I Heart Obama

Barack Obama makes me tear up sometimes.

Yes, Hillary kind of debates better. Yes, McCain has a million more years of experience. But I seriously welled up at one of Obama's speeches, and I think that counts for something.

I frankly am tired of having to choose between what I personally consider mediocre options (i.e., Gore/Bush, Kerry/Bush). Shouldn't a leader be inspiring?

I love that this somewhat obscure man could stand a chance against the McCain/Clinton political machines. I find him quite respectful and humble, and in spite of his excessive use of "that" in his book, I have enjoyed reading a more honest and complex view of the political landscape, rather than the rhetoric we usually hear.

I certainly don't agree with either side of the aisle completely, but I really like him.

Now...if it's Clinton and McCain, I'm in trouble.

As a side note, I really think they should have squiggly lines in these blogging boxes to tell you when you misspell a word. Don't you?

That...

So my reporter brother, aka the next Matt Lauer, mentioned to me a few months back that his professors in college discouraged using the word "THAT." My mom agreed and said her grad school professors said the same thing.

Well, I'm a little bit of a grammar junkie. As I contemplated this most important topic, I decided (that?) I agreed with this advice and began eliminating my usage of "THAT" whenever possible.

But...I just read a book (I happened to be editing it actually) and deleted the vast majority of "THATs." Out they go!! Now I'm reading Barack Obama's book (The Audacity of Hope). There are THATs all over the place. It's rather distracting, really. Frankly, it is detracting from my reading experience.

I'm still not sure it is correct to banish THATs so liberally. So, I have set out to find the answer. Are you ready?

It looks like "THAT" is a relative pronoun. These link clauses together, for instance: I'm wearing the coat that I bought at the store. In English, if the relative pronoun is not the subject you are allowed to not use it. This is called a "zero relative pronoun." (See http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/grammarlogs2/grammarlogs361.htm)

Therefore, I say we do away with a lot of our THATs. They make things far too wordy for me.

Life with a Blog

So I finally put some links up to other blogs, but I really want a cool blog. I am so behind! I guess I have to make some little graphics and pictures to stick on here. I'm not sure I'm buying into this whole blog thing yet though...what is the point exactly??

I do love reading some of my friends' blogs, but I'm not sure the Mallory household has too much exciting to talk about.

Well, I'll try to make this cute and try to make it semi-interesting to read...later.