I asked for a bowling ball....

x.mas is nearing fast. i've already recieved my gift from my roommate - Pampered Chef baby! and i've officially wrapped 1/2 of my gifts (i did them while i was in mn). not to mention that i've now recieved my 6th holiday party invite. it's crazy! just seems like yesterday i was celebrating Thanksgiving...oh wait i WAS!

anyway, as for x.mas. i'm excited cause it will be my first grown-up one where i rock the work parties along with all the other ones. also, it will be my first White House Christmas party shin-dig too. i'm nervous for that one cause i'm forseeing me looking and acting like a fool. we'll just have to wait a week and see. no worries, there will probably be a post on that.

as for my title.....yeah, i asked for a bowling ball for x.mas. not because i'm great at bowling (well, yes i am when it comes to playing it via the Wii) but in all reality i think it would be 'nifty' to have my own bowling ball with my name on it. then maybe i'll go bowling more than the average 2x a year that i currently do.

when i brought the idea up to my mom, she said "what? why? you rarely bowl." i counter-acted her by mentioning that she had only gone kyaking only once befrore she bought her own kyak. funny how that quieted her down and then came with me to check out bowling balls. i think i might luck out and actually get one. again, i'll let you know if i do.

so yeah, i asked for a bolwing ball for Christmas.

I love you Frank.....

Sinatra is where I find any solace lately. I forgot that once the election was done I'd have 100% more friends again. You see, when it got to September I 'lost' a lot of friends so I started to make new ones to fill the gap....well it's done and my social calendar is a tad full. I shouldn't complain but it's true. I actually used the excuse that I had to wash my hair to gain some extra "me time" (it was amazing time....it included me reading and listening to my man, Sinatra).

Anyway, this Saturday just proved to me how crazy it is. In a matter of 24 hours I hungout w/ the Fed Society, celebrated a birthday, watched Big Ten football, talked to 5 friends on the phone, did the West Wing, saw Harriet Miers, semi-helped a friend move, went to dinner and watched a cab hit a parked car, met up w/ co-workers for another birthday party, and then took a drive w/ a friend who I ran into on the street at 2:30 am.

Phew. I'm exhausted just recalling that. I am happy to say that also during that time I was hit on by 8 guys and got made fun of and/or hung-up on by 2 friends.

Here were my top picks from the 24 hr period:

Best pick-up line: "You....now I'm no expert....but you...you have GORGEOUS hair"

Most Hilarious Moment: "Your name is Aweswome" *then he fell off the stool*

Worst Moment: 45 mins to find parking by Dupont

Most Bizarre Moment: Running into PP at 2 am and then having an agrument

Can't Believe I Went There Moment: Flirted w/ a 1 L from Michigan

Shopping.....*argh*

Originally written 11/13/06

**WARNING - GIRLY POST!!!!**

This past weekend was a nice three day one which amounted to me succeeding at two things – cleaning my apt (to the bare bones) and finding a dress for an upcoming wedding. The cleaning was awesome – I was done in 4.5 hours. I literally got to a point where I ran out of stuff to clean. The freezer and linen closets were even clean!

Now dress shopping was a little different. I am a girl – yes. That is very clear, but when it comes to shopping, I’m very much like a man. I walk in, get what I want and leave. Very little time is spent ‘browsing.’ My mother is a window-shopper. I don’t get it. You either like it and buy it; or you don’t. Simple.

But when it comes to clothing, okay more like dresses (for semi to formal occasions)….it does take me a long time. As in, I will probably try on more than 5 dresses. The there are two reasons for this, you need to look “good” in a dress because nothing is worse than spending a boat load of $$ on something that isn’t flattering for an event in which people do care about what you are wearing. Also, a dress is usually for a function where you will possibly meet someone of the opposite sex or should impress the hell out of your date. If he doesn’t think you look good in a dress…then it’s tough luck for you (i.e. the procession is usually from sweats, to jeans, to business casual, to formal) so basically you’re screwed if you can’t pull off the formal look.

It’s hard to believe but it took me a solid 25 dresses and 1.5 hours to find the right dress. I like the dress and got approval from two friends. I haven’t pre-tried it on man yet, but will before the function. (Man approval on 11/15/06). The I want to make sure that it’s worth keeping. I think I could’ve done better but that would have meant me going to another store and trying on more……something that that definitely wasn’t allowed in my allotted shopping time (I time EVERTHING I do in life down to the half hour).

After experiencing those few hours of hell I took care of it w/ a bottle of champagne and then a succession of bars in Dupont and a trip to Alexandria. I woke up the next morning feeling not so faublous but then I discovered (ahem, remembered) that I had a new dress.....so I tried it on, and all was good.

And in case if you were wondering about my accessories - the martini glass is JUST FINE.

Whatever you say.

It's been a rough two weeks for me and anyone else who bears the GOP brand.....but we made it through. A little rough and a lot of sad moments, but no worries, there's always another election. At least it gives me a break from having to defend my party. Now I can sit back and watch the 'others' screw-up. And yes, I'll be sitting back with a nice cool drink in hand.

I was deployed back to my home state to work the GOTV-72 hr. I was thrilled because I still care about home. That is, until they switched my assignment. Less than 24 hours of boarding the plane I found out that I was be deployed to a small town 2.5 hours north of the Cities with 3 other woman. There were many things wrong with this situation. A) I was going NORTH of the Cities....that means closer to Unionville or the uber-conservatives....both of which I'm not. B) No friend of mine lives there. C) They are sending me there with all women....I can barely live with one how will I live 5 days straight w/ three strange ones? And we know they aren't normal becuase they are like me and were crazy enough to take time off work to make phone calls and knock on doors for a mid-term election in a strange state.

After finding out my bad luck I immediately got on the phone and tried to change it. No luck there. So I complained enough to get one of my guy friends to haul his ass up to the northland to help out and keep me mildly sane. We did our volunteer stuff, went crazy and had politics oozing out of our systems by the time Tuesday rolled around.

Our groups phone-banked a solid 7,200 calls and knocked over 500 doors (rough est)

It was a good time and had many nut-case moments including some of the following:

Argument over who has a better college:
AE (from Tennessee) - "Yadeeyada....we're awesome at something that I don't remember her saying"
Me (U of M) - "yeah, well we have science."
*I won*

"Keep up the chipper."
- Man on the phone after hearing my reminder to vote for the GOP

"Go, just go!!!"
- Meg (from Philly) after dropping lit at a house that just bagged a buck and was hanging it in their garage

*dry tone of voice* "He, he. His ego is amazing."
-About Newt Gingerich on FoxNews

"I've never heard someone fake a personality as well as you."
- JR in regards to my VERY chipper phone-banking voice

6 am Wednesday morning......*ring, ring*
Me: "Hey Tyler."
Tyler:"LET'S DRINK BEER!!!!"
Me: "I'm at the airport. Sorry."
Tyler: "You suck"
*click*

****More to come******

In the Bubble

A weekly article by my favorite lobbyist and MN native.

Inside the DC Bubble
By: Steve Kopperud
We in Washington, DC, live in a bubble. We spend a whole lot of time insulated from the real world between Washington and Los Angeles, talking to ourselves, listening to our DC-based pundits, reading our DC-tainted media, and we are always astounded when we get out of Washington that folks "out there" don't think the way we do or care about the things we've convinced ourselves are so important.

I've been on the road this week, spending time with folks who come primarily from midwestern states, and when I listen to them opine on their local or state elections or on the issues that matter to them, the words I hear just don't jive with what I hear in DC.

No partisan position taken here, but this "groundswell" to toss the GOP onto the streets that's become the drumbeat for East Coast and West Coast media isn't resonating with the folks with whom I'm talking. Is there frustration with Washington? You bet. Is there concern about the war in Iraq? No question. Is there a desire to elect a whole lot of new folks? Not so much.

What I hear people talking about is the economy, the explosion of biobased alternative fuels and what that means to crop production and marketing, security -- both financial and physical, and generally their personal quality of life issues.

The people with whom I've been spending most of this week want to see Washington get off the partisan bandwagon and refocus themselves. They blame the Democrats as much as the GOP -- as they should -- for the stalemnate in DC. But there's very much a "better-the-devil-you-know" mindset among these folks.

Is this the best of all possible worlds, politically? No, it's not. Would it better if we could point to victories and we could say, "They're doing their jobs." Yup, it would. But the folks out here in the Heartland are a smart bunch, and they understand the game. They just don't like how the game's being played in DC right now.

Leaders and rank and file of both parties need to wake up. They need to get off the national party bandwagon and get back to paying attention to the folks who will ulimately elect -- or unelect -- them in about two weeks.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Five More Days!

Screw not being political.....

GIS DROP SMART BOMB ON KERRY
HILARIOUS HEROES FIRE BACK OVER DEM AND DUMBER CRACK ABOUT IRAQ

By TODD VENEZIA in N.Y. and IAN BISHOP in Washington

WACKY IN KHAKI:

A group of sharp-witted soldiers gives Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry a Memorable rebuke for his so-called "joke" advice to students to study or else end up "stuck in Iraq." The devastating photo raced around the Internet yesterday after being posted ona Milwaukee talk-radio host's blog.

NOVEMBER 2, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - A group of GIs showed they are smart enough to take on condescending Sen. John Kerry - by deploying a hilariously misspelled sign mocking the failed presidential candidate's comments about their education.

"Halp us Jon Carry - We R stuck hear n Irak," read the sign, which was apparently the brainchild of a group of service members from the Minnesota National Guard.

The picture was first revealed yesterday on the blog Web site of Milwaukee talk radio host Charlie Sykes, who said he got it from a listener who had a buddy in the unit.

The picture soon raced around the Internet, and it got much of the nation chuckling when it went up on Drudge Report later in the day.

Staff Sgt. Erik Holtan, a member of the Minnesota National Guard, says he saw the picture and recognized the insignia as that of his fellow Minnesota guardsmen - and he immediately put it up on his own blog site.

"It's awesome," he told The Post. "The troops over there have to be livid because of what [Kerry] said. I don't know why he would say that."

Holtan, who works at Guard headquarters, said he believes the troops behind the Kerry sign are in Iraq, since all the members of the unit in the shot - the 1/34 Brigade Troops Battalion - have been deployed.

He said he can see a unit insignia on one of the vehicles in the background and those vehicles have also gone to Iraq.

Fox News Channel quoted Army officials saying that the picture looked authentic and appeared to be taken in Iraq.

"We are always amazed at the creativity of our troops," one Army official told Fox.

Without citing sources, ABC News in Washington said the photograph was taken in Talil, several hundred miles south of Baghdad, where members of the unit are located.

By the end of the day, the shot was burning up the Internet - and was the most stinging rebuke to Kerry's knuckleheaded flub.

The Minnesota Guard and the Pentagon said they could not comment on the picture.

Meanwhile, Kerry surrendered yesterday to a barrage of criticism from Republicans and Democrats over his troop-trashing gaffe and apologized "to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.

Kerry's belated mea culpa, issued at 4:24 p.m., came after Democratic candidates in Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania refused to campaign with him - and Republicans made him the centerpiece of their stump speeches.

"As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: My poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to, any troop," Kerry said in the statement.

"I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended," he added.

Republicans pounced on the miscue by the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee and thrust the divisive Kerry onto center stage to fire up the party's conservative base.

"You remember John Kerry, the senator who voted for the $87 billion before he voted against it - the guy that was always lecturing us about nuances," Vice President Dick Cheney said to a Montana GOP rally in remarks prepared for delivery.

Added Cheney, "Of course, now Sen. Kerry says he was just making a joke, and he botched it up. I guess we didn't get the nuance. He was for the joke before he was against it" - a reprise of the flip-flopper stigma Republicans tied to Kerry in 2004.

The war of words comes as Republicans and Democrats scramble for the upper hand less than a week before the crucial congressional elections.

Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate to win back control.

Before issuing the statement, Kerry insisted he meant no offense to the troops and was trying to insult President Bush and his Cabinet for failing to do their homework before invading Iraq when he told students in California they'd "get stuck in Iraq" if they didn't study hard.

After the initial criticism Tuesday, Kerry had defiantly defended his remarks, saying he "apologized to no one" and ripping he Bush White House.

Kerry told nationally syndicated radio host Don Imus yesterday morning that he was only "sorry about a botched joke. You think I love botched jokes? I mean, you know, it's pretty stupid."

Imus, echoing may Democratic strategists, begged him: "Please stop it. Stop talking. Go home, get on the bike, go windsurfing, anything. Stop it. You're going to ruin this."

Montana Democratic Senate candidate Jon Tester concurred: "Sen. Kerry's remarks were poorly worded and just plain stupid. He owes our troops and their families an apology."

Before going to ground and issuing his apology on the Internet, Kerry, a Vietnam vet, accused the White House of trying to "distort something completely out of its context" for political gain.

White House press secretary Tony Snow shot back: "Kerry's words were pretty straightforward, and if you listen to the tone of voice in which he said them, it's hard to construe them as a joke. He didn't sound like he was trying to make funnies."

"Do the following words malign the troops? 'You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make the effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq,'" Snow added.

"Those are the words. That's not the intention. We're sitting here trying to do mind-reading. We're not playing the 'what if' game. Do those words insult the troops? Apparently, troops believe so," he said.

The Republican National Committee cut a Web ad - e-mailed to supporters - that features a video clip of Kerry's original comment.

"John Kerry should apologize. Our soldiers are waiting," the closing caption says.

President Bush, appearing on Rush Limbaugh's national radio show, said, "Anybody who is in a position to serve this country ought to have the consequences of words, and our troops deserve the full support of people in government."

"We've got incredible people in our military, and they deserve full praise and full support."

********
Only in MN....

After a reporter for the Rochester (Minn.) Post-Bulletin noticed similarities in expression between mayoral candidate Pat Carr and an pseudonymous supporter who posted message after message of praise of Carr on the newspaper's website, Carr admitted that he was the "supporter." Said Carr, "I stand by what I" wrote.

******

No Wait, Only in WV.....

West Virginia State Sen. Randy White decided in October to remain in the race for reelection despite the surfacing of photographs taken two years earlier of White nude except for body paint in a group of similarly decorated men. White said he had had a "personal identification situation."


DON'T FORGET TO VOTE - NOVEMBER 7TH!