14 posts tagged “texas”
Yesterday a friend came over to fix my mower and help me tackle the yard for the first time this spring. Normally I can handle it on my own, but rain and warm weather led to a bit of a back yard jungle. So we worked for about 4 hours: pulling weeds, trimming, edging, and cleaning up in general...he even hacked apart the Christmas tree I'd left to shrivel up in the back yard back in January. (I know, I know...at least I took my lights down early, ok?) And when we were done, voila, a beautifully manicured, lush, (mostly) green oasis emerged.
So today after going to mass, I took myself outside to have some cereal and do some computer work in the sun, glare and all. The heat climbed a bit and I decided to slap on my bikini and lay out for a little while. I had a wonderful long chat with my grandma on the phone that ended abruptly when my dangling feet collided with a bee. After a moment to grab an ice cube I ran to my neighbors' for some bendadryl...about 20 minutes later, back out in the yard and reading my romance novel, I fell asleep. Dead asleep. So asleep that when I woke up I found that one of the dogs, Goldie, had grabbed my cell phone from right under my nose and taken it out into the grass by the trees. I'd been asleep for over an hour! The cell phone is fine, but my whole backside is burnt to a vivid lobster red. So much for dodging that skin cancer bullet. (However, I do wear a 30 SPF minimum on my face and I don't even have a hint of a tan there from my little nap.)
I used the rest of the day's light to head to the Kyle HEB for some colorful plants and flowers. They have an excellent selection of drought hardy varieties and I eventually--after roaming the "Texas Backyard" section for an hour--picked a few, including an orange honeysuckle plant, for the planter area near the 'robots' in the front yard.(The robots are the utility boxes of various shapes and sizes that, for some reason, are planted smack in the middle of everyone's front yards in my neighborhood. The builders said the city made them do it, but I don't see that anywhere else in Kyle. All of the residents, myself included, make valiant but futile efforts at hiding them with islands of shrubs and blooms.) Made it home with just enough light to plant my lovelies in the ground and hang out with Evita at dusk.
All in all, it was a lovely Sunday, and just what I needed to prepare my mind and spirit for the morning...I'm heading to court at 9 a.m. My understanding is that by this time tomorrow I will have been several hours divorced. We're both going to be there, but it should all just be a formality because our decree has basically been finalized. I'm glad to be so near what everyone tells me will bring some closure to all of this, and yet...
I guess I just want to get through the day. I'm glad I'll have to head to work as soon as it's done...and I'm glad for a lovely home to come back to and animals to greet me when I walk in the door, with good friends just a stone's throw away, and a whole lifetime of possibilities still ahead for a much more hopeful, joyful me. Sigh. My grandmother told me that she prays every day for my cousin Michelle and me, for us to be happy and to heal, and for our "marriages that were blessed by God but destroyed by man." I think it's a good sign that the writer in me thrilled to the poetry in that language as much as the romantic in me was touched by the sorrow in its tone. Let's accentuate the positive, shall we?
While the interest in this year's presidential election has seen an amazing voter turnout and will likely have a good effect on the number of people involved in the process in future, all is not smooth sailing. Many first-timers are finding out the hard way what years of political inactivity do to the voice of the people. Those who are accustomed to playing the game and getting their way are usually allowed to do so without much argument or attention. So that now when the newbies who aren't even versed in parliamentary procedure try to raise a protest, they get bulldozed.
See the following case in my hometown, El Paso, Texas and its county convention as covered by Newspaper Tree, a relatively young and locally owned property of El Paso Media Group. (I posted a comment to the article--it's at the bottom of the following link and is also pasted below--that describes a little more of my own county convention experience.)
Delegate Decision Splits Democrats, and Could Threaten El Paso's Place at State Convention
by Sito Negron
The question is whether the Credentials Committee should have awarded the bulk of the 48 at-large delegates to Obama, to bring the overall El Paso state delegate number closer to the 3-1 ratio of delegates at the county convention.
Posted on April 1, 2008 • read more »
My comment:
A native El Pasoan, I now live in Kyle, Texas just outside Austin and was a precinct 223 delegate for Clinton to the Hays County Convention. While I'm concerned for El Paso's place in the state convention, I certainly would support the party's decision to unseat delegates if process was indeed "hijacked" or otherwise circumvented.
In the case of Hays County, the majority of precincts went for Obama and therefore the delegates as well--approx 68%. However, the slate of at-large delegates that was presented by the nominating committee, and approved by the convention, was about 2/3 Clinton delegates. While this might seem disproportionate to the popular vote, the nominating committee took pains to ensure that the county delegation would mirror the make-up of the county population. This meant recommending a greater proportion of female and Hispanic delegates than other groups, hence the 2/3 of at-large delegates that were for Clinton. (This does not appear to have been the process followed in El Paso.)
When the nominating committee brought the slate of at-large delegates to the floor there was some dissent when the ratio of Clinton to Obama was announced. However, after the chairman explained the process, and it was also explained that the overall ratio of Clinton to Obama delegates was not drastically affected, the crowd quieted down and a few moments later called the question. We unanimously approved the at-large slate and completed seating our delegation.
I should mention that among the resolutions we passed, one in particular most accurately represented the overall spirit of the Hays County Democratic Convention and, I hope, the Democratic Party as well. We unanimously approved a resolution from the floor that in November we would support whichever candidate received the party nomination, regardless of who we were currently supporting.
I am sorry that El Paso was not able to work from a similar place of unity and instead appears to have allowed in-fighting and personal interpretations of process to mar the convention. As a Clinton supporter, I would consider losing the El Paso delegation a terrible blow, but perhaps--in the end--it will be an important lesson in the need for compromise at all levels of the political process and will spur El Pasoans to become ever more involved in future election cycles and to actively use, and protect, their political voice.
With the remains of a sinus infection and cough, and in the rain no less! All things considered, I'm very pleased with my time. I ran a solid ten minute mile throughout and have only just stiffened up a bit. I'm tired and will likely be sore tomorrow, but I'm really glad I went through with it, cough and all.
I woke up late this morning, finally rolling out of bed after hitting the snooze button a half-dozen times, and promptly had an argument with myself about whether I should go at all. Obviously, my lazy self lost the argument, and I got my butt in gear. I dressed, handled the dogs, pinned my race bib on my shirt, took my shot of cough syrup and bolted out the door with water bottle and extra Clif bar in hand
The race started at 8:45. I walked into my place in the middle of the red pack (which is basically the middle of the middle) at about 8:35, just before the rain started coming down. It was mostly a light rain, but it was definitely constant and I was sopping wet before I even started running.
I have to say it was a great experience; it was so surreal to be running down Congress Avenue toward and around the Capitol building with no cars around. Just the sound of other runners' feet on the pavement and the soundtrack on my mp3 player. Then all the way around the backside of downtown, up past MoPac (Loop 1) and back through the heart of the city and finishing at Auditorium Shores. [By the way, my running soundtrack was great and quite eclectic. It consisted of some of the Legally Blonde musical numbers, about half of the soundtrack to Mortal Kombat--probably the best workout music EVER--and a little George to top things off. In fact, I was listening to Flawless as I crossed the finish line at 1:02:30.]
I don't want to get too crazy about this, but as I was running and the rain ran into my eyes, music in my ears, I was fortunate to find and listen to a little voice inside my head that kept a smile on my face for most of the course. Today was almost a year to the day since my husband left, and with every mile I reflected on just how far I've come in that time. I'm not the same and I'm not completely healed, but I'm alive, I'm hopeful, I'm daring and I'm proud. A few years ago I would never have considered doing an event like this and I would certainly never have shown up and done it on my own, but today it felt good...it felt comfortable and natural. Looking up at the sky through the trees over Enfield road, I said my great big thank you for a year of time well spent.
I can't wait to see what next year brings.
[I wrote this yesterday, but didn't get a chance to post until today.]
It's clear from today's county convention that it would greatly help the local political process if Robert's Rules of Order was required high school curriculum and not just the domain of mock-trial and government nerds. The majority of delays that occured on the convention floor were the result of people's ignorance of the process and various officials and/or fellow delegates explaining what was going. (The other issue was that the majority of people participating were doing so for the first time.)
Without going into details that you can find elsewhere, if you've ever attended a board meeting or some sort of meeting that was used parliamentary procedure and was handled in "general convention" style, that's what we did. We caucused, at the precinct level, to select delegates to the state convention; then heard and approved/rejected resolutions for party platform recommendations; approved the slate of at-large delegates recommended by the nominating committee; and finally voted to adjourn. Convention began at 11 am, after several hours available for precinct delegates to sign-in, and adjourned after 7 pm. It sounds like a long day, but other, larger counties had even longer days.
Overall, I think the experience was great for political activity in the long run. Though older faces still outnumbered the young ones, there was a good representation of young professionals and parents and I think all the neighboring cities are going to see a crop of next generation candidates in these next several election cycles.
Here are some photos of the day. It's mostly B-roll stuff, but it was rather quaint to be handling governmental business at the middle school just down the street from my house.
It's SXSW time again. I was out of town last year, but I'm all primed and ready to make up for lost time. And no, I don't do the badge thing--puh-lease, those things are expensive with a capital FU.
Luckily, a friend of mine introduced me to all the side shows a couple of years ago, and that's how I'm hoping to get into the action again this year. Plus, one of my co-workers' has a band that's playing some shows too. So hopefully this coming week will have lots of music and the occassional free drink thrown in for good measure.
l culled my list of possible events from the larger list at austin360.com (this link is now fixed). Pay attention to the venues that say "Free, Open to the Public, Free Drinks."
And if you're in town for this or any other event I HIGHLY recommend a trip to Homeslice Pizza on South Congress. I was there again tonight, and it is just tasty goodness that should not be missed. They have a walk-up by-the-slice window open till 3 am on weekends--a much welcome alternative to the traditional pizza dives on 6th street and in the warehouse district.
I have pictures and news, but not the time to actually post everything, so here's a brief rundown. UPDATE: Photos made it in after all!
Voting at my precinct didn't finish until almost 9--meaning the last person in line at 7 didn't vote until almost 2 hours later, and yes, the line wound up and down inside the building when I arrived.
That kept all would-be caucus-ers (?) outside the building until 9, and it took another 2 hours to finish the process after that, including reading resolutions, etc. As has been reported, organization at the caucus level was somewhat lacking, which wasn't helped by the fact that most people who showed up had never participated in a caucus before--including me, but I had done my research and so I just tried to go with the flow.
Chief among misunderstandings is that at caucus time people are, in fact, allowed to show their candidate support and talk about their candidate and even attempt to sway others to their side. The caucus is not an anonymous process--it's not like your vote (although, if you still believe your vote is anonymous you are very, very trusting...I have some beachfront property in Arizona to sell you.) I'm sure there were some nefarious deeds going down in other places, but all I saw last night were people making honest mistakes and the best quick-fix decisions they could make on the fly. The worst part about the night was the wait--not for me, but rather for the folks who showed up with 1 or 2 or 3 kids in tow. How's that for dedication?!
The best part about the night was being stuck in a room with people from the community who had never spoken with eachother before. People kept finding connections and striking up conversations...at the end of the night, with 30 plus people still hanging around to vote on resolutions, I think there was a general sense of "So THIS is why civic participation used to hold society together! Interesting...perhaps we should do this again sometime."
As you've likely seen, Obama was better at getting his supporters out to the caucuses, but boy was it close. My precinct went 14 delegates to the county convention for Obama and 13 delegates to the county convention for Clinton. And, um, oh yeah...I'm one of those Clinton delegates! Basically, we had 14 Clinton supporters at the end of the night, one who didn't want to be a delegate, and so we unanimously nominated and voted the remaining 13 of us as delegates. The alternate delegates will be chosen from the list of people who caucused and said they would like to be delegates, but didn't stay for the nominating and voting process.
And whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or whether your candidate did well in your eyes last night, I will tell you this...this primary has done great things for my generation of voters in Texas. Today at the office, THE talk of every stolen social minute was about the election, about voting, about being part of the caucus and how "next time, I'm going to try to get involved to help things run more smoothly." Next time?! Such talk is unheard of in my voting experience. I loved it!
I can't help it. Despite last night's freeze and the one to come tomorrow night, today feels like and certainly looks like spring!
I woke up this morning to put my Hillary sign on the corner part of my property--yes, now that I'm decided, I'm in all the way--then headed to the polls this morning to try to beat the line that I thought would surely wind around the building. I'd forgotten that since the last time I voted little ol' Kyle had built and opened a new city hall, and this time only 2 precincts would be voting there instead of three. So, it was hardly a mad rush but there was a small line, at least for the Democratic primary, that went through the atrium to the outside doors. I imagine that this evening will be a little nuttier--what with all those people who had intended to vote this morning, but running late for school and work, probably figured, eh, I'll just do it tonight. (I have been there many times before.)
I think, though, that the caucus process is probably going to be long, tedious madhouse. I could be wrong.
It was cool in the morning, warm and breezy midday, and the trees in the front yard have buds and blooms coming to life. My run today cut my time to an 8.5 minute mile, and I even fit some yoga in too. I'm busy, but pleased to be, and I'm hopefully excited, rather than anxious, that good news of my divorce will come soon.
It's spring, I tell you! I declare it and so I call it forth!
and I'm voting for Hillary.
I went to her rally tonight in Austin--a much smaller crowd, a much smaller venue than Obama's mass rally downtown last week--but whether the numbers bode ill for her or not, my conscience and my logic says she's the better candidate.
So I'll be "Texas Two-Stepping" it for Hillary tomorrow.
I plan to have my camera handy for as much as possible and do a little small-town Kyle reporting. Come back to see what unprecedented voter turnout looks like.
i've been busy...stay busy everyone says...and i do, i am, but it's not that i'm really trying, it's just that there's so much to do.
i went to nashville, to the mercy lounge...
...then came home and bought a fabulous dress, had dinner with friends, and found a new place to worship...
...i saw a grown ass man happily wear a balloon hat on his fiftieth birthday...
...and then i took a picture of the kind of clouds i like, oh yeah, and a watertower too
Hello all.
DonorsChoose.org is a way for teachers to request funding for tangible, immediate classroom improvements and several El Paso schools/teachers are participating--requesting help in funding items for their classroom. So I have started my own blogger challenge! Click on the thermometer for more info.
All El Pasoans and former El Pasoans, and honorary El Pasoans, I urge you to answer the call--the tug at your heartstrings for desert sunsets and the view of Star on the Mountain as your plane prepares to land. Support this effort!
From something as small as a reading easel to technology purchases, you can help to make a difference in your hometown.
All proposals have been reviewed by DonorsChoose.org and I am personally picking out a few that look good to me. Feel free to find others. You can view the ones I have selected by clicking on the thermometer. (UPDATE: I've chosen to highlight one project at a time so that i can be fully funded and realized. First up is the Classroom Reading Easel.)
Can you spare $25 to augment the educational experiences of El Paso schoolchildren? Come on--it's easy when you think about it. That's just a handful of visits to Lumenbrite or Chico's Tacos we're talking about. So buy the small latte this week and just the single order of tacos and put your money somewhere other than, um, your mouth.
Practice philanthropy. It gets easier every time. Forward this to all your El Paso contacts. Let's see what we can do.
(To start things off, I took advantage of sixapart.com's gift certificate program and donated $30 to the reading easel project. Then I matched that with my personal funds for a grand total of $60. Will you match me?)
