In Memorial

As most of you know, my dog-child of eight years, Sierra, passed away on Tuesday, November 11, 2008. I am not going to say too much, because if you didn't know Sierra, you just won't understand, and if you did, then words aren't needed. I will say that she was her typical happy-go lucky self that afternoon when I left to go to work. She was fine when Mark came home. She mucked about on the porch as she does most of the time until she laid down in her kennel and fell asleep for the final time. We suspect that she had a heart attack, as her heart was weakened from an earlier bout with heartworms. She likely died around 9 pm; she was still warm when I found her at 11:30. I went outside to give her the anti-inflammatory pill she's been on for almost a year now. When she didn't get up when I called, I walked over to her kennel to wake her up, discovering her curled up with one paw over her eye as if she was dreaming. She wasn't. My brother Andy and my mother came over, and Mark and Andy buried her despite the rain and the lateness of the hour. I have ordered a Husky statue to commemorate her final resting place, under an oak tree by the corner of the property. There is no reason for me to go into detail about my feelings on the event - I think most of you know how I feel. I will never forget my beautiful Sierra Linda.

The end of the world as we know it

The election last night, resulting in the victory of Senator Barack Obama, has sparked a lot of protest from a lot of people, including many of my closest friends and family. Statements ranging from the expected to the outlandish have been made, going even so far as to declare it the end of American ideology. I titled my post as such not because I believe that Obama's election marks the end of the world (as no doubt, many of you were hoping I would say) but because I think your ridiculous and unreasoned partisanship will be. If you want to see the death of American ideology, continue to be fractured. Continue your in-fighting and your out-fighting. Continue to mock, hate, and protest against people of the other faction. Continue your ignorant crusades and cross-burnings. (Please note: this is NOT just directed at McCCain supporters, but also at those who would be saying the same things if McCain rather than Obama had won.) If you think America is doomed, you may just be right. But instead of fostering partisan sentiments, we need to come together and support each other. Folks, it happened. Obama is our next president. Whether right or wrong, good or bad, it's fact. get over it and let's band together to help our neighbors and our fellow man to fight our way out of this slump. I'm ony going to briefly go on my rant about how most of you who protest the most violently against Obama don't even have the first clue what he believes in (which is not socialism, I hate to say. Socialism is far more extreme than what Obama has so far advocated.) I will concede that many of you do know what he advocates, and some of you will be negatively affected by it. You have a right to be angry. But many of you do not. Even still, we have to work together. I'm not saying conform. I'm saying that you need to stop whining. Instead of burning crosses (either real or metaphorical) form a coherent and well-informed (that being the key) statement of your grievances and find a way to have them addressed. That's what democracy is about. The people in power will not respect or listen to you if you speak in the language of hate, but if you learn to speak in the language of concern they just might. That's my two cents. (And no, I never said if I supported Obama or McCain. I won't say. It doesn't matter. What matters is that Obama is our next president.)