She has struck just the right tone. The Pepsi Center went utterly wild for her, both factions, losing their minds. Two standing O’s in a row, and the second one because she led “the time to back Obama is now”.
From her mouth to the ears and hearts of her obstinate supporters. Please, let them open their hearts to her message.
I learned a new acronym today: PUMA. It stands for Party Unity My Ass. It’s applied to those who are unwilling to give Barack Obama their full support. They will either stay home or vote for McCain before they desert their candidate, Hillary Clinton. To these people I have but one thing to say:
You are traitors. Every single one of you. Every person of voting age that votes for John McCain is personally, demonically culpable and responsible for every additional death in Iraq, be the slain an American or an Iraqi. You are responsible for every additional dollar of national debt incurred under McCain. Every penny of gas price rise, and every killed animal or tree as your government opens up our wild spaces to further oil development. For every dollar that goes into a rich person or corporation’s pockets instead of being spent on education or health care for everyone. You get to take some fraction of the responsibility for every one of those things to hell with you, like your own personal pieces of silver, to explain away as best you can when you are called upon the carpet to calculate the weight of your sins.
So, if you’re thinking, even just a little, of staying home or voting for impossibly unfortunate McCain, think hard about just how important it is for this country to come back to some stable place, and how close to the brink we are.
Went to the Men’s Warehouse today to buy a new shirt and tie combo. They say if you want to move up to the next level at a job, you have to dress the part, so I got a very nice shirt in a pale cream color and a fantastic tie in a green and black block pattern that coordinates nicely with my best green slacks.
I’ll post a photo when I get the chance. Be nice if I’d had this for the interview last week, but the only competition I’ve had so far showed up in shorts and a t-shirt, so I’m feeling comfortable with my shirt and tie routine.
It’s Saturday, round noon, and it’s been raining for over two days.
And I didn’t even have to back to Oregon to experience it.
They predicted 1-3 inches of rain, and I think we’re getting it. The back yard is nearly aflood, but for the most part the drainage is working as designed. It’s never been the traditional "pound like mad for ten minutes then flash to steam" rain that we’re used to here in Colorado, but rather a near constant drizzle with occasional periods of actual rain. Even some thunder, though they say it’s too cold for much in the way of actual thunder storms.
I must say I approve. The temperature is down about, oh, thirty degrees and while it’s wet, it’s worth it. Next week we’ll be back to "hot with periods of too hot" to replace it, but for now, I intend to enjoy it.
After a long and apparently physically challenging weekend, I head to bed, ready to start a new week.
This week will be another full of pressure to get done more than there is time in the day to accomplish. I have to have software configured for the students to begin learning - both assessment and curricular software are on my plate, as well as completing the configuration of our grading system to allow Kindergarten teachers to begin to perform standards-based grading.
One more added stressor - I hope to be hearing from my boss about interviews for the Instructional Technology Manager gig. He has told me that I will get an interview for sure, but that’s because the union would throw a fit if I didn’t. I’ve heard encouragement from some of the staff that I’ve told about the position - even one of the women who I would be in charge of, should I be hired - but something tells me that I’ve got tough competition in the out of district applicants. I may be entirely qualified for the job, but a person with a degree in educational technology plus classroom experience and management experience is going to beat me out in Andrew’s eyes, I’m sure.
So I have to hope for a combination of weak opponents, and the presence of enough people who know me, like me, and want to see me succeed on the interview committee. I’m not sure I can count on any of those things, however, so here I sit, wondering if I ought to be brushing up my resume so as to find a different place to make my move into bigger and better things. For darned sure, if I don’t get the promotion, the first thing I will be doing is lobbying our human resources department for more pay for what I do now. My job description is five years out of date and the only thing on it that’s remotely accurate is the last line - "other duties as assigned." My job is entirely, 100% "other duties" - and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I’d like to be paid for what I’m worth, rather than what I’m being paid.
Started carrying my iPod again.
I forget, for weeks at a time, that I own one, honestly. It’s a hand-me-down from the wife, from when she upgraded to a larger model. So I carry it. Sometimes.
It’s pink. It’s my SecureInMyMasculinityPod. And in this picture it’s playing Black Sabbath. That helps balance things out.
Sorry about the title there. I’m not sure who I’m channeling - Joe Elliot, I suppose.
Anyway, spent a good chunk of time this evening on the guitar, and happily found a great online source for video guitar lessons. The guy is really easy to listen to, and the lessons that are available for free are basic, but still get you playing something that sounds like music and not just scales in the second lesson.
What’s odd is that I’ve found that Ben Lowrey, the guitarist in the videos, has moved on to making inspirational videos and how-to videos for online entrepreneurs. I’ve yet to see anything actively "multi-level marketing" out of him, but I’ll admit I’m curious.
Anyway, my fingertips hurt, but I’m getting better every time I pick up the guitar. And I’m less and less inclined each time to trade the beast in on a bass.
I haven’t even been able to interview for the manager position at work, but I’m already coming up with a wish list of things I’d want in the role that will never be fulfilled.
First things first, as a manager, I’d be spending a great deal more time on email, word processing, spreadsheets and the like than I do currently, in exchange for the database hacking, development and support and the like that I do now. And there will be a great deal more travel involved, going from school to school and working with the teaching staff, so portability becomes more important than power.
I suppose I could keep my current laptop, a very nice HP that’s still up to date because it was top of the line 18 months ago, but it’s very large, bulky, and more of a desktop replacement.
No, I want the boss to buy me a Macbook Air. That right there is the height of portability, and it’ll do everything I want a computer to do. I’m tempted to tell him that, if he’ll let me buy it, I’ll use it for 60 days and if there’s ever a time that it can’t do what’s required for my job, I’ll put Windows on it and boot that full time. I’ll comfortably make that arrangement because I can’t think of anything that it can’t do. 
And yet, it’s a pipe dream. He’ll never let me get a Mac. I’ll be lucky if they let me get a eeePC 1000. That way, at least, I can run Linux…