Twitter-like posting

Getting over a head cold.

Relieved the weather has finally cooled; ~35C (~95F) high humidity is brutal.

Unbelievable that Lynn Spears (Britney's mom) was castigated when Jamie Lynn's unplanned pregnancy was announced (bad example for our children! delay Mama Spears book deal!) , but Sarah Palin and daughter Bristol are praised ("it's not that big of a deal, stuff happens") - hypocrisy?

getting longer...

Quote from Peggy Noonan (Ronald Reagan's main speechwriter):

I'll tell you how powerful Mrs. Palin already is: she reignited the culture wars just by showing up. She scrambled the battle lines, too. The crustiest old Republican men are shouting "Sexism!" when she's slammed. Pro-woman Democrats are saying she must be a bad mother to be all ambitious with kids in the house. Great respect goes to Barack Obama not only for saying criticism of candidates' children is out of bounds in political campaigns, but for making it personal, and therefore believable. "My mother had me when she was eighteen…" That was the lovely sound of class in American politics.

Boo to Hasbro!

The one Scrabulous game in which I am finally doing well against my brother (I'm not getting my butt kicked by a 50 point spread! I'm actually ahead!), and Hasbro decides to sue the founders of Scrabulous. Of course, Hasbro's authorized online Scrabble version isn't open to users outside of the U.S. and Canada. Get with the program people! It's the age of the Internet, which crosses borders. The whole point of an Internet game is to be able to play with people that you can't play with in person! Grrrr... How am I going to get my Scrabble on?

Diabetes: Underrated, Insidious and Deadly

The New York Times recently published an article on diabetes. The article mentions:

...diabetes is anything but minor. It wreaks havoc on the entire body, affecting everything from hearing and vision to sexual function, mental health and sleep. It is the leading cause of blindness, amputations and kidney failure, and it can triple the risk for heart attack and stroke.

Last night I went to visit my aunt in the ICU of a hospital far from their home. She and my uncle were on the way to the airport to pick up their son when she collapsed, and she has been unconscious ever since. I'm praying that she gets better; it's really difficult to see her there, and my uncle, who is alone by her side.

My aunt has diabetes. Although she is nominally diagnosed with a lung infection, I have no doubt that her condition is related to her diabetes. Please take care of your health; the gift of human life that is given to not just you, but that is shared with your family and friends as well.

Windows Live+Vista = Mac copy

Nothing new to the technophiles, but as I recently installed Windows Live Messenger on my work computer, the installer asked if I wanted to install other features. I hadn't heard of these, so I looked them up:

Windows Live Mail = Mac Mail.app (which has been around for years, with the same functionality)
Windows Live Photo Gallery = Mac iPhoto app
Windows Live Spaces = The service formerly known as .Mac, and now (I think) MobileMe, also Yahoo 360 (is that still around?)
Tabbed browsing in IE = Firefox...that's so ~4 years ago

So, not so innovative. At least now I know what all the names mean.

essential online reading/current obsessions

Everyday when I get online at home, I read these websites in the following order: The Page by Mark Halperin at TIME (one page summary of what's going on in the election; the Google News page can get too distracting with all the links), McCainBlogette by Meghan McCain (great behind-the-scenes look of life on the campaign trail; while I disagree with McCain's policy views, I respect him and wife Cindy McCain (should she get most of the credit?) for raising such an articulate and gregarious daughter), and finally, Pink Is The New Blog (to feed by celebrity gossip obsession). I used to read Pop Sugar, but I find the one page format of Pink to take less time.

Lately, I've also been following the Sirius' Whatever Radio show blog. Jennifer seems to be really sweet and positive, and Alexis (Martha's daughter) seems to be a baking and household neat freak like her mom. I like that. I can be a neat freak, too. Actually, I aspire to be as organized and aesthetically talented as Alexis, but unfortunately I'm not.

I also like that although she is wealthy, she does her own housework. I find housework therapeutic, too. Neil thinks my housework as therapy is strange - last week when we were watching Prison Break, whenever I thought a scene was getting too intense or suspenseful, I'd run to the kitchen to wash a dish or organize a drawer to calm down. And then, of course, ask him, "what just happened?"

What do Muslims really think?

Interesting article in the CS Monitor on what Muslims really think, from a Gallup poll.

Warren Buffet said it, not me...

At a press conference this past Monday, Warren Buffet said

"I think that the US has followed and is following policies which will cause the US dollar to weaken over a long period of time," he said.

After voicing support for Obama, Buffett nonetheless noted the US economy had managed to do "awfully well" despite a depression, two world wars and many financial crises.

"They say in the stock market ... buy stock in a business that's so good that an idiot can run it because sooner or later one will," he added.

"Well, the United States is a little like that. We can take a little mis-management from time to time," Buffett said.

In other news, when I haven't been obsessively following the U.S. presidential election, I've been obsessively reading foodie blogs and baking cupcakes. Is this recipe better or that one better? What has the blogosphere had to say about one recipe or the other, if at all?

I made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (almost vegan except for the butter in the frosting) and last night I made yellow cupcakes, which I plan to frost with a tub of Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate frosting which Mike gave to me and I need to use up. Pictures to follow...