• Tag Archives legislature
  • They’ll Need a Resurrection. But, They Won’t Get One.

    Spring         Waxing Seed Moon

    For the first time since last Thursday, I feel like working out.  When I tried before, each step on the treadmill transmitted up to and resonated in my jaw.  I no longer look like a chipmunk although I can tell the infection is still there, though now it is like a folded section of cloth about 8 inches long as opposed to the walnuts in the cheek look of before.

    The pain has throttled way back, too.  I hadn’t popped any Alleve today at all until about a half an hour ago, but I decided that before I went back on the treadmill I wanted a little cushion.

    All this is because we went after the infection in the first place so this was the hard part of getting to a healthier state.  I look forward to that moment, though I’ve appreciated the intimacy with my bodies defenses that I’ve had over the last four days.   When my body and the penicillin worked hard on the infected bone, it took my attention away from the outer world.  I got sleepy and in fact slept a lot.  My energy level was low so I laid around, not exerting myself much.  It’s good to know my bodies still enough punch to fight back hard.  Even if it means some discomfort.

    My thinking has been a little fuzzy too so if there’s anything strange in the last few posts chalk up to distraction by infection.

    The legislature will go away on Easter break and will come back needing a resurrection.  They won’t get one.  The budget deficit will not go away and all the federal stimulus dollars don’t patch the holes in our revenue stream versus our expenses.  Something has to be done and the legislature and the governor are the ones we elected to do it.

    The outlook for significant environmental legislation has gotten mushed up in all this fiscal dithering, but I think we’ll still see some important bills:  green jobs, sensible communities, maybe something on clean cars and atv’s.  It ain’t over till its over and that date is in May, not April.


  • Liverish Lips, Gray Hair, Needs Naps, Vertiginous OMG!

    Imbolc      Waning Wild Moon

    The stomach has begun to return to normal.  Vertigo much less.

    Got some pictures back from the retreat and noticed that my lips have taken on that old man’s coloring, a sort of liverish brownish red.  Goes great with the gray hair.

    Off to the capitol for a noon lunch with the Sierra Club lobbyist and the chair of the Legislative Committee.  We’ll discuss my role as the guy in charge of legislative communications.  I also plan to sit in on a committee hearing at 3pm if my need for a nap doesn’t over power me.  (Let’s see.  Liverish lips, gray hair, needs naps, vertiginous. OMG!)

    Gonna take my new netbook with me and join the crowds of under 40’s I see with their laptops everywhere.  When I went to the Jasmine last night for the Woolly meeting, the evening dinner crowd had gathered in the booths at the Bad Waitress.  5 booths along the window out of six had couples with food and a laptop each.  Most had their laptops on and were busy doing something.

    It reminded me of the Arlo and Janis cartoon a couple of weeks ago.  Arlo and Janis both have cellphones to their ears and their land line rings.  Arlo says, “This is ridiculous.”  Yep.


  • Tech in the Service of Political Change

    17  bar steady 30.19  0mph NE  windchill 17 Samhain

    Last Quarter Moon of Long Nights

    The best way to predict the future is to create it.   Peter Drucker

    Quick note.  No, I’ve not gone away.  Just had a busy day.  Picked up the red car and drove it without incident into the Sierra Club and back.  Yeah.  Meetings at Sierra Club with Margaret and Michelle on anti-racism training and communications work during the upcoming legislative session.  I will have a lot to do:  research, weekly updates, action alerts, perhaps co-ordinating some op-ed and letter to the editor material.

    Home.  Nap.

    Just spent an hour compiling research into usable slots.  Handy with Google.  Technology in the service of political change.

    An invitation to do some modest work in the Permaculture arena, too.  Helping Reed Aubin put together some material for a talk on Permaculture and ethics.  Should be fun.

    Gotta hit the treadmill.


  • Home Work

    8  bar steady  30.27  0mph NW  windchill 6   Samhain

    Last Quarter Moon of Long Nights

    A busy morning here at the homestead.  I played around with various formats and methods of research for the Sierra Club legislative committee.  One setup uses Google News Alerts and Google Docs to create a real time log of news articles, web entries and video feeds on the five issues the LegCom will target during this years legislature.  This much I can do at home.

    My new datalogger for my weather station has not yet succumbed to my troubleshooting, but I imagine I’ll wrestle it to the ground sometime soon.  Something about ports seems to be hanging it up right now.  Requires detailed attention and I have to set aside time for that.

    Kate and I had our business meeting.  In spite of the negative financial weather swirling around we’re fine; not as wealthy as we were in, say, August, but fine nonetheless.

    Good news on the car front.  It was only a blown tire as far as they can see.  Everything else looks fine.  Under $400 bucks and I’d imagined multiple thousands.  Quite a relief.  We decided we’ll keep this one running until the plug-ins make sense.


  • Star Filled and Wonder Saturated

    -4  bar steady 30.28   0mph SW  windchill -4   Samhain

    Waning Gibbous Moon of Long Nights

    I have a run of almost 3 weeks with no outside obligations.  This is a time of the year, even when I worked for the Presbytery, that I would stay home, take up a research project or a book I’d wanted to really absorb.  This habit probably started during the Presbytery time because no congregational folk wanted to talk to judicatory people during the Christmas holidays and immediately afterward.  Which was fine with me.

    Right now it’s quiet.  It has been dark since about 4:30 PM.  The long nights have begun to swell and take over the rhythm of the day.  This means more silence, more time to enjoy the darkness of mid-winter.  This is a time of year and a natural cycle that draws us all inward.  This inward pull pushes some of us to string up lights, go to multiple parties, perhaps drink to excess, spend money beyond our means.   We’ll wake up sometime in the new year, ought 9 in this case, with a hangover wondering how the season got so out of hand.

    The season can be filled with holy nights, silent nights.  Starred filled and wonder saturated nights.  It matters how we come to the season.

    Instead of driving in to the Sierra Club meeting tonight I chose to participate by phone, as did all but two of the other legislative committee members.  By the time I got done with my workout and shower, a lassitude crept over me, borne of the tensions and aches of the last couple of days.  If I had driven in, as it turned out, my trip would have taken twice the time of the meeting.  Not very efficient.

    My original reason for driving in, to match peoples faces with names, would have been thwarted, too.

    As it was, I was on the phone for 45 minutes, took notes, then hung up and went upstairs to read the Story of Edgar Sawtelle.  Without the long drive it felt like I’d cheated.


  • Research, Writing, Meditation and Beef Broth

    6  bar steady 30.24  0mph  SW  windchill 6   Samhain

    Waning Gibbous Moon of Long Nights

    I made a beef broth today.  Took four hours to cook.  Now it’s ready but I have not tasted it yet.  I’ll probably use it as a base for soups.161_beef_stock_p928.jpg

    Blew the snow from last night around 1pm after the city plows had gone by.

    Did some research on the issues central to the Sierra Clubs work at the legislature this year.  Home work assigned by me since I still don’t know the terrain very well.

    Got back to working out today after two days of feeling crummy after two hours on my feet at the Russian Museum and a couple of hours sitting beside the freeway.  Felt good.

    Tomorrow I can begin research, writing and meditation.  About time.  I hope I can keep it up right along.