HISTORY

I have been glued to the presidential campaign for weeks and then was glued to the election results. It doesn't make any difference who I voted for. I was strongly moved, start to finish, by the excitement and emotion of Obama's win. When McCain gave his consession speach I was moved by his eloquence and sincerity and the effort he was making toward reunification. Obama's acceptance speech was wonderful and fitting for such an historical event. This election is, by far, the most important election of my lifetime.

When Obama talked about the 106 year old woman who voted I cried. Just imagine, she is a witness of 103 years of United States history. She saw New Mexico and Arizona admitted, live the horror of WWI and WWII, experienced prohibition, and the ratification of the 19th amendment allowing women to vote. She heard about Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic non-stop, the market crash of 1929 occurred, and Native Americans were granted citizenship while retaining their status in the tribe. She was told Japan attacked Pearl Harbor then the US A-bombed Japan. She heard about Blacks boycotting buses in Alabama and the Supreme Court ordered school desegregation. We were involved in a war with Korea. Alaska and Hawaii were admitted, the civil rights movement began, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. There were angry demonstrations against the Vietnam War and the Hippie movement came and went. Man landed on the moon. Watergate happened and Nixon resigned as President. There was the Moral Majority, Star Wars, personal computers, CDs, VCRs, and cable TV was common. And, of course there was the Web and animals were cloned. Amazing!

For the first time in a long long time there seems to be hope for our nation and a willingness to embrace diversity. It feels like a democracy. It feels like a United country. I am no longer afraid to take my US Flag cane with me when I travel outside the US. And I no longer say I'm embarassed to say I'm an American.... there is hope.

Deana's Homecoming and Halloween

Deana went to the homecoming dance for her High School Friday night (Halloween). She looked so pretty. Brian, "he's just a friend", was adorable too. I guess he must be 15 because he doesn't drive - his father brought him to pick up Deana. When she got home I asked her if she had a good time. Her response, "It was awesome"

It took Holly and Kelly, Deana's sister, about an hour and a half to curl her hair.
I'm so proud of her. She knows how to have a good time, laugh with her friends and family, and maintain her good attitude (usually!)

GENERATION Y

In its January 22, 2008 edition, the Quebec City, Canada, newspaper,
Le Soleil, had a topic about generations by age group.

Generations are grouped as follows:

The Silent generation, people born before 1945.
The Baby Boomers, people born between 1945 and 1961.
Generation X, people born between 1962 and 1976.
Generation Y, people born between 1977 and 1989.
Why do we call the last one generation Y. I did not know, but
A caricaturist explains it eloquently below...Learned something new!

SOME WHERE OVER THE RAINBOW IS ANOTHER RAINBOW

Holly sent me this shot of a double rainbow over the space shuttle launch site. We see them quite often here but this is really impressive. You can just barely see the second rainbow.

Trip to South America and Christmas

I am planning to count off a couple of the 100 things to do before I die list in December. I'm going to South America and cruising throug the straight of Magellan and around the southern most tip of South America (Cape Horn), thats a picture of the cape above. From what I've read I also should be able to see the Southern Cross along the way. This photo reminds me of our relative insignificance in the universe.


We fly to Valparaiso, Chile from Orlando. The stops are Punta Arenas, Chile; Tierra Del Fuego Argentina; Cape Horn; Pt. Stanley Falkland Islands; Montevideo, Uruguay;Buenos Aires, Argentina and Rio De Janeiro Brazil.

I'm so looking forward to the trip! I leave on the 7th of December and don't return until the 23rd. I will miss most of the Christmas preparations (the part of Christmas I enjoy the most) but I think this trip is worth it.

Today I was driving down the road and saw a sad, sad thing. Someone was displaying the American flag at half mast. The flag was faded and ripped and I could hardly tell what the colors were. Not a block down the road a bright, colorful flag flew at the top of the flag pole and the sun was shining on it. It was waving in the wind and it seemed to glow. There's no life lesson here, just observation. I get a thrill every time I see a flag displayed although I don't display one. Maybe there is a story behind the dull, ragged flag I saw; or maybe it was just carelessness. Whatever happened it reminded me that I love America.

In another awareness experience I discovered that Brownie (Kelly's miniature Daschund - is that how you spell that?) has been pooping in the cat litter. There has been a sort of passive/aggressive battle since Brownie got here. Brownie has gotten to sleep in Holly's bed where the cat usually sleeps and now Brownie has messed up her bathroom. To add insult to injury, somehow the cat was left outside for 3 or 4 hours while Brownie got to be in the house. Now the cat is not speaking to anybody in the family. I would think that a dog as smart as the one in the picture (that's Brownie) couldn't plan passive aggressive behavior.

Politics

I continue to be frustrated with this whole campaign. Both sides have said things that were false, partially false/true, and true. They've given words taken out of context, stretched the truth, and twisted the truth. Here are two sites that report the real situation one of the politicians has referred to. Who the heck knows how many times McCain or Obama voted on something or whether they have "flipped" in their stance on an issue. Interesting sites.

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ and http://factcheck.org/

And here is the Saturday Nigt Live parody of the vice presidential debate.