Fake Empire

On my playlist these days: Fake Empire by The National. It was used in Obama's Signs of Hope & Change video sans lyrics - but I'm thinking it might have been chosen because of the lyrics. Hmm... (Good work Obama campaign.)

Stay out super late tonight
picking apples, making pies
put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

Tiptoe through our shiny city
with our diamond slippers on
do our gay ballet on ice
bluebirds on our shoulders
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

Turn the light out say goodnight
no thinking for a little while
let’s not try to figure out everything at once
It’s hard to keep track of you falling through the sky
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

"Is how we have been really how we want to be?"

Ailing economy a chance to teach kids something they'll have forever

I will definitely want to be reminded of this article when I am doing Christmas shopping for my own future children.

Things I Love About Life - Part I

Yes, they're called Crispy Hexagons. I would love to meet the marketing people who came up with the name.

Our New First Lady

I'm not sure I have ever in my life been more excited for the next four years. Is it okay that I adore everything about the Obamas? Or am I just setting myself up to be disappointed?

I ♥ this article - hopefully every member of the news media will read it. Well done, Vanity Fair.

Welcome to the White House, Mrs. Obama!

Given all the other things Mrs. Obama stands for, do we really need to critique every dress, hairstyle, and daily make up job as if she were some teenage contestant on America’s Next Top Model? She is smart, hard-working, dignified, well-intentioned—and human.
. . .
Let’s let our new First Lady be a fully dimensional grown-up woman, with strengths and weaknesses and idiosyncrasies and unconventional quirks and adult sexuality and cranky moods and even—oh, the horror!—opinions that sometimes diverge from those of her husband. We accept all those things in the women we know in everyday life, but it’s still a radical idea to stop imposing absurdly hypocritical, quasi-Victorian standards on our First Lady.

Signs of Hope & Change: Election Night

Vote Smart on November 4th

Of course we should all vote. It's part of the responsibility of being in a democratic society. But I would actually prefer that most people didn't.

We really don't want to elect someone like Rahn V. Workcuff accidentally. He's running for the Hennepin County Soil and Supervisor seat on an anti-gay marriage and affordable healthcare platform. I am definitely not joking.

Yes, I understand how fun it is to fill in all of the little boxes - but please use caution and try to do a little bit of research first.

Eezing My Misery

I get sick a lot. Why? We're not quite sure. But if you have a virus, I promise I will get it - despite having hand sanitizer on my desk at work, in my car, and in my purse - despite taking vitamin C tablets every day.

Echinacea seems to less my symptoms and I have sworn by it for years. But I recently found a new homeopathic treatment that has helped greatly with my three most recent colds. Usually I'm sick for a week, at least. Now I'm sick for three days - and not nearly as miserable.

Cold-Eeze

The medical community has done trial after trial and they're still not convinced. But here's the real reason why I think it works:

"The significant reduction in the duration of common colds with zinc gluconate lozenges may be due to the subjects' belief that anything tasting as bad as zinc and with as much aftertaste as zinc must be good medicine" (Farr and Gwaltney, 1987).

Yes, this stuff is good medicine.