Happy 17th of July!
I know, I know, I'm 2 weeks late on my fifth annual fourth of july post! I have been insanely busy. We had the 3rd of July off work, and that's the day EWSB had the annual concert in Kennywood. Susan had to stand on the picnic table again! Mom and Dad came out, and it was my dad's first time hearing my band. We rode some rides-- my mom was scared by the Exterminator so she closed her eyes (it's funny because the rollercoaster is in the dark!)
On the fourth fourth, we went downtown for the regatta and watched some boat races, ate some fair food, listened to Three Dog Night, and saw the non-Zambelli (scandal!) fireworks with Patrick and Rachel. I enjoyed them, it was nice to have something just.. different.
I'll have you know that I am using my woot canal icon because Jake and I just watched this parody video and I enjoyed it.
In reading over my old entries, I see that 2 years ago I felt like I wasn't in control of my life, and last year I felt "in tune" but neither in control/out of control, and this year I feel like *I* am in the driver's seat of my own life. I am Doing Things-- things that I don't know if I could have predicted that I would actually be doing 5 years ago. Like taking the motorcycle safety class to get my motorcycle license (it's so much fun! cross your fingers and I might have my license tomorrow!) and... drumroll please.. BUYING MY FIRST HOUSE. I just closed today, and I promise I will have a post ALL about the house very very soon.
Patrick Dowd ran for mayor very quickly (the campaign got going kind of late, it was shorter than his city council campaign!!)-- that was so exciting. He didn't win, of course, but he was outspent 10-to-1 and only outvoted 2-to-1 and he got to hold Luke accountable for his actions for a while. I seriously doubt that Ravenstahl would have supported campaign finance reform if he hadn't been running a competitive primary. It's going to be interesting to see what happens once that law goes into effect in January-- Patrick's campaign was run on a lot of small dollar donations, while Ravenstahl's were run on fewer larger ones, some of which were over the new limit.
I'd say that while I'm biding my time waiting for the next local election cycle, my biggest issue is probably the size of the PA legislature. It's such a waste, and it's going to be so tough to ever do anything about it because they're not just going to vote themselves out of a job... I don't know what the answer is yet. Nationally, I think we're on The Right Track and Senator Al "60th" Franken is certainly not going to hurt the arduous process of getting Obama's legislation passed.
Upcoming events: ALLISON AND JEREMY are getting MARRIED in 2 weeks, doing work on the house/moving, and Jake and I are going to Florida for a week at the end of August with his friends.
HAVE A GREAT YEAR!! (Not that this means I'm not going to post again until next year, sorry my posting has been so light, but you know. I'll be around :D)
Travels this year-- I visited Patty in Arizona in March!! That was a really nice break, and it was good to see where my not-so-little-anymore sister lives all the way across a few time zones.
On the fourth fourth, we went downtown for the regatta and watched some boat races, ate some fair food, listened to Three Dog Night, and saw the non-Zambelli (scandal!) fireworks with Patrick and Rachel. I enjoyed them, it was nice to have something just.. different.
I'll have you know that I am using my woot canal icon because Jake and I just watched this parody video and I enjoyed it.
In reading over my old entries, I see that 2 years ago I felt like I wasn't in control of my life, and last year I felt "in tune" but neither in control/out of control, and this year I feel like *I* am in the driver's seat of my own life. I am Doing Things-- things that I don't know if I could have predicted that I would actually be doing 5 years ago. Like taking the motorcycle safety class to get my motorcycle license (it's so much fun! cross your fingers and I might have my license tomorrow!) and... drumroll please.. BUYING MY FIRST HOUSE. I just closed today, and I promise I will have a post ALL about the house very very soon.
Patrick Dowd ran for mayor very quickly (the campaign got going kind of late, it was shorter than his city council campaign!!)-- that was so exciting. He didn't win, of course, but he was outspent 10-to-1 and only outvoted 2-to-1 and he got to hold Luke accountable for his actions for a while. I seriously doubt that Ravenstahl would have supported campaign finance reform if he hadn't been running a competitive primary. It's going to be interesting to see what happens once that law goes into effect in January-- Patrick's campaign was run on a lot of small dollar donations, while Ravenstahl's were run on fewer larger ones, some of which were over the new limit.
I'd say that while I'm biding my time waiting for the next local election cycle, my biggest issue is probably the size of the PA legislature. It's such a waste, and it's going to be so tough to ever do anything about it because they're not just going to vote themselves out of a job... I don't know what the answer is yet. Nationally, I think we're on The Right Track and Senator Al "60th" Franken is certainly not going to hurt the arduous process of getting Obama's legislation passed.
Upcoming events: ALLISON AND JEREMY are getting MARRIED in 2 weeks, doing work on the house/moving, and Jake and I are going to Florida for a week at the end of August with his friends.
HAVE A GREAT YEAR!! (Not that this means I'm not going to post again until next year, sorry my posting has been so light, but you know. I'll be around :D)
Travels this year-- I visited Patty in Arizona in March!! That was a really nice break, and it was good to see where my not-so-little-anymore sister lives all the way across a few time zones.