Debate #1 / Moving Val / The Great Garage Cleanup Begins
So, after two days of trying to find the time, I finally sat down to watch the first of three televised presidential debates for this coming 2008 election here in the US of A. All weekend, I've been reading opinions from lots of people online and I've come to the consensus that the majority of people are already polarized and decided on who they're voting for in a little over one month. Wow, it's only a month away now! Anyway, my reaction to the debate was pretty much what everyone else thought of it: Nothing really new was said and neither candidate truly "won" if debates are capable of being won. It was more or less ninety minutes of what each candidate has been saying for months. I was kind of disappointed, actually. I was hoping for some memorable exchange or slip-up or something that would hit me as truly wrong or a grand mistake. McCain and Obama both brought their A-game.
Although, one thing I did notice about the whole thing that gave me shivers- McCain never looked at Obama during the debate. At all. Ever. 90 minutes of looking at either his podium notes or the moderator or the cameras or maybe the audience, but he never seemed to acknowledge his opponent. Obama, on the other hand, did look at McCain and studied him and talked directly to him by his first name. McCain seemed to speak to Obama in the third person as if he wasn't in the room at all. It seemed disrespectful and as if McCain were afraid of Obama or something to that effect. Maybe he was just afraid in general because I bet it's scary worrying about being called out as a hypocrite- Saying you're going to suspend your campaign and not be at the debate until a congressional financial bailout is finalized but then showing up anyway and resuming your campaign with interviews on TV and attack ads.
Over the last several days, I've been helping my sister, Valerie, move things out of the house she's shared for three years with Franko. Even after nine months of being officially broken up, they have yet to really divide up their belongings and move out of their house. Val has been living with friends Nick and Patches for about a month now while Franko continues to live alone in their house. They haven't been speaking to each other for weeks now and Franko finally is gone for a weekend so Val can go over there and grab stuff up. Immature behavior? Yea, probably; it's a sticky mess. Like I've said before- most horrid breakup I've ever been witness to in my life. So anyway, I've been helping her move some of the larger things out of their place and into Val's space at Nick and Patches'. We even moved Val's cat, Ashley, which is a major milestone in her leaving Franko for good. I'm sure when Franko comes back and sees a whole bunch of stuff gone, he'll get the hint that the house will become fully his shortly. I guess Val has decided that, once all her stuff is out of that house, she'll sign over her ownership stake to Franko and be done. Franko has gone on record saying he can't afford the mortgage ($2,000-ish/month) alone and will willingly let the property roll into foreclosure and declare bankruptcy to escape the residual balance on the mortgage loan thanks to plummeting home values. Val, too, will probably be partly on the hook for some of that, and has resigned herself to bankruptcy as well. All of this because Val wanted to break up with Franko. None of this was an accident. It was all the consequence of their breakup. I guess the moral would be that if you and your live-in significant-other of 12 years decides to get a real, $300,000 home together, make damn sure you're going to be together for the long haul. Getting married comes before getting a mortgage.
Eeehhhh what else is going on... Ohh yea, it seems my suspicions about what major home improvement project my folks had planned after finishing the shed addition were correct- The garage is our new major project. Our two-car garage is a total mess. After we moved into this place 15 years ago, we installed cabinets and a shelf on one side of the garage. Over the years, the whole place has just become a dumping ground for random tools and things my dad wants to hold onto even though they serve no useful purpose. Scraps of wood in all corners of the garage, tool chests, oils and fluids of all sorts, unused tools brand new in their original boxes, spare tires and the woeful clutter of just stuff! My parents are both guilty of being pack rats when it comes to that garage. They constantly complain about never being able to find tools and the garage has become a nexus for hate and loathing when it comes to our home improvement. No longer. Already, we've torn out the old cabinets and shelves and replaced them with new bins and streamlined shelving. All the wood scrap is being thrown out as well as dozens of random and redundant tools. Everything will hopefully find a home for once and the years of complaining about a cluttered, void-ridden garage will hopefully end...
Although, one thing I did notice about the whole thing that gave me shivers- McCain never looked at Obama during the debate. At all. Ever. 90 minutes of looking at either his podium notes or the moderator or the cameras or maybe the audience, but he never seemed to acknowledge his opponent. Obama, on the other hand, did look at McCain and studied him and talked directly to him by his first name. McCain seemed to speak to Obama in the third person as if he wasn't in the room at all. It seemed disrespectful and as if McCain were afraid of Obama or something to that effect. Maybe he was just afraid in general because I bet it's scary worrying about being called out as a hypocrite- Saying you're going to suspend your campaign and not be at the debate until a congressional financial bailout is finalized but then showing up anyway and resuming your campaign with interviews on TV and attack ads.
Over the last several days, I've been helping my sister, Valerie, move things out of the house she's shared for three years with Franko. Even after nine months of being officially broken up, they have yet to really divide up their belongings and move out of their house. Val has been living with friends Nick and Patches for about a month now while Franko continues to live alone in their house. They haven't been speaking to each other for weeks now and Franko finally is gone for a weekend so Val can go over there and grab stuff up. Immature behavior? Yea, probably; it's a sticky mess. Like I've said before- most horrid breakup I've ever been witness to in my life. So anyway, I've been helping her move some of the larger things out of their place and into Val's space at Nick and Patches'. We even moved Val's cat, Ashley, which is a major milestone in her leaving Franko for good. I'm sure when Franko comes back and sees a whole bunch of stuff gone, he'll get the hint that the house will become fully his shortly. I guess Val has decided that, once all her stuff is out of that house, she'll sign over her ownership stake to Franko and be done. Franko has gone on record saying he can't afford the mortgage ($2,000-ish/month) alone and will willingly let the property roll into foreclosure and declare bankruptcy to escape the residual balance on the mortgage loan thanks to plummeting home values. Val, too, will probably be partly on the hook for some of that, and has resigned herself to bankruptcy as well. All of this because Val wanted to break up with Franko. None of this was an accident. It was all the consequence of their breakup. I guess the moral would be that if you and your live-in significant-other of 12 years decides to get a real, $300,000 home together, make damn sure you're going to be together for the long haul. Getting married comes before getting a mortgage.
Eeehhhh what else is going on... Ohh yea, it seems my suspicions about what major home improvement project my folks had planned after finishing the shed addition were correct- The garage is our new major project. Our two-car garage is a total mess. After we moved into this place 15 years ago, we installed cabinets and a shelf on one side of the garage. Over the years, the whole place has just become a dumping ground for random tools and things my dad wants to hold onto even though they serve no useful purpose. Scraps of wood in all corners of the garage, tool chests, oils and fluids of all sorts, unused tools brand new in their original boxes, spare tires and the woeful clutter of just stuff! My parents are both guilty of being pack rats when it comes to that garage. They constantly complain about never being able to find tools and the garage has become a nexus for hate and loathing when it comes to our home improvement. No longer. Already, we've torn out the old cabinets and shelves and replaced them with new bins and streamlined shelving. All the wood scrap is being thrown out as well as dozens of random and redundant tools. Everything will hopefully find a home for once and the years of complaining about a cluttered, void-ridden garage will hopefully end...