Recently released from the Washington Post – Head Count, an effort to track all of President Obama’s nominations in excruciating detail. Check it out – a great resource in the never-ending quest for transparency.
Yes, I know it was almost 40 days ago. But my epic journey to help Barack Obama become our next President climaxed in Washington DC on January 20th 2009. I was there with a Silver ticket provided by my good friend Chris, amongst a mere 2.2 million people.
Quite a contrast from the first time I saw Obama speak, with barely 400 people in a room that could have fit 1000, back in Des Moines, Iowa.
Out of about 10,000 people who participated in DailyKos’s electoral projections competition, I finished in #1625th place. I beat Markos! 84% percentile, just like the GRE!
I got the percentages almost perfectly right, and the Senate right on the dot. Didn’t do so well with the electoral college (damn you Missouri! I did pick Nebraska correctly), or the house though.
Barely beat Chris Bowers of Openleft…always a victory when I beat that pompous ass.
I’m a news buff, and probably spend about 1-3 hours of the day reading news. From blogs, mainstream, international, sometimes even foreign language (not nearly often enough), I read news.
So starting today, I’m going to share some of the best articles I run across. Credit given where applicable.
Dockets Life of Lessons – Great article about one of the participants in last week’s Super Bowl and the challenges that he’s overcome in his life.
Carl Pope (my boss) is planning to step down as Executive Director – good story about the guy who made the organization I work for.
White House Unbuttons Dress Code – Funny, I though Bush was a “people’s man,” but his White House was positively Yale aristocracratic style. Nice to see Obama doing things more midwestern.
As many of you know, I left California for Taiwan exactly a month ago.
It feels like a long time, departing for Taiwan. It had really been an incredible month, the most riveting, experience-filled, sleep-deprives month since the trip around the world. I was running on fumes the entire time, there may have been one night in there when I got more than 8 hours of sleep (the night returning from Taiwan). I was jetlagged for probably about 10 days. I got drunk 4 or 5 times. I drank a ton, perhaps more than any time except the seven days of drunkedness-pamplona-fete le vin-love parade craziness. It wasn’t just getting drunk, but 2-3 drinks every night for almost the entire trip.
I talked in French with a French girl (not to mention with a Taiwanese girl too), approached uncountable numbers of girls and guys, probably destroyed one of my Kansas friendships, went on a date, hung out with friends from San Francisco, USC, Couchsurfing, Kansas, UCI, and made numerous new ones, and saw fireworks for New Year’s at the tallest building in the world, and then saw an even greater sight, from barely a football field away, as the first black man, and first person I wholeheartedly supported, become the President of the United States.
I saw many of my best friends and other good friends to – Kohei, Peter, Varun, Chris, Lilia, Vanessa, all in unexpected places. With one exception, I think I left all those friendships stronger than before.
As I relaunch this blog (again), I will reminice on each of these trips. For now, click here to see some photos, courtesy Kohei, of my time in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
What a month. 2009 has started with a bang.
Basically, this is it. The last four years of my life have led up to this day.
From the depression after Bush’s reelection.
From the journey and experiences during my trip around the world.
To the long political organizing of the past year, from Iraq Summer, to Obama, to Sierra Club, all leading up to this day.
Our moment is now. What happens today will define my life, whether the next four years will spent in the wilderness, or we can finally work to fix the problems in today’s world and make progress, rather than trying to merely trying to defend what we have.
Yes we can.
Things have been busy on my front – the main reason that I’ve lately really sucked at making posts and have, generally, been slacking on this site is that I’ve worked every single day for the last three weeks, often 9-10 hours a day, here in Cleveland, Ohio.
I’ll have photos and posts about my experiences here with GOTV and other activities. This morning I went to see Sarah Palin speak at a rally, which wasn’t even full. The attempts at enthusiasm seemed really trite, the crowd looked drained, and Sarah never really seemed to be speaking directly to us (thought I will admit, she does look better in person than on camera).
Oh yeah. VOTE. And while you’re at it, volunteer. Check out this cool widget!
There’s only one candidate who’s Presidential
