Wintertasticness

Winter seems to have concentrated itself in late February. We've had lots of snow... plenty to shovel, build snow forts in, and send some of us off into the woods on skis.... There have many lovely discoveries, including O's skating abilities!

I voted

Someone has been playing politics with my politics, but I decided to vote anyway in today's primary.

In part this is because my kids have gotten rather excited about the whole process and I want to set a good example, but also because I just plain wanted to exercise my right, despite Dingell and Levin having pooched the process for the Democrats of Michigan.

Yes, I went around and around in my brain about what message I would be sending and whose hand I would be playing into... And no, I didn't vote "uncommitted" which makes no sense at all to me. Send delegates (if Michigan is allowed to send delegates) to the convention without them having to be committed to a candidate chosen by the people they are supposed to represent? Uh, no. It is quite likely the national party will blink, Michigan Democrats will get a slap on the wrist (like the Republican Party did), and Michigan will get to seat at least some part of its delegate pool. And if that does happen, I don't want a bunch of uncommitted delegates or delegates who represent only a handful of people who voted out there on the convention floor. Since all of the viable Democratic candidates have serious liabilities (like not one of them supports same-sex marriages) but all of them are better than the Republican options (particularly on issues such as abortion and most foreign policy), it wasn't actually that hard to fill in a bubble on the ballot.

It didn't hurt that it is a lovely morning out there, with a fresh dusting of snow... So I walked Emma to school, played footsie with "democracy" and now can settle down to work.

First Day, First Ride

In a move that confirmed my spouse's growing suspicion that I am insane, I took the mountain bike out for a ride today.


There is a wee bit of heavy, wet snow out there!

I only rode about 9 miles but it was really a lovely day with fresh white snow on the ground, branches, and rooftops. It seemed like a good way to start the year. I put out the call to Bike Ypsi folks, but only our adopted Ann Arbor member showed up. That's okay, we always have fun riding together and his soaked clothes made me appreciate the technical cold weather gear I've acquired over the past few months!

My first ride since the hip surgery 3 weeks ago and my first ride of 2008. Yay!