Wednesday, September 3, 2008

A Lot of Mess for One Post

The Big Move is now over.

In summary - I packed and moved out BY MYSELF for most of Saturday and early Sunday. My brother-in-law and sister came by Sunday morning to help with the mattress, desk and tv. By 10AM Sunday, my entire life was sitting in my sister’s garage.

Then, a pleasant surprise – my new (crazy) landlord was able to check in on Sunday, so I immediately began moving myself out of the garage, and into the new place.

I broke at 5pm to head downtown to run the Nike Human Race 10k (did anyone else do this race?) Despite the incredible muscles fatigue and 300-calorie day, I made it through almost 56:00 minutes, a few minutes off what I had hoped, but given the circumstance, I was cool with it.

Monday morning rolled around, and Cheese pulled into town.

And I SHIT YOU NOT – the man had AT LEAST 3x the stuff I did. As he rolled open the UHaul trailer, I almost choked him out after seeing the contents inside.

But alas, in the 92 degree weather, we got him moved in as well.

Tuesday I woke up, battered, terribly bruised and exhausted beyond anything I can remember (the only thing close was the day after Ironman). I took the day off to get stuff done, including a joint bank account (!) and unpacking.

So here we are.

Right now, things have been pretty much moving forward, getting used to the whole “there’s someone home when I get back at the end of the day.”

But the MAJOR thing that happened?

Part of being “all grows up” is having that discussion about “how not to waste money.” And after a long few days of, uh, ahem, “discussion,” it was decided that Ironman Madison ’09 would not be happening for me.

Cue the violins.

Apparently, there are BIG things planned for the ’09 year, and Ironman doesn’t quite fit into the plans. And as you can imagine, I pouted like a 5-year-old, cried, yelled, and threatened to break up if I didn’t get my way. At the end of the day, it was resolved, if not to my best liking, but I can accept it.

As for the rest of life – If you live in Illinois, then you have undoubtedly heard that the state’s child welfare department (AKA my job) just laid off 325 people (over 50% of my building alone). Not to mention the fact that they eliminate all funding of substance abuse programs (‘cause apparently these parents are going to get themselves clean – yeah right) - the fine governor is out to make a statement, and doing it at the expense of our children and their future.

And don’t even get my ass started on the ridiculous of this school boycott – honest to God it is just plain stupid. While you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who disagrees with equal education, some aldermen think that if you just throw more (of your tax) money at a problem (low graduation rate and high drop out rate), then we should have equal education. More money = problem solved, right? ‘Cause I mean, parental involvement, community poverty, and environmental stress of gangs and drugs surely had nothing to do with it.

But fuck personal responsibility - let’s just keep throwing money at an overly bureaucratic public school system so it can continue to be mismanaged, instead of addressing the wasteful spending, and putting the money towards more useful things, like CHILD WELFARE to help build and support communities and families – the same families that produce children that WANT to go to school and graduate.

I mean hell – who DOESN’T love to work more hours, just to have more of their money taken away and spent on programs that don’t work by individuals who are corrupt/dysfunctional/clueless/greedy?

Not you?

Huh.

(insert pause from me holding my tongue about November elections)

And a brief word before I head off to watch the RNC (and yes, I did watch the DNC too):

If your one of those people that are all, “Oh my god, Palin’s daughter is pregnant! How can she subject her daughter to the media? How can she ‘have it all’ by trying to be a mother and VP?”

Yo, seriously - Let it go.

First off, the girl’s pregnant. She had sex – oh holy shit. I mean, who out there wasn’t having sex as a teenager? Sure, she got herself knocked up, but is YOUR family perfect? Do you hold her mother responsible for the fact that her daughter has sex? Do you hold YOUR parents responsible for the fact that you had sex as a teen? Does it say anything about the character of YOUR own parents if you were having sex? Would you blame YOUR parents if you got pregnant? Probably not, I suspect.

Secondly, as for the “exposing” her daughter to the media – Obama brought his family to People magazine and ACCESS HOLLYWOOD.

Lemme say that again – ACCESS HOLLYWOOD.

Is nobody crying about Obama “exposing” his young young girls the flare of the media? He talks all, “Families are off limits,” but then splashes his family’s mugs all over tabloid media.

And finally – Can Palin do it all? Well, gee, I don’t know – can Obama? I mean, he has two young, young children as well – can he, as the potentially future leader of this country, be both a parent and leader?

Or any of the past Presidents, for that matter? Or was this question never raised because they were all men?

Isn’t that sort of a double standard?

Or do we still live in a world where a woman is the expected partner to stay at home and care for the family?

Well, that’s not really a progressive, liberal way of thinking, is it?

Just wondering.

29 comments:

Andra Sue said...

Several things:
1) Congrats on finishing the big move!
2) "Big" things for '09, eh? Hmmmm. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Wonder what that might beeeee.
3) City governments suck.
4) I am SO not voting for a frumpy soccer (hockey?) mom who seems to think her uterus is a hotel. Seriously, FIVE kids? Come ON. And I don't care if her daughter is pregnant, but it does shine a little hypocritical light down on abstinence-only sex ed, no? What a mess this election has become.

21stCenturyMom said...

Congrats on the move - that is 2 huge steps; new home and new living arrangemtnts. As for 'big thing' *wink* .....

I think you are missing a major point about Palin exposing her daughter to the media vs. Obama having his family out there. She has a teenaged daughter who is pregnant out of wedlock. That behavior is usually frowned upon by conservatives. Of course she is being given a hall pass now but that's another issue all together. Also - she went back to work 3 days after having a special needs baby. I'm very liberal but even I have issues with that and they are not related to a double standard. Working is one thing - working 3 days post-partum when your baby is sick is quite another.

Anonymous said...

i used to date a guy that would have described this post as "heavy." the temperment of a mccue woman was just displayed in the tone of this post. needless to say, me and said guy didnt last very long.

Anonymous said...

p.s. I wish my uterus was a hotel. unfortunately it wont take down its closed sign. sigh...

Anonymous said...

and can i get an "AMEN" 21st centurymom?!

K.Michele said...

If I lived in Chicago, we'd be good friends I think. Living where the New York Times is the 'paper of record' you forget that not everyone out there has been brainwashed by the DNC. Thanks.

M said...

A - Like I mentioned in the email, I don't care if she shoots out 20 little kids - as long as she doesn't support the tax raping that the Dems do, have at it.

21CM- No, I didn't miss that point. I would agree that the Conservatives typically look down on that. But my point was - do we judge Sarah Palin's politics by her pregnant daughter? Does a pregnant daughter make her views on taxes and energy any less relevant? Does her stance on the war or ethic reform mean any less because her teen daughter has some sexy times and got herself knocked up?

Was Clinton any less of a President just because he was making sexy times in the Oval Office with a woman NOT Hillary?

Perhaps having a pregnant daughter will actually make Conservatives take a second and less harsh look at this issue.

Hypocrisy is not a one way street, either - does anyone else find it odd that the Democrats have built Obama's image on this "pull yourself up by your bootstraps self-made man", all the while campaigning in support of their belief that others can't do (or shouldn't be expected to do) the same thing - but rather, need bail outs?

As for the other issue -

Does anyone question when the hudband goes back to work after the wife gives birth to a healthy OR sick baby? IF you have a partner at home that is supporitve and can help raise the family, what does it matter if she returned three days or three months later? And on that point, would it have been better if it was three months?

This was the double standard I was talking about - why we expect different of her, but not of a male counterpart.

prin said...

First, that's some crazy physical awesomeness you have going on to get all that done and then run and then do it all again.

Second, that sucks about the cuts. :(

Third, the preggers thing? What bothers me most about it is the whole "Juno-esque" attitude she's got going on. She's proud of it. Wtf? That's messed up.

But whatevs, I'm Canadian, eh? :D

21stCenturyMom said...

You cannot compare the needs of a baby days after birth for a mother vs. a father. I am pro-choice in every way and was a working mother myself. I'm okay with Sarah Palin working - more power to her (just not the vice presidency of the US - hahahaha...). I still say 3 days post partum is crazy. Truth be told, although I'm sure that's her kid the whole timeline makes me shudder. The baby was 4 weeks early which generally means there were medical issues which causes extra stress. I simplay CANNOT imagine going back to work 3 days after the kid was born. It just makes no sense at all to me. I was at the keyboard (working from home), nursing a baby 3 weeks after she was born and I thought that was really fast.

Sarah Palin might be a great pick for VP but she is far less experienced at the national and international level than Obama and any VP pick has to be considered suitable to assume the Presidency if the President dies. If Obama doesn't have enough experience according to McCain then how in the world can he justify Palin as a choice? Maybe he thinks he's invincible and immortal but at 72 and with a history of skin malignancies I would think he has a higher than average chance of not lasting 4 years. This concerns me. Sarah Palin does not have enough experience to be the President.

21stCenturyMom said...

ps - if Palin doesn't want her kids to suffer for media exposure than I hope she will quit putting them on TV. That having been said, the best moment at the RNC was her little girl 'fixing' Trig's hair by licking her hand and slicking it down. Adorable. I'm glad I caught that.

Alili said...

What "BIG" things are in store for 2009? What could possibly be bigger than IM? Hmmm, me thinks diamonds?

Glad you got moved in okay--92 degrees while carrying heavy objects is the suck.

Anonymous said...

Do you want to do IM WI in 2010 with us? We aren't doing it next year either...so I say 2010 is the YEAR!

We were watching the local news last night and they did a spotlight on the sponsorship for IM here. Apparently the two big sponsors for the race - Alliant Energy & Rayovac dropped out as sponsors. This means that if the city cannot find 'big' sponsors in the upcoming couple of years in this area - IM may not be renewed in 2011. IM WI is on a five year contract - so by 2011 it may or may not be renewed...

Funny thing is, the sponsors only donate $20k, which is a lot, but when the city makes $2.5m for hosting an IM, something seems off...hmmm...

Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

Congrats on the move in and joint checking/savings accts. Men, how is it that they have more crap than us? :)

Anonymous said...

oh megan....look what youve started. and i thought this wasnt a political blog!

Go Mom Go said...

Wow!
I was considering posting something about Sarah Palin but now...not so much!

:)

Congrats on the move. Moving sucks but you seem to survived.

Ok, so will you be "allowed" to do an IM in 2010? That is when I am "allowed" to participate again...what do you think? Now that this marathon seems to be falling about ... haha!

Peace!

Eric said...

Sounds like you need an IM sponsor :-)

:) said...

"What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?"

Hee. ;)

I am not getting into this battle online...

prin said...

Democrats have built Obama's image on this "pull yourself up by your bootstraps self-made man", all the while campaigning in support of their belief that others can't do (or shouldn't be expected to do) the same thing - but rather, need bail outs?

Awesome point, btw.

Carrie said...

I better not have to come to a blog to hear about a big thing...

momo said...

kinda interesting how even the meekest of us get all volatile and riled up when it comes to things like politics, hm?

i like her. i don't care how old her baby was when she went back to work. i was taking calls in the hospital during labor with frankie. you do what you have to do when people are depending upon you - whether that be your family, your job or your country. her kids don't appear to be suffering and her daughter, pregnant and all, looks quite happy.

imho - if you want to make a difference and you think mccain and palin are not suitable candiates - get your hiney to the polls on election day. ;-)

love you, meg!!

Anonymous said...

Megan...so happy to hear that the move went well and that Cheese got to Chicago safely! Great things to look forward to in 2009 for both of you...thrilled I was able to see you over the weekend. Rachel

The Young Family said...

Happy you got moved!! Yeah!

Moving and running a race, seriously - what is wrong with you?? lol. Crazy lady.

Em

M said...

Prin - She never said she was proud about the preggers, but rather that she is proud her daughter made the decision to keep and raise it instead of abort it.

21CM- Clinton said during a recent interview - when asked about Obama's expreince - that "No one is ever really ready to be President."

I find it odd that people want to jump on Palin's lack of expereince as VICE PRESIDENT ("in case" soemthing happens to McCain), but it should be okay that Obama, who is running for the actual PRESIDENT, has little experience. First off, why are we comparing the experience of a would-be VICE PRESIDENT to the would-be PRESIDENT? And when it really comes down to it, Obama has about equally little international experience as Palin (as potential President), and actually less experience than Palin with decision-making at a state or national level.

In fact, Obama has spent his entire term as Senator running for President. As a citizen of Illinois, I wonder how his Senate seat has worked for me or my state.

Shouldn't we be looking at the voting history and "experience" of the two people actually running for the head of the country? The election should be about McCain v. Obama. THAT'S whose experience we need to focus on.

Anonymous said...

Did you get your new Us Weekly? I did, now I know who not to vote for. It said on the cover Sarah Palin lies. Thank God for the checkout line at Dominicks...phew..without them I don't know what I would do. Sorry bout Monday. We lost and didn't get home till almost two Monday afternoon. Have a great weekend.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but the Repubs have had 8 years - 8 YEARS - to take care our nation, and they f'ed it up big time. If you ever get a chance to see the documentary I.O.U.S.A,. you'll see that our economy and our spending has skyrocketed under George Bush, and our GDP is insane. And the government doesn't want us to SAVE our way out of our deficit, they want us to SPEND our way out of it. And worse of all - there are a few foreign countries who own more of our debt than WE do which, if they ever decide to call in their chips, would damage us even further. A year ago, I truly felt that if either McCain, Clinton, or Obama were our choices for President, I wouldn't have cared who won because I thought we would have been in good hands. But McCain is not the same person he was a year ago. He's not even the same person he was before he won the nomination!! He's pulled a 180 on most of his positions - he's even against things he championed as a senator. And Palin - ugh. First of all, the GOP should stop patting themselves on the back for finally doing something that the Dems did 24 YEARS AGO. Second, you're right - who cares that she has five kids and was back on the job 3 days after she gave birth to the last one. Good for her for having the resources and support in her life that would allow her to do so. But why her? What about Kay Bailey Hutchison or Olympia Snowe, both of whom have had more experience than Palin? Because Palin panders to the ultraconservative, rightwing base, which he needs to win, and a desperate attempt to get some of Hillary's voters. Lastly, I just can't get behind her beliefs. CLEARLY, abstenence only education doesn't work - even if your parent is one of it's greatest champions, but she wants to get rid of a woman's right to choose no matter what the circumstances. She's romancing big oil and doesn't believe that global warming is man-made. And as for her foreign policy "experience"... I won't even go there. And as for Obama and his family being on Access Hollywood and in PEOPLE Magazine - do you know that the only magazine Palin's spoken with so far is PEOPLE? How many times has McCain been on Jay Leno and Letterman? McCain has also been in GQ magazine AND ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. I really don't see the difference. And finally, I think the republicans need to get on message about service, because while McCain spent the last part of his speech encouraging people to do it, his counterparts the night before spent time bashing it.

M said...

Oh Anon - where to begin. First off, I appreciate your comments - I think they were all very well made.

First, the Demoncrats have had majority power in Congress for the last several years. Nancy Pelosi, anyone? What have they done? Yeah, a Rebublican has sat at the helm, but the real decision making power has really been with the Democrats. Just a thought....

Second, you make the point that Americans have spent their asses off the last several years - a point Obama also made in his speech. You said "Our spending has skyrocketed...the government doesn't want us to save." Now, though I am NO fan of Bush and would NEVER defend his idiocy, I don't think I ever heard any stories where Bush went door-to-door and stuck a gun to the heads of everyday Americans forcing them to spend money they didn't have. Buying cars and houses they can't afford, running up their credit card debt - all with their fingers crossed that the economy would hold.

Could there have been another choice besides PAlin? Sure. Was is a politcally decisive move? Sure. But who are you kidding by absolving Obama from the same sort of manuevering? You don't think Biden fills in the gap of Obama's foreign policies deficit?

About the Access Hollywood thing - listen, both Obama and McCain have pranced themselves around these entertainment outlets - that wasn't the point I was trying to make. My point was that people were getting on Palin for "exposing" her daughter, when it was okay for Obama to grace the covers of US Weekly, People and whatever else. Point being that, hey - both sides are doing it and whatever they feel they need to do to get their faces out there, have at it. I don't care.

But my point with the Access Hollywood thing, and my comment about Biden is this - you can't critisize one without looking at the other. At the end of the day, all four of these people are politicians, for better or worse. They are all guilty of the same things, but to say one is worng for doing it, and the other is okay is just hypocrisy.

Of the service thing - I am not sure what convention speech you watch, but the Reb did not "bash" service. What they bashed was Obama's use of his community service as adequate foundation for "experience." And on that topic, let me say again - Obama has been my state senator for the last however many months. IF you, Anonymous, can pull up any evidence of all this "change" he has made or hell, give me an issue where he has actually put forth a solid yes or no vote, by all means go for it. Because for the record, he's spent his entire term campaigning for a Presidency that he ademantly denied he would be running for 10 months ago.

prin said...

Best comment section evar! I love it. :)

21stCenturyMom said...

Just for the record the Dems have had a majority in the Senate for 2 years. 2 out of 8 and yes - they have made very little headway.

Also, the "service" issue is that one night the Republicans are all holding up signs saying "Service" and the next night Gulliani used the word in a tone just dripping with condescension. Fortunately he isn't running for anything.

Last but not least, the most important thing a VP does is prepare to take the helm if something happens to the president. Therefore, it is totally appropriate to consider the VP candidate's experience in light of that person's readiness to assume the Presidency.

(sorry!)

Anonymous said...

wow what a great post. I am enjoying this debate.

kodiacbear said...

...been gone awhile and now that I am back with a lot of catching up--Great Post! Where else but America could you have so many opinions and freedoms of expression...its all good...but I am staying out...