Obama Rally

Well, I'm 41 and have never attended a political rally...until yesterday when I braved the elements and stood in line outside for 2 1/2 hours to hear Barack Obama speak at the John S. Knight Center in downtown Akron. 6,000 spots were made available on a first come, first served basis. With the speech scheduled for 6:00 and the doors opening at 4:00, I figured that it would be prudent to arrive around 3:00 to have a shot at getting into the convention center; this turned out to be a wise decision considering that there was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple of thousand folks already in line when I arrived downtown Saturday afternoon.

Part of the reason for the long wait had to do with the security detail by the secret service. Every single person had to be hand checked and pass through a metal detector before entering the main auditorium. By the time 5:30 rolled around, I think my feet were entirely frozen; not to mention, I was just a bit perturbed at the large number of folks who were line-cutting...especially considering the fact that not everybody in line was going to be able to get inside to see Barack. As it turned out, about 1,000 folks were herded into the lower level of the convention center and had to settle for watching the program on TV monitors while another 1,000 or so were sent away with no admittance at all.

But, I was one of the fortunate ones to stand about 200 feet away from the man whom I truly pray will be our next president. Barack spoke for about 50 minutes, and unlike the numerous polished televised interviews and debates that I've read/ watched over the past months, this man- on this evening- simply spoke from his heart- with no written speech in front of him- and hammered home the recurring theme of hope...hope that a young minority man from a broken lower-income level home could one day grow up and have the "audacity" of dreaming about the presidency of the United States.

I've never professed to be a political guru or an expert on domestic or foreign affairs, but I think I'm a pretty good judge of character...and here's a man, in my humble opinion, who undoubtedly displays an incredible amount of charisma and passion for this election/ office...and a genuine hope that history can be made with his candidacy...all I know is that I can share with my grandkids one day that I was there the day that Barack came to Akron to share his message of hope.

Sarah's First Haircut

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After lunch this afternoon, Sarah Kay and I visited the local salon for a first haircut. I wasn't sure if she would sit by herself, but she was fantastic. Famous Hair has a children's chair w/ a TV/ VCR setup, so Sarah's attention was occupied on Elmo in Grouchland while the hair stylist trimmed away. And of course, the ultimate reward for my little girl came when she got to choose a lollipop from the drawer. I'm guessing she'll want this same "do" for her senior prom in just a few years.

A New Family Car

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Sadly, my days as a bright red mini-van drivin' dad are over (sniffle, sniffle) In lieu of sinking a boat load of money into the van, which was pushing 140,000 miles, I felt the time had come to ship it off to the dealer's lot and get something a bit more dependable. So, I opted for the spacious backseat, fuel efficient, 1 1/2 square foot cargo area 2008 Jeep Wrangler 4x4. I LOVE this vehicle.

I really was pleasantly surprised how smooth and quiet the ride is- not to mention the 6 speed manual transmission/ 6 speaker Sirius satelite MP3 radio/ 16" off-road tires/ Sunrider collapsible soft-top features. Chrysler has come a long way to assimilte the Jeep to most SUV's- with the exception of the few inconviences already mentioned above. All I know is that I can't wait for the summertime- when I can rip the roof off and cruise around town basking in the sun....oh, yeah...The most enthusiasm for the new car came from- other than myself of course- my son, Josh- who gave me high accolades for such a sagacious purchase (I just now need him to relay this praise to his mother!) the little guy has already nicknamed it- the GI-Joe Jeep. The kid is back in the will.