It's a new day

Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings,

And a king aint satisfied till he rules everything.

I believe in the faith that could save me.

I believe in the hope and I pray that some day it

Will raise me above these

Badlands...

Bruce Springsteen

Okay so anyone who knows me or anyone reading this blog knows I was very happy with the results of the election. It's nice to have a President that can string a couple of sentences together without getting exacerbated. It's nice to have someone running the country that can get a positive score in jeopardy. And it is nice that our elected leader believes, as do I, that health care should be a fundamental right of every citizen. Because if you are not treating your sick, your injured, and your most needy people really how civilized are you? Best of Luck to President-elect Obama. I spent election night at two parties and was surrounded by genuinely happy people who were proud of their country mates and elated to be part of the historic night.

It wasn't all perfect by any stretch. Alaska baffled me voting to send Ted Stevens back to the senate after 7 felony convictions. California, where proposition 8 passed, removing a civil right from a minority that had only recently been awarded the civil right to marry. And a special shame needs to go to the California African-American population where on a night where we elected our first minority President they overwhelmingly by a 2-1 margin voted to not allow another minority, gays, to marry. I can only hope that under this new regime we as citizens can become much more tolerant of those different than us and see that we should all be guaranteed certain rights including health care, the right to marry whomever we love, and affordable education.

So I have a really cool weekend coming up. I spent Thursday night with friends watching my Terps get throttled at Virginia Tech. Clockwise from me Luke, Rich, Alex and my all time favorite teacher Paul Schwartz. Paul was my freshman English teacher at Georgetown Prep and we recently discovered that we both lived in Madison. Friday night I am going to see the Hotel Cafe Tour at my favorite Madison bar the High Noon Saloon. It's five acoustic female singer-songwriters including two girls who I like a lot, Rachel Yamagata and Meiko. We have a game night planned for Saturday night at the house and I get to show off some of the pictionary skill learned in Utah. Sunday afternoon we have our year end volleyball party and Sunday night I get to see Karla Bonoff in concert.

My exercise has really picked up and I will play between 8 and 10 hours of volleyball this week. I'll also get in 3 circuits, some outdoor walking and an hour of swimming. Eating has flattened out and I had a decent number on the scale this week. I really need to invest in more new clothes but I don't know if the time is right. And lest you think I have gotten cocky I had a cashier at a gas station whom I had never spoken to or seen before in my life tell me as I checked out with 12 much cheaper gallons of gas, a USA Today, and a Diet Pepsi. "You should talk to my sister she has lost over two hundred pounds" And even as what ran through my head was "You should talk to my sister she used to work at a gas station and now has a job that isn't crappy for minimum wage," I bit my tongue, smiled, and said have a nice day.

I am always sad when we turn the clocks back because I know my dreaded nemesis Mr. Winter is coming. It is already getting dark here at 5:30 and I know 4 pm darkness is just a month away. But that also means we're one day closer to spring. Hope all's well Peace, Jim