After Halloween, there's voting!

Some of you may know that I graduated in August from UT's Master of Science in Social Work program. I can't tell you what a relief it is to not have to squeeze life in between work, school, and internship responsibilities. My time is mine again, and it has been wonderful!! The thing is, though, that I enjoy procrastinating with my time...sometimes. :0)

Why do I bring this up? Well, Halloween and the November 3rd election are around the corner and I still haven't bought any candy, have no clue how I'm going to dec-out the garage for neighbors, and haven't posted anything about the Constitutional amendments that'll be on the ballot. (Okay, so, the last one may not be as fun as getting the garage "halloween-y" but it's probably more important.)

November 3rd Ballot?
Now if you're asking yourself, "November 3rd ballot, huh?" Then we're both lucky! Because the Secretary of State website has a sample ballot and a downloadable PDF of the amendments. Plus, I recently learned that our very own Senator Kirk Watson will be leading a "How Will You Vote" meeting on Sunday, October 18th from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. I'll be tweeting from there and snapping a few pix for the blog. Hope to see ya' out there!

I still have it on my list to devote a blog to the what's on the ballot. But tonight, as I get ready to fly out to Harlingen at 6:50 AM tomorrow for work, I am pooped and ready to hit the hay.

State Board of Education
Another topic for a future blog is Texas' education system. Specifically, the knuckle-headed approach that has been taken by the Rs on the State Board of Education. I'll be posting soon about what the board has been doing and which board candidates to keep an eye on.

Health Care Reform Made Simply? Kinda' Sorta' Maybe Not Entirely
And, what would a post from yours truly be without something about health care?

The Kaiser Family foundation has new Side-by-Side Comparison tools, including a breakdown of the health care reform proposals before Congress.

The Commonwealth Fund has created an interactive US map you can use to view state-specific rankings and results of their 2009 health system State-by-State Scorecard. Texas moved up from 48th place in 2008 to 46th. Check out their website for details on what goes into the scoring matrix.

'K, nighty-night.