Hot Tamale! Election Day!

Good morning Norteamericanos - it's time for a peaceful transition of power! Agusta and myself are in Durham North Carolina, where oddly enough we're projected to get up to 8 inches of snow! It was nearly 60 degrees a week ago!
Anyway, We're watching CNN with the mute button on, and listening to NPR like a bunch of dorks. We'll be working from the hotel room today, and watching all the stuff as it happens live. I'm looking forward to Obama's speech, and particularly excited to hear a 'call to volunteerism' or other such invocation regarding public service. I like stuff like that, and one of my biggest disappointments in Bush [2]'s tenure was his attitude that in a post 911 world we should just try and live our lives as if nothing had changed. I wanted the country to mobilize in a way that would terrify the living hell out of our enemies, and instead we were encouraged to spend spend spend! I understand the reasoning for this, but it frustrated me anyway.
And speaking of anyway, the inauguration day fever inspired me (not Agusta, just me on my own - she had nothing to do with this) to create the following;
Stunning. No, no, you're awesome [again - Agusta had nothing to do with this comic, and she would like to remind everyone that this comic is not humorous at all, and in all likelihood may indeed be stupid. Additional, Michael may allegedly be a 'total jerk' for even making her read it]. Happy Inauguration Day!

What now? More Polotical News, that's what now.

I was under some sort of impression that once a new President had been elected that the process of hanging on the candidates every word and action would cease. I completely forgot that there's this whole process of choosing whose going to do what and questions about what the next oval office will look like and all that. Really, there's no end in sight.
Am I exhausted? Well no, because sitting still and watching the TV or listening to talk radio isn't very taxing, caloricly speaking. However mentally I am somewhat overwhelmed with the enormity of what's happening. I don't feel overwhelmed, but I recognize that I should be really thinking about the impact of everything, from the first non-crusty-old-white-guy president elect, to the terrifying economic crisis. And that's about the time that my brain just stops. Just kind of putters out, and then I see something shiny, and I'm totaly distracted.
Okay, it may not be that bad, but none of this has really sunk in. We're going to have a Democrat in the White house whose father was Kenyan. That's different. Many years ago, I was having a drink in the Intercontinental Hotel in Washington DC, and was asked for my ID by a very large black bartender. This guy was as skinny as a rail, and had to be nearly 7 feet tall. When he looked at my ID and noticed that I was from the great state of Illinois, he immideatly asked, "Are you going to vote for Obama?". I shrugged and said I didn't know. He went on to explain that he was from Kenya, and that Obama was Kenyan. I thought that that didn't quite sound right, but nodded anyway as he poured my beer. He was very emphatic that I vote, even calling over the other bartender (who was also a very skinny, extroidinarily tall black man from Kenya) to tell him he'd located an Illinoisan who was undecided on his choice of state senators. I thought it odd, even then, that people from another nation would care as to what state senator I voted for. More later!

My Feet Hurt

WHOA! Skipped a week there. I blame, as always, the weather. Good lord it's been cold - and my skin! Oh, it's been so dry! Just awful.
Well I did some walking today. I'm going to name this walk Michael's Idiotic Journey around Oklahoma City OR Michael Accidentally Walks more Miles then he has Fingers on his Left Hand. Okay, not really, but almost. As you just guessed, the walk itself took place in Oklahoma City (check out our previous post's for details on how spread-out this place is), and covered over 8 miles of bad directions, poor planning, and male stubbornness. I had a map in my head, which was not only the wrong size, but was apparently blank in many crucial way's... More later! Gusser's is going to pick me up ANY MINUTE, so I've got to jet.
Back at home, much later this evening. My feet were in such bad shape I had to wash them in the tub. Anyway - the walk. You might be asking yourself; Michael, just where the hell were you going? Well let me assure you that *
"What are you doing?"
Oh, hey baby. I'm writing in our blog about my day. This morning I *
"Shh, I'm reading."
"Oh my God, you walked 8 miles today?"
Yeah, it was stupid. See I was trying to get to the comic book store, because it's Wednesday, and it also happens to be payday, so I thought *
"Why didn't you just call me?"
You were working, and I was pretty sure I knew how to get where I was going. See, there was this map in my head that was too small! And apparently it left some things out as *
"Just call me next time, okay? Seriously that's stupid that you didn't call."
I know, but I like to get around on my own.
"What-ever."
Bye hon! Okay, that just about wraps it up! I took what I thought would be a 3 mile roundtrip walk, which turned out to be a 5 mile roundtrip walk, and by walking all the way around a golf course not once, but twice, turned it into an 8 + mile walk! If I had been in charge of the Oregon trail, everyone would have had to eat one another by the time we reached Missouri.
By the time I write up another post, we'll have a shiny new president. By the way, I watched Obama's half-hour commercial this evening, and was disturbed to find that there's a very faint line that circles the base of his neck. Gussie explained that this may have been a makeup line, or perpahs even a visual artifact from our cheap hotel television, but I know the truth. The real Barack Obama is... Al Gore! Till next week!

The USNAPC Home Stretch

Has it almost been 18 month's already? When Gusser's and I began this long, strange journey, the United States of North American Presidential Candidacy Marathon (USNAPC - pronounced yoos-nuh-pak) had just begun. Back then the field was wide open - I mean even Fred Thompson was in there, months after everyone else threw in their hats, and he was being touted as the "clear frontrunner" for weeks! And that seem's like a year ago (actualy it was only 8.5 month's ago, I just really really miss the guy).
But now, we're a few short weeks away from picking a new POTUS. Many people will welcome this change - I for instance, do not know anyone who is currently pushing for the reapeal of the 22nd amendment to the constitution (that's the XXII amendment for the Roman's among us), though that might change if the next guy can perform some serious miracles on the economy. And I mean miracles - like finding a colony of drunken lepricans and sending in the Navy Seals to liberate their hoards of fairy-treasure. That kind of miracle. Short of that I think we're in for a wild ride over the next few years. How am I qualified to even comment on the subject? Well I have an art degree, that's how.
Speaking of the economy; I worked for a video game company for awhile, and the game I participated in developing has finaly been published! How's that for fancy? Saint's Row 2 is getting some decent reviews, which I'm pretty happy about. The thing is I don't have my XBox360 with me right now (just lugging around the PS2 at the moment) and therefore can't play the damn thing. This is most likely for the best, becasue I have some other things I need to be concentrating on right now, but It's a damn shame anyway. Damn shame...

As I'm sure you're all aware; I hate cold weather. I bring this up because I'm just now, a week into October, getting my first taste of chillier temperatures. It's bringing back all sorts of memories; most involve me being cold and wining. Those in Illinois will agree that the lower 60's aren't even worth bringing up; after all it's probably snowing back in the Land of Lincoln. But here we've had great weather, which while not making up for the general boringness of this place, has made me feel like it's not fall yet.
So nothing much to report this week - Gussers and I watched the second presidential debate last night, and were surprised to find out that everyone thinks John McCain 'doesn't like' Barock Obama. This is gleamed from their exchanges during the debate, and a derailed attempt on somebody's part to initiate a hand-shake. NPR even gave the hand-shake-debacle a full 15 seconds of Airtime this morning. It was thrilling journalism.

Come ON Oklahoma!

Whoo, this place is kind of a snoozefest. Oklahoma City is rumored to be THE city to visit if you enjoy sprawl - the 'city' itself stretches over a whopping 600 square miles. They've taken the sprawl concept to an insane degree - it's as if the businesses immideatly outside of the city all decided to be a half-a-block away from one another. Not having an automobile, I'm a walk around type of guy, and let me tell you; the greater Oklahoma City area is not foot-friendly.
Well the economy's getting scary. I'm in the middle of a job search, so I'm particularly freaked out by the tide of crap-news that has been rolling in for the past week or two. Call me craxy, but living in fear is not something I particularly enjoy. I like it better when the economy is awesome, and people wake up inspired to hire a guy they don't know named Michael. We'll have to see how everything shakes out.
Gussers and myself will be watching the VP debate this evening! Since I don't have a real good idea of what he vice president does (beyond being a 'warm spare' for the president), I'm not really sure in what context they'll be discussing the issues of the day. However I do feel strongly about one thing; the candidates ability to make a thumbs up. Now THAT is a crucial element.

Two or Three Months later...

Welll, it's sure been awhile - nearly 3 months. Why haven't we updated our blog? Well because we're bums, that's why. Gussie did a bunch of work in the sunshine state while I dug a hole in my folks basement (sump-pump-pit).
We're back on the road now, and enjoying the sunshiny weather dished out daily by the great state of Oklahoma. I was recently told by a friend that every state has a state song, but not every state's song was written by Mr.'s Rodgers and Hammerstein. Yes, nearly 65 years ago those two fine gentleman penned Oklahoma, which as far as I can tell is a play about the state in which I currently sit. I've even heard the song once on local radio; it was strung together with what I'm guessing were college-football songs and a bunch of whoops and hollars. Very festive. It was apparently being played in celebration of the end of the work week.
Either way, I've learned a thing or two about Okla-homey's. They like neck tatoo's, for instance. Or at least they do in the local Wal Mart's. They love strip mall's. They value AAA baseball, and while they shun pornography establishments in the area we're staying (Oklahoma City), they have a boatload of stripclubs. This place is THICK with stripclubs. So now you're in the 'know'. Everybody have a great weekend! We'll see you 'sooner' then later (oklahoma joke). Keep your chin up United States of America! We'll publish more next week!