It's just an ordinary day - Recent Entries

kathrynt just gave me the heads up that Dennis Kucinich is reading articles of impeachment against Bush live, on C-Span, this very minute.

We just tuned in at the Murk. And we're all whomperjawed. Wow. And here we thought Congress was going to not bother with this since there's so little of Bush's term left. Who knew the Dems had a stealth impeachment campaign underway?

Anybody see any news articles on this out there yet? I'm scouring my usual sources, but no sign of any breaking news yet.

ETA 6:08pm: Link from mdlbear: Kucinich has thirty-five articles of impeachment lined up.

ETA 6:20pm: Ah, this may well have triggered this: Scott McClellan has agreed to testify in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case. And apparently he's told Keith Olbermann on his show to his face that he'll testify that Kucinich's articles are true.

ETA 6:42pm: Yahoo's news site now has the first AP Wire report I've been able to find. I expect this will show up on other major news feeds with similar content before we get more substantial articles.

ETA 7:34pm: Links from mistwolf and grian_ruadh: DailyKOS is liveblogging the matter here and here.

ETA 8:05pm: Up to Article 30 in the reading, and the news is finally starting to make its way around the Net. News.google.com has the first few articles showing up here.

ETA 9:17pm: And, now that we've gotten to the House adjourning for the evening, time to see how this hits all the news sites tonight and tomorrow morning.

ETA 9:40pm: solarbird has of course gotten way more data on this than I have; check out her post here.

I haven't been saying much about the election this year, though it will surprise exactly none of you that I'll be voting for whoever gets the Democratic nomination.

While I really would like to support the first serious female contender for the President ever, I can't get behind Hillary as that person; I don't like her particular brand of politics, suffice to say. I strongly disapproved of Bill going off on the race card in South Carolina, and I have rolled my eyes repeatedly at several of the jabs Hillary's campaign has tried to take at Obama.

And I have been leery of committing support to Obama, just on the grounds that, as many others have said, he's awfully untried. For a while now, I have heard so many people asking the experience question--does the man have the necessary background to prepare him for the Presidency, does he walk the walk as well as he talks the talk, etc.

I have shared these fears. I got to be old enough to vote pretty much just in time for Bush Sr. to come into office, followed by Clinton's two terms, and then Bush Jr.'s--I'm one of that generation who has never known any option but a Bush or a Clinton in office.

The turn politics in this country has taken as a result saddens and disheartens me. I have lost friendships over it, friendships that had lasted for years. I have seen other friendships wither and die. Time and time again, I have witnessed people I care about, on opposite sides of the political spectrum--or hell, sometimes even the same side of the political spectrum, but not the same exact position--turn strident and bitter. It's gotten to the point that I've been scared to bring up political topics with anyone I know online or in person, for fear that I'll discover that I'm a blue-stater and they're a red-stater and nary our twain shall meet.

I'm sick and tired of that.

I've been longing for a political environment where we can all stop being red-staters or blue-staters, liberals or conservatives, Democrats or Republicans... and instead, start being Americans. I want to live in a country where, instead of half of us being at the throats of the other half, we all stand together, shoulder to shoulder, to make this a country each and every one of us can be proud of.

Listening to Obama's speech tonight, I begin to hope that maybe, this is the man that can help us do just that.

Let's hear it for hope.

I did not go to the caucuses today. Not out of lack of interest, but more out of feeling generally blicky and unpleasant, and still being in some small part Recovery Girl. But all y'all who went out to caucuses, though, good for you. You get pie!

The last couple of weeks coming out of radiation therapy have been first brutal and then not so bad, and all around generally exhausting. I discovered week before last that all the muscles surrounding the area of zappage had taken quite the assault--and I hadn't really clued in before because I've got a generally high tolerance for pain. By the time I notice something enough to think "Hey wait, that hurts", it hurts quite a bit and it means I need attention on it now.

Which is what happened with my right shoulder and the right side of my chest. It manifested initially as numbness and tingling all up and down my arm--always a sign that my neck and shoulders are fucked up. solarbird went at the area with her massage fu, and discovered muscles so tensed up that they spasmed at her touch. I was sobbing after she worked on me for a while, and when she was done I felt like I was thrashed.

It was, however, the correct thing to do. The next day I felt significantly better and I've felt pretty good since, although there remains quite a bit of work to do. Since Dara has been getting massage therapy at the place upstairs from our chiro clinic, I went ahead and got signed up with them as well. I went in for my first session with them today; after, I felt quite a bit more relaxed, but also quite tired.

I have run out of painkiller. This has proven annoying only at the end of the work day when I'm more prone to feeling random little blips of pain, but it's otherwise manageable. Better, anyway, because I'm starting to feel mentally clearer--and restless about not doing any writing, a sign I need to be coming back to that Real Soon Now. But my sleep's still kind of disordered, so I've had to resort to valerian. Between that and massage and chiro, I'm hoping to get my sleep patterns stabilized soon. That will in turn help a lot with the return of my brain.

So. Vaguely guilty about not making it to the caucus, but not at all displeased by the news of how things have gone today in Washington state. And once November comes around, I have every expectation of stepping up to the plate with y'all to do my civic duty.

Right now, though, no matter how you caucused or who you caucused for, if you got out there and threw your voice into the fray, I salute you.

And because I am not yet done posting tonight, here is ( my contribution to Blog for Choice Day 2007. )

I voted tonight, of course. I came home from work to do my duty by my country and my cat, picking up the car and going right back out again to go and vote and then to pick up thyroid meds for Polly. And on the way home, I grabbed some green apple Smirnoff's on the grounds that no matter how the election results went, I figured I pretty much needed some booze tonight.

I haven't written a word on Nanowrimo tonight, but that's okay. 'Cause I'm watching the election results on TV, and I figure, y'know, that's a tad bit more important. Also, the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert teamup of the Midterm Midtacular took a big part of the sting out of the entire process. ;)

So does the incoming word that it's looking like the Dems are taking the House. I'm particularly pleased that Rick Santorum has gone down in flames, because, well, y'know, fuck him. There are rumblings coming out of South Dakota that the proposed measure to ban virtually all abortions--y'know, the one that makes no exceptions for the health and life of the mother, or for rape or incest? That one?--is going to be defeated. On the other hand, it's looking like maybe eight states are going to pass same-sex marriage bans. Sigh.

CNN's got the Senate count running neck and neck, 48 to 48, with 4 more seats left to call. And apparently over in Virginia, George "Every Time I Open My Mouth Racial Slurs Fall Out" Allen is in the fight of his life. I'd definitely like to see him taken down--and ooh look, Webb's pulled ahead of him. That's going to be a recount scenario for sure. And it looks like a majority of Democratic governors are getting elected, too.

More locally, looks like we have the initiatives that suck (920 and 933) going down, but 937 looks like it's going down too. Damn. But at least we're keeping Cantwell and Inslee.

And there have been the obligatory stories about voter intimidation, though honestly less than I was expecting. And you'd know it'd be my very own birthplace of Louisville, Kentucky that had the news item about the poll worker trying to choke a voter and throwing him out the door--though surprisingly, this was apparently over a dispute about filling out all of the ballot rather than a Democrat vs. Republican thing.

On MSNBC as I write this, they're starting to use the word "tsunami" in describing the situation tonight. Nobody's committing to calling the Senate yet, but there are quite a few surprised noises being made by the commentators.

Interesting evening all around. It'll be fun to see how many recount challenges kick in starting tomorrow.

ETA 9:27pm: Whoops, wait, 937 is pulling ahead. Go, 937, go!

ETA 9:29pm: And oh yeah; there was a syndicated editorial column on seattletimes.com today that I really appreciated. To wit: a letter to the Dems telling them what they need to do with their victory. EARN IT.

casirafics has brought to my attention that the fine gentlemen over at Penny Arcade have been turned on to the awesomeness that is my B'ys of Great Big Sea. (Or at any rate, the Gabe half of those fine gentlemen, if his last post on the site is any indication.) This delights me beyond all measure. Great Big Sea love continues to spread!

And that was a nice bright spot with which to end my Friday workday, after the way several other things this week have gone. The political events this week have already been expounded upon at length on my Friends list, most notably by solarbird here and by pecunium on several recent posts. I'm not going to go into it in depth here. Suffice to say that I am deeply disgusted at the passage of the torture bill. And that I take only marginal comfort in the knowledge that both of Washington's senators voted against it, and that I did what tiny part I could by urging them to do exactly that.

Today was annoying on the grounds that I'm finally eligible to sign up for insurance via the Times, and I've done that, except that last night I came home to find that we'd received the wrong insurance cards in the mail. Which meant, or so I found out this morning, that I'd filled out the wrong option on the form. Grr. So I had to check with HR the minute I got to my keyboard, and ask them what I could do to fix this. Fortunately, since it wasn't October 1st yet, they went ahead and let me fix my form. And they promised to get me cancelled on the wrong insurance and signed up with the right one. But still, it was annoying.

And I'm still not quite stable again on the thyroid dosages either, which isn't helping. I think I'm coming to realize, based on what's happened earlier this year, that the way it seems to work for me is that I'm good at 150mcg for the longest time, except then I get a little too high and need a brief jolt back down again, and then I'm good for another long stretch of 150mcg. So now I'm trying to figure out if I can work out some kind of a schedule of 150's most of the time and the occasional 137, to see if I can stabilize myself at the proper level.

Also, I have a huge bruise on the side of my leg because I hit it against the rim of the bathtub. Ow.

Tuesday through Friday miles: 14.85
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1410.55
Miles out of Rauros Falls: 101.55
Miles to Isengard: 382.45

I'm seeing that this ain't so much the case for quite a few folks out there. Interesting and thought-provoking commentary by lavendertook here and oyceter here, and here is a link to a blog post found by pinkdormouse which appears to have some good background data on the whole brouhaha. hederahelix raises an interesting question on the matter here.

I'm finding myself really rather in accord with lavendertook's and oyceter's commentary, particularly in regards to this quote of oyceter's: "Part of me doesn't even want to keep talking about this because it's so uncomfortable, because it causes such defensiveness in other people, because I am tired of being told that I am wrong for seeing these things. And that's the very reason I am making myself post this, making myself confront the nidginess and the squirminess, the problems that I have in just acknowledging that something that I am enjoying is racist."

Which is pretty much dead on the money. Because as I posted before, I pretty much had a rollicking good time with this movie, and a big, big part of me still thinks that it's certainly something you hardly want to think rationally about... and yet.

As a white chick, I suppose that one might argue that there's only so much I get to say about racism. But I think that specifically because I am a white chick, that makes it doubly important for me to say something, to acknowledge that this is there, because only if the problem gets acknowledged can it be confronted and dealt with. As an aspiring writer, I also find myself heavily in accord with the commentary that so many of the racist bits of this movie could have been eliminated by tighter writing, or hell, even by paying just a touch more attention to the casting. What the hell happened to Anamaria from the first movie, for example?

I could go into more detail, but that'd go into spoiler territory. So I'll stick with saying that if y'all do go see the movie, go in with eyes open about this. And think very hard about what you might do in your life to counterbalance the problem--whether that be avoiding the movie on principle, sending a protest letter to Disney, spending your bucks in support of movies that don't perpetuate racist stereotypes, or what.

Me, I find myself a bit sheepishly amused that in both of the novels I've finished so far, the main female characters have turned out to be girls of color--Kendis with an African-American mortal father, and Faanshi with a mother out of a dark-skinned culture as well. This isn't something I deliberately set out to do, like unto Ursula K. LeGuin's very deliberate choice to make most of the folks in the Earthsea books be people of color... but I'm finding myself kind of happy that I've done it. It's a small gesture, but it's definitely one I can do.

Kind of like making this post.

ETA 12:52pm: There are a few small free-floating spoilers down in the comments, so proceed with care as you read them!

Most on my Friends list doubtless already know about this, but just so's it's official, here is my obligatory participation in the Thank You, Senate, For Shooting Down the Marriage Protection Amendment Again Dance. CNN has the story here, as well as commentary from Lou Dobbs on why exactly this amendment is nonsense. I am not a regular follower of Mr. Dobbs and his opinions, but I must say that I agree with the general thrust of his comments--there are plenty of better things for the Senate to be doing, even aside from the whole reprehensible concept of the "Marriage Protection Amendment" in the first place.

Even more, I agree with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, who after quoting Bush's speech pushing the amendment and which bragged about how America is a place where people can live freely and as they choose, immediately appended, "... and that's why I want to ban gay marriages!" Which pretty much does sum it up, yeah. Stewart also had Bill Bennett on the Daily Show last night, and they had quite the argument on the matter. I notice how ol' Bill kept ducking Jon's point-blank question of "if marriage is such a wonderful stabilizing influence, why not let gays enjoy it too?"

And in related news, let me also do the Dance of Satisfaction That Tim Eyman's attempt to repeal Washington state's gay rights legislation has been shot down.

Meanwhile, in non-politics news, I am still awaiting final word on whether the Times wants to hire me. They did check in with me and let me know I am under consideration, which was thoughtful of them. I take that as a good sign.

I've been less diligent than I should be about watching the snackies this week, about which I am vaguely grumpy, and for which the only cure is to make myself be more diligent. So. Must remember to march right past the Starbucks and Seattle's Best Coffee joints on the way home, mentally stamping each with a big red NO as I go past.

I have finished Eucalyptus; comments to come. I think I'm about ready to dive into rachelcaine's third book now. And I am closing in on the tail end of Lament of the Dove; my brain is already trying to make me plan out the beginning of Book 2.

All in all, a pretty darned good week so far!

Monday miles: 4.5
Tuesday miles: 3.45
Wednesday morning miles: 2.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1103
Miles out of Rivendell: 645
Miles out of Lothlórien: 183
Miles to Rauros Falls: 206

Since I had posted before about the kerfuffle involving the federal guidelines being reported as advising treating all women as "pre-pregnant", it behooves me to also mention some more information on this, kindly conveyed to me by agrumer. To wit:

The CDC guidelines in question, sez Avram, talk about the use of the term "prepregnant" to refer to women who are planning to become pregnant in the next few months. The lesson herein being, reviewing all data is a good thing.

He also recommends CDC's Preconception Care FAQ, and items #6 and #7 specifically.

Watching a great deal of drama flying across LJ as well as off-LJ blogs about the whole breastfeeding in default icons controversy. What I have to say on the matter is ( this... )

I've already seen many of you on my Friends list expressing your ire about this, the Washington Post article talking about the "new federal guidelines" that are recommending that all women treat themselves as "pre-pregnant".

For the record, yes, I find this extremely annoying. I'm all for taking steps to prevent birth defects and make it possible for the healthiest possible babies to be born, but this? This translates to me as telling women that "you should take all possible steps to make yourself healthy just because you might have a baby"--which is a very, very different message than "you should take all possible steps to make yourself healthy because in the long run, it will help you have a happier, less stressed, and more productive life". It puts the emphasis on the health of a fetus who may never actually get conceived, not on the health of the actual woman who is right there, right now. And it totally disregards the wishes of women who for whatever reason specifically do not want to get pregnant, and who will have every right in the world to be furious if their health care providers will not trust them to keep from getting pregnant, and who will insist on forcing them to make health care decisions based on a hypothetical baby they will never actually have.

If you think it couldn't happen, go read what shadesong has to say about how she can't get epilepsy medicines that will stop her body from falling apart because of potential birth defects, and never mind how she is swearing up and down that she has no intentions whatsoever of having another child. And then think about this some more. Hard.

Over on filkertom's post on this same topic, one of the commenters pointed out that there's not a word uttered here about the male side of things, either. No hint of encouraging all men capable of siring children to eschew habits that could impact their virility. And another commenter pointed out that the sheer existence of these guidelines means that they start influencing court decisions... and those court decisions start influencing laws.

And that is a road down which we should not go.

So yesterday evening, spazzkat and I did have our commute disrupted a bit by the ganormous march and rally held downtown. But it was all good. I swung into Barnes and Noble to see if they had Kit's book as well as Dresden Files #7, Dead Beat, which is supposed to be out in paperback any time now, but alas--neither was on the shelves there. Which didn't surprise me since neither one is technically due out until today, but hey, it was worth a look! I almost bought Charlaine Harris' Dead as a Doornail, but decided to hold off on that a bit longer until I get a few more books knocked off the To Read shelves.

Then I met up with Paul at our usual bus stop, and we wandered around a bit waffling about whether to try to get some actual dinner or what. We got cash. We looked at the march going down 4th, listened to folks chanting in Spanish (Paul, who knows more Spanish than I do, caught that they were saying "Bush! Listen!" but no more than that) and remarked to one another that yep, that was a lot of people. And then we went to GameWorks, which is right next to our usual bus stop, and hung out in there eating wings and having drinks until 7 or so. (Paul was particularly delighted to discover that they were having happy hour at the time, so the food and the drinks both were half price. Which didn't suck.) And then we hopped on the next 522 that rolled by and got to Kenmore in 20 minutes flat. Fastest commute back to Kenmore ever.

And then we giggled at the Daily Show as well as the Colbert Report, and particularly at Jon Stewart's remarks about the exciting weekend Mr. Colbert had. And Dara and I giggled at the mounting pile of comments on thankyoustephencolbert.org (as of the last check, 23,000 and climbing!).

And I wrote, and it was good.

Monday evening miles: 2.3
Tuesday morning miles: 2.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 936.3
Miles out of Rivendell: 478.3
Miles out of Lothlórien: 16.3
Miles to Rauros Falls: 372.7

Because most of the nation's press seems to be doing its damndest to put their hands over their ears and go "LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU"... because cnn.com seems to see fit to comment upon Bush "poking fun at himself" with an impersonator but isn't saying word one about Stephen Colbert's speech at the Correspondents Dinner... I now bring you thankyoustephencolbert.org.

ETA 3:49pm Pacific time: The site seems to be having erratic performance problems--it is getting huge, huge amounts of traffic! At least three thousand comments have been added to it over the course of my looking at it today. So if it doesn't load for you, you might check back again later.

shiskafeminista gushed to the GBS community last night about her very first GBS concert--complete with getting her picture taken with Alan and Séan and Bob. The Funny is the look on Séan's face in the picture of him and the lucky lass, as well as the look you may all imagine on my face of deep and abiding envy for anyone brave enough to walk up to Alan Doyle and ask to have her picture taken with him. (Which is to say, braver than me.)

boxer_ferret reports that Aussie newspaper Queensland Sunday Mail, reporting on a recent gig of Mr. Crowe's, quoted him as introducing the song "The Weight of a Man" by dedicating it to his wife Danielle Spencer and "any young women hoping one day to be a wife . . . and to any men who may want to be a wife, too." That's my Russell, fair and balanced!

Next up, karentraviss linked to this article by the Daytona Beach News-Journal on the entire Lori Jareo fiasco. There is quite a bit of Funny in that article's commentary on the situation, but I also just love that Ms. Traviss, who is an actual Star Wars novelist who writes about the likes of Boba Fett, invented a new word in the Mando'a language to immortalize Ms. Jareo: jareor, meaning "risk your own life senselessly by pissing off a dangerous and heavily armed adversary, e.g. Boba Fett, Lucasfilm legal team."

And last, but not least, I cannot believe that Stephen Colbert got away with this. It's the video of Colbert lampooning Bush at the White House Correspondents Dinner. In front of, I might add, the President himself. There's an article about it here, and a transcript here.

Snurching a couple of links from kaseido, because I thought they were very interesting and thought-provoking.

First up, an interview with the creator of a comic book which will embody the positive aspects of Islamic culture. I am intrigued by how the writer of said comic elaborates on how the storyline will strive to emphasize the 99 Islamic virtues without trying to be overtly religious about it--and how he draws some parallels with storylines in popular US culture doing the exact same thing with Christianity (e.g., Neo being a Christ figure in the Matrix movies).

Second, an editorial from a liberal Muslim who speaks up about how Osama bin Laden and his ilk are just as lethal to Muslims who disagree with them as they are to Americans and Europeans.

I am pleased to see both of these links, as they help remind me that it's all too easy to think of a religion as a monolithic thing--especially a religion from a culture that is not your own. And that if you look past the surface of a thing, chances are you'll learn something.

Here's hoping that these two things can help advance some multi-cultural understanding. We need more of that in the world.

Wow, two episodes of Bad Idea Theater this week! Today's winner? Senators pushing for $100 gas rebate checks. Never mind that this bill also includes opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling (which annoys me all by itself; wrecking more of the environment by drilling in wildlife refuges and relaxing pollution-control standards does not make a good energy policy). I just want to know, where is this money supposed to come from, when we've hit an all-time record high deficit in this country?

And let's also ask the question of how long such a rebate would even be useful anyway. Especially if you're driving an SUV and/or you have to do a lot of commuting because of the sheer fact that it is not feasible for you to live near your place of employment, and you don't have access to a decent public transit system. Or if you also have to drive your kids to and from school and school events. Or if you're a multiple-income family and all wage earners in your family have to commute to different jobs. Or if you have to make a call on whether to spend that $100 on gas or on some other equally pressing expense--such as, say, utilities, which will also be rising along with the gas prices. Or feeding your kids, if you have a large family (like my brother's). If you've got five kids to feed, I'm willing to lay odds that you're going to be a lot more likely to want to spend that $100 on food than gas.

For extra giggles and grins, the Seattle Times has an article up about how lawmakers talk gas, drive away in SUVs. For me this really just highlights the critical problem here--Americans are all freaking out about how expensive gas is getting, yet we're not facing the simple fact that the only way we're going to get past this problem is to stop using so much oil. I especially like the part in the article about how several of these lawmakers drive to go distances of no more than a block or two. Sheesh. And people act all surprised at the news that we're all getting fatter, too.

All of which reminds me that I really need to keep up with my walking. And if I happen to go back to my old contract at Microsoft, to strongly consider biking to work as well.

And I get to Lothlórien with tonight's walk home. Tomorrow, I set out for Rauros Falls!

Wednesday evening miles: 2.4
Thursday morning miles: 1.6
Miles out of Hobbiton: 921.3
Miles out of Rivendell: 463.3
Miles to Lothlórien: 0.7

Snurched from aerialscribe:

Resolution to push Bush impeachment

Bush Impeachment - The Illinois State Legislature is Preparing to Drop a Bombshell

California Becomes Second State to Introduce Bush Impeachment (And California's resolution, I note, also includes Cheney)

This news, coupled with CNN.com reporting today that Bush's approval has slid to a new low, is interesting news indeed. Especially the part where if Illinois' resolution passes, due to the rule they're invoking, the House will be forced to take up the question of impeachment over all other House business. I am dubious that our current set of Congresscritters would not immediately shoot down such an issue; hell, they're having enough of a time with the notion of censuring Bush, much less impeaching him. But the sheer possibility that this may actually come before Congress cannot be anything less than a huge black eye for the Shrub's already plummeting approval ratings.

Okay, for the record? I'm an agnostic and a liberal and I have my share of issues with Christianity, but the thing with the Afghan man who's in danger of being executed because he jumped ship on Islam and converted to Christianity? That's officially Not Right. Nobody should ever be in danger of DEATH because of converting from religion A to religion B, no matter what the involved religions are. Nobody should ever be threatened with loss of life because of having a belief system that goes against the majority. (How this ties in with my feelings about how other rights should never be threatened because of oh, say, for example, sexual orientation, I leave as an exercise for the reader.)

Meanwhile, since this ties in with my recent Superman kick, word from boingboing.net is that Marvel and DC recently re-filed a joint trademark on the word 'Super-Hero'. Which is vexing. Relatedly, here is a FAQ that someone compiled about what exactly this means. Interesting reading, and there are extensive comments on that post. Still, I'm vexed!

Today I leave work early to swing over to the Polyclinic and have my thyroid levels checked again, since I need to have another checkup with my endoc next week. Time to see whether I get to stay at 150mcg for a while, or whether the dosage has to be tweaked again. I'm suspecting I may stay at this dosage; there may be a tiny bit of wiggle room at this point, but my gut feeling is, not enough to send me up another 25mcg to the next highest dosage. We'll see what happens there.

And solarbird has a cold. Sniff.

Wednesday evening miles: 2.25
Thursday morning miles: 2.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 816.8
Miles out of Rivendell: 358.8
Miles to Lothlórien: 105.2

kathrynt, who rocks like a great big rocking thing in orbit, followed up on the news of Cecilia Fire Thunder's reaction to the South Dakota abortion ban by actually calling the office of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and speaking with Ms. Fire Thunder herself.

She has obtained permission to post contact data if you'd like to send words of support and donations. Check it out over here.

The Hugo nominees are making the rounds of my Friends list, and the full list is up on makinglight. I note with great pleasure that Serenity is one of the contenders for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form--and that three, count 'em, THREE episodes of Ninth Doctor are up for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, along with "Pegasus" from second season BSG. I may have to fill out at least a partial ballot this year just to get in a vote for Serenity. :D And much as I like me some BSG, I think all three of the Doctor contenders ("Dalek", "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances", and "Father's Day") beat out "Pegasus" for me, though I will grant that "Father's Day" and "Pegasus" are close contenders. Me, I'm hoping for "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances", because day-em, that was a hell of a story.

Meanwhile, for the GBS fans on my Friends list, you should really go read the latest post of From the Road on greatbigsea.com, in which Alan The Doyle relates his adventures in early morning cell phone disturbances and winding up naked in a hotel hallway. Bwahaha! ^_^

And also, snurched from technoshaman, I have to bring you this link which relates that Cecilia Fire Thunder, President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, is deeply, deeply pissed at the abortion ban they've passed there. And has vowed to open a Planned Parenthood clinic on her own land within reservation boundaries. All I have to say about this is GO CECILIA! Also, 'Fire Thunder'? FABULOUS surname. ^_^

Tuesday evening miles: 2.4
Wednesday morning miles: 2.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 812.45
Miles out of Rivendell: 354.45
Miles to Lothlórien: 109.55