IT IS FINALLY HERE!!!

It's Election Day people! I was up at 6:30 and to my polling place by 6:45 where there was a line! A line where I live is highly unusual, but there were more than enough voting booths and the line moved swiftly. At approximately 7:10 a.m., I cast my ballot for Barack Obama and Joe Biden!!!!! You all should do the same!

Happy voting!

Jon Stewart to Sarah Palin: "Fuck You"

The audio kind of sucks. Rough transcript after the vid.



He (McCain) made an interesting vice presidential choice.

I like the woods...I just don't know if I would pull my vice president out of the woods randomly.

She came out again today. She was talking to a small town, she said that small towns, that's the part of the country she really likes going to because that's the pro-America part of the country.

You know, I just want to say to her, just very quickly...fuck you.

I've never seen someone with a greater disparity between how cute they sound when they're saying something and how terrible what they're saying is.

Don't ya know, Obama, by golly, he just is a terrorist? What? Oh, you know, he just, gosh, kills babies, you know.

I'm so over the idea that only small-town America is the heart and soul. Small-town America is fine, but it's the same as cities. Cities are just a lot of towns piled on top of each other in one place.

They have this whole thing that somehow we can write off entire swaths of the country, that we are somehow...I get it. You know, New York City was good enough for fucking Osama bin Laden, it better be good enough for you.

I can't take it anymore. After eight years of this divisiveness, we're back to this idea that only small-town America is the real America.

I get it. I'm from New York. We have a lot of gay people. But homosexuals don't have sodomy on Russian flags.

Sarah Palin?????????

I know I'm a few days late in jumping on this bandwagon, but is John McCain serious? When I got the text on Friday saying she was the pick, I actually laughed out loud. Does he honestly think women are going to run to him because he put a woman on the ticket? Message to John McCain: we're a pretty clever bunch. We don't flock to breasts. We like ideas. And what does it say to women that the woman he chose is an extremely anti-choice, NRA member for life, former beauty queen? She's a member of Feminists for Life, which is a complete oxymoron. AND SHE'S THE GOVERNOR OF ALASKA!!!! Population of Alaska: 683,000. She asked the interviewer on CNBC in early August WHAT THE JOB OF THE VICE PRESIDENT ENTAILED!!! For fuck's sake!! She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho (which isn't even ranked in the top 100 universities in the US according to US News & World Report)!!! If she wants to be McCain's press secretary, go for it!!! She can't be worse than Dana Perino! But Vice President? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY? I'm not even going to go into her 17-year old daughter being pregnant. How is abstinence-only sex education going for you Ms. Palin?

P.S. Anyone who names her children Track, Bristol, Piper, Willow, and Trig clearly has suspect judgment.

Jozy Altidore and The Dark Knight?

I FINALLY saw The Dark Knight. Yes, it has taken me an inordinate amount of time to see it, but I work two jobs and there is no such thing as a weekend in my life. Anyway, in case you didn't know already, it was BRILLIANT!!

First, I must share with you what I saw when I first entered the IMAX in Fitchburg: a dude wearing the new USMNT home jersey with 'Altidore' on the back. Being as ardent of a supporter of the USMNT as I am, I was monumentally psyched by this. It is a fact that I have never seen a US kit on a person out and about doing normal things like going to see a movie. The only times I've seen them are on the players on the field or in the stands during a game. I've seen some teenagers running around the mall in Beckham kits (I've made an internal decision to give $10 to the first person I see randomly wearing an LA Galaxy kit with any name other than Beckham on it), Real Madrid, Brazil, Italy, an assortment of Mexican league kits, but never a USMNT kit. It was like spotting Big Foot.

Naturally, I had to speak with this man. So I went up to him and complimented him on his choice of shirt, to which he smiled and said thanks. I asked if he had watched the game earlier this morning (US-Netherlands in which Jozy scored) and he hadn't. That was a bit of a let down. He didn't even know Jozy had scored, but he did know there had been a game and the opponent. Maybe he had Tivo'd it and I ruined it. Oh well. But seriously, what else would he have been doing at 6:45 on a Sunday morning?

Is anyone else having serious WC 2002 flashbacks? I did especially on Thursday morning, waking my ass up at 4 am. At least the US won so it wasn't all in vain. They better do the same on Wednesday. I get really ornery when I'm tired.

So The Dark Knight. It was amazing. The action sequences were VERY well done (thank you, Christopher Nolan for abhorring CGI!) and the streets of Chi-town looked gorgeous as Gotham. Props to Christian Bale for having the balls to stand on top of the Sears Tower. No thanks.

Heath Ledger gave one of the best, if not the best, performances of anyone I have ever seen in any movie. That's why we go to movies, to see performances like that where you don't recognize the actor and all you see is the character. And Maggie Gyllenhaal was much better than Katie Holmes.

More Crazy Ass Weather Courtesy of Living in the Midwest!

I took these pictures before Father's Day, but I've worked an average of 50 hours a week since then and it's taken me some time to get them uploaded. First, the flooding. I'm sure you all (all 3 of you who read this) have seen the images on the news or YouTube and here's another.

That's the on ramp to a local highway. The river's edge is supposed to be on the far side of those trees. The cars parked along the on ramp belong to the homeowners who can't access their driveways anymore. What I didn't take a picture of (and I should have) is the National Guard truck stationed along the ramp day and night that has ATV's parked outside the truck that the guardsmen use to ferry the residents to and from their cars and homes. My brother's house is on the river and he no longer has a backyard, has sandbags stacked 4 high against the back of his house, and had to destroy the recently placed ceramic tile in his basement in order to place 2 water pumps to keep the water out.

And then, the wind.


That's a giant tree, had to have been at least 50' tall. The wind completely uprooted it and two others in this cemetery about 1/4 mile from my house. That was a big surprise for me driving into work one morning.

The weather has been great for the past few weeks, but the water has barely receded.

Work and Weather

Now that school is finished for the summer, I'm tackling what many students my age deal with: two summer jobs. My first job is an office job which I work 9-1 every day. Not bad, I agree. Then I drive 40 miles to my second job, which is retail, and don't get home until 10. I know I have it a lot better than others, but sometimes you just have to whine, just to get it out. The stress comes from the retail job. I hate dealing with bitchy, stupid customers. The easy solution would be to quit, but I enjoy the income. Plus, I'm saving for my long postponed return to England. So, bearing that in my mind, I will suffer through the summer.

Speaking of summer, it sure as hell is not looking like it. While the east coast sweats it out and the northwest bundles up and shovels snow, the poor midwest is getting battered with rain, wind, and tornadoes. I'm thankful to be in an area that has not been hit by a tornado, but the rain is creating very dangerous situations. The local river is supposed to rise to a record level, the highest since 1914. After the winter we had (record levels of snow), I think I'm with the rest of the midwest when I say: Mother Nature, please give us a break.

And Finally From the Newspaper of Record...

Unbelievably Happy!!!!!!!

THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cried. I'll admit it. I'm so happy it is ridiculous. I locked myself in my dorm room's bathroom and sobbed when Bush got re-elected in '04, so it's nice to shed tears of happiness for once. Bring on Angry Old Man McCain!!!!!

US-England

The US-England game kicks off shortly and I'm quite pumped. However, I was, just a minute ago, surprised to read that Brian McBride is leaving Fulham. Fulhamerica is down to three Yanks. Still worth following. I hope BMB comes to the Fire!!!!

In anticipation of the match-up, I thought it would be fun to share my John Terry story, as he was named captain for today's game. During the summer of 2006 I interned at the Chicago Fire in the Media Relations office. That summer was amazing for the Fire finally opened Toyota Park, hosted the All-Star game versus Chelsea, and won the US Open Cup. The real highlight, of course, was the All-Star game. It was about six weeks after the World Cup had ended and Chelsea just signed Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko to their already amazing roster that included Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and John Terry. So the entire All-Star weekend was insane with practices, press conferences, etc. The day before the game both teams held open practices at Toyota Park. As sad as it is, the MLS All-Star practice was not that big of a deal. The Chelsea practice, on the other hand, was. Armed with my walkie-talkie and cell phone, I was running around the stadium tending to whatever needed to be done. As the Chelsea players began to take the field, I was down at midfield talking with my boss about what needed to be done with the photographers. Then I got a call on my radio that someone on the Chelsea staff wanted a piece of gum (no joke), so I was to run up to the office and retrieve a piece of Orbit.

As everything was moving at a frenetic pace that day, I ran up the pavement and pushed open, with a great deal of force, the doors that led from the field to the area under the stands where the locker rooms are. The door, for some reason, stopped opening and I stopped in my tracks. Holding the door inches from his face was none other than Chelsea (and soon-to-be England) Captain John Terry. I may be 5'8", but John Terry looked much taller than his listed 6'1" as I stared up at him in complete embarrassment at having almost assaulted him with a big metal door. To make matters worse, I glanced to my right and saw he had been walking out with Frank Lampard, who was now barely containing a smile at my appalled face. I don't really remember what happened next, but I think I mumbled some form of apology and ran off to the office to take a breather, compose myself, and extract the desired stick of Orbit.

I shared my close encounter with my fellow intern and he laughed in my face. It was exactly the reaction I needed. Telling my aunt and uncle, who are English (they live just outside Cambridge in Newmarket), was also great because my uncle is a HUGE English fan (he was at the 1966 World Cup Semi-final, England-Portugal, at Wembley. I've seen and touched his game program from the day. Be jealous!). He was ticked that I didn't get an autograph or a picture. Ah, putting things in perspective.

So that's my John Terry story and just in time: the game is about to start!!

Summer

Thank God. I'm done with classes and the weather is starting to remain warm and sunny. Shaving my legs has become a priority as I've lovingly embraced my skirt and sandal collections again. Both have waited patiently. I bought a rather kick ass pair of faux alligator heeled sandals on Friday, always exciting, and went out to celebrate my best friend's birthday on Saturday evening. We've always considered ourselves old souls, so a group of us went out for a nice dinner and then drank wine the rest of the evening while watching the entire first season of The Office. We did the binge drinking and bar-hopping in undergrad. It gets old really fast. Hanging out and having a nice conversation is much more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, it is fun to go out to bars every now and again. This past New Year's Eve was, for the most part, super fun, but I just don't have the inclination to do that every weekend. It seems excessive.

Anyway, the USMNT kicks off an awesome summer schedule on Wednesday, taking on England at Wembley. I'm very, very excited!!! What I'm more excited about is World Cup Qualifying, which officially begins for the US on June 15 against Barbados. I really hope the US makes it to South Africa, even though I have views on holding the event in South Africa. The country has a mountain of internal and infrastructure issues and I feel the country's money would be better spent on those problems then building and updating stadiums for hosting the World Cup. But that's just me.

Election coverage continues to take up the majority of my time and I feel I'm developing some sort of parasocial relationship with the presenters on MSNBC. Do not disrespect Keith Olbermann in front of me! Obama is still going strong despite the Wicked Witch's seemingly daily attempt to end him. Keep trying, Sweety. And I know I'm not the only one who thinks John McCain is a grumpy old man who doesn't know when to stop pandering. A maverick no longer is he. Once the general campaign begins, McCain is so over.