Long Time, No See!

You know, aside from that brief political post the other week (and boy did that get resolved in the worse way possible), it’s been over a month since I’ve blogged. Sorry about that- it’s been a bit crazy. As is my habit in situations like this, I’ll go in reverse.

So, Tuesday, central North Carolina was blanketed by a rare snow storm! Aside from a very small dusting a couple years ago, this is the first real snow I’ve seen down here since I’ve moved. When I woke up Tuesday, there wasn’t much on the ground yet, but Shelly was adamant that I not drive in to work. A call to my boss later, who reestablished once again how awesome she is ("No problem! Enjoy your day!"), and I was looking forward to my first NC snow day! Shelly had a de facto day off, since her workplace actually closed (and was still closed Wednesday).

I’ve gotta tell you- that was a pretty darn good day! After a delicious breakfast, the two of us bundled up and went for a walk, which culminated in the feeding of some very unhappy waterfowl. They hate snow, and only very reluctantly got out of the water to eat the grain we brought them. On the way home, Shelly and I had a brief but fierce snowball fight with the new neighbor’s three children. They’re a nice, polite group of kids, and it was fun to spend some time getting to know them.

Later on, in a clear sign that God does have a sense of humor (and one he's very willing to exercise at my expense) I was basking on the floor next to our gas fireplace (which Dad ‘fixed’ on his last visit), soaking in the heat. Sighing contentedly, I said, "You know, I really love this." Whoosh! The fire sputtered and went out. Shelly cackled at my misfortune.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, I got a phone call that the credit union was opening at 10:00 instead of 8:30 am the next morning. My joy was complete, although later on the discovery that Shelly was inexplicably off the entire day took the edge off of it.

So, that was Tuesday. Last weekend, Shelly and I hosted Michael on his first ever visit to our Durham home, on a most-frigid of weekends. He’d come into town to see a ‘friend’ at NC State, and stopped in to see us on his way back to Charlotte. He ended up staying the night, and we all watched the UNC game that night.

A potentially bad thing also happened- the hot water in our bathroom faucet mysteriously stopped working, probably having something to do with the fact that it had been 9 degrees the night before. In messing with it, I turned the valve on and off a few times, which had no effect. Later in the week, I called Dad to get some suggestions. With him on the phone, I went back to enact his suggestion, only to find that I'd left the valve in the "off" position. I tried one more time, and of course, since he was on the phone, the hot water started flowing again. I think the air waves still ring slightly with the sound of his uproarious laughter.

Last Sunday, I went to a gun show with coworker, and I’m signed up for a North Carolina CCW class in March. I’ve been wanting to do this for some time now, and I’m going to try and see if anyone else (wife, coworkers, former coworkers) wants to attend with me, since I can bring other people at the same rate that I got (which was darn good!). I also managed to spend $140 that I really didn’t need to.

So, speaking of UNC, the week before, Shelly and I were treated to a home UNC game, courtesy of our esteemed friends, Jason and Erika! We began our festive celebrations of my first UNC basketball experience by going out to dinner at Top of the Hill (remember that place, Jen and Tim?). After being told we’d have to wait 45 minutes to get a table, we were given the option of eating outside on the balcony. We chose to do so, despite cool temperatures and wind chills near freezing. Suffice it to say that our food was stone cold before we downed the last sweet potato fry! All told though, it was fun, and certainly an experience we’ll all remember.

Here's a picture of the always-photogenic Hawkins', fending off frostbite in the aftermath of our unseasonal outdoor repast:

The game was good too, though the Tarheels crushed College of Charleston that night by nearly 40 points, and broke 100 points total. We were informed, to our delight, that this meant we could expect two sausage biscuits for a dollar at Bojangles the next day- a deal I don’t think any of us actually cashed in on.

And here's a photo of all of us at the game:

Alright, that's enough news for one post... well, I guess maybe you can stand to hear about one more thing. That stinkin', irritating downstairs bathroom is now finally finished! The shoe molding was giving me fits, to the point where, yesterday, I finally broke down and bought a nail gun at Lowes. I woke up early today and, new power tool in hand, finally got the thrice-cursed stuff nailed in, only about six months after Scott and I cut it! Once that was installed, it was just a matter of spackling, sanding, and painting, which I just finished mere moments ago! Finally, the thought of having to work on that SOB won't need to hang over every weekend!

The Blagojevich Mess

I know everyone’s probably eager to hear about Christmas and New Year, and are probably sick to death of hearing about this whole thing with the Illinois governor. I just wanted to add my two cents, so bear with me.

Just so everyone knows, I think Majority Leader Harry Reid is absolutely right in refusing to seat Burris, who was appointed by Blagojevich. Note that perhaps he isn’t entirely legal in doing so- apparently, the law is that the Senate can refuse to seat someone only if they themselves are in some sort of legal trouble, not simply if the person who appointed them is. But I think everyone can agree that sometimes what’s right and what’s legal don’t coincide exactly.

However, Reid now finds himself in a huge mess, because, when he first came out strongly and said under no circumstances would a Blagojevich pick be seated, he was basically grandstanding, knowing it would look good and clean and ethical to the public to have a Democratic majority refusing to accept a Democratic appointee under questionable circumstances. At that point, Reid probably never in a million years thought that Blagojevich would actually proceed with an appointment. Unfortunately for Reid, he under estimated the breathtaking stupidity and selfishness of the governor, and also probably didn’t think, given the circumstances, anyone would be clueless enough to actually accept the nomination if it were offered.

So, like I said, he finds himself in a mess, with one of two choices. He can either go back on an unequivocal statement he made, or he can continue to block Burris from being seated, putting himself in dubious legal territory.

Of course, there’s always the ‘compromise’ solution, now being advanced by knowing and wise pundits everywhere. "Just have the Lt. Governor appoint Burris, so you have an excuse to seat him!" Make no mistake- that option is a cynical, cowardly cave-in. The net effect there is that Blagojevich does make the appointment, obviously, since there was probably a roughly 0% chance that Burris is who the Lt. Governor would have chosen, or the citizens of Illinois would have chosen in a special election.

Want to know the right answer? Harry Reid calls a news conference and says this:
"As I said before, under no circumstances will a nominee chosen by Governor Blagojevich be seated by the Senate. I understand that the legality of this refusal is questionable, but this is a question of what’s right and wrong. A man under criminal indictment for trying to sell the seat should not be allowed to fill that seat, and any individual willing to accept the nomination under those conditions is unfit to serve in this body.
"If the Supreme Court orders the Senate to accept this nominee, so be it, but I will not allow this appointment to go forward with my consent. Period."

And while we’re on the subject, President-elect Obama could really show some leadership here, though it’s fairly clear he wants to stay as far away from this whole thing as possible. Right now, his words carry enormous weight, and a strong statement from him could make a big difference. Some like "Mr. Burris needs to understand that accepting this appointment, while technically legal, is very unethical. It would be best for all concerned if he told the governor 'thanks but no thanks' and let the legal situation play out, and in doing so allow the citizens of Illinois to be represented by someone uncompromised by this entire affair."

So, in effect, this situation is the first test of our nation’s leaders. If they show some resolve here, and do what’s right, it will go a long way towards reassuring some of us who voted for the other guy that we’re not going to be run by a bunch of cynics who always take the easy way out at the first sign of trouble.

And really, this is a Godsend for them- knowing what the right thing is in this situation isn’t all that complicated, nor are the consequences particularly dire. In the grand scheme of things, this is an easy pop quiz to ace.