McCain strategist: Palin thought candidacy was mapped by God
Sarah Palin believed that Sen. John McCain chose her to be his running mate in the 2008 presidential race because of "God's plan," according to a top political strategist in the Arizona Republican's campaign.
In an interview with the CBS news magazine "60 Minutes," Steve Schmidt described Palin as "very calm -- nonplussed" after McCain met with her at his Arizona ranch just before putting her on the Republican ticket. McCain had planned to name Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) as his choice until word leaked, sparking what Schmidt called political blowback over selecting the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee.
McCain strategist: Palin thought candidacy was mapped by God - washingtonpost.com
]]>It seemed like while I was frantically trying to read from the book with the lines that the text was changing, or I couldn't find what other people were reading from.
Then the writer/official writer came in during the middle of thing and presented us with some kind of award and sarcastically labeled us as being the worst performers ever. Everyone left, feeling embarrassed and shamed.
We were then eating in what seemed like a basement of the theatre that felt like as cafeteria/restaurant. Everyone was sitting at tables with a few friends from the cast. Maybe because I cognized that text changing on you was indicative of being in a dream, I asked the entire room if anyone remembered having gone to a rehearsal or reading. A young girl mentioned about having seen the national production. I said "Yeah, but how about this one? This is a dream. I am dreaming all of this right now." I tried to say more, but my voice got all muddled, like I had peanut butter filling my mouth, and then they couldn't hear me. I wanted to prove to them that this was a dream, so I turned everyone into an ear of corn, which here all husked. I think I turned them back. Then I woke up and the alarm to wake up went off.
Weird. I don't recall my dreams very often, but I do occasionally get lucid ones.
]]>Bear in mind, I have never used a real firearm in my life. I don’t even recall being particularly interested in toy guns when I was a kid. Not especially opposed or repelled by it, you understand, but it is something that I have no particular interest in, sort like football. I am sure that when I get excited about some of my interests, other peoples’ eyes undoubtedly glaze over in the same way.
In addition to never having used a gun, I also don’t drink or smoke, so from the perspective of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, I pretty much don’t exist.
I wondered if the NRA was just clueless or if someone was trying some kind of prank. (It wasn’t a “Dear Occupant” thing – it had my name on it.) If it was intended as a prank, it didn’t really work, since I find the whole thing a hoot.
]]>| What: | Joe Sestak Meet and Greet On January 7, 2010, come and meet Congressman Joe Sestak, Democratic candidate for US Senate. Learn about him, his ideas, and his vision. Join us at the East Erie Turners, 829 Parade St. at 6:00pm to meet Joe Sestak. (you can use the door off the parking lot or the front.) |
| When: | Thursday, January 7, 2010 6:00 PM |
| Where: | East Erie Turners 829 parade Street Erie, Pennsylvania 16501 United States |
I also posted the event to the Erie Dems Facebook group.
For those who can’t make this, Ron DiNicola is having a reception just before the event at 5 PM at 4134 Commodore Drv.
]]>About a year ago, I noticed that one of the local bars had pasted in the calendar from our web site onto their site. However, the calendar was out of date. I figured that it would be kind of a pain for them to have to copy and paste new entries and take off old ones every time that I made a change, so I hunted for a script that would consume the RSS feeds that I already had. I found a rather nice one at Landmark Project. Apart from the webmaster initially pasting in the code, there is no further work – we maintain the content, and the other site stays updated.
It occurred to me that there were other relevant sites that could also carry the same code, which meant that the original research and development for the code paid off. I saw it as a mutually cooperative and beneficial arrangement: the more sites that carried the RSS feeds, the more likely that folks would be to find news and events. If I am looking at this correctly, everyone wins! And since it is an automatic thing, no one has to do any additional work past the one time pasting in of the JavaScript snippet.
I wanted to give the sites that carry our RSS feed some extra love, and I also wanted to get the code out there to make it easier for other sites to paste in. I did some database design and coding, and added it on to the existing resource section of the database and also created the new RSS feed partners page. I added a drop down to the page so that I folks could easily jump to the other feed. I have only pushed the calendar and news RSS feeds, but there are others as well.
Hmm, just realized that I should add some kind of indicator about RSS stuff to the resource page. Oh well, that should be pretty quick to do. I should also try to write some kind of article for the web site to let folks know about the new feature.
I have some social stuff for tomorrow, which is good since I should balance out. But I do feel pretty good about getting this done.
]]>So, I headed off to the Zone and had a pretty good time. I bumped into a co-worker, who was out with her parents. Just after midnight, I mentioned that when folks were talking about this being the new decade, it was not exactly accurate. (Although, obviously any date/time could be used as the start of an arbitrary decade – October 7, 1982 was the end of a decade that began 10 years earlier.)
When co-worker and I were talking, I mentioned about another co-worker who referred to January 1, 2000 as the start of the new century/millennium. I pointed out that since the years would have been denoted with Roman numerals, and since there is no Roman numeral for zero, therefore, the first year would have been the equivalent of a 1, not a 0, so 2000 was therefore the last year of the 20th century. (Assuming that when folks switched from Roman numerals to Arabic, they didn’t take into account that they were also changing what the lowest possible starting integer could be.)
The co-worker I was talking with went from talking about I (the Roman numeral) to i (as in the imaginary number representing the square root of –1.) I instantly knew what she was referring to.
Who says we geeks don’t know how to cut loose and be all wild and crazy?? I had a fairly good time chatting and dancing, so it was pretty good.
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It may be a silly tradition, but it’s mine, darn it! Every year, I tape the holiday cards that I get to the fireplace and then take a photo. I was bad this year – money was kind of tight, so I skipped sending cards out this time. Hopefully, next year things will be better.
It really makes me feel warm and fuzzy to have so many good people in my life. I have a lot to be grateful for.
My dog Heracles decided to pull a Crasher Squirrel and got in the photo.
]]>The contest administration has grown and changed a lot over the years. I used to just manually create a form on a page, and copy/paste the resulting emails into a database. It is much more automated now, so I can set stuff up fairly quickly and painlessly, and notification is pretty much a breeze.
It makes me feel good that we can help artists and others spread the word about their work, and reward people who visit the Erie Gay News site with an occasional freebie now and then. This also helps us to make connections with more people, which helps us mobilize the community when we need to.
Hopefully, I will be able to get the next project done as well.
]]>9 years ago, on New Year’s Eve, December 2000, my partner at the time and I went out to the old Zone. I think that we wore M&M boxer shorts. Well, our initials were both MM and it was the year 2000 or MM in Roman numerals, so why the heck not. My leather jacket was stolen from the bar (not fun since it was very cold) and there was some post bar stuff that became a landslides of mishaps. It was annoying at the time, but it made for a good story later.
8 years ago, we went to a neighbors’ post bar party. I am fine with walking, but the partner (soon to be an ex within slightly less than a year) insisted on driving the 2-4 blocks. We found a parking space directly across the street. Unfortunately, some drunken ditz at the after bar party backed out to the driveway and smacked into my car. It left a dent and the car ended up dying anyway later that year, right around the time of the break up.
7 years ago was just after the break up. However, I had already grieved before he moved out and was actually over it by then. (A sure sign that it needed to be over.) Even though I was single, I was just thankful that year that there was no property casualty for New Year’s Eve. I didn’t want to think what would come after a leather jacket, then a car.
So, here’s to a bright and happy New Year for all of us!
]]>I wasn’t sure how much of a difference that putting the plastic film over the windows helps, but went ahead. My inner sarcastic voice said “Oh yeah. Put up something like Saran Wrap, and you’ll be toasty warm. Whatever.”
Every year, work gives us a gift certificate for a local butcher shop, so I generally stock up and try to freeze in single serving sizes. I got that out of the way, and then used the vacuum food sealer, so I ended up with oodles of bags of stuff. Apparently the domestic theme is “shrink wrapping for the holidays!”
One of the projects that I wanted to work on for the Erie Gay News web site for the calendar page was adding a field for events to tie in the venue resource, as opposed to the resource for contact. In the sort of home grown content management system that I wrote for the newsletter, I had previously added a selection when adding a new event to pick a resource and then fill in the location and contact info. I also had it link back to the resource entry from the calendar page and the calendar RSS feed.
The problem occurs when when a resource has an event at another resource. I typically had chosen the venue resource and then rekeyed other stuff, but that was a small amount of work.
As an example, the LBT Women meet at Presque Isle Gallery Coffeehouse every month. I previously had keyed these in. So, when I added the field for venue resource, I was then able to link to the venue’s phone and web site, as well as for the group. Less keying for me! I thought that might also be useful in that someone might want to call before the event for info, but might also need to know the venue phone if they got lost or there was another crisis.
I also added a field for meeting text, since some of the groups that meet regularly tend to have fairly standard text for their meetings, or at least have something. Copy and paste may be our friend, but having something fill in automatically is better yet.
Yeah, I am a big geeky nerd, but getting this accomplished made me feel pretty good. And since I upgraded the code for the calendar RSS feed, that means that the extra info for venue stuff now appears not only on our site, but the 10 or so sites that carry our calendar RSS feed. (I also fixed the annoying display format for when an event spans more than 1 day.)
]]>A guy IM’ed me and asked if I was interested in getting together. I didn't feel particularly interested, and I said that I was catching up on some geek tasks. he then asked about the future, and I mentioned that I was usually pretty busy with GLBT stuff, Pagan stuff and Democratic Party stuff. (I.e. my schedule is usually fairly busy.) He said that he usually didn’t go out in Erie, but rather in Pittsburgh.
He then mentioned that he was also into politics. I said something about that was nice, and he said that I might not think so. I asked if that meant that he was a Republican, and he said that he was a Constitutionalist, whom I believe are usually even more right wing than the Republicans. He then went on to say that he had voted for Reagan. (Mentally, I am trying to not instantly classify him as a self-loathing closet case, but it was tough.) Yes, I know that there are gay conservatives, but it is not something I get, and it is pretty much a deal-breaker for me.
Can I just say that from my personal perspective that the phrase “I voted for Reagan” ranks right up there with “Hey! Let’s check out my scorching herpes outbreak and then we can go look at the corpses buried in my basement!” as a pick up line?
I was responding with some fairly non-committal variations on “okey-dokey” to all of this.
Then he asks about getting together again. I say that I am about to go out and wish him a nice evening. I resisted the urge to response to the inquiry about getting together with “Only if you are incredibly hot, and the only thing I hear from you are variations on ‘Oh yeah! Pound me harder!!!.” And even then, probably not. I have standards, I am not saying that they aren’t low, but there are, indeed, standards.
I felt the need to cleanse myself, so I went out to the Zone. It was a nice night. I chatted with some friends. I saw my friend John (who is rather hot, and also charming) and John pointed out that there seemed to be a preponderance of black and white flannel shirts being worn that night. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I couldn’t help but notice it the rest of the evening.
So, some more geek stuff to work on during vacation. I think that I need to turn in now.
]]>I spent a fair amount of the day before heading over to Mom’s keying 2009 entries into the Erie Gay News section for local history. Yeah, I am kind of wild and crazy guy, I guess. ;)
My brother’s friend Karen needed a ride, so since she was en route, I picked her up. My brother Steve had to work until 6 PM, and he had a car rented, so that was okay.
Mom made Rock Cornish game hens for dinner. They were yummy! Mom noted at one point that they were still rather pale (“blonde” is the word that she used.) Then Karen and I noted that the rest of the food was also light colored, so we joked about a very Merry Aryan Christmas. (My family has kind of a macabre sense of humor.)
We told Karen the Orange Julius story. About 1990, I was over at Mom’s for Christmas. My brother was in the Army at that point, so he wasn’t there. Mom had found a recipe for something like orange Julius and wanted to make it. It ended up burning out the motor on the blender and was not exactly a crowning culinary success. At the time, I didn’t have the heart to tell Mom that I wasn’t particularly a fan of Orange Julius anyway. Years after, we all kind of laugh about it.
I helped Mom and Karen later with how to post photos to Flickr for linking to a sewing site called Ravelry that they are on. Hopefully, I wasn’t too complicated. I think that they got it.
It was a really nice evening, and I very much enjoy that it was low key. I am not very big on the need to have some ornate celebration of the holidays. I tend to think that the urge to buy stuff and plan elaborate stuff tends to get in the way. Fortunately, my family is pretty much all of the same mind.
I went out to the Zone later and talked with a couple that are good friends. The wife mentioned that they had visited her mother, and on the way back, they had stopped at an adult book store that was right on the way because “nothing says Christmas like a shiny new butt plug!” I guffawed.
All in all, I think that I had a great holiday!
]]>There were 5 places to drop off at, and the first 4 were closed. Okay, not a big surprise on Christmas eve. I ended up at Club Sneakers. Not only were they open, but they were having a Christmas party. (Have I ever turned down a free meal in my life? I don’t think so.) Everyone was very friendly and pleasant. I had a few chats with various folks. It was nice hearing that some of them were regular readers.
All in all, I am glad that I went.
]]>The rest of us groaned and felt really, really old. I remember doing all sort of reprogramming. How odd to think that something that was such a big concern 10 years ago is not even in the consciousness of younger folks.
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