For The Birds

The first time I saw a pigeon, I was in Hawaii and 14 years old. I thought it was a rare, tropical bird and was impressed with its beauty and rhythmic cooing. Later, I learned to be disturbed by them. I even stood back as an old boyfriend engaged in horrible extermination methods to stop the birds from nesting on his lanai.

Now there's a new book out about pigeons, and I understand the author gives a new look at rock doves, as they've been good friends to humans for a lot longer than you might imagine. His web site has a page full of interesting factoids.

T.G.T.G.I.O.

Thank God ThanksGiving Is Over.

We did a fantastic job with the feast. My mom took over on turkey, stuffing, and gravy duty. Elias's mom and sister-in-law washed more dishes in 2 days than I have in the last 6 months. Also, I am now computing from my new mac with a gig of ram. All is well in the universe.

'Tis The Season

I am all about the holidays right now.

For Thanksgiving, Elias and I are hosting our moms and siblings. I've placed my free range turkey order and have plans for something vegetarian for our special meat-free mom. I'll also prepare stuffing, green salad with beets, and pecan pie. I'm leaving the rest to everyone else. My step mom is making sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, and I'm psyched. I've only recently come around to eating sweet potatoes and yams, and I'm really curious about the sweet and savory promise of adding the marshmallows.

Speaking of curious... . Elias has gotten in the habit of worrying about things that shouldn't really bother him. For example, last night we watched a dvd, and he announced that the opening credits caused him to worry that the film, with its star-studded cast, would be lacking in good writing. I didn't think he should "worry" about it so much as he might suspect or anticipate a bad film. He says it's a Berkeley thing, and that his colleagues preface their seminar remarks with, "The thing that worries me about [this ancient Greek poem fragment ... ] is ... ." I'm kind of worried that Elias is going soft. Me, I'd be all "What!?! Are you kidding me? This worries you?!? What do you think about world hunger, the war in Iraq, genocide in Africa, ... ?!?"

He's Back!

I've missed Xui's posts, and now he's back. Yeah!

With so much going on , we need his insight.

GOTV

How's everyone feeling about the big day?

The Huffington Post published a blog about GOTV.

On Saturday, I did GOTV work for Aimee Allison who is running for Oakland City Council for the Second District. She is awesome, and people in that district should vote for her. She's 35, African American, and a member of the Green Party. She was a conscientious objector back in the first gulf war and continues to oppose U.S. involvement in Iraq. She's giving her business-as-usual opponent a run for her money, and I'm sucked in to the excitement of it. Aimee's optimism and hope is the sincerest I've seen in a long time, and nobody better harsh on me for appreciating it. I have the whole governor thing to mope about, so let me have a little joy.

Thoughts On The Election

Here's a good letter to the LA Weekly explaining why it's important to vote for Angelides.

Even though I'm no Feinstein fan, I don't want anyone to vote for her Republican opponent just because it's fun to say his name -- Dick Mountjoy. Seriously.

Big thanks to Elias, Chris, and David for phone banking last weekend. Also, Andrew is a trooper for signing up to precinct walk with me this weekend. Any other takers?