Saturday, May 31, 2008

More letters from my senators

I'm really glad Diane and I are together in this crazy thing called life; she really seems like a loyal comrade to have on my side. Today I received the following letter from her. Must go write a personal thank you note now for keeping me abreast of the current happenings and to invite her and Babs to my BBQ tomorrow. Hope they can make it.

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Dear Ms. Gocke:

Thank you for writing with your support for H.R. 2831, the "Ledbetter Fair Pay Act." I appreciate hearing from you.

I disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, and I voted in support of the "Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act." Employers should not be allowed to discriminate in pay indefinitely, without repercussions, simply because an employee does not discover the discrepancy within six months. Discrimination in any form should not be tolerated, and this bill would restore the law to its original intent.

It is very disappointing that some Senate Republicans decided to block the Ledbetter bill from moving forward. However, I am hopeful that we will have another chance to enact the legislation. Please know that I will continue to support this bill if it is brought up for debate again.

Thank you again for writing. I hope you will continue writing on issues important to you. Should you have any further thoughts or comments to share, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. staff at (202) 224-3841.

Best regards.

Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein

United States Senator

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

It's Aliiiive!!!

My blog, that is. It hasn't died. Not without a fight.

I've been very busy lately, what can I say? I go through phases; sometimes I'm hyper creative, other times I'm more into my social life, and still others I am on fitness kicks. Whatever the case, I'm always trying to be active. These days I've been hiking nearly everyday of the week (weekends don't count), which has monopolized my time. Traveling is also a favorite pastime, and although I feel like everyone says that... I really mean it.

So this past Memorial Day weekend I went traveling with my honey, John. For those of you who haven't met him:

The doctors still haven't figured out what's wrong with him... but they're working diligently to determine the source of the problem and they feel confident that, in time, they will find a cure.

We arrived in Cambria late on Friday night and stayed in the most adorable little B&B all weekend. The Bridge Street Inn was incredibly charming, complete with the sweetest Burmese Mountain Dog/teddy bear, Max. All the other travelers who were staying there were friendly and interesting, with plenty of exciting experiences and knowledgeable tips to go around.

On Saturday we had grand plans of going on a hike and visiting some hot springs, but wouldn't you know it, the highway you must take to the hot springs leads straight through Paso Robles wine country... and we never made it out. But that was fine too. So we spent Saturday visiting 4 or 5 wineries before swaggering back to the B&B where John made us dinner.

On Sunday we got to know our vacation base town a little better by walking around and checking out all the local shops. Cambria has plenty of little (and big) antique shops, gardens & galleries to get lost in. We grabbed a beer and caught a performance by the local band of middle aged hippies, Rough House. In the evening we went on a tour of the Hearst Castle. It was amazing, obviously. Afterwards we watched the sun set over ocean (which I took an extensive photo journal of) and went out to a fabulous dinner.

On Monday we headed up to Big Sur for a hike. This leg of the trip really made an impression on me. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and I'm so happy we made it happen (since we had discussed a hike everyday but didn't get around to it until the end of the trip). God, the views were amazing and the hills looked like ones you'd see on a tropical island. On our way back to Cambria we stopped at a resort that had a good vista and noticed that the band playing on the restaurant patio was none other than our old pals, Rough House. On our way out of town we hit up two more wineries, ate dinner in San Luis Obispo, and drove through the Dutch town of Solvang before heading home.

Oh, by the way: I took 400 pictures during this trip - I know, it's pretty ridiculous. Regardless, you can view them here.

Monday, May 12, 2008

I've been a bad, bad blogger

I've abandoned a blog for a couple weeks now. I've certainly had no shortage of reminders either; I never realize how devout my readers are until I haven't written for while. You know what else? My devout readers are brutal - man do they know how to lay into me. They use a military style of reasoning (if you can call it that), wherein they break me down with criticism about how horrible I am at maintaining my blog, in hopes that motivation will sprout from their rotten, withered seeds. Nah, I'm just messin' with ya, Luie & Juanothan. If it weren't for your harsh reminders, I may have put off writing an entry for another whole day. So thanks.

But in reality, this entry is a total cop-out; I don't have anything in particular to say. Instead, I will post some videos from last weekend, when I babysat my kin. I promised Jonathan that I'd make a video of my nieces for him, since he is always so interested in them (which I love). So that's the explanation for the first one. The explanation for the second one is that Oliver is freakin' adorable, and also that I can't figure out how to turn the video right-side-up. Enjoy: