Friday – 29 August 2008
I made a good call in deciding to take the day off. Sleeping in this morning, though peppered with a few odd dreams, was a good thing. Today, I have a few errands to run, but after that, in the words of the DJs from Power 97: “It’s the weekeeeeeend, baby!”

It turned out that I could have gone to sushi yesterday – my 2:00 meeting got pushed back. Oh, well.

After work, I met SaraRules at her parents’ place. She accompanied me to Dr. Volt’s, where I fed my four-color crack addiction; I picked up one box each of Avengers and Mutations & Monsters, ‘Clix as well. We headed back for dinner and to hang out with her family. We watched the Jags take on the Redskins as we ate dinner.

After the game, we flipped over to coverage of the DNC. More on this later. After the fanfare and fireworks were over, SaraRules and I headed back to my place. We were going to make a batch of brownies, but the couch and television – along with general laziness – won out. The cable box decided to cooperate last night, so SaraRules was (finally) able to catch an episode of Project: Runway. Last night’s episode, Fashion That Drives You, contained an interesting challenge: The designers had to come up with outfits constructed out of materials used in the making of Saturns – seat covers, seatbelts, dashboard accessories, floor mats, et al. There were a lot of inspired designs… and a few duds.

Next up: Burn Notice. I had seen part of this episode, False Flag, before… but not from the beginning. There was a twist that occurred just before I started watching it (the first time) that had me a bit confused. Seeing the whole thing play out cleared up the confusion, though.

When Ms. SaraRules went home, I toyed with the idea of playing City of Heroes or hopping on PokerStars.
I just called it a night, instead.

Food for Thought: Chew on This
As I mentioned above: We watched coverage of the Democratic National Convention last night.

Once again, I have to say: “Wow.”
Not at the staging, though impressive.
Not at the turnout, which at 80,000+ people was amazing.

I say “wow” to the fact that, once again, Senator Obama delivered an amazing speech.

I liked the fact that the speech played to peoples’ hopes and dreams and not their fears. I also appreciated that Senator Obama didn’t just make it a “sunshine and rainbows everywhere” kind of speech, but that he acknowledged that it was going to take work – and time – to get the country back on track. I agree with ‘s assessment that Senator McCain may pick up a few new speechwriters after last night’s oratory.

I’m also sure that it was no small coincidence that the speech occurred on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech. Senator Obama referenced that speech and, it seemed to me, fell into the cadence of a preacher for a few minutes while delivering that portion of his speech.

Over the next eight weeks, it will be interesting to watch as the Obama/Biden campaign takes to the trail to deliver their message and to see how the masses – Democrat, Republican and Independent – respond to them.

It is also of interest to note that Senator McCain has chosen a running mate: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. She is in her first term and is little-known outside of Alaska. If people were concerned about Senator Obama’s lack of age and experience, I would like to know what their reaction to the even-younger and seemingly less-experienced Governer Palin is/will be. Could her selection be “See, we’re kind’a progressive, too!” spin? I would hope not and I’ll reserve judgment on this until I hear more from and about her.

Stray Toasters

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.