Early Voting

Mission accomplished. Thanks to early voting, I experienced Super Tuesday a week early. Of course, I might perhaps have benefited from another week to mull over my selections -- I stood there, staring blankly at the presidential candidate options on my touch-screen voting machine, confused and unsure and wishing politicians didn't have to make these things so hard on us, the average voters. Argh. But all was well in the end: I voted for Laura Roslin.

Democracy in action.

That Mom

Before I had kids, I'd hear people complain about the stereotypical suburban mom, the one with the soccer-mom haircut and the minivan and the overwhelming obsession with all things relating to her children. People would roll their eyes at such women, smirking at their tedious inability to talk about anything other than little Billy's grades or Emily's status as a tee-ball star. Oh, those poor, sad, narrow women who can't see past the playroom door!

I was always a little mystified a) by the fact that such women could exist and b) that they'd be interesting enough for anyone to complain about. Sure, they sounded pathetic. But who cares? Let them live their child-centered lives and leave them be. Oh, and keep your distance. I didn't intend to have kids (funny how that worked out), so I couldn't understand such a life, but I also wasn't terribly interested in finding out more.

Fast-forward a few years. Here I am, stay-at-home mom of two. I was having a conversation recently in which a friend was talking about those stay-at-home moms who only want to talk about their kids all day long, blah blah blah, shoot me in the head before I have to talk to those robots. And it hit me: I'm that mom. I'm the one they've been making fun of all these years. I'm the one who doesn't even know how laughable she is as she drones on about daycare and napping schedules and the overwhelming signs that her children are geniuses, geniuses I tell you!

Those of you who know me primarily through the blog might get the impression that all I ever talk about is my radical left-wing atheist worldview. As much as I love to use this blog to foist my progressivism on all of you, in person I'm far less interesting. These days, you can barely get me to talk about anything other than the fact that I just don't know what to do about the twins' new dance class, which isn't exactly going as I'd expected.

So, fine. I'm a tedious mombot. I can deal with that.

But how will I deal with it in five years? Ten? Fifteen? A time will come when these kids fly the coop, and I'll probably be just as obsessed with them then as I am now. And that, my friends, will be truly pathetic. I really try to be my own person, to live my own life as much as possible, both for my own sanity and to set a good example for the girls. (No need for them to know that they're the center of the world.) But I'm not sure I do such a good job. Everything leads back to them. My big obsessions lately are finding new recipes so I can include them more in the cooking processing, singing more so I can share my favorite songs with them, and cultivating new crafts that we can all do together. Even when I start out with an entirely selfish project, I find a way to tie them in. I want to knit more, but they're not old enough to learn to knit yet, so I find myself putting projects off because I can't share them with the girls. I want to read books for grownups, the kind with chapters and small print and no pictures, but the girls aren't old enough to read these books with me, so I pick up Your Personal Penguin (for the eleventy-millionth time) instead.

I know I have years to sort this out, but I'm a little worried that I'll never be able to claw my way out from being that mom and finding a way to be just Kelly again. Is that so bad?

Hillary v. Barack

It is kind of hard for me to imagine why anyone is supporting Hillary Clinton.

Music of the Isles

Rehearsals started last night for the Chicago Chamber Choir's spring concert series, Music of the Isles: Songs from Britain and Ireland. I'm pretty excited about this concert. I really like the music. I think you will, too. If you're in the Chicagoland area, mark your calendar now!

Sunday, March 30, 2008 @ 3:00 p.m.
Unity Lutheran Church
5409 N. Magnolia, Chicago

Monday, March 31, 2008 @ 7:30 p.m.
Nichols Concert Hall at the Music Institute of Chicago
1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston

Friday, April 4, 2008 @ 7:30 p.m.
Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church
600 W. Fullerton Pkwy, Chicago

(I should mention that the photo used for that image was taken by the ever-talented Jack while he, Heather, and Aunt Jeanie were touring the Isles. Nice work, Jack!)

Rocket Man

For your entertainment. This one goes out to the Gamers.



Found at Fark.com.

Poll Results

Thanks to everyone who took my little presidential candidates poll. The results were enlightening. When the polls closed, we had a two-way tie for first between Barack Obama and Undecided, who garnered 36% of the votes each. In second place was John McCain with 18%, followed by Hillary Clinton with a scant 9%. No other candidates received votes.

Snake Oil Science

Here's an interesting post at Science Based Medicine about a new book, Snake Oil Science by R. Barker Bausell. The book discusses research of alternative medical treatments and how those research studies can go awry.

My favorite line from the post:

"Bausell points out that penicillin cures pneumonia even if you’re in a coma, but alternative medicine only seems to work when you are awake."

I'd be interested to know what those of you in the health-care industry think about this.

Spell check is the least of your concerns

Friends who love words, check this out and see how far into it you can get before your head explodes.

A tip: If you must write an article about crafting error-free email messages, please try to make sure your article is as error-free as possible. (Rather than, say, laden with errors and full of bad advice.) Also, when you do stumble on a bit of good advice, try to follow it yourself. (For example, what's up with capping "Spell Check"??)

Are they kidding? Seriously? Please tell me this is some kind of joke.

Big News

So, we're starting our own company. (And when I say "we," I mean "Airan, with occasional administrative support and much cheerleading from Kelly.") This means Airan is leaving his stable, benefits-laden day job and we're striking out on our own. He gave notice today, in fact. You people are all now charged with the task of sending lots of new freelance graphic arts/visual design work Airan's way. (Check out his awesome portfolio. Send your friends.)

This venture is, as you might guess, a) exciting and b) terrifying. We've got our ducks in a row, I think, so we'll be okay. Airan has more work than he can shake a stick at, with more pouring in all the time. We're still finalizing our health insurance, but I think we're in good shape on that front. We'll both be scrambling to keep the work coming in, to make sure household expenses stay manageable, and to keep from going insane from the stress of it all.

I think this is the best decision we've ever made. I just don't know why we didn't do it before we had kids.

Suddenly Mike Gravel looks like a really good candidate

From LiveScience.com's Primararia: Candidates and hot-button science:

As for creationism in the schools, Gravel says: “Oh God, no. Oh, Jesus. We thought we had made a big advance with the Scopes monkey trial … My God, evolution is a fact, and if these people are disturbed by being the descendants of monkeys and fishes, they’ve got a mental problem. We can’t afford the psychiatric bill for them. That ends the story as far as I’m concerned.”

Found at Bad Astronomy.