McCain-Palin – interesting?!

The old man and the girl. McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. A soccer mom turned politician with a 4 mo. old baby with down syndrome. She seems more human than most in Washington. Her inexperience matches Obama’s, though she appears to have a harder hitting record than he does on some issues. It will be interesting to learn more about her as we lead up to the Republican National Convention.

I think its a good move for McCain. He needs a new voice. He needs to be able to compete with Obama’s fresh approach. McCain needs to breathe new life into his party, make it seem like its not the status quo. He needed a bold choice and I think Palin is it. You know he’s going after the Clinton following unsure of Obama.

It will be interesting to see what happens. I was convinced that I was going to vote for Obama after I heard him speak in 2007. However, I am growing increasingly wary of him, as I am of most politicians. There is just something about him that rings too slick or false for me. Not sure what it is, maybe because he’s backed by Oprah and most of Hollywood. They make me worried about him.

I’m not anxious to run out an vote for McCain either. He’s got very vacant eyes. He reminds me, in some ways, to Hilary Clinton. I got a chance to hear her speak and my say, she scared me. It wasn’t about the power she wielded or the fact that she’s aggressive instead it was about her lack of humanity. She didn’t seem like a person of any sort of emotion or likeability. ANYWAY, I digress.

Scary, it’s all very scary to me.

I think we should beg the Brit to take us back. Let’s try to revive the British Empire. I bet we could take Canada, they don’t ever do anything anyway. We’ll just announce it to them, they’ll go for it. I vote for repatriation in 2008. Ooh hey, that’s catchy – repatriate in 08.

Long live the queen.

Filed under: Pop Culture , Britain, Democrat, Election, McCain, Palin, Repatriation, Republican

Dum-Dum Wound

This morning at about 2:15 a.m. I couldn’t sleep and was up sorting vacation photos from Savannah. My computer was running really slow because of all the media files and I got up to get something to drink.

As I turned to get up out of my chair my baby toe caught the leg of the dining room table and bent sideways about 90 degrees. It wasn’t pretty and it immediately hurt so bad I was speechless and crying silent tears. I had no breath. Then the rush of pain and voice came in the next instant and I was cursing and yelping at the same time. The entire left side of my left food was burning, throbbing and aching all at once. There was no blood just mind-numbing pain.

How could something so small hurt so freaking bad? I have no idea. At that point I decided it best just to go to bed. I woke up later with a black and blue toe and the inability to put any pressure on my foot.

I will be hobbling for a while. I just feel retarded telling people I broke my toe. But it is a very real pain. The sad thing is. I have broken a toe on this foot before. The last time I was lunging for the phone and my foot met a box of books and the box won. I really need to be kinder to my feet.

Filed under: Health , broken bone, foot, pain, toe

Day in the Garden of Good and Evil

Booking it from Atlanta we arrived in Savannah last night. It’s only a 3 hour drive but it felt like forever. Maybe because we could feel the humidity creep up on us. Our air conditioner had to keep being turned up the closer we got. By the time we were 20 miles out there was a fog on all the windows. Stepping out of the car my glasses fogged up and so did the lens on my camera. It was muggy and HOT. Wow. We were really sweating by the time we got to our hotel room. It was after 10 p.m. and it was still 85 degrees with at least 75% humidity. Insane.

But I am so excited to be in Savannah. I have wanted to be visit forever! I don’t know why. I’m sure I’ve seen too many movies, read too many stories or entertained too many romantic notions about the South, but nevertheless I’m fulfilling a long-time desire.

We started the day taking in an overview of the city on the Old Town Trolley Tour. It offers on and off service at over 14 locations in Savannah. It’s a great way to get the layout of the city and figure out what you want to see.

Our day itinerary included: lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding house, tours of the Telfair’s Owen’s Thomas and Davenport House.

If you’re ever in Savannah you must go to Mrs. Wilkes Boarding house. It is a treat! Served family style you eat with perfect strangers and quickly become friends. The table is set and full of food when you sit down. We were given: fried chicken, beef stew, ribs, collard greens, mashed potatoes, gravy, rice, sweet potatoes, macaroni salad, cabbage, black-eyed peas, corn muffins, biscuits, stuffing, creamed corn, and more I can’t even remember. It was all delicious. We were all so full and happy when we left. It’s a good thing we planned on walking a lot.

Our next stop were the house tours. We started with Telfair’s Owens-Thomas house, designed by English architect William Jay in 1819. He is a man after my own heart and designed this English Regency house on balance and symmetry. Every door, window, column and staircase has its mirror, even if it has to be a false front. The house itself is beautiful and beautifully restored.

The Davenport House (1820), which someone today described as a common man’s house. It is the project that sparked a historic preservation movement in Savannah in the 1950s. I didn’t particularly care for how the Davenport House was restored. It felt cheap, gaudy and awfully decorated. Now, I’m not a restoration expert, but I have toured a lot of restored homes. (I’m not a doctor but I play one on tv). And Debbie kind of is – she headed up the design team that restored the Queen Mary. So she knows her stuff. To us, it didn’t feel authentic or typical of its period. The colors were too bright. The wallpaper was loudly patterned and distracting. The doors were poorly stained and designs on the floor. There were three or four people on our tour who kept asking the docent if she was sure the wallpaper, flooring and colors were accurate. So it wasn’t just us.

On a sidenote I’m amazed at how much of the South has been destroyed, not in the civil war, but in the states own lack of interest in preserving its past. This was definitely the case with Atlanta and also seen here in Savannah. “Why are we doing to ourselves what we hated Sherman for doing.” (Margret Mitchell).

We had dinner at a local favorite, Blowin’ Smoke BBQ. Just outside the historic district, down by Forsyth Park. Debbie and I both had pulled pork. It had been slow-smoked for 24 hours and it showed, deliciously moist and juicy. It was nice to be out of the touristy area for a bit. There was live jazz, water spritzers on the patio and a fun bean-bag toss while you wait for your table. The restaurant also has a done of microbrews to try, which we did not. Still a fun place to visit.

My favorite part of the day, even though it was 92 with 89% humidity, was just walking around the city squares with the amazing architecture, beautiful live oak trees with spanish moss (that is neither spanish or moss and is full of bugs), and soaking up the peaceful, laid back atmosphere of the city.

So great to be here.

Filed under: Travelling , Davenport House, historic square, Savannah, Telfair's Owen-Thomas house, tour