The New & Improved Presidential Election

This morning I went to work full of excitement about the November elections and with a newfound respect for Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain.  Before, I go any further though, let me make a small personal disclaimer here – I am not one who closely follows politics or has any in-depth perspectives on them.  I am just too busy to spend time any more time than I do immersing myself in that kind of sticky web.  I do know what I support and who the candidates are that I believe in and want to see in the White House.

Now back to my original point.  This morning I awoke to the same election that I have been for the past several months.  But by the time that I was walking out the door to go to work, everything had changed.  Who would win this years presidential election was never a slam dunk as to who would win, at least according to the polls that I have seen (and truthfully after the Bush/Gore debacle, I am scared to even speculate), but it was sure to go down in history as a great moment in the Democratic party’s and America’s history no matter who won because of Barak Obama’s nomination.

I concede that perhaps my judgement has been clouded by George W.’s term in office but nothing that McCain has done seems to have really been effective in terms of doing anything to slow Obama’s momentum.  Until this morning that is.  From what I have heard, I was not the only one who had never even contemplated the strategy that McCain employed with his announcement of his Vice Presidential choice, Governor Sarah Palin.  This seems to be the first brilliant move that he has made so far, choosing a woman for his running mate.  Now not only does he have a shot at all of those voters disgruntled by having no Hilary on the ticket but he has also altered the history books that many had already written.  The election will now be great history for both parties regardless of who wins and America will have taken another giant step forward in the fight for equality.  In hindsight, we all should have guessed this as a possible strategy because it seems so obvious.  If Barak had selected Hilary, it would not have mattered so much but his selection of another male, makes this an almost obvious strategy for McCain to use.  And while I was hoping in my heart of hearts to see the “dream ticket” of Hilary and Obama (yes, in that order), after Obama’s announcement I took a moment to scan through the Yahoo! news article.  One of the first things that it mentioned was about Biden’s extensive foreign policy experience, and I grudgingly admitted at that point that Obama had made a smart selection.  The only argument that the Republican’s have made that Obama really has no rebuttal for was his lack of experience in foreign policy and now he has the ammunition to fight back.  Hats off to both candidates on their VP strategies.

I am suddenly feeling a renewed excitement for this election and for the future.

Which Way To Go?

So I have been thinking lately that I really should start paying more attention to my health and to my physical fitness level. This is not a thrilling prospect for me but it keeps tugging at the back of my mind telling me to “DO SOMETHING!” I looked into some of the gyms around my house, especially 24 Hour Fitness, thinking that if it’s open 24-7 then I can probably get there at least for a couple of those hours each week. Yeah right to both the gyms and my idea. Problem #1 is the monthly cost. Even if I could squeeze it out of my already incredibly overstretched budget, I am then faced with Problem #2 – more costs. It seems that while these gyms do offer childcare, you are expected to pay extra for it. Plus, they don’t offer “family” plans that I could see and it’s a little difficult for me to spend that kind of money on something that only I benefit from. So gyms are out.

After all of that I went back to my normal state of ignoring the little voice in the back of my mind. That is until I remembered about the YMCA. Why it took me so long, I have no idea. Both my mom and my dad have worked as swim instructors at the Y and my sister spent high school working there. My family has always been involved as members as well. In fact, my oldest son plays on the basketball league there. But to get back to the point, once I thought about the YMCA, I also remembered that sometimes there are scholarship type opportunities available that I could apply for. I called up, got the info, and sent out the application. I read the program brochure and started getting visions of swim lessons for the kids, working out while having the kids at a free child care, and all sorts of other things. I even talked to a friend of mine about applying for her family so we could go together.

Then I got the approval letter and now I am asking, as the title states, which way to go? They offered me half off the monthly dues. It is slightly possible that I could manage that (with a lot of bargaining with my husband who won’t like the added expense) but there are a couple of other little issues. You have two options regarding the payment of monthly dues. You can either pay 6 months at a time (not in this lifetime) or you have to sign up for automatic withdrawal from your checking account. I have an account but my money managing skills are zero. I know that there is no way that I will be able to leave the dues sitting in the account for over a week after payday until they come take them out. Even if I did, my husband wouldn’t. Potentially, I could transfer the funds to a prepaid account that I have (if the Y would accept it instead of a checking account) but even then the situation is iffy.

And now that I am really thinking about it, I will also admit that I am not a motivated exerciser (is that a word?). I need a workout partner who is motivated and who will call me and tell me to get my butt up on those days that I am not doing it on my own. So far, this wonderful partner has yet to present themselves to me. So is it really worth juggling the fees? Well, my kids would benefit regardless.

So, which way to go? Any comments or ideas would be appreciated……..