After Thoughts

The one good thing I can say about the election is that it's over. No more mudslinging, til next time. No more TV and radio spots designed to make me reach for an aspirin. I am especially glad to no longer have to listen to the obnoxious radio ad for some local politician, the sort of radio spot that's supposed to sound like a family having a real conversation but it sounds stilted like they're reading from a script and have never had acting lessons.

I'm proud of NY, voting for Kerry and for reelecting Chuck Schumer to the Senate. I'm leaving the Kerry/Edwards code up in the sidebar, partly out of curiosity to see if/when it goes blank and partly because I can't bear to remove it yet.

Today was my annual mammogram which was a bit more painful than usual because the doctor reading the x-rays needed an extra two shots of the right one, all to better see a calcification that was nearly under my armpit. Not fun. BUT necessary. If you're a woman over 40 and have never had a mammogram, get one. Now. Run, don't walk. The life you save might be your own. If you're in your mid-late-30s and haven't had it done yet, you should get one, too, for a baseline. I had my first mammogram when I was 38 and haven't missed a year since I turned 40.

I'm beat, though. Went to the gym, did a lot of walking after, went shopping. Bought shoes and short boots (the Clarke's store had some new styles in stock), jeans and a sweater (in Macy's). The scale at the gym has me 3 pounds lighter than the one in the office of the doctor I went to a few weeks ago. I don't feel as if I lost weight, but I do like the thought of the lower number. At the gym, when the treadmill asked for my weight, I entered a number in between both amounts. And it was such a beautiful day, I wish I'd thought to bring along my camera.

I have the oldies satellite music channel on the TV right now. There's just something unsettling about listening to TV where there isn't much of a video option, just some facts about the song being played and the performer.

I wish there was a hockey game on. I miss hockey. I'd just gotten back into watching the Islanders a couple of years ago after they sucked so much I could bear watching for most of the '90s and now there's the damn lockout. I should read or work on my novel, but I just can't focus tonight, so I guess I'll just surf blogs on Blog Explosion. Again. I did that for a few hours last night. I might need a BE Anonymous group. Or I can check my Bloglines subs and see if anyone's found any cool links or quizzes.