The End May Be In Sight

So last night, I got to stay up really late to finish my final paper of my first year of grad school. I ended up going to bed at 4.30 and waking up at 5.45. I don't normally rise that early, but my car is in the shop so Jenna had to take me to work this morning and while I don't start until 9, she started at 7 this morning. That meant that I got to meander about West Chester University and borough for a few hours. I was able to edit my freshly written paper and watch some political coverage on CNN from the dining area of Burger King. They had a brief back-and-forth between the campaign managers of Clinton and Obama.

In case you were wondering, there's really no chance Clinton can win the nomination, but don't tell her or Howard Wolfson. He went on for several minutes about how she can successfully win the nomination. If they have a strong showing in the rest of the remaining primaries, and they can convince most of the remaining superdelegates that she is more electable based on a carefully chosen set of polls and criteria, and if you seat M*ch*gan and Florida, then she's got a chance. To me, an Obama supporter, it sound just a bit beyond ridiculous. David Axelrod was then given a chance to explain why Obama will win and he, more or less, said, "Because of everything Howard just said. That can't all happen at once." Of course, he was a bit more measured than that but I think I've captured the sentiment.

Anyway, the Clinton campaign reminds me of a basketball team that's down by 20 with 15 seconds remaining, yet they continue to foul. But in this case, they also are working to convince the referees that their shots made during the warm-up should count, too.

Do we now get to focus on McCain?

Speaking of McCain, Arianna Huffington wrote a fairly scathing article the other day. If you haven't read it I would suggest that you do so.

My Morning Jaunt

Because I drive the road daily I know that the speed limit is a strict 25 mph and that police officers haunt the bottom of the hill. It's one of those tricky places: downhill, blind curve, tall bushes. Approaching the apex of the curve I ease onto the brake pedal and am startled by a sharp horn blast from the truck nestled snugly mere feet from my bumper. I do not, however, speed up as the driver wishes. Instead I maintain a constant 29 miles per hour. Reaching a boiling point, the driver of the truck hastily transfers his truck into the left-side turn-only lane and attempts to pass me. This, unfortunately, does not sit well with me. Rather than maintaining my complete calm and rate of speed, I hurriedly lay down the hammer. Also unfortunately, I drive a 4-cylinder Kia. The angry truck easily passed me and sped away into the distance.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear but the lights of vengeance flashing in my rear-view mirror. The officer of the law sped past my paltry Kia in pursuit of the traffic offender.

Passing the truck now stopped on the shoulder in front of the flashing lights, only one word comes to my lips:

Schadenfreude.

Final Fitness Revolution Update

So I have definitely slacked in the last several weeks. I haven't been writing here, I haven't been working out, and I haven't been eating too well. It's a lot easier to eat well if you're a vegan. It may not taste as good, but it's better for the insides. School has been a beast and it won't stop for at least three weeks. But after that? sweet bliss. I'll have a few weeks off (from school, not work) before my summer class starts.

I've talked to my wonderful wife about my disappointing fitness results and she's not nearly as disappointed as I am in me. She's been very encouraging and mentioned that planning the end of the revolution--the home stretch--to coincide with the home stretch of my semester might not have been the wisest decision. Anyway, I'm blaming my slacker ways on school and I'm happy with that. But fear not! This is not the end of the fitness revolution. I plan to continue the exercise and before too long I will reach my goal of 215 lbs. This morning I weighed in at 227 lbs. It's a few pound gain from my lowest, but it's a total loss of 12 pounds during the revolution. I feel better and a bit fitter and that motivates me to keep it up.

Thanks for caring and thanks for being my friend!

Barack Obama

I figured since the PA primary is less that three weeks away, I'll only write about Obama until then. While that's probably not true, I want to share with you big news about him. Why this hasn't been made a bigger deal, I don't know. Barack Obama is--brace yourself--left-handed. To you I submit this picture of him bowling.

It is curious that there have been seven left-handed presidents and five of the last six presidents have been left-handed. Fortunately, George W. isn't left handed. His father is and so was Reagan--that should excite even more Obamacans.

I'd rather not discuss the score of his game of bowling; but I will offer, in his defense, the fact that most bowling alley balls (I cannot imagine that, on the campaign trail, he carries his own around. Nor can I entertain the notion that he owns one because anyone that owns his own ball yet can't break 40 should probably put the ball on eBay) are calibrated for right-handed bowlers, thus the spin is difficult to regulate. Also, I imagine he could do a bit better if he would just kick that left leg just a smidge further back. At least it couldn't hurt.

Barack Obama at WCUPA

Today, Barack Obama and Chris Matthews will appear in the Sikes Student Union Theater of the West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Apparently, there's some sort of primary coming up in PA? Anyway, some of my peers lined up at 830 on Monday in preparation for the 1200 box-office opening. I, unfortunately, had to work so I didn't get a ticket (they were free with a WCUPA ID-card). I wish it weren't a taping of Hardball, but Obama hanging out at my university is a pretty cool deal. I figure that I'll try to hang around downtown a bit this afternoon in hopes of seeing the Senator and future President. GOBAMA!

Joyeux Poisson d'Avril!