I think these crazy political links of the day could become my new running feature, replacing the old running feature that didn't run very long (as this one won't; for a so-called writer, I have a real difficulty carving out time in my day to add anything to these blogs 'o mine).

Here's today's, which highlights one of the fun things about having a home state like Montana to keep track of. When I saw there were three Democratic candidates for governor on the primary ballot, I was intrigued, since we have a fairly popular Democratic incumbent.

It didn't take much research to realize Schweitzer doesn't have a lot to worry about.

For example, check out the website of this team hoping to be Governor/Lt. Governor. I can't really add anything to the experience of reading the information on the site, except to say I don't think even they really believe they're going to pull in more than a dozen votes.

Then there's this option - two high school teachers who decided to get in the race to increase the debate about education policy (if you believe their story) or to allow Schweitzer to keep a chunk of his campaign funds (if you like political conspiracies, or even just stories where money makes every motivation a little fishy).

The teachers, however, put up a site that's not near as much fun to read as Bill and Steve.

Here's my crazy link of the day.

Sure, this is a site about how and why the U.S. presidents are covering up the fact of an alien invasion, or at least government knowledge of extraterrestrial life.

Even so, as far as I'm concerned the most ludicrous statement on the site is this:

...the appearance of Cheney's name on the George W. Bush Presidential ticket, led many ufologists to feel that Cheney might represent an attempt by the government to make a disclosure on UFOs.

Read the this part on its own: "...feel that Cheney might represent an attempt by the government to make a disclosure..." In context or out of context, clearly these people had no idea what they were dealing with. In hindsight, anyone who thought Cheney was going to disclose anything was far nuttier than a simple UFO believer.

spam, spam, spam, spam

Sometimes I love actually reading through the sales pitches landing in my inbox.

Today's favorite line: "Become the Tasmanian lovemaking Devil!"

If it'd actually turn me Tasmanian and get me an Australian passport, I'd consider it.

today's link of fun

Awesome.

My favorite? The area code.

answering machine

"He left a message on her answering machine."

I've seen some variant on this phrase in print twice in the last two weeks, and each time the choice of phrase jarred me out of my reading rhythm. Does it seem as seem as purely anachronistic to everyone else? Especially when the context refers to someone talking on a cell phone, I doubt there is any separate answering machine involved. Not that I'm a huge fan of the phrase "voice mail" but at least it seems to cover more bases.
There are only three people I have semi-regular reason to call who have an actual machine to leave a message on (unless, of course, they happen to answer the phone). Two of them are of an older generation. I haven't had a landline since leaving New Zealand, and I haven't had a landline I actually used since I left for New Zealand.

So is the phrase "answering machine" so jarring to me only because I don't have one? Are they still an everyday feature of most people's lives?

spanish can be fun!

Sometimes it's nice to have a Spanish translator in the house. Like last night, when I was catching up on the 30 Rock season finale via Hulu

The plot revolved around cheap Mexican cheese curls Liz Lemon found at a grocery. The name: Sabor de Soledad. The translation, which I never would have bothered to find out, but made the whole thing far more funny: Taste of Loneliness.

breaking news: it's not breaking

Last night I covered the U.S. women's soccer team in a game against Canada for the Associated Press. When I checked to see how my story looked on the wire, I found it published in the Honolulu Advertiser.

All fine and good, but the real point of this point is this:
included in the side links on the page was a lists of "Breaking news headlines." One of the headlines: "Surf better suited for snorkeling today"

I think I want to go to Hawaii. And where do I apply for the waves beat?

tiring

Despite my vague intentions, my life is generally a sedentary one. I manage to keep up a running program for short bursts of time rather than the sustained effort that would actually be helpful.

In an effort to combat my inertia, I have joined the local recreational Ultimate Frisbee league. This spring, the season was supposed to have been about eight weeks long (we play each Sunday). Through a combination of rain and bad luck, we only managed to have three weekends with games. My schedule only allowed me to make one of those three, a weekend back in late March.

This past weekend was the season-ending tournament. We were scheduled to play four games back-to-back, going straight through from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. I knew I was in no shape to attempt such a feat, but since we've got about 20 people signed up on the roster and Ultimate is played with only seven people on the field at any given time, I figured I could manage.

Then I showed up and had trouble finding my team. Only natural, I thought, since I haven't seen any of them for a month. I kept looking around, though, and still nothing. Then I heard someone else looking for the same group. It dawned on us that we were the only representatives there. A few others arrived - we were six.

We managed to make the minimum requirement of seven through another team's generosity, and, later, with a couple of late arrivals. But instead of six hours of occasional participation, I had six hours of near-constant participation. The first hour went all right, but after that I felt the one extra gear I might have had fall right off, leaving me with one speed: slow.

I've had a habit of making my body go from nothing to far too much on the exercise front without any transition. This day was certainly good for my system, but my muscles and joints told me afterward they would have appreciated a bit more notice.

and, to keep things on a political bent...

I like to imagine a world in which actual campaign ads look something like this:


Empire Strikes Barack

a question

This week I was listening to a news report that included a quote from a "long-time Republican" who is planning to vote for Obama. It didn't say why he was planning to vote for Obama, as that wasn't the real focus of the story. But it did make something click in my mind. I've heard reports since the early primaries that Obama was winning over independents and Republicans. But I can't figure out why, exactly, a long-time Republican would decide to switch to Obama. It's not like there's anything about his candidacy that would appeal to someone to the right of center, politically. I understand that Republicans might be dissatisfied with the general state of the party and this year's candidates (now candidate) specifically, but it seems to me it makes more sense they would just stay home rather than become inspired by Obama.

Anybody hear any reasonings as to why Obama is/was winning some Republican votes?

not quite

Officially, it was 2 hours, 56 minutes with a 25-minute delay. Even the total of 3 hours, 19 minutes would have been short of the longest this season, but it was too long for me.

the long and short of it

Last night I was in the press box for the shortest game the Nationals have played this season, a 2 hour, 4 minute 3-2 win against the Pirates. Tonight, the game passed that mark in the fifth inning. A delay caused by a light outage didn't help, and 12 combined runs through four-and-a-half innings didn't either. If this lasts another hour and a half - a distinct possibility - I'll have see the shortest and longest 9-inning games for the Nationals this season in back-to-back nights.

I wouldn't mind as much if I didn't have to wake up early tomorrow to go to Redskins practice...

a first

Out at Nationals Park tonight, and I've already seen something I haven't seen before: the National Anthem was performed by a solo euphonium/

It was also the best anthem I've heard in quite some time.