:Kalliope Lane

What does it mean when you’re dreading vacation? I suppose that’s not technically accurate — I’ll be very glad to leave for vacation. It’s just that I don’t see how I’ll get through the three days preceeding it. My To Do List is a mile long, and I have precious few hours in which to tackle it. Work, shopping, laundry, paper writing, absentee ballot completing, cat box cleaning, cat sitter meeting, dinner plans, class, appointments, miscellaneous errands…

Oh, I wish I could just fast-forward myself to Friday morning.

On the topic of NaNoWriMo: I think I’m going to have to wait until next year. Since I’d already be missing a week due to my vacation, and because I have my research paper to finish by the end of November, I guess it’s the wrong month to attempt it. I’ve instead decided to set a goal for doing some outlining and worldbuilding work for a novel, ala Forward Motion. I’ve already started an outline, and it feels really good to do.

Knitting? What’s that??
Yeah, it’s taken a backseat to all of the other things I have going on. I’m still excited about my striped Peppermint Twist sweater, I just don’t have time at the moment. And I’m still unsure about one of the yarns. But I’m not giving up knitting, don’t worry.

As for the Absentee Ballot situation — I think there’s a conspiracy out to confuse the voters (I know, not very original). The candidates aren’t in numerical order on the ballot, so if you would imagine using this ballot in the booth, you’d be punching the wrong candidate’s number because they don’t line up correctly. Granted, the directions say to punch your candidate by number, not by how they line up, but why mix up the order just for the hell of it?? Why make the Absentee Ballot different from the regular one? I called the Board of Elections to make sure, and they’ve confirmed both the number-punching method and how confusing it is. I guess I just have to have faith that it will be counted correctly…and that ticks me off. This isn’t an election where I can afford to have my vote “lost” or miscounted.

I’ve been so happy the past few days even though it’s been sort of dreary. Driving down my street has been a beautiful experience because of the yellow-orange leaves which have fallen into the street. It’s sort of the urban equivalent to the pictures of New England used for November in calendars. Golden leaves on the trees, in the yards, and swept to the side of the roads. Brisk, bright grey days in autumn energize me. I only wish fall stayed around longer here in Northeastern Ohio — sometimes it feels like we go from summer to winter in 2-3 weeks.

And now for something completely different:

My latest “new thing” is the Dvorak Keyboard layout. Heard of this? I hadn’t either, until yesterday. It’s a different design for your computer keyboard, rather than the traditional “QWERTY”. Dvorak was designed with the English language in mind, and is supposedly much more comfortable in the long run. Some say it even lessens pain from carpal tunnel-like symptoms. In general, the idea is to put the most-used keys on the home row so your fingers reach less often. It also attempted to make common key combinations more comfortable (like the suffix -ed). You don’t have to buy a new keyboard — most operating systems allow you to switch your keyboard layout easily in your system preferences. You just have to retrain yourself over the course of a few weeks to regain your regular typing speed. Most people who switch say they’d never switch back. I hope to do this soon — check it out!

I thought the vice presidential debates were pretty tense. I’m less impressed than I was with the Kerry debate, but I still think Edwards did a pretty good job.

I have to say, it’s really unfortunate, but I prefer Cheney’s matter-of-fact, quiet, calm & controlled delivery. I think it makes him sound like he knows what he’s talking about, like he’s 100% right about everything, like he doesn’t need to get all excited and expressive to utter the truth. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t LIKE the guy, and I don’t believe he’s right or truthful about what he says. But he’s a master at spinning what the administration’s done, and he serves it up perfectly. I’m afraid his demeanor will win people over and influence them to listen less to what he’s actually saying.

Edwards’ folksy, expressive style works best when he’s talking directly to a group of people. He has great energy and he really makes it seem like he cares about people and what they’re going through. I don’t think that strength plays out as well in a setting like last night’s debate, when it’s very controlled and serious. Still, I think he made several good points about the war. Again, I’m glad the Democrats are finally explicitly stating how they differ from the current adminstration. I wish they’d gotten to talk more about domestic issues, because I think Edwards is pretty strong there, talking about jobs and education and health care. His closing hit upon those issues and I think he’s able to powerfully connect with viewers about them.

With all of the new information supporting the fact that Hussein and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, the president’s argument for war is looking weaker by the minute.

On a completely different note, I have so much to do! Exam tonight, paper outline tomorrow, short paper due a week from today (and I’ll be gone all weekend). Stats project due next Friday, stats exam next Friday. I’d better get my ass in gear…

Oh, sad. I just saw Buffy’s mom (Kristine Sutherland) on an Advil commercial. It just underscored how much I miss Buffy and Angel, and also the reality of an actor’s life when a series ends.

I went to Philadelphia for the first time with my boyfriend this weekend. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit Gianna’s Grille, a place that is supposed to have great philly cheesesteaks, pizzas, & incredible desserts, all vegan. I was very sad about missing that, but we just didn’t have time to get downtown. We did however make a stop at Maggie’s Mercantile off the PA turnpike outside of Pittsburgh, which was our second time there. It’s located in the middle of nowhere, about a five to ten minute drive off the turnpike. The interior is very cute and modern. You purchase your food by weight from the prepared food case, so it’s easy to try a little of several things. I had a great little “veggie strudel” stuffed with roasted veggies, spinach, sundried tomatoes, and basil, and also a yummy sweet potato curry. We had chewy gingersnap cookies for dessert and also took home two pieces of cake (cheesecake and double chocolate). On Saturday nights I guess they do an ethnic buffet, and they’ve just recently opened a location in Pittsburgh proper.

One great food surprise was found at Whole Foods, where we stopped on the way to the boyfriend’s parents’. I got frozen Taquitos, the Southwestern Chicken flavor. They don’t have the newest flavor on the website, but it’s similar to this product: Soy Chicken Taquitos. (Be sure not to confuse this brand with Nate’s Taquitos, which aren’t nearly as good.) The newer flavors say “vegan” very clearly to the left of “Taquitos”. They were DELICIOUS! They tasted like they had breaded chicken inside, and the seasoning was fantastic. No bland or funky vegan food here. They’re not going to win any health food awards, but they were seriously good. I’ve never seen them in Cleveland, so I’ll be requesting them soon at our local Wild Oats, believe me!
Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 12:38PM

So it’s registration month over at NaNoWriMo (they have a newly designed website). I’ve registered! For those of you just hearing of it for the first time, it’s this wacky thing that happens every November where people attempt to write an entire novel in the month of November. Not before, not after. And it doesn’t have to be a good novel — it’s just about the process and satisfaction of doing it. I highly recommend you check it out. I’ve been wanting to start writing again and I can’t imagine a better exercise to get over the fear of “just doing it”. This would be writing with no pressure. Pure fun. I’m looking forward to it!
Posted on Thursday, October 7, 2004 at 09:11AM

Now for the report on the goodies for the party:

Firstly, I’m a dumbass and I overcook everything. I don’t recognize when things are done. The brownies are a little cakey for my taste since they were cooked too long, and the bottoms are this close to being burned. But they’re decent. A note about the recipe: it said to cook for 30-35 minutes, and I only did 25. I should have taken them out at 20…but it could just be my oven.

The cookies are pretty good, but again, a tad crispy for my taste. I prefer my brownies and cookies to be moist and chewy. But on the positive side, they taste very close to the cookies my mom made growing up, since she used the Tollhouse recipe. I used parchment paper for the first time, and it worked like a charm. Essentially no cleanup for the cookie pan.

The pasta turned out pretty great — much better than the last time I made it, when I failed to impress my boyfriend with my cooking skills. Heh. I used new sundried tomatoes that were roasted. (They also had smoked, but I thought that would be a little much.)

One of my more successful vegan baking sessions, I’d say. And I was very efficient, too. Knocked all these out in 2 hours.

Posted on Friday, October 1, 2004 at 08:51AM

So all in all, I’m rather pleased with the debate last night. Kerry finally said some of the things I’d been waiting for him to say: “Osama bin Ladin attacked us, not Saddam Hussein…”, that this war was not a “last resort”, that preemptive war should be agreed upon on a global level, that we shouldn’t alienate other nations. I wish he’d been a little more direct in pointing out the lack of logic in Bush’s argument that you shouldn’t say the war has been a mistake because it “sends the wrong message to the troops”. That’s like saying we shouldn’t re-evaluate or analyze our position, or admit we made mistakes simply because it would hurt the troops’ feelings! Poor logic for continuing a war, but it probably fooled people with its emotional appeal to support the troops.

I liked Kerry’s anecdote about how in current times no one would say, “the word of the President of the United States is good enough for me.” I finally felt like he outlined how he is different from Bush. Hopefully some of the masses in the country heard it well.