(no subject)

Thanks to wcg for the link.

Where your stimulus dollars have been going.

"To do lots of good things that have definitely been getting Americans back to work" is the short answer, it appears to me.

If only the White House would do a better job of making sure people know about this sort of thing.

November thankfulness: three

I didn't post this last night because I was hanging out with my friends john_arundel and gr_c17. And that's one thing I'm very thankful for--my friends.

I live on the inside of me, not the outside, so I'm not the best judge of these things, but it's my impression that I vary between being very easy to get along with and being very difficult to get along with. Different people may have varying impressions about which of those predominates. :-)

I don't find it terrifically hard to make friends, but I don't run across that many people with whom I would *like* to be friends. And I know that sometimes I can be a terrific ass--bloviating, ranting, cranky, moody, annoying, or just plain thoughtless. So while I often wish I had the (seemingly) typical American "posse" of a dozen or so friends who are always doing things together, I realise that I'd have to be a very different person for that to be the case. So I'm very grateful for the people I have in my life whom I'm fond of and who choose to stick with me, even when I'm not the best person I can be.

and for today's thankfulness...

Because I'm in this extended limbo/transition, I spend a lot of time thinking about where I'd like to end up living, or just generally places I'd like to be instead of going through the motions where I am (padding endlessly up a quiet staircase of sand in the dark--or at least it feels that way).

And that puts me in mind of the places I've traveled to, and the places I look forward to seeing. I've been snorkeling and sailing in the Caribbean with my good buddies the Vagabonds. I've wandered through ruined castles with the PoliSci Diva and restored ones with La Redactrice, the SoccerFox, and with my own versions of Aramis and Porthos. I've hiked and kayaked around Cape Breton by myself and wandered through an architectural marvel in the Sonoroan Desert. I've seen the Continental Divide and watched sea otters doing the backstroke in Monterrey Bay. I've been to Portland (Oregon) and Penobscot Bay (Maine). At one time or another I've traveled the length of Vermont. I've been given (admittedly indirectly) the Freedom of the City of Montreal and tromped at night through the closes and catacombs of Edinburgh. I've lived in Notting Hill and rowed across Grasmere, marveled at the cathedrals of Ely, Westminster, Winchester, Guildford, Kirkwall, Glasgow, St Giles, and--of course--St Paul's. I've seen moose in the Rockies and the Maritimes. I've sailed in the Bahamas and among the Small Isles and past the Old Man of Hoy. I've climbed Arthur's Seat with one love and walked down from Stone Arthur Fell with another. I've swum with pelicans in Florida and sledded down snowy hillsides in Wisconsin. I've seen forts and farmhouses, museums and monasteries, and emptied pints in pubs from the Pacific Ocean to the North Sea.

There's still far more than half a world I've yet to see, and there are so many places I want to see--for the first time or the twenty-first. I have trips planned to the Netherlands and Newfoundland that I have yet to take. There's so much of Europe I'd like to see, so much of the US and Canada I've still to explore, so many places I'd like to visit, at least to see them once (Chile or Argentina or Peru, New Zealand, Australia, China). Some day I'd like to retrace my dad's footsteps and visit India and Pakistan; I'd like to travel through Iran and and Turkey, though who knows when or if that can ever happen.

But I've been very fortunate so far. Some people who would like to travel never get to go more than a few miles from home. Some people who hate traveling never get to settle down. I have a home (have had many of them) and I get to travel (*almost* as often as I would like). I've seen some wonderful things and been some amazing places. And I'm very grateful for that.