Happy Birthday to me!

My parents came out here to San Francisco to spend 2 days with me as a pre-birthday celebration. We managed to squeeze in 5 wineries, 2 museums, 3 good restaurant meals, Shabbat dinner at home, and a nice long walk through the more nautical parts of Fisherman’s Wharf. Not bad for 2 days, especially considering Dad had a cold.

Scott and I aren’t the neatest people on the planet at the best of times, and with both of us having been busier than usual recently, the house was, to put it mildly, a mess when my folks came over. I’m sure my parents were pretty shocked. The few times they’ve been to our place in the past, it’s been scrubbed thoroughly beforehand. At least the litterbox was clean.

And although I remembered to get fresh candles for Shabbat, I totally spaced on getting a challah. I felt very guilty about it, but at least the food and the wine were good. Scott did an excellent flank steak with potatoes and spinach, with chocolate mousse for dessert.

My actual birthday is tomorrow, and I’ll be working the closing shift, so any festivities will be minimal. I may treat myself to a chocolate muffin for breakfast though. Mom pointed out last night that I missed being a February 29th baby by only 14 hours. All things considered, I’m just as glad to be a March baby instead.

Anyway, only 2 years until I hit the big 4-0. That’s pretty scary.

Shot Across The Bow

So Bush is going to push for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. In other words, he wants to use a document created to guarantee the rights of a free people to take away rights from one class of citizens.

You know, 50 years ago, most people would probably have voted to uphold Jim Crow discrimination laws. That didn’t make it right. Neither is this.

If things happen in threes, I’m screwed!

I got rear-ended by a hit and run driver in a white truck last night as I was coming home from work. The driver didn’t even stop, so I have no license plate or insurance info to give to Allsate. Fortunately I did find a witness who’s willing to give her story, so that’s better than nothing.

This time, I also got a little hurt myself as well. Really slammed my head but good against the headrest — got a bump on the back of the head, lots of soft tissue soreness, aches, and tenderness. Not quite enough to make me want to go to the doctor but enough to be uncomfortable, especially at work.

This is the second fucking time in 3 months I’ve had major auto damage to my poor Saturn. I am NOT happy. The whole trunk, rear bumper, and left rear panel are hosed. Several thousand dollars, easily. And what Allstate is going to say with this one coming so soon after $5,000 worth of repairs the last time, i don’t know.

I took a taxi to work this AM and got a friend to give me a ride home. Tomorrow early I have to get the car to a body shop and see about a rental. There is bus service from SF to Marin, but it’s a real pain in the ass – two busses and the light rail, to be exact.

Bleh. I am SO not a happy camper tonight.

Dean is Out

A sad day.

I still have trouble understanding why so many people like Kerry, but it’s been painfully obvious that most Democrats do not think Dean is the man to take back the White House.

Not that there’s anything short of a miracle that would keep me from voting for the Democrastic nominee come November. Anybody But Bush is the name of the game right now. But still, I would prefer to be enthusiastic about that nominee, as I was for Dean and for Clinton before him.

Maybe next time.

Followup: here’s a transcript of Dean’s excellent speech as he suspended his campaign today. Good stuff.