This is the kitchen after Joel is done playing in it....

Man, I cannot sleep. I am not sure why either. I guess I have been pretty busy with work, actually way too busy. There is not much to say there because it has not exactly been very exciting...just really busy.

I was happy to see some good stuff pass into law on Tuesday. I know they are not the most significant things, but I was happy to see that Ohio voters actually had the sense to pass into the state constitution to give more business to a few specific gambling houses for the purpose of education...and smoking being allowed in certain places as a separate item in the constitution. It really makes you wonder what a constitution is for if you can stick these little social/political causes into it. I am glad these were rejected for that reason. To boot, we get to eat in public without second-hand smoke from the passage of that other (not-in-constitution) issue. Ok, those are little things when compared to federal representation, but they make me a bit happier to be in Ohio (especially compared with the results of previous elections).

In other news, we are finally getting all the basement work done next week. Anne's parents are up for the weekend. I got a super clearance heavy-duty air compressor for the garage, and now I need to do the whole air-tool thing so I can take the car apart faster. That can wait, of course. It is just stuff.

I have had about enough of stuff. I think I need a vacation or something. I am saving up vacation days to go to Haiti this spring, but I may go nuts before then if I keep doing the same thing over and over--day in and out. I don't know about anyone else, but I assume that I was not the only who had a sense of living a fun and fulfilling life and then drifted out of it or made choices that looked logical, but moved you into a less fulfilling place. Or maybe life has just changed. I love Anne and Joel like crazy, but the day seems so short that it is hard to connect with many other people...and those connections at work are not all that deep. It really makes me question where all of those idealistic ambitions for ways to live and not sell-out are getting me now. It seems as if we get old and on these approved tracks where we ride out life instead of living it in a deliberate and conscious way. Enough of the rambling, I guess. Anyone want to have a get-together? If not before, we should at least have a Thanksgiving party at our place for all who are in town. What do you think?

Oh, we were trying to figure out what those new Elmo toys were like after hearing how obnoxious they were from an NPR story. We laughed for a while at these defective product videos. Also, are people aware of the new (and last, we assume) Karate album (it is not their best, but has a few good tracks)?