Yes We Can

So Congressman Barr didn't even get a mention on the news today, but to be honest, who expected him to. I have no great dream of a strong Libertarian party but more than two choices would be nice. On the other hand, if you have too many parties, then a candidate with 22% of the vote or something could win an election. Then you get what the French had in the late 1940's with it's 4th Republic. The communist party received 25%, the socialist party received 22%, and Charles deGaulle's party (I can't remember what it was called) received 25%. These three major parties tried to rule the country equally, but of course none of them could get along so nothing could get done. So maybe two parties make it possible to accomplish more. I just wish I had more in common with one of them or that they had more in common with my views.

I'll be honest though, I'm excited at the prospect of change. I don't know that Obama is the change I was personally looking for, but he dominated the election and he's our president. All we can do is pray for the best. And in this transition time before he takes office I'll give him a blank slate. His speech last night moved me and as much I hate saying this, I'm glad that the rest of the world is approving and excited about Obama. I care about this country first but I recognize that in 2008 we live in a global society. I hope that Obama can use his popularity in foreign lands for our good instead of his personal good. I think that the republican party deserved the defeat for nominating John McCain. I'm not saying that I would rather the democrats to win, but to nominate someone like McCain was just asking for it. I think the republican party should be kicking themselves for not nominating Romney. I don't know that I would have supported him, but with the economic troubles now, I really believe he could have won.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that for now, Obama has my support as President-elect of the United States of America. I recognize the historical importance of his win and couldn't be more proud to be an American. To think that 150 years ago this great nation not only approved of but profited in the trade of human lives. To think that 50 years ago forced segregation was a reality for millions. To think that yesterday a black man was elected president of the United States. This is a great leap foward for the race and I only hope that he and the democratic majority in congress don't lead us too far towards socialism. I do believe however, that things will only get worse before our Lord returns and faced with the upcoming armageddon and the whole Earth being cleansed with fire thing, socialism doesn't look that bad.



This is my favorite thing I've read all day:
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Obama's victory was a landmark for equality.
"Twenty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character," Rudd told reporters. "Today what America has done is turn that dream into a reality."

I'm confused. What year did the good Dr. King pass away?

I Love It

It's just seven minutes. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im0Wqj3BSvU

Requiem For An Oscar

I came home from work on Friday excited for the weekend. I grabbed a snack and called for the cats to come get their supper. I poured the food and Cole came running like normal, but I didn't see Oscar, which was extremely unusual. I looked around and found him in the back closet in the corner. He looked at me a gave me an awful growl, so I apologized and left him alone. A couple of hours later Vanessa came home and it occurred to me that Oscar still had not made an appearance. This is a cat that lets you know when to feed him and he will not let up until you do. I told Vanessa to go check on him to see if he was still in the closet. She came running back into the run saying something about his legs not working. Apparently, when Vanessa came home, the cat tried to come see her. The poor thing looked so pitiful. His back legs wouldn't work and he was just pulling himself around and he was vomiting. We got the phone book out and started looking for vets. We haven't taken him to one since we've been here and we didn't know who to call. It was late so we needed an emergency room open all night. I called one and they put me on hold. Can you believe that? It's an emergency line, no I can't hold. After a few minutes Vanessa said that there was a clinic down the street so we put Oscar in his carrier and headed out the door. We called the vet from the car and they were ready when we got there. They took Oscar in the back and it wasn't more than five minutes before the doctor was ready to talk to us. He explained that Oscar had developed a blood clot and was not receiving any blood to his lower extremities and it was putting a lot of strain on his heart. He said he could try to work on him, but that euthanasia was probably the best solution considering the pain and the fact that any thing the doctor could do unfortunately wouldn't be much. So we decided to ease his pain. It was a really hard decision. It was just so sudden. I figured he just ate some plastic or something. I'm sure most of you know just how attached my wife is to her cats. As hard as it was for me, it doesn't compare to what she was going through. The vet let her hold Oscar as he injected the drugs and prepared her for what his reactions would be. As the drugs took their effect and Oscar ceased to be, the body appeared to be gasping for air. The vet assured us that Oscar was gone and it was just the reaction to the drugs. I think it was really great for Vanessa to experience that and have some closure. She had only been back in town for a few days when it happened and I'm glad she was able to be there.

Vanessa and I always joked about how spiteful Oscar was. Whenever she would go out of town, he would make sure to go number two on her bath mat. It was inevitable. So we both found it amusing how after Vanessa had handed the body back to the vet, the bladder released on the doctor. Typical spiteful Oscar. We were home in less than an hour and the next couple of days were pretty rough around here. Cole is doing well. He sniffed the empty carrier for a while and I think he knows something is different, but he's just a cat and I don't really know how much he can comprehend. I know some of you might think it silly to be so upset, and honestly, I do too. But I've never really had a pet before and I had unknowingly grown quite close to my cats. Things are getting back to normal now but it's still weird having only the one cat. I keep expecting to see his tail sticking out from under the night stand. Vanessa fed him his wet food around 8 0r 9 every night and on this past Friday, he died at 8.30. This cat lived for his wet food. Vanessa commented that Heaven better be stocked up because he's going to be ready for his treat when he gets there.

Anyway, this has gone on long enough. I wanted to tell everyone when it happened, but I'm glad I let things settle. This was a hard post to write (as crazy as that sounds). Vanessa is doing much better and maybe in a few months we'll be ready to get Cole a new friend.

I found Bai-Ling's blog when I was looking for stuff from the movie the other night. It's hillarious because her english is so bad. She's got pictures from the movie premier.

http://ling-bai.blogspot.com/

I Love Summer

Vanessa left today for a conference in Chapel Hill. I must be bored since I'm writing this. Tucson is pretty much in the triple digits everyday now. We finally turned the air conditioner on. I'm not taking any classes this summer so I decided that I will try to accomplish some goals I've wanted to do for a while now. I'm trying to get better at playing guitar so I've been practicing about an hour a day. My fingertips are pretty much wrecked. Also, I took my first golf lesson today. I just wanted someone to tell me correct form and within thirty minutes, the guy had it figured out and I was hitting straight for the first time. It's such an awesome feeling when you make solid contact with the ball. I know I'm going to have to practice a lot more to get my body used to the movements. The biggest problem is that I found out that my clubs are a little too short for me, so I'm going to have to adapt for a while.

I guess I'll go to the movies tonight. There is this new sci-fi film playing and it looks horrible. I'm a fan of really bad movies. Once they get so bad, they're just funny. Plus the main actress and the director are going to be there to present it and you get a comic book that the movie is based on. Go to you tube and check out the trailer for "Gene Generation" and try not to laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aohBNKq7OPo&feature=related

I Left My Heart..... blah blah blah

San Francisco from Alcatraz

The Lower Haight

Alcatraz from Pier 39


Japanesse Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park

Anyone remember the opening to Full House

Sea Lions at the famous Pier 39

Halfway up the climb

The gates at Chinatown
Fishermans Wharf Alcatraz

Lombard St.

Vanessa and I took a long weekend and went to San Francisco. It was a last minute thing and it sounded pretty cool since neither of us had ever been there before. We had a great time. Our hotel was really nice and close right off of Union Square so all the shops and restaurants were close by, and their public transportation was the best. We didn't have to rent a car. There were cable cars, street cars and buses everywhere. We walked alot though. You see in the movies how steep some of the streets are, but you have no idea. I'm still sore. Some were so steep you had to lean forward so as not to fall backwards. I don't know what idiot decided to build on such a grade but I'm glad they did because it's beautiful. The city was clean and the weather was nice, if not cold. It was so much colder than I expected. We checked the weather forecasts and it was calling for highs in the 60's. Well, 60 in Tucson is different than 60 in San Francisco. The air was so damp and the wind was constantly blowing and sometimes, 60 felt like 30. Vanessa forgot her coat so we had to buy her a new one on the first day.

I can't for the life of me figure out how to put the pictures throughout the post so bear with me. We went to Golden Gate park where a bunch of transient hippie kids tried to sell us pot. We walked through the Haight which I imagine is a little more touristy than in was in the early 60's when the Dead rocked it. We went to alcatraz and tried out the cells. That was probably the best thing we did. If you ever get the chance, alcatraz is a great park and the mp3 guided tour is one of the best I've ever been on. You could see the holes in the wall where the three guys escaped and you could see the marks on the floor from when the marines dropped grenades to quell a riot. It was impressive. We saw Lombard St., the curviest street in the world. It was a hike, but we made it to the top. We saw Chinatown which was like being in another country, and we went to Alamo square where they filmed the opening credits for Full House. Mostly we just ate. I think I gained 10 pounds in 3 days.

It was a great trip and I look forward to going back. There is so much to see and do I feel like we didn't get to do half of what's available. I don't know if I could live there, but it's pretty awesome to visit.

Barry Goldwater

Alright, this post has absolutely nothing to do with Barry Goldwater except for the fact that I'm writing it in Arizona and I think he was robbed in the 64 election, but that's for another day. I'm writing a paper right now and I just needed a break. The topic is as follows: Discuss the choices and challenges of US foreign policy in the aftermath of the collapse of the former Soviet Union. It fascinating stuff, unfortunately I no nothing of the subject and I'm going out of town tomorrow and won't be back until it's due. So that leaves me tonight and I had a test in my history of the world wars class earlier this evening so I haven't been able to start until now. So work is going to pretty much suck tomorrow, but I can sleep on the plane. You would think that I would have some knowledge of this topic since I lived through it, but surprisingly a twelve year old boy doesn't pick up on the significance of such a historic event so I find that my only memory is watching the Berlin Wall coming down on television. Thank goodness for the internet though, and you know, it's still kind of recent to determine what effect our change in policy is having. As my professor says, you need at least a hundred years to fully determine the effect of an event. You know what else I learned in this class, John F. Kennedy really wasn't a very good president. I mean he didn't do anything. Of course he didn't back down to the Soviets and the blockade of Cuba caused them to turn their ships around, right? I'm sure us removing our missiles from Turkey had no effect on them at all. It was all JFK and Bobby and their amazing courage in the face adversity. I'm glad they were here to save the country. Anyway, I guess I'll get back to the paper. It won't write itself after all. hahahahhahahah!