McCain and Obama!

Wow! If the nominations go the way things are leaning now, I am actually looking forward to a Presidential race.

I have liked John McCain for a long time now. I have also developed a huge amount of respect for Barack Obama. For the first time, I feel the two major parties may actually nominate someone interesting.

The Bush/Gore baloney was an embarrassment. Bush/Kerry was just more of the same old, same old. McCain/Obama has the potential to be something different than the usual politics.

I dated someone for a while who was very involved in politics. He was a member of the North Carolina Young Republicans and dating him helped me develop more of an interest in politics. He was MUCH more conservative than me, but that was okay, we had great conversations.

I have been a registered Democrat, a registered Republican, and I have been registered as Independent. In Georgia, we didn't need to register with party affiliation, which was great, I much prefer that. I am not sure yet about the process here in Vermont, I am going to register when I get my driver's license changed. I just hope I don't have to claim party affiliation...the reason being, I can vote either way depending on who is running.

I am very opposed to the party system and party affiliations. I could never identify myself as a Republican without cringing when the image of George Bush or Dick Cheney entered my mind. At the same time, I could never identify myself as a Democrat without cringing when the image of Hilary Clinton or Barbara Boxer entered my mind.

My politics vascilate back and forth between moderate to conservative and moderate to liberal. I definitely don't fit any "definitions." I am against abortion, for the death penalty (sometimes), for gay marriage, and am lenient on my views of immigration. I think the war in Iraq is wrong and the president lied to us. I think we should be more worried about our own economy, housing issues, credit concerns, etc. I am so split down the middle, that the only way I could find a candidate who represented MY views would be if I were to run for public office...which I am not EVER going to do.

I have never, and probably will never, vote straight down any party line. I always know who the candidates are (even for small positions like sheriffs or other local offices) and I research those running. I do my best to learn as much as I can through research and vote my conscience, whether that be Democrat, Republican, or Third Party.

Okay, now that I have offended ALL of my friends (on both sides of the aisle,) I am going to shut up and watch the political landscape over the next few months. I have NO idea who I want to vote for in the upcoming election, but I do know that I am glad that the individuals that I would NEVER vote for have either dropped out of the race or will not get the nomination. Now, lets do something about Hilary and make sure she is out of the running!

Vermont

Well, we made it to Vermont safe and sound. I love it here. I love the snow, the area, everything. After spending most of my life in the south, I am very surprised to find people here more friendly and gracious and hospitable than any I have met anywhere. Mountain View, CA, is a VERY close second though. I don't know if it is that we live in a small town, or if the people are just that much nicer, but I definitely appreciate it, especially after the minor catastrophe yesterday that could have been a MAJOR catastrophe, and would have been back at Sam's old school. Drew has found the high school to be a great change from South Cobb in Austell. He also says there are a lot of cute girls (well, he is almost sixteen, so this would be a priority.) Sam is getting settled into his kindergarten class and adjusting well to the half-day routine as opposed to the all day kindergarten he has been used to. One OUTSTANDING thing is that Pre-K is in the public schools in our district AND they had room for a new student. Olivia had her first day of school yesterday and loves it! Pre-K is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for a half day. She is in afternoon Pre-K and Sam is in afternoon kindergarten, so it works out great.

Snow has been the name of the game since we got here though. Last Wednesday schools were delayed by two hours. This Wednesday (today) schools are canceled completely. Every school district in the area, both on the Vermont side and the New Hampshire side are closed. We have had a huge amount of snow overnight and it is still snowing pretty heavily. There is some expectation of ice accumulation as well today, so I am glad we have nowhere to go at all. I am SO glad that I was able to take care of my errand to the capitol of New Hampshire was able to be completed yesterday afternoon. My only frustration is how long it is taking to obtain my NH nursing license. I hope that my errand to Concord yesterday corrects everything and I am licensed in relatively short order.


We live in beautiful condos. This is a resort area and many of the homes are second homes. Our condo is 2300 sq. ft. so it is very nice sized. There are three buildings adjacent to our parking lot and each building has four condos in it, all with separate outside entrances. The picture to the left gives an idea of the outside. None of the other 11 units around us are occupied full time. Most folks come up on weekends for skiing (or golfing in the summer.) It is interesting (strange) to be the only full time residents. Of course, some of the other condos/homes in other sections are full time homes, but it is very strange having no immediate neighbors. On the weekend the parking lot is full of CT and MA cars (in addition to our Georgia cars, of course.) The downtown area is about two blocks in length and the post office appears to be the hopping spot. Of course, that could be because there is no mail delivery and everyone has to go to the post office to pick up their mail from their p.o. box. That is a very strange phenomenon to me.

All in all, I am very glad to be here. I think we are all going to be very happy here. The kids love it and so do Thomas and I. I am a little antsy to get back to work, but that will come next week. I am certainly not rushing my "vacation." Sofia is going to have the hardest time with me going back to work. She has gotten rather used to having Mama around and she is definitely my girl these days. She runs to me for everything!

Oh well, I have rambled a lot now, I should probably be doing something else. I hope everyone is well!