Just the other day I was wondering what was going on with redistricting here.

And here is the answer.

I can't believe it might go to the Supreme Court! Of course, we'll probably have to live with it for a few years til it makes its way there.

It is good, old-fashioned gerrymandering, people, and there ain't no other way about it:
"The law governing racial gerrymandering is still evolving, but Gerry Hebert, one of the Democratic lawyers and a nationally recognized expert on redistricting law, said there are objective ways to measure whether it has occurred. And looking at the shapes of some of the new districts, he believes it did occur. "

Ack!
Jonathan Brandis is dead? I wasn't a big fan, but still . . . how sad.

random thoughts on the environment and grocery-shopping

thoughts on styrofoam

I just read this on Chris' blog and had to link to it. It is quite humorous. If you have ever wondered, what is better for the environment, paper or plastic? The answer is - cloth. And if you take your cloth grocery bags to Whole Foods you get money back!

Okay, it's like 5 cents. But that can add up if you shop there a lot! I don't, but you might.

I love grocery shopping in Texas because they have people who bag your groceries for you. In Minnesota, you have to do it for yourself. I always felt so hurried because I would try to fit the items in the bag as best as possible. The checker would always glare at me if I was taking a little too long. I don't miss that.

I take cloth bags to the grocery store and one time the checker refused to put my groceries in them. So I had to do it myself, and it reminded me of Minnesota. I don't mind helping bag my own groceries, but it really is more efficient with someone else. Am I a grocery-bagging snob? I don't think so. I took a store evaluation and commented on that girl. That is the only time I've had anyone take issue with my cloth bags. Sometimes, the checker will even thank me for bringing my own bags.

My new heroine

My favorite quote is:
"No matter your vicious rhetoric about Protestants and Catholics and blacks and whites and Hispanics and women, we refuse to be divided. In a time of war, which we are in, when the country is under assault and we have men and women dying in Iraq, it is the height of disrespect and un-Americanism to come to this great floor and talk about the pettiness . . ."

Just a great speech overall. I'll have to look more into this Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Thanks for standing up to those conservatives, Senator! You tell 'em!

edit: for some reason, they have removed the link. I will search for a link to the speech.

Call me a Bush-hater

I love Molly Ivins and this article is exactly what I feel. I want to email it to all my friends, and I want to share it with you.

You will also note a new icon on my side menu, which I got from Gary Turner - a web escape. You can go to his site and select a work-friendly site to come up whenever you are reading my blog (or any other blog with this icon) and your boss is nigh. My work-friendly site is FedEx. This site will immediately come up when I hit the icon. You can always click the back arrow and come back to my blog!

Light a candle for Peace

I just went to this site after reading the comments on Dean's blog entry about finding his brother's remains. What a sad story, but at least it seems to be coming to some resolution.

For more on the story, go here.

Pilot Error Is Blamed for Wellstone Crash

What I did this weekend

- saw Pieces of April - SUCH A GREAT FILM!!! you must go see it. now.
- finished both The Mommy Club and The Pleasure of my Company, started on Confessions of a Shopoholic
- finished watching CSI: season one.
- watched Vanya on 42nd Street, which is an okay film. My first foray into Chekhov. The DVD has no extras, except three trailers for films that are not it.
- went to church and sold tamales.
- went to Nordstrom's with J and returned two pairs of (her) shoes.
- worked on the VAVS stuff a bit - I have completed the first day of their meeting.
- missed out on break-the-chain day by going to Borders. Oops! I had a coupon (and I didn't know it was break-the-chain day).
- did laundry and watched my Sunday shows (except for Alias. Since that wasn't on, I watched Coyote Waits on PBS and recognized spots in Albuquerque.)

Why do my weekends go by so quickly?

I followed Mr. Astronomy Guy and googled "news you can use. or not". I didn't expect that my page would come up (and it doesn't). However, if you look up "Mr. Astronomy Guy", I'm the second link to come up. And if you look up "evso", my link comes up fourth. Funny, eh?

I am still here at work, getting overtime. I would prefer to be at home, working on the job I have yet to finish! and getting overtime for that. But oh well.

I've got to link to this (thanks to This Modern World):

Who wants to marry a Presidential candidate?

It is a serious contest, but I promise you will laugh. You can't help it.

Yesterday Allan at The Right Christians put up an entry with his argument about whether America is becoming more Christian or not. So of course, the comments made about this entry turn to abortion. Well, logically! It never ceases to amaze me how strongly people feel about abortion. You can be wishy-washy about everything else in your life, but I bet you still have a stance on abortion!

I am pro-choice (come on, you already knew that), but I am not adamant about it. I respect your beliefs, as long as you keep your laws off my body! =) But seriously folks. . . everyone has a right to believe what they want. Well - escept for the pro-lifers who believe it's wrong to kill a fetus, but okay to kill a doctor. That just makes no sense to me.

Sidenote: Ellen Goodman's column Partial birth, partial representation is worth reading, if you haven't already.

Congratulations to Austin City Limits!

Ha, ha! There is justice in the world.

Ten Commandments Judge Removed From Bench

Save 'Sisco'

I'm the only person I know who watches Karen Sisco and I am afraid it is going to get cancelled. It really is a good show!

Sisco skids

I'm not as addicted to it as I am to Joan of Arcadia, but I will be disappointed if it gets cancelled. I like seeing tough broads on TV. . . *sigh*

I watched the film The Shape of Things last night. I got it from Netflix because I love Nurse Betty (also directed by Neil Labute) and I adore Paul Rudd. It is a very disturbing film. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. I tried to do some work after it, but I kept thinking about it. It tries to make a point and I'm not sure it does it in the best way. If you are trying to say we dwell too much on appearances, why are all the cast members gorgeous? That's what I was thinking afterwards. I was sitting on my couch, listening to a VAVS planning meeting and thinking, "Why were both of the actresses so pretty, if that's the point he was trying to make?" So I don't know if I would recommend it, even though Paul Rudd is great in it. I'm just not sure.

I am reading Boyhood by Coetzee (the guy who got the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature) and I like it a sight better than the fiction of his I tried reading (it was about a professor who sleeps with a student - not my favorite topic). Boyhood is written in a fictional style about his childhood in South Africa. I am learning a good bit about class differences that I didn't know before. It is a pretty quick read and I would recommend it.

Next on my list is The Mommy Club, The Pleasure of my Company, Saving the Corporate Soul, and The Transit of Venus - in that order.

CD of the day: Sting, Fields of Gold.

Hives?

Last night I dreamt that I was over at Sookie's house with Sookie and Lorelei from Gilmore Girls, along with my pal K, who was also there for some reason. Anyway, I am over there baking cookies and visiting. While I am talking to this young man who has a heart necklace (which I recognize as like my own as a child) linked onto his leather jacket, one side of my mouth goes numb. It feels so strange, because I can't talk anymore. After a few minutes, the swelling goes down, and I start itching. I look in the bathroom mirror and see red welts all over me and realize I have hives. Of course, I then wake up feeling itchy. As far as I know, I've never had hives before. What does it mean that I would dream about having them?

This week is crazy-busy. I am doing extra work at home, trying to finish the job at least half-way before I go out of town this weekend. I am going to visit J and we are going to the Galleria. And she mentioned taking me to a spa, which seems like such a perfect idea now.

**BOOK NOTE** Yesterday I finished reading The Known World and I cannot recommend it enough. It is far from easy reading, but it is so well-done. The only complaint I have is that there are a few too many characters; I was almost done with the book and still getting names confused. Overlooking that, though - it is well worth checking out. It is basically about the legacy of a black man who ran his own plantation and owned his own slaves. You learn about his wife, his parents, his slaves, the town sheriff, the man who used to own him, the man who used to own him's progeny, etc. There was one spot especially that touched me so that I had to put the book down for a bit and think on it. Go check it out! The reason I did is because it is a National Book Award finalist. And I had read an article about the author in the NY Times (which I was going to link to, but I can't find it).

edited because I found a link to an interview with the author!!
Jeffrey Brown talks with National Book Award winner Edward Jones about “The Known World.”

what I saw on the news this morning

First off, I saw the video footage of Bush signing the horrid partial-birth abortion bill. Read this entry on Tom Paine that points out what I noticed. I love how these white middle-aged men are standing by their plan for what they think women should be restricted from doing.

And in that vein, the building of a local Planned Parenthood clinic is in danger. Here's a great quote for you about Planned Parenthood:
It's "a social movement that promotes sexual chaos, especially among our youth."

I wonder what Margaret Sanger would think about that.

I think I am going to switch comment systems. The one I have now is extremely slow to load. I was hesitating, but I do believe it is time to switch.

the quick and the dead

I agree with all eight of these points, so now I know I am definitely a Progressive Christian. I feel so modern. I looked up registered Progressive Presbyterian churches in Texas, and the only one listed is the one I went to in college. How cool is that! Grand Ave. rocks!

Apparently some self-righteous conservative Southern Baptist bigwig has lashed out at this Center for Progressive Christianity. Read more about it here. The Rev. Dr. Mohler made the comment:
"But liberal Christianity is not in need of a wake up call. The dead do not answer alarms."

Therefore, I speak from the dead. As Allen at The Right Christians says:
"I will gladly count myself among the dead. For "I" was buried with Christ by baptism into death. It is no longer "I" who lives but Christ who lives in me. "

Amen.

A neat piece by Jesse Jackson:Troops Suffer While Bush Cronies Make Out Like Bandits

I got a call from the Blood and Tissue Center saying they are low on my blood type. That is really saying something, because I am A+, which is a pretty popular type. I realized after they called (and suckered me into coming in on Saturday) that I haven't donated blood since April! Ack! I used to be so good about doing it. In college, I gave enough to get a mug. I don't think I've given enough yet here, but I'm working up to it.

I get to pet-sit this weekend for Rosie, my mom's long-haired chihuahua. She is so cute, but so spoiled. Last time I petsat for her, I had to let her sleep on my bed, because I couldn't get any peace otherwise. She can make some pretty pitiful noises. But overall, she is pretty easy to care for. I just have clean up my apartment beforehand. Blah.

Last night I went to a fund development planning meeting/dinner for mdc. I spent most of the night standing and taking down the brainstorms on a big pad of paper. One of the ladies kept pointing at the pad when she thought I was being too idle. I was thinking, "Then you come up here and do it!!!" It's funny, I can be pretty bossy, but I hate when people boss me around. Unless I have a really close relationship to them. . . but even then I don't much like it.

At work I have been recording some interviews put to minidisc onto 90 minute tapes. A local author is working on an AARP project and has been interviewing some fascinating people. The latest one he dropped by was named Clarence Fountain (who I realized must have been involved with the Blind Boys of Alabama). His interview, at least the bits and pieces I was able to catch while working, was so amazing. I am blown away by how much faith certain people have in God and how they put it to work in their lives. I hope I am able to read the finished product of all these interviews. The bits and pieces I've heard all deal with segregation, the civil rights era, and growing up in the South.

Back to work.

Yay! My friend passed the Texas Bar.

I just took this quiz and am ashamed of which ones I missed. But I still got some random stuff right!

OH my God, this is so funny.

WorkingForChange-This Modern World: President Baby!

Ha ha! Thanks to Alternet:
AlterNet: War on Iraq: News Log: Et tu, daddy?

Cho and Chopin

Earlier today I thought about joining Blogs4God, but then I read some sample blogs (along with the rules for adding a site) and I realize that I probably criticize the more evangelical Christians too much to share a search engine with them.

This week will be hellacious. At least my weekend was pretty restful. I finished Margaret Cho's I'm the One that I Want in one night. It is a pretty basic read, but it made me very thankful for my pretty-much happy childhood. It is horrible when you think about what hell children put each other through. At least she is doing alright for herself now! More power to her.

I talked to R last night and told her what I'd been up to in the past year and a half. My life sounded somewhat pitiful in summation like that. Overall, I don't think it is, but when you compare what I've been doing to going to law school, or going to med school and getting married, it doesn't seem like I've done anything very big. Oh well. I think I have grown in these past years, even though my accomplishments may seem minimal to me at this point. I keep feeling that what I'm doing just isn't enough.

Enough of that rant.

I'd like to make a sidenote here: I have gotten 2 emails wondering about Bill Murray's ringtone from Lost in Translation, referenced in this past post. To all who ask - it is from a work by Chopin, and on the T-Mobile site that I downloaded it from it is called "Fantasi Impromptu". I'm not sure if that is the correct title - I am more familiar with Chopin's sound than with the titles of his works. When I was in college, I would go to the music library and put on a CD of Chopin's works for piano to study to. Either that or Bernstein's Candide, Mozart's Marriage of Figaro or Gershwin's Piano-Roll compositions.

Feel free to email me anytime - I hope this helps anybody who is wanting to know.

CD of the day: Seal, IV. I've got "Love Divine" on repeat.