Examining campaign fat in week 30

In reading last week’s post I recognize I didn’t ever explain why I went to DC, and I said I would. I had envisioned doing an entire post on the trip, but here we are a week later and I have yet to do that.

So, suffice to say that most of you know that my day job is covering politics and government. The DC seminar was focused on the changing political landscape thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. That has spawned the emergence of SuperPACs, which can essentially take huge donations and spend tons of money supporting or opposing individual candidates, something they were prohibited from doing before. That has the most implications in the presidential race, but could become an issue locally as well. Over two days of classes I learned some of the technical details themselves on how to find who the donors are and where they spend their money. The most interesting piece of the weekend for me was a discussion of what donors get in return.

The trip was great for information I received, but it was also great in that it gave me a chance to see DC again. I first went there when I was 18, traveling with my parents after we had driven from California to Missouri to attend my brother Jim’s wedding. We made a nationwide tour of it, skipping New York City. DC was amazing to me then and it continued to be during my two college internships there and it was last week. It’s been too long since I’ve been back, so I left Sunday with a desire to return often.

As for the real purpose of this blog post, two developments could shape my future and my shape. One is that our friend Tristalene Morgensen began another local “Biggest Loser” contest. It’s spelled “Biggest Looser,” on the Facebook board, which is appropriate in its own way, because our clothes should become “looser.” It looks like 17 of us will compete for 12 weeks to lose the biggest percentage of body weight. I did pretty well last time around, but fell back toward the end and didn’t place. I’m in it to win it this time.

The second piece is I signed the family up for a YMCA membership. The facility here in Silverdale is an absolute palace and feels like kind of a resort. I signed up for the 12-week fitness program they offer, but I’m really looking forward to hanging out in some of the classes.

On my own these past couple of weeks I have not done well in going moment to moment making decisions to be healthy. I did well Sunday though, and that’s a start.