More Sorenson issues...

I am genuinely interested in seeing other people's perspectives. I believe consensus can be reached frequently and neither extreme serves the greater good, generally.

But as I have been thinking about one particular presenter at PLP a few weeks ago, the more disdain I have for this person. I am not going to reveal him, he is nice enough to come to Sorenson and present. The discussion revolved around transportation, an issue he clearly did not grasp and the same party senior person on the panel frequently overruled his statements. It was fascinating. We had completed the labeling exercise that morning, so I certainly wasnt trying to pigeon-hole him, but he is one of those "House Republicans" whatever that means.

I looked at the bio after the sessions. He supported and led the effort to enact the Marriage Amendment in Virginia. I felt physically ill, still do really. I have reviewed the arguments for that amendment, they are not logical interests, it is fear based policy to win elections and it is despicable. Why does this man have the right to tell people in my family what is right and wrong? Why forty years after Loving v. Virginia does this man think he has a role in anyone's marriage or relationship (or frankly given the breadth of the law, a contract between two people)?

I see him as what is wrong with Virginia, the Jim Crowe era laws, the eugenics movement, Massive Resistance and now this...just because he is in the majority now given the passage of the amendment, doesnt mean history wont judge him and people like him just as harshly as we (I) judge the hatemongers of the early 20th Century.

How is it that I move beyond the partisian rancor if I react SO viscerally to a person like him? What if the people I like in the class honestly and sincerely believed Virginia needed this amendment? How do I explain how harmful that constitutional amendment is to families and businesses in Virginia? When something is so personal, how do we find common ground?

Governors, Hillary and Britney

Bill Bolling is not running for Governor. I am shaken a bit by this news. Chris tells me his theory is that the new Republican strategy is to nominate someone quickly then let the Democratic infighting destroy any chance of the Dem nominee to win. Evil Genius.

I particularly appreciated the quote by a Brian Moran staffer in the Post (?) perhaps Progress article "Jesse Ferguson, communications director for Moran, said the nomination contest with Deeds appears likely to be settled in a statewide party primary in June of next year. “Virginians for Brian Moran has 10 full-time staff,” as though that somehow makes Moran a viable candidate. To have ten staffers for 14 months is wasting the campaign's resources early, this is a long primary fight (June 2009 is the vote), staff gets tired, loses momentum and worse ... insular thinking. But heck that is just my theory and I am Senator Creigh Deeds supporter so take it what you will. Also I strongly urge Delegate Moran to drop out and run for Attorney General or LT Governor. I admit I have no great influence over anyone.

I say these things only as an individual, the Party in the City has no position on either of these candidates and will work equally strongly to elect either one of these fine candidates.

Other topics of interest- Hillary over exaggerates her role in these foreign policy issues. She will not be able to beat McCain on that issue period. The post said today she is trying to convince superdelegates she is more 'experienced' yes, in manipulation and lying, not really in public policy- if you are a superdelegate, dont buy it.

It was great to see Britney Spears on "How I Met Your Mother" last night. She did a good job, certainly not awful. IMO the best part is she looked healthy. As you know I worry about her, mostly for her children's sake. I am glad she is under care that is likely not to harm her any more.

medical costs

Here we are with family. We were warned about the one sick child so we knew what we were getting into. So far my boys are fine.
Of their three cousins two are sick. The first to get sick is 4, he is on antibiotics. He went to urgent care- $40 for that visit plus the prescription. He has health insurance.
Those costs are not part of the weekly budget for this family. So when child #2 starts to get a runny nose and feel warm- the first thought is not to call the doctor but to wait and see. This child is 6 months old.
This same child was sick at our house at Christmas when he was 3 months. The answer for this family was to wait and see, even with health insurance because the cost is still prohibitive.

I am a mom. I worry, not obsessively, when my children get a fever or otherwise are sick. I call the nurse at the pediatrician and ask whether we should come in (usually no). But my kids are 3 and 4, my judgment is better and my kids can communicate with me so I don't worry as much and the co-pay would not break our budget (unlike my donations to Obama).

I don't want anyone ever to have to choose not to take his or her baby to the doctor because of $40. The worry is corrosive, just to get a prescription should not burst the family weekly budget.

More "Friends"

As a result of our initial Sorenson program last week, I now have at least 15 more friends on my facebook profile. I am so proud. Still I havent broken one hundred. I think it is ok since I am in my mid-30s.

So many things are interesting about the PLP (political leaders program)(which I still think of as PLI (political leadership institute)- I am now dating myself).
I know why people dont blog too much about their Sorenson experience, its Vegas, so what happens at Sorenson, stays in Sorenson. This helps with the comfort and trust level a lot. But I am allowed to blog about my own impressions and feelings on the happenings.

Yet, I am unwilling to describe it in public, it feels too personal to describe my own impressions/experiences. Weird. People ask and I say "it was great", alum tell me "it will get even better," and I cant imagine how that is possible.

Dont take all of this to mean I am entirely comfortable with everything, in fact the best part may be I am stretching my comfort zone in many ways (socially, politically and otherwise). I feel fortunate to be in the program- and the great, good, bad and discomfort that may follow.

MS Walk 3/29

I am a proud member of the UVA MICU team for the MS Walk to be held on 3/29. Please donate to the effort. I have added a link on my blog to go directly to my webpage. My boys and I will be walking for my mom who I am sure would like to walk but will be working in the MICU that day. Thank you for any contribution.

Dont Tell Chris- another Email from Obama; another donation

Si Se Puede.
Every month now I have been receiving this Donate email and I gratefully donate again (see below).
Chris supports Senator Obama, but he rightly knows my new activity takes money out of the budget. He has not been critical- I think he knows, we have to support Senator Obama not only through the act of voting but through financial support. $55 million last month- we didnt donate a lot, but we helped, as many others have. Continue your support of Sen Obama and donate AGAIN!

"But today I want to share another staggering number: supporters like you donated more than $55 million to this campaign in the month of February.
That's a humbling achievement, and I am very grateful for your support.
No campaign has ever raised this much in a single month in the history of presidential primaries. But more important than the total is how we did it -- more than 90% of donations were $100 or less, and more than 385,000 new donors in February pushed us past our goal of more than 1,000,000 people owning a piece of this campaign.
From the beginning, this campaign has always been funded by a movement of grassroots supporters giving whatever they can afford. And unlike Senator Clinton and Senator McCain, we have never taken money from lobbyists or PACs.
Senator Clinton has decided to use her resources to wage a negative, throw-everything-including-the-kitchen-sink campaign. John McCain has clinched the Republican nomination and is attacking us daily. But I will continue to vigorously defend my record and make the case for change that will improve the lives of all Americans.
I need your help to continue this battle on two separate fronts. Now is the time to step up and own a piece of this campaign.
Please make a donation of $25 today:"
DONATE NOW

Patrick Swayze is ill

Pancreatic Cancer- I hate that disease. Dirty Dancing is one of my iconic movies; I had the soundtrack (we couldnt afford to own movies, but occasionally we rented them) and wanted to be Jennifer Grey's character and camp upstate in the summer and meet handsome older boys...all the while demonstrating my maturity and compassion and being severly misunderstood by the grown-ups in my life.
I am stunned, removed from the situation I am not overly morose, but it does bum me out that the strong and handsome hero of Dirty Dancing has grown fallable and old. I suppose it is the birthday month phenomena where I get all nostalgic and sentimental because man I am getting old. Alas his illness has little to do with me and I will just pray, like I pray for all that he will be supported by his loved ones, comfortable and receiving good medical care.

The fight has just begun

From Senator Obama's Facebook notice:
Our projections show the most likely outcome of yesterday's elections will be that Hillary Clinton gained 187 delegates, and we gained 183.
That's a net gain of 4 delegates out of more than 370 delegates available from all the states that voted.
For comparison, that's less than half our net gain of 9 delegates from the District of Columbia alone. It's also less than our net gain of 8 from Nebraska, or 12 from Washington State. And it's considerably less than our net gain of 33 delegates from Georgia.
The task for the Clinton campaign yesterday was clear. In order to have a plausible path to the nomination, they needed to score huge delegate victories and cut into our lead.
They failed.

I, for one, will be content if Obama comes out with the gloves off. He is winning- she is the one destroying the party for her own ego, IMO. Perhaps when I start Sorenson next week, sense will be restored, but in the middle of a brutal nomination fight when I think the other side isnt playing fair- well I think its time to remind Americans what it was like- and how the divisiveness and polarization started during that time, continues unabated now and will NOT stop unless someone new comes into office.

I-95 boring

My first trip to Florida and I still haven't gone to Disney World. I really don't mind because I don't know what I am missing.

FL is fun, we went to Vero Beach which is 4 hours from the GA border. How do I know that? I am part of families that drive. We left at 8:00PM on Thursday, stopped in Durham and switched to a larger vehicle and picked up two others. We arrived in Vero Beach around noon on Friday. We ate lunch and hit the beach. The temperture in VA was 30 degrees when we left, FL was 79 degrees.
We got some sun as we napped on the beach and the boys played/revelled in the sand. There is nothing like an early summer after days&days of mid-thirty gray days.
We stayed at a place with no coffee-maker-wtf? No I didn't mind, I would just go out for a walk and find a coffee shop. Apparently Sat mornings are not the happening times on main st in vero beach. I searched and walked for awhile before entering a cute diner named Tomkats (ode to the Cruise family?dunno). They served a huge togo coffee in styrofoam cup and I had to charge the coffee-seriously who carries cash? We pay our bill every month.
We went to pocahantas park which has a great race car I want Cville to get.
Florida inspired me to be outside, I can't wait for Spring to hit VA.
The house we stayed at had a porch, windows and screens with a ceiling fan, the boys slept out there, and I (gasp) got to read out there.
Now its Monday, we left FL at 5:15AM. We are almost to Durham. With 2 preschoolers we stop a lot...but no potty accidents so far.
I didn't eat any dessert- except on Sunday and that was the first time in 3 weeks (choc pudding pie yummy). Our hosts were generous, lots of sweets all over the house and I restrained myself. I have lost 5 LBs since Lent began. It is still hard work (I've never been on a cartrip without candy and now I am nearing the end of this one :) ) but it has been worth it.
Back to the real world tomorrow- I will definitely try to find my way back to FL soon, something about the ocean in Feb makes my heart sing.

mobile posting from FL

My birthday is this month (26th). In my world, birthdays are a month long celebration, so I got myself a new TREO 755. It was a superfluous purchase, the 650 served me fine, but these 755s looked cool.
Now I know what I was missing. Even though go.yahoo still doesn't work with TREOs things are soo much better on the 755. First the speed is 10x faster, I can view videos from youtube and other video sites. Also there is sprintmobile tv with cnn mobile channel and others programmed in. I love it.
I also apppreciate how many websites have mobile websites to accommadate the small acreens and slower speeds.
Well I haven't gotten to the florida part yet, guess I will post again about that. In the meantime if you are coveting these phones, you should be, try to get yourself one and we can IM each other.

Mobileblog

RWSA and rate hikes

CvilleTomorrow reports on today's RWSA meeting. At the meeting, the Board decided to increase the water and sewer rate again this year. RWSA has significant infrastructure projects on the table. RWSA has significant municipal debt as a result of past infrastructure projects. The rates will likely continue to go up.

Chris despises that after the City budget cycle is over in early April, Council votes to increase the water and sewer rates usually in May. He feels, and I concur after seeing the phenomena play out last year, the City's tax rate does not accurately reflect the actual burden that local government has on a household's budget, so both should be taken into account when considering the budget and tax rates generally.

The line that most sticks in my head "The two City representatives to the Board were not present at the February 25 meeting".
Here are the people on the board:
* Michael Gaffney, Chairman
• Mark B. Graham, P.E., Director of Community Development, Albemarle County
• Judith Mueller, Director of Public Works, City of Charlottesville
• Gary O'Connell, City Manager
• Robert Tucker, County Executive
I have learned researching this post that there is a Citizen Committee:
The Board is supported by a Citizens Advisory Committee consisting of 3 representatives from the City, 3 from the County, 2 from the University of Virginia, and a Chairperson selected by the City Council and Board of Supervisors.
Current Citizens Advisory Committee
• Kim Blatz, City of Charlottesville Representative
• Vacant, Joint City of Charlottesville / Albemarle County Representative, Chairman
• Jeffrey Greer, City of Charlottesville Representative
• Stephen Kirkup, Albemarle County Representative
• Vacant, University of Virginia Representative
• Todd Marshall, University of Virginia Representative
• Vacant, City of Charlottesville Representative
• Reed Muehlman, Albemarle County Representative
• Vacant, Albemarle County Representative

These are the members of that citizen board, which by my count has 5 members out of 9 possible members. If you know me at all, you know I want to be on this committee, HOWEVER I prefer to promote leadership in the community by asking someone else to step up and volunteer for this committee, someone who cares about tax rates, municipal debt and infrastructure issues (at first you may think this sounds dreadfully boring, but once you learn the impact you can have, it is not boring anymore). We have a responsibility, if an opportunity exists to have meaningful impact through this citizen's committee. One proposal I had was to add an elected official to the RWSA, but if there is a strong citizen committee (defined as active, participatory, questioning, advocating and otherwise making recommendations) then an elected may not be necessary.

Other interesting tidbits all from CvilleTomorrow's article (btw- big THANK YOU to Cville Tomorrow for the great work it does):
"On water, the RWSA is proposing to charge the City $2.285 per 1000 gallons, an increase of 2.65 percent over last year. The Albemarle County Service Authority would be charged $2.983 per 1000 gallons, an increase of 2.44 percent. These increased rates help cover the debt service required to pay for the expansion of Ragged Mountain Reservoir.
“That number is a less than what I think a number of people had anticipated,” said Tom Frederick, the executive director of the RWSA.
However, wastewater rates will increase more because the RWSA is planning on several capital upgrades to its sewer infrastructure. On wastewater, the RWSA is proposing to charge the City $2.466 per 1000 gallons, a 10.43% increase. The County’s proposed charge is $2.722 per 1000 gallons, an increase of 10.54%.
“We continue to be in an upward cycle for capital improvements, driven by a number of things including tighter regulations at the state and federal level, the need to rehabilitate many areas of our system that are wearing out, and the need to provide future planning for capacity needs,” Frederick said."

Confusing message on the homepage of the RWSA "the regular meeting scheduled for 2/25 has been cancelled" and yet this article? This could be the reason the City folks didnt attend (I will give the benefit of the doubt).

Hillary is jealous

I love the "shame on him" quotes, especially on a Saturday. She is acting like his grandmother.
She just cant get away with the same tactics that are successful for Obama. This shame on him stuff is the tactic out of the Rovian playbook, not the mailer. The mailer is every political consultant's playbook.

Veto the expansion of death penalty

A good prosecutor has a lot of work to do. The General Assembly recently passed a bill that now moves to the Governor's desk to expand who is eligible for the death penalty. If this bill is signed, people present at (before/after too) a death penalty eligible crime, but did not actually pull the trigger can be sentenced to the death penalty.

A prosecutor should have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant eligible for the death penalty actually pulled the trigger. If this ends up with less death penalty eligible defendants because of a lack of evidence, the defendants still can be found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. I urge the Governor to veto the bill, and the General Assembly not to override the veto.

Drug Courts Work

My good friend Jeff is the Director of the Drug Court in Cville. He has invited me numerous times to come to the graduations of the program. I have not taken him up on it, mostly because I have a conflict at 8:30 in the morning on those days. He tells me, and others have told me as well HOW great these graduations are because of the long road the graduates have traveled.

I also saw Judge Hogshire and Jeff at two presentations about the drug courts this year- the Bar Association and the Dem Breakfast.

Participants in the program have random and frequent drug tests the whole time in the program (12-24 month average- longer than the prison term they would have served). The participant must have a job and take care of their responsibilities (child support) and attend multiple meetings/classes a week to ascertain progress and learn new skills.

Drug Courts are not a free pass to go back to a life of crime. Given the limited funding of the program and the regular threats of cuts to the program, the courts continue to impress and graduate productive citizens. Can that be said for most regional jails? What are we trying to prove by warehousing everyone in prison? I am unsure why the House of Delegates took the money out of the budget for this valuable program- it reeks of political expediency ("we are so tough on crime we will let nonviolent drug criminals go to jail at a greater expense than these drug courts").

I pray cooler heads prevail and drug court programming is restored to the budget through the conferee process. Del. Rob Bell has never attended a graduation and likes to have his head in the sand about the issue while slashing the budget, if you are in his district, let him know drug courts work and should not be a political football.

McCain Mayhem

Look I dont give two hoots about this lobbyist and her relationship with McCain- enough already, lets move on. McCain is ultimately a politician- Americans always know that politicians speak in double speak and hide behind rhetorical walls so I, and hopefully others are calculating the extent a politician is telling the truth (right or wrong).

A few other notes about McCain
1. he is a great man;
2. great man are human, thus inherently flawed;
3. typically the flaws involves women;
4. this does not make these men any less than great in my mind.

This is not to say he has actually done anything wrong or give any credence to the NYTimes report- but I just dont care and the media needs to stop making a bigger deal than it is.

Foul-stop whining

Howard Kurtz's article today focuses on the network's decision to cut to the Obama speech on Tuesday while Hillary was speaking (and had a tangetial element of the alleged breach of etiquette made by Obama).

I think it was a great political move by Obama, experienced & calculated political move even. I didnt get to watch it- and I would be annoyed if the situation was reversed. But here is the situation, Hillary is going to go on and on, in her monotone voice, she is not going to concede, further she likely will throw verbal jabs toward Obama for the balance of her speech. And she went on stage an hour after she was supposed to- is it really cutting away if you dont follow the rules? (we could use that same analysis in FL and MI too).

What would you do? Of course, you take the stage away from her- you are the winner, you define the night and the agenda. Experienced, politically savvy move on Obama's part.

Another reason to vote for Obama

Hillary thinks we need to "get real" about the issues facing America and vote for her. What is she thinking- that we are so blinded by the rhetorical superiority of Obama that we voters arent thinking realistically?
Hillary's arguments are circular, she is negative on Obama and voters, America is drowning in bad things (the Rovian politics of fear over accomplishment) so we should vote for her? I am still at work so I wont be able to complete that logic- someone else can, but I did want to put in this post "Rovian politics of fear" as a Hillary principle in opposition to Obama's politics of hope and "can do"ness. The voters dont need to get real, we are perfectly well aware of the 8 years of travesty we are enduring, she is just part of the problem, not the solution, she should get real and drop out already. How much longer is she willing to divide the party for her own personal ambition (maybe not divide-perhaps 1/4 it)? We will see if she can put any interests above her own in the next week or so...

Parks and Rec Meeting

Last night I had another meeting- as with tonight and tomorrow lunch. I am eating a lot of pizza and sandwiches from a variety of places. Last night was Padows, since I gave up dessert for Lent I had to pass my cookies on to someone who hadnt. Oh wait, this is not necessarily a post about food, where was I?

The agenda as always was aggressive we started with a wonderful presentation by the consultant hired to lead the master planning process for the area of McIntire Park where the YMCA will be built. Numerous public meetings and a charette will be held in the next three months to nail down a location and arrangement that the community will appreciate. If however no consensus is reached, the contract provides a default location on the adult baseball fields.

The ballfields have some serious allocation and space demands on them. We briefly discussed this issue, we all agree the County needs to pony up some ball fields asap since 88% of the users of these fields are from the County. The parks and rec department in the County has some great people, but the County just doesnt prioritize parks in the same way the City does. AS the County grows however the demand increases and hopefully parents and children will begin to demand a higher level of service from their Parks and Rec department (and the County generally since the funding is the issue).

Chris Gensic, all-around good guy presented the Master Plan outline for Rives Park - it looks great. There will be two playgrounds- one small children, the other older children, trails, a possible sand volleyball court, two shelters (instead of one) and great open space in the middle of the Park. The department has been master planning many neighborhood parks and Rives is just the latest. Forest Hills construction will begin in the Fall, the master plan for that park looks awesome, I am very excited about it. All of these master plans have been completed with considerable community involvement- I am pretty proud of the department for its commitment to engagement and essentially organic parks- the design grows out of the community is serves.

Parallel Roads- invitation to more gridlock?

Fascinating report by the head of the TJPDC last night at Charlottesville City Council, Harrison Rue. I love pretty slides and boy did he have them. His primary emphasis is to build parallel local roads to 29N to ease the traffic on 29. I like the work the TJPDC does and appreciate the role it plays in the community, even if I dont agree with them all the time.

Here is the problem: the slides show these beautiful changed roads (ped, bike friendly and trees-glorious trees), then each subsequent slide showed a new building, until the whole street was lined with these beautiful pedestrian friendly neighborhoods (and business centers)--the number of cars on the road NEVER changed. Isnt that amazing, we would triple or quadruple the number of people/businesses and have NO MORE additional traffic? I know these are supposed to be centers, transit friendly, but honestly the slides didnt show any buses (one slide showed that new bullet bus-rapid transit) or people for that matter.

How realistic is this? Mr. Rue has this wonderful disarming way about him, one that really doesnt leave room for questions (I suppose questions are for the politicians to answer). I think reports should leave a bit more room for realism and maybe people.

Dont get me wrong- I absolutely support the parallel roads of Berkmar extended and Hillsdale drive, they do relieve the burden for local drivers. How much development are we willing to tolerate on those parallel roads? And how much will that development negatively/positively impact our community? How much more traffic will result from this development? How do we ensure that developers actually create transit friendly shopping centers and neighborhoods when our community is still so dominated by the motor vehicle?

These are questions that citizens need to be considering as we plan for our future.

More task force vetting

The CDBG task force is in the middle of reviewing RFPs and narrowing the field of proposals [pdf-quick guide to cdbg money/requirements] to a reasonable number. The task force has less than $400,000 to allocate. We have $1.7 million in requests. The hard work the members put in is dramatic but we have a commitment to balancing the interests of the taxpayer and the nonprofits serving truly needy people.

Some of the CAHIP money- the Charlottesville Housing Fund was recently allocated by our committee. A lot of that money went to Region 10 (Home First), AHIP (rehab), PHA (to maintain housing for disabled people) and Habitat for Humanity- along with some other smaller allocations. As Chair of the task force I believe Housing Fund applications should continue to flow through the CDBG task force (even if it is misnamed) for vetting. I prefer if staff/City Council arent the only people making the decisions. The members really check each other for conflicts and what is best for those served and the taxpayers. Besides Council always has the final say, why not allow an application process to continue?

City Council has the last word on this work- they will vote at their first March meeting. The final recommendations of the Task Force will be in the paperwork preceeding the meeting (we havent completed the recommendations yet).

Astana out of Tour

Tour de France organizers uninvited/never invited Astana to the main event this year. Nevermind the complete overhaul of the team, including bringing Johan Bruneel in and firing all the people in charge last year (including the riders), it was not enough for the organizers. I feel like this is collective punishment, none of these guys have been implicated or tied to performance enhancing drugs. (Chris would like me to tell you however that all of them are guilty of it- in his opinion- his disdain is not just for the Astana team though).

Astana has last year's Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. He rode this amazing race, the Tour last year was marred once again by scandal, Contador's riding was a bright spot. He will not be allowed to defend his title, as Floyd Landis was not permitted last year. I wonder if the ASO (Tour organizers) are planning to do this every year? I guess on the bright side, Lance's 7 wins in a row certainly wont be broken any time soon.

Contador, Bruneel, Levi and others from Team Discovery went to Astana once Discovery stopped sponsoring the team. Cycling once again is shooting itself in the foot. How are teams to get sponsors if for arbitrary, vague and incomprehensible reasons these teams wont be allowed to ride on the biggest stage for the sponsors? Business people are not running the Tour or cycling in general, honestly I dont know that the organizers are fans of the sport anymore.

Levi only has a few more years to win the Tour, being out this year will impact his chance to ever win. Administration is getting in the way of competition- not a good thing in sports.

Out of the mouths

I scheduled Marina to babysit for us recently. We have not seen her since August. I get off the phone after chatting with her to arrange this and David says "I love Marina".

David really wanted to roller skate today. He took forever getting all of the pads, skates and helmet on. As a good mom, I hovered and held his hand. I was having fun. Suddenly David stops "Mom you are driving me crazy, you are making me fall". OK, I just followed him closely after that (and did catch him a few times, but he did real well).

A story recently told to me about Andrew. At Smith Mountain Lake, riding in a pontoon boat- he is trying to figure out motorboats and non-motorboats...ok I wasnt there, the story is much better than this- the punchline involves him slowly turning around, pointing his finger at my dad and saying "you were wrong grandpa" apparently this is a first for grandpa- Andrew lives to tell the tale. Hilarity ensued.

How to go to Denver in August (dem/cville)

In the 5th district there are 4 delegates to be choosen for the Democratic Convention in Denver (and one alternate). The State Party determines how many for Clinton, how many for Obama. Tentatively, the 5th likely will have 3 Obama delegates and one Hillary, I dont know who the alternate will end up being. BTW- the 5th district is huge, it isnt only Charlottesville-ALbemarle people who will have the opportunity to become a delegate.

To become a delegate one must show up at the City Caucus (or your county's caucus). At the caucus we will nominate delegates to the 5th district convention. You must be one of these delegates to even be considered. The delegates will then head to the
5th district convention where the national delegates will be elected. Politics and numbers play a critical role in determining whether you become a delegate. I have no idea how many folks will show up for the Caucus, or frankly how many delegates will attend the 5th district convention (I am sure it is a fixed number, likely 100 or so) therefore to choose 5 will be difficult.

In 1992 I went to the convention in New York City. How? I volunteered. It was awesome, electric and unforgettable. If you are not choosen as a delegate, I encourage you to volunteer- I mean you were going to spend the money in Denver anyway!

Lenten Sacrifice (sortof)

I am not sleeping again.

I gave up dessert for Lent. Well- I am limiting my dessert intake to one a week. Last week I had a nice cheesecake at the JJ dinner. This week I am saving it for the Bonefish Grill on Sunday. I thought it would get easier after a week, but it really hasnt. Praying does help me.

I sometimes think- "what is dessert anyway?" is it a Cin-Raisin Bagel at Bodos or a piece of bread with jelly on it? I dont think so. I am having coffee more since Lent began. This evening I made a cup of coffee for myself, instead of the decaf I made the caffeinated. No wonder I am awake.

Election results to the precinct/congressional district on SBE

Virginia State Board of Elections website is fantastic. It feeds my obsession to know the up-to-the-minute stats on this cold and icy night AND it tells me congressional district votes. That congressional district information is key for the national convention- the 5th has 4 delegates and one alternate...who will get how many??? I will know soon enough.

How to volunteer in cville and the Obama video certainly you have seen.

Donate to Obama's campaign-NOW. The presidency should not be bought by those who have a greater personal fortune. For those unable to donate or want to help even more see below.

The local Obama supporters need local volunteers to serve as:
Donors of space for Staging Locations - this could be an office or a living room.
Staging Location directors
Phone bank captains
Canvas captains (for precincts or neighborhoods)
Precinct captains (available by phone if anyone needs help or information)
Comfort captains (to keep the coffee and snacks flowing, offering the occasional band-aid or shoulder rub)
as well as lots of:
Phone callers
Door-to-door canvassers
We also continue to need office volunteers, bake sale bakers, sign wavers & poll workers. What can you do? Please contact Kristin at k.szakos@embarqmail.com



Obama Events this weekend (if you are not going to the JJ dinner)
Intersection Rallies - come wave banners and signs for Obama - 10 a.m. - noon
On the corner of Barracks Rd & Emmett - at the parking lot of ALC Copies
On the sidewalk at the corner of Hydraulic & 29 - in front of Import Car Store
On the corner of McIntire and Main Street - in front of the Federal Building

Bake sale downtown at the Obama office (108 W. Main Downtown Mall), 12-4
A lecture - Obama talk - by Brookings Fellow Dr. Susan E. Rice, Senator Obama's chief advisor on foreign policy
Where: UVA's Clark Hall, Room 108
When: Saturday at 2:30

Obama and Clinton in RICHMOND!

Yes, two candidates will be at the JJ Dinner happening this Saturday, and I have a ticket. So happy. Try to get one for yourself! It is great to be a Democrat in Virginia at this time.
If you come, stay for the after party (What: Post JJ Hospitality Suite Where: Richmond Marriott, First Floor When: Saturday Feb 9th, 10:30-12:30am) and meet Tom Perriello who is running in the 5th District against 'he who must not be named'. Co-hosted by Del. Toscano and Sen. Deeds.

Random Trip to NoVA

This past weekend in the spirit of spontaneity, we traveled to visit our friends who recently bought, but have not moved into, a new house. A fine time was had by all. The boys made their first real trip into DC. And by real I mean they could actually enjoy it instead of just going along for the ride.
First we took the Metro, our friend is from NYC so at some point the boys heard the term subway, David shortened it to "sub"- was he hungry? I dont think so, but he had the greatest time on the Metro- indeed a highlight of the trip for him.

Andrew on the other hand, spent the entire time (except for the time it took to take this photo) on mommy's lap, frightened of moving fast. "I was sad because the train moved very fast and I dont like fast" were his words. In writing it isnt nearly as cute as when he says it haltingly and with his "r"'s all messed up. He wanted to walk home from the Mall. I think we would still be walking.


So we ventured from the escalator to the Mall, the boys not so impressed with the Capital as I thought they should be. They were much better on their way out.
but that is only because they thought they were going on the merry-go-round, which they did not.

We went to the museum in between Metro rides. The Smithsonian is free and this could not be a better deal for parents. We rode into the city, spent an hour and a half at the museum and came home. If we had spent any money we have to spend more time, which equals crankiness and hassles for parents. The boys really wanted to go into the interactive room of the Natural History Museaum, which is beyond the dinosaurs and fossils. They enjoyed seeing the bones. The interactive room is not really anything to write home about. I am not in charge and perhaps there isnt the money, but the museum could do a lot more with the kids interactive room. That didnt stop the boys from having fun and exploring what the room did have in it.


I dont remember going to these museums until we moved to Virginia in 8th Grade. We did go to the museums in Chicago when we lived there- Art Institute is amazing and really where I began to love (if not understand) art. And the Museum of Science and Industry- I had irrational fears of, but I fondly remember some of its exhibits. I dont ever remember being able to go on the Merry-go_Round and I think my kids may be in the same boat.

We got back to Cville in time for the important part of the "Big Game", how did he make that catch? Next weekend-JJDinner

Truly the year of the pot roast or how a pot roast flies

Marijean led me to the Pioneer Woman's blog. I saved several recipes, then I viewed this post by Patience, then I KNEW I had to make the pot roast. Those cvillebloggers come in super handy and those recipes get made quickly after a good one gets out, very interesting to watch this phenomena.

I have a photo of the vaunted pot roast on my other computer, it cant begin to describe the wonder that is this meal. I recommend it highly. Also the leftovers are even more delicious (I had it over egg noodles for leftovers). I also want to try the spicy chicken legs, cupcakes, lasagna, nevermind, just go look and you too will feel like Cooking is fun again!

Tidbits- Britney, Yahoo, LOST and VOTE

If Microsoft gets bought out by Yahoo! what happens to Hotmail and MSN services? I use tons of MS products, but I dont want them to control Yahoo! It is a visceral response- I cant help it, maybe it is good...then again I am not that naive.

I got a call from the Hillary campaign; she is seeking my endorsement- that is too funny to me, not because I like Obama but because who am I? Have you been called by national campaigns? Also, Please VOTE on February 12th if you are registered. I dont care who you vote for, it is critical that we participate in the process.

I am actually relieved to hear Britney may be sick. If she is sick, she can get better. The Heath Ledger story did stop TMZ from being the "ALL Britney, All the Time" network for a day. I love gossip, but Britney is not gossip, she is ill and I believe tabloids and gossip columnists need to give it a rest. What if she had another illness where she was on chemo or something awful, would the tabloids post photos of her as she was vomiting or losing her hair? I dont appreciate the disparity in concern v. mocking for mental illness versus physical illness. Compassion is necessary for both mental and physical illness.

LOST is back and I am grateful- edge of my seat drama and I really believe the writers may actually know what they are doing and the viewers wont get led astray and deflated.

Primary Politics=Presidential Politics

I just received an email from Michelle Obama, one that many probably received on the Clinton attacks on her husband. I would quote from it, but it is political rhetoric like everything being said in the run-up to South Carolina and Super Tuesday primaries.

It does lead me to finally come out and state for the record that the Clintons should not be president again. It was 8 years of bluster, infighting, scandal and divisiveness (I can remember it another way too but the climate that Clinton has created recently in the primary is so negative it highlights my concerns about a Hillary presidency). We have had another 8 years of this with Bush II, I am sick of it.

Remember in the run-up to the SC primary in 2000? Well it was crazy negative like now, McCain lost, and Bush won by campaigning negatively and using dirty tricks. My theory is if you will do anything to win SC, including destroy your own political party and your future political allies, then you are going to use the same slash and burn mentality in the White House. This mentality didnt serve us with Clinton I or Bush II, and I dont want to test it out in Clinton II.

Experience in Washington to me is code for knowing how to play the very cynical game of cat and mouse, that is not useful at this point in our country's history. Clinton I was more of a neophyte than Obama is now (at least Obama has some foreign policy experience). Change is needed, change in attitude, change in the way business is done, a way that will be inclusive while representing compromise and straightforwardness in policy-making. I know people say I am naive, but I am a believer that many people in this country want our leaders to get it together and stop pandering to the extreme elements of our party or those who would be swayed by negative politicking.

To that end, I have donated $25 to Obama's campaign (first time I have ever contributed to a presidential campaign). I finally did it on the day my friend said to me "now black parents are not lying to their children when they say you can be anything you want to be, now we achieve anything" She had such hope, there is so much power in hope that is not just rhetorical, it can mean historic transition to a more peaceful nation (among other things), Clinton II is just more of the same. Vote Obama on February 12 in Virginia and in your state's primary.

Sports and Nostalgia

With ACC basketball on a lot on Channel 29 and nothing else child-friendly on, David and I have been watching a lot of ACC basketball. Watching sports is one of my earliest memories- Yankees/Chicago Cubs, UVA Men and Women's Basketball, and football (which until I was old enough to know better, I really thought was always on). Living in Charlottesville the choices for watching sports on tv is fairly limited, except on WVIR which shows a lot of basketball. Last night it was UNC v. Miami, the other day it was Boston College v. UVA.

David is 4, almost 5 he would tell you, but that isnt really true. Sometimes when daddy isnt home, David will cuddle up in my bed and watch ACC basketball with me, he is so talkative- "now UNC is winning" "look, UNC has 38 points, and... mommy who is in white?" "Miami has 32 points" "there are five players on the court for UVA, 1,2,3,4,5, and for Boston COllege". I am honored to give him his education in ACC basketball and look forward to BASEBALL season ("how many players are on the field, what is the outfield" ... the questions are endless). I think these are pretty cool memories for him to have.

A little bit of bragging for Sherry!

As those who know me, well know, I have been bragging to all those around me about my step-mother. She was recently deployed to Germany to serve on C-Cat flights from Germany to Andrews Air Force Base. She is a nurse in the Air Force. She returned home the day after Thanksgiving. It is not easy being home and not directly supporting the injured men and women who serve our country so valiantly in Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention lots of other places). C-Cat (and I am totally guessing at the spelling) flights fly injured troops from one theater back to the US. Sherry is an intensive care nurse so she flew with the most injured, most needy troops. I am moved to tears by her descriptions of these men and women, their bravery and selflessness (she says they never take credit for their actions, they always find someone else to give credit too, who always throws it right back at the other, and it isnt false, it is genuine- so different than our lives here). SO of course having been serving for six months the war and its injured, it is difficult to transition to bureaucracy and apparent indifference to the wars we are fighting overseas.

So, one Sunday she is invited to give a briefing to a VIP, not a General or other brass but to Gary Trudeau, of Doonesbury. She spoke to him for hours, he asked all sorts of questions and took a lot of notes. The result is the current storyline in Doonesbury. Trudeau made Sherry a doctor in the storyline.


Sherry by telling her story to Trudeau continues to make a difference for those troops at war. And Doonesbury with his kind light shining on these stories makes a difference because who else is going to tell the stories if he doesnt? So far, my conclusion is no one. So thank you to Sherry for her service and to Doonesbury for bringing a little piece of the war into focus for us. [click on images to make them bigger- and dont forget to read the rest of the story as it becomes available in your favorite newspaper or on the previous link].

One of these people needs to step down

So no official word from NH Dems yet, but Hillary is up steadily by three to four percentage points. Why is Bill Richardson in this race?

Clinton 64,743 39% 2 62% reporting
Obama 60,322 36% 2
Edwards 27,578 17% 0
Richardson 7,889 5%

Does Richardson have a chance, does he have any money? If he is the anti-Hillary candidate, he is failing, so he needs to throw his support to the other anti-Hillary candidate who is viable.

Richardson is not getting his message out, I know we are only three states into this primary season so his campaign probably thinks anything is possible.

Just my humble opinion.

DemCentral took this quiz, I thought I would. I couldnt post the HTML stuff to the comment section, so here it is with appropriate attribution. You should take it. Lloyd's results really surprised me (hint: Gravel and Kucinich).

83% Bill Richardson
82% Barack Obama
81% John Edwards
80% Chris Dodd
78% Hillary Clinton
78% Mike Gravel
71% Joe Biden
70% Dennis Kucinich
47% Rudy Giuliani
46% John McCain
44% Mike Huckabee
37% Mitt Romney
31% Ron Paul
30% Tom Tancredo
28% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

New Year-2008 edition

Few things - in my last post I referenced the CvilleWorkingMoms blog- I finally put it on the blogroll- sorry about that. The blog is well-written, provocative and honest. Check it out.

I am humbled by two recent occurrences. First, I was accepted into the Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership along with these fine folks from all over Virginia. I am particularly grateful for this honor. I learned about the program when I worked with Sen. Couric during the 1998 session- she had attended, as had Paul Harris, the delegate representating parts of this area at the time. I was going to apply in 1998- but thought better of it as I reviewed the qualifications and the type of people who had graduated from the program. Ten years later, I am delighted and honored to have worked my way to a point where I am accepted into Sorenson.

Second, I became the co-chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Party. As you know I suffer from too little to do, so this seemed like an appropriate time to pursue this interest. My belief is that my nomination and election to this position ushers in a new way of looking at the City Party. I will never convince the naysayers, but for those who are looking for a reason to be involved- we welcome you. I am excited to be in this position for the next two years- during the Presidential, Senate and Governors races.

Our short-term goals (I am part of a team) include training committee members, maintain and improve database and communications generally, fundraising, work collaboratively with the County Democrats and improve outreach efforts (voter registration and greater emphasis on cohesiveness etc.).

I am open to ideas and suggestions, I am fairly new to this so constructive criticism is welcome while hateful comments are not. And as usual, I understand reasonable people may disagree respectfully- I hope to keep that in the front of my mind in the next two years.

Wiiii

Cville Working Mom is a great blog, as indicated by my inclusion of it on my blogroll. However, I was disturbed to find this anti-Wii post after Christmas. Too bad she cant value the awesomeness of the phenomenon.

I asked for and received a Wii for Christmas. Why? I hate video games- Pac Man is my speed, but not Mario Brothers or other stuff.

During football season our friends traveled to our house for games with their new son and Wii. After the game instead of the bar scene (which prior to the child would have been the preferred activity), we gathered at our house and challenged each other to tennis, bowling, big brain academy and the like well into the evening and night (Chris would like to mention here that he scored a hole in one on Tiger Woods golf, for those who like the system).

I appreciate the comraderie of the system, it is engaging. Sure- going bowling is engaging, but I am not going to Keglers anymore, first I am not 19, last time I went it was full of smoke and drunk people (never mind the news stories on the violence there), oh and I have two boys who need to be in bed pretty early.

Second, it isnt exercise, but you know on any one given day it is more than I am doing normally. A few practice tennis games on the Wii at 9PM makes up for the fact that I didnt have time to ... well go to the tennis court (I think I last did that in the 90s).

Third, what are Chris and I doing after 9 at night anyway (which is when we typically play)? To the tennis courts? Hitting the baseball field or boxing rink? Nope, watching tv, doing chores otherwise not really anything. Why not a little Wii?

With respect to my kids, they are always in bed when I play. They play very limited games, in brief intervals. I would rather them experience outside and play during the day (so they sleep better at night) than watch tv or play video games.

I respect people's right to hate the Wii, I dont particularly understand it. I love it and am having a blast playing it. And we are planning a late night gathering with friends, adult beverages and fun soon with the Wii. Thanks Chris!

Housing First

The housing money has been allocated for 2007. One decision the task force made was to partially fund Region Ten's proposal for the Housing First program. This program provides housing and intensive social work for dual diagnosed homeless folks. This article by Marc Fisher recently outlined the District's program. The project is innovative, cost saving and literally gets people into homes. This project is much cheaper than continually arresting or temporary detention in a mental health facility.

I hope the community will continue to support this program in the coming years either through housing money or other community investment. Region Ten is a under-funded but hard working organization that works with people virtually no other organization does- innovation and support is essential.

What is going on here?

Over on www.CvilleNews.com, a commenter (hey Karl) asks 'what is the backstory here?' with respect to the new EMS program at the fire department.
A good place to start is the presentation by the chair of the oversight committee and the report the committee created.

You know the saying, "the ends justify the means"? It is kind of what is going on here. I am going to take this story backwards since at the end here it started to make a little sense.

The Chair of the Committee (MaryLooseDeviney- and I know I butchered her name, apologies) was the one who described it best- when she visited the emergency communications center on a weekday- all the ambulances (3) were out on calls at some point (she got there at 8, the time all ambulances were on calls was 9:15). She then details her thoughts, if at that time, one of her customers falls on the downtown mall, what would happen, who would come to their aid?

In reality- a first responder would until an ambulance was cleared. Cville/Albemarle (and many other jurisdictions) have a tiered response system- fire engine goes first with a medic/EMT onboard to administer care. The ambulance comes next.
Notice she didnt mention anything about response times? Funny...
In fact she stated there is no problem with the response times on CARS end. (the report [pdf] indicates the CFD has some issues with response times, but apparently is outside the scope of inquiry).

There is this lovely thing called ambulance utilization yadda ya- it is a metric, the metric for Cville is 3.5 ambulances (I am not an expert on this stuff), CARS has three ambulances during the day. The report indicates this metric standard is used widely but "much debated." um, ok.

Again nothing to do with response times.

What the CFD is pleased about is getting rid of the tiered system, they are seeking to collapse the tiers into one, one in which they will be the only ones to respond, I suppose CARS will still respond too since CFD is only seeking 2 ambulances ($530,000 over ten years) and 6 paid medics (high level training). Will this translate into quicker response times? I dont think it matters for CARS since that is not an issue for them, but for CFD? I hope so.

Finally the emergency communication center will still have to ask tier questions for County calls. An argument made by Taliferro is 'you never trust the person on the phone to be as accurate as an impartial observer' about the condition of the patient. And here I absolutely agree with him. But I dont think it is worth spending all of this money on since the same tier system questions will likely still be asked of every caller.

A great aspect of the Oversight Committee is the creation of standards for performance. I know everyone will benefit from that.

So despite the means being about CARS response times, the ends of creating an taxpayer subsidized ambulance service justified that tarnishing of CARS (I jest of course). I wish the CFD had approached it in a better, more honest way.

The question left unanswered by everyone "how are these recommendations going to change the response times for first responders?" Lynch asked some good questions that were answered in very circular fashion thus creating frustration and confusion by those of us who thought the questions were reasonable.

I know reasonable people differ, I respect the folks who created this new service and hope it does create a better service for the community since we are spending so much money on it. My opinion is ultimately the committee didnt need to rely on the 'four' chiefs to come up with a proposal, an innovative, more cost effective plan could have been achievable and workable. I will gladly change my thoughts on the subject if I see a dramatic improvement, so stay tuned.

Media Difference

With respect to the new ambulance service in the City, the media outlets in town are all over the map. NBC29 is actually pretty balanced in its coverage. CBS19 states that "firefighters welcome changes."
Seth Rosen has some balance in his articles in the DP. Actually Seth focuses more on some of the decisions that will be made in the future- providing some context to the story.

Last Council Meeting for Hamilton and Lynch

I am impressed with last night's council meeting, many things were accomplished.
1. CAHIP money allocated per the recommendations of the CDBG Task Force + the addition of a CAHIP staffer to watch over the outcomes and results for this money. 5-0 margin.
2. YMCA ground lease approved by a 3-2 margin.
3. EMS/fire recommendations of the Oversight Committee were adopted and moved forward by a 4-1 margin.
Other things happened too. Controverial and non-unanimous votes- really a great exercise in democracy last night and proves the point "reasonable people may differ".

I really appreciate Kevin and Kendra's voices on Council. While I wildly disagree with either one of them at any given moment, they were cool, calm and had honest debate (mostly with each other). I look forward to the new voices on the City Council in January, but I will miss these two.

ABC's worst moments in sports

After the release of the Mitchell report earlier this week, ABC decided to list the top ten worst moments in sports - with no actual basis to define the top ten. Many of these are awful times for sports (Mitchell Report, Black Sox, NHL lock out, etc.). The problem is obvious so I wont belabor it too much, the top ten doesnt distinguish between what sports does to itself and what outsiders do to the sport (Terrorists at Munich in the same classification as the Mitchell Report?). It doesnt make sense. Finally as an avid cycling fan, the failure to mention the 2006 Tour de France or the 2006 Operation Puerto doping scandal prior to the Tour is disingenuous and incomplete or even if cycling is not a sport for Americans so ABC isnt going to include it, why not Marion Jones, this year? For goodness sake, she was just stripped of her medals for her doping. Incomplete and lazy work by the ABC folks in putting this list together.

This is better than last year

I am in the newspaper today! How fun. The local media has been very kind, this kind of press doesnt get old (and to my dad- they spelled my name right). The article discusses some of the recommendations the task force made for the housing fund created earlier this year. As I have stated, I am real proud of the work we did, it was tough but exciting to be part of the process.

This time last year I was laying sick in bed- how do I know this? Today was my second attempt to get into the Political Leadership program at Sorenson. I hope they tell me when I should stop applying- so far I have been encouraged to apply multiple times. The interview was so much better this year- first the interviews were done by two panels and only four people interviewed me, compared with what felt like 15 or more last year. I had a few advantages this year- I wasnt sick, I wasnt as nervous as last year and I had already had the experience of the interview.

The interviewers ask amazing and difficult questions. What would I change about the Democratic political system? If the Governor called and told me we had a $6 million dollar deficit that needed to be dealt with immediately-what would you recommend? What do I think about the decline in attorneys in the General Assembly and should the people who serve be paid more and/or have longer sessions? The first question was- why you and why now? As some know, my biggest weakness is the interview- in fact it is something I want to work on in Sorenson (if). I did enjoy the challenge of it and the interviewers werent trying to get me, like I felt last year :) which may have had something to do with my illness.

A sad day for Baseball

I love baseball. It is the national pastime and what a delightful afternoon a day of baseball makes. Today's Mitchell report [pdf] is out and I am depressed again (cycling in the summer, baseball in the winter).
Brian Roberts? How is Baltimore drowning in steriods and they are so darn awful!? Lenny Dykstra? Bigbie, Clemons, Petite, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Mo Vaughn, Miguel Tejada and the list goes on and on. My stomach is sick from this report.

I am reminded of the 1993 tobacco hearings- those five or six executives from the tobacco company stood up, put their right hand up and swore to tell the truth-->then said tobacco did not cause health problems. Liars. Cheaters.

Americans love their heros and I am certainly one of them - not that sports figures are heroic (certainly not now). We love to think if one works real hard, has that much commitment great things can be accomplished, it is fundamentally the American Dream played everyday. The highs and the lows, the drama all of it is awesome. I am really ok though if athletes are good but not record setting- sports is inherently dramatic without cheating.

Are we so needy as Americans to be the best that we drive our sports figures to steroids, performance enhancing drugs?

The Washington Post affair- break up or no?

I might have to break up with the Washington Post. I have subscribed to the Post for the past decade. I love it- 3 pages of comics, sometimes they write about cycling, if I have time to read the A section, I have more to say and a better understanding of a situation (but I always assume it is at least partially missing info pertinent to the situation as we all should assume). I particularly LOVE the online chats and blogs the Post offers online (and that they were so quick to embrace the online genre and make it relevant to modern users). And I love, love, love reading a newspaper not the online news- I just read headlines on the internet so it is unlikely I would know stuff anymore (except about Brittany Spears and entertainment news, I read that crap). Finally the food section's annual cookie section is a favorite (I know I can still buy the edition of the newspaper). (It came out this week, honestly I was a bit disappointed because the cookies were too fancy and complicated, I dont have time for that during the holiday season).

So why would I break up with the Post? I dont have time to read it and it is expensive. I also receive the Progress, admittedly not a great national/local newspaper, but it at least covers some local issues. I have enough time to read the not lengthy Progress- although for the love of God, please get Zits and Baby Blues in the comic section (those two comics may be the reason I dont break up with the Post).

What newspapers do you get, wish you could get, or are you done with paper?

two other recommendations- food category, not inclusive

At the Gingerbread Ball this year I met a lovely woman who volunteered through her Junior League affiliation. She was really funny and helped me bartend the event in this great dress. Well come to find out she co-owns Raising Canes with her husband. The boys and I love Raising Canes. There arent many choices on the menu, if you want a vegetable or salad this is not the place to go. The Texas toast and yummy fingers and sauce though are worth the dinner or lunch of no veggies.

Lunch on the downtown mall is dramatic in the number of choices falling into all sorts of price ranges. This week I was reminded of my favorite sandwich on the mall its from Rev Soup. The 90s is so delicious. A yummy roll, pieces of chicken (not a thick,dry chicken breast), bacon, cheddar, avocado, some mustard type sauce, lettuce and tomato. The bread is crunchy in this non-stale or too hard way and everything just mushes together perfectly. Call in and pick it up- simple as 1,2,3. It is a modestly priced sandwich ($6 ish) and well worth it. The Rev Soup menu is so full of delicious stuff so even if you dont like the items on the 90s then you are bound to find something you like- but dont hit it at the lunch rush on cold days (before or after is ok).

Rant milk prices

So I confess, I occassionally read The Rant section of Cville Weekly. I know people protest it is trash- whatever, it is base but has some truths to it.
First, a caller mentioned the prices of milk at Food Lion. The caller complained that FL is supposed to be for poor people but that the price of milk is over a dollar more than at other more toney grocery stores. I checked the prices at a lot of grocery stores in the area- and do you know that ranter was right? FL has milk at $4.59 a gallon- that is outrageous compared to Giant/Kroger which is $3.49-$3.89ish. However, I went to Kroger today and I was thinking about buying something... Quaker Oatmeal Bars (the apple cinnamon are delicious)- at FL it costs $2.89/box, sometimes 2/$5 which is when I like to buy them. At Kroger the same box cost $3.89.

I like what Patience has discovered in her shopping local experience, she has lessons for us all, but I think I would rather pay $1 more for milk if the rest of the prices are comparably lower than other stores (which in this limited survey means FL). I shop carefully nowadays but I dont feel like I have to so much at FL which is kind of a relief.

Recommendation 1- Into the Wild the book

I read the above referenced book, it is a quick read so I got through it all. Isnt that exciting? I never get to go to movies so I knew I wouldnt be able to see the movie, the book is fantastic. Prior to picking the book I wondered why even bother? It is an adventure book for boys or so I thought. I found it quite enlightening. I have never had the inclinations this fellow had but I sincerely enjoyed the story and learning about these sorts adventures. The author's experience (he wrote Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven- John Krakauer dont quote me on the spelling) is harrowing and fascinating too (the book isnt about him but he has this amazing chapter on his own adventure climbing this awful face of a glacier in Alaska- edge of my seat exciting).
I highly recommend this read either as a gift or for an afternoon to yourself.

A Facebook Christmas

This guy buys his wife/girlfriend/mistress a Christmas gift on overstock.com and then Facebook reports it to all his friends as news. Not good facebook. Facebook has since stopped that aspect of its newsfeed.

I enjoy Facebook (are you my friend yet?). I do have the sense it is evil. Whenever I add a new application there is a list of things that you 'ok' to let the application go onto your Facebook page, I find the most scary one "gather information and data about you" I think we should all uncheck that one and see what happens.

Also- even if this guy got a good deal, I doubt that his wife/GF/mistress wants everyone to know where he got that gift (the commercials are ridiculous- "the O" pleeze).

I am glad Facebook has taken it down, but I suspect after Christmas Facebook will try to do it again- I have an idea, lets all get multiple email addresses, one for facebook, one for shopping, then they wont be able to find us-right? I know- you can run, but you cant hide...

Let the party begin...

The holiday season has arrived- what dress will you be wearing this year to the festivities? Tomorrow's festivities include the Virginia Tech v. Virginia game, no need to be too fancy (anymore) and it is a 12 o'clock game, so that leaves time for the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville's Annual Ball. This year the price of admission is one present and five dollars, all proceeds to the Children's Medical Center- it is held tomorrow night (Saturday) at Sage Moon Gallery from 6-9 so if you arent like me, you have time to do other things tomorrow night after the ball.

Next we have the Grace Tinsely Scholarship Fundraiser, held at SAXX for $30pp have a great night of jazz, yummy food and meeting nice people. I probably overdressed last year, but I may do it again this year. The event is the first Saturday of December (is that the 2nd?) check out www.cvilledems.org for further information.

A fellow Rotarian is having a gathering the day after the fundraiser event. What does one wear to that?

Then what? Work functions, family things and multiple Christmas'. Then just as the new year turns, a wedding. Nevermind the shopping, cards, baking and oh yeah, work.

I cant wait.

I will now take this moment to do nothing....

Thanksgiving- part II the Thanks

The boys were so good tonight- McDonalds and a Curious George movie- I got to make a pie, various dips and cranberry relish. Let me tell you the relish rocks. I put walnuts and oranges in it.
I told the boys at prayer time that in the morning they will have to write or draw three things they are grateful for (and that I would help them and do it myself). David said "but I dont know how to draw food, mommy and daddy"- isnt that sweet?
Grandma Sherry will be home on Friday from her deployment to Germany- I am so thankful it is soon.
The machine that picks up the leaves picked up our leaves- which is good for the parking situation on the street.
A fellow firefighter is going to help Chris butcher the rest of the venison so it is currently not in my fridge and when it comes back, we can eat it and put in the fridge (did I mention he is hunting bright and early on Friday? Buck only day-how do I know this?).
KT is coming for Thanksgiving! OK not really- she is coming bright and early on Friday, but it is always good to see her and she can help with leftovers!
Pauline plays with my boys like a kid- it is so great for them. I know how often I am not playing with them (cooking, working, email etc) so I find her patience and spirit gratifying, the boys are so blessed (and so am I).
BRUUUUUUUCE is coming to town- MY TOWN. That is friggin awesome.
How is it one can feel so grateful and so lonely at the same time? Holidays are all about ambivalence.

Christmas Music 2007

I heard Christmas music on the radio on my way down to Botetourt County on November 16. It wasnt as though I heard one song either, the whole station had gone holiday tunes. While I thought pre-Halloween Christmas decorating in the stores was unbelievable, this music thing may even top that. When is a normal time to start decorating for Christmas (as a family) and when is it ok for radio stations to go all holiday tunes? I mean how much Christmas music do we need?

Thanksgiving-Part I the food

What do you serve for Thanksgiving? We are hosting a small gathering at the house (which is good since my house doesnt really fit that many people in the winter- summer we always spill outside, even if it is raining). I have been scouring the Bon Appetit Thanksgiving edition to remind myself how inadequate I am in the kitchen. We have the regular things on the table, combined with what I like to try.

First, we are strictly a turkey family. Again, given the size of the kitchen and Chris's love of all things barbequed, we will smoke the turkey. I will have to brine the turkey once I actually pick it up (save some for us). Mom's stuffing recipe is a requirement (think sausage and sage- yummy) & green bean casserole which I have never not had on Thanksgiving. Mom also likes mashed turnips, but she wont get that this year. Chris's family requires canned cranberry sauce so no real cooking there but I always think wouldnt it be good to have a different type of cranberry sauce, common sense prevails though (there is no way I will have time to make it). Mashed potatoes, creamed onions (for Chris), rolls, gravy and...one other thing I can choose.

What should I choose? I love the idea of the brussels sprout mash with caramelized onions in the BonAppetit. But who wants to have brussel sprouts on Thanksgiving? Chris's mom usually makes sweet potato casserole which is like a sweet potato pie you put on the dinner plate (no crust). I am trying to have a slightly more healthy alternative to sweet potatoes or things like that. Veggies are the way to go. I am still searching. Any ideas?

Now for the dessert-
chocolate cream pie
pumpkin pie
whipped cream
Anything else?

Drinks? Beer, wine, sparkling juice and soda along with the dessert coffee has to be Starbucks Christmas blend decaf. I love Christmas blend.

I forgot all about the afternoon nibbles- goodness gracious I have a lot of work to do.

I'm "that mom" and first deer of the season

All day at the Omni yesterday. Drove to Botetourt County where I met up with my children, husband and some of my family who live there. Chris and the boys had already eaten with my family- which is ok it was close to 8 when I got there. Boys went to bed soon afterwards, discussion of politics, education, children, business, etc. ensued. In bed by 11ish.

So Chris wakes up super early and wakes everyone in the house (ok some of them were actually supposed to be awake). Where were Chris and his cohorts going? Hunting of course, it is the first day of deer hunting (rifle) season. I am now a Virginian, my husband hunts on the first day of the season. This is the same boy I married? (Not quite, he turned 30 this week).

I woke up at 7AM, everyone already up (why am I always the last to get up? - for goodness sake it is 7:00AM!) But we have to leave by 8:30 anyway because we have a bday party to go to that starts at 10AM. Who ever heard of a bday party at 10AM? In theory, it is genius- no lunch, get all the morning energy out and then everyone takes a nap. This is not exactly how it happened for us but we did have a great time in Botetourt and the birthday party so its nice we didnt have to miss anything.

The invitation said to bring 'smiles'- what does that mean mommies? When I put that on an invitation it means pretty please DO NOT for the love of all that is HOLY bring presents. It may have meant that on this invitation- but no one paid attention to it, except for me.

I am now 'that mom',
the boys need haircuts,
I follow directions on invitations,
I dont think to buy presents for teachers (tuition is expensive),
I let my kids eat chocolate and drink soda sometimes,
I do not advertise my child's allergies to the world (he will tell you if you give him something),
I let my kids fight and get dirty,
I tell them what to do when the occasion warrants it (thanks to MJ for outlining the perfect time for parental discipline)- and sometimes I even let them play guns (not with toy guns, but just the sticks they pick up off the ground).

Flogging will be held publically one of these days.

Chris killed his first deer of the season- now he is butchering it in my kitchen- what is next? blood in the driveway and hallway- yuck. I dont mind cooking it but until it is ready to be cooked keep it away please.

The next part of LC

Yesterday was a long day for us LC'ers (not arduous just long). We met at the Omni - early and by the end of the day we had choosen our projects.

I will try to remember them:
1. First Street Church project- health-related
2. Elderly oral history project (intergenerational interviews and write-up)
3. Playground stenciling-
4. Computers 4 Kids curriculum development for peer to peer mentoring and pilot the class.
5. Develop a toolkit for care providers of seniors (lightbulbs, duct tape to tape down wires or carpet etc.)
6. Financial literacy group.

I am in group #4. All of the projects were impressive. #1 had the most takers, including me and another member of my group, but we couldnt have too many people in the group so we gracefully went to group #4 (one part of this sentence is not true). #4 is a discrete project with clear objectives and I am looking forward to getting to know the folks at C4K. The group frequently applies for funding, which honestly it has not been awarded (so this is the Catholic guilt thing). The group is worthy and I am privileged to be working with the folks in my group and c4k.

I am happy to report I won an election. I am one of two representatives of my class on the LCAA (Leadership Charlottesville Alumni Association). From LCAA board to the Senate- it could happen...

Format

I changed the way my blog looks and now I dont cringe everytime I look at it. Success.

Tonight the Task Force will be reviewing RFPs in public. We have never really had people come to our meetings, although they are open to the public. I have never felt pressure from any applicant before this money came under our watchful eye. In the CDBG process (federal money targeted to particular neighborhoods and activities), we are the experts on the applications, but it does have to go through the Planning Commission and Council for approval. Admittedly these expenditures are typically rubber-stamped. The primary reason for the rubber-stamping is the priorities are set early by Council, then we follow the priorities and the federal regulations on the CDBG funds.

This money is different- this is City affordable housing money, with definite priorities. However, the funding is limited and its not clear the money will be available to these same organizations on an ongoing basis (the City has a commitment to at least three years, maybe five years). The task force (I dont speak for them all) acutely see this as 'our' taxpayer money to be spent exceptionally carefully to most effectively combat the affordable housing problems in our City.

I always say the CDBG task force is the best board in the City. The board is diverse on many different levels, thoughtful, engaged, respectful, and unapologetic in its critiques of these RFPs. I understand Council may override all the decisions we make in this RFP process. I look forward to this layer of transparency on the process for the community to see not only our hard work, but the wonderful organizations in our City trying to make a difference.

Priority question

The CDBG Task Force is honored to review RFPs for the affordable housing money appropriated this year. I am very proud of the work we have done so far. This community has a lot of people doing great work in the housing arena. We look very carefully at the RFPs because of the limited amount of money and the great need.

The other day, I read an article in the Progress regarding priorities for the next budget cycle. This paragraph stood out

"Early next year the council is likely to vote on setting a lower real estate tax rate for energy-efficient homes and buildings. And a majority of councilors have come out in favor of handing out compact fluorescent light bulbs to residents, subsidizing energy audits for low-income families and increasing Charlottesville’s tree canopy." My emphasis.

On the task force we have reviewed two different grant applications submitted for the purpose of providing energy audits for low income families. As a board, we love the idea, but we are constantly battling with limited resources - if given an energy audit, these low income homeowners would not necessarily receive the funding to actually implement the strategy outlined by the audit. To be fair a recent RPF suggested a $500 maximum to implement some of the strategies(although the homeowner would be reimbursed, so on the front end would need to outlay the money).

I wonder how many people think energy audits for low-income homeowners would end up being overall a savings for the homeowners (especially if there is no implementation strategy)/taxpayers (who presumably would have to pay less for heating programs and the like). How many middle-class homeowners would like an energy audit? How many would pay for it? I suspect a lot.

At this point, my thought is money could be going to rehab and weatherization, actual repairs on homes that are substandard with attention paid to energy efficiency while repairing.

I suspect a lot of middle-class homeowners would like the opportunity to pay for an energy audit and strategies for implementing efficiency in their homes. If the group is successful with that model, the low-income homeowners audits could be subsidized by the middle class audits- just a thought.

Am I off base? Or should the priority be energy audits to low income homeowners?

Police Searching for Vehicle in Suspicious Death

In my bloglines feeder- which I love- I get RSS updates from the City of Charlottesville. This morning's was disconcerting. A suspicious death on St. Clair Street in the Martha Jefferson neighborhood- a 26 year old woman had been shot. Police are looking for her car. Below see the test of the press release and dont forget to subscribe to the City's RSS feed for updates on city happenings.

CONTACT PERSON: Detective James Mooney/ Sgt. Marc Brake

CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER: [434] 970-3374


"CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - On 11-09-07 at approximately 14:46 hrs the Charlottesville Police Department responded to 807 St. Clair Avenue for a report of a suspicious death. Upon arrival police found the victim Jayne Warren McGowan, a 26 year old University of Virginia graduate dead in her living room. The victim was apparently shot and died as a result of the gunshot wound. Police are currently looking for the victim’s vehicle which apparently was taken from the residence. The vehicle is a Nissan Sentra, with Virginia license AED-2522 and is gold in color. If you see this vehicle, do not approach the occupants who should be considered armed and dangerous and call 911 immediately. Anyone with information about this case should call Detective Mooney or crime stoppers at 977-4000. Any media related questions contact Sgt. Brake at 970-3970."

Surreal Kmart

The boys need new toothbrushes (today) and we need a few other items. Head over to Kmart around 6:00- David says excitedly from his new CARS booster seat "Kmart is having a party!" I look over and sure enough balloons are hanging near the entrance way. David suspected it had something to do with Christmas.

Cautiously we approached the Kmart, it was dark and it is difficult to navigate with two children, that awful crosswalk and balloons awaiting us. The greeters (was there such a word prior to WalMart?) said "WELCOME to our grand re-opening celebration, have a bag of Hershey kisses" the boys were immediately won over.

I looked around and this is not the store I remembered from a month ago (the last time I ventured there), I had seen the 'primer' on the outside, but what changes could Kmart have possibly made that it didnt 4 years or so ago when they changed last? Turns out quite a bit of cosmetic changes have happened this time.

All the shelves are lower, more red is in the store (instead of gray- this is a nice change). The aisles are wider AND KMART sells appliances now (think Sears).

This weekend Kmart is having its grand reopening- the boys enjoyed more free food as we left (cheese, crackers, cookies, soda etc.) and Andrew loved listening to the harpist. Yes a lady played the harp. Surreal indeed...

Check it out and tell me if you think this is a fundamental change or cosmetic?

Leadership at a Crossroads

There are two parts to LC, the first ten weeks are a four or five hour class once a week. The other is a group based, self-directed project to be completed by May when we graduate! This week was our last official Leadership Cville class.

I enjoyed every week (although I was sick one week and only could savor the wonderful BRIX lunch- sponsored by BartonMalow- before I went home). I am one of those annoying people who get a lot out of things, so while some are bored, I am on the edge of my seat (sidenote to my high school teachers- this happened sometime in college- I apologize for napping, doodling or otherwise not focusing in your class).

So what project idea do I have after learning so much about the Charlottesville-Albemarle region? ... I may not present an idea, I havent quite decided. Sometimes it is nice to be a member of a group, not the originator of the idea. I have a lot of energy to move a project, but I find it difficult to move people to the idea of my project and keep them motivated throughout. I am still learning about leadership.

I have one idea- I actually had this inspiration at a QCC meeting on Restorative Justice. I am throwing it out because I want someone to make this happen and I have very little time to devote to doing it right.

My idea involves offenders coming out of jail (non-violent and other qualifiers that I am not thinking of right now); recidivism rates are exceptionally high among this population because offenders find it difficult to get a job. It is hard to find a job for a number of reasons (training, depression and offender status). My hope is to have a non-profit in this community (ie OAR) to work with Chamber businesses and offenders to facilitate transition from jail to the workforce. Cville has an inordinate amount of non-profits so I dont want anyone starting another new one, and the jail here is progressive so the folks do try to help promote a smooth transition already. However, with training specific to the jobs available, mental health treatment and reasonable expectations on the part of the offender perhaps the recidivism rate would improve.

What about it? Is this possible? Is it true I dont have time or am I making excuses?

I love when it feels like it will snow

The overcast day, the cold biting at my nose, the colorful leaves on the ground awaiting raking (and mulching)- the first day it feels like it will snow in what feels like a year. An excuse to watch tv, pull blankets on, drink warm beverages, rent movies and hike through the woods (maybe we will get to that tomorrow).

So far from a month ago when it was 90 degrees outside and I arrived everywhere sweating. That this urge to nest comes after the election is a good thing since I was working my a$% off prior to the election.

I doubt it will snow, but I am ok with that too.

Jail

Yesterday had to be the most interesting day of the month so far, that is saying a lot given the awesome and interesting experiences I have had lately.

My Leadership Cville class topic yesterday was criminal justice. Here is Marijean's experience from last year, I will try not to be redundant. My experience mirrors hers. This class is held at the Regional Jail, and the participants receive tours of the jail and the juvenile detention center. We also heard from Chief Longo (shout out), the second in command at the Jail and Charlie Edwards who is the superintendent of the Juvenile Detention Center. Later in the day we also heard about OAR programs-drug court, restorative justice and others. Being the dork I am I was on the edge of my seat all day, I found all of it fascinating.

My mantra of "thank goodness I live in this area" extends to the progressive programming for the people spending time in jail attempting to find ways to bring people back into the community as functioning citizens less likely to end up back in jail. Many, many areas of the state do not attempt rehabilitation or education for offenders.

While it may not be obvious, I believe our community is ultimately served by the programming, it gives offenders the opportunity to succeed after committing a crime and if successful these people may make a real difference in our community (for the better).

Dont misunderstand me, it would be incredibly naive for me to think all of the offenders can be rehabilitated- honestly. The chief gave us a small but illustrative story of a child who was in big trouble all of the time- and he said no matter what time of day or night it was, whenever someone knocked on the door, the child's guardian was drunk- and not the 'just been drinking' but actually passed out drunk- morning or night. With no models of good behavior, it takes an immense amount of self-discipline to get out of the criminal system- and to seek the intensive treatment needed (for all sorts of things)- then try to find a job or heck even go to school- the barriers to normalcy or success grow everyday and probably seem like a pipedream.

Then there are the victims of these crimes. The class didnt focus too much on victims, as is typical in the criminal justice system. David Saunier the director of the Restorative Justice program attempts to empower victims and provide a way to heal for both victims and offenders. If you have an opportunity to hear him speak- go hear him- he is an amazing speaker and so committed to the program.

The regional Jail is having an open house soon- I think it is this Sunday or next, I cant find information on it- but you should have a tour and check out what is happening at the jail.

Please dont eat this

Typically I think "sure you could have this [incredibly decadent food item] one time just to try it what harm could it do?"
But with this new thing from Hardees, I beg of you just stay away, tell them we dont want this crap from them, give us things that will not instantly clog our arteries as choices.
The burrito has over 1400 calories and 60 grams of fat- and it is a breakfast item.
JUST SAY NO!

Blame the weather

I have lots of things going on, which usually makes for excellent blogging material. Then why am I essentially not blogging over the past two months?

Well I am still reading a lot of blogs, does that count?
I tend to favor rainy days for my bursts of creativity- it must be the sullen artist in me. SO this drought and interminable sunny days have me in a depression lacking creativity and interest in blogging.

Hopefully I can shake this once the weather changes, fingers crossed it will be soon, then I can get back to my interesting, creative posts. OK well interesting to me...

Baseball Meltdown

The Mets breakdown over the past three weeks caught me off-guard. I fully expected them to be in the playoffs, especially when I read last week that the Mets magic number was 3. My experience as a fan has led me to believe when a magic number is involved the team gets into the playoffs. Those durn Phillies.
Time and CNN are worried about the mental health of the Mets fan- here is the article. I am worried about David's godfather.