Oh, and conservatives have been giving Romney the side eye for months. Many of them hate Obama, but the people who HATE Obama aren't as numerous as those who are ENTHUSIASTIC about Romney. That's the problem. There is a serious lack of passion for Romney.

Plus, Romney's unfavorable ratings have gone UP since May. Which is kind of unusual apparently.

Thanks, ita !

I almost bought a soda stream the other day, but it feels like one more thing I wouldn't use much.

I need to buy a new toaster oven. Does anyone have a rec for something that won't die in 6 months?

The Black & Decker toaster oven I used to have lasted a long time.My current toaster oven is a cheapy no-name from JCPenney (or possibly Sears) that I bought because it was yellow. It seems to be doing okay after approximately a year.

I found the syrups that came with the Sodastream to be really gross. Liese's idea of the frozen fruit juice was working really well, but I can't find the right juices anymore--both the ones I liked disappeared from Ralph's at the same time. So I'm going to start checking other supermarkets.

However, those True Lemon packets are delish. I'm at the point where everything I drink at home is either brewed or fizzed, and the replacement for a plain glass of water is a fizzy True Lemon. How can it be so tasty and have no calories and no migraine triggers? HOW???

Magic, I'm assuming.

Fooey. My little brother is doing the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race today, and I can't get into the live video feed site. Appears to be down.

So, does everyone from the photographer to the printers look at this and say "Good enough for the brand."? I mean, knowing it's touched up, why not fix some stuff while you've got the liquefy tool selected?

This cake--I still don't believe it's a cake, actually.

Maybe the retoucher was named Victoria, and she took the whole “Body By Victoria” thing too literally.

Consuela, I'm sorry the feed is down. But tangentially, I'm in Vail for a Family law conference. There have been warnings everywhere about traffic but now I know why at least.

Good luck to your brother. That is a hard race!

Huh. After finally reading a news article, it turns out that Paul Ryan is an alum of my college and is only 1 year older than I am.

(1) Damn, I feel like maybe I'm slacking with my life. If I had worked harder, I could TOTALLY be a wingnut politician!

(1b) Yeah, no. I'm too lazy to wash the breakfast dishes from Thursday. I could never be a politician. But I could still be a wingnut.

(2) I feel like maybe I should remember him from college, given that he was only a year ahead of me, but I really don't. Still, it just seems weird.