New Sleeping Bag Alert

CAN'T WAIT to camp in the Everglades in this HAM s-bag. Photos in use to follow.

Subtlety

me: can i tell you a secret

 Stephanie: duh

1:08 PM me: i think i'm going to force you to sleep on a beach without a tent after doing a big hike

 Stephanie: interesting

  since thats not a secret

  cuz you asked me if i would

  and i said yes

1:09 PM and you responded "youre the hammest chic i know"

 me: i know

  the whole "secret" thing was a fraud just so i could talk about it again

1:10 PM Stephanie: hahahahaha

For Lapsed Obama-fans

Sorry road trip readers, I'm reverting to politics for a quick 'mo. Just read this story about a mom whose family was hit hard by the recession, lost her health insurance, and then got diagnosed with cancer. It's sad and powerful. [from Kevin Drum]

Money quote:

Fortunately for me, I've been saved by the federal government's Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, something I had never heard of before needing it. It's part of President Obama's healthcare plan, one of the things that has already kicked in, and it guarantees access to insurance for U.S. citizens with preexisting conditions who have been uninsured for at least six months.

....Which brings me to my apology. I was pretty mad at Obama before I learned about this new insurance plan. I had changed my registration from Democrat to Independent, and I had blacked out the top of the "h" on my Obama bumper sticker, so that it read, "Got nope" instead of "got hope." I felt like he had let down the struggling middle class. My son and I had campaigned for him, but since he took office, we felt he had let us down.

So this is my public apology. I'm sorry I didn't do enough of my own research to find out what promises the president has made good on. I'm sorry I didn't realize that he really has stood up for me and my family, and for so many others like us. I'm getting a new bumper sticker to cover the one that says "Got nope." It will say "ObamaCares."

Creepy Ways to Prepare For a Trip

Dave: yesterday i turned off all the lights in my apt and put my headlamp on and made myself a cocktail

Dave: this happened

Dave: this literally happened.

Road Trip to the Everglades Itinerary

Blog's back! New and improved (i.e., less political yammering, more stupid travel banter).

Situation: Stephanie and I take our second road trip together.  A lot has changed since our last trip - for example, it is now the year 2011, whereas before, it was the year 2009.  Also, Stephanie has now become a seasoned road trip/hiking pro (except for the fact that she still doesn't know how to drive...ugh).  Uh...that's all that's changed basically. Anyway, we leave on Friday, December 16, which is soon. How does this make us feel?

Exactly.

Here are the highlights:

1) Washington DC - tour of the Capital, Natural History Museum, National Zoo
2) Drive to Savannah, eat fatty bbq food
3) See a ghost in Savannah
4) Drive to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, buy wands
5) Highlands Hammock State Park - it's cool. Camp.
6) Airboat Swamp Tour - See gators, then eat gators
7) Everglades - massive hikes and canoe rides through croc-infested waters, avoid being eaten, maybe sacrifice Steph to save self flee gators successfully
8) Drive through Florida Keys
9) Go H.A.M. in Miami, avoid being serial murdered

Israel Wise Thought of the Day

From David Remnick, who is always wise and almost always right:

"A unilateral attack from Israel . . . would be a grave mistake for all the reasons made plain by Meir Dagan and so many others. It is terrible enough to imagine what might happen if Iran came to possess a bomb; but an attack now would almost certainly lead to a tide of blood in the region. The Middle East today is in a state of fragile possibility, full of peril, to be sure, but also pregnant with promise. A premature unilateral attack could upend everything and one result of many would be an Israel under fire, under attack, and more deeply isolated than ever before."

Thought of the Day

Important thought of the day, from Brad DeLong:


"The United States economy is, right now, in significantly better shape than the Japanese economy, the British economy, or the European economy. To do best of four major industrial powers in dealing with the Lesser Depression is a significant accomplishment, even though things are much much worse than I would wish--and even though I think Obama's buying of a premature turn to long-run budget balance and of a policy of appeasing the banks at all hazards lest he provoke a full-scale capital strike were bad mistakes."