- I declared it "Obama Election Party" at our house early, around 3 p.m. Invitees included Adro, Evey and Judy. I made chicken quesadillas and beans for dinner (this was part of the celebration, see?)
- Two thoughts driving home: There were a shitload of cars and bicycles out, and in those early evening hours, it's tough to see everything. I did see one wreck at 9th and Mass. Also, every song on the radio seemed to be dedicated to what was about to happen... from Beck singing "Loser" ('Things are gonna change, I can feel it,' he sings) to Rage Against the Machine, Bad Religion, Morrissey... kudos to both 92.9 and 96.5, both channels were playing songs that cried out for change.
- I bought a Spider-Man Halloween bucket at Dillons for only $1.25.
- I was cooking dinner while the girls were watching CNN. I needed another beer, so I strolled into the living room (to get to the kegerator, natch). I saw that the girls were watching QVC! "What the hell," I shouted, "It's election night!!!" Adro looked at me and said, "But... there was a commercial..." "Oh... sorry!" Yeah, I was kind of amped up...
- We mostly watched CNN. I also turned to a little bit of Fox News, MSNBC, local NBC, and a little Comedy Central (which was just OK). I liked comparing the scores from channel to channel.
- There was a KU basketball game on, but I hardly saw any of it.
- The quesadillas turned out pretty good! The beans -- not so much. They were black beans... I needed to doctor them up.
- My Martha Stewart tip of the day: Rather than buying a green pepper, a red pepper and an onion ($4 total?) for the quesadillas, I went to the salad bar and threw all three in a little plastic container... for a total cost of 22 cents!
- Evey went to sleep way early... she did not know Barack won until this morning (she says "Obama!")
- Judy went to sleep immediately after Evey. She woke up for a little bit later, then decided to throw in the towel and went home... they declared Obama the winner about 5 minutes after she left!
- Travis called and we discussed what we were seeing... Travis is one of two liberals in the great state of Oklahoma.
- I liked it that Hank Williams Jr. got some screen time at the McCain party. "William Hung was there only other option," I joked to Adro.
- I had multiple Boulevard Wheats last night while I watched the coverage. No hangover this morning. I'm pretty sure I could have drank a bottle of whiskey and woke up with no hangover after the results last night, though.
- A friend (I'll leave him nameless) told me a funny story about his mail-in vote. He saw a story on-line about people not putting proper postage on their mail-in ballots... the solution was that the post office was obligated to deliver it anyway, regardless of incorrect postage. So my friend decided to put NO postage on his ballot. Yup, it got delivered anyway.
- So I call that same friend to see how he's doing/what he thinks. "Did you see that all three of those tax increases are passing?" he asked me. "Yes, it's fantastic!" "Oh... we all voted against them over here." We had a laugh, then hung up.
- A good ten minutes later (my wit was dulled by the multiple Wheats) did I finally realize the true humor of what I was just told. I texted my friend, "It was a big surprise to me that the guy who refused to put a stamp on his mail-in ballot voted against the tax increases!"
- I was really shocked to see the support these tax increases received, but I'm proud of my community for supporting them. Sure, there's been some mismanaged funds. But we can't take out our frustration on the citizens who depend on the bus system. Apparently, it was a vocal minority who really had a problem with the T.
- I called and talked to my folks, told them I wanted to hear their voices on a night that we were about to make history. My mom told me she was proud of me for making that movie we did last week, that she was proud of me for being creative and having the courage to try things like that. I thought that was sweet. My mom has always been my No. 1 supporter on creative projects like that... she was always the first to help out with finding a prop, or driving me to a friend's house, etc. She's a lover of the creative arts, that is for sure.
- Did I mention the quesadillas were good? I used to make them professionally at Willie C's, so I've got my method down. Sadly, I do make a huge mess when I make them. Thanks to Adro for knocking out the kitchen duties while I was glued to the TV.
- I thought it was great to see Grant Park on TV... I spent three days at Grant Park over the summer, that was the site of this year's Lollapalooza. I saw Radiohead, Rage, Toadies, NIN, etc. there, along with 75,000 friends per day. It was a good early sign for me... on NPR that morning, they talked about the size of crowd Grant Park could handle, and one of the events they mentioned was that Lolla show this summer -- they even played a sound clip of Radiohead performing live there! Definitely a good sign for Jonesy.
- Anderson Cooper seemed nervous that everyone would turn off their TVs once the election was declared. It was like he was getting paid by the hour last night, or something, and wanted to be on for three days straight, a la 2000.
- Well done, Indiana, my home state. I did not think you could do what you did, but you did, and you did and you did... and I thank you.
- Well done Lervik, voting in North Carolina, the state with the closest results... I last saw that only 11,000 votes separated the two.
- I seriously would have liked to have seen who else was considered besides Hank Williams Jr.
- It was amazing to me how quickly it went from "he's looking good," to "we've declared Obama the winner!" It wasn't 0 to 60 mph, but it was 35 to 60 mph. As soon as they declared Virgina, I was like, "Holy crap!" I texted my friend Teresa and told her, "Get ready, we're about to make history!" I barely put my phone down and they said, "Winner!" Me and Adro looked at each other and were like, "Whoa!" Wolf Blitzer couldn't keep up, he was throwing it over to Chicago, to Anderson, to a 3-D hologram... it was like a John Woo movie all of a sudden.
- Nice concession speech, McCain. It got just a little long for me towards the end, but I was drunk by then, too, and obviously more excited to hear from Obama.
- Obama's speech? Good. I thought it might blow me away. I was just happy with the result by then. We both were pretty much exhausted by then, so I think both Adro and I nodded off for the last minute or two. The clip I saw today of it, I realize I was pretty much asleep by then. Oh well, good times!
Final thought: I think McCain would have been an OK president. (The thought of Sarah Palin as president was horrific, though.) The best thing about this election was that no matter what, George Bush would not be back. The election 4 years ago was much scarier, because if things went poorly, we would put Bush back in office, a slap in the face to the entire world... and that's exactly what we did.
I know the Republicans will hold the Obama presidency to a very tough standard, and that is fine. I also realize that Sarah Palin fans (wow, what a thought) and hardcore Republicans are scared for their lives... well, welcome to our world 4 years ago. We survived these last 4 years, although we're in a bad place and our name is mud around the world. So, keep your head up... it can't possibly be worse than what we endured, can it? Just keep that in mind over the next 4 years.
Give this guy a chance. We gave your idiot TWO chances, after all.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully I wasn't too offensive. I've turned off comments for this post, I'm just not interested in arguing anything here. Now, back to our regular programming of Evey photos and me bitching about local Lawrence businesses...
