It’s no secret that I hate it when restaurants add peas and carrots to rice or noodle dishes. It’s not just that I dislike having peas and those nasty little cubed carrots in my food; but ordering a dish with “no peas and carrots” has been a challenge for me lately.

For example, the last several times I’ve tried to modify my fried rice orders at different “Asian” restaurants, I’ve received my meal without peas and carrots, but with a substitute veggie.  The last time it was broccoli.  I’m not only picky about my broccoli, but I’m not fond of having the kitchen improvise my order.

I can think of some veggies I would like in my fried rice but given the broccoli experience, I’m not about to test the process of sending a piece of paper back to the unseen kitchen staff that reads, “fried rice with shrimp and chicken no peas no carrots with green onions and fresh sliced carrots and no other substitutes I’m sure about what I’m ordering”.

No matter the degree of language barriers between me and the staff in the kitchen, THAT order will most likely translate to a big loogie in my food.

So last night at the Noodle House I ordered “fried rice with chicken and shrimp no veggies”.  The response from the owner of the Noodle House?  He mumbled “no veggies” and chuckled.  The owner’s a great guy, I always love seeing him.  But I’m still wondering what the chuckle was for.  Was that a “what are you 7 years old that you order food with no veggies?”  Or was it “god damn this guy is picky, the kitchen staff is surely going to put a loogie in his food.”

One of the things that really raised my opinion of Obama was his refusal to go on Fox News and talk with O’Reilly.  What happened?  Why would he sit down with O’Reilly and validate him?

Holly pointed me to last night’s Daily Show.  It was one of the best I’ve seen.  Aside from the comedy aspect, Stewart manages to do more journalism in 10 minutes than the last week of CNN.

Chris Mathews (and possibly Sam Donaldson) are the only journalists left on the major networks.

Ok I’m officially depressed.  The light bulb has gone off and I realized two things: A) Sarah Palin is a brilliant pick and B) Obama is going to lose.

A:  Sarah Palin, despite being a completely inappropriate and I would argue a negligent pick for VP of the United States, does something for the Republicans that was sorely needed.  The press is now talking about her (and McCain) and not Obama.  Old and boring McCain just became hot and fresh.

B: I now go back to what I said when Obama first announced his Presidency: a black man cannot win in this country (yet anyway).  After I saw him speak in person I looked around at the small town Iowa crowd, a mixture of white, black, young and old, and thought wow maybe he can win (”yes we can” as the chant goes).  And then I watched his popularity grow which has been exciting and given me new hope for this country.  But now here we are, on the heals of an amazing speech and turnout at the DNC, and he is STILL neck and neck with McCain.  How can this be?

I think the answer is that he’s hit the ceiling of number of people in this country that are capable of voting for a black President.  Which is depressing.  I hope I am completely wrong.

So here’s how it’s going to go down (thanks to Deborah for the insight).  McCain and Palin will win in 2008.  McCain won’t run in 2012 because he’ll be dead or too old (no really, next time he’ll be too old).  Hillary will run.  And it will be like the last Super Bowl where no matter who loses, a minority (a black coach in the case of the Super Bowl) will win.

Hillary vs. Palin 2012.  On the plus side my daughter will have a female President when she’s nine, and possibly until she’s seventeen.  On the negative side the Mayan calendar does end in 2012, so we may not make with McCain and Palin at the wheel.

I have one thing in common with McCain - in the face of defeat, throw your hail mary.   That’s what his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for Vice President is, a move made in desperation with a slim chance of success.

It’s extremely reckless to choose someone that has no business being a step away from the presidency, especially given McCain’s age and ailments.  On the other hand it’s obvious he’s selecting her in an attempt to scoop up Hillary supporters and compete with “change” (McCain apparently thinks all the hubbub about change has to do with skin color and gender).

Feels good to hear her playing music again (shot with spycam).

I listened to the first half of Hillary’s speech last night before I tuned out.  All week I’ve been hearing about how important this speech was going to be and it was going to be her moment.  Mostly what I felt while listening was re-affirmation of my lack of enthusiasm for her candidacy.  And when she said “my friends”, it was like nails on the chalk board - all I could do was think of McCain.

On the plus side she came out very strong saying, “No way, no how, no McCain.”  Not sure what that means but it was funny.  I also liked that she made no doubt about the stakes this election and where her delegates should go, “Barack Obama is my candidate, and he must be our President.”  Something that I expect Obama would have done had the situation been reversed, and it was him trying to convince me to vote for Hillary.

If you missed her speech you can see it (along with the dramatic intro video with Van Halen and Lenny Kravitz soundtrack) here:

And there’s always this:

UPDATE:

Bill’s speech was pretty awesome.  He actually added some steam back to my interest in the Democrats winning this election (steam I’ve loss from Obama’s voting pattern lately).

The guy dressed as Lando (Billy Dee William’s character in Empire Strikes Back) cracks me up.  There’s a reward for those that watch until the 4 minute mark.

I got a text message at 3am this morning from Obama (yes he sent it directly to me, I can picture him on the jet, thumbing his Nokia), that Joe Biden will be his VP choice (big surprise).  Hopefully Joe will bring things back left a bit from here on out.

I still don’t understand why a Joe Biden is a better choice than a Chris Dodd.  Joe Biden always struck me as a bit of a goof ball in the debates.