Morning dew and gumdrops

I'm not one to hit snooze, but while I've been adjusting to my earlier schedule for my longer work commute, I have crawled back into bed after being up for a few minutes longing for that extra 20 minutes of sleep back. As I lay there this morning, I heard birds chirping outside my window. I hadn't noticed them yet this spring (it is spring, right?) and it took me back to a simpler time in my childhood full of hope and excitement for warm weather, playing softball, summer break - a time when I would sit around noticing the little things around me.

I'm going to enjoy this morning dew and crisp anticipation of the day. Why should I rush to worry about the day's agenda and stresses?

New vs. Old Window Views

Not quite as nice - not as much blue sky - but then I'm grateful to even have a window! I do get to watch the adorable elementary schools trod into school each AM.

More posts as I settle into my new digs.

Is it sad that I want...

one of these?

Go big or go home

Apparently, that's Obama's budget for ya.

My friend, Nick, sent me David Brook's "Moderate Manifesto" column from yesterday's Times. Brooks writes:

But the Obama budget is more than just the sum of its parts. There is, entailed in it, a promiscuous unwillingness to set priorities and accept trade-offs. There is evidence of a party swept up in its own revolutionary fervor — caught up in the self-flattering belief that history has called upon it to solve all problems at once.

I actually admire the political ambition even if I disagree with all of the policies. Obama is employing the "go big or go home" strategy and I'm stoked...as long as he fails. Someone at CPAC this weekend said we shouldn't wish Obama to ruin the country and that realistically speaking it will take more than one presidency to undo everything that is great about this nation of ours. I agree, but still want him as an individual as a liberal aggrandizing idealogue to fail. I hope a majority of his plan falls flat on its face. Lord help us if the plans actually go through and have to be implemented!

I couldn't say it better.

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

---Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005

Ten x Ten

I heart Rebecca for thinking of this:

Ladies, Gentlemen, Lovers and Leeches,

I'd like to beg and plead with you to consider taking part in my newest dream for a community art project.

See blog above.

Ten by Ten is a brainstorming of a community blog wherein participants agree to taking ten pictures of their day by 10 PM. It would be really amazing to see people from different parts of the country and world participate, so feel free to forward this on to anyone you think would be interested.

Want to play? Here are the rules:

1- Get a camera. (The camera on your phone is fine, please just set it to 'superfine' or 'high resolution' before you begin.)
2- Take pictures of the things you come across in your ordinary day before 10 PM.
3- Create short captions for these pictures
4- Answer these three questions as you would like for them to appear on the blog: 1- Name? 2- Passion? 3- Dream Job?
5- Email them to ten10byten10@gmail.com

Have a blog? Link tenbyten in your blogroll if you like.

Have feedback? bring it on.

UPDATE: Whitney's Ten by Ten

Why I sometimes am squeamish about being called a libertarian...

It's often a dirty word, isn't it? Libertarian. My mother says to me in a hushed voice, "but you don't tell people you're libertarian, do you? You don't want them to think you're crazy!" Oh mom...

But I fear she's right. Saying your libertarian (or worse a Ron Paul fan) associates you with some unsavory characters. I like to think those people are just the outspoken few who just give the rest of us a bad name.

The Cato blog points out an upcoming Harvard conference with a noticeable bias "Analyzing the Free Market Mindset" or as Dan Mitchell reads between the lines, "Is Libertarianism a Sign of Mental Illness?"