Obama, Russia, and Cookies

Obama: We are getting down to the wire. There couldn't be a better time to volunteer for Obama. The election is SO close and all Obama offices have opportunities for volunteering. Obviously, you can still give $money but they now need lots of folks to canvass, hang door tags, get out the vote, drive folks to the polls, and phonebank like crazy. If you live in GA, click here to look at opportunities. I truly do feel like this is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I knew I would kick myself so hard if I didn't give everything I could to this campaign. And I'm realizing there's always more I could do. It's hard to phonebank--often uncomfortable and/or nerve wracking, but it's a small price to pay for a campaign with such a, yes, transformative figure. The NYTimes endorsed Obama and though it wasn't QUITE as good as the amazing New Yorker endorsement, it was still good to read and thoughtful. Please let me know if you do end up volunteering and I will make you a cookie. Really--here in GA the race is so close, and it is close in many other states. Ben and I are going to Ohio next weekend to do some work there as well (though the campaign headquarters in GA said we were more needed here!).

Russia: Wow, the mayor of Moscow is traveling to pro-Russian areas to what could be called inciting those areas to become indepedent. This is crazy, especially cause so many of those areas are places I've been--in Moldova, we have our dear Transnistria, in Georgia, we have Ossetia and Abkhazia, in Ukraine we have the entire eastern part and southern part of the country, etc. Wow. While he is calling it Moscow's philanthropy, etc, I find it highly bizarre and am scared of what kind of violence this could set off in a fragile region.

Cookies: Ben made those yummy "cowboy cookies"--his famous salty oak with chocolate chip cookies. There's nothing more delicious, except for turning them into ice cream sandwiches (which we're doing!).

Beer Club: We sponsored beer club last week (or the week before) which I forgot to mention was totally awesome! We had the theme of "seasonal beers" meaning Octoberfests, autumn ales, etc, and the "winning best" were Duck Rabbit's Wee Heavy Scotch Ale, Sierra Nevada's Fresh Hop Harvest Ale (ask Ben to tell you this good story) and Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale. We tried lots of other ones too. Ben is insisting on doing a macro-beer club night, but I think I will be "sick" for that.

Visitors: We had Magda & Damon here visiting us this weekend, and took them to Sweetwater Creek St Park (once again taking advantage of our nifty State park pass) and of course, the Brick Store, one of the best beer bars in the US of A. No doubt! We drank the Theobroma, aka a chili/cocoa brew by Dogfish Head, the Gnarleywine by Lagunitas (not as tasty as other barley wines, but nonetheless good), Avery's Ale to the Chief (INCREDIBLE), Terrapin's Hop Monster (INSANELY GOOD) and Great Divide's Fresh Hop Ale (possibly the best). We welcome visitors who want to come see our Decatur world and taste the amazingness of it all! :)

Books: I also have been reading two incredible books. One is Putin's Labyrinth about the new Russia and Putin's control and the crazy amount of (state-approved, if not sponsored??) violence against human rights workers/Putin critics/journalists. It is fascinating, and I am loving learning so much about Russia. I'd really like to see more movies (Russian Ark anyone?), listen to Russian music and really get into the fabulousness of Russian literature. But the other incroyable book I'm reading is called the Woman at the Washington Zoo. I picked up a Vanity Fair four years ago and read this article by a woman named Marjorie Williams and her fight against cancer, which she ultimately lost. This beautiful, brilliant, crisp collection of essays is probably the most enjoyable book I've read since this summer's read of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. I highly recommend all books mentioned!

Tonight we are going to have some lovely guests Ariel & Chad & A's mom over for dinner tonight, and are planning a delicious menu. Pics to follow, we hope!!