Simon Says

Sick Again...

OK, so how many of us can honestly say what your lymph nodes are?  Come on, be honest. You know you've heard of 'em, right.  But can you honestly say you know what they do? Wikipedia is here again to save the day.  If you don't want to read the whole thing, your lymph nodes collect and destroy bacteria and viruses. And when you're sick they apparently multiply so rapidly this is why they swell up.  So why am I telling you all this.  Pay attention.  This is the first time, at this horribly early hour, I have felt like myself since this weekend.  By the time Sunday night rolled around I really could not move my head.  My neck was about as stiff as the fake wood on my floor.  And it hurt. I'm talking about hurt like when you have a bad flu sore.  Several folks got it in my head because my tonsils were also swollen huge I had mono.  Since I had not recently been involved in any mono seeking activities I thought they were crazy.  I have a bad back in the first place, and since I had tonsillitis all the time as a kid, my tonsils are huge in the first place.  But I sure did not want to give my coworkers mono, so I called in sick and went to my doc Monday.  He started with a strep test. Negative.  Then the mono test. Negative. Then he tells me something that was concerning, "I think because of how much trouble you're having moving your neck you could have bleeding in your brain."  So I had to rush over to get a cat scan to make sure that was not the case.  Thank goodness it was not.  But the CT brings this story full circle. It caught an infection in my lymph nodes.  That's why I was in so much pain.  So anyway day two of augmentin, (a souped up penicillin,) I finally feel like I'm back to being a human race member.  Now eight more days of drugs to go.

Virginia Tech: A Week Later

My first day back to work turned out to be the same day as the worst school shooting in our nation's history.  VT is the same size school as Mizzou.  My sister's in college.  That's just how I related.  I think in each of our own special ways, that day,  we all became Hokies.  Typically I watch the news every day before I go to work.  For whatever reason I had not watched the news that day. Maybe it was because I was headed back to the news world from vacation, and wanted to hold onto those precious vacation moments as long as possible.  As I arrived back in the office I soon knew.  Fast forward to a week later.  Who was right. Who was wrong.  So many endless articles have been written about the coverage about what I do for a living.  So many different judgment calls.  As I laid in bed sick today I watched a very interesting Oprah.  I was caught by the show's tease: "A national conversation we need to have—should that tape have aired at all? NBC News anchor Brian Williams sits down with Oprah."  I found the program extremely educational to helping me come up with my own answer.  Maybe since it's not quite raw emotion anymore take a look at the show for yourself, and as always make your own educated decision.

On Vacation

After all that election work successfully ended, I'm officially on vacation until April 16th. My Dallas buddy Jake had a whole lot of extra Alaska Airline miles just sitting around, going unused. When I told him I had some time off he nicely offered to fly me down, and take a little break from Alaska.  So I'm headed to Dallas at 2AM Thursday for a long weekend.  I'll shall return next Tuesday.  See you then :).

Election Results

Statewide Advisory Vote

SAME-SEX BENEFITS ADVISORY VOTE QUESTION (439 of 439 precincts reporting )

YES	56,372	53.36%
NO	49,274	46.64%

Ballot Propositions 1-8

PROPOSITION 1
REPEAL SECOND HAND SMOKE (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

YES	15,776	27.85%
NO	40,879	72.15%

PROPOSITION 2
PARKS & REC BONDS (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

YES	29,856	53.31%
NO	26,144	46.69%

PROPOSITION 3
PUBLIC SAFETY AND TRANSPORTATION BONDS (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

-Money will be used to buy emergency communication infrastructure so communication problems similar to 9/11 can be avoided

YES	32,923	58.62%
NO	23,238	41.38%

PROPOSITION 4
REBUILD CLARK MIDDLE SCHOOL (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

YES	32,633	57.80%
NO	23,823	42.20%

PROPOSITION 5
SCHOOL DISTRICT UPGRADE BONDS (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

YES	29,347	52.27%
NO	26,799	47.73%

PROPOSITION 6
ANCHORAGE ROAD AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENT BONDS (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

YES	31,103	55.36%
NO	25,079	44.64%

PROPOSITION 7
ANCHORAGE FIRE SERVICE BOND (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

YES	32,318	58.49%
NO	22,940	41.51%

PROPOSITION 8
THERAPEUTIC HORSEBACK RIDING PROGRAM LAND LEASE (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

YES	37,068	67.65%
NO	17,727	32.35%

* PROPOSITION 9
LAND EXCHANGE TO BUILD A JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER AND HISTORIC MUSEUM

After the Assembly placed this proposition on the ballot, the parties decided not to proceed with the proposed transaction, so the vote is moot.

0

PROPOSITION 10
REDISTRICTING AMENDMENT (120 of 121 precincts reporting )

YES	28,429	56.93%
NO	21,507	43.07%