“I certainly am not one to ever waste time looking backwards.” – Sarah Palin.
Well, there’s one more thing the Alaska governor/former (!!) VP candidate and I do NOT have in common. I try not to live in the past, but I do think reflection on it is essential in order to understand and learn – and, on occasion, to provide blog fodder! – and is often a very worthwhile use of time rather than a waste.
The “Saturday Review” will be back in its usual format next week. Due to moving last weekend and several days off-line, I have barely been able to keep current on blog reading, let alone link-collecting, but I am looking forward to getting back on track soon. Thanks for your patience with the light posting and lack of visitation at your blogs this week! Also, as I mentioned yesterday, it seems that the new commenting system I tried out may have made it difficult for some of y’all to visit me here – once again, I apologize, and I hope that problem has been solved! The idea was to encourage commenting and discussion, not to crash people’s browsers.
Anyway, since I’m short of linkage to share (but you can always check my “Google Reader Stars” widget in the sidebar or subscribe to my FriendFeed), here are a few thoughts on the week that was:
- It was probably just as well we had the cable and internet disconnected at our old apartment on Saturday morning. Had it been there, I would have been distracting myself from cleaning and packing that HAD to be done, and I really couldn’t afford that time, so not having it as an option made it easier to stick to my tasks. Not more fun, mind you, but probably a necessary evil.
- I went into Target to pick up a few things last Saturday morning – the day after Halloween – and the Christmas advertising was already up! I wasn’t surprised, unfortunately, but I still find it disappointing to see the season so rushed. I know Thanksgiving doesn’t mean much to retailers except maybe grocery stores, but it does still come before Christmas on the calendar – and even in years when it seems like there’s a shortage of things to be thankful for, I think it’s still worth taking some time to observe it.
- Tall Paul and I have been together for three and a half years, and this is the second time we’ve moved. (Hopefully we won’t be looking at the third time in another 18 months when our lease is up, but when we signed on for a private rental instead of one in another apartment complex, we knew that was a potential risk.) We’re turning in the keys to the old apartment this weekend, and we still have to finish cleaning and clearing it out, so between that and the boxes still to be unpacked at the new place, we’re still not exactly settled. I’m hoping that this weekend we’ll make some progress on finding a few things that are in some of the proverbial “miscellaneous” boxes – no matter how carefully you try to organize and label, having a few of those boxes is almost impossible to avoid – but chances are we’ll still be unpacking over Thanksgiving weekend.
- We didn’t have phone service at our new house till Wednesday. Well, we did have it on Monday morning, and then it got turned off; we suspect that somehow the disconnect order for the landlords’ phone went through after our connection, but no one can confirm that. And since our new address is a cell-phone dead zone (for our current provider, anyway, so we may be changing once our contracts are up), we actually need the land line. Knowing we couldn’t be reached, or reach anyone else, by phone wasn’t actually as relaxing as one might think.
- The cable and internet were hooked up on Tuesday morning, and both seem to be working without any major glitches – once we had e-mail, we didn’t feel quite as cut off from the outside world. And we had TV just in time to be able to watch the election results! The kids were excited too, and although I think they were more interested in the horse-race aspects, they were aware that they were witnessing an historic moment and a change of great magnitude. I was IM’ing with my son while watching CNN, and he was in happy shock, looking forward to drinking a celebratory beer instead of drowning his sorrows. It’s a very exciting time for him to be living in D.C.! (Hey, why doesn’t anyone call it “the DC?”)
- As I mentioned on Tuesday, I vote absentee, but when Tall Paul went to the polling place, I came along and dropped my ballot off there instead of mailing it in (so it may not have been counted yet, but it probably doesn’t matter). A few blocks away, we saw a house with two election-related yard signs – an Obama sign and a “Yes on Prop 8” sign. I guess we should never assume that people’s positions on issues will be consistent with each other… They must have really celebrated at that house on Tuesday evening.
- This election was the end of a campaign, but it’s more important that it’s the beginning of something else. I know a lot of people have pinned their hopes on “change,” and I really hope they’ll be understanding of the fact that it can’t happen overnight. I hope they will be patient with the process and not grumble when things aren’t perfect in six months. I hope they’ll understand the long view and that real change takes time – I think we’ve lost touch with that in our instant-everything world. I think our President-elect does understand that, and I hope that he will lead us through it.
This has definitely been quite a week of change, for my family and for our country, both exhiliarating and exhausting. How are you holding up? Since comments do seem to be working properly again, please leave me one and tell me what I’ve missed!
I hate moving. We still have boxes in our garage from nearly six years ago. 🙂
I would probably not get any cleaning done if the TV and Internet worked. Good luck on the final clean-up.
A week of change is right! It’s so reassuring that you took the time to vote despite your busy-ness. I know there are some who wouldn’t bother, using their chaos as an excuse.
Mike – I don’t mind moving. It’s the packing, unpacking, and cleaning that wear me out :-).
Daisy – There was NO WAY we were going to miss voting! In some ways, it was actually easier, since we had taken Monday and Tuesday off from work for the move – we were able to go and vote mid-afternoon and miss the lines.
Did you know that Obama opposes gay marriage? I think that’s one issue I agree with him on completely…civil unions for all as opposed to marriage for any.
Also, African Americans were overwhelming in support of Prop 8 so many theorize that’s what happened there.
It should be noted though, that just because someone supports a candidate it doesn’t mean they agree with their entire platform. Does anyone completely agree with anyone else?
Lastly, stop with the Christmas music in stores already! It’s fine in my car but overkill in the retail shops! 🙂
Amy – I think I had heard that re: Prop 8. A significant number of ethnic/minority Obama voters are also religious conservatives who supported Prop 8 on those grounds.
It’s an interesting question: should “marriage” be defined strictly as a religious/sacramental rite, while recognized as something else legally? As it is, any wedding ceremony not performed under a church’s authority is technically a “civil” marriage anyway. I’m sure we are not done with this yet.
And yeah, it’s way too early for Christmas music at the mall!
I HATE moving!! Glad you survived it and that you’re nearly settled.
We moved four years ago, and that, I hope, will be the last move for many more. Phew.
Re: Prop. 8. Have you seen this initiative?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mario-ruiz/gays-hit-back-at-mormons_b_142001.html
LisaMM – As of Sunday evening, the house is starting to look like we actually live here. We’ve made it through most of the boxes, and we can actually get both cars into the garage :-)!
MaryP – I tend to doubt this will be our last move, but I do hope the next one won’t be in eighteen months when this lease ends. I’d like to stay longer, and hope the landlords won’t change their minds about keeping the house as a rental indefinitely.
The backlash against Prop 8 started as soon as it passed. There have been almost daily protests, and there’s a petition to revoke the Mormon Church’s tax-exempt status. This is not going to end quickly and quietly.
I hope you are settling in well, Florinda. Unpacking is much less stressful than packing. At least I think so. 🙂
Wendy (Literary Feline) – I tend to agree; at any rate, it’s less time-sensitive. Once I have a functional kitchen and can find most of my clothes and toiletries, I can usually relax a little.
But tonight when I came home, the counter was clear and there were NO unpacked boxes to be seen downstairs! It’s starting to feel like we live here :-).