Jane's rating system of this blog / Mary's first post in months

Good posts: things that talk about her
Bad posts: everything else

Jane, you're an egomaniac. It's all about you 'til a quarter to two.

I spoke to Mary last night, so I will write a blog entry, per our original concept. She pretty much did all the talking, so ...

Mary: "Helen, I'm taking this country back!!!! We're going to Maine! And not just anywhere, the greatest place on earth -- Portland! Maine has caucuses. I've never done a caucus, but I think Dean's message will really speak to these people.

I'm not giving up. NOW is the time to be excited, to keep working. I want you and Steven to go to Delaware this weekend. I want you guys to host a house party. Mommy and Daddy should host a house party. Mrs. Turner should definitely host a house party -- she could totally get into it.

This campaign is not just about winning an election. It's about giving democracy back to the people. This really is a movement to take this country back. If we ever want things in this country to be better, now is the time to fight for it.

Somebody said to me the other day, the problem with movements is, sometimes people aren't ready for them. And maybe this is a fight that will go on for years. But now is the time to get people out there, get people excited about this country again.

OK, I have to go. I'm in a truck stop waiting to hear if I should go back to NH, or straight to Maine. Get pumped! As long as I'm on this campaign, you're all on it with me!"

A Family Update

Jane: does not go to school any more. You can talk to her on IM 2...3...4 times a day. She claims she is "at school", but I've never heard of a place with less class time.

Mary: Have not seen her since Tuesday night, have not heard from her except for a voicemail since then. Perhaps the dorks of New Hampshire have found her and made her their queen.

Caroline: still has her family sweats in my apt. Come and get 'em, or ... Janie has been thinking about moving up in the ranks.

Sara: Moves into the blogosphere! Check out the link above for her thoughts on you, if you rate.

Anne: Has become one of those people that helps the rest of us keep track of when free nights and weekends start. You shall know her by her ring.

Mommy and Daddy: Do not be fooled. They are bored out of their gourds. By the time Jane comes home, the house will have been fully renovated, Mommy will be running tech support groups for the neighbors out of the house, and Daddy will have turned somebody's bedroom into his teleconference "war room", complete with a direct line to Duane Morris and a desk for Carol.

If one more person says to me....

"It all doesn't matter, because Bush is going to win anyway", I'm going to scream. Since when is everyone so afraid of backing a loser that they won't even fight? Everyone I know agrees that Bush has done a terrible job of being President -- the economy, the wars, the gaffes, his incredible ability to lose us allies.

So why is everyone so resigned to his victory? If you don't like the way Bush has been President, stop rolling over and crying about it! Get out there and do something! Or at least stop talking about the inevitability of his victory. Talk about which Democratic candidate you support. I don't need you all to be backing Dean. But the non-Republicans of this country who all believe in, and more importantly, talk incessantly about the inevitability of the Bush win will be the ones who make it so. Fake it until you make it, people. There isn't a Democratic candidate out there (ok, Sharpton) who isn't at least as qualified to be president as Bush was when he took office.

I've had enough. All I want to hear from you now is about the inevitability of Bush going down for the count in November. Like father, like son. No man who's lost as many jobs has he has could ever win an election.

This debate is great!

I hope you are all watching the Democratic debate right now. If you aren't, catch the highlights on Nightline tonight. Maybe it's dropping the last 2 candidates. Maybe it's the questions! Good questions, guys!

Who's doing well: Dean, Kerry, Edwards, (shockingly) Lieberman.
Who's doing badly: Clark, Sharpton, (kind of) Kucinich

P.S. Steven and I are going back to New Hampshire Monday night. Because we want to take our country back.

Back to our regularly scheduled show.

Update: Steven and I went to New Hampshire last weekend. In addition to confirming that Mary is indeed still alive, we volunteered for Howard Dean. We also met some seriously cool people, including the people who housed us for the weekend. Click on the link above to check out their website, and see where we stayed! It was really fun, and we met a lot of terrific people who were all working hard to make sure Dean has a strong showing in New Hampshire.

Which brings us to the ever-popular question: what happened in Iowa? Honestly, I don't know. I've heard bad press, mud slinging, and the "anger" issue all played in. I will say that, if anyone else was going to win the caucuses, I'm glad it was John Kerry. Additionally, I was thrilled to see Gephardt get out of the race. Maybe someday, Mary will shed some insight.

What can I tell you on the ground in New Hampshire? First off, Clark was out in force. Even though both he and Lieberman stayed out of Iowa to focus on New Hampshire, you would never know it based on the number of Lieberman supporters/signs/pins/bumper stickers I saw. Clark at least was getting some serious exposure out of it.

What are Dean's chances? I really don't know. Yes, he has lots of supporters. Yes, he has lots of money. Yes, he has been focusing a lot of attention on New Hampshire. Maybe too much attention. The trouble with being the front runner is, your strategy has to be keep the voters you have, and get them out. This is good, because you have a lot of them. This is bad, because it means they're hearing from you a lot. Sometimes, that is just annoying.

Just not right.

There is something seriously wrong with the world when "Charmed" is shown 5 nights a week on TNT, in addition to its normal airing, but the Gilmore Girls is only shown once.

In related news, Jane and I both missed Gilmore Girls last night. Mary, give us your TiVo hookup!

We missed it because Jane left for New Orleans today! Submit ideas now for the world's awesomest care package, which will be sent as soon as a sufficient number of awesome ideas have been sent my way.

Comments are back.

feel free to go back and comment on all the things said during the battle of the blogs.

I think I have a blog echo. a blecho?

Jane, you're freaking me out.

But anyway.... In case you were all wondering what we've been working on at the office, it's spam. Meng is convening up a storm for the next two weeks in support of SPF (http://spf.pobox.com) I think he may be getting neighborhoodie that reads "SPF DUDE". He says he wants it stitched on his poncho instead.

Guess what, everyone? Jane is taking over as the local neighborhood support desk! She's been helping Mommy AND Daddy solve their computer problems. Janie, take a bow. As a reward, I will send you Garage Band tomorrow. So you can play with it all weekend, before you are separated from your apple barrel o' love.

The new geek in town

Jane is walking tall, now that her custom sweats have arrived. See how cool they are, then order your own at neighborhoodies.com.

Jane called me out.

Just for you, Jane, two posts in one day. By the same person. Because You're Worth It.

I mean, because I got abandoned by my co-blogger. Mary! Help! She's beating me with her stick!

Actually, we all better start being nice to Jane, because, like Rory, she's all grown up and going away for school in a week (Jan 21, for anyone not in the know.) And I haven't even planned a week's worth of pig-outs, movie marathons, and trips to her favorite places! But, I have arranged for her sweats to arrive in time. And I told her she could "break in" someone else's sweats for them, if they don't show up to stake their claim before she leaves for New Orleans. I mean, a white sweatshirt is cute, but sometimes, you need another color. And she's gonna have every color of the sweatshirt rainbow this time tomorrow.

No comments today.

Problem with the comment generator. Send your comments straight to me, so I can have a laugh, even if no one else can.

Jane wishes me to inform you that the sweats will be arriving tomorrow. Lucky for the mailman. When he did not bring the sweats yesterday, she said:

I'M ANGRY AT HIM
i wanted to come out to his little truck and make him drive to new york to get my sweats
i can hear his little truck milling around, and i want to shout i can make your truck sound worse!

Jane is going through a bully phase right now.

Mary wants YOU! to go to New Hampshire

Join the fun and fabulous New Hampshire volunteer corps! Applications are being accepted now for tours of duty as short as one weekend. Join now, and receive benefits like:

- free chocolate cake!
- secret decoder ring to translate campaign lingo!
- access to the telephone numbers of all registered Democrats in the state of New Hampshire!

And much, much more. Operators are standing by. Don't delay!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back from Christmas break, faithful readers! Holidays are a delightful time for reliving traditions, spending time with family, and creating joyful memories. (Yes, I know that's just saying eating 3 different ways.) And so, let me recount for you the best part of Christmas 2003 eats: chocolate.

Now, I'm not one of those chocoholic, give-me-the-gooeyiest-triple-choco-delight-on-the-menu types, but the chocolate this (last) year was something to remember. The highlights:

1. Fudge. Kitten made it. She said it was easy. It did not taste easy. I have not forgotten that she said chocolate peanut butter fudge was on the way.

2. Truffles. First, someone who works with Steven brought some truffles she made to a party. I had forgotten sometimes truffles just look like a blobby mess. But mmm boy were they good! And then, not a week later, a gift from a neighbor. These came from Trader Joe's, for any readers out there overcome by tales of chocolate unavailable to them. Recommended over the 10-pound block Meng picked up the last time he was there.

3. The Real Thing. Courtesy of Sid and the Maison du Chocolat, the very finest in chocolates, and don't they taste wonderful. (Yes, I love dark chocolate. Milkies can find something more to their liking anywhere else on earth, so keep your hands off this box.) One drawback: not nearly as funny as the persian cotton candy he brought for Thanksgiving.

Up next: notes from the front line of the campaign! That's right, the Dialogue Project has sent a political correspondent into the field.