Daily Archives: March 30, 2010

Meet Planty.

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So I spent a long time this evening cleaning and making it feel like I live in this apartment. It’s coming along nicely.

I would like you to meet Planty. That is my plant. I don’t know if I have a green thumb or not, I guess you could call this an experiment. Genetically, it’s probably like a 50/50 shot. Both the Grandma and Great-Grandma on the mom’s side are avid green-thumbers, but mom’s….so, so, so very not. Maybe it skipped a generation, but maybe it just got diluted down the line. You never know.

Anyway, it’s important to note that Planty is not new – I got him the first weekend I moved in. Not only is he still kicking, but I think he might be growing, too! Yay! Maybe it helps that he hangs out right by my stereo? Music helps, you know.

Oh, and that weird painting behind Planty? My dad did that. It was supposed to be a self-portrait for an art class in high school, but he painted a Beatle instead. Close, though, if you’ve seen pictures of my dad in high school.

Maybe if Planty makes it I’ll move on to something else. Melissa has me obsessing over the idea of getting a fish. So I might just go there – just one, though, I can’t handle the 30+ fish that Mel has. And like 30+ plants now, too, and a cat? Dang, Mel is a nurturer. Wow, that was a tangent. The point is, I’m getting a fish next.

Uncle Sam.

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I’ve never really been to a funeral before. The only other family member I remember losing was my great grandma a few years back, and we just had close family sit in a circle and sing songs. It was a little weird, but it was nice.

Funerals are definitely different, but I liked it. I never really knew Sam – he was my mom’s uncle and his relationship to myself always seemed a little fuzzy (just like a lot of members on that side of the family!).

Here’s what I knew going in: I never saw Sam and his wife Judy without smiles on their faces – no matter the function, they were both there with a smile for everyone. Sam was funny, and even though I didn’t know him well, I can still remember his laugh. He loved Facebook, especially Farmville. So much Farmville, almost every post he made was about Farmville. If we wasn’t posting about Farmville, he was making a positive comment about his life – he seemed genuinely happy in every way.

All of that was confirmed at the funeral, and I got to learn a bit about his life.

One thing I’ve found that bugs me about things like obituaries and funerals: it literally pained me to hear “He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, etc,” not because it struck me with emotion, but because it seemed too passive. Saying something like “These people outlived him” doesn’t convey what he was to his family. You could feel the love in that room, he wasn’t merely “survived” by his family, he was loved until the day he died and beyond.

Thinking of you, Uncle Sam!

(I am obviously not taking credit for this photo, it was on his Facebook page – but it’s a great one.)

Psht, politics. No, there is no photo in this post.

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Yesterday, I saw a lot of family that I don’t see too often. The first comments were always something like, “How’s the new job, and life? I get bits and pieces here and there on Facebook.” That’s all well and good, I’m happy to talk about how much I like my apartment, and about how my job is, for now, deceptively boring.

Then you start getting deeper, and there’s this genuine surprise and shock when I mention that I’m not really into politics. Were they to probe it further, actually, they might even find out my big, dark secret: I think politics are really ridiculous.

Now, first off, don’t ask me some stupid question like, “Well, which way do you lean?” As much as I love that sly, sneaky way to ask, “So what is it, R or D?” I don’t think it says much about where I actually stand on many issues, let alone my feelings about politics in general. Actually, I see that question as being funny, since when I first meet people, I classify them in my brain as Democrat or Republican based on how much I like them at first (for the record – if I get a bad vibe from someone, 9 times out of 10 I’m classifying them as a Republican in my head. Weird.)

So, why do I think politics are ridiculous? Probably because I hate petty bickering to begin with, and I can now say from experience, politics are nothing if not an arena for petty bickering. These little fights don’t just happen between R’s and D’s, oh no, the most ridiculous bickering seems to be between the individual parties themselves.

Take what’s going on in Washington right now. The regular legislative session was slated to be over March 11, but there wasn’t any kind of agreement on budget negotiations. Oh, sure, there was the consensus that taxes would be raised to the tune of somewhere around $800 million,  but how was the question. So, the Governor called a special session to last seven days to sort out the particulars.

Now, here’s the thing. One party has a massive majority in Washington – they control the House, Senate, and the Governor’s mansion in Olympia. We know they’re going to raise taxes, so seven days should be more than enough to sort out the differences.

Wrong. We’re now in the third week of special session. No agreement has been reached. The Governor has had to issue threats of across the board cuts. No one’s blinking. No negotiations have been made. The minority party is sitting on their hands, waiting for it to be sorted out, while the majority leaders are locked in an epic staring contest.

So epic, in fact, that for the past three days, the legislature hasn’t even bothered to meet for actual session. It’s “pro forma,” meaning they sit around and work on bills, and maybe, maybe try to break the deadlock between the House and Senate leaders.

Thing is, this deadlock is costing Washingtonians like me $14,000 a day – amounting to just over $200,000. The elected officials couldn’t finish their jobs when the bell rang for the regular 60 day session, so they shrug their shoulders while we pay them overtime to figure their stuff out and figure out how to raise our taxes and pay for it all.

That’s enough ridiculousness, if you ask me, but hilarity ensues in this next episode.

So, you may have heard that health care has passed. Cool, there are some parts in this 2000 page document that do some real good. I don’t know about the other 1900 pages, but surely there’s more good and bad to go around. There are some parts that seem Constitutionally questionable to me – but then, it’s not like I’m a lawyer or anything.

Well, turns out I’m not the only one. Attorneys General from states across the country are formally questioning the bill’s adherence to the Constitution in a lawsuit. The majority here in Washington was giggling at this “frivolous” lawsuit -until our own Attorney General, Rob McKenna, threw Washington’s hat in the ring.

First off, Mr. McKenna is an independently elected official and as such, doesn’t answer to the majority party. Tell that to the Governor – she’s been throwing a hissy fit along with the legislature about how he didn’t consult her before making his decision.

This is where it gets kind of really petty and kind of funny to me.

Well, the legislature is in an uproar. Now, when they should be working on balancing the budget, the majority is working on making a proviso so that McKenna’s office can’t use state funds to aid with the lawsuit (not that it matters much – Florida, as the first state to bring the lawsuit, will be shouldering the cost).

A senator from the majority was quoted as saying this, in support of the proviso:

“Every tax dollar is important right now, and if you’re making a choice as to whether to spend a tax dollar on a critical health service, or a frivolous lawsuit, which would you choose?”

I’d venture to say she has a point, but I’ll take it a step further – if you’re making a choice as to whether to spend a tax dollar on a critical health service, or a special session where Senators aren’t even meeting and certainly aren’t focusing on the most pressing issue at hand, which would you choose?

I have to commend some of the Senators up here from both sides of the aisle – many have refused their $90 daily pay (meant to cover lodging and food expenses while in Olympia, it’s in addition to their yearly salary), bringing the daily cost from $18,000 to $14,000. The Senator who said that each tax dollar is important? Not included on that list.

Just as another point – the health care bill is huge. It’s monumentous legislation, and all monumentous legislation goes up against the Supreme Courts at some point. At some point, it’s Constitutionality will be questioned. So, if it’s something you really stand behind and believe in, wouldn’t it be better to test it now, before it goes into effect? It just seems like a no-brainer to me.

Another questions I get when talking about my job with family – so why do you work for your boss if you think politics are silly?

Well, I’ve known him my whole life- I know for a fact that he is a good, honest man. Yes, he’s been in politics a long time, but he’s not a career politician. He’s fought against his own party when its warranted, he’s true to his word, and he’s always thinking about his constituents, not special interests. If all politicians were like him, maybe we’d actually move forward.

As it is, continue with the petty bullshit, legislators.