Election results: awesome.

Yesterday was the best election I have ever voted in!

From an AP article on yahoo!news like three minutes ago:

A succession of tainted Republicans lost seats as their leaders lost power, a stinging and discerning referendum on the ways of Washington. A large majority of voters surveyed across the country said their disgust with corruption influenced their choice.

Well, yeah. Awesome.

Setting a standard her party will be judged on in elections two years from now, speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi promised: "Democrats intend to lead the most honest, the most open and the most ethical Congress in history."

This is probably my favorite line in this whole article. And she's the first woman Speaker? Terrific.

"We took a whuppin' last night and we understand that," said Tom DeLay.... "The Democrats didn't win," he said, "Republicans lost."

Possibly the first true thing he's ever said?

Democrat Zack Space won the race to succeed Bob Ney, who pleaded guilty to corruption this fall in the Abramoff scandal.

Who wouldn't vote for a guy named Zack Space???!

Santorum lost his seat to Bob Casey Jr., the Pennsylvania treasurer.

Such a short line, to convey so much. Happy happy!

South Dakota voters rejected the toughest abortion law in the land — a measure that would have outlawed the procedure under almost any circumstances.

Good job, South Dakota!

The article is a pretty good summary of how the election has turned out so far. It lists the results of quite a few races, including mentions about the scandals the various losing Republicans were involved in. Teen sex emails, campaign finance corruption, affairs with much younger women, racial slurs--I can't believe these guys have been putting themselves out there as representatives of good Christian morality. That's not even counting the warmongering and all the other corruption. I'm glad that our country finally, finally spoke up. Clearly Nancy Pelosi knows what's going on when she promises an ethical Congress. For once I have high hopes about where this country is heading.

A whole lot of people on my f-list posted about how they got out there and voted yesterday. Congratulations to us: to me and to all of you who voted, no matter who you voted for.

gym log: Tuesday 11/07 and Sunday 11/05

I went to the gym last night. I conquered 32 minutes on the elliptical, even though my abs were still killing me from Sunday's workout, then did three laps around the track, a good deal of yoga stretching, 8 pushups and 20 squats. I *love* doing yoga after I get off the elliptical--I'm so warm and stretchy, and it feels so good. I can get much deeper into a lot of poses than usual. My forward bends in particular are getting better--I can get my chest right on to my thighs with a straight back, and press my face into my knees.

I went to the gym on Sunday morning, too, and got some really good work in. I absolutely loved the Sunday morning yoga class--I liked the teacher, I liked the way she structured the class, I liked the different poses we did. I feel like a lot of times there's no overall organization to a yoga class--Gene's classes had structure because the series was always the same, because that's how it is with ashtanga, but even when he would add different things we always knew we'd do sun salutations, then standing work, then balance work, then floor. So I find structure in the class to be reassuring, and most of the classes I've taken at this gym were organized pretty haphazardly. The class on Sunday morning, however, seemed organized around building core warmth and then warming the rest of the body--I'd have to take a few more classes with her to get a better sense of it, but I liked how she set it up. The structure was intentional, clearly, and she had thought about it, and I liked that. I also liked her modifications of the sun salutation, and several other things she did. Unfortunately, she only teaches the Sunday morning yoga class (as well as yoga-lates on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, which does me no good at all), so I won't get to go to that class again until Thanksgiving. Hopefully after that I can make a habit of it.

Oh, and I also liked that she gave some guidance for the meditation. Gene always had some little speech he gave, and it was bothering me that the yoga teachers here just let the meditation pass in silence, as if we all knew that all we were here for was the workout. This teacher (Becky, I think) reminded us that yoga is about the mind just as much as it's about the body. She read "The Invitation", the poem I posted the other day. It was the first time I'd heard the poem, and it's a poem that benefits from being read aloud (not all poems do). And she read it well. She made copies after the class for anyone who wanted it, which is how I was able to find it again later to post.

Overall, Sunday morning at the gym was just a really good experience. I also did the elliptical and some stretching afterwards, but the class was what stuck out. Oh, and towards the end of my workout on the elliptical, the heart rate monitor turned on and told me that my heart rate was at 173. Does anyone know what that even means?

books 2006: Inkspell, by Cornelia Funke

Goddamnit. It ended just like Pirates of the Carribean 2. Big stupid cliffhanger. ( Read more... )