In my previous post, there were two main points that I wanted to make:

1. The Target boycotters weren’t doing a good job of making it clear what exactly they are boycotting.
2. I had a hard time understanding the idea of boycotting a corporation because they support candidates with whom I disagree.

I stand by the first point and partially by the second, but I have a new viewpoint. Before I go into the details, though, I want to thank the people that commented or had conversations with me in person on this topic. I was genuinely interested in hearing other points of view and I really appreciated my friends’ willingness to discuss this with me.

Through these conversations, I found (at least) one flaw in my reasoning. I debated the idea of boycotting a company who makes donations that support a candidate who disagrees with me. If we were talking about fiscal policy, that would be one thing, but in this case we’re talking about basic human rights. And those shouldn’t be debatable.

On NPR the other day, I heard a California voter who voted for Prop 8 saying that he felt it was unfair that one judge was able to negate the voice of the majority of California voters.  I immediately found myself arguing with the radio, saying “It wasn’t that he overturned your law because he disagreed with it.  He overturned it because it was unconstitutional.  Just like any law that forbids Mormon churches would be overturned.  It doesn’t matter if you vote for it.  You can’t pass any law you want in this country – you have to abide by the rules that are our foundation.”

So that’s how I see this now.  Tom Emmer does not support equal rights for all Americans.  That goes against everything I (and we) stand for.  And, Target, by making this donation and declining to make a comparable donation to a gay-rights organization, you have said that you do not support equal rights for all Americans.

I never intended for this blog to be overly political, but it seems that there are often political issues and arguments on my mind when I sit down to write.

I’ve been tempted to write something about the “Mosque” that everyone’s been talking about “at” Ground Zero, but so many people have already said things so eloquently that it seems redundant. So here’s the only thing I want to add: if they want to build the center there, let them. The thing I worry about, though, is that they will build it, LEGALLY, and will then become victims of hate crimes, a la abortion clinics and mosques all across the country. The only thing worse than denying them their right to build would be for them to build the center and live in fear of using it.

It’s been said too many times, but it’s still true: the people who attacked our country were not representative of all Muslims. If we are saying that all religions must answer for their most radical, totally whacko extremists who do horrible, crazy things in the name of religion… then I’m going to go ahead and say the Christian Right has no room to talk.

Okay, on to different things.

I’ve been hearing a lot about boycotting Target recently, which confuses me. Here is my understanding of the situation:

The Supreme Court said that the government can’t ban corporate spending on elections.
Target spent money on an election.
Some people don’t agree with the platform of the candidate Target supported.
Those people are boycotting Target.

The part I’m confused about is which part the boycotters are against. (And I don’t think they’re doing a very good job of making it clear). Is it the fact that Target (a corporation) spent money on an election? Because that’s totally legal right now, according to the Supreme Court. And I imagine that if they had spent money on a candidate that the boycotters supported, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. We’d all be too busy shopping at Target, thrilled that they seized the moment and capitalized.

Is it the fact that corporate spending on elections is legal? Because that’s not Target’s fault. Don’t punish them.

Is it the fact that Target supported a candidate whose platform goes against your beliefs? I sort of understand this, but I sort of don’t.

I mean, I understand that you don’t want to give money to a company when you know that money might end up supporting a candidate you disagree with. However, we only know about this particular donation because it was a large gift made through the corporation. What about all the gifts made personally by CEOs and presidents of other businesses we patronize? Isn’t that the same idea? And are we really trying to become a nation of people who only support businesses who support candidates who agree with us? What would that nation look like?

One of my favorite cupcake shops in Portland supports Planned Parenthood, which is a cause I believe in with my whole heart. This endears me to said cupcake shop even more. If one of my Republican friends refused to go there because they supported a Planned Parenthood fundraiser, that would be fine. It’s their choice. But if ANY company that supported ANY organization or non-profit that was remotely controversial (why that children’s hospital instead of the one across town?) ended up experiencing huge backlash, why would companies EVER support these groups? And then what? A collection of non-profits who must survive solely on individual support? And how did those individuals make their money? By collecting paychecks from said companies.

I know for a fact that some of the biggest donors to The Foundation are conservative, and they probably aren’t pro-choice. But what if those people didn’t make gifts to The Foundation anymore because they found out that one of the employees made personal donations to Planned Parenthood? Sure, it’s a tiny fraction… but do you think my $20 occasional purchases at Target are going directly into Tom Emmer‘s pocket?

Maybe I’m being too negative. And honestly, it’s totally possible that I just don’t get it. But it seems like Target didn’t really do anything wrong.

Did I totally miss the point? Please let me know. I’m honestly interested in hearing other opinions on this matter.

Blogging is sort of natural for me. I’m a very open person and a natural over-sharer. When I have a hangnail, everyone in my office knows about it. I update Facebook and Twitter every time something happens to me that I find remotely interesting or funny. I like to think I’m not obnoxious… more conversational… but either way, I never hesitate to share the sheer minutiae of my life with the world.

That’s why these last few weeks and months have been particularly difficult for me – I’ve had Big News in my life that I couldn’t share on my blog. You may have noticed I haven’t been posting very often? It’s been really hard for me to write about things OTHER than the Big News that’s been on my mind.

So here it is: I’m quitting my job and going back to school.

After lots of soul-searching, trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I discovered Speech Pathology. It incorporates so many things that interest me – working with kids, linguistics, early childhood development, foreign languages – and also offers lots of different career opportunities. I’m particularly interested in working at a school with young kids, which also means summers off!

I know that life seldom goes as planned, and I’m not saying that this is FOR SURE the thing I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life (because who knows anything for sure?), but it feels like the best thing for me to be doing right now. And any step in the right direction is positive. So why not go for something that I find so interesting and exciting?

There are prerequisites for the SLP master’s program that I don’t have, so I’ll be spending the next year working on those. And applying for grad school. And taking the GRE. And trying to figure out how to live off student loans.

And then I’ll get to be a graduate student!

I keep thinking I should write something about Prop 8.

But what would I say? That I think everyone should have equal rights? That I don’t think sexual preference is a choice? That some of my best friends are gay? That I have seen same-sex couples who are happier, healthier and more in love than most straight couples I know? That I don’t believe gay people should have to deal with extra steps and measures (and costs!) just to get the same rights that straight people enjoy for free? That it makes me sick that some parents have to have a conversation with their kids about why the government won’t let Mommy and Mama get married?

Chances are, if you read my blog, you probably agree with me on most of these issues. If you don’t agree, I would be interested in having a (level-headed, open-minded) conversation with you about it sometime to hear your point of view. In the meantime, however, I passed this car on my way to work today… and I felt like it summed everything up nicely.

As previously stated, I’m not much for cooking. My theory is that I have such low standards when it comes to food that I don’t care enough to put the time and effort into cooking. If I can make a meal that requires preparation and time and enjoy it just as much as a bowl of cereal or a sandwich, why would I go through all that trouble?

My pathetic tastebuds also make it difficult for me to taste things and determine that something needs to be added, or what that something might be. (Pepper? Coriander? Glitter? I don’t know!)

The exceptions to my cooking-phobia seem to be baking and special events. Birthday cupcakes? Potatoes au gratin for a family dinner? Homemade cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving? I’m totally in.

And in the summer I LOVE making deviled eggs. Sunday night was a perfect summer evening, so I decided to try out my aunt Carol’s deviled egg recipe. She makes delicious deviled eggs and I had her send me the recipe last summer. I haven’t had the chance to try them yet (once last summer, after I moved into my new apartment I bought all the ingredients to make them on a Sunday only to get home and discover I didn’t own a saucepan for boiling eggs. Apparently Brian kept that in the divorce.), so I thought I’d give the recipe a test-drive this week. They were AMAZING, so I’ve copied her recipe here for all of you to enjoy, as long as you all refer to it in your recipe books as “Aunt Carol’s Deviled Eggs.” I mean, really. She deserves the credit.

This recipe is for 6 eggs, but obviously easy to multiply. The secret ingredient? Pickle relish!

Hard boil 6 eggs and cut them in half lengthwise.
Whip egg yolks with:
1/4 cup mayo
3 tsp or so mustard
1/8 tsp salt
A glop of sweet pickle relish

Mix it all up until it’s a consistency and color you like. (In light of my earlier comments, it may not surprise you that directions like this usually drive me nuts, because I don’t know what consistency or color I like. However, I decided I’d just give it a shot, guessing about how much “a glop” was, and then taste it and see what happened. Turned out it was delicious without any adjustments! And that’s not just me saying that – I brought them to work to share and everyone wanted seconds.)

So try it out this weekend! Unless you’re coming to the same BBQ I’m attending on Saturday. Then just show up and eat some.

Many have you have probably already seen this video:

I saw it last week and couldn’t stop giggling. Naturally, I showed it to Galen this past weekend. We were in Bend to attend the wedding of one of his college friends, and he and I giggled together about the video for a good ten minutes on Sunday morning.

Then, Sunday evening, we went to the wedding. When it got to the part of the ceremony where the officiant read the vows and had the bride and groom repeat after him, Galen started biting his lip. The vows were very nice – pretty traditional, nothing unusual – so I couldn’t figure out what he was reacting to. As soon as they were over, he told me all he could think about the whole time was Talking Carl.

Remember ages ago when I asked you for help coming up with a costume/theme for Galen and my team in the Great Urban Race? Well, then a month passed… and I still didn’t tell you how it went. Please forgive me. Can we still be friends?

My aunt Carol recommended we check out this page of couples costume ideas. We read through the whole list, stopping occasionally when we found potential options. Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles? Charlie Brown and the Red-Haired Girl? Homer and Marge Simpson? Then I got to Sherlock Holmes and Watson and didn’t need to keep reading.

We pulled the costumes together at the VERY LAST minute. Friday at lunch, I went to a toy store and bought two magnifying glasses, then stopped by a smoke shop and bought a pipe.

(I feel it is necessary to tell you about my experience in this smoke shop. I had visited 3 or 4 stores downtown, asking for pipes – any kind, old, new, tobacco, bubble-blowing – and nobody had any. Then one man recommended a nearby smoke shop that I had passed hundreds of times in my life but never really noticed. When I went in, I realized I was in way over my head. Not only did they have way more pipes than I had ever seen, but everyone in the shop was smoking. I didn’t realize this was legal. One of the men working there must have seen the confused look on my face, or noticed that I was the only non-hipster in the shop under the age of 50, because he asked if he could help me. I told him I needed a pipe for a costume, so I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but I definitely had a budget. He pulled out a big basket of pipes and told me they were the cheapest ones they had. While I was poring over them, trying to figure out which one had the best color and curve for our costumes, two other store workers decided to come over and help me. One was an old man smoking a cigar who decided to tell me the history of pipes and which kind Sherlock Holmes would have smoked. Except he picked the wrong ones, if you asked me. The other was a blond woman about my age with an asymmetrical haircut and a pipe in her mouth. Blondie sauntered over to me and my basket of pipes, puffing at her own, and said , “You just gettin’ started?”)

When Galen got into town that night, we sped to Goodwill in search of a vest and a trench coat. We got there ten minutes before closing time, but still had plenty of time to find Galen an awesome brown suede vest with fancy buttons, a trench coat for someone twice his width, and a tie.

We were going for as many shades of drab as possible.

We had to lose a few layers around tea time.

We didn’t win the race, but we had a fantastic time. We didn’t win best costume, either, although we did make it into the final round of voting!

After the event, we had a few drinks with some friends…

…and Galen stayed in character the whole time.

It was an awesome adventure.

Aunt Carol – thanks for the website recommendation!  I would be honored to buy you a beer (or high tea?) at Waterton as a thank you.

Do you know what an Ironman triathlon is?

It’s a 2.4 mile swim, then a 112 mile bike ride, followed by a full marathon.  You know the cyclists that do century bike rides?  And the runners that do marathons?  Imagine doing both of those in one day AFTER swimming 2.4 miles.  That’s an Ironman.

See this?

That’s an Ironman, too.

Last weekend, my friend Julie and I drove to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to watch our friend Kara compete in Ironman CDA.  It was the most amazing, humbling, exhausting, mind-blowing, utterly overwhelming event I’ve ever witnessed.

We made a few signs:

(In case it isn’t clear, Kara is a University of Oregon alum)

Then, we found a course map and made sure to be at all the right places in all the right times. This involved getting up at 4 AM to get to Coeur d’Alene Lake to watch the swim:

This is what 2400 swimmers starting at the exact same moment looks like.

She finished both 1.2-mile laps in about 1 hour and 30 minutes total:

Then it was onto the bike:

She’s on Mile 112 at this point.  Looks pretty good, eh?

After 7 and a half hours on the bike and transitioning to the run, she still looked like she was just out for a Sunday afternoon jog:

It was incredible.  She crossed the finish line at 10:35 PM, after 140.6 miles and 15 and a half hours:

Congratulations, Kara.  I am so, so proud and happy for you.

Now, welcome back to the world of the socially-active and well-rested.

(Special thanks go to Kara’s boyfriend Todd – pictured above in orange – for taking the really great photos).

One of my mom’s most adorable habits is the saving and mailing of clippings. Anytime she finds an article, a comic, a quote or a photo that makes her think of someone, she cuts it out and sends it to them. Usually she’ll write a little note on the clipping, like “Isn’t this great? Love you!” or “FYenjoyment.” Sometimes when she sends serious or heavy material, she seems to worry that she’s overstepping her bounds, so her notes will say “Take what you like and leave the rest.” or “A little hokey, but I liked the part about personal responsibility.” Sometimes these clippings make it onto my fridge or into a box of keepsakes under my bed, but even if they go into the recycling bin, they still make my day.

When I was cleaning today, I found a magazine my mom sent me months ago. I flipped through it and a couple clippings fell out. They must be at least 8 months old, because one of them was this obituary, cut out of the Missoula newspaper. My mom’s scribbled message at the top says, “This is the best obit I ever read! Too bad I didn’t know her.”

In case you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, here are some of my favorite parts:

“In an obituary, you generally give the timeline of a person’s life through a list of dates and geographic locations where they spent time. Grandma Fran represents the end of an era. She represents the end of a long cultural and family journey which begins in Ireland and ends in America and this type of ending must be marked with a large sound so that the descendants have the great comfort to remember who they are and where they came from and the ties that bind them. This type of death cannot be summed up in linear dates; it must be understood in the abstract chaos of the Irish.”

“She loved humor, blood relatives, canned food, the Democratic Party, and the sense that you’d better enjoy the moment due to the inevitability of bad luck showing its face. She detested the royal family, corporate greed and Republican dogma.”

“Grandma Fran had in her long life moments of great strength. She gathered the strength to leave her husband to protect her children during a period of time when women could not leave or support themselves.”

“Grandma Fran had in her long life moments of great blessing… Of all the blessings that she experienced in her long life, none were as important to her as her family.”

What an incredible woman.  I agree, mom – too bad we didn’t know her.

To the man who taught me
how to shoot a basketball,
to appreciate the French language,
and to remember quotes I loved;

To the man who taught me
never to let the facts get in the way of a good story,
the importance of family,
and to embrace the fun and spontaneity of life;

To the man who instilled in me a love for
New York Times crossword puzzles,
musicals,
and afternoon naps;

To the man who taught me to appreciate
good design and gadgetry,
pilsner beers,
and a good joke;

Happy Fathers’ Day. Je t’aime, Papa.

Pete, Mego and Dad. Summer 2006.