Election 2008

Spring cleaning and major update

Time to dust you off a little, poor neglected blog! Has it really been over two years since I visited you last?! You are much more forgiving than most people!

It is amazing to sit here and self-evaluate on all of the things that have transpired in the past two years. I like to self-evaluate every 6 months or so, which surprises me that it has taken this long to visit you again. Changes in my life bring me back to you, though.

I keep thinking that I am a person who would like to keep a journal, but have come to terms with the fact that I just don't have the discipline (or the neat hand writing) to sit and compose my thoughts into a notebook. In the interest of chronicling my life happenings, for this, blog, you serve the best purpose!

Lets start with the state of the world around me. Of course, this is brief, you are a blog and not a news site after all.

We are in the midst of an election year. A quite historic one, actually. The Republican party is serving up the usual offering (white old man, ex-POW, with a side of supportive family), while the Democratic party is putting forth a woman and a black man through the "Best in Show" gauntlet. Though my voting tendencies lean towards the Democratic party , I (and the rest of the country seems to agree) think that any of the three candidates would be a better head of state than our current puppet. (There was a fantastic piece done on PBS' Frontline about the current presidency. Horrifying and informative!) Bottom line is, an exciting election is ahead of us which could be incredibly ground-breaking. I look forward to the outcome and feel the need to encourage as many people as I know to go and vote! If you don't vote, you can't complain.

Within the United States gas prices are soaring, unemployment is high, the real estate market is a mess, and our country is still deeply involved in Iraq. It feels like we are reliving the 1970's! New Orleans is still rebuilding after hurricane Katrina, yet Britney Spears' latest car accident/rehab stint/custody battle/etc. continues to make headlines. Our culture is "reality-TV" obsessed, so much so that they forget to LIVE reality. Who is Kim Kardashian, and even more importantly, WHO CARES!? Let's chalk that up to the "watching a train-wreck" phenomenon. I will admit, though, that People magazine is my guiltiest pleasure. Mindless and condensed information. (Note to self: Pick up a TIME magazine instead. Remove mindless from that equation!)

I digress...MySpace, Facebook and YouTube have taken the web by storm. My own MOM is on Facebook! Religion is as volatile as ever. The Catholic Church has a new Pope (Benedict XVI), not nearly as charismatic as John Paul II (good luck setting the Church straight after the sex abuse scandals!). Scientology and Kabbalah are in style, and a Mormon fundamentalist sects was recently raided (fascinating lifestyle!) Meanwhile extremists throughout the world continue to threaten global peace. On a personal level, I am still figuring out where religion fits into my life!

Internationally there has been a lot of focus on the genocide in Darfur, the Middle East, and the escalating nuclear threats from North Korea. Fidel Castro's declining health, Hugo Chavez's irrational politics, and the list is endless. If CNN involves too much reading for you, why not catch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart?! Condensed information AND funny! You can't lose!

Anyway, after that very broad gist of what is going on around me, I'm going to focus this a little into what I'm going to call the State of Sarah's Union.

In two years I have noticed a fairly dramatic change in myself. To put things into perspective, I have met the man that I want to marry and have children with (what a scary thought THAT used to be...) I have happily gone from being "Sarah in the City" to "Sarah in the Suburbs"!

For purposes of anonymity, we'll call him X. We have known each other since at least 2003 when my mom introduced us. He came with the seal of approval from the start! The old cliche was right again; timing truly is everything. June of 2007 caused our paths to cross and we have been walking the same happy trail together since. He invited me to live with him in September of 2007, and the dogs and I gladly packed our bags. Back to my old stomping grounds we went, as ironically enough, X ended up owning a house in my hometown.

Suburban life seemed so dull until I met X. I have literally gone from the girl who thrived on going out every night of the weekend to craving takeout and a night at home. We are true and perfect partners in crime. I have met somebody who makes me want to be selfless, patient, and garden! Our little plot of land is beautiful. We are happy to come home to each other every night for dinner and to relax with the dogs. X and I just recently returned from visiting my extended family. They loved him as if he has been a part of our family for years. We have booked our plane tickets and will be visiting his family in September for 14 glorious European beach days.

I am hoping we will be engaged soon! We have plans to start trying in the beginning of 2009 to have a baby. Just the thought makes my heart race and I become emotional. X is going to be a wonderful father and I know that together we will be great parents. I go into this phase of my life with no hesitation. No fear, no doubts.

My career has also gone in a different direction. I left my job of over five years (lets call that place Dead End) in March and started in a completely different industry. Again for the purpose of company anonymity, we will refer to this place as Rx. Rx is offering me an opportunity into an industry that could really take me places. I am learning a lot, becoming much more skilled at my job, and more marketable for possible future opportunities. The major drawback at Rx is the type of people that work here. Rx is a small company, so being the new person hasn't been very easy. They have not done a very good job at training me and it frustrates me when I don't do something the way they expect it to be done. They realize it's a "learning curve", but it would be nice to be TAUGHT! In addition, the majority of people are either cold or I have nothing in common with. I sit at my nice desk, with my sunny window and decent paycheck wishing there were some people that would at least remind me of the fun I used to have going to work at Dead End. The highlight of my week at Rx has been finding a great place to get Bubble Tea near here. Sad.

On a positive note, I am trying to stay open minded and optimistic about Rx. Starting something new is never easy and I am sure in a few months I will feel like I know exactly what I am doing. My boss is very good to me and likes to keep me involved. I will also be traveling a little bit, which will help to expose me and to build relationships with clients. Rx and I are officially a work in progress, lets leave it at that.

I'm going to wrap this up for today. I think this post has succeeded in dusting you off completely...

Happy blogging!

To Blog or not to Blog?

Blogging....an interesting concept! Why now? I'm wondering the same thing myself.

Wikipedia (a wonder all on it's own!) defines a "blog" as a weblog that often focuses on a particular subject. Since its appearance in 1995, blogging has emerged as a popular means of communication, affecting public opinion and mass media around the world.

Since 1995?! Weren't we just tearing ourselves from the evil grasp of Prodigy and being "You've got mail"-ed by AOL for the first time back then? I remember the thrill of the "buddy list" becoming an available feature on AOL version...what was it, 2.0 back then?! To think, how far along you have come, buddy list! Now you float alone on my desktop, and I fondly call you AIM. AIM, of all things! AIM to what? Waste hours of my day at the office? Done. Allow people from my past that I would rather not hear from to contact me? Done. On the other hand, have you connected me with friends throughout the country better than any over-priced telephone service? Yes, and very rarely do I get a busy signal from you! Have you made my "I don't feel like calling this person back" issue less evident? Yes, I still have friends because of you!

I digress...back to you, Blog.

So lets discuss the original question. Why am I doing this now? To be perfectly honest with you, it feels pretty self-centered. Why do you care to read about the life of Sarah? You don't, but yet you keep reading. It's funny how we do that, isn't it? It gives you a little voyeuristic thrill without the guilt!

I am doing this because I can, and because you can too. Is my life interesting enough to deserve it's own blog? No; is yours? Will I stick to one topic? If you just read anything I wrote above, the answer is clearly "no". That would just bore you.

Sit back, enjoy a blog about nothing. You should be reading CNN now anyway!