Archive for February, 2008
February 20, 2008 at 2:14 pm · Filed under My Musings, island life, history
It’s quicker to vote in a primary than to participate in a caucus. It was incredibly interesting, but when the head honcho announced to a packed room that they were “surprised at the turnout…we only had 15 people last year” I knew we were in trouble. Have you not been watching the news, people? Seriously?
The lines snaked out the door as the organizers ran out of the magic blue cards that we had to fill out in exchange for our ballot. Then they ran out of ballots. Even if a group was trying to be economical and environmentally friendly and not print out TOO many, it would be SO easy to bring along a copy machine, just in case. I tried really hard not to be too critical because I know these people are all volunteers but with the hype? I surely would have expected it to be a LITTLE more organized. We were there for nearly two hours, making dinner a slap-dash assortment very close to bedtime.
Results, by the way: Obama 75%, Clinton 24% (presumably some people voted for candidates no longer in the race)
February 20, 2008 at 7:06 am · Filed under My Musings
TadMack over at Finding Wonderland has an interesting post up today about product placement and consumerism aimed at kids.
I grew up in a household that wasn’t big on name brands, not because my parents had an objection to them, really, but because our budget didn’t allow for such frivolity. I remember desperately wanting a pair of Dittos jeans (remember those??) and mom refusing to spend that kind of money. The day she found two pairs (lime green! rust!) at a garage sale was the highlight of my seventh grade year.
As an adult, I’m pretty unconcerned about name brands. [At this point, it might be good to also note that I’m somewhat fashion-hindered. I once uttered the phrase, “Who the h*ll is Kate Spade?”, sending certain people into a tizzy that I didn’t know this designer.] I totally agree with TadMack about wearing shirts emblazoned with a company name - paying a corporation for the privilege to advertise for them is too much for me.
Interestingly - and fortunately - I think that my kids have missed much of this ‘wanting’ due to the combination of homeschooling and an imposed lack of Saturday morning cartoons. My kids couldn’t care less about the brand of their clothes. They wear what they like, and they seem to have a certain confidence about themselves even though their attire isn’t the hippest on the block. I know this would change if they had peers teasing them about their lack of name brand clothing.
As for product placement in books, I honestly can’t recall seeing much in the way of brand names in books, but when I was a young reader the “products” that I desperately wanted were things like a shuba from Greensky, a dugout like Laura Ingalls lived in, an attic that Nancy Drew would envy, or a motorcyle that would run on “pppbbbbb!” like Ralph’s. I hope that those are the things that my kids are yearning for.
February 19, 2008 at 1:22 pm · Filed under rants
An hour into a phone call to Mac tech support for a minor problem, I’m on hold with really bad music in my ear waiting for a product specialist to help me retrieve the entire list of 500+ email addresses that are now missing because the first tech had me do something that erased all of them.
Did I say Argh?
Update: Mr. Product Specialist cannot help me. They’re gone. I need to remember the seventeen step process that I used when I first did the import. You know. The one that took me a week and a half to figure out??
Did I say Argh?
February 18, 2008 at 3:43 pm · Filed under island life
My four-wheeling, jeans and boots wearing guy has changed plenty over the years, but I think today was the kicker, and proof that we’ve indeed stayed here too long. His latest request is that I make him a sarong. He picked out fabric this morning - I guess he didn’t like my flowery sarongs - and soon will look like this (except without the fire). Not for going out, mind you, but for around the house. Indeed.
February 17, 2008 at 9:46 am · Filed under books
Has anyone out there considered buying (or already purchased) the Kindle from Amazon? I’ve heard good things, but me? I prefer a paper book. One thing I do like about it is that you can actually do a text search of a book to find a specific passage - something that I’ve wished for while reading a traditional (real) book. And I could see that it would be valuable for older eyes, since you can increase the text size of any book, making it in essence a “large print” version. For now, though, I think I’ll keep the $400 in my bank account and continue using my old fashioned library!
February 16, 2008 at 3:54 pm · Filed under home education
Cryptic enough title for you?
Many of you know that I’m a huge fan of the Destination Imagination program. Well, the program is mentioned today in the Guide to Homeschooling Resources blog over at Home Education Magazine today. It’s a nice, concise description of the program for those of you who might be interested (and it’s a fabulous program for homeschoolers!).
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Notice to the blogger at HEM: Your comment functions don’t work. I’ve tried to comment in the past (when you blogged about one of my books - thanks!) and again today. Let’s see if the trackback feature works!
February 15, 2008 at 8:42 am · Filed under books
I’ve yet to edit my forthcoming book, but the cover art is coming together:
February 14, 2008 at 5:23 pm · Filed under home education
The current election has garnered lots of interest in our household, especially from my 15 year old. We plan to attend our first caucus on Tuesday - as opposed to the primaries we are used to - and we’ve had many discussions about the “fairness” of a system that uses delegates and superdelegates in today’s world. Can we trust this system? Should we?
I ran across this site, that is tracking just how superdelegates vote:
The Superdelegate Transparency Project is the central gathering place for compiling primary and caucus results–Congressional district by Congressional district–for states that have to date held their races, and going forward until the Democratic nomination is secured. We are compiling the district-by-district results of the popular vote and pledged delegates, and then tracking these results against how superdelegates are currently pledged (or have publicly endorsed a candidate), and how they eventually vote. The aim of this project is to open up the Democratic nomination process, and to gauge what effect the superdelegates have on the nomination.
I think there are plenty of people at this stage feeling frustrated that their votes may be a moot point if the democratic nomination comes down to the notoriously politicized superdelegates. I like the idea of “watching” them, via the net.
February 11, 2008 at 8:27 am · Filed under home education
I have an out of town guest, so words are short this week, but may I point you to someone else’s words? COD has a post up that’s worth a read.
February 11, 2008 at 7:45 am · Filed under island life
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