Friday, August 29, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: Sam’s BACK!

Sam loved Colorado. Like, a lot. Like, so much that in the month that we’ve been back he’s been noticeably less exciteable in general. Most evenings when we get home he just sorta lays there, looking at us like, "God, you people are boring."

Really, who can blame him? In Colorado he got to go on hikes:

Where he saw - and smelled - gray squirrels and any number of other exciting things that caused his little doggy heart to pound and his ears to perk with excitement:

Even when he was getting almost too tired to keep going, he still didn’t want to go back to the cabin:

He was sad to leave, and it’s shown in his decidedly less-than-enthusiastic behavior over the last few weeks (next week’s post will likely focus more on that). I could tell the moment we got in the car for the 11-hour drive home that he didn’t want to go. Just look at that punim:

I volunteered to take the backseat for the entire return trip to Oklahoma, because I didn’t want my little brother to have to deal with Sam’s antics while he tried to sleep. So, I let Brian drive, I gave up shotgun to my bro for the first time in my life, and I packed, my camera ready to go when Sam got all cute. Mostly, the poor dog, sad to be leaving the Colorado he’d come to love, slept on me. Or under me:

When he wasn’t lying down, he loved to stare out the window. Like me, his favorite bits of scenery were the mostly-flat ones in eastern New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma:

All told, I was pretty proud of the way he did on the way back. I’ve been, at times, significantly less proud of his behavior since we’ve returned, but I’ll discuss that more next week.

Friday, August 29, 2008 | by nathan

“John McCain Doesn’t Get It”

Barack’s speech, like the rest of the convention, knocked it out of the park. As far as things he needed to do - I think he did it. He was specific with both policy prescriptions and how-tos. He managed to humanize himself and to attack John McCain without resorting to pettyness or identity politics. He addressed the controversial and scary issues of the day with grace and through finding common ground.

McCain certainly pulled an interesting - if not also a blatantly pandering - by choosing Sarah Palin, but now that things are off and rolling I’m going to just try to enjoy the fall and not get too mentally ill about the whole thing. The way to accomplish this, of course, is for no one to say the words "Flag Pin" to me.

Friday, August 29, 2008 | by nathan

Golf Is “Flog” Spelled Backward

Brian’s taken up golf since we went to Colorado, and I have to say, not only is he enjoying it immensely, but he’s getting really good. I’d much, much rather watch people play and take photos, which works out for everybody.

Thursday, August 28, 2008 | by nathan

Clinton and Biden

Once again, the Democratic National Convention hit it out of the park. Bill Clinton, whose reputation with me has been tarnished in the past year - I know, right, what does it take with me? - delivered exactly the speech he needed to both to win over his and Hillary’s supporters and to redeem his legacy somewhat after his campaign gaffes in the spring. He messed up good while he was in the Oval Office, yes, but he really was a great president and the country was better off with him in power than the guy who came after him.

Beau Biden’s introduction of his father was deeply moving; when Obama’s term is up, I say we nominate this guy.

Then Joe BIden got up to speak, and despite a few small mistakes and one "Freudian Slip" that was absolute gold, he gave what has to be the best speech of the convention so far. It was heartfelt and passionate, and it hit just the right notes on foreign policy that it needed to. I think once people hear him talk about how to redeem America’s leadership in the world, it will, at the very least, be a choice that most will have to think long and hard about. I can’t wait to see what Obama and Biden will do once in office. Great things, I’m sure. Anyway, here are the speeches:

Also, if you’re at work or somewhere where you can’t be taking up valuable time listening to speeches, the MP3s of the big speeches of the Convention are available for free download at Audible.com. Just click right here. (Sign up required but worth it).

Thursday, August 28, 2008 | by nathan

Ah-Wooga and Boomer Sooner

This Saturday is the first University of Oklahoma football game, against Chattanooga, in Norman. And, with that, my favorite time of year, namely, The Fall, aka Football Season, aka The Holidays, aka You Pretty Much Get The Picture, begins.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 | by nathan

Meta Meta Blah Blah Blah

Ugh. I hate meta-posts, and yet, unfortunately, there’s almost no way around them. They’re like announcements in church, and in that spirit, I’ll try to keep it short and to the point.

I’ve been reading a lot lately. Ever since the summer started I’ve been devouring books almost faster than is possible to track, and in the midst of that I’ve found myself completely bereft of any desire to write the long-ish posts about each individual book I read. Instead, I’ve taken to penning a quick paragraph on the 2008 Books page along with the links to each book’s page on Amazon. In addition I try to keep my eyes forward, so to speak, as to the next few books I’m planning to read, and so if you see anything there that you’d like to read along with me, just let me know. The list may vary a bit as we go forward, especially as I’ve been reading a lot of graphic novels lately, mostly from the Joss Whedon oeuvre, and so if you have any recommendations I’d love to hear them. I usually read them in about an hour or two, but they’ve all been wondrously compelling - if rather easily digestible - stories. My next entry, though it’s not on the list, will be Joss’ comic-book sequel to Serenity.

In other blog notes, I must apologize for having gone so many weeks without any news or photos of Sam. It’s not that I’ve had a lack of news - if anything, the opposite is true and the dog’s been so blog-worth lately I’ve had trouble choosing what to write about. Problem is that the last few Fridays have been so jam-packed with activity, what with the beginning of a new school year, my ten-year reunion, and trying to squeeze in a decent night’s sleep where I can. I promise Sam will be back in force this Friday and through the fall; like election coverage, you cannot escape.

That concludes this meta-announcement-blogging-about-blogging-entry; to reward you for indulging me like this, here’s a rendering of what my yearbook picture likely would’ve looked like if I’d graduated high school in 1978 instead of 1998:

Oh, and there’s plenty more where that came from.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 | by nathan

“No Way, No How, No McCain”

As if there was any doubt, let me reiterate: I didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton, but it made me a little sad not to, because I really think she’s brilliant and that she’d have made an excellent President. I just happened to think the moment, now, in 2008, called for the particular brand of leadership, thought, and inspiration that Barack Obama offers, and I stand by that choice.

I’ve never understood the intense hatred that’s been leveled at Hillary Clinton since the early 1990’s. On many more occasions than I can count or remember, I’ve listened to someone rant about her, and when I asked, "Why do you hate this woman so much?" I received a blank stare, the person unable to tell me why, exactly, Hillary Clinton filled him or her with such revulsion. A few of those people at least respect, if not support, Hillary now; at the very least I think it’s unwise to underestimate her.

The people for whom I have little respect are the PUMAs, and I think that Hillary’s speech at the Democratic National Convention last night helped to rebut most, if not all, of their gripes and to make Hillary’s support of Obama - pragmatic though it may be - very clear. As far as I’m concerned, she knocked it out of the park, and, like when she gave her famous concession speech in June, I was a little sad that this wasn’t her moment, that 2008 wasn’t her year, no matter how much better a candidate I think Obama is. Here’s the speech; well worth watching. And in case you’re wondering, yeah, it’s likely I’ll be doing this all week.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 | by nathan

The Dying of the Light

On my way back from the gym Monday night I kept kicking myself for not having the camera in the car. The evening sky was absolutely gorgeous, and they lit up the buildings on my way home in a really unique way. When I got home I ran inside, grabbed the camera and the tripod, and managed to capture the totally unique and striking sky as evening descended in the west. This is looking up over the tree at the house next door and photoshopped slightly, but the colors are pretty much exactly what they were.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 | by nathan

The Next First Lady

I hope you watched Michelle Obama’s speech last night; PBS’s coverage was particularly good; unlike CNN, they didn’t let their anchors blather on through every speech but let the speakers speak, and only cut to the anchors when nothing else was going on. Anyway, if you didn’t see it, Michelle pretty much hit it out of the park. I can understand disagreeing with the Democratic platform, but how anyone couldn’t at least admit that this is a pretty impressive woman is beyond me. There are 3 videos here, and it’ll take a little while to get through it all (and my apologies for all the annoying MSNBC cutaways), but it’s so worth watching:

Let’s hope the rest of the convention is this good.

Oh, and iTunes? Remember how in 2004 you offered all the speeches as free audiobook downloads? Yeah, I still have that whole convention on my iPod; let’s get on that for this year, hm?

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 | by nathan

Baguette Factory

Taken at Lee’s Sandwiches, my new favoritest place for lunch in the Asian District.