How fast?

I saw this on someone else's blog and thought I'd give it a shot. I hadn't done a timed typing test in years (since 8th grade....so about 14 years ago)! Check it out. I'm fast!

86 wordsTypingtest

Oh no he didn't!

Apparently this man read my blog yesterday.

What is the world coming to???

Name change?

I just read this article about a girl who changed her name so it would more reflect what she stands for in life. Here's an excerpt:

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (AP) -- You can call her Cutout Dissection.com, or Cutout for short, but just don't call her Jennifer.

The former Jennifer Thornburg -- whose driver's license now reads Dissection.com, Cutout -- wanted to do something to protest animal dissections in schools.

The 19-year-old's new name is also the Web address for an anti-dissection page of the site for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, where she is interning.

"I normally do have to repeat my name several times when I am introducing myself to someone new," she told The Asheville Citizen-Times. "Once they find out what my name is, they want to know more about what the Web site is about."

Okay....seriously???

If everyone changed their names to the thing they support most, there would be some mighty interesting (to say the least) names out there. For example, what do you think about these.....?

• Iheart Obama.com
• Red Ribbonrider
• Energ E. Ficiency
• Drill Babydrill
• Nonew Taxes
• Save Thwhales
• Tree Hugger
• Music Ismalife
• Ima Gaynproud

Any others you can think of? It's kind of addicting once you get started.... I think my name would be changed to: Whycan Twealjusgetalong. But that would be a really hard name to spell, especially if I have kids!

Thanks for reading this strange post. I'm tired today and needed a little break from class and work. Have a good day!

PS Eric and I are heading to Asheville, NC for a wedding next week! Maybe we'll meet Cutout. I'll keep you posted...

I'm a sucker for these stories

Just read this story. I can't do it justice by writing about it here. Amazing.

Congrats to Deputy Ashlee!

One more little shout-out to my friend Ashlee, who officially got sworn in as a deputy for Ramsey County yesterday. I've known Ashlee since we were in kindergarten. We had the same teacher, but she had morning kindergarten, and I had afternoon kindergarten. We finally met at the end of the school year through her sister, who was one year older than us and rode the bus home with me every day. Anyway... she works harder than anyone I know and has been working for the Ramsey County jail for years, most recently as a sargeant. So now she is a deputy, which means she has a gun and will most likely work in a courthouse until eventually she is able to work on a special unit and do cool detective behind-the-scenes work. This makes complete sense that she is doing this -- I mean, when we were little, we spent many a night at her house having sleep-overs and watching "The Commish."

So cheers to Ashlee! Congrats and be safe!

Here is a pic of Ashlee and Angie at Ang's baby shower pre-Liam (see below).

Shout out to the McIntyres

I spent a few hours on Sunday afternoon catching up my friend Angie, along with her husband Pat and 5-month-old son Liam. He is getting so big and so cute, I just had to post a pic for all to see:

(Note: I can't take credit for taking this pic -- I just stole it from their blog.)

Anyway, it was fun to catch up and hang out with the little guy and try to make him smile and babble for me. Hope to see you guys again soon!

Up north

A couple weekends ago, my friends Emily, Sam and Lisa came to visit from San Francisco, Denver and Chicago (respectively). We spent a little time in St. Paul, but spent most of our time up north at my aunt Jan and uncle Jim's cabin on Wabedo Lake near Longville, MN.

Here is one of Lisa's pics of us next to the cabin with Indy and her friend Buffer (the neighbor dog). I still need to post my pics online. But you can see Lisa's pics here. She knows a million and two people who live in the Twin Cities, so some of the pics are of her other friends, and some are from our night hanging out at the Happy Gnome (which is also Lisa's happy place). Please tell Lisa that she should move here -- it's a great place, and she knows more people here than she does in Chicago!

And here is a picture of Indy chillin' in the back seat with the Em and Lisa. Seriously....she could not be any cuter.

In the news

My uncle Jim was on the news last night! He is a professor of physical therapy at the University of Minnesota and has been leading research into how to use magnetic treatments to help stroke survivors. Watch the short video here: http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=47559@wcco.dayport.com. It's interesting!

Factcheck.org

Commentary: 2008 campaign attack ads hit an all-time low: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/15/west.negative/index.html

This article talks about how both sides have published inaccurate statements about the other candidate and encourages voters to search for the facts. They recommend www.factcheck.org.

Just thought it was cool that this was posted online right after I was writing about it on here.

Happy reading!

Never discuss politics with friends and family?

Well, some people say that you should never talk about politics, sex or money with friends and family. I guess I'm breaking that rule today, not to be offensive, but just because I think it's important to learn about the different candidates, because I like hearing different opinions and because I would like to continue reading, talking and learning about the candidates before the upcoming election.

Lately, I’ve been posting links to articles and blogs about Palin on my facebook account because they are things that I have found insightful. I know that other friends and family might have different opinions and might vote based on different issues that they find important, and I definitely respect that. I actually like hearing other opinions and learning what issues are important to other people. I love my friends and family and don’t want to disrespect anyone.

Since one of my family members recently asked what’s so bad about Palin, I’ll give you my opinion, which comes from reading articles and blogs, watching interviews, talking with others, trying to learn as much as possible and trying to find the facts and not just opinion pieces (just fyi, snopes.com has some good info about all the candidates—they list any rumors, etc. and then tell you whether they are actually fact or myth). Anyway, here is my opinion…

Before the candidates had announced their running mates, I figured I’d most likely vote for Obama; however, I didn’t think it’d be so bad if McCain ended up winning. After all, in the past, he has been more socially liberal and hadn’t always voted strictly on party lines. However, when he announced that his running mate would be Palin, McCain seemed to change—it seemed that he was bending more toward the conservative right and using Palin to appeal to those who might not have initially liked him. For me, it had the opposite effect.

What don’t I like about Palin?

• She doesn’t seem open to answering questions from reporters or the general public unless she is prepped/scripted.
• Her RNC speech seemed more attacking than actually stating what she would like to do.
• Her comment about community organizers was offensive. People who take on such roles really do a lot for communities, have to be leaders and do make positive changes in communities that need it.
• She has very limited experience. What executive experience she does have is for a town of about 5,000-7,000 (smaller than many mid-sized colleges) and for a state with a population of about 650,000. That experience has also been in a state that has a huge surplus. Our country has a huge deficit—so I question how easy the transition would be if she ended up having to take over the presidency and handle the budget. From what I read from a local Wasilla resident and active participant in the city council, Palin had an administrator doing most of her work. Additionally, she hired many high school friends to take on important jobs that were well above their actual experience.
• What she says and what she has actually done doesn’t seem to add up. For example, she claims that she is “anti-pork” regarding the earmarked spending, but she has asked for more earmarks per capita than any other governor. It seems that she spends a lot instead of investing.

Overall, the issues that are most important to me just don’t line up with what Palin stands for. So it wouldn’t make sense for me to support her. For example:

• I’m pro choice, she’s pro life
• I’m pro gay rights/marriage, she has supported same sex benefits in the work place but opposes other gay rights
• I am a fan of universal health care (or at least exploring options so that more people, specifically children, are able to have health care coverage), she is not
• I am for closer attention to the quality of public education and for extending it to preschool age, which is something Obama is for. Not sure exactly where Palin stands on this.
• I am also a bigger fan of exploring other types of energy and not just drilling in Alaska or off-shore, and Palin is all about drilling.

So there you have it. I continue to read as much as I can to learn more about the candidates because I would really like to be as informed as possible. If you have any comments, please feel free to leave them! I welcome intelligent discussions!

Some links within snopes that tells fact/fiction and explains all known info:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/palin.asp

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp

http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/mccain.asp