... or even sit at the computer for more than a minute or two. I just came upstairs for another glass of lemonade, and to check on a bunch of photos I was uploading to Flickr.

Here: Have a pretty picture. There are more where that came from.

Back to the basement I go.

Surely I'm not the first on your friendslist to pass the news along, but count me among the most happy:

California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban.

Kinda feels like Valentine's Day 2004 all over again.

Not the end of the struggle - the struggle never ends - but one more step along the way.

ETA: The law-geeks among you can read the entire 172-page opinion here, in .pdf format. Or, heck, print it and tuck it into the family bible, along with your marriage license, for posterity.

Tags: politics, queer_as_folk
I feel ...: happy

... to janetmiles! I hope your day is splendid, and the year ahead even more so.

Happy no-emergencies-with-big-damned-medical-machines birthday to yoooooou!

(And I'll ask saoba to give you a nudge, since she reads this thing rather more often than you do...)

hobbitbabe! May the day be wonderful, the near-term future exciting in *good* ways, and the year ahead filled with good things.

saoba sums up the rally, and I can't describe it better than she did. Except to say that fan-girl "OMG history in the making!" squee aside, that was one hell of a political address.

And I'm not talking about the R-word. Yes, Obama is a skilled rhetorician - we've all heard those speeches, seen him whipping crowds into a "Yes we can" frenzy. This was not that speech. This was a solid hour-and-a-half of detailed, frank and specific policy talk by a man who clearly knows his subjects inside and out - and isn't afraid to say what he doesn't know , and how he'll find out (including the memorable and refreshing words "I'll base my decisions on science").

He talked to us like adults. He didn't dumb it down, or promise us the moon, or offer a return to the mythical American Standard of Living. He reminded us that we've got a lot of work to do to recover from the damage the last eight years has done to our economy, our culture, our reputation in the world. And that we're all going to have to make sacrifices.

That sacrifice stuff? Got the biggest applause of the day.

History in the making, folks. I'm so glad I was there.

80-some photos of the man and the event if you click on the one in this post. Enjoy.

If you like lovely things, like to support good literary causes and have some spare cash, then head on over to the Interstitial Arts Foundation jewelry auction, where you can bid on gorgeous pieces by the likes of elisem and copperwise, were inspired by the first Interfictions anthology and the stories therein.

Yummy stuff. Really.

Tags: shiny!

Leaving my computer glasses at home, that is. One day a month, on average, and today's the day.

Which results in my peering at the screen through the bottom of my bifocals, which leads to a sore neck and the general inability to focus on *anything*, near or far. By the end of the day, I'll probably have to spend 15 minutes in the parking lot staring at the horizon before my eyes will focus enough for me to drive.

(I had this more or less solved for a while; I keep my *old* computer glasses permanently in my briefcase, since that part of my prescription hasn't changed much. But at the moment, those specs are stored at the theater with the rest of the "Rabbit Hole" props, as I've been using them as the reading glasses my character is supposed to have.)

Tags: eyesight
I feel ...: annoyed

... to davehogg, one of my oldest friends on LJ!

Microsoft walks away from Yahoo purchase.

Excellent.

Tags: business, geekery

tersa!

chakolate, from one old broad to another. (-:

If you aren't registered to vote in the May 20 presidential primary - or if you need to re-register because your address has changed since the last time you voted, or because you'd like to switch party affiliations so you can, say, vote in a presidential race where your vote will actually matter - you have until the midnight on April 29 to do so.

The state Elections Division provides a .pdf registration form and instructions here. You can mail it in (as long as it's postmarked no later than the 29th), or - to be safe - drop it by your county elections office. Here's where they are

Because of changes in federal law, you now have to provide ID when you register. A current, valid Oregon driver's license will do, or the last four digits of your Social Security Number. If you don't have one of those, check the Elections Division site for your options.

Why register? Because you can. And because, against all expectations, our sixth-from-last-in-the-nation primary actually counts this year, at least on the (D) side of the ballot (and, I suppose on the R side if you're a Ron Paul fan - he's still on the ballot here).

Fancy that.

There are also some pretty significant state races on the ballot. If you threw away the voters' pamphlet you got in the mail, you might want to check it out here.

Tags: politics
I feel ...: patriotic

... marypcb! I hope it's an enjoyable one, and that the year ahead brings many fine adventures.

... of the places we've discarded and let decay:

http://www.abandonedamerica.org/

Some pretty terrific prose with some of them, too.

Tags: linkfarm
I feel ...: impressed