Frigid temps - Yesterday I called my folks to tease them that while it may be 5°F in Chicago, it was downright "balmy" here in Milford where we were breaking the freezing point. I knew fully well that it would be coming our way. Ta-da! It's here. This morning marked a turning point: time to put the liner back into my jacket. Today's high was 19°F, but this morning as Claire and I were heading out to school and work, it was a whopping 10°F. I knew the warm weather just before the end of the year would have to average out later. Hello winter!
Unusual Anniversaries - This month marks a few unusual anniversaries. 15 years ago I picked up Michelle from the Indianapolis airport to bring her back to school. We were dating at the time but she was considering just going back home to California. Our eventual breakup would likely have been a necessary consequence. Considering what an armpit that Terre Haute is (relatively to Covina, CA), I was thrilled that she didn't give up. I bought her a long black overcoat to help her cope with winter.
This January also marks ten years of step aerobics for me -- at least I think it's ten and not eleven. When we first got married, I did floor aerobics with Michelle for a couple of years. It tended to make my ankles crack a lot so for a while I just stuck to running -- usually 4-6 miles. Then for a year I just did machines -- predominantly NordicTrack ski machines. That was a boring year! Around that time the base started to introduce step aerobics classes. Michelle started them first and encouraged me to try it. The thought was that it would be as fun as floor aerobics without the undo stress on the joints -- particularly my ankles. I've enjoyed it since and still go about 2-3 times a week.
This month also marks the 20th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh. I don't worship the ground Steve Jobs walks on and I avoid getting sucked into his "Reality Distortion Field", but it's easy to forget that 20 years ago Apple had to teach computer users how to use a mouse, point, click, drag, drop, and other graphical user interface paradigms. These past couple of years they've been very successful with the new iMac design, the iPod (and now iPod minis), iTunes and it's Music Store and my favorite: Mac OS X, unix on the common desktop.
And of course, three years ago I became the "you have your hands full" father of twins: Michael and Daniel, aka the Do-Bees. They were born on the 28th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, a judicial fiat that technically gave us the right to terminate them because having twins could be constrained as "inconvenient" in some circles. I still consider it the height of irony to deliver twins on that day.
Tis the season to pander - I've mentioned before how annoying it can be to see election year politics. In can be even more so in the "first in the nation primary" state. Particularly annoying to me is the pandering. It's not that they pander to their bases. It's when they pander to try to expand their bases to those who would tend to not vote that party. Howard Dean's recent references to God. John Kerry saying that he even considered once becoming a priest. Bush pushing for what is effectively amnesty for illegal Mexican immigrants. Bush's passage of a senior prescription drug benefit. Gag! George, while you artificially hold wages down by encouraging more dirt cheap immigrant labor, how am I supposed to subsidize the senior citizens' health plans?! Hey Howard Dean, which testament is the Book of Job in? A Yankee like Dean trying to sway the southern Bible belt vote and our existing President courting the CA/AZ/TX hispanic vote. Just Stop It!
What's more annoying is how they take their constituencies for granted and don't push nearly as hard for the agenda of their base. Consider Clinton's actions years ago with respect to health care and welfare reform. Those are issues the left is still upset over. Consider how little Bush has done to try to deter abortion or uphold traditional marriage. In both cases, key issues that make up segments of the candidate's base effectively got lip service. Even though I didn't agree with his positions, I give Clinton credit for at least trying to work on health care and trying to resist welfare reform. The only major pre-election promise I've seen Bush follow through on was reducing taxes on families. Per child tax credits add up when you have five children. While he's been rather tenacious in his efforts against terrorism, I've yet to see him take a strong stance on any of his other conservative beliefs. Perhaps it's because he already takes enough political heat from the "we shouldn't be in the middle east" community. He doesn't want to risk more political capital.
