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Now you'll never see
What you've done to me
You can take back your memories
They're no good to me
And here's all your lies
You can look me in the eyes
With the sad, sad look
That you wear so well
- All American Rejects - Gives You Hell

I should get back to writing more regularly now that it is post election. I've had to significantly decrease my news watching/reading. Baby steps. I'll start off with a few articles I've found interesting and have been collecting. Don't forget my shared articles on the left hand column either.

Why Are Women Always Colder Than Men?: I'm like a furnace.

1-Cent Debt Paid In Full, Threat Of Lien Dropped: ATTLEBORO, Mass. — A 74-year-old blind woman's 1 cent debt to a Massachusetts city has been settled.

Man's Best Friend Is Now A Cat: Mr. Fulrath is one of a growing number of single -- and yes, heterosexual -- men who seem to be unabashedly embracing their feline side. Indeed, it seems that man's best friend is no longer a golden retriever, but a cuddly cat named Fluffy. I'm just always ahead of my time. Koki and Mia do make it easy. But don't forget about Max, if he were an indoor dog, he might be a better pet.

Going Solo in the USA: Here are some great stats:
Top Ten "Solo Cities:"
3. NYC -- 39.8% single
6. LA -- 37.7%
8. Miami -- 36.9%

Top Ten "Least Single Cities"
1. McAllen, Texas -- 23% single
7. El Paso, Texas -- 28.4% single


I thought this was hilarious: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/19/83752/177/912/663183
Results: Testing the "Lieberman Effect"
Yesterday I got stopped for speeding. I told the cop he was a terrorist sympathizer who wants America to fail. He let me off with a warning. I complained. He took back the warning and let me go after giving me his handcuffs as a gift.
Yesterday my neighbor loaned me his leafblower. When I was done with it he asked for it back. I told him to go screw himself. He said I could keep the leafblower forever and apologized for bothering me.

Vice President Cheney and former Attorney General Gonzales indicted in Texas.: A South Texas grand jury has returned multi-count indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County’s federal detention centers. They should be indicted for many reasons, but I had no clue about this one.

I won't try to catch up on everything because that would be too cumbersome. Right now all I can think about is Thanksgiving. My family is coming up to Austin and we are going to celebrate it at my house. Abram has hosted a thanksgiving before, but I haven't. There will be turkey, the Cowboy game and UT game. It should be a good time. I'd be headed home for Christmas this year.

I picked up a new series to my already ridiciously long tv show watching list. Erika had been telling me to watch Brothers and Sisters, but I was so far behind that I never did. Finally I decided to give it a shot. I acquired the first 3 seasons (season 3 is in progress) and over a period of two weeks I watched so many episodes back to back. The last time I did that was for Sopranos and then for Firefly. This week I finally became current on season 3 and am all caught up. I like the series and am glad she urged me to check it out. I also have plans to see Twilight this weekend, so we will see how that recommendation goes.

Right now I'm drowning in student loan debt. I worked really hard to get back on track and not default on any of my student loans. So here is how it breaks down, I have one for $650 one for $530 and one for $225 oh and another for $50. That is a grand total of $1455 give or take a month. The new one of $530 just showed up. Maybe if I hadn't defaulted for a year and kept better track on who I owe for what it wouldn't have been such a big surprise. I also think I'm just paying interest right now. I have consolidated in the past. That is quite a chunk of change each month. One day I hope to not stress about it, but right now it really limits my options. I just had to complain out loud because I think it sucks.

Abram found a video of my college graduation party at Cornell. It was filmed the night before I graduated. We had a few families at my house, including Juan's family and Herbert's family. Jorge wasn't there. There was BBQ and dancing and Abram even took a video tour of the surrounding area. It felt surreal to be watching it. It was one of the last times my entire family was together. Veronica wasn't a main focus in the video, but just seeing her and seeing smile and laugh brought back so many memories. It was hard to watch, but also very cathartic. At one point Herbert, Juan and I talked about what we learned from each other. From Juan I learned that no matter what you set your mind to, if you work hard you can achieve it. It is one thing to believe that, but quite another to see it in action. From Herbert I learned that you don't always need a plan. As long as you have a large goal in mind and work towards it, you just have to have faith that it is going to work out. We also talked about our friendship being stronger than distance, that no matter how many years past, we would still be great friends and pick up right where we left off. That has seemed to be the case. One thing we were wrong about was attending the FIFA World Cup in 2006. By this time we imagined we would all be millionaires and could just take a month off to visit Europe. Maybe FIFA 2010.

day by day

Yes We Can!

"You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century." - President-elect Barack Obama on November 4, 2008

He did it! We did it! Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States. You will not believe how amazing I feel. There is so much that could be said and so much that has been said. I won't repeat all those historic things today, I just needed to quickly document this moment for myself. As I was watching the results in my makeshift Alaniz Election Center (two TVs and beer) I was ecstatic to find out the news. Things will not be easy, but to know that our leaders motives are honorable and that gives me such encouragement.

About 8 years ago I went into the 2000 election thinking I was maybe a republican, having never really put much thought into it. It wasn't more than a few months before the 2000 election that I started to look into it and found out that republicans did not stand for me. I still had pent up irrational dislike of democrats and didn't think I could vote for Al Gore, a man who I deeply admire today. I abstained from voting in a sense and voted Nader (which I don't regret since I voted in NY). That night I turned on CNN on my 13in TV in my dorm room and watched the results come in. It was now Wednesday morning and there was still no winner and I was still in front the TV. This went on for weeks. As the recount went on and ultimately went to the Supreme Court, I became more democratic by the moment. By the end of that decision, I was now a liberal Democrat choosing to be informed on the issues and not just buy the standard Republican talking points. It was just the way the Republicans went about that entire process that really sealed it for me. Each day as Bush ran our government and country into the ground my passion grew and I developed a strong interest in what was going on in Washington. In 2004 things were dire, we were now in war based on lies and ignoring the real threats to our nation. We needed a change, and even voting in Miami Dade County wasn't enough to help Kerry stop the nose dive Bush's administration had put us in. The next four years I followed even more closely all the decisions being made and as the primaries approached, looked at all the candidates who were vying to be president. I wanted to have hope again, and not that gilded hope I had as a child under Reagan, but one for a country that cared about the working class and the poor as much as its corporations. I may have voted in Texas this time, but I'm proud to be part of Obama's popular vote count and so happy that he is going to be the next president of the United States. If my progressive ideology is wrong, well let me be proven wrong over the next four years because I have already seen the conservative ideology not only be proven wrong, but hurt America.

I have a million thoughts about this election, how it was run on both sides and this new "center-right" conservative propaganda trying to be sold to the American public (as opposed to the clear mandate for progressive change). I'm sure they will come up as things go on, but for right now, I'm emotionally drained from this political addiction and just want to relax, enjoy my own life and remember that more information doesn't given me any greater control.

hope there is something I can do to help