Internet is spotty...

I won't blog until after Obama's speech... Internet service is spotty
here since everyone is on the phone.

Classy speech McCain. But we still booed Sarah Palin.

Final sound check for the next President

That's what the sound guy said. 70,000 people exploded.

VICTORY

Lost in the crowd

There are 10,000 people in front of me. And 60,000 behind me.
And I'm hearing word that the streets around here are packed for
blocks in any direction. The nearest beverage is a block away. Yikes.

Barack wins in a landslide...

... 20 minutes. Can you FEEL it??

Ready...?

They're sound checking his podium mic... Getting ready for an
acceptance speech... Can you feel it??

If you're watching CNN, I'm right next to suzanne malvo.. Spelling? I
dunno. She's in the crowd right next to me.

The sound check guy is playing with us. He says "Obama" we say
"Obama".. It's actually fun. Weird.

We're ready.

The media tent...

It's packed. And we're singing and dancing and watching Cnn on giant
screens. Simply awesome.

Were on CNN

Through the metal detectors...

And were in.

Security is tight

We just passed our third security checkpoint and we're still not in
yet... People are being very cool. Excited, eager, but chill. Mostly.
It's warm, clear skies... A perfect night. So far, so good.

That would be.. me.

Just perfect.

Coming home

Chicago will always feel like home. There are few more beautiful
sights than the Chicago skyline at sunset from a plane. I'm lucky to
be here.

Ok, next train stop is mine. More soon from inside the rally.

Next step: Get to Chicago

The rally gates open at 8:30, just six hours from now. People are
lined up already in Chicago. I'm still hundreds of miles away in
Nashville, waiting to board my plane, anxious about pulling this off...

But hey, an hour ago I was teaching middle schoolers about the
Electoral College system. On some level, my day can only get easier..

We're waiting in line to vote. Polls don't open here until 7am. Seems
a little late to me. I guess here in The Volunteer State, the
volunteers get to sleep in.

I'm live-blogging from inside the Obama Election Night Rally in Chicago

Look out Chicago. Here I come.

Thanks to the thoughtful invite of a friend in Chicago, I will be attending the Barack Obama Election Night rally in Chicago. I'm flying up from Nashville with nothing but a toothbrush in my pocket. Oh, and my iPhone. I'll be live-blogging the festivities right here - with pictures and updates of the whole affair. Stay tuned.

Oh, one more funny tidbit. Tickets to the rally are hard to come by. The Obama campaign only gave out a few thousand to the public, and each ticket requires a photo ID matching the bearer's name. So scalping is impossible. But each ticket allows the bearer to bring one guest, and the emerging meat market for this "plus-one" ticket is something to behold... Check out some of the postings on Craigslist, where democracy, capitalism and sleaze find harmonious balance.

Ok, that's it. More tomorrow from Chicago. Now... GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!

November 4 is Black Tuesday. Grab your tent!

We Americans love November. It's the month when we change the clocks and gain an hour of sleep. It's the month when we stuff ourselves with Turkey one night, and rush out of the house hours later to address our gluttonous guilt by standing in line for the Must-Have Toy of the Year. And, of course, November is the month when we vote.

Maybe you couldn't wait for November. Maybe you're one of the 13 million eager voters who braved cold weather, lines as long as a quarter mile, and the incredulous stares of those with common sense, just for the opportunity to vote early. Like those shoppers waiting in tents for Circuit City to open at 2AM on Thanksgiving night, some Americans just can't wait for election day.

While its heartening that so many people are voting, the fact that they're doing so early seems entirely un-American. Voting late? That's American. Not voting at all? As American as apple pie. But voting early? It's just not right.

Maybe people think that they'll avoid even longer lines on election day. Or, maybe this country has become so passionate about politics, and the state of the union, that it simply can't wait to exercise its democracy. Heck, even in Tennessee, over 1.5 million people have already cast their vote knowing full well that "that one" doesn't stand a chance here. Maybe America is changing.

Most likely, however, we're just hungover from 8 years of bad turkey, and, like the throngs of people that will race to the mall on Thanksgiving night, we simply can't wait to over-compensate for the bad choices we've made.

And that's as American as it gets.

The internal combustion engine sucks! (and other happy thoughts)

Ok, so I've been getting a lot of shit for my end-of-the-world blog posts lately. In order to fend off further inquiries about my mental state, here's a brief glimpse at my current positive reality:

• It's Saturday morning on a three-day weekend.
• Vandy and Northwestern are going for 6-0 today. Bring it.
  
• I received a tax refund yesterday. From 2004. Nice delay, Massachusetts.
  
• The internal combustion engine is finally headed towards extinction. I hate that thing. Really. It pollutes, it hasn't evolved, and its dependence on gasoline (which, by the way, has actually increased since its invention almost 100 years ago) dictates and dominates American governmental policy at almost every level. (Oh, sorry. There I go again. Ranting.)
  
• I finally got my Masters degree.
• It's no longer humid in Nashville. It's still hot. Still late-August by normal standards. But dry.
• I saved at least two of the mums in our dilapidated garden. Who knew they needed water?
  

So, things are looking up. Seriously. As long as I don't turn on the television or read a newspaper, I won't have to face the fact that people are shouting for Obama's head, or that the stock market is down 40% from its record high just one year ago last Thursday. No, instead its just a quiet Saturday morning here in Nashville, and all I have to worry about is how much cinnamon to put on my french toast. Oh! Cinnamon french toast! I'm adding that to the list.

•  Cinnamon french toast
  

The Presidential Debate in my back yard

Just one mile from tonight's Presidential Debate is our small, unimpressive garden. Neither candidate would be particularly interested in the garden, but we're proud of it. We've pulled weeds, turned the soil, planted mums, and added fertilizer. We had a plan for growth, and we put it into action. We have hope for our new garden.

But as proud as we are, the garden is failing, and our flowers continue to wilt under the blazing Nashville sun. We need more than a plan. We need more than hope. We need more.

We're trying to look at the garden with hopeful eyes, but it's dried up, and no matter what we say to the contrary, it isn't getting better. Sure, we can plant new flowers and lay down some attractive mulch, and talk about how great our garden is... but the flowers aren't growing. We can talk about how they'll grow, and we can add more fertilizer to the soil... but the flowers still aren't growing. We can debate why the garden fails, and discuss ways to fix it.. but its just talk. And talk never made anything grow.

Just one mile from our ailing mums, the candidates are talking. And like the soil just beneath the surface of our garden, the candidates are full of shit. They're talking about the economy and the environment, and they're trying to convince our skeptical nation that America will rise again. But its not enough. The talking, the debating, the arguing... it's just not enough. Like the rain that fell in Nashville today, it's just not enough.

About that, there is no debate.

Live from Dudley Field!

I'm blogging live from Dudley Field in Nashville (seriously, that's what it's called), where Vanderbilt and Auburn are facing off on ESPN. Vandy needs to win. I just couldn't help myself, but I probably shouldn't have worn my Cubs jersey. I'm bad mojo.


EDIT @ 9:30PM: Victory!! Unbelievable. Vandy held on for a one-point victory against the #12 team in the country. The Dores (Seriously?? the Vanderbilt Commodores? Embarrassing. You should see the mascot...) are 5-0 for the first time since 1943. They're 3-0 in the conference for the first time since 1950.  It's going to be a fun fall at Dudley Field.

I seem to bring this good luck with me when I move. When I arrived at football-inept Northwestern University in 1995, the team went 8-0 in the Big Ten, and ended the season as the #3 team in the country. I can't take credit for that, per say, but I did do a fair amount of shouting and marshmallow-throwing, and I think it helped.

Not surprisingly, when I leave a place, franchises go to hell. I moved out of New York City in 2002, and the Yankees have sucked ever since. I left Chicago this past summer, and the Cubs and White Sox are both on the brink of embarrassing playoff-elimination. Heck, even the Pittsfield Dukes, a collegiate league baseball team in Western Massachusetts, finished at a league-worst 11-31 in 2005, shortly after I left the area for good.

How do I hold such sway over the sports world? Its tough to say. But I'll let you know where I'm moving next. In the meantime, I'm going to throw some marshmallows at my television. Maybe it will help the Cubs.