You Bethca!

Before I begin, let me be up front about this: A fan of Sarah Palins, I am not. In fact, her presence on the ticket almost had me voting for the Big O in 2008. I couldn’t take the fact that I was about to lift someone to the VP spot who didn’t appear to have any type of grasp on foreign policy issues, or national economic issues, or . . . well, anything outside of “Pulpit Issues” (i.e. abortion, same-sex marriage, etc.). She seemed to be simply a women (which McCain thought was gold, given on all the disheartened Hillary voters) who had been elected based on a fiery and admittedly likable personality in a state that wasn’t exactly at the forefront of national importance. So my opinion can not be said to be unbiased.

With that said, I was utterly amazed by her decision to step down from the Governorship of the state of Alaska. Her argument is that all of the media attention, ethics investigations, and scandal-probes have become a distraction from her job as Governor (this argument was supported by Stanley Fish in an article for the New York Times yesterday). She also said that, basically, she wasn’t going to run for a second-term, everyone knew this, so why waste time being a lame-duck?

Well, how about because you ran for a four-year term as Governor? All this jazz about, “I just want to do the best I can as a public servant.” Well, the best you could do would involve actually serving for the entire term that the people of Alaska elected you to, I would think. No, instead, we are told that, just like a good point-guard would dish off to the more open teammate, it’s better for the people of Alaska if she dishes off to her Lt. Governor to finish her job for her.

I’m sorry, I just can’t buy it. I also don’t buy, though, the argument that her only motivation is to get more attention down in the 48 contiguous so that she can run in 2012. I think her motivation is not as much white, as in the house, but green (as illustrated in this interesting piece from The Daily Beast). If this is the more correct assessment, and I tend to think that it is, then maybe she’s much more brilliant then we’ve given her credit for; or, at the very least, more opportunistic then anyone imagined.

Marathon, Marathon, where for art thou, Marathon?

So, as stated previously, my BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) for the the couple of years (deadline: 2011) is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. That’s going to require some major training. Yesterday, I selected an advanced training program from Nike’s new redesigned Nike + portal. It’s a really well-designed site, and I look forward to this challenging new program. In the meantime, though, I need to select a marathon for the fall/winter to make my goal. Any suggestions?

4th of July: Rainforest Edition

So this 4th of July, the Heaton’sdecided to have our first annual party at our new house. Every year at our apartment in Indy, we’d have a huge party with everyone over because we had a perfect view of the downtown fireworks. This year, we opened up our home to all of Holly’s new intern class. We had cornhole set up, a slip-n-slide ready to unfurl, and tons of food for the grill. Unfortunately, mother nature wasn’t down with our plans, and decided to make the entire day pretty much a drizzly, blah mess. Fortunately, our house has plenty of room in the dining room, living room, and kitchen, and so everyone was still able to hang around and have a good time. Still, not quite the 4th we were hoping for.

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• At some point this week, I WILL go and see The Hangover. I really want to see it, but also, I just want people to stop asking, “Have you seen The Hangover yet???”
• The Tigers bullpen is awful, and our bats are nearly comatose. Our starting pitching is the only thing keeping us in this. How we’re still in first place, I have no clue.
• I’m really enjoying my job, so this at least confirms in some respect that Law School was the correct decision to make.
• I’m actually almost halfway through The World is Flat by Friedman.
• Tonight is my last class session of the summer semester!!!!!!

That’s all for now. One love. Holla..