Livin' in the 'burbs

Reading: Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath

Alright, so here’s the first actual posting from south of the equator… I’ve been here for a little over two weeks now and am finally starting to settle in. The training center is just outside of Tumbaco, a suburb of Quito. My host family has been nothing but exceptional, especially when it comes to dealing with my pitiful use of Spanish and my fickle eating preferences. I’m living with a young married couple and their two daughters in a lovely apartment that includes a hot shower. The mother and younger brother of the wife live in the apartment above us and are hosting another trainee and we usually have family meals together and what not – an added luxury during these last few weeks.

Snowmageddon

Reading: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Western South Dakota sunset

Well, so it looks like Snowmageddon got the best of air travel once again and effectively shut down O'hare and Dallas today. Consequently, Sioux Falls canceled the majority of the flights out. South Dakota might know how travel in snow, but when every other place can't quite get it together it's score one for Mother Nature. So plan B, or I guess, plan C. Plan B happened at 4am this morning with a American Airlines employee and of which conversation I have very little recollection. But I did manage to make flight arrangements to Dallas - that is I will be flying out of Sodak tomorrow evening, hopefully arriving in DC around 1am in order to catch a leave for Ecuador at 3am.

South Dakota Legislature, really?

Reading: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

South Dakota, I-90

So, what does one do when your flights are canceled due to a national blizzard and you find yourself with few hours to spare. Rant about the political state of South Dakota, obviously.

First off, the great Sodak legislature has produced ANOTHER abortion ban. Now, seeing as we did vote against an full out ban in 2006 and 2008 (read as twice defeated), Roger Hunt apparently thinks we're playing best of five or something... so we're going for banning abortion, round three. This time, however, HB1217 not a full out ban, just a 72 hour waiting period and a host of other mandates for women who find themselves in such a situation. Granted, we should not expect anything else when Ms. Noem is running around DC on Sodak's behalf trying to limit rape to "forcible rape." Meaning, that this would prevent the government helping pay for abortions in the cases of sexual assault which includes date rape sitations.

Clearly, this state is a huge fan of women's rights. But the best part of all of this is that it has completely fallen by the wayside due to the one and only Hal Wick (also a champion of limiting women's rights)...