Vacation pics

...are here:

http://web.me.com/dnelson1822/Site/Summer2008.html

Eventually I will figure out how to get a password on there. When I do, it will be:
username: "myfirstname"
password: "mylastname"

I know that Macs are supposed to be simple to use, but I can't for the life of me figure out all the new features of the change to "mobile me." (me.com? I'm not sure how they are related, still. I know, I know. I'm an idiot.)

Yes, they told me I could watch a tutorial. But who has time for a tutorial? Luckily, I am married to my tech support, so he will figure it out and show me.

Until then, no password.

I've basically been on vacation for the last two weeks. And it has been lovely. We are having a glorious weekend back at home, with perfect weather, visits to the pool, parties, fun with friends.

Everything will come crashing down on Tuesday. School starts for both kids and I head back to work. Tuesday will be tough.

Good pick for McCain

If someone had told me years ago that the Republican Presidential candidate would pick a Vice President running mate who reminded me of my sister, I would have laughed in their face.

And then, today.

(Ing, if you are reading this - don't worry - she doesn't remind me of you in the slightest in your political views. You are liberal. She is conservative. I doubt there is any agreement at all on any social issue.)

But....the similarities (on paper) are eerie:
1) hockey players
2) flute players
3) long time Alaska residents
4) Moose aficionados
5) Beautiful
6) Smart
7) Can pilot a float plane
8) Politically active
9) Tough
10) Independent

Until today, my sister was the only float-plane flying, hockey playing, beautiful, smart Alaskan resident I've known. (I'm sure there are many - but I only know the one.)

I say this is a good choice for McCain. Shakes things up a bit.

What a speech

The one good thing about being back in the Midwest is that I no longer have to stay up past my bedtime to feed my political speech addiction.

Over the last four days, I've watched boring speeches (Kerry), I've watched clever speeches (Clinton, Bill); I've watched good, but fundamentally strange, speeches (Clinton, Hillary); I've watched folksy speeches (Biden); I've watched business-as-usual speeches (Warner). I've watched a lot of speeches.

But tonight is perhaps the first time in my life that I've ever felt inspired by a political speech. Obama just makes you want to go out, serve the country and do good things for the world.

(Hmm...maybe I should do some recruiting calls tomorrow for my favorite program in the world - Big Brothers/Big Sisters - maybe other people heard the speech too...)

We all have one particular issue that speaks to us above all others. For some it is the environment. For other, taxes. For me, it is childhood poverty.

I've been active in mentoring programs since I was 21. I'm going to be 40 years old next week. So, I've seen a lot of poverty. In almost 20 years, this will be the first time that I have EVER felt, truly in my heart, that a national politician "gets" poverty. And has concrete plans to eradicate it, using both government programs and personal responsibility.

I know one thing. My "little" will be listening to that speech in full. I'll find it on the internet, somewhere. We'll watch it together and I'll show her that there is at least one very important man out there who truly cares about her and her future.

What a speech.

Pictures from a vacation

We are on our last day of a fabulous vacation in MD/DE/NJ with my parents. Pics are below. Real photos with actual identifiable faces will be posted on the website or the facebook account upon return. Back to real life in Wisconsin tomorrow. : (

Olympics

We've been very hot-and-cold with our Olympics consumption. If we turn it on at night, we're hooked - sucked in for the night. If we don't turn it on, we don't care, and are pretty uninterested in the results.

Mostly we watched the swimming. I also got sucked into the women's marathon. To my surprise, NBC showed us almost the whole thing. And I watched it. I am perhaps the only person in the universe who thinks it is fun to watch women run for 2 hours and 19 minutes.

As I approach the big 4-0, I particularly enjoyed watching Dara Torres swim and Romania's Constantina Tomescu-Dita run. I have a theory that childbirth makes you stronger and gives you more endurance. I'm a much better runner now than I was 20 years ago. I ran 18 miles this weekend. The most I could run when I was twenty was 5 miles. The biggest change, for me, has been recovery time. Ten years ago, I could go all-out on a super long run, and then continue on with my day. Now, I need to rest. and rest. and rest. When I do an 18 mile run, my poor husband is pretty much in charge of just about everything for the rest of the day.

And people ask me why I run marathons. Ha!  You get 3 hours away from all your responsibilities in the morning due to the long run. And than a whole afternoon of resting. What else will give you that free time?  All you need is a very nice husband.  And the craziness to actually enjoy running for that long.  

It's like a trainwreck.

I can't stop reading this Atlantic article on the Clinton campaign. And the actual memos. Oh my.

I'm finding this more pornographic than the Edwards scandal. Well, I guess there wasn't any sex involved. (Bill's memos aren't included.) So should I say politographic?

My favorite description:

Penn believed that voters view their president as the “father” of the country. “They do not want someone who would be the first mama,” he counseled. “But there is a yearning for a kind of tough single parent.” (He did not propose divorce.)

It's fascinating to read all the assumptions throughout all these memos about what voters want...what they think...how they'll vote. It's almost as if they truly believed it. Really? I'm yearning for a tough single parent? I hadn't noticed.

(When husband D goes to Asia, I'm a single parent for many days on end, and honestly, the only way I get through is by drinking lots of red wine. Trust me, you do not want me running the country after I've had lots of red wine.)

And the office miscommunication and mismanagement by memos, oh my. This has *got* to become a sitcom. The Hollywood writers should be lining up. "The Office" has nothing on this!

Through the eyes of a lens

We took our "little" to the local botanical gardens. We've been a few times before, but she's never really shown much interest. I was taking a picture of her looking at a butterfly and she asked me if she could hold the camera and take a few pictures.

What a difference. We were there for another hour and she was entranced the entire time, taking some pretty phenomenal photos. (granted, I may be biased here.) She photographed some flowers and spots that I'd never even noticed. For some reason, the camera made everything fascinating to her.

At the end of the visit, she looked up at me with wide eyes, and said, "Do you think I could be a photographer someday?" I have to admit I got a little choked up as I replied, "Sweetie, I think that you can do whatever you want to do."

I try not to blog about her - she's not my kid. But she's a huge part of my life. She faces obstacles that neither I or my kids will ever really understand.

And I think she takes some pretty great photos that I can't resist sharing: (except for the fuzzy out-of-focus one, with her in it, I took that one.)