Beberapa hari lalu, saya menonton An Inconvenient Truth-nya Al Gore.  Berbagai pemikiran datang selesai menonton filem tersebut dan sampailah saya pada suatu kesimpulan: untuk memaximalkan usaha saya dalam menghemat energi, saya harus berusaha sebaik-baiknya dalam melakukan sesuatu untuk meminimalisasi (terutama) pemakaian listrik dan segala hal yang terkait: termasuk mengubah waktu tidur dan bangun saya menjadi lebih cepat tiga jam dari sebelumnya, sebisa mungkin memakai sepeda dan bukannya motor, dan selalu membawa tas/ kantong saat akan bepergian (terutama) ke pusat perbelanjaan.  Juga termasuk mengubah prinsip bekerja saya: *ehem* dari menunda pekerjaan yang bisa dilakukan esok hari menjadi menyelesaikan apa yang bisa diselesaikan hari ini, untuk menghemat waktu lembur yang berarti mengurangi jumlah pemakaian komputer, listrik dan AC secara signifikan.

Ini bukan hal yang mudah, terutama bagian bangun tidurnya…. dan kerjanya juga.  But oh well, saya akan berusaha dulu deh.

Dan entah bagaimana, semangat berusaha semampunya ini menyebar ke seluruh bagian pikiran, jiwa dan raga saya *lebay *  Kemarin, saat saya akan membuat komik baru karena merasa bosan, saya langsung bertekad untuk membuat komik itu dengan seluruh usaha saya, dan bukannya sekedar “yang penting jadi” seperti biasa, padahal rencana setting pada komik tersebut jauh di luar kemampuan menggambar saya saat ini… hmm yah wes lah coba dulu.

The time has come for me to give the best of my life.  To make it really full..est.

Waktu saya SMU, saya termasuk yang cepat puas dan menyederhanakan segala hal.  “Yang penting lulus” begitu pikiran saya terpola.  Nilai saya selalu pas-pasan.  Pas-pasan tidak kena ulangan perbaikan (tapi kadang-kadang kena juga sih).  Kalau lagi ulangan umum, target nilai saya hanya enam, karena itu nilai minimal untuk bisa lulus.  Dan kebanyakan, sekitar itu pula yang saya dapat.

Beranjak kuliah, hal ini tidak berubah.  Saya masih berusaha mendapatkan nilai… lima kali ini.  Atau nilai minimal yang setara dengan C.  Termasuk saat membuat skripsi, saya hanya berharap bisa lulus saja, bahkan tanpa target nilai.  Sementara teman saya yang dapet A minus sampai menangis tersedu-sedu.. bukan karena terharu dapat nilai A minus, tapi karena tidak puas dan kemudian dia mengikuti ujian skripsi ulang demi mendapat nilai A bulat.

Sekarang saya sudah bekerja, pola pikir ini sedikit termodifikasi.  “Yang penting pas Bos inspeksi, udah ngerjain”.  Kebetulan di kantor saya tidak ada jenjang karir etc dan penghargaan kerajinan diberikan dalam bentuk kenaikan gaji saja.  Sebagai manusia yang menempatkan uang di urutan … mungkin belasan, saya jadi tidak punya motivasi untuk bekerja rajin.  Kecuali ada deadline atau kalau suatu ketika saya muak dengan kerjaan yang menumpuk.

Kemarin, saat saya sedang bengong, tiba-tiba saja sebuah kalimat yang juga menjadi salah satu judul Avril Lavigne melintas: “I can do better.”

Saya seperti disentil.  Saya mengingat-ingat kembali setiap lembaran karya yang sudah saya hasilkan berikut proses pengerjaannya.  Dalam segala bidang, saya baru menyadari bahwa saya melakukan apa yang sudah saya lakukan, demi memuaskan keinginan saya sendiri atau agar suatu hal cepat berakhir.

Awal tahun ini, saya berhasil menyelesaikan komik pendek 4 halaman pertama saya.  Bukan main senangnya saya.  Ini adalah sebuah perjuangan karena sebelumnya, jangankan menyelesaikan, bahkan sering kali ide hanya melayang dalam kepala tanpa sempat dituangkan dalam tulisan, apalagi dalam bentuk gambar, terlebih dalam bentuk komik jadi.  Merasa bangga, senang dan bersemangat, dua komik pendek lain menyusul.  Disusul dua lagi awal bulan ini. Saya tidak akan lupa bagaimana saya saat mengerjakan semua itu.  Saya hanya ingin cepat-cepat menghasilkan karya.  Dan saat selesai, saya merasa puas.  Sampai dengan kemarin, saya mengira saya puas dengan hasilnya, tapi sebenarnya, sekarang saya sadar, saya puas dengan kemampuan saya untuk menyelesaikannya, bukan dengan hasil dari komik itu, karena sekarang saya tahu saya bisa membuat yang jauh lebih baik sekali dari yang sudah saya hasilkan.

Tahun lalu, saya sedang giat-giatnya menulis cerita.  Cerita terpanjang saya berkisar… 50 halaman.  Ini rekor tersendiri yang membuat saya puas.  Tapi lagi-lagi, saya teringat bagaimana saya menyelesaikan cerita 50 halaman itu dengan kasar.  Cerita itu seharusnya belum selesai sampai di sana.  Saya memaksa mengakhirinya karena merasa bosan.  Tidak salah memang, tapi lagi-lagi, saya tahu saya bisa menyelesaikannya dengan lebih baik.  Jauh lebih baik.

Ada yang bilang: kesadaran adalah langkah awal menuju perubahan.  Dan sekarang saya sudah sadar, saya justru ragu, haruskah saya mulai berubah?

Jujur saja, saya merasa mengeluarkan segenap kemampuan itu merepotkan dan memakan waktu.  Saya menghubungkannya dengan hasil karya saya.  Misalkan saya mau membuat sebuah gambar illustrasi tentang dua orang menonton ledakan.  Saya bisa saja menyelesaikan illustrasi ini kurang dari 20 menit: hanya menggambar dua orang tersebut dan efek ledakan.  Tapi kalau saya ingin mengeluarkan yang terbaik dari saya, maka saya harus memikirkan cara menggambar dari sudut pandang ini, gambar bangunan/ lokasi setelah terkena ledakan, etc etc yang belum saya kuasai tapi bisa saya usahakan, dan itu akan memakan waktu… mungkin 3×24 jam paling cepat untuk menyelesaikannya.

Waktu adalah sesuatu yang sangat-sangat-sangat saya hargai, karena itu saya berusaha memanfaatkannya seefisien dan seefektif mungkin.  Tujuan utama saya menghasilkan sebuah karya (sampai saat ini dan dalam waktu dekat) hanya untuk merealisasikan ide-ide yang bertumpuk di kepala saya, jadi sebenarnya saya tidak keberatan dengan hasil seadanya yang sudah saya selesaikan.  Hanya saja, karena (sekarang) saya (sudah) sadar kemampuan saya jauh lebih mahir dari yang saya kira, saya jadi merasa… bersalah pada diri saya sendiri, karena tidak memaximalkan potensinya.  Ada perasaan sayang dengan keseriusan-kemahiran yang saya miliki kalau tidak digunakan…

… *jadi binun* ….

Oh well, saat saatnya tiba, saya akan tahu apa yang harus saya lakukan.  Have a nice weekend

Ouai.

J’avais pas franchement l’habitude des partiels en octobre. Alors j’ai révisé comme un perdu, parce que moi, quand tu me dis partiels, je pense à dissertations de la mort, révisions jusqu’à 2h du mat’, 70 pages/cours, grosse pression, micro-sujets pour méga-copies, semestre ou pas semestre et tout ça.

Et on peut pas dire que Sciences Pipo nous mette pas la pression. Genre faut remplir un contrat jurant sur tes deux yeux que tu vas bien aller en cours et que tu vas pas sécher comme un perdu. De ce côté là, t’inquiètes pas, j’ai 12 heures de cours par semaine… alors sécher, ce serait juste scandaleux. Et puis c’est pas comme si j’étais complètement fan de mes cours non plus. Dans le contrat, on te fait très très peur en te disant que si tu échoues aux examens, tu vas devoir repasser un semestre de 3ème année à Sciences Pipo ou faire un stage de deux mois l’été. Je suis déjà terrorisé tiens. Enfin, faut pas trop que je plaisante avec ce genre de choses, je pourrais me retrouver dans une situation fort désobligeante si je me retrouvais en troisième année au début de feu ce qui aurait du être une quatrième année…

Donc oui, j’avais révisé comme un malade… appris tous les plans de mes cours, fait des recherches sur le Nain Ternet pour approfondir la psychocrimino, relu le merveilleux bouquin de Bernadette Sürig, appris par coeur le magasine Faits Divers (non je déconne, y’a des limites), relu des passages de Freud, regardé deux saisons de Oz (parce que c’est toujours mieux que Prison Break si tu veux étudier un peu de sociocarcérale…). Enfin j’avais fait un peu de zèle.

J’ai été vachement déçu.

Ouai.

J’ai eu de tout sauf de la disserte. J’ai eu des questions à court développement, des QCM, des études de textes, des questions de cours. Mais pas de disserte. Je vais pas dire que ça m’a manqué, mais bon. Dans un sens, c’est vachement bien parce que ça t’oblige à assimiler la totalité de ton cours et de comprendre tous les petits phénomènes que tu as étudié dans leur totalité. Dans l’autre sens, c’est très bizarre, parce que t’as pas vraiment l’impression de réfléchir quand tu réponds aux questions ou que tu fais des croix dans des cases. T’as juste à apprendre ton cours sur le bout des doigts et ça donne l’impression de passer. C’est pourquoi je pense qu’il y a baleine sous gravillons. Je vais sûrement pas m’en tirer aussi bien que je le pense.

Les résultats dans un épisode prochain.

bien à toi,

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

There's nothing quite like putting lipstick on an identity crisis.

Sarah Palin declared more than her independence from the GOP establishment with her endorsement of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman Thursday night. (That didn't need much more formality, anyway.)

Palin also escalated the war inside the Republican Party — ratcheting up the battle that's been brewing (like so much tea) virtually since President Obama's inauguration.

And if there's a Republican who commands a bigger army at this moment in American politics, name her or him.

“Political parties must stand for something,” Palin wrote on her Facebook page — naturally. “Republicans and conservatives around the country are sending an important message to the Republican establishment in their outstanding grassroots support for Doug Hoffman: no more politics as usual.”

Palin's decision to take sides, and to take the particular side of a conservative locked in a long-shot battle for ideological purity, crystallizes the debate about the future of the GOP.

It ensures that a race for an open House seat in upstate New York is going to be viewed through a prism of tea parties, Glenn Beck, and ideological purity. Two of the highest-profile races on the ballot Nov. 3 feature right-leaning third-party candidates — vessels for the anger that's been percolating all year.

And it all could begin to shape the early 2012 field, with would-be candidates who'd rather sit this battle out under pressure to declare sides.

So this is what going rogue is all about — and it's going to be interesting.

“Her action increased the race's profile as a national test between the GOP establishment and the conservative base,” the Washington Times' Amanda Carpenter writes.

“The New York race is a microcosm of the dilemma faced by parties out of power: How much purity should you insist on from your members?”ABC's Teddy Davis reports. “The Republican that Palin has passed over supports abortion rights, same-sex marriage and legislation that would make union organizing easier. In backing the Conservative Party candidate, Palin finds herself in the company of many TEA party activists, plus former House Republican Leader Dick Armey of Texas.”

Game on: “Tea party activists from across the nation are rallying around the House special election in upstate New York, viewing it as the first electoral test of the nascent conservative movement's political muscle,” Politico's Alex Isenstadt reports.

In the other corner… Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: “The choice in New York is a practical one,” Gingrich writes in endorsing Republican Dede Scozzafava. “My number one interest in the 2009 elections is to build a Republican majority. If your interest is taking power back from the Left, and your interest is winning the necessary elections, then there are times when you have to put together a coalition that has disagreement within it.”

Can Democrats pick up the GOP's pieces? From a memo going out to Democratic House members Friday, from DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen: “This race presents a unique opportunity for Democrats in a conservative-leaning Republican open seat. NY-23 has not been represented by a Democrat in nearly 120 years (since 1890).”

And: “The 2010 election is not and will not be 1994,” Van Hollen writes.

But the 2009 elections may remind you of 1992. The Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib: “There is an important contest under way that will test how the rising ‘pox on both your houses' thinking can affect real-life outcomes. It's next month's governor's election in New Jersey, where the notably unpopular Democratic incumbent, Jon Corzine, could win re-election because so many people are choosing not to vote for his notably unpopular Republican foe, Chris Christie, but instead for independent candidate Chris Daggett.”

If this is Round One… “[The] divide isn't likely to go away no matter who wins in New York's 23rd in 11 days,” Washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza writes. “The head versus heart dynamic is already shaping up in Florida's Senate primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio.”

Speaking of intra-party warfare… This is breaking four days before President Obama campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia:

“Senior administration officials have expressed frustration with how Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has handled his campaign for governor, refusing early offers of strategic advice and failing to reach out to several key constituencies that helped Obama win Virginia in 2008, they say,” Rosalind S. Helderman and Anne E. Kornblut writes in The Washington Post. “A senior administration official said Deeds badly erred on several fronts, including not doing a better job of coordinating with the White House.”

Said a senior administration official: “Obama, Kaine and others had drawn a road map to victory in Virginia. Deeds chose another path.”

The long knife: “Privately, administration officials said they see almost no way for Deeds to win on Nov. 3,” Helderman and Kornblut write.

(Do you need another example of the Obama political operation's willingness to cut off body parts that aren't operating at full capacity? And if the president apologized to Gov. David Paterson, D-N.Y., for trying to strong-arm him out of a race, how does he explain to Deeds why his people are giving up for him 10 days before Election Day?)

And wouldn't you know — the GOP isn't the only party undergoing something of a battle for its soul.

For Democrats, the fight is going on inside the halls of Congress. The latest salvo: The public option is back — take cover in the middle.

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leaning toward including the creation of a new government-run insurance program — the so-called public option — in the health care reform bill he will bring to the full Senate in the coming weeks,” per ABC's Jonathan Karl, who was first out of the box with the news. “Democratic sources tell me that Reid – after a series of meetings with Democratic moderates – has concluded he can pass a bill with a public option.”

On “Good Morning America” Friday, Karl called it a “dramatic development”: “Reid's actions mean that this idea of creating a new government-run insurance program is now once again front-and-center in the Senate. . . . It looks like there will be no Republican support for this.”

Reid “is taking a calculated gamble that the 60 members of his caucus could support the plan if it included a way for states to opt out,” Robert Pear and David M. Herszenhorn write in The New York Times. “Mr. Reid met with President Obama at the White House Thursday to inform him of his inclination to add the public option to the bill, but did not specifically ask the president to endorse that approach, a Democratic aide said. Mr. Obama asked questions, but did not express a preference at the meeting, a White House official said.” (He “did not express a preference”?)

A senior Democratic aide: “There is a growing sense that we need to lead on this issue and not wait for it to be offered on the Senate floor. . . . The idea is that it's better to show some fight.”

It's looking like a public option with a state-level opt-out (and if this comes together, does Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., get some kind of trophy?).

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.: “I keep hearing there is a lot of leaning toward some sort of national public option, unfortunately, from my standpoint,” Nelson said, per the AP's David Espo.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: “A public option at the forefront really does put the government in a disproportionate position with respect to the industry,” Snowe said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

Over on the other side — under $900 billion: “House Democrats are coalescing around an $871 billion health-care package that would create a government-run insurance plan to help millions of Americans afford coverage, raise taxes on the nation's richest families and impose an array of new regulations on private insurers, in part by stripping the industry of its long-standing exemption from federal antitrust laws,” Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray write in The Washington Post.

Maybe not so robust, however: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) drive for a public option in healthcare reform ran into turbulence Thursday when a survey of her caucus showed she needs more votes to pass such a bill,” The Hill's Mike Soragham writes. “The survey ordered by Pelosi turned up 46 Democrats who said they would vote against the so-called ‘robust' public option, according to a Democratic lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

There's endorsements, and then there are steps too far: “President Obama will travel Friday to Massachusetts, one of only two states to implement a universal health-care program similar to his ambitions for the entire country. But he does not plan to use the trip to make his case for far-reaching reform; he will tout clean energy and raise money for the Democratic governor,” Ceci Connolly writes in The Washington Post.

The president raises money for two New England friends Friday: Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., both get a presidential visit, after a clean-energy event at MIT.

Cue the populist rage: “Citigroup Inc., which has yet to repay $45 billion in federal assistance, has more lobbyists than any other company who registered to try to shape legislation regulating the financial industry, U.S. Senate records show,” Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O'Leary report. “The New York-based bank, 34 percent-owned by the U.S. government, is listed as a client by 46 of the 1,537 lobbyists who filed with Congress to work on President Barack Obama's push for rules to limit financial risks and impose stricter consumer protections.”

Getting in front: “You would hope after American taxpayers stepped in to save these companies from a disaster of their own making they would be deploying their army of lobbyists to strengthen and not thwart financial reform,” senior Obama adviser David Axelrod tells Bloomberg.

More populism: “I just don't buy this, these brilliant minds out there that went to Harvard Business School are making the world safe for democracy, no they're not,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said on ABCNews.com's “Top Line” Thursday. “They're making the world safe for themselves, but they're not helping the economy.”

Is the recession over? In the new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 82 percent say it isn't. 82 percent.

“That marks more than the disconnect between definitions of recession; it also points to the land mines that pockmark the political landscape, threatening potential woe to President Obama in particular and incumbent office-holders in general. Claims of a recovery that few people feel are fraught with the taint of disconnect,” ABC Polling Director Gary Langer writes.

Accountability: “President Obama, in office a month longer than Bush was when 9/11 hit, now owns his presidency,” Peggy Noonan writes in her Wall Street Journal column. “Does he know it? He too stands on rubble, figuratively speaking — a collapsed economy, high and growing unemployment, two wars. Everyone knows what he's standing on. You can almost see the smoke rising around him. He's got a bullhorn in his hand every day.”

The next chapter in the wars with former Vice President Dick Cheney — and the headline Friday is that the White House is firing back, again.

“What Vice President Cheney calls ‘dithering,' ” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, “President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public. I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously.”

“Even more curious,” Gibbs said, “given the fact that an increase in troops [for Afghanistan] sat on desks in this White House, including the vice president's, for more than eight months.”

ABC's Jake Tapper checks that fact: “It's a bit more nuanced than that. The troop requests to which Gibbs referred were made by then-Gen. David McKiernan. McKiernan started off making individual requests for brigades, and that list kept growing. Officials from that time say that demands in Iraq prevented the Bush administration from fulfilling the requests until just before Bush left office. (Prioritizing troops to Iraq over those to Afghanistan is, of course, a choice.)”

Why the White House wants this fight: “Cheney lecturing Obama on Afghanistan is laughable, but the joke is on him. The ex-veep may not realize this, but he and his former boss exited office as profoundly unpopular men,” David Corn writes for Politics Daily.

No more lockouts — but the Countrywide battle heats up, with two Democrats now supporting GOP efforts to widen the investigation. ABC's Matthew Jaffe: “Rep. Paul Hodes, D-NH, and Rep. Mike Quigley, D-IL, wrote to House Oversight & Government Reform committee chairman Ed Towns, D-NY, and Darrell Issa, R-CA, informing the panel chiefs of their desire to issue a subpoena.”

Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., held his first PAC fundraiser in Washington Thursday night.

Politico's Jonathan Martin: “Pawlenty's appearance attracted a significant number of staffers from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign last year, some of whom have fond memories of the governor's time as a loyal surrogate for the Arizonan during the primary and general election. Also present were scores of aides from Hill offices, some of them still sporting their badges, as well as operatives from the RNC, NRSC and NRCC – many of whom are interested in working on a White House campaign and wanted to see the man who is emerging as the chief establishment alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.”

Said Pawlenty: “We don't have a big enough party to be throwing people overboard.” (Did Sarah Palin hear that?)

(Pawlenty will be a guest on ABCNews.com's “Top Line” Friday, airing at noon ET.)

The Kicker:

“We want to make sure that when we do our 'Kumbaya' moment, that we're all there.” — Rep. John Larson, D-Conn, not singing yet.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note's blog . . . all day every day:

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

There's nothing quite like putting lipstick on an identity crisis.

Sarah Palin declared more than her independence from the GOP establishment with her endorsement of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman Thursday night. (That didn't need much more formality, anyway.)

Palin also escalated the war inside the Republican Party — ratcheting up the battle that's been brewing (like so much tea) virtually since President Obama's inauguration.

And if there's a Republican who commands a bigger army at this moment in American politics, name her or him.

“Political parties must stand for something,” Palin wrote on her Facebook page — naturally. “Republicans and conservatives around the country are sending an important message to the Republican establishment in their outstanding grassroots support for Doug Hoffman: no more politics as usual.”

Palin's decision to take sides, and to take the particular side of a conservative locked in a long-shot battle for ideological purity, crystallizes the debate about the future of the GOP.

It ensures that a race for an open House seat in upstate New York is going to be viewed through a prism of tea parties, Glenn Beck, and ideological purity. Two of the highest-profile races on the ballot Nov. 3 feature right-leaning third-party candidates — vessels for the anger that's been percolating all year.

And it all could begin to shape the early 2012 field, with would-be candidates who'd rather sit this battle out under pressure to declare sides.

So this is what going rogue is all about — and it's going to be interesting.

“Her action increased the race's profile as a national test between the GOP establishment and the conservative base,” the Washington Times' Amanda Carpenter writes.

“The New York race is a microcosm of the dilemma faced by parties out of power: How much purity should you insist on from your members?”ABC's Teddy Davis reports. “The Republican that Palin has passed over supports abortion rights, same-sex marriage and legislation that would make union organizing easier. In backing the Conservative Party candidate, Palin finds herself in the company of many TEA party activists, plus former House Republican Leader Dick Armey of Texas.”

Game on: “Tea party activists from across the nation are rallying around the House special election in upstate New York, viewing it as the first electoral test of the nascent conservative movement's political muscle,” Politico's Alex Isenstadt reports.

In the other corner… Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: “The choice in New York is a practical one,” Gingrich writes in endorsing Republican Dede Scozzafava. “My number one interest in the 2009 elections is to build a Republican majority. If your interest is taking power back from the Left, and your interest is winning the necessary elections, then there are times when you have to put together a coalition that has disagreement within it.”

Can Democrats pick up the GOP's pieces? From a memo going out to Democratic House members Friday, from DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen: “This race presents a unique opportunity for Democrats in a conservative-leaning Republican open seat. NY-23 has not been represented by a Democrat in nearly 120 years (since 1890).”

And: “The 2010 election is not and will not be 1994,” Van Hollen writes.

But the 2009 elections may remind you of 1992. The Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib: “There is an important contest under way that will test how the rising ‘pox on both your houses' thinking can affect real-life outcomes. It's next month's governor's election in New Jersey, where the notably unpopular Democratic incumbent, Jon Corzine, could win re-election because so many people are choosing not to vote for his notably unpopular Republican foe, Chris Christie, but instead for independent candidate Chris Daggett.”

If this is Round One… “[The] divide isn't likely to go away no matter who wins in New York's 23rd in 11 days,” Washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza writes. “The head versus heart dynamic is already shaping up in Florida's Senate primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio.”

Speaking of intra-party warfare… This is breaking four days before President Obama campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia:

“Senior administration officials have expressed frustration with how Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has handled his campaign for governor, refusing early offers of strategic advice and failing to reach out to several key constituencies that helped Obama win Virginia in 2008, they say,” Rosalind S. Helderman and Anne E. Kornblut writes in The Washington Post. “A senior administration official said Deeds badly erred on several fronts, including not doing a better job of coordinating with the White House.”

Said a senior administration official: “Obama, Kaine and others had drawn a road map to victory in Virginia. Deeds chose another path.”

The long knife: “Privately, administration officials said they see almost no way for Deeds to win on Nov. 3,” Helderman and Kornblut write.

(Do you need another example of the Obama political operation's willingness to cut off body parts that aren't operating at full capacity? And if the president apologized to Gov. David Paterson, D-N.Y., for trying to strong-arm him out of a race, how does he explain to Deeds why his people are giving up for him 10 days before Election Day?)

And wouldn't you know — the GOP isn't the only party undergoing something of a battle for its soul.

For Democrats, the fight is going on inside the halls of Congress. The latest salvo: The public option is back — take cover in the middle.

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leaning toward including the creation of a new government-run insurance program — the so-called public option — in the health care reform bill he will bring to the full Senate in the coming weeks,” per ABC's Jonathan Karl, who was first out of the box with the news. “Democratic sources tell me that Reid – after a series of meetings with Democratic moderates – has concluded he can pass a bill with a public option.”

On “Good Morning America” Friday, Karl called it a “dramatic development”: “Reid's actions mean that this idea of creating a new government-run insurance program is now once again front-and-center in the Senate. . . . It looks like there will be no Republican support for this.”

Reid “is taking a calculated gamble that the 60 members of his caucus could support the plan if it included a way for states to opt out,” Robert Pear and David M. Herszenhorn write in The New York Times. “Mr. Reid met with President Obama at the White House Thursday to inform him of his inclination to add the public option to the bill, but did not specifically ask the president to endorse that approach, a Democratic aide said. Mr. Obama asked questions, but did not express a preference at the meeting, a White House official said.” (He “did not express a preference”?)

A senior Democratic aide: “There is a growing sense that we need to lead on this issue and not wait for it to be offered on the Senate floor. . . . The idea is that it's better to show some fight.”

It's looking like a public option with a state-level opt-out (and if this comes together, does Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., get some kind of trophy?).

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.: “I keep hearing there is a lot of leaning toward some sort of national public option, unfortunately, from my standpoint,” Nelson said, per the AP's David Espo.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: “A public option at the forefront really does put the government in a disproportionate position with respect to the industry,” Snowe said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

Over on the other side — under $900 billion: “House Democrats are coalescing around an $871 billion health-care package that would create a government-run insurance plan to help millions of Americans afford coverage, raise taxes on the nation's richest families and impose an array of new regulations on private insurers, in part by stripping the industry of its long-standing exemption from federal antitrust laws,” Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray write in The Washington Post.

Maybe not so robust, however: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) drive for a public option in healthcare reform ran into turbulence Thursday when a survey of her caucus showed she needs more votes to pass such a bill,” The Hill's Mike Soragham writes. “The survey ordered by Pelosi turned up 46 Democrats who said they would vote against the so-called ‘robust' public option, according to a Democratic lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

There's endorsements, and then there are steps too far: “President Obama will travel Friday to Massachusetts, one of only two states to implement a universal health-care program similar to his ambitions for the entire country. But he does not plan to use the trip to make his case for far-reaching reform; he will tout clean energy and raise money for the Democratic governor,” Ceci Connolly writes in The Washington Post.

The president raises money for two New England friends Friday: Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., both get a presidential visit, after a clean-energy event at MIT.

Cue the populist rage: “Citigroup Inc., which has yet to repay $45 billion in federal assistance, has more lobbyists than any other company who registered to try to shape legislation regulating the financial industry, U.S. Senate records show,” Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O'Leary report. “The New York-based bank, 34 percent-owned by the U.S. government, is listed as a client by 46 of the 1,537 lobbyists who filed with Congress to work on President Barack Obama's push for rules to limit financial risks and impose stricter consumer protections.”

Getting in front: “You would hope after American taxpayers stepped in to save these companies from a disaster of their own making they would be deploying their army of lobbyists to strengthen and not thwart financial reform,” senior Obama adviser David Axelrod tells Bloomberg.

More populism: “I just don't buy this, these brilliant minds out there that went to Harvard Business School are making the world safe for democracy, no they're not,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said on ABCNews.com's “Top Line” Thursday. “They're making the world safe for themselves, but they're not helping the economy.”

Is the recession over? In the new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 82 percent say it isn't. 82 percent.

“That marks more than the disconnect between definitions of recession; it also points to the land mines that pockmark the political landscape, threatening potential woe to President Obama in particular and incumbent office-holders in general. Claims of a recovery that few people feel are fraught with the taint of disconnect,” ABC Polling Director Gary Langer writes.

Accountability: “President Obama, in office a month longer than Bush was when 9/11 hit, now owns his presidency,” Peggy Noonan writes in her Wall Street Journal column. “Does he know it? He too stands on rubble, figuratively speaking — a collapsed economy, high and growing unemployment, two wars. Everyone knows what he's standing on. You can almost see the smoke rising around him. He's got a bullhorn in his hand every day.”

The next chapter in the wars with former Vice President Dick Cheney — and the headline Friday is that the White House is firing back, again.

“What Vice President Cheney calls ‘dithering,' ” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, “President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public. I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously.”

“Even more curious,” Gibbs said, “given the fact that an increase in troops [for Afghanistan] sat on desks in this White House, including the vice president's, for more than eight months.”

ABC's Jake Tapper checks that fact: “It's a bit more nuanced than that. The troop requests to which Gibbs referred were made by then-Gen. David McKiernan. McKiernan started off making individual requests for brigades, and that list kept growing. Officials from that time say that demands in Iraq prevented the Bush administration from fulfilling the requests until just before Bush left office. (Prioritizing troops to Iraq over those to Afghanistan is, of course, a choice.)”

Why the White House wants this fight: “Cheney lecturing Obama on Afghanistan is laughable, but the joke is on him. The ex-veep may not realize this, but he and his former boss exited office as profoundly unpopular men,” David Corn writes for Politics Daily.

No more lockouts — but the Countrywide battle heats up, with two Democrats now supporting GOP efforts to widen the investigation. ABC's Matthew Jaffe: “Rep. Paul Hodes, D-NH, and Rep. Mike Quigley, D-IL, wrote to House Oversight & Government Reform committee chairman Ed Towns, D-NY, and Darrell Issa, R-CA, informing the panel chiefs of their desire to issue a subpoena.”

Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., held his first PAC fundraiser in Washington Thursday night.

Politico's Jonathan Martin: “Pawlenty's appearance attracted a significant number of staffers from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign last year, some of whom have fond memories of the governor's time as a loyal surrogate for the Arizonan during the primary and general election. Also present were scores of aides from Hill offices, some of them still sporting their badges, as well as operatives from the RNC, NRSC and NRCC – many of whom are interested in working on a White House campaign and wanted to see the man who is emerging as the chief establishment alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.”

Said Pawlenty: “We don't have a big enough party to be throwing people overboard.” (Did Sarah Palin hear that?)

(Pawlenty will be a guest on ABCNews.com's “Top Line” Friday, airing at noon ET.)

The Kicker:

“We want to make sure that when we do our 'Kumbaya' moment, that we're all there.” — Rep. John Larson, D-Conn, not singing yet.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note's blog . . . all day every day:

Last weekend my fiancé took me to my birthday gift – a weekend trip to Lago Maggiore! It was amazing. Believe it or not, I have never seen any of the lakes before so this was a completely new experience for me and it was a wonderful one too.

After a two hour drive and a close call with rain, we got to Intra and got lost trying to find our B&B. After asking multiple people we found the B&B and checked in. It is a cute little place tucked in between the trees and close to a little brook, which gurgled all through the night and helped me sleep wonderfully.

After checking in, we ran to the Imbarcadero and jumped onto the ferry at the last second…and our exploration of the Isole Borromeo began. The Isole Borromeo are three islands that used to belong to the Borromeo family and have now become incredible tourist attractions.

Our first stop was Isola Madre – Mother Island – and mother she was – of botanical gardens. Poor Andrea suffered through my multiple ooos and ahhhhs for the entire day. The entire Isola Madre is a giant botanical garden, and must be visited in every season I think…spring, summer and fall (all the islands “close” in October) each season has its flowers. I was in hibiscus season…there were so many different colours and sizes. There was also an aviary with a lot of different types of birds, including peacocks and golden pheasants. The villa itself was beautiful, and there was this one room with vines painted all along the walls (it’s a shame that no photos were allowed ).

We then took the ferry to Isola Bella, another lovely place, with a small town surrounding the villa (much more majestic than the one on Isola Madre). We explored the villa, which at first seemed like one of the many villas of the Italian nobility: rich, majestic, more or less the same….until we got to the “basement”. It had a whole “under the sea” theme and the walls were made to look like you were in a sea cavern. Absolutely amazing!

This “basement” then opened out to the garden, which continued the under-the-sea theme. Here too were many white peacocks; these ones were more domesticated than the ones on Isola Madre, so much so that they even begged for food!

Our next stop was Isola dei Pescatori, which as its name suggests was an island of fishermen, and as such had lots of little houses all stacked on top of each other, and CATS! Lots of cats, one in particular happened to fall in love with Andrea, and spent over half an hour being pet by him.

After our mini exploration of the island, we took the last ferry back to the mainland and sought out a place for dinner. Wandering the vicoli, we found a small Osteria, and stuffed ourselves with lake fish and the mysterious sorbet flambé. Yum!

The next morning saw us in Stresa and Villa Pallavicino – another Villa turned….zoo! yes! It was chock full of interesting animals like Tibetan goats, lopopu (bird), llamas, fallow deer, Nandù, beavers(!!!), prarie dogs, birds of about a million different types, zebras and much more (including copulating dragonflies…I kid you not, I guess it was the season!).

All in all a wonderful experience, with wonderful weather, and especially wonderful company!

Tomorrow is the big day, although the luster and excitement has worn off a bit by now on this third go around. I am feeling tender and bloated and I know this is only the beginning of a very long, bloated two week wait. Bring it on IUI #3!

Tomorrow is going to be a stressful day. The IUI is first thing in the morning, and then I have to head straight to an all-day meeting. And to add stress to the situation, I have to join my meeting mates for drinks and dinner. This means I have to be with these people for 10 straight hours! In close quarters! And I have to be “on” the entire time, including through dinner. I love my job and I love what I do, but tomorrow I was hoping I could “call in sick” and relax at home with my hubby. Oh well, it will keep my mind off of things I suppose.

I’ve been doing a great job of avoiding my coworkers and their invitations for drinks in previous two week waits* but tomorrow is going to be difficult. They all know I enjoy the heck outta some wine or champagne so it’s going to be tough to explain why I’m not indulging. Any suggestions ICLWers? I’m contemplating just saying I’m on a diet and I’m watching my calorie intake. Hmm. A little white lie never hurt anyone, right?

If you were going to wish me luck, please put all the luck giving toward my IUI. I need all I can get. I can handle the coworkers!

*Yes, I have a glass of wine here and there up to ovulation but then I stop. I tried cutting out caffeine and alcohol and eating healthy and all that jazz for the first 12 months of TTC. It didn’t get me anywhere so I say, screw it! I do what makes me happy. A happy me makes for a comfy-er womb, right? Besides, Betty Draper drinks and smokes and she’s pregnant and she had a healthy baby! (Just getting caught up on Mad Men!)

stiaţi că
în fum pot exista poiene pline cu îngeri
sau maşini zburătoare
oameni care dau cu foc din ochi
sau copaci şi lucruri vorbitoare

în fum se petrec multe
de exemplu poţi pierde ora de la şcoala
poţi sa uiţi că tata i-a cerut timpului să nu mai fumeze
la tine in cameră

şi aşa mai departe

astăzi când am intrat pe la 1 în cameră am simţit că mă înec.
nu ştiu de ce am o impresie aşa de vagă
că timpul iar nu l-a ascultat pe tata.

Uusi SharePoint 2010 julkaistaan lokakuussa.
SharePoint 2010 tuo mukanaan paljon uusia toimintoja, jotka parantavat ryhmätyötä ja tiedonjakamista. Vanhoja toimintoja on parannettu asiakastoivomuksien mukaan ja SharePoint 2010:stä on tullut vieläkin toimivampi ratkaisu kaikenkokoisiin yrityksiin ja organisaatioihin.

Seminaarin asiantuntijana toimii Pauli Sarkia Tieturilta.
28.10.2009, Royal at Crowne Plaza

Lue lisää, tutustu ohjelmaan ja ilmoittaudu mukaan www.tieturi.fi/seminaarit

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Seguimos con un nuevo capítulo de la apasionante historia del Gran Poder.

“…El contenido mítico de la saga se anuda con justicia a la personalidad eminente del padre, el don Emilio por antonomasia, gran jugador en las mesas de juego de las finanzas y los negocios. Cuando hablamos de este «gran jugador» no lo hacemos en sentido metafórico. Ahora pretenden los hagiógrafos forjar una leyenda deslumbrante en torno a los antecedentes bancarios del actual presidente del Santander, y hablan de que es hijo, nieto y bisnieto de banqueros. Lo que no se corresponde con la realidad porque la historia financiera de la familia, sin duda brillante, lo que admitimos sin la menor reserva, empieza verdaderamente en el padre del que ahora es don Emilio. El abuelo y el bisabuelo, dos señores bienintencionados y anodinos, a buen seguro que no sabían distinguir una letra a la vista de otra a días o meses vista, y hay quienes tienen por cierto que les hubiese resultado imposible de todo punto liquidar una cuenta corriente por el método hamburgués. Don Emilio, el de verdad, el padre, era un joven santanderino de fina estampa sin oficio ni beneficio, el cual, hasta que entró en el banco llevado de la mano por su tío Marcelino, se dedicaba a desplumar a sus paisanos jugando admirablemente al póquer. Así lo contaba con gracia y gran lujo de detalles el que fue presidente de Informaciones, Víctor de la Serna, primogénito del gran escritor, una familia que mantuvo gran intimidad con los Botín. El banco se hallaba en una situación muy difícil, y el presidente, don Marcelino, sorprendió un buen día a los pocos consejeros que quedaban en la casa diciéndoles que, para arreglar las dificultades casi insalvables, había contratado a su sobrino Emilio como director. Obvio es decir que los demás administradores, espantados, dimitieron en el acto, ajenos a la optimista predicción del tío, que luego se cumplió en términos insospechados: desde ese mismo día Emilio Botín Sanz de Sautuola y López se dio de baja en todos los casinos y empezó a jugar a lo grande en otras mesas de juego mucho más apasionantes y provechosas: los consejos de administración de las múltiples sociedades que se ponían a tiro. Víctor de la Serna también contaba que acompañó con otros amigos a Emilio Botín a pasar unos días en Montecarlo, y todos entraron a probar fortuna en la ruleta, menos don Emilio, que se abstuvo de tentar a la suerte.

* Otro capítulo del que curiosamente nunca se han ocupado los medios de comunicación, lo que no deja de extrañarnos profundamente, es el relativo a la incursión periodística de don Emilio valiéndose de sus amigos Víctor y Jesús de la Serna. Se trataba de resucitar el viejo vespertino Informaciones, lo que se logró por la voluntad concertada de Emilio Botín, el marqués de Deleitosa, el conde de Cadagua y los Match, con lo que el periódico de la calle de San Roque volvió a salir a la luz. La acertada labor de su director, Jesús de la Serna, fue de singular eficacia, y en torno a él logró reunir a un plantel de periodistas que luego formaron la base profesional de El País. Pero a poco de comenzar su andadura, los banqueros, siempre divididos entre sí, nunca estaban de acuerdo sobre cualquier cosa que publicara el periódico, incluso la más nimia, y por supuesto se sucedieron también las presiones políticas, hasta desbordar incluso lo más ridículo que cabe imaginar: por ejemplo, el entonces ministro de Obras Públicas llegó a quejarse ante José María Aguirre Gonzalo de que en la primera página del periódico se había dado cuenta del descarrilamiento de un tren en el que murieron seis personas; para el ministro resultaba escandalosa la publicación de semejante noticia de modo tan destacado, ya que podían haberla reducido, según él, a un par de líneas en cualquier hoja par. Lo cierto es que ante las incertidumbres del cambio político, las desavenencias interbancarias subieron de punto y dejaron caer el periódico de la peor manera, sin preocuparse lo más mínimo del destino de la plantilla: así, a Víctor de la Serna, el gran amigo de los Botín, ni siquiera le concedieron cualquier indemnización por el despido. Insistimos en que nos sorprende el silencio de los medios sobre algo que les afecta de manera tan esencial; pero claro, se trata del Poder… No habíamos caído en la cuenta…”

Las fotos pertenecen al elegido como el mejor power point de 2008.

It is hard to believe that I have now been in Italy for one month.  The first week in Rome gave me just enough time to unpack most of my things and arrange my room…and then I was gone.  Now that I am wrapping up my language studies in Northern Italy, I am looking forward to returning to Rome in order to start feeling like that is where I live now.  Since we were pulled out of Rome so quickly, I know the area around the hotel in Verbania better than I do the area around the North American College in Rome.  I am ready to stop living out of a suitcase.

For dinner last night, most of the seminarians and tutors went out to eat at one of the best pizzerias in Verbania, Paschal’s Pizzeria.  The restaurant is located right on Lago Maggiore and boasts some breathtaking, and unobstructed, views of the town of Laveno and the mountains on the other side of the lake.  The pizza was good and the company was great.  It was really amazing to see how far we have all come with our language studies since we have been here!  I cannot understand everything, but I was able to contribute to the conversation and answer questions from others.  It is a great feeling to be able to communicate in another language and other people understand.  It may not be completely grammatically correct, but just getting across to other people is a great feeling.  I look forward to continue improving when I return to Rome.

The NAC seminarians walking to the pizzeria to meet our teachers for dinner.

Eating pizza with our teachers at Paschal's Pizzeria on the Lago Maggiore shore.

Elisa, my Italian conversation tutor, and me after dinner.

Since our time is running out, I am trying to see everything I can in Northern Italy before leaving next week.  Therefore, today I went with David and Ryan to a small hermitage that is located on Lago Maggiore.  The hermitage, Santa Caterina del Sasso, was established in the early 12^th century as a Benedictine monastery that was later converted into a hermitage.  It is a very simple group of buildings, but it is amazing and beautiful because it is built on the side of rocky cliff and overlooks Lago Maggiore.  After our Italian lessons this morning, one of the tutors gave us a ride to one of the ports and we took a ferry to Stresa and then to Santa Caterina del Sossa.  After we stepped off of the ferry we immediately climbed up steep steps made out of rock and then, before I knew it, we were at the ground level of the hermitage.  The hermitage is not used anymore, as far as I know, and is one of the many sightseeing sights in the Lago Maggiore area.  Therefore, there were a lot of people milling around and taking pictures of the façade of the building.

The palace on Isola Bella on the way to Santa Caterina del Sasso.

There were some awesome flowers blooming in the touristy town of Stresa.

Another flower in Stresa.

There are many weathered frescoes that adorn the walls and it is clear that people had periodically painted over the old frescoes.    However, the frescoes that remain are awesome.  I wish I had something like that on my walls in Rome!  Many of the scenes probably depicted the history of the hermitage and church, but I didn’t have any guide to make out what the frescoes meant.  So, I just sat down in the old, hardwood pews to pray and to admire the craftsmanship of so many people.  The great thing about the chapel is that the focus is ultimately on the altar.  All of the frescoes and side chapels seem to point towards the tabernacle on the high altar.  It was a wonderful place to pray and to remember how I am a part of the history of the Church just by visiting these holy and revered places on pilgrimage.  To be able to pray at the feet of Saints and to walk on the streets that they walked remind me that I am studying to be a Catholic priest because I want to follow God in the same ways they did.  I believe that we are all called to follow Christ and to strive to become Saints.

A picture of me at Santa Caterina.

One of the many porticos on Santa Caterina.

Another view of the hermitage.

The high altar in Santa Caterina is beautiful.

Me standing in the back of the ferry with Santa Caterina in the background.

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URAIAN UMUM

Memasukan obat kedalam jaringan kulit, intracutan biasa digunakan untuk mengetahui sensitivitas tubuh terhadap obat yang disuntikan

A. PERSIAPAN

I. Persiapan Klien

- Cek perencanaan Keperawatan klien ( dosis, nama klien, obat, waktu pelaksanaan, tempat injeksi )

- Kaji riwayat alergi dan siapkan klien

- Klien diberi penjelasan tentang prosedur yang akan dilakukan

II. Persiapan Alat

- Spuit seteril dengan obat injeksi pada tempatnya yang sudah disiapkan

- Kapas alkohol 70 %

- Alat tulis

- Bengkok

- Kartu obat dan etiket

- Sarung tangan kalau perlu

B. PELAKSANAAN

- Perawat cuci tangan

- Mengidentifikasi klien dan menjelaskan tentang prosedur yang akan dilakukan dan pasang sampiran

- Jika perlu menggunakan sarung tangan bila ada klien yang menderita penyakit menular

- Memilih dan menentukan lokasi injeksi

- Bersihkan / desinfeksi lokasi injeksi dengan alkohol dengan tekhnik sirkuler atau dari atas ke bawah sekali hapus

- Membuang kapas alkohol kedalam bengkok

- Menyuntik obat dengan sudut jarum injeksi dengan sudut 5-15 ^O

- Masukan obat secara perlahan – lahan

- Mencabut jarum dan lingkari batas pinggir gelembung dengan pena

- Tunggu hasil / reaksi dari obat selama + 10 – 15 menit

- Obat-obat dibereskan dan hasil catat hasil tindakan

- Perawat cuci tangan

C. EVALUASI

- Perhatikan dosisi obat, nama obat, nama klien sesuai dengan order dari dokter dan perhatikian juga respon klien terhadap obat

D. DOKUMENTASI

Mencatat tindakan yang telah dilakukan (waktu pelaksanaan, hasil tindakan, reaksi / respon klien terhadap obat, perawat yang melakukan ) pada catatan keperawatan

The Michigan Union is one of the most easily recognized buildings on campus due to its importance in student activites. But many never look up to see the two statues above the entrance. They cannot be blamed either because most of the year, these are covered in either snow or vines.

The athlete stands on the left facing South Campus with its IM buildings and the Big House. The student stands on the right facing out to Central Campus and North Campus, the centres for academics. Its an interesting fact to know, and I should thank my freshman mentor for telling me about it.

The photograph above represents the ‘athlete’. I shot this today enroute to HashBash.

Photograph Specs: 300mm, f/5.6, 1/80sec, ISO-100

Follow me on twitter!

munky has finally shot the sculpture!

Elecom XCALGO is the new model headphones to fulfill your music thirst. This is fashionable, foldable and stylish audio headphones from Elecom are now fascinating the market. You can have this headphones in four various colors, they are , Black, White and Skull.

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