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it's just outside of your front door

11:19 p.m. - Monday, Feb. 08, 2010

Mike and I are on the rocks. After the Colts lost, we had a knock-down, drag-out fight. We've been a little icy since I finally realized that I'm moving to DC sometime between June and September. There have been tears. But last night was epic.

Now there are lots of apologies going on. We both want the same thing—to be together in a healthy relationship. I'm not confiding anything he doesn't already know right now. But, that's where we are. We love each other. And it's tough sometimes.

I blame alcohol. I also blame alcohol for the fact that I'm going to post the lyrics to Foreplay/Long Time by Boston right now.

It's been such a long time
I think I should be goin', yeah
And time doesn't wait for me, it keeps on rollin'
Sail on, on a distant highway
I've got to keep on chasin' a dream
I've gotta be on my way
Wish there was something I could say.

Well I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' along
You'll forget about me after I've been gone
And I take what I find, I don't want no more
It's just outside of your front door.

It's been such a long time. It's been such a long time.

Well I get so lonely when I am without you
But in my mind, deep in my mind,
I can't forget about you
Good times, and faces that remind me
I'm tryin' to forget your name and leave it all behind me
You're comin' back to find me.

Well I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' along
You'll forget about me after I've been gone
And I take what I find, I don't want no more
It's just outside of your front door.

It's been such a long time. It's been such a long time.

Yeah. It's been such a long time, I think I should be goin', yeah
And time doesn't wait for me, it keeps on rollin'
There's a long road, I've gotta stay in time with
I've got to keep on chasin' that dream, though I may never find it
I'm always just behind it.

Well I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' along
Takin' my time, just movin' along
Takin' my time, yeah I'm takin' my time...

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sick no more

7:37 p.m. - Thursday, Feb. 04, 2010

Friends, Romans, countrymen, I finally got over my illness. It took one discovery made by my wonderful boyfriend. The fact that I am now telling you what we discovered will make being my friend and reading this blog all these years completely worth it. The secret is: prop up your head while you're sleeping. Use lots of pillows. Last night was the first time I didn't cough all night. I got a good night's sleep and woke up feeling wonderful.

Mike woke up coughing.

This could also be because of the many gallons of chicken soup I consumed that day.

I learned my lesson though. When I first start feeling sick, I will get in bed and not leave. I will drink OJ and eat chicken soup. I will not leave until I have been feeling better for 24 hours.

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manor house manor house manor house!

1:19 p.m. - Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010

After years of letting New Yorkers stack up on the coffee table, I finally suspended my subscription. And you know what, it was extremely easy. I just logged in a clicked a button. I bet that a lot of people have this same issue—they want to be very well-read but don't have time to be. La di da. I selected the "until further notice" option, but not before looking at all the dates I could resume it. And I wondered, when will have time to read New Yorkers? What will I be doing on June 14, 2010? Graduating. What will I be doing the next day? What about three months later? Will I ever not be in over my head?

Tough to say. When I have downtime I fill it with activities. I love reading but I don't do it. Instead I watch Manor House. Imagine your favorite movie ever, turned into a reality series. How awesome is that? Titanic, the reality series. I'm sure that that's someone's favorite movie. Contact, the reality series. That's for you, Clara. Now you know how I feel about Manor House.

However, because I have to read three books a week for my Democracy and the IT Revolution class, which is awesome and I thank my professor for that, I will be reading while watching Manor House.

Btw, I met a bunch of the people today who I described in the previous post. The Alderman had a very good turnout of candidates, not so good of community members for his community meeting. I want to take over event planning for him. Anyway, I told Linda Pauel I would be voting for her and she put on this really huge, completely genuine grin. It was so cute. I couldn't imagine campaigning, how dreary it must be, but it seemed like she genuinely appreciated the chance to have someone's support. Go Linda Pauel! She's running for judge. She has a super sharp fashion sense as well.

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Feb 2 endorsements

10:36 a.m. - Friday, Jan. 29, 2010

Hi folks,

Here is my election guide for the primaries on February 2. I whispered to Ali the other day that I thought I might be voting Republican, but then when I read their comments on social issues I balked. So if you're asking for a Democratic ballot, these are my picks.

US Senator—David Hoffman. He seems like a smarty-pants, and has a good handle of issues like cap and trade.

Governor—Daniel Hynes. He has a very realistic idea of how to rearrange the tax system in Illinois. For example, Quinn does not want to tax services, though a big reason why we haven't been getting revenue out of sales taxes in Illinois is because we don't tax any services while we've been moving to a service-based economy over the last thirty years, and we tax very few sales, so we have to tax the sales we do tax at a very high rate. If we taxed more things we could tax everything at a lower rate.

Lieutenant Gov—Art Turner. The Tribune endorses him but doesn't have a good reason. Probably lack of bad reasons.

Comptroller—S. Raja Krishnamoorthi. Apparently he has ideas about how to use the Comptroller's office to make state government more efficient and transparent.

Treasurer—Robin Kelly. She is the current chief of staff in the treasurer's office, and has impressed the Tribune. Any incumbent who impresses the Tribune is impressive indeed. Apparently both she and Oberman are good candidates though.

US Rep, 1st District—Bobby Rush. The Tribune also likes Fred Smith and notes that he grew up in the Robert Taylor homes and earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree. However, he has no previous political experience, and his general and simplistic answers to general questions about national issues reflect that. When asked about the budget shortfall, he says "we should review each department's budget and make cuts to unnecessary programs." Each department's budget is reviewed extensively every year. Rush has more concrete answers, though he supports a single-payer system, which will probably never come to fruition.

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District—Mariyana Spyropoulos, Todd Connor, and Kari Steele. Mariyana lost two years ago but was appointed to fill a vacancy. To cut costs, she proposed shrinking the board of commissioners from nine to five, even if her position is eliminated as a result. Adorbs! Todd Connor has a good management background. Steele is a chemist. In the past MWRD commissioners have had trouble showing up at meetings. Make sure the one you vote for isn't one of them.

Cook County Board President—I have been bitten by the Toni Preckwinkle bug. However, a constituent came in the other day and said she was part of a rally that was falsely advertised. He and a group of people were bussed to a meeting that was billed as something else, but was really a rally with a large media presence. He was there just to fill a crowd. And he was livid. However, her proposal to lower sales taxes and cut jobs in the Cook County hospitals sound good to me. Also, Todd Stroger is a complete moron. Dorothy Brown has collected thousands from her employees and refuses to report to the public what she did with the money. Ostensibly it was for charity, and some of it went into her own non-profit.

County Assessor—absolutely do not vote for Joe Berrios. He is one of Stroger's boosters and has close ties with Michael Madigan and and John Cullerton, both public officials and property tax attorneys. Property tax attorneys should be nowhere NEAR the assessor's office. My friend Mike (not boyfriend Mike) worked in the assessor's office. After people tried to appeal their property taxes, they would just walk across the hall, make a donation to Madigan, and their taxes would go down. The Tribune endorses Ray Figueroa, who has fought Berrios and pay-to-play politics.

Sheriff—Tom Dart is the incumbent. He's instituted an Office of Professional Review and is proposing to cut staffing in courthouses where it isn't needed. Also he likes doggies.

Well that's the first page of the ballot. If you want to know who to vote for for judge of the circuit court, the Tribune website can tell you. I basically agree with them. They've been watching.

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Last five entries

it's just outside of your front door - Monday, Feb. 08, 2010
sick no more - Thursday, Feb. 04, 2010
manor house manor house manor house! - Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010
Feb 2 endorsements - Friday, Jan. 29, 2010
STD for MLK - Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010