Too good to be true

So after having his name invoked ad nauseum during the debates last night, it turns out Joe "the plumber" isn't a licensed plumber, nor is his name really Joe, according to this NY Times Article. I'm just glad I don't have to feel obligated to watch McCain angrily attack Obama any longer now that the debates are over. I think my favorite comment of the evening was when Obama pointed out one of McCain's (many) false accusations saying that 'even Fox News says it isn't true, and they don't usually have very good things to say about me'. From a serious perspective, however, the most telling part of the debate was when Obama was again asked if he thought Palin was qualified and he responded by complimenting her ability to energize the Republican Party, while McCain's response to the same question regarding Biden's qualifications was to attack Biden's position on the Gulf War, among other things. Other than that, the only interesting new information policy-wise to come out of this particular debate was regarding the candidate's position on education. I think Obama's plan for 4000 dollar college credits attached to foreign or domestic community service is fantastic. It may not go far toward covering private school tuition, but I think it will greatly help our image abroad as well as some of our domestic issues.

Christmas visitors

I always tell my friends that they should come and visit me, but invariably I end up living in far away (or, in the case of Ithaca, hard to get to) places and no one (besides one awesome cousin) comes. I'm not the best at visiting people, either: this past weekend I was planning on spending the weekend with my best friend in Boston, only to find that she moved to Colorado two days prior. At least now I have a legitimate reason to go to Colorado. I had also extended an invitation to my friends in Australia, thinking it was even less likely that they would take me up on the offer. However, one of them happens to be stuck in the U.S. on a post-doc with nowhere to go over the holidays so he is flying here to spend the holidays with my family. I know it's a long way from Christmas, but I am really, really excited to get to spend the holidays with him. He and many other people in Australia graciously let me join in on all their family gatherings and excursions and I am really glad to be able to do the same for him. I just have to start planning what cool things we can see while he is here. He's never been to New York City, so I think we will definitely take a train there one day, and there is a ski slope just outside of Ithaca that has really good ski packages (I know it's not exactly the Rockies, but I don't think he has ever been skiing, either). But if anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them. We will be spending some time outside of Philadelphia with my extended family and some time in Ithaca.