President Picker

I totally meant to include this information in the other night's blog post about the upcoming caucuses and just forgot. During the last presidential election I used website called presidentmatch.com (now defunct) to figure out how my own views on important issues lined up with those views of the candidates. While I might not be the most politically savvy person in the world (or even in my own household), I still want to make an informed decision when I vote.

So this year I searched for similar websites to help me figure out which candidates I agreed with on important issues. I take these surveys with a grain of salt, mind you--even if I agreed with a candidate 100% I most certainly wouldn't vote for them if I thought he or she was a generally deplorable person. Regardless, I still think this kind of quiz can be helpful and informative. Here are a few links I found:

Candidate Match Game
(from USA Today)

Choose Your Candidate
(from the Washington Post)

Match-O-Matic
(from ABC News)

Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz for 2008
(from GoToQuiz.com)

2008 Presidential Candidate Selector
(from SelectSmart.com)

Glassbooth Election 2008
(from Glassbooth.org)

Select a Candidate 2008
(from a Quad Cities TV station in Illinois)

If I kept searching, I could probably find loads more of these types of surveys, but I think these will probably suffice. They each only take about 5 minutes to fill out, so for a mere 35 minutes of your time you can become a much more informed voter!

The Streaks Are Over

I'm so depressed. The basketball season was going so beautifully. I have to admit, at 20-0 on the year, we were looking so invincible that I was completely overconfident that we would win tonight's game. I hadn't really watched K-State play this year, and I was expecting to see the same KSU team that had lost every year in Manhattan since I was 11 years old. I guess the streak had to come to an end at some point, but to have two streaks end at the same time just makes the loss that much more painful. I'll definitely be in mourning for at least the next 20 hours.

You can read the whole story from the Lawrence Journal-World here, but it's probably not even worth your time. The bottom line is that we played poorly, the officiating was terrible, and K-State was amazingly good. That pretty much sums it up.

The good news: it's January and not March. A loss now may bring about mild depression, but a loss in two months will bring me to tears!

Sudden Snowstorm

I know I've been blogging a ton about the weather lately, but the last three days have just been so meteorologically bizarre here in Lawrence I have to share. Saturday the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and I took the 3 pups on a nice long 4 mile walk for the first time in months, wearing nothing but a sweatshirt. Sunday was also quite mild, and then yesterday we hit a near record high of 60 degrees.

By yesterday evening, you could tell there was a storm on the way. The temp was supposed to be in the mid 20s throughout the day and then drop significantly in the evening, but early in the morning the wind began to howl and snow began blowing sideways. By lunchtime, this was what the backyard looked like at our house.


If you look closely, you might be able to tell that flakes are flying horizontally from the 30 mph gusts of wind. There were 40 mph gusts earlier in the morning, plus our backyard is fairly secluded with the fence and houses all around, so you really can't get a feel for how crazy cold and windy it was. I kept the camera in my pocket when I went back to work, where the gusts were a little more visible with all of the blowing snow.

Hopefully you're not too nauseated from my shaky photography. :) I don't do a good job walking and filming at the same time, obviously. I'm sure my coworkers who were looking out their windows on that side of the building thought I had completely lost my mind, but I just love the idea that a few years from now I can look back on my blog and say, "Oh yeah, I remember that day back in '08 when the wind was blowing snow tornadoes all over the parking lot!"

Politics, Not As Usual

Obviously the upcoming presidential election is dominating the news these days. Personally, I don't really enjoy politics. First of all, I hate to listen to people debate (argue)--either on t.v. or in person. Secondly, I feel like most political candidates are usually just telling people what they want to hear, rather than being completely honest. For me, elections often feel like trying to pick the lesser of two evils.

So despite the fact that I'm by no means a political junkie, my friend Emily sent me some information the other day that I thought was pretty important and interesting. This year in Kansas, for the first time we actually have a voice in which candidate will get the presidential nomination, which I think is actually kind of exciting!

The Kansas Democratic Party caucus will be held on Super Tuesday, February 5. On the special caucus website you can find out the exact location of your caucus (based on your Senate and Congressional districts) and what exactly happens at the caucus, along with lots more information. Even you're not a registered Democrat you can go to the caucus and change your political affiliation at the door.

The Kansas GOP Caucus will be held on Saturday, February 9. In order to participate in the Republican party caucus, participants must be registered as a Republican by January 25, 2008, so if you're not already a party registrant then you're out of luck on this one. For more information about the caucus visit www.ksgopcaucus.org. Their website isn't quite as informative, but you can at least find out where the Republican Party caucus for your county will be located.

Even though it doesn't necessarily sound like a barrel of monkeys to me, it does sound like a great way to get involved!

Fun With Photos

I saw a picture online today that gave me the strange urge to have some creative fun with Photoshop. I love all the filters you can put on pictures to make crazy effects. For lack of something more interesting to talk about, I thought I'd share some of my fun creations!

Chad and I in "plastic wrap"

Chad and the dogs in some sort of artistic brush stroke called "sumi-e" whatever that means

Eric and I looking like cartoons with the "cutout" filter

A "photocopy" of Eric and me

You can tell I'm easily entertained!! :)