Another Sunny Day

Today I am having trouble motivating myself to go down in the basement and sand the trim and the stairs, given how lovely the sunshine is. For lunch I sat in the sun and read and ate, sitting among my plants in the livng room, and it was just lovely. I did the same thing yesterday - yesterday I finished Marvel 1602 and today I finally finished Starlight 2.

It's been a long time since I spent the greater part of a day reading fiction. This weekend I've also been editing a couple things as I read them on my laptop. -Which reminds me, I've been wondering, aren't we at the point where the final typsetting of things is done electronically? Is there a reason why the publisher shouldn't return a copyedited version of a book or story in electronic form to the author?

West Wing

Last night I joined Bill to have dinner and hang out (with folks from the Bullwhip workshop he's taking this weekend) at Zingerman's, hearing stories from when Greg has taught his bullwhip
course at different venues, and what it was like to go on TV with his act.

Afterwards we went over to Tammy and Eric's and visited with them for
a bit. Krysta came over with her girlfriend Catherine,
and we watched two weeks of west wing episodes. In between the
episodes the recap bit started, and Bill suggested we skip it, asking
if it wasn't merely what we had just watched, and people started to
explain that no, there might be more... Catherine turned to him and
said something like "You don't watch television. Leave this to those
of us who do.." and it was really funny. It's hard to describe it so
that you can tell why it was funny, but it was.

It was interesting to watch the shows, and yet afterward it left me
feeling sad. It's encouraging to watch someone be swayed on screen by
the logical arguments for opening up funding for stem cell research
but sad at the same time to think that the same bill cannot be passed
in our current congress.

I was discussing with Krysta afterwards why the voting procedure
continues to require everyone voting to be present on the floor. she
pointed out quite rightly that there are procedural actions, like a
filibuster, that only work if you're present, and yet I have to
question how this requirement is related to the point of
representational democratic government. Does giving the Speaker this
kind of power forward the goals of democracy or does it primarily
divert and undercut the process?

Different Speakers have, of course, used it toward different ends.

Anyway, it was on the whole an enjoyable evening.