Fiat Lux
Hubby & I flew home to spend the Jewish New Year with our respective families this weekend. One of the things that really sucks about living 2500 miles away from most of your family is how hard it is to get quality time with them. Try as you might, there’s always someone you don’t have time to see on your trip home. This time it was my sister. Nevertheless, in 72 hours, we managed to:
-Fly into Newark airport, pick up a really inexpensive rental car (thanks Hotwire!)
-Get lost in NJ as we tried to find our way to Staten Island and from there to Long Island.
-Spend an evening and a morning with Scott’s mother, brother, wife, and our two wonderful nieces.
-Drive to Northern NJ for a Rosh Hashanna dinner with some of my dad’s family
-Eat like a pig and then drive to Fairfield county CT to spend some time with my parents at their country house
-Spend a day in the country ducking the rain, running errands, and eating like a pig some more (featuring a rack of lamb and lots of homegrown veggies from Dad’s garden).
-Drive into Manhattan on Monday for lunch with my grandmother (celebrity sighting: Chris Noth of the “Law & Order” franchise was 3 tables away. He’s a hottie!) and some quick shopping at a few favorite stores for bagels and deli we can’t get in SF.
-Finally, drive back to Newark and back to SF.
I’m heading back home to NYC to see family tomorrow, so today I got a little pampering at a nail salon over in Potrero Hill. A pal had told me that ManiPedi did good manicures & pedicures and she was definitely right. I sat in a big leather chair with heat and massage elements and relaxed while one gal worked on my feet and a guy (first time I’ve ever had a male nail technician!) did my hands. It was so comfortable I almost dozed off in the middle of it all.
ManiPedi had gotten written up in Lucky Magazine a few times. It’s nice to see a good local place get some recognition.
Lots of political posts lately. It’s that time of year, I guess. I TiVoed the CA Governor’s debate since I wouldn’t get home from work early enough to watch it. Scott and I plopped down on the couch with some Chinese takeout and watched.
IMHO, Camejo and McClintock actually came out the best of all of them; Hufffington’s attacks on Bustamante and Schwarzenegger drove things off topic and divided those candidates’ attention from their answers. By staying out of Huffington’s firing line, the other 2 had the chance to actually answer some questions and talk about issues. Bustamante did do some talking about issues, but I also noticed that he ducked at least one question to go off on unrelated issues. Schwarzenegger did OK considering how much he was getting sniped by Huffington, who didn’t miss a chance to attack.
I wateched the debate hoping I would figure out who to vote for but have not come to any firm conclusions. Here’s where I am now:
-Huffington’s a joke.
-McClintock is too right wing.
-Camejo is too left wing.
-I don’t like Bustamante and his $4 million Indian casino donation shell games.
-Then there’s Schwarzenegger – but I think he doesn’t really grok how different running a state is from running a company and his inexperience will cause problems. Plus I have a hard time voting for any Republican knowing that a Republican governor will make things harder for the Democratic nominee in next years’s election.
I suppose I could vote for one of the no-names, but I don’t want to waste my vote either.
I don’t have to be at the store until noon today, so I’m scanning the headlines today. And I found this howler of a quote on Yahoo!
Bush said he insulates himself from the “opinions” that seep into news coverage by getting his news from his own aides. He said he scans headlines, but rarely reads news stories.
“I appreciate people’s opinions, but I’m more interested in news,” the president said. “And the best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world.”
Am I the only person who finds it scary that the President of the United States can’t be bothered to read the news personally and make his own judgements on what’s happening and what’s important?
The candidate I’m supporting for President of the USA, Howard Dean, is trying to do something that no other presidential candidate has done before. He intends to raise 5 million dollars in 10 days from average Americans – not special interest PACs or high-roller donors. Here’s a regularly-updated view of how he’s doing:
I’ve put both my money and my time where my mouth is on this issue. I urge you do to so as well. Please consider making a donation to Dean’s campaign fund. We desperately need to get GW Bush and his cronies out of the White House in 2004.