election selections

Election day today really snuck up on me. I've been getting reams and reams (or so it has seemed) of candidate flyers stuck in my mailbox, and I've glanced at a few of them, but mostly ignored them because I figured they wouldn't really tell me anything meaningful about the candidates. (He believes in families and responsibility! Woo!) I figured at some point I would go online and check some newspapers and talk to people, get informed, and know whom to vote for.

But then suddenly it was yesterday, last night, night before the elections, and I was still clueless. Oops. So I called a couple of friends and asked them whom to vote for, and then this morning I voted for the people they told me to.

I feel a bit unhappy with this, because in principle I don't believe in letting others tell you how to vote, whether those others are your mom, your best friend, your priest/rabbi/minister/shamaness, your political party, or an organization you believe in. In general I feel that voting while uninformed is as bad as, and sometimes even worse than, not voting at all.

But at the same time, voting is important, and I have the utmost confidence that the people I called last night have the same politics as me, and thus that if I *had* done the research, I still would have ended up voting the same way, because I would have agreed with their recommendations. (And they *did* tell me a bit about each candidate they recommended; it's not like they just said "vote for X and Y.")

Isaac, of course, came to the polling place with me this morning and had another opportunity to observe the whole voting process. (He really likes helping to feed the ballot into the machine.) And it hit me that I really do want to get more involved in local politics, for his sake, because it's important and I want him to know how important it is. Since moving to Somerville I haven't learned anything about the town's government, feeling very out of my depth after so many years in Cambridge, where half of the city movers-and-shakers remember me since before I had boobs and where I feel totally at home with the politics. But Somerville is very different and I'm clueless. I don't even really know what the hell an alderman is, although I'm guessing it's similar to a city councillor.

I was rather older than Isaac is now (and my brother was rather older than Cosmo is now) when my mom started really getting into Cambridge politics. But I imagine she was involved in things long before I became conscious of it, certainly long before she actually ran for school committee the first time; she undoubtedly had educated herself about how the city worked -- both formally and informally -- and who the significant people were and what the significant issues were. And that seems like something I can probably get a start on doing now, even though I don't have a lot of time or energy (or, it often seems, brainpower).

Of course, I talk a good game and who knows what'll actually happen, but it does feel very important to me to get involved early, for Isaac's sake, and also for my own so I won't feel so clueless and guilty next election day.

nyuk nyuk...you said "unit"

The new set of trivia questions is up at ljdq!! And I certainly had, uh, no part whatsoever in crafting this week's very naughty quiz. Heck no. Not me. O:)

Go play LJDQ! It's more fun than ... whatever else you're doing right now!

icon request

Can some lovely person out there make me this icon? Pleeeeze? *puppy-dog eyes* I'll wub you 4eva!

I want a picture of a cannon (this would do nicely) with the words "just a cheesecake away from disaster" on it. It's a quote from a very strange friend of mine. :)

thanks!

tidbits

Yesterday in the mail we got a lovely little package from rhiacat containing, among other things, a little hat and scarf that she knitted* in a nice lime-green color. The hat alas is a bit too small for Isaac, although I might take him out in it at some point anyway just because it's so cute. The scarf will definitely come in handy when the weather gets cold enough that his current smaller scarf isn't adequate. Thanks Rhia!! :)
* or possibly crocheted. I don't actually know the difference.

Also yesterday, at chorus rehearsal, it was announced that we have an anonymous benefactor who will match any donation of $100 or more that's given to the chorus between now and, I believe they said, December 1st. Hearing that, I remembered that my company supposedly also has a charitable matching program, which means that if I gave $100 to the chorus, I would actually essentially be giving $300. That's a pretty good deal. Unfortunately, though, things are so tight nowadays that I just can't justify that level of donation. I'm thinking that when my mom gets back I'll ask if she wants to split it with me. She can give me $50 and then I'll give the chorus $100. Of course, that means I'll get the whole tax deduction and she won't get it, but surely we can work that out somehow.

Brian my upstairs neighbor has had plumbers/workers over the last three mornings to do the replacement of his furnace. This reminds me that I never posted about the final resolution of that issue. I finally did get hold of someone in authority who confirmed that indeed I can't count myself as a three-person household until after Cosmo is born. So there was no point in filling out the application for the city loan to replace my furnace; so I am going to wait until next year and do it then. If I start the application process as soon as Cosmo arrives, it should be easy enough to get all the work done well before next winter. It'll mean a pinch this winter, but it'll be worth it if I can really get the furnace replaced for free instead of for $5000.

Isaac and I went to my mom's house both Sunday and Monday, and her kitties were all over us. Mom has only been gone four and a half days, and they're already going nuts from the loneliness, and it's going to be a whole nother week. Poor kitties! We shall have to visit them more, and give them snuggles. Isaac spent some quality time chasing Mister Softie around, which Mister Softie pretends like he doesn't enjoy, but really he loves it, the big mushball. :) (That's Mr. Softie in my usericon.)

bored, memeage

Gacked from ww1614.

( meme )

NOTE: In case you were thinking of skipping this post, you might want to think again, now that the comments contain a summary of the really horrible sci-fi novel I wrote in college. ;)

oy! fucking oy!

Got home from work, walked into my apartment and immediately smelled gas.

The nice lady from KeySpan has been here about half an hour now, trying to fix it. She finally isolated the place where the leak is coming from. Now she's trying to figure out whether she has the necessary parts to fix it. And the gas is shut off for the duration, which means I can't cook anything. Guess we'll be having a cold supper.

Not too surprisingly, the leak is connected to Brian's gas meter. Where just today he had workmen over, installing his new GAS-powered furnace. Coincidence? Ya think? 'Cause I don't think.

grump. Why must it always be *something*???

UPDATE
The nice lady fixed it and left. She claims it had nothing to do with the furnace stuff. Apparently some piece of pipe had a big ole hole in it. She said she had never seen anything like that before. Typical.

We had to go upstairs to relight the pilots in Brian's stove and since he wasn't home, I ended up holding up the cover plate on his stove while the gas-company woman was doing her thing. The damn thing was covered with some kind of disgusting sticky black crap, which got all over my hands and took ages to wash off. Ewwwwwwww. Fucking ew! ARGH.

And now it's almost 9pm and Isaac is way too wound up for sleep, and he hasn't really eaten. SIGH. grumble, grump.

but anyway, where was I?

Tomorrow morning I have my ultrasound and prenatal checkup. I am stressing over this for a wide variety of reasons, not least of which is the fact that if the u/s shows my cervix to be too short, I might need a cerclage, or who knows what else. But I already posted at extreme length about my anxieties on another board, so now I'm bored with them and shall not reiterate.

I will however say that one of the things I'm peripherally stressing over is the timing. anotherjen has kindly agreed to watch Isaac, so that's a load off my mind, but I'm still worried over whether I'll be able to do both appointments and get back to Jen's to get Isaac and then get to daycare in time for lunch, or, more importantly, nap. I typed out all the gory details but it was probably boring so I deleted it. Suffice to say, if we're a little late to daycare they will of course save some lunch for Isaac, but what if we're a lot late and all the other kids are already starting their naps? Fret, fret. And I know there's no point fretting about this; we just have to do it and hope for the best.

Anyway, if you're so inclined, send me good vibes around 9am Eastern tomorrow, 'cause there's a fair amount riding on this appointment.