I'm off to Disneyland to spend some time with my niece, Amy; great-nephew, David, and brother, Dale and my wonderful sister-in-law, Candy.  We're celebrating Amy and David's birthdays.

Over the years, I've been to Disneyland many, many times.  I think the first time I went, I was around 5 years old and I was so convinced that the Jungle Boat was real, I cowered in the bottom of the boat when the headhunters sprang up.

Which leads to today's Sunday question.  What's your favorite memory of Disneyland?

Coming back from grabbing my latte this morning (do I sound like an effete liberal or what?  At least it wasn't a soy latte...), I noticed a bright yellow sign on my next door neighbor's lawn.

With a stick man and stick woman figure with two little children stick figures, raising their arms in apparent joy, the sign proclaims "Yes on 8."

Given that my neighbors are Mormon, I'm not surprised at their vote.  But there is a clause in our CR&R's that prohibits campaign signs in the community.  Apparently, depriving other people of their rights is worth a little rule breaking, even for vigilant defenders of morality.

So my choices are:

1.  Call the Association on Monday so that they can send a cease and desist letter.  By the time they get on the ball and the letter gets sent, the election will be upon us.

2.  Make my own sign and put it up.  (I'd looked into buying signs to put around the area...keeping it outside our CR&R boundaries...and they were all sold out.)

3.  Go ask the neighbors to take theirs down.

Since I hate the rule and believe in free speech, I pulled out pencil and paper, colored pens and was preparing to make my own sign.  My pragmatic husband pointed out that Kinko's is just down the street.  Doh!

My sign will be ready at 4.

I recognize I'm breaking the rules, too.  Here's my (self) justification:

--Lots of folks drive down our street so that they can see the model homes.  If I don't put up a sign, the Yes on 8 message is all that they will see.

--I will keep my rule-breaking sign up as long as their rule-breaking sign is up.

--Equal rights have ALWAYS been worth a little civil disobedience.

I've finally gotten my personal recommendations for each and every one of California's 12 November 4th propositions written up.  Click here to see them or on Voter's Guide above.

I think I'll take a well-deserved rest from fine print for a few days before checking out the local issues, judges, city councilpersons.  This voting is hard work!

I thought everyone would enjoy a break from serious political talk, so I included links to the Alfred E. Smith roast, featuring Barack Obama and John McCain.  Sure wish the campaign had a little more of this and a lot less of the rhetoric.

I'm having a fairly productive day and hope to get the last two of California propositions up today.  In the meantime, I've hit the gym for the first time in a few weeks (and am happy I nagged myself into going).  And I'm keeping busy in the laundry room as well.

We're going out to dinner tonight with two of our long-time missionary friends, Bill and Donna Davis.  Looking forward to getting caught up with them and the work they're doing, translating the Bible for the Palawanos.  Our paths have been very different for many years, but we share Clairemont Emmanuel as a starting point and that's always a sweet reunion.

Happy weekend everyone!

I'm bound and determined to post another proposition review today...but it will likely be the no-brainer, prop 12.  I just can't face any more fine print at the moment.

I did get the chance to watch last night's debate...but not until this morning.  Yesterday afternoon we were at the celebration of Shelter Partnership's newly named S. Mark Taper Foundation Shelter Resource Bank.  The Taper Foundation gave the inaugural grant for the nonprofit's refurbishment of their central warehouse, which distributes nearly a million dollars worth of goods to L.A. County shelters each month.  Dan's on their board and I am so proud of the work he's done with them.

We were joined by our friends, Tom, Peter and Rod.  Then Rod and Peter joined Dan and I at the club for a round of golf in the late afternoon.  It's definitely coming on Fall, as we weren't able to finish the round in the daylight.

At any rate, the day's festivities, combined with writing up Prop 9, left me with no blog time.  Sorry to have missed you!

As to the debate, I thought it was the best of the bunch.  Moderator Bob Schieffer did an excellent job of keeping the candidates on topic (as much as is possible) and allowing for back and forth exchange.  I don't think we learned anything earth-shattering in the debate.  It seemed like both candidates shared their views on what's best for America going forward.

McCain's line about Obama not running against Bush was a good sound bite, but I don't think he was effective at drawing a clear distinction between his own economic policy (cut taxes for businesses and the wealthy) and Bush's.  And Obama had very artfully stitched the two men back together by the end of the debate.

19 more days to go!

Prop 7 is up and ready for your review.  I'm actually a bit discouraged about that one because I so wanted it to be a good initiative...but I ended up recommending a no vote.

My recommendation was partly due to the nature of the initiative...but it's also illustrative of the fact that good energy policy is difficult to craft, especially as we begin the process of transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy technologies.  It seems to me that new technology is a legitimate reason for subsidies...as long as those subsidies require clear, measurable progress and include a weaning off/sunset clause.  (We're still subsidizing helium, I believe, and our last airship sailed some time ago.)

It was not all work and no play for me today, though.  I drove down to Carlsbad for a yummy lunch at Fidel's Little Mexico with my friend from Junior and Senior High, JeanMarie Blaisdell.

JM and I haven't been in touch much in recent years, so it was good to sit and get caught up on what we've missed in each other's lives.  And it didn't hurt at all that for part of our afternoon we were gazing out over the sparkling blue Pacific ocean on a breezy Southern California day.

I've seen a number of oceans and bodies of water...but there's a unique quality to the combination of the ocean, the light and the air in San Diego that says "home" to me.

I should have Prop 9 up tomorrow.  Thanks for your patience!

I have completed my review of Propositions 1-6 and Prop 8.  Check out the Nov 08 Props link above or click here to check them out.  I've got five more to review but the two toughest ones (in terms of research and reading very tiny print in the voter guide) are under my belt.

I have a busy schedule this week outside of this research, but it's my intent to get these all written up by Friday.  That way those of you who have your "Vote by Mail" ballots already can get them in next week.

In general, I have to say that I am becoming more and more disenchanted by the initiative process.  Between ballot box budgeting and sweeping changes to law, I feel that the initiative process brings blunt force to a system that requires precision if changes are to be effective (both as a matter of finanace and a matter of process).

I think my motto for the Proposition recommendations will be:  "Laura Morefield--Reading the Fine Print so You Don't Have To!"  What do you think?

By coincidence, I'm headed off to the eye doctor today for an exam and, most likely, a new prescription for my lenses.  Good thing I read all that strikeout and italic print before having to resort to my back up glasses!

I'm not sure if this will be part of the Sunday Question tradition or not...but it is the 10th week we've been doing this...so I mark this small milestone with a very philosophical question.

Let me preface the question with context.  I'm reading Randy Pausch's book, The Last Lecture.  Pausch, as you may know, was a professor at Carnegie Mellon.  He was diagnosed with cancer and, as one of his last acts of grace toward his young children--so they would know him in some small way as a man--gave a "last lecture."  Which then turned into the book I'm reading. 

In the early portion of the book, he talks about preparing for the lecture and he asks a question.

"What makes me unique?"

Here's the rest of the section:

"I thought hard about how I defined myself: as a teacher, a computer scientist, a husband, a father, a son, a friend, a brother, a mentor to my students.  Those were all roles I valued.  But did any of those roles really set me apart?

Though I've always had a healthy sense of self, I knew this lecture needed more than just bravado.  I asked myself: 'What do I, alone, truly have to offer?' "

That's the Sunday question.

What do you, alone, truly have to offer?

Mom's here for the weekend.  We're going to see a performance of one of the pieces of her poetry that composer Jake Heggie has set to music.  The performance is in Santa Monica, so we'll be driving up for a nice dinner, followed by the show.

We've had a great visit so far.  It's so nice to be close by, so the trip to see one another is an easy hour or so. 

I'm enjoying the cooler weather (while it lasts).  Taking a day off from writing about the November 4th propositions.  I read a ton about Prop 5 today but opted for time with Mom and Dan instead of political writing. 

It's a nice change of pace!  Hope your Saturday is treating you well, wherever you are.