My Immediate Response to McCain's Running Mate Choice

I just did a 30 minute quick study on Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin and here is my trigger response:

1. I think that this pick shows that McCain is scared. He doesn't feel confident that he has enough support on his own, so he is going after Hillary supporters. The sad thing is that educated Hillary supporters should be offended by this pick. This women is pro-life, a member of the NRA, supports drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge and was a former beauty queen. By that description, she is the anti-feminist candidate!

2. What about McCain's rock-solid stance on "experience"?! He picks a woman who has only been a state governor for 20 months, and before that was a commercial fishing company owner, an outdoor recreation company owner, and a sportscaster?! Well, that makes me feel good to know that she would be our second in charge should McCain get elected! Those are the perfect qualifications for becoming president if the 72 year old McCain becomes ill or dies while in office.

3. This choice in running mate was to help McCain get elected to office, not to make him part of a stronger, smarter team once placed into office! That, in and of itself, should be offensive to Americans. We do not deserve for the future leaders of our country to chosen based on who will make you more look more popular, cuter or younger!

Celebrating History!

Tonight Chad and I celebrated Barack Obama's acceptance speech and this moment in American history.

What an electrifying night filled with energy, passion and hope for our future! How wonderful to see so many American's coming together to celebrate and become involved in our political process. I can not wait to march on and continue to be a part of history in the making over the next 67 days.

Of course, our celebration centered around great food and tasty drinks. Enjoy these few photos from our fun night.

Pupdate

As some of you already know, our Roscoe has been diagnosed with Polycythemia Vera, a rare blood disorder in which the bone marrow makes too many red blood cells. We discovered this "by accident" when we took him to the vet 2 weeks ago because he was drinking a lot of water.

After a barrage of tests, the vet ruled out other diseases that could also cause a red blood cell increase as a symptom. So then we turned our focus to getting Roscoe on a maintenance plan to get his red blood cell count within a healthy range and hold it there throughout his lifetime. Much like diabetes, as long as his blood count is "balanced" he will remain healthy. Achieving this balance will be tricky at first, but we hope that after a few months we will find the magic formula and then just continue to rinse and repeat.

Roscoe's maintenance plan includes giving him a pill called Hydroxyurea 3x per week. This medication will inhibit his bone marrow from making excess red blood cells. The trick is finding the right dose that will not negatively impact his platelets or white blood cells. In addition to medication, we will also have his blood checked regularly, and he will give blood and receive fluids on a regular basis to thin things out internally.

Throughout the past 2 weeks, Roscoe has been shaved, poked and prodded more times than...ah, forget it, there is nothing politically correct that I can insert here... Anyway, he has been very brave and remains in good butt-shaking spirits. Chad and I are in it for the long haul with our Roscoe- joking last night while watching Biden speak that "we will not rest until every dog in America has health care!"

Below you can see him resting in his favorite spot in the house- his new dog bed, and riding to the vet in the back seat of the beast. I will post updates as we learn more.

Scranton on my Mind

As a fan of NBC's The Office and of the Democratic Presidential Ticket, I would love to see Michael Scott endorse Joe Biden & Barack Obama.  Wouldn't that be a beautiful display of Scrantonicity? 

Besides, I am sure that one member of that extra-large Biden clan has interned at Dunder Mifflin at some point in time. 

That's what she said.

Wonder Women

With the Democratic National Convention kicking off less than 24 hours after the Olympic closing ceremonies, I have continued my bad habit of adrenaline-filled late nights in front of the TV. While the Olympics had me bursting with American pride, the convention has me bursting with pride that I am a woman in America.

Monday night, Michelle Obama took the podium and was poised, genuine and energizing. I admire her community and family values, and I can relate to her at-the-surface emotions about those that she loves. I can't imagine Cindy McCain having even 1/2 of Michelle's passion next Monday. Plus, as a fashion addict, I can't get enough of Michelle's feminine and classic style. I hope that someone out there is blogging about who she is wearing at the convention!

On Tuesday night we had Hillary. Her speech was electrifying! I found her message to be authentic and her delivery flawless. I really appreciated the slams and humor in her speech- especially the reference to her "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits!" By the way, I still don't understand who is her stylist, the tangerine pantsuit that she was wearing was absolutely horrible! Hillary is no doubt a strong woman and an incredible leader, and I only hope that the PUMA's can put their (irrational!) emotions aside and understand that a vote for Obama is a vote for Hillary too.

I feel so proud to be a woman in America today. Proud to have historical things happening right in front of my eyes- and to have these two very different woman to watch, admire and emulate.

Photos courtesy of www.demconvention.com and cnn.com

Insecurity.com

Just in time to get me fired up about this week's convention, this morning a friend of mine brought to my attention the stark contrast between the GOP and Democrat's websites. I couldn't resist dissecting the two here.

Note that the GOP's homepage does not even highlight their candidate, but rather uses up almost the entire home page to attack Obama and Biden. Much like an insecure high school clique, to make themselves feel better they make fun of others. You have to dig to find any content related to their position on the issues. Instead of building excitement and interest in their upcoming convention, they poke fun at the Dems in Denver. They even came up with the slogan "A Mile High, An Inch Deep" and posted a ticker to "countdown to Biden's next Gaffe" referring to Biden's upcoming keynote. For a party that prides themselves as being rooted in Christianity and Family Values, they sure are open about attacking and judging other people.

I find the entire experience to be nothing short of pathetic.


The Democrats, on the other hand, use their website to highlight their presidential ticket and their convention front and center. The majority of the real estate on their home page is dedicated to the democratic party, with only a small badge on the lower right hand side of the page where you can click to hear more about John McCain. The messaging is exciting and hopeful and doesn't resort to mudslinging.

But don't just take my word for it! If you would like to check out the websites in more detail, you can click on the images above or go directly to rnc.org and democrats.org

The Chicago Distance Classic 1/2 Marathon

On Sunday morning I willingly woke up at 4:30am to go for a run. The Chicago Distance Classic 1/2 Marathon had a 6:30am start time, and I had to figure out a way to trick my body into thinking that it was already noon. It was a beautiful crisp and clear morning, almost fall like, and a perfect day for the race. The last time that I ran this race was August of 2004. I was 4 years younger and in the thick of training for the Chicago Marathon- in better shape than I am today, to say the least. My time in 2004 was 1:58. I would have loved to finish Sunday's race in 2 hours, but apparently you get a few minutes slower as you get older. Unless you are Dara Torres, then you just get faster and stronger as you get older. Hmm, maybe I will be in the best shape of my life at 41 like Dara...but I digress. 

I had a blast running the course with Yoomee. I enjoyed every part of the race, especially the beautiful views along the south side lakefront path. Aside from that sneaky hill at Museum Campus (placed less than .5 mile from the finish- how cruel is that?!), I felt great right through the finish. Chad and Roscoe cheered me in at the finish line and Chicago's very own Bernie from the Biggest Loser 2008 finished just 15 seconds behind me!

My Results!
Bib: 6012
Name: Kellie Fitzgerald
City: Chicago
State: IL
Div: Women 30-34
ChipTime: 2:07:02

31 Great Ways to Spend a Birthday!

During the brutal Chicago winters I find myself longing for summer. I vow that I will spend more time outside, that I will go to the beach every weekend, that I will never complain about it being too hot, etc etc. On Wednesday, I took the day off work to celebrate my birthday and to finally stop to enjoy summertime in Chicago. It was long overdo, and it was well worth the time that I had to spend catching up on work on Thursday.

I kicked the day off with a run along the lake path with Nikole, and then I spent the afternoon with Deanna. That evening, a group of us ventured down to Millennium Park for a free concert and fireworks.

The day served as a reminder that simple things truly make me happy- warm sunshine, fresh produce, fashion magazines, homemade chocolate chip cookies and ice cream pie. I enjoyed and greatly appreciated every card, call, email and text message that I received from family and friends on my birthday. It made me feel very special and fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life.

What a great way to spend a Wednesday! Enjoy the photos.

Ignorance is Bliss in Copperhill, TN

cartoon courtesy of: www.reallifephotos.org

Last evening, following a deliciously grilled dinner and some quality time with my flower boxes, my dog, and Chad, I lost hope in American people.

CNN visited Copperhill Tennessee to do a piece on why 1 in 10 Americans still believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim, when it has been proven time and time again to be untrue.

If you can stomach a heavy dose of ignorance, watch the video here.

Why Offshore Drilling is an "Off" Solution

Lately, there has been a lot of buzz about where politicians stand on the topic of offshore drilling. I realized that I didn't know where I stood on the topic, so after doing a little bit of reading I formed my opinion (surprise, I have an opinion!) and I wanted to share a brief and helpful article from Time Magazine with you.

Will More Drilling Mean Cheaper Gas?

The biggest take away from my reading was this: Offshore drilling will not fix our gas prices or our dependence on foreign oil. There is not enough oil in the Arctic to satisfy our consumption or the worlds consumption; and it will take up to a decade to get what little is there. Even then, we would only save 3 or 4 cents a gallon.

The last paragraph of this article was the most discouraging to me. I continue to be baffled by the resistance our government has to funding and developing alternative energy sources?! With that, I still thought that it was worth while to end on a note of self-deprecating humor:

Cartoon courtesy of: commontragedies.wordpress.com