Some preliminary results are coming in for the election and yes I started freaking a little. But then I realized that the states that were being reported on were usually Republican strongholds anyway, so I still have hope.
I should probably try to get some housework done. I am not sure if I am going to go to any election parties tonight. I am jut so nervous.
Add comment November 4th, 2008
Well, it’s Election Day in the US! I hope no one forgets to get out there and exercise their right to vote today.
I think I am going to head out to the polls a little earlier than I normally would today. Of course, I could have voted early, but I like voting on Novemner 4th.
I just have so much anxiety about this election - more so than when Bush was up for re-election. I’ve really come to admire Obama these last few months and I really hope that he wins today. It’s also just so heart breaking that his Grandma passed away the day before Election day too. If only she could have held out one more day, she probably would have seen him elected President. But, I am sure she is with him in spirit now.
This election is certainly a historic one of the US and not because we will either have an African-American President or a female V.P., but because of the philosophical implications this election will have. Personally, I don’t agree with the direction the US has been taking these last few years. I am hoping that a change in leadership will help bring about the change we so desperately need right now.
I am just exhausted right now. I am glad that I do have the day off though. I just hope I can channel most of my nervous energy into cleaning while waiting for the election results.
Add comment November 4th, 2008
So, I kind of, sort of, went to Podcamp Hawaii 2008 at the Hawaii Convention Center on Saturday. I say kind of, sort of, because it was a 2 day event, and I showed up for one of the last sessions on the second day. Doh. Well, the first day was on a Friday and I couldn’t take off of work to go. I couldn’t sleep Friday night either, so getting up early enough Saturday was also a challenge.
I was going to chicken out and not go, but I knew my friend from high school, Renee, was going to be there and I hadn’t seen her in over 10 years, so I just had to go! We recently reconnected via Twitter too!
They had a ton of different sessions dealing with all kinds of online stuff. Yea, I am a professional describer person. 
I wasn’t going to go initially, mostly because I am just so shy nowadays, but then I saw that Congressman Neil Abercrombie was going to be giving a presentation and since I’ve never really heard him speak before, I just had to go!
First of all, I have never been to the Hawaii Convention Center so that was a new experience for me. I still remember all of the controversy surrounding the building of the complex all of those years ago. I still don’t know how they are doing on bookings, but I don’t think the place is as busy as everyone hoped it would be. The place is actually very pretty and much, much larger than I thought it was. There are all kinds of escalators and passages to different areas of the complex - I actually got lost briefly trying to find Podcamp. I should have taken a video of what seemed like a 3 story escalator ride, but I forgot. Doh.
The place actually looks like it would be a great concert venue, but I doubt anything like that would happen there.
It was a bit surreal going to this conference though. It was weird walking into a room because when you did, people would look at you and they would get that face like they are trying to see if they recognize you from somewhere and that was kind of funny. I recognized a lot of people though - people who’s pictures I’ve seen by lurking through the photo sets of various Hawaii geeks! Going to this thing also made me realize just how painfully shy I am sometimes and how much self confidence I’ve lost over the years. I wonder how I can get that back?
Congressman Abercrombie’s presentation was really good too. It was just so refreshing to hear a politician be passionate and speak his mind. He was also pretty freaking funny too. At one point he made a joke about how all of the names of these various social networks all sound like sex toys! How awesome is that? It then made me have a really bizarre thought that I was around people, whom I bet 99% of them have actively sought out net porn. LOL!
I wish I had videoed the speech since he made a couple of really good and interesting points that I would like to hear again. I could probably look something up on the net, but I’m tired right now. He made an interesting point about the importance of reflection and how microblogging makes him stop for a moment to reflect about what he is doing instead of just go-go-going all the time.
He also made a comment about how there will always be special interest groups, but you have to be able to discern if the special interest is in the public interest, or something like that.
After that presentation was over, I headed over the main auditorium and caught the last 5 minutes or so of Matt Mullenweg’s Wordpress presentation/Q&A session. Matt is the founder of Wordpress! I kind of glimpsed at the schedule previously, but I didn’t realize that he was going to be there until after Congressman Abercrombie’s presentation. I heard he gave a preview of Wordpress 2.7 which should be coming out soon and he also made an announcement about wordpress.tv which should be launcing pretty soon. Wordpress.tv is going to be a site set up with all kinds of videos that will show you how to do all kinds of stuff with Wordpress! OMG! How exciting!
There was a final session Q&A after Matt’s presentation, but I didn’t stick around for that. I was tired and I had a bunch of errands I wanted to run since I was out already. I headed out to Costco to pick up a few necessities and gas at Costco Iwilei was $2.69/gal! Holy Crap! I was going to fill up the tank, but the lines were hella long. I mean one of the lines almost reached Dillingham Blvd! Eek! I will either try again tomorrow, or just wait until Monday.
I also went to Best Buy and got one of those clear cases for my iPod Nano too! Hurray! I have a case! I was storing it in a sock, but this will be much better.
Well, it’s past 2am now, I’m pooped.
Add comment October 26th, 2008
I am so very sleepy right now. Shocking! I know! I just haven’t been sleeping very well these last few days. I think it’s stress. I just realized that the last 3 jobs I’ve had have been extremely stressful positions. I must be some kind of masochist or something. We did pull off another event today though. Whew. I am just incredibly backed up on my regular work now. Hurray! We have another event tomorrow and then one more next week and then hopefully November will be a bit more relaxed. I am hoping, but not positive. I might just try to switch positions then, I am not sure yet.
I am also really disappointed in myself. I had a whole list of things to do this past weekend and I think I accomplished 1 of them. I did make it to the gym on Saturday and used one of the Cardio Coach workouts I got from the wonderful Sean O’Malley. Heehee, he seems like a really cool/sweet guy actually. Heehee. Girl Crush!
I was just so exhausted this past weekend. It was nice to finally get a couple of days off, but I just kept thinking about all of the work I have to do and I just couldn’t relax. I should do some kundalini yoga again. That really seems to “center” me when I am out of whack.
Sometimes I just feel so overwhelmed by it all - all of the work I have, all of the housework and home improvements I need to do and well, I just don’t know where to begin. I know I just need to start and just do something, but I overthink a lot of things and just can’t seem to get myself started.
I also just don’t have the money to do a lot of the things that need to be done around the house too. I really want to pull up all of the carpet and put in some nice flooring, but I have an idea in my head as to how much that is going to cost and it seems like an unreachable goal right now. I could do a lot of the work myself I suppose, but I’ve never laid flooring before. Plus, I think I would have trouble with moving a lot of the furniture around.
I also really need to replace my bathroom sink since it just isn’t very practical/functional, but I don’t know how much installation would cost on that and if I do that, I would need to paint the bathroom too. Ugh. It’s like a snowball effect. I need to do x, but that would mean that I would also have to do y in order for it to not seem so out there.
I just feel like I have no energy anymore. I know that is primarily because I am not exercising regularly, but it’s a viscous cycle, as trite as that is. If I exercise more, I would have the energy to do more stuff, but I am too tired to workout a lot of the times. Argh! I am still seriously considering getting a treadmill though. I think it would be easier if I could just get on a treadmill instead of spending so much time getting to the gym. I gotta keep an eye on craigslist.
Eh, I am just whining. I need to learn how not to procrastinate so much.
Add comment October 14th, 2008
ignorant /ˈɪgnərənt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ig-ner-uhnt] –adjective
1. lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned: an ignorant man.
2. lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact: ignorant of quantum physics.
3. uninformed; unaware.
4. due to or showing lack of knowledge or training: an ignorant statement.
The video above is from bloggerinterrupted.com and wow - just wow. It really makes me sad that some people choose to be so willfully ignorant. Yes, these people are choosing to be ignorant. I don’t know where these people are getting their information from. I am guessing that it’s pretty much an amalgamation of rumours, half truths and well, plain old lies. How can people believe this crap?
I am going to say it’s fear. Fear of change, the unknown, and I hate to say it, but of the non-white man. Whatever happens in this election will be a historical turning point for the United States. For the first time we will either have a non-white President or a female Vice President. It’s great, but also sad and frustrating that it’s only taken over 200 years for something like this to happen.
I think a lot of this whole “ZOMG! He doesn’t have a “white” name, he must be a muslim and a terrorist” bullshit is, well, veiled racism. These people know it’s not acceptable to insult the man just because he doesn’t look white, but unfortunately, in today’s society, prejudice against muslims seems to be acceptable to a lot of people. Therefore these people cry out Fear! Fear! Fear the supposed muslim! because they know they can’t just say that they won’t vote for Obama because he is black.
It’s terribly frustrating to me that people are willing to be so gullible. How much time does it take to read a newspaper or watch the news everyday? Every week? How much time does it take to Google something?
It’s also dispiriting to me how so many people revel in their stupidity. How did we get this way? Is it egotism? I think a lot of Americans are incredibly egotistical and it pains me to see how this is affecting our community at large. Now, let me say this as well, (okay, it’s my blog, I can say what I want anyways 
), but I am not making any claims here to be perfect or that I am always right. I know I don’t know everything and am very far from perfection. However, I am willing to learn and try to look at things from different points of view.
I think it’s pretty obvious that I am a Liberal - and damn proud of it too. Liberal is NOT a dirty word. It is NOT an insult. The people who throw the word around like it’s an insult seem to be oblivious to the meaning of the word. (Read the definition yourself - I provided a link). I like to think of myself as a Social Democrat - which seems to be confused with socialism by a lot of people who refuse to do the research.
Do I think Obama is perfect? No, no one is perfect - but I think he has the best chance of repairing our reputation with the rest of the world and will hopefully be an instrument of change that we so desperately need right now. The rest of the world can see this, why can’t we? The US can not take another 4 years of Republican rule.
It goes back to fear. The Republicans are brilliant strategists - I give them that. They like to make it seem that the only way to keep the US safe is to keep them in power. I just don’t get it. Having the strongest and largest military force in the world is not a guarantee for safety and security. If that were the case, then the events on Sept. 11, 2001 would never have happened. Yes, having a strong military is helpful, but I think diplomacy is even more important. We do not live in a black and white world - there are too many factors for that. We can not say that because we have a big stick, the rest of the world has to abide by our rules. That kind of attitude will cause nothing but strife with the rest of the world and I believe that this has already happened to some extent.
Obama gives me hope. I just hope others feel the same way I do come election day.
Add comment October 10th, 2008
