Obama, Edwards, Hillary

I remember the Clinton years fondly. I was disappointed when Bush stole the election from Al Gore. I still view the Gore loss as a missed opportunity for America. How different things might have been to have a thoughtful, intellectual and rational person in office instead of the arrogant, stupid and irrational man who currently occupies our highest office.

That said, I'm not a big fan of Hillary. She has always struck me as ill humored. When talking to people I know about Hillary, I often ask them what they think about her "electability" and more often than not the feeling is that she can't draw the independents and moderate Republicans.

Given that, I began thinking over the summer that I hoped Obama would get the nomination over Hillary because just as often, people would tell me that they thought Obama was more electable.

When I heard that Republican strategist and political pukester Karl Rove was on record saying he thought Hillary would be very difficult if not impossible to beat, I immediately suspected it was because Karl was trying to bait Dems into nominating Hillary so they could have a field day with her in the general. I still think that is the case.

Hillary has too much baggage. Obama has so much promise. The Republicans are now saying Obama is even more liberal than Hillary (why is liberal a bad word again?) and that they will be able to turn lots of people against him in the general because of his voting record in Illinois.

I don't know about that and as a liberal myself, I'm sure it wouldn't change my vote, but I do know that Hillary has been high profile and polarizing for a long time. And when she speaks I don't hear the same conviction that I hear from Obama and Edwards, who both speak passionately.

Regardless of who is nominated, anything is going to be better than the last eight years.

2007: My Make Year in Review

Avid reader of this blog, note the use of singular, may recall that I said more than a year ago that 2007 would be my make year. Well, I didn't learn how to weld, I didn't make any cool electronic gadgets, but it was still a good year as far as making things was concerned.

A year ago I was working on getting plumbing into my garage for my garage to master bedroom conversion project. I'm happy to report the holes are gone and the master bedroom is mostly complete. I need to finish trimming it out and we're still not settled on paint colors. Here are some pics:
Looking into the room from the doorway.

Looking back towards the front of the house.

And here's the walk-in closet.

The vanity. Pardon the mess.

Standing in the doorway to the bathroom looking back towards the vanity.

The neighboring laundry/bathroom was not spared. This is where one of the big holes in the floor was a year ago. New tile, but the walls are still rough.

That's a shot of the water and sewer lines to the new tub in the master. There's a toilet waiting to be set once I patch up the hole in the wall there.

And then there was this diversion in the backyard. The "Tower of Power!"

Forget about those pre-packaged store bought climbing walls. If your kids don't have a pink climbing wall like this one, then they are missing out.


And then there's the most demanding and most rewarding maker projects ever:Who knows what 2008 may hold.