Palin comparison....

OK, enough of the bad VP puns. Sorry.

I'm just so very annoyed with this pick by McCain on so many levels. Annoyed with Obama for not picking Hillary. Annoyed with McCain for being so incredibly crass and thinking so little of Hillary's supporters as to assume we'd accept anything in a skirt. (I'm thinking of the old Dan Quayle/Lloyd Bentsen debate moment and wondering if we'll hear anyone say to Mrs. Palin:
"I know Hillary Clinton. I've worked with Hillary Clintion. Hillary Clinton is a friend of mine. And you, Governor, are no Hillary Clinton."

And then there's the comment Palin made today about how American women are showing that we're not going to be satisfied with Hillary's 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, we're going to smash it. Um, excuse me? But, the last I heard, Palin isrunning for VICE president. Until we elect a female president, I think it's a little premature to pronounce the ceiling shattered.

And ANOTHER thing. Like we're going to let someone like Sarah Palin get the distinction of being the first female VP? A woman who seems to have absolutely no regard for the rights of other women?

But finally, the thing that most annoys me is that this choice has finally eroded whatever respect I once had for John McCain. To select as a running mate a woman who has served LESS than two years as governor of a state whose biggest financial problem is how much money to give to its citizens each year from the oil surplus tells me he is far less interested in the security and prosperity of the nation than he is in his own political advancement.

So, in summation, neither major party candidate has impressed me with their VP selection. I can only hope whichever wins can govern better than they've picked running mates.

If only they were old enough to vote...

We stopped by a small campaign event to get the boys' picture taken (again) with my old boss, Chris Gregoire. She did a masterful job of pretending to recognize/remember me, which is pretty important for a politician.

Oh, and the boys got their hair cut the next day, I swear.

Village People for a new generation? Nope.

So, in Eddie and Chas land, this is consider preparation for a weekend camping trip. First, you go through your dress up clothes and select an interesting array of old Halloween costumes and various headgear, including headlamps. Then you load as many toys as possible into the candy-carrying pouch of said costume. Finally, dump it all in the living room while using the dimmer switch to simulate night, dawn, and of course the ever-popular lightning storm.

Sadly, this year our camping trip will be pretty mild. We were even later than usual in making reservations. So instead of our usual choice of a mediocre site in a decent campground or a good site in a mediocre campground, we were faced with selecting from an array of crappy sites in crappier campgrounds. So we decided to ditch the state parks and just pitch a tent in my niece Erin's huge yard in Ellensburg. Pathetic? Of course. But there's a fire pit and an unheated pool which I'm told needs to be cleaned but the pump is broken so it will be "swimmable" but not necessarily sparkling. In other words, not so different from swimming in a lake at a state park.

Biden my tongue

So I knew it wouldn't be Hillary -- but Joe Biden seems to be a particularly tone deaf pick for Obama's running mate. Not only does it do nothing to appease the Clinton faithful, it's actually kind of a finger in their eye. And it makes him seem the elitist the GOP is trying to paint him as. Why? Because it seems like he's saying he's smarter than the voters. Biden gathered a few thousand votes after going for broke in Iowa. He was offered up and rejected by voters. (More than once, I might add.) Clinton, on the other hand, was the choice of 18 million voters.

Now, like I said, I didn't think it would be Hillary. But I also didn't think it would be someone who actually ran in this election and lost so badly.

Sigh. I know I should be more excited about this ticket. And of course, Michelle and the girls were adorable tonight.

Plus, he can't do worse than the current occupant of the White House, so he'll get my vote come November, however unenthusiastic.

She's alive!!!

And seemingly well. I managed to get myself sprung from the hospital yesterday with a promise that I'd get a stress test scheduled ASAP as an outpatient. Most of yesterday was spent sleeping, which you absolutely cannot do in a hospital.

So while I'm not looking forward to the battery of tests and appointments that no doubt loom before me, I am actually happy that the hospital actually seemed to check things out quite thoroughly. It's funny -- I have three family members who had major heart attacks. One, my father, actually died. Which, come to think of it, isn't really funny, but I digress. What's funny is that the people I know who actually had heart attacks were either first misdiagnosed and sent away with antacids only to return in an ambulance hours later, or very nearly sent home with nary a test because they had no significant risk factors. I, on the other hand, apparently did not have a heart attack but got the full treatment. It seems that when it comes to heart attacks and my family, the medical profession has an abysmal track record of knowing when to take symptoms seriously. I am also quite happy to be the one who got what turned out to be unnecessary tests rather than one who missed necessary testing.

Dreamy divers, bully brats, oh, and heart attack scares...

I've been meaning to blog -- really I have -- about all sorts of things. Like my nephews' dive meet and how dreamy they are. (Just call me Auntie Perv I guess.) About the ongoing saga of the bully next door. Maybe even something about Eddie falling nose-first off of his bike and the resulting skinned up nose.

But I never got around to it. Now, however, I've got nothing but time on my hands. Because I'm stuck in a stinkin' hospital. Because I had chest pains. And they've been doing blood work and EKGs since just after 9 this morning and aren't letting me go until tomorrow, even though everything looks normal. Oh, actually, they want me to stay tomorrow for a stress test that will take ALL DAY. But I think I've negotiated a break from that if I promise to schedule one and visit a cardiologist as an outpatient.

From all of this, I have learned three things:

1. nitroglycerin tablets burn and then make your whole body feel weird -- and end with a headache.
2. don't go to the er with chest pains unless you really have no interest in seeing your home anytime in the near future.
3. I'm a really bad patient. (Mostly because of my efforts to get the hell out of here ASAP by denying all pain and discomfort anywhere near my chest.)

I miss my boys. I miss my bed. I do not like listening to men loudly vomit up blood. (Sample overheard convo in the er: "So how many times have you vomited blood?" "Just twice today." "So when did this start?" "Two months ago.")

Anyway, I've got a lot of work to do and a looming deadline and let's just say this little hospital "vacation" is not reducing my stress levels.