I just remembered that it's St. Patrick's Day!! No, I haven't been living under a rock - I've been studying for my last final, which I am now done with. Yay!

So in honor of this "green" day and because I have no capacity to think after all that studying, I'll send you over to the Dateline Earth blog to read about some really green beer - meaning eco-friendly or organic, not just the color green.

This is also in honor of my dear friend Gillian, whom I've known since elementary school - today is her 21st birthday! Happy birthday, Gill! Enjoy some green beer tonight, my friend.

I will be enjoying some quality sleep myself...

Time for an update on the neti pot situation, and by "neti pot" I mean Glorious Allergy-Relieving Tool of Wonder and Genius. I actually survived little J's cats without taking allergy medication the other day! They were still shady and calculating, but at least I didn't have to sneeze every two minutes.

I just wish the cats would stop looking at me. One of them will be stalking its way across the living room and it will catch me eyeing it, so it will STOP in its tracks and stare me down for ten minutes with those freaky yellow eyes. I swear it is plotting my swift murder the entire time.

Also, a neti tip: NEVER use water that isn't comfortably warm to the touch. If the water is even a little bit cold, it does feel like drowning. Not that I've ever drowned, obviously, but it felt like that time I cannonballed into a pool and decided to take a nice deep breath at the bottom. We've all been there. When we were eight.

Anyway, trust me on this neti thing. I never thought I would be telling people that pouring water up their noses would significantly improve their lives, and yet, here I am. Sometimes I think real life is far more entertaining than anything that anyone could ever dream up.

Ok, it's pretty stereotypical to write about granola on a green-themed blog. I've never been a granola-eating girl, though, and this granola is my new favorite snack.

You may have seen it at the store, heard of it, or tried it: I'm talking about Bear Naked all-natural, whole-grain granola. TreeHugger is a fan, too!

Yum. Yum. Yum.

I first tried Bear Naked when I attended a KEEN Footwear event at UW and they gave out free samples at the door. You can read about that event here, at my old blog.

I sampled the Fruit and Nut granola, but for some reason wasn't too impressed. I ran across Bear Naked again at the store the other day and decided to give it another shot (try reading that sentence out loud for a good laugh). I picked up the Peak Protein granola, which is flavored with cinnamon and dried cranberries. DELICIOUS.

I'm not a math major or anything, but I think eating an entire 11-serving bag of granola in two days is a bit excessive. But if that's wrong... I don't want to be right.

Check out the Bear Naked Web site to learn more and read the story of how Bear Naked came to be. It's a really interesting story about two lifelong friends who started making granola in college and ultimately built a successful company.

Yes, one of them made granola in college, so theoretically I could make my own granola, too. This is true. However, I've used the oven in this house exactly once, and it was to make chocolate chip cookies using one of those rolls of pre-made dough. And I bought that cookie dough specifically to eat raw. I know, it'll make me sick - it already has. Every time. But again... I don't want to be right. Cookie dough junkies, you know what I mean.

Anyway - if you're not into buying granola and you're not lazy like me, you could always make your own, and you could probably even replicate this delicious Peak Protein flavor pretty easily. All the ingredients are really straightforward things you could find at any store - no monodextriglutamadiacetaterol or anything like that. I just made that up, by the way. Sounds scary, huh?

Let's see if I can explain this feeling.

Little J's other nanny has been sick lately, so I've been taking care of him more than usual. Today he seemed to know that the schedule was off and he was fussy. He was also pretty tired, so after a diaper change, he went right down for a nap.

Sometimes he wakes himself up, but goes right back to sleep. This time, he woke himself up and bonked his head on the side of his crib. The poor little guy screamed and cried and wanted nothing other than to be held and soothed.

He loves music, so I turned on the stereo. He has lots of children's music CDs, but his parents also have a Jack Johnson CD that I knew would be really soothing. I put it on and held him until he fell asleep in my arms.

I was afraid he would wake up again if I put him in his crib, so I just held him until I thought my arms were going to fall off. Then I sat down in a rocking chair and he slept on my chest while we rocked and listened to Jack Johnson.

Although I'm not a mom myself, as I sat there with sleepy little J, I thought about how I want to protect him because I know the kinds of things he will eventually find out about the world. There are lots of wonderful things he'll discover as he grows up, but he will also learn that there are things like war and hunger and hateful words. There are plenty of things he will eventually worry about, from final exams to global warming.

I know everyone has to deal with these things, but I just wish he could always be as happy and carefree as he is right now. I look at him and wonder what he'll do when he grows up. Will he play basketball? (He likes to jump.) Will he play the guitar? (He seems to like Jack Johnson). He's less than a year old, but I wonder all these things about him - what kind of person he will grow up to be and what kind of world he will live in. What kind of world we are now shaping for him.

Perhaps I'm thinking about all this because death has been on my mind a little bit lately - some people I know have had loved ones pass recently, or have loved ones who are very sick. I think about death, but then I look at little J and am reminded that new lives are beginning all the time.

I'm reminded of what Al Gore said when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10:

The great Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, wrote, "One of these days, the younger generation will come knocking at my door."

The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask: "What were you thinking; why didn't you act?"

Or they will ask instead: "How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?"

We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource.

So let us renew it, and say together: "We have a purpose. We are many. For this purpose we will rise, and we will act."

When I first read that, I thought I was part of the "younger generation" that he was talking about. Now I realize I'm more than old enough to be included in the generation that bears the responsibility of making the world a safer, healthier, more sustainable place for the real younger generation - little J and his baby friends - to live.

People don't agree on a lot of things. People may not believe climate change is real. People may not believe that modifying their lifestyles, even slightly, can make a difference. And certainly people may not agree on the "right" ways to go about doing that. But I think we should all be able to agree that the younger generation deserves more from us than petty arguments about the situation. Arguing turns action into inaction.

I feel discouraged when someone criticizes me. If I feel good about making a small, but positive, change in my life and someone criticizes it for not being "enough," I lose that good feeling and lose a little bit of the drive to go further. Then again, I also get a little discouraged when someone thinks I'm being preachy or holier-than-thou when talking about "going green." Then again, I realize that people are going criticize me either way - for going too far or not going far enough (and I'm not sure how I can do both, but apparently I have).

Anyway, the fact is that I'm relatively new at this whole "green" thing. I'm trying. And instead of worrying about going too far or not going far enough, I'm just going to relax and keep going... on and on and on and on, as Jack Johnson says.

Mission accomplished.

I had to pick up a few things at the drugstore today anyway, so I searched for a neti pot at Bartell's and found one! And it works!!!

This is the only type Bartell's had: the NeilMed NasaFlo rinse kit. It comes with a neti pot and 50 premixed packets of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. You have to dissolve the mixture in warm water because pure water apparently burns the heck out of your sinuses. According to Dr. Oz, you can also just use a quarter teaspoon of non-iodized salt.

Now, if you saw this picture, you're probably wondering how it feels to use the neti pot. Let's see if I can describe it...

First, I just felt pressure going up my nostril as I tilted my head to let the water flow in. Then I felt a little lightheaded and my eyes got watery when the water traveled through my sinus cavities. You can feel the water in your forehead, people. Then, like magic, the water streams out your other nostril.

It didn't feel like drowning or anything, although I kept my mouth open to breathe just in case.

Afterwards, you're supposed to gently blow your nose to get rid of excess solution and all the gunk it cleaned out of your nose. I could breathe clearly immediately. I can't remember the last time I've breathed this clearly in the last few weeks.

I used the neti pot again, pouring water in the other nostril, and again I felt a little lightheaded and watery-eyed, although less so because I knew what to expect. This was a few hours ago, and my nose is still clear... I haven't sneezed once... and I'm very, very happy.

Check out this neti pot demonstration video. Try not to get too freaked out by the blank stare of the neti pot robot lady.

Apparently there are exercises too... hmm, ok!

Will the neti pot help me kick the Claritin and ditch the millions of facial tissues that I've been a slave to? We'll find out!

Spring is a wonderful time of year: the sun shines brightly, the birds chirp merrily, and I become permanently crippled by allergies until fall.

My allergies actually aren't as bad as they were when I was younger. When I lived in northern Indiana for a brief few years - let's not talk about it too much - I went to a school called Prairie Vista Elementary. The school had a prairie-type setting surrounding it, and we had something called Prairie Day in the spring. This involved setting us kids loose in the tall grasses to play prairie games. For me, it was nothing short of first degree murder by the school administration. Thanks, guys!

One of my good friends growing up had two cats. I recall some of our playdates ending in emergency evacuations from her house. As a result, I still have a strong, strong dislike of cats. I find them to be shady and calculating, in addition to being irritating to my sinuses. Hmm, there may be some underlying issues there...

Anyway - the cat thing is now manageable. The family I babysit for has two cats, but I pop a Claritin beforehand and am generally ok. There's no prairie around here, but when the cherry trees bloom in the quad - forget about it. Some trees are beginning to flower on my street right now, and I think they may be the cause of the recent onslaught of sneezing fits, nose-blowing, and general misery.

Here's the thing about managing my allergies: it sucks. Claritin is hit-and-miss, and it's expensive. Let's not even talk about Benadryl - it doesn't stand a chance. My nose is now red and raw from blowing it so much, and I hate having to breathe through my mouth when I fall asleep because my nose is so stuffed up.

So I really want to try this thing called a neti pot.

I first saw it on Oprah a while back on one of those "Ask Dr. Oz" episodes. It can also be described as a "nose bidet" - it looks like a little genie's lamp, and you fill it with warm, salty water. I kid you not, here's what you do: pour the water in one nostril and tilt your head so it comes out the other. It cleans out your sinuses!! Click here to see an audience member trying it.

Amy, an audience member who suffers from sinusitis, demonstrates the proper way to use a neti pot. "I thought it would feel like drowning, but it feels good," she says.

It may look strange, but Dr. Oz says this treatment may be more effective than medication. "The [ear, nose and throat] doctors who are specialists in this area will often say this is a better treatment than a lot of the other drugs that we try to offer folks, because it mechanically cleans out the problem," he says.

Oprah later followed up with the audience member and a Harpo staffer to see how the neti pot worked in the long run:

Since then, Amy says she and her husband have used the neti pot every day! "It is fantastic. I have not had one sinus headache. I haven't spent any money on any cold products," she says.

Rachel, a member of the Harpo staff, benefited from the neti pot, too! "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it's been life-changing for me," she says. Rachel is a lifelong allergy sufferer, but since she began using the neti pot, her symptoms have eased up. "I can breathe at night. I'm not blowing my nose, you know, 30 times a day, which is my normal state of being for the last couple years," she says. "So thank you, Dr. Oz, because it was really a huge change for me and I'm very happy."

Honestly, if I saw this neti pot thing on an infomercial, I wouldn't believe it. But this is Oprah we're talking about. I need one!!

My mom has one from Whole Foods that she hasn't used yet, and I was going to try it when I was back home the other night. Sadly, I forgot to do it before I left.

I'm now on a neti pot mission - Oprah's Web site says they're available at health food stores and most drug stores. My dream is to acquire the neti pot, relieve my wretched allergies, and not have to buy expen$ive allergy medicine anymore. Remember when I said that I use way too much facial tissue? This is why! I want to stop that, too!

Has anyone ever used a neti pot? I'm interested in hearing about it!

I was in Austin when I heard about the luxury homes that burned down in Washington.

I had just finished my continental breakfast (waffles in the shape of Texas? You betcha!) at the hotel and the TV was on a news channel. I heard an anchor say that some houses in Woodinville had burned down.

My heart stopped. Guess where I'm from?

I knew it wasn't my mom's house, because it's not a mansion, so I kind of forgot about it. That sounds bad, but the Texas trip was really frantic, so I had a lot of other things to think about.

And, wow, I'm really slow on this news, but I just now read this and realized it was the Street of Dreams homes that were set on fire.

Like the Building Seattle Green bloggers, I get it - the homes weren't exactly "green" like they claimed to be. Still, this is such a disgusting way to point that out. The logic is just so twisted: these houses don't fit your "green" standards, so you... burn them down? Umm... right.

It's just sad to hear the term "eco-terrorists," too. Seriously - ECO-TERRORISTS?? Like people need another reason to think environmentalists are out of their minds.

Not to defend "McMansions" or anything, but my dad and I go to the Street of Dreams every year. It's a daddy-daughter fun thing, so I'm really sad about this because I remember all those houses. My dad and I had a lot of fun. He's really into the innovative home designs and I like seeing how the houses are decorated, imagining what I want my own home to look like someday.

Sitting in my favorite Street of Dreams house last summer.

Congrats, eco-terrorists. You hurt a lot of people who put a lot of work into those houses and you didn't do a single thing to help your cause.

Before my dad has a heart attack, let me be clear that I am not having kids anytime soon!!!

However, I do take care of the most adorable 8-month-old baby, J, once a week and therefore have to change a few diapers - and believe it or not, I haven't had to change a poopy one yet! The little guy is just a peeing machine!

Also, I do want kids someday, so I'll be changing a million more diapers in the future.

When I interviewed with the wonderful family I babysit for, I asked J's mom if they used cloth or disposable diapers. She said they had considered cloth diapers because of the environmental impact of disposables, but concluded that both types have about the same impact anyway because of the energy used for laundering cloth diapers. I didn't know if this was true, but honestly felt some relief - I had never changed a cloth diaper and I imagined it to be a little trickier than changing disposables.

Every family needs to make this decision for themselves. I'll be making it someday, and I thought about it more when I read an article written by a pediatrician and father in my weekly Green For Good e-newsletter. Here's a little bit of what he had to say about the results of a study that considered the impacts of disposable, home-laundered, and commercially-laundered diapers:

This study found that overall environmental impact is about the same for all three options they did consider; the biggest impact is on global warming, resource depletion and acidification. For disposable diapers, the most significant impact comes during manufacture; for home-laundered diapers, the primary impact comes from the electricity used in washing and drying; for commercially laundered diapers, the biggest impact comes from use of fuels and electricity.

Thus, according to the Environment Agency, if you choose cloth diapers, the first focus should be on reducing the energy used during washing and drying and reducing fuels and emissions during transportation. If you choose disposable diapers, focus first on greener manufacturing, such as used by the Eco-Diapers mentioned previously.

I also read what Green Parenting blogger Kathleen Ridihalgh had to say about disposable diapers here and here.

As a non-mom, I'm obviously not an authority on this subject, but here's what I think based on what I've read: no matter what kind of diapers you use, there will be some form of environmental impact. This reasoning could be used to make the case for disposable diapers, but I have a hard time accepting that when I think about all those stinky bundles clogging up landfills.

Although I've never changed a cloth diaper, I still imagine it's a bit more work - but if you start out using them with your first baby, you'd probably never miss the convenience of disposables. However, I think of how I exhausted I am after taking care of little J for only six hours at a time and wonder how cloth diaper moms and dads can bear the additional task of dealing with the inconvenience! But then I think about the greater good of the planet and how it would all be worth it.

My hat's off to moms and dads everywhere, no matter what kind of diapers you use. My time with baby J is SO much fun, but believe me - he and I are equally excited when his mommy comes home in the afternoon. He is the cutest little thing, but I definitely need to build up my upper body strength before I have kids. The first time took care of him, my arms felt like I'd bench-pressed a hippo the next day.

So, green mommies and daddies: cloth or disposable diapers? Feel free to make your case to an aspiring-to-be-green gal who also looks forward to being a green mommy someday.

My journalism prof - the one who took us on that crazy trip to Texas - just wrote this great piece about our adventures on Crosscut.

Click here to read about my classmate Will lighting his shoe on fire at a BBQ, a few of my classmates becoming honorary members of a "gayborhood" in Houston and meeting a former Republican representative from Montana named Tom who now identifies as Rebekah, and me throwing in my two cents about Gloria Steinem's controversial John McCain remarks in Austin.

I wrote a little something on Crosscut while I was in Texas, too.

Now, I owe an apology to Seattle Public Utilities for this. Here goes:

Dear Seattle Public Utilities,

How could I have ever doubted you? I'm so, so sorry.

It turns out that you delivered that extra recycling bin to our house all along. However, our dear neighbors, um... borrowed it? We'll assume the best of them here - that they borrowed our recycling bin rather than stealing it in an intricate heist in the dead of night. They are crafty fellows indeed, but I don't think those kind souls are capable of such trickery.

I'm not sure what their landlord thought as he chewed them out while dragging the recycling bin back over to our house. I gather that he was unhappy about their possession of our bin, and about the fact that their backyard was serving as a sort of impromptu landfill for any garbage that wouldn't fit in their bins. In contrast, the flocks of crows and herds of squirrels that fed off of that yard were extremely happy. Who knows what will become of their little souls now that the yard is void of delicious pizza crusts and... no, just pizza crusts.

Then again, this is the U District. There are more than enough pizza crusts for all the woodland creatures to enjoy - not in our yard, though.

Love,
GG

Whew! Just finished this video recap of my Texas trip.

As I watch it, I realize how many amazing things I got to do and people I got to meet - and not just the celebs. I met so many volunteers that worked tirelessly for the Obama campaign. I was especially impressed with the out-of-state volunteers who came from California, Montana, New York, you name it. They came down to Texas on their own dime to do whatever they could to help out. Now that's cool.

Check out my video and keep an eye out for guest appearances by Ben McKenzie, Kerry Washington, Gloria Steinem, Max Kennedy, Kate Walsh, Michelle and Barack Obama, and last but not least, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. I got ALL up in his face with the rest of the press as he was giving interviews. I sleep with my press pass under my pillow every night... not really, but you know... I love the thing.

The quality of the sound and images became really poor when I compressed the video file so it could upload to YouTube. I apologize... it's quite vexing.

P.S. "Vexing" is one of those words that, when I discovered it, I reached out and grabbed it with both hands to tuck away in my brain for times like these when no other word will describe my... well, vexation. "Nefarious" is another one. Find me a word that is better than nefarious - I dare you.

P.P.S. Yes, that is me chatting with Gloria Steinem, and yes, I purposefully drowned out our conversation with music (which is Daft Punk, by the way). What did we talk about, you ask? The usual: boys, movies, ice cream. Neopolitan is her fave. Just kidding.

I mentioned Tuesday that I sat with the international press at the Obama rally in San Antonio. I was hoping it would be a victory rally, but alas...

Anyway, it was so cold in San Antonio and we were all sitting out in the cold/dark for hours waiting for Obama. You would think we were all doing very important journalistic work during that time, right? This is what the guy sitting in front of me was doing:

I, for the record, was eating a delicious sandwich and blogging for SeattlePoliticore while I waited. And I was laughing at that guy.

I also had the good fortune of befriending Brandon Chicotsky, a former president of the University of Texas's University Democrats. He helped launch the campus Obama office and was kind enough to show me around and answer all of my questions while I was there.

Brandon is Jewish and gave me an Obama sticker that has Hebrew writing on it - I assume it says "Barack Obama"? My Jewish friend David just had a birthday and is an Obama supporter, so I asked Brandon to film a little birthday message and present the sticker to him:

David loved it!

Lastly, I was showing a friend my two press passes for the Obama events in Seattle and San Antonio. They're exactly the same and say, "Change We Can Believe In."

My friend said, "Shouldn't the Texas one be a little different, like 'Change Y'all Can Believe In?'"

I think he's right... I think Obama could've won Texas with that amended slogan, right y'all?

While in Austin, my classmates and I had the wonderful freedom to choose the events we wanted to attend and cover for SeattlePoliticore.

As an Obama fan, I was happy to see both Michelle and Barack Obama speak and meet several celebrities stumping for him. I also met Gloria Steinem! Apparently lots of people think kids my age don't know who she is, but I must remind you that I am minoring in Women Studies, so she's kind of a big deal to me!

In contrast, a more conservative classmate of mine fulfilled his dreams by going "Huck hunting" in Texas. This means he saw Mike Huckabee preach at a Sunday church service in Houston. Now, I'm not a big fan of the Huck, but even I have to admit that's pretty cool.

In between the big-name events I attended, I searched for smaller events that I would be interested in. A few girls and I ended up going to "Obama Mamas: Talking About Obama When Originally Thinking About Hillary," a discussion at a coffeehouse in Austin on Sunday evening.

When I read the event description, I was very interested in talking to the women who would attend:

If you're a woman of a certain age, you participated in or grew up with the feminist movement. You fought for equality, changed the world and made it possible for women to make choices in their lives that a generation earlier they would not have been able to make.

Until Obama, Hillary was your obvious choice. But now, Obama's making you think. Come talk to other women who are thinking the same thing. Join your Austin neighbor, Activist, Save Our Springs founder, former City Councilwoman, Brigid Shea, in discussing Hillary and Obama and why it's OK to consider voting for Obama.

Unfortunately, we three girls were the only ones who showed up at Genuine Joe Coffeehouse for the discussion! The good news is that we had the delightful Brigid Shea all to ourselves for a fascinating interview.

I say she's delightful because she was very open and candid, as I found many Texans are (not so much the case for Seattleites, in my experience).

Shea is a former member of the Austin City Council and is president of Brigid Shea & Associates, an environmental and public policy consulting business. In 1991, she helped found and direct the Save Our Springs Alliance (S.O.S.) to protect Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer from pollution and over-pumping.

Our conversation was an interesting blend of politics and environmental issues, as she is quite passionate about both. Shea said she thinks the Democratic party is "nervous and uncomfortable about being too closely aligned with environmental issues."

"I'd like to see both candidates speak out very specifically about their environmental platforms and particularly what they'll do about global warming," Shea said. "Particularly, I'd like to see the Democratic party embrace this issue."

When I asked Shea why she decided to support Obama, her focused remained on the importance of electing a president who will address environmental issues.

"It does come back to the environment," she said. "We are at a moment in our history where we need a leader who is not so entrenched [in politics] that they will be able to make the really difficult choices. I have greater faith that Obama can do that than Hillary can. I have felt for a long time that she is too closely entrenched in it. I have seen enough in my public office to know how that works ... I think the future of our planet depends on a different kind of leader."

As the discussion turned to the original topic of women voting for Hillary because they grew up with the feminist movement, Shea had some interesting things to say as a woman who used to be a public official.

"When I was on the council, I was considered a really strong woman elected official," she explained. "I was a huge target because I was outspoken and concerned about the environment. I used to get the most hateful, sexual, harassing phone calls. I couldn't get police to do anything about it. I'm an elected official, I'm getting sexually harassing phone calls, and the police won't do anything about it.

"I think that's why a lot of women are torn. Many of us feel there's so much work to be done for women to truly be treated equally. There has been an ugly turn in treatment of women in the media. That's part of the discomfort [of not supporting Clinton], particularly for older women who've seen how far we've come."

Despite feeling torn at one point herself, Shea feels Obama is the ideal candidate.

"I would have to say that there was a part of me that felt, geez, here we are, we're this close - the first chance we've had to get a woman in the White House," she said. "Here's a chance to make a great leap forward, but I don't think it's the right person.

"I've been talking with a lot of women and that's part of what prompted this [discussion] - the feeling that there's a sense of guilt that a lot of women have if they don't support Hillary. A friend said 'Shame on you, you're not supporting Hillary.' I said, 'Yes, I'm a feminist, but why would you automatically think I'm supporting Hillary?'

"I think there are people who really think women have a duty to support a woman who's running for president. I think feminists, first and foremost, have a duty to support the person who will take us the furthest, who will advance us for the greatest good for the planet."

Politics, the environment, feminism - I really enjoying speaking with Brigid Shea about three things I'm very interested in. She's one cool lady.

Welcome to San Antonio. Barack Obama will be right here in just a bit:

Here's where I'm sitting:

With the international press! And by international, I mean chain-smoking. It's lovely.

I'm hearing all kinds of different languages around me. This is an example of what I'm hearing, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but substitute any language you can imagine in place of the nonsense: "Esldfjds sldfkj weroj fsoies Barack Obama sldkfjo seoruo sodfjowe John McCain werlkj weorj dslk." Wish I knew what they were saying!

CNN is playing on a jumbo screen. The bomb-sniffing dog is barking. The international press people are still chain-smoking. People dressed in black are on the roof of the Municipal Auditorium, scouting out the area with binoculars, and are probably armed with some scary weapons to take out any crazy people.

Mike Huckabee is dropping out of the race and endorsing McCain on the jumbo screen!!

I met some more famous people...

Kate Walsh from Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, and Max Kennedy, son of Bobby Kennedy

Saw Michelle Obama speak at the University of Texas...

And met this cute little Obama fan...

Having the time of my life. Living history.

Ben McKenzie, aka Ryan Atwood on The O.C., visited the University of Texas Barack Obama campaign office this morning! He and actress Kerry Washington have been visiting several Texas universities in support of Obama.

Kerry Washington and Ben McKenzie posed with Obama campaign staffer and graphic designer Luca Barton, who designed the t-shirt he is wearing (which the volunteers sell for $10, or $15 for the organic cotton version).

One of my heroes, Gloria Steinem, spoke in support of Hillary Clinton at Momo's club in Austin and signed autographs, chatted, and took pictures out on the rooftop deck afterward.

I cried a little bit after talking to her... she is amazing.

My journalism professor, David Domke, asked me to come with him to be a guest on KUOW's "Weekday" radio show about youth involvement in politics.

We did that this morning, and it was my first time on the radio! I got to wear those cool headphones and everything. My heart was pounding at the beginning because I was afraid I would say something stupid or mess up (and I'm sure I did both, but give me a break for my first time!). I scrambled for the right words at some points and completely lost my train of thought at another point (see 44:18 : "Um... oh, where was I going with that...").

Click here to listen to the show. If you want to hear what I had to say (and hear me mess up), here's where I talk:

- About talking to UT students: 8:15 - 9:28 (here, I tried to say "past presidents" and said "fat" at first instead... oops!)
- About why students aren't engaged in politics, transparency in the presidency, and why I'm not cynical about Barack Obama (hint: because he's not Bush): 24:43 - 27:01
- About calling Obama supporters "bandwagon": 38:02 - 38:47
- About communicating online (complete with shout-out to this blog): 42:27 - 43:03
- About youth involvement in voting (complete with losing train of thought): 44:00 - 44:57
- About Huckabee supporters: 48:23 - 49:18

I'm leaving for Texas tomorrow! I made several contacts with University of Texas (Austin) students who are heavily involved in the Obama campaign and the new campaign office on campus. Check out this piece I wrote about them and the superstar visitors they've been having.

I have to say, even through Facebook messages and emails, these UT guys are already showing me southern hospitality! They all welcomed me to Texas, told me to have a safe trip, offered to give me a tour of the office and said they might even feed me BBQ.

That last part is reason number 4,573 that I think I'll like Texas. Exhibit A:

Enjoying my very favorite food - RIBS - a few years back. Get ready to show me what BBQ really means, Austin!!