Vote - it matters

Today I worked a phone bank to re-elect President Obama. I was reminded that no matter what your beliefs in this election, there are some things that just cross this line.

I called a number in Henderson, Nevada and spoke to a woman named Elizabeth.

My job was to remind people that they could vote early. Elizabeth told me that she and her husband had already mailed in their ballots

I responded that I loved the mail in ballot, it just makes everything so much easier, doesn't it?

She told me that her husband had been in the hospital and that they wanted to make sure they voted.

I replied that I hoped everything worked out for her husband.

Elizabeth told me that her husband had come home today in the care of hospice

I know what that means - her husband is dying.

Dying!!!! And what was important to them?? That they got to vote.

These are people that appreciate the right we all have and only half of us exercise.

So vote. You never know when it might be your last act.

Christian Vikings??

Behind a car this evening with a license plate holder from Christian Academy - Viking Territory

Huh?? Color me crazy but I don't think Vikings were Christian

Pressurized guy

I read the grossest thing ever today. Some poor guy that works at the Bumble-Bee tuna factory or did work at the tuna factory. His job was to roll in racks of canned tuna into a huge pressure cooker. I think you know where this is going. He rolled the tuna in and somehow did not get out before the cooking started.

The thought about how a pressure cooker cooks scares the crap out of me in a regular kitchen can't even imagine a great big giant one.

I can't even imagine what must have been going thru his mind. Fuck me would have been my first thought and probably my last.

I will never look at another can of tuna in the same way again.

Abortion - not your decision!

So Paul Ryan says if he and Mitt Romney are elected the only way a woman could get an abortion was if she was raped, was knocked up by a relative or her life was at risk.

So who decides if she was raped. How does one prove that one is raped when trying to get an abortion. It is said that 54 percent of sexual assaults are not reported in this country. So a woman that is raped and afraid for whatever reason to report it now needs to prove it perhaps weeks after the fact.

I can't really find much information on how many women request abortions due to incest, so I'm not sure how to speak at that.

Then the third reason - her life is at risk. Hmm, again who decides that?

I think the only ones that can make a decision about an abortion are the people involved. I have very strong opinions about this. It is no one else's business. No ones!! Certainly not my government. If you do not believe in abortion don't get one. It is that simple. Really it is.

I want someone to ask pro life people what should happen to all those pregnancies that they want women to bring to term?? Once those children are born what happens to them then??

Does anyone really think that most of them will be born into homes where they will magically be loved and wanted?? Will they all be adopted by loving families??

I do not. I think they will either be born into abuse or forgotten in a foster system that is already overwhelmed. Some might get lucky. We can hope.

Perhaps they can all be left on pro life proponents doorsteps??

How about if you want there to be less abortions teach family planning. Fund Planned Parenthood so they can offer contraception to people to avoid those unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. Again if you do not want to use contraception don't.

Does this country really want to force women to go back to back alley quacks and coat hangers?? That is what will happen.

Bag-less

Since I was going to a concert last night I did not want to be burdened by my pocketbook. Now I don't carry a big old bag anymore. I carry a pretty streamlined bag, it has room for my wallet, glasses, my keys and of course my kindle

So I decided to leave it in my desk at work. I took my license, debit card , office key and my car key. Well I really did not think the whole thing through

I kind of forgot that I would not be in the office today. So I was without my bag.

It was kind of liberating. Ok, so I had to carry my car keys in my pocket and change takes up a lot of space in your pocket and I missed my kindle, but all in a rather freeing experience.

Ticketless but lucky

Last night my beloved, her sister and another friend went to a fund raising concert for President Barack Obama.

We met in San Francisco following the directions provided to us by the creators of this event. There was only one way in and there were five lines to stand in that all lead to the same opening. We stood and we stood and we stood. For about two hours before the line started moving.

They would let a few people at a time through the gate and across the street where you stood again in another line so that you could go through security and get inside where we would stand for another four hours

Yea, this was a lot of standing and waiting in line. We finally got up to the front of the line when a woman pushed her way up to the front of the line. She was a street person I have seen around the city for years. She is usually high or drunk and can be quite confrontational. She had a bunch of flags in her hands and was chanting "I want to see the president"

One woman handling the crowd was saying that she needed a ticket. The woman got a little louder and tried to get beyond the barrier. The volunteer got a look on her face like "shit - what do I do"

Another woman came over, she had been standing inside the barricades and looked like she might be in charge. She whipped a ticket out of her bag and gave it to the woman telling her she would need to calm down to get inside.

I am not sure how I felt about this. On one hand we had been standing for hours at this point waiting patiently to get inside. We had paid a bunch of money to get in to this concert. We had followed all the rules and I felt as if none of that mattered. Why do things the way your are supposed to when you can push your way up to the front of the line cause a ruckus and get into something that you are not even supposed to get anywhere near without a ticket?

On the other hand. This was a woman that had no chance to ever get into a function like this? Someone that lives on the fringes of our lives. Someone that we all say we care about and is not as lucky as the rest of us in this line.

The woman that gave her the ticket was asked if she had any more tickets in that bag to give out. She smiled and said no. She just happened to have one extra ticket and what was she going to do with it? Keep it as a souvenir?

The recipient of the ticket was overwhelmed with the gesture. Most of us that witnessed it were conflicted about the gesture.

I would like to think I would have done the same thing, but I can't say for sure

Pixie woods or pixies in the woods?

I go through Stockton on my way to Sacramento. There is a sign on the highway for a place called Pixie Woods

I have often wondered about what this must be. I have thought about going to check it out but I am afraid I would be disappointed if I went and there were no pixies

Six little peeps

Driving down the highway today I came up behind a van with some of those family stickers on the back window. My first thought was man that is a lot of little stickers on that van

I got a little closer and was able to count the little people. Two parents and six kids.

Seems like a lot doesn't it. Seemed that way to me as well until I realized that that was the number of little people stickers my mother would have had on the back window of the station wagon she drove.

It started me wondering about how she did it. Six kids. Seems she always wanted six and she got just what she wanted. For the most part I think it worked out. Was not always easy. I realize that now, I did not then.

My parents did a pretty good job and most of us turned out ok.

Speaking my mind?

An old co worker found me on Facebook this week. She sent me an email saying "hey there, do you remember me?". My response was Holy Shit!! Yes.

Her response was "you have not changed. Always saying just what you think".

I have been thinking about that for a couple days. It is so not true. Like most of us I think I go through my day with a pretty good filter on what comes out of my mouth

I am sure there are times when my filter fails me, but for the most part I do not say what I am really thinking to most people.

There are moments when people say stuff to me that I want to look at them and scream WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING? ARE YOU EVEN THINKING?? ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID.

However I don't say those things. I usually smile and say nothing because I am pretty convinced that I might end up in the looney bin or jail if I let loose on some fucking stupid idiots.