Amanda
9/29/08
Donna & Grandma, though you had me a little freaked out Saturday, my night was fine. Just thought I'd let you know. :)

??? --Gary

Bear in mind something comedian Bill Maher said over the weekend: "Food from China, unless it is Chinese Food, isn't food." :-)

Later: His name is Michael Gregory. I went to his YouTube page, where he has several other videos -- including his audition for American Idol. (Check out Space People from the Future!)

The thing that seems to be getting the most play after the fact is something that I didn't really notice -- McCain never once looked at Obama, which is being interpreted as condescension or contempt on McCain's part. Often, it is something like that that turns out to be more important than anything that was actually said. When people talk about the Bush-Gore debate, nobody remembers what either one said but everyone remembers Gore sighing. Strange but true.

So, Round One was not a knockout but Obama won on points. Round two in ten days, and Round Three in eighteen days. Oh, and only five days to the Biden-Palin match which ought to be very interesting!

Katie Couric: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

Sarah Palin: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it's got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and getting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade -- we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

The only Republican buzz-word she left out of that mess was "It's all Bill Clinton's fault." :-) Can't wait for the debate... if it happens.

One Republican shill I heard over the noon hour was spinning it this way: McCain is such a decisive leader that he just had to say he was coming to Washington, and the lawmakers got themselves together before he arrived. "That's leadership!" he said, looking almost as if he believed it himself.

The bright side is, for once the media seems able to see through this, and they are almost all calling McCain on it -- even, believe it or not, some Fox reporters.

Also, nobody has mentioned this (that I've seen), but I think McCain may have suffered a small stroke in the past 48 hours. Watch this two-minute video, and compare McCain's face from "Moments Ago" (i.e., yesterday) with the earlier clips -- even with the day before, September 23). The left side of his face has kind of fallen and is less expressive. Am I wrong on that?

But not only is McCain withholding his own medical records, the campaign declared yesterday they would not release Palin's(!) either.

The Democrats, spineless wimps that they are, have already said, "What's the big deal? We've already said we'll agree to the bail-out." (Even though the mail and email from their constituents is running, one of them said, 150-to-1 against). So it's the Republicans causing the delay. It's all the phoniest gimmick since David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

Sarah Palin had another "In what respect, Charlie?" moment last night on her CBS News interview:

"I'll try to find some and I'll bring 'em to ya!" Palin managed to make Katie Couric look like Edward R. Murrow.... And if you missed McCain's non-appearance on Dave Letterman last night, here are 9 minutes of the highlights:

But Obama and the University of Mississippi (which is hosting the debate) both say it is still on. Gobama! :-)

Yeah, if this keeps up, the Oklahoma game will be played early Sunday morning! --Gary

Ha! Now I feel better! :-) --Gary

I bring this up to show another marketing switch, which I just learned about this morning. Marlboro cigarettes are the macho smokes, right? The "Marlboro Man" and all that? Well, there was a time when Marlboros were marketed toward women and young moms, as you can see from these ads. (I know it looks like a joke, but they're authentic!)

Hey, I realize I've been filling up this newsletter with type lately, but there's just so much interesting stuff happening right now. Carly Fiorina, one of McCain's top advisors and former head of Hewlitt-Packard (until she nearly destroyed the company, got fired, and walked away with a $21 million dollar parting gift) just lost another job. After being asked on television if she thought Sarah Palin had the experience to run a business, Fiorina said "No, I don't." Then, digging herself in deeper, said, "But I don't think John McCain does either." Then trying to recover: "But neither of them is running for that position." Anyway, McCain it is rumored to have exploded in rage last night about this, and Fiorina has cancelled all her upcoming TV interview slots. Bye-bye! :-)

And the Rachel Maddow fans out there (me too!) may be pleased to hear that her ratings for this past week not only beat CNN's ratings at that hour (as Keith Olbermann also does), but her numbers exceeded even Keith's! Way to go!

And finally, I leave you with this touching and beautiful painting, titled "The Prom."

Thanks also to John -- I loved that email about the telemarketers that you sent. Too funny!

Not much going on with me -- just plugging away at school. Summer seems to be hanging on -- very nice warm days this week. I guess there is one thing that happened this week -- probably should let Emily tell you -- but -- she was picked for the Briar Cliff Dance Squad! She should be starting practice next week, and they will perform at all the home basketball games.

I just heard that Tina Fey has agreed to make ten appearances on SNL over the next three months. Hmmm, that works out to approximately one appearance per week through the November election. Stay tuned! :-)

Thanks for the new review, Livy. I actually understood part of it! :-) --Gary

Thanks for that! :-) --Gary

Someone here at work suggested IHOP. Yeah, for reasons of length I left out several other bad luck things from yesterday: Before unhooking my computer, I turned on my floor lamp for some extra light -- it fizzed and smoked so I yanked out the plug. I've had that lamp since the day I moved in, and it blows up yesterday. Later, knowing I wouldn't have a computer all day, I thought I should re-charge my Palm Pilot. But I used the wrong charger; the Palm Pilot went "pop" softly, and then wouldn't turn on so it looks like it's gone too. I was actually afraid to start my car yesterday... --Gary

I was taking the day off, but my plans did not include unhooking my computer and lugging it to the repair shop in the rain. But I did it anyway. I arrived at Best Buy at 10 am so I would be first in line. (Yes, there's a line to get into Best Buy every morning.) The tech guy plugged it in and observed the problem, and said they would run a diagnostic and could get it back to me in six or seven days. He said they had around 40 computers in the shop ahead of mine. Yikes, no thanks. So I lugged it to another repair shop, smaller and not usually so busy. This tech guy said they could get it in right away. They would first do a complete hardware diagnostic (for $50) and then could repair it either today or tomorrow.

So to cheer myself up, I decided to go somewhere and treat myself to breakfast. There was a Village Inn down the street, so I went in and ordered up an omelette and some pancakes. As I waited, I began to realize something: At that hour on a weekday, Village Inn is filled with old fat people. And I realized something else: I fit right in.... Happy birthday to me.... I finished my food and got out of there.

With no computer to entertain me at home, I figured I might as well clean the house, which I had long put off. My birthday plans also had not included scrub brushes and cleaning products but, again, I did it anyway. The tech guy had told me he would call as soon as they knew what was wrong, but I cleaned all afternoon without hearing the phone. Finally, around 4:30 I called him. "Oh yeah, it's been done for a while -- I guess we never called." Grrrr. So what's the problem, I asked. He said all the hardware, including the modem, checked out fine, so it's a software issue. He recommended I re-install Windows.

Yuck. Anyone who has ever reinstalled the operating system knows that it can be a nightmare; and even if it goes well, it takes a long time to get all your settings and preferences back the way they were. I drove back to the shop, picked it up, and on the way home had a sudden inspiration: What about System Restore? [WARNING: gonna get geeky here] System Restore is a function built into XP (and Vista) that in essence takes a snapshot of your system whenever you make a change to it. Which means if a change is made that causes problems, you can roll it back to one of these earlier snapshots before the problem and those earlier settings will be restored. So I got home, hooked it back up, and ran a System Restore from a couple of days ago. Jackpot! Whatever the problem was (and I still don't know), it was fixed by rolling my settings back to an earlier state. So by 8 pm or so, I had everything back the way it was; and I'm wondering, Why didn't I think of this before? And why hadn't one of those computer geniuses I had talked with today suggested it?

Not the way I had hoped to spend the day. All in all, some good things came out of it -- nice clean house, and computer back to normal -- but getting through it was a pain. Hmmm, maybe there's a life lesson there. Except for the Village Inn part.

Love this video! :-)

Sounds like you could make this into a Wacky Sitcom! :-) Seriously, though, hope Brent is feeling better, and that he starts wearing a beekeeper suit. --Gary

I hear it's the first of a series, trying to fight back against those two guys in the "Mac and PC" ads. Could work!

A few journalists are still speaking truth, though. Keith Olbermann will have Barack Obama as his guest on Monday night's show, and following him at 8 will be the debut of Rachel Maddow's show (this is MSNBC for those who don't know).

Has anyone watched the Rep convention? I didn't see any of it -- not sure that McCain did make the right choice. Should help Obama though.... Zach and Anna -- did you two get moved into your new apartment yet?