violetismycolor

convention day 4 part 3

The convention tonight was so exciting! Some of the best speakers were Robert F Kennedy, Jr., Dianne Feinstein, Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton. But of course the best of the best were all the Edwards clan. Cate Edwards was lovely, well-spoken, gracious...what a contrast from the Bush daughters with their tongues sticking out like 2 year-olds.

We got there early today, about 5:00 and already the best seats were going fast. I got a second row seat in the guest section up top. People kept poring in and I was amazed by the folks that came waltzing in at 8pm and were shocked to find that the only seats left were practically behind the stage where you couldn't even see the big screen...way up high, too. They didn't allow you to bring any food into the seating area at all but you were allowed to bring in bottled water. Of course, you aren't allowed to bring your own bottled water into the Fleet Center. You have to buy it there for $3.50 a bottle. I had a very good Italian sausage on a bun, complete with peppers and onions for $4.50. Quite a bargain when you compare it to a smallish bottle of water.

The women that sat on either side of me were charming companions for the evening. One was from Williamstown, MA, and her husband was a delegate. She was originally from Pennsylvania and had only lived in Williamstown for about 4 years. The other was a woman from New York City, whose sister was a delegate. She had a very thick Hispanic accent and I found out that she had emigrated from the Dominican Republic over 40 years ago. She was dressed to the nines and wore some very nice jewelry, so she has done quite well since she first arrived. They were both very nice people, too. Everyone was very good about looking out after each other when someone would get up to stretch their legs, or go to the restrooms, or go to grab some food. Believe me, when seats are at a premium, you really have to fend them off when they see an empty seat.

At around 10 pm, the ushers wouldn't even let you into a section if you didn't already have a seat there, since then folks would just sit on the stairs or hang around the section entrances and the Fire Marshall was really giving them strict orders to keep everything clear.

Tomorrow, we should be seeing our friend, Clyde Prestowitz. He is going to come over and crash our delegates breakfast. I am hoping that we will get the same speaker that Minnesota got today, Al Franken...

convention day four part two

Well, I spent the afternoon at the JFK Library. Ran into Tom Daschle and Max Clelland. It was a great museum, very interesting. It was fascinating that JFK's election speeches had a similar ring to what we are hearing today. He talked about the Middle East and why they are so angry at us. He said that that election was the most important in their lifetimes. Almost eerie.

Came back to find John had been here but had wandered off somewhere without leaving a message. We are supposed to be at the convention by now.

Got to go, he just walked in...

convention day four

Convention, day 4, part 1

Got up for the delegation's breakfast and just waited to see who they would
bring us as speakers today. We had a big line-up of veterans. First off, they
had Jim Rassman. He is actually from Oregon (lives in Florence). He is the man
that John Kerry saved on his swift boat during the Vietnam War (one of those minor
Purple Hearts episodes). Though I have heard the story before, he gave a stirring
first person account of what happened that day and how much he owed to John Kerry's
heroism and leadership. That was really inspiring.

The next speaker was an admiral (whose name I have inconveniently forgotton), who spoke
about the need for new leadership for our armed forces. He has a son and 2 nephews serving
right now, so he said that this is a very personal issue for him. He apparently introduced
Kerry yesterday in Virginia at an event.

Then they brought in a recent Iraq war vet (who is still in the National Guard), who told
the 'real story' of what it is like to fight over there and how ill equipped they are.
He said that they are using old Vietnam era flak jackets and had NO body armor at all provided
to them. They also bought radios at home at Walmart to bring with them to Iraq because they
knew they wouldn't have radios provided to them. He said they ran out of AA batteries and
he had to write to his mom, asking for her to send him extra batteries, and THAT is how they
communicated. He, himself, was a firefighter from New York. Right now he has started an
organization that is trying to get the truth out about what guys are experiencing over there.
I will get the link to that and post it a little later.

We had the head of the firefighter's union here, too. He spoke about why they endorsed Kerry
over a year ago. He told a stirring story about the fire in Worcester, MA, where many lives
were lost. How Kerry had been in the air on his way to Indonesia or somewhere and turned the
plane around to come back to Massachussetts as soon as he heard. How Kerry was there the next
day, comforting families, refusing interviews and media hype, but just trying to be a source
of strength for the firefighters and their families.

Then we had Andre Heinz speak. He talked about the environment and John Kerry's stands and
support of that. He was charming (and good looking, too!) and very well spoken.

And that was just breakfast.

I am heading off to the Kennedy Presidential Library in just a bit...another organized trip for
the delegation. John has gone off to a vet's event.

I am hoping to get a credential for tonight's convention. They are pretty generous to Oregon in
this respect, so it is hopeful. I could have gone last night, but frankly I was too tired.

More later...

convention day 3

Got up this morning for the Oregon delegation breakfast and thought, 'why should I take the camera to breakfast? boring...' so, I didn't. Bad move.

Who was speaking to us?: Senator McGovern, Dennis Kucinich, and Caroline Kennedy! and no camera!

John went off to a vet's event at Bunker Hill, which he said was great but not very well attended. Note: they need a good communications officer and they don't have one at all. Can't imagine why that wouldn't be a priority.

I went to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with the delegation and our congressman, David Wu. We took, of course, the bus. We had this great private lecture by one of the profs there (Blandon, I think) who is a specialist in polling. He gave some great insights into the polling process and this election. Scary, too, though. We got a free book, and then some t-shirts that said No vote, No voice.

I split off from the group cuz they were going back to the hotel. I wandered around the Harvard campus, went to the Harvard art museums, and ate at Harvard Square. When I got back to the hotel, there was total gridlock outside of it. There were swarms of riot police in full gear. What in the world?, I thought. There was a policeman standing in the doorway who didn't want to let me in and I had to show my room key. Apparently, Howard Dean and Michael Moore were inside doing some sort of speaking engagement (which John and I knew absolutely nothing about...note above about the poor communication) and they were being ultra-security-concious. There must have been about 25 police surrounding our hotel for about 3 hours.

We napped and then headed out for a party for Oregon's governor, hosted for the Oregon delegation by Union Pacific. There was lots of booze, lots of great food, music, etc. Wow...we dems could get used to this. I hear that our events are nothing compared to the events at the republican conventions.

John is at the convention right now and I am here writing this to you.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

convention day 2

Day two...

Got up and headed to the Daily Oregon Delegation Breakfast. They start you off with good, plentiful hot and cold food and then they start in on you with the details of the day. We did get a really interesting lecture from General Tony McPeak, who was the first general to question the war in Iraq. He is from southern Oregon. He said he was always a Republican, but is now an Independent. He gave a good, rousing speech.

Got some great goodies in some bags as we left...we will have more buttons, bags, t-shirts, books, stuffed animals and other bric-a-brac by the time we leave that we will either have to fill another suitcase (and where will that come from?) or we will have to make a UPS run. Not that I am complaining...

We headed across the bridge (we are in Cambridge, right across the river from Boston Proper), and John was interviewed by Jim Barnett, who is the Oregonian's political reporter, based in Washington, DC. He was mentioned in the story in todays (Tuesday's) paper. We went to a big Veteran's event...so big that we could have filled 3 rooms that size...

The speakers were people like James Carville, Max Clelland, Wesley Clark...very inspiring and rousing.

After lunch, it was back to our hotel for some R&R and some computer time before heading off for dinner. We got onto our buses, with our own personal police inside, again. During dinner, David Sarasohn was interviewing John for an article he is writing (check out tomorrow's Oregonian, guys!) and we ate near the
Fleet Center, in the 'North End' where you can get any kind of food you want, as long as it is Italian!

The convention center security was not as horrible as we had been led to believe, so we got in fast. We ran into Jerry Brown (who ran for president in 1976 and I worked on his campaign, he was the gov of Calif and is now the mayor of Oakland). We spoke for a couple of minutes and we moved on.

Oh yeah...while I was in line at the convention center security, I was behind this woman who was carrying a cute stuffed donkey that said DNC 2004 on its feet. I said it was cute and she quickly said, "wanna trade?" I said, "I guess. For what?" She pointed at my pin (Oregon for Kerry/Edwards) and said 'that'. She practically took it off, herself, she was so excited to get it.

John was sitting on the 'Floor' and I was sitting in the balcony, so we split up. I ran into John Cusack! Boy, is he tall! Said hello, he was nice. Got a decent seat, right above the CNN stage and so I got a birds-eye view of Wolf Blitzer and Larry King and all their guests. The woman sitting right in front of me was blogging as we said that and taking and downloading digital pictures and video and so I got a good view of all her close ups, too.

The woman sitting next to me said that she had seen the '2 Steves' from the Daily Show in the hallway downstairs. I was horribly jealous.

The speakers included Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and both the Clintons. All were awesome and inspiring.

John and I quickly gave up on trying to board a bus to get out of the convention center at the end of the evening. 35,000 people were trying to get onto about 10 buses and that didn't seem like it was going to work all that well, so we started walking till we finally could get a cab. We were off to a party for the Oregon and North Carolina delegations, at the original 'Cheers' bar and John Edwards was supposed to be there, but he didn't show. Of course, he had been on the guest list before he was made the VP candidate, so it isn't all that surprising. When we got there, there was a large contingent of police and we had to give our names and show our ID. John saw David Sarasohn standing out on the sidewalk, and he went out to vouch for his good character and they let him in.

We gave up the ghost at about 130 am and cabbed it home to bed...

convention day 1

John and I are at the Democratic Convention in Boston...

We got into Boston at about midnight on Saturday and still hadn't had dinner, so we got a quick bite to eat in the hotel cafe. Our congressman, David Wu, walked in with a cigar and greeted us and all the other Oregon delegates hanging around eating. They finally threw him out, since he lit the cigar and it was pretty stinky. We met some great delegates on the plane, who we were having dinner with. Also, on the plane, all the stewardesses came up to us, saying they figured we were convention delegates and did we have any extra buttons. By the end of the flight, all three were sporting buttons and thanked us (over the p.a. system). It was a hoot. Please note attached photo of stewardesses with buttons.

On Sunday, we got up and had a little breakfast...met up with Oregonian political columnist and friend David Sarasohn, and with Susan Castillo, Oregon's superintendent of education. Talked with David about Ross and
his son, Peter, and their mutual love of all things geeky (like D and D, and Magic cards). Talked with Susan about Bonnie's being on her Education Youth Advisory Team...she thought all the kids on the YAT were great.

We wandered off down the river path and found the mall...yes, folks, John wanted to go shopping. He was looking for new walking sandals, once he figured out that he would be doing a ton of walking. Our hotel, the Royal Sonesta, is on the Cambridge side of the river. We are right ON the river, though, and have a great view out our window. You can see the Fleet Center, where the convention is taking place, right across from the hotel, but it is further than it looks and tons of streets are closed.

We got picked up by our friends, Lynn and Ross Trimby, for lunch. We went to a very funky little restaurant right across the street from Harvard. The food was great and the owners were big Kerry fans. So, we
got very good service. We headed off to the Boston Harbor and took a boat cruise. Now, the city of Boston is locked down tighter than a drum. There are police (state police, boston police, military mp's, bomb squads, riot police) everywhere. Some corners have 10 policeman standing on them. And this city is HUGE. We were all over the city and we saw them everywhere. And the helicopters! Tons of them all over. One particular group of 3 of them were perpetually over Boston harbor.

The weather was very lovely. Light clouds. Lots of sun. No humidity to speak of. Unbelievable.

At about 4, it was time to leave for the welcome party. Each state had a different party. Ours was held at the Boston Latin School (public prep school), which is the oldest public school in the country, I think. We had police outside there, too, protecting US. We had a great party, with crab cakes, lobster rolls, clam chowder, and lots of other goodies...and an open bar. Lots of schmoozing. Our friend, David Sarasohn, snuck in a friend of his who is a professor of philosophy at Wellesley. He said that the great thing about knowing David is that he gets to get into some cool places. He was a really interesting guy to
talk to, too. I got tired of standing, though, and finally collapsed into one of their leather armchairs.

We got take off to a Boston Pops concert across town, on the steps to City Hall. Our 3 policeman rode on the bus with us, I guess making sure our bus wasn't attacked or something. We had a lovely conversation with the one standing at the front of the bus (we were in the first row). He had been in Desert Storm and Afghanistan (Marines) before he became a Boston cop. The great thing about having cops on your bus is that, when you get stuck in a bad traffic lane, they can (and DO) get off the bus and stop the traffic around you to get you back on track. The Pops concert was way too loud and crowded for us, though, so we took a taxi back to hotel. We just read the paper, called the kids, and relaxed. Off to bed at an early 10 p.m.

Great first day.

woo hoo...

On our way to the Democratic Convention...

plans for the coming week...

For any lurkers out there...My husband is going to be a delegate at the Democratic Convention in Boston next week. Lucky me, I get to go out there with him. So, we leave on Saturday morning and fly east. I will definitely be blogging from there, so I will let you know how it goes and who I see and everything.

I will bring my camera and try to do some decent photography. I will bring a book to read. I will browse the bookstores, check out the Isabella Gardner Museum, try to go on a tall ship, and just plain have fun. My hubby says that he can get me a credential for one of the days and I can wander the convention, and act like I belong there.

At the end of the week, we are renting a car and driving up to Vermont to see our friends, Ray and Shannon. They have this great place, just outside a small Vermont village. We spend a lot of time with them, sitting outside, enjoying the mountains, drinking wine, watching fireflies, and talking about all the craziest stuff. Love them!

dreams and stuff

Okay, so I have been reading Sylvia Browne's Book of Dreams mostly because my dreams are so vivid and I am easily frightened by some of them. First off, she says that there are 5 types of dreams: prophecy dreams, wishful dreams, problem solving dreams, release dreams, and astral visits. She goes into what each of these are, but you get the picture from the descriptions. Now, I have to say that I have had all these sorts of dreams (and I will go into this in detail in my other blog, Dreamscapes), and I have followed them (aka kept a dream journal) on and off for years. But I have been having the strangest, most compelling (to me) ones in the past week or so.

One involves an old boyfriend who was in my dreams about 3 times in about a week. Now, this guy was my boyfriend about 30 years ago and I haven't even seen him in almost 8 years. But there were these very vivid dreams where he was there. In the weirdest one, he gets very upset and tells me that someone (either his son or his dad) has this big mass in their back and he is very worried about it. This is in the midst of a very clear, colorized, and the action takes place in logical sequence (doesn't jump around, making little or no sense). Sylvia Browne says that this is the form that prophetic dreams take, and a prophetic dream can be mixed with an astral visit. Sure is what it felt like to me, but I am not about to call this guy and see if something is wrong with his dad and scare the **** out of him.

I also had a set of very vivid dreams about a series of terrorist attacks, one taking place in LA, something about bridges where all the freeways intersect and cross over one another (think suicide bomber or truck bomb) and another at the same time linked to Bradley Air Force Base. I keep hearing a voice saying 'Bradley Air Force Base' again and again. Okay, so I would normally disregard these dreams as release dreams (which Browne says are the ones that help you confront your deepest fears). But they were, again, in color, logical, in straight progression, etc. And that is not enough to make me worry, but I have had this series of weird 'voice' dreams over the past year or so, where I hear a voice say something and then it comes true. These are usually involving sports (which I actually have no interest in, so I wonder why these are my dreams)...example, one night the 'voice' said, very clearly, "The Spurs won the series." Okay, so I didn't even know there was a 'series' going on or what sport it was. Then, the next day, I turn the tv on CNN and the announcer says, "Well, the Spurs won the series last night." Odd, yes. But this happened to me over and over again over the course of a year. And my friends kept telling me that next time it happens, they wanted to know cuz they would place bets on whoever my dream guide was telling me was going to win at whatever they were doing.

So, now in my dream last night, I got the 'voice' again. I keep wondering if I am tapping into something that I don't really want to know about, cuz what am I going to do about it?

I hate insurance!!!

I spent about 3 hours, today, trying to figure out my (somewhat new) insurance plan. My husband's company actually switched as of May 1st and I have been simply ignoring all the bills as they have poured in. Believe it or not, my family has racked up about $4000 in medical bills since then. This new plan is called a 'medical savings plan'. Basically, there is a $4000 deductible so all the medical bills that pour in, including pharmacy costs, are paid for by me (using cash). Yikes. After $4000, the insurance company pays 80%. After $6000 out-of-pocket, they pay 100%. I had a colonoscopy in May, that was about $1400. My daughter had a blood test for hyperthyroid, and an ultrasound for her girl-problems and that cost us $1100. Incredible! We had about $600 of pharmaceuticals for all family members. It just goes on and on. I think this plan sucks and that my husband's company owes him a big, fat raise. This insurance plan is a big, fat pay cut, so it is only reasonable to pay him more on the front end.

Anyway, between that and paying my daughter's first semester of college cost at a cool $20,000, I am so depressed. Clearly, I need to go out and get a real job, or start my own small business at home, or get around to finishing that novel I started a couple of years ago.

Breathe, Diane, breathe.

laziness prevails...

Yes, I am finally back from the yawning well of laziness that has swallowed me in the past week. I think, "I should write in my blog" ... and then follow with thinking, "Do I have anything interesting to say?" ... and then I quit. How is that for self-doubt? Of course I have something to say. It just may NOT be interesting.

My biggest challenge in life right now is trying to answer the ultimate questions: Why am I here? What is my purpose?

I find that I am moving inward, spiritually. This is odd since I have been rejecting formal religion since I was about 7. How can I know that I was rejecting at 7? I very clearly recall that in 2nd grade (I was 7), my teacher (Catholic school) told us that only Catholics go to heaven. I remember thinking, 'no, I don't believe that a loving God would put everyone other than Catholics in hell.' I remember thinking that any good person would go to heaven. I didn't believe what the nun was teaching me. Period. No angst. Just, that's it. That's what I believe. Of course, I didn't say any of this to my parents or siblings. It actually didn't seem important at the time.

Since then, I have changed religions (to Presbyterian) but I find myself more and more drawn to Buddhist thought. I have believed in reincarnation since I was about 13 or so. I believe in the inter-connectedness of all beings. I believe in cause and effect, karma. I do alot of reading about different spiritual philosophies and find myself connecting to the central themes that seem to run through all of them. Do to others as you would have them do undo you. Do no harm. Care for each other. Do not judge others, that is not your right or responsibility.

I have been exploring meditation and yoga. I find ideas floating through my mind at random times, that I feel compelled to write down. Here is the latest:

When you are part of an organization or colllection of people (a church, a collection of friends, a family, a country, etc), you gain the highest benefit of being part of that group. You also share in the responsibility for the wrongs done by that group. Example: The Catholic Diocese here in Portland just declared bankruptcy. By ignoring the sexual crimes of the clergy or by simply idolizing the members of the clergy (assuming that these human beings could not be capable of wrongdoing), all the members of that church are sharing in the (negative) reward of that activity. The Church here has to pay restitution, or in the case of the bankruptcy may lose the property that the parish churches are built on. Hence, all the members of that Church must share in the punishment for those negative actions.

Thus, as a member of a group, one is obligated to do their utmost to make the institution work to its highest calling. You share in the karma created by the organization/group that you belong to. This collective karma is yours regardless of your personal actions.

I feel that our country is being impacted by the decisions of our leaders (the ones we are responsible for electing), and our state of terror is being increased due to our decision to go to war in Iraq.

Okay, soapbox closed.

synchronicity is cool...

Yesterday, I got a letter from Spain. It seems that an old friend of ours has moved to Spain for 3 to 4 years. Poor thing...she lived in Washington DC for the attack on the Pentagon on Sept 11, and then moved to Spain just in time to be there for the attack there on March 11. Anyway, she was sending her email address, etc. Just a couple of minutes after reading her letter, I logged onto my computer and I saw that my friend Karla (who had just moved to Spain!!!) was online on IM, too. The Spanish connections, synchronicity, cool.

Also, I spent the morning with a South Korean woman, the wife of a businessman who was negotiating a deal with my husband's company. We went to the Rose Garden and the Art Museum and then to lunch in the Pearl District. She was lovely, kind, and nice. And then today, I got an email from our friend CJ, saying he was in Seoul, South Korea. Synchronicity, again.

There are those who say that when you notice events of synchronicity, you should pay attention. It means that these events have special meaning. Synchronicities are people, places or events that your soul attracts into your life - for one reason or another. There are no accidents as you soul attracts everything into your life. Sometimes these lead to learning lessons - mostly they are about spiritual growth and your purpose here.

Knowing this will make me more aware. I hope to find out what this is leading to.

I had a series of synchronistic events last August. Over the period of a few weeks, there were mentions of angels everywhere around me. I heard songs about angels. I found a store devoted to angels. I flipped Larry King Live on one night and Sylvia Browne, Mattie Stepanik, and Larry were all talking about angels and angel visitations. I was in a book store and a book fell off a shelf right in front of me (not when I walked by, but before that) and it was a book about angels. I got the distinct impression that someone was trying to tell me something, but I didn't know what it could be. Only a little over a month later, my nephew was killed in a car accident and my sister (his mother) was sure that she had had an angel visit her. I believe this was all happening for a reason...to prepare me to go through this life changing event. With the help of angels and God, we were all able to get through it. I was a believer in synchronicity before and am even more so, now.

Favorite saying about synchronicity: "Synchronicity and intuition are saying the same thing, it’s just as if one were speaking French and the other Spanish." (John Graham, The Giraffe Project)

surviving another 4th of July

The 4th of July tradition in our family is to go to the newest blockbuster movie. We went and saw Spiderman 2. It was GREAT. The theatre was only about a quarter full. It WAS the 4th of July! Everyone else was off having barbeques with their families. Yeah, yeah. We had done that, too. But going to a late afternoon movie always gives us an out when those family events happen. And we take it and run. Of course, the rest of my family are mostly ultra-conservative Catholics. They will vote for Bush simply because they are pro-life/anti-choice. Nothing else seems to matter to them. The fact that we are fighting a war, based on (at worst) lies or (at best) sheer incompetence, makes no difference to them. The fact that soldiers are losing their lives means less to them than that fetuses are losing theirs. I find this a remarkable way to think. So, you can imagine that this means that we are always a little tentative with each other. I am going to the Democratic convention in August (my husband is a convention delegate) and they are all hoping that our hopes for a different kind of America will be crushed. The whole situation (family) is sad for me.

Anyway, we saw Spiderman 2 and loved it. Then, last night, we went out and saw 'The Terminal' with Tom Hanks. It was also a fabulous movie, though in a very different way. I worked out in my garden today (chopping back some too-vigorous plants).

Yeah, I got through the weekend with NO arguments or disasters. I count that as a win.

a grateful me

I have been incredibly blessed in the past week.

First of all, my mother-in-law (age: 90, status: coolest of the cool) gave us a gift certificate to the Tu Tu' Tun Lodge in southern Oregon, for a Christmas gift. We went there for our luxurious 3-night stay, this past week. WOW! It was gorgeous, in both ambiance and opulance. The weather was immutably the definition of perfection. We got to do whatever we wanted, in total relaxation. That means that we ate, slept, kayaked, hiked, drove down the coast, chatted with amiable folks, read on the deck, swam, basked in the flowery display of the garden, did photography, and much more. Awesome.

I also got to spend some time alone with my husband, there. He was so relaxed (a gift, indeed!) and was a pleasure to 'just be' with. He hardly ever relaxes and he was able to really wind down. It is good to know that we can still spend 'alone time' together and do well. It has been so long that I was beginning to wonder.

I keep being reminded how great my kids are. They are smart, funny, kind, loving, and just plain a hoot to be around.

God's blessings are being showered on me, that is for certain. And how grateful I am!