What took them so long?

Yes, the rest of the US seems to be finally catching up to what the rest of the universe knew all along - the attack on Iraq was a sham. This country has always been a little slow...

On another snow job that is going on right now in Washington DC that you may not have heard about (though it actually made it onto the cover page of the Boston Globe last Satruday) is the US House Appropriations Committee (actually a subcommittee) randomly decided to pull all Transportations Enhancements (TEA) funding and stick it back into the general highway funding. This TEA program is what is responsible for Amatrak, highway safety programs, streetscaping revitalization, and rail-trails, among other non-motor-vehicle transportation pleasantries. Yes, this stuff is kind of non-essential in a budget conscious time, but the guy (Rep. Istook of Oklahoma!) who pushed for elimination turned around and added several billion dollars extra for highway projects. Oddly enough, King George's administration didn't even want this (they actually like rail-trails, apparently), so no one really know where it all came from. Fortunately, according to inside sources (I have inside sources! Isn't that cool?) the subcommitte's recommendation is likely to get reversed in the full committee. The nice thing is that there is a lot of press coverage of the issue, and it's all in favor of alternate transportation. Maybe bicycling is gettng just a bit more attention (and respect) right now because of that silly race in France?

Let's see, as for the other work related stuff, I've been pretty lackluster in the productivity department. The police curriculum is out the door, though by no means done. The pilot testing starts in a week or two. Sometime soon, I plan to get the curriculum up online for the general public to check out. That could be a painful process, though, since the guys who originally put it together decided to create it in Micros**t Powerpoint. But the curriculum turned out pretty good, I think. Not fantastic, but I think it's a good start. There are a few good pictures of my honey that made it into the presentation, too, which is just cute.

David and I have been doing a lot of recreating lately. We've been using his car a lot, and getting a little tired of it. It will be nice when he sells it, and we don't have to keep worrying about it getting tickets or being towed...

Also, we think we found a place to live. We thought we had one all set a couple of weeks ago, but the landlord backed out on us (ostensibly for a family emergency). This time we think it is a go. The place is not too big, but not too small. And it's on the top floor, so it will get lots of light hopefully. I'm working on getting a solar panel installed on the roof to power a few fun electrical goodies (powerbook, radio, tv maybe?). David knows all about electrical stuff and alternative energy too. Yay! The landlord is wonderfully eccentric, and will probably let us do all sorts of funky stuff to the place. (We had to turn down several nice, cheap places because they were way too prim and proper, and we knew that the owners would have been appalled at the decor that we want...

A housewarming party is in the works, and you'll all be invited of course!

Other random tidbits: David and I visited New York City with a friend of his last week and we saw a taping of the Daily Show (news parody show extrordinaire), which was fun, though somewhat anticlimactic. We also went to a renaissance fair at a castle in Gloucester (MA). I'd never been to one, and was glad I got to see what all the fuss was about. It was entertaining, and gave me lots of ideas for our "public" wedding that will probably be next Summer Solstice (to keep the number of anniversaries we have down to a minimum). I'm just trying to figure out how the midieval theme will work with the bicycle theme...

Oh, one last note, you'll all be happy to hear that David and I have pretty much given up on tv. And I don't miss it in the least.

tradition

There is something to be said for honest-to-goodness tradition. Many, many years ago (like, a thousand), the rulers of the world tended to take much less interest in the private affiars of the little people. For example, you could, for the most part, ingest any particular substance that you could stuff in your face. Another example: marriages were official if a couple (or their families) said they were official. Nowadays, the "people in charge" seem to think that it's very important that certain things are allowed and certain other things are not. And, certain things must be done a certain way.

Well, as you can imagine, David and I couldn't possibly have any of that rediculous mamby-pambyness or pandering to the authorities, so we got married without anyone else's consent, or even in the presence of any other human beings. Just some sand, some ocean, some rain, some birds, and the two of us. We said some stuff to eachother, tied some ribbons around our clasped hands in a handfasting ceremony, and basically just basked in the glow of the idea of having found the person who we wanted to be with for the rest of our lives. So, now we are betrothed. Not because some judge gave us a peice of paper, but because we say so. And that's really what it's all about, isn't it?

Oh, and we did this on the Summer Solstice. Hopefully, Mother Earth will bless us.

Other stuff is going on (the development of the Police Ed curriculum is coming to a head and pretty much consiming all my energies, the roommates are being the usual insane bunch that they've been, and the housing search hasn't really even begun...) but, really, nothing else seems to be all that important anymore when you suddenly realize that you are a part of a larger thing, and you are no longer alone in anything you do. It's such a powerful thing to have found someone who understands you so perfectly (yet not quite enough to make life boring!) and STILL wants to spend their lives by your side. I only hope that everyone reading this ends up as happy as we are.