This is what I call QUALITY TV TIME!

I know, I know. I've been gone a long time again. You can quit emailing me now... :)

But, seriously, first it was the Olympics keeping me up til wee hours of the night, and now it's the Democratic National Convention. Who has time to blog when you've got stuff like that to watch? I don't think I've ever watched so much TV in such a small amount of time before.

The Olympics were awesome. Watching Michael Phelps made me feel like a little girl again. Many of you know that I am a swimmer. I was a competitive swimmer all through high school and a little into college. Mark Spitz was my inspiration. I was going into third grade that summer and fell madly in love. I had his posters all over my room, and I used to write "Mrs. Julia Spitz" over and over and over in my notebook. Sometimes, I'd get old fashioned and write Mrs. Mark Spitz, but being that it was the middle of the women's rights movement and my mother was a strong woman in her own right, it didn't feel right to write it that way. I never did think, however, of writing "Mrs. Julia Gallagher-Spitz" - so I guess I wasn't all into that feminist movement yet at the tender age of 9, was I?

Anyway - I was hooked. Hooked on swimming. Hooked on tall lanky boys in skimpy bikini swimsuits, with six-pack abs, dark eyes and hair, and gold around their neck! :) So, watching Michael Phelps brought back lots of those girlish memories, except for those silly swimsuits they wear now that cover so much up - who's brilliant idea was that, anyway? They should be shot!!!

After two weeks of being engrossed in that spectacle, I thought I'd finally get my life back to normal. Finish my book. Swim more. Catch up on newspaper reading, which is piling up. Lots of things. Oh, but I forgot about the DNC convention!!! I've been riveted. I TiVo it on MSNBC from 6pm to 1am. I sit and watch all the good stuff, fast forwarding through the crap.

I saw Michele Obama speak in Chicago on May 9th, and I knew then that she'd make a terrific First Lady. Besides being an amazing speaker, I truly feel like she's "one of us" - I'm sorry, but I don't identify in any way shape or form with Cindy McCain!!! But Michele - oh my - she will do our country proud and she showed that again in spades on Monday night.

I was never in the Hillary camp during the primaries, but last night I sincerely saw why she has so many supporters. She did our party proud and made some very salient points. I was very impressed with her speech last night, and she made just the point that she needed to make. It's not about the people, it's about the issues. And if you supported Hillary, then you supported her issues. A supporter of hers voting for McCain is truly an insult to her and everything she stands for because his position on the issues is in direct opposition of what she has fought for all her life. The best way to honor her, is to vote for Obama, pure and simple!

I believe one of the greatest challenges facing us is the global climate crisis. Hillary, Barack, and the rest of the Dem's are keenly aware of this issue and I believe have the better ideas for solving it. I read a Thomas Friedman article recently that says it much better than I. Have a look - he says it much better than I. Let me know what you think - I'm interested in your opinions!!! In the meantime, you'll find me in front of MSNBC on the boob-toob!!!