7 Quick Takes: Some Baseball, Halloween, and an Exhortation to Vote

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

The Giants swept the Tigers in 4 games, making them WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!! Serious love here for my homeboys again because they proved that they were not going down lightly. Two of those games were shut outs and Game 1 involved some Kung Fu Panda power as the Panda bamBOOMed a few balls out of the park. I wish some of these wins had come when I was growing up in the South Bay but hey… they’ve happened when I’ve been back in northern California so I shouldn’t complain.

— 2 —

The victory parade and celebration were… interesting. I was catnapping during part of it which made for trippy dreams. It was surreal, especially the people with balloons on them who were riding on Segways. There were so many sights that reinforced the weirdness of some of the members: Pablo Sandoval (the Kung Fu Panda) wearing red leggings and white Hush Puppy-like shoes), Brian Wilson going Rasta on the Giants’ cable car, and Sergio Romo being… himself. (You had to laugh at the policeman assigned to him in the parade because Romo left the convertible and was running around the parade route getting high-fives. That was a policeman with a major sense of humor — he was shaking his head and laughing.) In addition to the key to the city, the mayor also presented them with a golden broom for SWEEPING DETROIT!

— 3 —

My AWESOMESAUCE Halloween costume. I was going to go as a black cat (because, as the house panther on my chest would say, I have good inspiration) but my kitty ears disappeared so I took strips of glow-in-the-dark duct tape and put strips of it on my long sleeved shirt. My costume: Daniel’s “mummy”. It was both awesome and safe because the duct tape was visible in the dark and reflective so it was safe for crossing the street. I would have gone as a “tired blogger with a sinus infection” but Jen of ConversionDiary.Com kind of stole that idea. (OK… she had the same idea.)

— 4 —

Do you see the boy on my sidebar. His name is Brett. He has CP, is incredibly cute, incredibly brilliant, and he needs a mama!!! Do you know someone who might be his mama? Go share his blog URL and show him some love.

— 5 —

Because I am a sucker for punishment, I am doing NaNoWriMo this year. I haven’t “won” since 2009 but I’m attempting it anyway. (I got derailed last year by my little bear ending up in the hospital over Thanksgiving.) It’s a chick-lit/mainstream fiction piece called “How To Be a Perfect Pastor’s Wife” — I’m writing about what I know. It was either that or a murder mystery taking place at an import brokerage and involving cross-border stuff. As I have been out of the import brokerage world for 2.5 years now (which bums me out — I loved that job), the latter idea would involve too much research so it has been scrapped. I have a widget on my sidebar (below the Obama graphic) so if you were to go to just plain http://grace-filled/net, you’ll see it. I don’t remember if it has my word count or not.

— 6 —

They are preempting NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles next week. I’d rather watch my shows than election returns… hands down. Election returns don’t matter until the polls close. By that time, I could have watched 2 hours of freaking awesome forensic dramas. *grumps*

— 7 —

And finally… my public service message: GET YOUR BUTTS TO THE POLLS ON TUESDAY AND VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!! This is not THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN US HISTORY (kinda reserving that for 1860 and a few others) but it is incredibly important nevertheless. If you need help sorting through your ballot, the League of Women Voters is awesome for that and has LOTS of local chapters in a ton of states. (They’re non-partisan and exist to help like this.) If you’re like me and have already voted by mail or early voting, THANK YOU!!! If not, please get yourself to the polls. I’m not going to tell you how to vote (I know that there are probably people posting Quick Takes on why you should vote a certain way) but I will say as an American, it is imperative that you vote. We are blessed to live in a country with universal suffrage (as in everyone over the age of 18 can vote) where we can vote for whoever our consciences lead us to support. Please take advantage of this. /steps off my soapbox.

— Bonus —

Regarding Hurricane Sandy… Unless you happen to be in New Jersey or New York or someplace else that is ground zero for damage, donating canned food to the Red Cross is probably not the best idea. There are a huge number of ways to help: donating money is one but they’re also pretty desperate for blood. I can’t donate blood for medical reasons but if you are eligible at all, get thee to your local Red Cross!!! Those who are on the ground in affected areas, is there anything we can send you? Leave me comments.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: October 29, 2012

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY October 29, 2012

Outside my window… sunny. It was nice today. A storm is supposed to move in on Halloween night and Thursday morning so I’ll have a nice morning in jammies then.

I am thinking… about those friends I have on the East Coast who are being pummeled by the Frankenstorm.

I am thankful… for the Giants sweeping the Tigers in the World Series. I won the bet I had with Emily so $10 will be going to International Justice Mission.

In the kitchen… I made kuchen last Friday.

I am wearing… charcoal shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… details for my NaNoWriMo piece.

I am going… to San Jose this weekend for some R&R.

I am wondering… how I’m going to get through tomorrow morning. Daniel has an eye appointment in Sacramento at 8:15 a.m. Have I mentioned that I’m not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination? At least we can use the carpool lane for a good chunk of Highway 99.

I am reading… A Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.

I am hoping… Hurricane Sandy/Frankenstorm doesn’t cause too much damage.

I am looking forward to… this election being over and all the smear ads off of TV.

Around the house… *pulls the covers over my head and ignores the question*

I am pondering… the stupidity of the people standing on the New Jersey boardwalk watching the storm surge. I mean, really? Do I need to regale people with the tales of those killed on the California coast last year because they decided to go watch the tsunami come in?

A favorite quote for today… ??Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.?? ? C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

One of my favorite things… Trader Joe’s iced tea-lemonade.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Daniel’s eye appointment tomorrow, Morning Prayer and trick-or-treating on Wednesday, audiology appointment on Friday morning as well as heading to San Jose.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Why Is This So Hard?

I saw a few people posting about Navy SEALs who allegedly defended the Benghazi embassy for 7 hours, how Marines were an hour away, how there were ships off the coast, etc. today and wanted to vomit. Apparently, it’s totally permissible to just fly into a sovereign nation and take matters into your own hands, right? I mean, that just sets *such* a great precedent.

Then I remembered seeing the following on my local CBS affiliate’s site a few weeks ago:

CBS News: Amb. Stevens’ father wants politics out of his son’s death

The father of Chris Stevens, the slain U.S. Ambassador to Libya, said he does not want the death of his son to become part of campaign-season politics.

“It would really be abhorrent to make this into a campaign issue,” Jan Stevens told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview.

Stevens added that he thought his son’s death is being “adequately investigated.”

“We don’t pretend to be experts in security. It has to be objectively examined. That’s where it belongs. It does not belong in the campaign arena,” said Stevens, 77, an attorney and registered Democrat.

The Romney campaign has sought to highlight the Libya attacks, raising the issue on the campaign trail, as evidence of President Obama’s failing foreign policy.

At last week’s vice presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden was asked about the administration’s response. He said the White House wasn’t told about a need for more security and he criticized Rep. Paul Ryan for wanting to cut $300 million from embassy security.

The issue continues to percolate as it became a central topic on the Sunday political shows. On CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the Obama administration is “misleading” the American public or is “incredibly incompetent.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Obama’s adviser, Robert Gibbs, said the Romney campaign needs to “stop playing politics with this issue.”

Immediately after the September 11th attacks that killed four Americans including the ambassador, The Obama administration blamed an American-made anti-Muslim video that sparked protests across the Middle East. The president has since called it a terrorist attack and an investigation is ongoing.

“I’m not sure exactly what he’s been saying and not saying, but our position is it would be a real shame if this were politicized,” Stevens said told Bloomberg News, referring to Romney. “Our concern now is memorializing Chris and remembering his contribution to the country.”

So instead of me ranting about the media and Fox News and Monday morning quarterbacking, how about we respect the wishes of the late ambassador’s father and leave his family alone to mourn his death? Is this an unreasonable request? Is this particularly hard for people to do?

7 Quick Takes: Lots of Baseball and Some Politics

7 Quick Takes

Jon will be home from St. Louis tonight and I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a relatively easy week of solo parenting but I’m exhausted.

— 1 —

Oh. Em. Gee. NLCS Game 7!!!! The Giants are the comback kids of the MLB. They came back from being 2 games down in Cincinnati and 3 games down in St. Louis. Game 7 was two excellent teams playing and while the score wasn’t even close, there were awesome moments. It was hysterically funny to watch Marco Scutaro enjoying the rain the 9th inning and I loved seeing Sergio Romo’s reaction to winning the game. Probably the best moment was Scutaro catching the fly ball from Holliday… who had injured him in Game 2 while sliding into second base. I have profound respect for the Cardinals — they messed with Texas last year. I also have a great deal of respect for Jason Motte, their closer, who issued this tweet after the game.

— 2 —

My World Series bet. I have a World Series bet with Emily. If my Giants win, she’ll donate $10 to International Justice Mission. If her Tigers win, I’ll be donating $10 to To Write Love on Her Arms. Both are worthy organizations and I’m glad that one (or maybe both) will benefit.

— 3 —

I’m wondering what happened in Game 1 of the World Series. Seriously… all the sports talking heads have been playing up Verlander and how he was going to shut out the Giants. Yeah, that totally happened… NOT! Verlander lasted only 4 innings and our Panda bam-BOOMED three home runs out of the park. Scutaro (whose jersey I’ll be acquiring one of these days) made it on base every time he was up and continued his 11-hitting streak. My homeboys won it 8-3 (2 of those points coming because Angel Pagan couldn’t jump high enough to catch a homer).

— 4 —

What truly disgusts me. You all have probably heard about Ann Coulter’s tweet in which she calls President Obama a “retard”. Many of you probably saw the well-written letter to her from a Special Olympics athlete. What really disgusts me, however, is seeing people who advocate for special needs children defending Ann Coulter. I saw someone on a message board explaining that Ann Coulter is “just a comedian like Stephen Colbert”. Two problems with that: 1.) Ann Coulter is not a comedian by any stretch of the imagination. She is a political commentator. 2.) Stephen Colbert may be a comedian but he knows that there is a line between being funny and being insulting. Ann Coulter never fails to go for the insult. Hearing people defend her is as nefarious to me as Greta Van Sustren’s statement that “nobody was insulted” by Todd Akin’s statements on “legitimate rape”.

— 5 —

Do you see the handsome young man on my right sidebar? His name is Brett and he needs a mama. Could this person be you? Go click on his picture and see how amazing he is. While you’re there, would you mind contributing to his grant?

— 6 —

Really? This morning, I was walking the bear child to preschool when two minivans pulled up behind each other, barely avoiding us on the sidewalk. Two adults pile out and were pulling kids out of the car while screaming at them to get moving and that they were going to be late for school. Granted, I may or may not have been walking Daniel to school in my pajama bottoms but seriously??? YOU MORONS ALMOST RAN OVER MY SON AND ME!!!! This is freaking preschool — your kid is not going to get detention for being late like they would if it was middle school or high school where they were responsible for getting themselves to school. If you have a persistent problem with being late, try getting your precious sweetling up earlier. It’s not even like there was a drop-off line issue — the two of them came flying out of nowhere and the second one almost rear-ended the first one. Watching the adults and kids piling out was almost like watching a bunch of circus clowns.

— 7 —

Game 2 tonight. I used this as my last take because I generally put together Quick Takes over a few days and I was watching the game while assembling these. The pitchers seemed equally matched tonight. There were no runs batted in and had Posey not tagged Fielder out in the 2nd, it could have been Detroit who won. I also loved the interview with Romo and seeing him photobombing the Panda.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: October 22, 2012

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY October 22, 2012

Outside my window… sunny after the rain and wind earlier. There was also a tornado to the north of us. Did I mention that I live in NORTHERN CALIFORNIA???

I am thinking… that I’m enjoying the quiet in the parsonage (other than the Giants’ game on TV) and the light filtering in through the windows.

I am thankful… that Jon got to St. Louis safely.

In the kitchen… kuchen later this week for the church’s Oktoberfest.

I am wearing… green shirt and black sweats.

I am creating… NaNo plans.

I am going… hopefully nowhere special this week.

I am wondering… why Cullen walks on his clawpoints. He clacks on the wood and linoleum when he walks.

I am reading… A Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

I am hoping… the Giants win tonight.

I am looking forward to… my massage on Friday. (It got postponed due to health issues with my massage therapist.)

Around the house… vacuuming to do.

I am pondering…

A favorite quote for today… ??Nothing you have not given away will ever really be yours.?? ? C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… quiet time to do things during Daniel’s nap

A few plans for the rest of the week: coffee with a parishioner tomorrow, Morning Prayer on Wednesday, teaching Bible study on Thursday, and my massage on Friday. Oktoberfest is also Friday but I think we’ll just donate the cost of tickets.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Writing, Voting, and Interesting Office Supply Products

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

I VOTED!!!! *cue confetti and balloons* I’m in California so we have all the normal slate of candidates in addition to a bunch of ballot measures so the envelope to mail back the ballots requires extra postage. I also wish that there was an “I voted!” sticker included in my absentee ballot because there might be merchants who give perks for those who voted like free coffee or something. Oh well… Jon just dropped his absentee ballot off at our town hall and they were giving out “I voted!” stickers so I have one on the fridge so that I can get any perks offered by merchants for having one on Election Day.

— 2 —

I’m doing NaNoWriMo again. I *might* actually win given that I do have some more spare time than I’ve had in the last few years with Daniel in school. I’m recycling my characters from last year and altering a few of them. My main character is a pastor’s wife — what can I say? I write about what I know. It’s either that or write about import brokerage stuff and a cross-border murder.

— 3 —

I was taking a drive when I heard this song. Daniel had woken up grumpy and we were driving around when this song came on. After CSI was over tonight, I started looking for it online and was having a heck of a time finding it. It turns out that it’s probably just been released to radio stations and the album isn’t due until January. Still… I found it on YouTube! Boo yah!

— 4 —

Cardinal Dolan said something awesome on his Twitter today. His remark: “If I only sat down with people who agreed with me, and I with them, or with those who were saints, I??d be taking all my meals alone.” I think it’s relevant in our politically-polarized country where one side is claiming that the media is on the side of the other and there is so much back-biting. I have readers on this blog who agree with me politically and readers who think I’ve lost my mind for backing the candidates I back. Somehow, we all manage to find common ground and I’d readily break bread (or a gluten-free alternative) with any of them.

— 5 —

OMG NLCS baseball!!! We swept the Reds *in* Cincinnati and we’re currently playing Game 4 in St. Louis. I’m thinking of Kathleen Basi and Grace Patton as I’m watching. I have no idea if Grace is a Cardinals fan (or if she’s even all that concerned with baseball) but I remember talking about the World Series with Kathleen last year and now our teams are playing each other in the NLCS! As much as I’m a Giants fan, I do like the Cardinals and I’d totally root for them if they prevailed and made it to the World Series to play Detroit.

— 6 —

For those who read all the interesting comments on the BIC for Her pens, there’s now a new office product sensation. Yes, I totally realize that Romney’s “binders full of women” are binders full of women’s resumés. Yes, I would totally be mentioning this if Obama or Biden had said it. No, I didn’t watch the debate — I was too busy being righteously indignant over NCIS being pre-empted. I had also already filled out my ballot on Sunday night so the debate wasn’t going to change anything for me.

— 7 —

My grandma turns 92 tomorrow. She was the first college graduate on my mom’s side of the family. (My grandfather didn’t finish because Pearl Harbor happened.) She and my grandfather just missed making it 63 years when he passed away in 2006. She still lives at home and gardens a little bit. She also plays bridge twice a week. Happy birthday, Grandma! I love you!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

An Admonition from My Devotional Book

The following passage stuck out to me in my devotional reading today.

Don??t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord??s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” — 2 Timothy 2:23-26

Of all of it, verse 23 (which is bolded) stuck out: Don??t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. I think it leaped out at me because it’s election season here in the USA and the smear ads are incredibly plentiful. I also deal with people who have tried to pick fights on here (thank God for comment moderation) and who have called me all manner of names because I happen to support President Obama. It’s a hard thing some days to know that people who don’t even know me or who have talked to me are demonizing me.

I’m not saying that those with whom I disagree are the devil — I included the whole part of the passage for the sake of adding context but it did stick with me that I shouldn’t have anything to do with the fights being picked on Facebook and Twitter. I’ve refused to watch any of the debates because I already know how I’m voting and I’ve actually unfollowed people on Twitter during the debates so I don’t have to deal with reading things meant to pick fights. I’m staying away from certain blogs which are incredibly vitriolic toward anyone who doesn’t agree with them politically and I’m attempting to be judicious in anything I post here or on Facebook/Twitter.

Am I perfect? Not by a long shot. I’d love to post my thoughts on Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan but I’ve realized that I don’t think I could do it in such a way as to not come across as one of the people who I deem vitriolic. “Obamacare” has benefited my family greatly and while I may be theologically conservative, I’m socially moderate. Paul Ryan is too extreme for me and I cannot, in good conscience, vote for Mitt Romney. I have people of whom I am incredibly fond who think I’m deluded for supporting Obama. I can deal with that. My life would be pretty boring if I surrounded myself only with those who espouse all my opinions. What I cannot do, however, is get caught up in the nastiness that seems to be pervading this election.

So please, tell me if/when I ever cross the line.