So, after my attempt to give up murder for Lent last year was unsuccessful, I decided to be a bit more practical this year. I'm learning from my mistakes. (I knew it would be too hard to give up murder cold turkey.) So, this Lenten season, I'm taking a cue from one Christy O'Connor. For Lent this year, I need your help. I'm trying to get to bed before 1:00 every weeknight (weekend nights excluded). Here's where you come in:
a) Don't keep me up, if you can help it
b) If you see me online or awake in general, yell at me.

My brother thinks it's funny that I have an away message saved on my computer that says "I love you." That's not what he finds funny though. He laughs because it's titled Boca Burgers.

These websites should keep you busy for a few minutes:

This just seems like something I should have thought of first.

I want someone to write about their secret love for me.

Be like Picasso

Smack the Penguin. My best score is 588.8.

I Think I may have fallen in love with this man.

There's a bit of Nigel in all of us....

Ah, College life...

You must play this game! It's 3-D Pong and it is beyond addictive.

This is great if you need to glue two things together and just don't know what glue to use.

My new favorite game is 1000 Blank Cards. Anybody want to play?

Make a snowflake.

This year, everyone's getting an Anti-Valentine

Y'all should visiet my friend, Jamie's site. I saw a lot of these drawings way back when they were in pencil at Mother McAuley. Visit her gallery. She is truly talented and I think her work should be shared

I liked being down there this weekend.
-Leslie, Lindsey, Jared, and others: Sorry I didn't get to see you. I just couldn't make it to TED. I think I may come down for the night on Friday to see Deanna talk about Vaginas.
-Jon: *sigh*
-Deanna: Chew your food, honey.

This is going to be SUCH a long week.

You should be dating a Leo.
July 23 - August 22
This mate is honest and loyal, with a sunny disposition. Though this lion has the tendency to be arrogant, sulky or smug, he/she is unrestrained in bed.
What Zodiac Sign Are You Attracted To?
brought to you by Quizilla
-Alright, a Leo. After reading this, I decided to see how well Leos and Libras go together while I was reading my horoscope. Here's what it said:

:Leo and Libra have a successful relationship because each of them can appreciate and benefit from the attributes of the other. As a combination, Leo and Libra are well-balanced. Libra is charming and cultural, and has good manners which offset Leo's direct and acerbic personality. Leo can help their partners to make decisions more easily and act on them, and they can teach the art of spontaneity. Leo is ruled by The Sun and Libra is ruled by the Planet Venus. The two Signs coming together form the basic foundation of relationships -- warmth and passion. The Sun and Venus go well together. The sun is a masculine energy and Venus a feminine, so this relationship is a good balance of charged energies. Venus is about beauty of romance, and The Sun is about sustaining life and propagating light. This couple is resilient and can fortify one another for a long time. Each partner brings to the relationship what the other is missing, so theirs is a highly compatible relationship.

We all know that the Yankees lost the World Series. But there's another group of nine men in pinstripe suits...well, eight men and one woman...who are also struggling in a losing battle of their own. I'm talking of course about the democratic presidential hopefuls that are heading to Iowa this week for the first caucus of this election on January 19th.
I haven't recapped any political action lately, so I thought I'd give you all a heads up.
-Carol Mosely Braun dropped out of the race, but she is throwing her political support to Howard Dean. Despite the fact that people question Dean because of his lack of minority board members while he was Gov. of Vermont. Her endorsement provides an opportunity for the media to move the news out of "how many minorities did Dean have in his inner circle" to "what exactly are the Democrats going to do to defeat George Bush." I'm sorry the only woman in the field had to bow out so early.
-In what appears to be the making of an amazing political "back from the dead" story, John Kerry continues to move ahead in Iowa. Many insiders say it looks like Iowa is going to be a 4-way tie between Kerry, Dean, Gephardt, and Edwards.
-George W. Bush is launching a shuttle to Mars. Which, to me, means that he has lost all hope of saving Earth and has decided to move on.

Some quotes from a friend of mine:

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
-Gandalf

"Hippies, hippies. They want to save the world, but all they do is smoke pot and play frisbee."
-Cartman, South Park

"I have to remind myself that some birds just aren't meant to be caged - their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone"
-Shawshank Redemption

"You're the strangest person I ever met, she said and I said you too and we decided we'd know each other a long time."
-Brian Andreas

You can make a difference!

Ok, so last night I realized that I have been encouraging all of you to vote. Yay me. But then I realized that I have yet to tell you how to register. Boo me. I'm going to make this incredibly easy for you with a step by step guide. If you've already registered to vote, go back to playing Solitaire.
1. Click here, then click on your state.
2. Make sure you meet your state's requirements.
(To register in Illinois you must: be a citizen of the United States; be a resident of Illinois and of your election precinct at least 30 days before the next election; be at least 18 years old on or before the next election; not be in jail for a felony conviction; not claim the right to vote anywhere else.)
3. Fill out the form. (An * indicates a required field.)
4. Print out the form.
5. Sign the form! This is super-important and I bet a lot of people forget to do it.
6. Address and stamp the envelope. For Illinois, we send it to:
State Board of Elections
1020 S Spring St
Springfield, IL 62704
7. VOTE!

It both amazes and disgusts me that raisins never really expire.

Buying our President

No one under the age of 35 should be conservative. Period. When you're young you should want to change things, you should be angry and want to get involved. Liberals realize that the world needs to change and they are progressive enough to think that they can change it.

Now onto money issues. As you may remember from reading my last post, there are 9 democratic presidential hopefuls and 1 republican. Some have money, some don't. Let's look at who's raised what! First, the dems:
1. Howard Dean - $12,435,901
2. John Kerry - $7,944,988
3. Dick Gephardt - $5,884,600
4. John Edwards - $4,808,680
5. Joe Lieberman - $4,082,580
6. Wesley Clark - $3,383,848
7. Dennis Kucinich - $785,471
8. Carol Moseley Braun - $29,278
9. Rev. Al Sharpton - $24,070

And now, the Republican:
1. George W. Bush - $73,477,496

Ok, let's break this down. Dub-yah has raised more than all 9 democratic canidates combined ($39,379,416)! That is not a good sign. Experts are saying that Bush may break half a billion. That is an absurd number. Insanely high! On the other end of the spectrum, however, are Sharpton, Braun, and (sadly) Kucinich. The three of them are practically out as it is.

Feeling Political?

Readers, I know you're busy, I am too. But that is no excuse to neglect the American government. This election is an incredibly interesting one. We've got 9 democratic canidates, and 1 (*cough* war hungry *cough*) Republican Canidate. With so many Democrats to keep track of, I thought that I would make it easier for you. I have broken this election down to the basics and included links to the canidates own sites. So , here you go (In no particular order):

-Sen. John Kerry (Massachusetts): A Vietnam vet turned US Senator. He's generally a solid liberal. He has supported some education reforms that were opposed by the teacher unions (like ending tenure and allowing lateral entry into teaching). You may recognize his wife's name "Heinz." Yes, folks, she owns all 57 varieties, making Kerry the richest member of Congress. But he always says he won't spend her money to get elected.

-Gov. Howard Dean (Vermont): As the Governor of a rather tiny state, Dean stayed below the national political radar for most of his career. Dean's obscurity ended instantly, however, when he signed the controversial Civil Unions bill into law in April 2000 (a law that granted full legal recognition and rights to same-sex couples in the state). From that point forward, Religious Right activists targeted Dean as a supporter of "gay marriages." Not only has Dean refused to back down from his support for civil unions, he stated that his political career would have been "meaningless" had he had not been willing to risk everything to stand up for a significant civil rights law he supported.

-Rep. Richard Gephardt (Missouri): He's run before. As you may know, we've never had a President Gephardt. He's lost before. Gephardt's whole campaign is basically based on unions. He loves 'em. Having the unions could work for or against Gephardt because you get a lot of votes with unions. However, he looses many small business owners because they are not unionized. While Howard Dean and several others loudly positioned themselves as the anti-Iraq war candidates, Gephardt stood out for his early and solid support for the Iraq war

-Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut): He was Al Gore's VP running mate in '00. Lieberman was the first Jewish candidate ever to be nominated on a major-party national ticket. But, some Dems are unhappy with Lieberman's strong support for Bush on the War on Terrorism. Lieberman has been compared to a moderate Republican. This has caused him to loose some liberal states, namely Iowa.

-Gen Wesley Clark (Arkansas): Clark was a General in Kosovo before Clinton fired him. This is interesting because it is reported that his biggest supporter and advisor is Bill Clinton. Upon entering the race, Clark let it be known that he is pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights (including "taking another look" at ending the ban on gays in the military), pro-environmental protection laws, pro-affirmative action, and is harshly critical of Bush's decision to launch the Iraq War (he flip-flopped on the issue during his first few days as an official candidate). In my opinion, he says what we want to hear. This can be fantastic if he's telling the truth and lethal if he's lying.

-Amb. Carol Mosely Braun (Illinois): Why is she running? No, seriously, WHY IS SHE RUNNING? Braun has no money (We'll talk about funding in the next post). And, with the exception of Illinois, NO ONE knows who she is. She has no chance so I refuse to talk about her.

-Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio): Kucinich had a solid pro-life stance on abortion for nearly three decades (he even cast votes to criminalize the performing of abortions). But he seems to have shifted to a pro-choice stance sometime in mid-2002, right around the time he began considering running for president. Kucinich first came to national attention in 1977 when he was elected Cleveland Mayor at age 31. A financial crisis forced the city into declaring bankruptcy, and caused Kucinich to lose his 1979 re-election bid. It took 15 more years (1994)before he was able to re-start his political career and win a State Senate seat. Two years later, he was elected to Congress.

-Sen. John Edwards (North Carolina): Edwards is kind of in a catch-22. He is a US Senator(North Carolina). The catch: this is his first term as senator. This brings up questions about his lack of experience. As for ideology, Edwards falls in the liberal-to-populist range. Basically, he's pro-choice, an environmentalist, and pro-health care reform.

-Rev. Al Sharpton (New York): Al Sharpton is New York City's answer to Jesse Jackson. He is barely a real politician and we know that he, like Braun, won't win either. He has no money and news of a pending IRS audit of Sharpton's personal financial records in Summer 2003, and stories about his debts, are diverting some attention away from his campaign.

So, there you have it. Our democratic canidates. I hope this makes everyone's life a little easier.

Mary Colleen

The Top 10 Reasons that I agree that this post should be dedicated to Mary Colleen:
10 - She has two first names, but no middle name.
9 - To her, listening to Country music is not only a hobby, but a way of life. This summer rocked: Not only did we see Shania, but Toby too.
8 - She drives The T-Bird. (Not 'A', 'The')
7 - She will drink wine with me even if we can't find anyone else to drink with. (We tried really hard too!)
6 - Her love can be bought with Cheesecake.
5 - Her CrAzY family will amuse me for hours on end.
4 - She honestly thinks that words like "Fart" and "Butt" are hysterical. (MC - I bet you laughed when you read those, didn't you?)
3 - She will go on adventures with me. Like the night we went on a hunt for a cup of coffee and ended up going to like 5 places and getting coffee from all of them. Or the night we decided to see where 95th Street ended and drove forever until we got bored and turned around.
2 - She has the BEST work stories!
1 - She lets me be my self around her, even though sometimes that means irrational, insane and illogical.

Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Could be Superman. More likely it's Mary Colleen. She's that cool.

Fool! Mary Colleen does not need a reason to be cool - she just is.

"The difference between a bean and a cow, is that a bean can begin an ADVENTURE!"

"I do my thing and you do your thing. You are you and I am I. And, if, in the end, we end up together, it's beautiful."

This makes two in a row! It's the Friday Five:
1. When was the last time you laughed?
-Literally two minutes ago when I was reading Michelle's away message. Generally, I smile to myself when I'm sitting on the computer and read something funny, but I literally laughed outloud.

2. Who was the last person you had an argument with?
-Who knows. Probably the dumbass waitress that waited on me tonight at dinner.

3. Who was the last person you emailed?
-The lovely Lisa

4. When was the last time you bathed?
-I took a bubble bath with Tea Tree Oil about an hour ago.

5. What was the last thing you ate?
-An omelette made with vegan cheese and egg substitute.

If you're like me, and you think that the PT Cruiser is ugly, then you clearly haven't seen the wood paneled version.



A Cosmo Fact: Men who shave every day have more sex and are 70% less likely to suffer from a stroke -Get out those razors boys!