I'll read Barack Obama's speech in the morning.

[hermionesviolin]

I was running late this morning, so I got to see Allie at the T.  And because it was a weight room day, I still had time for a full workout and second breakfast and still got to my office before 9am.

I did ~25min in the weight room, did my full usual workout.  My legs were still a bit tired, but on the whole I was much more energized than my previous time in the weight room this week.

***

Wed. DNC transcript links (it bothers me that these aren't discrete permalinks -- it's demconvention.com/name... so likely some of the big names would get overwritten in 4 years when they speak again):
* Bill Clinton
* John Kerry
* Beau Biden [which speech made me fall in love with Joe Biden]
* Joe Biden [I actually got teary at his, "Since I've never been called a man of few words, let me say this as simply as I can: Yes. Yes, I accept your nomination to run and serve alongside our next President of the United States of America, Barack Obama."]

Pols keep saying they're friends with John McCain, which weirds me out, 'cause so much of what I hear from the Left is so hostile to him like as a human being. [Edit: The next day I read a dKos diary criticizing this very practice, with interesting discussion in the comments on both sides.]

***

Catering Showcase at HBS today.  I think the invite got sent to everyone who's ever placed a catering order.  Partway through it occurred to me that we totally should have invited Ben.  Oh well.  All of us FA's went, which was kind cool.  They're doing "seasonal" stuff, which I think is neat, esp. since I really liked a lot of the Fall stuff (no surprise there -- hopefully the other seasonal stuff will be good, too, so I won't be sad when the Fall stuff goes away). 

Seasonal Break Packages:
Apple Break - Apple Pie with Vermont Cheddar, Apple Wedges with Caramel and Peanut Butter Dip, Apple Fritters
After School Snacks -- Nutella & Peanut Butter Sandwiches!!! (and JELL-O pudding, and potato chips with onion dip)

Seasonal Dessert Selections (which I didn't see):
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger Sauce and Candied Pecans
Chocolate Caramel Tart
Maple Walnut Bread Pudding
Fresh Fruit with Cinnamon Cream

And there was other tasty stuff:
Butternut Squash Risotto
avocado&cantaloupe squash
"Cream of Fall" mushroom soup -- which wans't a huge improvement on their existing mushroom soup, but I liked their existing mushroom soup so that's fine
some Asian vegetable wrap which wasn't too spicy for me (and had peanut sauce)

***

From the most recent LJ news announcement:

<strike> vs. <b>
Last year we changed the visual display of deleted and suspended usernames from a line through the username to a bold font. This had the effect of making the name unclickable - which meant that no one could easily determine whether the username had been deleted or suspended. We've reversed this display, returning deleted and suspended usernames to a struck-through and clickable state.

Comments

[bella-loki.livejournal.com]

Stephanie Miller pointed out yesterday morning that it really used to be that the politicians *were* friends across party lines. That there wasn't such a violent split as there is now. I think there is still a lot of that in the older politicians. Friends as people without even being able to abide the other's political views. (see me and my roommates on religion.) Also- they're trying to win an election. You can't be *nice*. And it really did seem to me that they were mostly hitting on policy.
I cried. A lot.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm definitely a fan of being friends across party lines, and I didn't entirely disbelieve the politicians who were saying it. It was more that I see so many lefties attacking McCain not just on substance but also insulting him, and I think, "These big politicians you are supporting are saying they're friends with this guy you're smearing all over the playground . . . doesn't that make you think less of them by association?" I kept thinking this must cause cognitive disconnect amongst the lefties watching -- or else claiming long-time colleagues as "friends" (even when they're across the aisle) is such a stock speech item that it's actually meaningless . . . which of course would make me sad (because we know me and intentionality and all that).

P.S. Hi, you! :)

[bella-loki.livejournal.com]

hi!

Honestly? I've been listening to a *lot* of political coverage (admittedly a lot of it biased, but I read some that tries a bit harder for non-bias as well) and I think he deserves the personal hits. He *scares* me. More than Bush scares me. And Bush is so *dumb* he's terrifying.

It's politics. It's a gesture that may or may not be honest, but I'm not sure it's meaningless. some of the fake civility is worth it to keep congress and the senate from becoming a literal bloodbath.

I'm still working out my thoughts on this but...I *hope* they think less of him. If you can't think less of someone for their *views* what can you dislike someone for? But I still think they're being more civil than he is.