Amy, you're next.

It's a stroganoff party and EVERYONE'S invited!

It's a stroganoff party and EVERYONE'S invited!
STROGANOFF!
We're
all
gonna
eat
beef STROGANOFF!

Call me sappy, but

this performance of "O Holy Night" by Mariah Carey is beautiful. I really like the lines

Long lay the earth in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Now, the question is, and I'm talking to you, Amy and Kasey, is this song about Jesus or Obama?

"This party: Great party or greatest party?"

Attention My-Blog-Readers:
(Who am I kidding? Attention, Mom:)

If you ever want to have the greatest MSNBC/Anderson Cooper-watching party ever, recruit one Kasey Umland to be your party planner. Check it:



In all seriousness, though, oh.my.god. I'd like to avoid some lame attempt at finding some words to explain how it felt to see "Barack Obama elected President" flash on the screen. When I called that student this morning, he said, "How does it feel to have been a little part of making history, Ms. Dahlke?" The kids are screaming O-BA-MA in the hallways during passing periods. I could not get my first hour class to focus on our routine activity for at least ten minutes. They're so excited! I'm so excited!

OK, so since I've committed to not trying to put my joy into words, and since Kasey's blog is now private, and since I thought this post was particularly poignant, I'm excerpting:

SO, why wouldn't my mom vote for Obama? TAXES. My mom thinks he will raise her taxes. I towed the Obama line and told her only those making over 250K will see an increase. I told her that she and dad do NOT make over 250K so their taxes will fall. Her response "Well, we all know they say that now but it won't stay that way." (Is my mom Joe the Plumber?)

Now, it could be the fact that I am in the midst of a presidential movie marathon, but I started thinking about this claim: you can't trust a Democrat to cut taxes. OR WORSE, Democrats WANT to raise taxes. Democrats WANT to spend your money. Frankly, it kind of pisses me off.

I'm angry that somehow we have accepted the label, fiscally liberal. I don't think I stand for being fiscally liberal at all. I WANT a balanced budget. I want less government spending. I WANT lower taxes. And even beyond that I WANT small government, and I am willing to bet I favor these things just as much as any conservative.

That being said, I NEED to live in a world in which regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. everyone is given a fair chance at happiness. I NEED to live in a country that does not see people living in poverty and allow it to continue. I NEED to live in a society in which mental illness, developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, and/or physical disabilities are not a sentence to a life of nothing more than your basic needs being met (if you are lucky) but rather you are afforded the opportunity to reach your own personal potential.

and I want all of that to be possible without a big government, but until we rid the world of discrimination and find a way to instill a sense in everyone of basic consideration for our neighbors, that isn't going to happen. So, until then, I want a government that is looking to put itself out of business. We talk about this in the nonprofit world. The goal of social service agencies is to be so successful, you are no longer necessary. I am not advocating anarchy, but I am advocating a government that looks for long term sustainable solutions to our greatest problems. That seeks not to minimize their magnitude but to work to address the institutional causes of these problems in a way that little by little makes the need for a government role no longer necessary. This is idealistic and I know that, but I am sick and tired of the notion that because I want to see a better world, I am in some way WANT to spend hard working Americans' money. No one wants that and it is ridiculous to even suggest. The difference between us is not our wants but our needs, and I for one, am willing to put my needs before my wants.

You know what's the best?

Laughing so hard you cry. And I do that a lot.

Like when Daniele took this photo of Jess and Jordan with our crappy waiter. Jordan rested his hand on the guy's stomach for at least 45 seconds while Daniele figured out the camera.


And like last night when Amy altered her "The Beef Stroganoff Song" from, "It's a stroganoff party and EVERYONE'S invited. It's a stroganoff party and EVERYONE'S invited," to better fit the hypothetical situation of Aaron and Kevin's stepdad comparing their willies to see if they were in fact related. Kevin's stepdad's idea, oddly enough. Anyway, Amy changed the song to, "It's a genital showdown and EVERYONE'S invited. It's a genital showdown and EVERYONE'S invited."

And just now, I said "hi" to Jess via gchat. I'm sitting at the dining room table, she on the couch. She typed "uuhhh," "you're dumb," and "turn around," and when I did, she was giving me the finger.

Gene > Kasey?

The best thing about having friends that are skilled in inDesign? The letterhead. (For more information about the inner workings of The Board, see this earlier post.)

(hetero)sexism: "We all worship you already!"

My awesome** friends were kind enough to set up a profile for me on GreatBoyfriends.com! How lucky am I!?* Now it can only be a matter of time before Mr. Right appears in my inbox!* [fingers crossed.]*

Conveniently enough, GreatBoyfriends has established these two ranking systems, one for girls and one for boys, so that users can quickly and easily assess whether or not they want to date someone!

for girls:
for boys:
I can't really tell if the best* part about this great* new site is that it tells me right away if a chick is moody/if a guy has got the moolah to buy me a sparkly ring, or if it's the friendly, flattering* rhetoric of their emails.





------------
* : sarcasm
** : not sarcasm

Who's this Robert guy, and is he single?

What's more fun than witty happy hour banter? Witty happy hour banter that adheres to Robert's Rules of Order.


"I move that this shit is funny."
"Is there any discussion?"
"I move to amend the motion by adding that even though Aaron is not going to think this is funny, it still is."
"Second."
"Is The Board prepared to vote on the motion on the table That This Shit Is Funny Even Though Aaron Is Not Going To Think It's Funny?"
[silence, which under RRoO means consent]
"All those in favor of resolving That This Shit Is Funny Even Though Aaron Is Not Going To Think It's Funny say 'Aye!'"
[in unison] "Aye!"
"Abstentions? Opposed?"
[silence]
"The motion has passed. The Board hereby resolves That This Shit Is Funny Even Though Aaron Is Not Going To Think It's Funny."
"I'd just like to bring to The Board the question of whether or not Ben Quinn thinks this is funny?"
"Perhaps we should refer that question to an ad hoc committee, of which it might be a good idea for Ben Quinn to be a part, for exploration of said question?"
"I so move."

things found unattractive* by Kasey, Amy, Phoebe, and Ellen

1. romance
2. speaking in the 3rd person
3. touching
4. moral ambiguity
5. working with men
6. www.searchme.com
7. candlelight lunches in the boardroom
8. an unfunny, asshole blog
9. drunk driving
10. flirting
11. comparing oneself to MLK, Jr., especially when oneself is an ass
12. reasonableness
13. niceness
14. being recommended by Steve Shoemaker
15. Republican glasses
16. not being funny
17. feelings
18. loud gum chopping
19. fake laughing
20. people who like Boltini
21. thinking cool kids suck
22. smocks
23. people who won't work for people who don't have facial hair
24. double-dates
25. being the Program Director for the University YMCA
26. explaining what the Program Director at the YMCA does
27. being corrected
28. emotional crap
29. people who prefer PCs to Macs
30. people who like Journey
31. sappiness
32. political correctness
33. people who like us more than we like them
34. people who we like more than they like us
35. tight clothing
36. people who take long to get ready
37. people who list their Facebook "favorite books" as "I don't read."
38. animals and animal-lovers
39. homophobes
40. when people say "retarded" to mean bad
41. people who supposedly have better taste in music than us and are all pretentious about it
42. really, really good-looking people
43. people who are smarter and/or cooler than us
44. people who are less smart and/or less cool than us
45. hotmail users
46. people who can't hang
47. pomp
48. circumstance
49. ceremony
50. being in agreement
51. male chauvinists
52. wack friends
53. single, double, and/or triple popped collars
54. bedwetters
55. sabotage
56. lack of rhythm
57. hugging
58. anagrams
59. staring
60. people who watch FOX News seriously
61. people who misuse ironicies
62. people who use blogs as points of confrontation


things found attractive by the aforementioned group
1. English as a Second Linguists
2. unavailability
3. sexual orientation ambiguity
4. people who are retired
5. being a professor
6. snowy white hair
7. being sensual with current partner (see also #2)
8. perks (like frequent flyer miles and good TV on DVD collections)
9. height (lots of it)
10. being Aaron Smith and/or engaged to Amy Wolff
11. knowing who Sherman Alexie is
12. nerdiness
13. real laughing
14. people disapproved of by friends
15. people who know how to set up hookahs
16. skills in general
17. excellent book collections
18. people who like The Esquire
19. www.google.com
20. the idea of David Beckham
21. being a founder of the David Beckham fan club
22. being a teacher and/or LEX bus driver
23. people who like Journey
24. hip hop
25. strong capability in the fucking-with-heads department
26. significant age differences
27. political correctness
28. stong interest and knowledge in computer science
29. people who are not ourselves
30. Victoria's Secret models
31. beach scenes
32. good listserv memberships
33. puns
34. people who watch FOX News facetiously
35. saying "yo"
36. people who make up words
37. bad spellers




*note: not all listed (un)attractions are (un)attractive to each person in the group

post 100!

Going through the mounds of paperwork I've collected over the past few months, I found my copy of this new version of The Pledge (on the right) that Steve from the Y wrote with his friend Joan and brought to a meeting a few weeks or so ago. Me likey.

And speaking of thinking people from the Y are sweet, how funny is Amy? (She's writing to let me know that there are some letters to donors that I need to come in and sign so that she can send them out.):

blog recommendation

Amy would be one of my favorite bloggers because she tends to blog on a theme. There's what she calls her "Jew Blog" which she's using to document her research on her family. And this new one, C-U Street Style!, a blog dedicated to "thinking globally but looking awesome locally. Corn and soy surroundings shouldn't stop us from looking beautiful and representing our personal style!" Probably part of the appeal in C-USS for me is that Amy thinks I'm "looking awesome locally," which is pretty sweet. Anyway, I say she would be one of my favorite bloggers because she doesn't actually blog as much as she creates cool blogs that she doesn't update.