So busy

With Novel Writing Month (a personal daily best of 5700 words on Friday), preparing to deliver version 3.0 at work, getting the condo ready to sell, and various other life responsibilities, I feel like I’m not complaining enough.  At least, not here.  I’m certain I’ve done enough complaining about painting, even though my wife does most of the work.

So, I’d like to apologize to my loyal fans.  This week is pretty busy, but next week is looking a little better, and the week after that even better.  I could be wrong, though.  But I’ll be back to my normal elevated level of complaining as soon as possible.

What do you want, a cookie?

Accidental Hedonist – Labels and Standards

In essence, what they’re saying is that food companies don’t get a bonus credit for leaving out an excess of salt, sugar or fat, because it’s something they should be doing anyway.

I love this post. It reminds me of the Chris Rock skit about the guy bragging that he’s never been to jail, that he takes care of his kids. Rock, appropriately, responds, ‘You’re not supposed to go to jail.” If you haven’t seen the skit, you should. It’s probably on YouTube or something.

What we’re looking for is “good faith” healthy food.  That is, not something that’s had just enough fat or salt or whatever removed to meet some minimum guideline.  Stuff that’s labeled “healthy” should actually have healthy ingredients.  It should have a reasonable amount of sugar (natural sugar, not the cancer-y stuff), minimal fat and sodium, maybe some protein, some whole wheat flour . . .

While it’s nice that it’s getting easier every day to find stuff labeled “organic” at the grocery store, there’s more to it than that.  And most people, myself included, aren’t going to go research the company they’re buying from and make sure the labels really mean what they imply.

I don’t know what the solution is, but I hope someone does.

Im special

I just got a letter from the Virginia Department of Transportation.  It seems that Senator Saslaw and Congressman Moran passed my letter along, and now I’m going to be notified by a member of the Traffic Engineering Section concerning the results of their effort to provide “innovative guide signage and pavement markings”.

And people said I was crazy to write to my representatives.  But you see here that it makes things happen.  I mean, who among you has received a letter from VDOT?  I’m holding one in my hand right now.  Maybe I’ll frame it, and put it above the mantle next to the flag football trophy.

Looks like its almost over

Allen to Concede Election This Afternoon – washingtonpost.com

Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) will concede that he has lost the election to Democrat James Webb at a 3 p.m. news conference in Alexandria, according to a source close to the campaign with direct knowledge of the senator’s intentions.

Now it’s time for the Democrats to come through on all the stuff they promised.  I mean, they have a few weeks before they have to start campaigning for the 2008 Presidency, right?  Let’s get some bipartisan compromising done!

Ooh, thats classy, Britney

Divorced By SMS: The Exact Moment K-Fed Gets Britney’s Text Message Caught On Video – Gizmodo

This video apparently shows the exact moment that Kevin Federline gets the SMS from Britney telling them that it’s over.

I had seen rumors of this before on sites of questionable sources, but if Gizmodo says it, it MUST be true.  Not only is Britney protecting the sanctity of marriage by getting married (To a man, thank god) twice in two years, but she allegedly sent him a text message on his cell phone to announce the divorce.

Nano update

I’m all caught up on my novel as of right now. I’m not really ahead, as I’d like to be, but I’ve been behind since November 4th, so a little bit ahead is an improvement. The story is going well. I’m finding my main character less interesting than I’d hoped, and focusing more on some female characters. This is good for me because I always worry about writing female characters. I was told by a few female friends that the lead female in my 2003 novel was a slut (Although many disagreed), and I think these female characters are better. One of them might be a little bit of a slut, but one out of three isn’t bad, right?

I forget every year how much I enjoy doing this. I really need to get myself writing outside of November. And I say that every year. Maybe this will be the year I get better about it.

And it comes down to us.

They just called the Senate race in Montana for Democrat Jon Tester.  So now control of the Senate rests with Virginia, and Jim Webb’s 7000 vote lead.

Do you see now why I tell everyone to vote?  The difference between a Republican controlled Senate and a Democrat controlled senate is 7000 votes.  That’s it.  I’m going to punch the next person who says his vote doesn’t matter.  Yes, I meant to say ‘his’.  I won’t punch a girl.  I’ll just glare at her sternly.  Perhaps waggle my finger.

How appropriate

After two years, Britney has had enough – CNN.com

Spears’ marriage to Federline was her second after a 2004 spur-of-the-moment wedding in Las Vegas to a former high school sweetheart that was quickly annulled.

When people talk about how gay marriage is supposedly an attack on the sanctity of “real” marriage, many like to bring up Britney’s twenty-four hour (or whatever) marriage that was annulled, and say (Rightly, I think) that we heterosexuals are doing a pretty good job of screwing up marriage already.

So it seems like fate that I read about her impending divorce on the day after Virginia votes to “protect marriage”.  Here we have a woman in her, what, mid-twenties?, who makes a living with her abs and cleavage, seeking sole custody of two young children after her second marriage fails.

THIS is a perversion of marriage, not a committed gay couple seeking legal equality.  THIS is what cheapens my nearly three month old marriage (Going perfectly so far, thank you).

So, thanks, Britney, for illustrating this point so well.  You’ve done a service to your country.  Now, please go away and try not to screw up your kids too much.

Change of plans

Last night, when I went to bed, I was all ready to yell this morning about how residents of the bigoted, intolerant commonwealth I live in couldn’t manage to see past their homophobia and vote against an overly broad amendment banning gay marriage.  I guess I should have expected it when even the campaign signs against the amendment said, “Read the whole thing!”.  As in, it’s okay to ban gay marriage, but do you have to ban civil unions, too?

But this morning I’m feeling much better about things.  I’m still mad the amendment passed.  But the Democrats took control of the House, and maybe will get the Senate, too.  My wife is happy because the race is close enough that her absentee ballot might actually mean something.  She’s out of town until Thursday, so she dutifully voted absentee.

So, for all of you who voted Democratic, either because you agree with the Democrats, or because you’re fed up with this administration and want a change, we’re heading in the right direction.  But we have to keep at it.  I urge you to write your representatives.  Tell them that we want a plan to finish what we started in Iraq and get our troops home.  We want our civil liberties back.  We want to once again respect the Constitution at ALL times, not just when it’s convenient.  We want a government that focuses on compromise and serving the people, not this partisan bickering that has taken over.

What are you waiting for?  Go write a letter.  Well, if you have a new representative, you can wait until he or she takes office.  But write the incumbents now.  It’s never to early to let them know how you feel.

I love voting machines

Polling places turn to paper ballots after glitches – CNN.com

“We got five machines — one of them’s got to work,” said Willette Scullank, a troubleshooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board.

Looks like there was some difficulty voting in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and, shocker, Florida.  Some poll workers didn’t know how to use the machines.  Now, I could be way off on this, but I’m pretty sure this wasn’t a surprise election.  Shouldn’t someone have checked that the machines worked, and that people knew how to use them?

Tomorrow, the Republicans will probably be blamed.  However, as whoever it was said (Google is not cooperating on this one), “Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence”.  I don’t think there’s any big conspiracy.  I have nothing to base that assumption on, but this is a blog, I don’t have to have a basis for my sweeping judgments.