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I saw a friend wearing a shirt the other weekend that said save the ta ta's. I just thought it was a funny shirt. then today I saw a network with that name on a friend's facebook page. Save the ta ta's is promoting breast cancer awareness and donates to the cause. Kinda cool with a catchy name. check it out: www.savethetatas.com

My view of the bright orange leaves is diminishing. Twice today we had a gust of wind that blew the leaves upward and in a circle - it was an amazing, beautiful site!

Saturday night we went to the UAH hockey game against Bemidji. They started a new tradition - to introduce the parents that traveled to see their kids play (most of our players are from up north and Canada). All the parents were sitting in 2 sections of the box seats and they did make it to Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn who stood up and waved (Wyatt Russell is our goalie). I've heard they try to be normal parents and attend all their kids functions - pretty cool. We were sitting across the ice from them and I saw at least 3 people with digital cameras with bit zoom lenses taking photos of them :) After the game I called my father-in-law and got to mess with him - he loves Goldie. I think they'll be coming again this year for a hockey game :)

Wow, haven't written on here in a long time.

We went to the Biltmore in Asheville, NC for our 3rd anniversary. Had a great trip and gorgeous weather including seeing the fall foliage, which we took the long way back so we could drive part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Obama was elected president with about 52% of the popular vote. I think it's great but a few friends think it's the beginning of the end for this country. I teased them that they sounded more emotional that me -a pregnant woman :)
Now stories are coming out about how horrible Sarah Palin is, throwing temper tantrums, calling Africa a country, etc. I think it's funny. I agree with so many others that if McCain really wanted to win he (an old man) would have picked someone with more experience to be his second in command. I won't complain anymore, just hope Obama is full of the greatness we believe and can change the minds of the other voters.

Everyday life is still the same. So far having a healthy, non-eventful pregnancy which is good. Work is the same. Though the view outside my window is absolutely beautiful. Whatever kind of tree is just inches from my window now has bright orange/red leaves, and I can see all the fall colors in the hill in the distance. Even with fog and rain, it's still pretty today. My officemate is weeks away from getting moved to a cube-farm, so I keep teasing him to enjoy the view.

Holiday planning has begun with my sister-in-law. So nice to have another female in the family to help out with that sort of thing (and other things that don't occur to the men). I've got alot of Christmas shopping done - yeah - I hate the crowds and I refuse to go to the mall after dark, which is now very early.

This is a snippet of conversation I heard from a group of ladies walking to the next building:

"She said she was channeled and that the aliens are coming on Oct 14 and will be hovering over Alabama..."

Then it trailed off and I was too far to hear. I was tempted to follow them - I mean, I did hear it at NASA, so she could it be a legit source, right? haha :)
I then had a huge smile on my face for the next few minutes and passed a few people that gave me strange looks. Though they smiled back - ah the pleasantries of living in the south.

The latest McCain ad using the Ayers controversy pisses me off. They are saying Obama's character is corrupt because of something someone did when Obama was a kid. Here's the timeline:

* Bill Ayers - active in the 60s and 70s with the weatherman group and tied to some bombings - did some damage, but no injuries and he was never convicted (Obama was a kid then).
* Bill had kids in 77 and 80. Then he got involved with education. (I'm guessing grew up and is becoming a responsible adult)
* Ayers and Obama were on the same board for an anti-poverty foundation in the late 90s and lived in the same neighborhood.
* sometime in there Ayers contributed a whooping $200 to Obama's campaign.
* Currently Ayers is a distinguished professor at U of Illinois-Chicago.

In February 2008 (when Hilary brought up the issue), Obama spokesman Bill Burton released a statement from the senator about the relationship between the two: "Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous." More on wikipedia

Wow, just checked my 401K balance and it's down $14k for the year. And I know my balance is small compared to people close to retirement. I'd be freakin out if I was about 50+ years old right now. I keep hearing it's great for me (and other relatively young people), it's like the market is having a big sale, but it doesn't really help calm fears.
I found this comic yesterday - Damn it feels good to be a banksta. I immediately thought of the movie Office Space where the white guy is sitting in traffic in his beige Corolla with the song 'Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta' just blaring loud. So anyway, I found this comic hilarious. Thinking of the song also brought back a memory of driving through Nashville with some guy friends (white) while they too blared some gansta rap music with the windows down. I felt a bit silly but was laughing most of the time.

My friend Jon got married, so Jeff and I went to Austin for his wedding. We got there early on Friday and since it was so hot (about 92) we didn't walk around as much as I'd like, but we did take the Austin Overatures tour - a van ride for 90 minutes. I liked our guide (kinda reminded me of my friend Liz) and I saw more of the city that I ever had. The Austin City Limits Music Fest was that weekend, and we had to deal with some traffic, so after our tour, we tried to avoid downtown. I still love Austin and it is on a top place of mine to live one day, but I think I'm becoming more of a wuss to the heat. Or maybe I can blame the lack of tolerance on my pregnancy ? :) Jon didn't have people over to his house till 7pm Friday, so we still had a few hours to kill. Near our hotel was a place called Central market. A gourmet grocery store. Man, I wish we had one here. They had an olive bar that was at least 18 feet long, a salsa/dips bar, an entire aisle of cheeses, and then half an aisle for already prepared food ready to take home. The rehearsal dinner was a small gathering of friends and family, so that was nice.

Saturday morning we met my long time friend Maya for brunch. It's been about 7 years since I last saw her and another 7 or so before that (we grew up together). We had fun catching up then went to check out the huge costume store nearby on Congress St. I was about to take a photo, but Jeff stopped me and pointed to a sign prohibiting it - too bad. that place was huge and had thousands of costumes. We parted ways with Maya and her boyfriend, and Jeff and I continued to stroll the funky shops. It was hot again, so you had to keep going in shops for the A/C. We bought our first baby clothing purchase. They had several cute ones to choose from, but this one made me laugh most.

We made our way to the wedding location, a simple but pretty park in Austin. I think their wedding was as short as ours, and they were also married by a lady. They had a mariachi band for entertainment and Schlotsky's afterward. We were on the road headed to my dads about 4pm. The family visit was pretty uneventful and relaxing. I brought home a few more things of my grandma's including my dad's baby quilt she made, so that is neat.

Oh, I do hope that is my last plane ride till after the kid is born. I couldn't take cold medicine to help open my ears, so the plane descent was more painful that I remember before. Though, I found out Tuesday is a good day to fly - neither plane was full.
(pictures to be posted on picasa tonight)

Fast way to kill your day at work:
have a co-worker tell you she's about to go to New Zealand on an active vacation. The website: www.activenewzealand.com - has some amazing photo galleries. Especially the photo for kayaking Milford Sound. I want to go now! oh wait, I have baby duties coming up. I can still dream for one day :)

I got an email from a friend with a wonderful idea - donate to Planned Parenthood in the name of Sarah Palin. They send her a thank you card :) So I just did. I think it's a great organization. Here's the email:
Make a donation to Planned Parenthood. Of any amount, in Sarah Palin's name. Here's the best part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. It won't change the election but it will support an important organization and it will make women's voices heard. (And even if this was cooked up by a PP person -- I don't care!)

Here's the link to the Planned Parenthood website

You'll need to check "make honorary or memorial gift," and fill in the name of the person you want to "honor," i.e. Palin. Fill in the address to let PP know where to send the "in Sarah Palin's honor" card. If you use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters, they'll get the message.
McCain's headquarters address:
McCain for President
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington, VA 22202

I heard from my parents last night that my brother stayed in his bay house a couple nights ago. There was some water inside but no major floor cave ins or cracks that he found so far. My dad was worried about the structure holding up, but they are more worried about looters. So sad - it's their own neighbors that do some of the looting. So they are staying there with a generator. Their neighbor that had a one-story house on a slab only had 2 interior walls/rooms remaining. When they went over to talk to him, he said you could see the water line - at the very top of the wall, so the waves just lifted the roof right off. And then they talked to the cops with dogs - cadaver dogs, and yes they had found 2 bodies somewhere in the vicinity. Kinda spooky.

So I've been hearing talk of trying to subpoena to get emails on personal email accounts from Palin and her husband. I was not sure what all that was about. I found some clarification in this article. Seems Palin had her husband around the office all the time even included him in meetings. Soon people were cc'ing him on emails for official city/state business. I wonder, he has his own job and 5 kids - didnt he have enough other stuff to tend to?! Will this be allowed in Washington?

Another article with some interesting quotes from others that know Palin.

"She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.'"

"The real disturbing thing about Sarah is her mind-set. It's her underlying belief system that will influence how she responds in an international crisis, if she's ever in that position, and has the full might of the U.S. military in her hands. She gave some indication of that thinking in her ABC interview, when she suggested how willing she would be to go to war with Russia."

Howard Bess (a Baptist pastor) adds, "this person's election would be a disaster for the country and the world."

Sarah Palin stated in the ABC news interview her biggest credential is her work in energy. "...this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy."
That is wrong. Alaska produces 14% of oil for US, but she said "energy" not "oil". Alaska produced 3.5 percent of the country's domestic energy production. Big difference! More on factcheck.org.

Texas family update: One brother's house fared good with minor damages. The other brother with a house on the bay has not been inside yet, but a friend said the main house is still standing (on the stilts - is that what it's called?). The one-story half house is gone, and ofcourse their pier and new boathouse are gone. Both of his neighbors on either side had one story houses on the ground and they are gone. The yard is gone and water is now almost up to the pilings. Maybe I'll know more tomorrow. So glad they evacuated. So sad for all the work and clean up that is ahead of them.

I made Jeff suffer thru a hour or so of hurricane Ike coverage this morning. He's not as interested in it as me, but he didnt grow up there either, with relatives that had to evacuate houses on the bay. The local news site has started posting viewers photos - beautiful skies as the storm was coming in: www.click2houston.com/slideshow/news/17453226/detail.html. I'm still anxious to see more, just waiting on the reporters to get out more.
I read where the Kemah Boardwalk and several surrounding million dollars homes are submerged. I'm glad I got to see it just a few months ago.

I saw an interesting news headline that McCain voted against a law requiring free rape exams. This ofcourse peaked my interest since I'm pro-choice and he's not, so how could he also do this. Sometimes the readers comments have more information than the actual article. I love that other people do the research for me. I knew that pieces of legislation are huge and packed with several sections, but I had no idea they were this big! This H.R.3355 is over 300 pages. I did skim through it, and to me it look like there was alot of good stuff in here, community grants, gun safety for youth, some prison stuff, etc. I dont think I could be a law maker though and have to keep up with several of these going up for vote. Anyway, it did pass, you can see who voted here (Biden voted yea, McCain nay).

I did watch the ABCnews Palin interview last night. I was not impressed. She sounded rehearsed, so much so she repeated herself and couldn't come up with a new answer, several times making me feel like I was lost in a sea of words. And the clips of her speaking in a church, saying OUR soldiers were on a task from God scared the crap out of me. Let the people in the middle east fight a holy war, not us!

Looks like several of my relatives will get a direct hit from hurricane Ike. I really hope my brother's bay house holds up. I saw that they started mandatory evacuations in Houston. I hope they do a better job with the roads and evacuation routes than they did with Rita. What would normally take 3 hours to get to my parents took them 12 hours. Guess I'll call later and see how much company my parents will have.
I was looking up Houston news, and they have a huge list of traffic cameras set up everywhere. It's interesting to see the roads already filling up.

I'm still baffled by how many people are talking about Sarah Palin, and talking like they'd vote for McCain just because of her. In my opinion she has barely any experience and was only chosen to fill a demographic to get Hillary supporters away from Obama. I decided to write down a few things that are big on my list for voting this election.

Obama(Columbia Univ, Harvard Law- top of class)
- 47 years old
- would increase taxes for extremely wealthy (unlike McCain)
- does not take contributions from lobbyists
- opposed the Iraq war since 2002
- called to repeal the Patriot Act
- excellent ideas for education reform
- 10+ years Senate experience

Biden (Univ of Delaware 506th of 688, Syracuse Univ College of Law 76 of 85)
- 30+ years Senate experience (plenty of info available)

McCain (US Naval academy, 894 of 899 - come on -even Bush went to Yale)
- 72 years old
- crashed 5 navy aircraft
- POW, returned home to former model wife now 5" shorter and with her own injuries, so he cheated on her w/in a year, and later marrying someone 18 years younger than him
- admits not knowing how to use a computer
- said on camera he does not know how many houses he owns
- 20+ years Senate experience, 5 in House of Rep
- voted to extend the wiretap provision in the Patriot Act (which is totally against everything the constitution stands for)
- uses talk of terrorism to keep this country scared and voting republican.

Sarah Palin (5 colleges, finally graduating from Univ of Idaho in journalism)
- PTA to town council to mayor of town of 7,000 to governor for less than 2 years.
- when will she finally do a real interview and answer hard questions?!
- yes she seems real and can speak eloquently, but do we want a hockey mom for #2 in line ?! Several people have said how they like that she's just like anyone else. That's great for a city mayor, but the US is a major player in world politics - I want someone more prepared to handle it, someone that is highly educated and prepared for the role.

Added 9/11: Matt Damon did an interview where he said it was like a scary Disney movie. The numbers say there is a 1 in 3 chance McCain will not live through is first term, so we'd have this hockey mom working relations with Russia. scary. So true!

I found some more information on the study of US clothing sizing and vanity sizing issues. In 2004 they scanned 10,000 subjects of all ages and races and took measurements. A couple interesting results:
* Of course we're getting taller and heavier, but heavier faster
* In 1941, the average woman’s measurements were about 35-27-37 (mostly white women measured for this though)
* In 2004, the average woman's measurements were 40-24-43 (all races)
* Average weight has risen to 157 pounds and Average sizes are now 14 to 16
And at the end of this paper, there is a note implying that Levi stopped their customization option for clothing where they'd scan your body and make the perfect jeans just for you. Well I didn't think I'd get back to San Francisco anytime soon (where I was told that store was).

Most of the family knows, and yesterday I told my boss and put it on facebook. So it's out in the open - we're pregnant with our first.
I started a separate blog for the baby stuff: http://babymach.blogspot.com .