At a restaurant, if a dish is bad, you send it back to the kitchen to have it redone. At work, if you have a problem with a coworker or a boss, you see the person who outranks that person. To whom do you speak if you have a serious problem with the president? I mean, he is WAY undercooked and I am pretty sure someone spit on him.

Every time I hear about how he denies the existence of global warming, I have a mild stroke. I simply can't wrap my brain around someone that single minded that they deny the existence of something with scientific evidence, but go off chasing ephemeral zebras in Iraq. Really. That's like a whole new category of personality disorder.

This is especially crappy when we really could use a hero. A real leader. Sadly, this is just the man that ol' Dub wants to be. Laura, I am pleading with you. Let your man know that if he wants to fight a war on terror, can he widen the scope a little bit to include the abject terror I live in over what the hell we are doing with our environment? So he likes big business. Fine. Put more money into the business of regulating vehicles so that they emit low CO2. Oil, Schmoil. We have plenty in OK and Texas, just cut down on the demand by regulating cars, and we won't need to supply as much. Make your big businessy friends answer to the emissions they currently put out, require that they comply with eco-friendly standards. Hell, you can even put in a no-bid contract to Halliburton to help businesses comply with the new standards for all I care. At this point, I am willing to put aside the fact that this guy is a stunted fucktard if he will just give up in his belief of the Iraqi Easter Bunny and put one goddamned iota of belief and effort into the cause to clean up the place we live.

Ithacating

This weekend was truly fabulous. My darling dear received an award from his alma mater, Ithaca College (Outstanding Young Alumni Award). Friday afternoon, we gassed up the car and headed northwest for the weekend. Two and a half hours later, we finally made it out of New York City, and began the bulk of the long trip up to Ithaca. We really got going in the dark, so I didn't see much of the scenery, but we happily arrived in Ithaca at our hotel that they put us up in around midnight.

This. Hotel. Was. Gorgeous.

We stayed at the luxurious La Tourelle Inn and August Moon Spa. They do treatments there I have never even heard of. We arrived late, and the innkeeper had already gone to bed, so there were just keys on the table. We got to our room (The Montpelier), and were surprised to open the doors to hardwood floors, a working gas fireplace, a king size bed with a feather pillow-top mattress, and a jacuzzi in the bathroom.

I thought, colleges being what they are, that they would have us stay in a Holiday Inn Express or some such thing. Dear God this room was beautiful.

And, in the closet, they had bathrobes. I have only stayed at a handful of hotels that have those, but nothing makes me feel more pampered than kicking it robe style.

Anyway, we slept like rocks on the gorgeous bed, and woke up refreshed and ready for the day's events. We had the option of a bunch of free stuff to do on campus, but Russ had signed us up for an alumni wine tour.

We arrived after having breakfast at a nearby cafe that served all-organic items, and boarded the bus for the countryside. All of the alums on board were super nice, and many of them recognized my husband, which was cool.

All three vineyards were awesome, and the taster-folk were very accomodating. I had never done wine tasting before, but it was really fun. It was the perfect activity for someone like me, who is highly indecisive when it comes to wines and flavors. This way, I could decide what I liked before I shelled out the cash. Many of the wines we tasted at the various locations were on the sweet side, which was interesting. I am pretty sure I have been buying vinegar this whole time.

We got back to the campus late, which gave us only a few minutes to get back to the hotel and get dolled up for the dinner and awards ceremony. One minute into the drive back to campus, Russ realized he left his wedding band in the bathroom when he took it off to shave. Both of us being a little superstitious, we of course whipped the car around to head back and grab the thing. This was fortuitous, because Russ realized he had left his fly down on the way into the room.

We only missed cocktail hour, which was no big deal since it was a cash bar anyway. Russ was the first award recipient, but the evening's focus was on the up and coming projects for the campus. They are building several new facilities that take into account greenhouse gases and the environment. The business school that they are building will likely receive a platinum environmental rating, making it one of only 17 buildings like it.

Russ graciously received his award, and looked fantastic. He really wears a suit well. His speech was charming, effusive, and appropriately grateful. I was so proud of him.

We headed back to the hotel almost immediately after, but not before stopping at Wegman's for crackers and cheese to pair with our wine. We got back to the hotel and borrowed "Happy Feet" from the front desk for the evening's entertainment. A bit into the movie, I got a call from my mom who is currently transporting my youngest brother to Marshall for his freshman year. She brought Russ a Wii. That's right. The holy grail of video game systems.

Could this weekend be awesomer????