The Writer's Poke

Your moment of zen for today: An Obama victory unifies the Democratic party (and I would argue, the nation). A Hillary victory unifies the Republican party. Enough said.

Hillary's rhetoric is smooth. And, I fear if she says things often enough, most people will start to believe her. She says that she's qualified to be president "day one" and Obama isn't. Look at the facts: Hillary has been elected just twice in her life. She's only been in office 8 years. Obama has been elected to public office four times, with 10 years of total public office experience. Yes, 6 of the 10 years were in the Illinois State Senate, but Illinois is no small state. So, Hillary, where are the other 27 years of experience you claim? I understand that being first lady counts for something, but it's not an elected office. I'm 34 years old, and I've been in school since I was 2, if I include pre-school. Does that mean I can claim 32 years experience in education? And what if Chelsea decided to run for office? Could she likewise claim 28 years experience (she was born in 1980)? By the way, Obama is 46 years old, and he's not exactly wet be...

In chess, white has the advantage. Going into last night, Hillary had the advantage with big leads in New York and California. And when I went to bed last night, Hillary was kicking butt in California -- up 20 points over Obama. But I was happy to see that this lead dropped to 10 points by morning (52 to 42). And while Hillary won the two big states, Obama won just about everything in middle of the country, other than Tennessee. So in the end, last night was a draw. Obama should be able to win the next few primaries. All I'm worried about is Texas. Why he cannot connect well with Latino voters is a mystery to me. Getting a draw from a superior player is in itself a victory. There's no doubt that Hillary is a grandmaster politician, and I would therefore call last night's showing for Obama a victory.

This could be a long night. I'm worried. Obama is my guy, but I have a feeling that Hillary is going to do better tonight. And, I'm not usually wrong about these kind of predictions. The good news is, when I drove to work this morning, there were only two Hillary supporters on the overpass trying to get people to honk for Hillary. Just two. That's rather pathetic. Heck, even when Ron Paul had supporters on that same overpass earlier in the year, there were always at least a dozen of them. Perhaps that means Hillary's support isn't that strong, at least in Minnesota. Keep your fingers crossed. I don't understand why in a country of 300 million people, the only people that we can elect to the office of President are named either Bush or Clinton. We need some new blood!

Talk about six degrees of separation... I'm not sure how much Ted Kennedy and Hulk Hogan agree on, but I do know this: both chaps support Barack Obama for president: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/hulk-hogan (you can see the video here) http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/ted_kennedy_end.html And, of course, Oprah supports Barack as well: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/oprah-endorses-obama-2/

The new year has me a bit down. Later this year, I'm turning 35, and I think I'm going to feel it. Granted, I realize how blessed I am. But I feel as though I've somehow "arrived," and while I like it, I feel locked in. That's never a feeling I've necessarily been good at accepting. Is it too late to ride off into the sunset, to find the next adventure? Some day, will I look back and laugh at the idea that 35 is "old"?

Here's Octavia stuffed into a Christmas stocking. This is the photo we used for our Christmas cards this year. I know we didn't get it sent to everyone, so if we happened to miss you, sorry! Consider this Christmas greetings from O, Linda, and Bret.

Fun bathtime with Octavia :)

This would make a good x-mas present, don'tcha think? :)

Click on the picture so that you can read what the latest KFC special in New York is. :)

Probably the best pic of Baby O so far. Had my first migraine last night, but I guess it's worth it.

So, she finally arrived. October 9, 2007 at 7:20 p.m. 8 lbs, 8 ounces and 22 inches long.

Who's your favorite author? Pretty boring question, me thinks. But let's spice it up: Who's your favorite author that you've never read? Right now, mine would have to be Christa Faust. I mean, just take a look at her website. How could you not be a fan of Ms. Faust? http://www.christafaust.com/ Currently, I have two of her books staring down at me from my "must read bookcase." But, honestly, I don't want to read her books. What if I don't like them? After all, sometimes things are better to admire from afar. I just fear that if I open Ms. Faust's books and take a look inside, I might not like what I find, and then where would I be? The last time I loved an author before I actually read anything by them? The author's name: Carlton Mellick III. The book: Razor Wire Pubic Hair . What a great title, what an interesting book cover. He was supposed to be the "modern-day Kurt Vonnegut." Nope, he wasn't anything like Vonnegut, and the des...

Doing a blog is fun, although I'm not able to post as often as I would wish. And, it would be more fun if it were set up more like an interactive discussion board. Sure, people can leave their comments, but they generally do so without leaving their name. That makes their comments seem somehow dirty to me. I don't like to live in the anonymous world of not even knowing the names of the people that I have intimate relations with. This is a blog for lovers, not players. :)

If you were going to have a baby girl, what would you name it? Most normal people would go for something like "Ashley" or "Nicole" or "Elizabeth." Not me. I like the name "Guinevere Octavia Fuller." How would you like to be stuck with that name growing up? :)

I was on Amazon looking up Children's Books, and I ran across an interesting fact. Jenny McCarthy has apparently written (and published) four books -- Louder than Words being her latest release. She also wrote the script to the movie Dirty Love . Not bad for someone that got her start as the co-host of MTV's Singled Out . Why do I mention all of this? Jenny and I are basically the same age, but I haven't published a thing. She's supposed to be a blond playmate airhead (which of course she's not), and she's publishing books and making movies. This cannot stand. If Ms. McCarthy can write books, then darn it, why can't I? Jenny, I accept your challenge. The score is 5-0, but I can catch up!

Ticket prices have gone up a lot since 1987. Back then, you could get a front row seat for $15. Saturday's show in Rochester was $50. And maybe Vince McMahon is overpricing his show, just a little... after all, the Mayo Civic Center was only 1/2 full. And on a sidenote, why do pro-wrestling fans have to bathe in sheep-dip before coming to the show? If you haven't been to a live, non-televised event, you probably should go. It's fun to watch the crowd, even if the action in the ring is terrible. When the cameras aren't on, wrestlers spend a lot of time standing around in the ring, rolling out the ring, yelling at the crowd, and basically just killing time. Is wrestling really that boring that they have to do all of these time-killing tricks? Probably not. More likely, wrestlers are on the road 200+ dates per year, and they're simply protecting their bodies. Anything more than 5 minutes of hard action would be too much to endure on a nightly basis. Here's a run do...

Here's another book that I don't have time to read. :) How well do you keep a diary? I kept one for a couple of years, actually. 1993-1994. And since then, I'll take a stab at an entry every once in a great while. To a certain extent, this blog has taken the place of my diary, but after getting Michael's diary in the mail yesterday -- 600 pages for the 10 year period -- I'm feeling a bit inspired. It's time to dust off the notebook and start putting pen to paper once more!

There's a lot to see and do in most places, but when you live in a place, it loses it's ability to be "exotic." Often times, if the choice is: should we go out exploring, or should we stay home and sit on the couch, the couch wins. As part of our Dubuque trip last weekend, and it took us hours to decide to actually go through with going to Dubuque, we decided to stop at Niagara Cave. http://www.niagaracave.com/default.asp Some say this is one of the top caves in the country, and it well might be. But, even so, it's just 40 miles from home, and it took us 15 months to make the drive there. (slow car) Let me rephrase that: Just forty miles, but 15 months to commit to going there. Am I glad we went? Of course, because now I have a weekend full of memories that I wouldn't have had sitting on the couch at home. And generally speaking, I love to travel. So why was it such a struggle to decide to go?

Question: What is between Rochester, Minnesota and Dubuque, Iowa? Answer: About 180 miles of corn fields and little else. My wife and I made the journey to Dubuque last weekend to see Kip Winger in concert. If any of you recognize the name, you're probably about my age. Winger was a hair metal band that was popular for about three years (1988-1991). Not coincidentally, those were the years I was in high school, the time when my musical tastes formed. Kip, now 46, is more than a hair metal memory, and when he plays live without the band, he plays an acoustic 12-string guitar. The guy can really play. Anyway, Dubuque was having a free concert series, and Kip was the headlining act. I'd say about 250 people were there, but 220 were there just to drink, smoke, and socialize. Less than 30 of us were there for the music. Quite sad, really. http://www.myspace.com/kipwingermusic