Idaho

I have to tell ya......this week has been enlightening. Don't get me wrong. I am fully aware of the whole gay men cruising thing, but the idea of picking up someone in a restroom had not really crossed my mine. Leave it to a man......straight or gay......to figure a restroom to be a fabulous hookup hotspot.

I can't say that any self-respecting lesbian I know would do it. And if they did, their technique would probably be more clever than tapping your heels together as you sit on the throne. Eeek....now I am picturing something out of the Wizard of Oz!

It is fitting that the Senator is from I-da-ho. He certainly has gained the reputation of being with other people other than his wife. While I don't feel sorry for him, I do feel sad for her. Sad not sorry. She obviously knows or suspects that he has a problem and she turns the other head. It is sad that she continues to stand by him even after he failed to share this arrest with her when it originally happened. Who does that to a partner?

But yes I know.....I really don't want to cast a guilty eye on the Senator because that wouldn't be fair. Oh wait......he pleaded guilty, didn't he? Yeah....that is interesting too. A well-educated man....schooled in law.........pleading guilty to something he wasn't guilty of just so it would go away. Interesting tactic considering he is a high profile person who is already being creamed by his local paper, the "I-da-ho Statesman".

This is all making sense now..................

Mid-Life Crisis...continued...

Apparently no one is going to solve my 'mid-life crisis' for me. Though thanks to those of you who commiserated or chimed in with your own suggestions for improving my work-a-day outlook.

• I didn't win the powerball Saturday.


• The dog, though cute as can be in a snazzy-if-late-in-the-season haircut, hasn't auditioned lately.


• And of course, two days after I give in and post an updated resume on Monster, there's some sort of hacking going on and my plea to prospective employers is possibly being used to generate even more spam in my e-mail.

I have been giving this whole career-switch thing some serious thought. I considered several options while strolling around the season's first Oktoberfest yesterday. Yes, I said first. One beer-fueled excuse to wear silly hats, leather shorts and funny hats isn't enough in Zinzinnati. Perhaps the least expensive potential new career, start-up cost wise, came to my mind as we drank warm beer and waited for the tug-o-war between the German societies and the Ancient Order of Hibernians (GO IRISH) to begin.

One of the gaming booths at this and many other local festivals features The Rat Game -- I'm sure it has a more formal name. But the gist of it is you put a quarter on the color/number square you think the rat will run toward when released and if he/she goes down the hole on your square, you win.

Do you have any idea how many quarters beer-fueled festival goers will bet on a rat? Multiply that by three days, then by the number of potential bookings each summer/fall, subtract minimal marketing & equipment costs (Rat Game Here signs, maybe a catchy t-shirt or so for the rat handler to wear). And feeding a rat, of course, is even less expensive...

Or maybe I target a different market segment. A guinea pig instead of a rat, church festivals and pta fairs, maybe even take the game indoor since guineas are a bit more sanitary than a rat. They're also cuter and come in more varieties.

Hmmm...

Football 2007

Ahhhhh here we are again......football season! For those of us who love this time of year it has been a long time coming.

However, I have to count on the Bengals performing well to truly enjoy the season. We have very fair weather fans here in Cincinnati and I guess we have every reason to be skeptical. After enduring the debaucal of the 1990 seasons we are running short in the faith department. We have gotten close to post season activity but have fallen short in the last two seasons due to miserable performances or intentional injury to our players.

So here we are.....yet again. The schedule is not incredibly tough. I see a few games that will definitely speak to the talent on this team. Are we in this to win or are we just a perceived threat with nothing to back it up with?

Of course.....there is one game on this schedule that is the most important to me and that is the Monday Night Football matchup with the Patriots on 10/1. This game is happening waaaayyyy too early in the season for my liking. I only have three games to make a legitimate decision on whether or not I intend to make a bet with my friends in Boston. Placing bets with my friends has only been favorable for them.........and miserable for me. So being prudent is advantageous.

For those of you who are football widows, don't lose heart. If the team really stinks you will have your partner's full attention by Christmas............just in the nick of time.

TA TA!

To hyphenate or not to hyphenate?

That is the question my dear lesbians..............

This is a popular concept with straight married women as a means to maintain some glimmer of their identity after they are married. The whole name changing concept comes from scripture which said that when a man and woman marry - they become one. I like to think of it as being a part of that subordination stuff that a woman must have for her husband.

So in your relationship...........would you hypenate your name? Would you take the last name of your partner? And what do you think that means when lesbians hyphenate? Or do you think some women us it as a "public display of affection"?

Barack Obama

What would life be without one more blog about the presidential candidates?

I watched the debates on Logo the other night. I must say that after this debate I am beginning to doubt whether Barack has it in him to be our President. He has hopes, dreams and aspirations. I am easily charmed by his vision for a better and brighter tomorrow. Who doesn't want all that?

However, we have to acknowledge that he is not going to get his way on every issue. The next President of the United States is going to be closely watched in regards to how he/she uses his powers. Of course, we have "Dubya" and Dick to thank for that extra scrutiny. So I have to be a bit skeptical about some of the ideas that Barack has recently proposed.

I don't want to say that he views the world through rose colored glasses but he certainly has such a fresh approach that perhaps his naivity is showing. Maybe a little more experience in Senate is necessary in his case.

I don't want a politician to lead me down the garden path of goodness and light. I want them to be honest and straightforward. Don't pull any punches. We all know being President is not an easy job. You have high hopes going in but you cannot be fooled into thinking that every initiative that you want to pass is going to fly through the House and the Senate unchallenged.

I think that with each debate we clearly see how much more educated and realistic the other candidates are in comparsion to Barack Obama. I have to give him a A+ for his enthusiasm and optimism but I just don't think that is enough to carry him through trying times as President.

I want to know that we have a strong person leading our country instead of a puppet with a strong VP pulling the strings. We have already endured seven years of that scenario.

542 more days to go!

Mid-life Crisis?

Oh yeah. I already had one of those. Maybe even a couple. (No snarky comments from those unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with me during one or more of those, thanks!)

So maybe what I'm really having this week (this month?) is a symptom of the ridiculous heat that's oppressing a better mood from evolving. Or maybe it's my most recent failure to 'forward this e-mail to your 10 closest friends and enjoy days of happiness beyond your wildest dreams'.

Then again, maybe it's my job. My increasingly overwhelming-workload-out-of-control-ideas-with-no-strategic-purpose-or-resources-8-to-whenever-I-log-off-at-night job. Do I need a change? If I told you how long I'd been there, you'd laugh and say OF COURSE you need a change. But as I've often joked, I'm still not sure I know what I want to do with my life.

And I don't think that's so uncommon for 40-somethings these days. Most of my close workplace-based friends (okay, sue me for segmenting) are a few years younger than me. They're just approaching mid-career. I think I missed it all together. Now I actually find myself thinking that lay off I endured in my 20s was seriously wasted on me at that point in my life. I traded one job for another so quickly I didn't even know I'd lost a job, really. And now I'm old enough and enough of a worrier (thanks mom) that I'm even afraid to contemplate change. That's even funnier when you know I have a reputation on the job for 'embracing and leading change' -- a direct quote from my last appraisal, no less. But I'm solo breadwinner unless the dog gets a big movie break or Rita finally convinces me that buying lottery tix is a viable option.

How does one find the next 'thing' they're passionate enough about to endure, oops, I mean pursue avidly for 10 hours a day? I'm pretty sure the answer isn't found at monster.com. But of course, I'm actually to afraid to go there...