Scheduled Delays

Holding off on posting until NaBloPoMo starts.

Quote of the Day

"Helen Keller went blind from jungle fever!"

Chapel Hill

I haven't been to a Notre Dame game since October 21st, 2006 when the Irish beat UCLA and Brady Quinn high-fived me as the team walked down to the stadium. A few days ago Quinn endorsed McCain. I think I may be experiencing cognitive dissonance.

Anyhow. There is nothing quite like being in South Bend on game day. You light a candle at the grotto, buy a sweatshirt from the bookstore, eat a steak sandwich on the quad, and watch the players file out of the cathedral and make their way to the field. That said, it's all about going to the game, isn't it? Tomorrow I am going to the game.

Edited to add: Clearly I was not expecting us to lose. Which sucked.

On Blogging

"You can't be a blogger if you're going to be a snot. Behave. Love, Mom."

"I think being a blogger is all about being a snot."

The Second Debate

Well. That was phenomenally boring. The only thing I appreciated about the town hall format was watching John McCain try to prove his vitality by not sitting down. Maybe I was distracted by the meatloaf and brownies I made for dinner, and the bus ticket I was trying to book. But, really. Not engaging.

Recapping

I just finished watching the first part of Diane Sawyer's Portrait of a President 20/20 special. John McCain is old. And his mother is 96. Jesus.

Everyone is still buzzing about the one and only VP debate. Here is my running commentary from last night:

• Gwen Ifill is here to moderate this debate.
• Why is there only one VP debate? Who decides these things?
• I think Sarah Palin just wiped her nose before shaking Biden’s hand.
• “Hey, can I call you Joe?” Jesus Christ. Really?
• How do they get her bangs to sit like that?
• Biden sounds knowledgeable, but if I have to listen to any more Wall Street/homeowners/bailout/taxpayer talk…
• Sarah Palin thinks we need a barometer to measure if we’re having a good economic time or a bad economic time. It is a bad time.
• Sarah Palin thinks American parents (on the sidelines of a soccer game) are fearful about how they’re going to afford to send their kids to college. Not a concern for her!
• You know, when I did mock trial the girls weren’t allowed to wear their hair down because it wasn’t professional/serious enough. Sarah Palin’s half ponytail would not have made it in the (fake) courtroom. Really. I was once yelled at for wearing a pink headband.
• Sarah Palin is touting herself as a member of a team of mavericks. She also just said “darn right!”
• Sarah Palin is going to “talk straight to the American people.” Scary!
• Well Palin just called Biden “Senator O’Biden.”
• And she is one of those people who pronounces nuclear as nuculer.
• This gay marriage section is painful.
• I would love to show Sarah Palin a blank world map and ask her to point out Iraq.
• Joe Biden just said something about “…there have been 700 madrasas built…we need to be building schools…” Um. A madrasa is a school.
• It’s nuclear. Not nuculer. Let’s just set that one straight right now.
• Sarah Palin thinks we need to support Israel to ensure that there is not a second Holocaust. The Holocaust didn’t happen in Israel, lady. In fact, Israel was a result of the Holocaust. Do we need to ensure there is no second Israel? Maybe that’s not such a bad point.
• “I beg to disagree” is not a turn of phrase that I’m familiar with. Is this an Alaskan thing?
• What’s the policy on using a vice presidential debate to do shout outs to your brother’s third grade class?
• Sarah Palin’s accent is so closely related to a stereotypical Minnesotan accent that I’m ashamed.*
• Biden is pulling the heartstrings here with the dead first wife and daughter and all. Oh boy.
• I’ve been trying to figure out how Palin’s makeup artist gets her cheekbones to look like that. I think I’ve figured it out. It’s just an optical illusion.
• I really doubt that Sarah Palin’s family is that diverse.
• Her closing statement was so bland that I chose to read Joe Biden’s Wikipedia page instead of listening to it.
• I like Biden and all, but Scranton, PA sounds pretty shitty and he should probably stop bringing it up.
• God bless America! God bless our troops! The end!
• Palin’s bringing the family up on stage. Where’s Bristol at?
• Oh God the families are meeting each other. This is like the end of a really bad Yankees/Red Sox game.
• Anderson Cooper is here now. Everything will be fine.

* The StarTribune ran an article today about Palin's near Minnesotan accent. The main source quoted in the article is a guy named Joe Salmons, who is described as the "...director of the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison." Now that's a specialty.