Women's History Month: Word of the Day

OK, so there really is not a connection between Women's History Month and a word of the day. But I came across the following while I was cleaning out some old writings.

Word of the day: virago. One definition is "noisy, scolding or domineering woman"; another is "large, strong, courageous woman". Guess which one's my fave?

It is Women's History Month...please go out and celebrate. Go, viragos!

Yet Even More Evidence of the Wage Gap

In The New York Times today, there is a really interesting chart, outlining the fact that women make less than men in nearly every single job. Why? And what can we do about it?

See for yourself...

Voting: You Should Do It, and Tell Your Friends

This is the 30th year I am eligible to vote. In all that time, I have not missed an opportunity to cast a ballot. I remember in my 12th grade government class, Mr. Baldwin (yes, father of those Baldwins) gave a speech about voting as more than a right, it's a duty. He's right.

We cannot complain if we don't vote.

We cannot profess that democracy is the best system if we don't vote.

We cannot presume to tell other nations that they should have elections if we are not participating in our own.

We cannot call ourselves patriots if we do not respect our country enough to cast our ballots.

Whatever your political persuasion, get out there and do it. Vote early if you can. Vote by mail. Or vote tomorrow. I heard on the news this morning that the odds of your vote being the deciding vote in the presidential election is 1 in 60,000,000. Those odds are twice as good as the odds of winning the California lottery.

To find your polling place, click here.

And here's a virtual "I Voted" sticker for you:

To Privatize? Or Not...

Lately I've been toying with the idea of adopting a pseudonym for this blog. Will it free me up to write whatever and about whomever I want? Or will it stifle me because I'll have to remove all identifying marks?

Working Women Hold Key to World Prosperity

From Reuters, via The Boston Globe...

"Working Women Hold Key to World Prosperity"

Finally... Some Changes to the Blog

Yes, I have spent the better part of a year avoiding this site like the plague.

I had a new job.

I had wild success.

I had big disappointment.

I walked 60 miles in three days with my daughter and my sister.

I torqued my knee on Day 1 of above walk.

I met some interesting people.

I met some pretty important people.

I lost two people who were interesting and important, and nearly lost a third.

All excuses for not typing my URL, clicking in the big blank box and typing.

And as I look over my journal entries for the last several weeks, I notice that the theme of "I need to get back to writing" keeps coming up. So here I am.

I am not sure where this is going to go. I am not going to make any grand claims of insight or understanding. I will write what I feel I need to, and hope you find it interesting. I hope I find it interesting as well...

Thanks, Starbucks, for Helping Me Treat Myself

Egg nog lattes are back at Starbucks. I wait for this day all year. To treat myself to the eggy noggy goodness is so unlike me the other 10 months of the year...I am a green tea girl all the way. But for some reason, I am mush in the hands of the barista at the beginning of November.

Say what you want about the machine/corpocracy/evil empire that is Starbucks...and I say it myself...often. However, I am grateful for their helping me to get over my "do-for-everyone-else" disease for a few weeks a year. And in the last two years, I have gone to my local, non-chain, coffee shops to ask for egg nog lattes.

Find a treat for yourself, however silly or small, and go for it.