Reaching a Milestone

On Monday July 7th I will reach a milestone within my PhD program - I will defend my dissertation proposal.

You have no idea how excited I am to reach this stage and how scaringly close I came to not reaching it at all.

Keep you posted.

Father's Day

It's been two years. It only seems like yesterday when I wished him a Happy Father's Day and he answered:

"you called me so it already is a happier day"

That was Papi, happy with the simple things in life. I learned much from Papi, that money was not happiness, that you need a strong work ethic, and through his mistakes, that work should never come before your family. Yet at the same time, you have to make your time count.

I still struggle with Papi's absence, time passes but it takes a lot longer for you to heal. After all there is a void that just simply cannot be filled.

So today as I look up to the heavens to wish Papi a Happy Father's Day, for all you fathers out there, and all of you with your father still with us - please please enjoy this Father's Day. And remember Father's Day is just as important as Mother's Day.

Election 2008

Well the Democratic primaries are finally over; sadly the party didn't implode. However, I do celebrate the first Black candidate - whether you like or hate the guy he has accomplished history. Hooray for us; it remains to be seen if the US is ready to elect a Black president.

Pundits have been abuzz everywhere with VP talks on both sides. They've shown us the lists, and the pros and cons of each. We anxiously await these announcements to see if our candidates benefit or not.

A major issue still is Hill - what will she do? Will she be the VP? Will Obama ask her? My dem friends actually believe it would be counter productive for Obama to select her for the VP. Why? They believe Obama would lose the independents and "republicans" he has attracted as Hill's presence would undermine his "change" paradigm. She's not new; she's politically mature; she's part of the Clintons therefore there is no change.

There is some truth to that. However, after last night's speech in which she did not concede, people are wondering what her next steps are. I found the following comment intriguing:

Senator Clinton: Please tell us that you are not considering an independent candidacy during the general election. This would be a loser for the Democratic party. The party is poised to win super majority in both houses of Congress. You can help insure this or destroy it. Most importantly your independent candidacy would insure victory for John McCain; a loss for America

Robert Moleski (Sent Wednesday, June 04, 2008 9:39 AM)

Isn't that interesting? Let me be clear, I do not put this past her; but I don't think the party will allow this and if she even thinks about it she would be under great pressure to not do this. Wouldn't that be fun though? A four candidate ballot?

My own conspiracy theory on this goes a bit too far. Humor me. There is been some talk that McCain should promise to only run for one term. There has also been some talk that he should reach across party lines for a VP to garner some more votes (if Obama truly stood for change, he should be the one reaching across party lines for a VP). If to that you add the praises Hill has been singing to McCain and vice versa - would it be too farfetched to think of a McCain-Clinton ticket? What would that do to the electorate, the Democrats and Republicans?

If you have an overactive imagination like me, these elections stand to be a lot of fun as long as no formal decisions are made. Speculating can lead you to quite the history making tickets and ballots.