Video from rally

Obama rally

When I heard yesterday that Barack was going to be in downtown Raleigh, I shuffled my appointments and cleared the morning so I could go. I'd never seen a past, present, or future president in person, and figured this would be a prime opportunity. My coworker Erin and I went together. It was a great experience to be with a huge crowd of like-minded people. And thanks to a decent zoom lens and some cropping, I got some good photos:


According to WRAL.com, there were about 28,000 people there! Let's make NC a blue state!!! (Below is a view looking behind where I was standing.)


This is basically what I saw when looking forward. Obama was kind of far away, but still close enough to see his expressions.


We got in line at 9:30 and waited for about an hour and 45 minutes to get "in." The rally was at Halifax Mall, a grassy area near the state government buildings. When we got up to the news vans we knew we had to be close.


Waiting in line--which, by the way, was a freezing cold venture--we were approached by many an Obama volunteer to ask if we had voted yet and if so, if we could help in the effort to get out the vote. There were also many vendors selling buttons and shirts, but I'd left my wallet in the car so I couldn't buy any. Oh well. We saw this sign when we were almost to the front:


We saw these guys walking in and could tell they meant business.


Here are some of them at their posts:


Security was tight for an outdoor rally, but not quite as tight as an airport. We didn't have to take off our coats or shoes, but we did have to go through a metal detector.


Here are some of my other shots:





About half an hour after we made it to the grassy area, right around the published 11:15 am start time, a preacher said a prayer, and then a local politician (pardon me for not remembering his name) spoke a bit. Then the music came back on, until about 15 minutes later when a field organizer came up to give a speech. He was very impassioned. We all expected Obama to come on next, but there was about 30 minutes more of music, which by that point was a little frustrating. Obama didn't come on until about 12:15, but when he did, there was quite an eruption in the audience. I must admit it felt a little like ogling a celebrity. Ooh, there he is! His speech had a couple new tidbits I hadn't heard before, such as:

Obama denounced the attacks on him by his Republican opponent, John McCain, saying McCain's desperation to win next week's election was reaching new heights.

"By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten."

There was also a moment when someone in the crowd fainted (not unimaginable after standing for 3+ hours) and since we could not take any drinks into the Mall, Obama reached into his lectern for his personal bottle of water and tossed it over. Of course it was the decent thing to do, but it was still impressive that he stopped in the middle of his speech to acknowledge the situation and help.

Here's an interesting bit of info I hadn't heard yet, that is greatly pleasing, at least to me:

More than 1.5 million people have voted statewide since early voting began Oct. 16. Almost 60 percent have been Democrats, compared with about 25 percent who have been people enrolled as Republicans.

Kim's wedding

(I'm not in this pic, but I am in the one the real photographer took!)
L-R, Jason, his wife Anna, Jace's wife Cheryl, Kim, Jace, Susan, Sy, random kid, Emily, Taylor, Emily

I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging lately. So sorry. I'm sure no one even checks anymore. But for what it's worth, I went to Kim's wedding 2 weekends ago, and here are some photos. I didn't get any of the ceremony, because I was playing videographer.

(BTW, I work with Kim, and we go to bagels every Saturday morning...except when she's getting married. Or on her honeymoon. Duh.)

(How crazy are these cakes?! So amazing. And delicious too!!)

Kim and Susan

Here are Sy and Emily. Sy caught the garter, and since a little girl caught the bouquet, he put the garter on his fiance Emily instead. They'll be getting married in May!


Next we have Taylor and his new girlfriend, also named Emily.


And lastly, we have Kim with her boss, Jason.


Fun story about the garter: Jeff, Kim's husband, is crazy about the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins. Months ago she went onto Craigslist and bought two tickets for their game in Miami. At the reception, she stuck them under her garter. So when Jeff went to take it off, he found them! He was totally and completely surprised, and turned beet red. The game was last night, so I hope they had fun!! Rather than come right back up, they are going to stick around and go to Disney World on Halloween. That should be a blast.

Your vote is worth money to charities

Trip Advisor, a website I hold near and dear to my heart for all the help it provided in helping me plan my London trip, is doing something unique. They are going to donate a total of $1 million dollars to five different charities in the name of helping the people of, and preserving the beauty of, the places we enjoy visiting. The kicker is we, the travelers of the world, get to decide how it gets divvied up. The five contenders and their standings as of today are:


I chose Doctors Without Borders because the work they do is amazing. These are health care professionals putting their own safety on the line to help people in desperate need due to war and natural disasters. All of the charities are worthy, so you can't really go wrong. If you have a spare moment, go to Trip Advisor to vote. (You do have to sign up to cast your vote, but it's free.) For every percentage point someone's share goes up, that's an additional $10,000 for them!

Critters on the porch

Charlotte has spun a beautiful web on my front porch.


Alas, she herself is not a thing of beauty in my eyes, but she is outside so I will let her live. I don't even want to think of how badly I would freak out if I found her inside though. I will spare you the close-up cropped view; she's a hairy beast.

My parents noticed a green thing up near the ceiling of the porch, sticking to the wall.


They first thought it was a moth, but I took a picture and zoomed in and wouldn't you know, it looked like a frog! How on earth did a frog get up there? We thought maybe it had gone looking for water and perhaps was dead. When my parents were leaving, we noticed the frog had moved its head a bit, so I got a stick and a bowl, climbed on a chair, and poked at it ever so gently. It did not drop into the bowl, no, that would be too easy. It leaped and brushed against the back of my head (it was a BIG leap) and landed on the ground. Then it started climbing up the side of my house again. I sprinkled some water on him and he moved over to the railing.



Doesn't he seem a little tropical for NC?

Where I Go

Driving to my training in Oklahoma a couple weeks ago, I found myself on Riverside Parkway, right next to--you guessed it--a river. I was taken by surprise, as I didn't know there was a river running through Tulsa, and a beautiful one at that. Just goes to show, you never know where you might find a hidden treasure.

The picture below reminded me of Natalie Merchant's song from her first solo album, titled "Where I Go."


Climbing under
a barbed wire fence
by the railroad ties

Climbing over
the old stone wall
I am bound for the riverside

Well I go to the river
to soothe my mind
ponder over
the crazy days of my life
just sit and watch the river flow

Find a place
on the riverbank
where the green rushes grow
see the wind
in the willow tree
in the branches hanging low

Well I go to the river
to soothe my mind
to ponder over
the crazy days of my life
watch the river flow
ease my mind and soul
where I go

Well I will go to the river
from time to time
wander over
these crazy days in my mind
watch the river flow
where the willow branches grow
by the cool rolling waters
moving gracefully and slow

Ooh child it's lovely
let the river take it all away
the mad pace, the hurry
the troubles, the worries
just the river take them all away
flow away

You can listen to part of this beautiful song here (click the play button on the right side of the screen).

Denver

I've been meaning to post about this for a couple weeks, but work has been so very busy, and the last thing I want to do at home is be on the computer. Things have quieted down now, so here we go.

I flew into Denver on the 8th of September and after my trainings on the 9th I went to the aquarium. Little did I know, it is not a traditional aquarium. In addition to fish and other sea creatures, they have reptiles and birds, and even tigers!

Of course I get excited whenever animals and photography are involved, so I had a grand old time in there. I couldn't tell you what half the fish are called (and the signage wasn't great) but they sure are purty.

And I think I discovered the missing evolutionary link between land and sea...behold, the fish with legs!

More pix on Flickr.

Me by the numbers

I'm making up my own meme, folks. Watch out!

1. Number of emails in your personal INBOX: 56 (but only 6 unread)

2. Number of degrees you set your summertime thermostat to: 78

3. Number of live plants in your home: 3

4. Number of clean dinner plates in your cupboard right now: 4

5. Number of loads of laundry you do in a typical week: 2 (white, colors)

6. Number of ceiling fans in your home: 2 (living room, bedroom)

7. Number of CD's in your car right now: 10 (only for when my iPod is dead)

8. Number of times you ate out in the past week: 0

9. Number of trips you've taken on an airplane in the past year: 9 (Vermont, NYC, Baltimore, Tallahassee, Philadelphia, Philadelphia again, Los Angeles, London, Chicago) (In the next 4 weeks I'll be flying to Mississippi, Denver, Mississippi again, and Oklahoma)

10. Number of pets you own: 1 (cat)

11. Number of magazines you subscribe to: 0 (but for some reason I get Self for free)

12. Number of dresses or skirts you wore last week: 0

13. Number of photographs you carry in your wallet or purse: 0 (unless you count the ones on my digital camera)

14. Number of gallons it usually takes to fill your vehicle: 15

15. Number of times you go to the movies in a typical month: 1

16. Number of times you hit the snooze button before getting up: 1

17. Number of minutes it takes you to get ready in the morning: 75

18. Number of sweetener packets you put in a regular cup of coffee: 4 (prefer Splenda, Equal, or Sweet & Low)

19. Number of remote controls you have in the living room: 3 (cable, TV, DVD/receiver)

20. Number of times you brush your teeth in a day: 2

21. Number of vitamins you take in a day: 4 (multi, C, 2 flax oil)

22. Number of ounces of water you drink in a day: about 50

23. Number of schools you've gone to: 6 (Pinecrest Elem, Arroyo Seco Jr. High, Saugus High, UCSD, Dartmouth, CSUN)

24. Number of states you've lived in: 3 (California, New Hampshire, North Carolina)

25. Number of times you've served jury duty: 1 (didn't make it onto a jury though)

26. Number of presidential elections you've voted in: 3 (Clinton, Gore, Kerry...and the 4th: Obama!)

27. Number of times you've been hospitalized: 1 (epiglotitis when I was four)

28. Number of blogs you read every day: 8 (unless I'm really busy, then I at least make sure to hit LOL Cats)

29. Number of weddings you've been to: 5

30. Number of Twitter updates as of right now: 204

80th post

This will be my 80th post for 2008. Last year I had 116 posts. I need to average 9 posts a month for the rest of this year to reach that number. But in 2006 I had 172 posts!! I guess I had a lot to say!

Today was my friend and co-worker Kim's wedding shower. Or should I say, her first wedding shower. She's having another one in her hometown near Rochester, NY, and a third one in her fiance's hometown of Erie, PA. (Uh, spoiled bride?!) We had lots of fun. Here are some pics I took.

I bought her the pink hand vac she registered for.

Cool bread basket with a warming stone you place inside.

Kim's favorite: money.

Susan got the only humor gift: a "panic button" that has sounds of cartoon characters saying, "Stay Calm!" then screaming bloody murder.

Kim and Susan.

A group shot. Bottom row, L-R: Jenni, Lisa (maid of honor), Kim, Gracie (Kim's mom); Top row, L-R: Rebekah (works in communications dept at my office), Amanda, me, Susan (fellow trainer).

The scrumptious cake, shaped like a bridal gown.

Jelly Belly Warehouse

In Kenosha, Wisconsin there is a Jelly Belly warehouse, and they give free tours. You're supposed to get to ride on this cute little Jelly Belly train, but the day I went it was in for repairs. So we walked. They wouldn't allow photos on the tour, but suffice it to say there were boxes and boxes of Jelly Bellys (Bellies?) as far as the eye could see, stacked up to the very, very tall ceiling. They had some cool Jelly Belly mosaics we could take pictures of. The tour guide said they can take up to several weeks to complete! I uploaded them full size so if you click on the photo you can see close up.




We got to see how Jelly Bellys are made (on a video--the factory is in CA, which you can tour as well, like Nicole did), as well as hear about the most popular flavor (of all time: Very Cherry; of late: Buttered Popcorn--if that doesn't speak to why America has an obesity epidemic, I don't know what does). After the tour we got to go to the store, which sold--wait for it--Jelly Belly products ranging from the beans to t-shirts to dispensers, etc. I contemplated buying a bag of "belly flops," the ones that don't pass inspection because they're too big, too small, stuck together, or what have you. Although it was a good price for Jelly Bellys, it was more than anyone should ever spend on a bag of jelly beans. One of the coolest parts of the store was the Sample Bar, where you can try any one of the 50 flavors for free.


They had the Harry Potter beans, which include such nasty flavors as black pepper and vomit. What I purchased, though, was the "Bean Boozled" box, where they have the icky flavors disguised among exact twins of good flavors--i.e. Booger looks just like Juicy Pear, and Pencil Shavings looks just like Top Banana. I haven't dared to try them yet...Rotten Egg, anyone? They are fun enough in theory.

There's even a Jelly Belly car parked outside, complete with Asian tourists posing in front of it.