It is snowing in Hell

For all of those who, like me, assumed the senatorial race in Massachusetts was a foregone conclusion, you might want to take a look at the news.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/01/our-opinion-massachusetts-senate-vote-fires-shot-heard-round-political-world.html

I didn't believe it when I got the news last night until I'd checked three different sources.

I grew up in Massachusetts, and I suspect that most of the 11.4% of the population who are registered with the Republican party would be Democrats in most other states. Still, that state will now be seating its first Republican US Senator since 1972.

The consequences are probably going to be less radical than the press is playing it. Sure, the 60-vote block in the US Senate is broken. But I think this functioned more as a warning shot across the bows of the Democrats that they need to be gearing up for the mid-term elections rather than the first stone of the avalanche.

Drawing to a close

Well, after much debate and agony, Kaylee will be going back to her breeder on Saturday. I'm not at all happy about this, but believe it is the right decision. I'm just not cut out to raise a puppy the way one should be raised.

There is one potential bright spot - my mother has asked the breeder to consider her as a new owner. She met Kaylee over the holidays and took to her as I did. She also has rather more experiance raising children than I do. :-}

So perhaps Kaylee will remain in the family, just not with me. Wherever she goes, I hope she will be happy.

My $0.02

I literally gave someone my $0.02 yesterday.

I was at Trader Joe's, stuck in line behind someone who had their husband get in line before they were finished shopping, and had to get 'just one more thing' before they could be checked out. Once she finally got the last thing (well after the cashier had rung up and bagged everything else), she had some sort of problem with a debit or gift card, and as a result she was able to pay all but $0.02 of her bill. Now here's the best part: neither she nor her husband had any cash on them whatsoever. So she sent her husband out to their car to get some.

At this point I intervened and handed the cashier a quarter, telling her I'd cover the $0.02. She rung up the last two cents and gave me $0.23 in change.

Really now, I know that credit and debit and EBT and gift cards are everywhere, but who doesn't carry ANY cash?

Catching Up

Well, it has been quite a busy few weeks. Some highlights:

My mother visited just after christmas, and brought with her one of those gifts that keeps on giving: a Wii. Of all the game consoles I've seen/tried out, this is the only one I've actually considered getting myself, so I'm quite glad. I claim the title of cow racing champion of people I know. :-) I managed to log ten consecutive days on Wii Fit before work started up. Hopefully I'll be able to get in some time on the weekends.

Kaylee continues to grow, and has finally reached the point where she can sleep through the night. That doesn't mean she always does, of course, but it is a milestone. She now weighs in at about 20 lbs, at least 10 lbs of it pure energy. Yes, I've created a Mii for her on the Wii. Puppy class continues to introduce both commands I knew off (sit, stay, come) and commands I didn't (stand, go, leave-it). Overall her level of training and obediance is improving, but she's still wearing me down.

We've had the first two sessions (start up, rules intro, character development, etc) of a Star Wars RPG (West End, thank you, not WotC) that I'm GMing. I'm going to have 6-7 players, which is a new record for me. The party will be a group of 'honest merchants' trying to make a living on a... special... freighter during the time of the movies (Episodes IV-VI, thank you, not the travesties that masqueraded as Episodes I-III).

Planning for Ursulmas continues, and the floor plans are firming up, though changes are still being made.

Universe

I consider this more a piece of art than science, which isn't to say it doesn't perfectly express our place in the universe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U&feature=player_embedded

I very seldom offer video links - take six minutes and watch this one.