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i know i still have a puppy at home, but i already kind of miss when he was this small…

i cannot believe how incredibly dumb the last line of this ad is.  while i don’t really find the content objectionable (at least it’s not a personal or completely false attack), the last line is just laughable.  the part about “this crisis… would be obama’s first crisis… in this chair”

wouldn’t it be mccain’s first crisis in this chair as well?  he’s never been president before either!

i know they crank these things out in like 8 hours, but you’d think someone would put a litte bit more thought into it than this.

walked up to pot belly for lunch today, which is a place i really enjoy.  the portions are kind of small, so i tend to get chips and a cookie to complement it, but the sandwiches are only like $4 and their hot peppers are amazing. had a conversation about the peppers with my workmate about how great they are.  they’re not too hot, but also not too… not hot… i guess.  anyway, what i’m trying to say is i tend to like hot stuff as long as it’s not so hot that all you taste is the burning.  i like to get some heat but i don’t like to have my tongue burned out of my mouth.

so really, the whole point of this post is to talk about a particular awkward situation that i’m sure a lot of you have been in.  the previously mentioned coworker and i decided to sit outside.  if you’ve been by the campus pot belly’s you know that they have a few tables out there and most of them are baking in the sun all day.  we choose one that was next to the building but not in the shade, cause it’s hella nice out today and the sun was very nice.

anyway, after we’d been out there for a few minutes (long enough to eat 1/2 my sandwich) two ladies walk past our table and one of them turns to us (me) and says “will you reserve that table over there?” *pointing to the one table in the shade*  she continues on to say “just tell them two hot, older,  very cranky women want to sit there.”  her friend (found out later, sister) kind of looked at us apologetically and they continued on in to the store.  i would not have described either of these women as “hot” but i know a lot of people have very distorted self images (probably myself included).

now, did i go out of my way to keep an eye on the table (which was behind me and around a corner so i would have to strain around to even see the it, let alone keep someone from sitting at it)? no, of course not.  oh and never mind that there are actually two doors to the joint, and it would have been highly plausible for someone to exit the door we aren’t sitting near and snag their table without us ever knowing.

what baffled me even more was there were two nice looking dudes in blue scrubs sitting at the very next table. why she choose us to single out for her selfish table preservation is beyond me.  no wait, i’m going to attribute it to my amazing good looks and charm.

anyway, after a few minutes the speaker exits and tells me what a good job we’ve done because her sister is “one mean lady” (or something to that effect).  yeah, great job by us.

what i hate is, why put a complete stranger into such an awkward situation in the first place?  it really bothers me that people choose to do this.  it’s one thing if you are already sitting at a table or seat and have to get up for a minute.  it is acceptable in that situation to ask someone to keep your seat.  it is also acceptable to do so in movie theaters or other “first come first serve” style seating venues.  but to ask someone to save a seat for you  before you’ve even sat down is a little ridiculous.

what happens if someone takes that table?  how am i supposed to prevent that from happening other than to polietly ask them to vacate?  how does the original person respond when this happens?  we were lucky this time that it wasn’t very busy and that school isn’t in session.

it just boggles the mind that people will put a complete stranger into such an easily compromised position.

i was asked to write up my thoughts on the current political climate/process/presidential brouhaha by a friend, so that’s what i’m going to do.  now let me say i have a hard time really putting my feelings about politics in to words.  i generally go with my gut, as it were, in politics.  what feels right to me is what i tend to stand for and stick with.

lately i’ve been reading the agitator a lot, which i guess is technically a libertarian blog.  what i tend to like about it is the author (radley balko) covers government waste, police state, and general stupidity on both sides of the spectrum (dem and repub) pretty equally.  granted, it has more of a liberal slant because libertarianism is definitely more left than right on a lot of issues, especially social issues.

i’ve always identified myself as an economic conservative and a social liberal.  i tend to find value in government social programs but at the same time like the idea of lower taxes and less government intervention in business.  i don’t really know where this puts me, but generally i lean more left when voting.  in the recent primaries i voted republican, moreso because i thought the dems had a better handle on their candidates than the repbus.  (i wanted ron paul, for what it’s worth)

i’ll freely admit i’m not an obama freak.  i don’t see too much in his policy to scream out “OH MY GOD THIS MAN IS JESUS” like a lot of other people.  i like some of his ideas (a renewed interest in science and technology, especially related to alternative fuels) but really dislike his complete disregard for new oil drilling (yes, even in the ANWAR) and his stance on no new nuclear power.  as far as him as a person, i think he’s just like any other politician, albeit a much more polished and better orator than we’ve seen for quite some time.  he’s probably better than clinton (billy, not wifey) in the speech giving realm even.

mccain on the other hand…. well, i would’ve voted for him 8 years ago when he seemed like more of a maverick and less of a rank and file republican.  i don’t find his support of the iraq war very comforting, and his selection of sarah palin really screams desperation to me (although it seems to be working, based on the latest polls).  on the subject of sarah palin, i think she’s exactly what mccain says we don’t need in obama; inexperienced, shady, and overall just a weak leader.  granted, she’s pretty hot, so there’s that i guess.  beyond that, i find the republican view of less freedom = more security very scary and something that i think needs to be avoided completely if we are to really keep america great.  i don’t think i need to get into the recent republican love of religious conservatism and their staunch opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

so who am i going to vote for?  right now i’m leaning towards obama.  not because i feel so great about his candidacy, but rather because i feel not so great about mccain’s.  i’d rather give the democrats a few years to fuck it up in new ways than let the republicans continue their current course of fuckary.

but yeah, politics is like religion.  everyone has an opinion, and they always think their opinion is the only one that’s correct or matters.  i guess i’m no different, sadly…

this commercial has started playing a lot lately here.  while i don’t really find the content of the ad obectionable (i always think public awareness is a good thing) the tone of it is way too fearmonger-ish. the website has some useful information, but i really wish they would have toned down the ad some.

the main concern seems to be over avian bird flu (which has been spotted in ohio, though in low risk cases only).  i guess some warning is better than no info or head in the sand syndrome.

but just remember… IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN *dum dum duummmmmmm*