asked me to please come home immediately - there were other planes that seemed to be out of their flight patterns, and nobody knew what was next. I decided that Mr. LT was right, that there was no point to me staying, and told my co-workers that I was leaving. I packed up my stuff, and went to check the Capitol Police's television again, and left.

I got outside the building at 9:50am, and stood there shaking for a while, checking the MARC train schedule to see when the next train back to my car was running. The next train wasn't scheduled to leave Union Station until 10:20am, and a half hour seemed like too much time to sit around and wait for a train. The DC Metro (the subway) also runs out of Union Station, with trains leaving every 7 minutes or so, so I decided to take the Metro out of DC and worry about getting to my car later. (I made the right decision - the 10:20 train never left Union Station that day.) (you know, I can feel the adrenaline while I'm writing this - I was more scared than I'd ever been before in my life.)

The Metro station wasn't very crowded at that point - a lot of people hadn't decided what to do yet. I remember thinking that Union Station was a landmark in DC, and feeling like a target while waiting for the subway train to arrive to take me out of the city. I hopped on the next train that took me in the direction of my house (the Metro line ends about 10 miles from where we lived), with a bunch of other strangers who instantly bonded. We were all so happy to be getting out of the city. We were underground in the subway tunnels for a while, and then the train went to an elevated track, and we could see the smoke from the Pentagon billowing everywhere. There were lots of conflicting stories - that another plane had crashed, that a bomb had gone off in the West Wing of the White House... We didn't know what to believe, but we were all relived to be moving away from the city. I had one of the few cell phones that could actually make calls (most of the cell carriers' systems were overloaded), and ended up passing my phone around the train so everyone could call their loved ones. When we were nearing the end of the line, where we'd all get off the train, I asked for my phone back, explaining that I needed to call Mr. LT to come pick me up and take me to my car.

Immediately, several people asked me where I lived (Crofton, MD, if it matters), and one of the women said that she lived in the next town south (Bowie, where the MARC train station where I'd left my car that morning is) and that she'd take me home. I asked her to take me to the MARC train station instead of home, and she said that'd be fine. So off I went with a stranger, to get a ride back to my car. I called Mr. LT to let him know he didn't need to leave the house. Strangely, I don't remember the woman's name, but she was a piece of work. She didn't want to turn on news radio, and made me listen to these Burt Bacharach recordings that were pirated - she's a big Burt fan, and was so proud to have them. We also had to stop by her house so she could check in, and prove to her mother (who is pretty old, and was living with my new friend) that she was actually alive, as apparently a voice on a phone doesn't prove that... :)

I finally got dropped off at my car, and thanked the nice woman for helping me. And immediately turned on WTOP, which is the DC area's all-news radio station. I wanted to know what was happening, although at that point it was all reaction, nothing really going on. Called Mr. LT again to let him know where I was, and he asked me to pick Burger up at school - he'd tried once, but the school didn't want release kids at that point, but he wanted her home NOW. So I drove over to the school, and the school was releasing kids left and right at this point.

I'd held it together until I saw Burger walking down the hall toward me. The tears just started running down my face, and I was so so so happy to see her, and know that she was safe. The school hadn't told her what had happened, so I gently explained what I knew, and hugged her tightly. Then we went home and Mr. LT and I watched it all (Burger was allowed to watch a little, but thankfully, she was more interested in playing with her friends), and talked about it all, and cried, and were (and are) so grateful that we were together, and safe, and then we cried some more for all of the families that weren't so lucky.

If you've read this far - I can't believe that just poured out of me. Cathartic. Hold the people you love, and hope that we never have to face a day like that again.

Worries

My brother Eric blogs over on Inside Catholic (he is Catholic, I am not; we were not raised Catholic, but he has chosen this religion and feels very deeply connected to it - his faith is his, mine is mine, and we love each other and agree to disagree on this subject). He recently posted about the Palin pick (as did I, albeit much more crassly) and we had (not surprisingly) very different reactions. I commented on his post (using my real name, which means I'm no longer anonymous here. Kreepos who wish to send death threats should keep that idea to themselves.) Because I think this election matters so much, I'm going to copy my comment on his post here.

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I too watched Palin's speech, but had completely different reactions. The one thing I thought was good was the shot of Piper holding Trig while "fixing" his hair.

What worries me is that she has no foreign policy experience (and no, the fact that Russia and Canada are close to Alaska does not make her an expert on foreign relations), while we have not one, but two wars being fought.

I also worry about her (seeming) tendency to constantly check the loyalty of those around her and quickly judge, evidenced by the firing of several public servants in Wasilla upon becoming mayor. Asking the librarian whether she'd be willing to remove books screams of the desire to censor thought.

I worry that she has not held a press conference, and that the McCain campaign does not have one on her schedule. A single interview with ABC is all that they're offering now. If she isn't prepared to answer hard questions today, why should we believe that she will be ready to do so after the election? I do not believe she is prepared to be the Vice President, much less the President. Let us not forget that McCain has had skin cancer (melanoma, the deadliest kind) more than once and would be the oldest person elected to the office of President. Is she ready to lead on Day 1?

I worry that she wants to drill ANWR and thinks that global warming is not man-made. I worry that she thinks that it is okay to shoot wolves and bears from airplanes. I worry that she wanted Polar Bears (your favorite animal!) removed from the endangered species list.

I worry that the Republicans, while "pro-life" while speaking, have done nothing to reduce the abortion rate in the past eight years. While I am pro-choice (a dirty word here, I know), I am all for reducing the number of abortions in the United States. I am for supporting those who are pregnant and scared. I am for encouraging adoption.

In short, Sarah Palin worries me. A lot.

Meatloaf - Secret Ingredients

I made meatloaf for dinner tonight, and have gotten rave reviews from all. Basic recipe (this makes a TON of meatloaf, but I like to make extra; halve the recipe to to feed 5-6 people):

Loaf:
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground turkey
2 eggs
2 cups oatmeal
about 1 cup milk
1 small onion, diced
12 oz. cottage cheese (I used large curd, either would work)
3 tbsp. worstershire sauce (about, I think. I poured some in liberally)
Salt, pepper
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Pour oatmeal into bowl, pour enough milk into bowl to cover the oatmeal. Let soak for a half hour or more.

Mix all ingredients (including any milk that the oatmeal hasn't absorbed) together. Place in bread pan or other oblong pan (or two pans if necessary).

Topping:
Ketchup
Worstershire Sauce
Sweet Chili Sauce (if you can find it, if not, you can omit this)

I didn't measure these - I probably used about a cup of ketchup, 1/4 cup of worstershire sauce, and 1/3 cup of the sweet chili sauce. Mix together well, spread a nice layer over the meat.

Bake at 350 F for an hour to an hour and twenty minutes, until a meat thermometer registers 160 F or more.

This turned out really yummy and was nice and moist. Who knew?

No Questions

Seriously?

I don't know about you, but I care.

dooce rocks, palin blows

I love dooce. Here's one reason why.

The republicans really did go off the edge this time - I made myself watch Palin's speech last night, and I'll admit that she was smooth in the delivery of her speech. It's too bad she couldn't add any actual substance or debate to this election. She's a vagina in a suit, and an uptight, snarling one at that (much like a pit bull, although that does insult many pit bulls. Maybe she's like one of the ones Michael Vick trained).

Not impressed.

Cheap Tricks

For those of you under rocks, who come here for all of the latest news, Senator McCain named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate this morning. What a cheap trick. Yes, she has a vagina - my question: Is that vagina supposed to show that she's a good substitute for Hillary? Hillary's fervent supporters wanted a woman in office - heck, I want a woman in office. But I'm NOT willing to vote for a woman who a) is anti-choice and b) has absolutely no record on foreign policy. I don't know much about Sarah Palin, but neither does Kay Bailey Hutchison, who actually has a record and a vagina.

Let me be clear here: Posession of a vagina does not give a person the right experience to be the Vice President, nor does it provide an automatic bye on the "sound judgment" question.

I think this is a cheap trick by the McCain team to try to get votes from those women who wanted Hillary in office simply because Hillary has a vagina and not because they believed in her policies. McCain and Palin have political viewpoints far from those of Hillary (and Obama, and Biden, for that matter), and a vote for the McCain ticket given only because there's a woman on the ticket is a vote from someone who only cares about that vagina, but not about the rest of the issues. McCain's record on women's rights, and children's rights, and veteran's rights is abysmal, and there's no reason to think that that record will change with Palin on the ticket.

I think it's admirable that Sarah Palin chose to go through with her pregnancy after learning her youngest child would be born with Down Syndrome. I probably would have made the same choice, but gosh, it's awfully nice to have that choice, and I do not want to lose it.

Cheap trick, McCain. I hope you're as embarassed as you should be. And I hope folks aren't so excited about the vagina that they forget about the issues.

Really Great Things

inspired by leonie five (really) great things on a Wednesday:

1) My family. I adore them all.
2) Peaceful, sunny days like today in my new town
3) Friends, new and old, that I love and can count on (and who can count on me)
4) Summer fruit
5) Really loving my job

Those are my five today. What are yours?

Boredom

I was talking to my mom the other day about Zippy getting ready to start kindergarten, and she reminded me that, after a day or two of school, I'd taken to walking back home after walking to school, because school was boring. I don't remember much of it, but I do remember that I gave some of the money from my bank to one of the little girls next door - I don't remember if it was Angela or Danielle that I gave it to, but I do (vaguely) remember my generosity.

When my mom sorted out what I'd been doing, she was (rightfully, I guess) upset with me. Five year old should not be walking home from school alone, they should be in class, where they belong (and OUT of Mommy's hair!), instead of wandering around the neighborhood by themselves. My explanation for going home? Kindergarten was boring. Heck, I could already read, and I knew all the stuff they were saying, so I didn't see any purpose in attending class.

My mom made me go back to school, because we all (apparently) need to learn how to deal with boring situations and she didn't want me to miss any new information the teacher might be presenting. Bah. I'm still not good at being bored, and still hate sitting in (most) classes.

So much for teaching me how to tolerate such situations. I know you tried, Mom.
Here's hoping Zippy will have a better time in school.

Trip home from Baker City

Jen suggested a couple different routes we could take coming home from Baker City; one of these included traveling down the Columbia River Gorge, which sounded interesting to me. That route is an extra 110 miles, but we had Luigi (my 1986 Alfa Romeo Spider) and I thought it'd be fun to give him a nice run (Luigi came with his name, I didn't name him. I think that's important to note).

Interesting thing about the Columbia River Gorge, at least the portion of it that we hit - there's VERY little foliage next to the river - mostly just the normal Oregon desert landscape. This surprised my east-coast sensibilities -- rivers are supposed to have TREES beside them. Trees that make the air cooler and provide shade. Let me reiterate - there are NO SUCH TREES by the section of the damn Columbia River that we drove. And the air was hot. Want to duplicate the effect? It's easy - get someone to point 18 or so blow dryers at you, all cranked up to their highest settings. For hours. I know, I know, it's a dry heat. WHATEVER. Hot is hot, and I was fucking hot. So hot that my sweat evaporated almost instantly. Hot sucks.

The good news is that we made it home safely. The bad news is that we left a little after 10 AM and didn't get home until 8 at night. Whichever online map Jen used said the trip would take 6 hours. Hah. Had I known how long it would REALLY take, and how fucking miserably hot it was going to be, I would have chosen the shortest route home. Really, it was so hot that Jen and I barely talked, because it was, for once in our lives, hard.

We did do an extended stop in Pendleton - we checked out the shop at the wool mill there and had a great lunch at the Rainbow Cafe, which has been in continuous operation in the same location since 1893. The Rainbow is really a cross between a diner and a bar; we ordered simple things - a club sandwich for Jen, a BLT for me, both with french fries. They hit the spot perfectly, and the service was great - just a good ol' diner. Warning - they do allow smoking inside, which doesn't bother me, but might bother some. The laws about smoking indoors in Oregon change in January 2009, though, so if smoke bothers you, you can just put off the visit until after the change occurs. The air conditioning worked great inside the cafe, thank heaven, as we'd been riding with the top down and were fairly baked (and no, Luigi does not have air conditioning).

Luigi had a great run. Kinda. I didn't warn him that we'd be spending the day in 100+ degree heat (hell, I'd have warned him had I known!). He was a pretty good sport about things - except when he briefly decided he didn't want to start again after we'd stopped in Biggs to grab cold drinks; even though he was off, he kept the radiator fan going for a good 45 minutes or so - I'm not sure how long it actually was, because we stayed inside in the air conditioning for the bulk of the time.

It turned out to be a Very Good Thing that Luigi had decided he didn't want to go right away - once he didn't happily start right up, Jen and I decided to wait a little while and give him a break -- and when we went back inside the building, Jen ran into a friend who had been coming north up 97 who mentioned to her that there was an accident several miles south of Biggs. We decided to wait a little longer to let it clear out, which turned out to be a good idea, as the accident had just cleared out and traffic was still under the control of a flagger - luckily, we didn't have to wait very long to get through the line, because I'm pretty sure Luigi would have HATED idling for that long.

Once we got going down 97 on our way south to Bend, an actual cloud or two appeared in the sky, and the air got cooler. not much cooler, but cool enough that I didn't want to kill myself. It must have gone down to 92 or so. Whee! You know it's hot when you're happy that half of the blow dryers are on medium instead of hot. Once we got into Madras, we stopped for gas (at the Safeway - I've been accruing gas credits shopping at the Safeway in Bend - for every $100 you spend, you can get 10 cents off a gallon of gas - I never get to take advantage of this, though, as it's just silly to drive 45 minutes to save a little on gas. I ended up getting $1.00 off each gallon, which was nice - and I'm guessing that $1/gallon off is a limit or something, as I know I've spent more than a grand at Safeway).

Because Madras is pretty green, and actual people live there, the air was cooler. I'd also like to thank every single farmer on our route who happened to be watering their crops as we drove by, as the air was cooler when the water was flowing. The trip from Madras to Redmond, where I dropped off Jen (her hubby was in Redmond after playing golf), and then down to Bend, was much better. Heck, I even got rained on a tiny bit just south of Redmond.

It was so good to make it home. I ate, took a COLD shower, and got comfy on the floor of the bonus room, snuggling with Zippy to watch the Olympics. Then I fell asleep, I think within about 15 minutes of lying down. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Pizza Heaven

This weekend, Jen and I took off for a long-planned weekend visit to Baker City to try the pizza that Kina and Whitey (and staff) work so hard to make. We'd heard rumors that it was good, and I believed it would be good. What I didn't know was that I'd come home and wish Paizano's was HERE instead of five hours (at best) away! OMG, Jen and I agreed that we both wanted to try the Sweet Thai Shrimp pizza, and decided we'd actually do half the pie with shrimp and half with chicken. The chicken rocks, but the shrimp is insane.

This isn't your typical pizza - without having heard Kina talk about it so often, I don't think I'd have braved it. It has sweet chili sauce, peanuts (yes, peanuts), coconut (yes, coconut), and green onions along with the shrimp (and these aren't canned shrimp) or chicken. I know it sounds weird. I know, really. But it is SO GOOD that I'm wishing that I'd brought a pie home with me. Yum.

The crunch and light saltiness of the peanuts, mixed with the tropical hint from the coconut, with the bright, clean tasting fresh shrimp, blended with the crisp green onion and the just-sweet just-sharp enough taste of the sweet chili tomato sauce blend was perfect. The pieces definitely make the whole - I think if I'd thought to order this anywhere else (I gave total trust to Paizano's here), I would have asked that the coconut be left off, and I would have been less enthralled with the result.

I'll be dreaming about this pizza for a while to come, and looking for excuses to go back to Baker City. Kina, it was so great to meet you, finally!!

Zippy's Hair, Part Two

Apparently Zippy's last haircut was not to her liking, with the hair being just to her shoulders. All that *work* to keep it perfect was apparently just too much for the child.

The damage - note the dramatic bi-level haircut on her left, much like my friends and I had in the 80s. Alas, the bi-level is not in fashion, so this had to be fixed.

Back to Sprouts we went (they were able to get her in right away, thank heaven!), and Zippy now sports a lovely pixie cut! The photo quality stinks, because I only had the phone in my camera to use.

At Sprouts, you can get fairy dust put in your hair when they're done. Zippy loves the fairy dust. And I'm going to be finding the remnants of said dust for a week. Or two.

The final result, with the mandatory lollipop. I think it's adorable, I just wish the cut hadn't HAD to happen. But I've always been a fan of the pixie cut on little girls, so it's all good.

Leek & Potato Soup

I'm in easy dinner mode right now - this means simple meals that don't require a ton of prep work. Some are good for you, some aren't. But they're all simple. :) Last night, simple meant leek and potato soup - chop some leeks, saute in a little butter to soften. Add about 4 cups of chicken (or veggie) broth. Chop some potatoes, toss in. Simmer for 30 minutes or so. Some folks like the soup just like that, but I prefer a smoother soup -- so I use my immersion blender to blend the soup. I also tend to add a generous dash of milk here, but it's not necessary. The only seasoning I use is white pepper and maybe a little salt. The entire family loves this soup, and I keep trying to make enough for two meals, but am often unsuccessful because it just disappears. I like to have a variety of things to top the soup with - a dollop of sour cream, some bacon bits (real ones, not those nasty fake Bac-Os), grated sharp cheddar - Burger likes the soup as is, and we'll all certainly eat it like that, but I really love the addition of the toppings. I get a loaf of good bread, and we're all happy. Diluzzio's has a kalmata olive bread that's a particularly good match.