This has gone too far.

I just heard someone throw up outside my building. Lovely.
Happy Thanksgiving Eve Eve. I'll be going back to Greendale (funny, I almost said "Wisconsin", until I remembered I live in Wisconsin now.) to celebrate the holiday with the family, sans my freedom-hating-latte-sipping-Canadian-brother. (That was a joke. Everyone laugh now. NOW!) It'll be nice to decompress for a few days.
Off to work. I'll be careful not to step in anything.

Thank you, internet, for being a sadistic piece of $#%(!$***.
I should really just get a Twitter account if I'm going to post like this.
On to bigger, better things.

I feel really old today. Everything hurts. I'm staying inside and watching movies and drinking coffee, and that's that.
Scary story today out of Yahoo News. United States "elected officials" flunked a civics exam given by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, with an average score of 44%. Your average Joe Sixpack/the Plumber (ugh, give it up already, Nate) didn't do so well, either, with an average score of 49%.
The article doesn't clearly define "elected official," leading me to believe the ISI quizzed more back-woods dog catchers than they did senators or governors.
Oh, and I'm a nerd and a braggart, so I got 90.91% (or 30 of 33). You can take the quiz for yourself here

Day off yesterday, back to work in a few, so I'm just relaxing, not doing much of anything.
I'm in the middle of programming my new phone, which I bought last night after my Motorola Q messed up the bedsheets on me. (What, that's the most polite way I can put it. While this might not be a family blog, I'm tryin'.) Best part was that I got it for free - of course, I had to sign up for two more years with Sprint, but, eh. Might I add to anyone reading, never, never buy a Motorola Q. It's got a good internet system, nice camera, camcorder, instant and easy Google Maps access, and much easier file attachment and viewing capabilities than I had with the Q.

Oh, I did laundry yesterday. Best change machine ever.



I also downloaded some new music yesterday. I was borrowing Catharine's car and wanted something a little more chill to listen to. All good tracks, I'm not into uploading and sharing, but maybe if you hassle Tim over at Friday Afternoon In the Universe, he'll review and post. But I'm just in the business of listing 'em:

Lupe Fiasco - Paris, Tokyo
Talib Kweli - Get By, Soon the New Day (feat. Norah Jones), Everything Man
Strange Fruit Project - Get Live (feat. Erykah Badu)
Jay-Z - Lost One
Common - I Want You, So Far to Go (feat. D'Angelo)
Guru - State of Clarity (feat. Common and Bob James)

I'd better get to work, so that's it outta me.

Has it really been two weeks since I last updated? I'm getting worse than Maddox here.
You can't really blame me, it's been a busy, busy past couple of weeks. I'm still kindof winding down from this whole election thing, and doing what I can to put my life back on a semi-normal schedule. Politico and Talking Points Memo have been deleted from my Google Reader account, I haven't been nearly as avid of a fivethirtyeight reader, and CNN and MSNBC have totally gone off my radar.
But this deserves a look. As I've spent so much time railing on Republicans who follow party lines instead of what's actually going on, I feel that it's fair to share it.



Granted, the sample size is pretty ridiculously small. And I'm not sure if I agree with the premise that the cause is media bias in Obama's favor. Rather, I'd blame human tendency to naturally filter what they find (or believe they find) offensive instead of looking at all viewpoints.
I'm not saying everyone should put the same obsession I did into every election. But I don't understand how someone who's paying attention doesn't know Nancy Pelosi. So, in a roundabout way, long story short - vote for the man, not the party. Pay attention. This stuff is important. I think I can say as an Obama supporter, there's been a passionate response to his candidacy and win. But with that passion comes responsibility - to remember that our administration, Republican or Democrat, is working for us, and we're responsible for keeping them on their toes and to make sure they do what they were elected to do.

Anyways. I'm done with political stuff for now. Since I spent so much time blogging about this wedding, I suppose I should let you all know how it went.
Long story short, everything went really well. Of course, there's things that could have gone better, but Catharine and the wedding party were really thrilled with everything, so if they're happy, I'm happy. Menu:

Passed appetizers -
gougeres
greek meatballs
mediterranean crostinis

first course
pear salad with champagne vinegar, blue cheese, toasted almonds
butternut squash soup with apple cider, pear, vanilla, creme fraiche

entree (choice of)
pork - roasted bone-in loin with grilled peaches, watercress, braised pork shoulder, balsamic red onions
chicken - roulade with wild rice, wild mushroom ragout, thyme

I supposed I shouldn't be surprised. Copies of the

New York Times and Chicago Tribune are going for hundreds of dollars on eBay.

I'm going to hang on to my Tribune, Times, and Wisconsin State Journal for now. (I also have copies of the Times from Obama's nomination, McCain's announcement of Palin, Obama's address at the DNC, and the other DNC coverage. Maybe they'll pay off my student loans someday (ha).)