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It's very cold this morning. And sunny of course. I had tears running down my face as the cold wind bit into it when I walked into work. And it's not even freezing! I wonder how people in colder climes stand it.

Valentine's Day was very low-key. We'd already exchanged gifts and just wanted a quiet night; I think both of us are getting a lower hype-threshold, and the hype surrounding the holiday seemed extra intense. We ate an early dinner at a restaurant, and walked to the Indian grocery to stock up on some of their tasty meal packets. Then we went home and fooled around, and watched HBO's Real Sex marathon and made snide comments and laughed. The 80 year old woman reciting the poem about dildoes was one of my favorites- I want to be her when I grow up.

Class 2 went really well Thursday. It's history of Wicca, and that field has gotten a lot more interesting since the days when I first got into it. Thanks, Mr. Hutton! We also had a Full Moon get together that went very well.

I received my Secret Santa gift in the mail somewhat belatedly. But to make up for it, I got several cool things- a box of chocolates from Denmark (and all the talk about how American chocolates are crap compared to European chocolates is true, true, true!), a necklace of amethyst and (I think) onyx, and a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. Huzzah! I may re-string the necklace with a few more beads to make it longer- it's almost choker length, and for some reason I can't wear those. I'm always tugging on them.

Yesterday we ran around doing errands and just exploring some places. We met Brö for kolaches. Then we got hub's last check at Nerdz and banked it. He starts a much better paying contract at Pervasive that's supposed to last for 3 months. He was hoping to get hired permanently since they love him, but apparently his contractor will make them pay a huge fee if they do that, which really sucks ass. But if he's lucky he can just keep doing contract work with them, which would work fine. Otherwise, unless he can find something else he'll have to go back to Nerdz. They said they'd hire him back, but even better, they wrote him a note to that effect which one could consider a binding contract if one had to. Hopefully this will not even be an issue.

We looked at Goodwill for a Go board, but had no luck. Then we went to Buffalo Exchange to sell a bunch of clothes- I cleared out a lot of nice tops, including silk shirts, that I just don't wear anymore, and hub threw in some black jeans. But they wouldn't take any of it! I noticed that they had a lot of hipster stuff in 'the current styles' (and no larger sizes, I noticed) so I guess we are too uncool. Hub suggested I eBay the stuff, which might be an idea; it just sounds like a huge pain in the ass in a lot of ways. I will look into it, though. Maybe if I sell the stuff in lots it would be worth it.

We also went to Half-Price since it was right down the road, but Kit was home sick (poor Kit). Then we popped by the new Woods Honda motorcycle place and hub drooled over the sport-touring bikes. I drooled over the new Goldwings, but I think if I had my druthers I'd get one of their new Silverwings- the 600cc scooters. I always loved my scooters when I was in college. They even have one on eBay here in Texas (here, if you're curious) that I am sorely tempted by. You know they get fantastic mileage, and with a bigger engine than a lot of motorcycles it'll get highway speeds with ease. But I still need a car. I figure I'm back to square one with that, so I will continue my search for the perfect cheap Tacoma or other similar car.

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Meanwhile, a lot of people I know were at the anti-war march yesterday. I considered going, but didn't for a number of petty reasons. But I fully support the ones that did.

The media coverage is amazing. The Statesman, Austin's daily, has been accused by many as being too liberal, yet the rallies (which were world-wide) take second chair next to articles declaring that Saddam is willing to do terrible things if attacked, and these tidbits from an AP article entitled ' Iraq gloats over wave of peace protests', a loaded headline if there ever was one. I am very un-fond of Saddam, but consider him to be no worse than a bunch of other guys out there, and believe GWB's fixation on him to be part personal vendetta and part attempt to distract us from stuff going on at home. So this transparent attempt to demonize The Enemy is absurd. They aren't relieved to have people taking up the cause against war made upon them, they are 'gloating'. Then there was this gem: 'In contrast to the international peace protests on Saturday, the mood of Iraq's demonstrations was defiant, echoing the official Iraqi rhetoric of the past several months: Iraq wants peace but it is also ready for war, should one start.' So from us, it's official statements, but from them it's rhetoric. Maybe I'm really naive, but I expect journalists to at least pretend to be objective.

This is one of the reasons I didn't go yesterday. I am depressed, and it looks like the war is going forth no matter what anyone says, so I figured I'd at least start yelling when the stupid thing actually starts. The right has such a chokehold on our government it's ridiculous, and yet they still play the David struggling against the mighty liberal Goliath for the soul of America. It's easier to rally the troops if you think in terms of being the little guy fighting the big fight against impossible odds, despite the fact that the very idea of the Republicans as the beleagured little guy is brain-liquefyingly absurd. But a lot of people, including my father, are buying into it. This article outlines what I'm talking about nicely. I know it's Salon and they're doing that weird ad thing, so I'll copy it into the next post. A lot of people need to see this.

Shock Troops for Bush

Partisans of the extreme right gathered outside of Washington this weekend to cheer on Cheney and Coulter -- and vent their rage at the liberals who rule America.

By Michelle Goldberg

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