I figure in about 3 weeks I will catch up with my blogging and maybe get a post over to Real Worcester and Papamoka. With work and school, I have little if any free time. Right now I should be working on my research paper that is due this coming week, I really should. My paper is basically on “Have we progressed as a society, regarding the treatment of animals?”I believe I can knock 10+ pages on that without even trying,I can do 4-5 pages while I sleep and somehow figure in the rest of it.
Thanksgiving was great, my mom made me my own veggie happy stuffing and I filled myself on Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Wax Bean Casserole, Pearl Onions, Winter Squash, Homemade Rolls, and my vegetarian stuffing. Then I proceeded to have three pieces of pie. I couldn’t move and felt so overstuffed for the next 7 hours until I made it to bed.
Friday, I spent a great deal of time doing school work, it never ends.
Yesterday I got in 6 easy hours of overtime, man I like the work environment on Saturdays, less people and enjoyable. Made it to the gym and worked on Pathology homework.
Today I sit figuring out bills, the super hectic next 3 weeks I have between volunteer obligations (Extreme Makeover-Home Edition, Hanover) and Holiday Party for work (what to wear?) and a few appointments. Between that and having finals I am ready for a vacation.
As I sit at my desk on this Saturday night, drinking an Immort Ale, eating the best pumpkin spice cake I have ever tasted. I am excited. Not for this week by anymeans I have a mid term exam for my Pathology class and a research paper due for my English class.
I am looking forward to next weekend, my mother and I are volunteering at Extreme Makeover-Home Edition down in Connecticut. I know the undisclosed location, only because my stepdad is doing the Geothermal for the project, but to anyone that would ask…..I know nothing.
I am working next Saturday from 4-8pm. I can’t wait it is the second day of the project and I believe I will be gophering, I love this type of thing.
As many know I spent 2 years of my life in Americorps, and I spent much of that time doing Habitat for Humanity, the most rewarding time of my life, so I am very much looking forward to next weekend.
I am having some trouble being thankful for much right now, I sit with a space heater at my feet because we have had no heat since last Thursday. Seems the blower motor on our furnace is broken, a two year old furnace and I have no heat. We have had the HVAC guy come out 3 times in the last week, and we are at the point of ordering the blower motor. I will be amazed if our electricity bill is not skt high due to 4 little space heaters trying to reach the 12 foot ceilings and fill the one big space we have with some warmth. I am living proof of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, if a person’s basic life needs of shelter, food and protection are not meet, nothing else is very important. I have been to cold to worry to much this past week about school work, about coloring my hair or wearing anything but layers of clothing to stay warm. I really can’t think of anything but trying to stay warm. It’s a pretty crappy way to feel. Neil thinks I am a wimp, I think I just hate being cold. Give me 120 degree heat any day and take away this coldness in my home.
The house smells of yumminess… I am making vegetarian stuffed mushrooms, not vegan because I used mashed potatoes that have butter and ricotta cheese. But very good..
24 Large Stuffing Mushrooms 1/2 cup part skim Ricotta Cheese 1/2 cup mashed potatoes 1/2 package of Lightlife Gimme Lean Ground Sausage Style (Vegetarian)
1/2 red onion sliced 2 garlic cloves.
Take the stems of the mushrooms out of the body of the mushrooms, place the stems cut with tablespoon of Olive Oil, Gimme Lean Sausage, Onion, and crushed garlic in a saute pan. Cook
Mix the potatoes and ricotta cheese in a small bowl, season to taste
Once the mixture in the pan is cooked, you will either use a food processor or food chopper to make a mince texture.
Place a teaspoon of the potato and ricotta cheese mixture in the mushroom caps, then follow by capping it with the faux sausage mixture.
Tomorrow night there is a meet up at The Worcester Sharks game, about a couple handfuls of Worcester area bloggers, contributors on Real Worcester.com and a couple of our neighbors are going to the Sharks game. We got seats behind the glass near the Charter Zone Bar area, if you are there come and say hi….
in the Obama Administration… I guess I have some skeletons that I would not want anyone to know, maybe just not my parents to know. Check out the job questionnairehere
There is no way there would be secrets after this question and answer sheet, and I wonder how many people would still be able to hold one of the 7,000 positions that will be open…
With the start of my classes at Fisher I have been more than busy, so busy that I feel like I have no time for my love…My Blog I promise I will catch up and write about somethings this week, but right now I have some reading to do… Tomorrow is Neil’s Birthday so stop over at www.4rilla.blogspot.com and say Happy Birthday Old FART. This Friday we are going to see Girl Talk in Foxboro so I am sure it will be a late night, not sure if me being the old fart can handle late-late nights anymore… Saturday a friend from work is having night out to celebrate her birthday on Saturday. She wants me to go to the Alibi Lounge in Boston, ugh the bad part about working closer to the city is that is where everyone goes out at night. Do they not know that WORCESTER is a fantastic city.. Anyway back to school work…..
Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America. With Ohio,PA, and New Mexico in the bag, all states that McCain felt he could win. There is no path for McCain to win. We will see in the next 30 minutes to 1 hour.
I am not sure how I feel, I have wanted this so much for the last year and a half, now it will most likely happen. Shock and excitement at the fact that the American people will not let me down. The one time in my three presidential elections that “my candidate” wins. Damn….
So this political junkie made it to my polling location at 6:25 this morning, there was not one person waiting nor a car in site. So I went two doors down to Dunkin and grabbed a drink and a bagel. I came back to the Main South CDC around 6:30 and say one other person standing there waiting to vote, so I joined him. We spoke for about 15 minutes before anyone else formed a line with us. He was a first time voter, but here is the kicker, he was about 50 years old. He told me that he never felt it was that important and this election and time in our history he could not pass it up. This doesn’t seem like a rare thought, there are plenty of first time voters out there who are not in the 18-22 age range. There is a large amount of middle age voters who need something to believe in. That one thing is CHANGE, and many of them are voting for Obama.
Behind me Gladys Rodriguez-Parker the district director for James McGovern and the head of Worcester for Obama was ready to cast her vote, she and another woman were heading to New Hampshire to work the polls, can I say I was jealous that I had to head to work. So here I am 12 hours later then when I stood in line to vote in the most important election of my life waiting for the clock to get to at least 8pm so I can start seeing results come trickling in.
What can I say to convince even one more person what needs to be done tomorrow for the future of this country, hell for my future. I told a co-worker who was set in not voting to just “vote for me”. Use that one voice that each of us has and vote. I find it hard to believe there is even one person out there who thinks that his or her vote does not matter in this precious election. Last year at this time I remember going back and forth with fellow students in one of my classes on the importance of voting. Of course the argument of the electoral college versus the the popular vote is always good, since Gore did win the popular vote in 2000 but lose the electoral vote.
Tonight I am both anxious to the point I want to throw up and nervous. The American people have let me down before and I am sure they could again. I have never thought that Obama had it in the bag, he had my vote since day one. This weekend I had a tear in my eye watching people willing to stand in line for 8-10 hours to be able to vote and make sure their votes were counted. Bittersweet end will come soon enough, only because I have been so much involved with the election for the last year and half. I keep all ten fingers and toes crossed in hopes that people will come through.
Remember when you vote, to vote for the man who will bring this country into the 21st century and out of the 20th century.
Here is a paper I wrote last December….
Regarding the upcoming primaries as well as the upcoming election of 2008, I believe the person who speaks to me and my generation would be Barack Obama. I have always been politically involved to the point of helping to run faux elections in my high school so students and faculty could see how elections would turn out if students had the right to vote at a younger age. I consider myself an idealist, to the fullest and I tend to not be as jaded as my peers. The issues I feel the next president needs to address include:
Health Care Reform: The United States needs to have a comprehensive health care system that covers everyone whether or not they can afford it. What Obama is fighting for to make affordable healthcare and insurance? To make sure that no one is turned away from receiving health insurance because of a preexisting condition or current health status. For being the “richest” country in the world we tend to fall short when comparing ourselves to other industrialized countries. He also believes that employers need to offer insurance to their workers, and those would not need to contribute to the national plans. This is very similar to the health insurance policy now put though in Massachusetts.
Making America strong in a Global Economy, as I mentioned in the above paragraph, America is falling short; not only in health care sector but also with Education and over Taxation of the elderly, under employed and the average American. We need to give each and every American a fighting chance. Whether it is improving our education system by providing new teachers with ongoing continuing education and holding public schools to the standard that we hold private schools. Obama believes in starting at the bottom, to start with a student entering elementary school to the new teachers entering the work force. Produce more science and math graduates so we can compete with Asia. Obama is the man for this, he brings hope and determination. He wants to help America’s aging citizens so they do not have such high tax burdens and help Americans that do not itemize on their taxes the ability to also see a tax credit.
Another subject that I agree with would be Immigration reform. America’s leaders at this point have crimilized Illegal immigrants to the point that no one knows what to do about it. Obama’s stance is similar to mine. I believe that we should legalize the millions of illegal immigrants that are already in our country. We should lower the standards of this past year’s immigration reform where only college educated; direct family members of current immigrants can enter the country. Our country was built on immigrants and today immigrants do work that most Americans feel they are to entitle to do. I know I wouldn’t be slaughtering cows in a Swift and Company meat processing plant in Greeley, Co, but many illegal immigrants do. In 2006, the large processing facility was raided and many Mexico-born illegal immigrants were sent back to Mexico. I understand why it happens and why the government keeps silent because it helps keep the cost of American made goods down and also allowing US Companies to pay low wages to their workers. Every country does this, in China you are either the mill worker or you own the mills, there is total lack of a middle class, which makes it hard for improvement in how the country is run. Obama will help the illegal immigrants come out from the dark, help them become legal citizens of the United States, while cutting taxes for seniors who have put in their time for the United States. Under this plan we could be taxing the millions of immigrants. As it stands most of the money they make here goes back home to their families, but a very large amount of them do spend the money on American goods to send back to their families. He also believes that any non American born resident that joins the armed forces should be able to go for their citizenship, this I very much agree with, if I person is willing to fight for the United States and put their life on the line, then they should be able to be a rightful citizen of the United States. For the last agreement on immigration I believe that keeping families together is very important, when the factory last year here in Massachusetts was raided many mothers and fathers were separated from their children, some of the children were still infants and being breast feed. How is this fair to anyone? Just keep the families together. The large majority of immigrants in the United States do not want to harm the United States; they want to be part of it. All of our ancestors came here for betterment of the next generation of their families.
A troop being a single person that is not given a name, so the war can be viewed as a mission and not a time of death. Each “troop” is a mother, father, sister, brother, son and daughter to someone. Not just a killing machine sent to risk it all for their country. How we treat our veterans shows that once their service is complete, we stop caring for them. Obama wants to make sure that the veterans of this war and ones of the past have the help they need to be reestablished into civilian life. This includes continuing mental health services for vets up to 5 years after their last tour of duty is complete. A plan needs to be put in place to make sure that homelessness does not occur; currently 1 in 4 vets have experienced homelessness at least once. I personally believe that anyone who serves in the United States Armed Forces and has fought in battle should be given a home to live in upon returning home to the US.
Along with caring for our vets, Obama wants and would get the troops that are currently serving in Iraq and other middle east countries home as soon as humanly possible. The war has only become messier and more deadly. Obama has never been for the war/ surge in Iraq and he has made that known since 2002. We are over extending our Troops and supplies; we have spent trillions of dollars on what can be viewed a vengeance war for our current president. We need to take care of our citizens first, unless they are going to implement a draft you can not keep sending the troops back for 15 month tours. They need as much time home as they are overseas. I believe the 15 months on, 15 months off plan would work. As our countries deficit grows and as more “troops” die we need to seriously consider moving out of harms way. True we have true enemies around the world, but how is constantly attacking and not rebuilding helping anyone.
So when it comes to who I feel can bring our country to the greatness it once had I do not look to Hillary who is just like everyone else, she is in the Big Boys Club. I do not look to Edwards because his meek persona could not possibly bring change. In this day and age when it is hard to distinguish one politician from another you need to trust your gut. My gut points right to Obama, he brings hope, intelligence and perseverance. He has proved himself as a leader but also as a person for change. We as a country have went through far too much in the last 8 years with a President that only looks out for himself and not the best interest of the US. We need change; we need a younger, slightly idealistic person who has not become negative. Obama’s youth does not mean he is inexperienced or under qualified.
How would my world, my life be affected by this change you ask? Well in 2007 when the government is truly “One Party” “Two Sides” and not a true democracy I want someone who says something different. I want someone who believes in change and not just speaks of it. I believe Obama could be that welcome change that we all need. We need someone that is out for the well being of his or her country and not for special interest groups and the lobbyist. With no chance of a Republican winning in 2008 because of a destroyed public image, I feel that the best choice for the American people is Barack Obama.
During a prank call that Sarah Palin unknowingly took she mentioned to the “fake” French President Nicolas Sarkozy that his political model in France was a good model to go by. Oh my god what an idiot, France has a very socialist model and for someone that uses the word “socialist” as a four-letter word. France may be so “opposed” to Socialism but the Capitalism that Sarkozy works under is very far to the left. “France has long wanted to replace the American model with its state-run variant of capitalism — only some dare to call it socialism — and Sarkozy believes a President Barack Obama will prove more tractable than the reviled George Bush. Obama will certainly move American policy to the left, but he is unlikely to have fought this hard for control of American affairs only to turn it over to the hyperactive Sarkozy and the self-proclaimed leader of the global economy, Gordon Brown. ” Times Online-UK But agree with her: We should follow the model when it comes to Frances “Universal Health Care” and other great government supported programs. I really think if McCain wants to win he needs to put a muzzle on his running mate, as much as I am happy that she is an idiot, I am scared if the people of this country let me down once more and we end up with a McCain/Palin Administration.
